Monochrome Cat Print Cowl Neck Dress. That’s quite a handful to say. I’m still looking for a nice wintery dress and this cat print is so adorable!

It’s available at New Look for £25.

I still can’t quite believe that it’s been 10 years since Firefly aired on TV. Or that it’s been 7 years since Serenity was released in cinemas… have I made you feel old now? To cheer you up, here’s a shiny Firefly tee: The Good, The Bad and The Shiny ($24.54).

There’s also a Walking Dead one that uses the same principle: The Good, The Bad and The Hungry ($28.91).

Trailerrific: Oblivion

December 8th, 2012

Okay, this looks awesome! I’m not exactly sure what is going on in the trailer, but it looks like Oblivion could be a fun sci-fi ride. It’s written and directed by Joseph Kosinski and is based on Kosinski’s graphic novel of the same name. He previously did Tron Legacy, which I enjoyed even if the story was a bit sucky, so I’m curious to see how Oblivion turns out.

What the hell is exactly going on there? I love the look of the movie and I’m hoping the story is smart and twisty. It looks like there’s going to be some twist with Jack and the mysterious girl… I think this might go on my Avoid-All-Trailers list, I think this could be a movie I could be pleasantly surprised by!

It’s 2.5 weeks to Christmas! How far are you with your Christmas shopping? I’m almost done, but then I always like getting my Christmas shopping out of the way as soon as possible. So to help those of you out that might be struggling I thought I’d do some gift guides the next few days for different types of people.

First up: The Fantasy Reader!

Books

Obviously. You can’t do a gift guide for someone who reads a lot without recommending a couple of books. Of course I couldn’t pick out just one book to recommend, so here are 9 cool fantasy books that any fantasy geek would love to get. Assuming he/she doesn’t have it already, but that’s a problem you’ll have to tackle on your own (a tip for book geeks: put a link to your GoodReads/library-app-of-your-choice on your wish list so that people can see what you have already. Alternatively, create a list of writers you have already and share that with them). What other books would you recommend?

2013 Fantasy Pin-Up Calendar

I don’t really use calendars anymore, but I love this Fantasy Pin-Up Calendar. The artist Lee Moyer has worked together with each of the writers to create a good representation of their characters. Plus each illustration is done in a different style, paying homage to past pin-up artists (you can read Lee Moyer’s blog post about it here). The image below on the right is of N.K. Jemisin’s Oree from The Broken Kingdoms.

Bookends

This completely depends on what type of books your Fantasy Reader enjoys, but I thought these book ends look awesome. The top left Tentacle and Pirate Ship bookend is from Etsy store KnobCreekMetalArts for $49.99. The top right ReadBooks bookend is available on PBteen for £28.40. The Gear Bookend is from Etsy store graphicspaceswood and costs $55. The Portal one is available for $29.99 on ThinkGeek.

Cookbooks

Cookbooks?!? Yep, there are a couple of fantasy inspired cookbooks out there. Who wouldn’t want to cook up a feast worthy of the residents of Winterfell? A Feast of Ice and Fire is £29.99, Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook is £7.69 and The Unofficial Recipes of The Hunger Games is £11.99.

Jewelry

If you really want to give something special, how about an officially licensed piece of jewelry from their favourite fantasy book? Badali Jewelry Specialists worked together with the authors to create the designs from their stories. They’ve got jewelry from Lord of The Rings, Mistborn, Wheel of Time and The Kingkiller Chronicles! Having just read The Name of The Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear, those designs are my favourite; it’s so cool seeing them in “real life”. The pieces below are the Talen Pipes from The Name of The Wind and the Aes Sedai Serpent Ring from The Wheel of Time.

What do you think of my suggestions? Which ones do you want for Christmas? What else would you suggest for the Fantasy Reader?

I can’t wait for the next Star Trek movie! I really enjoyed the “first” one and loved how they used time travel to change the Star Trek universe while still staying in canon. We now get a glimpse of the new movie in this teaser trailer:

So who is Benedict Cumberbatch playing?

Too many books and not enough time. I’ve only read 22 books this year and I’ve gotten 100+ on my ToBeRead list. It’s not 2013 yet, but I’m already thinking of setting two challenges for myself next year: 1. I’m only allowed to buy 10 books next year and I need to specify at the start of the year what those 10 books will be, 2. I need to read at least 40 books from my ToBeRead list. It’s going to be challenging, but I think I can do it…

One of the books on my TBR pile is The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg. I found it and its sequel The Soul Mirror at a secondhand bookshop earlier this year and couldn’t resist getting it.

Here’s the description from Amazon:

For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery’s decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life’s bitter disappointments. Reduced to tending the library at Sabria’s last collegia magica, he fights off despair with scholarship. But when the King of Sabria charges him to investigate an attempted murder that has disturbing magical resonances, Portier believes his dreams of a greater destiny might at last be fulfilled…

The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg is available on Amazon.co.uk for £4.99 and on Amazon.com for $6.80.

We’re nearing the end of 2012, so it’s time for some retrospectives of the past year! This first one features a ton of movie trailers that came out this year; which ones have you all seen?

It’s also interesting reading what the creator of this video had to say about the story behind each segment:

PRIMA PARTE – The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: Pruitt-Igoe was a large urban housing project that became infamous for symbolizing the shattered dreams of many and was subject to a great documentary this year. By the late 1960’s, it had gone from a promise of a better future for thousands of families to a place of desolation, poverty and crime. Not unlike the fate of its inhabitants, many characters in this year’s motion pictures have had to endure a vision of the future that demanded for their hopes to make room for despair. From the Orwellian districts of The Hunger Games to the corporate conspiracies of Branded and the highly-controlled buildings of The Raid and Dredd 3D, dystopia certainly made its comeback this year.

SECONDA PARTE – Tick Tick Boom: A song that has been attempted in online movie mashups countless times. I always wanted to take a crack at it and celebrate every note of explosive silliness that transpire through this epic hit from The Hives. The inspiration I got from Tick Tick Boom wasn’t that it clearly promotes balls-out action all over the walls but that it does it with a sense of self-awareness and light parody. This is precisely the tone that we’ve found in offerings such as Battleship, The Expendables 2, and (last but not least) Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. These movies all know they’re silly but rather than convincing us of the contrary, they decide to embrace it and focus on giving us what we crave: great walls of fire erupting everywhere and heroes who can’t bother to look at them.

PARTE FINALE – Everything is Connected: My third segment was an attempt to explore what can only described in Hollywood as the merger of mainstream blockbusters and small independent films. Now more than ever, young and emerging filmmakers have the affordable technology in their post-production to make their shoestring-budgeted features feel as visually striking as a major studio production. On the other side of the coin, the big studios are increasing financing on their Oscar hopefuls and make sure to spare no expense in order to make a resourceful production look as indie as possible. I tried to blend the little movies, the big ones, and put my emphasis on those who happen to be one but pretending to be the other.

Tags: Movies

I’m enjoying the TV version of Game of Thrones. The second season wasn’t as ah-mah-zing as the first one, but I like what they’ve done with the adaption.

With season three it’s where it becomes tricky. The third, fourth and fifth book all contain overlapping events and it’s going to be very interesting as to how they’ll translate it all to TV. Plus the third book is also being cut up into two seasons… I’ve got faith in the writers/producers that it’ll all turn out great, but am still curious to see how their version of the story will be.

HBO just released an In Production video of season 3 of Game of Thrones. It’s not that long, but it gives us a first look to some of the new characters and locations. I can’t believe we still need to wait 4 more months for this!

Have you read/watched Game of Thrones? What are you hoping for in the next season?

It’s snowing! Sort of. London hasn’t been hit yet, but it’s started to snow where my parents live… So we can expect snow any minute now, right? I love it when it snows; it’s another of those signs that Christmas Is Coming!

In a snowy Winter Wonderland every girl needs a proper Winter Wonderland dress! This dress from Modcloth is aptly named It’s A Wonderland Life. I love the snowy cabin print; it’s so different than most dresses I’ve seen out there this winter. It’s currently out of stock, but normally would be $155.99.

What do you think of the dress? Have you seen other snowy winter dresses anywhere? Let me know in the comments

Me Wantz: Mass Effect Artwork

December 2nd, 2012

I love the Mass Effect series; despite the ending of the last one, they are my favourite games of the past few years. And I’m still playing the multiplayer which I wasn’t expecting to enjoy quite as much as I am. Bioware is producing limited edition art giclees of 10 of their prints and they look gorgeous!

I’m a bit puzzled as to why they’re all artwork from the ME2 though… I would have loved to see an EDI print! My favourites are (of course) the Garrus and the Tali ones; they’re still my favourite characters of the series.

The Team – $2500, limited edition of 12

Archangel – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Tali – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Miranda – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Aria – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Thane – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Normandy – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Citadel – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Earth Alliance – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Cerberus – $325/$940, limited edition of 50

Which one is your favourite one?