Oct 31 2012

I feel a disturbance in the force #StarWars

As I’m sure the whole world knows by know George Lucas has just sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4billion (official press release here). Scifi hubby spotted it on Facebook earlier and laughed thinking it was a joke. Then more people posted it so he checked if it was 1st April and he hadn’t realised. Then the news started to break across the web and Twitter went crazy. Finally the official press release was released and then film of Lucas himself talking about it. THEN came the announcement that Disney are going to release ‘Star Wars 7’ in 2015.

Meanwhile I was on FaceTime to my Dad discussing a family christening, plans for Christmas, how he’s lost loads of weight (well done Dad!), the dogs he’s been taking photos of and other mundane family stuff. Scifi hubby starts to spin slowly in the corner with the laptop. I ignore him for a while but eventually he reaches a critical mass at which point I have to intervene or risk a black hole forming in the living room.

It reminds me a lot of when Episode One came out all those years ago. Back then we were newly engaged and I had to own up that I had never seen Star Wars. I know, I know – shock horror, but some of us read books instead whilst growing up. In fact my lack of movie knowledge and viewing could be a whole other post. Scifi hubby fixed that fairly swiftly and luckily I quite liked the movie. It will never be my moral compass but its entertaining enough.

In 1999 Scifi hubby was torn between being very excited and hoping for brilliant new films and really feeling they shouldn’t do it. The build up to Episode One was immense with new toys, midnight openings at toy shops to buy the first wave of figures before the film came out (yes we queued outside ToysrUs for four hours to meet Darth Vader and buy plastic toys), the teaser posters, images of Tatooine etc etc. And then the movie came out.

We happened to be on holiday at the time but managed to get tickets to a preview screening. It was the first time I’d ever been to a cinema with people in fancy dress and lightsabres who screamed and clapped all the way though. I’m still not sure what they were clapping at – screaming I can understand. Running from the cinema crying I could understand. But I never understood the clapping…

Scifi hubby was SO disappointed and swore he wouldn’t watch the second film. In fact we didn’t go to see Attack of the Clones for about two weeks after it came out. I’m being banned from telling you that story (maybe one day) but suffice to say he actually loved that one.

So it feels like we are all back on the Star Wars merry-go-round again. This time Disney get to make everyone excited, dash their hopes, destroy their dreams and then quietly surprise them into liking it after all (I hope).

Scifi hubby’s final quote of the day “I’m cautious but optimistic… I just don’t want to be hurt again”. Who said Star Wars wasn’t a love affair?

Oct 20 2012

Wibble wobble, wibble wobble, boobs in lycra on a plate

Cosplayers are a strange breed of people. Some are obviously having a lot of fun, others are very serious. Some are desperate to have their photo taken (in fact I heard one Dr Who complaining to his friends that he wasn’t getting asked to pose enough) but others are grumpy and won’t stop. What’s the point of dressing up like that if you don’t want the attention?

It’s interesting to see how the fashions in costumes change over time. Star wars characters, Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, DragonBall Z, Spider-Man, Hulk and Dr Who are perennial favourites but others come and go. This year we have a, predictable, number of people in medieval costume. I’m guessing they are meant to be from Game of Thrones but a blonde wig does not make Cersei Lannister or Daenerys Targaryen and a Wolfskin can not turn a skinny teenager into Rob Stark.

There’s quite a lot of people in odd yellow costumes this year. Apparently it’s a character from ‘Adventure Time’ whatever that is. This is their booth…

My favourite costumes are the kids. There was a gorgeous Ewok baby (below), a very cool toddling Wonderwoman, Deadpool was pushing a pram with a baby Green Lantern in it and there was a lot of little Batmen running around.

I do love some of the female costumes. There seems to be a competition over who has the biggest boobs and can balance them so they almost fall out of their lycra costumes. Scifi hubby got ‘caught’ staring at boobs a few times. I can’t really tell him off but it’s really funny when the women look offended. For goodness sake girls if you don’t want them looked at try covering your nipples. There was one notable costume where Scifi Hubby was so busy staring he didn’t manage to get a photo, and now can’t even tell me what the costume was – I don’t think he was looking to see what colour the Lycra was and whether the woman had a mask on! My favourite Scifi hubby photo of the show has to be when he met WonderWoman…

And surreal cosplay moment of the convention goes to the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers on an escalator…

Oct 15 2012

65 kilometres walked so far

I’m not quite sure where to start writing about the last few days. I know I should have done a blog every day but I’ve just not had the time, energy or the wifi connection. We’ve had a few real cool days in New York and at New York Comic Con and I’m actually quite sad it’s over. I’m going to ‘chunk up’ events and drip feed them to you by theme over the next few days/weeks until you are as bored as I am by cosplayers 🙂 But first an overview…

Any convention review starts with the predictable sore feet, queues for everything from toilets to sketches, huge crowds, crazy cosplay people etc etc. But you know what, its actually been a lot of fun. The Con organisers did really well this year and it felt more planned and less chaotic than less year. The food was also much better than normal and the fanboys seem to have read, and acted upon, the advice to have a shower every day. Crucially we learnt some lessons from previous conventions and forked out the extra for VIP tickets this year.

An extra $80 meant four whole hours in bed extra for four days. Sixteen hours more sleep than usual for convention… It’s almost worth it just for that. It also got us entrance to the VIP lounge with comfy sofas, TV screens showing the main sessions. So no queuing there either and we could watch from a sofa with a drink. It also gave us secure and easy storage so Scifi hubby took a small suitcase with him each day, left it there and ran back and forth to switch books over. Massive change from hauling huge amounts of graphic novels around (guess who is usually a packhorse).

We spent the first couple of days racing around getting sketches and signatures from various artists and celebs (more on that later) and then have been light and free for the last couple of days (well mostly) to wander through the booths, laugh at cosplay folk and actually have some fun.

Convention moment of the day today:

I’m still not sure why it mattered who I worked for, why he was so protective of his knickers or what the right answer was but I got my photo…

More tomorrow…

Oct 6 2012

Compared to a purple sea worm I am. How embarrassing. How embarrassing

I’ve just realised that headline sounds quite naughty – but I like it so its staying. It’s not really a naughty story though so no need to blush Scifi hubby 😉

I’m loving the stories in today’s newspapers about a Yoda shaped sea slug:

I’m not completely sure I see the resemblance though – looks more like a pink elephant to me

I wonder how many other scifi shaped things we can find…?

scifiwife

Stories, comments and complaints about life living with a scifi nerd for a husband

Monthly Archives: October 2012

I feel a disturbance in the force #StarWars

Wibble wobble, wibble wobble, boobs in lycra on a plate

65 kilometres walked so far

Compared to a purple sea worm I am. How embarrassing. How embarrassing

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