Tag: United States

1 Day to Dragon*Con: A Melisandre Sneak Peek and More!

· Leave a comment ·

1 DAY GUYS.  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!  Time for a miscellaneous post of miscellany.

1)  The Melisandre dress is ALMOST DONE.  The neckline just needs to be hand-stitched, but I was able to get a shot of it almost completed today.  It is SO BEAUTIFUL , I cannot WAIT to show it off at Con, and I cannot wait to put it on with the wig and the necklace and the belt.  Seriously, so beautiful.

Yeah look at those sleeves, amazing right?!

2)  If you want to be my Friend via the Dragon*Con app (and I love friends!!!) just let me know, and I’ll PM you a Friend Code, and we’ll all be friends, and it will be great.  You can also follow me on Twitter, @Dilettantista, if you are social media-ish like that.

3)  And now a series of video clips that make me happy.  Many of these were included in the 2010 Dragon*Con Countdown but I don’t care, these re classics for a reason.  And yes, many of these have a Star Trek tinge, so what?

Unngh isn’t it a bummer that Patrick Stewart isn’t coming?  Whatevs, I’ll just reread how I talked to him at Dragon*Con 2009.

4)  Last night I had a dream that I was eating lunch at Dragon*Con and Stan Lee sat with me, and he had a little fat dachshund mix named Alex with him, and in the corner someone was doing a Captain American — Melisandre multi-fandom costume, and it was all very perplexing and amazing and clearly my brain is very one track right now.

5)  And then I just turned on The Today Show (like I usually do) and the ADORABLE two-face kitty was on, clearly it is a sign!!!

All right, back to work for me guys!  I have costumes to finish and packing to do and so many preparations to make!  And I’m also looking forward to making tons of new memories!  Cheeeeeesy right?!

All right everyone, hang in there, one more dawn, one more day, one day more!

23 Days to Dragon*Con: Band Profile, Megan Jean and the KFB

· 5 Comments ·

 

Megan Jean describes herself as a “hard-touring, foot-stompin’, guitar beatin, upright lickin, washboard scratchin,’ banjo pickin’ madness with a voice like the devil herself.”  Her band, Megan Jean and the KFB, is a Charleston-based duo that from their description probably falls into the “Steampunk” music category.  They play gypsy, circus, americana, and the avant-garde style music.   Their Dragon*Con profile offers a nice little summary of their journey: NYC refugees who fled the city to settle in the Southeast, where they are now part of Charleston’s burgeoning music scene (I need to visit Charleston for serious y’all).  At first listen, their music is a little bluesier than some of the other “Steampunk” stuff I’ve heard at Con/during this band profile journey:

That’s the song that’s going to be featured in the PBS documentary in which the band is involved.

Not sure I like that song quite as much as the first one.

Or that one, for that matter–for a bit I thought it was a man singing but then I realized that Megan Jean has a very k.d. lang voice.

Check out the stand-up bass!

So if Dragon*Con were to have a blues band I’d say this would be it.

Talking points:

–NYC refugees, fled to the south.

–Steampunk via the blues.

–Stand up bass!

No thumbs–honestly this band didn’t make much of an impression on me, and in terms of female-fronted Steampunk bands I think I prefer Frenchy and the Punk.

 

40 Days to Dragon*Con: Band Profile, Die Sektor

· 1 Comment ·

 

Die Sektor is a goth/industrial/electronica band that is based in Atlanta which, yay for D*Con for supporting the local musicians.  They don’t really have a website, but here’s their Facebook page.   They describe themselves as wanting to make powerful, emotional, and innovative electronica music.

So, I’m not finding out a lot about them.  But I’m listening to their song “Mother Hunger” now and it is definitely gothy electronica-ish, I think?  Like, I could see myself dancing to it a bit at Dragon*Con.  But I’m not sure I’d stay for a whole hour of music like this?  Here’s “Mother Hunger”:

I’m not sure I love the weird hissy Hexxus voice, let us see if those vocals are in their other songs!

So “In the Arms of Eternity” has the Hexxus voice some, but not as much–I actually like this song a bit better.

This is “Prey the Razor.”

So…a lot of electronica music sort of sounds the same to me?  Is that bad to say?  I mean I like it in theory and it is danceable but I don’t think I’d be able to differentiate Die Sektor from other electronica bands.   This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, mind you, especially when it is 2:00am and you are drunkish and just sort of want to dance for a bit.  Someone who knows more about electronica than I do, tell me what I am missing.

Oh, my friend Duane, who knows more about electronica than I do, says this:  “It’s like kmfdm and lords of acid  did a song for the Spawn soundtrack but the mic was fucked up.”  Thanks for that, Duane.

Anyways, talking points:

-Electronica/goth band

-Hexxus voice

-Local boys!

We’ll give them no thumbs up, which stands for “which band is this again?”  Not because they are bad, just because all the electronica stuff kind of blends together for me.

 

46 Days to Dragon*Con: Band Profile, Calabrese

· 3 Comments ·

A blog commenter had the FANTASTIC recommendation of profiling some of the musicians and performances which will be happening at Dragon*Con.  This is a great idea, right?  I mean I have no idea who any of the bands are at Dragon*Con (minus, like, the Cruxshadows or Voltaire) and also they change lots, and also what if maybe I’d really like one of those bands but I don’t check them out because there are so many other things to do at Con?  Anyways, over the next 46 days I’ll be blogging about some of the live acts who will be at Dragon*Con.  I’ll do a mini-profile and drop some identifying features and also maybe some music clips.  This is way more interesting than photos of dragons, amirite (sorry guys, I had to get the countdown rolling with something!)

I first need to state that I am in no way, shape, or form a music connoisseur.  I like what I like and try not to focus on the popular trends and I’m not too discerning.  I’ll listen to pretty much anything except for country music, which is terrible, and yes I will listen to opera, which is great.  Also, “Call Me, Maybe” is pretty great too (shut up), so there you go.  So, these are not the opinions of a music critic, just someone who enjoys what she enjoys and is going to pass some pretty quick judgments on some bands based on a bit of internet searching.  Okay?  Okay.

So I’m going to go in order via the Dragon*Con guest page, and the first band on the list is Calabrese.  Calabrese (great name, btw), describes itself as the world’s greatest horror punk band.  The band consists of Jimmy, Davey, and Bobby Calabrese, brothers with an awesome last name.  The Dragon*Con website describes Calabrese as catering those who are not down with popular music nowadays (love it).  They have song titles like “Voices of the Dead” and “Backseat of my Hearse.”  The video for “Voices of the Dead” features some lucha libres.  Check it:

And here is “Backseat of My Hearse”

So the more I listen to this stuff guys, the more I legit like it.  It might not be the most original music, but it is fun, and these gentlemen seem to have a good sense of humor.  Also, leather jackets?! Also, it seems like they could have a good live show.  Also, it seems like my boyfriend would like Calabrese’s music too (plus!)  Also, they have webisodes!

This might not be the funniest of the webisodes but I like it because they go to Italy and they take their dad with them and they all eat gelato and it is sort of adorable.  I don’t like that they say their name with an American accent, and not the appropriate Calabray-seh.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

So here are the talking points for Calabrese (pronounced like an American would say it, sigh):

-Composed of three brothers with a penchant for leather jackets.

-Punkish-style band that sings about horror tropes.

-Webisodes with antics.

I’ll also score these bands on the very scientific two thumbs up (I’d totally see them at Dragon*Con!), one thumb up (Maybe I’d see them if my feet hurt and I needed somewhere to relax for a bit but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them), no thumbs up (which band is this again?) and two thumbs down (ABSOLUTELY NOT).

Let’s give Calabrese a two thumbs up!  I can dig it.

OH ALSO: Their website has an ouija board.  It isn’t currently functional but still, an ouija board!  Rock on.

A few observations while watching Independence Day

· 1 Comment ·

Watching Independence Day on the days surrounding July 4th is a patriotic duty.  It is as important as eating hot dogs and watching fireworks. This week, while watching ID4 on AMC, with fantastic spoiler-y clips of previous seasons of Breaking Bad interspersed throughout the commercial breaks (July 15th!  So soon!), I had a few important thoughts.

Cover of "Independence Day (Single Disc W...
Cover via Amazon

Jeff Goldblum‘s scoop-neck wife beater, for instance, is a work of beauty.  As is his hilarious, mid-90s necklace.  I actually think this role edges out Ian Malcolm in terms of Goldblum’s best roles.  Goldblum really has the stammery, nerdy, awkward yet sexy Jewish (but not practicing!) mensch thing down in this movie.

That hideous dolphin ring that Will Smith gets to propose to Vivica Fox, who plays his stripper girlfriend, is such a disaster but so real.  That is totally what a guy would get to propose to his stripper girlfriend.  Truest part of the movie, right there.

The alien mother ship looks like a horseshoe crab WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE A HORSESHOE CRAB.

Excellent supporting jobs by President Roslin, Jayne, Blair Waldorf‘s mom, and Data.  Seriously it is like a little sci-fi club up in here (except for Blair Waldorf’s mom but, whatever).  Oh, also, HARRY CONNICK JR.

I love the sequence where the Americans are Morse-coding everyone, and we go around the world, and we see that shot of the Israelis and the palestinians fighting on the same side, because nothing brings people together like a COMMON INTERGALACTIC ENEMY y’all.  Remember when the Romulans joined forces with the Federation to fight the Dominion?  POINT MADE.

So what are the nations of the world going to do with these broken, burning, giant metal saucers now, huh?

Things to consider when you watch ID4 this Independence Day.  I hope y’all have a great 4th of July!  Watch out for the aliens.