Yr Funny Valentine » nerdness

Hit ‘em low, Olive Oil.

larn — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:21:26 +0000

The other night I went to the new “flagship” (i dislike that term) Barnes and Noble store on the Upper East. Apparently Marvel turned 70, and there were celebrations at comics retailers all across the nation. This particular B&N held a discussion panel with some of Marvel’s past and present bigwigs… Joe Quesada, Chris Claremont, Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, and Klaus Janson.

I recognized at least two of those names, and I knew Chris Claremont to be funny and elusive with his question answering, from when I saw him at the “Comic Book Club” a few months ago. So I went, listened to them talk about previous and upcoming Marvel offerings for a bit, and then stayed to get the 70th Anniversary collection signed.

While they were talking, I looked around the room and realized I was the only female there ALONE. All the other girls, while many of them seemed like huge nerds, were there with other guys (mind you, not a single group had more than one female….) So when I was getting my stuff signed, all the Marvel guys were being super nice and extra smiley, like they’d never seen a girl before. Then the last of them, Klaus Janson, known for his inking (especially of Frank Miller’s works), flat out asked me if the autographed book was for me. Ummm, I know I don’t have the outward appearance of a comic book fan, but that doesn’t mean I’m not one. (not that I’m a really big into comics, but I like a good story, and Marvel has some of the best.) I honestly felt discriminated against. I was the minority in a room of fanboys, and let me tell you, I’ve never felt more inferior, yet surprisingly superior in my entire life.

What a strange yet satisfying experience.

I’m a rooster, monkey

larn — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:04:32 +0000

New cracked out trailer for an equally-cracked-out game, Katamari Forever. Wish I had a PS3 so I could play this when it comes out.

Also, can I just say how awesome this Chibi-Robocop is. Chibi-Robo is adorable. He is definitely one of my all-time favorite video game characters. He cleans and waters plants and makes fun noises when he walks!

(via flickr)

Making up for missed posts

larn — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:06:26 +0000

I totally neglected this poor blog! Feeling super slackery and neglectful, but I know I haven’t written here for good reason, so I don’t feel too guilty. I’ve been way too busy reading. So here’s a very brief recap of the past few weeks. But first, to make up for the following long, boring block of text, here’s a fun picture (courtesy of Agent M)

Joe’s visit was a blast. Did some touristy stuff, some not-so-touristy stuff, and some stuff I don’t remember (so it could be touristy or not, I have no idea).

Went to BookExpo America, which was held in NYC this year for the first time in a few years, and will be held here for the next few. Basically it’s a professional conference for the book publishing industry, where lots of publishers hand out advanced copies of yet-to-be-pubbed books; I got at least 30 free books.

Started my internship with Caren Johnson Literary Agency. Both Elana and Caren are super nice, and are probably not that much older than I am. I’ve been reading manuscripts and advanced galleys of the books/authors that they represent, or are looking to represent. I’ve read some good, some bad, and some kinda ugly stuff. More on this to follow, in a not-already-bloated post.

Between the internship (for which most of my reading is on the computer. How I wish I had some sort of e-book reader) and the advanced books from the book expo, I’ve read 6 books in the past two and a half weeks; i’m in the middle of three more, plus trying to read the first three chapters of about 3 more books. I’ve got 5 critiques to write by Tuesday, so I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I think I’ll manage. I’ve been nothing but productive since Wednesday. It helps that I have only like 15 hours at work (wish i had at least 10 more…), and no summer courses.

Is nerd

larn — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:21:03 +0000

I just spent way too long reading this blog about language. (Mark Liberman, who started and writes for this blog, is an uber-genius, and I would love to take some of his linguistics courses.) More specifically, this post about word attraction and word aversion. Any readers care to comment about their favorite/least favorite words. And not just because of word meaning, but also because of the sounds of the words. I can’t think of any at the moment, possibly because it’s 1AM and I should be asleep, but when I do think of some, you can be sure I’ll post them here.

Well, anyway…. then I was googling Mark Liberman (PS, how weird is it that spell check doesn’t red-squiggly under googling? or squiggly for that matter… ) and I stumbled upon a linguistic analysis of Barak Obama’s inaugural address, it wasn’t particularly fascinating, to a normal human, but I found it pretty neat. I’m such a nerd when it comes to word usage and perception. JEEZ. I need a life, people!