A BOOK! ITS GOING TO BE A BOOK

In my head I was always a writer. For my entire life I have written things - imagined things different from everyone else. I never hought of myself as person that would self publish my book.

Until now.

After seeing the dedication and hardworking of Ejen, the photographer and creator of a fabulous book of cosplayers called Cosplay in America, I have decided that I could probably write a book about cosplay.

Having been at this hobby for ten years, it is from sheer observation that I think I an capable of performing a social study of the cosplay community.

Right now, the book is in its rawest form: an outline. As I generate interest from willing participants to give interviews for the book, I see the potential in this book. Not only will this book allow outsiders into out world, it will also be a shining testament of the community we all love so much - something that can stand for many years.

I do not know how long it will take me to write the book nor how long it will be. I just know that this is something I WANT to do and hopefully have the backing of American cosplayers to allow me to represent this scene as accurately as I possibly can.

So I am pleased to announce yet another project I have given myself - Stitches: The Sociology of Cosplay.

If there is anyone that would like more info on the book or to be involved more, please email me at jessgreen99@gmail.com

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I Am Number Four [review] slight spoilers

With all the remakes and reimaginings and sequels and prequels, the industry is becoming saturated with original content that has existed in some form or another.

And with that, I recently saw I Am Number Four, a movie adapted from a book written by Pittacus Lore. I went into this movie blind as sometimes I do on purpose, having not read its source material.

Number Four was, in short, a well-rounded movie that could potentially appeal to all different age groups - as many young adult movies and novels tend to do.

The story is quite simple. John Smith (played by Alex Pettyfer who also stars in next months Beastly as, er, the "Beast") moves around a lot with his guardian Henri who is played by The Crazies Timothy Olyphant. Basically, hunky John is an alien. Him and nine others are being hunted down by an alien species and being murdered, in order. John is, obviously, number four.

There was not much that bothered me at all about the movie as it was highly enjoyable and kept me invested the entire time. There was something for everyone whether it be John without his shirt on (which happened very often and could have happened way more in my opinion) or the crazy action sequences that were intense. The movie had its heartwarming moments that made you Aww and the heartwrenching moments that made you cringe.

The one fault in the movie, despite how rounded it indeed was, was how apparent it seemed that the book needed to read. The movie glosses over something that were probably expanded on in book form. The key thing that bugged me was the reconciliation of John and his rival, football star Mark. Out of nowhere, at the end of the movie, Mark helps John and it was so jarring and made no sense, especially where we last saw Mark. Anything that can pull me out of a movie that I had been so into for the entire running time is certainly not good. Apparently, from what I know of the book, there was something that led to them making amends, but the movie did not even hint at that.

Despite that, the movie was pretty good and has me excited to read the book. It is definently worth checking out if you like young adult action mixed with drama but there was a certain lack of "sci fi" in it except for the glossed over alien parts.

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Coming Up on Cosplay Stitches!

Sucker Punch is an upcoming movie that releases March 25th. I will be cosplaying one of the characters from that movie, Baby Doll.

From the stock of her gun, she has charms hanging from it. I think this little detail adds such a feminine and cute aspect to the character - especially since she seems like a bad ass.

I have decided to make the charms using clay. There are always three different class that a lot of cosplayers decide between when choosing a costume: Crayola's Model Magic, Paperclay, and Scupley. I have used the first two on projects but have yet to use Scupley.

I have decided to do a clay, product test and review. I will be getting all three clays and making some of the charms out of them. Afterwards I will record my results! :) from past experience I loved working with model magic but it remained a bit fragile. Paperclay was a bit more sturdy, but I could never get it smooth even with sandpaper.

I'm excited about doing this and can't wait to tell you all which one I think is the best!

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LUCKY FIND

Often I can just happen upon items for cosplay without really looking quite hard. Today, I FOUND MY SHOES FOR MY LITCHI COSTUME FOR SEVEN DOLLARS.

I was in Rue 21 looking for clothes for a date. Rue 21 always has really good deals on their shoes at the end of season. (and on their clothes!) Since most stores are putting Spring items in, they were basically trying to get rid of old items and winter items.

I first saw some open toed, wedge heels. I was going to cut the extra, leather like fabric off and build boots completely just using the wedge heel as my base. But they didn't have my size.

So I left and returned. The boots I had originally looked at for my Seras cosplay were also on sale. Not my size either! (although I'm going to be going to other shoes to see if they have them in my size)

Then...I saw them...the perfect boots for the costume! It was remarkable how well they would work.

And they were my size! OH HAPPY DAY! I quickly grabbed them because they were so cheap. The boots were originally $35 and I got them for $7!

this will be the perfect thing to tell people at my Cosplay on a Budget panel. I am so stressed about money that its difficult to buy cosplay things. But since these shoes were so cheap it wasn't a big deal to get them :)

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Litchi Staff

All day I have been working on the prop for my Litchi costume. IT IS FINALLY COMPLETE. THANK YOU ALL THAT IS HOLY AND GOOD. Because of the sheer size of this staff, it took a while to paint, dry, etc.
Materials used:
1 1/2" pvc pipe (6 foot, cut from 10 foot)
2 pipe cap ends
Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint in Banana
Folk Art Acrylic Paint in Licorice
Anita's Glossy Craft Paint in Glossy white
Anita's Glossy Craft Paint in Glossy Red
Krylon Short Cuts Hobby paint in clear gloss

So, its six foot tall so quite taller then me but still very proportionate to my height. Its very light weight and I can spin it around and do all sorts of tricks with it, just like Litchi! *cough* I'm incredibly happy with this prop.

Lowes used to cut pvc pipe but they swear on their mothers they can anymore. So i called Home Depot and they were able to do it with no problem. While there I got hit on by two older - uh - gentlemen at two different times. One kept asking did i know what size pipe I needed for the job even after I assured him it was just for a costume prop. I really hope there wasn't some underlying sexual innuendo there. The other kept asking was i a plumber. There's a Mario joke I could have used there but I let it slide.

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