Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sickness

Oh Man. I love the prospect of a new cosplay. I get obsessed with the images and want to look at them all the time. I show everybody I know. I do a bunch of research and the only thing that is stopping me from making the costume is all the other stuff I have planned. "What are you talking about?" you ask. Samurai warriors, Dynasty Warriors and (BAMBANANA!) GRIMGRIMOIRE. Oh dear. Let me tell the story. I was sitting reading about the plot of Odin Sphere on Wikipedia and I scrolled down and saw familiar and unfamiliar titles in the "See also" section. It read GrimGrimoire and Muramasa: the Demon Blade. Muramasa, blah blah blah katana and armor. BUT OH DEAR LORD GRIMGRIMOIRE. I had no idea this game existed. The costumes are BOMB! I might just have to wipe my cosplay schedule clean and do this beautiful pirate alchemist sexy man.
Then I can force Nathalie to be the most adorable character I have ever seen! Margarita Surprise! SO CUTE! I would put up the picture but blogger is acting up so I cant. In summary, I have no emotional attachment to this game or any of its characters. I just think the clothes are beautiful and I want to wear them. It like every time I see a pretty outfit I want to make it and wear it. I think I need to calm down. What costumes to I really really really want to do? Who knows. The question probably should be, what costumes CAN I do? I may be starting to doubt the possibility of doing Date Masamune from Samurai Warriors. Its beautiful but oh so difficult and Idk if I have the chops.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

ON THE EVE OF AX!

Dude, I am so spent. I want to go back to being productive. Working on everybody else's stuff and seeing it unfinished is not as rewarding as sending my own babies out unfinished. As much as I love helping out other people I have been really inspired lately because I went to fabrics-r-us and also found out about Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. I wish I could be starting work on those costumes right now or just at AX. Being my first time at the con I don't even care what I wear but I brought 4 costumes anyway so I guess I am wearing those. Meh. At this point I will be fine just wearing Leeron for the contest.

Also, everyone was talking about why we cosplay when it is so stressful and the only product is a costume. It doesn't seem worth it at all. For some reason we all do it. Just something to think about in the near future I guess.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

My thoughts leading up to Fanime.

Oh geez. It has been a crazy couple of days trying to get my stuff done and thinking about cosplay and everything. I just can't seem to get really excited about my costumes right now. I was really excited to remake parts of Leeron but now that its in progress and looking basically the same as how it did before I am getting really discouraged and feeling like its been in vain. I am only wearing Leeron for Friday of Fanime and I doubt I will wear it to a con ever again. It has been fun but its one of my most tiring costumes. The heels, the make up , the bodysuit. its so much work to wear and for what? Attention? I get plenty of attention already and I know I am one of the best Leeron cosplayers out there. Why do I feel the need to flaunt it for a second year in a row. Whatever. It still needs to get done.

Brera is agonizing right now. I am so afraid of it coming out something different than I want it to be. I am still having the problem with recreation of the same effect. Brera is supposed to be flawless cause he is a cyborg. I won't be flawless. I am just a cosplayer. I can't do everything perfectly with the funds and resources I have. grrr. I should not have decided to use spandex. I should have pulled a Jimmy and made the whole thing out of pleather. lol. then it would be cool.

Sousuke isn't started yet. I am excited to cosplay with Nathalie though and I probably won't wear this many times so it doesn't have to be that good. I have a great shoot lined up with Oscar C and I am confident the three of us will get some great photos if we work together.

I'm not stressed about Volbeat. It feels good to already have a costume done. I am mostly wearing it so I don't have to be in heels all day. =)

My child, Julia Wawawa, decided to shop me all of the pretty costumes from Dynasty Warriors yesterday and I think I almost have a cosplay type. Its a little harder with guys because the characters don't always fit into the roles that women do (i.e. the slutty one, the bubbly cute one, the diva, etc.). I really like a lot of costumes with bodysuits and like I said in my previous posts I am going for a magic/adventure/structure sort of feel. I think my newest additions to my planned cosplays demonstrates this well.



Isn't it kind of magical/adventure-y?

Sunday, May 23, 2010

I feel the need...

I must blog. Its been too long (like 2 weeks lol). First I must say, I am relieved of schoolwork and stressed caused from my semester! I got all my grades and ended up with three As and two Bs!!! I was so glad because I expected the Bs to be Cs. =(

ANYWAY! I am in the middle of working on costumes for Fanime and things aren't going exactly as I planned. I am messing up and doing things wrong all over the place. I thought I would be able to do Brera better than anyone but it is just not happening like that. The flawlessness I imagined in my head just isn't there. Spandex and serging is not very forgiving under such a time constraint. However, I will finish it, and it will look hella tight. I am just nervous about the possibility of people seeing my penis. It is going to be very close to the edge of the garment. eep! lol.

Leeron needs to be finished tomorrow so I can stop thinking about it entirely. I really need to pack for home and finish myy not done costumes like Brera and not started costumes like Sousuke. *sigh* must continue working all day tomorrow! I will style a wig and finish 90% of sewing on Leeron!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Shine Bright, Shine Far...

I am supposed to be working on my research paper but all I can think about is star theory. My paper is about the Onnagata in Kabuki Theater - they are the males who specialize in playing female roles. One in particular that I am studying, Yoshizama Ayame (famous in the early 1700s), was well known for his roles of very strong females and his dramatic scenes rather than his dancing (as many other Onnagata were known for). This got me thinking more about my film theory class last semester, in which we studied star theory and auteur theory. All three of these things share one thing in common, and that is that people created a name for themselves by having a distinct style. Film stars even melded their character types into their real selves so they would become a single entity composed of their private life and their performance. This caused audiences to become more interested in their private lives, thus making stars ultra famous! Nowadays, stars don't exist in the same way because the amount of performance opportunities has been somewhat diminished. However, a modern example of this type of star would be someone like Ben Stiller. He is well know for being moral and intense in many comedy films.

WHY IS THIS ON YOUR COSPLAY BLOG TIM!?

I am so glad you asked. I have been thinking about fame in the cosplay community for a very long time (no doubt thanks to Rosie's obsession with it). I have come to realize that the acquisition of fame in the cosplay world happens in a very similar way to that of film stars. Take PikminLink for example. What is she well know for? Cosplay every single link costume ever, naturally. People, no doubt, began to associate her real self with the aesthetic of Link and now, when people see her as other costumes they are not nearly as satisfied (even if they are freaking amazing). PikminLink is also prominent at many conventions which allows people the opportunity to interact with her. This and the combination of the internet side of the cosplay community gave people the outlet to gossip and talk about her.

I want to address how this affects the average cosplayer. If you have a huge repertoire of costumes that are mostly unrelated to each other you are probably in no danger of becoming exceedingly famous in the cosplay community. However, if you intend to specialize a certain role and you execute it well, you might create a name for yourself. You must realize that the more attention you have the more people are going to associate your character with your real self. More specifically, if you are going to cosplay as an intense diva, people are going to begin to think you are an intense diva *COUGHSHERYLNOMECOUGH*.

I recently had a purge of my future cosplays album on facebook and I think I am going to have another and possibly add more to it. Not claiming to be famous, but I have skill and all the right things going for me to be a quazi cosplay celebrity. I need to make sure that the characters I want to cosplay don't clash with my personality and intended aesthetic too much. I think I am going with a few different aesthetics actually. These include, but are not limited to: magic, adventure, and structure. Those are the main ones but I am sure other things will creep in somewhere.

Monday, April 19, 2010

HOWL!

I have always debated whether or not I want to cosplay as Howl from the ever so delicious Miyazaki film, Howl's Moving Castle. For the last year or so I decided I didn't want to but now I really want to , and here's why:

Howl is a very popular costume but I am always bored by the people who do it. The costumes itself, I'll admit, is a tad bit boring, but people make is so much worse. I looked at some cosplay pictures and I wanted to throw up a little bit. What don't people understand about high waisted skinny black pants HIGH waisted! SKINNY! *sigh* oh cosplayers. Also, I have a big issue with body type. If you are a girl you are just not suited for Howl. Sure, he is effeminate, but he does not have hips or breasts. And for anime standards his face isn't actually that effeminate. I think I am much better suited to do this costume. /cosplayrant Anyway, I would want to take this costume and do something more with it. I think this is where my intense love of fabric selection would be handy. Imagine the same Howl but with really fancy looking fabric. The effect would be so amazing! It would give the costume the magic that is deserves.

That being said, I actually have 3 costumes that I would consider doing. The first is the standard "Howl before Sophie effs up his hair" costume. With this costume, I much prefer his blond hair. Also, I don't know what happens in the movie but somehow his bangs get shorter. I hate the shorter bangs. I would do them like this:



Second, I would love to do the disguise uniform that he wears, just not with the King's red hair and mustache. Its so cool, green, and could be so beautiful with more detailed fabric and notions.



Third, I would really enjoy doing the costume in the final moments of the film. Its such a happy ending costume that reminds me of Disney princes. Also, if someone would like to do the Sophie costume from this part I would totally help them make it!!!!!

Worlds of Fiction: Otaku Practices and Sexuality

HEY EVERYBODY!!!! This my awesome paper i wrote for my Anime class last year! Read it! Its cool. Sorry about the lack of images (just take my word for it). I actually have the citations but I figure nobody really needs to read them on here. ENJOY!!!!

Among activities of fans around the world, the further fantasizing of an already fictional place is specific to culture surrounding media like anime. Anime fans, otaku, all over the world experience different anime by adding to the fictional world; this is the foundation of what it means to be an otaku. In his essay, Otaku Sexuality, Saitō Tamaki says that, “Dressing up and producing these dojinshi comics are among the activities otaku must participate in to maintain their credentials, something that sets them apart from run of the mill fans.” By experiencing the anime in this way otaku hold a fictional world bigger than that of the original anime. Also, as Saitō Tamaki explains, the sexuality differences between males and females allows for female otaku to experience a specific form of anime called Yaoi. This experience of Yaoi crosses over to the female experience of cosplay. By examining the anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and surrounding fan culture one can deduce that cosplay, dojinshi and fan art are within the fictional, series-specific world upheld by the otaku and that cosplay as an extension of otaku creativity and sexuality is able to cross genders. The relationship between the main characters of Simon and Kamina will be examined in terms of the anime and then in terms of original Yaoi works based on the series. Also, tendencies of anime convention attendees will be described and analyzed to support an explanation of cosplay and gender. Finally, the main character Yoko, along with points from Saitō’s essay, will be used to explain cosplay and sexuality.
The Gainax television series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is about a young boy Simon and his quest to save the human race and save his image of self-worth in the process. Simon [image A] and his “bro” Kamina [image B] live in an underground village in which Simon is employed to dig using a hand-operated drill. While digging, Simon finds a small, glowing artifact in the shape of a miniature spiral drill. It is with this artifact that Simon turns on a mecha head dubbed Lagann by Kamina. Kamina, who wishes to experience the surface world like he once did as a child, gets his wish granted when the village is attacked by an enemy mecha, called a ganmen. With the help of a big-breasted sharp-shooter named Yoko, and the newfound Lagann, the two young men defeat the ganmen and leave the underground to explore the surface.
Yoko reveals that the ganmen are mecha sent out by the beastmen to oppress the humans and keep them underground. Thus, Kamina and Simon join the rebellious efforts of the humans living on the surface. After the defeat of another ganmen, Kamina steals the mecha and uses his powerful will to force the system to obey him. He dubs his robot Gurren. Not long after, Simon and Kamina combine their mecha to form Gurren Lagann. As the series progresses, the Gurren Brigade (the group led by Kamina and Simon) gains more members and power. Although he is the leader and source of inspiration for the brigade, Kamina dies in battle while trying to add a powerful enemy ganmen to the team. With the acquisition of this giant ganmen, the team heads to the capital city of the beastmen. The rest of the series consists of the Gurren Brigade fighting for the freedom of the human race.
Throughout this beginning arc of the series, the relationship between Simon and Kamina is very close to what they themselves call it: a brotherhood. Simon’s parents were killed in an earthquake many years prior and Kamina’s father left him to explore the surface world. The two orphans have no one but each other. Because Kamina has such a strong will, he frequently gets into trouble with the village chief. He relies on his “little brother” more than Simon can fathom at this point. No one in the village associates themselves with a troublemaker like Kamina, except Simon, Kamina’s only true friend. Because Simon believes in Kamina so strongly, Kamina believes in Simon’s character as well and supports him in his times of struggle. This causes Simon to rely on the moral support that Kamina gives him. This strange, dependent relationship they share, based on believing in each other’s quality, is their form of love. Although between two males, there is nothing homosexual about it. This lack of homosexuality is where I would like to begin my explanation of the basis of Yaoi and Yaoi dojinshi.
In his essay, Saitō explains the interesting phenomenon of Yaoi and the sexuality of the Yaoi fan. In one passage he says that Yaoi is “based on subtle gestures, looks, and expressions, or on fragments of dialogue, how and when will it move into its romantic phase of sexual attraction?” An excerpt from a dojinshi (found on fanfiction.net) will show just what this means: “Simon’s head snapped up when he heard his aniki’s [bro’s] voice. He blushed when he saw Kamina smirk at him. He was so busy thinking about Kamina that he didn’t notice the man right in front of him. Kamina offered his hand and gave the boy a real smile. Simon blushed harder and took his aniki’s hand, hoisting himself into Gurren. He sat on the control panel and sighed.” Entitled Akumu, this fan fiction is solely an episode in which Simon has a nightmare then is consoled by Kamina who had the same dream. They sit together in Gurren and they confess their love for one another and they kiss. Although short, Akumu perfectly illustrates what Saitō is referring to. The two men simply interact, their love from the anime translated into romantic love, and after an exchange of feelings they kiss. As is the case in Akumu, sexual attraction in Yaoi does not always lead to sexual activities. This is especially true of dojinshi.
One might argue that since Yaoi is based on the relationship between the characters rather than the image of the characters, as are the forms popular to male otaku, the relationships can often times exceed the subtle and enter into the extreme sexual world. However, a simple search of the adult counterpart of fanfiction.net, adultfanfiction.net, will show only four results for this particular anime series. This is a direct contrast to the approximately one hundred fifty results found on fanfiction.net thus proving Saitō’s point that most Yaoi is based in the pre-sexual phase of a relationship (adultfanfiction.net requires proof of age and material posted is not censored to cater to underage audiences while fanfiction.net is censored). However, there is nothing stopping the reader/viewer from fantasizing about subsequent sexual acts. The otaku can create in the rest of the story for themselves.
This tendency of continued fantasy (a commonality among all otaku) certainly explains the origins of dojinshi themselves and of fan art. For example, the relationship between Simon and Kamina never becomes homosexual, but there are gestures of love and emotions between the characters that can easily be questioned in the style of Saitō: “how and when will it move into its romantic phase of sexual attraction?” This question, unless the characters in the series actually have a romantic relationship, never gets answered in the telling by the original author/creator; therefore, fans take it upon themselves to answer the question. The answer is: now. Now is when the characters’ love will move into sexual attraction. All a fan has to do to is to create the Yaoi and the characters move into that romantic phase. Thus, dojinshi and fan art are born.
As a general rule, the most popular characters have the most stories written about them. For example, there is an immense popularity of two of the main characters of the series Naruto, Sasuke and Naruto. There are countless love stories written on the internet and acted out in the world of anime conventions (i.e. a Naruto cosplayer is rarely seen without his or her own Sasuke cosplayer to interact with). This explains the prominence of dojinshi and fan art created of Simon and Kamina as a romantic couple.
Now, although there are drawings and dojinshi of most of the characters in the series (not just Simon and Kamina), there seems to be very few works of the character Leeron. Assumed gay, Leeron is a flamboyant, semi-cross-dressing mechanic who joined the Gurren Brigade early in the series (it is difficult to tell whether he is in women’s clothes or not since no one else in the series wears anything similar).[image C] When he is first encountered by Simon and Kamina he flirts with Kamina and offers to please him with his fingers, providing a good laugh for the viewer. This forward personality, although comical, does not leave much room for the Yaoi question especially since Leeron is a homosexual to begin with. Much of the enjoyment of writing dojinshi is creating a fantasy of something that is already a fantasy, hence the popularity of romantic pairings between heterosexual males. On the website deviantart.com, a hub of artists of all kinds, searching the words “Leeron” and “Yaoi” only begets a handful of images, none of which show Leeron in a romantic setting.[image D] He is only shown as a predator, eyeing men from across the image, his usual activity (again, not leaving room for fantasy of fantasy). This is a direct contrast to the images found of Simon and Kamina when the words “Simon,” “Kamina,” and “Yaoi” are entered. Images vary from simple embraces to themed drawings.[images E & F] In addition, The mere quality of the works shows great care and attention to detail in the Simon Kamina romances and only a simple composition and much less detail in the Leeron romance.
This difference in the usage of characters in original romances can be attributed to two things: character popularity and ease of creating a new action for the particular character. Although, it is not a perfect model this can be used to determine the popularity of using such characters as subjects in original romances. It is here that I would like to switch over to my discussion of Yaoi and gender within cosplay.
In the cosplay world the most common practice that is shared by all cosplayers is taking photos or having photos taken of oneself. Generally, a photo shoot or single photo is meant to portray the same character that the anime also portrays. For example if one were cosplaying as Kamina they might do a powerful pose grasping the hilt of a katana, a classic alpha-male Kamina pose, or if cosplaying as Leeron they might do a very effeminate and flirtatious pose. So, depending on what statement the cosplayer wants to portray, he or she can change the pose. This is where Yaoi comes into play. The cosplayer and fellow cosplayers have the opportunity to pose in a way that conveys a homosexual situation. Here I must break to quickly explain the concept of the sign.
In recent years there has been a prominence of sign making by convention attendees. This tendency is similar to that of a homeless person using a sign to gain sympathy or to ask for donations. Basically, signs are an introduction to a person or their purpose. For example, convention attendees wanting physical contact in the form of a hug will oftentimes give away “free hugs” or request for hugs from others by means of a sign. One particular slogan I would like to discuss is “will Yaoi for Pocky.” This sign expresses that whoever holds it will engage in a Yaoi pose for a photograph or otherwise enjoyment of the customer in exchange for Pocky, a Japanese snack food used as a pseudo-currency at conventions. Strangely enough, the people holding these types of signs are rarely both male. They are almost always a male and a female or two females. This can be explained easily but it shows something very important and complex about cosplay. Saitō states simply that “The resistance heterosexual men generally feel toward homosexual connections is far stronger than the resistance heterosexual women feel toward lesbianism.” What this means is that it is more common for two heterosexual females to dress up as males and engage in homosexual activities than it is for two heterosexual males to do so, based on their resistance to homosexuality.
This brings me to the gender of characters and cosplayers. If a character is a male this doesn’t mean that he will only be cosplayed by males. Actually sometimes it is more common for a female to cosplay that character, which is the case for Simon. Because he is younger and paired (not necessarily romantically) with a very masculine character, it is a natural desire for females to dress up as him. A female dressing up as male character is not as limiting as I have explained it; in reality, females dress up as any character they want to. As Saitō explains, they “can attempt an identification that is less limited than that of a male.” This is inherently why so many women are interested in Yaoi. Application of this tendency explains the common practice of female cosplayers providing live Yaoi for spectators. But isn’t this Yuri since it is two women?
Again, the answer can be found in Saitō’s essay: he explains that both male otaku and female Yaoi fans have a heightened sense of fiction and that it is a world of its own, why many otaku do have normal sex lives despite their irregular desires within the appropriate media. What this means is that otaku can create and support an active world of fiction within and around an anime. This allows them to keep cosplayers (along with dojinshi and fan art) in that fictional world and as such, the actual gender of the cosplayer does not matter provided that they succeed at masking it well enough. So, from the otaku’s point of view the cosplayer is really the gender of the character, but from the cosplayer’s point of view getting into costume and changing gender is a form of play, hence the action called cosplay.
This form of play, as I am about to argue based on Saitō’s description of the origins of sexuality, is a form of sexual play. Saitō describes, a psychoanalytic theory, that males have sexuality because of the connection with their mothers and the impeding on that connection by their fathers. The male must find a new object to fill the hole where the mother once was. Basically, the male desire’s the object to complete himself. The origin of female sexuality is more complicated, however. The female identifies with the mother who is the same as she is and therefore experiences sexuality because she is wanted by the male. “In the everyday world, it is by virtue of being the object of male desire that women are able to constitute their own position as a lack” is how Saitō puts it. In order to progress further I must return to our characters from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
It is highly doubtful that there has ever been a greater object of desire than Yoko. She wears nearly nothing, has brains, stands up for herself, and (for lack of a better term) kicks ass.[image G] Yoko is everything a male otaku could ever want. Why then, when many male otaku are considered to have poor social skills and be creepy, do so many females want to cosplay as Yoko? The answer: because cosplay is often a form of sexual play in which women, like Saitō says, can be a blatant form of male desire. Although not always the case with cosplayers, dressing up in costume has a long history of being a sexual practice.
Interestingly enough, although female cosplayers dress up to become the object of male desire that they identify with male cosplayers do not always dress up to become the character they identify with, the male who seeks the object. In the world of cosplay, there are less men cosplayers than there are women cosplayers. This is in part because as a sexual act the male will cosplay to become the object he desires, thereby becoming complete. This self desire has implications of narcissism and also of homosexuality, explaining why many men do not cosplay. To desire oneself, as a man, is to desire a man, which is homosexual, the fear of many heterosexual males as stated earlier. This puts male cosplayers into two groups: the cosplayers that identify with the character they are dressed up as for personality or reverence reasons and the cosplayers who dress up to become the object of their own desire (whether they are homosexual or not).
The fictional world upheld by the otaku includes series-external elements located within the fan culture of anime. Included, is the art of writing dojinshi, a common practice among Yaoi fans; cosplay, done as a form of reverence, identification, or sexual play; and the drawing of fan art, a visual dojinshi. These forms although practiced for these reasons, they are not only practiced for these reasons. The world of anime and anime conventions that surrounds it is very complex and will take much more to fully explain it.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Hakone and Cosplay Co-op

Sooooooo, The Nor-Cal shoot gathering at the Hakone gardens was pretty fun. I think I would have liked it better if I wasn't exhausted from staying up all night though. yes, that's right, I stayed up all night to finish my costume. I like the way it turned out (especially my wig!), but like I said in my previous blog I don't think it was the best costume choice for me. It was alright, but I don't think that it flattered my body type as much as I would like it to. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day:


^ I love my face in this one. hehehe.



^ I love the movement in this one! especially since it shows the vent I engineered.

This one was my favorite shot of the day! Thanks so much OSCAR!!!

I felt weird asking for too many photos at this shoot because my costume wasn't really that good. I felt other people deserved it more because they seemed to work harder on their costumes. I really wanted to try and do some more movement shots in this costume, but I can always wait until next time!

Thanks to everyone who made the event fun! WE HAVE STICK!!!

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I have been thinking a lot about the future lately and I don't know what is going to happen with myself and cosplay. When I am out of college and working I will only get a few years of help from my parents with money and everything (they are almost completely funding my cosplay right now, and I am 21. lol. embarrassing). I will have so many bills to pay and necessities to buy. I cant think of any way to really make that cheaper except by cooperative living. If you are unfamiliar with what this is, it is a large group of people living together in a big house or building (like a boarding house except with a stronger community) sharing resources and expenses. This is beneficial in many ways but I won't get into it here. So, I was thinking about possibly starting a co-op in San Francisco (or wherever) for artists or something. Then I got to thinking about the benefits that theater costume shops have. They all share tools and materials to work on many costumes. Then it struck me: WHY NOT START A COSPLAY CO-OP!!! This could be a really interesting idea. There would be like 6 people living in a big house with a big cosplay workspace for all of us to share and work together. We could all help each other and share resources. Also, I thought we could do commissions for beginners or people who don't find sewing very interesting but want to wear a costume. We could all pitch in for different parts of the commission and use the profit to buy more machines and tools. Depending on how cosplay goes for me this year and next year (my last year being a student) I will see where I want to go with this co-op idea and if it still interests me as much as it does now then I will try harder to make it happen!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

I really like....tall.

I am sitting here eating spaghetti at 2 am when I should be sewing my Volbeat Jacket, but all I want to do is blog about how it is not going to look like the picture. Sure, the colors are going to be right, and all of the pieces will be there and accurate. but the picture is impossible to duplicate. My head is just not that big and my body isn't that shape. Its been really bugging me that I haven't been choosing costumes well enough to fit my body type. I did a great job with my Selkie costume but, honestly, I didn't wear it the second day of aod because i felt it was really inappropriate for my tall body. I am hesitant to wear it again, but I have to because my dad and I worked so hard on my racket and I can't let that work go to waste! Itll probably be better when I remake the main part of my sandals too.

Good thing the rest of my costumes (with the exception of Hope from FFXIII who I am still not sure if I want to do yet) are all tall people. Sousuke, Brera, and Leeron how I love thee for being tall and awesome at the same time.

Oh, and if Aubree Thompson ever reads this blog: I guess I do really like tall. HAHA!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Ugly Poop Salad

I ordered my wig for Volbeat on Monday and It got to my apartment on Thursday except I was sleeping off the wine from the night before. They left me a note that said they would be back on Friday between 10:30 and 2:00. LIES!!!!

I waited around all morning and they didn't come until about 3:15. Its not super late but that is not even the worst part. I saw the truck pull up near my building and saw the guy get out and come to my building. I waited to hear my buzzer go off but nothing happened. Then I see the Truck driving away. WHAT!!???!?!?! I was pissed so I ran downstairs and there was a notice on the door! WHAT?!?!?!?!!? WHY WOULDN'T HE BUZZ MY APARTMENT?!!?!?!? That is the worst ever!!!! WHYYY!?!?!?!

Luckily I was able to run up the street to his next stop and get my wig but still. UPS FAIL!!! I never want to use them again.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

dividing my time

At aod I had an amazing time on Sunday just taking photos. my cosplay on Saturday was great but I was so tired on Sunday so i just didn't wear a costume. I got to be Julia's (bubydub's) pack mule and therefore had access to her camera. In the evening we had the most wonderful shoot in the dark. Here are some of my favorite shots of her in her Yuna costume:






I am not at all an expert on photography, but those look really good, right?! Shooting cosplayers has actually always been something I like to do at conventions. Even in 2007 I shot My friend Rosie in her Anthy Himemiya costume. some of the pictures were so amazing. Even in 2006 I was taking great cosplay pictures. Rosie and I were bored at JTAF4 and so we decided to take a few pictures around the Peace Pagoda. She in her Hinata costume and Me in my Kiba. Here's two of the pictures I took:


They aren't as good at the Yuna ones but I still think they are cool.

So, my point is that I love to photograph cosplayers almost as much as I like to cosplay myself. I am thinking that when I get older (maybe in like 5 years or something) I am going to divide my con time into cosplaying and shooting. I have a lot of really complicated costumes I want to do later (I just have to get a lot of costumes out of the way first). I think what I will want to do is to go to a lot of conventions and debut a new complicated costume at every one or every other one. I'll wear my costume for a day and then the other days or in my spare time I will just shoot. I am really liking this plan. Hit me up in 5 years if you want a free photoshoot!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Moleskine

This post pertains more to my individual style of thought rather than cosplay.

A few months ago I bought a pocket sized Moleskine ruled notebook. I love it. I have such random lists going in there. I have a random list of thing that I think help define American culture and another list of pokemon in Diamond and Pearl that give different effort values. It is no where near full and I am excited every time I write something else in it. Anyway, the most important purpose I think it serves is to get thoughts out of my head. Tonight I was trying to read in the library and all I could think about was ideas for an experimental photoshoot I want to do in my Volbeat cosplay. I could focus on my reading at all and so I pulled out my Moleskine from my backpack and wrote down my ideas and started a new page for other photoshoot ideas. Once it was on paper I felt relieved that I would not forget it and therefore my brain could get back into Grotowski's method of actor training (soo strange btw). I love not having a cluttered brain, Thank you Moleskine.

(Post-its are also very beneficial when used in conjunction with a Moleskine. They make great temporary additions to lists and whatnot.)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Volbeat Progress

Yesterday I worked on my pattern for my Volbeat Gijinka cosplay. I have been wanting to start to since I got back from aod but I hadn't yet had a chance. This is how the amazingness happened: I did a few quick measurements and then I got out my cheap ass-fabric and drew out a pattern for the body of the jacket. I cut it out, sewed it together and when I put it on, IT WAS NEAR PERFECT!!!! I had to make a few adjustments to the bottom part but the chest and shoulders were almost exactly how I wanted them!!! I am very happy about this and I think it must mean I am getting much better at making patterns for my own body. I can't wait to finish this costume!

I really need to get back to work on Nathalie's Chidori costume. hmmm. maybe after I finish Volbeat.

Friday, February 12, 2010

First Post!

I am starting this blog because I need an outlet! Whenever I want to talk about cosplay I am really really distracted until I can get my thoughts out of my head!!!

1st thing! my name

Leuda, the city of the Selkie race in Final Fantasy:Crystal Chronicles. To the rocky cliffs of a desert island the rest of the world pushed the Selkies. They had different values and ideals. The Selkie's live in a very different way than all of the other races and for that they are condemned to the barren Wasteland of Leuda. This is where I live. This is where all people who are different live. We are forced to the edges of society because we do not agree with the standard practices of life. Here I stand, amongst my people - the cosplayers, nerds, artists, gays, and hippies of society - in the land where we are the norm.

The Fool. Merriam Webster's Dictionary definine's the fool as: "a retainer formerly kept in great households to provide casual entertainment and commonly dressed in motley with cap, bells, and bauble" - among other things. To provide entertainment for myself and those around me is definitely a goal but It is the function of the Shakespearean Fool that really interests me. Shakespearean Fools "are usually clever peasants or commoners that use their wits to outdo people of higher social standing." Now, doesn't this sound like it goes very well with the modern phrase, "stick it to the man" ? I may not be the smartest student at UC Berkeley or even a very good conversationalist but you better believe that I will use all my brainpower to prove to the rest of the world that what I do is beautiful and worth recognition.

I am the Fool of Leuda.