NorCal Renaissance Faire

Every year H4773r and I go, at least once, to the NorCal Rennaisance Faire. And this year is no exception. On September 17th H4773r and I attended the NorCal Ren Faire, taking advantage of the 2 for 1 admission deal. Of course we dressed up in our Ren Faire finest. I do consider Ren Faires in the similar vein of cons. Although I know they're different I still think it's a great place for getting dressed up, interacting with history and theatre geeks, and possibly even learning something new about this awesome time period.

H4773r and T1nk (photo courtesy of T1nk)

We had what's I'd call a fairly predictable Ren Faire experience. We watched some of our favorite entertainers, we browsed at all the shops and wished we had more money to buy things, ate delicious food, ran into a bunch of different people we knew, and interacted in fun and silly ways with atmosphere folk. Just because I know what to expect at this Faire doesn't take away from how much fun I had. Also, running/going with people I know just makes the experience that much better.

The NorCal Ren Faire is located at Casa deFruta off Highway 152. General admission prices are $25 and children under 12 are free. Parking is around $5 for general and around $10 for VIP, you can also pay an addition amount to be driven by a horse drawn cart to the front gate. Food and drinks run about $8-15 for food and $3-8 for drinks. If you're a vegetarian like myself, you will have an extremely limited amount of food choices. I recommend the Acropolis in which I enjoyed the Athenian. A sandwich of sorts filled with lettuce, tomato, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, and Greek yogurt sauce. Trattoria di Stromobli and The Quail Inn also have some great choices. I was able to bring in my own snacks and water in my basket. I was not stopped nor told I couldn't bring in any outside food and I don't see anything in the programming that says otherwise. I also tried maple pecan chipotle brittle from Chocolate Delights and Confections. It was delicious.

Some of my favorite entertainers to watch are the joust (although we missed it this time around). The Belles of Bedlam: I am slowly becoming  fan of this group. Unfortunately it's nothing against them I just happen to have been a fan of  The Merry Wives of Windsor first. And both groups have similar style of performance. Moonie and Broon: one of my favorite comedic acts. Right now it's just Broon and lord help him until Moonie arrives in October. I say that sincerely and with love. We were able to catch the final show of day and Broon had just decided to make it a whatever he felt like show. It's was still pretty entertaining.

Merry Wives of Windsor (photo courtesy of T1nk)

Broon (photo courtesy of T1nk)

Vendors of choice: we always stock up on Belle Star Incense and I always wish I had money for Native Earth goods. I have to say Native Earth gave me some great customer service despite the fact I wasn't actually buying anything.

Of course I think everyone should attend a Ren Faire at least once. You have to chance to learn about history in a very unique way. The actors that portray Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare and Sir Francis Drake always do a wonderful job. Over the years I've learned about fencing and falconry and a few other things about the Renaissance era.

And if you need more incentive to go NorCal Ren Faire is doing themed weekends as well as "free" concerts. The day we went we were able to enjoy a bit of The Tempest. Go and have a great time.

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.