Friday morning I woke up and watched John Barrowman and Kai Owen‘s panel while dressing in my Blind Mag costume. John Barrowman was so unbelievably charming, guys. I want to be his best friend. I love DC*TV (when it works) because it lets you maximize all your Con time. Sure, I was in the hotel room, but I was watching the panel, laughing along with the panel, and being jealous of the beefy Spartan that John Barrowman ran his hands all over. Siiiiigh. All the good ones, right?
Anyways, as soon as I was dressed I headed out…and ran immediately into this amazing Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun (above). I spent much of the first part of Friday ducking into a panel or two (notably the Battlestar Galactica panel with Katee Sackoff love me some Starbuck!), grabbing some lunch, and taking tons of pictures:
This was a big latex reptile suit thing that I only saw out once–the rest of the weekend it was in a little wooden box/cage. This thing was amazing.
I went into a little ball-jointed doll meet-up, on behalf of my mother, where I saw lots of lovely ball-jointed dolls in lovely clothes, including this little sleeping beauty.
These were just a few of the many My Little Pony costumes I saw throughout the weekend.
And then I saw Dani (you’ll see a lot more of her in the photos from Game of Thrones shoot I participated in on Sunday) in this FANTASTIC Illyria (from Angel) costume.
Seriously, look at how great she looks!!!
I just loved this Green Lantern Jedi. How cool is he?
After a bit of wandering around I ducked into the Exhibitor’s Hall. While strolling the booths, this gentleman chased me down for a photograph. His name is Larry Elmore, and he has made a successful career and life for himself creating fantasy art for book covers, playing cards, and tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons. Larry paints “witchy women,” and he wanted me to pose for him, as I fit the bill. I was so flattered! He shot a few pictures of me, and then we took the picture below together. Larry had a huge booth with a lot of merchandise–I told him that he’s so lucky that he gets to do what he loves for a living, and that he is so successful at it! He just grinned and said, “I know.” What a lovely, lovely man!
I live in a locavore foodie area and I love great food and restaurant experiences, but this is not what Dragon*Con is about. While I am not normally of the “food is just fuel” mentality, I go into that mode during Dragon*Con. The weekend is an endurance test, and I want not-too-unhealthy things that will keep me up and running from panel to panel and into the night. Additionally, if I don’t eat breakfast and if I don’t eat every few hours I turn into a raging hosebeast, so I need to make sure I have these things on hand. Here are some of my tips and tricks for eating to feel like a human being at Dragon*Con.
1) EAT BREAKFAST. Preferably, eat it in your hotel room if you can–it saves time and money. It doesn’t have to be fancy and shouldn’t need to be refrigerated. I bring a loaf of whole wheat or multi-grain bread with me along with a jar of low-fat peanut butter, and I throw together a peanut butter sandwich in the morning when I wake up (just don’t forget to bring some disposable knives with you). Easy, cheap, healthy, and protein-packed–just what I need to start the day. If I need an extra pick-me-up I grab an orange juice from one of the hotel convenience stores.
English: A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, made with Skippy peanut butter and Welch’s grape jelly on white bread. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
2) BRING SNACKS. We usually have a little cooler that we can fill with ice, so I throw some greek yogurt in there that I can grab as a snack when I’m in the hotel room to fix my makeup. I also never go anywhere without a granola bar on me–you never know when hunger could strike, it might be in line at a panel or while you are at a party, and you don’t want to have to drop everything and shuffle off to the food court to get some food. Trail mix and beef jerky are also great options.
3) Speaking of the food court, it is your friend, and there are ways to eat healthily at the food court. And also I generally love walking through the food court and seeing people in costumes. I am a big fan of Moe’s, that sushi place (Yami Yami I think it is called?), and that prepared food place across from the evil Chick Fil-A (I think it is called Cafe Momo). At Moe’s I usually get a rice bowl or a salad, fill it up with chicken, veggies, and black beans, top it with lots of salsa and dig in. Yami Yami I typically only hit up once or twice, because it is a little pricey and the line can be long, but they have pretty decent sushi and lots of vegetable options to ensure that you get some green things in you. And I love Cafe Momo–affordable, lots of healthy protein and vegetable options, and it is usually pretty quick and easy to load up at the prepared foods bar and to be on your way. There is also a Middle Eastern-ish place somewhere in the food court that offers pita sandwiches and hummus platters, and that’s a solid bet as well, if a bit messy. All of these places make it very easy to carry your food back to your hotel room so you can eat while watching Dragon*Con TV. Multi-tasking!
This is what happens if you eat at Chick-Fil-A: You have to wait in line and then the zombie apocalypse comes and then you turn into zombies and eat people and just don’t eat at Chick-Fil-A they fry hate and serve it to you so you get fat. Hate will clog your arteries.
4) That being said, you are on vacation, and it is okay to treat yourself. I always get at least one Dairy Queen Blizzard, because it is the perfect food, and I sometimes let myself get one fried-food meal although I usually feel pretty gross after, ha, so maybe not this year. And definitely no evil Chick Fil-A this year. I love their chicken nuggets, but I prefer my fried chicken to come without a side of hate and intolerance, thank you. Avoid the pizza place with all your might because it is terrible (unless it has changed ownership). I’ve also been wanting to try that little noodle place tucked in the corner because it looks yummy, but it always has long lines oi vey.
5) There is no need to go to a sit down meal, unless this is a thing you like to do at Con? I have plenty of sit-down meals in my normal life, I’d rather eat and run at Con–there is so much to do, and there is no need to wait for a table at the Hard Rock Cafe, or Fires of Brazil, or Durango. I know lots of people who have annual dinners with their Con friends, which is cool, but I’d much rather be in the thick of things than going and having dinner elsewhere. We had lunch at a sit-down restaurant my first year at Con, and my whole experience consisted of me thinking about all the time we were wasting, and how badly I wanted to get back to Con stuff.
But seriously, guys, try to avoid the fast food. I mean, look at what it does to you.
6) Um, I know this is blasphemous, but I don’t really drink much at Con. Actually, I don’t really drink much period, and I am such a lightweight that one or two drinks do me in, and I get sleepy so quickly when I drink, and I don’t really have fun or like the way alcohol makes me feel, and I’d rather be aware of my surroundings so I can process all the awesome costumes and remember every detail, so in general I don’t have more than one or two drinks a day. I KNOW THIS MAKES ME WEIRD, sorry. Don’t listen to my drinking tips–except for this one. Buy booze before you go to Atlanta and make your own drinks in the room, and maybe also make a “party bottle” to carry around with you, because the alcohol in the hotels is EXPENSIVE. Additionally re: booze, do whatever works for you, be safe, and remember to…
7) HYDRATE. OMG guys hydrate so much. I drink a lot of water in my daily life and I probably double that at Con. All the meeting rooms in all the hotels have water dispensers so make sure to bring a refillable bottle and STOCK UP SERIOUSLY. Water is your friend.
I have lived by these eating rules and I have yet to get sick at Con (this is likely because I use a lot of hand sanitizer, wash my hands a lot, and generally have a very strong immune system). Supposedly there are some other secret tips I might be missing, like another food court hidden in the Marriott (although that is only open on Friday), and maybe there are some tucked-away convenience stores I might be missing? Did I forget anything? Do you disagree with my tips? Do you have some tips of your own? Let me know in the comments! We’re all in this together!
Happy Friday everyone! This is going to be a brief post, about small, fuzzy animals, and how they can bring us together at Con! I love meeting new people, and it is so easy to do that at Dragon*Con, and nothing breaks the ice better than “I HAVE A SMALL FUZZY CREATURE THAT I LOVE DO YOU?”
So last Dragon*Con, on Sunday night, I had a conversation with a girl in a Baronesscostume about how much we missed our cats.
So that’s the Baroness and me.
And that is us looking at cat pictures.
The Baroness and I both agreed that the one negative about Dragon*Con was that we couldn’t take our cats with us. At the time Jon and I only had one cat, Dexter, but now we have two kitties! Behold:
Black kitties! Such good costume props, right?!
Do you miss your pets when you’re at Dragon*Con, at 2:00am in the morning when you are drunkish and someone has spilled booze on your costume? Because sometimes when that happens all I want to do is snuggle with a kitty!
I’ve posted about Third Fridays in Durham before, they are always happening events, especially down by Golden Belt. This past Third Friday was the Liberty Arts grand re-opening. Liberty Arts is a metal foundry and iron-working studio that was a Durham institution, until a set of violent storms last year caused its roof to collapse. Liberty Arts decided to move from its location near Central Park to a fantastic new space in the Golden Belt facilities. Their grand opening celebration on Friday drew a huge crowd.
A number of food trucks, including The Parlour, Pie Pushers, and Only Burger, were on hand to keep everyone fed. The weather was unbelievably nice for mid-March, so tons of people were sitting outside.
Lots was happening inside Liberty Arts: glass blowing, metal working, and other demonstrations. The artists also had lots of pieces hanging around to look at.
I particularly liked this big wax mold of The Last Supper, I thought it looked like a big chocolate bar.
Durham’s own Luchadoras, the group of female masked wrestlers in the Mexican Lucha Libre style, were on hand in black evening gowns and sparkly masks. I saw a bunch of them roaming around the Golden Belt area, they weren’t there to wrestle, I think they were just enjoying a night on the town.
I’m going to sidetrack from the birthday month for a minute. Friday night I made a rare trip to downtown Raleigh to support my friend Heather, who was having a gallery opening at Flanders, a trendy and well-regarded Raleigh gallery. I don’t often get to Raleigh, because it is a bit of a trek (30-45 minutes, depending on traffic), I frequently get lost, and one of the last times I went to Raleigh I got into a car accident. However, every time I’m in downtown Raleigh I wish I got there more frequently. It doesn’t have the gritty, community vibe of Durham, but it is a more urban setting and definitely has the ability to buzz.
First Friday is Raleigh’s monthly gallery night (Chapel Hill has second Friday, Durham has third Friday). Flanders is down the street from CAM, Raleigh’s contemporary art museum, and a number of great galleries. I’ve visited some other galleries in the past, but I spent most of this Friday on Martin Street and in the Warehouse District.
Jon and I kicked off the evening by getting dinner at The Pit, before heading over to Flanders to see Heather. I’ve been to Flanders several times, and it is always extremely sceney. The atmosphere is very much big-city art gallery, which I always say makes me feel not cool. However, I knew much of the audience there that night. So I guess I was sort of cool.
Heather’s work is being shown as part of a group show, calledCodework. All the following photos were taken by me, on my iPhone, so apologies for the graininess.
Painting by Heather Gordon, photo by me!
All the works in the show dealt with language, communication, and interpretation. Since I have known Heather, she has been interested in codes and language. This work is from her newest series, which takes locations that we frequent in our daily lives (the above is a parking lot, but she’s also done cubicles and funeral homes) and maps them out in an abstract but still understandable manner (I hope I got that right Heather!)
Painting by Heather Gordon, photo by me!Painting by Heather Gordon, photo by me!
The above two works are some of Heather’s binary works. She takes text, oftentimes famous, and converts it into ASC-II (I think, this is all very tech-speak!) which she then converts into binary, which she uses to make these amazing, hypnotic, vortex-y pieces. I love them. As you can tell, Heather’s work is incredibly thought out and very cerebral, you can learn more by checking out her website.
I was also loving Peter Oakley‘s carved-marble sculptures of every day objects.
The Dilettantista 