Fictional Fridays

I am so excited for my first Fictional Fridays post!! After getting a little burnt with 5 Fandom Friday, I’ll be hopping over to join Bookworms In Dresses fabulous Friday link-up! Fictional Fridays is dedicated to gushing about literary related goodness. Characters! Stories! Book covers! Anything you want – post about it!! I love how it’s open ended, and it’s just the link up I’ve been looking for to pull me out of my Friday funk lately.

I was originally thinking about book characters I love as a topic to discuss here today, but then I realized there was something I wanted to talk about about more: Characters I Love to HATE.

I actually love it when I get truly angry at a character in a book. Why? The above quote sums it up nicely. If I have a mad case of rage towards a character, I definitely care and am invested in the writing enough to be so filled with turmoil. I love that. I love getting the feels for fictional characters, and I am always impressed when an author can churn up some true anger in me. So without further ado, here are my Top Two Characters I Love To Hate.

1. Dolores Umbridge

She is at the very tippy top of my list in terms of nerd rage while reading. I have never been SO ANGRY when reading. There were so many times I sat there, jaw clenched, white-knuckling my copy of Order of the Phoenix whilst reading about her latest horrifying act. I was actually sad when you find out the centaurs did not, in fact, rip her to pieces. I wanted her torn to smithereens, entrails hanging from the Forbidden Forest as a warning to others to not be such a complete douche.

2. Cersei Lannister

I absolutely love what a cold-hearted bitch Cersei is in the books. In fact, I’m not overly enamored with her portrayal on the show – she comes off rather victim-like in some situations and that is just NOT Cersei. She knows what she’s doing. She knows what she wants. And she will do ANYTHING to get it. I love (to hate) that about her. Her cold, calculating manner, her complete disregard for anyone but herself. In the earlier books I was in awe of just how selfish she was. Which made it all the more satisfying as things began to fall apart for her.

Those two have definitely given me the most rage I can think of while reading. There are certainly others I can mention:

Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter (for being such a skeevy jerk), Sansa from Game of Thrones (for her overwhelming naivety), Sandman from the Neil Gaiman comics (while he is the main protagonist, there are many occasions he is just a complete dick), Lucifer from Sandman and his own spinoff series (he IS the devil, I guess it’s not too surprising he would do some angering things). I’m sure I could name more, but that’s a good start.

Are there any characters you just love to hate?

Don’t forget to link up over at Bookworms in Dresses if you join in on Fictional Fridays!

Links to the Past

Hyrule crest

  • I know Christmas is over and whatnot, but if you missed it you absolutely must looks at EPBOT’s Harry Potter themed tree. HOLY. FRICK. Amazing. I want one to leave up year round.
  • IGGPPC’s blog, +5 Charisma, published this article all about codebreaker Joan Clarke. Very cool to learn more about such an amazing woman, who played such a huge role in WWII codebreaking.
  • Speaking of awesome women in wars, this 93 year old British secret agent is finally accepting recognition for her heroic acts during WWII. And by heroic acts, I mean such things as parachuting into Normandy in order to obtain information to use on D-Day. Seriously amazing stuff.
  • 9 things I wish people understood about anxiety is an amazing article. While directed towards people who don’t suffer from it themselves, it is a wonderful, if a bit heartbreaking, read. As something that is so close to my heart lately, I highly recommend reading through it if you struggle with anxiety yourself, or if you know someone who does.
  • Felicia Day wrote a book! Which you can learn a bit about and preorder. While she seems to fall into the ‘love her or hate her’ category, I have always admired Ms. Day. She never seems to be afraid to be herself, and that is something I really respect.

5 Fandom Friday

42330-fandom-5-friday

This week’s 5 Fandom Friday, hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick is all about Thanksgiving!

Characters I Would Invite To My Thanksgiving Feast!

Seriously, there are SO many choices for this!! Ahhh!! So many characters I’d love to meet in real life. I can’t pick JUST five, so some of them are groups.

1. The Doctor. Ideally the tenth Doctor, but really any would do. I just adore the Doctor and I can only imagine the stories he’d have to share, and how he would interact with everyone else.

2. The Sailor Scouts. I couldn’t pick just one! I just think they’d be a riot all together, and I have always wanted to hang out with the Sailor Scouts. Plus, I would totally recruit Makoto (Sailor Jupiter!) to help me with the cooking! XD

3. Dean Winchester. Dean is just hilarious. I very much appreciate his sense of humor. And I would love to see how he and the Doctor get on. I feel hilarity would ensue in some form. Plus, he would appreciate all the pies and baked goods I’d make, which is never a bad thing.

4. Merry and Pippin. You can’t have one without the other! Well you can, but then it’s heartbreaking and makes me cry (I’m looking at you Return of the King….). Anywho, not only would the two of them love to sit down to a massive meal, I just love them. Plus they could lead us all in fabulous songs.

5. Fred and George Weasley. Yes, I realize Fred died in Deathly Hallows but it’s my fantasy dinner so too bad! 😀 Seriously, the two of them would just complete this mix. I’m picturing massive amounts of pranks, them joining in song with Merry and Pippin, and doing all sorts of magic to Dean. It’d be a riot.

Despite being an introvert, when it comes to the holidays I love a loud, boisterous get together full of laughter! That’s just how my family has always done it – we all talk across the table, and laugh a LOT. We just love to have a good time, and that’s the vibe I’d want at my Thanksgiving feast!

5 Fandom Friday

42330-fandom-5-friday

Another Friday, another post for The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick‘s awesome linkup! This week’s theme:

Characters I’d Love To Dress Up As

I haven’t actually done too much dressing up in my adult life. I did have one year where I went all out with a Rocky Horror costume, which was both terrifying and liberating all at the same time. But other than that, there haven’t been many! I’d really like to change that in the coming years, especially as my daughter is now old enough to really love dressing up. I would love to do family Halloween costumes!

1. Princess Peach
My love for Princess Peach has nothing to do with the Mario games. I developed a love for her thanks to Super Smash Bros. Melee, where she debuted as a playable character. There is something so inherently satisfying about kicking ass in a poofy pink dress and heels. And let’s not forget my favorite part: smashing someone in the face with a cast iron frying pan. As a housewife/SAHM, I just find a cast iron frying pan hilarious as I can see using one as an actual weapon if necessary (those bad boys are so heavy!).

2. Dark Elf/Drow
This would probably be the most challenging to ever do. My biggest concern: How the heck would I darken my skin without being completely (yet unintentionally) offensive?? Plus, many of the costumes have a lot of complex armor elements of which I have no clue how to make. But I’ve always loved the Drow and think it would be awesome to portray one someday!

3. Aerith
As one of my favorite characters of all time, I’d love to dress up as her! My friends and I want to have a Final Fantasy themed Halloween one year, where we each pick our fave FF character to portray, so I think this one is doable at some point

4. Wizard from Harry Potter
This one is definitely doable. My hubs and I both want to dress up as a wizard (he’d be Ravenclaw, I’d be Gryffindor) and we have our little miss be our owl!

5. Link
Even though I love the Legend of Zelda series, I don’t really have a desire to dress up as Princess Zelda. I’m all about Link! Plus, I’d have fun making different items from the games! Ideally I’d make this a family costume, but I’d have to do some serious convincing of the hubs. Though I think he’d make an awesome Ganondorf. My little could either be Princess Zelda (she would love that) but I’d really like her to dress up as Tingle! I think it’d be so cute! And in case you don’t know Tingle, here’s a pic.

Seriously, how cute would that be for a four year old?! Though I’d probably leave off the goatee. 😉

5 Fandom Friday

This weeks theme in the awesome link up hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick is Geeky Clothing Items I Need In My Closet Immediately! Actually, a huge portion of my wardrobe is already geek clothing. My standard outfits consist of jeans and tees, and most of my tees are fandom related. But really, can one ever have enough?!

1. I love The Fifth Element, and this shirt needs to be in my wardrobe. The body outline where LeeLoo crashed through the cab just kills me. It was originally sold on ThinkGeek, but is no longer there – I’d have to hit up eBay to snag one now!

2. Basically every shirt that has art by Megan Lara. I love this Princess Peach one, but almost every design she has is amazing. I’m particularly fond of these: Luna Lovegood, Rapunzel, Tenth Doctor.

3. This Harry Potter bracelet. You can find it all over Etsy, but I like this version as the charms are silver as opposed to gold (I much prefer silver!).

4. Although I don’t think I have the guts to actually wear a bandage dress I am so in love with this one!! I like that the design flows well with the body instead of just being a bunch of random items chucked on.

5. This hoodie!! I live in hoodies in the fall and spring (especially as my grey peacoat lost a button at the end of last fall and I haven’t located another or gotten a new coat) and I love this one with the Hyrule crest. I like that it isn’t just a plain hoodie with the crest slapped on which is what I most often see. Plus, it’s actually a women’s hoodie which I appreciate for the cut. I love a comfy guy sweatshirt, but it’s nice to have a fitted one as well.

I could list so many more! Geek is kind of a staple in my wardrobe. Don’t forget to check out The Nerdy Girlie’s post, and all the other link up posts!

5 Fandom Friday: Gateway Fandoms That Made Me Who I Am Today

The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick are hosting a link up for Fridays in October all about fandoms! Since I love any reason to talk about my fandoms, I’ll be joining in and moving Links to the Past to Saturday for this month. It’ll be back next Saturday so stay tuned!

This week’s topic is the 5 gateway fandoms that made me who I am today. Let’s see. . .

 

1. Sailor Moon
So much of my life has been shaped by Sailor Moon funnily enough. It kicked off my love for drawing and is what got me seriously into art. My walls were pasted with pictures I’d printed out to draw. I owned every VHS movie (I’m 95% sure I’d still cry watching Sailor Moon R: Promise of the Rose). I discovered so many other animes and mangas I love because of it. And it made for some amazing memories in middle school – me and my group of friends playing Sailor Moon at recess! I still love watching Sailor Moon Crystal (though I’m behind by an episode!). It just brings up such wonderful feeling of nostalgia.

 

2. The Legend of Zelda/Final Fantasy
(Click the pic for the artist’s website – most amazing mashup EVER!! :D) I’ve already talked these games to death while doing the Video Game Blog Challenge last month, so suffice to say they made me realize just how amazing video games can be.

 

3. Pokemon
I met my best friend of now almost seventeen years because of Pokemon. I was into the games and trading card game, and she was the go-to girl for card trading. We started talking, hit it off, and have been best friends ever since! I can’t imagine my life without her, so I definitely can’t leave Pokemon off this list. I remember the cards being banned in school, and it was the first experience I ever had with adults thinking games/video games were a negative thing.

 

4. Farscape
This was the first show that made me enjoy the sci-fi genre. I grew up watching the original Star Trek and Doctor Who with my dad, but I was never really into them. I was always a fantasy gal, and just couldn’t get attached to anything in sci-fi land. Farscape changed all that. I fell in love with every character, every storyline, and have enjoyed a lot more sci-fi since then!

 

5. Harry Potter
Although I didn’t start the series until Book 3 was out, I became immediately hooked. I attended the midnight release for each book thereafter, and holed up for a day just so I could read it in one sitting. I cried reading the final book. I couldn’t believe such a monumental series was over. It’s still one of my favorites to re-read!

Video Game Blog Challenge: Questions 1 – 3

1. My First Video Game

My very first two games are some classic oldies. Centipede for the Atari, and Gorilla Basic for DOS (does anyone remember DOS for computers?). I was probably five or six years old, and my dad taught me how to play both.

I loved Centipede, and in my six year old head I kicked ass it. In reality, that’s highly doubtful.

Centipede cap

Gorilla Basic was harder, but I still liked it. Here’s a basic layout of the game: Two gorillas are on opposites ends of a city atop skyscrapers. They throw apparently explosive bananas at each other in an attempt to blow the other gorilla up. To throw your banana, you have to calculate the velocity and angle needed to hit the other gorilla, taking wind speed into account. Clearly this was not math I was doing at age six, so I do remember my dad giving me a jumping off point, and then I took over with trial and error. Missing was just as much fun, as you ‘blew up’ giant chunks of building in great 8-bit graphics.

GBasic

I still have such clear memories of playing Gorilla Basic. The triumph I felt when I blew up my brother’s monkey. My delight at his annoyance. That game probably started what would be years to come of sibling video game rivalry.

Centipede and Gorilla Basic were fun, but they never felt like mine. They were on my dad’s computer (and Atari), which we were not allowed to use without my dad’s permission. The first system that truly felt like mine (even though I had to share it with my brother) was the SEGA Genesis. It was bought just for US. I still remember booting it up and hearing the wonderful SEEEGAAA!! voice blare out. First games for that: Revenge of Shinobi (ridiculously hard), Sonic (ridiculously awesome), and X-Men (which kicked off me reading the comics).

SEGA Games

2. My Favorite Character

It pains me to have to pick favorite characters in video games. It’s like trying to pick your favorite character out of all the books you’ve read. There’s just so many! In so many genres! And they’re all great for different reasons! But, I narrowed it down to two, from two games that 100% defined my gamer life.

First, Link from the Legend of Zelda series. To be perfectly honest, Link as a character is pretty shallow. He’s always kind of the bumbling hero, who just stumbles into the role of guy-who-must-save-the-world. But at nine years old, playing Ocarina of Time for the first time, I loved that. He was just an odd kid, who turned out to be the chosen one to save the world. And I remember thinking at the time THAT COULD BE ME!! I still love Link. How he pretty much always stumbles into the role of hero, and embraces being the chosen one. I also love that he’s never had a voice. It just fits.

evolution-of-link

The second is Aerith (Aeris) Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII. I adored her character. I wanted to be her. I loved her story, I loved that she was the healer of the party (I’ve always favored the healing classes) and I loved her character interactions. I spent hours leveling her, and obviously went the route of her and Cloud for the love story aspect. Needless to say, when she died, I was heartbroken. More on that later in the challenge.

aerith-portrait

3. A Game I Think Is Underrated

This is kind of an odd and old pick, but did anybody every play Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup for the Nintendo Gamecube? I loved that game! I loved it because A) you were playing freaking QUIDDITCH – what’s not to love? and B) The team special moves were so much fun. It was great as you could play as the Hogwart’s house teams (Ravenclaw all the way!!) and as any country for the Quidditch World Cup. I loved to play as France or Australia, because their team special moves were so cool looking, and Japan wasn’t too shabby either. Also, you could collect cards, just like in the books, for different teams/players/etc. Useless collectible unlockables? I’m in. They are a game weakness of mine.

QWC1

QWC2

However, this game certainly had it’s issues. It’s controls were a bit clunky; it took some serious getting used to to navigate. And also, there was no Ireland team. None. WTF?! If I’m being 100% honest, I can’t see anyone who isn’t a Potterhead enjoying this game. Being a huge Potterhead, and this being the closest I could come to playing Quidditch at the time, I adored it.

I’m using the questions from the Video Game Blog Challenge found here. All screenshots/photos you see are found via a basic Google image search. Copyrighted to their respective owners.

Links to the Past

Hyrule crest

  • I am so in love with this hoodie. Yes, I know it’s a mens hoodie but too bad! I usually buy mens anyway for hoodies – I find them so much more comfy. And although I’ve only played the first Assassin’s Creed game, I just love the design of the sweatshirt.

Leaving you with some creepy Zelda fanart today. 😀


Despite my complete fear of spiders, this digital painting of a Skulltula by Nate Hallinan is pretty rad! Though if they looked like that in the Zelda world, I’d die of a heart attack five minutes in.

A-Z Book Survey

Alycia from Habitual Homebody had yet another cool survey post – this time about books! So here it is – feel free to snag it to use yourself.

Author you’ve read the most books from:

I think it’s probably Augusten Burroughs. I’ve read all but two of his books, and they are excellent. Such a brilliant combination of dark humor, sad truths, and honesty. I like that.

Best Sequel Ever:

I think I’ll have to go with ‘The Girl Who Played With Fire’ by Stieg Larsson, which is Book 2 of  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series. I liked ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’, but I wasn’t riveted for the whole book. With Book 2, I was. I could NOT put that book down. Book 3 is fabulous as well – I highly recommend the whole series.

Currently Reading:

‘The Way of Shadows’ by Brent Weeks. It was loaned by a friend who knows I love fantasy novels, and it is quite good so far. And it’s one a trilogy, so I have two more after, yay!

Drink of Choice While Reading:

Tea. But then again, tea is always my drink of choice. However, if it’s super late, or I’m in bed, usually it’s a bottle of water.

E-reader or Physical Book?

I have both, and I like both equally. Originally, I thought I would hate a Kindle. Nothing beats holding a physical book, or that lovely book smell. But when we got our Kindle many years back, I begrudgingly tried it, and found out I like it! It is really so much more convenient in bed than trying to comfortably lay and hold open an 800+ page hardcover book. And since it’s not a standard screen like a computer, I don’t get the headache problem from staring at a screen too long (which is why I will never get a Kindle Fire).

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

I’d have to say Simon from the YA series Mortal Instruments. He’s nerdy, a bit weird, into anime, and hot. Pretty much sums up my actual high school dating experience! But I think he’s realistically the most like me and my friends in high school, therefore, the most likely fictional guy I would’ve dated.

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

‘Lamb’ by Christopher Moore. I was in a bookstore, just browsing the shelves, and I picked up Lamb. At first, I was put off because it had to do with religion (it is a ‘re-telling’ of the Christian gospel according to Christ’s childhood pal, Biff. Yes, it’s a comedy). Now, I have nothing against religion, I myself am just not a religious person so I wasn’t sure I’d be interested in the book. But a complete stranger (a girl about my age ,which was 20 or so at the time) saw me with it and said, “Just read it. You will love it. It’s hilarious.” Well, that was enough for me. I bought it, and it is currently one of my all time favorite books. It IS hysterical, but it has it has sad and serious moments as well. I definitely recommend it.


Hidden Gem Book:

‘Lamb’ by Christopher Moore. See above question.

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

When I was nine or ten years old I read a book called ‘The Daydreamer’ by Ian McEwan. It was the first book I remember that really sucked me into another world. It has fantasy elements in (the main character is constantly daydreaming about his everyday life) and it is the first memory I have of realizing that reading can really show you amazing things.

Just Finished:

The third book in the Gentlemen Bastard series, ‘The Republic of Thieves’ by Scott Lynch. This series is absolutely fantastic, and the first book ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’ is in my top ten books of all time. The Republic of Thieves is good, but not as good as the first two. It suffers from sequel-itis, in that it really seems to be setting you up for the NEXT book, which sounds like it will be far more interesting. But this was still a great read.

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read:

Romance novels. I’ve just never had an interest. I mean, not that I mind stories involving a love story, but for the most part they are secondary plots in the books I like. That being said, I have read the 50 Shade of Grey series, and I don’t consider them love stories. They are basically porn, in book form.

Longest Book You’ve Read:

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, book 2 in his Song of Ice and Fires series. Clocks in at 1,004 pages. Dance with Dragons (Book 5) is longer, but I have yet to read it.

Major book hangover because of:

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. I am not a sappy person, but every since I had a child, I can not handle anything having to do with sick/dying children. This whole book was about kids with cancer. Cue sobbing silently on the couch for half the book, and for about an half an hour after I finished it. But despite that, I highly recommend the book because it is excellent!

Number of Bookcases You Own:

Two.


One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

Besides the entire Harry Potter series, I have read Dry by Augusten Burroughs about eight or nine times. It is in my top ten books of all time, and I love it every time I read it.

Preferred Place To Read:

Curled up on my couch with a blanket.
Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:

“The marks humans leave are too often scars.”
John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“Much of my life had been devoted to trying not to cry in front of people who loved me, so I knew what Augustus was doing. You clench your teeth. You look up. You tell yourself that if they see you cry, it will hurt them, and you will be nothing but a Sadness in their lives, and you must not become a mere sadness, so you will not cry, and you say all of this to yourself while looking up at the ceiling, and then you swallow even though your throat does not want to close and you look at the person who loves you and smile.”
John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“We’re as likely to hurt the universe as we are to help it, and we’re not likely to do either.”
John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

This whole book gave me the feels, but those quotes are a few I really love.

Reading Regret:

The Great Gatsby. I couldn’t even finish it. I didn’t care about a single character in the book, nor any of the events.

Series You Started And Need To Finish (all books are out in series):

The Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Allegiant (the final book) just came out last month, and I bought the whole series but at the time, my hubs had taken over the kindle. When he’s finished, it’s next on my list!

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
World War Z by Max Brooks
Lamb by Christopher Moore

Unapologetic Fangirl For:

The Mortal Instruments series – they’re a YA series, and while I recognize they aren’t spectacular, I thoroughly enjoy them!

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:

Allegiant (final book in the Divergent trilogy) which just came out, and the next Gentlemen Bastard book which probably won’t be out for years, as the most recent one just came out last month. But I want more!

Worst Bookish Habit:

Constantly adding to my ‘Want To Read’ list on Goodreads without ever actually reading books on that list. I’m usually too frugal to constantly buy books, so I read books my neighbor loans me that aren’t on my list (but at least they’re good!).

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (Book 2 of the Mistborn series – excellent series!!)

Your latest book purchase:

Bought The Republic of Thieves (Book 3 of Gentlement Bastards) and the Divergent trilogy on the same day.

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

When I first read the Divergent series. I could NOT put those books down – definitely my favorite YA series. I had a couple late-nighters with the Mortal Instruments books as well.

Hope you got some new books you’d like to read out of this – I did in reading the previous answers! I tend to sway towards fantasy novels, and I have a soft spot for YA series so if you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them.

signature image

Connect With Me