I'm a slayer, ask me how.

This weekend was exhausting but so much fun - our 4th Library Comic Con!



We started the day off with a preschool storytime with HEROES! This was our first time doing this, trying to have something for the littles. I dressed up in the Princess Leia Torrid dress (which I meant to get accessories for but never found the time). We also had cosplayers as Spider-man and Wonder Woman. And we invited a real life hero from the base around the corner, a U.S. Sailor. They all helped us sing silly songs and dance around. I think it went well, considering we were mostly winging it! The kids were thrilled, I think we had about 50 younglings in there.

After that, I did a quick changes to jeans and a t-shirt because I was sweating through my dress (Torrid was smart and put layers so nothing peeked through the all white outfit BUT that made it really heavy). Then I helped with the costume contest entrants and then with the parade.

I WAS SO WIPED! By 5 I was ready to pass out and sleep forever.

Anyway, if you want to see my Spider-man friend goofing off in the library (we got permission from the branch manager for him to climb the furniture this time) and the adorable costume contest winners, you can see more photos here

How do we tell the director/producers of iZombie that Major should keep his facial hair? Because WOW! I'm usually no into beards and such but this hipster beard and glasses combo definitely does it for me.

This may be the best thing to come out of Comic-Con this weekend. :-) I might actually pay to watch it LOL. <3 <3 <3

Omg he's kind of adorable and creepy all at the same time.



Anyone going to SDCC wanna help me out?

Here it comes...Convention season is about to hit full swing and I don't have a single one on my calendar.

I mean, I've been to SDCC, I *know* it's a crazy insane wilderness where half the stuff you see covered online are things that you, as a normal person, would never be able to gain access to anyway. But still...once those tweets and blog posts start showing up, I'm going to be like "OH I WANT TO BE THERE"

Or at least somewhere like it.

Not going to Dragon*Con this year either. I'm hoping that we can make that an every-other-year event. The only person I'm really sad I won't get to meet is Amy Acker but I'm crossing my fingers that, like most of the guests, she has so much fun she comes back for more D*C in the future.

I might try to go to Baltimore Comic-Con or Shore Leave but those Cons are so tiny and I tend to go to these things to meet the celebrities and hear them talk and neither of them have anyone I'm rabid over right now. But still, it might make a fun outting on a Saturday.

I've posted this before but it's still important to mention...

once, I completely freaked out while talking to Joss Whedon, so he kissed me on the cheek, gave me a hug and then took a photo with me.



You can read about the epic day here.

Dammit, I've been to SDCC, I know how insane it is and how you spend more time standing in line to see a 45 minute panel than you do in the panel (and you have to choose between seeing one panel over 4 others because of the standing in line-ness) but all these damn tweets and tumblr posts are getting me excited for SDCC again!

I think I just have Con fever...wish it was closer to September. DRAGON*CON IS THE BEST CON EVAR!

Finished up Season 3 of Venture Bros. tonight. Only one season left. NO IDEA what the heck is going to happen. But I never do with that show, it's the most randomest of shows.

Been listening to Overexposed, the new Maroon 5 CD, while driving to work. It's okay, but Hands All Over was better and it's not as good as the first two. I swear, two of the songs sound EXACTLY the same and they are BACK TO BACK! "Lady Killer" and "Fortune Teller" - how did they not hear this????? Also, Adam Levine sounds like Lady Gaga in "Tickets". It def. is the most poppy album ever, and I understand what they meant by that now. I think "Man Who Never Lied", "Lucky Strike" and "Beautiful Goodbye" are my favorites from the album.

I was also thinking how silly "Payphone" is for even existing. I mean, ARE there any payphones anymore??? Shouldn't it be called "cellphone" and instead of the "change" wasted it should be like "minutes" or "data" or something. I dunno, I was just amused by that because every time I see a payphone now I feel like I've found some exotic animal and I want to take a photo to document it's existence.

You know what album really surprised me? The new John Mayer CD. I really liked it a lot. Of course, I barely listened to Battle Studies because...well, it was terrible. I feel like Born and Raised, while not his best, sounds more like the John Mayer I used to drive 4 hours to see (okay, that was sort of a mistake...I didn't realize how far away Pittsburgh was...who knew Pennsylvania was so fucking WIDE!???) But the guitar sounds good, John's vocals are strong, and the songs are clearly personal but not personalized to the ponit of being difficult to identify with (which was my issue with Battle Studies, it felt too specific, like an airing of grievances set to music).

Wow, this turned in to a music post, huh? I bought the Kimbra CD on a whim but really have not given it the attention it deserves. I really like her voice, but I tend to only listen to "Settle Down" then I start doing something else and then the album is over. I will make a point to listen to that one in the car next. Captive audience.

Hm...it's already midnight and I wanted to get a few rounds of Jetpack Joyride in before bedtime. (seriously, that game is addictive fun. It is my current "one. more. turn." game. AND IT'S FREE!)

Went with andy_wolverton to the Balitmore Comic Con yesterday. It's a little con, pretty much 100% comics fandom but a fun way to spend the day -- and a great place to test run a costume!

I actually wasn't planning on going as Fray because my hairspray estimated delivery date was for this coming Tuesday, but the USPS surprised me and got the box to my desk on Friday! So I came home and did a test spray one one spot of my hair just to see and it took pretty well. So I hastily (perhaps too hastily?) started slashing at my purple tank top to make it look more like Fray's outfit and put the finishing touches on my slayer scythe. When I woke up, I tied my hair back in a ponytail, threw a towel over my shoulders and held a washcloth over my face, then attempted to spray my hair black. Then I tried to stick the purple hair extensions in there and voila - Fray!

(It will be SO much easier to do when I've got faeriesfolly and maybedeadcat there to find the spots I missed (like the entire back of my head UNDER the ponytail...whoops!)

Considering this is my first costume that didn't just come out of a box, I was really happy with how it turned out and even happier with the response from people at the Con! I mean, people ACTUALLY ASKED TO TAKE PICTURES WITH ME! So crazy, I mean, WOW! The scythe got so many comments, even one from a guy at a booth who said he used to work for Palisades and helped with the official prop replica version. :-D

My favorite moment of the day was stumbling upon Laura Lee Gulledge, an artist from NYC who just published a graphic novel for young adults that I happened to read a few weeks before and LOVED! She was so nice! And she recognized my outfit and asked to take a picture with me!!! And, only a moment afterwards, a lady tapped me on the shoulder wearing her Sunnydale High t-shirt and asked to take a picture with me!!!!

(I went back to Laura Lee's booth and bought an original piece of art by her. This has me thinking that jackieocean needs to start going to Cons and setting up a table because her art is just as amazing and I think more people need to see it! Maybe we shoudl kidnap her for next year's Dragon*Con...)

I was very good and set a monetary limit on the day since I know I will be spending oodles of $$$ at Dragon*Con in a couple weeks. But I could not resist a Super Girl glass! And, of course, I went and fangirled at Jo Chen because I just ADORE her art style. I had her sign my Buffy hardcover season 1 collection, and I will probably take it with me to D*C and get Georges Jeanty to sign it as well.

So - things I need/have to tweak before Dragon*Con:
- small hoop earrings simontrueheart said he would let me borrow a pair
- purple/black lipstick
- purple nail polish
- modify my tank top so the shirt is higher up and the sides not so baggy and figure out a way to keep the hole I cut in the front from falling open and showing a bit more than I ever would want to!
- see if faeriesfolly would be willing to draw the hazmat tattoo on my arm that I just noticed Fray has!!!

Joss posted on Whedonesque about being misquoted by the New York Times. They asked him and JJ about 3D stuff - oddly enough, I was with JJ that it feels like a fad. Joss was more excited about it, saying he would love to use it, when appropriate. He mentioned that Cabin in the Woods would not be in 3D and said that would be the crux of it's marketing - IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE IN 2D!!!! WATCH AS THINGS MOVE ACROSS THE SCREEN!!!!!!

No mention of a girl freaking out during the Dollhouse autograph session ;-) If I was on Whedonesque, I would totally post a link to my photo in the comments.

My friend Jeff posted some of his pictures from SDCC. He was better at taking photos of the booths and stuff.

And my friend andy_wolverton gave me a check for the Comic-Con goodies I brought back for him and now I can't find it!!!! BLURGH! I remember him handing it to me...and I put it...somewhere...*sigh* Now I'm worried it's in a library book that I returned or something. I'll keep searching though.

Ack, I need to type up the rest of my Comic-Con adventures! Karen asked me about it at work today and I had so many "uuuuuh" moments I began to panic. And in the immortal words of Henry Jones Sr. - I wrote it down so I wouldn't have to remember!

Or, in this case, I blogged about it. :-)

I forgot part of Friday's story - while I was leaving the hotel to meet up with the group for dinner that night, I walked past the elevators and saw two people that seemed oddly familiar. A skinny girl with beautiful dark hair and a sort of scruffy dude with his hat pulled down. As I got closer, my brain finally figured it out - it was Maurissa Tancharoen and Zack Whedon! HOLY FRAK! I totally spazzed, waving like crazy as they went to the elevator. I wasn't sure what I was allowed to do so I just sorta went "OMG YOU GUYS! I LOVE YOU GUYS! SO MUCH LOVE!" and did weird hand gestures then spazzed my way back out to the street. As I walked up the road to the restaurant, my normal brain caught up to my fangirl brain. I pulled out my iPhone and tweeted: "@MoTancharoen sorry for fingerling [oh iPhone, stop HELPING ME! That should have said "Fangirling"...how embarassing] at you guys by the elevators! But seriously - <3!!!!"

After dinner, walking back to the hotel, I checked Twitter again, and there was a reply from Maurissa: @orangerful next time we shall high five. My little fangirl (fingerl?) heart was all aflutter.

SATURDAY - an epic tale of epicness.

So, before going to SDCC, I had many things on my to-do list for Saturday. The Chuck panel, the MTV Games (Rock Band) panel...but after surviving my first two days, I realized that I would have to prioritize. And I decided that above all I NEEDED to get the Community cast autographs. I B-lined it for the network booth (sidenote: one of the most disturbing things about Comic-Con was realizing that EVERYTHING we watch it owned by about 3 corporations. I think I knew this all along, but actually seeing it on the floor - with Big Bang Theory and Dexter stuck to the SAME BOOTH - it was just unnerving). I got to the booth and asked the man standing there if they were handing out tickets for the Community cast signing. He heaved a heavy sigh and said "no", as though he could sense the chaos that would arise because of this. I asked him if they were starting a line. He said no, they couldn't do that because they would be in the way since the booth was in the center of the floor. The signing was scheduled for noon, he told me to come back at 11:30. I refrained from rolling my eyes back at him (because the people who wanted to get the Chuck cast autographs for a signing at noon were already queuing up at the WB/NBC/CW/WE RULE YOU booth.

So, I decided I would circle like a vulture until noon. I looked at my notes and saw that Drew Struzan would be signing around 11am at AA19. I walked over to Artists' Alley and found table AA19 and noticed that Struzan's name was not stuck to the front of it. Well, it was only 9:30, perhaps I was too early. So I meandered through the exhibit hall, checking out the merchants fine goods and services. Circled back to AA19 around 10:15...nothing....10:30...nope...finally, I saw a woman walking around with the same postcard as me, looking for the area. She approached one of the volunteers and asked them. Eventually he said "OH - that's upstairs in the Autograph Area". I decided I would make a break for it, but by the time I got to the REAL AA19, the line was HUGE. And there was no way I was going to miss the Community autographs. Sorry Drew - nice book though!

Back down to the land of booths, back to the SONY booth. There was no line but there was an odd cluster. The someone helping the SONY rep pulled out a stack of Community posters and people began to push forward. The Rep said "NO!" and yanked the posters back under the table. I asked if there was a line forming and was told again that, no they can't start a line yet, it's too early. But, he said sort of gesturing, there are people around. I walked over to the "gathering" nearby and asked if this was the not-a-line for Community. They said yes and we all stood around talking. Eventually the SONY Security guy came by and told us all to form a line against the booth and they brought out tape to mark off where we should be. It took a few minutes but we managed to smoosh down into single file. This was about 11:15. The security guy guarded the line, only letting in people that he remembered telling to walk away earlier in the day. Around 11:30, Chevy Chase came out from the back and waved to the crowd. EVERYONE Near the booth started snapping photos. Even more began to wait to see who would come out next. This, of course, was clogging up the entire exhibit hall floor so soon security was there, trying to make everyone move after they snapped their one photo. Those of us in line smooshed even more into the booth.

FINALLY around 11:45, the ENTIRE cast came out to cheers. They handed everyone in line posters, which feature the cover of the 'Community' DVD boxed set and we all got to meet the cast very quickly as they scribbled their names on their character's faces. Joel was very nice, I told him I LOVED the show. Chevy was in character, being cluesless. It took me a moment to catch on, but I played around with him once I did (He asked what "that thing on my wrist" was. I had my camera strapped there. I told him it was a "digital camera" and that it was used to steal his soul). Danny Pudi was next, I told him Community was the ONLY show I watched in real-time. He gave me a high-five and Joel yelled out "OUR ONE LIVE VIEWER!!!". I told Donald Glover that, for me, Community was on the same level as Arrested Development and he said that was a real compliment because he loves that show. Yvette is exactly like her character, you just want to hug her because she's so sweet. And Alison even signs her name with a little heart. I think I might have told her I loved her....but ANYWAY!!!!!!!! I HAVE A POSTER WITH ALL THEIR AUTOGRAPHS!!!!!!!

I was so happy with my catch of the day, but I had to STAY FOCUSED! I was on a very tight schedule! Next up, the Guild cast signing. Felicia had tweeted that they would be at the booth fro 11-1 before their 2pm panel. First, I walked in completely the wrong direction because I was admiring my poster of autographs. Then I turned myself around and found The Guild booth. EVERYONE was there! A sign said "$20/3 items. I went through my folder and pulled out my 'Date my Avatar' photo I had Felicia sign at Dragon*Con, Season 3 DVD slip sleeve, and #1 of The Guild comic. I made my way to the front of the line, chatting with two very nice Guild fans in front of me. When it was my turn, I handed their handler the $20 and he gave me another photo. I told him I already had 3 items and he smiled at me and said "Rules are only made for people who follow them" and he slipped the extra photo into my to-be-signed pile (and this photo is now destertale's birthday present!). The whole cast was all smiles. Sandeep said he would be going to Dragon*Con this year - so be ready jellibean! Felicia complimented my necklace (I had on my pink necklace that Jason Palmer's wife sold to me at Dragon*Con). I got a picture with the whole group too because when the heck would this happen again???

( wall of text but it ends on a very high note - plus $5 off Community DVD! )