So I was combing the internet for any advance hint of the hotel list for this year's Comic-Con (fruitlessly, I might add - and as I searched back through archived blog posts from last year, I realized that there's not likely to be any news until the 31st or so. This despite the fact that reservations will almost certainly open on February 6th), and while I found pretty much zilch, I still built upon that in my OCD way.
I might not have mentioned that I do, at the moment, already have two hotel rooms reserved in San Diego for the entirety of that weekend. One is at a perfectly nice hotel that I have no desire to stay at, and the other is, well, somewhat out of my price range. As in, I could stay at this hotel for four nights, or I could take a round-trip flight to London and stay there for four nights. I'm actually vaguely appalled that I made that reservation... but I haven't yet decided to give it up, either. But the actual goal for this year's Con is to obtain a room at the convention rate. If I haven't made it clear why this is quite such a coup, let me spell it out: the difference between what I've agreed to pay for four nights and what the 2008 convention rate for four nights at the same hotel added up to is over a thousand dollars. The difference between how far my less-than-desirable hotel is from the convention center and this hotel is approximately three-quarters of a mile. It boggles the mind.
But it's also not the point. While I'm sure hotel drama will figure into this blog several more times, in this instance it was more about the process. As I sat there, comparing last year's rates with my Google map of all the downtown hotels, contrasting amenities and fees and quiet versus convenience, I started to sketch out my plan of attack for the morning that reservations open (and close. Last year, they had as many people logging on in the first five seconds as they had hotel rooms available).
I thought, okay, well, clearly what I did last year is not going to work. Me, sitting at work, trying to pretend to be working when my entire being is focused on getting through the most frustrating reservations process on earth, for an hour. Not really optimal for getting a room, or for working, funnily enough. So this year I've already decided to call in sick. Or call in with a doctor's appointment, maybe. If I feel like dragging myself in for half a day, afterward.
At first I thought I'd just do it alone. I can sit at my boyfriend's Mac, with my laptop on my lap, and my cell on my shoulder. But that might still not be enough. So then I decided to enlist my mom. Her eyes aren't great, so the internet is out, but I figured we could program the number into her phone, and I could write my credit card number out really big, and she could call too. But then I realized that since we would both be on the phone, a hundred miles apart, we'd be unable to communicate. If one of us got a room, we'd be unable to tell the other to give up. And what if they offered her options I hadn't prepared her for?
My next idea was my boyfriend. If he calls out sick too, then we can each be on a computer and on a phone. And we can talk, if we need to make decisions on the fly. But was that really enough? I thought, what if I get one of my friends who is between jobs right now to come over with her cell phone and laptop? I would have to make a big chart with the hotels and my order of preference, and another with my credit card number, expiration date, etc.
Which is when I realized that I need a command center. You know, your basic room, filled with screens and consoles and charts, shaped roughly like the bridge of a starship. I could hire all of my friends, and we would each have a phone line and a computer and some art supplies, and we would mobilize for each new project. Hotel reservations for Comic-Con? No sweat. A dinner party for ten next Saturday? Just pick a theme. Costumes for a Renaissance fair wedding? Let us know if you need peasants or gentry.
It's my ideal habitat. No wonder that stupid career assessment said I would do well in the military. I guess it wasn't just the snappy uniforms.
Showing posts with label Comic-Con. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comic-Con. Show all posts
Friday, January 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Geeks and Ghouls and Ghosts, Oh My!
Every year at about this time, Halloween sneaks up behind me and hits me over the head with a two by four. Or possibly a baseball bat (since it comes from behind, I never get a really good look at it, obviously). Labor Day passes, the summer is ending, I'm just starting to relax and look forward to a really boring month, and then something reminds me. Halloween.
More specifically, Halloween costumes. I like Halloween and all - ghosts and vampires and creepy crawlies - but it's not my favorite holiday. It is, however, the best excuse all year to dress up in a costume. For some sad, deprived people, it's the only excuse. Luckily, at least one of my friends throws an awesome Halloween party every year, so I have somewhere to go in my costume. (Without that, I might be forced to dress up and just go grocery shopping or something. Lack of venue wouldn't actually translate to lack of costume.)
But being costumically inclined also means that I usually end up in charge of several costumes besides my own. Last year I did four costumes from the ground up and consulted on three more. This year, since I can actually sew a little, I'm looking at five. Admittedly, my sewing skills are still limited, so some pieces from each costume will be bought, not made. My parents' costumes, for the annual 'Witches and Warlocks' party, probably won't take any sewing at all: I've already got the dress my mom will wear as Endora from Bewitched, and we'll just buy the robes my dad will wear as a Hogwarts professor. We'll add a couple of touches to make it clear exactly who they are, like last year when my mom was Minerva McGonagall - a wreath of thistles for her hat, a tartan wrap, Gryffindor ribbons on her broom. But they're basically done.
The other three, though, will be considerably more work. As usual, I'm doing mine and my boyfriend's, and I think this year I'll take over one of my friend's, though I haven't told her yet. Last year her costume was pretty last minute, and I have a great idea for her this year, so I'm thinking I'll just do hers. Especially because I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing for my own yet. I have a couple of ideas, but nothing really inspired me this year like Yvaine from Stardust did last year.
At least this year if I don't come up with anything, I have things to fall back on. My Comic-Con costumes, the Masquerade Ball outfit, or my outfit for the Edwardian Ball will all do in a pinch. The same is not true of my boyfriend. Our friends have seen all of his costumes before, and with the exception of Severus Snape (made by a costumer friend of his years ago), they weren't really made well enough for multiple wearings. (I made them, often without using a sewing machine... sometimes without patterns or measurements... it's fairly miraculous they stayed on.) But this year I'm confident in my ability to make things that actually qualify as clothes. Whether or not they look like what they're supposed to is an entirely different question.
I think this year I might go old school. A lot of things are up in the air right now, and I think next year won't be the same. (Which seems profound, but upon reflection is just obvious. Oh well.) So instead of trying to do something uber-sexy and up-to-the-moment, I think this year I might go with a costume that's been rattling around in my head for a couple of years. I've got the hair for it right now, and there's a great companion costume for my boyfriend. It'll involve some purchasing, some sewing, and possibly some foam molding and shellacking.
It will be fantastic. It will be time-consuming. It will be revealed... in a later post.
Next year, can someone remind me about Halloween in August?
More specifically, Halloween costumes. I like Halloween and all - ghosts and vampires and creepy crawlies - but it's not my favorite holiday. It is, however, the best excuse all year to dress up in a costume. For some sad, deprived people, it's the only excuse. Luckily, at least one of my friends throws an awesome Halloween party every year, so I have somewhere to go in my costume. (Without that, I might be forced to dress up and just go grocery shopping or something. Lack of venue wouldn't actually translate to lack of costume.)
But being costumically inclined also means that I usually end up in charge of several costumes besides my own. Last year I did four costumes from the ground up and consulted on three more. This year, since I can actually sew a little, I'm looking at five. Admittedly, my sewing skills are still limited, so some pieces from each costume will be bought, not made. My parents' costumes, for the annual 'Witches and Warlocks' party, probably won't take any sewing at all: I've already got the dress my mom will wear as Endora from Bewitched, and we'll just buy the robes my dad will wear as a Hogwarts professor. We'll add a couple of touches to make it clear exactly who they are, like last year when my mom was Minerva McGonagall - a wreath of thistles for her hat, a tartan wrap, Gryffindor ribbons on her broom. But they're basically done.
The other three, though, will be considerably more work. As usual, I'm doing mine and my boyfriend's, and I think this year I'll take over one of my friend's, though I haven't told her yet. Last year her costume was pretty last minute, and I have a great idea for her this year, so I'm thinking I'll just do hers. Especially because I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing for my own yet. I have a couple of ideas, but nothing really inspired me this year like Yvaine from Stardust did last year.
At least this year if I don't come up with anything, I have things to fall back on. My Comic-Con costumes, the Masquerade Ball outfit, or my outfit for the Edwardian Ball will all do in a pinch. The same is not true of my boyfriend. Our friends have seen all of his costumes before, and with the exception of Severus Snape (made by a costumer friend of his years ago), they weren't really made well enough for multiple wearings. (I made them, often without using a sewing machine... sometimes without patterns or measurements... it's fairly miraculous they stayed on.) But this year I'm confident in my ability to make things that actually qualify as clothes. Whether or not they look like what they're supposed to is an entirely different question.
I think this year I might go old school. A lot of things are up in the air right now, and I think next year won't be the same. (Which seems profound, but upon reflection is just obvious. Oh well.) So instead of trying to do something uber-sexy and up-to-the-moment, I think this year I might go with a costume that's been rattling around in my head for a couple of years. I've got the hair for it right now, and there's a great companion costume for my boyfriend. It'll involve some purchasing, some sewing, and possibly some foam molding and shellacking.
It will be fantastic. It will be time-consuming. It will be revealed... in a later post.
Next year, can someone remind me about Halloween in August?
Saturday, July 19, 2008
SemiGeekGirl's Guide to Comic-Con, Part III
Down the Rabbit-Hole
Ah, Comic-Con: the coolest place on Earth to get the migraine of your life. Don't get me wrong - the Con is one of my favorite times of year. But the exhibit floor alone is 575,701 square feet of insanity. That's about ten football fields. And that's not even counting the upstairs areas where the panels are held. Do yourself a favor and save yourself at least a little stress.
Tip #3: The Programming schedule is your Bible.
As usual, the Con schedule for this year went up barely two weeks before the event, leaving precious little time to plan - especially if you could only manage to attend for one day. (In that case, you were screwed, because all passes for Friday and Saturday - the most glittering, celeb-friendly, panel-heavy days - were already sold out.) It used to be that you could look up the schedule a couple of days in advance, figure out what you felt like attending, and wander in fifteen or twenty minutes before the panel started. As recently as 2003, I drove down to San Diego around eleven, stood in line for an hour, hour and a half max, to get a badge, then meandered upstairs to get a seat for Joss Whedon's post-Buffy panel (which was awesome, by the way). By contrast, last year I got in line for Ballroom 20 an hour before the Heroes panel, didn't make it in, stayed in line to catch the Battlestar panel and then stayed through the intervening two panels before Joss Whedon because I was afraid I wouldn't get back in if I left.
You don't necessarily have to plan where you'll be every moment - chances are it won't go exactly as you plan anyway - but you should look through the schedule and mark anything you'd be absolutely heartbroken about missing. If it's in Ballroom 20 or Hall H, plan on being there two hours early. At least. The good news is that the San Diego Convention Center reached fire-code capacity (125,000 people) last year, so it literally can't get any more crowded. The bad news is that 125,000 people is still pretty damn crowded.
A lot of the smaller panels will be less well-attended, so you might be able to just walk in a couple of minutes before they start. But in any case, know what you want to see, and - almost as importantly - know where it is. It takes a lot longer to walk from one end of the Convention Center than you think it does, and for crowd-control purposes some hallways will be one-way. There are maps posted on the Comic-Con website - they'll pass them out in the hall too, but I suggest at least scanning it before you get to San Diego.
Also, know where and when you'll meet the people you're going with. You probably won't all be in the same panels - and DON'T count on being able to save seats - but you'll want to be able to find each other afterwards, and if you don't plan ahead it could be very difficult. Don't plan to meet on the exhibit floor if you can help it - it's huge and crowded and almost impossible to navigate quickly. Better spots to meet are upstairs in the Sails Pavilion, where there are tables to sit and eat and compare swag, or upstairs on the patios/smoking areas. They have benches and usually aren't that crowded. If you do lose track of your party, make sure everyone has a phone that can send and receive text messages - cell phone calls are a huge no-no in panels, but a discreet text (with your phone on vibrate, obviously) can usually pass unnoticed.
Tip #4: The Convention is an Endurance Sport - For Spectators
It seems obvious, but I'll take a moment to go over the basics. Wear comfortable shoes. The convention floor is (as I've mentioned) huge. Your feet will hurt by the end of the convention, but you can decide how much. (Incidentally, this is one piece of advice I never follow; costumes rarely lend themselves to comfy footwear. Ah, what I sacrifice for my passionate yet useless hobby!) Other than that, you can wear pretty much anything and still not be guaranteed not to be unique. If you're not in costume, dress casually and maybe bring a jacket; the Convention Center is ferociously well air-conditioned.
Bring some water. It's always good to have some, and you can take it everywhere in the Convention Center. You might also want to carry some food. The food in the exhibit hall is basic (pizza, hamburgers, chips, and Starbucks), expensive, and not that great. It's not bad, certainly, and I always end up eating there at least once, but you might as well save your money for souvenirs. Bring things that travel well - jerky, granola bars, fruit, candy. You don't want to bring too much to carry - the swag will take care of that, but it's good to have a snack for when you're waiting in yet another line.
Bring a book or a portable video game system. There will be lines, and more lines, and while it's fun to strike up a conversation and get to know your fellow geeks, it's also nice to have something surefire to amuse yourself with.
Well, that's all for now. I am, of course, currently running around like a madwoman, finishing the last touches of costumes, doing laundry, baking brownies (not that kind), and finding all my confirmation numbers. Speaking of which, one last tip: bring your registration barcode. You do not want to get stuck in the line of people who don't have theirs and need to be looked up by hand. And pick up your badge on Wednesday (4-day passes only) if you can. There's nothing more frustrating than starting your convention experience with a two-hour wait in the hot sun (the line starts inside, but where it ends, nobody knows...), missing the first panel you wanted to see.
Good luck, fellow geeks. See you on the floor!
Ah, Comic-Con: the coolest place on Earth to get the migraine of your life. Don't get me wrong - the Con is one of my favorite times of year. But the exhibit floor alone is 575,701 square feet of insanity. That's about ten football fields. And that's not even counting the upstairs areas where the panels are held. Do yourself a favor and save yourself at least a little stress.
Tip #3: The Programming schedule is your Bible.
As usual, the Con schedule for this year went up barely two weeks before the event, leaving precious little time to plan - especially if you could only manage to attend for one day. (In that case, you were screwed, because all passes for Friday and Saturday - the most glittering, celeb-friendly, panel-heavy days - were already sold out.) It used to be that you could look up the schedule a couple of days in advance, figure out what you felt like attending, and wander in fifteen or twenty minutes before the panel started. As recently as 2003, I drove down to San Diego around eleven, stood in line for an hour, hour and a half max, to get a badge, then meandered upstairs to get a seat for Joss Whedon's post-Buffy panel (which was awesome, by the way). By contrast, last year I got in line for Ballroom 20 an hour before the Heroes panel, didn't make it in, stayed in line to catch the Battlestar panel and then stayed through the intervening two panels before Joss Whedon because I was afraid I wouldn't get back in if I left.
You don't necessarily have to plan where you'll be every moment - chances are it won't go exactly as you plan anyway - but you should look through the schedule and mark anything you'd be absolutely heartbroken about missing. If it's in Ballroom 20 or Hall H, plan on being there two hours early. At least. The good news is that the San Diego Convention Center reached fire-code capacity (125,000 people) last year, so it literally can't get any more crowded. The bad news is that 125,000 people is still pretty damn crowded.
A lot of the smaller panels will be less well-attended, so you might be able to just walk in a couple of minutes before they start. But in any case, know what you want to see, and - almost as importantly - know where it is. It takes a lot longer to walk from one end of the Convention Center than you think it does, and for crowd-control purposes some hallways will be one-way. There are maps posted on the Comic-Con website - they'll pass them out in the hall too, but I suggest at least scanning it before you get to San Diego.
Also, know where and when you'll meet the people you're going with. You probably won't all be in the same panels - and DON'T count on being able to save seats - but you'll want to be able to find each other afterwards, and if you don't plan ahead it could be very difficult. Don't plan to meet on the exhibit floor if you can help it - it's huge and crowded and almost impossible to navigate quickly. Better spots to meet are upstairs in the Sails Pavilion, where there are tables to sit and eat and compare swag, or upstairs on the patios/smoking areas. They have benches and usually aren't that crowded. If you do lose track of your party, make sure everyone has a phone that can send and receive text messages - cell phone calls are a huge no-no in panels, but a discreet text (with your phone on vibrate, obviously) can usually pass unnoticed.
Tip #4: The Convention is an Endurance Sport - For Spectators
It seems obvious, but I'll take a moment to go over the basics. Wear comfortable shoes. The convention floor is (as I've mentioned) huge. Your feet will hurt by the end of the convention, but you can decide how much. (Incidentally, this is one piece of advice I never follow; costumes rarely lend themselves to comfy footwear. Ah, what I sacrifice for my passionate yet useless hobby!) Other than that, you can wear pretty much anything and still not be guaranteed not to be unique. If you're not in costume, dress casually and maybe bring a jacket; the Convention Center is ferociously well air-conditioned.
Bring some water. It's always good to have some, and you can take it everywhere in the Convention Center. You might also want to carry some food. The food in the exhibit hall is basic (pizza, hamburgers, chips, and Starbucks), expensive, and not that great. It's not bad, certainly, and I always end up eating there at least once, but you might as well save your money for souvenirs. Bring things that travel well - jerky, granola bars, fruit, candy. You don't want to bring too much to carry - the swag will take care of that, but it's good to have a snack for when you're waiting in yet another line.
Bring a book or a portable video game system. There will be lines, and more lines, and while it's fun to strike up a conversation and get to know your fellow geeks, it's also nice to have something surefire to amuse yourself with.
Well, that's all for now. I am, of course, currently running around like a madwoman, finishing the last touches of costumes, doing laundry, baking brownies (not that kind), and finding all my confirmation numbers. Speaking of which, one last tip: bring your registration barcode. You do not want to get stuck in the line of people who don't have theirs and need to be looked up by hand. And pick up your badge on Wednesday (4-day passes only) if you can. There's nothing more frustrating than starting your convention experience with a two-hour wait in the hot sun (the line starts inside, but where it ends, nobody knows...), missing the first panel you wanted to see.
Good luck, fellow geeks. See you on the floor!
Monday, July 14, 2008
SemiGeekGirl’s Guide to Comic-Con, Part II
San Diego Summer
Tip #2 – Planes, Trains, and oh-so-many Automobiles
So, you’ve bought your passes, booked your hotel room (or your sleeping bag space on your buddy’s hotel room, whatever), and decided on your mode of transportation into America’s Finest City (as it has ever-so-modestly dubbed itself). I can’t really recommend modes of transportation, as I’ve lived within a hundred miles of San Diego for most of my life. I drive there.
Next, assuming you’re not one of the lucky bastards with a hotel on the Comic-Con shuttle route, is parking. While there is a limited amount of parking at the Convention Center itself, if you’re not planning on getting there at 5 or 6am, you’re probably out of luck. There are various other parking options around Downtown; many of them are mapped out on the Comic-Con website. If you’re staying at a hotel that has parking, I would advocate leaving your car there from check-in through check-out (and possibly later, if they let you). San Diego has a decent amount of reasonably-priced and convenient forms of public transportation, which I’ll explore briefly below, and if you can’t bring yourself to share personal space with that many of your fellow geeks, there are always taxis (more convenient, and only slightly more expensive than multiple parking adventures) or the somewhat creepy yet incomparably environmentally-friendly pedicabs.
Or – I know this is a radical idea for many geeks – you could always walk. San Diego’s Downtown area, which encompasses the Convention Center, Horton Plaza, the Gaslamp Quarter, and Petco Park, is actually pretty small in terms of surface area – maybe a two-mile-diameter circle. That’s two miles if you start on one edge and walk to the other. Start or end anywhere in the middle and it’s less. True, it’s a little hilly – as with most coastal cities, it slopes down to the sea – but it’s also surprisingly pretty and clean for a major city, with lots of fun restaurants and bars to pop into. And that’s before you take into account the major cheat factor that happens the weekend of Comic-Con – the wonderful, crazily convenient, absolutely free Comic-Con shuttle.
Merely wearing the current day’s badge allows all Comic-Con attendees to board any of these shuttles in any direction, for any reason. Take it from the Convention Center to your hotel, or from your hotel to your friend’s hotel, from Petco Park to Ralph’s – no one cares. True, the stops are fixed and the loops only run in one direction, but the shuttles run until midnight and can get you within a couple of blocks of almost anywhere worth going in the downtown area. It’s the ultimate shortcut; if you’re in town all weekend, it’s almost criminal stupidity not to take advantage of it. (Especially at eleven pm, after fourteen hours of carrying around ten pounds of swag in three-inch heels: it just might be the difference between a good night’s sleep and a tiny, pathetic manga fairy trading free t-shirts for a box to sleep in on the marina.)
But if the shuttle doesn’t get you quite where you need to go (its absolute radius is admittedly pretty small – if you’re not staying downtown, you’ll probably need something else to get you to your destination), San Diego also has the requisite bus system and something better – the Trolley.
Not only is the Trolley cuter and less smelly than a bus, it also goes to a number of very useful places. It's also under ten bucks for a day pass, which is definitely cheaper than a taxi, and probably cheaper than parking. Parking is free at many of the outlying (i.e., not downtown) stations. And it adjusts its routes for the weekend of Comic-Con so that more trolleys take you straight in to the Convention Center stop (directly across the street from the Center itself). More detailed information - since I'm too lazy to type it all out - can be found at their website: http://www.sdmts.com/Trolley/Comiccon.asp.
But I have costumes to work on and lists, glorious lists to make, so I'll sign off for now. The Programming schedule is finally up in its entirety, so there's a good chance part three of this guide will actually reference things that occur inside the Convention Center. Until then, geeks and geekettes!
Tip #2 – Planes, Trains, and oh-so-many Automobiles
So, you’ve bought your passes, booked your hotel room (or your sleeping bag space on your buddy’s hotel room, whatever), and decided on your mode of transportation into America’s Finest City (as it has ever-so-modestly dubbed itself). I can’t really recommend modes of transportation, as I’ve lived within a hundred miles of San Diego for most of my life. I drive there.
Next, assuming you’re not one of the lucky bastards with a hotel on the Comic-Con shuttle route, is parking. While there is a limited amount of parking at the Convention Center itself, if you’re not planning on getting there at 5 or 6am, you’re probably out of luck. There are various other parking options around Downtown; many of them are mapped out on the Comic-Con website. If you’re staying at a hotel that has parking, I would advocate leaving your car there from check-in through check-out (and possibly later, if they let you). San Diego has a decent amount of reasonably-priced and convenient forms of public transportation, which I’ll explore briefly below, and if you can’t bring yourself to share personal space with that many of your fellow geeks, there are always taxis (more convenient, and only slightly more expensive than multiple parking adventures) or the somewhat creepy yet incomparably environmentally-friendly pedicabs.
Or – I know this is a radical idea for many geeks – you could always walk. San Diego’s Downtown area, which encompasses the Convention Center, Horton Plaza, the Gaslamp Quarter, and Petco Park, is actually pretty small in terms of surface area – maybe a two-mile-diameter circle. That’s two miles if you start on one edge and walk to the other. Start or end anywhere in the middle and it’s less. True, it’s a little hilly – as with most coastal cities, it slopes down to the sea – but it’s also surprisingly pretty and clean for a major city, with lots of fun restaurants and bars to pop into. And that’s before you take into account the major cheat factor that happens the weekend of Comic-Con – the wonderful, crazily convenient, absolutely free Comic-Con shuttle.
Merely wearing the current day’s badge allows all Comic-Con attendees to board any of these shuttles in any direction, for any reason. Take it from the Convention Center to your hotel, or from your hotel to your friend’s hotel, from Petco Park to Ralph’s – no one cares. True, the stops are fixed and the loops only run in one direction, but the shuttles run until midnight and can get you within a couple of blocks of almost anywhere worth going in the downtown area. It’s the ultimate shortcut; if you’re in town all weekend, it’s almost criminal stupidity not to take advantage of it. (Especially at eleven pm, after fourteen hours of carrying around ten pounds of swag in three-inch heels: it just might be the difference between a good night’s sleep and a tiny, pathetic manga fairy trading free t-shirts for a box to sleep in on the marina.)
But if the shuttle doesn’t get you quite where you need to go (its absolute radius is admittedly pretty small – if you’re not staying downtown, you’ll probably need something else to get you to your destination), San Diego also has the requisite bus system and something better – the Trolley.
Not only is the Trolley cuter and less smelly than a bus, it also goes to a number of very useful places. It's also under ten bucks for a day pass, which is definitely cheaper than a taxi, and probably cheaper than parking. Parking is free at many of the outlying (i.e., not downtown) stations. And it adjusts its routes for the weekend of Comic-Con so that more trolleys take you straight in to the Convention Center stop (directly across the street from the Center itself). More detailed information - since I'm too lazy to type it all out - can be found at their website: http://www.sdmts.com/Trolley/Comiccon.asp.
But I have costumes to work on and lists, glorious lists to make, so I'll sign off for now. The Programming schedule is finally up in its entirety, so there's a good chance part three of this guide will actually reference things that occur inside the Convention Center. Until then, geeks and geekettes!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
SemiGeekGirl's Guide to Comic-Con, Part I
Adventures in Obsessive Planning
So I knew I had a problem today when I found myself fervently wishing that Comic-Con was next week (instead of two weeks from yesterday). While that might sound normal enough, I realized that the reason I wished it was next week was not so that I could go to it sooner, but instead because that would mean that the Con programming schedule would be posted on the web already. That's right - I was not looking forward to the convention itself as much as I was looking forward to planning my schedule. (I should probably be more concerned about this obvious slide toward insanity, but that would mean taking time from the preparation lists I'm making for Comic-Con. I'll worry about it later.)
I've been haunting the CCI website all week, waiting for the schedule, since the site promised it would be up "ten days to two weeks" before the event. Well, two weeks was technically yesterday, but nothing is up yet. (Update: even as I was writing this, the schedule for Thursday 7/24 was posted. Which is great but also odd, as I can't remember them ever posting the schedules in a piecemeal fashion before. Maybe they're just trying to spread out web traffic so us geeks don't crash their site.) I've even lowered myself to searching out rumor sites and gossip blogs, with some decent results - a couple places had leaked schedules for Thursday AND Friday. But this was something of a fruitless enterprise for me, as the leaked information was of course "unconfirmed", which is too uncertain for me to build rock-solid plans on. Obsessive compulsiveness aside, it seemed like the perfect time to start my unofficial, deeply biased, guide to Comic-Con. Because how else can I distract myself until the schedule goes up?
Tip #1: An Amalgamation of Quite Useless Advice
Unfortunately, most of the best, most common-sense advice I have to dispense about the Con is already out of date. This is because a great deal of it can be summed up in two obvious words: PLAN AHEAD. Buy your passes to the Con as far in advance as possible. I bought my 4-day pass at last year's Con for the bargain price of $50. Online, 4-day passes went for $75. If you missed getting one before they sold out, you could still buy a pass for each individual day (though you missed out on the bonus time of Preview Night), for a combined total of $110. At this point, individual passes for both Saturday 7/26 and Friday 7/25 are also sold out, so if you still desperately need a pass, eBay is pretty much your only hope. Last I checked, 4-day passes were going for up to $455, which is NINE TIMES as much as I paid. So buy your passes early if you want to get in. As of this year they were still transferrable by notifying the Con, so even if by some chance you couldn't use it, you could give it to a friend (or, clearly, scalp it on eBay). This is the first year where selling out has been this much of a problem, so I'm not sure the transfer-policy will remain so generous. On the other hand, CCI is a non-profit organization, so maybe it will.
A corollary to this tip is: book your hotel room early. As in, possibly a year in advance and certainly before Christmas. While Comic-Con does negotiate with area hotels to provide a block of surprisingly reasonably-priced rooms for convention attendees, there are only approximately 6,100 of them. For 125,000 attendees. You do the math. Hotel occupancy for the weekend of Comic-Con is 94% for the City of San Diego, and most hotels raise their rates accordingly. You have a better chance of getting a lower rate the sooner you make a reservation. Many people make their reservations while attending the convention the year before. This year, I was foolish enough to try and wait to get a room through the Con. Their room block opened up on February 9 at 9am PST. The site stalled/crashed almost immediately, as more people than there were rooms available logged on within the first five seconds. Needless to say, I did not get a room. By the time I was offered one, the only ones left were either very far from the convention center or out of my price range. After a week of frantic searching, I got a room through AAA, at the same hotel I stayed at last year. For twice the price. This year, I will consider myself a failure if I don't have a room by September. The only good part about it is that most hotels will let you cancel without penalty until just a couple of days before your reservation, so if you find something better, or decide not to go at all, you won't be out any money.
Well, I'm sorry this tip wasn't more helpful, but it was important. I had thought to include more than one tip per post, but this one dragged on for a very long time, and the costumes beckon. Stay tuned tomorrow for updates on the programming schedule, my descent into neurotic madness befitting a Woody Allen movie, and tips you might actually appreciate for Comic-Con 2008!
So I knew I had a problem today when I found myself fervently wishing that Comic-Con was next week (instead of two weeks from yesterday). While that might sound normal enough, I realized that the reason I wished it was next week was not so that I could go to it sooner, but instead because that would mean that the Con programming schedule would be posted on the web already. That's right - I was not looking forward to the convention itself as much as I was looking forward to planning my schedule. (I should probably be more concerned about this obvious slide toward insanity, but that would mean taking time from the preparation lists I'm making for Comic-Con. I'll worry about it later.)
I've been haunting the CCI website all week, waiting for the schedule, since the site promised it would be up "ten days to two weeks" before the event. Well, two weeks was technically yesterday, but nothing is up yet. (Update: even as I was writing this, the schedule for Thursday 7/24 was posted. Which is great but also odd, as I can't remember them ever posting the schedules in a piecemeal fashion before. Maybe they're just trying to spread out web traffic so us geeks don't crash their site.) I've even lowered myself to searching out rumor sites and gossip blogs, with some decent results - a couple places had leaked schedules for Thursday AND Friday. But this was something of a fruitless enterprise for me, as the leaked information was of course "unconfirmed", which is too uncertain for me to build rock-solid plans on. Obsessive compulsiveness aside, it seemed like the perfect time to start my unofficial, deeply biased, guide to Comic-Con. Because how else can I distract myself until the schedule goes up?
Tip #1: An Amalgamation of Quite Useless Advice
Unfortunately, most of the best, most common-sense advice I have to dispense about the Con is already out of date. This is because a great deal of it can be summed up in two obvious words: PLAN AHEAD. Buy your passes to the Con as far in advance as possible. I bought my 4-day pass at last year's Con for the bargain price of $50. Online, 4-day passes went for $75. If you missed getting one before they sold out, you could still buy a pass for each individual day (though you missed out on the bonus time of Preview Night), for a combined total of $110. At this point, individual passes for both Saturday 7/26 and Friday 7/25 are also sold out, so if you still desperately need a pass, eBay is pretty much your only hope. Last I checked, 4-day passes were going for up to $455, which is NINE TIMES as much as I paid. So buy your passes early if you want to get in. As of this year they were still transferrable by notifying the Con, so even if by some chance you couldn't use it, you could give it to a friend (or, clearly, scalp it on eBay). This is the first year where selling out has been this much of a problem, so I'm not sure the transfer-policy will remain so generous. On the other hand, CCI is a non-profit organization, so maybe it will.
A corollary to this tip is: book your hotel room early. As in, possibly a year in advance and certainly before Christmas. While Comic-Con does negotiate with area hotels to provide a block of surprisingly reasonably-priced rooms for convention attendees, there are only approximately 6,100 of them. For 125,000 attendees. You do the math. Hotel occupancy for the weekend of Comic-Con is 94% for the City of San Diego, and most hotels raise their rates accordingly. You have a better chance of getting a lower rate the sooner you make a reservation. Many people make their reservations while attending the convention the year before. This year, I was foolish enough to try and wait to get a room through the Con. Their room block opened up on February 9 at 9am PST. The site stalled/crashed almost immediately, as more people than there were rooms available logged on within the first five seconds. Needless to say, I did not get a room. By the time I was offered one, the only ones left were either very far from the convention center or out of my price range. After a week of frantic searching, I got a room through AAA, at the same hotel I stayed at last year. For twice the price. This year, I will consider myself a failure if I don't have a room by September. The only good part about it is that most hotels will let you cancel without penalty until just a couple of days before your reservation, so if you find something better, or decide not to go at all, you won't be out any money.
Well, I'm sorry this tip wasn't more helpful, but it was important. I had thought to include more than one tip per post, but this one dragged on for a very long time, and the costumes beckon. Stay tuned tomorrow for updates on the programming schedule, my descent into neurotic madness befitting a Woody Allen movie, and tips you might actually appreciate for Comic-Con 2008!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Apparently, a post without a name
I have to apologize for getting horribly behind on blogging this week. It's a terrible paradox - when I'm not doing anything, I have nothing to blog about, but when I'm busy... well, obviously, I'm busy. No time to sit down and type out my impressions of everything.
As I've mentioned before, summer is best time of year for a Geek Girl like me. Especially July - it starts with a bang and ends with a pilgrimage to Geek Mecca, Comic-Con International. But besides my Geek Girl credentials, I also happen to be a card-carrying member of the Obsessive Planning and List-Making Guild. (Just ask my boyfriend.) So not only can I tell you what I will be doing each night next week, I can tell you what I'll be doing each weekend in August. And there's a Christmas present for my boyfriend hidden deep in the linen closet.
Which can all combine for a minor meltdown around the end of June, as I consult with my mom on the annual Independence Day jamboree, finalize plans for the Labyrinth Masquerade, and work on costumes for each day of Comic-Con. As well, my job inexplicably also expects me to come to work on a regular basis during these crucial weeks, and pay attention while I'm there, despite the fact that I clearly have more interesting things to be doing.
So yesterday I ran out to look for 4th of July decorations (patriotic, but not even remotely military. I love my country but I wouldn't want anyone to think I had anything in common with our current President. I won't even buy fireworks with bellicose names. Bring on the Purple Rain, but leave the Tank Salute at the store), tried to find new horns for a costume (the ones we ordered online looked nothing like their picture), did all the grocery shopping (including $40 worth of liquor for my killer 4th of July lemonade punch), then came home and sewed costumes for six hours. Which is not nearly as impressive as it sounds. I did manage to shorten a dress, cut out all the pieces of a showgirl-style skirt, create a harness for a pair of wings, and hem and add fastenings to another dress.
Well, actually I was impressed. But I don't really count, and besides, I know people who can actually sew who could have completed all those projects in about a third of the time. It takes me half an hour just to wind a bobbin and thread the machine, and that dress that I hemmed is listed on the pattern envelope as a "1 hour dress". I've put in approximately six hours on it so far. But it is the first whole garment I've ever made and it does (miraculously) fit, so it is something of an accomplishment.
However, it's an accomplishment I'm going to need to replicate often over the next couple of weeks. I still have a lot to do. At the moment, all of my costumes are balanced on the edge: they're a little too weird to be street clothes, but they're not obviously costumes of a particular thing yet. Except for my American McGee's Alice, I guess. I cheated on that one by buying the Alice dress ready-made at Disneyland (I'm little, which is a disadvantage when I want to be anyone with boobs, but comes in handy for things like this because I can usually wear the largest size in children's clothes), and I have the wig and the boots.
But my costuming break has already dragged on too long. It's back to the sewing machine for me now. Wish me luck, and forgive my blogging distraction.
As I've mentioned before, summer is best time of year for a Geek Girl like me. Especially July - it starts with a bang and ends with a pilgrimage to Geek Mecca, Comic-Con International. But besides my Geek Girl credentials, I also happen to be a card-carrying member of the Obsessive Planning and List-Making Guild. (Just ask my boyfriend.) So not only can I tell you what I will be doing each night next week, I can tell you what I'll be doing each weekend in August. And there's a Christmas present for my boyfriend hidden deep in the linen closet.
Which can all combine for a minor meltdown around the end of June, as I consult with my mom on the annual Independence Day jamboree, finalize plans for the Labyrinth Masquerade, and work on costumes for each day of Comic-Con. As well, my job inexplicably also expects me to come to work on a regular basis during these crucial weeks, and pay attention while I'm there, despite the fact that I clearly have more interesting things to be doing.
So yesterday I ran out to look for 4th of July decorations (patriotic, but not even remotely military. I love my country but I wouldn't want anyone to think I had anything in common with our current President. I won't even buy fireworks with bellicose names. Bring on the Purple Rain, but leave the Tank Salute at the store), tried to find new horns for a costume (the ones we ordered online looked nothing like their picture), did all the grocery shopping (including $40 worth of liquor for my killer 4th of July lemonade punch), then came home and sewed costumes for six hours. Which is not nearly as impressive as it sounds. I did manage to shorten a dress, cut out all the pieces of a showgirl-style skirt, create a harness for a pair of wings, and hem and add fastenings to another dress.
Well, actually I was impressed. But I don't really count, and besides, I know people who can actually sew who could have completed all those projects in about a third of the time. It takes me half an hour just to wind a bobbin and thread the machine, and that dress that I hemmed is listed on the pattern envelope as a "1 hour dress". I've put in approximately six hours on it so far. But it is the first whole garment I've ever made and it does (miraculously) fit, so it is something of an accomplishment.
However, it's an accomplishment I'm going to need to replicate often over the next couple of weeks. I still have a lot to do. At the moment, all of my costumes are balanced on the edge: they're a little too weird to be street clothes, but they're not obviously costumes of a particular thing yet. Except for my American McGee's Alice, I guess. I cheated on that one by buying the Alice dress ready-made at Disneyland (I'm little, which is a disadvantage when I want to be anyone with boobs, but comes in handy for things like this because I can usually wear the largest size in children's clothes), and I have the wig and the boots.
But my costuming break has already dragged on too long. It's back to the sewing machine for me now. Wish me luck, and forgive my blogging distraction.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Call me in October
Ah, summer in Los Angeles. The sweltering heat, the vast majority of apartments without central air conditioning, the endless traffic and $4.60 per gallon gasoline... it's my favorite season.
Not, of course, for any of the reasons above. Summer in Los Angeles in my particular habitat consists of evenings and weekends in my stuffy apartment, wishing for air conditioning, and weekday mornings and afternoons in my subzero office cubicle, wishing air conditioning had never been invented. But since I try to block out all aspects of my job when I'm not actually doing it, and since I like my apartment well enough when I don't hate it, the weather doesn't really figure into my seasonal rankings. (Especially because, as I mentioned, I live in southern California... I've heard of seasons, but I believe they're a myth.)
But summer is heaven for geeks all across the country. I don't really understand why, actually. You'd think that people whose favorite activities almost all involve being indoors would do better in another season. Hrm... come to think of it, maybe that's exactly why - with everyone else glorying in the availability of water sports, geeks need to find new and creative reasons to stay inside. Whatever. Anyway, there are a veritable galaxy of exciting geek events in the summer. I don't have space to list them all, but I will add links to a few of the coolest... and a few I'll be attending.
http://www.renfair.com/bristol/
One of the largest Renaissance fairs in the country, the Bristol Faire runs from the Fourth of July weekend through Labor Day on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. Scotsmen, pirates, princesses and the fae mingle for your amusement, and all sorts of awesome weaponry, masks, and trinkets are for sale. Even non-geeks can have fun swilling ale and gnawing on turkey legs while marveling at the endless parade of sunburnt cleavage on display. Fun for the whole family!
http://www.bsvscenariogame.com/
This is the most fantastic idea I've heard in a long time, and only the price of jet fuel and my complete ineptitude at sports are keeping me from participating. A bunch of hardcore Firefly fans in the Midwest have decided to stage the Battle of Serenity Valley as a giant paintball game. I thought I was a Whedon freak, but clearly these people have me beat. The Browncoats might still end up the losing side, but we all know they aren't the wrong one.
http://www.labyrinthmasquerade.com/
This geek event is based on the David Bowie/Jennifer Connelly movie Labyrinth, but it's expanded into a massive geek party where everyone is required to attend in costume - or at least in formalwear and a mask. Even if you can't attend, hit the site to check out the photo galleries from the last couple years. Some people spend months creating their costumes, and it shows.
http://www.comic-con.org/cci/
Comic-Con International. I think Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter sums it up pretty well in his article "Welcome to Nerd Vegas":
(http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/welcome_to_nerd_vegas_a_guide_to_visiting_and_enjoying_comic_con_internatio/),
but if you need more tips I intend to outline my own personal strategy (and numerous pet peeves) in a later post.
http://www.denvention3.org/
The annual Worldcon is in Denver this year, and it promises to be a great time. The guest of honor is one of my favorite authors, Lois McMaster Bujold (stop reading this blog immediately and pick up the Vorkosigan saga if you haven't already), and next year the convention is in Canada, so get there while you can.
http://www.dragoncon.org/
Admittedly, I've never been to DragonCon, but let's face it, it has an awesome name, and if I ever become independently wealthy, I'm attending every Con on the planet. This one is definitely on my list... even if I'm not sure I want to spend Labor Day weekend in Atlanta.
http://www.gencon.com/2008/indy/
It's not called "the best four days in gaming" for nothing. Every year in Indianapolis, geeks come from all over the world to buy books, cards, miniatures, and everything else associated with fanstasy games like D&D and Magic: The Gathering. It's not quite as picturesque as when it was still in Milwaukee, but if you're into RPGs it's practically a national holiday.
And there are, of course, a number of fun things to do that don't require you to get in touch with your inner geek. If you're in southern California, you might check out these:
http://www.sdfair.com/
http://www.sawdustartfestival.org/
http://www.ocfair.com/
In the meantime, celebrate the Fourth of July. Food, fun, and most importantly FIREWORKS make this my favorite holiday of the year. If it's not geeky enough for you, try holding a roman candle in each hand, and pretending you're a wizard.
Not, of course, for any of the reasons above. Summer in Los Angeles in my particular habitat consists of evenings and weekends in my stuffy apartment, wishing for air conditioning, and weekday mornings and afternoons in my subzero office cubicle, wishing air conditioning had never been invented. But since I try to block out all aspects of my job when I'm not actually doing it, and since I like my apartment well enough when I don't hate it, the weather doesn't really figure into my seasonal rankings. (Especially because, as I mentioned, I live in southern California... I've heard of seasons, but I believe they're a myth.)
But summer is heaven for geeks all across the country. I don't really understand why, actually. You'd think that people whose favorite activities almost all involve being indoors would do better in another season. Hrm... come to think of it, maybe that's exactly why - with everyone else glorying in the availability of water sports, geeks need to find new and creative reasons to stay inside. Whatever. Anyway, there are a veritable galaxy of exciting geek events in the summer. I don't have space to list them all, but I will add links to a few of the coolest... and a few I'll be attending.
http://www.renfair.com/bristol/
One of the largest Renaissance fairs in the country, the Bristol Faire runs from the Fourth of July weekend through Labor Day on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. Scotsmen, pirates, princesses and the fae mingle for your amusement, and all sorts of awesome weaponry, masks, and trinkets are for sale. Even non-geeks can have fun swilling ale and gnawing on turkey legs while marveling at the endless parade of sunburnt cleavage on display. Fun for the whole family!
http://www.bsvscenariogame.com/
This is the most fantastic idea I've heard in a long time, and only the price of jet fuel and my complete ineptitude at sports are keeping me from participating. A bunch of hardcore Firefly fans in the Midwest have decided to stage the Battle of Serenity Valley as a giant paintball game. I thought I was a Whedon freak, but clearly these people have me beat. The Browncoats might still end up the losing side, but we all know they aren't the wrong one.
http://www.labyrinthmasquerade.com/
This geek event is based on the David Bowie/Jennifer Connelly movie Labyrinth, but it's expanded into a massive geek party where everyone is required to attend in costume - or at least in formalwear and a mask. Even if you can't attend, hit the site to check out the photo galleries from the last couple years. Some people spend months creating their costumes, and it shows.
http://www.comic-con.org/cci/
Comic-Con International. I think Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter sums it up pretty well in his article "Welcome to Nerd Vegas":
(http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/welcome_to_nerd_vegas_a_guide_to_visiting_and_enjoying_comic_con_internatio/),
but if you need more tips I intend to outline my own personal strategy (and numerous pet peeves) in a later post.
http://www.denvention3.org/
The annual Worldcon is in Denver this year, and it promises to be a great time. The guest of honor is one of my favorite authors, Lois McMaster Bujold (stop reading this blog immediately and pick up the Vorkosigan saga if you haven't already), and next year the convention is in Canada, so get there while you can.
http://www.dragoncon.org/
Admittedly, I've never been to DragonCon, but let's face it, it has an awesome name, and if I ever become independently wealthy, I'm attending every Con on the planet. This one is definitely on my list... even if I'm not sure I want to spend Labor Day weekend in Atlanta.
http://www.gencon.com/2008/indy/
It's not called "the best four days in gaming" for nothing. Every year in Indianapolis, geeks come from all over the world to buy books, cards, miniatures, and everything else associated with fanstasy games like D&D and Magic: The Gathering. It's not quite as picturesque as when it was still in Milwaukee, but if you're into RPGs it's practically a national holiday.
And there are, of course, a number of fun things to do that don't require you to get in touch with your inner geek. If you're in southern California, you might check out these:
http://www.sdfair.com/
http://www.sawdustartfestival.org/
http://www.ocfair.com/
In the meantime, celebrate the Fourth of July. Food, fun, and most importantly FIREWORKS make this my favorite holiday of the year. If it's not geeky enough for you, try holding a roman candle in each hand, and pretending you're a wizard.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Dressing Up for Grown-Ups
Buffy: It's come as you aren't night. The perfect chance for a girl to get sexy and wild with no repercussions.
Willow: Oh, I don't get wild. Wild on me equals spaz.
Buffy: Don't underestimate yourself. You've got it in you.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2:6, "Halloween"
They're talking about Halloween, of course, but I've always found that little exchange to be a pretty good summation of why adults put on costumes. Or at least, why I do. Come-as-you-aren't night - doesn't it sound wonderful? A chance to be a princess or an elf or a superhero, or your favorite character from television or the movies. More importantly, a chance to be somebody besides who you have to be every other day.
It's not that being me sucks so much, really. I've got great friends and good family and fun hobbies and gadgets. But I work in a cubicle in an office, Monday through Friday every week, and I go home to my sweet, stable boyfriend of almost three years. On holidays I visit my normal, still-married parents. It's a good deal: believe me, I know it. But it's hardly epic, you know?
And for the most part, that's how I like it. Epic is more often than not a synonym for tragic, and as Chris Rock puts it, the only exciting relationships are the bad ones. I tried being sexy and wild once for a couple of months, and I admit, parts of it were fun - but a lot of it seemed to consist of being broke and hungover. Plus, as much as I always wanted to be Buffy, I have to side with Willow on this one, because I'm pretty sure that wild on me does equal spaz. At least until I've had enough alcohol to relax into it.
So sometimes it's incredibly freeing to be somebody else for a while. Especially when that somebody else comes with a ready-made persona that you'd never be able to pull off in real life. I've been Buffy, Raven, Black Canary, Yvaine from Stardust, Queen Gorgo from 300, Inara from Firefly, and Darla from BtVS. Except for Yvaine (her dress was just so pretty; if only I had a gay pirate stylist!), they're all kick-ass heroines (or villains) - sarcastic and sexy with great wardrobes full of things I could never wear in real life.
Red leather pants just aren't me... except when I'm Buffy. That linen toga/shift thing Queen Gorgo wears requires more social courage than I possess (and some double-sided tape). But I pulled it off all day at Comic-Con. Because when I wear the costume, I get to channel the character, and that's a thrill I don't get every day.
So look for me at the next masquerade ball, and on the convention floor at Comic-Con. I'll be the girl with the attitude and the leather corset.
Willow: Oh, I don't get wild. Wild on me equals spaz.
Buffy: Don't underestimate yourself. You've got it in you.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2:6, "Halloween"
They're talking about Halloween, of course, but I've always found that little exchange to be a pretty good summation of why adults put on costumes. Or at least, why I do. Come-as-you-aren't night - doesn't it sound wonderful? A chance to be a princess or an elf or a superhero, or your favorite character from television or the movies. More importantly, a chance to be somebody besides who you have to be every other day.
It's not that being me sucks so much, really. I've got great friends and good family and fun hobbies and gadgets. But I work in a cubicle in an office, Monday through Friday every week, and I go home to my sweet, stable boyfriend of almost three years. On holidays I visit my normal, still-married parents. It's a good deal: believe me, I know it. But it's hardly epic, you know?
And for the most part, that's how I like it. Epic is more often than not a synonym for tragic, and as Chris Rock puts it, the only exciting relationships are the bad ones. I tried being sexy and wild once for a couple of months, and I admit, parts of it were fun - but a lot of it seemed to consist of being broke and hungover. Plus, as much as I always wanted to be Buffy, I have to side with Willow on this one, because I'm pretty sure that wild on me does equal spaz. At least until I've had enough alcohol to relax into it.
So sometimes it's incredibly freeing to be somebody else for a while. Especially when that somebody else comes with a ready-made persona that you'd never be able to pull off in real life. I've been Buffy, Raven, Black Canary, Yvaine from Stardust, Queen Gorgo from 300, Inara from Firefly, and Darla from BtVS. Except for Yvaine (her dress was just so pretty; if only I had a gay pirate stylist!), they're all kick-ass heroines (or villains) - sarcastic and sexy with great wardrobes full of things I could never wear in real life.
Red leather pants just aren't me... except when I'm Buffy. That linen toga/shift thing Queen Gorgo wears requires more social courage than I possess (and some double-sided tape). But I pulled it off all day at Comic-Con. Because when I wear the costume, I get to channel the character, and that's a thrill I don't get every day.
So look for me at the next masquerade ball, and on the convention floor at Comic-Con. I'll be the girl with the attitude and the leather corset.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
A (Gentle) Note on Geek Hygiene
I love geek guys. That's not to say that my head isn't turned by the occasional golden boy jock or exotic Persian man's man, but for the most part the guys I hang out with, the guys I date, are geeks. They can discuss the difference between DC and Marvel for hours, find immediate common ground on the Evil Dead movies, and advise me on all the finer points of Magic: The Gathering strategy.
This, of course, has its ups and its downs. While it means that I spend lazy Saturdays with the Sci-Fi channel playing atrocious, so-bad-they're-still-not-good-but-damn-they're-funny movies in the background instead of being forced to watch sports or endless repetitions of the same news on MSNBC, it also means that I am responsible for dressing everyone in the house for occasions requiring anything more formal than a Thundercats T-shirt. It means that I always have someone to play Mario Kart with, but that if I want to go dancing I'm on my own. In general, though, geek guys make good boyfriends. For the most part, they tend to be caring, attentive, funny, smart guys without a lot of ego (except when it comes to their Halo achievements and Warcraft levels, of course). Which is what makes it sad that such a large percentage of them don't have girlfriends to share their geekdom with.
It's a stereotype that geeks are pasty, overweight guys with greasy hair and a certain - less than pleasant - smell. This has been referred to gently, as well as more bluntly, on numerous blogs and even the official Comic-Con website. Sadly, as a longtime veteran of Comic-Con, I can attest to the fact that it's true oftener than I'd like. Every year, thousands of geeks converge into some very small (but extremely well air-conditioned) rooms, and as you sit in those rooms, you do notice an aroma that owes less to aftershave and deodorant than it does to sweat and stale food.
So this year, I'm making a plea to all the lonely geeks out there. Comic-Con is an endurance game, and it's unrealistic to expect that you won't sweat, or that anyone has time to run back to their hotel room and brush their teeth after meals. But please, please, please. Shower every morning (and depending on your sweat glands, possibly also every night). Put on deodorant - lots of it. (You can skip the aftershave and cologne, unless you already have a favorite scent you didn't buy at the drugstore. The last thing anyone needs is two thousand geeks in Ballroom 20 all wearing Axe body spray. The panelists would all pass out.) Bring along some breath mints, and pop one every time you even think you might be less than fresh. Honestly, guys. Don't do it for me; do it for yourselves.
Let me tell you why.
Because besides being a gathering place for comic book dealers, artists, artisans, writers, actors, and Hollywood stars, Comic-Con has what is probably the largest concentration of girls who love geeks in the entire world. And many of them are hot. This is the one place where you can pick up a girl by quoting a movie based on a video game. That babe in the chainmail would probably welcome a conversation about Warcraft. The one in the ripped neon tights and purple fairy wings almost certainly knows a lot about anime. And these girls are used to geeks in their natural habitat. They understand that a brand-new Twilight Princess t-shirt with the triforce symbol picked out in gold foil contstitutes business casual for you. They're okay with that.
And they're on vacation! While Girls Gone Wild is another unflattering stereotype, it too has its grain of truth. Hot girls away from home, on vacation, do things (and people) they might not usually consider. You could be one of those things.
The bottom line is that with very minimal effort on your part, you could drastically increase your chance of finding a girl who enjoys dressing up as your favorite superheroine/elf/Star Wars character. In bed.
Think about it.
This, of course, has its ups and its downs. While it means that I spend lazy Saturdays with the Sci-Fi channel playing atrocious, so-bad-they're-still-not-good-but-damn-they're-funny movies in the background instead of being forced to watch sports or endless repetitions of the same news on MSNBC, it also means that I am responsible for dressing everyone in the house for occasions requiring anything more formal than a Thundercats T-shirt. It means that I always have someone to play Mario Kart with, but that if I want to go dancing I'm on my own. In general, though, geek guys make good boyfriends. For the most part, they tend to be caring, attentive, funny, smart guys without a lot of ego (except when it comes to their Halo achievements and Warcraft levels, of course). Which is what makes it sad that such a large percentage of them don't have girlfriends to share their geekdom with.
It's a stereotype that geeks are pasty, overweight guys with greasy hair and a certain - less than pleasant - smell. This has been referred to gently, as well as more bluntly, on numerous blogs and even the official Comic-Con website. Sadly, as a longtime veteran of Comic-Con, I can attest to the fact that it's true oftener than I'd like. Every year, thousands of geeks converge into some very small (but extremely well air-conditioned) rooms, and as you sit in those rooms, you do notice an aroma that owes less to aftershave and deodorant than it does to sweat and stale food.
So this year, I'm making a plea to all the lonely geeks out there. Comic-Con is an endurance game, and it's unrealistic to expect that you won't sweat, or that anyone has time to run back to their hotel room and brush their teeth after meals. But please, please, please. Shower every morning (and depending on your sweat glands, possibly also every night). Put on deodorant - lots of it. (You can skip the aftershave and cologne, unless you already have a favorite scent you didn't buy at the drugstore. The last thing anyone needs is two thousand geeks in Ballroom 20 all wearing Axe body spray. The panelists would all pass out.) Bring along some breath mints, and pop one every time you even think you might be less than fresh. Honestly, guys. Don't do it for me; do it for yourselves.
Let me tell you why.
Because besides being a gathering place for comic book dealers, artists, artisans, writers, actors, and Hollywood stars, Comic-Con has what is probably the largest concentration of girls who love geeks in the entire world. And many of them are hot. This is the one place where you can pick up a girl by quoting a movie based on a video game. That babe in the chainmail would probably welcome a conversation about Warcraft. The one in the ripped neon tights and purple fairy wings almost certainly knows a lot about anime. And these girls are used to geeks in their natural habitat. They understand that a brand-new Twilight Princess t-shirt with the triforce symbol picked out in gold foil contstitutes business casual for you. They're okay with that.
And they're on vacation! While Girls Gone Wild is another unflattering stereotype, it too has its grain of truth. Hot girls away from home, on vacation, do things (and people) they might not usually consider. You could be one of those things.
The bottom line is that with very minimal effort on your part, you could drastically increase your chance of finding a girl who enjoys dressing up as your favorite superheroine/elf/Star Wars character. In bed.
Think about it.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Boots, boots, everywhere, but never the ones I need
Compared to my non-geek friends, I'm really not that into shoes. Admittedly, I probably have 30 or 35 pairs of them, but that stems more from my pathological inability to throw away things that might someday be useful for a costume than it does from any great love of shoes. (I'm not joking: just last weekend I salvaged an atrocious linen jacket from my mom's castoffs and stuck it in my boyfriend's closet, just in case someone we know ever happens to throw a Miami Vice themed party.) So I believe that my shoe collection is quite moderate, considering.
But I do, at last count, own eight pairs of boots. I ordered another pair online just now, which will bring the total to nine. The problem is that no matter how many I acquire, I never seem to have quite the style required to imitate the character I'm creating a costume of. Take the first pair, for instance. Knee-high black leather with a side zip and three-inch chunky heels, I begged my mom for them when I was seventeen and desperate to be Buffy. (If memory serves, I used to wear them with a black mini and a spaghetti-strap tank top with appliqued butterflies. Shudder.) The next two pairs didn't actually have a lot to do with costuming - apparently at nineteen I though pain was sexy. There's certainly no other excuse for the stiletto-heeled torture chambers I bought (in black leather and camel suede both, just to cover all possible outfits). But I still have them, just in case. Next came knee-high slouchy brown suede boots with stacked heels, then Italian leather boots in a rich chocolate that were secondhand and impossible to resist. Then last year I decided to dress up as Raven from Teen Titans at Comic-Con, which required low-heeled ankle boots that I found at Hot Topic. And then I found a perfect pair of Resident Evil Alice boots and decided to make a costume to go with them. The last pair (before today) were tall black leather creations wrapped in more scraps of black leather and studded. I don't know what they're for, but it's probably post-apocalyptic. Does Daryl Hannah wear boots in Blade Runner?
Despite this seemingly comprehensive collection, I still end up needing a new pair for almost every kick-ass heroine I want to dress up as. I did use the Buffy boots to be Black Canary two Halloweens ago, but that costume was basically a cop-out. (If you want to try it, all you need is boots, fishnets, a good black swimsuit, and a bolero. True, only hardcore DC fans will know who you are, but everyone will be impressed by your willingness to walk around in the outfit I've just described.) All of my other boots have yet to be reused for costume purposes.
The lack of versatility would bother me less if it wasn't for one thing: men. My boyfriend owns two pairs of boots: one black leather and medieval-style, the other brown suede and Indian-style. With just those boots, he's been Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet, an evil pirate named Rodrigo, a noble (generic) cavalier, a random masked warrior, an elemental Earth spirit, and Madmartigan from Willow. The only reason he's considering a new pair is that the sole is coming off one of the black ones, and electrical tape can only get you so far.
But today I started working on my American McGee's Alice costume, and as I looked at the images pulled up on Google, I realized with a sinking heart that her boots lace or buckle all the way up to the knee. All of mine are either too short, or zip-fastened. Pair number nine, here I come. Let's just hope I can hold off on number ten until I throw that party for the last episode of Battlestar Galactica.
Until then, I'll be working on my wig collection.
But I do, at last count, own eight pairs of boots. I ordered another pair online just now, which will bring the total to nine. The problem is that no matter how many I acquire, I never seem to have quite the style required to imitate the character I'm creating a costume of. Take the first pair, for instance. Knee-high black leather with a side zip and three-inch chunky heels, I begged my mom for them when I was seventeen and desperate to be Buffy. (If memory serves, I used to wear them with a black mini and a spaghetti-strap tank top with appliqued butterflies. Shudder.) The next two pairs didn't actually have a lot to do with costuming - apparently at nineteen I though pain was sexy. There's certainly no other excuse for the stiletto-heeled torture chambers I bought (in black leather and camel suede both, just to cover all possible outfits). But I still have them, just in case. Next came knee-high slouchy brown suede boots with stacked heels, then Italian leather boots in a rich chocolate that were secondhand and impossible to resist. Then last year I decided to dress up as Raven from Teen Titans at Comic-Con, which required low-heeled ankle boots that I found at Hot Topic. And then I found a perfect pair of Resident Evil Alice boots and decided to make a costume to go with them. The last pair (before today) were tall black leather creations wrapped in more scraps of black leather and studded. I don't know what they're for, but it's probably post-apocalyptic. Does Daryl Hannah wear boots in Blade Runner?
Despite this seemingly comprehensive collection, I still end up needing a new pair for almost every kick-ass heroine I want to dress up as. I did use the Buffy boots to be Black Canary two Halloweens ago, but that costume was basically a cop-out. (If you want to try it, all you need is boots, fishnets, a good black swimsuit, and a bolero. True, only hardcore DC fans will know who you are, but everyone will be impressed by your willingness to walk around in the outfit I've just described.) All of my other boots have yet to be reused for costume purposes.
The lack of versatility would bother me less if it wasn't for one thing: men. My boyfriend owns two pairs of boots: one black leather and medieval-style, the other brown suede and Indian-style. With just those boots, he's been Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet, an evil pirate named Rodrigo, a noble (generic) cavalier, a random masked warrior, an elemental Earth spirit, and Madmartigan from Willow. The only reason he's considering a new pair is that the sole is coming off one of the black ones, and electrical tape can only get you so far.
But today I started working on my American McGee's Alice costume, and as I looked at the images pulled up on Google, I realized with a sinking heart that her boots lace or buckle all the way up to the knee. All of mine are either too short, or zip-fastened. Pair number nine, here I come. Let's just hope I can hold off on number ten until I throw that party for the last episode of Battlestar Galactica.
Until then, I'll be working on my wig collection.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
