January 21st, 2010 by Alice

Yay my first post! :)

The weekend of Jan. 8-10 was the annual AnimeLA convention at the LAX Marriott hotel.  It’s a relatively new convention and mainly known for being small, hospitable, and relaxing.  I was there with some friends, cosplaying of course.

This is me as Rimi (pink hair) with Colleen as Ayase (short silver hair) and Yoshiko as Sena (long dark hair) from the anime series, “Chaos;Head”.  We made our own costumes but the weapons were made by a friend.  Photo taken from American Cosplay Paradise.

Me as Haku from Spirited Away.  Photo by sklathill.

Two of my friends cosplaying as Chane and Rail Tracer from the anime, “Baccano!”.  Photo by me.

It’s pretty common at anime conventions to see people cosplaying from everything but anime… here we have the Progressive commercial girl and a frightening clown. Photo by sklathill.

As I mentioned earlier, AnimeLA is known for being hospitable and that’s through features such as the Con Suite.  Attendees can pop in for a quick snack or even a small meal completely free of charge.  It was a bit strictly regulated this year and only 20 people or so were allowed in at a time, but I remember last year being pretty hectic with everyone rushing in all at once. Photo by sklathill.

Something I had not seen at AnimeLA (or any anime convention) before was the Parent’s Lounge, which was run by LASFS.  I noticed that this year, AnimeLA seemed to be especially parent-friendly with this lounge and even with panels for parents to attend about “dealing” with their anime-crazed children or for parents who were fans themselves.  It was pretty interesting to see the convention making an effort in this aspect. Photo by sklathill.

Overall, lots of good fun and I was sad that Sydney and Senna couldn’t make it… maybe next year!

January 12th, 2010 by Sydney

Star Wars Burlesque night @ Bordello in Los Angeles.  The C3PO chick really freaks me out.

via boingboing via LAWeekly

October 10th, 2009 by Amanda

Via: Steapunk Fashion

“These are pictures from the Fresh Fruits Basket fashion show that kicks off SGMS every year. You may click here for a short video from last year’s show. The headliners of the show were from The Libertine Asylum You can read what they are all about here if you would like.

All Photos are taken and edited by Drayke Larson of Photosynthetique Imaging His LJ is rez_olution feel free to check him out too!

The pictures are from steampunk designer Heather Luca of SCOUNDRELLES KEEP. Her corsets are THE BEST!!!

Hope you enjoy!”

September 3rd, 2009 by Amanda

So Wrockstock is finally here, and after much waiting and anticipation I was very disappointing to discover that is in in Missouri. WTF?!?!?!? I was looking so forward to going this year. Maybe next year when I’m not broke. :[ Or maybe they’ll bring it to California. I smell a petition. Well if you are in the Missouri on November 6-9th and are in the area please check it out and tell us all about it.

Along with the bands, there will be various activities, such as “Craft Alley” “Wampum Willow” and “The Third Annual Wrockstock Quidditchstravaganza”.

The featured bands are as follows:

Draco and the Malfoys
The Remus Lupins
Catchlove
The Whomping Willows
The Moaning Myrtles
Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills
Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls
Tonks and the Aurors
Creevey Crisis
Diagon Alley
Swish and Flick
Ministry of Magic
Gred and Forge
Hermoine Crookshanks Experience
And the final performance of The Mudbloods.

But where are Harry and the Potters?!

September 3rd, 2009 by Sydney

This is kind of old news but I thought I’d mention it anyways.  Our photos from Las Vegas Star Trek Convention 2009 have been up on the main site now for a while.  Here are some highlights:

Read More »

August 6th, 2009 by Amanda

I wanna go!! Unfortunately, I don’t live anywhere near Michigan. But if any of you do please tell us how it is.

MAKE Magazine says:

“The Geek-a-thon is ellohay! West Michigan’s first annual install-fest. This evening event will bring geeks from all over the area together to help prepare 100 computers to be given away, free of charge, to at-risk and impoverished high school students in Grand Rapids.
ellohay! is expecting approximately 100 guests for an evening of games, robotics demonstrations, food and drinks. Admission is free and open to the public. There will be t-shirt, sticker and button sales, and door prizes as well.

Guests and vendors include, Geek-Aid West Michigan, MadCap Coffee, Astronomer Rickey Ainsworth from the Grand Rapids Public Museum Planetarium, the Lego Mindstorm Robotic youth group presenting their Robo-Sumo match, Intelligent Interactive Technology from Jason Sosa’s Immersive Labs, Comprenew Environmental eWaste truck, and more.

The ellohay! team is working directly with Geek-Aid of West Michigan, who is holding their Geek-Aid 2009 benefit concert the same day in Grand Rapids to raise awareness of youth poverty and digital exclusion in West Michigan.

If you’re interesting in participating, ellohay! is in need the geeks and nerds of West Michigan to come together and volunteer a few hours of their time to a great cause that will help stimulate job growth, foster community, increase school participation, fight poverty and digital exclusion, and create new jobs.

More information can be found at www.ellohay.org, by calling 1 (877) ellohay, or by emailing hello@ellohay.org.”

August 4th, 2009 by Amanda

We just can’t get enough Steampunk. This was a Steampunk picnic held at The New York Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, New York. Oh, if only I lived in New York…

Here are some pictures from the event. The little kids are my favorite!!

Thank you every one who took pictures. You can view them all here.

August 2nd, 2009 by Amanda

Unfortunately we were not able to attend the Candy Land themed tea party held at Royal/T in Culver City yesterday. With events such as Lolita fasion show, live music, and a life sized candy land game board, it promised to be a sweet afternoon.

Thank you Cosplay in America for covering the event and taking such beautiful photos.

Courtesy of Ejen Chuang Photography.

July 30th, 2009 by Amanda

Well now you can!!…well sort of. You can learn Samurai techniques known as iaido at the Asian Art Museum in San Fransisco Thursday, August 27. There will be a very special and rare appearance by Esaka Sensei, one of Japan’s finest and esteemed swordsmen. You can also view LORDS OF THE SAMURAI, the special exhibition of gorgeous artworks that reveals a softer, unknown side to these legendary warriors, as well as a screening of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman.

You can go to Way of the Sword for more information.

July 16th, 2009 by Senna

This weekend, the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas will host its annual fighting video game tournament extravaganza, The Evolution Championship Series. 6 tournaments, 50,000 matches and big money for the players. Competitive players from across the globe make their way out to duke it out on screen. The games this year include: Street Fighter IV, Soul Calibur IV, Marvel Vs Capcom 2, Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core, Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and a special BlazBlue edition. This is the first time Super Smash Bros. Brawl is being hosted (with normal tournament rules and no items), so the smash community will be a strong presence this year. Good luck to all the entrees, and make sure to check out the live stream (which will be up when the tournament starts tomorrow).

Here’s the schedule for the tournament events.  Enjoy!

Also, check out this highlight from the Evo 2004 Street Fighter semi finals between Justing Wong (Ken) and Daigo Umehara (Chun-li).  Watch the incredible parry after parry at the end!

July 13th, 2009 by Senna

First a quick tour of the start of Genesis as filmed by player CGC Grayfox. A little shaky, but check out the venue and crowds of people there.

The results for D.B.R.’s Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl 500+ man tournament are in!
Melee Doubles
1. M2K + Jman
2. Scar Hates Jigglypuff
3. 4 Leaf Mango, the Thunder Down Under Edition
4. cactuar + darkrain

Melee Singles
1. Mango
2. Armada
3. Hungrybox
4. Zhu

Brawl Doubles
1. I bet that’s scary
2. AiB Ladder Champs
3. Captain Sex-E
4. Prison Break and Chris Farley

Brawl Singles
1. Ally
2. M2K
3. Tyrant
4. Dojo

Here are the links to the Brawl Singles Bracket and Melee Singles Bracket if interested.
Congrats to the winners and props to all who entered. The matches between Armada and Mango were so epic! It was great to meet all the international and out of state players and spend time with friends. I hope I’ll be able to enter my first tournament soon! Pictures will be up on the website this week.

July 6th, 2009 by Senna

This coming weekend, Friday July 10th-Sunday July 12th, Antioch will host the biggest video game tournament to date.  Genesis is the name and Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Melee are the games.  An expected 1000+ attendees, including players from Europe and Australia and $10,000 pot will ensue.  The princes of Super Smash Bros. Melee, Nor Cal based crew D.B.R. (Death by Rape) will be hosting the event, which guarantees a smooth tournament and a wild time.  I am excited to be attending and covering the event for FantasyIRL and will be posting updates as the tournament unfolds.

Here is the info for Genesis on AllisBrawl and SmashBoards.

Check out D.B.R.’s SSBM combo video.  It’s probably one of the best I’ve ever seen ;)

July 2nd, 2009 by Sydney

That’s right! We’ll be at Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center today through Sunday. If you see us, say hi!!!! We’ll be the ones with the big blue bows taking pictures and passing out flyers!

June 9th, 2009 by Senna

Senna here, reporting for duty!

The battle of all battles, festival of all festivals, experience of a lifetime for a LARPer.  Drachenfest has been held in Germany almost every year since 2001, attracting over 3,000 LARPers, Medievalists, fair maidens and grotesque warriors.  In essence, I WANT TO GO!

Here’s the backstory of the Dragon Festival:

“In the Last Year of the Silver, during the Era of the Void, the avatar of chaos entered the circle of the Dragons. Like the carcass does for a scavenger, he had been allured by the weakness of one of his most long-term enemies. The Mortal had deprived the Gray Dragon from its strength, and so the Chaos managed to expel the keeper of knowledge and wisdom from the circle of the Divine.
With the deep-seated shock about the events and notwithstanding the desperate fight of the remaining followers of the Gray, it was the Avatar of the Chaos who eventually led them into battle. They had failed, had not been worthy. Fear and weakness had conquered their hearts.

However, the spark of hope had not yet expired, and on the subsequent Dragonfest, in the Last Year of the Green, during the Era of the Void, more than a hundred of the Gray’s followers assembled to offer loyalty to the Gray Way. This act of truth found its reward as the Gray Dragon managed to re-enter the circle of Gods in the First Year of the Orcs. Still full of doubt, unsure about the loyalty of his followers, he was happy to experience that his scruples had no substance: knowledge and wisdom were kept up by His, and their force even carried him to the final battle and, beyond still, to victory.
The Gray Dragon beheld that the Era of the Void did a lot of evil. Never again he wanted to encounter dishonour the way he did when he got banned from the circle of the Divine. He longed to find a way for the Dragons to spread their beloved lore of the ways of the circle amongst the mortals – and he found that way:

The Era of the Void had to come to an end! The Dragons needed a new world of their own to watch over the fate of the mortals, a new start, a chance to make up for past mistakes. So the idea of the Second World of Dragons was born, and the Gray stepped up to the Council of Dragons and announced his decision to which he was entitled as the victor of the Dragonfest gone by. The others welcomed his proposal and together they decided about the shape of the new world for it to endure.

Thus came into being the new rules for the Dragonfest and the rise of the Second World of Dragons.” (Taken from the Drachenfest official website, translated here.)

Sounds pretty epic to say the least.  You Germans (or even all Europeans!) are lucky to have an event like this happen annually or biannually.  If Sydney and I were able to attend, I would drag her on a plane with me no matter how much she threatened to feed me to the Orcs LOL.  If you liked what you read, check out the trailer for Drachenfest 2009.