Memorabilia Expo Birmingham 16.03.2013

This weekend we went to the event “Memorabilia/MCM“, based in Birmingham in the NEC. It’s held twice a year in March and November.

Compared to similar events, it was really chilled, really comfortable. We only went for the one day, and dressed as Gorillaz, Plastic Beach era. Our Noodley friend was going to the event too so it was a good chance to get some group pictures (sadly our Russ couldn’t make it).

Charlie did my makeup for me today as he is trained in it, and could give me the later Murdoc appearance I would struggle at doing. In return I ironed. He got to try out new water liner for the costume too which was exciting.

We got a taxi to the train station and hopped on with JD and Coke in hand, noticing other cosplayers on the train too. I always think that is nice to see in such events, even if I don’t have a clue what they were wearing.

The con itself is £10 entry, and offers stalls, guests, talks and shows, much like London Expo (but a lot smaller and much less busier).

We got to see some old and lovely faces, and also meet some new ones.

Bumped into Angie whom appears in a couple of our photos and met up with our Noodle.

And had many lovely people asking us for pictures! They are all floating about on the internet at the moment, if you see any feel free to give me a bell!

Also Foxy took us some group pictures, which was fantastic. These are in the editing process at the moment but if you are interested in seeing any of these, you will be able to find them most likely here or here.

We met two lovely ladies one of which sweetly gave us a postcard of her art, and her website can be found here.

After a while we ended up drinking cider at the bar. Then everything goes a bit fuzzy really. Ended up going home and drinking tea.

DVD Review – Chernobyl Diaries (And bits of other stuff)

I honestly have heard mixed reviews on this one, but wanted to watch it anyway to see what was going on. I picked it up cheap from Blockbuster (cause our local one is closing down sadly…well kinda sadly, cause there is a lot of reduced stuff in there) and me and Charlie watched it the other night.

Chernobyl Diaries (2012 dir: Bradley Parker)
Genre; Horror.
Age; 15

Plot:

So, basically tourists get lost because they go somewhere they probably shouldn’t and they get into trouble.

The Film (Spoilers):

Oh jeeeeeeeeeez with many e’s. It was pretty much a bog standard American style horror. The characters in it (I can ONLY remember Chris, as we were making Resident Evil jokes about his name being called) were so bland and formulated it could of been any film. (I only liked the minor characters and you KNEW they were gonna kick the bucket). I feel it was really obvious what was going to happen, and I don’t think either one of us “jumped” at it. The end..also, was so..obvious. It really did lend heavily to horror game related things, and I was told it was very similar to the Silent Hill film in some ways.

THE CG WHAT? That’s all I am going to say. I don’t think I have ever seen…a less realistic bear in a film. It was something like this? (Which is all well and good, but in a high budget film and all). The smoke too! What was that? When he kicks the fire away.

I can’t slag it off too much though. Some of the scenery was gorgeous, and the interior bits looked fantastic.  The music, also, that was really really good. Diego Stocco I think I’ve gotta say, this was the best thing about the film. I admit, I liked the Marilyn Manson song at the end too (whom I recently realised I have been into for 14 years erk).

This Release:

It’s an ex-rental copy, so I don’t think it is blessed with such things.

Special Features:

N/A

Summary:

2/5 – It was poor. The idea itself was amazing. But the execution was awful. I may give it another watch, on maybe a “lets watch crap films” night, but I can’t say I was wowed.

And in other news, hitting Memorabilia this weekend and cosplay Gorillaz-ing it up. Expect images I guess! (Maybe on the blog, maybe here). And and and and and looking forward to many travels this year, all will be written about in due course. I am so excited.

Citizen X (Gig Review + Photos)

Right. First off sorry I haven’t been very active on here, between work and flu I’ve kinda just wanted to vegetate.

Monday I got asked to do some photos for local band Citizen-X, which are a kinda ska/indie piece, line-up including Birmingham music and poetry veterans Louis Campbell and Andrew Bucknall (info on his other current stuff here and here).

So I swanned along to the Adam and Eve and got a few free drinks out of it. It’s a lovely little venue and it isn’t too expensive either.

The band themselves were really enjoyable. I found myself tapping along as I did my photos, stopping occasionally to watch. I think they played a set of about 5-6 songs, as there were other bands playing that night. It is a small venue though, and another bands equipment was at one end of the stage so I could only take pictures from certain angles. The lighting wasn’t terrible though for a smaller venue! The sound, although I think once or twice sounding a bit de-tuned, was fairly clear and consistent all the way through. I honestly left feeling like I had enjoyed it, and would go and catch them again. The downside is I can’t find any info on them on-line, so I can’t really tell you how to look out for them.

I took a little bit of video on my phone, not great quality but hey;

And my photos are here;

       

Sunday night make-up post

So, as I did it last week I thought I would do it again tonight, and play a bit with make-up again!

Millie had posted about Murdoc (Gorillaz) jokingly dressing like this after doing one of those Facebook friend things, so I thought I would do something..inspired-ish by it. Now I don’t really have anything to make myself purple, just green lol, so I used the pale foundation I have with a very light layering of purple eye shadow over just to give my face a bit of er..fantasy colour? I really was just playing about tonight to be honest. I feel quite draggy which is something I have wanted to try for a while, but that’s for another day. The lipstick is Illamasqua “Diablo” but it looks like they may of stopped doing that. I put a little black on the edges.

I was also playing about with filters with the pics (taken once again on an Iphone 4S) using:

• iDarkroom which is a pretty good app, for which I was using the brown and purple tones.
• Aviary has some great filters and frames, I think I was using “Haas” which is really nice.

Images:

This one without any filters but can’t really see anything.

iDarkroom brown and purple:

Aviary:

A lot of the images I couldn’t get to look right which is why I have repeating ones.

Now to curl up on the sofa and watch some DVDs.

Day Out: Birmingham City Centre

Hello!

Today I went to Birmingham with Charlie (BECAUSE HE IS AN AMAZING BARGAIN HUNTER AND VERY FUN TO SHOP WITH) to do a bit of job scouting and general mooching. As the scouting only really consisted of handing in C.Vs, I will talk about the fun parts of the day!

Mainly we did a lot of window shopping, but did come back with some nice things and interesting tales.

Our first main stop was the Ikon Gallery, which neither of us have actually been in today. The guy on the desk was really interested in our Circle Lenses, so Charlie pointed him in the right direction where to buy some. Then we took a good browse round the shop, (we didn’t actually go into the galleries today) and I found a load of illustration books I would like to own. Charlie brought some goodies, and also brought me these fantastic postcards;

The text based one is “Poems for Birmingham, I” (2007) by:

Steven Shearer

And the not-ugly dinosaur (2007) is by:

Lizz Lunney

And you can find more info on the Ikon Gallery here.

When we hit town proper it was really busy. People seemed really pushy but I have to say there were a lot of stylish people about. We nipped into Zara on the way to the Bull Ring and that was crammed too, they had some good reductions but sadly a lot of it was XL sizing.

Topshop I brought us some socks because why not, (I find it annoying that women’s socks are more interesting than men’s on the whole so we brought women’s socks lol) and to be honest, dinosaurs. You gotta love dinosaurs.

We also went to the Selfrigdes Topman store, and I picked up this really nice shirt for £10 reduced.

Afterwards we went to get something to eat. We had a bit of a wait to get into the food place so, we brought each other goodies which consisted of baklava and macaroons (the macaroon stall in Selfridges is really good quality), and I brought some sausage ball things..they taste good.

The macaroons are salted caramel and rose, we ate them when we got home.

The sausages were reduced and they will be eaten with some rice tomorrow probably!

Then our pager vibrated for food.

Ed’s Easy Diner is fantastic, the service is great and the food is delicious and fatty (in a good way). Also I like the music they play. Charlie only had bacon and cheese chips, but I fatted out with a burger platter (which includes coleslaw, onion rings and chips). I did not take a picture of the food because I always forget. Charlie had a coke float and I had normal coke, and all together the bill came to just under £20. It’s definitely worth trying, as writing this hours later I still feel full and content (though I do have a Mac and Cheese if I get peckish later ;D). The woman who served us noticed me playing Battlecats, and seemed really interested in playing it. Charlie drew her little cats on a napkin and where to find the game I wonder if she is playing it now…

After waddling out of there we went into Cloggs because they had a sale on, and I picked up these bad boys:

It really pisses me off ladies get cooler shoes on the whole than men, but at the same time they do ladies shoes in my foot size so fuck it. They cost £27.99 reduced from £40 I think it was, and I had a laugh with the girl at the till cause of the awkward customer she had just served. (It has been a day of pretty good customer service all round). I liked Charlie’s comment that they look like “The Horrors” style hehehe.

I think HMV was next to nip into, and Charlie brought me some goodies again. As you can see they were pretty cheap, and the X’ed ones were reduced even more. Kinda sad that at the moment they are unsure of the future of the shop.

Bill Bailey: Part Troll – Because I do love stand-up comedy, and I really admire Bailey.

Space Adventure Cobra – I was VERY surprised to see this. It’s an old anime I liked as a kid.

Dinocroc Vs Supergator – What can I say? This bloke comes up with some really bad crap right? I love it.

Oh god interlude I am writing and eating a cheese twist and it’s messy as hell.

This also made us laugh.

As you can see, the “Chop Kick Panda” obviously came out first. Cause its more expensive.

And, on the way home the flower seller bloke reduced them to £1 for a bunch so I was brought some cause I have a bit of a soft spot for flowers. They are now on my bedside table.

I was also brought a CHOCOLATE one (and some Kit Kats GOD I love Kit Kats).

And now I am thinking of the Mac and Cheese whilst Charlie is Skyrim bound. Or a Kit Kat…I’m not sure.

I Took an Arrow to the Knee. It was Skyrim.

Firstly this is me posting from the WordPress app. Seeing what it’s like! Posting from my iPhone.

Now. I remember when I first played Fallout 3. This was the kind of game I would stay up till 7am playing, because I needed more, even if the glitches did almost cause me to throw the TV out the window. But it had something. It was addictive. I still don’t quite understand why but it was.

Now a few years later and I’m traversing the (very annoying) hills of Skyrim, fighting dragons and drinking mead with the locals. And glitching, of course. Wouldn’t be a Bethesda game without them, right? So far I’ve had a dragon freak out on me, get stuck in a house, and sadly I have had a bit of a worse glitch in the sense that I can’t finish a main quest now. But I still play on, regardless.

Because it is just too damn fun.

I’m an Argonian stealthy mother fucker. I am Snaekeyes McGee. What better name huh? I run around looting kettles and baskets because in Fallout I stole forks and bent tin cans to sell. I’m bloody rich in this game. I took over the Dark Brotherhood!

I have an elf husband in the game who sounds like a farmer.

I have pissed off cities and they don’t really care, as long as I pay them off.

I even pretended to be a chef, and really messed up someone’s meal.

What’s funny is when you accidentally put the controller down and YOL TOOR SHUL (fire breath for all you bizarre non-skyrimmers ;D), burning an innocent by accident and having to reload. It is funny, really funny.

Some of the ways people die, what the hell. That Draugr looks like it drunkenly fell out of bed..or coffin. Or whatever! But it’s very humorous!

Thief of Virtue. WHAT THE HELL.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GAME? ME? Why do I run around stealing cups and not doing quests?

BECAUSE I CAN. I really enjoy games which let me fundamentally, do what the fuck I want.

And. Guess what? As I write this, Charlie is playing it, as Catface, the khajiit.

I’m a fucking Dovahkiin. Respect.

DVD Review – Wicked City & Demon City Shinjuku

Wicked City (1987 dir: Kawajiri Yoshiaki)
Genre; Anime, Supernatural Thriller.
Age; 18

Just re-watched this after many years. I hold this dear to my heart in my anime life as it was one of the first I watched and totally blew me away as a kid. I used to have it on VHS a good while ago, but no longer have a player for that. It took me a while to find it on DVD, and I managed to pick up the Korean version on eBay.

Plot:

The film plot is pretty much two secret agents who protect this old (important) pervert against demons fall in love and beat the bad guy. IMDB’s bio is probably a bit more indepth than mine; here.

The Film (Spoilers):

Seriously, it has some beautiful scenes. Two of which stand out in my mind and have done since I first watched this.  When Makie breaks the wall of the demon dimention. And when she is impregnanted and beats the bad guy. Jesus they will always stick in my mind. It does suffer a little from 80s anime style, but personally I much prefer eyes and faces drawn in this style than the newer style. It suffers slighly from 80s fashion in parts too. It’s probably not the BEST thing in the world, but it is to my tastes.

This Release:

This is the Korean version of the DVD, region free. It offers the Japanese original version and dubbed version, which is nice, as from my memories as a kid this film didn’t have the worst dubbing in the world. Also offers English and Korean subtitles (the subtitles themselves are very clear). The packaging is simple, the back is all in Korean so I have no clue. This release also is uncut to what I remember, which was kinda cool to see bits I hadn’t before (especially the dirty bits ;D)

Special Features:

• Digitally Remastered in 5.1
• Original Theatrical Trailers (JP/USA)
• Character Biographies
• Image Gallery
• Exclusive Interview with the director, Yoshiaki Kawajiri
• Dual Language Options for English and Japanese.

I honestly can say, these really don’t appeal to me as extras, but usually I only like outtakes when it comes to special features. Being remastered didn’t really make much difference to the original either.

Summary:

4/5 – I love it, but being realistic it probably isn’t the best thing I’ve seen in my life. I’m not that interested in the special features myself, but someone may find it interesting.

Demon City Shinjuku/Monster City (1988 dir: Kawajiri Yoshiaki)
Genre; Anime, Supernatural Fantasy
Age; 18

As I had the VHS of the above film and this one together, I thought I would put them both as a review as I have DVDs of them both these days. Although I prefer Kawajiri’s earlier film, this one again does stick in my mind. That and it has Mephisto and Chibi, both of which are very cool characters for very different reasons. I also like the stretchy lady.

Plot:

Some kid has to become a great fighter in this demon city to save everyone and the girls dad and yada yada. I’m really bad at writing film plots; here.

The Film (Spoilers):

Again, it has some wonderful scenes, but I think this one is a bit more…teeny? It’s more angst and coming of age, rather than the already adults of Wicked City. Saying that though, it isn’t for children at all. I think the story is a lot more..general anime feel too; you know the good guy is gonna win, so this one might appeal to a wider audience. Again it suffers a little of 80s fashion, but I really enjoy watching anime of this age, I really like to see the actual hand drawn and coloured stuff rather than it all being computer generated.

This Release:

Very plain, with no special features. Offers Japanese and English language, with English subtitles. It is region free. Once again the subtitles are very precise and easy to read. It offers Dolby 2.0 surround, but as we don’t have surround sound here, it’s no different.

Summary:

4/5 – Again, it’s not the most amazing thing in the world but it is worth a watch. It does bring back memories of me watching anime when they used to play it on SciFi late at night.

First Post = Playing With Make-up

Things to do on a Saturday night huh? It’s not particularly nice weather at the moment in England, so while Charlie was making his blog look all cool and that (and getting his fur collar thing nicked) I grabbed the palettes and brushes and slapped a face on. I have been looking at this “Minori” girl and this “Shironuri” style, and I don’t have the equipment or skills to do such thing, but I did something loosely inspired by it all (which ended up just being more playing around).

That said, here is a run down of things I used;

• Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation in 115

• Illamasqua Pencil (Elate & Sophie)

• Black Powder Eye Shadow (Mine is actually Gimp but I can’t find it on their store any more).

• The browns/yellows/reds I used were from 2 different colour palettes, both were gifts so I’m not entirely sure where they came from.

• Contacts are from Pinky Paradise and were a gift, and I can’t remember which but I think are Barbie Black.

• The fangs are from this bloke here; CustomFangs. If you do a lot of costumes which need comfortable teeth, or anything custom, I would seriously recommend this guy. They are a veneer which fit over your actual teeth and they are super realistic and are comfortable too.

• The little horns are Charlie’s from his recent Taobao order which you can find a review on here.

• Also, wig wise, one was from a hair shop in Birmingham and the other from eBay.

Images (taken on an Iphone 4s, both front and back camera and filtered on PhotoScape):

D. Ferne