Yesterday, Akemi and I checked out the second year of the Cos & Effect cosplay convention taking place at the beautiful UBC campus…
Great fun. Looking forward to next year!
Yesterday, Akemi and I checked out the second year of the Cos & Effect cosplay convention taking place at the beautiful UBC campus…
Great fun. Looking forward to next year!
This is kinda cool – all the costumes.
But, my head is still in – On My Stars and Gardens…what got loose?
hmmmm
Excellent! Thanks for sharing, Joe.
He’s dangling a hard to handle from its center of gravity. Let him save his grip endurance for negotiating a crowd of people with tripping straps dangling from his shins. Does that clear things up?
*hard to handle sword
Looks like you had great fun. Thanks for sharing.
To all who are in the possible impact areas for Isaac, as I am, get prepared and stay safe.
Have a good night!!!!
@Sparrow_hawk in re audiobooks: Have you ever read the Dresden Files? If not, you might consider them for your long drives. Written by Jim Butcher for adults, the books are filled with fun and snark. Harry Dresden is a wizard living and working in modern day Chicago where he battles evil wizards, werewolves, vampires, demons, fairies, etc. The first twelve novels and a book of Dresden short stories are read by James Marsters. John Glover takes over reading the thirteenth and will, I assume, continue. I have no idea why the switch. I highly recommend them.
Mr. Butcher also wrote a high fantasy series called Codex Alera. The premise: what would you do if you were born without magic on a world where everyone else develops it by their teens? That’s what protagonist Tavi is facing. They are read by Kate Reading who is an excellent reader. I recommend this series, too.
I listen to the these two series over and over I enjoy them so much. Of course, your mileage may vary.
When you say “mystery”, what do you mean? Cozy? Police procedural? PI? Amateur detective? In-depth forensics? etc.
Anne Teldy
@Joe:
All the costumes look like fun! Although, I have to admit I did not recognize most of the characters. It looks like some of them could get jobs a Disneyland when the con is over…
@Sparrow_Hawk on audio books:
Here are a few I can recommend:
Alan Dean Foster’s “The Interlopers”, read by Ben Browder [9 Hours]:
http://tinyurl.com/8q8bbfq
Stargate Atlantis Audiobooks:
http://tinyurl.com/8spahnq
I haven’t heard this, but it sounds interesting…
The Year’s Top Short SF Novels [15 Hours]
http://tinyurl.com/8bgoalf
And if you like Radio Mysteries, you can download the old CBS Radio Mystery Theater shows here (hours and hours):
http://www.cbsrmt.com/synopsis.html
You can also find a number of radio shows for download at:
http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/
I’m thinking that I’ll have to try that Year’s Top Short SF Novels one for my next long trip (8 hours to Nashville in September).
Maybe we should form the Chicagoland Audiobook swapping club; I have about a dozen I could loan out 😉
“SHOPPING NOTE” – You can get those ginormous stuffed Teddy Bears at COSTCO. At a really cheap price considering their size. Great for Car-Pool-Lanes!
Furries freak me the hell out.
das
@anneteldy: I’ve watched some of the Dresden Files, but never read any of the books. Thanks for the suggestion!
As for mysteries: very good question – there are a lot of sub-genres in the mystery category. I guess I prefer PI, and amateur detective over procedural and in-depth forensics, though I am a fan of some of the BBC police mysteries and used to read Patricia Cornwell. Loved the Brother Cadfael mysteries both in print and the BBC production as well as the Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody Mysteries and Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey books. What do you mean by “cozy”? Not familiar with that term.
@JeffW: Thanks! I love old radio mysteries and used to listen to them on Saturday afternoons on “Those Were the Days” on a now-defunct Chicago Public Radio station. I’ll check out those links.
Just out of curiosity, Joe, would you bring Akemi to a Stargate convention if it were put on by…oh, say, one of your fans?
Patricia
So much time into those costumes! Makes my head spin! Awesome to see though.
@Sparrow_hawk A “cozy” is a mystery with an amateur detective, usually a woman. In the novel, the crime usually happens “off-stage” so to speak, there is very little violence (except for the death), and there is no rough language. Think Miss Marple, Jessica Fletcher, etc. though I do know several series with younger women as the protagonist.
I never watched the Dresden Files television series but my sister did and the books are, according to her, much, much better. Harry Dresden is a bit of smart ass which is probably why I like him so much. 🙂
Anne Teldy
G’day Joe
WOW…those costumes are awesome. The time, effort and cost put into them must be mind blowing.
That teddy bear is rather big.
@Sparrow_hawk
I love the Harry Potter audio books. Always play them on long car trips.
I have a few fun photos to share with you.
1. This one is of my family when the children were still small. Rebecca is a costume designer and is now traveling the world with Cirque. She is the one dressed as a pirate.
http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab253/cherluvya/613A37E7-23E2-4D17-B033-8520D617916D-8173-00000989FD5D3402.jpg
2. Half of the costume is the makeup. Rebecca is on the right.
http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab253/cherluvya/A9071DF4-4A17-4CC0-AE9F-666D5DDDD51C-8173-0000098A0A26092D.jpg
3. Rebecca/Marilyn with Giant ELMO
http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab253/cherluvya/D70B6565-4C2B-424A-AFF2-9AA1D3DF5249-8173-0000098A181508C8.jpg
I hope the links work…I usually mix it up. If I do…I’ll post again.
@Janet I’m right there with you on the Harry Potter audiobooks! Jim Dale is hard to beat as a narrator. FYI: He also narrated a series about how Peter Pan became Peter Pan. It was written by, of all people, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. It was fabulous. The first in the series is Peter and the Starcatchers.
Anne Teldy
Sparrowhawk: My absolutely favorite audiobooks are (can’t name just one): Ender’s Shadow & The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I listen to my mp3 player while I’m cleaning my house or the humane society. With those books, I wanted to keep on cleaning until the book was over 😉 . The Clive Cussler, James Rollin, James Patterson, Karen Slaughter & Tess Gerritsen books are good but they aren’t technically Sci-fi. Let me know if you find a good one, please. Have a nice drive! Thanks for the book suggestions JeffW. I’ll look those up. I agree with AnneTeldy, the Dresden books are pretty good.
Das: Your corn sounds pretty good. May have to try that soon!
Those convention pictures were great! My favorite caption was the fox: Hey, lady. How YOU doin’? Big 😆 at that one!! I would love to make one of the comic con’s. I would like to go as Stargate military or maybe, a Dalek. I couldn’t wear that very thick costume without a portable A/C. Hubby suggested a showgirl costume 🙄 but I’d get cold in one of those numbers.
@ Tam Dixon – I use a Mexican seasoning on my corn. The brand I currently use is Valentina fruit seasoning (or salsa en polvo), and I assume it’s similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Tajin-Fruit-Snack-Seasoning-5-7/dp/B0000GL6RK
Even though the seasoning has lemon or lime in it, I still use fresh lime juice, as well. You can use it on corn cut from the cob, too. I love the contrast between the sweetness of the corn, and the salty tartness of the lime and seasoning. The chili flavor and gentle heat just seals the deal for me. And don’t forget the butter! (Some use mayonaisse instead of butter, but I prefer the latter.)
das
Joe, did you show up in anything special? Your SGA Beckett costume, perhaps? Or were you and Akemi the random “straights” that were just there to observe?
Just curious….
-Mike A.
Forgot to mention…..
I was on Crackle the other day and noticed they have a TON of anime available to watch. I was watching one of their original series(Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee) and decided to peruse their entire list of shows available to watch and saw probably 60% of it was anime. Some titles I recognized as stuff that you’ve mentioned before here.
I don’t know if Crackle costs money to join or not on their website. It’s a free “app” on the Xbox 360 and at no point did anything come up as if I were being charged to watch something. So, who knows? Could be another great, and more importantly, FREE way to watch some anime!
On the series I mentioned I was watching there, it’s Jerry Seinfeld taking out various people to coffee and just talking to them about funny stuff. Short and enjoyable. I highly recommend it. Plus, for me, it was good to see Joel Hodgson again. If you don’t recognize the name, he was Joel(conveniently) on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and the shows creator and head writer for many years. Truly a brilliant show. Hard to get the DVD collection, though….
-Mike A.
Why don’t you cosplay Joe? Must be a dozen or more anime characters you could choose from, perhaps trying Black Butler? That would be pretty simplistic.
If you get a wig you could do Rock from Black Lagoon and Akemi to do Remy. Would be a simple costume to do.
Doesn’t matter how old you are. If you wanna cosplay do it, you take a lot of cosplay pics, you might enjoy it.
Howdy all! I had mentioned Cos & Effect to Joe and Akemi back when I met up with them to pick up my script (I won that contest a few weeks back), and he said he’d go and check it out, and low and behold he did! Unfortunately I was busy running around as a volunteer and forgot to say hi, still regretting that…
Anyways, thanks for all the great photos Joe, I have made sue to let my friends know to check out this blog post, especially a few of my friends that you took photos of.
Thanks so much for taking my picture! (I was Rikku, the blonde Final Fantasy girl) It was nice to meet you guys! I’m glad you had a good weekend :3
Hey, thanks for the Post. Im sorry we did not get a chance to meet you and say hi. but Greg and I were working away in the back ground making sure everyone had a great time. At least you got to meet Antonia and one of our relentlous AV techs, Mark. I hope you enjoyed your time and the company of the other attendees. We always have sush awesome people in vancouver and they love to come out to events and just have a good time.
thanks for the photos, hope to see you at some more of ours and others awesome events in vancouver.
@Randomness – Joe and Akemi could cosplay Hyuna and Psy. Or did Hyuna and Psy cosplay Joe and Akemi? Hmmmm?
Never mind, I don’t think Joe could pull off Hyuna’s moves.
@das: that seasoning sounds very interesting. I may have to check it out!
Cool costumes! I love the Vash costume. 🙂 That goddess like costume is very pretty. Hey…Joe! You and Akemi should do cosplay. Joe…may be you can dress up as Ba’al and Akemi can be Qetesh or Vala. 😉
Das: Thanks! We have a large Hispanic population here. I bet I could find something similar at the local store. I can’t wait to try it.
Hey Joe, you have to check out my wife’s blog, we saw Amanda this past weekend in Toronto. She re-enlisted me in the Navy in 2006 and its been 6 years since I have been able to see her again! My wives has costume blog and talks about her adventurers as Vala, I think you would get kick out the pics and her trials with costumes. http://becomingvala.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/fanexpo2012pt1/
Thanks for the great photos! Hopefully you’ll come next August as well. We’re kicking around the idea of having a space theme for Cos & Effect!