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We Are Providence

Friday, May 13th, 2016

We drove to Providence today, on day one of our little getaway. I’d been considering such a trip for years, but after recently reading the newly reprinted Ramsey Campbell book ‘The Thing In The Lake’ the trigger had been pulled.

It was finally time to pay my respects to Lovecraft.

The first stop was a wonderful store downtown that promotes the memory and legacy of H.P. Lovecraft, an author (mostly) obscure in his life but now recognized as one of the most influential American authors to have ever lived. His contribution to the genres of fantasy and horror can hardly be underestimated, and I’ve been a fan for about 30 years.

The store had some remarkable items, and the lovely proprietress gave us a map of providence with all the Lovecraft sights on it. Afterwards we walked a few minutes to a local library to see this bust (which had been partially funded by Guillermo del Toro):

And then we headed to our primary destination, the Swan Point Cemetary. Specifically this small and somewhat unassuming tombstone:

Lovecraft was poor in his time, and upon his death didn’t even get his own gravestone (the above was erected over 50 years later). Initially he was only on the Phillips tombstone, behind me when I took the above shot. (Yes, I placed the tiny Cthulhu on top, but you can see offerings left by others – including foreign coins.)

Ironically he wrote about this very cemetary in his stories, as he did about many other sights in Ptovidence. He was a somber man, very poor and (as he believed) unsuccessful. If only he could have known how famous he would one day be, and how in a cemetary packed with incredible edifices the one that most people would come to visit was the tiny stone with his name on it.

Mr Lovecraft: your imagination was boundless, your stories timeless and I’ll always be a fan.

It was late in the day when we finally got to our B&B and we’re gobsmacked by how beautiful it is!

That’s the dining room we’ll eat breakfast in tomorrow! Everything in here is beautiful, and it’s probably much fancier than I deserve 🙂

Tomorrow we’re off to the zoo, only a hop and skip from here. Expect photos of animals!

Posted in Art, Books & Comics, Miscellaneous, Otaku, The Unknown, Trip | Comments Closed

NYCC 2015 Day 4

Sunday, October 11th, 2015

Since we could only stay at the con a few hours today we focused on one last sweep of the main hall (well, about a third of it) and some last minute purchases.

As always I love the vintage and the unusual, and were it not for getting sidetracked by a pile of ancient D&D modules (all of which I then bought) I nearly purchased a crazy expensive boxed Ultraman villian from the 80’s.

I didn’t buy this though:

Or any of these:

And certainly not this:

I have to say though, I love that someone’s even trying to sell that. Yet another reason this con is so much fun.

I haven’t spoken of our celebrity sightings yet. Aside from the X-files panel, we probably saw fewer this year than ever before, and much of the sightings were like this:

There were also much fewer people signing autographs this year as well, which may have been good because I doubt anyone could have topped the bizarre John deLancie from last year 🙂

Eventually, it was time once again for us to turn our backs on the con and head home.

Since it’s KLS’s birthday today, we had sprung for a first-class room on the train home! It was cozy and comfortable, and came with a delicious meal in the dining car!

Doesn’t she look happy!!

After four long and packed days we’re super tired, but once again we had a great time at NYCC. I’ll follow up in a few days with a post about some of the unusual loot we brought home with us…

Posted in Books & Comics, Celebrity, Models, Otaku, Toys | Comments Closed

NYCC 2015 Day 3

Saturday, October 10th, 2015

We awoke early and headed down the con to line up at 9 am for a bracelet that would get us into a panel over four hours later. Then we lined up for another bracelet to get us into another panel starting over nine hours later. All this took over two hours and while frustrating and boring is typical of Saturday – the day of lines – at this con.

We spent the couple of hours we had in Artists Alley buying prints before heading back to the main hall and lining up again for the first panel which was The X-Files.

And it was amazing!

We got to see the entire first episode (which screens next year) and it vastly exceeded our expectations. It was followed by a panel featuring Mulder (Duchovny) and Skinner (Pileggi) and series creator Chris Carter himself.

Since they didn’t want the episode leaking online security was very tight and included guys watching the audience through night vision goggles (!) to spot anyone trying to record it! Surreal…

The afternoon was the usual con overload, gawking and buying and dealing with the intense crowds. No matter how much you walk around there’s always something new to be seen!

Many things were bought, both for us and others. Dozens of 3DS street passes were obtained. Swollen feet throbbed in agony.

We headed out for some dinner and to drop our loot off at the hotel.

We returned for the cosplay contest, which was a lot of fun. Leaving the con after it has closed looks like this:

Tomorrow – KLS’s birthday! – is the last day of this years con. Even after over 20 hours on the show floor there’s still things we want to have a closer look at. Since we’ve only got a few hours before our train, it’ll be a busy morning indeed!

Posted in Books & Comics, Celebrity, Miscellaneous, Models, Otaku, Toys | Comments Closed

NYCC 2015 Day 2

Friday, October 9th, 2015

Three shots taken from our hotel room which costs an arm and a leg and boasts a ‘deluxe city view’. The view earlier this evening during a heavy rainstorm was quite stunning.

I’ll get the obligatory ‘insane lines’ comment out of the first. Yes the lines are insane and yes it can be frustrating but as old hands we knew what we were in for and endure it calmly like saints… but Christ there’s a lot of people here!

That’s KLS getting her lips glittered. From the hundreds of exhibitors you can buy almost anything: it’s not all comics and toys. There’s actually a surprising amount of vendors selling clothing (mostly costumes), wigs, contact lenses and cosmetics. KLS bought some eyeliner from this booth last year, loved it, and was happy to find they were back!

I particularly like the guys selling the ‘vintage’ collectibles because you never know what you’ll find. Take the above shot: a view master reel next to nazi memorabilia and a vintage Star Wars toy. Wonderful! Occasionally these sorts of vendors have some treasures like this:

Which pales next to some of the ‘serious collector’ comics on offer, such as this:

There are also a dozen or so original art dealers, from which you can buy the original art created for comics over the years. It’s a bit daunting browsing their wares though, when tiny pieces of art run into the thousands!

No real comment on the above, other than its about 60 cm tall!

That’s the sort of thing I would have gone berserk for as a kid. Not only does the set contain 12 gargoyles and 6 titans, but it’s also got 12 dragonriders and a mind-boggling 40 demons!! The fun I would have had 😉

I wonder if this prototype shown at the Kotobukiya booth is a Force Awakens spoiler?

The last silly item photo of the days goes to these perler bead faces of Stephen Colbert. Each (that’s 2 different items) costs $400 and is (much) smaller and in fewer colours than the one I made of Bernard earlier this year…

On to cosplay! As usual it’s everywhere, and sometimes you feel like you’re in the minority not being in costume. The eye-catcher at the show so far is this massive Hulkbuster that towers over everyone and is build around a sort of power suit the guy inside is wearing:

You can see how popular it is! Here’s a shot of him putting the whole thing on:

Impressive as it is (and it really is), I tend to prefer quirky stuff like this:

Or creative (and pretty!) stuff like this:

I don’t even know who she is cosplaying 🙂

We’ve also spent hours walking ‘Artists Alley’, where hundreds of artists display and sell prints of their work to the public. Much of this is comic-related, but there’s also a bunch of other genres and themes and a good amount has made its way into our bags destined for our walls at home.

Tomorrow is the big day, and the only day with panels we are interested in (we missed the Rebels panel, which was held too soon after opening yesterday). Assuming we beat the lines and get wristbands hours ahead of time, we may even be able to sit in on panels with (omg) celebrities! I’ll swoon with excitement! Wish me luck 😉

Posted in Art, Books & Comics, Crafts, Games, Miscellaneous, Otaku, Toys | 1 Comment »

NYCC 2015 Day 1

Thursday, October 8th, 2015

That’s the sun rising in the fog as we rode the train to NY this morning for another (our 8th?) comic con. You know the drill by now, legions of people, otaku madness, great exhaustion, much excitement.

And so it started again!

We only had to line up for a half hour or so to get in, but the crowds are truly massive. Once inside it started off on a pretty high note, as I lined up to get my very own Yugioh token card made:

I think I nailed the pose didn’t I?

Usually seeing this piece of remarkable art made entirely of Jelly Beans would be quite a thing, but here it’s just one of an endless cavalcade of spectacles. One minute you could be checking out a display of costumes from the upcoming Warcraft film, next minute you could be digging through old comics or getting a wrestlers autograph and the next moment you could be shopping at a stand that only sold Star Trek merchandise: