C2E2 Saturday

Saturday at C2E2 was a bunch of fun and now I had friends that I already new around! It was me, my fiancee (R), his little brother (L), and his significant other (B). B had never been to a convention before, so we waited with the big herd of people to walk the floor around 10:00 AM. It was a lot of fun and I think B was a bit overwhelmed, but excited to see what was next.

We all attended the "In Defense of YA" panel. consisting of five young adult authors: EC Blake, Kendare Blake, April Genevieve Tucholke, Lydia Kang, and Seth Fishman. All of the authors were really great and were passionate about the young adult audience. They discussed their books and gave a bit of a synopsis. Each of their books sounded interesting, and I could see recommending them to different audiences during readers' advisory. The question of diversity was asked, and I think they all approached the subject appropriately. Most of them take diversity in their books in mind when they are writing, but there was a fear among the panel that they would write about ethnicities of which they are not part; they feel that they may get it wrong. The authors were open to questions and seemed really excited to be a part of the panel. B thought that the panel was really great for his first.

We walked around for a while after the our first panel of the day. I had walked all of the floor on Friday, but I there are always things I miss in the first few walkthroughs. I bought a few pieces of art because I could. R and I decided to go see Eve Myles because he was unable to see her panel the night before. There was only one small group of people in line, so we jumped at the chance. Right after we got in line she asked her C2E2 helper if she could take a break after our group. When we went up to take our picture, I apologized for keeping her from her break. She told me "Don't be daft," in her adorable Welsh accent. Also, she told us to make sure we liked the picture after we took it. She was so nice and I am so happy we took time to meet her.

The next panel we all went to was "Bloody Good Fun: Exploring Comedy with in the Horror Genre." The panel consisted of members of WildClaw Theatre Group. This panel was ok. It did make me want to see some of their productions, but it wasn't very helpful otherwise. They read a radio play that was submitted for their annual radio play competition that was really fun and entertaining. I would recommend checking out their website for upcoming plays and events: http://www.wildclawtheatre.com/

The rest of Saturday was spent walking around and deciding what time to get to the main stage to wait for the Crown Championships of Cosplay. We ended up watching the 24 reunion panel because C2E2 does not clear the rooms in between events. The 24 reunion panel was interesting. I have never seen 24, but B watched it so it was fun to see how excited he got. Elliot Serrano also narrated this panel and I was impressed by how he handled himself when the actors tested him. He kept the conversation going and was really good about opening the questions up to the fans.

We ended Saturday with the Crown Championships of Cosplay, but you will have to check back tomorrow to see all the pictures and read about the awesome judges!

C2E2 Friday

I am back from C2E2 and I am ready to share! I was going to post after each day at the convention, but I was so tired after each day, I thought it would be more beneficial if I waited to write when I was actually awake. So this is the first of a four post series about C2E2.

I had a pro pass for C2E2 this year. Because I work at a library, I qualified for a professional pass and took advantage of it. I was able to enter the floor a hour early because of my special status. I took a picture of the line next to the early entrance area. This was the line were all of the people who bought a normal 3 day pass waited:

The first thing I noticed was how spacious everything seemed. I felt like there was a lot more room between rows and that was super nice. Heres a picture:

After I walked the floor and was on my way to my first panel, I snapped this awesome shot of the floor:

It was pretty neat to see the crowds of people swarming the floor from above. They allowed waves of people in at a time. The C2E2 staff handled the entrance each day really well.

The first panel I attended was "How to start a free comic book day in your library." This was a really great panel. The panel consisted of a librarian from Chippewa River District Library in Michigan, a representative from Diamond Distributors, and the owner of Comix Revolution. The librarian hosted a wildly successful free comic book day at her library a year ago that had 300 attendees. She planned events such as board games and photo ops with her local 501st Legion (it was on May 4th). Diamond Distributors talked a bit about price and about contacting them as early as December to get materials for your library. The owner of Comix Revolution talked about his experience with free comic book day and libraries. He really encouraged partnerships between comic book stores and libraries for the event. Here's their website: http://www.online-revolution.com

The second panel I attended was Yaya Han's cosplay Q&A. She was really great about answering everyone's questions. Almost all of the questions were about how to go about cosplay and different techniques. I asked about molding and casting and Yaya suggested this website: http://www.smooth-on.com. Hopefully I will be able to order a starter kit to try out soon.

My favorite panel of all C2E2 was the Eve Myles Panel. She was amazing! She was so adorable and so kind to anyone who asked questions. Like all the fans, she also wants another season or 10 of Torchwood. Elliot Serrano from Chicago RedEye was a great moderator. I saw him moderate a few panels and he handle each really well. Eve said her favorite episode was "Countryside." She shared a few John Barrowmen stories, but they are a little risqué to share here. Eve Myles was so gracious and said many things which she thought she may regret, but were hilarious. This was such a great panel and it was so nice to see someone so gracious, but famous speak.

The last panel I attended on Friday was The Game of Thrones panel with Kristian Nairn and Natalia Tena (Hodor and Osha/ Tonks). This was also a good panel. The narrator was not my favorite. Natalia and Kristian were great and really wanted to answer the fans' questions. They both discussed the future of their characters. Natalia had read the books, but Kristian had not so the difference in their answers was interesting. This was a good panel and I was happy I attended even though I was exhausted at this point. 

I had a really great time at C2E2 on Friday. I traveled down to Chicago that morning by myself by train and it was a lot of fun. People were really friendly and I never felt out of place. I met a lot of cool people from fellow librarians to aspiring cosplayers to comic shop owners. I would for sure travel to C2E2 alone again if need be. More to come about Saturday, The Crown Championships of Cosplay, and Sunday. Feel free to comment and ask questions!

C2E2 and disappointments

So remember all those costumes I worked on and wanted to get done by C2E2 (this weekend btw)? Well, that didn't really work out. By the time I got to Navi's wings, I felt to defeated to finish them and create a whole link costume in three weeks while being in grad school and planning a wedding that I put it aside for awhile. I will still be working on them in the future, but for now, I will relax and enjoy C2E2.

On that note, I will hopefully be at C2E2 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I plan on blogging about the panels I attend and the super awesome things I see as well as posting many pictures. If all goes as planned, I will be able to attend the pro hour on Friday morning and be at panels most of the day. The thing I am most looking forward to is the Crown Championships of Cosplay on Saturday night. There are panels before that that I will hopefully be attending so I am going to need to hurry my butt over there in order to get a good seat.

Speaking of Crown Championships of Cosplay, I have read some really negative comments about it through C2E2's facebook page. The judges for the competition are Austin Scarlet from Project Runway, Ashley Eckstein from Clone Wars and HerUniverse, Nan Cibula-Jenkins who is an award winning costume designer and Yaya Han. I am super excited about all these judges and feel like the quality of the costume will be really emphasized. The out lash about this competition is over the inclusion of Yaya Han. I knew of Yaya Han before Heroes of Cosplay, but the show obviously boosted her fame. Many people say that the show was too focused on her and her business. I don't agree. I think as someone who appreciates cosplay, that Yaya Han is an inspiration. She took something she loves that is normally a hobby and found a way to make it into a living. Also, and this may be because I think they are amazing, Yaya Han's screen time didn't stick out to me in any way compared with Jessica and Holly's screen time. C2E2 has said that Heroes of Cosplay has no involvement with this competition, so maybe the Yaya Han hate can take a back seat while everyone enjoys the amazing cosplay on stage. At least we can hope, right?