#5FandomFriday: Fandoms I Couldn't Get Into

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week, we're being honest about the fandoms we just can't get into (don't hate me if I don't love your fave!)

• Dr. Who - A lot of people in the same fandoms I am (especially Harry Potter) LOVE Dr. Who - my friend Tiff owns a cardboard cutout of David Tennant as the Doctor. I think part of the reason I'm not a Whovian is because I am intimidated by a fandom that's been around for such a long time, and I have no idea where to start. I've liked the few episodes of the show I've seen on BBC America, but not enough to want to start watching on a regular basis, let alone watch every single episode ever or have an opinion about which actor makes the best Doctor.

• Hamilton - All of Tumblr seems to be obsessed with Hamilton, and while I'm sure it is awesome, I can't fangirl over a play I haven't seen. Lin-Manuel Miranda seems like an awesome guy, the songs are fun, and I love that the show has an intentionally diverse cast, but I don't think I'd be able to listen to the soundtrack and make sense of the story the way so many fans obviously have.

• DC Comics - I wasn't always the superhero-loving lady I am today; my "gateway drug" was the X-Men movies that came out when I was in high school with Anna Paquin as Rogue. Since then, I've pretty much only cared about the Marvel universe. While I have enjoyed the Supergirl television series so far, the big DC heroes, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman just do not hold the appeal for me that the X-Men, the Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Defenders, and the Guardians of the Galaxy do.

• Game of Thrones - Part of my absence from the GoT fandom is probably me not having HBO, but I haven't even tried reading the books despite several friends recommending them to me. A fantasy medieval universe with dragons does indeed seem like my sort of thing. I feel like I need to finish the Outlander books and the other series fiction I read before taking on another big fictional universe.

• Downton Abbey - I always wanted to get into Downton Abbey because it's pretty much my mom's #1 fandom. I love history, I love British stuff, I love Maggie Smith, so it should be a no-brainer, but I always seemed to be watching something else when Masterpiece Theater aired the episodes. I just haven't had the desire to go back to the beginning of the series and figure out the storyline. The costumes look really pretty, though.

this week's clicks: all we need is a roof and a warm place...

get your week off to a colorful start...
LISTEN.

• The sun has finally come out in southwest Virginia, so I'm filling my playlist with upbeat, springy music perfect for warm days, like Little Brutes' "Make Our Own Way."

SWOON.

Kate Haus Photography via Style Me Pretty

• Seriously in love with this colorful South Carolina wedding.
• Obsessed with this little Venice, California canal cottage.
• Lia Griffith's picture-perfect papercut just married banner.
• This tee from The Tomkat Studio is the cutest gift for brides!

SMILE.

• Intrigued by mineral sunscreen spray now that spring's here.
• Watched this interesting Gloria Vanderbilt doc this weekend.
• Book Riot rounds up the best of the new Star Wars universe.
• Beth shares Bible verses to stand on when times are tough.

FLASHBACK.

• 2015: remixed closet staples, seating ideas for spring celebrations, April favorites.
• 2014: a Sunday Social about pet peeves and the best [Mean Girls themed] link-up ever.
• 2013: inspiration for my eternal favorite spring trend: mixed prints.
• 2012: backyard wedding inspiration and ideas for a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

this week's clicks.

get your week off to a colorful start...
LISTEN.

• Have a great week, everyone!

SWOON.

• An elegant Pippin Hill wedding from S+I.
• A pastel Texas wedding with an airstream!
• At SMP, a spring floral inspiration shoot.
• The most amazing real wedding portrait.

SMILE.

Sugar and Cloth

• Every town needs a bright and colorful wall!
• Anthro's classic-with-a-twist birthstone cuff.
• Just Loki popping in with a weather report.
• Creative money-saving tips from Refinery29.

FLASHBACK.

• Last year: my entertainment faves, Rachel Held Evans' Searching for Sunday,
• Two years ago: classic Spring Break wardrobe, a spring and summer bucket list.
• Three years ago: a Sunday Social all about Twitter, citrus prints inspired by two of my favorite shows, and the Susan G. Komen 5K Race for the Cure.
• Four years ago: Titanic dinner party.

#5FandomFriday: Favorite Fictional Foods

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week, I'm rounding up fictional foods I would love to try!

1. Butterbeer from Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling is so, so good at writing about food that reading the dining hall scenes at Hogwarts always made me need to take a kitchen break. Of all the magical things the characters enjoy, the one that seems to inspire the purest elation is butterbeer. I know that Universal Studios serves their own version of the treat, and some people think Starbucks' new butterscotch creations are the closest we Muggles may get to the real thing.

2. November cakes from The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater

One of the many reasons Maggie is my favorite YA author: when she decided to invent a special roll that the denizens of her fictional Celtic island, Thisby, bake to celebrate the annual super-deadly water horse race, she felt like she actually had to bake them , and took it upon herself to create a recipe. That is some next-level universe building right there.

3. Rey's bread from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Science fiction foods get me every time, especially for their usually instant nature - I was also kind of obsessed with all of the different dehydrated meals Tally had in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. In The Force Awakens, Rey's bread was a practical effect accomplished with a balloon, but the folks at Star Wars have come up with a recipe that apparently comes close to instant bread and has an appropriately unappetizing shade of green.

4. Abby's Caf-Pows from NCIS

Sure, a Caf-Pow is just the NCIS universe's version of a Big Gulp from 7-11, but it is also the magical fuel that helps Abby Sciuto solve crimes! Imagine how much I would get done in a day with Caf-Pow running through my veins!

5. Coffee of Doom's specials from Questionable Content

I've been reading this webcomic since college - it's cute and I like the characters - and one of the best running gags Jeph Jacques includes are really strange specials on the chalkboard at the coffee shop. A recent strip featured Earl Grey tea that made Bubbles (who is an AI and can only smell tea) see a unicorn. Totally normal in QC-land.

#5FandomFriday: {Geeky} Holiday Wish List

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. You can see the upcoming prompts here at the Female Geek Bloggers community. For this week's #5FandomFriday topic, we're sharing our holiday wish lists, so I decided to share five geeky things I'd love to receive under the tree this year!

1. The Force Awakens tickets - Okay, so I'll be needing these before Christmas, but I love that we are living in a season of total Star Wars mania - if someone had told my 11-year-old self that someday the entire country would be geeking out about Star Wars, I wouldn't have believed them. Even though I'm a little sad about the Expanded Universe being cancelled out, I have high hopes for the film after seeing all of the trailers and clips.

2. Harry Potter Coloring Book from Scholastic - Why didn't this come out sooner? I haven't gotten in on the adult coloring craze yet, but it's Harry Potter!

3. Peggy Carter Funko Pop - Another craze I haven't gotten into that the #5FF community seems to be obsessed with are Funko Pop figures - they're cute, and I love seeing which ones my local Barnes and Noble has in stock, but I try to minimize the amount of trinkets and knick-knacks I bring into my house. However, this has been the year of Agent Carter for me and I know it would put a smile on my face to see Peggy on my bookshelf.

4. Outlander Season One DVD/Blu-Ray - I watched the first season marathon-style when we had a free weekend of Starz, but I'd love to own the episodes so I could watch them any time I want. I think the casting is perfect and I really love the costumes.

5. Raven Boys swag - Maggie Stiefvater has been one of my favorite YA authors for years, but she never really had a fandom until The Raven Boys. I love Emgrav's designs on Society6, especially the t-shirt covered with doodles inspired by the series.

What geeky things are on your wish list this year?

lately in entertainment.

concerts.

Miranda Lambert's "Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars" Tour at the Berglund Center - Mr. Q surprised me with tickets to this concert, which featured a lineup of all female country artists including my favorite pink guitar player. Opening acts were Courtney Cole, who reminded me of a country Zooey Deschanel but whose voice I didn't love, and Clare Dunn, who has a powerful Bonnie Raitt style voice and rock sound - she plays a Fender, so I loved her pretty much automatically. The first headliner was Ashley Monroe, who is in the Pistol Annies with Miranda, an amazing songwriter and a great singer in her own right - she has a delicate sound like Emmylou Harris or Allison Krauss. Miranda and Ashley brought out Angaleena Presley for a few Pistol Annies songs, and Miranda's other special guest was Patty Loveless, who was pretty much my country superhero growing up. The concert was about a week after the news about Miranda's divorce from Blake Shelton made headlines, and she did make a few short comments to thank the audience for supporting her, but otherwise she rolled through her set, and I thought her voice sounded fantastic.

books.

Paper Towns by John Green - After reading and enjoying (and by enjoying, I mean weeping over) The Fault in Our Stars and its movie adaptation, I wanted to check out more of John Green's work. Paper Towns has a lovable main character and quirky cast of minor characters all searching for the elusive and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, who turns out to be (spoiler alert!) not that great of a person. For me, Paper Towns was just okay - a few great John Green lines surrounded by a lot of pee humor. I might have liked this one more if I'd read it as a high school senior.

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - I was really looking forward to Harper Lee's original novel until all of the "Atticus Finch is racist" stuff hit the fan right before its release date. This is another book I might have appreciated much more during another season of my life - particularly my third year of college, when my total daddy's girl self was grappling with the fact that my father's bad habits were literally killing him. To me, Atticus' backwards beliefs about race weren't all that shocking - I've heard many an ostensibly wonderful Southern person spout ignorant trash as they got older. My favorite character in Go Set a Watchman was Uncle Jack, who I didn't remember at all, and who gave Scout the same advice I often need to remind myself about making a life in the South: "the time your friends need you is when they're wrong, Jean Louise."

Warrior, Scoundrel, and Rebel by Zoe Archer - And now for something completely different: I read a review of the Blades of the Rose series on a friend's blog and thought it sounded fun, and then saw that all of the books are free on Kindle Unlimited. These books are like a cross between The Mummy and The Mortal Instruments - The Blades of the Rose is a society of scholars, inventors, and adventurers who travel the world saving precious magical relics called Sources from the Heirs of Albion, who want to use them to make Britain the most powerful empire in the world at the expense of native cultures. Each book in the series focuses on one of the Blades and his or her love interest as they face all sorts of death defying dangers, and there are some very steamy romantic scenes - I thought Outlander made me blush. It's not without its flaws and cliches (I almost gave up on the whole series when the Native American character turned out to be a shapeshifter), but the stories are a nice escape from reality.

movies.

Ant-Man - Y'all know by now that new Marvel movies are basically a religious experience in the Quinn household, and since we are trying to save money for a house we're visiting the theater very rarely. Ant-Man was definitely worth the trip - I wasn't sure I could buy Paul Rudd as a superhero, and even though I never forgot it was Paul Rudd onscreen I still kind of fell in love with his character's storyline. I also really loved Evangeline Lily as Hope Van Dyne, a strong kick-ass scientist businesswoman whose father, it turns out, has a very legitimate reason for not wanting her to become a hero in her own right. The final fight scene was absolutely awesome, there were plenty of Marvel Easter eggs, and Michael Peña's character Luis provided just the right amount of comic relief.

Only Lovers Left Alive - I felt like watching a vampire movie right around Halloween and stumbled across this total gem starring Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as beautiful creatures of the night who are trying to survive without killing humans. The problem is, pollution and disease have rendered most human blood poisonous to vampires, so they have to be very careful about where they get their "good stuff." It is very much an art-house take on vampires, with lots of scenes that are just weird music playing or Tilda and Tom's characters (Eve and Adam, natch) staring at each other. I was totally okay with that. They're busy being ridiculously good-looking and reminiscing about knowing Byron and Shelley when Eve's train-wreck sister Ava (played by Mia Wasikowska, perfect casting) shows up - ravenous for human blood. Also, Christopher Marlowe is a vampire and he's Eve's BFF, so if you were ever an English major who smoked clove cigarettes this is probably the vampire movie for you.

television.

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp - How did I miss out on Wet Hot American Summer the first time around? After finally getting on board via Netflix, I knew I wasn't going to miss the series. This movie has everything: bad wigs, Jon Hamm, send-ups of every 80's teen movie, good jokes, puberty, Chris Pine acting out the plot of The Doors, and the talking vegetable can's origin story (RIP, Gene).

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is better than ever right now - Iain De Caestecker could basically play James Bond after his performance in the season premiere, I truly believe that Elizabeth Henstridge should win some sort of Emmy for her portrayal of Agent Jemma Simmons trapped on a hostile planet in "4,722 hours." This show is at it's best when it's totally fun one minute (Agents May and Morse planning an attack in Mandarin) and totally angsty the next (that character the other characters and/or the audience has grown to love and trust? Always going to turn out to be evil).

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - If you are not watching this show yet, get on Hulu and catch up RIGHT NOW. The main character, Rebecca, has a (there's really no other way to put this) mental breakdown where she starts taking advice from a butter commercial, quits her Fancy New York Lawyer job, and moves across the country to the California suburbs after running into her summer-camp high school boyfriend Josh Chan. Aside from the fact that she's basically a stalker, Rebecca is making new friends and finding a happier life on the West Coast. Did I mention it's a musical with numbers like "The Sexy Getting Ready Song" and "Settle for Me?" I love shows that don't take themselves seriously at all.

Halloween Recap: Our Adventures as Cap and Peggy...

Even before it came time to make plans for this year's Halloween celebration, I knew exactly who I wanted to dress up as this year: my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe character, SSR Agent Peggy Carter. Peggy is a fair-skinned brunette, which makes things a little easier for me, but more importantly, she is a total action hero. Since I'm a nerd, my Halloween costumes have been verging more and more into the realm of cosplay over the past few years as my quest for accuracy gets a little bit out of control. Today, I wanted to share my Peggy Carter costume with you, because I really loved how everything turned out and had a blast celebrating Halloween with my friends as Agent Carter.

This is the movie still I used most of all for hair and makeup reference. While  Googling "Peggy Carter makeup," I found out that Hayley Atwell has shared Peggy's exact lipstick and nail polish on Twitter. I couldn't resist picking up OPI nail polish in "Cinnamon Sweet" even though I don't usually wear red makeup. I was a little more hesitant about the red lipstick - I wasn't sure I could pull it off, and the real deal (Besame's "Red Velvet") is definitely more expensive than my usual drugstore picks. Then I discovered something really cool: Besame makes lipstick matchbooks! They're less of a shot to the wallet and seemed like a great way to try a color before investing in the full-sized version, plus the little matchbook is adorable.

I tried on the lipstick a few times before Halloween and was surprised that it didn't look totally crazy on me. I didn't do a lot of other makeup - just a little more powder than usual and a hint of blush to mimic Hayley's porcelain complexion, and a dash of Falsies mascara. I used Cosplay Complexion's hair tutorial on YouTube to achieve the 1940's pulled-back look (combs are kind of amazing, especially when paired with Freeze It hairspray) and victory roll (the secret, I found, is to use a lot more hair for the bangs than you think you'll need!).

Accurate, movie-style Peggy Carter costumes are quite expensive, but I found a decent olive green uniform - the "Wartime Officer" costume made by a company called Smiffy's and available from Amazon. It had some patches sewn on that I was afraid to attempt removing but could probably be done with a seam ripper, a mock collar and bowtie that I pinned to look a little more like Peggy's necktie, and real buttons rather than velcro. I snagged a couple of my school's gold eagle reward pins (our mascot) to stand in as SSR lapel pins for the weekend (one of the perks of being a coach, I suppose).

I was thrilled to find brown t-strap shoes with a kitten heel at Peeble's (they are Aerosoles), and I also decided that I needed a toy gun, primarily just so I could recreate my favorite action pose from Captain America: The First Avenger. Do you know how hard it is to find a toy gun these days that isn't a ridiculous color or shape? Thanks, Dollar General, for keepin' it real.

I also have this personal belief that Peggy Carter could lift Mjolnir, but that's just me. I originally ordered the costume in a size large and it was very oversized in the shoulders and arms. The medium was a bit snug but much more flattering overall - if I wear it again I will probably take the time to hem the sleeves. For a 100% polyester suit, it seemed quite well made and I'm tempted to incorporate the skirt into my fall wardrobe.

Since I was Peggy, Mr. Q pretty much had no choice but to be Captain America, a.k.a. Steve Rogers, for Halloween - honestly, it didn't take much convincing, especially when his work buddy decided to be Hawkeye...

Which led to this ridiculous(ly awesome) photoshoot in their warehouse. Your tax dollars at work, America. We ended up going to two Halloween celebrations, so I decided to try a different spin on Peggy's uniform on Saturday night. I paired the jacket with a brown a-line skirt that I already owned, and ended up preferring that look to the olive pencil skirt that came with the costume.

Josh went for a Halloween bike ride that I think will become a neighborhood tradition - it's no motorcycle, but with Captain America's shield on his back I thought he looked pretty cool (and so did a lot of small children who were out trick-or-treating). One of the highlights of the night was a friend asking who I was supposed to be and his friend saying, "Did you not see the Captain America running around? She's Agent Carter! She has her own show and everything!" Even if people didn't always recognize my costume, I knew my value ;)

My last pose request of the night was recreating the famous WWII kiss in Time's Square - and I have to say, I like it a lot better with Steve and Peggy! I hope that you all had a great Halloween and enjoyed this peek at our shenanigans.

clicks of note: don't want anybody else but you...

get your week off to a colorful start...
LISTEN.

• This was a random YouTube suggestion, and I have to say, I'm liking Joe Brooks' rendition of "Magic" even better than Coldplay's original version of the song. I guess the algorithm is working. I'm linking up with Musical Mondays at My So-Called Chaos.

SWOON.

Christine Sargologos

• A sweet city hall elopement from Christine Sargologos.
• Cassidy Carson features a fairytale wedding in Alabama.
• A dreamy summer wedding at Elizabeth Anne Designs.
• From Ryan Ray, a pretty Dominican Republic wedding.

SMILE.

• The Marvel Comic-Con Dubsmash battle is everything.
• Remember to treat yourself like a guest (Design Sponge).
• Deuce Cities Henhouse's clever, fun use for wallpaper.
• Famous women share the best advice they've ever gotten.

FLASHBACK.

• Last year I participated in a Sunday Social about personal highs and lows, shared the gear that motivates me to stay fit, survived traveling with family, rounded up my favorite features from Colonial houses, and recapped my summer in entertainment.
• Two years ago, I shared wardrobe and entertaining inspiration for casual bridal showers, a sneak peak at some of our ideas for Breeze's rustic wedding, our Mason jar shower invitations and DIY decor, the food and drinks, and the games we played.
• Three years ago, Micah shared a DIY dresser makeover, I wondered about the origins of "Christmas in July" and geeked out about the London Olympics.
• Four years ago, I recapped the shower Mr. Q's coworkers gave us.  

Geeky Friday: Avengers Book Tag

No 5 Fandom Friday post for me today, since the topic is "Five things you own that you bought at cons" and I've never been to one! Instead, I'm going to keep it geeky with a Marvel-related book tag! Kristin Hackett created the Avengers book tag and I discovered it through My Life as a Teacup. I've included links to my original reviews for each book as well as some of my favorite passages (from the ones I read on my Kindle).

1) Iron Man / Tony Stark - A book that made you laugh out loud

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling: Probably the funniest book I've read as an adult - Mindy is oddly relatable to me and I wanted her to be my BFF while reading her first book. I loved the conversational tone.

"I have virtually no hobbies except dieting. I can't speak any non-English languages, knit, ski, scrapbook, or cook. I have no pets. I don't know how to do drugs. I lost my passport three years ago when I moved into my house and never got it renewed. Video games scare me because they all seem to simulate situations I'd hate to be in, like war or stealing cars. So if I ever lost eright I would also lose my only hobby. I have no discipline; I'm like if Private Benjamin had never toughened up but, in fact, got worse..." (p. 22)

2) Captain America / Steve Rogers - A book that sends a positive message

A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans: Rachel is one of my favorite Christian bloggers and I loved reading about her "experiment" in which she decided to follow the Bible's weird dictates for women by focusing on one Biblical virtue each month for a year. Along the way, the book's true theme develops: there is no one "correct" way to be a woman who follows Jesus.

"And so we codify. We legislate. We pull little girls to the front of the class and slap rulers against their bare legs and try to measure modesty in inches... We cling to the letter because the spirit is so much harder to master... It's not what we wear but how we wear it. And like clothing, modesty fits each woman a little differently." (p.148)

3) Black Widow / Natasha Romanov - A book with a kick butt female protagonist

Graceling by Kristin Cashore: I just finished this one and Katsa is one of my all-time favorite main characters! She's tough and fiercely independent, but also has a vulnerable, gentle side which I think makes her even more interesting. I also love that this YA book features a romantic relationship that operates on terms set by the female partner.

4) Hawkeye / Clint Barton - An underrated book you wish more people would pay attention to

Half Bad by Sally Green: I downloaded this book almost immediately after reading Charlie Jane Anders' review on io9, and it did not disappoint. Sally Green creates a wizarding world that is darker than Harry Potter - the main character, Nathan, starts the story not in a cupboard but in a cage, and his father is the world's darkest wizard. The "good" wizards are too caught up in bureaucracy and rules to actually be benevolent to a child who could potentially grow up to be very dangerous. This one should be right up there with The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner when people talk about young adult books.

5) Hulk / Bruce Banner - A book that made you incredibly angry

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: First of all, I felt like a big sucker because I did not see any of the twists coming. Second, I found that as the ending of the book approached, I could not sympathize with any of the characters, and for me, that meant I didn't care how it ended by that point. I definitely think the book was well written, it just wasn't for me.

"Maybe it was the clue I couldn't figure out, but I suddenly felt like I'd overlooked something. I'd made some huge mistake, and my error would be disastrous. Maybe it was my conscience, scratching back to the surface from its secret oubliette." (p. 144)

6) Thor - A book with a character whose strength you admired

Wild by Cheryl Strayed: My favorite memoir. Cheryl's ability to pick herself up from rock bottom by pushing herself to her physical and mental limit on the Pacific Coast Trail is absolutely inspiring.

"In my perception, the world wasn't a graph or formula or an equation. It was a story."

7) BONUS: Loki - A book with a twist or surprise that tricked you 

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier: Going into this one all I knew was that it's one of my mom's favorites and she had described it as similar to Jane Eyre, my personal favorite. Manderley estate definitely felt like a real place to me and the crumbling Victorian atmosphere added to the novel's suspense for me. The main character, young Mrs. de Winter, spends so much time trying to distinguish herself from the perfect, poised Rebecca, her husband's first wife, that the idea that Rebecca wasn't an absolute saint never crossed my mind.

Which books would you choose for each Avenger? If you choose to write a post (or make a vlog!) for this tag, please share your link in the comments. I'm tagging Shoshanah and Micah (Micah, I'm not sure if you've seen Avengers but I know you've read enough books to answer these questions!)

5 Fandom Friday - Dream Spin-Offs!

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly geeky posting party hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. You can see the upcoming prompts here at the master post. This week's topic is Five Spin-Offs I'd Like to See Get Made. Spinoffs can be fabulous (The Colbert Report, Master Chef Jr., Girl Meets World) and super successful (Frasier, NCIS), but they can also be a hot mess (Joey, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland). Here are 5 ideas I think would work. I would also like to state that this post took forever to write because there was so much brainstorming involved.

Star Wars: Han Solo

Yahoo

This one is actually happening, and it seems too good to be true that the Lego Movie team is on board to direct - they obviously love the character and know how to use the monomyth to tell a story. A young Han story will be interesting because depending on when exactly the story is set, he could potentially be a really crappy person (remember, in A New Hope he wanted to let Princess Leia die rather than get involved). A good Han Solo prequel should keep in mind that Han is an antihero, show how he got that mercenary attitude and swagger, how he teamed up with Chewbacca and became captain of the Millenium Falcon, and what the heck the Kessel Run actually is. I'll be honest, what I really want is a young Han Solo and Lando Calrissian scoundrel buddies action movie.

Harry Potter: Marauders

J.K. Rowling has already given readers a lot of backstory here and there about Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, but I would read a whole novel or watch a whole movie about these guys (as well as young Lily, Snape, and Frank and Alice Longbottom) - set during their Hogwarts years, the First Wizarding War, or both.

Marvel: Black Widow

I don't really need to explain why this needs to happen, do I? You may have already seen this James Bond style fake opening title sequence created by a digital effects student - I would so watch anything centered on Natasha Romanov. As ScreenRant points out, her backstory would probably be best suited to a Netflix series (spy drama kind of like Alias, maybe?) because the "red in her ledger" = seriously terrible things. Perhaps it's best to leave what she did to Drakov's daughter and what happened in Budapest up to the imagination. At this point, it might be weird to have an origin story for a character who is an established part of the MCU storyline, so a Black Widow movie could be based on a new, post-HYDRA conflict that is ideal for Natasha to tackle without a lot of help from the other Avengers (although by all means throw in Tony Stark, Cap, or Hawkeye if needed and definitely include Maria Hill).

Inception: the Architect

Remember when Inception came out, and afterward you were like, "I have questions and I don't even know what they are?!" I was really hooked on the idea of Ariadne continuing to work as a dream Architect after the job she did for Dom. Mostly just because I love Ellen Page.


That 70's Show: That 90's Show

Fanpop

FOX tried to spin-off my favorite sitcom by making The 80's Show, which was absolutely terrible and had no heart. An actual good spin-off could still be set in Point Place, Wisconsin, and feature the original characters' kids (with cameos from Grandma Kitty and Grandpa Red). The 90's are super trendy right now so advertisers would love it. Like a funny, fluffier version of My So-Called Life - Donna's kids would be right at home in flannel and Doc Martin's, but I think we all know Jackie's daughter would be a major New Kids on the Block fan and wear jelly shoes.

Your turn! Which spin-offs would you love to see?

5 Fandom Friday - Favorite Aliens!

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly geeky posting party hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. You can see the upcoming prompts here at the master post. This week's is 5 Favorite Aliens, and you can probably already predict which fandoms mine are from.

Master Yoda (Star Wars) - I'm fascinated by Joseph Campbell's literary theory of the hero's journey, and one main component of stories that follow the monomyth is meeting with a mentor or guardian. In the original Star Wars movies, Luke's original mentor is Obi-Wan (he fills the Gandalf/Dumbledore role), and Yoda is introduced in The Empire Strikes Back as more of a trickster mentor (Luke think's he's just some crazy old green dude at first). As a kid, I thought Yoda was adorable and it was not lost on me that he was voiced by Frank Oz, who was also Grover on Sesame Street. I do a little Yoda minilesson at school when we go over subject-verb agreement.

Leeloo Dallas (The Fifth Element) - This whole movie makes more sense when you learn that it's technically French and that Luc Besson started writing it when he was 16. I'm not sure if Leeloo actually counts as an alien, since she's an element, but she was delivered to Earth by aliens so I'm counting her. The scene where she learns how corrupt humanity is and cries that one sad little tear gets me every time.

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles) - Does someone born on the moon count as an alien? I'm counting Cress because she is so very adorable. Marissa Meyer's take on Rapunzel, Cress is an expert computer hacker who has spent her youth trapped in a satellite orbiting the Earth in order to gain intelligence. Despite the shady intentions of her overseer, she falls in love with Earth and dreams of being the damsel in her own fairytale. She's innocent, naive, and loyal and I just want to wrap her up in a blanket and feed her noodle soup.

Spock (Star Trek) - I haven't seen many episodes of classic Star Trek; it was J.J. Abrams taking the helm that piqued my interest, and I have loved both of the new Trek films, particularly Zachary Quinto as Spock. I think the best thing the films have done is take the character who represents pure logic and make him the true heart of the Enterprise.

Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy) - He's fiercely protective, loyal to a fault, and loves to dance. Vin Diesel says playing Groot helped him mourn Paul Walker's death in a healthy way. AND he's an INFJ. What's not to love?

Which of your favorite alien characters should be added to the list?