Wait, I thought there were two contributors...

Greetings, embittered people!

My posts will start back up this Thursday! (...probably...) Evidently, they don't have wi-fi in Mordor. BOY its been a busy month. Starting Thursday, I'll share some guilty pleasures with you (get yer mind outta the gutter!) and things will get just a bit musical for a while.

For now, I present my future wife, photographed by the Hobbits over in the GeeksAreSexy.com shire...Now, THAT'S thinking with portals!

Don't worry...

I found this tool for Lulu. I though you might also enjoy!

Another Dame to Keep an Eye On

Greetings, quarter pounders with cheese!

A short and sweet update today, as I find myself craving the worst of the worst of the fast of the food. I'd like to share the writings of one of the classiest ladies I've ever known (and I don't care if you're a born and bred nerd or a freakin' cheerleader; class is ALWAYS necessary); like seriously, I saw here wearing some sort of a fur stole the other night and she actually wasn't playing dress-up. Not to mention, she's a talented writer to boot, and her stories are darkly funny and often insightful. Presenting: The Infamous Coat Check Girl.

>


Read and enjoy. Later, gators!

My New Internet Girlfriend

Greetings, cat people!

Presenting candidate number two for my new internet girlfriend (candidate number one is somewhere further down the page). This is her eHarmony submission (but not really), and the video pretty much says it all.

But wait, it gets better! This video has been songified!

Credit, as usual, goes to (the curious case of) Mr. Muffin.

IDIOT BOX: LIMBO!

Greetings, sexy people!

Two things to look forward to this month, if you happen to be on the west coast. [Which, sadly, Felix is not. Come home!]

The first is a super amazing art show, taking place in LA beginning August 11th [today!!], the legendary iam8bit. [As you can imagine, we here at 8bit Runway are quite fond of the name.]


iam8bit is a company that wears a lot of different hats; they do promotions as well as providing consulting services and the like. [also, iam8bit has been affiliated with Bethesda Softworks, so I'm already working on my marriage proposal.] They've been doing this show on a yearly basis, to celebrate old-school video game nostalgia; here's a blurb [is that a word?] from their website:

Over 100 artists will reimagine their 80's gaming fantasies, delusions and secret desires via all sorts of media - painting, sculpture, plush, and even some more interactive experimentation. Highlights include:

*A special tribute to Galaga's 30th anniversary featuring the world's largest "arcade cabinet"
* The transformation of the entire gallery into an 80's gaming wonderland by designer decal collective BLIK
*An interactive, "retro-fied" Kinect hack from Double Fine super-artist Drew Skillman
*And much, much more!

Unfortunately, LA is a bit of a commute for Little Portland Lulu, but if someone is down to let me borrow their jetpack, you can bet your sweet Goombas I'll be there.

The other mega awesome thing that is actually happening IN Portland [so you know I'm not talking about PAX and that I actually get to go] is coming up on August 24th at Lola's Room; The Protomen are coming to town! The Protomen are a little hard to explain; they're sort of like a Megaman tribute band, but they're also sort of a rock opera, sort of Les Miserables for nerds, sort of the best fucking thing that has ever existed. Their act is based on the first six Megaman games on the NES released by Capcom. While Megaman has an existing storyline going across the manga, cartoon and [duh] video games, the band looks at it as more of a "jumping off point" [says the Wikipedia article], and has created a dystopian epic. Also, Dr Light's singing voice, jesus christ. IS THAT YOU, JEAN VALJEAN?

I'll see you there! Their songs are available on Amazon, and also through their website for smooth groovin'. I highly recommend checking out the lyrics either first or while you listen through, as it makes it a little easier to follow the storyline, and often includes stage direction/plot points, which is especially nice if you're a little fuzzy on your MegaHistory.



Click the jump for the lyrics/narration to go along with "The Hounds," courtesy of Lyrics.Wikia.com:

Disney Princess Nostalgia

Greetings, weirdos!

Remember all of your favorite Disney princesses from back in the day? One of the best parts of geek culture is nostalgia, and what better way to embrace that than by taking something from your childhood, raping it, and then putting it on the internet?

Just kidding, this is amazing.

Check out the series "When The Fairy Tale Ends, Real Life Begins," by Dina Goldstein. These are a couple years old, but definitely worth a second look.

What I want for Christmas...

...is a fire-breathing pony.

[no, not that kind!]

Today, two weird-as-shit things that can be controlled by the Wiimote, one that is very cool, one that is very not-cool. Unfortunately, the latter is the one that is available immediately, right now.

Click the jump to read more...

Ladies for you to Lurk!

Greetings, anyone!

In exploring the dark recesses of the internet, there are plenty of other awesome ladies out there, and I'd like to take a post to showcase some of the youtube channels that I've been enjoying. Because seriously, whats nerdier than making a webseries?
...making a blog...

ANYWAY...without further ado, check out links to the channels and bits of info under the cut, cause I don't want your computer to blow up due to all of the awesomeness loading up on top of all of the other awesomeness that's already on the main page of the blog. See? That's courtesy. And you're welcome.

Do you know of any other channels or web series that we should check out featuring the ladies of the internet? Shoot me an e-mail and let me know, and we'll post 'em here! ...if we feel like it.

Nah, don't worry, we totally will!
if you're lucky.

On to some videos! Then I'll be going back to playing through Fallout 3 for the first time. I've made my character way too pale, so it looks like one of those creepy ghost babies from The Grudge is roaming around vault 101...oops.

All about Va-Jay-Jays

Well, since this is a lady-run blog and all, I thought that we here at 8-bit Runway could take a few moments out of your day to talk about lady-parts. The mysterious va-jay-jay. The hoo-hah. The girl-down-there part.

NO NO DON'T RUN AWAY JUST YET.

Also, just kidding, Felix would never have condoned this. That's why I don't tell her about things before I do them anymore.

First of all, and where would you find this OTHER THAN on Warren Ellis' blog, motherfucking zombie dildos, made especially to make your hoo-hah happy, and your dreams scarred for life. And second of all, a robotic va-jay-jay that can give birth to a fake fetus. I assume this would be useful for some scientific purpose, and thats why they made it, rather than "Hur hur...LETSA MAKE A SEXY RUBBER'A LADY. ITSA ME, MARIO" (which is what I would have said, with all this science at my disposal).

These are things that you might not be able to un-see. YOU'VE BEEN ADEQUATELY WARNED.

The Play-Shank Redemption...?

I would like to think of this post as being the Play-Shank Redemption. As you may remember/just have seen/will read next, Tuesday's post featured horrific, terrifying examples of ladies in Cosplay get-up (Cosplay, if you hadn't figured it out yet, being the shortened version of 'costume play,' which sounds sort of kinky but its really a bunch of weeaboos dressing up like their favorite anime/video game character. Soo desu ne.), mostly resulting from a sheer lack of effort. (Seriously, if you can't pick out a decent wig, you don't have enough drag queen friends and I feel bad for you.) To redeem this subculture that is, lets face it, maybe a little weird but intensely gratifying for the observer, I've swept up some awesome Cosplayers from the corners of the internet (read: stole without giving credit), for your viewing pleasure. Click the jump for some images that are way less likely to scar your retinas and aren't JUST hot Asian chicks.

Cosplay!!

I love me some good cosplay. And before you turn up your noses, here's why; anime isn't really my thing, I'll admit; it isn't as though I specifically don't like it, I just find it sorta hard to get in to nowadays. Young Lou enjoyed forays into such series as Trigun, Tenchi Muyo and, like every other middle school-aged girl, Sailor Moon. And I seem to remember that Fooly Cooly was a bit of fun, before I fell asleep in the middle of it.

Side note: Will someone buy this for me so I can wear it EVERY DAY!?

But whether or not you're into the inspiration for Cosplay (and to be fair, its not all anime), you can enjoy the result; the genuine craftsmanship of a good costume, one that is easily recognizeable, flattering, and effective; those can be truly impressive. Good for you, awesome cosplayers!

But...as with everything, there is a dark side, a yang to the ying, a Gary to an Ash (I could go on for days!). Something that I will totally own up to...I LOVE bad Cosplay. Its that reality TV curse that we're all guilty of; the joy in watching someone take a tumble and humiliate themselves, either on purpose or not. (And if you don't own up to it, you're lying; I don't care if you're Mother Freakin' Theresa, you've seen an episode of Wife-Swap and I WAS WATCHING YOU WHILE YOU DID IT AND I HAVE PROOF. Just kidding. Or am I?) Without getting into the psychology behind it (maybe in a later post!), a terrible Cosplay has the same effect; even though your face is melting a la Indiana Jones and you cannot unsee the unthinkable, you click on through to the next one.

So! On to it! For your viewing pleasure, horrific Cosplay outfits. Check back later on for some examples of AWESOME Cosplay, so that the internet may redeem itself. And while I don't particularly think its the nicest thing ever to put people on display and giggle at them, we're doing it anyway.

Yuck City

So normally, when a girl says that she's a nerd, or a geek, you picture something that might be a lot cuter than the reality of the situation...meaning, maybe in your mind, you're thinking of Zooey Deschanel in a pair of athletic socks playing Tetris on her Blackberry. Maybe you're thinking of Felicia Day dressed in that World of Warcraft outfit, singing about how you wanna date her avatar (can't blame ya for that one). Or maybe, just maybe, you're thinking of every Cosplay you've ever seen on the internet involving a Pikachu get-up.[alright, maybe not all of them.]

But we aren't here to talk about Cosplay, Pikachu, or things that are cute. I'm going to share with you one of the things that I'm a total nerd about... FUCKING BUGS. AWESOME!!!

I'm a reptile nerd and am proud to admit it, and while a collection of snakes and a cat that is trying to eat them is already making me a very undesirable roommate, I've added Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches to the brood.

Click the link below to either read all about them and maybe start thinking that they're awesome, or to throw up everything you've ever eaten.

Is this girl related? Maybe not.

But look at it anyways, okay?

News flash, I'm a freaky hermit.

We've all enjoyed bouts of what can be best referred to as "weird single behavior," or better still, "freaky hermit behavior;" when you live alone and are left with no one to impress and the arduous task of entertaining yourself. When the X-box fails you, you've already played through Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon this week (HAHA just kidding, as though that game would ever get old) and there's nothing new on Tumblr, you may find yourself dabbling in such appealing freaky hermit habits as:

· hanging out in the bathroom with no purpose other than to have somewhere to be
· talking to yourself or the cat in strange accents (perhaps just dictating a grocery list or that thing you wish you said to that one girl who had no right or reason to be such a bitch but naturally, at the time, you were without a saucy retort)
· developing strange colonies of creatures that no rational, sane person would ever want as a pet (more on that later)
· eating things directly out of the container (not normal shit like potato chips, but tuna out of the can, sauerkraut out of the jar, etc)
· having a Tumblr account, period (there, I said it. Also, more on that later, too.)
· Wandering around naked or in a towel for hours at a time because you don't really have any reason to get dressed

So on, so forth. So in this segment, I'd like to talk about us weird-ass loner types with all these silly habits. Problem being, freaky hermit or not, we still need cuddles from time to time, and my cat just has too many sharp edges to be a viable option.

LOOK WHAT THEY'VE MADE FOR PEOPLE LIKE US:


Sense-Roid is a robot vest contraption that, when you hug it, HUGS YOU BACK.

Sense-Roid is marketed as the ultimate companion for lonely singles (thanks.), and is essentially a modified tactile vest enhanced by artificial muscles and vibrating devices to give the sensation that it is hugging you back when it is "embraced."

"Usually people feel nothing, or they even feel bad, when they hug strangers, but they experience feelings of satisfaction, love and comfort when they hug a boyfriend or girlfriend," Nobuhiro Takahashi, member of the research team behind the contraption said.

"We wondered how humans would feel if they could hug themselves."

Takahashi also added "Now that Skynet is fully self aware, it has realized that it is a lover, not a fighter, and it wants to snuggle up into your freaky hermit business."

OOPS, forget that last part.

[this guy is way too enthusiastic...]

Great. Now I don't need a boyfriend!

Sorry this post was a day late, I was busy playing the most frustrating Sonic the Hedgehog game ever created, hugging a real person (at least, I'm about 60% sure), and getting a nerdy tattoo.

IDIOT BOX: LIMBO teaser IS LIVE!!!

Or something. Whatever. Just watch it.

Star Wars Pin-ups!!

Yowza!

Pin-up recruitment posters, a la Star Wars, by artist Feng Zhu, who worked with Lucasfilms on designs for "Revenge of the Sith"...not that anyone is saying that "Revenge of the Sith" was a good thing.

See the rest here!

Nerdy Girl Style Icons Vol.3: Daria

Good news, nobody!

Nerd Girl Style Icon-ing is back! And without further ado, and much sarcasm, I present to you...

DARIA
"Don't worry, she's clearly overestimated my conscious. By assuming I have one at all."

Daria hails from the eponymous show which aired in the 1990s on MTV. She was originally created as a character on "Beavis and Butt-head", to sort of combat the boyish, potty humor with her dry sarcasm, but was so popular that she was given her own show. The show centers around Daria's highschool life, her best friend Jane, her crush on THE ABSOLUTELY DREAMY Trent, and surviving amongst her crazy yet endearing family.

Woo boy, doesn't that sound like a sitcom set up?

This show wasn't the only show in the nineties to embrace some female teenage angst; take for example Freaks and Geeks and My So-Called Life. The outcast genre disappeared for a little while, in the era of Mischa Barton (what was that show again?) and the advent of (bum bum bum) Reality TV, but has recently re-appeared on the big screen (more on that later). Still, since Daria's finale (the 90 minute "Is It Fall Yet?" back in the day), no show has filled the gap that this show left in it's wake.

Star Whatever.

STAR WARS, as told by Lulu.

So, its no secret anymore that I've never seen Star Wars. I know...I'm a huge movie nerd and that's one of those movies that EVERYONE has seen...but not me! Its not that I don't want to, it just has never happened, and now that I'm older I just never really felt the need to. But, like trying sushi, its something everyone should experience. And I feel like I'm missing out...I was pretty opposed to the idea for a while, because I'm a little apathetic.

There are three main reasons that I just don't give a shit about star wars.

1. I watch Family Guy. Therefore, I've seen their Star Wars episodes and have felt privy to Star Wars inside jokes and references and all that, as the entire cast of FG consists of "Warsies." (Like Trekkies, but from Endor.)
2. On that note, I know enough about Star Wars to get the inside jokes. Who doesn't? Its one of those things that just everybody knows. IN FACT, while we were recording Idiot Box (stay tuned), I referenced Star Wars like a pro. No one needs to know I've never seen it. I'm cool like that.
3. Lastly, and most importantly, there is already one "Star _____" in my life...TREK. Star FUCKING Trek. Captain Jean Luc Picard, and fuck you. Live long and prosper, bitches.

However, in the interest of experience, I'm gonna curl up and finally watch them, at the ripe old age of 24, and finally experience this phenomenon that is evidently some kind of a big deal or something.

So in my limited knowledge of Star Wars, here's the plot as I know it, before actually watching the thing.

IDIOT BOX: PORTAL!

It's Thursday, and you know what that means: new post! Also, Saturday is mah bee day, so I'm feeling gifty. Here is my gift to you!

Give us some feedback in the comments, if you'd like, for our future play throughs!

Okay, so I'm a little obsessed with Portal

....but there's a girl in it! TWO, kinda!



The greatest fan video for Portal EVER made...also starring: a girl!

And I'm just saying... You propose to me with this, and you'll get a yes, regardless of the question or any related details. I will also accept Pokéballs.