Fun Times with Friends and Cons I'm Missing Out On

So my friend, SiriouslySirius, decided for her birthday celebration she wanted a Sailor Moon themed party. She requested every dress up in an outfit "inspired by" their favorite Sailor Moon character.

Watching Sailor Moon (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

Ok, time for a geek confession: I've never watched the entire Sailor Moon series. I had previously watched about 3 episodes in Japanese with English subtitles, but never got around to watching the rest. Siris had requested we pick our two favorite episodes to watch at her party. H4773r mentioned the Sailor Moon abridged series and I managed to catch up on a few more episodes and feel like I had a better grasp on the characters. So I gave it some thought and decided on dressing up as Luna, because sometime I do like to pretend I-know-it-all. Unfortunately I didn't get my request in for episode in on time, but I would've gone with the very first episode where Luna is introduced. It's just so funny that she's derpy for those few minutes with the band-aid on her forehead.

I chose to wear a dark purple button down shirt, black skirt, black tights, black shoes, furry cat ears, and a fuzzy cat tail, complete with a drawn on moon in the middle of my forehead. I seriously debated on wearing a band-aid and just talking in a derpy manner all-night, but I liked the idea of having the moon better.

Luna inspired cosplay (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

Siris has also requested that we try to bring in a Sailor Moon inspired dish. I really loved her suggestions, plus I thought it was pretty clever. Here's the list of them:

Sailor Moon: meatballs, dumplings, or Moonpies (because of her hair and what Tuxedo Kamen calls her)
Sailor Mercury: finger sandwiches (sandwiches are Ami's favorite food)
Sailor Mars: traditional rices (because she's a Shinto Priestess)
Sailor Jupiter: hot dog-octopus (because they're always a present in Makoto's bento boxes)
Sailor Venus: heart shaped cookies with yellow sugar sprinkles (because it would look like Minako's Love and Beauty Shock attack)
Sailor Pluto: pesto pasta (because she has green hair)
Chibi Moon: pink cotton candy (because "PINK SUGAR HEART ATTACK!"~exact quote)
Sailor Neptune: saltwater taffy (because Michiru is from the ocean)
Sailor Uranus: popcorn (because it's yellow...like Harukua's hair)
Sailor Saturn: it's a surprise! (because of Silence Glaive Surprise!)

I chose to make the pesto pasta. Another little known fact: I can't cook! I thought making pasta would be easy...first it started with finding the right ingredients. I have certain dietary restrictions (mostly by choice) and had a difficult time finding a gluten-free spinach pasta or a dairy-free pesto. I finally opted for a non-gluten-free spinach pasta, but did find a dairy-free pesto by. I came home to cook it...I didn't really have the time or patience for the water to reach a full boil. So it really became a guess of when it was done. When it was finally done I just poured the pre-made pesto over the hot pasta and called it done. Actually, I did add some white cannellini beans because I hate not having a protein option. From what I can tell it came out ok. People ate it. No one complained. No one was sick. I thought it was fairly bland. But whatevs.

Crappy photo of crappy pasta (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

H4773r and I arrived a bit late, but the partiers hadn't gotten far into their series. We stuck around for a few episodes, but after a bit I realized that my day job was catching up to me and we called it a night. We did have a great time though.

There are some wonderful cons happening this weekend and unfortunately I won't be able to attend. First up is APE or Alternative Press Expo or, as I like to call it, Comic-Con's lesser know bastard cousin. I actually do enjoy APE, but I have found from previous experience there isn't much to do unless you really have money to spend. They do have a few panels and plenty of opportunities to meet your favorite webcomic artists in person, or other designers. But this isn't a cosplay convention and the panel listings are pretty light. Really I would go to this convention to meet my favorite artists and buy their products directly from them. As I'm pretty broke right now I won't be attending. If you've never been I suggest making a "San Francisco Day" out of it. Stop by APE, say hi to people, buy their wares and then take in a sight or two of the City. It's fairly inexpensive at $15 for the entire weekend, or if you went to San Diego Comic-Con International-it's free, and they do have a quite a few featured guests.

Also happening this weekend is New York Comic Con. I have never attended before as I don't live anywhere near NY. But I would love to attend some day. My favorite artists that I wish I could meet would be (in no particular order)
MC Frontalot (again)
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Stan Lee
Adam West
Bruce Campbell
Chris Columbus
Christopher Lloyd
Kevin Smith
Seth Green
Tom Felton
Adrianne Curry (again)
Anne Rice
Amber Benson

This con ranks up there with attending SDCC. I would venture to say NYCC is almost comparable to SDCC in that they have a ton of celebrities, a huge vendor floor and tons of panels to attend. Perhaps some other year.

Lastly, I will most definitely be missing the NorCal Renaissance Faire. It just isn't in the cards financially and scheduling wise for me to attend this year. I will sorely miss Moonie and Broon as well as the lovely Merry Wives of Windsor, two of my favorite acts. If you can, go for me and enjoy a pint of mead and turkey leg (even though I would never eat one).

So, what exactly will T1nk be doing in the future? Well, the reason why I won't have funds to attend much of anything this month is because I'm going to Disneyland for 4 days and enjoying (AKA paying extra) to attend Mickey's Halloween Party. H4773r and I have never been the Halloween party before and when a group of friends asked if we'd like to join them we didn't hesitate in saying yes. We already have annual passes and can enjoy the Halloween season anytime this month, but it will be extra special this year to attend the party. Our group is dressing up as cross-play Alice in Wonderland. I will be the Hattress and H4773r will be Alex (in Wonderland). I forsee having a wonderful time with plenty of pictures of costumes and character meetings.

Cons?! Omg Cons!

So being that the C0n FAirY has been quite broke lately I'm just going to mention some up and coming cons that I wish I could attend. (maybe one of you can go for me and let me know how it was?)

This weekend is Baltimore Comic-con. As has been the case, I'd never heard of this con til a couple of weeks ago when Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots mentioned she'd be going. Also Scott Kurt from PvP and Terry Moore from Strangers in Paradise will be there.

Panels I'd love to see if I was going Digital Comics and Publishing, Spotlight on George Perez, (being a big Buffy fan) Dark Horse Comics Buffy Season 8, The ACT-I-VATE Experience (i don't follow any of these artists but I love hearing what people have to say about webcomics), and lastly the Spotlight on Chris Claremont.

Alternative Press Expo or APE arrives in San Francisco, CA 10/17-10/18. I would love to go mainly to have started connecting with other artists for a webcomic H4773r and I are developing. SLG Publishing (known for Gargoyles and Emo Boy) with special guest artist Jamaica Dyer will be there along with a couple of local artists I know: Katgirl Studios/Lost Graphics and Speckley of Timothy Green.

A couple of friends of my will be attending Steam Con on 10/23-10/25 in Seattle, WA. Hopefully they will be kind enough to do a guest report upon their return. As far as I know this is the first time this convention will be held. I wish them the best of luck and fortune.

My hometown of San Jose, CA will be hosting World Fantasy Con on 10/29-11/1. I still haven't figured out what this con is about or why it's so expensive compared to other cons. The only reason I even heard about it is because Neil Gaiman tweeted about it.

And lastly, Yaoi-con which will be held on 10/30-11/1 in San Mateo, CA. This is one of the few cons that you have to be over 18 to attend, which of course makes it that much more appealing if you ask me. I'll be honest, I don't read any yaoi so I wouldn't even know who the special guests are let alone why they are special guests. But I wouldn't mind attending this con for the sheer titillation of it.

Other notable but not exactly con events: NorCal Ren Faire, which I will be attending! I'm going the last weekend of it 10/17-10/18. I may find a way to combine my usual ren faire garb with C0n fairy garb, we'll see. This faire takes place every year at Casa De Fruta in Hollister, CA. It currently runs every weekend now through 10/18.

I think Exotic Erotic Ball deserves an honorable mention here for the month. This expo takes place 10/23-10/24 in San Francisco, CA. I've never been but have always wanted to go since I was oh...16. Maybe next year. While it's certainly trashy I wouldn't mind seeing Tila Tequila or Coolio.

That's it for now. I'll be sure to update soon as I'm getting tweets from many cons about ticket sales for 2010.

San Diego Comic-con, Wrap-up

Things I missed because I didn't have 4 days passes: Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" and Johnny "Fucking" Depp, Amanda Palmer's NINJA session, all the Mythbuster sightings including their panel, the Kevin Smith panel. More chances to see Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, and Felicia Day. More time to explore the Exhibit Hall.

Things I missed completely out of ignorance: Greg Dean

Things I missed because we didn't get a hotel room: All parties to meet and greet, a live showing of Repo! with a shadow cast, hanging with GeekgirlDiva, talking webcomics with Scott Kurtz, meeting Grant Imahara at Hard Rock, getting tickets to get into autograph sessions, etc.

Lessons learned: Really even with a transit system that stays open later and opening up several parking locations in the area, you can not beat getting a hotel room close to the con. The transit system just doesn't run late enough for my liking and the money you'll spend on parking as well the headache that comes from trying to find parking makes you want to kill yourself. If you can, find someway to get a fucking hotel room. OR, have none geeky friends who owe you big favors to chaueffer you around for the weekend, i.e. dropping you off and picking you up at insane hours.

Also, I had a major contact malfunction. I'm going to be considering LASIK soon.

And to be completely contradictory, I'm considering attending APE without getting hotel room. But in my defense, APE is fairly local and doesn't sound like it has crazy parties going on. It sounds like more of a meet and greet for all alternative press. So basically I'm going to learn more about webcomics, as well as stalk more webcomic artists.