Monday Mix Up #8

Hello Monday! This week's theme is black cats, because 1) they are fitting for the month of October 2) I love cats and 3) I desperately want a black cat. Also, if you missed last Friday's Poppin' Off post about Forever 21's Bats and Cats collection, I highly suggest you read it as it fits nicely with today's theme :)

Personal Protection Cat Keychain
Your personal protection matters, but it doesn't have to be ugly. This cute cat can be used against attackers if you're ever in that position. Just be careful to maintain your grip, as with all personal safety devices, it can be used against you if your attacker gets ahold of it. Just jab with the cat ears into a sensitive area and run.

Salem Saberhagen! My favorite black cat. 

Gif from College Candy.

My second favorite black cat (and favorite NCIS agent), Thackery Binx from Hocus Pocus!

Fun fact, his human self was played by Sean Murray, but voiced by Jason Marsden (who also voiced him in cat form).

This Muertos Black Cat Greeting Card from AfricanGrey is amazing.

Buy it here. 

Ricky Martin- Livin La Vida Loca. 

Only for the black cat reference at the beginning of the song :)

Halloween Costume 2013

I don't usually dress up for Halloween, but this year I've caught the bug. After San Diego Comic Con, I started seeing lots of photos of cosplayers dressed as hipster Disney princesses. I've seen the memes and think they're great, but seeing people dress like that....well, I think its pretty darn cool. It was a toss up between Belle and Snow White. Belle has always been one of my favorites because of her love of books, while Snow White was more of a looks thing (growing up, I got told I looked like her almost every day.) I went back and forth internally for a few days and I have decided to be Hipster Belle.

Here's a link to my Pinterest board that I've made for inspiration. I pretty much have all my costume components already, but if Halloween goes well, I may wear it to Stan Lee's Comikaze in November (I'll be there the 3rd, more than likely), so it will probably need some tweaking.

I want to put this on my shirt.

Image from here. 

I ordered these pants from Target. I haven't received them yet, 

but the picture looks light, so I bought some dye to darken them.

 What are you going to be for Halloween? 

Poppin' Off- Bats and Cats Collection at Forever 21

Forever 21 really surprises me sometimes. I never would've guessed them to be such a retailer of comic inspired clothing, but over the past few months they have really shone in the nerdy fashion department. Their latest collection, Bats and Cats, is equally amazing, and a must for true Batman/Catwoman fans.
Priced from $2.80 (Gone Batty Nail Stickers) to $42.80 (Standout Bat Jacket), the collection is easy on the wallet. And, as an added bonus, there's a mens collection too! Below are some of my favorite picks from the Bats and Cats Collection.

Gone Batty PJ Onesie $24.80

Batty Canvas Loafers $26.80

And from the men's collection:

Bat-Kitten Tee $12.80

Batman and Robin Tee $14.80

Poppin' Off Early Edition- Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC's The Walking Dead

Have you ever watched The Walking Dead and wondered how you'd fair if you were in a situation like theirs? Have you ever wondered if a zombie apocalypse is even plausible, and if so, would you be able to identify what you needed to do to survive? If you answered yes to these questions, then I suggest you enroll in this free, online class taught by University of California Irvine instructors (see their official press release here).

The class starts on October 14, the day after the Season 4 premiere. They have special provisions put in place to avoid spoilers for those who have yet to see each episode. Below is the course description from the enrollment site:

From understanding social identities to modeling the spread of disease, this eight-week course will span key science and survival themes using AMC’s The Walking Dead as its basis. Four faculty members from the University of California, Irvine will take you on an inter-disciplinary academic journey deep into the world of AMC’s The Walking Dead, exploring the following topics:

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—is survival just about being alive?
• Social order and structures—from the farm and the prison to Woodbury
• Social identity, roles, and stereotyping—as shown through leaders like Rick and the Governor
• The role of public health in society—from the CDC to local community organizations
• The spread of infectious disease and population modeling—swarm!
• The role of energy and momentum in damage control—how can you best protect yourself?
• Nutrition in a post-apocalyptic world—are squirrels really good for you?
• Managing stress in disaster situations—what’s the long-term effect of always sleeping with one eye open?

Each week we’ll watch engaging lectures, listen to expert interviews, watch exclusive interviews with cast members talking about their characters, use key scenes from the show to illustrate course learning, read interesting articles, review academic resources, participate in large and small group discussions, and—of course—test our learning with quizzes. We recommend that you plan on spending about two (2) to four (4) hours per week on this course, though we believe the course is compelling enough you’ll want to spend more time.

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe how infectious diseases—like a zombie epidemic—spread and are managed
• Apply various models of society and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to existing and emerging societies as a means for understanding human behavior
• Analyze existing social roles and stereotypes as they exist today and in an emerging world
• Debate the role of public health organizations in society
• Describe how mathematical equations for population dynamics can be used to study disease spread and interventions
• Apply concepts of energy and momentum appropriately when analyzing collisions and other activities that either inflict or prevent damage
• Summarize multiple methods for managing stress in disaster situations

The links I've included have my friend code (WP3MM8) in them. When you enroll with a friend code, it links you to others who are also using that code. According to the email they send you after enrollment, the code will help you survive attacks from biters, walkers, the living....and might help you win cool prizes. And the super cool part is, you get your own friend code once you sign up, so you can share the fun and have your own fair shot at winning prizes. I am very excited for this and I hope you'll join me.  

Links:

AMC's The Walking Dead

UC Irvine and their press release

Society, Science, Survival: Lessons Learned From AMC's The Walking Dead 

Walking Dead photo from fanpop.com

WoW Wednesday- Contributors Wanted/Needed

Hello! If school wasn't draining my ability to write nice, lengthy and articulate posts, I'd be writing a lot more about WoW :) With that being said, I am looking for some lady WoW players to do profiles on. Also, I'd really like someone for a guest post on the Siege of Orgrimmar content (I still have yet to make it there myself). If you're interested, leave me a comment below with an email address that's good to reach you quickly at. I'd really appreciate it!! Thanks!!

Monday Mix Up #7

Maybe a theme to these Monday Mix Ups will make them easier to do? We shall see. This week's theme is.... Fall!!! I don't get leaves that change color where I live, and its still like 80something degrees every day. So this is a (mostly) wishful thinking fall list.

Childish Gambino- Lights Turned On

1) The picture is pretty fall leaves. 2) I love this song. Who am I kidding? I love every song on the EP. He's the best. 3) I listened to EP a lot during the rainy months last year. It made driving to school in that mess more tolerable. 

I want leaves like this. Someday I would like to visit the East Coast during Fall, so I can see something like this in real life. 

Image from weather.com.

 I really would like to visit Disneyland at Halloween time. Christmastime is another goal. Image from weheartit. 

Yeah, pretty much none of these things apply to Fall here (except Thanksgiving, pumpkin carving and yummy smelling candles), but a girl can dream. Image from weheartit.

Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist. Its seasonal and its delicious. 

And speaking of seasonal deliciousness, here are my top food picks:

Pumpkin everything!!! So yummy! 

Image from Elana's Pantry.

Honeycrisp Apples. I love these things! 

Image from Exploits of a Vegan Wannabe.

Holiday Seedless Grapes. These are the best grapes. 

Image from Harvest Ranch Markets.

What are your favorite fall things?

Poppin' Off- Nerdy Reality TeeVee

Being nerdy is a thing now. So like anything thats trendy, there are teevee shows about being nerdy. Some might say it even exploits being nerdy. I'm going to talk about a few shows and how I feel about them, and feel free to tell me in the comments below if you think reality nerd teevee is helpful or detrimental to the nerd culture.

*My Life As Liz (MTV)- This to me is the first reality nerd teevee show. Started in 2010, it followed Liz Lee and her Nerd Herd through her senior year in a small Texas town. By the time Season 2 was set to air, plenty of critics had come out against the show, calling it more of a sitcom or scripted reality show than actual reality (MTV prefers to call it a mockumentary at this point). I loved the show, I loved Liz Lee. I still think shes a good representation of a nerd girl and it was a nice change of pace from the regular trashy chicks MTV usually features on their "reality"  shows.

This is the Season One cast of My Life as Liz.

*King of the Nerds (TBS)- I was so excited for this show, and I don't think it disappointed. Nerdy guys and gals living in the same house, completing nerd based challenged for a chance to be the King of the Nerds. I felt that the guys that were cast for the first season fit the nerd stereotype a lot more than the girls did (with the exception for Alana. And when I wasn't hating her for being annoying, I felt sorry for her, because she didn't fit in at all). My favorites for the season were Ivan and Danielle (aka TradeChat! I post her WoW videos from time to time), and even though neither one of them won, they did get awfully close. And I think Genevieve probably should've been the winner, because she was nerdier than Celeste. BUT, it was a game, and Celeste is a pro gamer, so its really no surprise.

That's me with Ivan at WonderCon this year in Anaheim. He was such a nice guy and I was having a total fangirl freakout meeting him! 

*Heroes of Cosplay (SyFy)- Honestly, I didn't know this show existed until about two weeks ago. I mean, I heard a little about it on Instagram (its actually the reason I'm writing this), but I couldn't tell you anything about it. I was writing a paper on gender confusion and needed some background noise. I saw that the SyFy channel was marathoning the show, so I clicked over to it. Big mistake. I was sucked in right away, and it took forever for me to get my paper done. I've heard a lot of cosplayers complain about the show though, saying its too Project Runway and portrays the world of cosplay as cutthroat and mean. Well, I love Project Runway, maybe that's why I got sucked in? Lol, really though. I didn't catch that vibe. And as far as the cattiness, or drama that was shown, well......that's reality teevee for you. But, I am also not a cosplayer, so I don't know anything about costume construction or contests or anything about that world. And if I had a hobby that I loved and a show was made about it, but I thought it misrepresented it, I'd be pretty pissed too.

*Fangasm (SyFy)- Oh Fangasm, the new kid on the block. I didn't get to watch the show the night it premiered, I had to wait a few days (thank goodness for DVRs). I heard that this show is what nerd reality teevee is supposed to be, and its the second reason why I'm writing this. But......I didn't see the difference between this show and say, King of the Nerds. Here, they are seven interns, working to make Stan Lee's Comikaze a success. Okay. But they are still living in the same apartment, and are still completing nerdy objectives. To me, its like a nerdy version of Real World (awkward hot tubs moments and all). Doesn't mean I hate it though. In fact, I really loved how Molly was so disappointed when they went to the Geek Pride Day event, and saw all the skanky girls dressed as superheroes and actually said something about it exploiting geek culture. Its fake geek girls like them that give the rest of us a bad name, and kudos to Molly for pointing it out. I think there will be a lot of fun to come out of the series, and hopefully there will be a season two so I can audition :) Who wouldn't want to intern for Stan freaking Lee?!!?!

The cast of Fangasm.