You know I ain't no Juliet...

Vidding Round-up 2009

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:53:21 GMT

'Cause all the cool kids are doing it.

February
Woman King [Discworld]

April
The devil's inside my head [SPN]

May
Goodnight, demon slayer [SPN]

June
My own destroyer (Big Bang) [SPN]

November
Rebellion (Lies, lies) [SPN]

So that's a total of 5 vids this year. Which is two less than last year. Oh, well *shrug*

Favorite vid:

Probably Rebellion because that's the last vid I made and I like to think I've improved the most with that one. I also like it because people have been interpreting it in different ways and I like vids that can do that. And well, you know, it's Sam&Dean *hugs*

And I like My own destroyer as well since it was a different vid-making experience as I was making it for a Big Bang story.

Least Favorite:

I don't think I can actually pick one because I like all of them. There are some moments in Goodnight, demon slayer that I don't like but I'm still happy with it overall. And if I ever re-did Woman King (which I probably won't) I would probably redo it's structure into something a little tighter but there isn't any vid that I cringe at when re-watching.

Most successful:

Going by comment count: Rebellion followed closely by Goodnight, demon slayer. Course, I don't know how many of those are actual comments as opposed to me commenting in reply to people. But most successful in terms of concept? Probably Rebellion again because I spent a lot of time planning that out and based on people's comments, I think that the ideas behind it came across.

Vid that I think should have gotten more attention:

I don't know. Woman King maybe. It's Discworld people. Discworld is awesome!

However, I'm actually pretty happy with the attention my vids got.

Most fun to make:

Rebellion was pretty fun. I had a pretty detailed plan so it was pretty easy to put to together and I could then have fun playing around with clips because I had the plan to fall back to. My own destroyer was also fun because I was trying for an atmospheric vid and that was fun.

Hardest to make:

Woman King because I didn't actually sit down and write out a plan before hand. What I wanted to do was simply retell Susan's story but when I did the first draft of the vid it was a very straightforward retelling and I ran out of time at the end. Thankfully (kinda) something went wrong with my computer and I wasn't able to open the project file anymore so I had to redo the vid from scratch. However, because I had done the first draft that didn't work so well, it was easier to weave the clips together in the second draft and it turned out quite a bit better than the initial draft.

Things I've learned:

To think about the overall "story" more when editing clips and matching movement between clips looks really cool.

Things to work on:

Hmm, making the overall story/concept of the vid tighter and more compact. And maybe looking into effects more. Technically, I do know After Effects although it's been awhile so I should probably play around with that. Oh and finish off the 15 or so vid ideas in my head.

Vid the grid - Claim Post: Archetypes

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:05:00 GMT

Because if I don't do this now, I never will...

vid_the_grid Claim Post: Archetypes

SciFi/Fantasy TV & Movies

1.	Saint	2.	Sinner	3.	Child	4.	Hero
5.	Mentor	6.	Trickster	7.	Wise Man	8.	Parent
9.	Scientist	10.	Warrior	11.	Joker	12.	vidder's choice

Notes to self: The aim here is to make a little vidlets for a variety of different sources, without using the same source for two or more prompts.

SPN VID: Rebellion (Lies, Lies) [Sam/Dean]

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:48:13 GMT

Title: Rebellion (Lies, lies)
Vidder: mithborien
Details: Supernatural | 4.33 | "Rebellion (Lies, lies)" by Arcade Fire | Spoilers S1 - S4

"I just know we're all we've got." Every time you close your eyes. (Sam/Dean)

Downloads:
Watch: BAM Video Vault (you can watch my other vids here as well)
Large (.avi 52mb): Sendspace + Megaupload
Small (.avi 22mb): Sendspace + Megaupload

Find more videos like this on BAM Vid Vault

Notes: To me, this is a vid about Sam and Dean's relationship. I still don't know myself whether I consider it canon or fanon but it's certainly one way of looking at things. I'm also ridiculously pleased at how this turned out, both in concept and technical execution. And I can't think of anything else I want to say except I think it's one of my favourite vids to date.

My thanks to both ash48 and mresundance for the beta. This was my first time using a beta and it certainly helped me personally. My thanks to both of you for helping me make this vid better. Especially mresundance who kept pushing me to get things right.

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke and the CW network. No profit is being made or is intended to be made. Please do not upload my vids anywhere without my permission but using the embedding link option from BAM is fine. Please comment if download links run out.

SPN ART: My own destroyer (Big Bang!)

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:19:56 GMT

Title: My own destroyer
Artist: mithborien
Details: spn_j2_bigbang art for My own destroyer by jacyevans

One minute is enough.

Notes: So it's Big Bang time again and despite reading many hundreds and thousands of words of Big Bang fic I've managed to get my own art ready. But I find Big Bang to be an enormous amount of fun so thank you to the Mods for setting it up. It is a giant challenge you run but you always manage to pull it off so thanks again. And thank you to jacyevans for writing her story. If you haven't read it you should go do that first because my art probably gives stuff away. I wouldn't have been able to make the art I did if I wasn't first inspired by the story so congratulations jacyevans, it is a great story :)

Art: Trailer vidlet
Details: SPN | 1.46 | "This night" by Black Lab
Password: bigbang

My own destroyer from Thorien on Vimeo.

Downloads:
Large (.avi 21mb): Mediafire + Megaupload
Small (.avi 6mb): Mediafire + Megaupload

Notes: So I had I lot of fun with this vid because I was going for a more thematic and atmospheric style which was somewhat easier for me than a more linear vid. And it's fun playing with effects.

One problem I did have was the fact (I'm going to assume people have all ready read the story) that Dean essentially spent the story wearing someone else's face which as you can guess was not something I incorporated into the vid. Two reasons. The first, doing so, well, it would be really difficult ~~and I'm lazy~~. The second, slightly more pretentious reason, is that in my mind Dean still sees himself as Dean, so the Dean in the vid is how he still sees himself regardless of being a demon. Yeah, that totally works :P

Although, the biggest problem I had was getting Dean's eye to go black and look good. Something I decided to do at the last minute which is not something I would recommend. Oops. But I am pleased with how that effect turned out.

I'm quite pleased with how the vid turned out as a whole actually :)

Art: Soundtrack

Notes: I can't take any credit for these songs. jacyevans supplied them all, including the song I used for the vid which was quite helpful. So thanks for that as well :)

Download: Mediafire + Megaupload (49mb & high-res cover art is included)

Track list:

1. The bitter end - Placebo
2. Call me - Shinedown
3. Black lexus - Joseph Arthur
4. This night - Black Lab
5. For the restless - Tom McRae
6. All I need - Radiohead
7. My little box - John Frizzell
8. Snuff - Slipknot
9. Set free - Katie Gray
10. St. Lawrence river - David Usher

Art: Story banner

Art: Icons

I just want you to be okay.

Thu, 14 May 2009 13:31:58 GMT

So I hardly post anything about my own responses to Supernatural because once I watch an episode I go and read what other people say and they always say what I am thinking in better words than I could so I don't say anything.

However, in preparation of the coming season finale I felt I should post the below caps from 4x21 so they are on the record.

*wibbles*

SPN VID: Goodnight, demon slayer [ GEN ]

Wed, 13 May 2009 13:21:36 GMT

Title: Goodnight, demon slayer
Vidder: mithborien
Details: Supernatural | 4.52 | "Goodnight, demon slayer" by Voltaire

Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there.

Downloads:
Watch: Imeem (my username is 'Thorien')
Large (.avi 43mb): Sendspace + Mediafire
Small (.avi 16mb): Sendspace + Mediafire

Goodnight, demon slayer - Mithbor

If the embedded video has trouble playing, please wait for it to finish loading.

Notes: I'm posting this vid now because I just didn't think we had enough angst at the end of the season... *cries*

But I am so happy with the way this vid turned out. I had a lot of fun making it, and the massive thirty something page word doc I had as a plan probably helped a lot with that in the sense that it cut down last minute problems. And hell, I even had fun planning out that word doc for the vid and matching all the clips up.

However, I do have to thank waldorph who inspired me to make this vid by suggesting the song idea in an Inspiration post on spn_sceneit (and thanks to that comm as well, it's awesome). So this vid can be dedicated to you because I wouldn't have made this, nor had as much fun making it if you hadn't put the idea in my head first.

I also ramble on more about my vid-making process here.

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke and the CW network. No profit is being made or is intended to be made. Please do not upload my vids anywhere without my permission but using the embedding link option from Imeem is fine. Please comment if download links run out.

SPN VID: The Devil's Inside My Head [ Mary focus ]

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:51:22 GMT

Title: The Devil's Inside My Head
Vidder: mithborien
Details: Supernatural | 2.05 | "The Devil's Inside My Head" by Kasey Chambers | 4.03 & general S4 spoilers

You know the worst thing I can think of? (Mary vid)

Downloads:
Watch: Imeem (my username is 'Thorien')
Large (.avi 21mb): Sendspace + Mediafire
Small (.avi 9mb): Sendspace + Mediafire

SPN - The Devils Inside My Head - Thorien

If the embedded video has trouble playing, please wait for it to finish loading.

Notes: This is not the vid that I has intended to make. I had been thinking about the song for awhile but never had a concrete plan for clips until I sat down to plan another vid and this one came together inside. I also played around with clip effects far more than I have before. Which I think turned out well and fairly close to what was going through my head, which is always nice.

ETA: Urgh, Imeem now has far more intrusive ads then I remember. Sorry, will have to find better streaming option... (But apparently not in the embedded video.)

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke and the CW network. No profit is being made or is intended to be made. Please do not upload my vids anywhere without my permission but using the embedding link option from Imeem is fine. Please comment if download links run out.

I can't do this alone... yes, you can... yeah, but I don't want to...

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:29:39 GMT

\o/

Yay, I can have my show to obsess about for another year!

And to finish off all the half-started fanfic... and vids.

DISCWORLD VID: Woman King [Susan focus]

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:13:37 GMT

Title: Woman King
Author: mithborien
Details: Discworld (Hogfather movie) | 4.23 | "Woman King" by Iron & Wine

The skeleton in the closet is the least of Susan's worries.

Notes: Despite my love for the books, I am not in the Discworld fandom. Is there even a vidding section of the Discworld fandom? Where am I supposed to post this... But otherwise, yay Susan!

Downloads:

Watch: Streaming at Imeem (my username is 'Thorien')
Large (.avi 47mb): Sendspace + Megaupload
Small (.avi 15mb): Sendspace + Megaupload

DW - Woman King - Mithbor

If the embedded video has trouble playing, please wait for it to finish loading.

Disclaimer: Discworld belongs to Terry Pratchett and the Hogfather movie probably belongs to someone else. No profit is being made or is intended to be made. Please do not upload my vids anywhere without my permission but using the embedding link option from Imeem is fine.

2008 Vidding Meme

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:12:27 GMT

Because vidding seemed to be the thing I did the most this year.

January
Hey man, nice shot [SPN] First half of season three.
Ma Winchester [SPN] 'Cause you know Mary would have kicked ass. AU ~~(except according to recent canonical events this isn't as far-fetched as it once was)~~.
A B Song [SPN] Season two finale.

February
Beating like a drum [SPN] You can't forget the dead.

~~March~~

April
I was born on a pirate ship [POTC] Pirate! Savvy?

~~May~~

~~June~~

~~July~~

~~August~~

September
Come Alive [SPN] 4.01 Episodic.

~~October~~

November
Eye of the tiger [SPN] Jensen Ackles being silly...

~~December~~

Although, to be fair, I am pretty sure Ma Winchester and A B Song were made the year before and only merely got posted in 2008. Oh well.

My favorite video this year (of my own):
Hmm, I don't think I have a singular favourite vid. I think in terms of subject and execution I really like Beating like a drum. I like looking at the themes of death and how the Winchester's family still affect them so much in spite of it and I also liked how I ended up structuring the vid to reflect that. I also like I was born on a pirate ship because I was trying for a thematic vid as opposed to a narrative based vid, regardess of how well I may or may not have pulled it off. And Ma Winchester and Eye of the tiger get special mentions because they were so much fun to make.

My least favourite video this year:
This always happens with every vid I make: I go back months later, watch it again, see all the spots where I edited off the beat and start to cringe, even in vids that I like. However, Hey man, nice shot is probably my least favourite because I didn't put as much thought into it as I do normally because it was merely an excuse to vid something and as a result the vid turned out to be somewhat of a group of loosely matched scenes.

Most successful video:
Imeem tells me Ma Winchester has the most hits and that vid also received the most comments on LJ as well. It also got recced a couple of places as well. Ma Winchester was also a vid that got planned out completely beforehand, every single clip was scripted so maybe that had something to do with it. But I was quite pleased with how that one turned out, I felt it had the most cohesive story out of all the vids.

Video most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Beating like a drum probably. Only because I liked it so much but out of all my SPN vids it seemed to get the least number of comments and hits :(

Most fun video:
To make or watch? Again, Ma Winchester and Eye of the tiger probably go for both questions. It was quite hard not to burst out laughing at Jensen Ackles when I was making Eye of the tiger. And I was born on a pirate ship was also fun to make because I was trying something new.

Video with single sexiest moment:
Well, I didn't try to make any vid intentionally sexy but in every one you either have a certain Mr Depp, Mr Padalecki or Mr Ackles so I guess you could say all of them?

Biggest vid fail:
Like I said before, every time when I go back and watch a vid after a while I always find a moment where I edited off the beat and I cringe so there is that. Biggest vid fail probably goes to Hey man, nice shot for the same reason it's also my least favourite vid. But Ma Winchester should also get a mention because there is one scene in it that now seems so out of place. It's the shot where we see Mary appear to the boys, the fire falling away from her and she opens her eyes. It's a beautiful shot and I love it a lot which is why ot probably snuck it's way into a vid that doesn't really have a whole lot of supernatural elements and therefore a woman appearing out of flame doesn't really work.

Hardest video to make:
I was born on a pirate ship because I had absolutely no clip plan when I started it. I just started dropping clips onto the time line in an effort to try and match the 'feeling' I had in my head. I don't think it was that bad of a method but it certainly didn't make things easier.

Most unintentionally telling video:
Telling of what? That I am ridiculously obsessed with Supernatural? That I like pirates? That I like all of the POTC movies despite their failings? That I like vidding? I don't think my vids are unintentionally telling of anything. Although, if it's unintentional, I probably wouldn't pick it up.

The things I've learned this year:
Vidding is incredibly frustrating when things don't work the way they should but incredibly rewarding when they do. Also, make sure all your programs and codecs work properly before you sit down and try start a vid. And vid plans generally help. Although, I do believe I have finally perfected my ripping/encoding process to a satisfying level.

For 2009:
In my vid making folder I have thirteen folders for Supernatural vids that I would ideally like to make. Whether I will, we shall see. The next vid I am likely to finish and post is actually a vid that focuses on Susan from the Hogfather movie which was based on the book by Terry Pratchett and I am quite pleased with how that is coming along. Ideally, I should have posted that at Christmas but my 'ideally's' never seem to work out so you know. But after that my plans are for a Sam vid, a Mary vid, a John/Mary vid, an evil!winchesters vid, a somewhat heartbreaking vid, an apocalypse vid and a crossover vid with the TV series Neverwhere. I have plans people! I also want to focus more on well and truly editing to the beat in my vids and also seeing what fun I can have in After Effects in terms of vid making. I did after all major in Multimedia in my Graphic Design course, in which we used After Effects quite a bit so the logical conclusion is to use that knowledge for fandom instead of professional work. I sure as hell know which one is more fun.

I shudder at the total number of icons I have made

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:18:29 GMT

I think it is important to note that after cleaning my computer files, I have discovered that I have made a total of 1112 icons in the Harry Potter fandom.

47% of those I hope are never seen by anyone else ever again.

I'm not dead just floating

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:44:00 GMT

You know what's terrible?

Somehow misreading your alarm clock, getting up an hour early for work, getting ready and it's only when you are about to walk out the door (when it's naturally to late to actually go back to bed) that you realise goddamnitsearly!

I still have no idea how this happened, especially in light of the fact that I despise getting up early and sleeping in is one of the most ohsoawesome things in the world. And this was also on my last day of work for this year, so the arriving early part kind of mitigated the leaving early yayitsholidays! part.

But now I am off work for a week and a half and aside from christmasblahblahresolutionsblah (I shudder at the thought of looking at the resolutions I set myself at the start of the year), I am most looking forward to completing some fandomy creations. Priorities, yo. I just need to find that creative inspiration that is lurking deep within me that has also been generally missing for most of the year.

*picks up sword*

And no, I don't know what the point of the italics are either.

I did not sign on for this jolly...

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:04:41 GMT

Does anyone else's VLC player suddenly have a little Santa hat on the program icon.

How... how did this happen?

It's been cycles...

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 12:44:37 GMT

Farscape comic?

Well, frell me...

we will fall with dignity

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:13:58 GMT

You know, I never really do memes but this one was pretty cool.

The rules:
01. Answer each of the questions below the cut using the [Flickr] search engine.
02. Choose a photo from the first three pages.
03. Copy the URL of your favorite photos [here].
04. Then share with the world.

1. [Name] and the puppet master, 2. Chocolate Cupcakes, 3. First light over Perth, 4. threesixtyfive : onesixty : black hole sun, 5. My Favorite PadAckles picture possibly ever, 6. ready for the party......???, 7. IT everywhere #33, 8. Ice Cream Sundae, 9. art & creative, 10. Day #35 - Potential, 11. Broken Promise, 12. Almost Alive

Questions:
01. First Name
02. Favourite Food
03. Hometown
04. Favourite Colour
05. Celebrity Crush
06. Favourite Drink
07. Dream Holiday
08. Favourite Dessert
09. What I Want To Be When I Grow Up
10. What I Love Most In The World
11. One Word That Describes Me
12. My LiveJournal Name

Vid: Eye of the tiger [SPN - 4.06]

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 10:45:17 GMT

Vid: Eye of the tiger

Artist: mithborien

Fandom: Supernatural

Song: "Eye of the tiger" by Survivor

Length: 3:53

Description: ~~Boogie~~ Yellow fever. Cause Ackles got moves, yo! And cause it had to be done.

Notes: Oh, vidding. Such a frustrating pastime. The only reason this vid got made despite the obstacles of Premiere not working and ending up with crappy source material was the fact that I can't stop laughing at Jensen Ackles' face.

Downloads:
Watch @ Imeem (my username is 'Thorien')

Large:
Download @ Sendspace (.avi 37.2mb)
Download @ Megaupload (.avi 37.2mb)

Small:
Download @ Sendspace (.avi 16.3mb)
Download @ Megaupload (.avi 16.3mb)

(If the embedded video has trouble playing please either wait until it has finished loading or refresh the page.)

Steal away, steal away tonight...

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:49:12 GMT

Yay, for making icons!

Technically my first LJ fandom in a way.

Also, yay for vague, sporadic posts.

Vid: Come Alive [ SPN - 4.01 ]

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:32:28 GMT

Vid: Come Alive

Artist: mithborien

Fandom: Supernatural

Song: "Come Alive" by The Foo Fighters

Length: 5:09

Description: Episodic vid for 4.01 Lazarus Rising (This can so totally count as my episode review, right?)

Notes: I think Premiere randomly inserted stray frames in clips they had no business being in but aside from that I am pretty pleased with how this turned out considering I wanted to get this done before the next episode. Of course, I missed being ale to post it before the next episode but never mind. Lastly, I thought this was a pretty damn good episode :)

Downloads:
Watch @ Imeem (my username is 'Thorien')

High res:
Download @ Sendspace (.avi 37.2mb)
Download @ Megaupload (.avi 37.2mb)

Low res:
Download @ Sendspace (.avi 12.2mb)
Download @ Megaupload (.avi 12.2mb)

(If the embedded video has trouble playing please either wait until it has finished loading or refresh the page.)

Every year I forget...

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:09:43 GMT

We've got work to do

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:38:46 GMT

Damn it, normally I am not swayed by memes.

When you see this, post another Supernatural quote in your lj. Let's see how long this can go on for.

Trickster: This obsession to save Dean. The way you two keep sacrificing yourselves for each other. Nothing good comes out of it. Just blood and pain. Dean's your weakness. The bad guys know it too. It's gonna be the death of you, Sam. Sometimes you just gotta let people go.

Sam: He's my brother.

Demonic Winchesters...

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:28:30 GMT

Yay, new layout.

Fanart: Highway to Hell (or in other words, a theoretical S4 promotional poster) [SPN]

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:35:33 GMT

You know, I should probably post this before the season premiere.

Title: Highway to Hell (or in other words, a theoretical S4 promotional poster)
Artist: mithborien
Format: Photo manipulation
Author's Note: The following contains absolutely no spoilers for Season Four. I wish it did though because that would be awesome.

Highway to Hell...

... and bloodshot eyes

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:16:39 GMT

I forget that having a full time job means less time for fandom and creative-y endeavours.

Unfortunately, I never seem to find the inspiration when I actually have the time.

Alas, motivation, why do you mock me so.

Fanart: Steam [ SPN - Gen ]

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:01:16 GMT

So this year I participated in the spn_j2_bigbang as an artist.

Title: Steam
Artist: mithborien
Medium: Ink + Digital

The story I created art for is:

Steam by bellatemple

MASTER FIC POST
"Hell and Earth are empty. Do you think Heaven still has room?" The demons are gone, but at what cost? Sam and Dean make their way through a post-apocalyptic America, adapting the Impala and themselves as they go. It's a world of ghosts, mad men, and Victorian science, as Dean discovers he's a better mechanic than he has any right to be, and Sam that he has more power than he'd ever thought possible. They eventually make their way back home to Lawrence, only to find out that things aren't nearly as hopeless as they might've thought. The world can be fixed, all they have to do is make an impossible choice. A steampunk look at Supernatural, guest starring all the usual suspects, with an odd cameo by Samuel Colt and a leather-bound journal.

(Initial thoughts after reading that summary were: STEAMPUNK FTW! *comments to claim fic*)

THE ARTWORK

CLICK FOR BIGGER IMAGES

Notes: So, the above images are basically inks aged up in Photoshop. First, I got a couple of reference photos of the net, traced (I can't draw faces from real life and have them look like the people they're supposed to so tracing it is) them up, added all the necessary steampunk additions and copied them onto watercolour paper. I then got out the inks and started painting.

Initially I had planned to do both Sam and Dean entirely up in inks like I did the Impala but after finishing the Impala I remembered that inks don't come with an eraser nor Ctrl-Z and that I hadn't really done any hand-completed art for over six months. So I wasn't quite game enough to try their itty bitty faces in inks in case I stuffed it up and had to start again. So Sam and Dean remained black ink outlines but we do have the Impala in all it's pimped up, steampunked glory. Although I am quite happy with how the screaming Sam face came out.

And the reason why the inks change colours so much is that I couldn't be bothered mixing up a solid colour to work with. I just kept adding in more red or blue or green to some yellow as I went. Which was totally a stylistic choice to represent the need to adapt in an ever-changing steampunk landscape and not at all because I'm lazy. Totally not lazy.

I then inked in all the black lines (except I used a black pen for the faces because I knew I would stuff up with a brush) and the text. The text is excerpts from all the exorcism rituals they used on the show. What that symbolises within the context of the story, I am not sure but I sure as well wasn't translating anything else into latin. I used the typefaces Aquiline Two and Dear Theo as a guide but I painted the text to make sure it retained that hand-written look

Next I scanned the images into Photoshop. The parchment looking background was an image I had created previously to be used as stock so I just copy and pasted that in. I then darkened the background up in a few places, darkened and upped the contrast on the inked parts and did some overall colour corrections and voila! I was done.

Sorry, if I babbled on a lot. Years of having to write rationales for all my art/design projects will do that.

THE EXTRAS

Notes: These are just a couple of extra images I created for the actual story text: the title image, paragraph divider and an 'end' (that will make sense in the context of the story). The typeface for the title is Times New Yorker. These were created in much the same way as the artwork. Some of the text and images done first in inks, then scanned into Photoshop and played around with in there.

~

And now I can go read all the other Big bangs without feeling guilty that I hadn't completed my own...

Supanova Perth 2008!

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:06:55 GMT

So I suppose I really should write up my con report, although it still feels weird to realise that I actually have a con to report about instead of spending the night watching and reading about all those other cons in countries on the other side of the world.

So, Supanova Perth 2008! My first con (although, I’m pretty sure there are other cons in Perth but this is the first I’ve really heard about and the first that’s somewhat mainstream in a way). It was pretty much what I was expecting a con to be like and I did enjoy myself a lot. I’m also glad a fair amount of people turned up (see, there’s an audience in Perth for this stuff, who knew?).

I did cosplay for the two main days (Saturday and Sunday) which is yet another level of geekery I’ve attained. I read somewhere ages ago about how there should be like Boy Scout Merit badges for fandom, so I feel like I kinda earned one of those. The first day I went as Susan Sto Helit from the Discworld series (I love Susan so much although my head felt like it was going to fall off from the wig) and the second I went as Aeryn Sun from Farscape. There aren’t going to be pictures though because a) I hate the way I look in photos and b) I don’t want to put pictures of me on the internet under this journal (yay! Paranoia!). I have no idea if people even recognised my costumes, especially since Aeryn didn’t even have a gun (the holster kinda fell apart the last time I wore it. Hot glue is not as good as you would think.) but it was fun to walk around in either goth clothes or black combat wear so all was good.

There were heaps of people dressed up though, which was awesome. Although they were mostly from anime so all the time I was thinking: yeah, you look pretty cool but I have no idea who you are. Which made the cosplay competition interesting to watch but it was definitely worth it with the MC that we had. He was loud and funny and awesome and he danced! And he was quite possibly having a not-so-secret love affair with L (I had to go look up Wikipedia to check that was the right name) from Death Note (who through general consensus we believe he was actually the stage manager).

But they were both awesome, really played to the audience. As did the sound guy who in between taking care of the music was buys writing amusing things on the screen behind the stage (often making fun of the cosplayers and the MC) and also talking like God from out of the ~~god~~ sound box onstage.

The cosplayers were pretty damn good though. These were my favourites (sorry if you don’t want your picture on the online but hey, no one is going to recognise you underneath your secret identity, right? (I also realise how hypocritical this is when I refuse to put my own picture up) but you guys were awesome.)

We had Snake from Metal Gear Solid who proceeded to kill the MC (seriously, the MC died at least ten times from various cosplayers *cough* Death Note *cough*) and he also had the voice down great. He came back the second day as well to kill the MC again at the request of another cosplayer. I forget why.

Arthur Dent! I think his Guide was actually Terry Pratchett’s Making Money recovered but it has DON’T PANIC on it in large friendly letters so all is forgiven.

Kaylee and River! Kaylee made the dress itself and it took her three months but it looked damn good. But apparently, according to Jewel Staite the real costume was quite uncomfortable to wear.

Sailor Moon! Oh, the memories. I remember liking Sailor Moon a whole lot when I was younger. I don’t know if I would feel the same way now and I don’t want to find out.

Okay, this guy was awesome. He cosplayed the Madmen logo. A logo! A logo made out of foam! Madman distributes anime in Australia, I think. But yeah, the dude was the Madman logo, in a straightjacket and had to be led around the stage cause there sure as hell wasn’t any way to see through the damn thing.

I forget who this guy is but his weapon? Stick? Thingamajig? was made out of a rod and Christmas lights and it really lit up and it looked pretty good even though you might be sniggering because of the Christmas lights!

Ah, where crack fics come to life. I recognise No Face, female!Cloud (I think) and a Rock. The others I have idea but their skit was pretty funny.

This guy was awesome. Don’t know who he was supposed to be but he did a whole skit about how heavy the sword was which was quite funny. And the sound guy threw up a ‘compensating’ joke on the screen behind him which had to happen, of course.

Dude! Batman! Who made his own costume apparently but he was awesome as well. He also put on the voice and his cape actually went up properly as well. I have to mention here as well that after the cosplayers are done on stage they come down and sit at the front of the audience on the ground, so it was quite funny (to me, at least) to see Batman just stroll up and site down cross legged in the middle of the aisle. Although, now that I think about it, how on earth did he sit down. That suit looked quite thick and strong.

Poison Ivy looked quite good as well. She blew phermones or whatever they were across the front row. She must have been freezing in that outfit though.

And see what I mean about awesome the MC was. He made sure to really interact with each cosplayer. In this case, acting as the Joker to Harley Quinn.

Yay, crack!fic again. A French Musketeer, the 10th Doctor, a Jedi and a little mini Superman, who had to be lured back out on stage again.

We had a Link who was very well done. I think she won the first day? Which she deserved if she did get it because as you can see she looks damn good. Although, now that I can actually see her close up I realise the chain mail is knitted (sorry about the close up but I needed another image to complete the three).

I don’t know who these people are supposed to be but they look quite awesome.

Again, I don’t know who these people are (I fail) but the first group had a hilarious skit, the second dude really knew how to use the lightsabers (but he wasn’t from Star Wars) and the last also had an awesome skit with dancing! (Seriously, I really do fail at knowing who the anime people are.)

We also had a couple of Jokers who really acted the part. And another Batman and also a Catwoman.

See with the MC dying again. And ~~the stage manager~~ L coming out to wreak havoc again. There was quite a few Death Note cosplayers. I think the MC died every single time.

We also had Darth Vader who cut off the MC’s hand. Poor MC.

Supergirl and Venom! And Venom’s suit was in fact skin tight, I have to say.

Some dude made a freakin’ DALEK! This thing was awesome. It was full scale, actually moved (okay, it needed some help over bumpy surfaces) and it lit up as well. This was all because the guy who made it was actually inside the costume, poor guy, but it was still awesome. We had actually seen him the previous day holding flyers for the Doctor Who fan club but I had no idea that the guy was actually inside some of the time. Although that would explain why it would suddenly move on occasion.

Again, I don’t know who these guys are or from what show but all I really got from their skit was gay vampires with guns and roses and really, I’m quite happy to think that is what the show is about.

And a group shot of all the cosplayers at the end of the day. And you can see in the middle picture an example of the sound guy’s wit.

Okay, so there was a lot more non-anime cosplayers than a thought. Although I did miss out a whole heap of anime cosplayers simply because I don’t know who you are. Your awesomeness is lost on me but you did look good. I just ran out of patience to do any more pictures.

I also went to a couple of different panels. One by Howard Chaykin on drawing comics and another by a couple of guys talking about comics in Australia but since my knowledge of comics and comic related issues isn’t all that good I was kinda just sitting in the audience nodding my head, pretending I knew what they were talking about. But they were kinda interesting in a way I can’t remember now.

I saw Jewel Staite (!) from Firefly and Stargate: Atlantis, of which I haven’t actually seen her in yet. But she is very funny and very pretty in person. She told us about how the cast from Firefly all took mementos from the set and while she only took a couple of things (she got the Kaylee’s Room sign from both the series and the movie), Nathan Fillion apparently tried to take everything. He even tried to take the head from the Jayne statue but Adam stopped him. She also talked about a whole lot of other stuff but I am always shit at remembering stuff like this. All that comes to mind is how someone asked about fanfiction (sigh) and someone else asked about posing for FHM and that question just turned creepy real fast. I don’t know whether the guy was trying to be funny but it definitely came across as creepy.

I saw Kandyse McClure who is Dee from Battlestar Galactica, as well. But seeing as how I haven’t seen Season Three yet, I had to do the fake-knowledgeable-head-nod when she was talking about the direction her character has taken. But she was interesting and laughed a lot and was quite appreciative of certain aspects of Jamie Bamber.

The last panel I went to was by Jennifer Fallon, who is an author that I haven’t actually read anything by so cue the fake-knowledgeable-head-nods again. But she had actually co-written a Stargate tie-in novel and it was quite obvious that she is somewhat of a fangirl. She also said that if she could write tie-ins for another show that it would be Supernatural (for which I cheered) and said that at the Sydney Supanova she hugged Jared Padalecki for about ten minutes because they were doing an interview with some people, I think and since he apparently forgot to let go, she ‘forgot’ to let go as well. She also said that he was a really great guy in person, which makes me even more upset that he wasn’t able to make it to the Perth Supanova (we were so close!). But she did tell an amusing story about how for one of her book series she had a map that she had a friend of hers (an avid cartographer) do up properly and the guy asked if he could fill in the rest of the names on the map because according to him, everything needs a name on a map. So she says yes and gets this map back and it turns out that if you look really closely you can see all the names that this guy put in which among other things include the names of his kids and pets. There was also, I believe, one part of the ocean named the Tempura Sea. Now I don’t know which series the map was from but I’m definitely going to try and find out because that’s just hilarious.

We also had a couple of preview nights showing a couple of movies. On Friday we got to see Stargate: Continuum which was pretty cool. Quite a decent story, better than you would expect out of a straight to DVD movie. And there were cameos from a whole bunch of people from Stargate of old like ~~Macgyver~~ Richard Dean Anderson and Don S. Davis, which made learning about his death a couple of days later all the more sad :(

Saturday night was D-Wars, or Dragon Wars if you will, which I think would have been a lot better if they cut out the poor, confused plot and just stuck to dragons and dinosaurs blowing stuff up. That would have been awesome.

And then on Sunday we saw Batman: Gotham Knight which was pretty cool. But I don’t know a whole lot about different anime styles and what not, so you know. But I did like the art for the backgrounds on one of the first sections for what that is worth.

The rest of the con was just spent wandering around the various stalls set up. Not as many as I would have liked but then I think of the photos I’ve seen of larger cons like Comic Con and I realise it might be best to start with something small. I think I bought a couple of hundred dollars worth of stuff there, though. Most of that was a result of buying Volume III of Absolute Sandman because the stall selling it (King’s Comics from Sydney) had everything at 25% off at the end of the day. I also bought a couple of graphic novels, some cheap comics (like Zen: the Intergalactic Ninja! and a couple of old fantasy choose-your-own-adventure stories), a dogtag with the Stargate Å on it and some iron-on Stargate and Farscape transfer patches (whoa, Farscape merchandise!). Sadly there was no Supernatural merchandise apart from some t-shirts and stamps. But I hate most of the merchandise apparel they have for tv shows and movies anyway. It’s always random floating heads or tacky designs which is why I bought the patches so I could make my own (because I am so motivated when it comes to stuff like that /sarcasm). Although, there was a cool Stargate shirt pointed out to me. It said: “I’ve ascended. Have you?” or something like that and I laughed. Of course, it was a men’s tshirt and not a ladies and I don’t like the men’s styles but that’s a rant for another day.

We also had the 501st legion, the Star Wars professional cosplayers, wandering around. The red twi’lek a.k.a. Darth Talon is actually a friend of mind and was invited to join up with the 501st. There was also a giant LAN or gaming session going on in another room but we never actually went it so I’m not sure exactly what was going on in there. We also got Rick-Rolled at the cosplay competition a couple of times. At least four, I think.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and I would definitely go again next year so hopefully there was enough people this year to ensure a Supanova next year.

I also think I used a whole heap of brackets in this post (I don’t know why).