Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 65

Teh Fan Arts

I plan to write to my penpal later today, so to that end I spent some time "fixing" a picture I'd done earlier of Renji, so that it could be the background art to my missive. Also, since I'm sending it way, I decided to record it for myself for Posterity, as it were. Here's close of up Renji:



Now in action, with his beloved Zabimaru:


And finally, my newest picture in which I attempt to recreate the awesome that is Renji Abarai (and continue to fail somewhat.) This is also a problem I have with Byakuya Kuchiki and why, thank god, I will probably never be able to truly commit Renji x Byakuya fan art... (Now, fanfic is another story, so to speak.)

More Thoughts on CosPlay

I've been talking to another friend on e-mail about cosplay, and I think my problem is that I care much less for the costume and a lot more for the play. If I went in costume, (which, btw, I am considering for at least one day of CONvergence, depending on my schedule,) I would TOTALLY spend the day in character.

But, as I've determined, I'm a lot more playful than a lot of people. I was also always that RPGer who would demand to be called by my made-up name (and nearly always opposite gender pronoun) and jump up to act out various scenes during the course of the game/campaign. I also almost NEVER broke character out loud. I might pass notes to the GM about plans or plots or such, but most everything I said (outside of those moments when you HAVE to roll the dice) was in character. I came of age in a time before LARPs so I missed out on that trend, which is probably just as well, because I might never have put down the "dice," as it were, to write. I'd probably still be out in the woods somewhere in costume pretending to be someone else all day long (and well into the night.)

Now that I understand that's my own weirdness, I'll be able to cope much better at the next Detour, I think. If I decide *I* want to cosplay at Detour, I'll just be sure to bring along a posse of friends who are in on it with me.

Speaking of Anime, I feel so incredibly stupid. I only just yesterday discovered that I can stream ALL THE BLEACH at the Viz Media Anime site. See what happened was, I bought Shawn a new iPad for her birthday (technically it's a refurbished iPad, not the new, new iPad,) anyway, we were setting it up and I realized I'd forgotten my Shonen Jump password. I had to go through all the rigamaroll to reset my password and, in the course of all that, got shunted at one point to the main Anime page (as opposed to the Manga page.) Imagine my suprise (and Shawn's groan) when I discovered that EVERY TUESDAY there's a new translated Bleach direct from Japan!! Whoot. Okay, so I'm only about 200 episdoes behind where they currently are, but, what this means is, after NetFlix runs out of discs we can keep watching. Hooray. (Yes, I know Bleach is ending this year. But Mason and I aren't fast watchers, actually. We can burn through a disc in a weekend, but that's only four or five episodes usually. So basically I'm set for LIFE.)

If I may go on about this for a moment, I have to say that I think that one of the reasons this series has inspired so much energy from me is because, ultimately, it's both DEEPLY rich and UTTERLY broken. A lot like Star Wars, actually, which was very likely the last bit of fantasy/SF that stirred this kind of crazy devotion in me. The world of Bleach (particuarly the spirit world, the Soul Society,) is dense. There's a lot of cool stuff: magical swords, magical combat techniques, spectacular fight scenes, in-fighting, weird and unexplained characters who clearly come pre-loaded with a lot of issues that you never quite get all of, etc. Then, after this amazing explosion of awesome, it's like Tite Kubo couldn't quite cope with the pressure to remain super. Not unlike George Lucas. Because then he seems to fumble the pass (and I don't just mean in the Anime, which I totally get has a lot of "filler.") This sort of combination (awesome/awful) inspires a lot of fan energy, becuase a lot of fan fic (at least my own) comes out of a passion to "fix" what is broken in a show. For instance, my fav guy is clearly the Han Solo in a way. He stars out incredibly fascinating and then gets used as the punchline in all the jokes. It makes me crazy.

Okay, enough about that. In my real life (tm,) I am still a bit driftless. I sent in a couple of proposals to my agent, but today I should probably try to work on the one she wants--which is more fluffy Tate stuff. I'm having a really hard time coming up with this because I'm kind of tired of it... though I'd pretty much write to spec right now if it meant having a contract.

My Loft class is just about over. I was just asked if I'd be willing to teach on-line again, and I said yes. Despite the weirdness of teaching on-line, I think that there are some real advantages to getting to do this sort of thing from home. So, I'm going to give it another try. We'll see if this next experience gets any easier/better. I suspect it's a matter of getting the hang of things (not unlike my first experience with Detour.)

Mason is home from school today with an upset stomach. I think he just had too many weird foods last night as he got a pair of chopsticks from a tutor who'd traveled to China (she gave a pair to everyone in class, not just the kids she tutors) and so he talked us into Vietnamese food. He got pretty good at the chopsticks, but I'm not sure all the spice and whatnot agreed with him. Plus, afterwards, he had a bunch of desserts including both icecream and watermelon.

At any rate, I'm going drag him along to my Women of Wyrdsmiths meeting because I think he's actually already over it-- thanks to a bathroom trip this morning (TMI)-- and I really hate to cancel that get-together because it's one of my favorite weekly traditions.

Detour Interpreter Wanted

I went to Anime Detour on Saturday only. I have to admit that I felt very much out of my comfort zone. I have never been so surrounded by a fandom I knew so little about. I had an awesome time, and I plan to go again, but I think, next time, I'd benefit from having a kind of seeing-eye-fan. You know, like a nice young, costumed helper who could take this little, old lady by the crook of the arm and explain ALL THE THINGS.

Or, I need to enlist the energy of fandom and have some enterprising souls print me up a few useful guidebooks, not unlike a Japanese Phrasebook or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (Ah! Now I know what was missing from my Detour experience! A towel! I would have felt so much safer if I'd only had a towel!)

I was ready for all the cosplay. Actually, seeing people in costume was one of the things I was most looking forward to. I had been warned that the local Bleach fandom wasn't very organized this year, so I was extremely surprised and pleased to see LOTS of characters I recognized from Bleach. Like in my first five minutes there I saw a woman cross-cosplaying Renji... so I thought, "hooray, my people are here."

I even VERY LIGHTLY cosplayed myself. I wore my "Red Pineapple" tee-shirt, and, I was ready should anyone have actually attempted to ask my why I otherwise looked nothing like the character I was playing. There is actually a good "canon" explaination, but, see, here's the thing, I had no clue what the rules of engagement are in the *play* part of cosplay.

I am a huge, huge fan of playing pretend. When I see people in costume, I like to assume that's who they want to BE. Like, when I saw the woman in her shinigami uniform, I shouted out, "Oi, Renji!" (because that's what you'd say to him) and even, eventually, I got up the courage to ask for her picture.

But I never know (even outside of Detour, to be fair,) whether or not it's cool to walk up to a stranger dressed, for instance, as the guy in my profile picture, Mr. Urahura (a sort of supernatural shopkeeper), and complain to him about the crappy "gigai" he sold me. I suspect I would get a very baffled look if I attempted that ("Renji" did not seem to want to answer to that name despite her outfit, for instance), so I never knew what to say to people in costume... which at Detour is nearly everyone... which made figuring out how to talk to ANYONE really kind of difficult for this introverted extrovert.

See, the thing is, I will talk to anyone anywhere provided I have a sense of what's appropriate. I may choose to go outside the usual social norms (ie engage in conversation with a stranger in an elevator in the Midwest), but I do that knowingly. I know what rules I'm breaking. My problem at Detour was that I felt that I had no sense of the norms, the rules, or even general expected behavior.

It wasn't even clear to me, in fact, whether, if I had come in FULL costume, it would be cool to *play* with other people dressed in my same fandom. It seemed to be... in certain situations. Kind of. Maybe.

For example, I was supposed to be on a panel about FMA (FullMetal Alchemist). I say I was "supposed to be" because, even though I showed up, it became clear that I should slink off to a corner and offer my seat up to a cosplayer, because the people running panel all came in costume, all knew each other (very well), and all wanted to be their characters while answering audience questions. The audience seemed to understand this innately, and asked their questions appropriately, ie, "Edward, how did you feel about [plot turn]?"

I kind of wish that I'd had the presence of mind (or perhaps chutzpah is the better word) to just go into my own cosplay universe and demand to be called "Renji Abarai" and sit on the panel as a very confused shinigami clearly caught in a crossover universe timeshift. THAT might have been hilarious and potentially awesome.

Or they would have hated me.

It's really not clear.

And because the FMA panel was my first full-immersion experience at Detour, I felt thrown off balance for much of the rest of the con. I felt like I was crashing someone else's clique. I never quite shook that feeling, either, despite my best efforts.

Next year, when I go, I'm totally going to pay someone to stand next to me and act as an interpreter. I'm currently taking applications. Write to me and tell me your qualifications and perhaps I'll employ you as my Detour Interpreter. (I am half-serious.)

My above commentary, however is not meant to imply, in any way shape or form, that I was not well taken care of. Anton is Awesome, and I'm extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity to experience this con as his #1 Guest. (Holy COW does that get you cache, by the way. Damn, boy, you one serious SMOF.)

What I've been Up To...

This week has been very social. I hung out with a friend on Monday and read her astrology chart for her birthday. Yesterday, I did another spontaneous hangout with another friend where we talked about Bleach and I attempted to play the role of wiser, older lesbian (ha! Though I have the older part down pretty well.) Today is my writing day, so I'll do more hanging out... though hopefully some writing too. Shawn, no surprise, is wondering what the heck I'm doing with myself now that I don't have a book contract. At least yesterday I managed to send a couple of proposals (including SAMURAI HIGH!) off to my agent. Tomorrow I will tackle all the household jobs that I've been ignoring all week (while also volunteering for Mason's school.)

Today, in about ten minutes or so, I'm off to the tax accountant's office again, to deliver Shawn's signature and had over some late arriving forms and whatnot. Also, I'm going to see if I can have someone help me puzzle out some German tax forms I need to fill out so I can keep getting money from other countries.

Speaking of which, my editor informed me that we have made a French language deal for the ALMOST books. So, I say, "Vive la France!" The weird thing, though, is that when the publisher makes these deals (which they do almost exclusively these days) I don't actually see the money. They just give me "credit" against my advance. But, given that thanks to a Russian and Chinese deal ALMOST TO DIE FOR already earned out, I may actually get some $$ from that book eventually.

Well, I should probably head out. I'm sure the traffic to St. Louis Park is going to suck.

All the Manga!

Shawn got me a subscription to Shonen Jump for Solstace. This has been great, except... Shonen Jump is going digital and the first time I tried to access it via the iPad, I discovered it had flash and got frustrated. Turns out... there's an app for that. So I downloaded the free VIS app and now... now... I CAN HAVE ALL THE MANGA.

Life is good. I'm especially pleased that there's a library of free Manga for me to sample. I just read and (secretly) enjoyed "Absolute Boyfriend." What a hoot!

Also, despite my experience with "Cry of the Chimera" I've continued Fullmetal Alchemist. This is a good show, no question. Though, my problem persists, and has actually gotten worse. There's an actual scene with a stillbirth which I could have done without (Ed and Al's sensei,) but... sometimes I wonder why books, movies, TV shows that are tragic always get rave reviews. Do things have to be depressing to be considered serious? That irritates me.

On the flip-side, I kind of like all the military corruption stuff. The whole Ishballian rebellion/camps, etc... is kind of intense. In fact, sometimes I think they should go there more directly and not back off. I sort of wanted Mustang to have to kill everyone in his search for Scar. But, rounding everyone off to a camp in the South is sufficently evil, so that works for me.

And then there's the happy-werid interlude. Can someone explain that to me? Why is it, right after we discover something really nasty (usually specifically) about Mustang that the next episode treats him lightly with over-the-top humor? It confuses me.

Humorous Goings On...

Shawn talks in her sleep. Last night, as I'm coming back up the stairs after being harrassed awake by my annoying black cat Inky who is perpetually convinced he's starving to death, Shawn calls out. She yells, "Your feet are rather heavy on the stairs, Mr. Potter!"

I was clear to me that the only proper response was, "Sorry, Professor Snape!"

I thought, actually, she might be awake so when I got back into bed I said, "I'm kind of surprised you're not dreaming of Mordor..." (since we'd watched "Fellowship of the Ring" last night,) but she was SOUND asleep (and snoring, but she'd deny tht last part.) I worried for a few minutes that I might have caused a dreaming mishap, wherein Harry goes to Mordor, but she had no recollection of either the conversation or any Potter/Mordor crossover dreams.

New in Mass-Market Paperback

Hey, guess what? I got my author's copies of the spiffy new mass-market paperback edition of TALL, DARK & DEAD. They look VERY cool. I've actually long been a fan of mmpbs (as the cool kids call them) because I've always seen myself as a paperback writer, as it were. Low-brow, entertaining. That's me.

But what this means, too, is that the paperback version is coming out soon. Run and order your copies! If you're a long time fan of my science fiction and have never ventured over to the dark side that Tate represents, I will say that I think Tall, Dark & Dead, though sexy and romantic, might appeal. It's one of my favorite Tate books, the other two being Dead if I Do and the not-yet-released Precinct 13. Go ahead, give it a try, I won't tell anyone you're reading a romance novel, and, honestly, with all the vampires and werewolves and such, you won't even notice! (You can skim the sexy bits, I won't mind in the least!)

In other news, I am absolutely JAZZED about a new book proposal that I'm putting finishing touches on. naomikritzer sat down with me on Wednesday and helped me "file the serial numbers off" Bleach to get me thinking about something original I could write that hits all the things I love about that show. We ended up with something that I'm calling, for the moment, Samurai High (as in High School, Mason always wants me to add.) It really doesn't involve samurais at the moment, but that was such a fun play on words I had to use it as a working title. There are, however, high school boys, sword-play, and magic. Also key to the story will be class (as in socio-economic), honor, and justice. I'm hoping to sell it to my agent as hitting that same market as all the Percy Jackson/Lightning Thief books... sort of just out of Middle Grade heading into Teen YA for young men/boys/women-and-girls-like-me-that-dig-that-stuff.

That's what's been eating my brain lately. Also, tonight, I will be back at kuk sool wan for a "Topics" class (where we focus on one thing) about... cartwheeling. I actually really like to cartwheel, but... I'm not consistantly good at it, nor can I really deviate from the standard form. I was pretty excited about this class because, for a long while, Mason and I were the only ones signed up for it. That's like getting a private lesson from Sa Bum Nim (the head instructor) for the low, low price of five dollars a piece. Sadly, a few more people have signed up, so now it's just a regular class.... although, last time I checked, there were still only four or five of us. :-)

Today, too, I have to get a few errands done which I have ignored while letting my various obsessions hold sway. I have to hit the pet store at some point and maybe buy myself a pair of new shoes. I did manage to get back to the fabric store, so I have my "Red Pineapple" tee-shirt, and I think I will also make one that just says "Renji Abarai" on the back, so I have have lots of shirts to wear under my kuk sool uniform that will make me invincible. Because I'm sure that's how that works. Right?

Monday, Monay

It's a rainy gray Monday. My big plans for the day is to get a good start on the copy-edited manuscript for PRECINCT 13 (aka the cow mutilation mystery) and then meet a Facebook friend for coffee and talks about publishing.

You?

MarsCON was lovely. It was great to see you all there (and I missed all y'all who couldn't make it.) I managed to spend much of the weekend talking about something other than Bleach, if you can believe that, although I did wear my new "Nice Vibes" tee-shirt that I made (based on one Ichigo wears, though, technically, I believe his is pink.) Probably my best panel was the "Urban Fantasy" one in which I apparently confessed that vampires made me gay. I'm only not sure what I said because I Haddayr bought me a mocha, and I was pretty hopped up on caffeine at the time.

I think the next most favorite thing I did was dance. I really love dancing. It's something I used to do a lot more when I was single, of course, and could go clubbing. MarsCON actually had a really nice room set up for dancing and a bunch of us went for it while the masquerade happened. Turned out? I was also SUPPOSED to be on a panel at that same time, but I misread my badge. Anton told me that this will never happen at CONvergence because he'll be in charge of me; I admitted that this is probably a good thing.

Mason thought that I'd gone off to Anime Detour and was really bummed that I didn't come back with an autograph from the dubbed voice of Aizen, but he was charmed by the Gin Ichimaru stamp that my friend Anna gave me. It stamps a three in Kanji! (Three is the number of the company/division Ichimaru is captain of.) So there was some discussion of my newest obsession, and I brought in my fan art on Saturday and was able to donate a piece of it to the auction for Anime Detour (thought why anyone would want it, I'm not sure. It's not even half-naked Renji!)

So, it was a good time. I made some new friends, saw one of my old friends in his full Darth Maul outfit, and got to dance. What's not to love??

Fan Art

Mason requested a Hollow Ichigo picture, so here it is. It looks, doesn't it, as though he sat for a portrat for me?



This is, of course, my favorite. My boy Renji (half-naked) with his bankai. I am so pleased because this is my first attempt to draw something that's not exactly as it appears in the Manga. Yes... it was my idea to take his clothes off. Clever of me, no?



Mason also put in a request for Tōshirō Hitsugaya. Or, as he says, my boy Tōshirō.

Why I am a Dark Sider...

This is like my high school essay, "Why I am a Dark Sider..." I am a dark-sider because two of the main motivators in my life are: envy and jealousy. Last night, I heard that one of my writing colleagues is doing really well in his career right now. This has inspired me to CRUSH HIM (but in a friendly way. :-)

In all seriousness, the reason this works for me is because it's not nearly as personal as all that. I am, however, inspired to get going on projects that I've been slow to pick up on because, well, if he's doing well, I should do better. Friendly competition, as they say.

If you're not a Scorpio, this probaably sounds pretty evil. Just trust that it works for me, and no friendships are harmed in the making of this show.

The only other news I have is that I must express my deepest frustration. Okay, we're in day two of the massive solar flare. I have been, no doubt, bombarded by gamma radiation for several hours now, and, I am here to tell you, I have not yet developed ANY SUPERPOWERS. I have been robbed, my friends! Robbed! I mean, seriously, it took the Fantastic Four, like, two minutes of exposure. I would like some superpowers now.

Or at least a decent disply of northern lights.