Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Star Wars Convention Part 3

Part 3: Main Stage Events

Between acts while people were waiting we had these guys as the opening act. DJ Elliot and Mark something. (Sorry Mark, can't remember you last name!) They were entertaining!
Warwick Davis was the host of the main stage. He was so cute! (and tiny!) He was one of the Ewoks in the movie. He was only 11 when they filmed it. He really was the most entertaining one up there - over the main guests. :)
Anthony Daniels was C3-PO, both inside the suit and the voice. He was pretty funny too.
Warwick made all the guests play trivia or recreate scenes from the movies.
R2-D2 running into him! Haha!
Carrie Fisher was interesting. I feel sorry for her in a way. So many random people just idolize her. She never really got to be anything except Princess Leia. She did have the funniest quote though. Someone asked her how she feels about being a Disney Princess now. She said something like "That's cool. You know, seeing Sleeping Beauty - wakin that B@%!&# up.... Hanging with Snow White - workin on her tan..." Nice.
The Fett-tastic Four was the most entertaining show. For my non-Star Wars friends, Boba Fett was one of the Bounty Hunters chasing Han Solo. He became one of the most popular characters of the first movies. In the new movies they showed him as a young boy and his father - who turned out to be the DNA for the clones. ANYWAY.

Apparently it took three people to be Boba Fett in the first trilogy, and then there was young Boba. So they were all there.
All these [old] guys took turns in the suit to shoot different scenes and movies.
Warwick had them play some pretty entertaining games. Here's young Boba showing off. (He was a pretty big show off...)
And then he had them do a "bounty" hunt in the audience. Anyone wearing a character shirt - but extra points for a wookie or a Luke Skywalker. Ethan was a wookie AND close to the front, so he got grabbed first!
GAH!!! On stage with all the cool guys!
The girls (Haven and her friend Jordan) were super jealous at this moment!

Then they had them re-enact a scene from the movie. They pulled a volunteer from the audience who just HAPPENED to be the missing Fett - Jango. (Dad Fett)
As if all this wasn't entertaining enough... Jango led them all in a native dance from New Zealand. Both him and young Boba (Daniel Logan) are from New Zealand.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay for Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker). There was another event going on at the same time that sounded really good. Well, I made the right choice. He was really interesting. He told some great stories and did some really good impressions of folks he worked with. I of course loved the Harrison Ford impressions the best!
I didn't know about all his voice acting. He did quite a few characters in cartoons that Ethan watches, so it was cool to hear him do those voices. I never would have guessed some of them - like the How to Train a Dragon series, Batman and The Regular Show.

Rob saw several more talks than I did. I skipped a few to take Ethan for food and stuff. I am not a super nerd like some of my fellow convention-goers, but I really enjoyed these interviews. Some more than others. I guess I geeked out a little - but mostly it was just really entertaining to watch everyone else geek out! :) I am really glad we went!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Star Wars Convention Part 2

Part 2: Costumes from the floor

It was so fun to see people dressed up. I've always loved costumes. These people really love Star Wars!

Admiral Ackbar
 It's a trap!

Queen Amidala
 Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress
 So many of these costumes are hand made and just fantastic.
 Walking carpet....
 Darth Maul and the "Mother Talzin" who brings him back to life in the Clone Wars cartoon.
 Wheel chair TIE fighter!
 One of many Darth Vaders
 Gungans!
 This is one of the costume contest winners who I had such a hard time getting a photo of. She hand painted all the swirls on her cloak! I don't remember her name... some lady Jedi. 
 A girl Mandalorian
 Some more Mauls (apparently they are called Zabraks)
 Closer look at some winners from the contest
 R2-tutu
 I saw this on Pinterest! Such a cute little outfit!

Tuscan raiders scare me.
 LOTS of Twi'leks all over the place. 
 Can you imagine going out in a swimsuit? Cuz that's kinda what this is like...
 But also covered in body paint.
One of the judges in the contest mentioned how these costumes are so much better than what they had on set. They have to make them to last and the ones on camera just have to look good on screen. As a seamstress and crafter I totally appreciate all the work that goes into putting one of these together. It was inspiring. I may never get to a convention again, but it does make me want to work a little harder on Halloween costumes!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Star Wars Convention Part 1

So we just got back from the Star Wars Celebration Europe. I didn't really realize what a big deal it was until I realized it was the actual Star Wars (Disney) people putting it on. Mickey didn't make an appearance... but there were some big names there!

This was our first convention and I have to say it was a lot of fun. I would do it again. The whole family went. I've posted a lot of pics on facebook, but I wanted to give a little run down of some of the highlights. This will have to be over multiple posts, otherwise it would be the longest post in history!

So I thought I would start with the costume contest. 

The costumes at the event were just amazing. So many are hand made - even the metal and molded plastic ones. People really put a lot into making things just right. 

Here are the winners in each category.

Kids:


Tiny Jawas!
Gonk Droid
This girl was someone specific... but eh... I don't remember. 
(Side note: you'll realize I'm not really THAT big of Star Wars nerd as I try to remember what things are called and fail...)

Aliens, Droids and Outer Rim


GIANT Wampa - seriously this guy was on stilts or something.
C3-PO
This guy was hard core. He even tracked down the original shop that powder coated the real costume in the movie and had them do the gold on his.
It was really hard to photograph him cuz he was so shiny.
Dat guy. I have no idea what species he was or what his name was... sorry.

Clones, Storm Troopers and Mandalorians Category

Dark Side

See that Darth Vader in the wheel chair? That was awesome. That guy on the right is not Darth Vader. He was some other bad guy - I presume from the books or comics or something.
This girl deserves a closer look. Her light whip really lights up and everything!

Rebels (The good guys)

There was a third girl but I could not get a good picture of her for anything. And that guy on the left is actually a girl from Japan! She did a little performance too and was amazing. 

Princesses

Beautiful! All the costumes required a ton of work, but of course I really appreciate these because of all the hand sewing that went into them.
This yellow one won the Best in Show too. Her dress was covered in hand made roses and all the embroidery on the skirt was done by hand. It was beautiful.
Ok, so this was just the official costume contest. There were amazing costumes everywhere!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Backpack, Backpack

I made a backpack!
It was a whim.

 I wanted to see if I could do it. 
 I added stuff. Like zippered pockets.
 A place to clip my keys.
 More pockets.
 Closeup of key hanger.
And look at my keys!

Details:
Fabric: Little Matryoska by Riley Blake
Pattern: Backpacks by Cindy Taylor Oates