Ice storms suck hardcore!

So I've been crazy lately when it comes to this website lately, and I apologize for that! But I have an excuse for the past few days because NY and the northeast in general got slammed with a huge ice storm and we haven't had heat and hot water since Friday night. We had electricity but the Stockade Inn lost theirs and thats where we pick up our signal from. So no internet.

But on a nerdy note I found out that Twilight 2 (aka New Moon) is already having some issues being made. They got rid of the current director, are possibly changing the actor who is playing Jacob, and yadda yadda yadda. I did see Twilight... it was good... there is no way it could have possibly been as good as the book but I was happy. If nothing else that movie is 2 beautiful hours of eye candy. A huge chunk of that book is feelings and emotions and thoughts and they had a really hard time portraying that. But I was pleased. I also just started reading the newest vampire craze by Charlaine Harris... the Sookie Stackhouse series. So far so good.

On a non-nerdy note I'm in the process of converting to veganism. Today is day 13 and I'm doing pretty good so far. I got a little pissed at the company who makes "Veggie Cheese" and throws milk in there just because they feel like it! Technically I'm not a vegan yet because I haven't removed all animal products from my life, but I'm working on it. And the more research I do the more I am determined to continue down this path! Wish me luck.

So my husband McGyver...

... has finally "fixed" our interwebs. I don't know the details but I do know there is an $80 wi-fi adapter and a hob-nob antenna sticking off our apartment window. (Similar to the images in the last blog, minus a swiffer). So I can finally tell you about all the amazing graphic novels I've been reading! Firstly, I read Locke & Key by Joe Hill... who is an INCREDIBLE horror writer and is rumored to be Stephen King's son. FYI, Joe Hill totally trumps Stephen King if this is true. If you haven't read Heart Shaped Box yet I highly recommend you go out and get it right now! But anyways, as soon as I saw he had something to do with a graphic novel I had to read it. I finished it on my lunch break at work. INCREDIBLE!!!! It's only volume one and I can't wait for more!!!

Secondly I finally got to read The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button. Which was very good. Another quick read and interesting story. Which is going to be a new movie starring Brad Pitt. I thought it was great. I'm very interested in seeing what they do with the movie.

And thirdly, I got to read The Fountain, by Darren Aronofsky. So incredibly beautiful. The illustrator is Kent Williams and I was so completely blown away by the images. Really a moving piece of art. Apparently it also is a movie, which I have not seen yet... but it's def. on my wish list!

And lastly, and from a completely different sector of nerdom... TWILIGHT IS COMING SOON! November 21, 2008 we will finally be able to watch the film version on the most incredible vampire saga I've read in a long time. I love the promotion they're doing with this movie, and I honestly don't think they could have picked a better cast. Edward looks amazing... for lack of a better word. And from what I've seen from the previews they are trying very hard to stay as close as possible to the novels. The soundtrack just came out too, which is a Barnes & Noble exclusive but has been so popular they ran out of copies! There is also a movie guide chock full of pictures and some movie magazines have dedicated entire issues to the upcoming movie. Is anyone else as excited as I am about this incredible movie coming out? I have a feeling we're going to be going to a midnight showing!!!! And no, I'm not dragging my husband with me just a bunch of the girls but with this kind of movie it's probably better that way!

Unfortunately...

Our internet access is on the fritz at the moment and I have no idea when we'll be able to get it fixed. So if you notice a giant gap in posts... that is why. Right now I am using my coworkers laptop to get this info up. So please don't forget about us but know that it may be awhile before the blog is properly updated again. Feel free to contact us via our myspace account or e-mail and I promise it shouldn't be incredibly long before we're back in action.

Incredible things you hear in a bookstore...

You hear some pretty bizarre things when you work in a bookstore. Some of those things make sense... but generally they don't. For example, one of my co-workers was ringing a father and daughter out, back in our music and DVD department. They were picking up the special 3-disk edition of The Hulk (which I have not seen yet, so I have no opinion on at the moment) and while he was ringing them out the father asked his daughter why she wasn't getting Iron Man today. Her response is... "because it sucked" !?!?!?! WTF? It is still very hard for me to believe that there are people out there that didn't enjoy this movie! My co-worker said it took every ounce of control to not reach across the counter and smack her. :) For better bookstore stories check out http://boothandnoble.blogspot.com. I am really amazed when people tell me they don't love this movie! What is not to love? It shames me to admit that my parents are these people! My mom insists it must be lame because she fell asleep while watching (which she does with almost every movie) and my dad didn't like it because the fact that the arch reactor was necessary for the bad guys suit when it was originally to keep shrapnel away from Tony's heart in the first place and yadda, yadda, yadda.

On another note. I have one more graphic novel under my belt. The Good Neighbors by Holly Black. She is well know for her novels... The Spiderwick Series, Tithe, Valiant and Ironside. I must say I have not been disappointed with any graphic novel I've read thus far. And Holly Black never disappoints. I highly recommend her novels too. All her books (including the graphic novel) can be found in the teen or juvie section of any bookstore which makes them very quick but satisfying reads. It's amazing to have a visual idea of whats going on inside her head now. I loved it!!!

I love that so many new authors are branching out into the graphic novel world. It makes it a whole lot easier for a newb like me to branch out into graphic novels.

Some other ones that have caught my eye include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button... Nevermore , which is an awesome collection of Edgar Allan Poe short stories adapted into a graphic novel... and so many more! It's amazing what you find when you work in a bookstore. And always keep me posted with your ideas on what I should read next. :)

It's been too long.

Okay, so we haven't written in awhile. I know, we're awful. We now have a forum, but I'm not sure if my husband has put up any links to it or not yet. If he has or when he does come check it out! Our lives have been very uneventful. I was very sick yesterday and the day before (with a cold) and now my husband has it. Your jealous, right? We have recently been crazy budgeting so we have no money to do anything fun!



But we did get to go see GWAR, which was awesome. We had to use our allowance money (not kidding), but it was totally worth it!

They were absolutely incredible. And incredibly awesome good time. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. If you haven't heard of Gwar I highly recommend that you look them up or at least go see one of their shows. I had never listened to their music before and I thought they were great!

Can you ask for more from a metal band then getting completely rocked and at the same time get covered in "blood" and "space jizz"... their words not mine.

I know it wasn't really a nerdy experience but I was amazed by the completely eclectic audience they had. You had your hardcore fans, your drunk chicks, then you had all sorts of random people like my husband and I and everywhere in between. Fat guys, skinny girls and vice versa. I was really in awe of the diversity at the show. I had no idea what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised.

Beyond that my only other nerdy experience in this past month is that Spore is making me want to shove my head through the computer. So far it was an amazing game. I was totally hooked. Then it started buggin' out and I don't know what to do. So if you have any suggestions either leave a comment or e-mail us at ironmanchangedmylife@yahoo.com. So I make it all the way through the tribal stage... awesome! Totally stoked! I get to make my city hall and what not then I go to make a car and my Spore just bugs out and freezes kinda and I just get to watch my tribe stand around and shake their instruments. It's supposed to just be a little clip of a video connecting me to the car maker but I never get there. Please help if you can! It would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and I almost forgot! I read a new graphic novel called The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.

Absolutely incredible. Very impressed. I've had a regular at the bookstore I work in tell me about Jim Butcher for years and I wasn't sure. I'm not always a huge sci-fi fan. Usually I'm a bigger fan of the fantasy end of that spectrum. Anyways... I figured this would be a great way for me to be introduced to the series quickly to see if I'd like it. Well I loved it! Give it a read. I'm very excited to see what he does with this series.

There's also another graphic novel that Holly Black (love her) just put out that I can't wait to get my hands on.

And if you think of any other books, that I just need to read please let me know! Thanks in advance!

Yesterday was a little slice of geek heaven!

WOO HOO!!!! I OWN THE LIMITED EDITION STEEL CASE IRON MAN DVD!!! I can't even find a picture of it online yet so we'll have to do with the image on the right but it is pretty f-ing sweet regardless! I got it at FYE and it's awesome!!! I've already watched it once! SOOO AMAZING! This movie is just incredible!!! I was blown away all over again. (Surprise, surprise) And the special features are pretty awesome! So far we've only watched the documentaries and I know there's a bunch more.

But what you may not have guessed is buying Iron Man's special edition DVD was only the beginning to my little slice of geek heaven. I also got to pick up Sex and the City - Extended Cut, which may not seem geeky to you but it's one of my favorite things to watch with my geekiest friend. Nothing like kicking back, having some girl time, sharing cocktails and what not! So now I just have to catch up on my seasons (I got the entire series for my wedding), I think I only have a couple left! Then it will be uber girls night!

And then last, but not least....

I AM THE PROUD OWNER OF SPORE!!!! I was up until 1:30 in the morning last night installing it and playing it! It is absolutely incredible! The graphics are great and the whole idea of the game is pure genius!!! I love it! And by the way, my current species name is... Tonas Starkas :) I highly recommend every one drop what they're doing and go out and buy 2 out of the 3 things I've just discussed! Well worth the money !

So if you don't hear from me for awhile I am probably playing Spore, watching Iron Man for the 18th time, or having a girls night! :)

Excited-ness!

Okay... first of all let me apologize for not writing a proper blog in forever. We've been very busy lately. If it wasn't for my husband I'm sure this blog would barely get any updates at all. Second, let me give you a little background on how I met my husband. I promise you this all has a point. I used to work at a very small bookstore called Borders Express (basically a Waldenbooks that was bought by Borders). I worked there for a total of 3 years. During that time one of my customers bought a book called Letters to a Young Mathematician by Ian Stewart (as seen on the right). When I saw the cover of the book I shouted excitedly, "Look, it's a fractal!" I had just been trying to explain to my coworker what a fractal was, and if any of you have ever tried explaining what a fractal is, you know just how difficult that can be! So this customer just drops his jaw and looks at me and says, "You know what a fractal is?" He looked completely dumbfounded. He then ends up leaving the store, I later find out it was to buy a pencil and some paper so he could give me his info but when he left I had gone to smoke a cigarette and he thought he had lost his chance, and so he went home defeated. Maybe a week later he came back into the store with his friends and I ran over and gave him a piece of paper with my name, cell phone number, and my e-mail. And the rest is history. Later that night I got my first e-mail, then we exchanged myspace page info, where we discovered we are both obsessed with Manson (Marilyn Manson), and we've been together ever since. My husband has a very mild form of Asperger Syndrome and I can state for a fact that he probably never would have talked to me if it wasn't for this book. We had been planning on writing Ian Stewart a thank you letter for sometime, and after we got our wedding thank you cards back from Snapfish.com we decided it would be the perfect opportunity to send him one. So we did, explaining in a much shorter way why we were sending him a thank you card and how much we appreciated him. And we got a response! Not only did he write us a letter  he also sent us a copy of his newest book personally autographed for us!

I know this picture is giant, but I wanted you to be able to see some of the detail. I don't know if I accomplished that but oh well.

Below are some images of the book for your enjoyment!



So we met, we fell in love, and now we get to live geekily and happily ever after!

Some exciting news!

I just wanted to give my a husband a big "I'm proud of you" in front of everyone here. He just passed the first half of his A+ Certification exam this morning! I knew he could do it! So everyone please drop him a comment and let him know how awesome you think he is.

Also in the world of exciting news IRON MAN is coming to DVD on September 30!!!! SOOOO excited! And Spore has come out! I haven't had a chance to play it yet (because we have not had the funds to buy it) but the reviews have been awesome. So hopefully by the end of the month my husband will be completely A+ certified, I will own the Iron Man DVD and I will be playing the crap out of Spore!

Wish us luck!

Response to "You're a new nerd, you don't count."

From psychopathicsin on Sept. 2, 2008 @ 8:20pm

i think you always have been a nerd.... like you said there are different types of nerds and (ahem) im the COMIC NERD!!! you are not. i would not expect you to know all the marvel characters..cause youre not that type of nerd..i think youre more of a "book worm" (nerd)..same with me i have not always been this hardcore with comics(well maybe i have) i gradually got into it..and now thats me!! as im sure you will graphic novels are the best!! keep reading..might i suggest "identity crisis" by Brad Meltzer..anyway dont listen to anyone but youre self.. you know who you are..besides us neerds have to stick together..this is the decade of the nerd!!!

So before my husband takes the blog over....

I figured I should probably post a new blog. Ironmanchangedmylife.com will now be having multiple posters and I wanted to give everyone a heads up on that. I figured with multiple posters we can better serve nerds and dorks of all genres.

So how is my nerdness coming along? There has been definite progression. I married my ultimate nerd :) and we're living our happily ever after. I have seen Batman Begins to further my nerd background. Which was fantastic! Totally addicted. I know, I know a true nerd would have already seen Batman Dark Knight... but with all this wedding nonsense and our family camping trip after the wedding I have had no time. But I will definitely be going to see Dark Knight in theatres... I can't wait.

Also I am in the process of learning to play chess. Not an easy, or necessarily a fun thing to do, when your husband is chess master. But sometimes I play on line to try to get the basic moves down and what not, but I still get wupped everytime. So hopefully I will get better as time goes by instead of just giving up, like I usually do.

And last but not least I have been reading graphic novels!!! And I am completely getting addicted. I have read Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle (AWESOME!!!) and Marvel Zombies vs. Evil Dead which was a completely random and fantastic combination of characters. And I just borrowed Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore which should be amazing (does Alan Moore ever do any wrong?)!

So in conclusion... if anyone has any nerdy ideas to help my growing nerdness please leave me a comment. Give me books to read, movies to watch, things to do, etc. I am open to expand my nerdyness in almost anyway possible.

Oh yea, did I mention that I will be working at my stores midnight release party for Breaking Dawn (the conclusion to the epic Twilight saga by Stephanie Meyer), which I am completely addicted to? Enough said!

Welcome

This blog and website was created because I, Ashley (who you will learn to know as Fractal Faery), has had my life completely altered because of a movie. Who knew? I was a mild dork... I read obsessivley, I love vampires ( I am currently addicted to the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series), I love Lord of the Rings, and I work in a bookstore (we'll call that Booth & Noble for the time being). I do dorky things like break into dance for no reason other than I'm happy, and I love fractals. My fiance is a much bigger dork than I, and he will be on here from time to time (you'll get to know him as Max Rebo), because his life like mine was completely changed because I watched Iron Man.

He is an amazing dork, geek, or nerd... whichever your prefer. He helped my modify this blog and he is the creator of ironmanchangedmylife.com. He is also a man who can solve a Rubik's Cube, researches mythology and theology, and he refuses to read anything but nonfiction. He is currently looking into working in the computer field, is obsessed with Star Wars, and makes his own Magic the Gathering Cards. Just to name a few things... but I'm sure he'll get into that later.

But for now I will go back to the reason why this site/blog was created. Iron Man changed my life! I know it sounds silly, but it's true!!! I went and saw Iron Man a couple of days ago and it was so completely, mind blowing-ly amazing that a whole new world has been opened up to me! I have just started reading the Iron Man graphic novels for one, and I'm learning to play chess... I am doing everything in my power to make myself a better geek. I consider myself a new geekling. So it is my mission to never mock my finace for playing video games or watching too much Star Wars... I will instead embrace it and learn new and awesome things. So if anyone has any ideas let me know. I'm completely open minded now. Soon there will be a movie list of films to better improve my geeky-ness, along with a similar list of graphic novels.
Wish me luck... and let me know if how I'm doing. If I bore the crap out of you tell me now.