ChocolateFrogs

Remember back at the end of summer I reported that Marvel was releasing various comics with variant covers featuring classic covers redone with LEGO figs? Turns out they were going to be ratio variants and thus rarer (and more expensive) than the usual cover price. (Ratio variants are sold one for every 25 normal covers a retailer orders, or whatever the ratio is. This makes them rare and acceptable for the retailer to sell them for a higher price.) Well, go forward a few months to now, and I am now the proud owner of two of those! (For a significantly lower price than if I bought them for $20 each at my local comic shop.) The total for these two was $21. I was surprised, but happy, that they were less on Ebay.) I'm going to give one to BrickFair for the silent auction supporting the Slade Child Foundation, the question is, which one? Which one do you think would garner the highest bid amongst AFOLs? Pros of the Spidey cover: -Marvel's #1 poster-boy. -Action scene. -Including an arch-nemesis. Pros of the Wolverine cover: -Marvel's #2 poster-boy. -Close-up with those claws. -Better art (imo). And then I'll probably frame the other one (once I get around to framing my other favorite covers too). -CF

I think a sequel is inevitable, but if it's those writers I'm not too excited. All three of those movies listed are more adult humor than kid humor, and those three tanked in their ratings. If LEGO wants the sequel to be as funny and well-written as this one, why not keep these writers and directors that have shown their strengths and talent? Then I'll welcome it. -CF

That's a great cosplay! So inspired! I hope it gets attention at various conventions. -CF

Look who I found hiding with some other figs on display on my shelf: Looking forward to seeing Benny, and all the other characters, on Sunday night. You know, when there is the lowest chance of little kids in the theater because school is the next day.* -CF *Because a midnight showing or something at 10 PM wouldn't work for me.

It was a gift so I feel obligated to give it a chance. Imo the best books are the ones that make you emotional. But if you want something more mature but not so gut retching, message me and I might have a few suggestions. What's funny is I think I read a lot more fantasy than sci fi.I really want to read the Wicked books.TFIOS is so good! -CF

It's fantastic! I'm going to reread it before the movie. -CF

Yeah, Eoin Colfer wrote a sixth book in the trilogy called "And Another Thing" a few years ago. I guess I haven't been motivated to finish the fifth book (I started once!) and read this is because I'm not an Artemis Fowl fan. -CF

I dropped the ball on posting this during the first week or so of the new year, but I've also dropped the ball on reading a bunch so far this year. Luckily a "year" is just a social construct of time and as long as I'm happy reading and getting things on my shelf completed it's ok if I need a moment to get my groove back. I'm not going to list out all the books I want to read in 2014, especially because new books pop up and I read some of those and thus don't get around to a few others. But here are the ones I'm most looking forward to: -Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest--I just started this steampunk adventure for a tumblr book club, and I already love the writing style! About time I read this (though luckily, I've only owned a copy for a year. Some of these are even older.) -S. by J J Abrams--I'm 100 pages into this too. If you don't know, it is an adventure story of a man names S. who is piecing his life together, while at the same time written in the margins are two college students writing back and forth getting to know one another while also trying to figure out the mystery of the author's life (not Abrams, the author of the story). -Garden of the Beasts, Devil in the White City, and Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson--I should have read these last year, since two are borrowed from my grandma and Devil has been recommended to me too often. There aren't too many other non-fiction books on this list. -Quiet by Susan Cain--OK, another non-fiction book. I should have finished this by now, but regardless of that I'm quite looking forward to this book about introverts. -Return of the King and the Hobbit--Because I should have read these by now. (I read the Hobbit for 9th grade, but want to again before the third movie. But first I need to read King; I just finished The Two Towers in December.) -Good Omens by Neil Gaiman--I'm making my way through Neil Gaiman's bibliography, and I plan on reading this with a friend. -Dresden Files--I should really start this series soon. -Hitchhiker's Guide Books 5 and 6 (and Salmon of a Doubt)--Again, why haven't I read these? -The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson--I own all three. Hopefully I'll read them all in one month. Soon. -Game of Thrones--This was a gift, and I plan on starting it after I finish LOTR. -The Harry Potter series--It's about time I reread these. I'll probably buy the movies and watch each one as I finish a volume. (I haven't read books 3, 4, or 5 again since they first came out.) -Shada, a Fourth Doctor Doctor Who story by Douglas Adams--Should be wonderful! -Snow Crash, Dune, Cloud Atlas, Windup Girl, The Warlords of Mars, some Sherlock Holmes, and Solar all make this list too, among others. The goal now is to make enough time between work, other duties, socializing, sleep, comics, and tv. Anything here pique your interest? What are you hoping to read this year? -CF

Wow! So cool you got to meet him. I was just thinking how cool that would be a few weeks ago... That's really neat how you could have such a long conversation with him at the con. Just hang out... -CF

Woo! Happy birthday, Turakii! Have an awesome time! -CF

The clear dish is a 10x10 inverted dish from the Hailfire Droid. (While we're talking about styles it comes in, let's not forget the two awesome dishes that come in Grievous's Cycle Chase.) I'll see what the white shield piece looks like, but I think it's important to highlight the grey bits too. Thanks for sparing me some criticism, though this is probably the best Toa MOCs you'll see from me for a while until I start building Bionicle a lot more regularly. (I took my System to college and pretty much have become fluent in starfighters, but lost some Bionicle groove.) I'm always interested in a bit of "this is good" and "this is bad," etc. -CF

I was inspired to go out into the snow today and take a picture of an Ice Toa in his natural environment: I built this guy about six years ago (as well as the rest of his team) and even wrote a short story around him (I was originally going to write an epic, and I built the Toa team central to it). Short story shorter: During an epic battle to save his land, after his other five Toa teammates have fallen, he releases a nova blast of ice, stopping the threat but being encased in a cocoon of ice. Now, millennia later, he has thawed (Captain America-style), only to have icy protrusions become a part of his armor, affirming his icy nature. The team of six I built is not his original team that perished, but a new team he has become a part of. More details to follow when I finally take decent pictures of all six. Is Koji a good name for a Toa? I seem to think so. -CF

The Unikitty tail in the background is pretty terrifying, TBH. Other than that, excellent vignette! (Really tempted to get this set for Wyldstyle and Unikitty.) -CF

The party involved me waking up at 6am for work. Thanks, everone! I enjoyed a nice dinner with my family. My mom made an awesome cake! -CF

But I was enjoying only having to worry about one topic in COT. Doctor Who-->Moffat-->Sherlock all in one place. Makes sense to me. -CF

Slightly off-topic: Sherlock S3 E3 was all kinds of amazing. That is all. -CF

I was lucky enough to get the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as a gift, and find the second for $2 as a paperback and the third for $2 as a hardback! I'll be sure to mark "the other books in the series aren't essential reading" as part of criteria for you. -CF

Sorry American Gods didn't grab you. Maybe pick it up on a whim after a few years since you read it and give it a shot? (I plan on doing that for a few school books I "didn't get" because rarely do I like school books.) As for the rest of my list: I hope you can find something new on here that interests you. I suggest looking synopses and ratings/reviews on Goodreads. -CF

2013 was a good year for me in reading. I only read about 20 or so novels, when I really wanted to read more than that, but I'm sure that was more than my four years of college combined (due to classwork), and was greatly stemmed from my realization after graduation that I suddenly had more time to read (and boy did I take advantage of that once the summer hit). Here are my favorite reads of 2013: -American Gods by Neil Gaiman: The most brilliantly-written books I've read. It's fantastic. -The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: This is a book I would recommend for any avid reader, anyone who enjoys a good story. -The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: Beautifully written, with some well-written characters and great scenery. Great imagination put into this. -Redshirts by John Scalzi: Hilarious sci-fi parody. -Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: An exhilarating action movie in book form. For fans of video games and virtual reality. -Batman: Arkham Asylum (A Serious House on a Serious Earth) by Grant Morrison and, more importantly, art by Dave McKean -I finsihed reading The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman: Best graphic novel series ever. -Saga vol 1 by Brian K Vaughn: Described as a cross between Star Wars and A Song of Ice and Fire, it's pretty much awesome. -Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (and, to a lesser extent, but still enjoyable, Fangirl). Both well-written in their own right, but I think I like Eleanor and Park more. I even met the author and had her sign an X-Men comic (a central prop in E&P). -A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (I got to meet the author at the National Book Festival!). I also read a few duds (as well as just quit some partway through). IMO you'd be better off not reading The Cassandra Project, The Archived, or Best of All Possible World. What does 2014 hold in store? I'll be posting about that next! -CF

The Wholock video was disappointing. It was just each character saying bits of dialogue back at each other. Not nearly as witty, whimsical, and clever as a real crossover would have been. (I think that, were a crossover to happen, Sherlock could put up with Capaldi more than Smith.) The Empty Hearse was a great episode! -CF

Velox: I really want 11 Doctors/Stories, but B&N doesn't have it yet. Shada here is written by Douglas Adams (kind of) and it definitely shows in the fifth of it I read a while ago (couldn't finish it, so I bought it a while later. Will read in 2014). Firefly: Still Flying is definitely a great read for Firefly fans! I'm looking forward to the Earthsea stories. I got the first one for 50 cents at a library sale, and a few more for free without their covers from work (don't ask). I'll read the Millennium Trilogy soon. I estimate all three will take me less than a month if they're as good as people say they are. I'm also looking forward to Boneshaker because of all the good things said about it. If you haven't read many graphic novels (despite all the advice given in that one blog of yours), message me and I'll tell you one book to go buy and read based on any criteria you give me. The Serenity graphic novels are nice, but I can't say they're essential reading. (However, the new comic starting in January might be.) -CF

I love the Vatican's page--"The Catholic Disneyland" XD As I said, I have about 100 books; probably a tad more. I haven't read TTSS yet. I tried reading it before the movie came out, but it's a slow read and I had schoolwork and stuff to do. I'm determined to read it in 2014 though! Same story for Cloud Atlas. The Lovecraft is from a friend and I'm really happy I have a full anthology! -CF

I've started doubling up book layers. Mostly books I've already read or the second-half of a series. Part of me thinks I should downsize and sell/donate some of these, but most of these that I have read I don't want to give away. A few I could, but for now these have to stay put. -CF -CF

I have a small obsession with collecting books.* Working in a bookstore, my employee discount makes for tempting impulse-buys, leading to having about 100 books but having only read about 40% of those.** A full bookshelf looks nice. It's impressive. It's a finish line goal; me always knowing I'll have something to pick up immediately upon finishing a book. But it does seem like I should slow down my book-buying until I actually finish a lot of these. Especially when a handful of these are borrowed or gifts. Here's what my bookshelf looked like in August. (Oops, procrastination.) Today it's a little different, but I pretty much gained a lot of graphic novels and a few novels, and about 15 are lent to a friend. So this is still fairly accurate. (That last pic is my comics.) And some LEGO on the other shelves: See anything you like? Have just as many (or more) books piling up as me? In a few days I'll reflect on what gems are on this shelf I have read this year, and what next year holds for my reading anticipation. -CF *I also have an affinity for hardcovers. Just look at this binding of The Night Circus! (The American Gods 10th anniversary edition has a beautiful binding too!) **Surprisingly, a lot of these books aren't from work, but gifts or collected over the years. I've learned to stray away from impulse-buys, especially since I probably won't read it for a few months.

I'm entering! Entry Name: Zia's Bi'Gun Rover Entry Pic URL: HERE -CF