RTBTCKI PUtting the Pieces back together
Well the fever I have had off and on for the past couple of days seems to have finally broken. I am back to “normal” right now and hope to stay that way. My tinnitus is kicking it up a notch which is annoying but I have lived with it and will continue to do so. With any good luck it will calm down in a day or so.
I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and condolences. Caroline is holding up pretty well. There are tears and “I miss the kitties” but that is to be expected since she is 10 years old and this is the first time any of her pets have died. Not that it makes it any easier when the next one goes.
Peter is coping too. He misses the cats since he was the one who brought them into the house. In other news, his right arm is getting closer to where it was pre-stroke. His range of motion is increasing and his hand is getting stronger. Both very positive things.
“Face-Off” has started again with a twist of veteran (previous show participants) verses the newcomers (newbies). I think that advantage will probably last about two challenges. I do hate that the one person who reference Jim Henson got booted first but I understand why the judges did it. I don’t understand how the ogre was the hardest piece to pull off. Making fake arms that they have to use should have been a no-brainer for most of these people. As it was there were some very poor choices in materials and execution. It is nice to see that the veterans did learn from their previous time on the show and they went back and worked on their weaker skills to bring them up to snuff. There are some of the newcomers that have mad make-up skills and I expect to see greatness from them. Caroline loves this show and loves learning how the make-up goes together. She told me I should try out. I laughed and said I am good but I am not that good. She replied well at least their costumes wouldn’t suck.
Speaking of costumes “Heroes of Cos-Play” is not what I was expecting it to be. The promos made it one thing but it is a totally different animal. More documentary than competition about the people who have a real passion for cos-play. And yes I have seen that much drama in a costuming group. In fact it seemed mild.
I have a couple of concerns but I think they were probably created from the editing process since we are only seeing a small percentage of the overall footage. One is the concerns was Rebecca (?) seemly body dimorphism issue that she was too fat to do Merida. She was not. People aren’t build like cartoon characters. I have a feeling that at some point (or may be more than one point) she was either told or heard that she was too fat or not right for a costume she was wearing that she worked on so hard and that stuck in her head and haunted her. She is a perfectly healthy young woman. But again they do try to find the drama.
The other concern is one that I have seen time and time again in fandom. One person stated that they were doing this so they could make a living at fashioning piece for cos-players. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I know that are making a living doing this. Yes, it is specialized skills and techniques to create these items but the market is not as large as they think. Just because one person has figured it out and how to sell it so it can be their livelihood doesn’t mean that there is tons of room for others. I see this in the one of a kind doll and plush market all the time and in fursuiting. There is so much more than being able to make the product. You also have to be able to market it to your audience and get them to want to buy it from you. Yaya is not an overnight sensation. She has been busting her hump for a long time to get where she is today and she is really really good at marketing herself. Love it or hate it, she has her market figured out. Some people ask why I don’t have a website where I sell my puppets, simple answer is that I suck at marketing myself.
Yes, I will continue to watch it and Face-off.
DragonCon is 14 days away and I am further behind than I thought I could even be because of life, illness, and death kind of took over everything. Today I hope to get back into the groove. I plan to start this with getting back to the sewing machine and putting some bodies together. Caroline’s costume is still on the docket as well. 4 good days work should put me back on track for what I can get done.
Well Caroline is up now and I am through my first cup of coffee so I guess I will stop doing this and go back to my sewing machine.
I am grateful for feeling worn out but more human this morning.
I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and condolences. Caroline is holding up pretty well. There are tears and “I miss the kitties” but that is to be expected since she is 10 years old and this is the first time any of her pets have died. Not that it makes it any easier when the next one goes.
Peter is coping too. He misses the cats since he was the one who brought them into the house. In other news, his right arm is getting closer to where it was pre-stroke. His range of motion is increasing and his hand is getting stronger. Both very positive things.
“Face-Off” has started again with a twist of veteran (previous show participants) verses the newcomers (newbies). I think that advantage will probably last about two challenges. I do hate that the one person who reference Jim Henson got booted first but I understand why the judges did it. I don’t understand how the ogre was the hardest piece to pull off. Making fake arms that they have to use should have been a no-brainer for most of these people. As it was there were some very poor choices in materials and execution. It is nice to see that the veterans did learn from their previous time on the show and they went back and worked on their weaker skills to bring them up to snuff. There are some of the newcomers that have mad make-up skills and I expect to see greatness from them. Caroline loves this show and loves learning how the make-up goes together. She told me I should try out. I laughed and said I am good but I am not that good. She replied well at least their costumes wouldn’t suck.
Speaking of costumes “Heroes of Cos-Play” is not what I was expecting it to be. The promos made it one thing but it is a totally different animal. More documentary than competition about the people who have a real passion for cos-play. And yes I have seen that much drama in a costuming group. In fact it seemed mild.
I have a couple of concerns but I think they were probably created from the editing process since we are only seeing a small percentage of the overall footage. One is the concerns was Rebecca (?) seemly body dimorphism issue that she was too fat to do Merida. She was not. People aren’t build like cartoon characters. I have a feeling that at some point (or may be more than one point) she was either told or heard that she was too fat or not right for a costume she was wearing that she worked on so hard and that stuck in her head and haunted her. She is a perfectly healthy young woman. But again they do try to find the drama.
The other concern is one that I have seen time and time again in fandom. One person stated that they were doing this so they could make a living at fashioning piece for cos-players. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I know that are making a living doing this. Yes, it is specialized skills and techniques to create these items but the market is not as large as they think. Just because one person has figured it out and how to sell it so it can be their livelihood doesn’t mean that there is tons of room for others. I see this in the one of a kind doll and plush market all the time and in fursuiting. There is so much more than being able to make the product. You also have to be able to market it to your audience and get them to want to buy it from you. Yaya is not an overnight sensation. She has been busting her hump for a long time to get where she is today and she is really really good at marketing herself. Love it or hate it, she has her market figured out. Some people ask why I don’t have a website where I sell my puppets, simple answer is that I suck at marketing myself.
Yes, I will continue to watch it and Face-off.
DragonCon is 14 days away and I am further behind than I thought I could even be because of life, illness, and death kind of took over everything. Today I hope to get back into the groove. I plan to start this with getting back to the sewing machine and putting some bodies together. Caroline’s costume is still on the docket as well. 4 good days work should put me back on track for what I can get done.
Well Caroline is up now and I am through my first cup of coffee so I guess I will stop doing this and go back to my sewing machine.
I am grateful for feeling worn out but more human this morning.