The (Cos)Play's the thing!

*I'm on a roll tonight, blog-wise. +100 Writing Ability*

Cosplay - Literally "Costume Play." Dressing up and pretending to be a fictional character (usually a sci-fi, comic book, or anime character).

- From Urban Dictionary.com

I will admit, I want to Cosplay at least once in my life. I'm an actor, it's in my nature to want to dress up in detailed costumes of characters that I love.

That being said, I would also like to go to a big Cosplay/Nerdy convention where I won't feel alone (and awkward) dressed up as a character because pretty much everyone else will be too.

Personally I would like to try to Cosplay characters that I resemble (somewhat). I'm not a huge fan of wigs, myself, though I might wear one if it's for a character I absolutely love (it would also probably be a lot easier now that my hair is shorter).

I also would want to Cosplay in a really well put together, quality costume. This is partially why I haven't done any Cosplay yet, because I'm not the best seamstress in the world and would probably need some help getting everything put together correctly.

*Costumer friends, anyone want to help me out?*

I also need help making props (since some of the characters I want to dress up as have props that are integral to their design. Such as the Portal Gun which I don't really know how to make myself).

Some characters that are on my Cosplay list include:

Chell - from "Portal"

The Portal Gun would be the hardest part of this costume. There's a guy who made an AMAZING replica for Penny Arcade's Child Play charity event, but I'm pretty sure I'm not that talented. 

Katara or Azula - from "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

Water

Fire

Both of these ladies are pretty kickass, though if I had to choose, I would probably pick Firebending over Waterbending. Plus, Azula can bend LIGHTNING.

How cool is that? (even if she is crazy).

Seth Nightroad - from "Trinity Blood"

Part innocent little girl, part destructive, powerful Crusnik.

Djaq - from BBC's "Robin Hood"

Djaq disguises herself as a boy, fights with sword/bow and arrow and skilled with potions. My kind of girl.

Yuffie - from "Kingdom Hearts"

Come on, who doesn't want to be a Ninja?

Inara - from "Firefly"

Because not only is Inara a great character, she has some of the best clothes EVER.

Drusilla or Faith - from "Buffy"

Vampire

Slayer

I seem to have a thing for characters that end up going crazy, in one way or another. 

So...cool?

Soli - from "The Meek"

(This fanart can be found HERE)

(This sketch found HERE)

HOW COOL IS SHE? 

This is a character I would have no problem wearing a wig for (though I'm actually planning on just getting some kind of hair extension that matches my hair to make the long tail in the back and play a dark-haired Soli).

There you have it: my Cosplay plans.

How's that for a slice of fried gold?

Geek-ify me Scotty!

*That works, right?*

For the record, I like ST: Next Generation best. Captain Picard, all the way (though Spock is pretty awesome...but so is Data...)

Star Trek tangent ends NOW!

Thanks to the roommate, Geek Tyrant, and geeks in general, I have found my Geek Zodiac. It's pretty much the Zodiac (sort of) only Geeked out. In other words: Awesome.

So, my Geek Zodiac is:

UNDEAD - (Dracula, Eric Northman, Zombies, Buffy, The Ghostbusters) *also includes those that hunt the undead* YAY!

Pros: Soulful, transcendental, knows the value of all life.
Cons: Haunted, tormented, difficulty connecting to humanity.

Awesome.

In that case: Can I just be Drusilla?

Crazy, but deadly. Also: she gets Spike AND Angelus. Mmm.

Something I Really Wish I Were Good At...

Drawing. More specifically people (as in animation/Disney/Comic style).

Ever since I was little and first became addicted to Disney movies I have been fascinated by/wanted to be able to:

- Voice an animated character
- Animate said characters.

The one aspect of that fascination, VO, I'm starting to get more of a handle on and am improving every day...the other...well, not so much.

I can't draw to save my life. Okay, I guess I can sketch, a little, but only things that are sitting right in front of me. If I try to draw something from my mind it always turns out kind of...wonky and gross. It always looks SO GOOD in my head but then once it's down on paper it looks like a weird mess.

This is especially true when I attempt to draw people. I remember once I tried to draw my bother and made him sit in front of me for far too long while I sketched him. The picture ended up looking like a deformed Elvis with a big head and strange facial features. It didn't go great.

I have a few friends of mine who are extremely gifted with the ability to draw. My friend Allie is always sketching and has files full of drawings she's made of various characters/friends/stories. She's awesome.

One of Allie's drawings of me from high school, for a short story written for our friend Heather. (I want this dress!)

My friend John is also an artist, drawing mostly cartoon/anime-ish characters. He used to draw these little cards for me in high school, usually featuring me as a cartoon in funny situations. I think I still have those somewhere...

My desire to draw has only increased since I've discovered The Meek webcomic by Der-Shing Helmer. I love the style of the characters and the way the story is told so effectively through the art. It makes me desperately wish that I were as talented artistically.

SO

I'm going to set myself a challenge/goal: To start sketching again and really work on developing my drawing/animation skills. (Because I want to draw awesome comics too, gosh darn it!)

I might upload some of the progress on this blog (depending how embarrassingly bad they are), so keep a lookout!

Adventure, Hair, and a Taste of Italy

Warning: the author of this blog is in a strange mood at the moment which may be evident in the following post. Lots of () and CAPS. *I regret nothing*

Yesterday Kaitlin and I set off on yet another exciting road trip.

Destination: San Diego
What: Getting my haircut
Why: We like adventure (and new hair!)

After filling up with gas (way-too-expensive-gas) and grabbing a much needed Starbucks, we hit the road. Our travel time was spent singing along to Buffy, Disney, and random other tunes (because we are cool).

Of course we got to San Diego way early, so we walked around, checked out the shops, and ate lunch at a cute little cafe that had AMAZING bread. Mmmm. I even got sauce on my pasta (gasp!)

After lunch, we walked around a bit more, then headed to the salon, where we were (not surprisingly) still early for my appointment. We perused the magazines and drank some tea while we waited.

Finally my stylist was free and I proceeded to get a great deal of my hair chopped off.

I frakking love it!!! I don't know if I will ever have long hair again (unless I get an amazing role that require me to grow my hair out. Maybe then). Not going to lie, I'm extremely excited about the fact that I can make my hair all spiky and edgy if I want to (and I want to) :-D

After the hair cut we drove out to a mall and began to search for coffee. Of course, we HAD to go to the mall that had NO Starbucks anywhere around. Really? No Starbucks? We settled for grabbing coffee from one of those Corner Bakery places and then killed a bunch of time shopping at Nordstrom Rack and Loheman's. We also looked at some puppies because they were ADORABLE.

I bought a very pretty bright blue cardigan (because I'm sick of having to constantly re-sew the button on my pink one) and a cute dark green tank top-y thing (because summer is coming and the top shows off my new hair well!)

We drove around a little more and finally found a cute little Italian place for dinner. We had fabulous wine, yummy salads, and very good main courses (I had Shrimp Scampi). We then ordered dessert, which was pretty good, and listened to the live accordion player jazz it up.

We then managed to drive all the way home, despite being very sleepy, with the help of blasting showtunes and singing until our throats died.

*That is all*

30 Day Blog: Day 30

*I find it somewhat fitting that the last post in this blog challenge is a day late. Haha!*

Prompt: Your highs and lows of this month.

Once again, I think I'm just going to focus on the highs of this month, stay positive!

• Continued to make progress in voice lessons
• Had some fun auditions (including quite a few VO roles)
• Attended a fun and challenging Anime Voice Over class, and met some great people.
• Started taking VO classes on Wednesday evenings
• Began singing in a Jazz show on Monday  nights
• Saw Danny Boyle's AMAZING stage production of Frankenstein, broadcast from the National Theatre in London starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller.

 

• Finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist (finally) and became a full fledged fan. About to start watching FMA: Brotherhood and, as of now, am conflicted about who to join: The Risembool Rangers or The Miniskirt Army. 

• Thanks to FMA, I also have a new Manga series to read (as my wallet cries in the corner)
• Had many entertaining evenings movie/TV watching with the roommate. 
• Started taking classes at The Bar Method (kicking my butt, but I love it!)
• Working on a song project that is almost done. I'm pretty excited about it.
• Discovered a fantastic online graphic novel that I highly recommend to everyone:
  
  The Meek - by Der-Shing Helmer
  
  Wonderful characters, story and overall concept (Warning: there is some slight nudity where Angora is involved, but it's nothing raunchy, I promise). 

 Like I said in my last post, I'm going to try to find another one of these blog challenge thingys to do again. It helps to have a "deadline" as it were, otherwise, I would probably forget to write here most of the time and I don't want to do that. I will probably come up with a few of my own topics or rants every once in a while, we'll see how it goes.

Goodbye March: Hello April!

30 Day Blog: Day 29

Prompt: Goals for the next 30 days

I can do it! I can have it all!

• Get my hair cut (Saturday! YAY!)
• Possibly get new headshots due to new hair style.
• Get a regular Yoga/Zumba/Bar Method schedule set up 
• Stick to workout schedule
• Keep sending out stuff
• Make some money (probably doing extra work)
• Closet raid (now that it's getting warmer/headshot outfits)
• Get my music video made (hopefully soon!)
• Continue working hard/practicing (singing, classes, etc)
• Get my car looked at
• Find/make another blog project to do!
• Stay positive
• Have fun!

30 Day Blog: Day 28

Prompt: Something you miss.

Better than "Glee"

Show Choir.

Throughout my high school career (and a little after) I was heavily involved in Show Choir. Freshman year it was the JV group, Future Image, Sophomore year it was the all-girls choir, Sweet Revelation, and Junior and Senior year it was the Varsity group, Ultimate Image.

It was seriously one of the best things I've ever been a part of. Show Choir is not easy (I would even go so far as to consider it a sport). First of all, at least at my school, we chose music arrangements that were not easy (our director liked multiple harmonies and interesting rhythms). We normally did 5 songs (an Opener, a Novelty song, the Ballad, a Fourth Song, and the Closer). In addition to the music, we would hire choreographers to come in and teach us sharp, energetic choreography to go with each song, along with having to coordinate costume changes and props within the show.

It's very difficult to put all of that together into a wonderful, entertaining show AND make sure our vocals stayed strong and impressive. We practiced just about every other evening at the school, along with every other day during the school day and sometimes in the mornings (especially when were learning choreography).

When Show Choir season came around (in the Fall and into the early Spring) we traveled around to different competitions, in-State and out, performing for loads of different audiences and judges. Along with the main Show Choirs, some competitions also had a separate Solo competition, where singers from different schools performed solo numbers and were awarded trophies alongside the Show Choirs.

It was a crazy, intense time of my life, full of sequins, sore muscles, 8-part harmonies and and an abundance of bus rides. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I can't describe what a rush it was, standing on those risers just before our show started, feeling the energy from the audience and anticipation from everyone in the choir, ready to go. One of my favorite memories was when we were in Finals at a huge performance hall in Nebraska. It was our 2nd time performing our show for these judges, and our last time to impress. Our closing song was "Everything Old is New Again", with red sequin jackets, sparkly pants, and a very classic Broadway type feel (a lot of tap-inspired movies, plus one of our guys actually tap dancing on the highest riser). At the very end of the song, the tempo slowed down a little and there was a big build up to the last chorus, in true Broadway style. As we started to sing and got into a cool, V type formation, the audience went crazy, we got a standing ovation and the song wasn't even over yet. It was so cool. (We also took Grand Champion at that competition, I believe).
 

Ultimate Image 2011

I miss it so much.