Saturday, November 19, 2011

"Gal" Friday (or something)! Felicia Day

I've rarely missed a "Gal" Friday post. In fact, I don't think that I have - at least for a very long time - but I took Friday off from work, went way out of town with my original nuclear family (parents & brother David), and engorged myself on my favorite meal (Lexington-style barbecue). I factored in plenty of time to actually do a quickie post later on, but then settled down for the evening to play the Dragon Age 2 DLC, "Mark of the Assassin", which I had recently downloaded. End result, I was having too good a time to remember posting yesterdays "gal". So, I'm calling a weekend audible, shunting that lovely selection to another spot on the schedule, and instead going with Felicia Day. Ms. Day stars in a new web miniseries based on the popular Bioware fantasy gaming franchise Dragon Age, called Dragon Age: Redemption. She also voices her elf character "Tallis" (the protagonist from Dragon Age: Redemption) in the down loadable content "Mark of the Assassin". She is the star, script writer and producer of the original web series The Guild, a show loosely based on her life as a gamer; plus she is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Web Television.


Felicia is also a very accomplished young lady. Before she made a genre name for herself on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse and she lent her voice as Veronica Santangelo in Fallout: New Vegas; Day studied operatic singing and ballet professionally, performing at concerts and competitions nationwide. Home-schooled throughout much of her childhood, she began college at the age of 16. An accomplished violinist, Day was accepted to the Juilliard School of Music, but chose to attend the University of Texas at Austin on a full scholarship in violin performance. She double majored in mathematics and music performance. Day was a National Merit Scholar in 1995 and graduated as valedictorian of her class. She is an avid player of a wide variety of video game genres. Much of her work on The Guild web series was based on her personal experience with video games.



I have to add that I saw her at Dragoncon in Atlanta this year, where she proved to be a very popular guest. Mark of the Assassin was an excellent expansion quest for DA2, so if you've not played it yet, be prepared for some quality time (thanks in part to Felicia Day).

4 comments:

cash_gorman said...

She sounds like the perfect girlfriend.

Glad to see you're doing ok. Was worried when Gal Friday didn't show up :)

Chuck Wells said...

Yesterday's Lexington-Style barbecue feast left me in something of a fugue state (an altered state of consciousness in which a person may move about purposely and even speak but is not fully aware).

This nirvana of Southern BBQ uses a vinegar-based "red" sauce that is seasoned with ketchup, vinegar, and pepper, along with other spices that vary from recipe to recipe. It is most common in the Piedmont (central) and western areas of North Carolina. This style uses only the pork shoulder section of the pig. As with other styles of barbecue, the recipes vary widely, and can include many different ingredients, and range from slightly sweet to hot and spicy. The sauce also serves as the seasoning base for "red slaw" (also called "barbecue slaw"), which is coleslaw made by using Lexington-style barbecue sauce in place of mayonnaise.

Add in the courtesy baskets of hushpuppies (a savory, cornbread), that is fried or baked in small ball or sphere shapes, or occasionally oblong [the kind that we had] or ring shapes that are typically served as a side dish and you might appreciate my online absence yesterday.

cash_gorman said...

Oh, you're talking to a North Carolina boy, pure and true. Born in Greensboro but raised East of Raleigh, I witness firsthand the feuds and factions divided by Lexington vs Smithfield style of BBQ.

Chuck Wells said...

This essential dining experience is the primary thing that I miss about living in NC, since I moved to Greenville, SC twenty years ago.

There have been a couple of Lexington sytle barbecue restaurants operating in the Greenville area, but they tend to be of short duration. I can handle the regional low country, mustard-based sauce mind you, but nothing tops the kind of "cue" that I grew up with.