Wednesday Comic Corner

We are school. You will attend. Resistance is futile.

That's pretty much exactly how I feel at the beginning of the school year. And if you're like me, you might have come down with what is called "September sad."

To help you combat those school start blues, here are some silly captioned pics.

And always remember:

Wednesday Comic Corner

Some of you may remember the good ole days of video gaming, where when you got stuck you grabbed your big brother or called your best friend over to help. The two of you would sit down and with countless hours of work you finished the level in a blaze of glory.

If that wasn't an option, or if you were the bookish sort, you could pick up a stand alone strategy guide or the walk through in a gaming magazine. With awesome cutting edge screen caps and dazzlingly 90's clip art, you page turned your way to victory.

We have a lot more options these days. Now that many of the beloved print options are no longer available (with the exception of official strategy guides), we have at our disposal countless forums, websites dedicated to every aspect of the game, and Let's play and walk through videos on YouTube.

Some would argue that gaming is now too easy, that all of the easy one man options have taken away from the cooperative in-person spirit of gaming. Others would argue that this has freed us from our ignorance, that now we can experience every hidden area and bonus dialogue ourselves.

I'd like to hear from you, the modern gamers: Is it okay to use YouTube videos and forum walkthroughs to get through games when you're stuck, or is it better to fight the good fight on your own with a buddy by your side? Leave your answers in the comments.

Teen Book Review: Anne of the Island

Hi there! Here's another awesome book review from a Teen Volunteer over at the Green Valley Library:

Anne of the Island

Anne of the Island is part of a series by L.M. Montgomery about the life of an orphan girl named Anne. This book tells of Anne’s adventures as she goes to college at Redmonds College in Kingsport, Canada. She meets a new friend named Phil who comes from a wealthy family and they become good friends. Anne is proposed to by two men to whom she is not well acquainted and are not her ideal. She begins to feel discouraged as romance proves to be far from her social life. Her childhood chum, Gilbert, acts a little more friendly than she prefers, and she worries that he will ruin their friendship.  During her final years at Redmonds, Anne and her friends rent a cottage style home named Patty’s Place. They love the dear old place. The girls study hard and receive many high honors and scholarships in their studies. Eventually, Anne meets Roy Gardner, a charming, intelligent, and handsome young man that matches Anne’s romantic ideal to a T. She is instantly swept away by the beautiful flowers and poems he gives to her, but there is always something missing. Anne’s mind always wanders back to Gil, her chum from Prince Edward Island. Gil had proposed to Anne only shortly before she met Roy. Anne refused Gil, and the decision slightly haunted her as she began to see the emptiness in Roy’s perfect prose and watched Gilbert and his girlfriend Christina at all the social events. When Roy finally proposes to Anne, she is forced to refuse him, as she bitterly realizes that her heart belongs to Gil all along. As college ends, Anne returns to her home at Green Gables and Gil asks her to go for one of their old time rambles in the woods. She joyfully agrees and they take a walk to Hester’s Garden, one of Anne’s favorite spots on the island. They pronounce their love for each other and work out all their misunderstandings.

I love the Anne of Green Gables series. The main character, Anne, is refreshing and sees the world through a rare perspective. Her endearing character allows her to make friends easily. Her chum, Gilbert, is the ideal man, as he is intelligent, handsome, and faithful to Anne. This book was everything that I had hoped it would be, however it brings mixed feelings, as one must come to realize that real life is not always a fairytale.

Thanks for the great review Courtney!

Wednesday Comic Corner

Humans are pretty fascinated with the concept of the post apocalyptic world. The entire zombie genre, much of the media featuring aliens, and post war settings often depict well known locations and/or the entire planet as being in a state of decay. 

Features of the decaying facades are often depicted as ominous and foreboding, like the recently released Last of Us, but they can also have a sort of tragic beauty to them, such as the city of Rapture in Bioshock.

What I have for you all today is a collection of pictures of locations in varying states of decay. Decide what they depict yourself: unsettling horror or atypical tranquility. 

http://io9.com/gorgeous-old-movie-theaters-that-have-fallen-into-ruin-632052460

http://beautiful-portals.tumblr.com/post/42119220741/ushishir-farthestwoods-via-tummyshirt

http://themetapicture.com/most-beautiful-abandoned-places-in-the-world/

http://themetapicture.com/creepy-photos-of-abandoned-amusement-parks/

Wednesday Comic Corner

Animegacon and Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con review

In honor of the complete freedom of summer, my best friend and I decided to con hop between both Animegacon and ALVCC this weekend (June 14-16). Neither of us was able to attend either con on Saturday because she had work and I had my PRAXIS I exam (Grr!!!), so I can only tell you about Friday and Sunday.

This is the second year for Animegacon, which was held at the Las Vegas Hotel last year. My friend and I were really impressed with the quality of the guests considering how new the con was (I got to meet my favorite voice actor, Quinton Flynn). There were a few other headliner guests, such as Vic Mignona, but I missed that panel. 

Having attended larger anime conventions, such as Anime Expo in L.A., where you have to wait in line sometimes up to two hours just to be seated for a panel with a headliner, it was really refreshing to walk right in. This, in combination with the friendly vendors in the small exhibit hall, is why we decided to revisit them this year. 

But there were a few hitches. First of all, their dates were the same as ALVCC. This meant that not as many people (read as hardly anyone) attended. On Friday we were part of a crowd of maybe 70 people. On Sunday, we were members of a proud 40. This made the vendors less friendly, some seemed even downright grumpy and/or desperate. They paid all that money for artist/vendor tables at an abandoned con. 

Secondly, they were at the Riviera, which is nice and all, but unlike their set up last year wherein you passed all the panel rooms on your way to the exhibit hall, and each panel room had its own whiteboard listing the panel schedule, at the Riviera I don't think I saw the panel rooms. There were umpteen ballrooms being used for other things unrelated to the con, and there were no whiteboards. This may have had something to do with the hotel or whatnot, but it was not user friendly and discouraged us from trying to hunt them down. 

All in all, they didn't have a lot going on, there weren't a lot of people, and they weren't in a great location. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and go next year, but not if they're at the same place and/or they share the dates with ALVCC.

As for ALVCC, I had a lot of fun. There was a much smaller proportion of cosplayers (30% as compared to the 70% at Animegacon), but there was a lot more vendors and a lot more going on. Unfortunately I missed Jim Lee and Stan Lee, and let me tell you I came awfully close to blowing off my exam to see them. But I DID meet Steven Gordon, an animator that did the story boarding for the films Anastasia and the Swan Princess, and also the series X-Men Evolution. This was an unexpected bonus that made me absolutely giddy. Not Jim Lee signing my 1993 X-Men trading cards giddy, but close. 

Anyway, the vendors and attendees seemed a lot friendlier, their prices seemed more reasonable, and size wise the exhibit hall was about half the size of Anime Expo. Which is saying something. 

The final score is thus: 

Animegacon: 4

ALVCC: 8

I will attend both conventions next year, ALVCC regardless of date and guests, Animegacon however is on probation. Best of luck to them both. Lets see how they weigh in next year. *ding ding!*