Con'ing it up: Emerald City Comic Con

A week ago Sunday I got to go to Seattle's biggest Con and it was loads of fun!

Because of Karen Gillan's appearance (Doctor Who's Amelia Pond) and

because my recently chopped hair could mimic his little flick,

I decided to cosplay as Matt Smith's 11th Doctor:

[elevensies]

[Lots of textures]

Being a Con veteran, I decided to simplify my approach and chose 3 panels to attend, giving myself plenty of time to be in line and enjoy things.

The first was a panel with Patrick Rothfuss, author of Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear.
I loved the first two of his trilogy - the best world building of any contemporary author I've read.

[I love you, Harry, but Kvothe's got a point here.]

[Rothfuss - sorry, his eyes were closed]

While we didn't get any news about the final installment of the King-Killer Chronicles,
He did announce 2 new novellas before the year's out, each focused on particularly interesting side-characters.
But aside from the news, I really appreciated hearing some of the thought process behind his writing and was so grateful I got to go.


Now, it wouldn't be a con without cosplay and I rounded up a few of my favorites.

If I could bestow a laurel to the best cosplayer, this girl (and her family) would have won it:

[god of mischief...eating a pb&j]

Her dad homemade all the armor pieces - including the staff that actually lit up!
Her grandmother sowed everything else together, and this girl carried it all SO well!
Bravo to Team Loki!

[Watch out Hiddleston!]

I was also impressed by these homemade Disney-princess coslpayers:

[Ariel & Snow White]

And a few other miscellaneous ones:

[10 & a weeping angel, Belle, and Indy]

Panel #2 for the day was called "From Page to Screen" and focused on adaptation - a favorite subject of mine :)
The panel featured an author, a screenplay writer, and a concept artist.
The concept artist had done a lot of word-image art that I found fascinating - including working on [my latest obsession] Once Upon a Time.
This whole topic is so fascinating... but more to come on that later.


I then met up with friends for the last panel of the day: Karen Gillan!

[Megan as Amy Pond from "Flesh & Stone,"
Kayla being her amazing Whovian self,
Me going all "bow ties are cool,"
Ash as Amy Pond from "The Impossible Astronaut"]

For those of you who aren't familiar, Karen Gillan is a young Scottish Actress
who rose to prominence playing the main companion on Doctor Who for 2 1/2 seasons.
As Amelia (Amy) Pond, she and co-stars Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor) and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) had some incredible chemistry as friends and companions.
They share, well, let's just say an extra special bond with the Doctor.

She was wonderfully genuine and no matter how many times she got asked the same question, she always had a unique response.  And she flew through questions like a pro.
Bravo, Miss Karen!  Bow ties are cool and so are you :)

Comic con was a joy - being around really passionate, nerdy people just refreshes me.
I saw some truly fantastic cosplay, heard from talented artists, and made some new friends.
All in all, a day very well spent!

* * * * * * * * *

"made some new friends."
Code for: one very special friend!!

Vaults & Gardens

[original photo source]

Oxford to Hogwarts

I've been missing Oxford a great deal lately.
It's been interesting having now read Harry Potter and wept through watched the first two movies to recall all the HP connections to that trip.
I couldn't appreciate them then, but that's ok.  I still have their memory,
now mingled with my own reading experience.

 All that to say... I was particularly struck the other day when I saw this pin:

The funny bit is that I was at that premiere.  Well, not "at it" as in attending it.  But my very first night in London, the group I was with sort of ran right into it on the way to - get this - the Palace! 

[Trafalgar Square - thousands of Potterheads...and me]

We could hear the cheers from several London-blocks away.

I had never come across or been a part of a crowd this big

[and wouldn't be again until the Seahawks Superbowl parade].

[Bellatrix, Hermione, and Harry]

[They had these jumbotrons they were projecting the arrivals onto - so big, so so insane!]

And then we were off to Westminster, Parliament, and the Palace:

[Buckingham at night]

  The Harry Potter connections continued in Oxford,

the most notable being the "sorting stairs."

The scene in the first HP film where the Harry and the other first years

are greeted by Professor McGonagall before entering the dining hall and being sorted

was filmed at Christ Church College.

We made a visit... and ran into young Harry:

But seriously, it's such a majestic location. 

Hogwarts definitely has it's "Oxbridge" roots and I love HP all the more for it!

So... fun memories blended with new reading/viewing experiences.

Ask my Bookshelf

A blogger friend of mine (from England :), Hannah, recently "tagged" me on her blog for this fun little blogging challenge.  Following are 16 questions I had to answer using only book titles.  I may have fudged a bit and used a few poems' titles.  Enjoy! 


1. Are you a man or a woman?  
The Odd Women [Gissing]

2. Describe yourself.
The Hobbit [Tolkien]
 
3. What does life mean to you?  
Six Characters in Search of an Author [Pirandello]

4. How are you doing?
Great Expectations [Dickens]

5. Describe your current home.  
The Little House [Burton]
 
6. Where would you like to travel?
Surprised by Oxford [Weber]
 
7. Describe your best friend.
"Bright Star" [Keats]

8. What is your favourite colour?
The Picture of Dorian Gray [Wilde]

9. What is the weather like now?
Gone with the Wind [Mitchell]

10. What is the best season in your opinion?
A Midsummer Night's Dream [Shakespeare]

11. If your life was a tv series, what would it be called?  
The Metamorphosis [Kafka]

12. What is your (romantic) relationship like?
Much Ado about Nothing [Shakespeare]

13. What are you afraid of?
The Book Thief [Zusak]

14. Aphorism for the day.
You are Special [Lucado]

15. What advice would you like to give?
"Carry On" [Service]

16. How would you prefer to die?  
At the back of the North Wind [MacDonald]


Tag:
Beks :)
 

Things my teenage self never thought I'd say... [Pt. 1]

* "In Frozen, I'm glad Elsa's story doesn't end with her meeting a guy."
Let me explain - this isn't some crazy "women don't need men" things.  I just appreciate that of all the Disney princesses (of marrying age) we've had, this one woman doesn't end up with a guy.  Her story arc is about familial love - and it is beautiful that way!  Romance is wonderful, but relationships are hard work and getting married doesn't just solve all of a girl's problems.  So way to go, Disney, for showing a woman who has a different kind of lesson to learn.
Some people in my life have reminded me that this perspective is a far cry from what I once espoused.  My flatmate and I were recalling (and cringing over) a conversation late in high school where she tried to convince me that getting married was not the only purpose in my life.  Beks, accept this as an apology for vehemently disagreeing with you then.

* "Eminem is breaking my heart."

[This was my brother's response...]

Between Monster & Headlights [Warning: both are explicit. Yes, this is Eminem], he has absolutely wrecked me. I could do a whole separate post on the gold in those lyrics (and I might need to in order to justify these statements), but more than a change in his tone & lyrics, the change has been in me. His music can be very dark - though, lately, more desperate & even repentant. But, facing my own darkness has taught me to appreciate others'. 

* "It's been nearly 2 years since I read something pre-1900."

I know, I've alluded to this before, but I'm still shocked.  I will return.  Hopefully soon.  But there have been so many other treasures to find. 

Q&A with Tom Hiddleston

Last weekend I saw Coriolanus with some ladies, and ever since has been "Tom Hiddleston Appreciation Week."  I know I've mentioned him before, but I've realized some people don't know much about him. Well, let's just say he's a lovely old soul who has still retained a child's playfulness.  And is at the same time devilishly handsome!

Last fall, he did a Twitter Q&A and I loved some of his answers, so here are some quotes, pictures and videos of his for your enjoyment.

[My favorite poem...]

 He recites the beginning in this photo shoot & interview:

[My favorite Disney film as a child...]

He once broke into the "Bare Necessities" impromptu:

 

[Hiddleston reading to his Thor teddy bear]

 

[Hiddleston with Quvenzhane Wallis at the MTV Movie Awards 2013]

[Prince Hal to Henry V - from PBS's The Hollow Crown]

[Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris]

And remember...

Probably more to come on that, but it's safe to say that I think Hiddleston is pretty fantastic.

Ridding ourselves of the dualistic notions of sacred & secular is not a statement that "nothing is sacred." Far from it! The goal is to face life as a whole - the beautiful & the messy all in one - and to realize that "the sacred" can be found anywhere. Our aim is to work into life what Christ accomplished in His death - the renting of the temple curtain. God is no longer contained in the Holy of Holies. He has escaped - and He wants to be discovered wherever you are.

Metamorphosis, Pt. 3

It is late, dark, wet and I'm trying to get home as fast as possible.

I am cruising just fine, wipers on their highest speed when an accident up ahead brings traffic to a halt and I decide to detour on back roads to get around this obstacle.  Even though this takes me through an unfamiliar part of the city, I dismiss the map on my phone. So what if it takes a few extra turns.  I should be able to figure it out if I dare to call myself a Seattlite. 

And I do.  Soon enough I'm taking a left at the genesis of Interstate-90.  This bridge will take me home.  If I let it, it could take me all the way to Boston.  I've followed it that way before.  The ends of a road fascinate me.  It's an inexplicable sense that I find every time I go there - where that long of a road runs into the water.  I think it's the Hobbit in me; "The road goes ever on and on..."

And then I'm in the tunnels, moving fast under lights.  Like the movies, I'm driving and weighing decisions - but they're nothing compared to the weight of my heart.  My heart is trying to say so many things at once.

I'm thinking of the future. And past. And of the film I just watched. Of how much heartbreak we can handle. Of the music. Of the parking ticket that's drying on my dash. Of how difficult relationships are. Of what it would be like to get to know different mountain ranges.

Of how things can be light and dark at the same time.

Speaking of... I don't know if this is unique to Seattle, (but I like to think it is) we get these schizophrenic spring days where you can be in golden light, needing your sunglasses and yet at the same time be rained on.  Usually just a system rolling through.  But the phenomenon seems an apt description for the melancholy beauty I see in things.

Thoughts keep rushing by faster than my wheels.

But then, I turn into my driveway.  I turn once again inward to the stillness.

"Who knows, Samara, your future husband could be sweltering away crafting the next great American novel as we speak..."

One can hope, Bob.  One can always wait and hope.

Nearly out of the dark...

[via]

 

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Red Rising

Recently I came across this buzzfeed article about up-and-coming NYT best-selling author Pierce Brown.  His def-con-5 nerd level and the description of his dystopian future novel, Red Rising, intrigued me, so I added it to the list.  After a little more research, reading some brief reviews, and discovering we had a mutual friend, I ordered Brown's novel and bumped it up to my next read.  And I'm glad I did.  This, the first book in the "Red Rising Trilogy" was released less than a month ago.  Since then it's maintained a spot on the NYT best-seller's list, won rave reviews, and Universal has bought the film-rights, with a director and producer already attached.  Everything indicates that this is going to be big!

[via]

But let me back up and give my best non-spoilerific summary of Red Rising:

Darrow is a colonist on Mars, born into a color-coded caste-system with Reds - Darrow's people - on the lowest rung and Golds on the very highest.  His community slaves away miles under the surface of Mars, mining materials needed so the Golds can one day terraform their way across the galaxy.  After his wife, Eo, convinces him that freedom is worth any cost, Darrow joins a liberation movement.  But in order to fight for that freedom, he must transform himself into a Gold, attend their prestigious "Institute," and do whatever it takes to infiltrate the highest Gold position possible.

In this world, Brown creates an intense, fast-paced story that examines what freedom means and what it costs. The plot, though tricky at times, is carefully woven and moves incredibly quick.  This includes inciting action(s) extremely early - lots of "They wouldn't actually... Oh my gosh, they are!" moments - creating high stakes early on.  Instead of setting everything up and explaining, Brown does a very good job explaining as he goes, providing clues only as needed.  After reading a few too many first-person, present-tense narrations where I felt a bit smarter than the narrator (Um, hello, Katniss. Guess what - Peeta is only pretending to be a Career to save you), I was grateful that along with Darrow, I was blindsided by one game-changing surprise after another.  Red Rising is one of those books where you might have to cover up the opposite page so as to not spoil one of the many intense moments of the novel.  These were such proper jaw-dropping, hand-over-mouth shocks that, even though I finished 3 days ago, I am still shaking my head, thinking, "Wow!  He just pulled that off."  And despite the high-stakes and driving plot, I was grateful Brown created a sense of resolution amidst incredible suspense at the end of his first novel. 

As the novel progressed, I was grateful that it moved from a straightforward cry of freedom to a realization that, sometimes, there is not such a clear difference between the oppressor and the oppressed.  Darrow learns that a depraved person with power will exploit and manipulate no matter if they were born rich or poor, commentating, "The measure of a man is what he does when he has power." Brown explores not only this complex French-revolution-like lesson, but also a much more current issue of "us vs. them."  Darrow is in the process of learning who the real enemy is.  In one of my favorite lines of the novel, he encounters a Gold and thinks "he doesn't seem a monster.  He should be a monster."  But he discovers things are rarely so simple.  We are a generation that refuses to be defined by the "us vs. them" labels of the 20th century (and continued to cling on to the start of the 21st).  So, telling this story that seems so black and white, but using it to demonstrate social complexity is brilliant.

Now, addressing a concern I've heard a few times... The observant eye will note that The Hunger Games is mentioned no less than 4 times on the cover of Red Rising.  This, combined with certain other parallels in the story, have caused concern Brown's novel was a "ripoff" of Suzanne Collin's brilliant work, but I would argue this isn't the case at all.  Just about any story about oppressed groups in a sci-fi, fantasy, or dystopian-future landscape is going to overlap.  I believe that creativity does not derive simply from originality of plot and characters, but of how a story is told.  The former is something of a myth, but the latter is what made Homer, Shakespeare, Austen, and Tolkien the greats they are.  One of the main issues, specifically, is that a good portion of the "Institute" is set up as a brutal "game" where the competitors are divided into 12 houses where the goal is not killing but conquering the rest of the houses... which includes quite a lot of killing.  This may sound like THG, but if the Institute was in Panem, it would mean the "Games" were for Capitol youths only and that Katniss had to successfully masquerade as a Capitol citizen to even get into the games.  The point is, Red Rising may have moments reminiscent of The Hunger Games, but is far too innovative and engaging enough on its own merit to be accused of "ripping off" or "copy-catting."  The repeated mention in summaries and reviews of THG is little more than an (understandable) marketing ploy.  I'd also mention a few other stories Red Rising reminded me of, including: Braveheart, Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, Ender's Game, Lord of the Rings, Greek Mythology, The Iliad, Gladitorial games, Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Circle Trilogy, Doctor Who, A Few Good Men and many more.

As incredible and moving as Red Rising was, I have to include some potential detractors.  This was an incredibly brutal, gruesome book.  I would hope that for the film to do it justice, it would be rated R.  On nearly all fronts, this book is dealing with mature topics - murder, rape, a "bloodydamn"* lot profanity, mutilation, overall gore, and, what the movies call, "frightening and intense scenes."  While these are heavy and difficult I would add they are rarely if ever gratuitous.  Brown is painting a very particular picture of this violent culture.  Even the profanity has specific meaning with *certain words becoming a sort of passcode.  To be clear, there is enough brutal detail to turn the stomach, but it is all purposeful, not something reveled in.  This necessarily bleak tone is captured well by the tragic and harrowing opening paragraph:

[Warning: Graphic Content] The first thing you should know about me is I am my father's son.  And when they came for him, I did as he asked.  I did not cry.  Not when the Society televised the arrest.  Not when the Golds tried him.  Not when the Grays hanged him.  Mother hit me for that.  My brother Kieran was supposed to be the stoic one.  He was the elder, I the younger.  I was supposed to cry.  Instead, Kieran bawled like a girl when Little Eo tucked a haemanthus into Father's left work-boot and ran back to her own father's side.  My sister Leanna murmured a lament beside me.  I just watched and thought it a shame that he died dancing but without his dancing shoes.
On Mars there is not much gravity.  So you have to pull the feet to break the neck.  They let the loved ones do it.

As difficult as the crude, cruel tone and topic of this book are, my main concern with the book was something else entirely.  There is an ever-growing trend in fiction I can only describe as a morality that purports to be selfless but is at the same time radically ends-justifies-the-means in it's approach.  I have encountered this in books like The Road, Mockingjay, among others. The idea is that any action is excusable because you're doing it for someone else.  This is an extremely complex issue to address, especially in the context of a fight for freedom, and one that has me often re-visiting Jack Nicholson's infamous "you can't handle the truth" speech.  But the multiple disturbing situations and moral quandaries Darrow face cause the reader to pause and reconsider these issues.

Like Katniss (in at least books 1 & 2 of THG), Darrow demonstrates the power of living for something beyond this life, but he has yet to truly learn the lesson of Ender's empathy.  This was a shockingly good debut novel for 26 year old brown and I am eagerly looking forward to see what surprises are ahead for Darrow and where the sequel takes him.  4.5 / 5 Stars.

Favorite Quotes:

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

“Why is it so horrible?" I ask him. "Life. All this. Why do they need to make us do this? Why do they treat us like we're their slaves?"
"Power."
"Power isn't real. It's just a word” 


"Funny how a single word can change everything in your life."
"It is not funny at all. Steel is power. Money is power. But of all the things in all the worlds, words are power.”

[via]

I haven't been able to stop listening to this song.  Then I came across this stripped down version they did at Abbey Road:

All of your flaws and all of my flaws
They lie there hand in hand
Ones we've inherited, ones that we learned
They pass from man to man

[via]

And this is why I love my city...

West by Northwest: City Lights from Edward Aites on Vimeo.

An understanding

One year ago today, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries released Episode 87: An Understanding:

Two sisters, terribly at odds and remarkably alike, are forced to reconcile in the midst of the imminent release of a sex tape.  After being exploited and lied to, the younger suffers the worst social nightmare of a world in which “the Internet is forever”; the older faces her own failure in understanding and compassion.   
This is Pride and Prejudice.  At least, it is according to Hank Green and Bernie Su, creators of the Emmy-award-winning web series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  The poignant scene described above is their interpretation of Elizabeth’s response to the Lydia-Wickham scandal and, at episode 87 of 100, serves as the climax of the adaptation.  The moment also represents the show’s argument both that a 200-year-old story matters to modern YouTube audiences and that layering contemporary issues onto classic texts can lead to more effective readings of those texts.  Austen’s novel says, “Elizabeth is flawed and misunderstands Darcy.  She must resolve this before reconciling her future, both romantically and socially.”  The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (LBD) takes this empathetic lesson a step further, extending Elizabeth’s repentance to include not only her misunderstanding of Darcy but also of a fully realized Lydia Bennet.  

 

* See also MK Wiles' (who plays Lydia) blog where she shares some of her thoughts on this episode and this character.
** If you haven't seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, start here.  

It's been almost two weeks since my last post.  That's unusual.

I wasn't sure how to begin.  January was one of the most grueling months of my life.  When I woke up on February 1st, my first thought was, "I survived!"  But how to begin the next phase?  And how to write about it?

Well I have been writing, but those thoughts are either incomplete or for another project that I hope I can tell you about soon.  The best I can say of such hard weeks and months is that I am still learning, and for that I can be grateful.


Alright, but now for a random selection of life lately:

\\ The Seahawks won the Superbowl and last Wednesday I was one of 700,000 crazies who went to their victory parade.  Despite the 3-hours it took to trek 11 miles and the sub-freezing temps, it really was such a phenomenal experience.

[From Top left: Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, me flashing a 12, and Pete Carroll]

\\ My flatmate & I went away this weekend to an island cabin for a "Silence Retreat."  It was rather wonderful. We alternately journaled, read, and rested - all bundled up next to the fire.  I think I need the equivalent of this at least twice a year.

\\ But we got a little white surprise during our getaway.  Not 20 feet from the ocean, we had 4 inches of snow!  Made things a bit dicey on Saturday and Sunday, but it was absolutely gorgeous! 

[my feet got lost in the snow]

\\ A song* for you:

*This gives me all sorts of The Fault in our Stars feels :-|

\\ Amazon Smile - seriously, anyone who has an account with Amazon should sign up for this!