Dragon*Con pictures

Dragon*Con was even bigger and better this year. We stayed at a hotel this time, but we did not stay at one of the convention hotels. Instead, we got one just a couple of blocks away. It was close enough to walk to (even in Atlanta) but far enough away that it was quiet. Well, for a city hotel room, at least. I'm a country girl. I'm used to hearing cicadas and frogs at night instead of car horns.

Anyhoo, we did get to go some of the later events for the first time this year. We attended the masquerade, which was hosted by some of the build team from Mythbusters. Such a hoot, and the costumes were great. We also attended the midnight Cruxshadows concert. They kicked off their last world tour at DC 06 and ended it with DC 07. Great to see. However, even with a late afternoon nap, and despite the entire wonderfulness of Cruxshadow's music, Li'l KT still turned into a pumpkin at 1 AM and fell asleep for a few minutes, just a few rows back from the mosh pit. Now, where is that ability when I have insomnia??????

We met some wonderful people all over the con, usually while we were queueing up for something. We also ran into some old friends. Remember the Beast Boy I ran into last year? We managed to find each other again, in the middle of a convention of nearly 50,000 people! I also got to meet his lovely fiancee and have a nice chat with them. The gentleman who was Nightwing was there as well. I was very happy to see that they remembered me, too. It was great. Mr. BB also dressed up as Jericho later on, but unfortunately I wasn't able to find him then, so I didn't get a picture! (Dag-nabbit! ) He's so good with his costumes that I wanted his opinion on my Speedy outfit, but unfortunately I had to get out of it before he could see it. Spandex, KT, Atlanta, and August just don't mix very well, and I had to change before I collapsed of heat exhaustion. NOTE TO SELF: Choose less modest costumes next time. Speedy was great in January (Chattanooga's January, not Canada's, mind you), but NOT Labor Day weekend! Granted, it was cooler than it had been, but I was also in a crowded space with a lot of 98.6 degree heaters. I sweated through the suede on my boots, it was so hot. The adhesive on my funkyfoam arrow crest gave up the ghost. At one point, I lost it in the dealer's room and had to backtrack to find it (after about 10,000 people had trampled it).

But it was great to see them all again. We'll see if we can find them again next year!

Pictures

There are panels and concerts and events galore (not to mention shopping!) at Dragon*Con, but for me the very best part is to just find a perch in the Hyatt lobby and watch the costumes go by. Some are so professional that they look like they just stepped off a sound stage. Others are obviously home jobs (like mine) but still look great. Some are very obvious references to movies or books or video games (or even cross-genre items, like the Elvis Stormtrooper). Others just leave me scratching my head, wondering what they were thinking. But even then, it's good to see them having fun with what they have done. The mister managed to take pictures of just about everything, especially in the parade. I've managed to cull out the ones I really like. I might add more later as time permits.

Beast Boy, Part Deux:



Titans Together!


The same fellow also does some great Flash villains. Last year, he did the Trickster. This year, The Top:




My one and only picture of Speedy from this year... It's Speedy doing her Cousin Itt imitation. (I had no idea the mister was taking my picture then! But at least I finally got the gaiters done for the legs!)
Believe me, it takes some guts to walk through the streets of downtown Atlanta dressed like an Oscar Meyer WeinerWagon. I only got whistled at twice this time. It must be the bow. (For a better picture, please see the January 2007 archives.)







Princess Fiona, from Shrek




For you G.I. Joe fans (Yo Joe!)



"You just can't appreciate Elvis's music until you've heard it in the original Klingon" OR "He Thinks He's Elvis!"






Mario! Luigi!




The Diplomatic Contingent for the Predators:


The Batman from the 60's show. This guy looked great.



Someone actually came as the little guy from the Six Flags commercials.



For "FireFly" fans... someone decided to dress up as the ship itself...



The lovely Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura in the classic "Star Trek"




Biker Klingons!




The Green Lantern Corps was well-represented.



Another GL with Red Arrow



And it's just not a Con without The Princess Bride




More pictures can be found on my Shutterfly site at: KT's Shutterfly Site

Click on the link above, then click on the "View Pictures" button to view a slideshow of the pictures that the mister took. I will add more pictures as time allows.

Back from Dragon*Con!

Pictures and update coming soon!

Dragon*Con is Coming!

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Work has kept me pretty busy lately. Hopefully I'll be able to get all of my "extracurricular" activities caught up over the next couple of days. And later this week... Dragon*Con! I've been waiting for this all year.

My costumes this year include the Raven OYL outfit that I wore last year and the Speedy that I wore to this year's Chattacon. I have made a couple of tweaks to each costume to improve the problems that each had. I fixed Raven's belt -- using FunkyFoam jewels instead of the felt ones that just fell off last year. The wonders of FunkyFoam never cease! I also made the gaiters for the boots for the Speedy outfit and fixed (hopefully) the problems with the quiver that made it fall apart (literally) as I walked in the door at ChattaCon.

So I have costumes for Saturday and Sunday. However, I didn't have anything for Friday! I wanted one comfortable day, but I also wanted something that would fit in with the con. So I whipped up a t-shirt design:



This is a tip of the hat to all of those athletic "Property Of" t-shirts out there. I remember that in one of my "Twilight Child" stories, Raven was wearing a "Property of Titans' Tower" sweatshirt that Bart made her wear. I thought it would be a scream to have one my own.

This task took several steps:

1. I created the lettering in WordArt.

2. I moved the lettering over to Paint, where I added the "T" symbol.

3. I exported it to PrintMaster. From here, I can tweak it and print it in mirror mode onto iron-on transfer paper.

I am laundering the new shirt now. Once it is dry, I can iron on the design. Then I'll be ready for Friday!

"The Sagan Diaries"

Hello out there--

I just found a very interesting tidbit that I'd like to share. If any of you have read John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" series, you might be interested in this. There is a novella that takes place between "Ghost Brigades" and "The Last Colony" called "The Sagan Diaries". I think this had a limited print run, and I have been unable to find it in hard copy. However, Mr. Scalzi was kind enough to put together an audio version of this story. The links to the chapters are on his "Whatever" blog:

The Sagan Diaries

He did have a comment on there that he wanted a lot of people to listen to these, so I'm posting a link here.

If you haven't read "Old Man's War" yet, get your bad little self down to the bookstore and get a copy. It's a great science-fiction story about future colonization and the military that defends it: an army of retired people. It's very entertaining. It's a serious story with a lot of humor laced into it. I highly recommend it.

"He Thinks He's Elvis" Commissioned Art

The response to my latest story, "He Thinks He's Elvis", has been overwhelmingly positive. Thanks to everyone who has read the story and let me know how they felt about it.

I commissioned an illustration for this story my friend sweet-nymph on deviantArt, and it is complete and ready to share with the world. I think she did a wonderful job! Please take a look:

I think she brought Matt to life!

You can see more of her art at Sweet Nymph's deviantArt site . I'm very happy with the way it turned out and am thinking about commissioning more from her in the future.

Matt Logan Story Posted

Hello all,

I'm sorry I haven't checked in for a while. Work has kept me pretty busy. But the Matt Logan story has been posted!

He Thinks He's Elvis - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3546943/1

I hope you enjoy the story. I had a lot of fun writing it, but I must say that humor is even harder to write than action. And action is tough!

I am still working on "Dawn Child". Hopefully I will finish it before my niece is a great-grandmother.

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Hearing rumors about a possible new Titans book. Right now, they are simply rumors, but oh! do I so hope that they are correct. I am excited about Mr. McKeever's upcoming Titans run, but I am going to sorely miss the "old school" Titans something fierce if we don't get another series. Cyborg desperately needs some panel time, as well as his amigos Raven and Gar.

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I might get to go to the Heroes convention in Charlotte next month. Is anyone else in the Titans Fanficdom going to be there?

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The weather is getting nice here. I've been able to work from home for a few days over the past couple of weeks, and it's been to nice to have lunch on the porch and have my cat snoring next to me as I work. I'll try again this week. I actually get MORE work done at home, since it's quiet. And I don't have to fool with that awful commute.

Various Items

Hello all,

Sorry. I just realized that it has been over a month since I have checked in here. GAH! So much to talk about: Matt Logan story, Teen Titans #45, DC's WWIII...

I will try to check in later today and get caught up.

Rough Cut for Matt Logan story complete

Whew! I can't believe it. I have completed the rough cut of the long-promised Raven meets Matt Logan story. It is now in beta. I am hoping to have it posted by the end of March! It only took, what, a year? I'm excited to finally make some progress in my writing. Once that is done, I'm going to try to finish "Dawn Child". I'll keep everyone updated as things progress.

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Teen Titans Writer Change
I am greeting this change with mixed emotions. I am sad, because Geoff is leaving the title. He's the one who started the BB/Rae relationship in the comics. Unfortunately, after all of the build-up, we never really got to see it unfold as a true relationship. I am also sad to lose Tony Daniel as the artist, who has really come into his own with the characters on the team.

At the same time, I was kind of excited. Geoff is spread rather thin over multiple books, and I don't think he had the time to give the Titans the kind of attention he would like to. I was looking forward to Mr. Beechen's take on some of my favorite characters. However, it looks like those characters are going to get moved off of the Titans, which makes me very sad indeed. Where will Raven and Cyborg go, if they are the ones to leave? Will Beast Boy have a chance of appearing somewhere in the DC universe soon (with or without the Doom Patrol)? I would hate to see these wonderfully crafted characters go off into limbo. I am hoping that we'll hear word of spinoff Titans title that will give them (and hopefully Beast Boy) a home. I haven't heard anything yet, so I'm not sure it will happen. It's just my hope. Only time will tell.

I'm willing to give the new writer a chance, to see what kinds of stories he has to tell and what new characters he might give us. Raven was new to me once, too. But if she's not around, I'll miss her. Having a mini is great, but it only lasts for a few months. I'd like to know she's going to have a permanent home.

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What I'm Reading Now

I had the great fortune to meet Kevin J. Anderson at Chattacon this year. He is a prolific author of science fiction novels. If you've read any of the Dune prequels (which he co-authored with Brian Herbert) or some of the many Star Wars tie-in novels, you have probably read his work. He gave me an autographed copy of the first novel in his series Saga of the Seven Suns, Hidden Empire. I've been reading it as I've had time ever since the end of January. It's an epic of gargantuan porportions, with a large cast of characters. You get to make a lot of friends in this book. There's a lot of starships and politickin'.

Humans have spread out over space for the past two hundred years. A group that left the planet in 'generation ships' to see new worlds wandered the cosmos. A subset of them became 'space gypsies', known as the Roamers. They developed a culture and family structure all their own. Among many hidden businesses that they have, they mine gas giants for the raw materials to create stardrive fuel. They have a near-monopoly on the mining. (Political caveat number one -- one group has a monopoly on a basic item that everyone needs!)

Another group landed on the planet Theroc, where they found the worldforest. The worldforest is a group of sentient trees that have a constant telepathic link with every other worldtree in a kind of 'hive mind'. The humans learned that some of them could maintain telepathic links with the trees and that they could communicate with other humans on other worlds if they are trained to use the trees. They just take a potted tree with them! These special humans are known as 'green priests'. They are literally green-skinned, and their ordination is nicknamed 'taking the green'. The worldforest embues them with a special symbiant lifeform that turns their skin green and gives them some photosynthetic abilities. (Note to Titans fans, of course I start picturing Gar Logan when I think of these guys.) Once again, we have a monopoly: Therons are the only ones that have access to the tel-link and the worldforest. They are the sole source of the instantaneous communication needed by everyone else.

Then we have the rest of the humans, in the Hanseatic League! They need the resources provided by the other independently governed groups. There are always power plays between these groups, and that makes for an interesting read.

Aside from the humans, we have one alien race, the Ildirans. They found many of the generation ships as they wandered across space and gave them a helping hand. They gave us their stardrive capability so we could move around the galaxy at a more reasonable pace. The Ildirans have great technology, but they are slow to change. Humans quickly made improvements to their technology. The two races have an uneasy friendship between them, and the aliens' outside influence is just another part of the political mosaic of the book.

A human experiment on a gas giant planet has awakened a long-slumbering threat to all of the players in this game. Who will unite and who will divide to face this dire (and possibly empire-ending) menace?

If you're looking for some good science fiction and some good character studies, I highly recommend this book. I am about 3/4s of the way through it. Once I'm done, I do intend to go on to the next book in the series.

ChattaCon 2007

ChattaCon 2007 was this weekend. The husband and I had a blast. We made some new friends and ran into some old friends that we hadn't seen in years.


The guests of honor were Robert J. Sawyer, author of Mindscan, and Kevin J. Anderson, co-author of the Dune prequels and author of the Saga of the Seven Suns series. I sat in on several of their panels, and they were a lot of fun to talk to. They were both kind enough to autograph some books for me. Mr. Anderson gave me a copy of the first story in the Saga series, and I am looking forward to reading it.


We completed the Speedy costume just in time to wear on Saturday. I got a lot of compliments on it, and several people took my picture as well. The costume itself wore quite well. The quiver, however, needs to go back to the drawing board for some re-engineering. It fell apart as soon as I walked in the door and soon found itself going back to the car. I'll have to figure that one out before the next Con! I was very proud that I had a blue "phantom zone" arrow in there as well.


Here are some snapshots of the completed costume:




I do realize that I'm not wearing the yellow gaiters/shinguards that Speedy normally wears. I ran out of time to make them. However, I do think that the boots still look pretty cool. Lots of people asked me where I was able to find red suede boots. They are hard to find! I got these at Nordstrom's in Atlanta.



The arrow crest on the uniform is made of FunkyFoam that comes pre-coated with adhesive. It had amazing staying power; it didn't move all day. When I came home, I was able to remove it without damaging the spandex. Wonderful! This allows me to re-use the unitard for other superhero costumes later.

A side shot with the bow. I wasn't sure if the bow would jive with the 'projectile weapons policy' of the con, so it didn't go in with me. I haven't shot in a while, so I'm not even sure I'm holding the bow correctly.

The costume itself is very comfortable. I wish Speedy had a belt, as it would have helped the overall look of the costume for this poor short-waisted lady. But I think it turned out well. I will definitely wear this one to DragonCon, even if I don't get the quiver figured out. I should have gaiters by then.

The next con for me will be the local FantaSciCon in March. Its theme is post-apocalyptic films (like "Mad Max"). I have no idea what I'm going to wear to this one.

RoboHowler

My husband just created a blog to journal about his adventures with LEGOs. I bought the Mindstorm LEGO kit for him for Christmas, and he is having a blast playing with it. Basically, it is a set of robotic LEGOs. You can build small robots with them that contain a logic module that allows you to control them. If you like LEGO's, you might want to check it out. He also has links to other great LEGO sites:

RoboHowler

I'll also put him in my list of links to the right.

Have a Happy New Year

Wow, I can't believe that it is the end of the year already! How time has flown. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is getting ready for a great new year.

My custom unitard from Cool Costumes finally arrived. I tried it on, and it fit so well that it is scary! They did a great job. It fits well, the construction is great, and it arrived well before my deadline. (*applauds*)

Now I just need to work on the rest of the costume. When it's done, I'll post pictures!

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Here is an interesting end-of-the year review from Comic Book Resources. I found it to be very interesting, considering all of the hub-bub surrounding late books this past year.

End of Year Review

What do you think?

Back from Vacation!

I'm back from my Thanksgiving vacation in Orlando. I had a blast! I hope everyone else had a great holiday as well.

I've done a little more work on the quiver for the Speedy costume. The FunkyFoam cover is complete:



Once I've made the cloak, I will make a quiver strap out of the same material. I'll also attach some fake "arrows".

Quiver

I am working on the quiver for my Speedy costume. I purchased a papier mache wine bottle gift box from Hobby Lobby for about four bucks. I plan to cover the outside of the main body with red FunkyFoam. I will cover the removable lid with yellow FunkyFoam and punch holes in it for the fake "arrows". I'm planning on about four arrows, including the infamous blue arrow. The quiver will also double as a purse, since regular purses are such a pain when in costume. I'll need to construct a strap as well. I may make it out of the same material as I'm using for my cloak (yellow nylon ripstop) so that everything matches.

Pictures:
Box before any changes:



Red FunkyFoam:



To cover the bottom, I placed the bottom of the box on the Foam and traced a circle around it. I used a mechanical pencil, but I had the lead retracted. I scored the foam where I needed to cut it. No lead was needed. I had to score around it a few times to get a definitive line that I could cut. I then cut out the circle with scissors (NOT my fabric scissors!) and glued it onto the bottom of the box. I used a glue specific for FunkyFoam. It is very tacky, even when it is dry.



I'm having a lot of fun playing around with this. Next, I'll be creating a yellow circle for covering the top of the removable lid while the bottom of the quiver is drying. Then I'll cover the cylindrical bodies of the box and lid with red and yellow foam, respectively.

You know, it is really hard for me to tell the true color scheme of her quiver, because it depends on who the colorist is of any given issue. I've elected to go with a red body and yellow trim.

Won't You Take Me to Funky...Foam?

Move over, Funkytown! I have discovered the miracle that is FunkyFoam! I think I have found the material for my bracers for the Speedy costume. It is certainly not the actual material that she would wear, but it does look cool. It comes in 2mm sheets at 79 cents a sheet, so it's a dirt cheap way for me to accessorize my Speedy costume. If it works out, I will adapt the red unitard to my next idea... Iron Maiden! Watch out, Tony Stark! And maybe a gender-bended Flash as well.

Speedy Costume, Revisited

Upon careful consideration, I have decided that I don't have the correct equipment to sew spandex for the Speedy costume. Therefore, I have ordered the red unitard base from a company that makes custom costumes.

For the amount of work that they will put into it, I feel that the price is reasonable(about $140 and change, including shipping and custom construction fees). Here is the link to their web site:

Cool Costumes

I ordered a unitard with a mock turtle neck, attached gloves and "booties", and a back entrace zipper. They can customize any unitard/skirt/shirt made out of spandex or PVC. They can change the neck, the length of the sleeves, etc.,to whatever you want. The site is fun to play around with to see what kinds of costumes one can create.

I'll let you know how it turns out. I am so excited about this. I'm not a standard size, so it will be nice to have an outfit tailored to me! I've gotten an email back from one of the seamstresses about my order already, and she was very nice to talk to.

I will still be making the cloak and the bracers and gaiters and the arrow crest. A friend of mine suggested that I make the crest removable so that I can use the unitard as a base for other costumes. I think that is a good idea -- it will help me get more out of the investment in the base piece.

New Art for "Nadir"

Angel-gidget has done it again! This is an illustration for "Nadir", chapter 9, with Bart and Raven in the spotlight and Gar and Wally in the background.

Bart to the Rescue

I really like this picture. The look on Bart's face is so angry and so protective at the same time. I think she really captured the emotion well.

Thanks, angel-gidget!

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Ooooooh, Titans #40 out today! I can't get it until work is done for the day. I'll post my thoughts on it later.

Happy Anniversary to B & M Amusement

Next Wednesday is the 7th anniversary of B & M Amusement, my local comic shop. Congratulations! We have been with them for a couple of years or so now,and a week just isn't complete without a visit with Buddy, Mary, and Tyler. They have made the mister and myself feel at home in the shop, and I truly appreciate it. Many thanks, guys, and here's to many more years in the future!

For those of you in the Southeast Tennessee area, you might want to pop in and pay them a visit some time. They have the largest back issue collection in Chattanooga. If it's not on the shelf, they can order it for you.

Here is their web site:

B & M Amusement

Speedy Costume

Well, I have made one small step towards the actual manufacture of this one. I created the pattern for the arrow crest this morning. This one will be an appliqued crest instead of an embroidered one. I liked the embroidered look for the Raven outfit, but I think an applique suits Speedy's outfit much better. The plan is to get some yellow satin for the cape and bracers. I'll make the crest out of the same material. I've never done applique before, so this ought to be interesting!

It was hard to find a good picture of the arrow crest, since different artists render Speedy a little differently. I finally picked a good full-body shot out of the annual and used that as a basis. I played around with triangles for a while, but I was having a difficult time making a completely symmetrical arrow. I finally figured out that I could draw half of it, fold it over, then trace the outline of the other half. (Duh, Susan.) That worked out really well. Now I just need to trace the pattern onto some tissue paper. I use a rather stiff art paper to work out the pattern template. Now I need the tissue paper because it is easier to pin to the cloth.

Brian May: Queen Guitarist and Astronomer!

For my fellow Queen fans: this is an interesting article that I found on CNN. Brian May is not just a great guitar player!

Brian May

That's just too cool. I may have to catch that book. A man of many talents, indeed!

Less than two weeks (hope hope) until the next issue of Titans. In the meantime, I'm doing a few beta reads for other writers and trying to get in a little writing on my next story. My mojo comes and goes. I need to catch that sucker and lock him up to keep him from getting away.

I can't believe it's almost Halloween! I'll be wearing the Raven costume to work next week, so that ought to be fun. Then I'm going to spend some time getting the Speedy costume together. The goal is to have that one done by Chattacon at the end of January. I've also thought about putting together a "Beast Girl" outfit at some point. That ought to be a fun one. That would make 3 costumes for DragonCon next year!

Super-Fantastic!

Hello everyone --

They did something great for us at work today. This week is Customer Service Week, and they usually give us a treat. My boss took the team out for ice cream. Then we got to see Keith "Dr. Attitude" Harrell speak. He has spoken at some events for our company before, but never to all of us at once.

This guy is something else. I think it is impossible to feel bad if you are in the same state as Mr. Harrell. He is so upbeat, he makes you want to get up and dance! He said a lot of things that I needed to hear, and I really appreciate it and hope I can make use of what he said about attitude being everything. I feel so energetic now, which is good because I have felt terrible this week. I may go out and buy one of his books on tape or something, because this is something I would like to keep with me. His motto is "Super fantastic!" -- and he makes you feel that way.

Comic Book Day today. It's a light week for me, but that's ok. I spent a lot of $$$$$ last week on my hobby, so my wallet needs the break. But it's also Date Night, and the mister and I are going out to eat. (He cooks Monday and Friday, I cook Tuesday and Thursday, we eat out Wednesday, the weekend is a grab bag.)

I hope everyone has a superfantastic day today.