A New Laptop. A New Beginning(?)

So as you may have gathered from the title I’ve got a new laptop... well sorta, I mean it is a laptop (or a notebook for all the trendy kids) but it’s yet another hand me down although it is slightly better than one (sorry bro) although I don’t see myself playing any games in public in the near future. Strangely enough this is perfectly fine by me as all I really wanted this for was to type with, and that just seems within the capacity of this machine.

So will this mean more updates on the blog??? Possibly but I can’t promise anything at this time because life still is incredibly busy, and sadly things like this blog and my podcast have been put on the backburner whilst I’m plowing through various other things, mostly my duties as Media Co-ordinator for Perth’s Allied Costumers. I sadly can’t go into too much detail, mostly due to being sworn to secrecy on some potentially really awesome stuff, but if we can pull these things off it’ll be incredible and I’ll try and get on it here as soon as possible.

I must admit this has been a little disheartening, especially as I’d like to make a go of some of these things and hopefully use them to further my own personal goals. It’s not a complaint mind, compared to years past this has been some of the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done and I can’t say I’d change that for the world, but I must admit the only downside is that I’m constantly worried about money, more specifically for little I’ve got, how little I get (and about to go down, fuck you Abbott), and how much goes into things I do. I’ve been saying for a year or so now that I really need to get paid for what I’m doing, because most of the time I work more than I would if I had a 9-5 job and I don’t get any breaks, no weekends, and no holidays.

Anyway enough of being a downer, I’m trying to be more positive and dammit I’m going to try as much as possible. Hopefully after Supanova and all the associated issues and stresses that come along with it, I’ll be able to start on some of my own personal projects, so more to come.

On the Con Report

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted but life had been incredibly busy, especially with Con season pretty much coming to a close with this weekend's Oz Comic-Con.

I'm currently having a small break at the con a little earlier then I would otherwise have liked, but that's due to combination of exhaustion and a cumbersome costume (Doctor Octopus for those that are interested), so I thought I'd steal this time to make a blog post on my phone.

Like Oz Comic-Con last year is plenty busy, despite some of the bigger names dropping out way to close to the con, and the larger floor space seems to have accommodated it well. That being said my costume's major drawback is the amount of room the tentacles take up so my trip to the floor didn't last that long, although thankfully long enough to meet the vendors I wanted too.

The costumes turn out is one again quite brilliant, with a good range of the cheap and creative to the expensive and elaborate; seeing kids coming in costume and having fun is enough to make this is curmudgeon's heart grow three sizes. The sheer variety of the genres here is incredibly good as well, and I'm happy to see more Trekkies out there in TNG uniforms showing that Abrams didn't fully destroy us with his shitty reboots!

I've still yet to meet, get signatures or take any photos with any of the celebrities here, but that we'll either be when I change costume (yes I bought a backup just in case this one becomes unfeasible) or all be done tomorrow.

So now it's just a matter of finding the rest of my Sinister Six so we can terrorize a little bug, but knowing how much spandex is going around I sincerely doubt they'll have their phones handy.

The Word With a Nerd Podcast – Episode Eleven – Indie Games

Download here!

Another short recording session, mostly due to time constraints; which I hate to admit is becoming more and more of a problem of late. I'm honestly wondering about the longevity of this show in it's current format, as I'm tempted to reduce the release schedule to a fortnightly show to relieve some of the pressure as more and more things are seemly piled upon me as time goes by.

I won't go into too many details but my duties with Perth's Allied Costumers along with making my various new costumes, trying to find a job (which by itself would severely diminish my already lack of free time), and everything that seemingly gets thrown my way has been detrimental to my recording and editing time, let alone trying to organise guests with their own busy schedules. The shorter recording sessions of the last two podcasts has also taken a hit to my backlog, but I can't help but wonder if that is the way to go.

Either way I really want to get more and more things done, but life is so crazy that any sort of fixed schedule (including sleeping) gets thrown out the window as soon as some other thing comes along!

Y U NO NEW PODCAST!!!

The TL:DR version of the lack of updates here, on WWaN, and on www.fanboycrossing.net is that I've been incredibly credibly busy and have simply had little time to do certain things or my schedule is so messed up I can't synch with anyone to record anything with! Just as I'm slowly catching up with certain duties involving certain costuming groups, I dive into more projects that should hopefully prove to be even more awesome as it does along!

Let's just say as much as I enjoy doing the podcast (and I do) sometimes it's the thing that as to take the backseat, and this is namely due to several reasons, but mostly because it's a matter of getting guests to be free to record and having free enough time to edit those episodes I do record. For the unenlightened it takes roughly 2-3 hours minimum to edit one 1 hour podcast, depending on how much work needs to be done cropping, changing levels, etc. Essentially I'm listening over an episode at least 3-5 times before it gets put out due to the nature of the medium which, unlike video, I can't just skip or fast forward through half the time as I have to listen closely to what is being said. I do love doing this podcast regardless of all of this, just wish I could get more chances to record with more people... especially those I've been dying to record but our schedules just haven't gelled!

The Word With a Nerd Podcast – Episode Ten – Cosplaying Tales

Download here!

This week I talk to my good friend Jon Dei Goon, fellow prop builder, costumer, and (more importantly) Ghostbuster. This is a particularly short recording session, so there is no Part Two to come, it was recorded at the end of an incredibly hot and busy day and both of us were pretty tired. Why record in such a situation? Well partly because I want to give you people some content, but mostly because it was the only opportunity we had before Jon went back to Malaysia. It was a blast talking to Jon (as always) and I hope to get him back on next time he's in the country!

The Word With a Nerd Podcast – Episode Nine – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Part Two

Download Here!

After the incredibly unexpected hiatus, Word With a Nerd finally returns with Part Two of the discussion with Toby about TMNT. Not much else really to say, it took way too long to get this done but after an incredibly busy December (following an incredibly busy year) I didn't exactly rush to get this done... until the day it needed to be uploaded. Then server issues pushed back the release a couple of years but it finally got out there!

I'm hoping to get a good line-up of guests this year, talking about some awesome topics and recording and editing the episodes way in advance this year, so I'm hoping for some good stuff to come and looking forward to seeing the podcast grow in the coming year.

Comic Books - A H2G2 Entry

I've been indulging in a little too much Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy of late and just as I was about to go to bed (after an hour of so of reading through various wikis about H2G2 and Douglas Adams) that I thought it would be fun to write an article in the style of The Guide. After a few seconds of ,"Oh no, what the hell am I going to write about?" I immediately thought, "Go with what you know!" and thought it would be fun to do one about comic books... especially as the first paragraph came to me almost immediately. It immediately lent itself to the next paragraph and it became more and more a rather scathing piece of satire on fandom itself, but it seemed to fit so well imho with what Adams' would do that I decided to keep going and it eventually found it's finish point a couple of paragraphs later.

Comic Books

 

Comic Books are regarded by some to be the pinnacle of mankind’s attempt at literature. Like most classic tales their stories focus on the trials and tribulations of Men and Gods, ghouls and goblins, scantily clan maidens fighting off even more scantily clad monsters, but with the added convenience of being able to roll them up and stick them in your back pocket for later.

 

It’s worth noting that this opinion is not shared by most of the population on Earth, who tell those that do to, “Grow up, get out of the basement and get a real life!” In fact this is what most of them eventually would do, right up until the point at which the internet was created. This simple invention actually gave them more of an excuse to stay in their respective basements; where they would spend countless hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, and even centuries, when technology preserved their brain patterns, all to let some complete stranger know that they were wrong about everything.

 

Even though the Earth was blown up by the Vogon constructor fleet, numerous internet ‘bulletin boards’ and ‘message boards’ still exist as signals floating in subspace, and many, many, more species have taken up the fight to find out once and for all if AmazinGuy can defeat SuperDude despite, or maybe even because of, the fact that none of the participants in the discussions having even read the original source material to begin with.

 

It should also be noted that a dedicated fan was sent through the time-space continuum with a goal to finally finding out the answer, once and for all, but unfortunately was unable to strike up a conversation with anyone she thought could help. Some say it was because she was dressed up as SuperDude’s barely clothed cousin ‘iCandy’, and people could bare contain themselves around her. Another theory is that people simply refused to talk to her because they claimed she was "fake", despite assurances to the contrary and documents from several of the galaxies best surgeons. She eventually abandoned the cause, and the planet which she could have easily have saved due to her almost god like powers, and reported back her findings on her personal Sub-Etha channel, as well as uploading numerous flattering photos of herself to Spacebook.

The List 2014...

... or "I Really Need To Get Other Stuff Done But Can't Be Bothered - The Blog Post"

In all serious I've been wanting to do a big write up on all the costuming I did last year, and for those that don't know and can't be bothered to go through my backlog I made a goal to do 12 costumes by the end of the year. So the question then is, did I succeed??? Well amazingly enough yes I did, in face I ended up with 13 new costumes ... although some weren't quite as finished as they should have been. Either way, I'd thought I'd update 'The List' and finally reveal some of the secret projects I've been working, and some quick notes on what happened to what costumes (that way if I never blog about them then some of the questions will get asked).

2013

• Big Macintosh – Completed!
• Notes = Needs a better shirt, better pants, otherwise pretty neat.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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!
• Star Trek – Completed!
• Notes = Completed a lifelong dream of owning my own Star Trek uniform, and wore it when I went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness. A couple of dramas with the costume, but nothing too detrimental. Hopefully will wear it again one day.
• Cybershade – Completed
• Notes = Formerly [SECRET PROJECT BETA], still needs to be finished cutting up all the strips of fabric but was able to troll a couple of my Whovian friends on the Saturday at Supanova who didn't know I was making the costume. Strips were all cut out just in time for the Doctor Who 50^th Anniversary.
• 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).
• Wreck It Ralph – Completed
• Notes = Managed to successfully shock so many of my friends throughout the Sunday with my freshly shaved face, as most of my current friends hadn't seen me without the beard and especially as I still had the beard underneath the Cybershade mask the day before.
• Life Day Wookiee – Completed
• Notes = Formerly [SECRET PROJECT GAMMA], kept secret to surprise my friends who are huge Star Wars fans, who were also hosting the party. Quite quickly put together but looks very effective and will be used in a future performance possibly in 2015.
• Beast - Completed
• Notes = Got two weeks to construct this for the Wolverine screening with PAC, shouldn't be too bad as long as I can make my mask look good and rework the abandoned Goliath muscle suit to work with my concept... time to learn to work with fur.
• Doctor Catastrophe – Completed
• Notes = An OC (original character) I had put together for the PAC screening of Kick Ass 2. The idea behind the event was homemade heroes/villains, and I literally took half a dozen unfinished or broken costume/prop pieces and turned it into my costume.
• Bat Mite – Completed(ish)
• Notes = I was going to do something else but plans fell through and I made this instead. Sadly it was rushed due to time and budget constraints, and eventually I botched the cowl so I wore my Forbush Man pot instead.
• Volstagg – Completed(ish)
• Notes = Believing I had an extra month on my hands, I started this one way too late, so it was an incredibly rushed job trying to get it done whilst also working on Bat Mite AND an October full of costuming commitments.
• Doctor Who’s Ace Rule 63 – Completed
• Notes = A relatively cheap costume, spent at most $15 on materials as I decided to recycle an old jacket instead of buying a new one. Took a long time sewing all the patches onto it, but went through a lot of Doctor Who DVDs in the process.

2014

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.

• Eddie (Rocky Horror) – Due January
• Notes = Going to see a stage performance of Rocky Horror in Jan, hoping to get this somewhat together in time.
• Doctor Octopus – Due March (Oz Comic Con Perth)
• Notes = Had to commit to my Ghostbusters costume for the pageant a couple of months ahead of the event, however this gives me time to do it for Oz Comic-Con. Already bought the pool noodles for the tentacles, just need to make the harness and get the suit made.
• Guardians of the Galaxy – Due Mid 2014
• Notes = I’m thinking doing an alien Nova Corps member. Or maybe a Skrull. Or maybe both?
• Galaxy Quest – Due June (Supanova Perth 2014)
• Notes = Got the prop kit online, need to construct
• 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!
• 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.
• Barf (Spaceballs)
• Been wanting to do this for a while, and it appears I’ll be shaving my beard off a lot this year so I might just finally get into this Mog’s shoes.

Cancelled/On-Hold

• 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.
• Hobbit – Cancelled
• Notes = Not going to happen.