Fireworks - Green, Pt II

Welcome back to part II.  That Friday afternoon held the highlight of my LeakyCon:  the autograph session. 


Oh, and here's the poster I started with (brilliant design!).  It's from DFTBA [not related, but I was reeeeally tempted to get this one too :D ]

[These two...what is else is there really to say?]

First up, Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent Gordh.  Lizzie and Darcy.  They were both really grateful and sweet!  Daniel said, "I like your Darcy costume."  I asked him to sign "Verisimilitude."  He goes, "I hope I didn't spell that wrong."  Sorry, Daniel, you did.  But he was sick, so we'll give him a pass.

[Jing!]

These two win "sweetest couple award."  At Netherfield, doesn't Lizzie say something about them having a "nice off"?  They would in real life!  Laura Spencer is just darling and Christopher Sean took the time to read name-badges and leave a note.  Very cool.

[I mean...]

[I can't get over how cute they are!]

[This pair of pics is actually for laughs... the longer I look the funnier Wes's faces become hehe]

[Wes Aderhold... puttin' those selfie practices to good use]

[such a favorite!]

Hold the phone - I got to meet MK Wiles!  I can't tell you how much I appreciate what MK brought to the role of Lydia.  And finding out she's a fellow sentamentalist, English (and Theatre double) major, and LotR nerd... well, it was so huge to meet her and thank her in person for her work.  

[Collins and Collins]

Maxwell Glick has this really awesome t-shirt:  it's the Bag End door and says "Second Breakfast Diner."  I told him we should start a restaurant with that name - who wouldn't want to breakfast there?

[Hank and the Hanklerfish]

Representing 1/2 of the Green brothers, here is Hank in all is awesome.  And the Hanklerfish.  Don't forget the Hanklerfish.

Hank made my day when he not only told me he liked my costume, he thought I was "the best LBD cosplayer" he had seen at LeakyCon.  +500 nerd points :)

[Bernie Su]

When I got to Bernie, he looked at me and said, "Samara, thank you for watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries."  He was so sincere, so genuinely grateful.  All I could say was a sincere, "Thank you for creating them!"

[The Bennet Sisters]

Sorry they're blurry... I was a bit overwhelmed by the awesome :D

[So, so grateful for this panel and these people]

I've seen an encouragement online that goes something like this:  "Dear Starving Artist, remember that what you're starving for is worth it."  Sadly,  I know many have to give up on those dreams.  But to see these people not only make it long enough to create something wonderful, but also be appreciated for it - that's just fantastic!

[I'm pretty sure these tweets didn't make it to fb...]

Yah... I was a bit overwhelmed after meeting all those creative people.  I get excited - what can I say?  

Other fun LBD-related LeakyCon moments:  gifs, more gifs, Maxwell's bts, or the "leaked" blooper real (that's 1 of 5 on the DVD).



So, the rest of the afternoon, I snuck in and out of sessions and took time for food and journaling and social media.  I also took a few pics of costumes. Tried, I should say.  I tried to take pictures of them.  None of them turned out very well, except for:  Severus Snape!  This guy was rocking it!  His hair was real!  Dyed, but not a wig.  And the costume was fantastic with buttons and all.  Ah, I just love costumes :)

[Severus Snape!!]

[LeakyCon dance party]

The day's festivities were followed by the Wrock Concert (Wizard Rock...yah).  Anyway, there was one group that did a cover of "Dog Days are Over" and after the bridge, a whole bunch of other musicians and special guests went out there and danced around like crazy - it was awesome!  I mean, Hank Green and "Foxface" were both up there and the whole place was going wild.  Such fun!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Well, LeakyCon - being my first convention and all - was a brilliant experience.  There were so many moments when i thought, "These are my type of people.  I'm not too much for them... [That's rare!]."  But more than that, it's an incredible way for creators and fans and creative fans to "touch" and appreciate one another in a very unique way.  And that was worth the trip.  It's not about "famous people" or fandoms.  The thing that unites us is story, narrative.  A beautiful and powerful thing.  I introduced friends, I wrote blog posts, I backed their kick-starter - but to be able to look those people in the eye, people I had been on a journey with for almost a year, that was a great treat. 


I'll leave you with some thoughts from MK Wiles on the subject:

LeakyCon is a bright beacon of hope and fun and encouragement and love for things we love. It is a wonderful thing to be celebrating—the stories that make us feel. I got into this career because A Story made me feel. It’s incredibly humbling to be a part of something that did that for someone else.

My life, and any actor’s life, can be hard, just like I’m sure many of your lives have their own difficulties. It’s experiences like this weekend that remind me, and remind us, that there’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for. In fact, I think there’s quite a bit of good, and I see it in each of your faces. Thank you for letting me fight with you.

- MK Wiles, On LeakyCon

[Thank you, LeakyCon!]

Fireworks - Green, Pt I

"There's no regret more painful than the regret of things that never were."

-  The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa

One of the hardest parts of adulthood is deciding what takes priority.  What are the once-in-a-lifetime, life-changing events and experiences?  How do we invest our time and money in those and not waste it on the other stuff?  And what about when two life-changing experiences compete?  These are the hardest decisions of my life.

And one of them presented itself earlier this year.  I wrestled with this for months.  Many of you watched me hop from one side of the fence to the other.  There were days when I thought "I totally have to do this.  There is no way I could miss this opportunity."  And then days when I thought, "Samara, that PTO and column for your budget would be better spent ______ or ______ or ______."  And it's true - there are some downright unbelievably cool opportunities around the corner to be saving for.  Still, I visited their registration page a dozen times (no joke).  I was almost hoping to come to it one day and find it sold out - then I'd have an "Oh, well - I tried" excuse...but really just because then someone else would have made the decision for me :P

But then, 2 weeks before LeakyCon in Portland, when I had finally resigned myself to missing it, they opened up the "Day Pass" option.  And I finally jumped on this "best of both worlds" scenario.

Just as a brief intro, LeakyCon started as a Harry-Potter-centric convention, but has opened itself to embrace a lot of different fandoms, including-but-not-limited-to: Doctor Who, The Hunger Games, Nerdfighters, Glee, and most recently, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  Being that Hank Green & a large portion of the cast & crew would be there... I knew I had to go.  And I'm so glad I did.  One week ago I was considering panels on "Greek Myth in Harry Potter" or "Naming in the Hunger Games" or (one of my favorites) "Fandom as Ekklesia."  I spent the day among other cosplayers, watching quidditch matches, singing along to Beauty & the Beast songs with a few hundred other people as they played over the loud speaker.  I adjusted to being called "Darcy" for the day.  I attend my first Wizard Rock concert (ha!).  And best of all, listened to and met some creatives I've been following for over a year.

So here's a rundown of my spectacularly nerdy day :)



[Get your Darcy on!!]

So, cosplay-wise, I went with Jane!Darcy - cutesy dress, (red!) milkmaid braids, bow-tie, and newsie-cap.  So. much. fun!

First part of the day was the most nerve-wracking: a lottery drawing for the LBD autograph session that afternoon.  The deal was, you join this humongous line, file into the exhibition hall, sort yourself into the session you want (Starkid, HP Actors, LBD, you get my drift), and then draw from a bag.  You draw a red ticket - you're in.  White ticket - you're out.  [But, if you draw a white one, you can go back to the beginning of the sorted line rather than the humongo line.] 

So first time through..... fingers crossed.  Kinda jittery actually.  I don't hide my fangirl well [some of you are thinking... no really?].  Snake through the line.  Make small talk with the other (ok, yah, pretty much all) girls in that line.  Get to the bag........pull a white ticket.  Drat!
Back to the end with a few others.  Repeat snaking process.  I overhear people in the line "Yah, I've never watched these, but..."  Traitors!  JK.  Kind of.  Draw again...white again. 
"Once more unto the breach..." ok, not that bad.  But here I was wishing and hoping.  More small talk with the same two girls as the last time. Noting my costume, I have some people offering me a red ticket if they get one, "I'm just here for my friend."  I must look desperate.  Well, darn it... I am desperate.  I watch as those ones who offered their ticket one-by-one draw white tickets.  The girls in front of me pull red.  Cheers!  I reach in for my third draw.  I feel around.  "This is it," I think.  "There aren't enough tickets for me to draw a fourth time."  My fingers fix on one.  I pull it out...........

RED!



Whew!  I'm going to meet them.  I'll get they're signatures.  I'll get to thank them in person.

Next I go that "Fandom as Ekklesia" discussion.  It was fascinating.  A big theme of the convention, actually, was, "Okay, we're a unified group.  We identify with such-and-such fandom.  We have a community.  Now, what can we do with that?"  And there are some great groups!  Nerdfighters aim to "decrease world-suck" and so offer micro-loans to people in developing nations through Kiva [$400k last year alone].  The Harry Potter Alliance announces "We are Book 8" and encourages members of the fandom to apply the principals of the book to make our world better.  I was able to donate a bit last month to Myeloma UK as a fandom fundraiser/birthday present for Benedict Cumberbatch  [there's still 2 weeks, if you're interested].  Point is - Fandoms can obviously mobilize along common interests and beliefs.  But can we do more than pledge money?  Can we become a vibrant community that lives the message of the narratives we love and identify with?  

[Oh wait...isn't that what being a Christian is supposed to be about?  .............  That's a different blog post].  The reverand who led this discussion had some great observations and she made me view fandom as something more than just a hashtag or facebook page.  Really, really great.

But I digress.  

Next up:  Lizzie Bennet Diaries Writers' Panel.  This was one of the main reasons I came! 



[Jay Bushman - writer & transmedia director
Rachel Kiley - writer of Lydia arc and videos
Margaret Dunlap - writer and co-producer
Bernie Su - head writer, co-producer, director, hat wearer :]



Yes, that's a Mrs. Bennet hat in front of me :)  So, the writer's showed us a bonus feature from the upcoming DVD.  It was awesome.  Then they shared each of their timeline of involvement with the show.  Hank Green, executive producer, had come up with the idea, talked to Bernie about it during their 2nd ever conversation, Bernie contacted a few female writers (including Rachel and Margaret).  Meanwhile Jay had been trying to get a transmedia version of Pride and Prejudice out there for years.  He was told there was no audience for that (ha ha ha ha!).  They all met up and then the magic started! 

They fielded some great questions, including one from me :D  I just asked about how they approached the adaptation so that they weren't just using the story, but causing people to read, re-read, or at least re-examine that story.  Hank rephrased it as "marketing the story."  Jay took that question and answered by saying that a good adaptation will find that 1 piece of the story that has been taken for granted or just completely overlooked and frame their whole re-working around that part of it.  For this team, their chosen aspect was the girl's relationships as part of Lizzie becoming a modern woman.  Darcy is, obviously, a huge part of that.  But where the series stood out were with Lydia or Charlotte and Lizzie's reactions to them.  I took a lot of other great notes, but there are the hilights :)

Then we all headed over to the main hall where LBD took center stage:

[my attempts...iPhone just washed them all out :/ ]

[an actual camera's rendition :]

This was a wonderful panel as each talked about how LBD has changed their careers - MK choked up talking about what it meant to have a fan base that cares about what they're doing.  They also shared about what's up next for them - some exciting stuff!  And they fielded a few fun questions as well.



[via Ashley Clements' instagram... I'm out there somewhere.]

After lunch was the autograph signing.  While waiting in line for that [by the way, that's what you actually do at conventions - you may meet someone famous or hear them speak, but what you do at conventions is wait in lines], I met a new, good friend, Alexis:



[Alexis as the 10th Doctor]



[Alexis and I after the Wrock Concert that night]

I also met a girl named Sami who made these little plushies for the whole cast and Hank Green - so cute!  Later, the cast took all these pictures with their little fandolls.  It was so cool!  And, she's on Etsy - so if you ever find yourself in need of a fandoll, check her out.



[Cast of LBD, Sami, and the Fandolls]

She also had her friend Shayne draw this for the cast to sign.  Ah!  Love how creative fandoms are!!

[via]

Ok... are you ready for some cute pictures of the cast?  Yah, I thought so.  But guess what?  That's Part II.  Stay tuned!!

#ProudToBeAFanOf

#ProudToBeAFanOf was trending today... and I had to chip in.

Of course, you all know what I'm proud to be a fan of.  Lucky for me, today provided some adorable [what's known in the fandom world] "crack."  Little morsels shared with fans, just enough to provide a temporary high.

And so... meet #Setlock [the tag assigned to the current filming of Sherlock Season 3].

I have to start with the "totes supes adorbs" (thank you, Lydia Bennet).

After spending the majority of the last 2 years in New Zealand and away from his family, Martin-the-Hedgehog-Freeman is back in London.  What's more, his wife, Amanda Abingdon, has been cast in Sherlock in a role we can only assume to be "Miss Mary Morstan" - who, after hiring Sherlock in "A Sign of Four," became John Watson's wife! :)

Isn't that precious?

Well, the cuteness gets better when the Freeman children come to visit 221B for the day!!

Seriously, his kids look like Hobbits!

And they reportedly enjoyed visiting Dad, Mum, and "Uncle Ben" [Ah!] at work :D



[Back to 221B - er...187 N Gower.  Martin's face!!]



[The hat. The coat. The smile. The man. The character. Sherlock's alive!!]



[Martin totally is a hedgehog!]

Annnd... in another favorite fandom - the LBD got a proper photoshoot!

Make the cuteness stop!

["Jing" + "Dizzie"]

Except, wait, don't ;)

Love and miss you, Lizzie B.



Proud to be a fangirl ;)

I can't tell you how happy I am to be a part of this project.  I've been waiting to support this endeavor monetarily and with just one week left :'( of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries,  I'm so glad to be part of blessing both the creators and a new wave of fans that will be introduced to the project in hindsight.

I have a lot more to say about LBD, but I just want to celebrate this fandom for a moment.

A $60k goal met in 3 HOURS!! We'll have doubled the goal on the first day. 

I'm hoping the literally-starving-artists (I follow them on twitter, I know!) who helped write, perform, produce, do makeup, procure costumes, live-tweeted, and in any other way brought the show to life get big bonuses as just small "Thank you" from the fans.

Thank you Lizzie Bennet Diaries :)