As some of you may know, our forums have been down for a couple of weeks now while we rolled in some pretty sweeping changes.  We replaced the forum software entirely with Vanilla 2, a brand new forum package.

The plus side is that Vanilla 2 gives us a unique look among forums, as well as some useful features.  The downside is that Vanilla 2 is new and thus has some … we’ll say quirks.  Be sure to check out the thread on the new forum features so that you know what to expect.

If you already have an account, remember that you have to sign in with your email address now.  You’ll also have to upload a new picture.

There’s a quirk with the uploading of a picture.  You have to right-click “Change my picture” and open it in a new tab to get it to work.  Otherwise, your picture upload will not actually take.  This will hopefully be fixed soon.  That bit of advice goes for anything that uses a pop-up to take information from you.

If you’re new to the forums, then go over and register.  We use captchas now to register, so you don’t even have to wait for an email.

Bear with us during the transition, and stop by to tell us what you think.  The New Strahotski.com Forums should be a comfy home for Season 4!

Though things are quiet and I’m on semi-vacation from the site, I wanted to drop a quick update to wish Yvonne Strahovski a very Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to Yvvvvvvoooooonnnnnneeeeee!!!!

Happy Birthday to you.

There we go.  Another year older, but more beautiful than ever, eh?  A lady doesn’t reveal her age, so we won’t talk about it here (hint: it’s one more than last year).

Comment below to express your birthday wishes to Ms. Strahovski!

For those keeping up, Starfury’s T2 Convention was this weekend in London.  It’s a sci-fi convention that brought together actors from a few different series, most noticeably for us — Chuck.

Originally, T2 was the hot topic of European fans of Yvonne Strahovski.  She was scheduled to appear and a few people from our forums banded together to buy some Strahotski.com gear and make an appearance.

Sani1    sarah-fan    kroblues

Unfortunately, Yvonne’s off filming The Killer Elite and had to cancel.  No ill will towards her, of course.  I think we all can’t wait for her to become the movie star that she should be!

The lack of Yvonne Strahovski did not deter her fans, however.  They still showed up in their Strahovski best and made a splash at the show.  Many of the actors commented on their shirts, and I’m told that Adam Baldwin even mentioned Strahotski.com in a Q&A.

Julia Ling was asked to step in for Yvonne Strahovski at the last minute and I’m told that she didn’t disappoint.  Our own Strahotski Crew was lucky enough to win some raffle tickets for a meet’n'greet with Ms. Ling.  Though it comes as no surprise, Julia is apparently awesome and won the hearts of all manner of convention goer.

Since kroblues from our forums was wearing one of our “Got Strahovski?” shirts, Ms. Ling signed an autograph for him, etched with “Got Ling?”.  Inspired by her suggestion, I added a shirt to the store just for her and I’m told she thinks it was a great change to the shirt design.

Adam Baldwin is also said to have been great fun, and everyone seemed pleasantly surprised at how funny Bonita Friedericy and her husband, Phlox… I mean John Billingsley… was.  Apparently, some convention goers even got to watch a soccer game at the same pub as Mark Sheppard.

All in all, it sounds like it was an amazing time.  Though we all wish Yvonne Strahovski could have been there, her fans were not deterred and showed up in force to show both their love for Chuck and their love for Ms. Strahovski herself.

I am also told there was much squeeing to be had.  If you want more stories and pictures directly from the convention goers, check out the forum topic on the subject.

Reports are coming in that Yvonne Strahovski has finally caved to both fan and peer pressure. As of June 2nd, user @Y_Strahovski has shown up on twitter. So far there are only two posts:

June 2nd: Hi everyone!

June 5th: This is it. I finally did it. This is me, the real Yvonne Strahovski and I have joined twitter. Now, how do I use this thing?

I was hesitant at first, but it looks like Adam Baldwin has stepped in to vouch for the new Twitter user:

June 5th: Welcome Aboard! | RT @Y_Strahovski”This is me, the real Yvonne Strahovski and I have joined twitter…” | I promise it’s really her!

Adam Baldwin’s word is good enough for me.  He’s about as upstanding of a fella as Hollywood’s got.

I’m pretty excited! I hope that everyone on Twitter treats her with the same respect and grace that we try to treat her with here at Strahotski.com.

So go follow Yvonne.  She already had almost 2000 followers, but I think we can do better than that.  Strahotski.com readers unite!

I apologize for the delay; I had a family emergency to tend to.  Your patience shall be rewarded, however, because there are 61 new screen captures in the gallery for Episode 3.19 — Chuck Versus the the Ring: Part II.

Yvonne was really beautiful in this episode.  We get to see her in distress, in love, and as a brunette.  It just doesn’t seem fair someone could be so beautiful with any hair color, does it?

Sadly, these are the last Chuck screen captures until Season 4 (yay, Season 4!), but I’m sure we’ll dig up some news for you throughout the summer.  Keep an eye out for posts about her upcoming movie roles in particular!

Versus the the Ring Part II: Review | Gallery | Music | Forum Discussion

Drop by the forums and weigh in on what your favorite screen cap of the bunch is!  And don’t forget to download some music.  Each purchase helps defray the costs of running the site and keeping it in tip-top shape.

Enjoy!