How Not To Be A Convention Creeper

With FanExpo happening in Toronto this weekend, I thought that it would be a great time to remind guys and girls alike, not to be creepy.

Now, I know this seems like logic to most people, but I was surprised how handy it came in today when I was at the convention today.

I was watching other people take pictures of cosplayers and some of them were a little weird about it. 

I remembered this video and made a point of being extra nice to the people I asked to take their picture. It never hurts to be polite and most of the people I talked to seemed genuinely happy to stop and pose for me. I made sure to tell them how much I loved their costumes and thanked them profusely for taking the time to stop and oblige my request.

Now, not everyone is that way. I think it's important for cosplayers to show a little respect as well. I understand that you've probably had your picture taken a lot and maybe you're getting sick of stopping every five feet. I've also been there. 

For times like these, when you plan on being in costume for most of the day, take an extra pair of regular clothes with you. That way, when you've hit your picture maximum, you can change out of your Super Suit and become Clark Kent again.

If you're rushing around trying to get to a panel and people keep stopping you, don't be rude. Politely tell them that you're running late to see (insert awesome geek icon here). We're all geeks here, we get it. If they still insist, tell them that if they come back after the panel is over, you'd be more than happy to have them take your picture then.

Basically, we're all humans, packed into a tiny space with so many geeky things to overwhelm us. As long as we're all polite to one another, these things should go smoothly. 

If you see someone being inappropriate or harassing someone, go find someone working the con and report it. That way, the person doing the harassing is made aware that what they're doing is wrong and will hopefully curb their behavior for next time. It also shows others that that behavior will not be tolerated and that someone is looking out for them.

So go out there, be nice and have fun. That way everybody wins.

My Hot Topic Score!

Alright Judgy McJudgerson, before you sneer and scoff, step back and breath.

I know what people say about Hot Topic and, frankly, I don't care.

At this point, where it is still ridiculously hard to buy geeky girl stuff without turning to the internet, Hot Topic is one of the only places I've found in Toronto where it's abundant and I can always find something that I like, that's in my size and that I can afford. Plus, they carry Her Universe stuff.

Enough said.

Anyway, if you've been keeping up with TSWTM as of late, you'll know that I started a new job a few weeks ago. Friday was my first payday! YAY! 

As a treat, I decided to do a bit of shopping.

I didn't like what I had worn to work that day and I didn't want to feel uncomfortable when I met up with some friends later. So I popped into Hot Topic to see what they had.

Holy crap! I wanted to buy half the store. 

I usually find them to be hit or miss, but this time was a total hit. 

Here's what I bought:

 Yes, that is the Doctor Who quote tee that I talked about here. Hopefully they will start carrying the other ones as well.

I love this Harley Quinn costume shirt. In fact, I'm wearing it right now. It's fun and expressive if you know who Harley is, if not, it's still fun without being in your face.

Yes, I bought Wonder Woman and My Little Pony panties! YAY! I like fun underwear, but finding geek underwear is super hard. When I saw these I had to own them! They have a pair of The Little Mermaid ones, too, that I am so going back for.

So what do you think? Are you rolling your eyes at me for going into Hot Topic or do you think my new geek pieces were totally worth it?

While you make up your mind, I'll be over here shaking my Wonder Woman'd ass proudly. :p

Geek Nostalgia

nos·tal·gia

[no-stal-juh, -jee-uh, nuh-]  noun

1. a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days.

2. something that elicits or displays nostalgia.

art by Chris Piascik

Yeah, that kind of sums up what being a geek is all about. We find things that we love; movies, TV-shows, books from our pasts, and we reminisce about why we love it. We have all sorts of mediums in which we can do this; reading or writing blogs about it, writing fanficton, cosplaying, going to conventions, or in this case, fanart.

  Patrick Ballesteros brings us nostalgia in two different ways in his art collection entitled Nostalgia

Not only does he make us feel nostalgic with pop culture references, but also with the innocence and imagination of childhood.

Batman's Rouges Gallery

Ah, brain freeze... I don't feel quiet nostalgic for that.

Super Ladies

You go Batgirl! Kick her ass!

I love Storm's Wolverine doll. I kinda want to make one for myself

Doctor Who

Tiny weeping angels are perhaps more terrifying than full grown ones. I'm more nostalgic for the 10th Doctor, but 11 had some good moments too. I'm sure in years to come, I'll remember him fondly, too.

 Harry Potter

Harry Potter nostalgia is already pretty prevalent, but taking them back to a much younger age gives it new meaning.

The Walking Dead

Did you ever play zombies as a kid?  Cops and robbers? That's what this picture reminds me of.

I love that the parents have the morning "zombie" blahs. I know what that's like now.
I also love that Carl has a target on his back. Very fitting.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Oh no! Adorable Shredder has beaten them to Miss O'Neill!

Firefly

Shopping cart or abandoned car, I'd take the Serenity anywhere with these little misbehaving ragamuffins

The Princess Bride

I love the grampa snowman off to the side! Super cute!

Masters Of The Universe

Mrs. Teela Na looks exasperated with these little hooligans. Who can blame her? That little Skeletor looks like trouble. But look how cute Battle Kitten is!

Star Wars

What's not to love about this picture; cute little Leia playing with a tiny Chewy, Lando and Boba Fett hanging out, hocky troopers, the signs in the background all fitting together or maybe even Irvin Kershner off to the side... Love it!!

Lord Of The Rings

It's true, Gandalf would make a really good crossing guard. Although, he is letting that balrog pass...

Bruce Lee

That's one kid you don't want to pick a fight with or it's off to the principal's office for everyone

X-Men

When you're a kid, old people are weird. It doesn't matter what they're doing. This probably would've been more entertaining than watching them play cards or knit.

I love Kitty's sign that says "I (heart) Gramma Jean". 

Planning of Indiana Jones

Sidewalk chalk was always fun. Heck, it's still fun! I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Spielberg and Lucas use to draw all kinds of crazy pictures on the sidewalk. I like the cute little nods to them; Lucas with the whip and Droids and Spielberg with his shark, UFO and dinosaur.

So how was that trip down memory lane? Feeling better? Feeling sad? It's ok, that's what nostalgia is all about.

So, what pop culture icons tweak your nostalgia? Let me know so that I can look back at this post fondly ;)

The Girly Side Of Star Wars

Being a Star Wars girl has its ups and downs. 

It's sometimes hard to live up to the preconceived notions of what a Star Wars fan should be. I've taken a lot of flack over the years for liking "boy stuff", but I try not to let it bother me. Truth be told, I like a lot of "girly stuff" too.
That's why I love Foreverwars.
Not only does she love Star Wars, Doctor Who and more, she's also an incredible artist. I've been a fan of her art for quite some time now and I'm saving up to buy a bunch of prints and pillows and such from her Society 6 store.

Today I came across a new set of prints that she's put out that mix my love of "boy" and "girl" stuff together!

YAY!!! It's everything I wanted and more!!!
How can you not love that little Gonk girl or want to kick some serious ass for the Adorable Alliance? Death Star Dollies, it sounds like a roller derby team!
You can buy these amazing logos on canvas, phone cases, t-shirts, pillows, bags or cards!
Personally, I want to deck out my couch in awesome pillows, including this one

and I think I need to make the Rebel Alliance bow print my new iPhone case. (or maybe the mando skull... who can choose?)

What about you? What do you think of this amazing art?

Video Game Weekend

Do you ever have a week so hectic that when the weekend comes around all you want to do is sleep and lounge around?

That was one of those weeks/weekends for me. 

I started a new job this week, with much more normal hours. The downside to that is that my body is having to adjust to getting up earlier. I know in a few weeks I'll be fine, but this week was hard. By the time Friday came around, it took all I had just to keep my eyes open.

I slept like the dead this weekend.

I didn't sleep all weekend, although part of me thought that I probably could. The rest of the time I was curled up with my sweetie, playing video games.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, to be exact. 

We often play video games together, from Lego games, to Bioshock, Scribblenaughts to Costume Quest, Mario Cart to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Heck, I even tried playing Gears of War with him once.... just once... (that game is way too intense for me)

Speaking of intense video games, check out these first person views of  Sonic, Bomberman and Mario. They make these games seem much more intense.

And now after all of that, First Person Goomba...

Don't you feel like a monster now? I do...

Sorry, maybe these adorable Mario/Ghostbusters cross overs with help cheer you up.

I don't know if I want to watch it or play it more...

Now, since I've never actually seen Ghostbusters 2 (I know, I know...I'll get around to it), I have no idea how accurate this second video is. What I do love is that Samus is the Statue of Liberty! That's awesome!

Samus is awesome, she can take on anything! Like this cat, for instance.

Yup... totally bad-ass...

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some FFXIII-2 to play

Thanks to Epbot, Nerd Approved, Geekologie and The Mary Sue for knowing how to enjoy a video game weekend.

Beacuse You Can Never Have Too Much Geeky Music

Huzzah!

I got a new job!!

I know, I know, blogging is my job, right?

You know what I mean, my real job!

Anyway, NEW JOB!!!

This means I will be back to working a normal work day and will actually have evening again! 

Which means MORE BLOGGING!

YAY!!

Ok, so now that that's out of the way, on to more important things, like geeky music!

Yup, our favorite players are back again with new music and I've found a slew of other wonderfully talented geeks to add to the list!

First, one of my favorite geeky music girls

Lindsay Sterling

image by CookieMoon101

She's back, also with new and old friends.

The new being William Joseph and Devin in these, not one, but TWO, music videos of their Halo theme cover!

The first one is more music heavy, as in you can really enjoy watching them play their instruments. The second video is more action heavy. 

They are both worth watching! 

Now I don't know a lot about Halo, other than seeing a bit of the beginning of the game when it came out and what I learned from Red Vs. Blue, but I'm pretty sure that playing instruments on the battle field makes it really hard to be stealthy.

Lindsay and Peter Hollens are back together again, doing an amazing cover of the Game Of Thrones theme.

I'm always impressed how amazing they sound together. 

Then again, I'm pretty impressed with how Peter sounds on his own, as well

Yeah, that man has an amazing range.

On the Hobbit trend, do you remember those amazing Harp Twins Camille & Kennerly? 

Yup, they also covered Misty Mountains Cold 

(wouldn't it be amazing if they teamed up?)

and The Walking Dead theme

and the Doctor Who theme

and the Star Trek: TNG theme!!

Wow, those girls have been busy!

(yes, I know, I'm also behind on blogging, but still!)

Next comes the new.

Welcome Jason Yang.

How bad-ass is this picture? Totally bad-ass!

Not only does he play the violin beautifully, he also plays the keyboard and the drums on this amazing geek medley, which includes music from Game Of Thrones, The Hobbit and The Dark Night.

Also, his Skyrim cover is very much worth listening to.

Lastly and Newly(?) is Cosplay: Piano

This is where the lovely Sonya Belousova dresses up to match the theme song she is playing on the piano. And, wow, is she ever good!

Episode 1 is The Walking Dead theme

What are you doing?!

I'm pretty sure that playing the piano during a zombie Apocalypse is an even worse idea than playing on a battlefield! Oh wait, the zombie just wants to play the violin, I guess that's ok.

Episode 2 is The Batman theme, where we find the lovely Sonya all deck out as Catwoman

Episode 3 is The Superman theme

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a PIANO!! 

Best headline ever!

Episode 4 (the last so far) is the Game Of Thrones theme!
just in case you haven't heard it enough yet.

This is a super impressive video. The costuming and settings and background characters are definitely worth checking out (even if you are getting sick of the song)

Well, that's all I've got for now. Tune back in (hopefully soon) for more blogging madness and more amazing geek music.