Bansoku No Shita

To the ball

2009-12-01T17:59:55Z

Ball weekend was awesome, packed with lots of fun and people. More details under the cut.

- I finished work at 5, so lugged my large rucksack of costume down into town, and looked for cafe to sit in for an hour until Joe can get down. The TeaParty is full, so is Costa. So I head down the road towards the station thinking there's bound to be a cafe in the new shopping centre. Turns out not. Fail. I ended up in Marks and Spenser, as it was that or McDonalds. Met Joe for dinner in the Hong Kong Bistro as we wanted a a quick meal before the train. Train was, of course, delayed, but not canceled, so this was victory as far as I was concerned. Made it to London, and met Tom, who was waiting for us on the platform. We made our way to Clapham, but unfortunately I got the wrong station and we came off at Clapham Highstreet not Junction. Still, they have a working bus service in London, so we just nipped on one of those and got to the hotel no worries. Hooray for Oyster, it's just a shame you can't use pay as you go on the overgrounds until January, as that would have been convenient.

- Woke up, and met Louise. Headed off into town and found coffee, as two mugs and UHT milk in the room just wasn't going to cut it. Jumped on a train and made our way into the centre of London, meandered down the Oxford Street area. Found an HMV and bought cheap dvds. Made our way to Picadilly Circus, then Leicester Square and China town. Found radioactive looking cupcakes, but resisted the urge to buy them. Made our way to the Trocadero and met Dez, spent some more time drinking coffee and looking at Brawlers pictures. Met more people, including Emily, Mike and Amber. Some people went off to have lunch about 3, we headed down to Covent Garden Market. Found a lovely keyring of a bug, and bought Joe a compass. Christmas presents fail, presents for us win! Headed back to the Torcadero to meet Tab, then made our way to the restaurant for James' meal. Saw James coming as he was a head above everyone else! Meal was lovely, got to chat with lots of people and food was very tasty. Free top ups of green tea for 50p = bargain. After the meal I had a dance with Net. I can't dance at the best of times, and it was raining and we were full, so I doubt it was the best dance she's ever had! Sorry.

Then it was back to the Trocadero to catch people for the Koei signing, and meet up with Lex, Kaka, Kez and co, and chat for a bit before the theater. Tokyo Toys was very busy and it was quite hard to keep track of everyone. Made our way up the road and discovered *shock* we'd left Timber behind! After a quick rescue mission we were sorted. The seats in the theater weren't the best but the only thing you couldn't see was the top of the stage, and the set wasn't very intricate, so I don't think we missed much. The show itself was awesome and lovely. Very funny and very cute as well. I want a troupe of choreographed singing cardboard boxes. Although I'm not sure I appreciated wacking the the lights on full strength straight away in the
intermission.

Met up with people again in a cinema bar, some people were quite tipsy, weren't they Eli-fish! Chatted with Kaka and Kez for a bit, and then headed back to the hotel. The Battersea Travelodge might be a bit of a dive, but as everyone stays there it means there's always people to head back with. On the way back the underground was quite packed. James, Leena and Kez squeezed themselves onto one train, but we didn't think we could make it in as well, so got left on the platform. A minute later an almost empty train appears and we got on that. Victory for us. Got on the right overground train this time and made it back to the hotel. It was raining quite heavily at this point. Yuck. More chats then sleeps.

- Got up at a reasonable time and headed down to the Natural History Museum. There was a fairly big queue already, which surprised me, but gave us all time to drink hot chocolate. First stop - dinosaurs! The displays weren't terribly informative, and the level of information was set quite young, but just seeing the fossils was enough for me. If they ever build a Jurassic park I'm going to be one of their first customers. After that it was a wander though the mammals, reptiles and fish sections. These weren't as good as seeing the animals in the zoo, but they did have pangolins and a couple of whale skeletons hanging up so you could see their cute little atavistic leg spurs. Found Tab, Karen and Timber and ate an overpriced (but quite nice) meal in the cafe. Quick stop in the gift shop to pick up some lode stones, then off to the geology and earth science section. Spent a lot of time looking at the shiny, shiny gemstones, (they even had a piece of kryptonite), but the whole geology section was very interesting. Might have picked up a cuddly Blue Whale on the way out. Back to Clapham, then met Leah Luke and Carrie in a nice little pub with very cheap food. Stuffed our faces and headed out back to the hotel. Got changed, back out into the rain and walked to the Grand as there were no taxis available. Were fashionably late, but not as late as some, so it was all good.

I enjoyed the ball last time, but I really enjoyed this one (not being depressed and having major body image issues really helped, funnily enough.)It still had the same flaws as last year - it was too loud and most of the live music (with the exception of the lovely Disney medley) didn't fit. The steampunk band were nothing special and not terribly steampunk, and while I don't have a problem with Johnny Lazor's band, punk is just not appropriate at a formal ball. There seemed more room to dance this time (though not a lot), and the aerial performance was fantastic - I love that sort of thing. Mostly though I was just chatting to people and the night went so fast. Did dance a bit with Carrie (we were a two man conga at one point), but mostly my feet hurt too much to do anything. The shoes Tab lent me were perfect and very comfortable, but my normal shoes had been leaking all weekend so my feet were suffering already.

The Grand still has the right feeling for the ball and it the number and quality of the costumes really added to the feeling of the event. It was so nice to see so many people making an effort, even if they hadn't made cosplay, there were a number of beautiful outfits that showed people hadn't just gone through their wardrobe and found a nice but normal dress and a couple of accessories. it was, after all a cosplay ball. Of course it's not always possible, and those of us who did make their costumes probably felt exactly like Nert's cosplay progress montages! (I've never seen the spirit of cosplay captured so perfectly!)

Particular favourites of mine include:
Kat's burleque dress, definitely want to see Kat looking like this more often!
Amy's Forest Spirit, which suited her so well.
James as Darkness, who probably turned more heads than any woman there. Epic does not begin to describe!
The Queen of Hearts, who sadly I know nothing about because she didn't speak any English
Louise's perfect Cinderella
Karen's white stag (though not quite the tallest creature at the ball)
Amber, because every time I saw her I had this strange urge to find a large wedding cake and put her at the top.
Sonia - I'm so stealing your dress (and then possibly dying it black)

Night was over really far too fast. I couldn't believe it when they announced the half-past-midnight dance.

got up and packed then headed down to the lobby. Stopped off briefly to give shoes to Tab and comics to Matt (who wasn't very conscious and kept muttering about owls) and then accumulated Matt, Louise, Rachel and Marc. Had breakfast in the Costa this time and then headed up to Waterloo to see the London Aquarium. It wasn't as big as I thought it should be, but there were many interesting creatures in there. Mudskippers are adorable and so are 4-eyed fish. Sand Tiger sharks on the other hand look like mean bastards. Selection of plushies was lame. More coffee at Waterloo, and then we headed off to our various locations. Found a very nice place to eat at Paddington (they did cheese platters!) and then caught our train. Didcot was apparently in a blackout so there were no signals, which delayed the train at Reading, but fortunately they decided to divert it so it missed out Didcot, Swindon and Chippenham and just deposited us back to Bath so we were only about 30 minutes late. 3 mile walk home not so fun, but at least it wasn't raining.

Despite being there all weekend, still didn't see some people nearly as much as I wanted. I'll have to find a spare weekend and come back up to London again soon.

Do not want to be up!!!

2009-12-01T06:45:02Z

Will out a more detailed post up later, but quick shout out to make sure everyone got home okay.

Awesome weekend was awesome, and I'm so glad we made a full weekend out of it. It would have been a shame to miss a minute of social / activity time. As it was I didn't spend nearly enough time with people.

And now to work. This sucks.

I shall go to the Ball

2009-11-27T07:24:07Z

Costume finished, everything packed (I hope), train tickets to hand. Sorted.

London, here we come.

Well, after work at least. Going to go straight to the hotel when we get in, picking up a Tom on the way. Then catch the rest of you lovely people (and assorted other hangers-on) from Saturday onwards.

Bloody Hormones

2009-11-24T18:21:38Z

The aargh shit there's a ball this weekend and I'm not ready yet has just hit me. That coupled with a couple of busy days at work and stuff makes me feel not great. I haven't felt fully healthy since last Saturday, which is irritating, because there's nothing specifically wrong, just general tiredness, pains, nausea etc. I think it's just tiredness and stress, it's certainly not going to stop me enjoying London-con, as I have dubbed this coming weekend.

To do -

Make cravat
Add cuffs
Take in a couple of side seams slightly
Put bow on dress
Add tops to boot covers.

Anyone going to be at the hotel Friday night?

ESSELT FIREBALL

2009-11-20T17:47:02Z

I love my party, but I think at least one, if not two of them have snapped. It's probably about time.

Highlights include:

Esselt tricking Bandez into giving him a fairly large sum of money and going off to by a human sized net (and some pastries, of course).

Talia taking Esselt aside to talk to him about said large sum of money, and Esselt interpreting this as "I want to have sex with you in the common room" and getting naked.

Bandez: Talia old lass, young lass, young sexy lass...but not it that way!
Talia: Not in what way?
Esselt: Give it up Bandez. You started off okay, but now you've gone shit.

Bandez's long and Esselt's practice with the human net, followed by a long discussion about why it was a bad idea to use the net on Zephyr and then twat him over the head.

Discussions on zombie farmers and how to get paladins to walk off cliffs.

The fireball competitions in Barrelton:
Bandez had been boasting of his bardic powers, and was demonstrating the power of his "bardic fireball" by using soundburst to explode a bush. Later, Esselt finds the ingredients to make a molotov cocktail, and as they ride out of town the next day shouts "ESSELT FIREBALL" and lobs it at a bush. Unfortunately, he misses the bush and hits the ground right next to Talia's horse. This leads to Talia and Bandez both falling off their horses, and Charles in despair at the behaviour of both Esselt and Bandez. A new party rule is drawn up of "no fireballs of any kind unless Charles says so first."

The session concluded with Bandez running into a tree; Talia stabbing Esselt in the back; Esselt putting a small net over Zephyr's head; Charles in a blood rage and Amari standing in the middle of it all having no idea what was going on or what to do. Which was probably good for the health of most of the people there. It ended up with 4 of the 6 of them under the effect of mass suggestion, which is going to be really interesting when it wears off, especially for Charles.

GG hijacks one last time

2009-11-13T17:19:44Z

I hate myself and give up.... no, not like that, I mean on claiming I avoid everything social networky whilst abusing Ailsa's lj. So I've set up LJ and Facebook and probably will add myspace and deviantart as well.

http://granny-gertrude.livejournal.com/

GG says...

2009-11-12T13:17:18Z

Posted this on the Expo forums but just to spread it a little further:

A Warning and Appeal for Information

We have been made aware that some cosplayers are being contacted by telephone by individuals claiming to be from MCM Expo, who state the cosplayer has won a 'special prize'

As you can imagine, we're a little suspicious as a) ourselves as the MCM Expo Cosplay Team nor the main organisers are aware of this and b) we do not collect mobile phone or telephone numbers at any point during the Masquerade sign up.

It may be legitimate and the caller is accidentally misleading the people they are calling... or it could be more sinister, especially as a prize apparantly involves accomodation rather than something that can be sent in the post. We of course hope it is a generous Expo sponsor looking to share goodies with more of our cosplayers which would be great but please:

- If you are contacted by someone stating you've won a special prize at Expo please contact us by email: cosplay@mcmexpo.net

- If you are involved or have information about these 'special prizes' please contact us so we can clean up the matter, again by email: cosplay@mcmexpo.net

Thanks all- please pass this on to anyone you know who may not use the forum.

James & Joe

I Do Exist

2009-11-10T18:43:38Z

Haven't really had anything worth posting about and I don't like wasting people's friend's pages with pointess shit.

Trying to write, failing badly.

Have Eternal Sontata - Chopin is lovely, game is very hard. Wandering monsters regularly nom on my face.

Ball gown is almost finished - just some trimmings and hemming the thing left. Slightly more work on Joe's, but not too much.

Work sucked today, really really sucked. But it pays the bills, I will survive.

That's pretty much this week's Ailsa-chan.

GG- Lake District Holiday Pile

2009-11-06T09:46:22Z

Right- there's definitely interest in a big group holiday in the Lake District. So!

If you're interested comment below answering:

1: Weekend / extended weekend or during the week?
(Weekends use less leave for most of us but may exclude retaily people; but in all honesty I'm leaning towards it being a long weekend break)

2: When?
A) Now now now cos November and December is such a good time for holidays o_O
B) New year cos Jan and Feb is far enough away and the weather can go hang
C) March April or May - not too far away, in event season but spring may mean weather will suck less
D) June July August - summer holiday
E) Tell me when and I'll be there if I can

* * * * *
Also shout out if there's any other concerns at this stage. There's a number of shared accomodation / crash space / hotel options to cater to various tastes so we'll worry about that next ^_^

Later all!

Joe 'Granny Gertrude' Sutton

We say we should see eachother more away from conventions... Holiday anyone?

2009-11-04T14:16:42Z

Granny Gertrude here, sneaking on quickly one lunchtime. One for everyone really- anime & cosplay friends, local friends, people who live in Newcastle or on the M4 these days...

Check LiveJournal after a convention, Expo, or party and you'll see the same thing everywhere- we should get together again soon, or more often, or we should meet when we're not going to be busy.

Ailsa and I went to Iceland in May and really enjoyed ourselves but there were a few times when we looked at eachother and said 'I wish so and so was here' and when we chatted to people the idea of a group holiday appealed (in theory at least) to some of you.

Reality may be harsher in terms of holiday allowance, money, realisation that I drive you nuts and you wouldn't want to spend that much time with me... but hey, let's throw the idea out there.

If Ailsa and I went out to Iceland again we'd be interested in seeing the northern lights- meaning we'll spend the time freezing. There's loads to do in Iceland as long as you wrap up warm.

http://uk.holidays.travelzoo.com/city-breaks/682886?utm_source=top20_uk&utm_medium=email_top20

The two of us did something similar in May but with a whale watching trip thrown in instead... including eating at fine restaurants and the extra activities we bought I reckon the holiday came in at just over a grand for the two of us... but as it was our first holiday together since... forever we weren't pinching pennies but I still think that was quite reasonable.

Or maybe something smaller and closer to home like this:

http://uk.hotels.travelzoo.com/uk-hotels-country/683093?utm_source=top20_uk&utm_medium=email_top20

I've never visited the lake district...

Now! The links are to limited offers, so while an impulse group would be great realistically they're here as examples. Good idea? Bad idea?

Other suggestions? Ideally for this sort of things it needs to be highly affordable and more of a quick break than a two week cruise in my never humble opinion.

There we go- I've thrown it out there...

Extra from the person whose blog this actually is

Ailsa-chan approves of lake based adventures, though Iceland is a good idea too.

Back from Expo

2009-10-27T18:50:33Z

Would like week off please.

I think expo went well from the cosplayer's point of view (I've seen very little negative feedback and most of that was helpful suggestions for next time), but I feel utterly shattered, to the point where I couldn't get up for most of yesterday. Still, someone gave me flowers for helping them on Saturday, which was lovely, and I helped Sailor Steve with his winning magic show. Unfortunately this meant I got dragged up on stage to stand out with the winners, which felt all wrong.

Thanks to everyone who helped out on the desk and in the queue, especially Chevi, the Pixies, Heather, Dez, Mary Beks and Lou, Leena and Miiol. And for Tab, Matt and Timber for helping cart stuff back to the car.

It was good to chat with people on Friday and Saturday, it's just a shame there isn't much time for chilling at the Expo.

I'm looking forward to the ball, as that should be a nice long weekend of relaxing with people, seeing exciting things, catching a show and of course the ball itself.

GG says...

2009-10-27T00:03:10Z

I don;t think its been officially announced yet, but we'll be running a Cosplay Roadshow at Memorabilia on Sunday only - that's at the Birmingham NEC on 22/11/09. If you have an idea for an event, or are coming along and want to run something then do get in touch. The first one was good fun, but I'm hoping for more than the hundred-ish people we got there.

Another Expo down. It was... good in hindsight although that's not what you would have heard from me on Saturday afternoon- I was really grumpy, mostly with myself at missed opportunities to have things going more smoothly. There was a wide array of people who were a huge help again, including some new faces. Big thanks to all of you!
I also utterly forgot my mobile phones so apologies to those of you who tried to call or text me!

GG says...

2009-10-22T23:04:00Z

Intending to be in London for lunchtime, to do some set up and prep work.

07905 204849 - although if you ring too early you may get roped into stuffing con bags!

Usual Friday evening plan I'd imagine- panicking, pizza in the Ibis, and drinks somewhere while pretending not to panic. You know the routime ^_-

Party!

2009-10-06T17:43:00Z

Things kicked off on Friday evening, when Louise, Heather, Gemma and Hazel arrived. We ate lasagna (except Hazel, who we convinced to try fajitas), and chatted until about 2 am. Cannot remember the exact conversation, but it probably involved cosplay and boobs at some point.

Saturday morning we all headed to the zoo, met up with some more people, saw lots of animals. There was a new armadillo in the twilight world who was very snuffly and very nearly got picked up and hidden in my coat. Lemurs were out in the lemur walk and we got very close to them. The fur seals were awesome as ever; the baby is still very small and mum Nina is still fairly grumpy. Reptile house was closed, which was disappointing, but we still got to see some tortoise porn. (Possibly just attempted porn. It was hard to tell what actually happened.)

Came back, put things in order for the party, then people arrived. Lots and lots of people. I don't think my house has ever had that many in, it was awesome! It was a very geeky party (though we didn't all end up in the kitchen): cosplay chat in one corner; rocking out in the lounge; 3 guys in a row with their psps in the kitchen; 3D glasses and tablet pc; and Martin even managed to break the internet briefly!

Boob squad:

Tab does not want! (Can't remember what Tab did not want, but he definitely did not want it):

Clearly a discussion of boobs was going on here:

Sloth starts to get his reputation:

Serious rock! (Though why the drum sticks?)

Serious Dez is serious:

Amy is pretty:

Photographic reciprocation!

Master of the strange world of the 3D...

Amber is a dinosaur:

Double drumming:

Louise is attacked and defeated!

So is Mike:

I are cute bunny girl...

Heather is eaten by the gap by the couch...

What was on the phone?

Popup Dez:

Sleepy now:

Other highlights included Amber attacking people's feet; plushie fights; and Matt ending a game of Monty Python Flux with the line "Sir Galahad Motherfuckers! Now I'm going to fucking bed!"

Sunday was day of chilling, and chatting. People drifted off at various times, and Mike, Amber Jack and Liz stayed until the evening playing Soul Calibur.

BEST WEEKEND!

2009-10-05T05:35:25Z

In a very long time. I'll do a proper update when it's not stupidly early, but I just wanted to say I love you guys so much! When you have friends who will search the dark corners of the internet for a plushie pangolin, or destroy the build a bear shop looking for the perfect wolf, you can't help but feel loved.

Thank you so much to everyone who came.

Missed the people who couldn't make it, but it just means I'm going to have to hunt you down and hug your faces off at a slightly later date!

GG says...

2009-09-26T22:56:07Z

So, five minute to Masq registration opening...

http://www.londonexpo.com/index.php?option=com_performs&formid=8

...and like a sad git I'm sat here waiting to see who's first :P

Good day

2009-09-24T17:55:53Z

Yesterday, Joe surprised me with a wonderful home made meal. I suspected he had bought dessert, when he was keeping me out the fridge, but I didn't expect the 3 course delight that I got instead. Yummy home made food made with love = so much better than anything served at a fancy restaurant.

Today I walked to work and all the cobweb were covered in dew. I should have taken my camera with me, they were beautiful. Came home to find a missed delivery slip which means my fabric has probably shipped and I can pick it up tomorrow. And best of all I haven't had to try get hold of any of my friends to make sure they are okay.

Also, saw this and thought of cosplayers:

see more Fail Blog

Though I'm not sure I know anyone into satin worship. Maybe plastizote...

Thank you All

2009-09-23T18:13:27Z

For the many many texts, messages, cards etc everyone has been sending me. Love you all.

I've been feeling a bit uncreative recently. My fabric hasn't arrived so I can't do any cosplay; I tried drawing at work and it looked rubbish. I haven't written anything for months and months and it's starting to really irritate me. I have a story so close I can touch it, but I don't know enough to start actually putting it to paper yet.

Meh.

Dear September

2009-09-22T18:45:36Z

No more hurting my friends, their loved ones or their belongings. You carry on and I'll have to bitchslap you so hard 2010 will have 11 months.

Thankyou.

So very tired...

2009-09-20T16:45:43Z

So many miles traveled, so many times turned upside down. All worth it though.

Alton Towers was it's usual flavour of awesome, and it was obvious from getting on Nemesis for the first time that it had been a while, as I was once again surprised at just how fast you can push a human body strapped into a small cart. Rollercoasters definitely felt faster than I remembered.

Thursday was a bit grey, but we weathered the water rides at the end of the day when the sun was coming out. Marcus had the bright idea of trying out the new Battle Galleons ride. This is a replacement for the lame swans, and is a set of pirate boats that travel around slowly through the lake. Said boats are also armed with water cannons. So are various points around the lake. You can see where this is going. It's wet. Very wet. Too wet. It might be more fun if there cannons had less power, or there were fewer around the ride, or if you could only battle other pirate boats. But at the moment you are soaked from the first minute in and it's unpleasant.

Nemesis is still my favourite ride, though that thing must be old now, probably more than 10 years. Still so much fun, especially at the front. And yay for advanaced tickets that get you in early and let you ride the front seat that much quicker. I enjoyed Air more than I did last time, as I remember it being not terribly thrilling. The Pinball Whizzer is fast working it's way up the favourites list these days. The ride is long, the queue is short, and it's different each time. Still refuse to do Oblivion. Rita... even when I first went on it, I was never sure about Rita. It's an absolutely incredible experience, but it's not really what I enjoy most about a rollercoaster. This time it really messed me up. I came off shaking and almost crying, I have no idea why.

The river rapids hated me, or possibly loved me on Friday. The sun was out so we did more of the water rides. Went round 3 times and each time I got two big waves, just for me. Once a wave bitch-slapped me across the face. Everyone else seemed to think it was hilarious, for some reason. The flume remains fun, and good for getting poses on. Liz got utterly, utterly drenched.

There is also an aquarium now opened in the park, which is really nice, with some interesting fishes in there that I haven't seen anywhere else. I was really impressed with this, as I was expecting a couple of tanks of the usual things, but in terms of number and types of fish it's as good as some of the small aquariums I've been to that are exhibits in their own right. Japanese spider crabs are huge, and dancing shark is very cute.

Thursday night we ate in the usual pub, cheap and tasty. I was really out of by that point, combination of being over tired, over stimulated and not very well. I do remember the huge mountain of profiteroles that Jack had for pudding, and the look on the waitress' face when she realised it was just for him! Friday night we found a nice carvery just outside the park which was very tasty.

In short, the park was great fun, the food was tasty, but the company was the highlight of the weekend. It's really great to kick back, forget your age and hang out with wonderful people. Love you all!

Last Weekend and other stories...

2009-09-10T18:38:10Z

I meant to post earlier, but Ive be slack at putting up photos. Warning, long post, so cut so save filling up your friends page. I'm good like that :)

I haven't been here in years, but our Bristol Zoo membership gets us in free, and they had a giant ant eater, so there was no question about not visiting!

We had a look around, saw penguins and young capybara, but we spotted Mr Anteater in the distance and had to go and take a look. And a video, as he wasn't very easy to photograph.

The other anteater spent the whole day asleep with its tail over its nose, which was very cute, but not very exciting!

They have a cheetah, which was not something I was expecting to see. He was very beautiful, as you can see:

Tigers were sleepy, which did mean we got a good look at them. I can never get over how big their paws are:

This tiger was sleeping outside and was distinctly less dignified about it:

There were lots of grazing herbivores, in nice big fields. The sable antelope buck was beautiful, and the young giraffes were cute, but I think the baby zebra win:

There are lots of cats at Marwell, including an Amur leopard, the sleepy tigers, a pair of servals, who were also sleepy and distinctly more hidden and these: Ocelots.

Not so much in the way of reptiles and amphibians, but chinese water dragons are pretty:

I'm not quite sure why, in a centre that caters many for breeding programs of very endangered animals, there were some short-clawed otters, but there were, and they were lovely:

This was awesome - he's a fossa, the largest predator in Madagascar. He eats lemurs.

Last sight (apart from the anteaters who we had to see one more time,) was the snow leopard. He was probably the most beautiful of the cats, but he wasn't going to stay around to be photographed, so this was the best I could do.

The reason for our visit down south was to get our Christmas present - a morning's hawking experience in the New Forest.

Met the falconer, who was one of those people that you suspect likes birds more than people, but was very interesting to talk to, and had a look round the avery at the various birds.

There were a pair of tawny owls; a European eagle owl; bengal eagle owls; barn owls and another sort of owl who looks like a large avian bushbaby, though sadly I was unable to get a photo of them. The also had a pair of burrowing owls, which are my favorite sort of owls. The expressions on these birds are amazing.

We didn't get to fly this barn owl, but she doesn't seem sure of us anyway. I think we probably looked odd no matter which way up she looked at us!

This is Gerald. Apparently he's trying to hide. Making yourself long and thin, and half closing your eyes works well 50ft up a pine tree, but not so well 6 inches off the ground in an avery. I just think he's trying to get on icanhascheezburger.com

There were also golden eagles, and lots of hawks and falcons. See my photobucket page for the full lot.

Then it was out to the field for actions!

First up was Bella the Bengal eagle owl, here seen not talking to Joe:

She was supposed to fly from the post, land on our glove for a bit of food and then fly back to the post for the next person. However, she had worked out that if she went from glove to floor, then they had to put food on the post to get her back. Clever owl. She wasn't too heavy in her own right, but after holding your arm out for a while you start to feel it! The got her to fly over our heads just to show how silent an owl can be, and it's pretty silent. Here's Bella in flight:

Next up was Whiskey the barn owl. He's 15, and probably going to retire this year. Not because he is old, but apparently he's the most dependable bird, and can always be relied on, so Bob feels he's owed some years of not having to do anything more. He's very, very soft. Forget eider-down, barn owl down is the thing. You shouldn't stroke birds, as it takes the oil off their plumage, and then they suffer as it gets colder, or if it rains, but Whiskey goes in the house if it's cold, so he's okay.

Here he is coming in to land:

and having his tummy rubbed:

Finally, it was the turn of Reject the kestrel.

He was bought for a 4 year old, because there are no licenses required for either owning a bird of prey or being a parent, then passed on to several other homes, but no one wanted him. Now he is happy, except when bigger things chase him. Apparently a raven drove him into the trees a couple of days ago, and there were buzzards in the air so he was very nervous.

I leave you with the other burrowing owl, because they are amazing!

Ball Dress Help Required...

2009-09-02T13:01:16Z

Your opinions on fabric selections please!

I fancied doing something big and gothic for the ball, so I've decided on this dress from Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge:

Unfortunately that's the best reference I can do, but you can see most of it. It's a anime dress, so it's a bit flat and plain in design. I'm not so fussed about acuracy for the ball, so I thought I'd embellish it a bit. The image suggests satin, http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/87_93_374/products_id/226, but is that a bit ordinary? What about http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/92_848/products_id/2201? That's too silver in my opinion, though.

What about velvet then? Hot, but I survived the last ball in velvet, so shouldn't be an issue on that front. There this triple velvet, that looks lovely and soft http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/94_44/products_id/511 or maybe sparkly moondust velvet http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/92_886/products_id/2536

And then of course there is taffeta. As well as just plain taffeta, there is scrunched http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/94_1135/products_id/3698 and crushed http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/94_800/products_id/1983. The crushed might be okay, but I don't think the scrunched would look right on the bodice.

Finally there is something with a pattern on it. I like both of these:
http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/94_460/products_id/3756
http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/94_1002/products_id/3769

Opinions?

ETA:

This: http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/94_44/products_id/511
and this: http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/thestore/product_info.php/cPath/87_75/products_id/652
then?

Favourite Photo Found:

2009-08-24T18:24:14Z

Beks is made of awesome and win:

Horror....

2009-08-22T11:28:39Z

Yesterday, I bought Silent Hill Origins for the PSP, watched the Omen and had a long and interesting discussion about ghosts with Joe and Cat. No, there's no reason I've been turning on more lights than normal.

Have people seen anything about Silent Hill Shattered Memories? It's a re-working of the first game. It's not quite a straight port or update, it's a bit more exciting than that. The game gives you a psychological profiling before you play that affects how the game plays out. How you act in game also affects how the other characters deal with you. And on the Wii, there is no combat. This doesn't mean there is no monsters, it means you get to play survival horror with someone who doesn't suddenly learn how to shoot accurately, or get strong enough to overpower monsters with just a board with a nail in it. There is evil, it is hunting you, and all you can do is run away.

Trailer below:

Aya Revolution 2009

2009-08-19T20:54:07Z

Should probably do one of these update thingies before I forget everything!

Warning - this post has more pictures than it has any right to!

Thursday night was the now traditional (well twice) pre-con party / panic with Jack and Liz. We had cheese and poor liz fell asleep on the couch having been up for 48 hours. Might have played a bit of guitar hero before going to bed!

Friday morning Cat and I set off early leaving the others to try and airbrush a pair of shoes. The airbrush was unfortunately having none of it. Made good time and got to the con around 11.30. Found Xae who helpfully showed us to registration, and checked out the cosplay HQ. HQ was an excellent idea - cosplay helpdesk, repair desk, photo shoot locations, gallery and cosplay exhibition in one handy air-conditioned room. Helped Amy-Lou put up pictures by telling her they weren't straight and ~~got roped into~~ volunteered to help out at the desk. Also bumped into Red-Kun, who was being adorable:

Got changed into Amari (thanks Nert):

Unfortunately I couldn't get my hair under the wig as it was too big and curly, so most of the photos I have are with my own hair. Which works, but not as well as the wig.

Found some pretty princesses:

And Silver, who is equally pretty, but was not a princess:

Got a phone call from Joe to say that they were still on the motorway waiting for the AA as one of the tires had blown out. Blown out as in now a steaming pile of rubber shreds. Fortunately Joe's driving skillz got them to the hardshoulder without any issues.

Had some lunch in the Dirty Duck as one of the princesses was sleepy:

Checked into the hotel which took a bit of doing as Cat's sat-nav refused to believe in any areas of Coventry other than CV13. We were mildly intimidated by a huge roundabout with about 9 exits, but made it to the hotel okay. It was really nice, and our bathroom was big enough to put a double bed in. Not that we did, but we could have done.

Got back again, met Joe and got him into costume. Silver took many photos of us. Can't wait to see them. Managed to miss all the panels on Friday, which is a pity, but time was take with meeting up with people and chatting and having coffee, which is also important.

Found and extremely sexy kitten in red leather and BOOB!

(I love this picture of you Net - you look about 7 foot tall!)

Friday night was the karaoke and concert. Opening act was Matt who performed a pretty epic rendition of Memories of Life, not a track I'd expect many guys to sing. There was also a song for Chevi's birthday, though I can't remember for the life of me what it was. I think I was blinded by that much 80s in one place!

I didn't know what to expect from the concert and to be honest I don't think you can be prepared for Momoi - it's not that she has a grating voice, far from it. It's just that it takes a little while to be convinced there's no helium or voice adjustment taking place. It was all very cute and energetic and she sang the theme from Tenbatsu Angel Rabbi, which is a poor anime but does have divine retribution delivered by orbital satellite.

Back up in the Karaoke lounge there was much spac in the hat (when we could steal it off Kaka that is!)

There was also a massive gathering of people in a small space:

and Matt somehow managing to insert himself amongst all the ladies:

Saturday it was up early and straight to the cosplay room to help man the desk. I failed to take many pictures of other cosplayers, but I had to snap this one - it was epic and flowery:

Got changed into Amy and headed out to meet the other Soul Calibur lot. Turns out there were quite a lot of us.

There was Setsuka:

and ~~Mary Poppins~~ P2 Setsuka

Bouncy Xian Hua talking on Cervants:

And Shura, Rahael and Maxi:

Not to mention more BOOB:

Ivy spanked Amy:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv282/ailsa-chan2/Aya%20Revolution%202009/Soul%20Calibur/Aya2009095.jpg

And we took it in turns to die:

Eventually, as all must, we came to the masquerade. Got given my number and sent down to the far end of the queue. Tried on Kirara to check everything still fitted. Was horrified to find someone filming me as jumped around in the most ungainly fashion with an really large camera. Someone said he might be from a national newspaper? Kirara fitted, so spent a while combing out the seam that I kept seeing, despite being sure I'd combed them all out before.

The masquerade was awesome - very well organised, everyone knew what was what and we started within about 5 minutes which is unheard of in masquerade history. There was water before I knew I wanted it, and not only sugar but healthy snacks as well. Did get stuck behind a Tails fanboy who spend much of the queue telling me about his fanfic, but such is life.

Kirara:

In your face!

Afterwards there was more partying. Didn't really feel like dancing, so sat and chatted with people. Some had had more alcohol than others. There were also glowsticks:

Sunday I had a Kirara shoot with Red-kun. Met a random student who was very interested and took my picture. She was lovely. Will need to make a couple of adjustments and then see if I can acquire an Inuyasha group, maybe for Minami? I think Elidh would make an adorable Shippo-chan.

Actually attended panels on Sunday - Jo-Ellen's makeup one; Xae's prop making and Karen's advanced fursuiting. The message of the latter was largely "These chemicals are bad. They will rape your children and eat your pets. But they make the good cosplay." Oh, and don't make your costume out of asphestos. All three were really interesting and useful and seemed to have a pretty good turn out. I think Xae's packed out the room.

After all this was Sunday Night Live, Mark's variety show. And it was really good. It was about the right length, and most of the acts were really enjoyable. I actually got to see the Team Rocket dance this time! Some were of course, better than others, but it was a lot more enjoyable than the Ame one. I was also please to see the Taiko drummers out, as I missed them in the masquerade. I love Taiko. I've videoed several sections of the SNL, but I haven't uploaded them yet as I am lame.

There was another party on Sunday night, but we spent most of it eating Dominoes pizza with people in the Rootes foyer. It was a good chilled way to finish off the con. Made the rounds and said good bye to people, all very sad. Then drove back to Bath and crawled into bed at 4am.

Con went far far to quickly. I was excited and paniced about it for weeks before hand and now it is all over.It was excellent, and only marred by missing friends (and an abundance of wasps). I am largely over the stomach bug, so I'm now just tired and missing the weekend. I guess I can take comfort from the fact that PCD is probably directly related to how much I enjoyed myself.

I've got my tickets for the cosplay ball, and this leads me on to two points:

I've booked a family room at the hotel, so I have a spare bed if anyone wants it.

Secondly what the hell should I wear?