Government agents Myka Bering and Peter Lattimer have been recruited by the mysterious Mrs. Frederick to retrieve objects with supernatural powers and deliver them to the enormous Warehouse 13 facility for safe keeping. The quirky yet wise Artie Nielsen is in charge of the warehouse and offers insight and guidance to Bering and Lattimer each week as they seek out and gather dangerous, trouble-causing objects.

We’re about 3 episodes into this new TV show on SyFy. Have you been watching it, too?

When I saw the advertisements for this show before it aired, I was reminded of the late 80′s TV show: Friday the 13th: The Series. The premise is essentially the same: a man and woman seek out cursed antiques under the guidance of an older, wiser man. After retrieval, these objects would be locked up in the safety of a vault inside of the antique store they were originally sold. I rather enjoyed that show back in the day.

After having seen a few episodes, the show does seem to be a super-charged rehash of Friday the 13th: The Series. This isn’t necessary a bad thing because that was an enjoyable show with a good, working formula.

The characters in Warehouse 13 are fairly TV-cliche: It has the good looking, bickering male and female leads (Bering and Lattimer) – both attracted to each other, yet not quite able to get along and full of witty conversation. Guiding them is an older, wiser character (Artie), who plays kind of a parental role to the two agents. Throw in the mysterious, seemingly all-knowing older woman with vast resources and influence (Mrs. Frederick) – a common sci-fi character type (sometimes portrayed by a male character). As the nature of network television goes, each show is basically the same – identify trouble spot, investigate, retrieve object(s), save the day and return to the warehouse.

In spite of the fact that the show really doesn’t bring anything new and innovative to television or sci-fi in general, there is much to like about it.

Personally, I love the whole retro-high-tech gadgetry utilized by the Warehouse 13 crew. From the computer Artie uses with an old-style typewriter-like keyboard to the video communication devices that look like they came right out of an old 40′s sci-fi serial – there are plenty of cool and unique “old” high-tech devices. I’d sure love to get my hands on that “Tesla” stun gun device. What a cool light show that thing provides! Real or not, I may need to add some of these items to my geek-collection if sold in stores or online… assuming they’re good, near-show quality replicas of them.

The writing is good, and characters well played by the actors. It’s fun to watch as they go about their business in adventures out of the ordinary. The show also boasts some impressive high-end special effects that are near (big budget) movie quality – icing on the cake for any good sci-fi themed presentation.

Warehouse 13 is good, lighthearted fun and provides plenty of entertainment in the form of drama, laughs, well done sight gags, adventurous action sequences, and plenty sci-fi coolness to appeal to my nerdy side. Mrs. H. and I both enjoy watching and hope the producers can maintain the shows production quality and fun-factor.

The official Warehouse 13 website

Are you a fan of this show, too? What’s your assessment of things so far?

What happens when a t-girl does battle with the T-Virus in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles? Unfortunately, this t-girl gets reminded that she needs a bit more target practice. Zombies and other mutated creatures have been getting the best of me, but not before I take a bunch of them out with my black nail polished trigger-happy finger of punishment!

I picked up this game three weeks ago today, but have only logged about 3 hours of total game play in it so far. With the exception of going bowling with Mrs. H. once or twice, my Wii has been little more than a dust collector for more than six months. I used to be an avid gamer, but there’s not much time for it anymore.

In order to keep up with this website and maintain a presence in online transgendered communities, something had to give so I pretty much gave up gaming. Somehow, trying to make a difference in the world seemd a little more important than indulging in a trip through the digital wonderland of a video game. Even so, a brief escape from reality is a welcome break from my hectic and often stressful life. I do miss getting lost in a good virtual adventure.

I may only be able to squeeze in an hour or two of game-time on weekends, but at least it’s something. Gabrielle Hermosa, The Crossdressing Gamer is back… even if only in a limited capacity. Horror survival games are my genre of preference right now. Resident Evil 1 and 4 (especially 4) kept me glued for quite some time… when I used to have time.

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is a rather simple game – aim, shoot, aim, shoot more, and keep shooting until all those zombies, mutated creatures, and everything else that moves is dead, dead, DEAD! Simple or not, I’m really enjoying it. The Wii remote’s aim lag is annoying, but I’m making the best of it. Somehow Resident Evil 4 seemed to have more responsive aim, but maybe only because there weren’t as many parasite infected townspeople attacking at once so it wasn’t as noticeable.

There are a few other shoot-em up horror games on my wish list. I’m also very curious about the recently released first person shooter: The Conduit. The level of graphic detail and number of moving objects on screen is impressive, considering the Wii’s underpowered hardware. I can see myself getting lost in that one for hours, if it does for me what Perfect Dark and No One Lives Forever did in the past. Note that both Perfect Dark and NOLF offer the opportunity for some digital crossdressing as you control female character in each. The Conduit will need to wait until I have some time off from work though. I’ve penciled it in for Christmas break later this year… assuming nothing of greater importance takes precedence.

I’ve always enjoyed games that much more when the game character is a tough, beautiful, gun-toting babe. Hellooooooo Lara Croft! Do you enjoy playing as the female character in games more than as a male? Have you had to cut back on your gaming time because your life got busy, too? Are you working your way through a good game you think I might enjoy? Tell me about it.

I produced a short Magic 8 Ball promotional video and uploaded it to YouTube a few days ago. Unlike my previous videos, this one was not captured on my phone, but rather a standard video camera and features musically synchronized editing. Check it out below.

The video started out as an accompanying bit for my previous Magic 8 Ball post: Thou Shalt Not Make Magic 8 Ball Videos, but I wasn’t able to finish it in time. It morphed into more of a playful, generic Magic 8 Ball video in postproduction.

Although I received a couple of questions that might be fun to ask the glossy all-knowing sphere-o-answers, the jury is still out on whether or not to expect any Magic 8 Ball reading videos. Funny that shortly after the “Thou Shalt Not Make Magic 8 Ball Videos” write-up, appears this post featuring a Magic 8 Ball video. That’s pretty ironic… or perhaps just poor planning on my part. lol Either way, I’m oddly amused.

And now for the feature presentation. Please refrain from talking, texting and tweeting while the show is in progress. If you have to go to the bathroom before it’s over, just cross your legs – it’s only 53 seconds long!

I had fun making it. Some of the rock music videos of the late 80′s utilized an over exposed, grainy film look and I wanted to give that a try myself. My wife thought it just looked “staticy” rather than artistic though. Oh well. So much for stylization. In retrospect, maybe it should have been left it unaltered in terms of image clarity.

Was it cool? Was it too “staticy”? Did it make you smile? Are you dying to know what question I actually whispered to the Magic 8 Ball? lol Seriously – let me know what you liked and what you didn’t like about it. Your feedback will be helpful should I produce more videos in the future (Magic 8 Ball or other).

On a side note, a video section has been added to myCDlife.com (see the top nav links). For now, it’s mainly just a link to my YouTube channel. How often new videos will be added is uncertain. I enjoy making them, but production videos can be time consuming. Phone videos are quick and easy, but low-quality and limited in presentation options. Even so, they’re getting more daily hits than my single production video according to my YouTube stats. Sometimes, quick and easy makes for more enjoyable content.

Last Friday, I pitched the idea for video Magic 8 Ball readings offered by yours truly. My wife, the fabulous Mrs. H., rolled her eyes when I explained my seemingly amusing idea to her. When I asked my brand spanking new Magic 8 Ball, it reassured me that it is certain to be a “cool and fun” idea. Website visitors told me…

Unfortunately, website visitors didn’t tell me much of anything on the subject. Ok, point taken. The score is Mrs. H.: 1, Magic 8 Ball: 0. Perhaps mine isn’t working right because it needs new batteries or something. Wait a minute…

Maybe it’s a good thing that the Magic 8 Ball video idea didn’t fly. The one part of the equation I had trouble working out was how to properly display the 8 Ball’s answers to the camera without having to cut and edit video clips together (after repositioning the camera), thus destroying the continuity between asking a question and displaying the (recorded) live answer to it.

Before realizing the idea was a flop, a short Magic 8 Ball promotional video was already in the works. I’ve decided to finish the video as a simple, playful stand-alone bit (it’s not finished yet).

One of my regular visitors did offer a few questions for a reading, however I thought they borderlined on the serious side. The point being I felt that Magic 8 Ball video readings should only be associated with things that are trivial, lighthearted, or purely entertaining in nature.

Because myCDlife.com deals with some very serious subject matter, human rights, and social issues, I felt it was important that anything entertainment oriented should not cross over too far into into that territory. The last thing I need is for some idiot to proclaim that I’m offering (real) advice to people based on a fortune telling toy. Silly, fun, and entertaining can co-exist on a website that deals with serious social issues, but I’m hesitant to blur the line between them too much for obvious reasons.

What’s your take? Do you feel that a website that tackles serious subject matter, such as being a crossdresser trying to gain acceptance and respect in society, can also have a fair amount of playful, humorous, and entertaining content as well? If so, how far can the two overlap? To date, I don’t think I’ve done anything to diminish the main purpose of this website, but rather taken an intelligent and unique approach to things… even if my ideas for fun and entertainment sometimes fall a bit short of brilliant. Just throwing stuff at the digital wall and seeing what sticks. :)

The amazing, mysterious, all-knowing Magic 8 Ball of truth. You know the deal – ask it a yes or no question, give it a shake, then turn it over and peer into its magic blue window of knowledge. Do you believe in the wisdom offered by a plastic 8 ball filled with blue mystery liquid surrounding a plastic icosahedron of answers? I can’t say I do, but it’s a lot of fun to play with anyway! By the way, I think “icosahedron” is the coolest word since “sargalesis” (look it up).

Do you own a Magic 8 Ball? If not now, I’m sure many of you did in your younger years. I recently bought my first ever Magic 8 Ball. It sure felt good to check that one off my bucket list. My parents never let me have one as a kid. They saw anything that had to do with fortune telling in any way, as the work of the devil. Growing up, I was apparently surrounded by kids who were all in the hands of satan because pretty much everyone I knew had one of these. But I digress.

Why am I writing about my Magic 8 Ball? I wanted to harness the power of this dark, shiny mystifying sphere in an effort to interact with my valued website visitors and readers of my blog in a new and unique way. In other words, I just wanted to try something new, fun and entertaining: personalized video Magic 8 Ball readings.

My wife thinks this idea is pretty lame. Admittedly, I do come up with some silly ideas from time to time. Let’s see what the Magic 8 Ball has to say about it:

Me: Magic 8 Ball, is the idea of offering online video readings lame?

Magic 8 Ball: Reply hazy try again.

Me: Let me try a different approach. Magic 8 Ball, is the idea of offering online video readings cool and fun?

Magic 8 Ball: It is certain.

Me: Awesome! See? I knew it would agree with me. Molded plastic toys don’t lie. ** wipes bead of sweat from forehead **

For the record, that is exactly how it turned out. There was no illegal manipulation of the Magic 8 Ball, nor did I fish for the answer I wanted or just make it up. If it disagreed with me, which it very well might have had I not changed how I asked, I would have posted exactly what it said. That’s how it works: all straight up, or it’s not any fun. You get what you get.

Here’s how the Magic 8 Ball video thing will work. Ask a short, simple yes or no question in a comment to this post. If I like your question (and if I have the time), I’ll take video of myself asking the Magic 8 Ball and capture its response.

I’m going to try and record video responses tomorrow afternoon (Saturday June, 27). If your question is submitted before then, there’s a good chance you’ll get a customized Magic 8 Ball video from yours truly. It may be another week or so before I publish the video(s) depending on a number of factors, so try not to ask anything of an immediate nature.

This should go without saying, but remember – this is strictly for fun and entertainment. :) And what’s more fun and entertaining than a crossdresser with a Magic 8 Ball? lol

I don’t exactly have many videos to share right now but I decided to create a YouTube account. You can view the official myCDlife YouTube Channel by clicking the link. Before you go running off to check it out, please note that there is currently but a single short video there, and I’ve embedded it further down in this post.

I’m guessing “YouTube” was originally named in reference to the term “boob tube”, which was parent-slang for a TV… back when TV’s actually used a cathode ray tube (or CRT, look it up) to display video. I paid homage to the tube-based TV in the image for this post. That’s actually one of my older tube-TV’s. That bulky TV of nearly 20 years is almost TWO feet deep! :o Still works rather well though.

The idea to start a YouTube account came to me recently after posting a few short phone-videos on a crossdressing message forum. Some of the members had trouble viewing them in their native 3g2 format. The current version of QuickTime plays 3g2 video just fine, but not everyone has it installed or wants to install it. Flash-based video is all the rage these days. Pretty much, if you’re on the internet, you’ve got the Flash browser plug-in and have no trouble watching videos on any of the popular video sites.

Here’s the first (and currently only) video posted on my YouTube account. It’s just me trying to look cute and girly while offering a little message of video love. :) Sorry about the low quality. Shooting video on my phone is rather convenient, but my current phone doesn’t exactly capture high resolution, crystal clear video.

How often I’ll make new videos and post them to YouTube is uncertain. Finding the time to do so is one factor. Coming up with material people might actually be interested in viewing is another. Did you like the phone-cam video? Are cute little short videos like this are worthy of your time if I make more? Would you prefer something with more polish to it? Should I make short Gabi videos a reoccurring segment here and start a “video” category? Speak your mind, baby!

Do you have a YouTube account and want to be my close, personal YouTube BFF? Shoot me a friend request. My other social networking accounts kind of suffer from neglect (lack of time) but I love making new friends and would be honored to be your YouTube BFF. :)

“A mild mannered accountant reveals his cross dressing secret to his therapist. Captain Cross Dresser takes the law into his own hands, falls into the face of danger but then rises as the legend is born.”

“Captain Cross Dresser” is an awesome animated comedy short that I had the pleasure of enjoying after finding a write up and link to it on Tracy’s Happy Place. Please check out the 9 minute comedy short here on crackle.com.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen crossdressing featured in an accurate and positive way within a professional work of entertainment. Generally if crossdressing is shown in TV or film, it is just made fun of. Crossdressers are usually portrayed as weird-o’s, lunatics, mentally sick serial killers (Psycho), or as a comedic disguise: A man will be forced into a crossdressing situation, and stumble through the role of trying to look and behave as a woman. This time however, the lead character is a straight, married, closeted crossdresser – a family man who leads a normal life, works a normal job, and happens to be a crossdresser as well.

What makes this cartoon so amazing is that it is very well written and acted, the animation is (broadcast TV) high end, its very humorous (had me laughing out loud), and also very true to many of the realities in a crossdresser’s life. Finally, a crossdressing lead character shown in a realistic and positive light… AND has super powers!

Since discovering this entertaining comedy short on Tracy’s Happy Place, it has also been talked about in other blogs I frequent. In that respect, I’m a bit late with my own post about it, but I felt it worthy of mention anyway.

The creators of Captain Cross Dresser are working on getting it picked up as a series. Though just another witty, lighthearted comedy on the outside, it is really much more when you look deeper into it. If a show of this quality ever made it into the living rooms of a mainstream audience on a national or even world-wide scale, it just might help crossdressers (like yours truly) find a little acceptance in society. Even though this is just a comedic cartoon, it still shines a positive and truthful light on the realities of being a crossdresser… minus the super powers part.

If you maintain a blog, please make a post about The Adventures of Captain Cross Dresser. Help get the word out. If enough people take note of this, it might have a better chance of being picked up as a series. It’s about time we had some quality entertainment that featured slick animation, clever writing, very well done humor, AND did us justice at the same time.

Some of my co-workers regularly talk about the Fox TV show “House”. Having never seen the show before, they tried to describe it to me. It’s a medical drama centered around a misanthropic, yet brilliant doctor named Gregory House. After repeated conversations about House’s off the wall treatment of people in addition to some nice eye-candy in the show (something about a woman called “Thirteen”?), I was rather curious about it.

I decided to start watching the show from season 1 on DVD rental. Mrs. H. and I have been watching about 3 or 4 episodes together each week and we’re several episodes into the first season so far.

The show itself is very formulaic. Each episode revolves around the process of diagnosing mystery illnesses and treating patients, but the real meat of it is Dr. House’s rather interesting interactions with staff and patient bedside manner… or lack there of.

Like the name implies, the show is really all about the character of House. The medical backdrop is not the show’s main focus. It’s about House doing his thing in his own very unique way. For instance, he accepts or rejects cases based on how interesting they are. It’s rather amusing to see House work out his interesting factor in some of the cases.

Dr. House is obligated to put in time at the hospital’s walk-in clinic, which he despises. Patients there are subjected to blunt, unsolicited assessments of their personal lives while he diagnosis their ailments. I can’t imagine any real life doctor’s getting away with this kind of treatment, but it’s rather entertaining to watch.

In an early episode, House is treating a woman in the clinic who has rather nice breasts. He compliments her on them and then proceeds to call a doctor friend into the exam room to just check out their greatness for himself. Although not a comedy, there are plenty of well done comedic moments like this and I often find myself laugh out loud because of them.

The acting is superb and each character holds his/her own. Actor Hugh Laurie really owns the character of House, playing the part masterfully.

I enjoy shows that aren’t afraid to be politically incorrect. There are times when this show swims in political incorrectness – something I’d like to see more shows have the courage to do.

Mrs. H. and I have about 5 seasons of the show to catch up on. We should get there by the time next season starts in the fall. I’m not sure when the much talked about character “Thirteen” comes into the mix, but I look forward to her introduction with much anticipation.

Are you a fan of the show? I don’t watch much TV and therefore don’t know about all the latest (or not so latest) shows available. I’m glad I finally discovered this show though. For a network offering, it’s really very entertaining.

I bought a Wii (Sports Edition), an extra controller (with nunchuck), Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime 3, and Wii Play. The extra controller was for my wife. I hoped to get her into some of the Wii Sports and Wii Play games. She’s not really into gaming, but we’ve enjoyed some old school games together in the past.

Wii Sports. I heard so many good things about this, I had to see what all the hoopla was about. It didn’t take long for me to get bored with it though. My wife and I enjoyed some quality bowling together over a couple of weekends, but even so, very little time was spent playing Wii Sports.

I’m glad we only bowled at home, by the way. Mrs. H. gets just a little bit excited when she scores a strike or spare. The kind of excitement that the neighbors way down at the end of the street can hear, I’m sure. Yeah – I don’t think I’ll ask if she wants to go to a real bowling alley any time soon. She’s a trip to watch, but a little hard on the ears. Check out her STRIKE victory dance! lol Sorry about the poor video quality.

Resident Evil 4 on the Wii was, as I expected, even more enjoyable than it was on the GameCube. Having precise aim via the Wii remote’s motion tracking abilities really added to the fun of the horror adventure. I played through the game a couple of times. Being a crossdresser, it was a blast playing as Ada Wong in the bonus Separate Ways game and repeatedly in The Mercenaries sub-game. She’s one sexy, dangerous babe with a gun!

Metroid Prime 3. There was such a good buzz about this game that I expected to quickly find myself addicted to it. That did not happen. After just a handful of hours spent in the game, I had my fill. The whole game is one giant puzzle wrapped up in a Metroid package. While puzzles have always been a part of Metroid games, this was too much. Unlike most of the gaming population, I just don’t like puzzle games. This will be the first Metroid (TV console) game I’ll never finish. I really didn’t enjoy it at all and lost the desire to ever play it again.

Wii Play. Well, that one is still in the wrapper. It came bundled with another controller which my wife used for our brief bowling run, but the container holding the disc itself still has the shrink wrap on it.

What happened? Did I make a Wii bit of a mistake in deciding upon Nintendo’s console over the others? It sure failed to hold my interest. Of all the games currently available for it, I’m only somewhat interested in two zombie shooter games. That’s it. Obviously I haven’t been interested enough to buy them as of yet.

Over the weekend, I powered-up my Wii for the first time since January 10th. I know this because I looked at the last activity shown in the Wii’s calendar. That’s more than 3 months of dust-collecting with its circuits cold and lifeless. My total active period on this gaming console was just under a month and a half.

Now my Wii is nothing more than an expensive dust collector. I actually put a dust cover on it months ago so that it would not accumulate too much dust. I’d probably dip in to those zombie shooter games if I had more time on my hands. Spread thin as I am, the Wii offers nothing appealing enough for me to shelf something else in my life to spend time on it.

Ironic that the most expensive gaming console I’ve owned to date, would be the least enjoyed. My $40 Atari Flashback 2 saw more action and over a much longer active-use period.

Do you still enjoy gaming on your Wii? Did you buy a Wii and regret that decision later wishing you had invested your money in one of the other current systems? If you’re a multi-console owner, does your Wii still appear on the active gaming duty roster? Am I out of my mind for not enjoying my own Wii more than I did? Do you still think “Wii” is a dumb name for a console? I honestly had to reword a few areas because it sounded naughty otherwise. lol

Do you remember this show from the early 80′s? Quirky school teacher, Ralph Hinkley (William Katt), and down-and-out FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp), are thrust into an odd crime-fighting partnership after being approached by an alien spaceship in the desert. Ralph is given a “super suit” (aka, the “red jammies”) by the aliens and told to work together with Bill and make the world a better place. Ralph looses the suit’s instructional manual out in the desert. The result is a reluctant and unlikely super hero, complete with super hero powers… who has some serious trouble using them – especially when flying.

My wife and I just completed watching all three seasons of this show on rental DVD. It was a childhood favorite of mine. I honestly didn’t think we’d make it through more than a few episodes because of the early 80′s style TV show production quality. Believe it or not, the show held up pretty well though. Oh, it’s still very early-80′s and has a hokey style of storytelling reminiscent of that period, but it held its own and worked well for us. We both loved watching the show together and hit a few episodes each week.

I clearly remember being a kid and wishing so badly that aliens would give me a super suit! Of course, I wanted my super suit to look more like Super Girl’s (it’s a cd thing) but Ralph’s “red jammies” would have done fine as well. I just wanted to be able to fly and beat up bad guys… and turn invisible to spy on my friends. lol

Actress Connie Sellecca played “the counselor” and Ralph’s love interest in the show. I had a huge crush on her! She was a mega-hottie back in the day.

For an early 80′s TV show, it had some pretty slick special effects and production values. Not nearly as advanced as one might see today, but good for the time. Aside from the very obvious stunt man in a bad curly-hair wig here and there, most of the visuals were pretty good (for the time).

I didn’t care for the the third season that much though. Funny, I don’t remember the third season being so bad when I was a kid. It had a couple of good episodes, but most of the third and final season felt like an empty, reduced-budget, cartoony version of the show. The stories were blah, some of the regular characters were absent (mainly Ralph’s students) and the special effects were pretty bad – even by early 80′s standards. In the last season, Ralph’s flying visuals were accomplished by actor William Katt being strung up by wires in front of a giant rear-projection screen and it looked terrible. In addition, the fun of Ralph’s hap-hazard flying was missing. All of a sudden, Ralph was flying fairly well. Maybe that bad rear projection background screen helped his flying abilities somehow?

If you grew up watching this show, you might want to revisit it. If you’ve never seen it before, you may want to give it a try. It’s still a lot of fun to watch today. Consider skipping the third season though. Maybe best to remember the show when it was still in its prime in seasons 1 and 2.

I read not long ago that there’s a new Greatest American Hero movie in the works. I’m not sure if this is just a TV movie or theatrical release, but I’m curious to see what they do with it in a modern sense.

Were you a fan of the show? If you’ve never seen it before, does it sound remotely interesting? Do you ever wear red jammies (minus the cape) to bed?