NWHL Team Stuff

I’m a big fan of the NWHL. At this point, it’s easy to be a fan of pretty much the whole league. The Whale are a team of winner led by an awesome defense. The Riveters are pulling together as a team to get their victories. The Beauts the love of their fans. It’s even hard to not like Hilary Knight and the Pride, who come from the worst sports city in the country. I’ve tried using pictures from various websites as wallpapers and as phone wallpapers, but there’s not really many that are good on their own. So, I’ve made some. I’ve got some ideas for more in mind, but for right now I’ve made these. I didn’t take any of the photos and I’m not officially anything from the NWHL. I just love the sport and I’m really enjoying this amazing new league. And yes, I know I like gradients way too much.

Desktop Wallpapers (1920×1080): For these, I used each team’s home ice as the background.

Riveters_WP Whale_WP
Pride_WP Beauts_WP


 

 Phone Wallpapers (1080×1920): Vertical wallpapers for your phone, these have each team’s captain highlighted.

Beauts_PWP Pride_PWP
Riveters_PWP Whale_PWP


 

Clone Wars Viewing Order

I’ve loved Star Wars for as long as I can remember. I don’t even remember a time before I knew what Star Wars was. Yet, I married a woman who wasn’t born geek. I’ve been nerdifying her and she’s devoured a lot of the things I’ve put in front of her. Of them all, she’s enjoyed Star Trek the most, because if its expansive, comprehensive universe of storytelling that’s spanned all four series we’ve watched together. However, without any exposure to books, comics, or video games, she doesn’t have the same Extended Universe excited for Star Wars. In a last-ditch effort, I showed her the first episode of Rebels. She loved it. We watched it all and at Star Wars Celebration VII, we saw the trailers and sneak peeks for season two. She asked me about the clones and Ahsoka. I tried to tell her, but there’s just too much. I decided it was time to show her Clone Wars. Like a fool, I wanted to start at the beginning. The movie was as dreadful as I remember, and it took a solid month for me to convince her to give Clone Wars another try, this time through the troopers. We Watched “Clone Cadets” (S03E01), “Rookies” (S01E05), and “ARC Troopers” (S03E02). Instant hits. We jumped from there to The Citadel (S03E18-S03E20), thinking it would be good to keep the focus on the troopers. But it didn’t work. She was upset about the fate of Domino Squad.

Since then, I’ve resolved to break down the entire show by Narrative Story Arcs. There are six major narratives that run through the show: Troopers, Mandalore, Ahsoka, Scum (Pirates & Bounty Hunters), Sith (Asajj, Maul, Savage), Anakin, and Politics. A handful of other episodes don’t fall under any of these categories, but are still fun (Gascon’s D-Squad, the Zillo Beast, etc.). Below you’ll find two lists. The first list is a viewing list for the entire show ordered and arranged to focus on narrative growth. The second list consist of narrative groupings. If my wife says “Sabine is awesome, I really just want to know more about Mandalore,” then we can just jump directly to the MANDALORE narrative group.


VIEWING IN ORDER


SEASON ONE
Intro to Troopers (TROOPERS)
s03e01
s01e05
s03e02

S01E01 – Intro to Asajj (SITH)

s01e08 – Rodian Senator Onaconda (POLITICS)

Hondo Intro (SCUM)
S01E11
s01e12
s02e17

Ahsoka & Aayla vs. Peace (AHSOKA)
s01e13
s01e14

s01e15 – Senator Riyo Chuchi & The Talz (POLITICS)
s01e16 – The Hidden Enemy (TROOPERS)

SEASON TWO
Cad Bane – Holocron Heist (SCUM)
s02e01
s02e02
s02e03

Rush Clovis Intro (ANAKIN)
s02e04
s02e05

Ahsoka & Friend Barris vs. ZOMBIES (AHSOKA)
s02e06
s02e07
s02e08

s02e10 – The Deserter (TROOPERS)
s02e11 – Lightsaber Lost (AHSOKA)

Death Watch (MANDALORE)
s02e12
s02e13
s02e14

s02e15 – Poisoned Senators (POLITICS)

Boba Fett Intro (SCUM)
s02e20
s02e21
s02e22

SEASON THREE
s03e03 – Toydarian Plea (POLITICS)
s03e04 – Saving Papanoida’s Family (POLITICS)

Corruption on Mandalore (MANDALORE)
s03e05
s03e06

s03e07 – Assassination Attempt on Padme (POLITICS)

Cad Bane Intro & Ziro Series (SCUM)
s03e08
s01e22
s03e09

Peace Talks (POLITICS)
s03e10
s03e11

Asajj is Discharged (SITH)
s03e12
s03e13
s03e14

The Citadel (TROOPERS/ANAKIN)
s03e18
s03e19
s03e20

Ahsoka the Savior (AHSOKA)
s03e21
s03e22

SEASON FOUR
General Pong Krell (TROOPERS)
s04e07
s04e08
s04e09
s04e10

s04e14 – Lux Bonteri (POLITICS)

Obi-Wan the Bounty Hunter (SCUM)
e04e15
s04e16
s04e17
s04e18

Dathomirians Scattered (SITH)
s04e19
s04e20
e04e21
s04e22
s05e01

SEASON FIVE
Ahsoka the Leader (AHSOKA)
s05e02
s05e03
s05e04
s05e05

Hondo & Ahsoka (AHSOKA/SCUM)
s05e06
s05e07
s05e08
s05e09

Enter Maul & Savage (SITH/MANDALORE)
s05e14
s05e15
s05e16

Ahsoka & Barriss Together Again (AHSOKA)
s05e17
e05e18
s05e19
s05e20

SEASON SIX
Good Soldiers Follow Orders (TROOPERS)
s06e01
s06e02
s06e03
s06e04

Clovis in Charge (ANAKIN)
s06e05
s06e06
s06e07

Jar-Jar, Queen Lover (POLITICS)
s06e08
e06e09

THE END (FINALE)
s06e10
s06e11
s06e12
s06e13


VIEWING BY STORY


TROOPERS
Intro to Troopers
s03e01
s01e05
s03e02

s01e16 – The Hidden Enemy
s02e10 – The Deserter

The Citadel
s03e18
s03e19
s03e20

General Pong Krell
s04e07
s04e08
s04e09
s04e10

Good Soldiers Follow Orders
s06e01
s06e02
s06e03
s06e04

MANDALORE
Death Watch
s02e12
s02e13
s02e14

s04e14 – Lux Bonteri (AFTER POLITICS>PEACE TALKS)

Corruption on Mandalore
s03e05
s03e06

Enter Maul & Savage
s05e14
s05e15
s05e16

AHSOKA
Ahsoka & Aayla vs. Peace
s01e13
s01e14

Ahsoka & Friend Barris vs. ZOMBIES
s02e06
s02e07
s02e08

s02e11 – Lightsaber Lost

Ahsoka the Savior
s03e21
s03e22

Ahsoka the Leader
s05e02
s05e03
s05e04
s05e05

Hondo & Ahsoka
s05e06
s05e07
s05e08
s05e09

Ahsoka & Barriss Together Again
s05e17
e05e18
s05e19
s05e20

SCUM
Hondo Intro
S01E11
s01e12
s02e17

Cad Bane – Holocron Heist
s02e01
s02e02
s02e03

Boba Fett Intro
s02e20
s02e21
s02e22

Cad Bane – Ziro Series
s03e08
s01e22
s03e09

Obi-Wan the Bounty Hunter
e04e15
s04e16
s04e17
s04e18

Hondo & Ahsoka
s05e06
s05e07
s05e08
s05e09

SITH
S01E01 – Intro to Asajj

Asajj is Discharged
s03e12
s03e13
s03e14

Dathomirians Scattered
s04e19
s04e20
e04e21
s04e22
s05e01

On Mandalore
s05e14
s05e15
s05e16

ANAKIN’S JEALOUSY
Rush Clovis Intro
s02e04
s02e05

Mortis
s03e15
s03e16
s03e17

Clovis in Charge
s06e05
s06e06
s06e07

POLITICS

s01e08 – Rodian Senator Onaconda
s01e15 – Senator Riyo Chuchi & The Talz
s02e15 – Poisoned Senators
s03e03 – Toydarian Plea
s03e04 – Saving Papanoida’s Family
s03e07 – Assassination Attempt on Padme

Peace Talks
s03e10
s03e11

Jar-Jar, Queen Lover
s06e08
e06e09

DROIDS & ADVENTURES
Goldie & Greivous’ Lair
S01E06
S01E07
s01e09
s01e10

Blue Shadow Virus
s01e17
s01e18

Battle of Ryloth
s01e19
s01e20
s01e21

s02e09 – Chasing Greivous

The Zillo Beast
s02e18
s02e19

Battle of Mon Calamari
s04e01
s04e02
s04e03

Wolfpack & Droids
s04e05
s04e06

Zygerrian Slavers (Maybe Ahsoka)
s04e11
s04e12
s04e13

Colonel Gascon & D-Squad
s05e10
s05e11
s05e12
s05e13

THE END
s06e10
s06e11
s06e12
s06e13

Four Years of San Diego Comic-Con

My first trip to Comic-Con was in 2009. One of my friends opened a chat window with me and suggested we get a group of people together and make the trip. We bought the tickets, booked a hotel room, and made some Monarch Henchmen costumes. It was an incredible trip, and it sparked a love of cosplay and convention-going. Since then, I’ve been to SDCC every year, and it’s never been the same. It’s not just that I’ve gone with a different group of friends, or that I’ve never stayed in the same neighborhood. Simply, any nerd hoping to go to SDCC faces a serious dilemma of risk versus reward: gamble your time and your money against that of every other geek wanting to go for the payout that it will be better than any other convention out there.

We went from tossing around the idea to standing on the convention floor in 2009 in less than four months. We bought our tickets months after they’d been released for sale. We couldn’t find an affordable hotel in walking distance, but we did find one close enough to the Qualcomm trolley station. The trolley was convenient even if it gave us a curfew (hard to stay out late when the last train is at 11:30pm). We drank in the hotel, played card games, and had a hell of a time. That first year is the only time I remember the experience being easy.

It took us all by surprise how quickly tickets sold out the following year in 2010 (just three days). The group of friends was a lot more rag tag, and not everyone was able to get four-day passes. But we made the most of it and found another hotel, further out, but still by a trolley station. We cosplayed, but since the group was more disparate, we had a harder time coming up with a unified theme (“JLA” is so broad that it might as well have been “DC”). This was the year that I learned the lesson of buying tickets for next year while still at the convention. The lines were long, but at least I’d be guaranteed a four day ticket and preview night access.

The nightmare planning year was 2011. I’d booked and paid for a hotel before tickets even went on sale. I didn’t do this because I was a crazy planner, but because Comic-Con couldn’t seem to find a ticketing service provider who could handle the volume. Tickets, when they finally did go on sale, were gone in under eight hours. Again, the group of my friends who were able to get tickets had changed. But, as the group was more or less chosen by chance, we couldn’t come together on cosplay at all and eventually went the quick and lazy route. Even then, only three of the eight of us bought the costume and wore it. Nevertheless, we had an incredible location on Coronado Island; we took the ferry across the water every morning. The planning had paid off, so I bought my ticket at the convention again, planning a fourth year. I hadn’t even realized how even in that span of three years, the average cost per night of the hotel had gone from $80 in 2009 to $125 in 2011. And I was still having so much fun that I didn’t see at the time how difficult simply buying tickets had become for many of my friends.

This year, 2012, will likely have been my last San Diego Comic-Con for quite some time. The event’s level of exclusivity has become prohibitive. Many of my friends didn’t even compete in the lightning-fast online race for tickets (within ten minutes the virtual line had claimed all of the four-day passes, and those were just the people who figured out Comic-Con’s broken link e-mail). Of those who competed, only a small handful got what they’d came for. None of them were staying in hotels, but with family and friends who I couldn’t stay with. I had my ticket in hand, purchased almost a year ago, with nowhere to stay. Luckily at the last minute an acquaintance from college graciously allowed me to sleep on the floor in the hotel room of her and her boyfriend. For most of the convention I was by myself. I walked the exhibit hall and looked at the booths by myself and sat alone in panels. I went to a few after hours party events and mingled with some creators when I could. I even finally did the whole “wake up at 2AM to get in line for a panel that doesn’t start until 10AM” experience so I could see the Legend of Korra and Firefly panels. But I did it all alone because the event had become so incredibly exclusive. And you know, even though I spent 2012’s SDCC using the hash tag #ConAlone, it was still an incredibly fun convention. I got to sit in the front of panels because it was just me. I saw what I wanted and went where I wanted to go without having to wrangle group negotiations. I met with friends I’d only ever talked to online and finally got around to going to some of the after parties I never could before. It was an intensely fun trip. I just wish that I could have had somebody there with whom to share the whole experience.

This year, for 2013, SDCC’s registration for 2012’s attendees was online instead of in-person during the show. Attendees could only buy badges for themselves or other people who had attended in 2012. This more than anything — more than the crowds, more than the lines, and more than the price — is what will keep me away. In 2011 I met a wonderful woman to whom I am now engaged. When I went to Comic-Con last year and bought tickets for this year, we’d only been dating for four months. I couldn’t make the $175 investment to bring her along without knowing for sure that we’d still be together (after all, tickets are nontransferable). So this year, I had a choice to make: buy a $200 ticket during the online attendee-only presale for myself and try to get a ticket for my fiancé during the open registration, or just say “screw it” and go to another show.

My experience with conventions is limited to California events: SDCC, WonderCon, and BigWowCon (formerly SuperCon, San José’s local show). One of the friends I met up with in 2012 is a more serious con-goer. I asked her about some other shows I’d heard about like Dragon*Con or Emerald City. She told me something that quite caught my ear: the cost for her entire family (a husband and kids) to go to Dragon*Con, including hotel, flight, food, and show purchases, was less than the hotel alone at SDCC — a sketchy hotel on a bad side-street. Dragon*Con isn’t even crowded. The bars in the area outside don’t have bleachers so that the locals can sit and watch the freak show of geeks. Tickets are readily available. To top everything off, she was telling me all of this while we were getting a drink at Zachary Levi’s NerdHQ, an off-site bar and panel location. There were lots of cool little spots like that around the convention to hang out, catch a drink, talk to creators, and enjoy the convention: Trickster, the YouTube Lounge, NerdHQ, etc. In fact, most of the people I went down to SDCC to talk to or see in panels were at the these places as much as they were in the convention center. The lines were smaller, admission was cheaper, and they served whiskey. There were people in San Diego meeting all the people I wanted to meet, experiencing all the things I was experiencing, and nerding out as much as I was, and they didn’t ever have to go through the convention center’s throngs of crowds or craziness to do it.

Come 2013, I don’t think I’ll be going to San Diego. I don’t doubt that even as SDCC pushes core fans away it will continue to be an incredible event. Sure, you can meet the Penny Arcade guys at PAX, and you can cosplay with the dangerous ladies in FanExpo, or you can get a beer with Jimmy Palmiotti at Baltimore Comic-Con. But SDCC will always be the one place where you can do all three at the same time. It’s the biggest show because everybody’s there, and everybody’s there because it’s the biggest show. It’s an event supported by the self-contained logic of its own success. I just don’t think I’ll be going into the convention center anymore. I might drive down for a couple nights and swing through the off-site circuit, but it’s too hard to get tickets and it’s too hard to keep up with the show’s stress and anxiety. I’d rather sit at a bar and chat with a woman in a TARDIS dress and a man in a superman suit.

Some Wallpapers

I’ve always had a big, big soft spot for motivational wallpapers — not ones with the black border, a picture of a mountain range, and a sentence of supergeneric text with the word “Integrity” written in purple. I’m talking about the ones that inspire me to get to work, and do it with real passion. Sometimes it’s tough finding wallpapers like that and I end up having to make them. Here’s a handful I’ve thrown together that I kind of like. All images are 1680×1050 and use high-res creative commons images.

Skill Requires Dedication

"Skill Requires Dedication"

Trial without Error

"Trial without Error"

Work Can Be Love

"Work Can Be Love"

Henching at San Diego Comic-Con 2009

Have you seen the Monarch Henchmen from San Diego Comic-Con 2009? I was one of them, drawn in by the glamorous promises of a career in henching. This blog entry is nothing more than a compendium of our appearances all over the web. I’ll be updating it as I find more and more. Even though we got so little “done” that day because we were so constantly stopped for photo ops, it was still the best day at the Con, by far. We even had the show creators and Adult Swim bigwigs taking photos of/with us. Here’s a link to my Flickr set of us.

Thank you everybody who made us feel important and awesome. Thank you to all the other Cosplayers who stopped for photo-ops with us. And of course, a special thanks to our fearless leader, the Mighty Monarch!

Us Around the Web:
Frakking TIME MAGAZINE
Publick Nuisance (Jackson Publick’s Blog)
CollectionDX
MaximumPC
Comics 101
Great White Snark
Official Star Wars Blog

Us on YouTube:
Crazy costumes (We Show ~2:38)
YATTA!!! (We Show ~0:46)

Us on Flickr:

null
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null null null Photo with Baby
Dr. Mrs. The Monarch
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null More Flickr Images

Us Mentioned on Twitter:
AdultSwim
AdultSwim(2)
robtak
The_Horns
repete
AtomEve