SLCC15 - Friday

About a month prior to ComicCon, they announced they would be attempting to break a world record for most people dressed as comic book characters in one place.  Anyway, it was a bit last minute when I decided to put together a female Captain America costume from the first Avengers.
 
It ended up being quite the project, and honestly took way more time than it should have.  It's hard to tell all the detail around the collar and shoulders, but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Thursday night I ended up being up quite late finishing up the pants.  Again, lots of random details.  That being said, I didn't really feel like getting to the con super early.  By the time I got to the Salt Palace, parking was nearly non-existent.  I ended up at the far end of City Creek, which meant hiking through the mall as the Capt.  It was actually pretty fun!

I wasn't in too much of a hurry that morning, so I wandered around the vendor hall for a bit.  The first thing I really wanted to get to was Sebastian Stan's panel.  I headed in a bit early, and accidentally caught the last half of Sean Astin's panel.  I ended up being really glad I caught his panel, since he played the role of Samwise in The Lord of the Rings.  His panel was really quite entertaining, especially since he just rambled on telling stories about filming LOTRs.

He spoke about doing scenes with Elijah Wood, and because Sam was an ever-present but minor character, he really didn't have many lines throughout the series.  Anyway, by the end of the trilogy, Sam suddenly had a big speaking part carrying Frodo up Mount Doom.  When Sean got the script for the day he said he suddenly realized he wasn't ready.  He said he went over and over the scene with Elijah, and when he finally filmed it, the scene ended up being incredibly emotional and cathartic.  It made me want to re-watch the scene, despite the fact that I often skip scenes with Sam and Frodo.  Haha.  It's really fun knowing what's going on in the actor's head!

The next panel was with Sebastian Stan, the Winter Soldier!  He also played the Mad Hatter in the TV series Once Upon a Time.

I loved listening to him.  There's a new Captain America movie coming out, Civil War, so the main topic of interest was what's going to happen in the new movie.  However, thanks to Marvel keeping a pretty tight lid on spoilers, Sebastian couldn't spill anything.  They did ask his opinion on who would make a better replacement Captain America if Chris Evans' Cap gets killed, like he does in the comic books.  Well of course Sebastian said he would be the better one (as Bucky Barnes), and even went on to say that Falcon becoming the Cap would be like Biff in Back to the Future 2!  Not exactly a spoiler, but funny nonetheless.  He did also admit that some of the action scenes in the new movie are going to be even better than Winter Soldier. 

After Sebastian's panel I decided to go check out Dean O'Gorman's panel (which I already rambled about last post).  I then decided to check out the autograph area of the floor.  They had an entire section where celebrities would occasionally show up, and sign autographs for their fans.  I generally prefer to get a photo, but decided to get an autograph with Manu Bennett.  Manu is a supporting character in the TV series Arrow, and he played Azog in the Hobbit.  Meeting him turned out to be a fantastic idea because Manu was just so nice!

The best part of autographs is you actually get a chance to talk to the person.  I was actually a bit unprepared for this!  He shook my hand, but then held onto it for a while and called me gorgeous.  He then proceeded to ask about my life.  It was super flattering, and totally made my entire day!  I told him I was a huge Arrow fan, and he responded "yes, I'm that guy," because ~spoiler~ he ends up being a major villain.  He totally personalized the signature, and before I left he leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek!  Seriously, what a nice man.

ComicCon has organized what they call cosplay photo meet-ups.  Basically everyone wearing a particular type of costume would meet up for a photo.  This ranged from Disney characters, to video game characters.  Because I was dressed as Captain America, I showed up for the Marvel meet-up.  Turns out even though we came on time, most of them had come and left.  I ended up hanging around and meeting several new friends, including a guy who looked far too similar to Robert Downey Jr.!

The guy had an arc reactor under his Black Sabbath shirt.  Awesome!  He was also super friendly, and we hung around chatting while a bunch more Marvel people showed up.

There were lots of Winter Soldiers around.

We had a professional photographer taking our group pictures.  I'll keep stalking his page to look for the group photos.

Here's a bunch more random people I found!  These guys were yipping, just like on Sesame Street.  Hilarious!

I liked talking to these guys, apparently.

Spaceballs!!

I need this awesome patriotic bike for all my avenging!

The big event for the day was queuing up for my photo op with Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan!  Waiting in line for it was an absolute madhouse, and I felt really bad for the poor volunteers who were in charge of wrangling everybody.  Also, this is where my VIP pass really paid off by allowing me to skip past all the general admission people.  Despite all that, we did spend a long time waiting in line, so I got to make some new friends.  Seriously, one of the coolest things about ComicCon is that everyone there has common interests, and a lot of us are in costume, and it really is a geeky judgement-free zone.  I love it!  So as we were waiting in line, John Barrowman decided he was going to try out one of the crew's wireless segways, and eat a banana at the same time.  It was pretty hilarious.

John plays Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and Torchwood, and Malcom Merlyn in Arrow.

Just for fun, here's my photo with John from ComicCon 2014.

Well I finally got up to have my turn with Cap and Bucky, and John decided he wanted a picture with the duo also!  It was pretty funny.  I felt like I got triple the fun since I'm actually a huge fan of John Barrowman.

That's right!  I totally had my arms around an actual Avenger!  Seriously, I'm a little bit obsessed.  Don't tell, but my favorite Avenger is totally Iron Man, but at this moment I sorta forgot that.  Also, I loved that I was dressed as Captain America while meeting the actual Captain America.  Haha.  But really.  I didn't exchange many words with them other than "hello" and "thank you."  You don't get much time with them.  However, check out that huge grin on my face!  Totally worth it.

Right after this I headed all the way across the convention center to get in on the action for breaking a Guinness Book of World Records for most people dressed as comic book characters.  This was quite the event.  They had official comic book experts at the door because each character had to have originated in comics.  This actually disqualified a lot of people, especially Star Wars.  They counted us, and filed us in, and we basically just waited around for enough people to show up.  The last record was held in China, and was something like 1,500 people.  After waiting around for a bit they announced we were short by about 100 people, and they started putting out the announcement on the con floor.  Also, this guy showed up!

That's right, Manu Bennett dressed up as his own character, Slade Wilson!  I mean, really all he needed to do was throw on an eye patch, but seriously.  What an awesome guy!

Thanks a lot, Deadpools!

Also, we had a bit of a dance party.  Once we reached the numbers, we had to be in one place for 5 minutes in order for the record to hold.  So they threw on some music, and we danced it out for the 5 minutes.

Yeah, I have no idea who these people are.  It's not often you see these guys jammin' out to Journey!

I'm somewhere in the top right middle area.  Pretty sure you can't see me, but trust me, I was there!  I was standing next to a really tall Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

At the end of it, they announced that we hit 1,784 people, beating the previous record by over 200!  We were pretty excited.  We were rewarded with a commemorate pin, and a nice little paper.  Check that one off the bucket list!

Making it happen, Captain!

Comic Con 2015 - Thursday

Okay, guys!  I had such a crazy fun time at Comic Con this weekend.  It started this Thursday, and went through Saturday.  I've been wearing a FitBit around lately, and over the last three days I walked a grand total of 18 miles.  Oh yeah!  So Basically I've been spending my Sunday napping, and just recovering.  So I'll just go ahead and warn in advance that I'll be rambling lots!

Now that Salt Lake Comic Con is a thing that I do, I look forward to the next one almost as soon as the last one is over.  When they announced the guest line-up clear back in March, I totally bought a VIP pass.  It didn't hurt that buying early meant I got to take advantage of the cheapest price, but the VIP passes actually sold out.  That also meant I had nearly six months to mess around with my outfits.  First of all, I'm the type of person who likes to have some sort of project to work on when I'm not at work.  And by all means, compared to some of the costumes I saw, I didn't spend nearly the amount of time that several did.

In the weeks leading up to it, they make all their big guest announcements on who is coming.  This year the big announcement was Chris Evans was coming, and he would be bringing along four of his Captain America costars.  It was a pretty big deal that a con only in its third year in little ol' Utah could attract such big names!  I was pretty psyched since I'm such a Marvel fan myself, and I really made an effort this year to try a little bit of everything at the Con.  I'm pleased to announce that despite going by myself, I wasn't bored for a minute.  I had an absolute blast, and even though I was exhausted and footsore by the end of each day, I'd totally be up for more!

Thursday
Thursday is usually my favorite day of the con simply because it starts a little later, and because it tends to be less crowded.  The big crowds generally show up on Saturday, and by then it's absolutely insane.  It's no secret that one of my favorite parts includes the costuming aspect.  Honestly, it doesn't take much to get me to dress up for anything!  I also love getting see all the amazing outfits others craft.  Not only that, I just love all the obscure pop culture people decide to represent with their costumes.  People are extremely clever!  I even got involved in a photo scavenger hunt taking pictures of specific things, and posting them to Instagram.  Anyway, Thursday I recycled a costume from last year which I had upgraded during the interim.

About ready to head out.  Don't mind the rando items in the background!

I have equipped the Master Sword!

It's dangerous to go alone.  Take this shield.

That's right, I went as Link!  If you're unfamiliar, this is the main character from the Legend of Zelda Nintendo game series.

I upgraded from last year's outfit by crafting a leather sheath for the foam sword I purchased at FanX, building a Hylian shield, and obtaining leather bracers and belt pouch for storing my deku nuts and bombs.  Also, I was protected by the power of the golden Triforce.   Haha.  But seriously, this was an extremely popular costume.  Despite being a male character, I saw men and women in a variety of colors and interpretations as Link.  I also saw an entire myriad of secondary characters represented at the con.

Oh yeah, those are Gorans, and what I can only assume is a Gerudo thief.

Zelda and Midna.

I have to say, I was quite impressed.  Prior to this time, I'd never seen most of these characters represented.  I actually saw two variations of Midna, lots of Zeldas, and a couple Sheiks.  Anyway, let's do a quick run-down of my day.  Parking and getting in was pretty quick.  I did spend a good amount of time waiting in line to get some stuff switched around.  I then wandered around and scoped out the vendor floor.  I was pretty blown away by some of the awesome vendors, especially the Ultrasabers vendor.

Look at all the pretty colors!

Don't judge, but I really love Star Wars.  In fact, I've been looking into joining the Rebel Legion, which is a costuming club that does charity events.  I went over and chatted up the local group, and had them give me some advice on joining.  They also hosted a panel where they answered questions about building movie-accurate costumes from the films.  We're talking Wookies, Tusken raiders, and multiple Jedi.  The Rebel Legion includes only characters opposing the Empire, or the "good guys."  If the dark side is more your style, head on over to the 501st, and become a Stormtrooper.

Got to love a man in armor.  He also complimented my outfit, but lamented the fact that the water temple (the level which requires the blue tunic) is the worst!

I just found this guy wandering around.  He's dressed as a character from the new Star Wars movie that hasn't even been released yet!  He suggested we trade weaponry.

My first celebrity encounter of the Con was with Dean O'Gorman, a charming New Zealander who plays Kili in The Hobbit.  In case you were wondering, the Tolkien universe is also one that I support!  Check out my Hobbit marathon.

He was a lot of fun to meet.  He was also very friendly.  He complimented my pointed Hylian ears - a prop I'm certain he became familiar with in his role as Kili.  Later that weekend I went to Dean's panel, which is basically where the celebrity sits in the front of a large auditorium/conference room, and answers questions put to them by the audience.  Some of the questions put to him were a bit ridiculous, but it was a lot of fun to see him answer questions as a real person.  He told some funny stories about filming, and I thought it was funny that because of Peter Jackson's directing style, Dean had trouble remembering what scenes were in the original cut, the extended cut, the special features, or done by a stunt double.  Also, I now want to go through the films and look at all the dwarves in the background, and see if I can catch any shenanigans.  He reported that a favorite prank of theirs was to hide props from their fellow actors, and see how they reacted, and some of that might have made it onto the movie.  Haha.

Sometime during that afternoon I broke down and purchased an Ultrasaber!  I'd been scoping them out all day, and it was a lot of fun to pick out my hilt and blade color.  Check it out!

I put in my order, then came back later that evening to pick up my completed lightsaber.  I then headed off to catch a panel featuring the Weasley twins from Harry Potter.  This was a lot of fun to sit and listen to them play off each other because James and Oliver are twin brothers in real life.  It was entertaining because Oliver (George) was the more dominant speaker, and James seemed more comfortable allowing his brother to answer most of the questions.  They also did a charming bit where they answered questions in unison.  Seriously, the twins saying things in unison were some of my favorite lines from the movies.

My first surprise was that they actually weren't gingers!  They are brunettes, and required regular color jobs to keep up the Weasley look during filming.  One funny story they told involved an intern accidentally bleaching Oliver's eyebrows white, and having to get them drawn on for the next couple weeks till they grew back!  Also, there is this internet rumor circulating that James and Oliver would switch roles on set.  They did admit to switching one time during rehearsal, but they said they never did that for actual filming.  Also, there was a running joke through the panel about Fred dying.  It was a bit sad, but at least they could joke about it!  I think my favorite story they told was their most awkward fan encounter.  They said they were somewhere in France, and were recognized on the street by some fans who started to run towards them.  Anyway, they decided they ought to run away, and the fans gave chase.  Oliver said after running so long they suddenly had the thought, "why are we running?" so they stopped.  The fans stopped, then got a little nervous, then they started to run away!  Haha.

They are really tall!

After seeing them in panel I actually got a photo with them both.  I don't really remember saying much to them, but they were friendly enough.  Honestly, it has got to be so weird as a celebrity to have all these strangers wanting a picture with them...  Whatever, we love it!

Another man in some awesome armor!  Seriously, Iron Man is my favorite Avenger.

 I was pretty much done for the day after seeing the Weasleys.  I took a few more pictures with awesome cosplayers, and attempted to slay a Dalek!  I then excitedly picked up my new Jedi weapon!

Batman is my favorite DC character.  Check out my saber!  Imagine how awesome Link would have been with a Lightsaber... and could jump.

I was walking along, and I randomly ran into a guy I knew from Omaha whom I probably haven't seen (or really talked to) in at least three years.  How fun!  All-in-all, a very successful first day of ComicCon!

Dirty Dash 2015

After I completed the Star Wars run, my next 5k was the Dirty Dash on June 6th.  This was a mud run up at Soldier Hollow near Midway, and it was a fabulous little day trip.  I actually signed up for this run several months in advance with a friend, but by then she actually got engaged, and her wedding was the Friday before the run.  I suppose that's a good enough excuse to get you out of a 5k!  Anyway, I made this little day trip on my own, but it was actually a total blast.

Pre-mud activities.

I started up Parley's Canyon, and it was a lovely overcast, rainy day.  My day was only slightly marred by getting a massive rock chip in my windshield.  Fantastic!

The Dirty Dash apparently is a pretty big deal.  I couldn't believe the turn-out, the fun race route, and the excellent swag - especially my sweet fake tattoo!  We started out with some fun at the start line, and a crazy run up a muddy hill.  I immediately got splattered!  Great start to getting muddy.  The first major obstacle we encountered was a series of trenches filled with waist-high mud water, and 6 foot high mud walls you climbed up and over.  You then got to slide back into cold mud water.  So fun!  I had my GoPro strapped to my forehead for this whole obstacle, but the lens got covered by mud about halfway through, so the vid kinda sucks.

I'm not scared to get dirty!

Giant slide down the hill near the end of the run.

Just enjoying the mud pits... and the mud in my teeth!

Bangarang!

There were tons of other fun obstacles, including another deep, water-filled trench with horizontal poles you climbed over.  There was a nice big slide near the end, and several other mud pits.  Needless to say, I was completely covered with mud except the very top of my head.  At the end had some really cold showers we could rinse off with, but my clothes and hair were still completely full of mud.  Luckily this wasn't my first dirty run, and I came prepared with garbage bags and a fresh shirt to protect my seats.

On the drive home I stopped off in Heber to get some gas and a nice cold beverage, and believe me I was a nice muddy mess!  It was kinda fun going into the gas station looking like that.  I also enjoyed the beautiful canyon on the drive home that was extra green thanks to the unusual amount of rain we'd been getting the weeks prior.  Luckily no more rocks jumped up off the road to smack my windshield.

I want you to do a mud run with me!

This was the most fun I'd had on a 5k so far, and I totally want to do another one.

Coca Cola Lineup

Diet Coke is the secret ingredient to my life….
Except it's really not a secret.  (Sorry, not sorry!)  Anyway, I decided to go ahead and compare the different varieties of my favorite beverage, especially since I've noticed the whole "share a Coke with.." campaign is making a comeback for the summer!  Anyway, I decided this blog could be a sounding board for my random observations on life, and if anyone has some expertise on which Diet Coke is best, I'm probably that person!  I have some pretty random opinions on this subject, but I'm not an isolated subject.  Ask anyone who's a serious Diet Coke drinker, and they too will have some pretty strong opinions on which way is the best.  I'm pretty sure we can rival the precocious coffee drinkers at Starbucks.  So here it is, my definitive ranking of which way is best!

7. Diet Pepsi
I had to include this because it serves as a replacement for my favorite beverage, but not really!  Sometimes you just have to go to places that serve Pepsi products.

6. Bottles
Generally this is what you will encounter any time you buy from a machine or food vendor if they don't have fountain drinks.  Gone are the days of cans from soda machines!  Bottles are great in a pinch, or on the go.  They really hit the spot after a long day walking around Disneyland, or Comic Con.  Pretty much the only time I go for these is when I'm traveling, and have no access to other forms of my favorite beverage.
This is my least favorite type, right next to flat, watery, or hot, and let me tell you why.  After you drink about half the bottle, pretty much all the carbonation is gone.  Not to mention, due to the very nature of the places I normally purchase them, these are usually ridiculously overpriced. It's like three bucks from a vending machine.

Now that these are back, if I find a ridiculous name, I will be buying.  Because they're funny!

5. 12 oz cans
This is my go-to.  At any point in time you can count on me having a good supply of these in my fridge, and on a shelf somewhere in my house!  This comes from the fact that I live close to Costco, and it's pretty easy/cheap to stock up on their 36-pack.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) this habit has spilled over into my work environment.  In my defense, I'm not the only person at my office who likes this stuff!  Anyway, these taste different than the plastic bottle kind.  That probably means something in the metal can is leaching into it, and I'm now conditioned to love that flavor!  Haha.  (If you can't tell, I'm referencing all the nay-sayers who keep saying this stuff gives you cancer.  Who knows, it probably does… sad.)
Anyway, I really only like the regular kind.  Don't go messing up my flavor with additives like lemon or lime!  Basically it tastes like a little bit of lysol in my Coke.  No thanks.  Vanilla and cherry, however, are both acceptable additives in the cans.

4. Freestyle Machine
You know, these guys.

They are fancy, allow for total user control, and contain literally almost any beverage combination you can think of (even some you really don't want).  My major beef with them is that everything comes out the same spout.  That means that everything kinda gets mixed together, meaning you might get a hint of the last guy's orange raspberry Hawaiian punch mixed in with your Dr. Pepper, or whatever.  That's just gross.  Same goes for fountain dispensers that combine four sodas into one spout. Those are a little less offensive to me because usually they combine similar things into one, like all Coke products, or all Mountain Dews.

3. Movie Theaters
Arguably one of the most expensive places to buy, well, anything.  However, getting a fountain drink goes hand-in-hand with my movie-going experience, and really is more essential to me than movie theater popcorn.  Thanks to my cinaphile-ness, I have a refill cup for Megaplex, so drinks are only a dollar.  Sweet!

Don't worry, I have a matching Avenger's cup!

2. Fountain Drinks
Without much argument, this is the best form!  This includes restaurants, as well as gas stations.  I will go one step further and say that the plastic refill cups are great, but for some reason the foam cups you get from Sonic (and now Maverick) just taste better!

1. Dirty Fountain Drinks
This is the holy grail of diet coke!  Basically you take the awesomeness of a fountain drink, and you add different things to them.  My favorite combination is coconut and lime, but sometimes this is a little bit difficult to find at gas stations.  I do, however, have my own set of flavor shots at home to make up for the deficiency.  Thanks to Utah's general addiction to the beverage, a whole line of convenience stores have sprung up to cater to our needs which provide any number of flavor shots to a variety of drinks.  Because of its proximity to my new office, Swig has become my go-to stop for coconut lime drinks.

Rainy Friday afternoon?  Better get a Big Al and a sugar cookie!

In addition to all of this, I also recently discovered that Diet Coke is the best beverage for generating soda and mento explosions!  Thanks to Myth Busters, I now really want to test this out in my yard.

Anyway, thanks for allowing me to impart my wisdom on you poor unsuspecting readers!