I'm out of superhero supplies.

A long time ago, I went to the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.  I should clarify a long time for me is like almost four years ago or something like that.   I got myself a bucket of X-Ray vision for later use.

Unfortunately I found it today and it went bad (aka the kool-aid powder I didn't realize was there crystalized) so now I'm out of X-Ray vision...

Anyone want to get me some from brooklyn?  You never know what crime fighting awaits at my new apartment.

Old writing

One of the weird experiences you have when you're a writer is if you find old work of yours.  The older it is, regardless how good other people may feel it is, the worse you look on it.  You want to edit it, or pitch it all together.  Writing is a skill that grows and evolves with the writer, whether or not they admit it.

So packing and getting ready for my new place I have found a ton of writing from when I was from ages 11 to 18.  Some for school and some for my own enjoyment.  And let me tell you, it's embarrassing to read some of it.  But some of it is actually quite good.  Things I have noticed:

-At least back then, my short stories were well written.  I think since I didn't have a lot of time, it was easier to make short stories great.

-I am definitely over my Mary-Sue phase, and I'm so much happier for it.

-Poetry is not my strong point, but it's good enough that if I wanted to write lyrics for a living it's possible that I could.

-Deciding to think about plot and character motivation first is one of the best decisions I ever made in my writing process.

-Writing for a webcomic and trying to be funny is a lot harder than it seems when it's just you and your good friend talking about the scripts.

-Also, a webcomic premise based in a "not-mall"is not a good setting.  Especially if half the comic is based around that premise.

-I get pretty profound ideas, great philosophical concepts, but I need to work on making them tangible and understandable to the reader.  At least, I needed to work on that then, I'm not sure how much I need to work on it now.

-I don't think I'm going back to first person ever again.  I love the powers I have in third person.

-I've gotten much better at making characters complex, especially antagonist.  Not to say I can't get even better.

-No matter how long of a gap I may have, I will always be a writer.

It's really funny to think that through most of my life, I never saw myself as a potential author until recently, because I was always writing something.  Even in college I would get play ideas and stories that I had to put on paper.  I just wished I had been more observant sooner.  Not that it would've changed much, but it never hurts to know yourself better.

Also, thank you for the laughs, past self.  Some of this stuff, although good for where I was, is still funny to think I wanted to do.

The Nerd Couple, Episode Two

Another dose of geek for the week.

Download here!  Stream here!

Every other week, hear the discussions of The Nerd Couple, starring d20 Sapphire and Mystic.  They discuss geeky news and topics, and approach it from our unique nerd upbringings.

This week:  Going to our official format, goofiness and nerd talk abound, and Mystic has seen the light about Star Trek 5!  How far is too far when you're nerdifying your residence?  d20 Sapphire ponders as she readies for her new apartment. Awesome: The new Mortal Kombat series.  Not so Awesome: The death of Jerry Lawson.  Biweekly BS: Hating on Jeri Ryan and ridiculous expectations of women in video games (but just a taste of that debate).

Special thanks to EsTeeKay of Binary Protege Productions for supplying the intro music, and for promising us video game remixes in the future.  As soon as he's done with finals, more music will come.

Email d20sapphire@gmail.com for topic suggestions and feedback!  The Nerd Couple would love to hear from you.  

Things for the New Place

Some of you who follow my twitter (@d20sapphire) may have noticed I now have my own place!  I'm excited to say I can now afford to move out on my own and into my own apartment, and I even have money saved up to buy furniture!   The next step is to make sure that the digs are to make sure it's respectably geeky.

Think Geek has some great stuff that I know I'm going to get.  Most of it is for the kitchen:

Nice little details here and there.  The next thing is something I promised I would hang up in my next place merely because it is such an awesome poster:

By LegendaryTigerHero on Etsy

I would love to have a bunch of refined art up, but I feel that this represents my personality more than some of the fine art available.

Coming up in the the next Nerd Couple podcast I'll talk about the debate I had with myself about how far to go, but these things will definitely be gracing my new home.

DnD Recap: New Additions

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

The PCs decided to stay in the superbly urban Ouestpolis to find Jareth, having to leave Roto behind across seas to pursue other growingly important life pursuits.

Atreyu did some reconnaissance to find a place where Jareth was known to hang out.  Instead, Escrow found an old (and strange looking bat-like) druid friend of his named Pippy, who was travelling with Oakland Bash, cleric of many missions. Escrow invited them along, though the urgings of Atreyu and Bram prevented them from revealing their true reasons as to why to seek out Jareth.  Pippy had seen Jareth the other day in another inn, and the PCs head over there.  Indeed Jareth was there, and he was joined by two bodyguards, who didn't seem to be natural creatures.  After observing him for a while, Atreyu approached him and with a little help from Bram, learned a little bit about who may have bought young Teleport Mavericks for nefarious reasons.  The team was sent on the trail of a coin.

A particularly thin coin of Vidrigan origin was found in a shop where Jareth restrung his ukelele, that was originally from a brown haired gentleman.  The druids did scrying to find that the man was someone who was talking to a notable man in Vidrigan politics.  The team decided it was best to not follow the man and start acts of war.

Instead, they headed back to the capital, where Pippy and Oakland were introduced to Queen Elish before being excused while the other three shared their findings.  They were dismissed and after a couple hours the group was about to meet up where Atreyu was enjoying his house arrest on the Hughes estate when there was an attack in the front of the castle.  More undead with long arms, talking and preaching, before the team, old and new, defeated them.

Dwarves... what to say?

Sometimes I ask people what I should blog about, but then I get suggestions like dwarves.  And not any elaboration on that.  Just: "Dwarves".  And I take it because I really want to write something, I'm just not sure what.

What is there to say about dwarves really?  Well I guess there are a few things...

We need to decide as a nerd collective whether or not dwarven women have beards.  Seriously, I'm tired of this insinuated guessing game.  Many places decide they dont (Dragon Age, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder) but it's still alluded to time and time again.  Let's get consistent on that.  Either give them beards or have them be beardless.

Dwarves, I think of all the fantasy characters, tend to be the most consistent with how they're perceived.  Elves may possibly be more popular, but they get a reboot from time to time.  Dwarves are almost timeless.  As soon hear dwarf you know immediately they're short and broad and probably making something out of stone/metal, or defending the honor of something.

However, dwarves are the ones you'd least expect in the future.  Maybe because we tie them so close to the earth, that anything above that gets "unbelievable.  I do use that term loosely, since we're talking about fantasy.  But imagining dwarves in space is (funny and) incomprehensible.

Alright, I've rattled on enough aimlessly about dwarves.  Do you all have anything to add?

The Nerd Couple, Episode One

The Boyfriend and I have decided to make a podcast!

Download here!  Stream here!

Every other week, hear the discussions of The Nerd Couple, starring d20 Sapphire and Mystic.  They discuss geeky news and topics, and approach it from our unique nerd upbringings.

This week: Introduce ourselves, how we met, and introduce our 2 segments: Awesome/Not So Awesome and Biweekly B.S. Awesome: Nintendo 3DS.  Not so Awesome: live action adaptions of anime.  Biweekly B.S. will discuss why Bioware shouldn't make homosexual possibilities "optional".

We thank you for giving our first episode a listen!  Please spread the word if you like what we talk about.

Links:

Ashens- mentioned for his hilarious reviews

Special thanks to EsTeeKay of Binary Protege Productions for supplying the intro music, and for promising us video game remixes in the future.

Also thanks to Saki Kaska for making the song at the end of our podcast, Callista, which many have heard from the the Mass Effect 2 soundtrack.  Saki Kaska, if you see this, please link me to your site so more people can appreciate your awesome from the direct source.

Email d20sapphire@gmail.com for topic suggestions and feedback!  The Nerd Couple would love to hear from you.  

Happy April First

In the central time zone the April Fool's day jokes are almost over.  I wasn't feeling super creative today, but I figured I would at least give you a link to this old gag.  It's an old one I know some of you are tired of, but it's still a favorite of mine.

In somewhat the same vain, I can't wait to post up some music from my brother, EsTeeKay, when he does some video game remixes I've prompted him to do.  If you want a sample of some of his likes and work, his facebook page for him and his company is here.  Enjoy!