NOT a Fanime

Hey friends!! So did you think I was done writing? HAYL NAW!!! I'm sorry, school has taken over my life. But it's the last day of my Christmas break and I thought I'd take the time to write something I've been thinking about these past few months.

So before school got really crazy, I was going to write about anime. Don't get excited, I was actually going to write a hate post on how much anime enrages me. But as I was trying to come up with reasons behind my hatred, I discovered that anime isn't much different than any other geeky hobby. In fact, I don't really know why it pisses me off so much. At first I was like, "They have stupid costumes!!" but then I thought:



This is just one example of hundreds of terrible original costume designs.


Loving the nipple spikes.


This costume is a total rip off of Ultimate Warrior.



Coneheads?


Epic group costume!

I'm sure there's worse superhero costumes out there, and I CHALLENGE YOU to find them! So then I thought, "Anime objectifies women." but I think we all know where I'm going with this.

Oh, there's so many more of Tarot, I had a hard time picking just one.


Poison Ivy seems to have lost her clothes in some biological warfare experiment.


I have a sneaking suspicion that a chain mail bikini is highly ineffective... and painful.


Wow. Vicki, that's not very lady like. I can say, without a doubt, I never once took "Man of Steel" in that direction.


Diana (Wonder Woman) seems to be presenting.

So my own logic was used against me and the result had me stunned into silence... I didn't like that. I don't want to be a hypocrite, and I'm sure there's some Anime out there that I would really enjoy. I've already been exposed to some as a child, (i.e. Sailor Moon,) and I like some anime inspired videos games (i.e. Tekken). In fact I just finished the six volumes of "Scott Pilgrim", and I've been told that this art is anime inspired as well.

Ok, I've come to the conclusion that I need to calm down my blind hatred towards anime. But I still don't like it and I'll calmly explain to you why. It all started when I was in elementary school. (Sorry in advance to any of the girls from my public school who read this.) I don't know who started it or why, but it became the norm for the girls in my class to draw anime eyes. You know what I'm talking about...

AHHH!!! Yeah. That. And to them, because they could draw these eyes, they were now ARTISTS!! "Look at how good I am drawing! WOW!! I'm awesome!" No. No you're not. Anybody can draw those stupid Anime eyes, shut up, you suck at drawing!!!!

... Sorry, 12 years of pent up frustration and an innumerable amount of witnessed anime eye drawing just came spewing out. So there's the stem of my hatred. Next is some of the stupid clothes and accessories that actual human beings can wear on a daily basis.

With the cat toques that I see people wearing on a fairly regular basis, I would just like to say the term "cute" should be reserved for babies and small children, not fully grown adults with a case of paraphilic infantilism. If you don't know what that term means, look it up, cause that right there was a critical condition, 3rd degree, "Oh my God, it's excrutiating! JUST KILL ME!!!"

Here's a visual aid to explain my meaning.

Aww, what a cutie!

Dumb.

Tee hee! I want one for my baby.

Not sure, but I think this could be the same hat as that last baby.

Hilariously adorable!

Listen, I completely understand the attraction. I really like my Black Cat costume, but you don't see me wearing a white whig and mask to work. And yes, comic geeks and some gamers wear t-shirts with their favorite heroes or games on them, but they're still t-shirts, not... well... this:

My final reason for hating anime is the music and the dancing, and the dancing to the music. The music is loud, fast and squeaky. The dancing is childish, and yet, it seems that every fanime knows some of the dances, so when a dance party breaks out, they can join right in. Lucky for Rob and I, we were witnesses to one of these events at Fan Expo. Also, lucky for us, we were stuck in a line and could not escape. It looked something like this.

I'm sorry if my opinions may have offended you, it was not necessarily my intention. It is my truthful opinion however. One thing you may notice though is that none of my hates really have anything to do with Anime itself. So, if you're a fan and you know of some Anime-light that I might enjoy, I solemnly swear that I will give it a fair shot. But I'm telling you right now, there's not a single alternative dimension where you would find me wearing a cat hat or dancing "Lucky Star".

FAN EXPO 2010 - Day 3

Here we are, the finale of my Fan Expo weekend, and it only took me 5 weeks to write all of this *rolls eyes*. Again, I'm sorry for taking so long, but I haven't heard any complaints, so I guess you guys either understand or nobody's even reading this to begin with. That's ok, I'm too self-centered to quit, I like talking about myself! Onward and upward my friends!


Sunday was business as usual. This day was the most important, because Rob and I were ready to buy all the items we had been stalking for the past two days. We made sure we were up and out of the hotel early, so we didn't have the same problem as yesterday, but that was really a non-issue.


First thing on our list was to get Adam West's autograph. Funny thing, Rob whispered to me right before we went up that Adam will speak to me first. I asked him why and Rob explained that Adam West has always been a bit of a womanizer. Apparently, when he was filming Batman, he F'ed EVERYBODY (well obviously just the ladies, come on, it's Adam West we're talking about here). This was even funnier because it was Burt Ward (Robin) who had the package to be F'ing everyone, (which he did, come on, they don't call him "The Boy Wonder" for nothing.) His bulge must have been pretty distracting, because the network got all sorts of complaints from viewers. It got to a point where an onset doctor was prescibing Burt some special pills to shrink his package! ... I wonder what the long term side-effects of those drugs are. Anyways, at that point we were called up to the table and I had to stifle my lady giggles. Sure enough, Adam spoke to me first. I definitely see now why women in the 60s were throwing themselves at him. With his good looks and that voice, well, forget about it... But now that he's all old, he just comes off as a little creepy. I stayed quiet, for the most part, so Rob could have a moment to speak to one of his idols. Adam West even told him, "You have a great sense of humour." Rob was ecstatic, and his giddiness was quite adorable.




We ran into this Lara Croft after meeting Adam West.




Of course, Rob had to step in.

So now we were onto the shopping portion of our day. This was upsetting, to say the least. Take it from me, if you are buying something at this convention DO NOT wait until Sunday. I thought that since it's the last day and the least amount of stock the vendors had to carry, the better, all the vendors would be more willing to barter. Not only did most of the vendors no longer have what I was looking for, they didn't care if they sold it or not! I was dead set on getting a statuette that weekend, but when I had trouble finding ones that I liked, and vendors weren't willing to go down in their prices, I gave up. A piece of advice to those who are looking to buy ANY fan memorabilia, do your research BEFORE you go to the expo. There are A LOT of extortionists. In the end, I bought two trade paper backs, (Promethea - Book 5 and Scott Pilgrim - Book 1,) two t-shirts, (Blue Sun and TMNT,) a print poster for a production of "Tosca", (the opera).

and another print poster of the DC heroine Batgirl by Laurie B.

As a final conclusion to this weekend, I was impressed and disappointed, I had fun but it wasn't exactly the weekend I was hoping for. This doesn't mean I didn't have a good time, but I think some things need to change to make the convention more enjoyable for everyone. There are already some changes being made, but I guess we'll have to wait and see next summer if it was enough. Again, I had a great time, and one thing's for sure, I would never have had such an enjoyable weekend, if it wasn't for the love of my life, Rob.

Happy 3 Years My Love!

FAN EXPO 2010 - Day 2

Well that whole "I'm going to write a post per day" didn't work out. Ugh, I think I was actually writing more often when I DIDN'T have anything to do. Strange, ever since I've started being productive, this whole blog has been put on the back burner (I'm real sorry about that, but I'm still thinking of you... whoever's reading this.)


Ok, so without any more excuses I'll move on to day 2 of my Fan Expo weekend. Let me just start off by saying it was a mess. Rob and I began our morning at 10am. I had been thinking all of Friday night, "I don't want to go home tomorrow. I don't want to carry around our bags all day while we're at the convention." SO I started making phone calls and found us a room at the Royal York. It was super cheap! Rob and I got ready and headed down to our new hotel, got ourselves checked-in and went up to the room (which was super cute by the way, although not nearly as nice of a view as our other hotel, but I digress). We got into costume, and we were on our way to the convention at about 12 - 12:30. As we're walking up to the re-entry doors, Rob and I comment on how big the line-up is to purchase tickets. It was about as long as our line-up yesterday, when we were waiting to get our Deluxe Passes. That's when Rob notices these people aren't waiting to purchase tickets, they all have their Deluxe Passes and they're waiting to get back in! Let's just say it didn't take us long to agree that we were NOT waiting in that line. We decide to try and sneak through the Intercontinental's entrance, (yeah, we're sneaky like that,) and sure enough, it works! "We're in! We're home free! HAHA SO LONG B*&#^ES!! Have fun waiting OUTSI.... Holy Sh**!" And that's when we saw the madness at the escalator. It was a huge mass of people waiting to get upstairs... but no one was being let upstairs. No one was being let DOWNSTAIRS. Again, it didn't take long for us to decide we are NOT waiting in that mass of people. But how the "F" do we get inside? We looked for other escalators, other stairs, other doorways, and that's when we found "The Elevator". I swear, rays of sunlight beamed down and I could hear a chorus of angels singing from the heavens. This was it, we're getting in, we're GENIUSES!! (Genii?) Now, it's quite possible that before we got to the second floor, this guard was completely clueless to what was happening and was letting people through, but Rob and I have a knack for getting to places right at the exact moment of the "wrong time". This particular "wrong time" was right when the security manager showed up, as Rob and I were about to enter. He informed us and the security guard that NO ONE is getting in through this door, and that he's sending men down to guard the elevators.

"Ok. New plan: We go outside, get some lunch and... I dunno what the hell we're gonna do, but I'm starving." So we got some street meat, walked up and down the line a bit and decided this was a joke and not worth wasting our day on. We headed back to the hotel, watched some tv, put on some civilian clothing, went down to the internet room, wrote a hateful message to FanExpo and went to Busker Fest. Aside from the fact that this was not the kind of day Rob and I were planning, the mass of people in the city, and the scorching heat, Rob and I ended up having a pretty good day. At this point it's 5:30 and Rob and I thought we'd get into costume and try the convention again. The line was gone, the mass at the escalator had all cleared, and we were in by 6pm. We basically spent the next 2 hours walking around, getting a few photos ops, nothing special.



We did, however, go back to see Felicia Day and show off our costumes. She was impressed, but she confirmed my suspicions; Rob looks nothing like Nathan Fillion.


Overall, we had a good day, but were disappointed that it wasn't the day we had planned on. I think Rob was more upset than I was, most especially because they had oversold the convention, but were still selling day passes when the convention was already over maximum capacity. It was a complete cash grab. However, they did keep the convention open an extra hour that night. I know, "Whooptey f&*%ing Doo!" right? They've also booked the bigger convention hall for next year, but I have my doubts that it's going to be big enough.


On the plus side, I'd just like to say how impressed I was with how well Rob and I held it together. It was hot and crowded, and we were both upset with how our day was going, but we never turned against each other. Isn't it strange when a couple is actually caring and supportive of each other? Especially an immature (youthful) couple like us!

FAN EXPO 2010 - Day 1

Hello fellow geeks!! Miss me?

Sorry this took so long! School started and I've been super busy, so I don't know if this is even relevant anymore, but I thought I better get this posted before its been a month since the FanExpo. So, without further ado, here's Day 1 of FanExpo!

I'd like to start off by saying that I had a BLAST!!! My feet and knees hurt for about a week afterward, I was sweating so bad I had to make sure I washed every single article of clothing in my suitcase, we stood in 3 hour lines, the food was terrible, I developed a fear of cramped spaces, I saw things I'll never be able to get out of my head.... it's like Christmas! (Ok, my Christmases aren't that dysfunctional, but you get my point.) This year was especially disturbing as there were even more geeks, nerds and trolls than ever before! This meant, more costumes, more weirdos, more people to make fun of (I know, I'm a b*!@$,) and unfortunately, more people in general.

Now before I begin my little rant, I would like to take this time to state for the record that this weekend wasn't bad in the least bit. Rob and I had a wonderful time together, with a few minor, but terribly annoying, setbacks.

Rob and I started our weekend Friday morning. We got up relatively early, (for us,) took the train to Union Station and checked into the Intercontinental... that's right, the Intercontinental! Check out the view from our hotel room!!

It was pretty "suite" buHA! So Rob and I got settled in and decided to head down at about 1pm to line up. This brings us to our first hurdle. Rob and I pre-purchased the Deluxe Pass. What that means is that not only does it get us into the convention for the whole weekend, but we also get in on the Friday a full 2 hours before the standard ticket holders (@ 2pm). Instead, Rob and I waited in line a full 3 hours before we finally entered the convention... yeah. Here's a couple pictures a friend of mine took of that line.

Notice how you cannot see either end of that line. That's because it wraps around the building on 3 sides! You see, what the geniuses at Fan Expo don't understand, is the concept of "mail pre-purchased tickets to the buyer, so the buyer doesn't have to stand in line to get said ticket." I get that they're trying crack down on fraud and whatever. Also, instead of a ticket, you get an armband you have to wear for the entire weekend, which, I might add, was the most annoying piece of jewelry I've ever had to wear, plus I scratched Rob with it like 4 times, PLUS it didn't go with my costume :( . I don't know if mailing tickets would actually help, but all I know is that there's gotta be a better, faster, more efficient way of getting fans into the convention in a timely manner.

Although there was a plus side to standing in that line for 3 hours. Rob and I were entertained (and slightly annoyed) by an eccentric character standing behind us in line. He never shut up. He sang songs that he didn't know the words to, but did that stop him? Hell no! He made up his own God damn lyrics! He made ridiculously obvious observations. For example, Rob was wearing his Batmobile t-shirt so he could be ready to face the original Batmobile in all it's glory. This guy saw the shirt, pointed it out to his friend and whispered, "Hey, that guy's wearing a Batmobile shirt... and the Batmobile is here at the convention this year! That's a funny coincidence. What are the odds, eh?" He wasn't joking. Finally, as we were almost at the entrance of the convention, a volunteer was handing out itunes gift cards for 6 free episodes of "Dr. Who". Our friend behind us read from the card "6 free epsiodes of Dr. Who..." He immediately turned to the volunteer, "Do we get 6 free episodes of Dr. Who with this card?" Yeah, Rob and I couldn't contain ourselves anymore.

Finally, once we were past that ridiculous line-up, we were free and ended up having a great time. We were so inspired by all the costumes that we headed back up to our hotel room and got into costume.

And if you're asking yourselves "Hey! Is that the fertility idol from Indiana Jones?!" You're damn straight that's the fertility idol from Indiana Jones!! "But Christina that belongs in a museum!" Hell no it doesn't. It belongs with the two most awesome video game tomb raiders of all time!

I didn't buy much on the first day. Mostly I just priced out what I wanted to get later, (I think that might have been a big mistake, but I'll be getting to that.) I did get to meet Felicia Day, and also got her to sign my first issue of "The Guild"! She was awesome, she also asked us to come back and see her on the Saturday, cause she wanted to see our costumes. Rob and I also got into the Batmobile! (Picture to come.) I also bought the fifth book (Phil, correct me if I'm wrong) of "The Book of Methuselah". The writer is my bf's brother-in-law, Phil McClorey. He's an incredibly talented writer, with very original content and has a real passion for comics in general. I'll post the link to his website, he's got some of his works up, so check it out! http://www.furiouscomics.com/

And that's my first day at FanExpo! I promise I'll have these posts up, hopefully, one day after another. I wanna get this done so I can move onto some other topics I've been thinking about.

Revenge of the Gamer Chicks!

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while. This has been my only month off from school, so I've been super busy with fun adventures. FanExpo is next weekend, so I will most likely have a million stories to tell. In the meantime, here's a vid for all my gamer chicks... Just do me a favour and ignore the fact that it says XBox.

GIRL-ON-GIRL ... (descrimination)

Well I didn't have to wait until FanExpo for some more stereotyping. This time it was at an EB Games store and the accused was another female. *Sigh* I never thought it would come to this.

So this incident actually took place before Rob's birthday, but after the Comic Con: Fan Appreciation event. I walk into EB Games hoping to find a used copy of Dragon Age: The Awakening. A girl my age was running the store and a male mall cop was there chatting with her, (awesome security in this place.) She helped me find the one and only copy (Hazzah!!!) We all started talking about how awesome Dragon Age is, and I throw down language like, "I'm surprised this game isn't an MMORPG." She got to the counter and I got out my Edge card, BAM 10% off used items and you gotta PAY a membership fee for that bad boy. She rang me up, asked if I wanted a 2 year warranty and I said sure. She asked if there's anything else.

Me - "No, but do you have any listings for upcoming game releases?"
Girl - "No. sorry, we don't."
Me - "That sucks, my boyfriend's birthday is coming up. I wanted to check and see if there's any gift ideas for him."
Girl - "Oh that's too bad, but it's a great idea that you're getting him the warranty on this game."
Me - " ..... Oh no. This game is for ME."

She then put her head in her hands and slumped her shoulders in shame. When she looked up, she had, what I'm assuming, was a look of regret on her face. She must have known I had just caught her stereotyping me. She apologized profusely, but the damage was already done. I couldn't believe that after the conversation we had just had, the gamer language I had just used and the Edge card I had just pulled out, didn't clue her into the fact that I PLAY VIDEO GAMES!!! Ugh, I knew I was probably going to have to live with this for the rest of my life. I just never thought I would get it from both men and women ... said the lady.

Taking the Next Step

A few weeks ago, I posted "Why I Bother". This is a continuation of that post.

If you’ve accepted your boyfriend for who he is, maybe it’s time to take it a step further: Getting involved. I know this is going to seem intimidating at first, but it could be a lot of fun, and you getting involved can score some major brownie points with your significant other.

For all the women of comic geeks, ask your loved one for his opinion on what to start you off with. Believe me, if you've ever been to a comic store, you'll know just how overwhelming it can be to pick out your own comic. The subject matter shouldn't be a problem because there are so many topics to choose from. I guarantee there is something you're going to like. I also recommend that you ask him to start you off with just an issue, (this is a small, thin, magazine-looking thing,) it's a quick read, 30 mins. tops and you can decide quickly if you're interested in continuing.

Playing your boyfriend’s video games can be a little tricky. Guaranteed your boyfriend is going to laugh at you, especially if this is one of your first times picking up a controller. Now, once he's able to contain himself, one of two scenarios is going to take place. He’s either going to get frustrated that you’re taking away his console for your stupid “girl games”, or he’ll be so ecstatic that you’re getting involved, he’ll want to show you how everything works, (still be prepared for uncontrollable snickering and patronizing comments.) Ask him what’s a fun and easy game to start with. Or better yet, get a split screen, multiplayer game and you two can play together. Rob and I have had successes and failings when we’ve played together. Most times we’ve had a lot of fun and I just brush off some of the snooty comments. Other times, we can’t get in sync and we end up frustrated and angry at each other. So far, in my books, the best game we’ve ever played together was “Stubbs the Zombie”. Ignoring the fact that it's for Xbox, it's a fun zombie game where YOU get to play the part of the zombie. I recommend this one if you’re just starting out, it’s fun and the controls are simple and easy to learn.

If you even want to take it a step further, conventions are where its at. Yes, you will be bored, there will be some funky smells and you may get scared. Just make sure you stay close to your boyfriend. Don’t worry, most of those nerd trolls won't talk to you anyway. They barely get any sort of social interaction and women, in general, terrify them. The up side to going to these conventions is that you will see just how good your boyfriend is, in comparison to these animals. Also, if you go to a convention and are patient and kind and don’t complain, your boyfriend will owe you huge. He will also hold the bragging rights with his friends to you being the coolest of all girlfriends just for attending one of these shindigs.

So go out there, find your inner geek and let it loose. It may be silly to you, but just remember, you participating in these things will mean so much to your significant other.. and he'll owe you big time! Can you say "free back massages for a week"? Have fun you two!