I'm On Another Podcast Episode!! Creator's Playbook, Episode 12, Skin Deep

A couple weeks or so ago I got to record another episode of the Creator's Playbook with my brothers, and we had just as much fun as the first time.

This episode is the 12th in the series and is entitled "Skin Deep". (Active link if you want to check out the podcast without searching for it).  The other episode I'm on is the 6th, Balloons of a Feather.

The theme was Magical Transformations, but we decided to be creative with it.  There's so many types of magical transformations!  It's not all of the school girl variety.  What did we come up with?  I'm not going to spoil anything. ;0)

This episode is on Spotify, but my bros said it's on other platforms as well, so I should find out which ones. :P

If you love creativity, if you love stories, check out the Creator's Playbook.  It might inspire you to create some fun things as well.

(Currently this episode is on the top of the list, though my brothers finished editing another episode and will be posting it soon, so it might be second to the top).

Sailor Moon Wand, the Gift That Keeps on Giving

Back in 1999 or so, I honestly can't remember, the Sailor Moon craze was going full steam.  I watched it on Toonami with my brothers.  In the late 90's it was hard to get toys from the anime, unless you found them online.  I found one of her wands on Ebay with a bid getting ready to close.  I convinced my Dad to buy it, which he did, in disbelief  . . . and I never gave him the money!!!  (Heh, not one of my proudest moments.  I should pay him back.)  Since then we've had many good laughs over it.

 What's fun is that each of my nieces have really enjoyed it.  It's one of their favorite toys to play with when they come over.  And now I have a little niece that isn't quite walking yet, but as she was crawling around she found the wand and figured out how to push the button to light it up and make the wand sound.  So cute!

I have four nieces now!  My poor nephew.  I remember Krista asking him a month or so ago if he wanted a brother, and I swear I saw him shake his head no.  The next time he's over I'm going to ask him.  He's entered the "why" phase.  Had quite the conversation the other day.  He was very pleased at getting the bar-stool to turn, and then getting on it to spin.  I have three brothers, always wanting a sister, and it seems like my lack of sisters is being made up in nieces.

Sailor Moon's wand with Sailor Neptune's Mirror (a greater treasure).

My nieces are not allowed to play with the mirror.  It's not a toy.

Thank You Pikachu For Making Me Feel Old

For starters I feel really quite young.

 When I was a kid and would look up to 30-somethings I would think, "Man that's old!"  For goodness sake it was a couple months before my 9th birthday when my Mom turned 30, which--Oh my goodness, I just realized this--I was 13 when my Mom was my age.  How's that for perspective?  Maybe being single at 34 with a boat load of questions about my life makes me feel young.  I don't know.  But then people are constantly mistaking me for 25, which I'll take as long as I can.

And then life throws a bucket of cold water on you to remind you that time is passing whether you like it or not.  For me I got soaked with ice water when I found a toy at Walmart showing the number 20.

"Why the freak is the number 20 on a Pokemon box!!??" I didn't exclaim this out loud.  Instead I screamed this within the confines of my mind.  A quick Google search later and I found out that the game Pokémon Red and Green came out on February 27, 1996, a year before the anime.

It wasn't until my senior year of High School, 1999, when I learned about the phenomenon through my obsessed three younger brothers.

We watched the show.  We collected cards.  They actually played, I just like collecting things.  I had many debates with my friends whether Pokemon is a legitimate anime, because a lot of purest wanted nothing to do with these Pocket Monsters.  Kiki's Delivery Service is the first anime I watched.  Miyazaki was gaining huge popularity in America.  Gundam Wing came out in March of 1996 as well, making strides on Toonami with 1992's Sailor Moon.

Yes, Sailor Moon is 24 years old. (Technically Sailor Moon was a middle schooler, so 12+24= 36.  Let that sink in.)

Most of the cards I've collected I've given to my siblings.

I've kept some of the holos.

This is my all time favorite card: Promo Holo Ancient Mew.

Scanning the card into a JPEG made it really dark.

Here's a picture that better shows the colors.

From ToyWiz.com: "Pokemon promo card ancient Mew - given issued out to attendees at the Pokemon Movie in 2000. Ancient Mew is Holographic on both sides and has an amazing illustration of the elusive Mew on the front of the card. The back of the card is wonderfully illustrated with energy balls consisting of grass, fighting, and fire, water, colorless, lightning and psychic."

Apparently it's an ultra rare.  Cool.  I got two on opening day.

Still Pikachu's 20.  20!!  Where is the time going?

Nerd Tuesday! Just Because

I've decided that today is Nerd Tuesday!

Why?

Why not.

I'm tired and it seems like a Brilliant idea . . . 

. . . though technically everyday should be Nerd Day.

Anywho!

it's crazy how things have changed in just the last few years thanks to the book wars.  The dominance of Amazon and online shopping is to thank for that, and I'm just as much to blame, because I find myself ordering online time and again for a good discount.

But there have been consequences, such as the closing of Borders Book.  I still reminisce about Borders and how much I miss it.  I still have the rewards card.  (Don't judge!)  But I do miss that store, both the random meet ups with my siblings, which, for some reason, never carried over to Barnes and Noble.  And I miss the three story Borders store in Santa Barbara.  It's so funny, because my family would visit Santa Barbara, and instead of hanging out all day at the beach, we would spend hours in Borders.  Books are magical and that was a magical store.

With all these changes Barnes and Noble has changed their format as well.  Instead of being filled entirely with books and magazines, there's now a large assortment of board games, puzzles, toys, and nerd collectables such as Doctor Who, etc.

Honestly I'm cool with these changes.

And the other day I noticed they created display cases for some of the figures you can buy.  Being the nerd that I am I had to take pictures to share.

 Sailor Moon.  The memories!  Sure brings back some good times watching toonami with my brothers and reading the mangas.

 D.C. vs Marvel.

Marvel wins by default, thanks to the Green Lantern.

And Gundams!

Gundam.

As much of a fan that I am, it's a wonder that I don't own my own tiny mecha.  I should save up and buy a Wing Zero, and then have fun putting the model together.  I haven't put a model together since I was a kid!  Good times.

Sailor Neptune's Mirror in Real Life

I regard the above mirror as a family heirloom.  It's not that old, yet it is very special.  My Mom found it in 1987 at a French flea market in Paris.  I was five when she brought this back, so it's part of my childhood.  Often I would go into my Mom's room just to look at it, and because I loved it so much she gave it to me.

Fast forward to the year 2000.  My last semester of High School was when I was first introduced to anime through Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.  Escaflowne and Card Captors were running on Fox, though I don't think the English versions ever finished their run.  Then there was Cartoon Network with their Toonami lineup.  Thanks to Toonami I was introduced to my favorite--and still overall favorite anime--Gundam Wing.  But Toonami was also responsible for introducing American audiences to Sailor Moon.

Of course I got obsessed, which included getting the manga (Japanese comics) as well.  While reading I discovered something quite extraordinary: Sailor Neptune had my Mom's mirror!  The details are so close that Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi had to have had one of her own, which she modeled Neptune's mirror on.

It's fun to think that a 1987 treasure from France was imitated in a famous anime/manga.  While searching for pictures I found the below image, which is the first time since 2000 I found someone else with the mirror, so I'm not the only person who thinks this!      

 (Source Info)

 (Source Info)

 (Source Info)

Overly silly, I know, but I've always found this quite fun.  BTW, Sailor Moon is behind one of the worst mistakes I made in college.  There is a live-action version of the show called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.  I found it during the first week of one of my college semesters, and I managed to watch all 49 episodes in 4 days.  -_-;; I went to class, but got behind in my class work.  It was sadly addicting.  

On another note my niece LE learned a very sad truth on New Years Eve: Manga are not coloring books.

Sarah