Faster than you can say “apocalypse sandwich” Jason and I can be ready to be rotten. Recently we, once again, coated our skin in grey, covered ourselves with foul lacerations and painted ourselves bruised for the annual SLC Zombie Walk. This event is kind of like a flash mob only, instead of dancing, the thousands of zombies just limp along a mile of downtown looking freakish and surreal. Jason and I, oddly enough, have much experience behaving undead and we are always happy to lend our decrepit savvy to these ragtag hobblers.
I may be naturally pale but no, I’m not typically this pasty.
Jason’s wrinkly rotting checks were made possible by cotton balls and latex.
My particular style of undead, not surprisingly, reflects my style of not-dead. Whenever I get into zombie character the same gait and facial expression emerge: a dragging right foot, limp unthought-of arms, a vacant eerie stare and a slightly open mouth. Doesn’t it seem logical that an often spacey person, such as myself, would make an absentminded reanimated corpse? It’s as natural as the unnatural gets.
We shuffled our decaying corpses through a mile of Salt Lake City’s downtown.
Who says zombies can’t be upstanding citizens? We waited for the signal to cross the street just like all the good girls and boys.
Apparently, my reflexive zombie demeanor is quite convincing, however, it’s also quite slow. My unsymmetrical shuffle, according to Jason, makes a mile take a while. Unlike many at the walk, I never break character but this time I did do my best not to dawdle while still remaining authentic. It was a challenge but I think I pulled it off pretty well.
The sun got into character too. It was a menacing red hue that evening, probably due to a fire somewhere.
Wedding bells are going to whine?
Many entertained watchers, enthusiastic picture-takers and confused bystanders lined the walk’s route this time, more than we’ve seen other years. Some onlookers even brought lawn chairs and camped out for the rank parade. I hope all you roadside snacks found our dripping corpses and malicious gazes disturbingly diverting. Jason and I are looking forward to painting the town grey with decay again next year.
Jason and I are San Diego Comic-Con vets. This July we attended for our third consecutive year. It seems that every time we go our perspective on the Con and our methods of enjoying it change. This year we were all about making the most of waiting the least. Yes, we were more efficient than a Borg drone at a piñata party.
I made Jason and me costumes for the Castle in the Sky characters Princess Sheeta and Pazu.
Almost our entire group dressed as Miyazaki characters at the Con. This is the closest we got to being all together though.
During our first Con experience, everything amazed and intimidated. The stars we found around every corner and in each panel astounded us. It all seemed further from reality than one of Lt. Barclay’s holodeck programs. And, speaking of panels, in order for the panel gawking to commence we had to first figure out how to get into those popular events and that took some time-consuming experimentation. We came home feeling like we’d had the experience of a lifetime and needed a longer nap than Princess Zelda.
The exhibit hall is always this crowded…or worse.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were at Comic-Con for the X-Files’ 20th anniversary. I had a fangirl moment with both of them.
The next year we were confident that we had the basics down. We knew how to get into Hall H without circumnavigating the globe and that Mrs. Fields cookies do not make a good dietary staple. Our Con knowledge was gladly shared with the five noobs that joined us. We weren’t as worried about making it into every single panel that interested us that second go-around but we did lose enough sleep getting into a few favorites to come home completely spent, like gold coins in a mage shop.
Joss Whedon’s panel was just him up on stage talking and answering questions for an hour and it was fantastic!
The bridge of the Enterprise D is being restored and made into an interactive science museum. Check out the details at newstarship.com.
This year our group of Con friends expanded even further. With ten of us altogether, including four newbies, we had quite the nerdy entourage. Although Jason and I were thrilled to be attending again, our priorities were different this time. We were okay seeing stars a little less and our bed a little more. We didn’t wake up before the break of dawn multiple days in a row to get in line for “can’t miss” panels. In fact, we downgraded everything out of the “can’t miss” category altogether. We realized, with so many terrific possibilities, that not making it to all of them was no biggie. When option A didn’t work out for us then we’d go to option B without any regrets. Sometimes you’ve got to take a hint from Plastic Man.
We came across Daniel Falconer, the author of the Hobbit Chronicles, by chance.
Karl Urban is starring in a new TV series called Almost Human: a cool show and a cool guy.
With no ungodly early mornings and without standing in line for anything longer than half an hour, we attended an amazing lineup. We heard from Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield in the Ender’s Game panel. We met most of the cast of Divergent. Joss Whedon singlehandedly blew us away with his insight and wit in what turned out to be our favorite panel of the year. We heard from talented directors such as Edgar Wright, Alfonso Cuaron and Marc Webb. Karl Urban good-naturedly humored us, and thousands of other eager geeks, with his McCoy maxims. We listened to the perspectives and scores of some of TV’s favorite actors and cinema’s best superhero composers. Additionally, we went to many smaller panels that maybe didn’t have the allure of the illustrious but were fascinating nonetheless: geek girl fashion, Enterprise D bridge restoration, the legal defense of zombies, amongst others.
Whether you’re recruiting for heaven or the dark side, Comic-Con can accommodate you.
Brent Spiner touched me! I need not say more.
On the exhibit floor we ran into many of the famous and should-be famous. Between David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Sean Astin, Steve Blum, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, Max Brooks and Brandon Sanderson we definitely encountered enough stars to be struck. However, we also randomly came across many artists and authors that we’d never heard of before that thoroughly impressed us and that now have a couple of new fans.
Ah, a little Ocarina mood music.
Steve Blum is a well-known voice actor. He’s spoken for countless characters from Wolverine to Starscream.
Comic-Con was a different experience for Jason and me this year. The crowds hadn’t changed, the costumes were just as intricate and prevalent, our personal bubbles still had to be shrunk down to the size of a Minimate and the sudden whiffs of BO were just as unpleasant but we took it all in this time with the relaxed demeanor of a Snorlax. When you are surrounded by so much of the nerdastic sometimes the surprises are better than anything you could plan. Just ask Bilbo.
You are never too big for really big toys.
My distraught giggles made one of the nasty zombies in The Walking Dead booth chuckle. Trying to stay in character with a Rachel around is a difficult task.
If I could offer a bit of advice to those going to Comic-Con, beyond the wise instructions I’ve already given over the last few years, it would be this: You’ll enjoy the Con more if you’re not totally exhausted and completely stressed about seeing every single cool panel. There are so many marvelous programs, if you miss one there are plenty more where that came from. It’s okay to have a “must see” list but keep it very short. Be flexible and you’ll find yourself in the middle of all sorts of unexpected adventures with minimal effort and maximum sleep. Remember: Jason and I didn’t get out of bed before 8:00 AM this time and we had our best Con yet. Yes, lighten up my Padawans and let the force bring the power-ups to you.
This April our friends, the Rowleys, for the third time hosted RowleyCon: a weekend teeming with board games, videogames, anime, cosplay, and all other things geek. Jason and I again attended and again conquered…while simultaneously being utterly overthrown.
I have quite a bit more hair now than I did last time I dressed as Frodo so a wig cap and a whole lot of bobby pins had to be employed before I could don my curly locks.
Although costumes are encouraged for RowleyCon, the vast majority of goers do not dress up. Either they lack the motivation or they lack the lack of dignity necessary. Luckily, I have heaps of motivation and a complete dignity deficiency so sign me up for working hard at looking stupid anytime. Jason and I decided that this year, with The Hobbit’s recent release, it was time to pull out the LOTR costumes I made for us a decade ago. So, for the first night of the Con, Jason came as Aragorn and I dressed as Frodo. (Remember, I feel no shame wearing something even a chocobo would snub.) I spent a great deal of time creating these costumes back in the day and I was impressed by the extent of their detail when I reexamined them. Nothing had been overlooked, including: Sting, the One Ring, the Evenstar, pointy ears, and hairy feet. It took us a bit to dig up all of the pieces for these outfits but they came back together nicely.
The relationship between me and Jason might stretch the standard definition of a “fellowship” slightly.
Forget Gangnam Style, I worked Dance Central 3 hobbit style.
For our Saturday attire, I took our somewhat simple polar plunge outfits from this year, Mario and Princess Peach, and embellished them. I added extra layers of puffy girliness to my Princess Peach dress, which I didn’t finish sewing together until 2 AM that morning. These embellishments represented an interesting challenge because I had to construct them primarily without a pattern. But there’s nothing you can’t accomplish when you put pink before sleep.
We were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet Tracy Hickman, the famous fantasy writer, at RowleyCon. He was quite clever, not that that was a surprise.
I wore more pink as Princess Peach than I ever have in my life. I pretty much looked like a giant gumball.
Jason and I won the prizes for the best costumes once more. Since we were practically the only ones that dressed up, it wasn’t exactly an epic battle. With our two sets of homemade outfits, I’d like to think that the other geeks would need a power-up if they wanted to beat us anyway but that self-assured theory remains to be tested. The Sabin reign of triumph didn’t stop there though. We also participated in the contest for ultimate nerdination. This year the competition games were: For Sale, Dominion, StarCraft II, Dance Central 3, and a Jeremy concocted anime trivia match. I ruled For Sale but had to give up my distinguished title in order to claim 2nd place overall. I was okay with that. Yeah! Abigail, my only gaming superior, was declared the supreme nerdinator. Let 2013 be forever known as the year the testosterone-laden were tested and found lacking. That’s right you momma’s basement dwellers, you may be able to out stink us but that doesn’t mean you can out think us. Plus, we wave slide like the gods.
Jeremy’s anime trivia game included penalties. Jacob and John got “angry eyebrows” as a result.
Drew and Isabelle dressed as Totoros. They were among the few in costume.
As you may recall, it was Jason that walked away with the grandest geek prize last year. This time, however, my dear sweet geekalo came in dead last. My darling nerd, what has become of your skills? I thought I would always be able to count on your hotkeys expertise and your dice-rolling aptitude. But, instead, you bring shame to the family with a shortage of victory points. I can only hope that someday you’ll regain your bases and your honor.
Adam lost For Sale and his 2nd place ranking to me.
Abigail and I massacred a bunch of men in order to assert our supremacy.
Many thanks to the Rowleys and their underlings (i.e. Lee) for putting together another weekend of geeky delight. We came, we fought, we rolled, we danced, we practically slept at your house. You have done more for the cause of geekery than anyone* since the creation of PONG.**
Disclaimers:
*”Anyone” solely refers to those two guys that discussed who would win in a fight between Han Solo and Captain Kirk with us once.
**This statement has not been evaluated by the Opinionated and Self-important Gamers Committee. RowelyCon is not intended to cure or mitigate hipsterness. Side effects may include: body odor, caffeine overdose, lack of friends, weight gain, lack of showering, man-funk, spontaneous spell casting, delusions of popularity, and dance skill overestimation.
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