We really managed to pack in a lot of fun this weekend. I saw Alex for the first time in half a year, played some WoW, went on a 17 mile bicycle ride, talked comics with the waitress at California Shabu Shabu, hiked up Turtle Rock View Point, went to a BBQ, went swimming, indoor rock-climbed, worked on my game, almost finished a DIY vinyl toy, and watched Scott Pilgrim.
I’m beat.
Friday was Alakazam Comics’ Midnight Madness Sale in which everything in the store was 20% to 80% off normal prices. I was at Yogurtland when I remembered and decided to stop into the store. Of course, I ended up with a large haul.
Siege
I’m not even ready to read Siege yet, but this hardcover collection would give me the story in one convenient book. I’ve wanted to read the important events in the Marvel universe with focus on the Avengers. I’ve read Secret War, Avengers Disassembled, House of M, and Civil War. Will, manager at Alakazam, has helped me decide what to read to next, and I purchased Secret Invasion a month or so ago. Despite not having read it yet, I couldn’t pass the chance to get Siege at a big discount.
Grandville Bête Noire
gem picked this one. Grandville seems to be a steampunk, alternate history title starring a detective that’s an anthropomorphic badger. We didn’t realize until we bought it that it’s the third in a series. gem already started reading it and says it seems to stand alone well, but I still feel like we should pick up the other two.
The Complete Maus
I’ve been wanting to read this for a while too. Maus is a graphic novel by cartoonist Art Spiegelman. Spiegelman retells his interview with his father about his life as a Polish Jew and Holocause survivor through the graphic novel. It’s won the Pulitzer Prize, so it must be good. I’m looking forward to reading it.
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life Color Edition
It’s about time I start collecting the color edition of Scott Pilgrim. They didn’t have the second one though. Dang, the sale work! I need to go pick up the second one (possibly this week).
Adventure Time Volumes 1 and 2
These are gem picks as well, although I’ll be reading them as well. If the Adventure Time graphic novels are anything like the TV show, they should be a lot of fun.
The haul came to a little over $100. On our way out, we filled out raffle tickets before leaving for the evening. But then…
…gem got an e-mail saying she won something in the raffle! We headed back to the store later in the weekend;,gem was given the choice of any graphic novel from a box of different titles. I was leaning toward Batman: Earth One, but it wasn’t my call. She asked what Fables was and learned that it was about characters from fairy tales and folklore living in the real world. This particularly novel. Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland is a tale of the Big Bad Wolf. She chose this, and I’m pretty fascinated by it as well.
As a bonus, they threw in two other comics as well. Godzilla: Kingdom Of Monsters issue 1 was interesting. Apparently IDW Publishing created over one hundred variants of the cover for various retailers. You can see Alakazam getting crushed by Godzilla in the comic. The other bonus was Alakazam: 10 Years of Fun, a book about Alakazam created in honor of the store’s tenth anniversary. It contains works from both fans and Alakazam employees and includes comics, prose, poetry, and more. It’s a fun piece of history!
It was a bigger haul than I intended to purchase, but I’m happy! Now the trouble will be finding the time to actually read some of this.
I saw this cosplay and had to share. Steven Heath, a.k.a. Kirix, comments “I always loved being Princess Peach in the Mario Bros. Games so I decided to genderswap her to pay my respects to this wonderful and fabulous princess.” More information and pictures can be found on his DeviantArt and Facebook.
I really love his costume. The pink suit and shoes make sense, but the accessories are even better. I’m not surprised that he has a crown, and the necklace is a nice touch, but the walking stick and cape with the chain clasp across the front are great.
The photograph also contains Maria, a genderswapped Mario, a cosplay by MaddyPointer Cosplay (DeviantArt, Facebook). The photograph was by Ron Berg Photography.
Session 3 of the D&D Campaign The Five Stars, Saturday, 5/11/13.
Now that the group realized that the kobold they were fighting was a zombie, they realized they had to better arm themselves. Their weapons were all for piercing or bludgeoning, and they needed weapons used for slashing. Moonwhisper Johnson remembered that the hobgoblin they killed had a longsword. Not wanting to get attacked while weakened, the group climbed out of the canyon and decided to rest. With a good night’s rest and the healing of Button, Sunshine felt almost as strong as ever, and Moonwhisper Johnson felt perfect.
The party backtracked into the forest, looking for the location at which they fought the hobgoblin. Moonwhisper tried to get Sunshine to spell the thumb he took from the hobgoblin thinking he could track it, but Sunshine simply ate the thumb. They gave up and searched the old-fashioned way. Eventually the group located the site of the attack, and Moonwhisper took the longsword. After trekking back to the canyon, they once again entered the cave.
In was dark and dirty in the cave with two openings in the current chamber, one on their left and one on their right. In the middle of the room, the kobold zombie still stood. The group managed to slay it easily now that they had the right weapons. Looking into the room on the left, they found what must be a dining chamber with three tables and some piles of rotting meat and fruit. Unfortunately, the room also contained three kobold skeletons still standing in undeath. They knew slashing weapons would be of no use, so Moonwhisper readied his warhammer and gave a morningstar to Gemmeli. Gemmeli gave her sling to Button so they could each have something to use against the kobold skeletons.
Gemmeli had Sunshine stay back while the group destroyed the skeletons. After clearing the chamber, Moonwhisper Johnson looked for clues as to what caused the undead but found none. However, Gemmeli found a dagger. Moving into the next room, the party found themselves in a long, narrow chamber filled with rugs and furs – a sleeping chamber. They were immediately attacked by a kobold zombie and two kobold skeletons. Button got injured badly and retreated to the previous room. From there she attempted to use her sling, but one shot accidentally hit Gemmeli! Gemmeli’s first wound on her adventure came from a party member with her own weapon no less! While the entire party was wounded, they managed to overcome the undead in this room as well.
It was nice to see things going well. They solved the issue of getting over the damage reduction. There still remains the dilemma of sleeping to regain health and spells while still guarding against attach. It was also fun to progress into a few rooms of the dungeon!
When we went to Zenko Sushi recently, we were asked, as we are every time, “table or bar?” After responding that we wanted “bar,” the hostess took us to two seats in front of Eric and remarked “I know you like these seats.” Sweet!
As usual, dinner was fantastic. gem asked Eric, “can you make a roll that looks like a dragon?” He thought about it and said “no, but I can make an elephant. It’s not edible though. Well, I guess it is if you want.” Then he proceeded to make that fantastic piece of art shown in the photo above!
He did get eaten in a way. Here you can see our wasabi elephant taking a bath! Tasty.
I also took back the mayorship from Tam. I should meet Tam and go get sushi with him some day.
Saturday, May the Fourth, was Star Wars day. (It’s a pun on “May the Force be with you,” but you all knew that already, right?) Spectacles Improv performed a Star Wars show, and as a fan of both improv and Star Wars, I couldn’t miss it.
The show was awesome. There were a lot of people I liked, and it’d be hard to talk about specifics. But I’m going to do so anyways. Alex was Yoda and the Emperor. He was great, and his make-up was especially fantastic. I also liked Jac as the Imperial cadet quite a bit. Lloyd was a funny C-3PO; I enjoyed it when he translated Chewbacca’s song. In another scene, he was being carried by Chewbacca. I forget the exact game, but it was one in which people step forward when they have something to say. The person playing Chewbacca walked to the front of the stage backwards, effectively volunteering Lloyd as C-3PO. They probably talked about it ahead of time, but it was still really funny. Also, check out Lando in the picture on the left. I forget the name of the performer, but I liked his costume!
After the Star Wars show, I saw Lloyd in the lobby, and I had the opportunity to introduce myself to him. I was critical of him on the blog previously, and I just felt like he had a right to know who I was. I plan on coming to a lot of shows in the future, and I don’t want to awkwardly feel like I’m hiding. He was very nice, I enjoyed talking with him. Plus to be completely honest, he’s becoming one of my favorite performers! He’s particularly witty and quick-thinking.
After a brief break, there was a Comedy Kaze show. They performed 45 scenes in 45 minutes, with the scene names coming from suggestions written before the show. My scene was “super itchy,” which they turned into a scene about a superhero named Super Itchy. His nemesis was Wool Sweater. gem’s scene was “a Cinco de Mayo Miracle.” In that scene, someone brought tequila to a party. They thought it would only last a short time, but miraculously it lasted for days!
It was a very entertaining night, even if I was jittery because of coffee!