WonderCon 2014 Wrap Up

WonderCon 2014 has come and gone, and my wallet is lighter but my swag bags are heavy! We had a great time at WonderCon this year.

We made the long trek to Anaheim Thursday night to have a little time to relax before the show. We had a nice dinner at the Outback Steakhouse, stopped at Target for snacks and supplies, and then headed back to our room at the Clarion Hotel to peruse the programming schedule and make our final selections of panels to hit up over the next few days.

Friday morning dawned, and we headed over to the convention center to get our badges and begin the fun! The first panel we checked out was The Art of the Pitch, which was about the Disney/ABC Talent Development Program. They had a few writers and directors from some ABC shows who spoke about their jobs, and then they had some people from the audiences give pitches about themselves. One interesting take-away from the panel was when one panelist said it was helpful to start with a personal story, as

it will engage the person you're pitching to. After that, we walked the exhibit hall for a while and had a nice lunch at the Lazy Dog Cafe before going back to the convention center. Jim Lee's panel was, as always, delightful. This time, he brought up 3 people in the audience who said they were artists, read a page from an upcoming comic he's working on, and had each sketch their interpretation of it. Then, he drew over and fleshed out what they had drawn. It was a really cool idea and it's always awesome to watch him draw live. We also checked out a panel called Secrets of Creating Scripted Television. Panelists included a writer from Arrow, a composer, a director, an AD, and a guy who does the YouTube channel for Marvel. 

Saturday was our Arena day, WonderCon's answer to Hall H (minus the insane line: we waited for maybe 10 minutes until it opened, and even then, we could have just walked in later with no difficulty). First panel was the Warner Brothers lineup. Bill Paxton was utterly charming discussing his new Tom Cruise move, Edge of Tomorrow. He casually threw out his most famous lines from movies, and the crowd ate it up. It was obvious how appreciative he is of his fans, and talked about how he enjoyed this stage of his career where he can just be the supporting character actor rather than trying to be the leading man. Next was Into the Storm, a movie about a bunch of crazy tornadoes assaulting this one town. Then, Godzilla! The director was there, and showed some awesome new footage of it, including a reveal of the entire Godzilla, as well as the fact that Godzilla will be facing off against some other monsters, including this crazy looking wasp thing. Fox's lineup was up next. Jay Baruchel was there for How To Train Your Dragon 2, which looked cute. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes panel had Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, and Andy Serkis, and showed some new footage. Several cast members were there for The Maze Runner, based on a book I've never read, so I'm not actually super interested in this. They showed a scene from the upcoming Colin Firth-starring Secret Service, which I'd never heard of before this, but now I'm super excited for. Last up was X-Men: Days of Future Past; they showed the first scene from it and more new footage. Pretty good stuff!

Sunday was a light day, panel-wise, so we spent most of our time in exhibit hall, after the Nerdist panel with Chris Hardwick. I listen to several Nerdist Industries podcasts; there are currently 26, and he said they're looking to increase that number to in the 50s by the end of the year. Dear god, there's only so many hours in my workday to listen! That said, I'm really excited to see what they come up with, especially Jessica Chobot's ghost/conspiracy theory podcast. She sounds exactly like me, in that I love reading about ghost stories and conspiracy theories, without actually necessarily believing in any of it.

I bought SO much stuff on the exhibit floor, more than I've gotten in a while. But I needed all of it, NEEDED.

2 Pacific Rim jaegers - Cherno Alpha and Coyote Tango
3 Game of Thrones mystery box vinyl figures - Arya, Robb Stark, Ghost the Direwolf
2 Walking Dead action figures - Glenn and Maggie
a Death Star ice cube sphere, and Han Solo in carbonite ice cube tray
2.5 Funko Pops - Black Widow, Snow White, and a Disney vinyl of Maleficent
Panda t-shirt and tote bag from Steppie
a stuffed Ewok, 3 Disney pins, and a She-Ra I've been wanting forever, for a price I couldn't refuse.

WonderCon 2014!

WonderCon 2014 takes place this weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center, and I will be attending for the 3rd year in a row. WonderCon is the little sister of the big ComicCon show in San Diego in July. It used to take place in San Francisco, but weren't able to commit to a timeslot there, so they moved it down to Anaheim. 

People who bitch about not being able to get tickets to SDCC should really check out WonderCon. It's a great show, there's tons of programming, a nice exhibit floor, and even a few off-site events (mainly screenings). And the best part is, you barely have to wait in line to do anything. The first time I went, I was floored that I could just walk right into the panel rooms, or the big Arena room (their answer to Hall H). There are actually quite a few cons in Southern California, and beyond, so if you can't get into SDCC, there's no excuse to bitch about it. Support your local convention!!

See you there!

Apartment Hunting Tips!

My boyfriend and I are moving in to a new place together, so we're trying to find an apartment that's closer to both of our offices, in a new neighborhood. Here are a few tips that served me well in our search:

• Keep track of each apartment that you're interested in! I used Trello - I created a board specifically for this, and gave my bf access to it. I made a card for each place I contacted, and included relevant info like address, website, rent, amenities, and whatnots. I also put when and how I contacted them, and then the time of the appointment as well. After visiting the place, you could also put your thoughts for each place there as well, so you can easily compare all the places you've seen.

• Broaden your horizons! Try looking in areas that maybe aren't within your exact boundaries, but adjacent to it. Consider raising your maximum rent amount, or looking for 1 bedrooms with a loft instead of 2 bedrooms, or a one bedroom instead of a studio. You might miss something great if you are locked into this idea of what you want.

• Review the attributes of each place before you go in. Make sure you know everything you already know so you can ask relevant questions. When you get back to your car, write down everything you thought about the place. If possible, take pictures while in the apartment, especially of things you really like, or even don't like.

• Give yourself enough time between appointments. You'll want enough time to adequately see the apartment and the grounds, as necessary, as well as travel time between each place. I'd rather have too much time than not enough! Plus, that way you can drive a few blocks around the area and see what's there!

Bar(re) Hopping

About a year ago, I decided to purchase a Groupon for a series of Bar Method classes. I didn't really know what to expect aside from a really hard, if not graceful, workout. I ended up really really enjoying them, and not only went back for more after my Groupon was used up, but also I checked out some other versions of barre classes.

Bar or Barre classes are a ballet-inspired group class all about sculpting your body, mainly through the repetition of tiny movements. Much of class takes place holding a bar, but you don't have to be a ballet dancer, or even very graceful, to take these classes. I've seen women (and one guy!) of all shapes and ages and levels of fitness!

There are a bunch of studios around LA. So far I’ve tried 3 varieties - Bar Method, Pure Barre, and Cardio Barre. I think there's also something called Pop Physique but I haven't tried that one yet. There's probably other ones I'm not even aware of yet as well.

I was so intimidated walking into my first Bar Method class. It does take a couple classes to get into it and really learn the moves. One thing I like a lot about Bar Method is their emphasis on correct form. The instructors will always come around and correct you, which is awesome and something I've seen less of at other places. Their big thing is the 'tuck', which means to tuck your tailbone under your spine, basically. It takes some getting used to, but it takes pressure off your spine and engages your core muscles. Their other thing is the leg shake. Your legs will literally start to shake and you will wonder if it's possible for body parts to have seizures independent of the rest of your body. This is a good thing, apparently. You are 'turning muscles on', and also 'this is where the change happens'. Or so I repeatedly heard during class. I mean, sure, sometimes it's so hard that you want to start crying right there at the barre, but it gets better! Eventually... If you've done it right, you will hurt afterwards. For a long time. But in a good way. I was hooked.

I also tried out Pure Barre. I found those classes to be kind of okay, they were just a little too complicated for me. They used all these stretchy bands and stuff, sometimes attached to the bar, and then doing a bunch of different things things at once. I'm just not that coordinated. Doesn't mean it's a bad work out, it just doesn't work for me personally. There's a reason I don't do Zumba and stuff, and it's because I don't know how to move my arms and legs at the same time. It was still a good workout, I just felt clunky doing it.

RIght now, I'm doing Cardio Barre classes. They're a little more ballet centric, mixed in with some pilates and good-old-fashioned aerobics. The class size is huge, though, so there's not really any individualized attention from the instructor. There's more graceful arm motions, and pointing of the feet, and other graceful ballet-y stuff like that. I do feel like I'm getting a great, total body workout there.

You can also find some good Barre videos on YouTube. Here are a couple of my favorite videos that I turn to between classes.

Nicolas Cage at the Aero Theater!

On Sunday night, the Aero Theater in Santa Monica hosted an advanced screening of a new Nicolas Cage movie called Joe, with Cage and the director doing a Q&A after the show.

Joe is about a former convict (the titular Joe, played by NC, obvs), trying to make a quiet living with his tree poisoning business. He hires a young boy, Gary, who is looking for work to help support his family because his deadbeat dad is a deadbeat. They develop a father-son relationship, and Joe tries to help Gary make his life into a better one than he had.

I really enjoyed the movie. I loved the symbolism or whatever of Joe running a business whose purpose is to poison trees that no one wants so that good trees can be planted, and at the end, Gary working for the company that plants new trees. I do find myself somewhat disturbed by super rednecky, meth-y people, so the real people that were sprinkled in with the real actors throughout the movie kind of freaked me out. The man who played Gary's father was a real life bum who they found at a bus station, having just left the traveling circus. He actually died just a few weeks ago.

Also, I totally called that it was filmed in Texas halfway through the film, and lo and behold, it was filmed around Austin and Bastrop!

The Q&A portion was really good. Cage said that he was influenced to take this role due to the challenges in his real life over the past couple years. He talked about his former acting style, which he called western baroque, kabuki style, and how he wanted to now take roles where he didn't have to 'act', he could just 'be' in the part. He knew the character of Joe, he identified with him. He did really reign in his performance in this movie, imbuing Joe with a sense of seething anger held in by hard-honed restraint. He also formed a real relationship with Tye, the actor who played the kid Gary. It was palpable on film as it seemed like a very authentic relationship.

Someone asked Cage about how he juggles fame with acting, since he is now the focus of so many internet memes and videos and whatnot. He gave a very thoughtful answer about the nature of celebrity today. Actors in the past didn't have to deal with someone seeing them out and about, making mistakes, and having that instantly be worldwide news due to smartphones and Twitter and such. I can't imagine having to deal with that. The thought of everyone looking at me and taking pictures would be enough for me to never leave my home every again. I was impressed by how aware he was of the whole thing, and in how he dealt with the question. 

We also saw Sam Worthington on the way out of the theater. He looked exactly the way he does on screen except kind of tiny. Also, I saw Amy Yasbeck at Westfield Century City earlier in the day. Doesn't have anything to do with Nicolas Cage, I just thought it was worth mentioning! Celeb count = 3!

March Round-Up

Overall, March was a pretty great month! I started getting back to eating better and working out more regularly, which always makes me feel more positive. My eBay business has really taken off, I've been listing and selling a ton of things this month. Also, I started working on a couple craft projects! I did pretty well on my minimalism challenge - I got rid of a bunch of enewsletters, Twitters, etc, as well as a lot of junk in the real world! These were all things I had mentioned wanting to do in my last end-of-month post, so yay me!

Also making March terrific were the the awesome trips we took to Disneyland and Seattle! 

I finished three books - 
1. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay - the book series that the TV series was based on). It was okay. I don't think I'll continue reading the rest of the series; I just didn't enjoy it that much.
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - I liked it, but I actually liked the movie a lot more.
3. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns - I really really loved this book. I highlighted so many things that I found helpful, and plan to keep it on my Kindle so I can refer back to it. I highly recommend it to anyone who suffers from anxiety, has trouble with negative thinking, or is prone to procrastination.

I saw 5 movies in the theater, 4 of which were older movies (Aliens, Terminator, Indiana Jones & The Temple of Dome, Back to the Future). Divergent was the other! Plus 8 others on DVD at home.

For April, I pretty much want to continue March's successes with eBaying, crafting, and cleaning! I'd also like to read a bit more. The only way I managed to read 3 books in March was due largely to free time on the plane trip!

So Seattle, Much Con, Very Rain. Wow.

Space Needle, Key Arena to the right

My boyfriend and I just had a fun-filled, packed weekend of fun in Seattle! We were there from Thursday to Sunday, and it rained every day except the day we left!



Our weekend started out on several good notes. First, we spotted Alan Tudyk, aka Wash from Firefly while waiting to board our plane at LAX. Then when we got on the plane, we saw that Michael Biehn of Terminator & Aliens fame was seated just a few rows in front of us, and just one row in front of Alan!! Plus, I saw a blob of a rainbow upon exiting the Seattle airport. I think that's a good sign!

The Fairmont Olympic

We stayed in the lovely and ornate Fairmont Olympic, in downtown Seattle. They had a ton of restaurants and cafes, as well as a bunch of little shops on the lower levels where you could buy clothes, get souvenirs, or get your tailoring done. The lobby was gorgeous, with a bunch of seating areas and a piano player serenading the guests with instrumental versions of contemporary songs. Our room was fantastic, and even had a little powder room!

View from RView

That night, we went to RView for dinner. It's located on the 28th floor of the Renaissance Seattle, with a beautiful view of the Seattle skyline. It was very cozy and surprisingly empty. We sat on comfy couches instead of at a table. I had a pretty great burger with goat cheese.
From there, we went for a couple drinks at Purple Wine Bar. They have this great cement bar situated around a two story tall spiral staircase filled with bottles of wine!

On Friday, we headed over to the famed Pike Place Market, home of a ton of dead fish and rows upon rows of tulips. There were also a lot of vendors selling artisan crafts and whatnots, handcrafted thingamabobs, and the like. We sat at a non-Starbucks coffee shop for a while, ironically just a few doors down from the very first Starbucks location ever. I saw SO many Starbucks while we were there. There must have been one every 10 feet! 

Also on Friday, we indulged in an daytime drink from the hotel bar. I got a lavender martini, possibly the most beautiful drink I've ever had. This picture doesn't even do the color justice. And it was delicious, too!















We had dinner at an Irish pub called T.S. McHugh's before heading over to the Key Arena for the Kings of Leon concert! We don't go to very many live shows, but Kings of Leon is one of my favorite contemporary bands, so it was really great to get to see them live. They put on an amazing show! On a huge screen behind the band, they had all kinds of moving images in the background to complement the music, and each song had a whole different thing. One of my favorite parts was when they asked people to light up their phones and hold them up. The stadium looked beautiful with all the little dots of light!

On Saturday, we headed over to the Washington State Convention Center for Emerald City Comic Con! This con was a pretty good size, not San Diego Comic Con sized, but actually much larger than I thought it would be. Their exhibit hall was spread out over several floors, which was very confusing, especially to someone as directionally-challenged as I am. They had a lot of great booths, with a good variety. Lots of great artists in the Artist's Alley, tons of unique crafts, and clever t-shirts and pins galore! I didn't want to buy too much, since my suitcase was pretty packed to begin with. I did get some really awesome pins from this one booth that had pins of all sizes, including extra extra large!

They had a pretty good programming line up, though we didn't make it to any panels. There was also a Game of Thrones art exhibit, and a huge set-up of Lego scenes, like huge Avengers, a Rivendell, some Batman stuff. I didn't actually get a good look, the line was pretty long. Cleverly, they also had several Lego-related booths in the same area.

There was even more stuff than that going on, both in and out of the convention center. We spoke to a Seattle local while waiting in line, who said that it's been doubling in size the last few years. I thought it was a great show; I just wish they'd had better signage for all the different areas of the con. There were lots of visible volunteers sprinkled around, but they didn't always know much more than we did.


After the con, we met back up with our friends and went out for sushi at Moshi Moshi Sushi. We also went to a combination pinball/ice cream place. I shoved some children out of the way and played a couple games of Lord of the Rings pinball! Then it was back to the hotel for a couple more drinks in the lovely lobby before bed!

Our weekend of Seattle fun ended with brunch before the airport on a very sunny Sunday. Back to the real world!

HIMYM is making me feel too many feelings

I spent the first part of the series finale of How I Met Your Mother tonight in tears, only to end up in somewhat angry confusion. There was 9 years leading up to this! I feel like this ending only happened because the show went on so long. They had to justify spending 8 years of talking about Robin and only 1 year of talking about the Mother. I guess I feel robbed.

I just like Robin and Barney together so much more. They were more similar and suited to each other, just like they ended up showing the same about Ted and the Mother. I really hated that they got divorced.

Sure, I guess it makes some sort of sense, and the symmetry was interesting. It just feels a little like getting together with Robin in the end negates Ted's relationship with the Mother. And it's just so sad that she really only had a few years of happiness. She spent a long time being sad about her first love, and then meets Ted and dies 10 years later. She didn't even get to see her kids grow up.

If this is what was going to happen, I wish they hadn't even shown the Mother either at all, or as much, as they did. I got all invested just to find out that he ends up with Robin anyway. And what was the point of showing Ted finally getting over Robin, only to still get back together with her?

I guess maybe there's a point in there about how it's the journey, not the destination? And I guess Ted getting back together with Robin after the Mother dies doesn't necessarily have to take away anything from their relationship.

I wonder how much influence social media has in these things. People have been saying for years that the Mother is probably dead at the end, the creators denied it, and then that's exactly what happened. I remember when Lost was on the air, people early on were saying that the island was purgatory, and the creators denied it, and then it ended up not being true, but if social media weren't there to make them feel like they have to do something unexpected that people haven't already thought of, would that still have been the case?