Regeneration Who 2!!

Maryland’s Doctor Who Convention returns this March 18-20th in Hunt Valley, MD!! And I couldn't be more excited!! Not only are we taping an episode of Captain Kyle's Cosplay Spotlight there, (Saturday at 5pm!) I have a couple new cosplays to debut!! (Can you guess with my name??) haha!

Re)Generation Who is just one of those cons that are so well run and and have the best staff members around, that I now look forward to it every year. And just like any convention, of course I go because I love the celebs, seeing all the fans for Doctor Who in one place, and meeting up with friends I may not get to see everyday!

The programming schedule is also now up and though the hotel is sold out at the con rate, there might still be rooms available through travel websites or the hotel site itself. Also buy tickets asap!! They will be going quickly!!! As you can see below, daily tickets are being sold on March 4th as well, so even if you can only join the fun for one day, those will be available in a couple days. And it's totally worth i!! 

From Regen's website: 

With a very rare Peter Davison (5th Doctor) USA appearance and fan favorite Doctor Colin Baker (6th Doctor) and companions such as Nicola Bryant (6’s Companion), Sophie Aldred (7’s Companion), and Frazer Hines (2’s Companion) the convention has already been named one of the top things to do in Baltimore for 2016 by The Baltimore Sun. Over 25 celebrity guests will greet fans this year. 

Many other celebrity guests from the television show are appearing in person such as Nick Briggs (the voice of the Daleks), Deborah Watling (2′s Companion), Nev Fountain and Rob Shearman (DW writers), Terry Molloy (Davros), and a very rare US appearance by Anneke Wills (1 and 2’s Companion). Doctor Who music composer Dominic Glynn will also perform a full concert for fans. 

The programming will feature a new children’s program, autograph and photo opportunities, deep discussion of both the new and old TV shows, books, audio dramas, viewings of both common and rare Doctor Who videos, scavenger hunts, cosplay contests, an extensive vendor’s room, artists, giveaways, and plenty of surprises TBA. You may view a draft of this year’s program here: https://regenerationwho.com/programming/programming-descriptions/ 

Our entire convention team is thrilled to be working with so many great Doctor Who actors to bring this to the fans. (Re)Generation Who is a safe space where all Doctor Who fans can meet the actors, show off their costumes, and meet other people who love the show just as much as we do. Sign language interpreters are available upon request.
(Re)Generation Who is an Onezumi Events production. Helmed by Oni Hartstein, this will mark the organizations’ eighth time organizing an exciting major 3 day event. 

Tickets for (Re)Generation Who can be bought at ReGenerationWho.com may be purchased in advance online at $75 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under for the full weekend. At door cost is $85 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under.Daily tickets will go on sale on March 4th if the event does not sell out before then. See the website for daily admission prices. Advanced tickets may only be purchased until Tuesday 3/15 at midnight. After that tickets may only be purchased at the door while they last.

Santasical: A Very, Merry Twistmas

So I was a guest journalist for Oni Hartstein's blog recently while she's out on medical leave. She asked me to cover this fun event of "Santastical: A Very, Merry Twistmas" for her in NYC. I was happy to oblige!

Via her blog, here's what I thought about it:

http://www.onezumiverse.com/2015/12/new-york-city-holiday-attractions-santastical-a-very-merry-twistmas-is-christmas-from-the-nightmare-nyc-team/

Enjoy!!

And thanks to Oni for the opportunity to go to the event and write for your blog! I am honored!

InterventionCon: Where the Not-So-Strong Have a Place As Well

I have a guest writer this time around. Please welcome Brad Trechak to the blog! He writes a review of Intervention Con.
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InterventionCon: Where the Not-So-Strong Have a Place As Well
By Brad Trechak

In an age of mega-conventions with top tier stars charging top dollar for either a photograph or autograph, it’s nice to know that conventions like InterventionCon exist.  That is, conventions that exist for love and not for money.

I attended Intervention 6 in Rockville, Maryland August 14th and 15th and was amazed at the levels of creativity on display for the attendees.  Want to create a web presence and build a following for it?  There’s a class for that.  Want to create a film and put it online for the world to see?  There’s a discussion group for that.  Want to develop crafts to sell online?  Well, you get the picture.

InterventionCon is a strange mix of fan and professional conventions where members are there to learn and get new ideas.  You will not find any big-name media companies at this convention.  This is to break in to that world, and then maybe break out to an audience.

You still get the occasional celebrity.  I attended one of Terry Molloy’s presentations on the audio drama and got to listen to clips of audio plays of the last seven decades.  Terry Molloy is best known as the villainous Davros in the Doctor Who television series, but in this case he was there as an instructor, not a celebrity.

InterventionCon is not about taking money from you.  It’s not about giving you the opportunity to meet your favorite celebrity.  It’s about sharing the knowledge and tools that could potentially make you a celebrity. What you next do with this information is up to you.

Captain Kyle's Cosplay Spotlight Show

Over the summer I had the pleasure of directing this very cool web series from Captain Kyle's brain.

The series starts Wednesday, Aug. 19th at 7pm ET on the YouTube channel SciFi Geek Productions. Take a look at the trailer and subscribe to the page so you don't miss an episode. It airs every week on Wednesdays at 7pm ET.

Watch our trailer now!

Each episode Kyle interviews a cosplayer in costume, as their character and then interviews the person behind the mask. It's one of the few cosplay shows out there that puts a positive spin on cosplayers and depicts them in a favorable light. Cosplay is supposed to be fun and celebrated rather than all the negative publicity its gotten in recent months.

Within the series, there are helpful con tips with Constance Chesney, Kyle's "Man on the Street" interviewer. She talks to young cosplayers at various conventions to see how much they love to dress up and go out to the cons with their families. Constance also plays some trivia with various cosplayers and some short comedy pieces, along with characters reciting Shakespeare. You might even recognize a few familiar famous faces along the way...

Taped in front of a live studio audience, season one has wrapped in-studio production but we will still be present at upcoming conventions like RetroCon in Oaks, PA Sept. 12-13th, Walker Stalker Con Philly Sept. 26-27th, and Walker Stalker Con Boston Aug 22-23rd. Constance will be continuing to interview cosplayers and playing more trivia with some lucky guests.

A special treat at RetroCon, we will taping an episode in front of the convention audience! The taping happens on Sunday Sept. 13th. Come out and be a part of the live audience! Maybe you'll be in cosplay and will want to be interviewed by Kyle! Stop by for some fun!

Intervention Con Aug 14-16th

This weekend I will be at this awesome convention, Intervention Con.

What is "Intervention Con" you ask? Well, have a seat and let me dive right in!

Intervention combines "internet" and "convention" in order to get "Intervention" which is basically meant to "intervene and inspire real people to explore art, technology, and to pursue their dreams. Artists, Writers, Podcasts, Filmmakers, Actors, Musicians, and more will be holding interactive events all weekend that you can participate in." -Oni Hartstein, James Harknell explain, of Onezumi Events; showrunners of Intervention.

Held in Rockville, Maryland at the Hilton Washington, DC/Rockville on Aug. 14-16th, Oni explains that she hopes the convention will "empower people to take control of their lives by going DIY with the internet and to showcase those who have done so already. We feel that the internet is the present and the future. This is the event for the internet generation." And after successful runs since 2010, this year will mark Hartstein’s sixth time organizing the event.

According to the site, the con features "educational content, children’s programming, board gaming, video gaming, an extensive art festival, live action roleplaying, musical performances, and plenty of giveaways. The event team will also be donating to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an international non-profit digital advocacy group that helps to defend civil liberties in the digital space."

I am most looking forward to a lot of the educational panels. Mostly, the filmmaking panels. There are a few this year, even with an acquaintance I met at another con, who will be teaching indie filmmaking and explaining why now is the time for indie films! (see description below). Now to check the schedule to see which ones and how many of these I can attend in one weekend! :)

The Time For Indie Film Is Now!
Do you want to make a film? Do it now! The time has never been better for to get involved with film production. It won't be easy of course, but our panelists will give you some info on how you can get started in a professional (and hopefully) profitable way.

Other panels of interest to me are the following:

Filmmaking 101
Join us for an introductory discussion on the tools and methods used today to produce film.

Real Talk on Video and Movie Production
Get the real info on how to get started in video and movie production. Equipment, techniques, and business knowledge of getting things done.

Oni Hartstein's Real Talk Marketing 1: Setting up Your Business Online
Setting up Your Business Online - This will cover the basic points that you need to hit and how you need to hit them in order to have an in-person and digital presence that works and grows.

Unique Geek Chic
Are you interested in learning more about how to integrate your geeky side with your everyday style and end up with something that looks chic? Come get tips on how to dress and dress up your life that doesn't compromise your uniquely geeky outlook while still looking great.

Blogging For Fun and Profit
Do you have something to say? Why not start or join a blog? Is it really that easy? Our panelists will talk about the fun parts, and the not so fun parts, about making your blog and online writing successful and possibly even profitable.

And even more so, I really want to go to the Terry Molloy workshop about voice acting! Yes, *that* Terry Molloy, Davros from Doctor Who fame! I always wanted to do voice acting. I know, I can't really do impressions or anything like that, but I have a child-like voice that would be good for a lot of characters I think. But I never knew how to break into it or what it involved. So I'll find out during this 3-part workshop!

Tickets for Intervention 6 can be bought at https://interventioncon.com/registration/register-for-intervention/ for the pre-registration price of $45, or at the door for $50. There are single day tickets available as well, by going to the link above.

If anyone I know will be there, find me and let's go to some panels together!

Supergirl - First Look & First Reactions

Yay!! We finally get a Supergirl TV show!! hehe Watch the six-minute promo first, then read below :)

First off, I do like this trailer overall.

The nitpicky stuff, not sure about her being an assistant getting coffee and assuming a low-profile identity and acting much like her more famous cousin. Glasses, hair tied back, unassuming low self-esteem type? Although not as low self esteem as Clark. But aside from her day job, this is pretty good.

We seem to be looking at it from an mid-series-Smallville type show where she already knows she has powers but may not know how to use them to their fullest degree yet. But at least she already knows about them. So I appreciate CBS' efforts to bypass 4 seasons of nothing like Smallville did.

Costume, yeah, I'm on board. It does harken a little bit to the Superman: Man of Steel outfit for Superman with a slight pattern on the blue portion and such. But I am glad they kept the skirt design and of course eventually the S on the chest. And did not make a cheesy line about how it stands for hope. Thank you.

But I do like Melissa Benoist as Kara and Supergirl. She really seems to fit the parts well. (And not just because her name is Melissa hehe). But she hits the mark in career-minded woman, to office assistant and then ultimately to Supergirl pretty well. She definitely has the pride of her clan within her and confidence to be someone great and be a ray of hope for those who need her help. Which is what Superman and Supergirl really represent. (Let's not go back to the cheesy hope line tho, ok? thanks!) hehe

It has much brighter colors like the comics and has a much brighter and lighter feel to it with lots of action sequences mixed in. It definitely is already better and paying better homage to Supergirl and Superman then Man of Steel did, that's for sure! So, already the mood is correct.

There is the usual nerd-boy-love-interest but even that, I'm mostly ok with. Kinda like a Cisco is a techie assistant to the Flash (the TV show), he is her techie assistant to her Supergirl, which is actually ok to me.

I like Jimmy Olsen, or James Olsen, ahem, 'scuse me... Although his character seems to be much more mature, secure and stereotypically handsome than the orignal Jimmy Olsen. So it's unclear his role here other than helping Kara out eventually. He's not the old-school clumsy Olsen we know from comics or any other incarnation of Olsen in TV and movies. So it will be interesting to watch a much stronger role being played here than we are used to. Not in a bad way either, just different.

I know in previous press releases we know that Helen Slater (Supergirl from the movie version in 1984) and Dean Cain (Superman/Clark Kent in "Lois and Clark" TV show) will have cameos here. So I'm excited for that as well, though I'm avoiding any other spoilers for who or what they will be playing/doing.

Not knowing much about Supergirl other than the normal basic info and my 1984 Supergirl movie, I am excited to go into this with a mostly clean slate and open mind. I am skeptical if only because that's what we nerds do, but overall I am going in with an open mind and hope to not be spoiled by bad reviews or fanboys doing a nerd-rage in the corner... Here's hoping it really lives up to everyone's expectations!

P.S.: Eventually I want to cosplay the Helen Slater version of Supergirl... It's on the books...  ;) But I do like this outfit too so it may go into my wishlist... hehe

DIY Han Solo Skirt

In prep for Star Wars Celebration, I decided I wanted to do a fem Han Solo. I've been wanting to do this for a long time actually. But getting the costume or making one from scratch was daunting. I am ok at sewing squares and rectangles and mostly things with straight edges and no real patterns. I have not ventured into the clothing dept yet. So I can revamp or redo some clothing pieces for costumes if needed but never from scratch. A friend put me onto Cosplaysky.com tho and well, things have changed the game! So I bought myself the Han Solo costume there, where it will fit me and is tailored to me! I am only 5' tall and pretty small and petite overall. Small arm and leg lengths, etc. So having a custom made cosplay outfit for me, for a relatively cheap price? Sold!

All that aside though, I still wanted to be a fem Han Solo, not just a woman wearing his costume type of fem. I wanted to wear a skirt instead of pants. So after a lot of searching for the perfect A-line swing skirt that was the right length, size and color, (and small pricetag!) I finally went to work on this skirt! (FYI, I eventually found the skirt at a TJMaxx in a state thousands of miles from my home while on a family vacation. It's a CWonder designer skirt (they are now out of business) that normally is about 80 bucks. I found it there for a mere 20 bucks).

I will tell you though I ended up doing this twice, two different ways and one way that was clearly much better than the first.

Firstly, though, I also found the perfect color and width ribbon to use for the side panels at the crafts store. Cut them into the proper length I needed for the skirt. Then with permanent markers I carefully marked every inch with a line. Gently using the marker because they do bleed on the satin ribbon, so don't press the marker too hard or it will bleed and have a really thick line or uneven looking line.

Then my first attempt at attaching the ribbon was to use fusible web strips and iron-on the ribbon to the skirt.

Ironing on the sides using the fusible web.

This proved to be the wrong way to attach the panels.

The fusible web didn't really adhere to the thick knit fabric like it should have, no matter how much heat I used or how many times I ran over the damp towel over the ribbons (don't want to burn the ribbon by putting the iron right on the ribbon). So, then I used some frabic glue to help adhere the parts that didn't want to fuse with the webbing. Another bad idea as the glue bled through the ribbon and even when dry, was then much darker and sloppy and blotchy looking in those areas.

So, I decided to do it the right way in the first place. (Hey, lesson learned that's all that matters haha)

The old ribbons came off the skirt easily since none of the webbing really stuck in the end. And wherever there was glue, it came off pretty simply as well. Whatever glue did stick, I think there was a way to get it off completely if I wanted, but it would just get covered again anyway, so I just pulled off as much as I could with my nails.

Redid the ribbons as mentioned above with permanent marker at one inch intervals.

Then this time I took out the sewing machine instead. And though I still had some issues with this, because it's a thick knit skirt, the ribbon did stretch a bit with the fabric so one end on each side is a teeny bit shorter than orginally planned and therefore the ribbons on one side of each, are a little crooked. But with the natural folds of the skirt and how I will wear it, hopefully you don't notice it.

Close up of the sewn finished side. You may or may not notice the left side (top of the skirt, I can't turn the picture) that the stripes look a little diagonal which is because the ribbon stretched as I sewed around it. It's mostly noticeable at the top of each side so hopefully my Han shirt should hide some of it or the holster belt will hide it as well.

Below is the finished skirt! (view of the back of the skirt) The skirt has pockets in the front so I needed to sew the stripes onto the seam behind the pockets, which mean the stripes face the back a little more than they normally would. But I'm perfectly OK with that.

I'm so excited to use this at Star Wars Celebration next week! ^_^