Monday website AND new TV show review!

Today's blog comes to you in two parts. Part one: your weekly time-wasting website recommendation. This week's site is called Reasonably Clever. It is run by a guy named Chris. The home page features the latest strip of Chris's webcomic, which is called "Brick House." Despite also being made of Lego creations, "Brick House" is completely different from "Irregular Webcomic!" (which was first mentioned a couple weeks ago). Anyway, "Brick House" is worth a read, but it is harder than IWC for new readers to jump into.

I am recommending "Reasonably Clever" for two main reasons. The first is the Lego Mini-Mizer, which allows you to create your own Lego people. Here is an example of some of the Lego people I've made:



We have Dracula, the wolfman, and Frankenstein's monster! There are also a ton of superhero costumes, Star Trek uniforms, and a collection of T-shirts. You can even add a background.

The other cool thing about Reasonably Clever is Chris's photo gallery of his Lego creations. He is crazy talented! Here is the main build page, which includes (among others) LIFE-SIZED Tom Servo and Crow made ENTIRELY from Legos! Also worth a look: Lego "Serenity" and a church for the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" (scaled to accommodate Lego mini-figs).

All right, part 2 is a review of ABC's new show "The Gates." It is a drama chronicling the lives of residents in a gated community cleverly named The Gates. But The Gates must be one of those places like Sunnydale that attracts weirdness. The new police chief has just moved his family into the community and has no idea about what is really going on. So far, we have a werewolf pack at the high school, witches owning shops downtown, and a couple of vampires who live next door with their adopted (human) daughter.

The first episode was pretty good. We get to know a bit about all of the characters in the ensemble, although I hope that all of the main characters have been introduced already. If the ensemble gets too large, it turns into a soap opera. The main reason I stopped watching "Heroes" is because they had too many damn characters. I would watch the show every week, and still had trouble following it!

Anyway, the acting and writing are decent, but not spectacular. So far, I am most intrigued by the vampires, Claire and Dylan (big surprise). They moved to The Gates to protect their daughter Emily from other vampires. The only problem with this plan is that Claire has trouble controlling her hunger. Dylan seems to have a handle on it, but I think he is more the exception than the rule when it comes to vampires. I would like to hear more about their daughter and why they decided to adopt.

We also have Peg and Devon, who both own shops that sell herbs and holistic junk. They haven't stated it outright yet, but it is heavily implied that they practice witchcraft. Peg is the "good" witch and Devon is the "bad" witch. Then there is the werewolf pack, which appears to be composed of about half a dozen teenage boys. Not too much has been said about them, except that there is a "code" and running around as a werewolf is not allowed inside the community. I'm guessing that they fall into the "turn into a wolf at will" category rather than the "change at the full moon" category.

Interwoven with all of this is the story of the Monohans, who have just moved in. Nick is the new police chief (from Chicago!) and is suspicious of his new neighbors, Claire and Dylan. His wife Sarah thinks Claire is a wonderful woman. Claire recommended Peg to Sarah, but Sarah ended up going to Devon's shop instead. Their son Charlie has a crush on a werewolf's girlfriend. They also have a daughter, who is just kind of there. Maybe she'll end up being friends with the vampires' daughter or something. Actually, that would be pretty interesting.

The show has potential. I will probably tune in again next week.

Leverage: Season 3 review coming soon! It is downloading as we speak.

Website/Favorite Things: TV Tropes

Hello, I'm back! Sorry that there was no post yesterday; I was out of town and found myself without Internet access. It was actually a very nice little getaway: did some shopping, spent time with my family, and generally just got to relax and have fun. But more on that tomorrow. Wednesdays are going to be my "off-topic" day when there is no site news.

So...TV Tropes. Guaranteed to waste hours and hours of your time! It is a collection of all of the "tricks of the trade" for writing fiction. They began with television, but now they have books, movies, cartoon shows, pro wrestling, you name it.

There are two main types of pages: pages for works and pages for tropes. Pages for tropes introduce a concept that is often found in fiction, like "Damsel In Distress." A tropes page will explain the concept, along with related concepts (aka "tropes"). It will then list examples of the trope, organized by media. Pages for works are pages centered around a certain book, movie, etc. It is easy to tell what most of the tropers enjoy because those pages will be ridiculously long. A works page will explain the plot or setup and then list the tropes found in that work.

This is a wiki site, like Wikipedia. However, unlike Wikipedia, when they say "anyone can edit" they do mean ANYONE, and you can edit anything. Signing up is ridiculously easy--not even an email address is required--and from there you can begin adding examples to the pages. Editing is also very easy to learn; internal links can be added by typing Wiki Words, where you just type the words without spaces and it is all correctly formatted by Wiki Magic. Much easier than Blogger (sorry, Blogger!).

If none of that sounds interesting, you are probably better off. I am being completely serious here: I could happily spend an entire day on their site...in fact, I probably have. The question is whether or not I should (obviously not). TV Tropes' greatest advantage is also its biggest weakness. Gee, I wonder if there's a trope for that...

You can find TV Tropes here. Click at your own risk, especially if you have something important to do.

You have been warned.

Fun Website: Think Geek

Think Geek is one of my favorite online stores, because they have a ton of fun and funny stuff. Their tagline is "Stuff for smart masses" (haha!) and they really have it all, no matter what kind of a geek you are.

First off, I must mention their phenomenal selection of geeky T-shirts. I'm all about the fun T-shirts. My current favorite is this one, which I think is brand-new.



Heck yes. Pinky and the Brain FTW. Other favorites include one from Sunnydale High School and one that says "Self-Rescuing Princess." In fact, I could probably fill a whole dresser full of geeky shirts from TG.

For annoying friends, coworkers, and neighbors, we have the Marshmallow Mforcer Semi-Automatic Pistol. That's right. It's not just a marshmallow gun; it's a marshmallow semi-automatic pistol. Geeky? Yes. Awesome? Absolutely!



Load it up with mini-marshmallows and you're good to go!

To geekify your bathroom or kitchen, what better way than with an LED light that makes the hot water look like it's red, and the cold water look like it's neon blue? Seriously, as soon as I get my own apartment I am buying one of these.



I could keep going, but really the best thing for me to do is just link to the site and say, "Go explore!"

So...Go explore!