Good times.
So my Bay Area trip was pretty darn great. Let me tell you about it!
I stayed with some old friends, and they have two cats, which wreaked havoc on my allergies, but this guy made up for it:
Nigel, the friendliest cat in the world, seen here usurping my bed. Oh, and that's The Prestige next to him, which I finished, at long last. I wish I had read it before the movie, but oh well. It's still quite interesting, although very, very strange at the end, and it's a remarkable feat of convoluted narrative.
Did I mention that I got to meet alexds1? Yes, me and my sister, finally together! So cool. We went to Chinatown and wandered around, poking at the random stuff and making fun of most of it. This one store was half otaku junk and half generic Chinese crap. Literally, the store was divided in half... it was weird. But it had a kinda hilarious name:
We also met up a second time and I saw Chilly (who really is just absurdly cute) and we drew things and plotted stuff and it was totally awesome. Omg, my first time meeting an internet person in real life! I'm still astounded that it actually happened.
I also hung out with mangoteacosy and asthmaticbrahma. We went to a party of library peoples; missviolyn and epistemophilia3 where there, among others! There was Wii craziness and Canadian chocolate. Also, Stuart's collection of porcelain baby-faced bear dolls:
WHAT THE HECK.
That was in Santa Cruz, and then we went back to Berkeley for continued adventures. My kind hosts showed me a truly lovely time, providing excellent tea and highly erudite conversation. We wandered around, taking in such sights as:
This bewilderingly random shack across the street. Apparently, it's always closed but there's often classical music blaring from it. You can't see in this photo, but the doorknob is clear purple glass, and looks quite incongruous. But then, the whole thing is most curious, and makes me think of some kinda magical traveling shop.
And this:
It looks like nothing more than an awkwardly remodeled house. But the more one stares at it, the less sense it makes. The spacial arrangement just seems wrong, and the architecture becomes increasingly unnatural. It's very Lovecraftian.
Oh, and here's the obligatory artsy/pretty shot:
The sky was overcast, a pearly gray, and the white blossoms against the dim muted light was rather nice.
We went to Dark Carnival, which is basically a bookstore specially tailored for geeks like me. The shop is a showcase of gloriously organized chaos, and everything is delightfully nerdy and sinister. My favorite part was this particular bit of category arrangement:
In case you can't quite read the signs, that's "SEX" and "DEATH" right next to each other. Niiiiiice.
I picked up Perdido Street Station, at MTC's recommendation. It's been ages since I bought a book new and not online, so it almost felt like a transgressive action. But anyway, I started reading it, and it's an utterly fascinating book. The writing is a bit dense, but there's so much I deeply love about it already.
We also enjoyed some very fine entertainment, much of it allowing me to catch up on things I've been dying to see for ages. I finally got to play God of War, which is ridiculously epic. Also finally got to see Hot Fuzz, which is absolutely brilliant. And also finally read Bookhunter, which is intensely excellent and the most hardboiled library detective story ever. Oh, and we also saw the Academy Award Nominated Shorts, which was mostly strange albeit very beautiful.
What else? I had my interview at FIDM, which I already talked about. I also met a friend-of-a-friend who works at a little animation studio. You may have heard of it? She's an art director, and she showed me around while we talked about things. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time with her, but it was still interesting. Since I had already visited the place during an SCFX trip a few years ago, I wasn't totally overwhelmed by being there, but it was close. It's completely nuts. I really can't handle how amazing everything is.
Then Nedaj and Jareph came up and we met at WonderCon. I was hyped up about the panel with Ben Templesmith and Rob Schrab and we got to see them, and oh man! I will be happy about this forever. The panel was ostensibly about games and movies and comics and the interactions thereof, but everyone was so dorky, it was fantastic. And later, I got to talk to them!
Rob Schrab, displaying his shiny head! I should've taken another picture of him actually looking at the camera, but whatever. Look, he's actually wearing the Heartbreaker shirt, ahaha. He was so nice and so funny. He also has an incredibly hilarious voice, all high-pitched and kinda loud. Man, if you guys haven't read Scud, what is wrong with you? It is the most insane and entertaining comic, seriously.
ben_templesmith, being a cheeky bugger! And writer Antony Johnston on the right, being otherwise engaged. Mr. Templesmith was terribly dapper in that brown pinstripe suit, and he's really rather good-looking when he's not pulling faces. Also, he was super nice! Oh geeze, it was so crazy meeting him. I love his art so much, and omg, Ben Templesmith.
After recovering from my bout of spaztastic fangirling, I met up with the eminent convictscorpion, which was great because he hadn't come to the library party earlier. We ate overpriced Mexican food (boo) and had a good time catching up (yay). For some reason, I was dumb and didn't take and photos at this point.
I really should have taken more photos at the con, as there was a lot of fabulous cosplay. I did take this shot, though:
Doctor Who and a dalek! That thing was unbelievably well-made; if I didn't know better, I'd think it was an actual prop. Although you can't see in this photo, the blue light is there and everything. Later, when this guy showed up in the Masquerade, the various limbs moved and K9 also appeared. Oh, and yes of course he had a glowy sonic screwdriver too.
Speaking of the Masquerade - we sat through the whole thing and it was an unforgettable experience! I have so much admiration for these people who make these elaborate costumes and go on stage and do skits and whatever. Some were truly impressive, some were almost painfully embarrassing, but it was all highly entertaining.
I also went to this panel that had the trailer (unfortunately, this has been removed from youtube, so no link here) for the new X-Files movie, holy crows. And Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, Gillian Anderson, and David Duchovny were all there. Now, I was never completely obsessed with the show or anything, but I was certainly into it and watched it a lot, so this was very cool for me. It was pretty interesting and funny listening to them talk, especially when dealing with questions from the audience. Gah, fans can be outrageous.
Anyway, I'd never been to this particular con before, but I liked it. Much more manageable than the brain-shattering madness that is Comic-Con. The panel lineup was a little dull, but maybe it was just an off-year. (And of course, the Templesmith-Schrab panel made up for everything.) I was pretty good and only bought four comics. And a sticker. Ironically, I didn't buy Popgun or Nextwave, but I'll get those at some point.
So yeah. That was a wonderful little holiday. Thanks to everyone who made it awesome; you guys are outstanding, and I'm so grateful for friends like you.
I stayed with some old friends, and they have two cats, which wreaked havoc on my allergies, but this guy made up for it:
Nigel, the friendliest cat in the world, seen here usurping my bed. Oh, and that's The Prestige next to him, which I finished, at long last. I wish I had read it before the movie, but oh well. It's still quite interesting, although very, very strange at the end, and it's a remarkable feat of convoluted narrative.
Did I mention that I got to meet alexds1? Yes, me and my sister, finally together! So cool. We went to Chinatown and wandered around, poking at the random stuff and making fun of most of it. This one store was half otaku junk and half generic Chinese crap. Literally, the store was divided in half... it was weird. But it had a kinda hilarious name:
We also met up a second time and I saw Chilly (who really is just absurdly cute) and we drew things and plotted stuff and it was totally awesome. Omg, my first time meeting an internet person in real life! I'm still astounded that it actually happened.
I also hung out with mangoteacosy and asthmaticbrahma. We went to a party of library peoples; missviolyn and epistemophilia3 where there, among others! There was Wii craziness and Canadian chocolate. Also, Stuart's collection of porcelain baby-faced bear dolls:
WHAT THE HECK.
That was in Santa Cruz, and then we went back to Berkeley for continued adventures. My kind hosts showed me a truly lovely time, providing excellent tea and highly erudite conversation. We wandered around, taking in such sights as:
This bewilderingly random shack across the street. Apparently, it's always closed but there's often classical music blaring from it. You can't see in this photo, but the doorknob is clear purple glass, and looks quite incongruous. But then, the whole thing is most curious, and makes me think of some kinda magical traveling shop.
And this:
It looks like nothing more than an awkwardly remodeled house. But the more one stares at it, the less sense it makes. The spacial arrangement just seems wrong, and the architecture becomes increasingly unnatural. It's very Lovecraftian.
Oh, and here's the obligatory artsy/pretty shot:
The sky was overcast, a pearly gray, and the white blossoms against the dim muted light was rather nice.
We went to Dark Carnival, which is basically a bookstore specially tailored for geeks like me. The shop is a showcase of gloriously organized chaos, and everything is delightfully nerdy and sinister. My favorite part was this particular bit of category arrangement:
In case you can't quite read the signs, that's "SEX" and "DEATH" right next to each other. Niiiiiice.
I picked up Perdido Street Station, at MTC's recommendation. It's been ages since I bought a book new and not online, so it almost felt like a transgressive action. But anyway, I started reading it, and it's an utterly fascinating book. The writing is a bit dense, but there's so much I deeply love about it already.
We also enjoyed some very fine entertainment, much of it allowing me to catch up on things I've been dying to see for ages. I finally got to play God of War, which is ridiculously epic. Also finally got to see Hot Fuzz, which is absolutely brilliant. And also finally read Bookhunter, which is intensely excellent and the most hardboiled library detective story ever. Oh, and we also saw the Academy Award Nominated Shorts, which was mostly strange albeit very beautiful.
What else? I had my interview at FIDM, which I already talked about. I also met a friend-of-a-friend who works at a little animation studio. You may have heard of it? She's an art director, and she showed me around while we talked about things. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time with her, but it was still interesting. Since I had already visited the place during an SCFX trip a few years ago, I wasn't totally overwhelmed by being there, but it was close. It's completely nuts. I really can't handle how amazing everything is.
Then Nedaj and Jareph came up and we met at WonderCon. I was hyped up about the panel with Ben Templesmith and Rob Schrab and we got to see them, and oh man! I will be happy about this forever. The panel was ostensibly about games and movies and comics and the interactions thereof, but everyone was so dorky, it was fantastic. And later, I got to talk to them!
Rob Schrab, displaying his shiny head! I should've taken another picture of him actually looking at the camera, but whatever. Look, he's actually wearing the Heartbreaker shirt, ahaha. He was so nice and so funny. He also has an incredibly hilarious voice, all high-pitched and kinda loud. Man, if you guys haven't read Scud, what is wrong with you? It is the most insane and entertaining comic, seriously.
ben_templesmith, being a cheeky bugger! And writer Antony Johnston on the right, being otherwise engaged. Mr. Templesmith was terribly dapper in that brown pinstripe suit, and he's really rather good-looking when he's not pulling faces. Also, he was super nice! Oh geeze, it was so crazy meeting him. I love his art so much, and omg, Ben Templesmith.
After recovering from my bout of spaztastic fangirling, I met up with the eminent convictscorpion, which was great because he hadn't come to the library party earlier. We ate overpriced Mexican food (boo) and had a good time catching up (yay). For some reason, I was dumb and didn't take and photos at this point.
I really should have taken more photos at the con, as there was a lot of fabulous cosplay. I did take this shot, though:
Doctor Who and a dalek! That thing was unbelievably well-made; if I didn't know better, I'd think it was an actual prop. Although you can't see in this photo, the blue light is there and everything. Later, when this guy showed up in the Masquerade, the various limbs moved and K9 also appeared. Oh, and yes of course he had a glowy sonic screwdriver too.
Speaking of the Masquerade - we sat through the whole thing and it was an unforgettable experience! I have so much admiration for these people who make these elaborate costumes and go on stage and do skits and whatever. Some were truly impressive, some were almost painfully embarrassing, but it was all highly entertaining.
I also went to this panel that had the trailer (unfortunately, this has been removed from youtube, so no link here) for the new X-Files movie, holy crows. And Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, Gillian Anderson, and David Duchovny were all there. Now, I was never completely obsessed with the show or anything, but I was certainly into it and watched it a lot, so this was very cool for me. It was pretty interesting and funny listening to them talk, especially when dealing with questions from the audience. Gah, fans can be outrageous.
Anyway, I'd never been to this particular con before, but I liked it. Much more manageable than the brain-shattering madness that is Comic-Con. The panel lineup was a little dull, but maybe it was just an off-year. (And of course, the Templesmith-Schrab panel made up for everything.) I was pretty good and only bought four comics. And a sticker. Ironically, I didn't buy Popgun or Nextwave, but I'll get those at some point.
So yeah. That was a wonderful little holiday. Thanks to everyone who made it awesome; you guys are outstanding, and I'm so grateful for friends like you.