New York Comic Con 2015: Thursday and Friday

I hope ya'll had a nice holiday! I'm back with my second post for my time at NYCC. I hope you enjoy it :)

Thursday

I decided to wear Kagome the first day of the convention since I had already worn her once before at Waku Waku back in August. My commute was a little hectic coming in because of traffic in the George Washington bridge. That's okay, selfie time!

I got to the Javits Center at 11. Which wasn't too bad it was only about an 1 hour after the con opened. I met up with Rae on the walk over. She was killing the game in her Captain America hoodie. It's always such a blast geeking out with her.

The first thing we noticed was the food trucks right outside the Javits. This was the first time since I've been that they've done that. I don't know why they hadn't thought of it before. It really helped with grabbing food as you as you can in or came out.

Walking into NYCC is always so mind blowing because they really go all out. First Rae and I headed to the Artist's Alley to meet up with a few of her friends. Seth Meyer was actually there out in the open. I think he was doing some sort of social experiment and seeing how people would react to him just being there.

The whole NYC we wanted to try Cookie Cat because we love Steven Universe, but the tickets for the Fantasy Food truck would go SO fast we never got to. Tiff did get a recipe for it so that we can make it at home.

Seth Meyer a few feet in front of me

There was a remote controlled R2D2 running around and making sounds. Ugh, it was so cute! We rushed over, so Rae could meet one of her idols: the creator of Deadpool. He was really funny and charismtic! She was so adorable while she was meeting him.

We grabbed a corner of Artist Alley that wasn't crowded and took pics of my Kagome cosplay. For some reason I had a few people mistake me for Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon which was a little odd lol

NY Super Week 2015

I hope everyone is getting ready for the New Year. I don't know have any resolutions this year other than trying to maintain the ones I've set for myself awhile ago. I hope you all get to spend it with the your family or loved ones!

This year I was lucky enough to grab myself and Boba 4 Day tickets to NYCC. Believe me I was super shocked it happened. I am used to only being able to grab tickets for a single day. I knew that when you bought a 4 Day you were given a NY Super Week card for free which gave you access to events the week of NYCC. You still had to pay for the tickets to the individual tickets, but many of them were under 10 bucks. This year NYCC was October 8th-11th with the NY Super Week events starting the Monday before on the 5th.

I used the NY Super Week app to take a look at events and settled on two: Black Girl Nerds vs. FanBros Live Podcast on the 6th and the Crossplay Cosplay Contest hosed by FanBros on the 7th. They both sounded super interested and you know I gotta support my geeks of color and blerds. I let Tiff know about the crossplay event since it she also cosplays male characters. I may get into more crossplaying as I pick more cosplay. There are a bunch of male characters I want to cosplay and many of them I don't want to be genderbent. Also it highlighted POCs cosplaying non-black characters.

Black Girl Nerds vs. FanBros Live Podcast

I have been getting more into podcasts and I thought what better way to experience one than live. Especially when it can be hard to pull out a book on a crowded subway. I was already a huge fan of Black Girl Nerds prior to attending this live podcast.

The goodies in each chair

Before the podcast started there were some bomb ass mixes being played. I think they were made by BenHaMeen. I remember there was a dope mix that had the Rugrats theme, a mash up of Stronger Than You from Steven Universe and Just the Two of Us, and an amazing Mario mix. I really need to see if he has a mixtape because those songs were lit.

The podcast was broken up into 5 segments that centered around pop culture, geeky news, and current events. The first segment was "This Week in the N Word" which really addressed racism, anti-blackness, and pain ol tomfoolery that was currently happening. Rihanna, Kanye West, and Pokemon were discussed.

After this they followed up with Geekquently asked questions where the audience could them ask FanBros and Black Girl Nerds questions. They even took some questions from twitter. One question that came up is if not Harriet Tubman on the the 20 dollar who should it be. Feminista Jones commented on that question and she was extremely eloquent and brilliant on the subject. I really need to follow her on twitter and check out more of work. There actually a few other famous people there like author of Shadowshaper, Daniel Jose Older, and a gentleman that worked for DC Comics, Joseph P. Illidge.

Waku Waku +NYC Convention: Japanese Pop Culture Festival Day 1 (pic heavy)

Hey everyone! I hope the weather hasn't been too harsh for ya. NYC hasn't been told cold which is a relief and kinda worrisome at the same time. Fingers crossed for a mild winter! I've attended quite a few events and I'm behind on writing about them. Ah the convention season lol

Back in August Tiff and I attended Waku Waku +NYC and it was amazing! It was the first time that this convention had been held, but it didn't feel like it. It was ran very well except for a few minor snags here and there. Waku Waku +NYC is a two day Japanese pop culture festival that launched this past summer in Brooklyn. The festival consisted of many aspects of Japanese pop culture like anime, manga, music, food, film and fashion. There was a dealer's room, exhibits, panels, screenings and fashion shows.

We learned beforehand from the schedule that the event would be spread out over five locations in Greenpoint and Williamsburg (Brooklyn Expo Center, Transmitter Park, Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn Bowl, and the Verboten). They were also kind enough to have shuttles that went between each location and would also pick you up from the Greenpoint subway station. The first day I cosplayed as Kagome and Tiff wore her young Eren cosplay from Attack on Titan. 

The pre reg line was great which was a welcome change from what happened at AnimeNEXT. They were kind enough to direct everyone to stand in the shade. The line was slightly wrapped around the block but it went very fast to our relief.

6% Doki Doki booth

We headed straight to the dealer's room the place where your hard earned coins go to die lol I lied to myself sayin I was only gonna spend $50 haha Yeah right! I went in the first day and spent way more than I originally wanted. I don't feel like anything I bought was a waste :)

Mi spoils lol

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: Book Review

Hey y'all! I hope fall is treating you well. Things are starting to settle for me after attending so many events. I just found out today that I may be heading to Istanbul early November for a business trip. I'm super excited because I've only been to China^^

I've been trying to stay on my reading game as well as reading books with POC in them and/or written by POC authors. I heard great things about Junot Diaz and I really love magical realism. So, I decided to read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and enjoyed it. Ugh the way that man writes slang is amazing! The book follows Oscar de Leon and his family's history with a curse known as fuku. Oscar is a huge nerd and wants to be a sci-fi/fantasy writer.

The book is broken up into three parts and jumps around chronologically and follows different characters in the Wao family or close to one of its members. While in some books this may be confusing, I feel the author does this skillfully and uses it to enhance the story. And for me it makes since because of how complicated family dynamics and past history can be. It helps capture the intricacy of how family does not operate on a linear timeline. Our present day family life is affected by decisions our ancestors have made often without our knowledge because those that carry those memories are no longer with us.

Switching to other characters' point of view helped the reader understand their actions and motivations. I personally did not care for Oscar's mother, but when you learn about her past you understand why she is who she is in present day. I wish we would have received more information on Lola and Oscar's father because I wonder how a woman so spurned by love fell in love again.

The novel covers a lot of themes and it really leaves you thinking even after it's over. It also gave me more insight into the Dominican Republic's history. A few things the novel illustrated that stuck with me was being othered by your own race for your interests. Growing up I was called white by my some of my peers or told that black guys wouldn't like me because I was weird and not a typical black girl. This came from some people thinking that if you were black and liked things that weren't considered "black interests" then you were strange and didn't fit in. Oscar's Dominican heritage is often called into question because of his geeky pursuits.

I def want to read more of Junot's work because this book was wonderful and took me on an emotional rollercoaster. If you decide to pick this book up please let me know what you think of it. I hope you enjoy it^^

Cosplay Amino and Cosplanner App Review

Hello everyone, I hope your summer's wrapping up nicely. I'm still in shock that summer is pretty much over. I feel like it was just June! Time flying by like this makes me happy that I'm no longer in school. I've been taking this time to work my butt off on my New York Comic Con line up. I finally looked down my last cosplay last week^^ I recently found an amazing app called Cosplanner, and it's been helping me stay organized. I also discovered a cool social cosplay app called Cosplay Amino. I figured since I've been enjoying them both, I should share them with you. I hope if you're a cosplayer, you'll find these apps useful!

First up is Cosplanner! This app is currently available for Android and in Apple's App Store. The app has a lot of useful features. You can sort you cosplay by end date, due date, character, and that's just name a few. You also can categorize items by things you need to buy or make.

There's even a space for reference pics and notes. The task feature is awesome because it lets you plan the convention aspect of your cosplay in one place. So rather than having to use a separate calendar to plan out when you'll work on your cosplay or tracking convention details like booking your hotel, you have everything in one piece. Sometimes I have a bad habit of doing things the hard way and writing everything down and then magically losing that sheet of paper. I'm so happy I found this app because it is extremely useful and saves me a lot of time.

Special Edition NYC

Hey peeps, I hope ya'll been staying cool in this hot as heck weather. NYC is going through a heat wave and the last few days have been tough. Last month, I attended Special Edition with Boba and Rae for the first time. I've been making an effort to get more into the world of comics and graphic novels. I didn't have access to a comic book store until a Barnes and Noble was built when I was in high school and that doesn't even count lol Their selection was whack! So I never really paid comics and graphic novels any mind. The more I've watched movies based off them or heard my friends say how much I would love them, I decided why not. I figured Special Edition would be a great opportunity to learn more!

The comic book festival was held at Pier 94. It was my first time at the venue; I heard that it's usually held at Javits but there was already something that same weekend so they had to use a different place. I thought Pier 94 was okay, it definitely got a little hot and I wasn't a fan of the wonky lighting inside.

Rae and I

Boba headed to the NYCC ticket line to try to get tickets for his sister. Poor thing ended up being in line for almost four hours. He's such an awesome big brother. He was able to get her a 4 Day which I'm sure she'll love. He's the real mvp^^

Sorry for the hazy lighting, the lights they used inside had that effect on my cell phone camera. A few of my favorite vendors were there. Midtown Comics was having an amazing sale. I had to summon the chill within myself and not buy a bunch of stuff since we hadn't seen what was in the artist alley.

My First Geek Girl Brunch | The Ghibli Brunch

Hey honey babes! This week has been snowy and rainy, and I'm looking forward to warmer weather. Last Saturday I attended my first Geek Girl Brunch, and it was awesome! Geek Girl Brunch is a monthly themed brunch for ladies only, sorry boys. It started in NYC, but now has chapters all over the word. There's even a chapter in Germany! So if you're interested see if they have one near you. February's brunch was a Studio Ghibli themed brunch at a restaurant called Do Or Dine. I wore my Tee Fury Ghibli/Beatles tee; it was hiding from me for a few days, but I was able to find it. Please enjoy the food porn^^

I was surprised to learn when I arrived that the restaurant was closed and only open for us. It was nice having the place to ourselves. I thought that was amazing. I arrived with about three or four other ladies; the remaining ladies around a few minutes later. We ended up being a squad about 30 deep.

Parade: Book Review

Hi blog fam! I recently finished Parade by Shuichi Yoshida and really enjoyed the book. I'm also pretty proud of myself for being on my reading game and consistently reading books. I have yet to select my next book, but I am bouncing around a few titles. I would like to read more YA, so I may watch a few vids from a Youtuber I follow that reads a lot of YA titles and see what she recommends.

Parade follows five people that live together by chance in a small apartment. Each character has a chapter dedicated to them from their perspective. The novel explores what happens when people that have no ties to each other live together.  The novel explores complex human dynamics within ourselves and our relationships. Spoilers will be under the cut.

Characters

• Ryosuke Sugimoto- 21 year old male college student that is working part time
• Kotomi Okochi- 23 year old unemployed woman dating an idol
• Mirai Somai-  24 year old woman that loves to party
• Satoru Kokubo- an 18 year old that sells his body
• Naoki Ihara- a 28 year old man that works at a film distributor

The GNA Chronicles ♥︎December '14♥︎

Hello my princes and princesses, I hope this holiday season has been treating you well. I don't have to go back to work until the 5th which I'm very happy about haha I admit that I didn't visit much of the Christmasy places in NYC like I did in previous years. I think it was due to work and just feeling draggy this holiday season. I've been spending the last few days hanging out with my friends. I was able to visit the Line Pop Up store in Times Square with my boo, Tiff, and I'll have a post on that later. This is my next post in my GNA series which talks about the geeky/nerdy things I'm into at the moment.

TV Shows
X-Men The Animated Series: I randomly decided to watch this series. I had seen a few episodes when I was a kid, but didn't remember too much of the series. I really love most of the characters, but Cyclops is so irksome it isn't even funny. Like he has no game at all to speak off. I do not know what Jean sees in him because I bet you his stroke game is weak too. She needs to get with Wolverine and send Scott packing. He literally says THE most annoying and unnecessary things. Luckily, the episodes don't focus on him too much, so I can enjoy everyone else.

Red Shoe Diaries: This was my show when I was younger. I know, I know I won't say my age when I was watching it. But best believe I had no business watching it haha My parents let me watch whatever and I ended up turning out pretty good. I went in thinking it wasn't going to be as good as I remembered it, but I was wrong. It's such a wonderful show that explores sexuality and focuses on women which I don't see too often.

Tokyo Ghoul: Boba and I watched the first episode of this and fell in love. For some reason it reminded me of Shingeki no Kyojin. It's probably because of the main character's struggles with classifying himself as a human versus something else much like Eren.

Sleepy Hollow: Boba and I also watched this together and was immediately pulled in. The first two episodes were amazing and definitely had some scary elements which I wasn't expecting. I've been waiting for his return before continuing the show.

I was a little boyfriend sick because Boba went home to visit his parents and I missed him lots. He came back this Sunday :) I received a wonderful Christmas gift from him which was a TV. He is seriously the best! I've always wanted a TV and haven't had the chance to get one. I recently bought Rune Factory 4 for the 3DS as a Christmas present for myself. I'm going to pop it open after this post. Apparently, it's a very addicting game and a spin off of Harvest Moon, so I have faith that I'll really enjoy it. I hope you all received the present you wanted the most. Wishing you all a happy new year!

New York Comic Con 2014| Photo Heavy

Hi everyone^^ Work has been kicking my booty due to a trip to Florida. I didn't even really get to enjoy the weather as it was chilly down there, and I wasn't properly dressed -_- Anywho, I wanted to write about my experiences at this year's New York Comic Con. It was a lot of fun! I opted not to cosplay because I was so burnt out from trying to secure tickets which was a nightmare. I was only able to go on Friday *pouts* but I'm still happy that I was able to go. Let's hope next year isn't as difficult, but I'm not holding out too much hope for that considering the conventionis getting more and more popular. I'll be going to Anime Next in the summer which will only be my second convention, so I'm really excited. So far I've only been to NYCC. Warning there will probably be a ton of pictures in this post lol

They had these really huge blow ups outside from Teen Titans. I thought it was really cute and definitely set the geeky atmosphere.

I went with Boba and his sister, and it was lots of fun! This was my first time going on a Friday, and I was really excited We were going to meet a few friends once we got there, but it was the three of us for a good bit of the time. We all rocked nerdy tees.

My Ninja Turtles tee

Boba and his sister Ana in their nerdy tees; Also, he is so freakin adorbs!

We made our way over to one our fav booths. It's for a modular bag designer; the brand name is Equilibrium and their bags are awesome and super comfy. Boba bought one from them last year and he still loves it. He even wore it to the convention; we ended up switching bag because my bag was a little rough on my back and his Equilibrium bag feels amazing. He's such a sweetie!

Boba and Rae

My bestie Rae (she's the gf of my wifey Laura) met up with us around 11:30. I actually attended my first panel with her. I've only been on Saturdays and never wanted to attend a panel because you usually have to fight to get in and fight to get out. And since I would only be there one day I didn't want to spend it waiting in line for panels. There was a huge turn out for this WOC of color in Comics panel which was a great surprise! The women on the panel were amazing, it's a wonderful first panel experience.

Swag alert!

I bought Boba this really cool Nintendo controller case. It was only ten bucks which was a steal. I looked on Hot Topic's website and it was $30 bucks. You can actually press the buttons^^ And Boba bought me a Cat Bug plushie!

There were some really awesome cosplayers as usual. I know a lot of people go hard on Saturday, so I can only imagine the level of awesomeness. I actually ran into Heir of Glee in her Storm cosplay. She is really beautiful and nice, and I can't believe I forgot to ask to take a pic with her.

When you're tired at the convention, hit that geek squat, hit that geek squat

We actually ended up staying at the convention for the whole day. If anyone decides to do this I highly recommend going out for lunch just to get a break from the convention. We went to the a nearby burger place, got off our feet for a bit, and then went back. I don't think we would have lasted all day if we had pulled a marathon.

Me and Ana

Can we talk about how I freakin loves this show and need to continue watching it. I am seriously slacking on my anime and Asian drama game.

So ready for the live action of this anime

There was actually someone inside of this. They would just stand there and wait for kids to come up and pose for a pic. Then they would move and scare the kids haha

Come and get your bag of yaoi!

The last thing we did was attend the Sailor Moon panel at 8 pm. I thought that it was going to be a cool discussion about the show, but it was just a screening for the new dub. I wish they would have wrote that, but I didn't mind too much because I haven't seen any of the show.

It was the best NYCC I've been to and I can't wait to go next year. Let's just hope people find the chill when hunting their tickets because this year was cray at the stores. I will not be doing that again, no ma'am.  The vendors and the guest list were amazing. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us in 2015.  Thanks for reading!