Emerald City Comic Con 2012: The Costumes
My apologies for the Mindy overload here, had to jump in a few pictures with these awesome folks.
Slideshow of the great costumes at Emerald City Comic Con 2012:
Review: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
This marks the first time I’ve ever watched a sequel without seeing the original first. Still have no interest in seeing the first entry. A part of me feels tricked into thinking this entry was theatre worthy either.
A mad genius exists out there cutting exceptional movie trailers turning garbage films into inspirational gold. He must be stopped! Otherwise, we will continue to waste $13 a pop for 3D tickets to crap like Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
Wait, it wasn’t all that bad.
In fact, parts of it were downright good and even a bit unsettling. So here’s a quick, down and dirty review of the film…because how much time do we really want to waste on a Ghost Rider sequel review? Not much time.
THE GOOD
Idris Elba. This man is a god (literally, in Thor) and he is guaranteed to save your crappy movie, or at least be the best part of it. He even steals his smallish scenes in Thor (muh favorite). Not quite sure why he was boasting colored contacts. It looked cool when he was playing Heimdahl, but went with his outfit and godly persona in that flick. Here it was obvious some studio exec was like “Idris Elba in contacts makes this movie THAT MUCH COOLER. Do it.” Elba was sporting an off-putting and unnecessary French accent, but aside from that – he was the best actor and second most fun to watch on the screen.
The special effects were the most fun thing to watch on-screen. The Ghost Rider himself is a special effect and a gorgeous one at that, with flames curling around his skull head and any vehicle he chooses to mount bursting into hellish fire. His antics are creepy, twitchy and a bit scary. The vibe for The Rider was PERFECT and clearly a lot of time and energy went into making him look cool. The action sequence were entertaining, especially the mid-point of the movie, in the rock quarry.
The audience was treated to tasty and attractive animated sequences as a narrative device. I’m always up for animated sequences in otherwise live action films. Especially comic book adaptations. Thanks production teams!
THE BAD
Nicholas Cage and his bizarre acting abilities. Loved him in Kick Ass and think he has a dry, oddball sense of humor but it was the wrong tone for this type of movie. What he emoted and what the director envisioned did not mesh well together on-screen and the effect was a mushy pile of loosely connected action sequence, while any attempt at plot was jarring on the audience. Not that anyone expected this to be Oscar worthy material, but it was a discordant mess not even on par with most Hollywood messes. An enjoyable mess, mind you. Entertaining.
Thor Costume and Going Digital
Need someone to talk me down from this ledge. REALLY wanting to purchase a female Thor costume. Buycostumes.com dropped a lovely 25% off coupon in my inbox this morning and I’ve been agonizing over the decision ever since.
The Thor movie is one of my favorites, and I am tempted to start-up a subscription for X-Men and Thor comics. Just get back into comic books again period.
Therefore I need some input on a few things:
1. Should I purchase this costume, helmet and hammer?
Or no? I have until the end of this business day before the coupon expires, and then it probably wouldn’t be worth it. What would be worth it? Stumbling around drunk in a wicked cool Norse god helmet.Â
A Lady Loki outfit is also quite tantalizing. But they don’t have anything pre-fabricated. And can you imagine those horns around drunk people? Dangerous, dangerous stuff. Even in a regular comic book convention, I would be afraid of knocking people over all the time.
2. Should I subscribe to superhero comic books again? I love my local comic book shop, but I’m just not getting out there often enough to empty my box properly. Then it expires and I feel guilty and never open a box at that shop again. To save all the embarrassment and heart-ache, why not just subscribe to the monthly shipping services? It’s around $30 bucks a title for the year. The whole year! I drop that much each time I enter the comic book store.
X-Patch: The Conclusion
Here are the results of the crafting experiment.
Once we actually got the freaking image to print on the transfer paper correctly, it was just a matter of setting up the ironing board and iron:
Image and ironing board
The test shirt came out kinda MEH, so I was hoping that the image would look better on a lighter shirt:
Test shirt. Hmph.
Not so much. Here is the unveiling and the final results:
Had this feeling it was going to turn out in such a fashion. Ah well. It’s the image I wanted, if not the right quality. Glad I didn’t devote the track jacket to it. Can’t wait for the ACTUAL iron-on patches to arrive in the mail.Â
So ready for X-Men: First Class. 🙂
Halloween Hinjinks: The Walking Dead and Music Playlist
Halloween weekend was chock full of hijinks – and the topper of the weekend was The Walking Dead television premier at the Baghdad Theatre in Portland, Oregon. 600+ Zombie fans crammed into the ornate location for a costume contest, raffle and unveiling of the episode. This is the first time I’ve watched television with hundreds of people, so it was actually quite thrilling to listen to the roar of chatter during the commercials. We were warned about talking during the episode, so when the show started – the theater became quiet enough that you could hear the rustling of people in the first few bottom rows from the upper levels of the balcony.
The costumes were pretty fantastic. We missed getting pictures of Chairface (The Tick) but there were dozens of other people who really dressed for the occasion.
Check out the pictures we snapped here, as well as some from our Halloween party:
Another highlight of the weekend was getting to air out the massive playlist of Halloween-y songs I’d been preparing all throughout October. It ended up being about six hours long (three hours of ambient, three hours of dance).
The Top 20 Tracks from each are listed here.
Phoenix Tattoo: Session Four
Went in for the fourth session of the Phoenix Tattoo with London Bellman. He worked today on the shoulder blade – the area we’ve dubbed the Supernova. We decided that some purple shading would work well and I’m so elated with how much it’s softened the upper section. I wasn’t quite sure how well a hard line would work against my skin and with the whole flow of the tattoo itself, so this is a good compromise.
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- Before
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- After #1
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- After #2
Afterwards we stopped by the Yarn Garden (Local Yarn Store – LYS) to pick up some Lamb’s Pride Bulky for the Jayne hats. Unfortunately – they didn’t have yellow or orange, but I picked up the red and settled on some Cascade 128 Superwash chunky. So the next phase is to knit up the hat with the new supplies and figure out where to go from there.
The tattoo is really coming together and entering the final stages of completion. Now, if you look at it straight on, it seems done. But there’s still the inside portion to finish up, which will probably be at least another two sessions. The next one will occur on November 13th, 2010.
LINK LOVE:
Comic Book Tattoos at San Diego Comic Con International 2010
It’s two weeks until SDCCI 2010 and I have a favor to ask all of you.
One of my missions at Comic Con is to connect with as many people as possible with comic book tattoos. I would love to get your tattoo story, where you got it, how many sessions, what it means to you and would love to snap a picture.
The ultimate goal is to create and host a website that is a depository for all the awesome comic book tattoos out there. A safe haven where nerds with ink can come to share their tattoos and meet like minded folks.
As a comic book tattooed person, it’s fun to connect with others and learn about their experiences and share some awesome art inspired by something we’re passionate about. Comic book conventions have been that space for me – where I know most people will recognize and appreciate my tattoo in all it’s nerdy glory.
So – I’d like to give back some of that love and recognize and appreciate all of YOUR nerdy tattoos in their splendiferous loveliness.
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AN EXAMPLE: BRIEF
Name: Mindy Crouchley, 27
Tattoo: Jean Grey as Phoenix 3/4 Sleeve
Inked At: Imperial Tattoo AND Atomic Arts Studio in Portland, Oregon
Hours: 17 (so far)
Inspiration/Story: Reading the Phoenix: End Song comic book, struggling to complete my undergraduate education, Jean Grey as a strong female character, the mythology of the phoenix bird
Other Tattoos: Goldfish and Crossbones, Ohm Symbol
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AN EXAMPLE: Expanded
Mindy Crouchley is 27 year old woman in the middle of getting her Jean Grey as Phoenix Tattoo 3/4 sleeve completed at the Atomic Art Tattoo Studio in Portland, Oregon.
The inspiration behind the sleeve was reading the Phoenix: End Song graphic novel and falling in love with the Jean Grey character for the first time, after having read X-Men Comic books for almost 15 years.
The beauty of the female form, the strength of Jean Grey and the mythology of the phoenix tattoo were all the elements she wanted to put together in one powerful image.
The first two sessions took place almost three years ago at Imperial Tattoo in NW Portland and the result was awesome…but Mindy felt it needed more.
She undertook a medical study at OHSU to get the needed funds to add a space background including the Earth, a spiral galaxy and Saturn. She estimates that there are two more three hour sessions left until the final product emerges. She has already been to three three-hour sessions at Atomic, adding to that the 8 hours the original image took. Over 17 hours of inking so far!
She has two other tattoos – a goldfish and crossbones and an ohm symbol. But like every addict, she has plans for more.
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You can send in pictures and info or arrange to meet at Comic Con. I’ll be available here (leave a comment), on Twitter at TinyHeroes, or you can contact me by email at Mindy@Tinyheroes.net.
Videos are also welcome!
My goal is to have the site up and running within two weeks after SDCC. Thanks for putting the word out there.
Bechdel Test Post #2
Bechdel Test for Women
1. It has two or more women in it (with names)
2. At least two women talk to each-other: Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray both talk to their mothers. Sue Sylvester talks to Olivia Newton John.
3. Rachel and her mother talk about Glee Club. Quinn Fabray talks to her mother about her pregnancy and future situation (the baby). Sue Sylvester talks to Olivia Newton John about the Glee Club regional performances.
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Bechdel Test for Men
1. It has two or more men in it (with names)
2. At least two men talk to each-other: Will Schuester and Principal Figgins.
3. Will Schuester and Principal Figgins talk to one-another about the status of Glee Club.
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Bechdel Test for Race
1. It has two or more people of color in it (with names)
2. Two minorities do not talk to one another
3. N/A
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This Glee episode PASSES the female test, PASSES the male test and DOES NOT pass the Bechdel Test for Race.
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AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER – Book Two, Episodes #1-7
Since these were all watched in one grouping…and there are seven of them I decided against doing a Bechdel test on each, so they will be measured in one group.
Bechdel Test for Women
1. It has two or more women in it (with names)
2. At least two women talk to each-other: Katara and Toph (the blind earth-bender). Princess Azula, Mai and Ty Lee.
3. Katara and Toph talk about why Toph does not let her parents know about her earth-bending skills. Princess Azula meets with Mai and Ty Lee to convince them to join with her.
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Bechdel Test for Men
1. It has two or more men in it (with names)
2. At least two men talk to each-other: Aang often talks to Sokka. He also converses with King Bumi.
3. Aang and Sokka talk about the missions. He converses with King Bumi about his training.
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Bechdel Test for Race
1. It has two or more people of color in it (with names)
2. Two minorities talk to one another: All of the main characters are people of color, and they interact every episode.
3. They talk amongst themselves about their journey, the situations they will encounter, and Aang’s training. White people are never mentioned or discussed.
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Only two episodes PASS the female test (2/7), all seven episodes PASS the male test (7/7) and PASS the Bechdel Test for Race (7/7).
Phoenix Tattoo: Session Three
No videos this time – but here’s a recap anyway. Told London Bellman at Atomic Arts Tattoo Studio that we probably wouldn’t be back for three months (indeed, my next appointment is September 11th) – and wanted to clean it up enough to show it off at the San Diego Comic Con.
He understood – and finished up filling in the space on the left side of The Phoenix, as well as some flame outlining. He also did more cleaning up of Jean Grey’s anatomy with black shading.
Here’s a few pics ranging from before any inking to the end of three hour appointment. Click on the image to scroll through them!
Stumptown Comics Fest 2010: Day Two
– Hang over this morning caused us to get a slower start to the day. We arrived around 11:30am, and immediately hit up Matthew Southworth‘s booth to get two copies of Stumptown #1 signed. He DID remember us from last night (he asked what time we finally left). Uh-oh. I need to seriously curtail the drinking next year. We hung out for about an hour or so while he inked and colored a couple prints. Here’s a short video of the one he made of Dex.
– Next up was a Q&A Panel with Craig Thompson. It was very informal – he had a friend hosting and asking him questions. The audience members could also chime in at any point with questions of their own. I was consistently surprised and pleased with the depth, intelligence and respect that went into each question (as with the Saturday panel). Not that I don’t think Comic Book fans can be intellectuals, it’s just that I’ve never experienced such a large group of folks taking the art of comic books so seriously.
A short video in which he talks about his current project Habibi, and what led to the creation and publication of his travel journal Carnet De Voyage.
– After that – Craig Thompson was signing books. We picked up a ticket earlier, and were among the first five or so people in line to chat with him and HE DID A SKETCH. Ah! Wonderful, lovely sketch. Having the signing immediately following the Q&A was awesome, because it didn’t feel awkward at all to engage in conversation with him. Something that frustrates me about cons or interacting with celebrities/famous folks is how artificial the space can feel. This wasn’t my experience at this fest – ever. Everyone was very approachable, friendly and willing to talk about their work, themselves, and other randomness.
Craig Thompson was incredibly gracious about the picture. 🙂
The sketch - so beautiful!
Dan
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