AwesomeCon: Artist Tracie Ching

   At Awesome-Con we ran into one of our favorite artists, whom we had previously met at Baltimore ComicCon 2013.  Tracie Ching is a self-taught graphic designer in Washington, D.C.  She is the Lead Designer and Creative Director for the premier ultimate Frisbee apparel company, VC Ultimate.  Additionally, she has produced licensed posters for some small-time, no-name properties such as Star Trek, AMC’s The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, and my personal favorite, Community.  Her limited edition silk screen prints of alternative movie posters are also massive fan-favorites.
     Jason and I must have spent a half hour, excitedly pointing out what movies she had posters of at her booth,  you know in case she forgot!
   Looking at her portfolio, it's no wonder some of the most massive franchises in geek culture seek her out.  There's a brilliant quality to her vector work, where she combines the precision necessary to make photo-real images with a clear style and vision to make the pieces all her own.
Plus, her art epitomizes one of the things I tell people about geek and pop-culture conventions like Awesome-Con, even if you're not a comics, sci-fi or fantasy person, there is something for you.  Tracie's vision is not restricted to the self-imposed walls of geek culture.  She's got something for sports fans, classic book fans and if you're a fan of Scorsese films, you reeeeaaally want to check out her website. 
   Also she is incredibly nice.  Which, when combined with talent is dangerous to my wallet.


Reasons I love my wife, #238:
She bought me a pile of Tracie Ching's stickers
Not quite this big, but still.

From Tracie's "Scorsese's Saints" series

A sneak peek at this year's Christmas present to my brother.

Visit her website (and buy everything!)  And like her on the Facebooks.

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Awesome Con is Awesome!

Design by Octopus Tree House
http://petegoestocomiccon.blogspot.com/2012/12/artists-have-you-been-to-octopus.html

Right on the heels of our return from Emerald City Comic-Con, Awesome-Con DC popped up.  Shamefully, we missed their inaugural year in 2013, but we weren't about to miss this year.  In a short time, Awesome-Con has already made a huge name for itself as a pop-culture convention that spills over with an energy and excitement on the floor - gathering love from all corners of the geek community: artists and crafters, cosplayers, vendors and especially activists.  At least half a dozen booths were dedicated to some of the most important issues in the geek community and the people we spoke to were friendly, passionate and informative.  In other words, Awesome. 
I wonder if I'll have to change the name of the blog now ...

 

Ani-Mia, didn't we just see you in Seattle?
http://animia.storenvy.com/

Everyone getting along!  Very un-Joss.

Rod Hannah and Leanne Hanna, the massively friendly creative team behind the
webcomic Blue Milk Special.  How we we love them so!
http://www.bluemilkspecial.com/

Huntress and Black Lantern Wonder Woman.
Somehow those smiles make them scarier, like
they know something you don't.

Everybody loves a happy ending.  Kaylee and Simon from Serenity.

A (very) Red Sonja

Arkham City Robin.  Check the guns!

Picture-perfect Rogue.

This dude looks ... shredded. Heehee.

OK, I need to research my Ninja Turtles characters ...

This explains the rain on my drive home.



Jason and I met some of the minds behind Femmes in the Fridge.
http://femmesinthefridge.com/
Check the link and get involved with this inclusive and
intelligent pack of geeks.

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Costumes: Switching it up

S'now way this princess doesn't hit the gym.  haha!  (sorry)

One of the great things about cosplay I have witnessed in the past few years is that the small-but-unfortunately-loud group of people in the geek community judging and hating on other people's cosplay choices is being pushed aside and left behind.  The notion that one should only cosplay as characters that match one's gender, race or body type is finding fewer and fewer outlets and being taken less and less seriously.  In the meantime, I have personally seen a growth of creativity on the floors of pop-culture conventions like Comicon.  This seems especially true in the case of a character's gender.  At  ECCC there were male Captain Marvels, female Captain Tightpants, Lokis of indeterminate gender.  (so many Lokis...)

Some do so to be subversive and make a statement, others do so to be silly or to make others smile, some simply identify with a certain character and will be damned if they can't cosplay who they want.  But for just about everyone, it seems clear that the intent is also to have fun.  That's what I got out of it anyway.  Here's a small collection of the characters who made me smile. 



You do you, Leeloo



Maybe it's the facial hair, but this Jubilee seems
less annoying than usual.

Thor wishes he had that hair!

Their costumes were shiny enough
to be visible from space.

These two wonder boys were a riot.



Franky, this Han Solo was the most accurate costume at the convention.
Leia ... well ... what else can you say.  It's just staring right back at ya.
All that majesty.

Yeah, well ... how good is her Cajun accent?!

I see the appeal of the Mal/Jayne power couple
There were several couples there.
She gets to be in charge.  He gets the cool hat!

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FMK: Joss Whedon edition

This week's Friday fight revisits an old favorite for the PGTCC crew.  FMK: Fuck Marry, Kill: Joss Whedon edition.  Who would we hook up with, spend our lives with and push off a cliff in the Joss Whedon universe(s).  And, yep, it turns out Joss makes us all come across a little bit creepy.

Shaida:  I hope no one answers "Angel" in the F category. You do NOT want to shag that guy!

Shaida:  Also banned from the F category: Dolls. Right?

Pete: Eww. yeah, that's pretty bad. Would that mean android Buffy is out, too?

"Somebody LOVE me!!!"

Jason: Let me start with a disclaimer,
Pete: Oh, dear.
Jason: "This response is subject to change at any and all times!"  For eff... I'd have to go with Inara. Marry... shitballs... Marry... Damn. Well, we'll put a pin in that. Kill, Dollhouse, all of it. Burn the damn thing DOWN!

Pete: My K is a toss-up between Charles Gunn and Connor. There were a lot of guys to dislike towards the end of Angel.

Jason: It's really tough for kill, because if you give Joss enough time he'll do it for you!

Pete: Right? One could have a gross, all dead people edition. F -- Dead Cordy (since she's really just an angel or something), M -- Dead Fred (since you'd still have Illyria walking around in her shell) and K -- (twice) Darla, since well, she more or less died twice anyway.

Jason: Ohhhh what about Cabin In the Woods? Does that count?

Rosa:  Lol--Jason wants to eff a merman....

Jason: Hell yeah. Sexy ass... wait! DAMN IT!  ROSAAAAAAA!!!

Rosa:  Buffy edition: F = Spike, M = Xander, and K = Riley.  Although...marrying Giles would probably be fairly adventurous...

Pete: just don't ask Xander to drive you places.

Pete: I am curious if any man here is not going to say F Inara!

Jason: ... isn't that her intergalactic job?

"Not if your name is Jason ..."

Pete: And then she cut her hair and invaded earth—

Harry: forgot about Inara.

Manny: How could you forget about Inara?

Jason: I like the cut of your jib Rosa, good call. Buffy edition: F=Faith, M= Cordelia (cause we need 2 incomes in this economy) and K=... Riley

Scott: K is easy. Connor. Hands down. And it must be a painful way at that. I almost went Dawn with that, but I think Conner definitely beats her out in annoying-ness. F..... hmmmmm. I'm thinking the once Buffy B/F Riley would fit into that category nicely (have fun with it Rosa, I know you want to).
Pete: Haaate Connor!

Rosa:  Why must you bait me so, Scott?

Scott: The M though, well if dolls were allowed I'd totally be programing Victor into the perfect guy.

"I love sangria and Heroclix.  marry me, Scott!"

Scott:  If I must go the less creepy route then I'm leaning towards Paul from Dollhouse, though in all honesty I'll be pretending he's Helo the entire time.

Rosa:  ...and now I can't stop thinking about what you would be fitting in to Riley...

Shaida:  This is tough! So many characters are shag-able and kill-able in almost equal measure.

Jason: I agree with Shaida. Can we have a weird F then K category?

Rosa:  Wait...you want to F someone out of curiosity and then K them? Like F Warren right after he got skinned and then kill him?  That's even grosser than effing a merman, Jason.

Jason: I aim to please Rosa... I aim to please.

"YES, if your name is Jason!"

Jason: Although Rosa, you are the one who brought up skinning... I think we all agree that Rosa needs to tone the F and K down a little... this is not a leather dungeon Rosa!

Shaida:  I feel like that's maybe the genius of this category, too. No matter who you pick for F or M (less so for K), there's always a weirdness factor. Many choices seem delicious but a little wrong. Curse Joss and his nuanced characters!

Jason: Right!! Marry someone means a whole AIRPORT OF BAGGAGE that you have to live with no matter what character it is.

Rosa:  False--marrying Giles just means that you get to have sing-a-longs and role play with him as Ripper!

Pete: Speaking of Baggage, pretty much every character Eliza Dushku plays is lugging a trunk of it behind her. Even as a derpy doll, she managed to bring the baggage. I don't want to kill her, but ... yeesh! She is out for F or for M.

Jason: Mmmmm, I don't know about F with Faith... that sounds like a very fun (and probably scary) event.

Shaida:  Absolutely. I mean, obviously your first thought is to marry someone like Captain Mal, but then you think about what that would really *mean*. Also, I feel like this is so obvious that I haven't had to state it, but for me: F - Spike, M - Spike, K - Drusilla. I love Spike.

Pete: if you effed Dru... would you tell anyone? I ask myself …



No one has to know  ...

Shaida:  You wouldn't have to, you know she'd mention it at the worst possible time!

Rosa:  While the list continues to grow of people to F and M, I keep finding that my list of people to K has a high percentage of characters under the age of 15...kids are the worst!

Jason: Really... Mermen are the worst.

Scott: I agree. Kids are full of suck. I feel like the K needs to be expanded. I think there should be a torture then kill category. Because I'd definitely kill Dawn quickly, but Conner? I'm all for having some fun with him first, then killing him. And not fun in a sexual kind of way, thank you very much Rosa.

Rosa:  ...while I think you have a tendency towards the younger gents, Scott, I've never called you a pedophile! But seriously, you shouldn't have to rent cartoons to keep your boyfriends entertained...

Scott: I rent cartoons to keep me entertained. I can think of at least one that would've been totally confused by the cartoons. oye.

Pete: Serenity edition. K - Since the rules of same gender haven't changed, I assume, I say River because she's really scary and might just kill me if we're even just sitting, watching TV and the wrong commercial comes on. F - Inara, because you just can't make a companion a housewife. Especially if you live on a rickety old spaceship. Besides, for M - I will take even the one-episode sham marriage to Saffron (Christina Hendricks).

E-e-evil woman! 

Harry: Ok...my list really quick: Eff -  Kaylee (cuz she stays horny) Emmm - Zoe...just cuz... and ...KILL River...she is the creep girl who won't go away and kills all your friends.
Jason: M= Really I think I'm gonna go firm with Kayle. She seems the least permanently disturbed... for now anyway.

Harry: Dollhouse. I am killing all of them. They are all psycho whackjobs.

Pete: That's kind of how I feel about SHIELD right now. crash the plane!

Pete: Nobody for Lindsey, ladies?

Boom!

Rosa:  That hair!

Harry: AoS -- F - Simmons...she is that innocent freak behind closed doors. Marry May - cuz ...it's security. Kill Skye by pushing her out the plane.



Pete: Throw Ward after her and he can shout "in English Please!" when you explain the physics of falling to him.

Harry: Amen

Jason: F- Skye... Kill the rest and go for drinks with Coulson (since he apparently can't die anyway).

Harry: still hard to believe that Ming-na Wen is 50

Pete: what!? *rushes to google*
Harry: yes just turned 50 in november

"I want my senior discount!"

Rosa:  Dr Horrible edition: M = Dr Horrible, F = the groupies (they do the weird stuff!), and K = Penny--she was doomed anyways!



Jason: F = Penny... Then let the whole thing play out and go for drinks with Dr. Horrible... so we can play "Haaaaave you met the Dr.?"

Rosa:  Is there an Asian equivalent to "black don't crack?"

Harry: Asian don't be phasin'?

Jason: I think it's just Ming-Na Wen

Harry: scary to think that Ming Wa is old enough to be Chloe Bennett's mama

Pete: Soooooo ... I'm sticking with my dead crew for Angel. But for Buffy ... hmm... I don't really like any of the ladies there.  But that Spike, now ...

Pete: Frosted tips! What whaaat!

Yep.  It's the hair, the ladies love...

Harry: hair only lasts so long

Pete: Unless you're a vampire

Jason: Oooooh...

Harry: there is that

Harry: so we are just killing everybody then?

Jason: Just keeping in line with the Whedon philosophy of character growth really.

Harry: well let's kill Whedon

Jason: Whoa Whoa Whoa!!! Not till the Avengers movies are over... not till then.
pete: Joss is writing our deaths as we speak.

Shaida:  Firefly - F: Jayne, M: Captain Tightpants, K: Simon. I'll be in my bunk...

I have a name!

Rosa:  My Firefly would be slightly different. F: Jayne (with or without the hat), M: Wash, K: EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE REAVERS WHO WERE IN THE SHIP THAT EVENTUALLY SPEARED WASH!
Pete: RIP, Wash.

Jason: Firefly - F: Inara or Saffron M: Kayle K: The Fox execs that thought they should cancel the show... or Saffron if she uses and steals everything I own... maybe she's not a good idea...

Pete: Jason, you always pick the wrong woman.

Manny: Firefly-- F Inara (cuz duh), M Kaylee (she's horny AND handy) K. Zoe (so she can be with Wash)



Jason: Ewwww... Manny!
Manny: Angel--F Darla (crazy sex is the best!) M Cordelia (I've always loved me some Cordelia) K Fred (that way Peter can have Dead Fred--happy birthday!)
Pete: You give the worst birthday presents.  Plus she's not dead, just ... replaced by a demigod.  Oh Joss Whedon ...!

Manny: Buffy--F Faith (crazy sex--M Buffy (she can kill vampires which means she can kill her own spiders and open her own jars) K Willow (sorry, somebody's got to take one for the team)
Pete: Ewww... Manny!

Manny: AoS--F May (ask Ward how mind blowing that angry sex has to be --have you spotted the trend yet?)  M Simmons (she's smart, sexy, and has a British accent) K Skye (she's annoying as hell)

Jason: But I feel like if you marry Simmons you have Fitz living with you as well... like little brother... or neglected love interest...
Pete: A whiny one!  "But I'm a nice guy.  I got friend-zoned."

Manny: He can do the tech support.

Pete: He can get my Buffy bot running again!