SRPS Blog-Around

Happy Friday the 13th! So many great links this week, so let's get started!

If you haven't seen Tavi Gevinson of Rookie in her TEDxTeen presentation, you really need to take 8 minutes to check it out. I expect to see more great stuff from her and her generation!

And speaking of Stevie Nicks, did you see her on Up All Night last week?

Also last week there was this Big Deal Gaming Conference in Boston. I didn't get to go, sadly. But I got to see some great photos from my friends on G+ and Facebook and Tumblr.

Pokket, over at MMORPG has a good wrap-up video:

It looks like it was a great time for everyone involved, which is to be expected. PAX Prime is our major vacation destination, and maybe some day we'll be able to swing a trip to PAX East. In the meantime, I'll console myself by watching videos and reading blogs, like this great write-up by Geeks Playing Games -- including a photo of a woman in a Dr. Who Tardis skirt:

Awesome Tardis skirt; photo: geeksplayinggames.com

Actually, so much great cosplay at PAX East.

Mass Effect 3 Cosplayers; photo: Kotaku

Assassin's Creed cosplayers; photo: dynamiclunch

Little Sisters; photo: amandarenz

Uh... so many things; photo: urdnoteve

Link, Link, and Link... laughing with a salad; photo: summerhop

I really *should* know, but I don't; photo: visiblespectre

Speaking of awesome gaming stuff, there's a great Kickstarter project for a new tabletop RPG, Witch Girls Book of Shadows.

Witch Girls: BOS isn't just about us printing a book, it's about bringing table top RPGs to a new and overlooked demographic. Part of your future funding will go towards printing Quick-Character Creation guides to give away for free organizations for girls and schools to help introduce kids to Role playing games and the world of witch girls adventures as well as a larger print run.

Seems like a worthy cause. I'm all about bringing empowering games to girls!

And, lest you think I ran out of cool videos, have you seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries?

Read More

Not That Kind of Princess

What do you think of when you hear the term "princess?" What about a self-rescuing princess?

Last week, to commemorate the new (renamed) version of my etsy store,  I decided to create a Self-Rescuing Princess treasury. I made the mistake of searching for "princess" items. Wow! There is a lot of princess stuff out there. And, sadly, most of it perpetuates the damsel in distress or diva aspects of princesshood. There are plenty of "Daddy's little princess!" signs. And "Princess Bitch" items. And far, far too much pink (and I like pink). And, of course, lots of the different versions of the Disney princess ideal.

SRPS is not about that kind of princess.

The name "Self Rescuing Princess Society" came into being last summer, and originally consisted of three of us.

None of us would consider ourselves as weak. We're certainly not divas. And though we may occasionally hold court, we're not (drama) queens. But we are regal. And we've all had to pull ourselves out of tough situations, effectively rescuing ourselves -- one was going through a medium-ly challenging divorce, another was going through a really dreadful divorce, and one had just turned 40, and quit her job to go back to school. And we all believe in the power of the tiara. It's like bling that empowers.

In the beginning, there was only one tiara. And it got passed around to whomever needed it. But that tiara went missing. (It's still missing, strangely.) In the spring, when the person to whom that tiara belonged replaced it, she also bought one for the other two. 

Later in the summer, when planning to attend the twice-annual gaming convention PAX, we had the idea of dressing up in our tiaras as a kind of self-rescuing princess cosplay for one of the days. The concept of a self-rescuing princess has been around in the gaming community for a while, and we figured we would receive a warm reception. And that's when the term "Self Rescuing Princess Society" was born.

A couple of weeks ago, I started this blog with the goal of opening up membership in the SRPS to a wider audience, and creating a place where we can celebrate our awesomeness. Are you a self-rescuing princess? Care to join us?

Read More