Wednesday 26 June 2013

“Bad Geeks Equals Good Press” or “Why Does The Media Hate Fandom?”

So today there was an article published on news.com.au called, I believe, “Supanova Cosplay Convention – A Glorified Beauty Pageant”. I say “I believe” because the article itself has been pulled due to some backlash by local cosplayers, although a verbatim copy of the article still appears on www.optuszoo.com.au as “The bullies behind the bizarre world of Cosplay”... for how long we don’t know yet, but I plan on copying the article at the end of this post so it will at least have a record here as well.

Before I talk about why this article is disturbing, and in turn why everyone should read it, I should talk a little about the “subject” of the article; the fact that she was interviewed seems to be more than a coincidence this close to Perth Supanova. As full disclosure, I neither know this person nor do I wish to as I know too many people who she has “used”, including borrowing money and lying to in order to get what she wanted, until she had no use for them. I know this is all hearsay but I choose to believe my friends (who didn’t tell me it was the same person, I only found out about who she was after being directed this website... hell she even has an Encyclopedia Dramatica article!). You may notice I’m not using her name, I don’t think she deserves it and I know a few people that won’t refer to her by name either and I’m being respectful to them.

Now this person paints a very dark and grim picture of the cosplay scene in Australia, and I admit I’ve heard some really nasty stories about the bitchiness and backstabbing that goes on in competition, but this article makes it out that everyone in a costume is a mean, petty drama queen out to get this person... and this is rich coming from that particular source. She makes a point about bullied for being “... a large girl,” and I suppose she may have a point (I’ve not had the greatest of experiences being a large person in costume) however I’ve read way too many stories about her own conduct and I can imagine it’s because of her own dealings with others. I find myself treading lightly here as I write this, has whilst I don’t think she’ll ever in a million years read this, I cannot in good conscious directly insinuate something about someone I do not know but neither can I hide what I know as private information about this person that is getting in the way of my personal bias. What ultimately amuses me is after a page of pointing the finger and being bitchy, she uses ‘Star Trek’ as a point of why we should be nice to each other and “...it’s OK to be different.” and yet I feel this person is not practicing what she preaches or perhaps hasn’t really learnt the lessons that Trek tries to imbue on us. She tries to make is seem like she is bullied about her appearance, whilst at the same time she is notorious for photoshopping any image of her to make herself more thin, etc, much to the chagrin of some photographers who have had their work butchered by her (as a photographer I take offense at the idea that someone distorts my images for their own gain).

So why does this even matter? It matters because there does seems to be a disturbing trend within most media sources to either downplay or sometimes even demonize geek culture and things like cosplay, and I can’t help but feel like is never going to go away. Articles like this, which in all credit gives a few lines of opposition to the argument by the Supanova "event director" (although it isn't mentioned if he has anything directly to do with the cosplay competition), makes us look bad or worse, like a bunch of children who should ‘grow up’. I’m not saying the article says or even implies that, but there have been plenty of times when reporters make it seem like we’re all just a bunch of misfits or manchildren that have yet to face reality. It’s pathetic that this type of press still exists; especially that geek culture is rapidly becoming more and more mainstream in recent years. Admittedly most reports nowadays do try and focus on the positives of these events, but they are never really taken seriously, even when some big name celebrities do show up to these things. You’d be lucky to see five minutes of convention reporting occur on a news program, they’re too busy talking about who beat up who on “Da Footy”. When was the last time you saw a major article in a newspaper about an upcoming convention, or did you ever hear of a convention in the newspaper (I’m sure it might be buried deep in the back of a colour supplement a week later). I was on board to help out with an article about Swancon last year in the West Australian, promised to be a decent size to help promote the event and hotel it was at that year... it ended up being a footnote on a “Whats on” thing and you could blink and miss it.

People keep bringing up Big Bang Theory as a positive geek spin, and yet I can’t fucking stand that show. It’s your standard craptastic sit-com full of poor jokes and canned laughter, but this time it’s full of overly stereotypical nerds with the occasional geek joke to appease the bespectacled neckbeard crowd that secretly wishes they could get a girl like Penny (and there is your demographic folks). I have an absolute man crush on Wil Wheaton and I watched 5 minutes of the episode that aired tonight that had him in it (for about 5 minutes) and it bothers me that he loves this show. I know that some of that love is him knowing the cast, but this show just always rubs me the wrong way when I see how the nerds are portrayed. It’s not the casts fault (although some are known to not be nerds, but that doesn’t bother me) but it’s just the jokes at their expense and with absolutely zero tongue-in-cheek style humour to it. I know no one who acts like those guys act (well some come close to Sheldon) and it really bugs me that it’s so crass about it. I would love to see a show where the “nerds” are just like regular people, kinda like Drew Carey in that obscure show from the 90s, he had nerdish tendancies but they weren’t the butt of every joke (one of my favourite lines when they’re watching scrambled porn on cable was someone asked why he didn’t pay for it. the joke was along the lines of “I already ordered ‘Cartoon Network’ and I heard if you order both they put you on a list!”).

I think my ideal geek sit-com wouldn’t even make it to the air, let alone a pilot, although it would go like gangbusters on the internet, I mean isn’t that what ‘The Guild’ is essentially? And that’s exactly my point, despite all those character’s eccentricities, they are never pointed at and ridiculed for who or what they are. Possibly the best example of this is Vork, a horder/tight-ass whose life revolves around “The Game” in which he plays a heroic Paladin and sometime leader to their guild. Yes some of his humour comes from his habits, but it’s not in a degrading way which is used to generate laughs like some other shows would do. The fact that the other characters don't make fun of him as well shows you how different these shows use these characters; the characters in ‘The Guild’ bond and stick together whilst in Big Bang Theory it all seems to be about insults and you get no real sense why these people even interact with each other beyond ‘going to the comic shop’. I don’t mind playful jibes, and banter is always good, but these just seem to be near constant putdowns or gross over stereotyping. I was talking about this with my friend Eric that there is one thing that would make that show actually interesting even in the way it is, if from Penny was a closet geek from the first episode, that would have been a great hook and tells the audience “Hey, it’s fine to be a nerd, come along and see these people having to deal with each other”. I caught a bit last night (because it’s screened nightly here and my mom puts it on as background noise whilst she’s playing DS) where Penny is mad because what-his-face-the-glasses-on/off-boyfriend-guy wants to help her with a test, which she doesn’t want any help because she wants to prove how smart she is... then 10 seconds later she’s getting help from the nerdy girls because she doesn’t want to do it or something, I lost interest at this point and continued making my Wreck-It Ralph costume, because I can’t get bright orange shirts in my size because everyone hates me for being large.

TL:DR Nerds are awesome, despite the media being a bunch of dicks.

And now the article (copied from the article, no editing has occurred only formatting)!

The bullies behind the bizarre world of Cosplay
 
Jun 25, 2013 10:04am
 
GEEKS from all walks of life have celebrated their passion for pop culture at fan convention Supanova in Sydney over the weekend.
 
The convention is where enthusiasts of Cosplay, a Japanese-coined term short for "costume role-play", come together to dress up as their favourite characters from TV shows, films, comics and video games.
 
One of those people is Nicole. She is on stage lip-synching a TLC song with her girlfriend Narcissa - both dressed up in costumes based on the fantasy series Once Upon A Time - when she pauses, and pulls out an egagement ring.
 
The audience cheers for the pink and green haired duo as Narcissa tears up, turning her face away from the crowd, trying to keep it together. In this arena at Olympic Park they aren't 'weirdos' or 'freaks'. Everyone is behind them.
 
But despite the applause Nicole says Cosplay communities aren't as supportive as you'd think.
 
"I've been bullied for eight years because I'm a large girl," says Nicole. "Cosplay has a very seedy side and very nasty side. It's basically a glorified beauty pageant.
 
"Because Australia is so small, gossip flies around the country very quickly. People are so busy putting each other down to try to gain an edge in the competition."
 
Narcissa and Nicole have been running Cosplay support groups on Facebook for years to try to reverse the trend.
 
"Anyone can go in and talk to each other, we all support each other and help each other. We're trying to bring the sportsmanship back into this competition," Nicole said.
 
Daniel Zachariou, event director at pop culture convention Supanova told news.com.au that he was "quite flummoxed" at the news that cosplay participants have been bullying each other.
 
"This is news to me," he said. "I'm sad to hear about those individuals who have been casting aspersions on a really good form of entertainment and fun. I would ask that they cease to do it and go somewhere else."

Zachariou said he would be looking into instances of bullying, and said that the cosplay community was usually "wonderful and inclusive", whether it's people teaching each other how to design a good costume or competing or getting together with friends at the various expos around the country.

"Cosplay is one of the core activities of Supanova and of course we support all cosplayers, so to hear of this bullying, it's something I'm really surprised at."
 
The Supanova director theorised that perhaps as the popularity of cosplay increases thanks to shows like Doctor Who and The Big Bang Theory, the more people it attracts, increasing the chances of "bad eggs" poisoning the event.
 
"I guess unfortunately you get good and bad types in every society - every family even - so you're going to have some bad eggs," he said. "We hope to extract them nice and quickly and get back to the spirit that Cosplay is meant to be done in".
 
Narcissa and Nicole have been competing in the two major Cosplay championships, Mad Men National Cosplay Competition and the World Cosplay Summit, for years.
 
Naturally, the pair plan to have a Once Upon A Time themed wedding.
 
After being awarded runner-up three times, they are hoping for first place at their next competition on the 30th of June.
 
But even if they don't win, Narcissa says she's not going to stop because she owes it to the next generation of cosplayers to show them that things can be different.
 
"Shows like Star Trek and The Big Bang Theory helped cosplay become mainstream," she said. "They really helped the poor little geeks.
 
"I was raised on Star Trek, and I grew up in a household where sci-fi and cosplay were encouraged but not everyone grew up in those environments.
 
"Nic and I want to show people that it's OK to be different. Things can be different."

Sunday 23 June 2013

On Future Project Plans....

Taking some time away from lying down in bed, resting up my aching back ready for an incredibly busy week, to get some writing in so I don’t feel totally useless and I saw a really neat Dad and Son Thunderbirds costume picture from the recent Supanova in Sydney (It’ll be wrapping up as I type this). The costume reminded me of my Science Fiction themed costume party for my 30th birthday, where my Dad dressed up as Steve Zodiac from Fireball XL-5. My Dad grew up on Gerry Anderson’s various production and as my brother and I were growing up some of them were being repeated on TV as well (I still love Captain Scarlet to this day), so I knew he’d get a kick out of the picture.

Anyway this lead to me to think about my Birthday next year when I’m turning 35. I just posted on Faceblarg about the idea of doing Rule 35 (as I missed doing Rule 34 this year), but I’m actually thinking of doing a Rule 63 instead as I think it would be interesting. I'm still thinking about it (obviously) but I'd better decide soon, I don't like giving people too little notice for costume parties.

Either way I’d thought I’d update THE LIST!!! Note – I’ve added more SECRET PROJECT costumes as there are a few I just don’t want to spoil just yet, but I’ve had to postpone others as well. I should still be on my target for 12 costumes for the year, especially as different events keep popping up for PAC which might give me a chance to make something else if another costume falls through.

2013
  • Big Macintosh – Completed!
    • Notes = Needs a better shirt, better pants, otherwise pretty neat.
  • Real Ghostbusters – Completed!
    • Notes = Need to finish missing parts on the thrower, create a proper hooking system for pack. {2013-04-23} completed Mk I Gun Hook, partial success, needs improvement but also need a sturdier thrower.
  • Eureka Sheriff – Completed!
    • Notes = Gun Belt never arrived and thus didn’t purchase holsters. Pants didn’t fit exactly well, will need new pair if done again.
  • Forbush Man – Completed!
    • Notes = Formerly [SECRET PROJECT ALPHA], need to recondition the helmet and it’s starting to get some dings and is flaking paint.
      • Helmet has been reconditioned and looking a lot better for it!
  • Wreck It Ralph – Due Supanova Perth 2013
    • Notes = Nearly Completed!
  • [SECRET PROJECT BETA] – Due Supanova Perth 2013
    • Notes = Brought ahead in time as a secondary costume but has proven to be an easier build to work on by myself than Goliath (which I needed help to make the muscle suit but scheduling hasn’t been great in that regard).
  • [SECRET PROJECT GAMMA] – Due July
    • Notes = Working on a costume for Star Wars Life Day... in July.
  • [SECRET PROJECT OMEGA] – Due October
    • Notes = Halloween costume that I don’t want to spoil JUST yet.
  • Volstagg – Due November
    • Notes = I won’t be starting this for another couple of months.
  • Hobbit – Due December 
    • Notes = Still no clue which character I’ll do at this stage so progress won’t happen until I am.
  • Doctor Octopus – Due December
    • Notes = Should have this build ready for the Telethon Christmas Pageant, if not it’ll be at Oz Comic-Con Perth 2014
2014 Potentials

I keep coming up with more and more ideas that I’ve so far haven’t wrote down, but these are pretty much in flux until such time when I’m actually making them.

  • Arrested Development Series 4 Fantastic Four skit
    • Notes = I've wanted to make either a Rock Monster or Human Flamer costume since I saw this!
  • Galaxy Quest – Due Supanova Perth 2014
    • Notes = Got the prop kit online, need to construct
  • Baseketball
    • Notes = Just talked myself into doing this but no real goal in mind except that I want a 'Beers' outfit and make a Baseketball at some point (maybe with the Laz-E-Boy printed on it).
  • Kung Pow – Enter The Fist
    • Notes = Maybe Supanova 2014, don't know the character yet but might be Wimp-Lo at this stage.
Cancelled/On-Hold

  • Eddie (Rocky Horror) – TBA
    • Notes = No idea if/when this project will come about, but possibly if there is a Rocky Horror Screening in the near future.
  • Goliath (Borderlands 2) – Postponed due to financial/health/time issues.
    • Notes = On-hold, maybe in the future.
  • Ghost Smashers – TBA
    • Notes = On-hold for now, maybe 2014.

Achy Breaky Back

Well I *was* hoping to take it easy and yet like a dumbass I didn't... so now I'm curled up in bed in some what agony wishing I could take an axe to my back. Got a fair bit done today but I'm paying the price, so I'm resting up tomorrow instead and then I can plow through things on Monday... I hope!

Thursday 20 June 2013

WAToday... What A Way To Represent Us.

So just recently WAToday has been asking for pictures of Perth based costumers for an online gallery to help promote the upcoming Supanova Perth 2013, and as a long time support of both the convention and costuming in general I thought this was a fantastic idea so myself and some of my fellow costumers of the Perth’s Allied Costumers submitted some of our photos for considering... and I’m not going to lie, yes it would be nice to win the VIP ticket prize although I’ve already got my tickets anyway which I would happily give away to one my friends.

The gallery was put up the other day and was happy to see myself in my Ghostbusters gear displayed on the page, along with some of my other PAC members and I was happy... until I was pointed towards something that kind of made me angry.

Below is an a screengrab of the current first picture on the gallery having been updated in the last day, and the caption makes me sad, angry and a little depressed.

“The Power Puff girls were a bit dejected when this awesome looking Catwoman showed up to the party.”
Okay, where the hell do I even begin? Wow, really did they just do this??? Okay fair enough that the focus is obviously on Catwoman, but did they really have to go out of their way to demean some innocent bystanders just for the sake of a joke, and really pathetic one at that? Did these people, who were just walking past, have to be subjected to a really cruel remark? And for what, to make Catwoman seem sexier, or just because they were trying to say “Hey, don’t look at the fat chicks when there is a hottie here!” It’s a pretty cruel thing to do to complete strangers, but what’s worse is that is this how we are being represented by the media?
 
There is another picture of a costumer looking a bit badass with the giant sword and spiky hair, forgive me but whilst a lot of anime does this trope you’ll see what I refrain from not immediately mentioning where I think he comes from.
 

 “Meanwhile this guy really wants to be you(sic) Final Fantasy.”
 
Okay, I’ll plead ignorance I think I know this character and I think he IS from Final Fantasy, but that caption just isn’t right for many many reasons. For starters, it does just basically say that we male geeks are lonely and desperate... which is probably true, but jeez some tack. The most important thing is I doubt this costumer was thinking this when he posed for the shot, nor would he think it would have such a tacky remark put upon him making him look like a desperate loner.

One last troubling one is... well...

 “Or you can bring attention to some details, like this Flash effort."

Okay, there is three costumes, we don’t know who submitted, but probably didn’t want to have such things eluded too... I’m not even sure what’s going on with... that... yeah I’m not even going there.

So basically whilst the rest of the gallery is pretty good, these few just seemed a little off (at the very very least) and I hope this trend does not continue for the next few updates, but I did make it onto the gallery myself... and I’m not entirely sure if I mine is meant to be insulting or not.
“Who you gonna call?... (What you mean ‘someone else’?)"
 
I’m just hoping they are referring to the infamous scene in Casper.

 

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Putting My Back Out Of It!

For those that don't already know I have a back problem, well technically it’s an acute muscle injury on the right side of my lower back I got a couple of years ago from a job hauling bags of mail out of a container that was approximately one foot shorter than me. I’ve had this problem for years and I pretty much have the pain on a regular basis, especially when I sit on really poor chairs and even more especially for really long times. I was having it seen too a couple of years ago quite regularly but when I lost my job I couldn’t afford the $100 fortnightly charge to keep my back in check. The long up shot of this is I sometimes have major issues with my back, especially when I’m extremely overworked and haven’t had time to rest... however this has never truly stopped me, but if you see me working the muscle in my side, you now know what that’s all about.

So anyway, I’ve been working pretty hard for the last few weeks trying to get a lot of stuff done for the upcoming Supanova Perth, which includes getting three costumes done, working on the PAC logo, Facebook page, Business Cards, etc as well as the usual amount of running around I normally do PLUS having to deal with things whilst my parents and their friends were on holiday for two weeks. Coupled with the fact that I’ve not been sleeping well for the last few weeks, I’ve been feeling pretty burnt out... the lack of updates on this blog has been a reflection on that, however I’ve been honestly trying to write more substantial posts rather than the whiny tired blog just to keep up that ridiculous promise all those years ago. To be painfully honest (which is a thing with blog I suppose) I haven’t even thought about this blog recently, I’ve been too damn busy to even think about a daily update. That being said I have at least two draft blog posts I just haven’t gotten around to finishing, which I intend to do so at some point.

Back to my back. With everything I’ve been doing I haven’t been really resting my back up properly, and I find myself more and more sitting in chairs which either don’t support my back or I’m hunched over for hours at a time doing things like sewing or prop building (in fact I just felt my back ache as I type this). Lately it’s been getting worse to be honest, thankfully my car is still very comfortable to drive with my back even for the insane amount of driving I sometimes do, but I’ve found myself trying to massage my back after nearly everything I do, and it was feeling pretty crappy last night as I was finishing up a big part of one of my costumes and I was still feeling incredibly sore when trying to get to sleep (which hasn’t helped that whole sleeping thing). Problem was I had to get up incredibly early this morning to take my friend Jon to the airport for his flight to Sydney... through morning peak hour traffic (I don’t care, it’s worse than at night... at least night time doesn’t make you late to work). So I woke up at 6am so I could put the solar booster on to have a hot shower before heading out, and my back was in agony. The heat just barely made a dent to it, but I put on a brave face and went out and got it done.

The TL:DR version of today was, picked up Jon, loaded car, drove to airport, unloaded car, hung around, met up with Brent, saw Jon off, went to Spotlight, drove home, went to bed in near agony. I feel much better after the 3 hours of semi-sleep then I did after the less than 5 hours of actual sleep, but yeah I need to rest up for maybe a day or two so I’m not completely ruined by Supanova... which is hard to do as I still have a lot of work to do between now and then and I might only be able to get two of the three planned costumes done in time. I’m feeling completely burnt out as I type this and I know I’ve still got a lot of work ahead of me, especially as I’ve not received any real help with these builds... but that’s more due to my stubbornness then anything.

 

Monday 17 June 2013

Tynon's Tempting Ta' Ta's Tribunal

I’ve been doing a lot of research and reading about the whole gender and body issues within fandom a lot lately, including being behind the “Cosplay is not Consent” movements and talking with my good friend Bridget about projects we’re both working on, and our mutual hate of the “Fake Geek Girl” phenomenon. However I saw this advertisement for a game called ‘Tynon’ a “PVP Web Game” with of course advertises using scantily armour clad fantasy genre women to entice the slathering pre-pubescent males into joining yet another crappy game build to suck your bank account dry... and breath... these kinds of games are a dime a dozen, and the advertising is blatantly sexual and I honestly don’t give that much a damn about it, however there was one image which kinda blew my mind.

I’m a fan of a tumblr called Repair Her Armour, it’s dedicated to pointing out how ridiculously inappropriate armour is on woman, especially in the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and whilst I will admit I myself like sexy photos of sexy woman in barely anything (and less), I do like ideas on how to fix armours to be less objectified and yet still be quite feminine (and yes it can still be sexy if need be). This came to mind when I saw an advertisement on a Cracked.com article advertising the aforementioned game, but something weird struck me as I casually glanced it. The image is your typical manga/anime affair of a big breasted girl wearing weird armour with big shoulder pads and chest pieces which barely covers each nipple, but the way the designer has added a line on the advert (assumedly for dramatic impart to highlight the text) it broke up the image in such an interesting but I’m assuming unintended way. You see because if you look above the line the female’s armour looks kind of decent, you can almost picture her wearing a full body suit with some crazy attachments but it would be what you expect a warrior to wear into a fight. To contradict that under the line is bordering on soft-core pornography, and whilst there is nothing wrong with that, it kind of really makes you think “How is this girl fighting without having to cover her breasts every five seconds? They must have had heavy duty spirit gum in those days!”

I think it’s probably because I’m so aware of such things now more then when I was a slobbering bunch of hormones and testosterone, also known as last week, but it really did amuse me that you could break up an image like that and come away with two really distinct images in your mind about just one picture, all because of just one line. Knowing what I know about design, I dare say it was intentional to attract your eyes to the breasts, which were also conveniently placed next to the name of the game, but it really did seem strange that the line intersected perfectly on the armour as well. I wish I could show you the image but it was a Flash ad, and when I went to right-click it (to find it was flash) it crashed my browser and I haven’t been able to find it again.

Sunday 16 June 2013

Too Tired To Blog...

Had a busy day prop building followed by a great night at the PAC meeting, followed by a incredibly good late night conversation over a cup of tea. Would love to talk about it but I'm wrecked even though I can't sleep .. Oh well maybe I'll get around to writing more tomorrow.

Friday 14 June 2013

On Why 'Random Access Memories' Is The Best Driving Album... IN THE WORLD! .. or is it?

To start this off I must clarify that I'm not a fan of Daft Punk, in the context that I don't listen to their music not that I don't like them, however I'm not a fan of the electronica music genre is somewhat of the other way, I find it overly repetitive and hacky for the most part. Then an album comes along like this, and whilst I wasn't bothered with the hype, a close friend of mine is a massive fan so I got around to listening to a bit of it, and I was impressed. The band's use of the funk mixed well with their own style makes for an great blend that is interesting and really great to someone who really can't stand overly processed electronic music. However this isn't what made this album great for me, as I think if I just listened to this in any other context but one I would likely turn it off after a few minutes.

Now what I'm about to describe to you might make me sound like I was on something, but I solemnly vow that I was (and still am) completely sober and that I do not drink drive or do any kind of narcotic... however this will sound kind of trippy but I'll explain myself, however you might want to replicate the experience for yourself if you please. Today I was driving to my weekly gaming session at Good Games St James, meeting up with my little gaming group and playing some fun board games, and I had finally gotten a copy of the album to listen to in the car (having previously listen to a couple of tracks this way, but talked over the majority of it). I left my house at around 5:40ish to travel south bound down Mitchell Freeway from Ocean Reef Rd, the time is important as this is just after the sun has set but the sky is still quite blue. As I driving down listening to the album, which I admit is a perfect to begin with for a nice relaxing cruise, I suddenly got a interesting sensation as I was driving along... it felt like I was in a painting. Again completely sober, although I must admit I have been overworked and having sleep deprivation (it's currently 1am as I write this), but the colours everywhere were just absolutely perfect and the music just was pitch perfect for the feeling. I was driving just wishing I share this experience, it wasn't some hippy touchy trip, it just felt like a perfect moment that I just wish could capture every moment, every thought, every sense, and share it with someone. Every artistic sensation in me was having a crisis, it was wonderful. It feels weird to share this with you, because I've been using the word 'surreal' a lot, but this felt if anything more real then anything. The only way I can describe it is like being in Van Gogh's 'Starry Night', the dark blue sky against solid black buildings and bushes in the background; however the freeway was bathed in the warm orange street light, with red and white dots from the rest of the traffic as I was driving along.

Don't worry, I wasn't tripping or having any sort "whoa far out dude" moments that could endanger me to other drivers. I was still paying attention to the road, but it was an incredibly experience and I would very much like to see it replicated however I don't think it would be possible. What does this have to do with the album you're probably asking. I honestly believe if I was listening to anything else it wouldn't have been the same, in fact I don't think I would have felt the right way to appreciate was I was seeing. I think all experiences are subjective, and some are probably thinking he's high as a kite (I wish); although I think it's sometimes the best course of action to experience these things with a clear head, you'll get a greater appreciation of it.

Wednesday 12 June 2013

My Book Was Better Episode is LIVE!!!

So yeah, I would have posted about this yesterday except I spent the majority of the time sitting down having foam hot glued on to me... it's for a costume, not because I have a kink... well not that one at least.

So anyway, go to the Book Was Better website and download the latest episode. I've just finished listening to it and as someone who hates the sound of their own voice played back to them, I have to say it was quite good and I'm happy I don't come off as being a complete tool. I think I was just worried I would come across as too fanboy-ish, especially as someone who does genuinely love the show and has even made fan art for it... including a video teaser!

It's kind of a surreal experience listening back because some of those jokes were pre-planned and some were spontaneous (not saying which) but I forgot I made some of them (so those were probably the spontaneous ones) or even some of that banter, however it came out a lot better then I was expected, and all the credit has to go to Luke Milton for that. I don't really do anything like that, and I think if I had a little bit more control over the content then the episode would be a lot shorter due to me removing myself from it.

I'm not saying I'll be back for a future episode, only time and Luke will tell, but I'll definitely be up for it.

Sunday 9 June 2013

Build Day Burn Out

Had a great time having a 'build day' with some my PAC friends, and yeah I'm feeling really burnt out after 3 days of constantly going out and little sleep, however it was worth it get away from things and have a fun time... and I forgot to grab the mask I was working on at my friends place who lives 45+ minutes away from me and I really can't afford the fuel money to go get it.

... and I'm so tired I forgot to post this last night *facepalm*.

Friday 7 June 2013

Feeling Drained

No not feeling drains, I've not spontaneously turned into a plumber despite the moustache and noticeable butt crack... and if you can see that then you must be standing behind me and that is creepy as all fuck. Yes I'm incredibly tired, and with that is a "don't give a fuck" attitude combined with a lack of restraint in regards to saying dumb, scandalous, or typically fucking hilariously offense shit. Not that many people actually read this this unless I post it on my Facebook, and even then people don't particularly give a flying fuck. Yeah, fuck this for the night.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

Hacking My Way Into The Book Was Better

So I’ve just come back from possibly one of the most fun and strangely surreal experiences of my life, and in not the usual surreal way. It started just over a month ago and I’ve been eagerly waiting for this event to happen, and it might be way I couldn’t sleep at all last night, and I’ve been vaguely hinting about it for a short while. Today I finally got to be a guest on one of my favourite podcasts, The Book Was Better Podcast! Whilst the episode won’t be out til next week, I’m so excited that I can’t wait to talk about it!

But first it’s time for some backstory. As a kid I used to buy and occasionally read novelizations of my favourite movies1, although I do remember being very disappointed by some of them. Cut to a couple of months ago and I saw a status by an incredibly funny comedian (whom I somewhat kinda sorta barely know IRL) John Robertson2, and he was talking about a podcast he has appeared on talking about the novelization of Star Trek: Generations. Thinking this would be a riot I downloaded and listened to it. I think proceeded to the BWB website and went systematically through the back catalogue whilst I was prop building and was completely hooked.

Cut to just over a month or so ago, I was at my local library and they had some cheap books on sale and I thought “Hmm I wonder if there is any shitty novelizations I could donate to The Book Was Better” and I found one that I thought would be perfect... Hackers. By this stage I had been posting somewhat regularly on the Facebook page and started chatting with host Luke Milton, but it was a chance meeting at Nexus when we finally met in person and started talking about possibly appearing on the show (yes my inner fanboy was trying not to giggle like a school girl at this point), with Hackers being the book we review. Now just for clarification, Hackers isn’t a great film but it’s an okay film to watch if you don’t take it too seriously, and I thought the book was... well we’ll get to that.

So I got to reading the book shortly afterwards, when I finally was able to steal enough time away to do so, and afterwards I sent it on to Luke. About a couple of weeks ago after I started making some ridiculous photoshop fan art based on random comments on the show3, and it’s about roughly that time we finally made arrangements to record. It’s been an incredibly busy last couple of weeks, but I finally got time to sit down and review the movie as well... and it really hasn’t aged that well. Either way, not saying too much more as you’ll have to wait for the episode next week. HOWEVER go check out their archives and especially check out episodes 39 and 44 starring my fellow WA Ghostbuster and PAC member Courtney Coulson (including the Ghostbuster 2 podcast which I'm so totally not jealous of god dammit!!!!).

1 – I’ve just recently found a load of my old books so I can pass them on if required for the show.
2 – Go to youtube and search for “The Dark Room”.
3 – That randomness led to...

and
... and I just realised context is EVERYTHING... oh well just listen to New York Minute and Judge Dredd.

Monday 3 June 2013

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Finally starting to knock a few things off, but I've still got a lot of work to get done between now and Supanova. Hopefully I'll be able announce a couple of things, or at least talk about them, but for now I could do with a day or twenty off.. although I'll shamefully admit I wouldn't know what to do with one if I got one.

Saturday 1 June 2013

Too Much To Do, No Time To Do It

Just a forewarning, if I don't post for a couple of days it's because I'm so damn busy of late. I try and snatch some free time off, especially when it comes to gaming some gaming, but it's getting more and more ridiculous; especially as my responsibilities are multiplying at a rate I can't comprehend. For example, on Tuesday I was trying to do a movie review which needs to get done ready for a deadline early next week (unsure if I'm allowed to talk about it yet) and about half way through making notes on the movie, I had a 2 hour detour trying to rush to get stuff done for PAC due to an early event I had no control over. I'm still very desperately behind on where I would like to be on my Supanova costumes, and I now officially have less then a month to do it in. If push comes to shove and I completely forget about posting in this blog, I'm not going to beat myself up over it .. that being said I'm inhaling a lot of body putty fumes, so I'm going to try and get out of here before I pass out.