Star Wars Episode VII: The Little Mermaid.....

So the last thing I ever thought I would be blogging about is the fact that the almighty George Lucas, creator and Supreme Overlord of Star Wars has SOLD his company, Lucasfilm Ltd.... to DISNEY!

You can read more here or just do a quick google search, but the basics of the deal are for a total of $4.05 Billion in cash and stocks George Lucas has sold his 100% share of Lucasfilm Ltd to Disney who are planning a new movie- reportedly Episode VII- for release in 2015.

Now this to me is something I never, EVER contemplated happening. It just seemed obvious that Lucas wouldn't reliquish the control he has over Star Wars, especially not to a major studio, but thinking about it in hindsight of this news... it was kind of inevitable to happen. He won't live forever and I think he is one of those people who would hate to think that what he created would just die out with him. He wants it to continue(whether for altruistic reasons or otherwise).

So my question now is what sort of new stuff apart from this film can we expect as a result of this? Also I really want to know what the new film will be about. I'm nervous and excited for the future of Star Wars all at once!

Also... what silly names can you think of for Star Wars Episode VII?


~~ Random Logic ~~

Sydnova 2012!

IT'S SYDNOVA TIME ONCE MORE!

For many people in Australia who are massive fans of science fiction, fantasy, anime, comics, and various other fandoms that fall under the general pop-culture banner, Supanova Pop Culture Convention is the go-to event of the year. It travels around and 5-6 of the major cities/population centres of Australia get a taste of Supanova throughout the year.

For those that don't know what Supanova is- It is basically an entire weekend(Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday) devoted to anything you would commonly attribute to geeks. From computer games to books to movies, comics and tv shows. If it is in the category where it can get a massive following then it is generally represented. The main events of the weekend are special guest stars, with photo and autograph sessions as well as individual panels. The next major thing of the weekend is cosplay(costuming up as a favourite character from a particular fandom or even just in something original). Hundreds of people come in costume to these conventions and there is a massive cosplay competition for people who choose to cosplay and many people start planning their cosplay for the following year as soon as one convention is finished or they build on a cosplay and just improve it again and again each year.

Anyway this weekend was the weekend for Sydney Supanova... or Sydnova for short. It is probably one of the most attended of all of the Supanova events being that it is in the centre of Sydney and people do travel from far and wide to attend, even interstate.

I attended Sydnova for the third year in a row this year. I've only ever attended one day of the event but have been getting more and more into the spirit each year. The first year I went as myself, last year I went as a pirate in a generic pirate costume I bought at a costume shop, and this year... this year I went as Vala Mal Doran from Stargate SG-1.

It started with a friend introducing me to someone via Facebook... we got talking about Stargate and Supanova and then I mentioned I was thinking of going as a Stargate character. Someone else chimed in saying I should go as Vala. I agreed as long as someone went as Daniel Jackson and then someone volunteered to make the costume for me and we went from there. This occured back in March. So over the past few months the costume was in the works and I got more and more excited. It was made without using any specific costume patterns, she basically created it from scratch with the dvd's for reference.

It turned out fantastically! She is a genius!

I was recognised by a few different people over the course of the day and took many photos... mostly with Star Wars cosplayers(Darth Vader photobombed my photo with the Emperor!) and I guess that was mostly by choice of my own. I am a self confessed Star Wars fan. There was a harem of Slave Leias and they were all amazing! They had made their costumes from scratch and planned it out together and they had heaps and heaps of attention. Somehow I got roped into a whole bunch of photos (not that I am complaining) and it was pretty entertaining.

The other big thing for me this year was getting some of my hundreds of books signed by their authors. The 2 big drawcards to the Dymock's stand this year were Christopher Paolini who wrote the Eragon series and Matthew Reilly who has written several series including Scarecrow and Seven Ancient Wonders. The other author drawcard for me was Garth Nix who is the author of the Old Kingdom Trilogy of Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen.

I waited in line for about an hour to get 4 of my Matthew Reilly books signed, I accidentally left one at home meaning I now have only one of his books which remains unsigned. I also managed to get a photo with him and some of the Slave Leia harem later on in the day.

I got my brother's Eragon series signed for him and then I got my own Garth Nix novels signed as well. I have been wanting to get a chance to meet Garth Nix for several years now but somehow any book signing he has had in Sydney has always been when I haven't known or been able to attend if I have known. It was awesome and he was a really nice guy. I also went to his and Matthew Reilly's panels which were both fairly interesting. Garth Nix certainly had some good advice for budding authors.

There is only one thing that threw me off today. I was on my way home and at one of the train stations when a guy asked if he could get a pic of me. I said sure and then he decided to tell me I was pretty 'hot' for a cosplayer... I am not sure what world he is living on or maybe I am just modest but I definitely think he may not have been seeing the same people I saw at Sydnova today... good looks are not lacking in the female cosplayers, and many of them are much better looking than myself!

Overall the day was fantastic, and fun. Probably went the quickest of any of the Sydnova days I have attended thus far and definitely something I look forward to in the future. In the meantime I will keep an eye out for any photos lurking about of myself from this year. I know there are sure to be quite a few with the Leia harem... it's just a matter of tracking them down.

~~Random Logic~~

30 Day Book Challenge- Day 3

Okay, so I'm months behind on this and it's appalling. I'm ashamed of myself but as I'm on a train for the next 6 hours I figured I would give myself time to write out some of these blog posts.

Day 3: Book That Makes You Laugh.

This book is part of a series I love a lot. It's the fifth book of the series and definitely not the only one to make me laugh but it is the one that makes me laugh the most. It introduces a whole host of new characters from diverse backgrounds ranging from a former child actor to a Gamorrean pilot into the series. These characters chosen for their piloting skills second behind other skills which combined make them ideal for infiltration missions somehow mesh together and with a notorious prankster in their midst they get up to all sorts of mischief and pranking of not only each other but their enemies too. One of the most memorable involves Ewok humour and continues through into later books.

All in all it is a fantastically written book by Aaron Allston who continues the series in such a way as to be worthy of the preceding books as well as with more humour than any of those books.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that is all for Day 3. I will have another post up hopefully tomorrow or later this week. I do have several that need to be typed up first.

Girls like Sci-Fi too!

There are a few thing I have been told or heard many times in my thus far short lifespan...

Girls don't like Sci-Fi.

Star Wars is for boys.

You like science fiction? Awesome!

And everytime I hear these I am reminded of the fact that I am percieved as being part of a female minority. I'm a geek. And proud to be one! I love Star Wars and Stargate. Farscape and Firefly. I can out-trivia most male friends on the finer points of certain movies *cough cough* Star Wars *cough cough*

What I don't love however is being told that I'm strange for liking these movies and TV shows and that I am a minority. I simply don't believe it!

I recently attended a sci-fi event in Sydney called Gate to the Sanctuary. The main drawcard was Amanda Tapping- better known as Samantha Carter on Stargate or more recently as Helen Magnus on Sanctuary on which she is also an executive producer. She is the most successful sci-fi actress around at the moment. She starred in all ten seasons of Stargate: SG-1 as well as appearing in a season of Stargate:Atlantis and now two full seasons of Sanctuary plus the third season which is currently airing. And she loves it. The talk she gave and the questions she answered were enlightening. I could tell she is a geek herself. But enough of who she is...

Despite the fact that the person I went to the event with was female, I thought that with Amanda Tapping as the drawcard that the majority of the audience would be male. Or a large portion of it at least. I know my brother loves her and I'm sure there are countless male Stargate fans out there who have had dreams of her, but this wasn't the case. The overwhelming majority of the audience was female! I loved it. To me it proved that females who do love science fiction ARE NOT a minority. 

Then it made me think.

Why is it seemingly so hard to find females in everyday life who like sci-fi. What makes guys believe we are a minority. Is it that many females suppress this part of their personality because they believe it will make them unpopular? Do they do it so they won't get teased? It is well known that females can be the harshest critics of those around them, and often present a false facade to the world.

To me this is a shame. 

The greatest example of this is a young girl in the US recently who became the focus of thousands of messages of support from fellow sci-fi fans both male and female. She was getting teased and bullied at school for carrying a Star Wars water bottle because it was for boys.

Why should we have to hide who we are. I have never felt the need to hide what I am. Maybe that's because I grew up in a family where we are who we are. In fact it was my father who got me into science fiction in the first place. As a kid growing up my sister had a stuffed Ewok toy which I always envied. I started reading Star Wars and other science fiction novels before I left primary school. I was borrowing them from the 'Adult Fiction' section of the library. My biggest gripe in highschool was the severe under-representation of science fiction amongst the novels in the school library. And I did my best to read all that I could find. I also managed to make friends with girls who love science fiction. Sure we'd gossip and talk about make-up and such, but we would also sit there and watch Stargate, Star Wars or Star Trek just because we could. Not to mention earning myself the nickname Darth Vader as a joke from a fellow student.

And then I went to Finland. And managed to addict one of my best friends from there to Farscape. She was already a sci-fi fan so it wasn't very hard but she sat there and lost sleep watching Farscape episodes online at 2am in the morning. Even yesterday I managed to get another friend to watch the first episode of Farscape and become a bit of a fan from that single episode. 

I see no shame in showing what I am. If anything the moments I spend with my friends are made that much more entertaining in moments where we let loose on our inner geek and revel in jokes which to many would make no sense.

To me there is no shame in being female and a fan of sci-fi. To me the greatest shame is in those that feel like they should hide who they are, and what they are and present a false facade to the world. 

To all the the ladies out there- Robyn, Shelann, Jemma, Joey, Priscilla, Sylvia, Sarah, Beth, Tiffany, Kailyn, Amy, Niamh, Sophie, Annette, Ashley, Courtney, Cassie and the dozens of others I know and haven't listed:

We are who we are chicas! Show it! Be proud! Scream it to the world! 

 

WE ARE NOT A MINORITY. 

WE EXIST. 

WE ARE FEMALE AND WE ARE GEEKS!

~~ Random Logic ~~