New York Comic Con: Of Friendship And Becoming Who You Are

There’s a quote from the final season of Sex And The City that I often come back to. Carrie is sitting with her friends, having a final Cosmopolitan before leaving to move to Paris with The Russian, and she says simply and with quiet emotions, “Today, I had a thought, what if I’d never met you?”

Six years ago, I had a work buddy who talked  me into going to New York Comic Con, and Sunday night I sat in a food court in Koreatown, eating condensed milk ice cream laughing and planning another adventure with an incredible group of people, and I realized how lucky I was to find Aless, and by extension, Jess, Lora, Melvin, and Alex.

“What if I’d never met you?” I thought to myself as Lora, excitedly rattled off group cosplay ideas and chatted about road trips and Melvin suggested animes I should watch and Aless picked the wilted leaves off her Poison Ivy corset and Kal-El lead us all in a song he’d learned at school.

I’ve had a hundred  moments like that over the past few years, knowing these people, who have taught me to be open about the things I love, to not apologize for it. I always feel full after I’ve hung out with them. (And not just because we’ve usually eaten a bunch of really good Asian food.) And to explain, this was a new feeling for me, or at least, one I hadn’t had in a while, when I started hanging with this group.

Anyway, I’d wanted to write a newsy, silly snarky write up of New York Comic Con (CROWDED! Costumes! Zach Levi made me cry!) but I couldn’t help just feeling grateful to have these people.

Cosplay Corner: Garden State Comic Fest Day 1: Cheryl Blossom

I love Riverdale, having been an Archie fan already, I really shouldn’t have resisted the show as long as I did, but now that I have watched it, I’m completely obsessed. (Although it is currently going through the thing that teen dramas go through where it’s second or third season isn’t as good as what came before. I’m hoping it bounces back in season 3, as Dawson’s did…)

Anyway, I decided to go for some Riverdale cosplay and realized I had everything at the ready for Cheryl Blossom, Riverdale’s resident Gothic Heroine/Mean Girl/Ridiculous Hot Mess Of A Human.

The costume is relatively simple, it’s my pleather skirt and red cardigan and over the knee boots. Done. I found the red wig on Amazon (though after the summer I won’t use that anymore!)

This was the first run and it was pretty comfortable, so I’m going to invest in better accessories for it now (a black choker and the spider broach.) and I need a more red lipstick, as my usual one was too pink for Cheryl. What’s great about this costume is that it’s small and packs easily, which means I’ll definitely use it again!

And it was even better to do it with Aless and Kristi as Betty and Veronica!

Also the milkshakes were totally necessary!

“You look like you want to kill me…THAT’S PERFECT!” – Aless

Next week I’ll talk through my Ravenclaw Uniform! HOORAY!

Meet Me Tonight In Atlantic City

If you’re a comic con person, I can’t recommend getting your butt to a con in Atlantic City hard enough, FOR THE PARTIES ALONE these weekends are worth it.

This past weekend Aless, Kristi and I hit up Garden State Comic Fest: Atlantic City. While it will never ever live up to my gone to soon ACBC, it was a good substitute.

Also, frankly, I just love that town. Every time I go I have a massively awesome time. My first trip to Atlantic City was when I was ten, and we stayed at the Trump Taj Mahal with some family friends, and it was a weekend of bowling, and swimming in an indoor pool and singing Spice Girls songs. It’s a deeply fond memory for me.

The next time I went I was 18 because my friend Constantine was in the touring production of Hairspray and it was playing at Harrah’s. There’s even less for an incoming college freshman to do in the city than a 10 year old kid, but we went to the spa and saw the show and generally enjoyed the ambiance.

My first I can actually participate in it trip came about five years ago (Jeeeeeezzzz) when Juli, Chrissy and I did a quick overnight at the Showboat, which also featured dinner at Margaritaville, dancing our faces off at Boogie Nights at the Trop and a late night room service meal of cheese fries and milkshakes.

Then I found ACBC and well, there have been a few other trips in between as well. This trip, I was back at the Showboat (also the scene of an epic Coheed concert with the sibs!)

Anyway, this is not meant to be a tourism ad for Atlantic City, though seriously, I would do that too. I love that town. Anyway, the con itself was really fun, pretty standard small con, with light cosplay, a few big name guests, and lots of independent press. There was one of the best post con parties we’ve ever been to (This time with 0 sexual harassment! WEEE!) and some pretty epic hangovers.

But it was after the drive home, while Aless and I sat at my apartment eating Chinese food and rewatching Young Justice and planning our next con adventure (Terrificon, in Connecticut in August!) that I realized how really lucky I am to have my friends. Fandom was so lonely for me for so long, and now there’s this epic group of women around me who enthusiastically go to a Johnny Rockets to take pictures while in Riverdale Cosplay (More on that tomorrow!), and sing along loudly to [title of show] on a roadtrip, and say snarky things about teen superheroes who we love with all our hearts. (Except Young Justice!Roy Harper, we don’t love him, because UGH!)

I found my people, and it’s so deeply rewarding.

Cosplay Corner: The Year Ahead

Hi all!

So, I haven’t done one of these in a while, but I thought I’d get back into it. I’ve missed cosplaying immensely, and if nothing else, costumes are good motivation to keep me on a fitness path.

I had planned on going to Broadway Con (I even had an AWESOME Jenna from Waitress costume put together!) but overscheduling and a hangover wound up derailing that plan. (WOMP) There’s always next year though!

I am however, to start getting my act together, going to do the Disneybound March Challenge. So be sure to check out my Facebook to see those outfits! And play along if you like.

It’s looking like my first con of the year is going to be Garden State Comic Fest: Atlantic City Edition. One day I’m going to debut Cheryl Blossom (Riverdale Edition) which is 90% done. I bought a cheap red wig a few years ago for an X-Men group cosplay that never came together, but I’m not crazy about it and may invest in a good one for Cheryl, and for my NYCC goals, and I need to order the Spider Brooch, which I found on HotTopic.com already. The other day of that con will probably be either Poe or Wonder Girl, both of which are comfortable and easy (though Poe needs some touch up work!)

I’ll probably bring Cheryl to every con this year, just because it’s a really fun one and packs easily. I’ll might even be able to enlist a Veronica and a Betty to make for a fun group too.

(It’s not like I have a latina and blonde best friend who I often go to these things with or anything…*ahem*)

And I’ll of course do NYCC as long as I can get tickets (though again, probably just the weekend. My all 4 day days are past me.) and I have something very specific that I want to do. I have a skirt and top that are almost exactly an outfit that Amy Pond wears early in Series 7. (See, the need for a good red wig comes back…) The thing is, said outfit is from 2012…when I worked at The Plaza…I was really really skinny then. I was a full 4 dress sizes smaller than I am right now.

So, I have until September to lose those dress sizes. And then I’ll do Amy Pond one day at NYCC. The other day, well, if I lose the weight, I have some stuff for a Jedi Cinderella mash-up that doesn’t fit now, but might fit then, if I don’t, GOD KNOWS I have enough costumes I like to fill out a weekend.

It’s So Nice To Be Back Home Where I Belong

Last weeked was a busy,  fun and exhausting weekend, where I managed to touch base with a bunch of things that make me very happy, but that I’m still kind of recovering from.

First of all, Kristi and I met up at New York Comic Con.

My love for NYCC is real. Despite it’s often unweildy size, ridiculous ticketing policies and overall sense of muchness, I never have a bad time, at this, the first con I ever attended. And although I only touched base for 24 hours this time, it was still incredible.

Aside from taking a picture with Mark Hamill, Kristi and I walked the floor chatted with people at Artist Alley, and generally took part in fun.

I was reminded of what I love about Cons and pretty much immediately registered for another one (I’m finally gonna hit Broadway Con! WOOO!) and spending the evening at dinner with Kristi and Aless and acquaintance who I guess is a friend now Jake, and then at the Geek Girl Brunch After Party (Where Kristi and I were sexually harassed exactly 0 times! SO, improvement over last year’s after party! Which was NOT the Geek Girl Brunch one, I should note!)  I remembered how great the nerd life can be.

Of course getting home at 3 AM and passing out on my couch (though I did eventually make it to my bed) it made getting up the next day to drive up to Allendale and see my family, and head BACK into the city to see Hello Dolly! a little bit tough.

BUT WORTH IT!

I’ve mentioned that talking about Star Wars with my brother one of my favorite things in the world. One of the only things I love more than that is talking musical theater with both my siblings. Discussing Gavin Creel’s perfect crooning of “It Only Takes A Moment”, our excitement at seeing two of the greatest comedians ever performing some of the funniest scenes in the history of the genre (seriously, David Hyde Pierce and Bette Midler’s work in the dinner scene of Act II  is insanely good!) the discussion of how the show will change when the replacements go in. (Bernadette Peters and Victor Garber are ALSO insanely good, but a good deal more dry than Bette and David. It’ll be a very different show, and probably a lot more sarcastic)

But overall, what this year, and specifically these past few months (which have been very stressful, for reasons I don’t want to get into here, suffice to say, day job drama) is that I don’t need to compartmentalize my interests the way I used to.

Which is part of why (also aformentioned day job induced stress) that I’ve cut back here. I have way increased my facebook presence however. So check things out over there.

There are videos of me and Kristi at Comic Con, (and of the aftermath) pictures of the cooking I’ve been doing, places I’ve been visiting, Katie and my weekly videos about Will & Grace, and general musing.

This blog isn’t going anywhere. It means to much to me, and it makes a great hub, but my attention has been elsewhere lately and it feels nice to have let go of it a little bit.

I am going to finish up the trip reports for the Disney Trip, and hey, movie season was quieter this year, but does roll ever on. (Thor and Star Wars and Coco are still coming at the very least.)

 

Back to The Con: New York Comic Con 2016

I haven’t gotten to watch Once Upon A Time yet, so I definitely couldn’t write a recap, so I’m going to talk about New York Comic Con instead!

GET ON BOARD!

Anyway, as I walked into the Javits Center on Thursday, I got a little nervous. Not for any really reason. My costume was great, (I’d already gotten some compliments on line.) I knew I wasn’t going to any panels that day, and I know my way around that building without much trouble.

But, I’ve grown accustomed to smaller cons, with one show floor and a few panel rooms. And NYCC is big, it’s sprawling and crowded and loud and so much fun, but just massive. So I started slow, with a lap around once of my top 10 happiest places, The Artist’s Alley at New York Comic Con.

Most cons I’ve gone to have an artist’s alley, usually one lane of the show floor, dedicated to the work of comic book artists, where they can sell their own books, sketches, and more often than not, prints of their fan art. But NYCC dedicates an entire building to artist’s alley and it’s just phenomenal. After that I was fortified and I did my shopping and wandering, went to a DC Meetup, and enjoyed my day.

That night Aless and grabbed dinner, went back to my hotel and watched The Dark Knight and drank wine, which is frankly the best night I’ve had in a while. (And I’ve had some good ones lately!)

Kristi came late on Thursday and Friday morning, decked out in our Star Wars best, we walked to The Javits, waiting in line for two hours, and began our day. I’d warned Kristi about the general overwhelming feeling I’d had, but she took it way more in stride than I did, which helped calm me down. We walked and shopped for most of the day, but did manage to hit both the Vertigo comics panel (where Kristi learned of the magic that is Scott Snyder’s love for comic books.) and the Wonder Woman 75th Anniversary panel, (where we all learned of the magic that is Greg Rucka’s love for Wonder Woman.)

We did some meeting up with the wonderful Lora & Melvin (follow Lora’s Tumblr, y’all! She’s the greatest!)

Kristi and I then went to dinner and hit up Bowlmor lanes for the Sonic Boombox after party, which got a little crazy but was overall fun.

I insisted on an early wake up on Saturday because A) I was NOT waiting outside for 2 hours again, and B) I really wanted to see the Iron Fist panel, so I knew we needed to get checked in for that. We did get in. The rest of the day was fun, we saw the panel for The Great Wall, which looks really interesting, if a little bit odd. (So much focus on Matt Damon, when it seems like the movie isn’t actually about him at all? But whatever, I got to be in a room with a man who I’ve had a crush on since I was 11, so that was pretty cool.) More wandering, more friend meet ups. (Aless wound up working at the con, this is not my story to tell, but it’s riveting!)

Anyway, the most important part, Netflix Present’s Marvel’s Iron Fist, or whatever the unwieldy title of that panel was. Which in reality was, “Let’s talk about Luke Cage for 10 minutes, Iron Fist for like 15, The Punisher for a bit and then BURN THIS CONVENTION TO THE GROUND WITH NEWS ABOUT THE DEFENDERS.”

OK, in reality, I was less excited about Iron Fist than I’ve been about the other Marvel Netflix shows, but now I am very excited about it. The action looks great, Finn Jones’s energy is wonderful, unlike Charlie Cox’s brooding or Kristen Ritter’s saracasm or Mike Colter’s stoicism, Jones is like a spring. Tightly wound, and bouncy. I think it’s going to be great. AND HOLY CRAP THE FIGHTS. We saw two Danny Rand fights and one Colleen Wing fights. All were spectacular. All aboard for March 17. (I will not be watching until the 18th. St. Patrick’s day is not for binging…well, not for binging on television shows.)

But seeing the whole Defenders cast on stage, that made my heart leap. A few things. Charlie Cox is a tiny, adorable man, and Kristen Ritter and Mike Coulter are giants. Finn Jones appears to be normal sized. Also, I do wonder how these four will get together. I mean, if I’m recalling correctly they’re not in the best shape. (I do need to rewatch the shows at a reasonable pace I think…) Matt is currently friendless in Hell’s Kitchen with The Hand about to resurrect his girlfriend to be the ultimate weapon of destruction, Luke is on his way to prison, and Jessica…is actually in OK shape, I mean, for Jessica. She got a new door, and she beat Kilgrave. So, I guess she has it together. Again, for Jessica.

BUT HOW ARE THEY GOING TO DEFEAT SIGOURNEY WEAVER???

Yeah, it’s kind of impossible to describe how it felt when they announced and brought Sigourney Weaver out on stage. People literally began chanting “Holy Shit.” I’m sure there were tears. (I did not cry, as it was not Star Wars related, and we all know that it’s only Star Wars marketing materials that make me cry. Marvel doesn’t quite do it.) And then that was it. They sent us home.

Sunday was a bit calmer. Kristi went home. I went to the Women of Marvel Panel and the Sailor Moon Panel, again, I saw friends, shopped a bit and came home.

I’m still processing this experience, still getting my pictures together and really riding high. Whenever I go to a Con, and whenever I see the group of friends I saw this weekend I’m reminded of a few years ago when I first met them and realized that I needed to make some changes in my social life. I realized it was much better to only see my friends sometimes and genuinely feel good about those relationships, than to have something to do every weekend and be miserable. I only hang out with Lora, Melvin, Jessica and Alex a couple of times a year, but it’s always fun, it’s always interesting and I always feel good, if tired at the end of it. This extended into the way I socialize by making sure I spend time with names any readers are no doubt familiar with by now. Proximity and constant contact are no longer necessary to my friendships, just that the time we do get to be together is quality. So I want to thank all those people for that.

I also have some other stuff going on in life right now, that if it works out will probably lead to a cut back here. (It’s good stuff…really good, I promise!)

 

Things I’m Obsessed With Right Now: Indian Summer

Summer seems to be finally breaking and I’m thrilled about that. I love fall and here’s a bunch of the stuff that I’m using to wait out the heat, so we get to the time of year of tights, sweaters and boots. (I’ve already started with boots though…)

Anyway, here we go:

• Gilmore Guys: I mean obviously, but I’ve been listening to it like crazy, not at the expense of my other podcasts, but a whole lot.
• “Nobody’s Crying” a song by Sutton Foster about her divorce from Christian Borle. It’s on her solo album Wish. It’s melancholy and heartbreaking and perfect, and I’ve loved it for a while, but Crystan and I listened to it while we were driving into the city on Saturday and my love for it has sprung anew. Listen to it, I swear you won’t be disappointed.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena…WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHOW? I should explain, despite a long list of anime that friends I love and trust have recommended to me, I decided instead to dive into this one because, “The Mary Sue says that it heavily inspired Steven Universe.” As I have previously noted, I will do just about anything The Mary Sue tells me to, so I clicked it on Hulu and now I’m sucked in when I should finally be watching Stranger Things or at least Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood like everyone I know told me to. And yet now I’m sucked into this weird anime about sword fighting and lesbians and incest where everything might just be happening inside of the characters heads or whatever. But it’s fantastic and I love it and I think Utena might be my new favorite protagonist in anything (Sorry Korra.) Mostly because I love a passive protagonist. (Sup Harry Potter?) And Utena doesn’t really do anything except wear a totally stylish blazer and get dragged along by the plot. I’ll do a full post about it when I finish, but it’s taking up a lot of my time and brain power.
• My friend Lora’s daily closet cosplays! She’s putting me to shame you guys! Check out her Tumblr and Instagram (@dailycasualcosplay)!
• Party Planning! I made the facebook event for my birthday party this year and I’m really excited about it. My costume is done, which means I can focus on the other fun stuff, liked themed food and drinks, decorations, and entertainment options! I’m really excited about it.
• Comic Con planning. I’m so organized that I’m worried I’m missing something. But I’m going to just let it go. (LET IT GOOOO…)

So that’s what I’m doing right now. See you tomorrow with more stuff!

Cosplay Corner: HAPPY COSTUME SEASON!

Hey everyone! Today kicks off costume season. (It was delayed a week due to me being in Texas instead of at Lead East!) Tonight I’m off to the Sonic Boombox/NYCC Heroes & Villains Party. (Followed by a day at Renn Faire, which we’ll talk about next week)

I’m taking it as a chance to dress as neither a hero NOR a villain, because I’m difficult that way, and debut my Red Hood costume.

It’s a simple and very fun outfit. Jeans, a black tank top which I attached the Red Hood symbol to, a brown leather jacket (seen previously in my Captain America costume…two such different characters) and of course a white hair extension.

I’m carrying a toy gun, which I picked up at Spirit Halloween. And I have a red domino mask, but I’m still not sure about using it…

This one’s gonna make a return at New York Comic Con, probably Thursday, because, well, easy to ride the train with it on, but we’ll see!

Cosplay Corner: Sansa’s Done! ALSO Sailor Moon!

Hey everyone! This week I got my cosplay stuff together and, most importantly, I got my Sansa costume for New York Comic Con done! I still might tweak it, but if I don’t get to that, I’ll be perfectly happy to walk the floor in it.

And then came the big project of the week. Lora, (check out her instagram), recruited some fun peeps into doing closet cosplays of various Sailor Scouts. I got Moon (Mars was taken, so I volunteered for Moon or Venus, Lora gave me Moon.) My mind came to life trying to figure out what to do.

I wanted not just to recreate the Sailor Fucqu, but to put together an outfit that recalls Sailor Moon’s looks, while also being something that Usagi would wear in civilian mode. I put a lot of thought into this.

So, I’m wearing my blue shirtwaist dress, and white cardigan and pink flats. I went with a red belt. And then of course the hair. I put it up into little buns, a style that I perfected doing quick and dirty during a production of Godspell. I kind of wish I still had my long hair, because then I could have done the pigtails, but I think the buns get the idea across.

Things I’m Obsessed With Right Now: Oh God, it’s been forever.

Hey all, I didn’t really get a post together for today, and I realized it’s been quite a while since I chatted up Things I’m Obsessed With

So, here we go!

• All of The DC trailers from Comic Con last weekend. Wonder Woman looks great. Justice League looks fun. Aquadrogo seems to work and I thought that Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck flirting was the best part of BVS so you know, there’s that. Overall I’m psyched, you’ve got me DC…though it’s not quite on the level of…
• The Defenders, OHMIGOD OHMIGOD YOU GUYS! Seriously, the five or six times I watched it, plus every time I think about it I start singing. Luke Cage also looks awesome. I’m looking forward to it.
• Willfully ignoring the National Political Conventions. I think that one speaks for itself.
• Cosplay, cosplay, cosplay. I have the house to myself this weekend, so I’m going to try to get some work done. I actually am most focused on Brooke, even though the party isn’t scheduled yet. I found one kind of reasonably priced uniform on E-Bay, but it’s in Australia, so shipping would destroy “reasonably priced.” More on that tomorrow. But I bought pom-poms, so, I guess I’m committed to this. (To quote my sister, “you ask everyone to go all out for this party, you have to put some work into what you’re wearing.” Also, she’s trying to get a group together to do the Atomic County versions of the characters from The OC, so she just wanted an excuse to not do Gossip Girl)
• Ballers season 2. Ok, not actually obsessed, because that would require thinking about Ballers, and that just ruins the fun. But I am watching it. They did do a scene about “Leaning In,” and my mom and I were impressed and aghast.
• Disney Planning! I’m in a bit of a holding pattern because the hotel is booked, but I’ve got a month before I can do dining reservations, but that hasn’t stopped me from reading, and looking at table seating times and figuring out where and when we want to be at restaurants, plus estimating what the park hours are going to be…well, you know, there’s stuff to deal with.
• SHOW TIME! My show opens next weekend! You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown! If you’re in North Jersey you should come! It’s a great show and a wonderful cast, and I’m really, really psyched about it.
• Camp NaNoWriMo, I’m gonna finish this year, I’m happy about it. My piece needs a LOT of work, but I’ll make my word count.