Earth Station One Episode 118

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 1:33 PM


I'm on Earth Station One again this week! This time around I'm featured in The Geek Seat. Go hear my geeky answers by clicking the image!



 

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Alpha Gamma Delta International Convention

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 10:28 AM

Some of you who didn't know me in college might not know that I'm in a sorority. Yes, even geek girls can join sororities. I'm a member of Alpha Gamma Delta, and joining was probably the best decision I made in college. I was pretty shy my freshman year, and I likely wouldn't have left my dorm room a whole lot without Alpha Gam there to get me out of my shell. A lot of you might think of that as "buying your friends," and that's fine. All that means is you don't actually understand what dues are used for, and I will not address that argument here. While it's not a huge part of my life anymore, I still occasionally attend alumnae dinners and parties, and just two weeks ago had a beach day with some of my sisters. Greek life helped teach me how to party, too, not gonna lie, which has come in super handy now that I attend conventions regularly. I even had to teach a few of my geek friends how to play beer pong back in March. (I know, right?!) I served as Ritual Coordinator and Vice President Scholarship while at my university, and those positions taught me a lot about respect and leadership; lessons that still prove valuable today.

In two weeks I'll be attending Alpha Gam's International Convention in St. Louis. International Convention is held in a different location every two years, and alumnae and collegiate members of the fraternity come together for training and sisterhood. I've always wanted to go but because of money and scheduling have never before had the opportunity. I've been asked to be the soloist for all ritual events over the course of the weekend. While some of our ritual is secret, some isn't, and most of it involves music. The pieces are beautiful and heartfelt, and they really remind me of college friendships. I'm very excited and deeply honored to have the opportunity to not only sing these songs again, but to sing them for so many of my Alpha Gam sisters. It's going to be an amazing opportunity.

If you're in college now, or will be soon, I encourage you to consider making Greek Life part of your experience. It's not for everybody, and each campus has a different atmosphere, but you might be surprised. I'd never considered going Greek before university, and now I can't imagine my collegiate experience any other way.

Lots of Alpha Gams blog - check them out here at the Alpha Gama Delta Blog Network!

 

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Earth Station One Episode 116

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 1:24 PM

I'm on this week's episode of the Earth Station One Podcast! This one is all about Doctor Who companions. Go have a listen - they do great work!


 Click the image! Do it!

 

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Interview with the Green Ranger

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 2:15 PM

This year at MTAC, I got to sit in on a press conference with Jason David Frank, or the Green Ranger! I even asked a few questions...check me out being all awesome and stuff. Anyways, go get a look at the interview over on SpaceGypsies!

 

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ConGlomeration 2012

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 12:26 PM

If you guys haven't seen it yet on SpaceGypsies, here's my review of ConGlomeration 2012!



MTAC and ConGlomeration were excellent back-to-back weekends. While MTAC was in Nashville, TN, ConGlomeration was held April 13-15 in Louisville, KY. You’ve already heard what I thought about MTAC, and ConGlom was a stark contrast. The average attendees’ age was probably twice what it was at MTAC and it definitely made for a different experience. The parties, for instance, were much cooler. Friday night I attended the Xerps party and got to try what they call “skippy,” a concoction of Keystone Light and who knows what else that’s sure to make your evening turn out either really well or really badly. Regardless of the manner of your night, you’re unlikely to remember much of the experience. Unfortunately for us, Friday evenings’ parties got shut down pretty early due to noise. We hit the hay in preparation for the following night.
"The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword"
We spent the majority of Saturday evening atBarfleet’s party. They’re a pretty awesome organization which uses Starfleet’s organizational structure in an effort to throw awesome convention parties around the Midwest. I must say they accomplished their mission at ConGlom! They served four different colors of punch (I went to bed with an entirely blue mouth…) and kept the music going to late into the night. Because of a friend’s connection to the group we were allowed to stay for the after party. It’s a good thing, too, because I wasn’t ready to go to sleep! We also stopped by a Ghostbuster themed party, which didn’t have as many people, but definitely provided some fantastic drink options. While I didn’t try a sample of each (though that was actually on the poster-sized menu), I had something made with root beer and cinnamon whiskey, which changed my life. A.MA.ZING.
As I expected, the Masquerade was the prime event of the weekend. For such a small convention, there were some surprisingly excellent costumes! Three members of my cosplay group, TL;DR Cosplay, actually won Best in Show! Dorian, Courtney, and Cy dressed as characters from the most recent Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  Other winners included Arwen from The Lord of the Rings and Codex from The Guild. After the costumes had been presented, the judges began to rate each costume. Meanwhile, Mystic Hips Belly Dance performed for the audience. I especially enjoyed their use of comedy and geek items, including severed heads, a bottle of rum, and a bat’leth. One woman even performed with a live snake!
Codex from "The Guild"
I found only a few negatives to this convention, the most prominent of which was its people-to-space ratio. The Louisville Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center was far too large for the number of attendees. We had to walk almost the full length of the hotel just to get to the conference center and panel rooms, usually passing attendees of the two other conferences being held at the same time. The hotel has a very strange layout and made our first hours there pretty confusing.  I wasn’t a big fan of the location, but the convention staff were great. Apparently physically obtaining a media badge is just always going to be a hiccup in my convention weekends, because the folks at the registration table looked at me like I was from Mars, just like the volunteers at MTAC did. They called the woman in charge of registration though, and she knew exactly who I was from our e-mail correspondence. She gave some instructions and I was soon given my badge, which ended up saying “program participant,” rather than “press.” Despite all that, they had great attitudes and were happy to help with anything we needed the rest of the weekend.
Belly dancing with a bat'leth? Suprisingly graceful!
While ConGlom featured a wide range of panels, some of the things I found most interesting were ongoing.  First of all, the game room was really great. It was probably better attended than anything else at ConGlom and hosted every analog game I could think of. There was also a surprising number of young children at the convention, due in part, I’m sure, to KidCon, a room completely dedicated to entertaining ConGlom’s youngest guests. It featured everything from visits by the convention’s guests of honor, to storytelling games, to crafts. I think more conventions should feature not only child-friendly programming, but child-intended programming, and I applaud ConGlom for rising to the challenge.
This convention also featured a fantastic dealer room. There were all sorts of items I’d never seen before, and a wide variety of fandoms represented. In the middle of the room was ConGlom’s art show and silent auction, which had some lovely pieces. I almost caved and bought a TARDIS light switch cover, but decided my TARDIS dress, phone cover, and tattoo were probably enough. I was surprised, though, by the level of craftsmanship and talent present at such a small convention. Were I a collector, I would have been delighted.
All around, ConGlom was a great small convention. It had awesome parties, cool people, quality costumes, and beautiful art. I’d definitely recommend it as a low key geek-away-from-home.

 

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Costuming Photos

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 7:46 AM

Hey guys! Just thought I'd post a few pics of my favorite costumes. For more details on my costume shenanigans, "like" my Facebook page!

Miss Martian from "Young Justice"
Ceremonial Princess Leia from "Star Wars Episode IV"
Fem!Malcolm Reynolds from "Firefly"

Minako from "Sailor Moon"


Sailor Venus from "Sailor Moon"


The TARDIS from "Doctor Who"

The TARDIS v.2 from "Doctor Who"

The TARDIS v.3 from "Doctor Who"

The SUV from "Torchwood"
Also, this is officially my 100th post! So yay me! :D

 

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MTAC Review

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 6:17 AM


as seen on SpaceGypsies

This year’s MTAC theme was Omega, or the end of the world. Though many of us did party hardy while attending theconvention, we all seemed to have survived. That’s no doubt, in part at least, to MTAC’s new home, the Renaissance Nashville Hotel and the Nashville Convention Center! While their sister convention, Geek Media Expo did themselves a disservice in their most recent hotel selection, MTAC hit the nail on the head. The Nashville Convention Center was a fantastic location for the ever growing event. A convention center? Who knew!

Shoppers in Artist Alley
Regular attendees of MTAC know and have nightmares about its trademark crowded hallways and teenager infested corridors. It was always a drag for cosplayers because pictures weren’t allowed to be taken in hallways because of bottlenecking. Too much room, however, can be just as awkward. The Nashville Convention Center was just the right size for MTAC Omega.

MageTV Interviewing a convention attendee
While a major event for me is usually the Cosplay Contest, this year I attended the Cosplay Sit-Out.  This event is for those either uninterested in the Cosplay Contest, or perhaps simply uninterested in waiting in line for 3 hours in order to get a seat. Regardless, I actually helped present this panel, led by amazing cosplayer Dorian Bugg. Dorian, myself, and several other panelists discussed the ins and outs of American cosplay vs Japanese cosplay, our costuming pet peeves, and anything else cosplay related. I admit I learned more than I taught! Dorian has a wealth of knowledge about Japanese tradition, fashion, and fandom in general and it was really eye opening to hear how my favorite hobby works in other countries.
Our panel room, however, presented a bit of a problem. For whatever reason the Cosplay Sit-Out was scheduled in an area open to the rest of the convention. This location made it very difficult to have discussions with audience members,

Part of the Cosplay Sit-Out Audience
since all the noise from the entire convention flooded in. This panel is traditionally held in a closed in space where it’s easy to pull up YouTube videos, show pictures, and generally horse around without interruptions. We were, however, not provided with a projector, or internet access, despite having requested both in writing long in advance. We never found out if this was an oversight or perhaps something else, but despite our requests to the guy in charge of the microphones, our two hour panel was left for its duration with none of the materials its presenters had requested. Taking care of panel participants may be a place which could use some improvement at this convention. Regardless of the difficulties, the Cosplay Sit-Out was a success! Everyone we talked to enjoyed the event and hoped to skip the Cosplay Contest with us again next year.
Speaking of difficulties, getting my Press Pass was a major undertaking. I was instructed to pick up my badge Friday evening from the Registration Table. I arrived a little later than I had intended, but well before Registration closed. No

Me looking all official in my hard-earned Press Badge
one at the table seemed to know what I was talking about, and once someone arrived who did, she didn’t have the materials she needed to check me in. The Press Passes were somewhere else, as was the list of expected Media Guests. If not for a kind friend of a friend who happened to be a higher up on staff and was willing to provide me with a Visitor Pass for Friday evening, a 20 minute ordeal could have kept me waiting all night. I got my badge with ease the next morning from someone well equipped and informed. I haven’t heard of any other problems with Registration; mine may have been an isolated incident.
I would like to say, however, MTAC’s Director of Media Relations, Tara Ptacek, handled herself and her job extremely well. She gave members of the Press clear instructions and kept us well informed on the weekend’s happenings. She set up interviews and press conferences with available guests, and I was impressed with her ability to handle so many things and people at once.
Other than the Cosplay Sit-Out, highlights for me included the Japanese Fashion Show and a press conference with Jason David Frank. The Fashion Show featured men and women modeling various styles from Japan, and told a little bit about each look. I modeled my favorite Japanese fashion style, Dolly Kei. The press conference was certainly an interesting experience. I never really watched Power Rangers, but I am a casual martial artist, so I was interested to see what the Green/White Power Ranger MMA Fighter Extraordinaire had to say about that. Highlights from the hour long press conference will be posted soon.
Overall, the convention was great. The rave was just as crazy and jam packed as usual, and Artist Alley brought a whole new level of talent. And the new location made it that much easier to see it all! I’m absolutely looking forward to next year’s event, and you should too!

Yeah, we dressed up as My Little Pony. Wanna fight about it?

 

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Harry Potter Land, MTAC, and ConGlom!

1 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 8:41 AM

You might remember about a year ago my friend Krystal went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and I dragged about every bit of info about it from her. Well guess what?? I WENT TOO.
Just two months ago I was there! At Hogwarts! It as one of the most amazing things ever. For reals.
Anyhow, I wrote an article about it for SpaceGypsies, so you should totally go check it out!
You'll find it here.

Two weeks ago was MTAC (review coming soon), and the weekend after that was ConGlomeration. This was my 7th MTAC (when did I get so old?????), but my first time at ConGlom! And I'm super excited about both!
At MTAC we cosplayed Young Justice, Ouran High School Host Club, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. ConGlom was MLP and Doctor Who. Gotta get back to your roots sometime!

I'm still writing my review of ConGlom, but it was definitely a relaxacon. Parties and little to no panel time. Which, to be honest, is fine with me. Here's a few pics from my recent adventures...

MTAC Omega

 Lookin' official in my Press Pass, courtesy of SpaceGypsies

Yeah, we dressed up as My Little Pony. I don't care what you say, that show kicks ass. 

Ouran High School Host Club! 

Rockin' the Cosplay Sit Out! 

Miss Martian has a new wig! What do you think??


 

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Whoville!

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 2:11 PM

I recently went to Islands of Adventure, and believe it or not this is the only replica if Whoville I could find! Mary Lou Who? Cindy Lou Who? Get it? Yeah I'm a dork...


 

It's 2012!

0 comments Posted by Mary Lou at 11:51 AM

Guess what, guys? It's 2012! And I haven't posted yet. Bad Mary.
I'd like to invite you to friend me on facebook, where I post most of my costuming photos and such. Yay!

I'd also like to let you know what I've got coming up. I recently attended MegaCon in Orlando, FL. It was a great convention, though a long drive! Next up will be MTAC, right here in Nashville. I can't believe I'm going over a month without attending a convention! It's going to be weird. Anyhow, I've got lots going on and am hoping to update you soon! I love and miss you guys! Here's to getting the blog going strong again. :)

 

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