Looks like another great year for Dragon*Con attendees. The 2008 convention in Atlanta, GA ended yesterday and tons of photos are appearing online.
You can browse Dragon*Con photo galleries Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here.
I imagine most people have come home exhausted and are still trying to organize their photos. We’ll post more about Dragon*Con soon!
This Trekkie just found out:
Trekkies everywhere are mourning the loss of the Star Trek Experience, the only live Star Trek attraction in the world. Today marks the end of its ten-year run at the Hilton in Las Vegas.
Over the weekend, thousands of Trekkies beamed into Las Vegas for a final encounter with the Borg and to drown their sorrows in strong Klingon drinks served at Quark’s Bar and Restaurant.
It doesn’t help that there’s as strong online rumor that the exhibit will become a theater for pop star Michael Jackson. Ouch, that’s harsh. Couldn’t they have just made Michael part of the attraction? Oh well.
Someone put together a touching tribute on YouTube:
Operations Manager Chad Boutte left a final transmission from the Enterprise bridge:
“Hailing frequencies open. We’d like to thank all the fans and friends of Star Trek, whose constant and amazing support we’ve enjoyed throughout our tenure at the Las Vegas Hilton. As we boldly go into the futures that await, know that we take your love of Star Trek: The Experience with us. We share the memories of time spent in the most unique place in the Galaxy, and we carry those memories into our futures with us.
Live long, and prosper. Hailing frequencies closed.”
[Via StarTrekExp.com]
Perhaps all is not lost, Star Trek fans. All of the props will be returned to Paramount, and with a new Trek movie debuting next summer, it’s likely the franchise will reboot into a future with many more Experiences to come.
Well, we’ve reached the end of our Star Wars blog fest. In honor of today’s theatrical premiere of The Clone Wars, I’d like to finish up here with another type of animated Star Wars film…the parody.
I’d never heard of Robot Chicken before yesterday, because I don’t have cable television. But I’m glad I ran across this hilarious little morsel on the internet.
Cartoon Network’s popular Adult Swim series, Robot Chicken, created this 2007 Star Wars parody using stop motion animated toys & puppets. Funny man, Seth Green, directed the 22 minute episode which was nominated for an Emmy. It’s available for purchase on Amazon.com, but you can check out some clips right here:
If this merely wet your appetite for Star Wars parodies, you’ll be happy to know that there’s another Robot Chicken Star Wars episode in the works!
Many members of the voice cast from the first special, including original Star Wars actors Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams will lend their voices to the sequel.
This time around, the focus of the show will explore the stories of the bounty hunters. Robot Chicken Star Wars, Episode II, will premier on the Cartoon Network November 16th.
Are you ready for more Star Wars? With the new animated Clone Wars hitting theaters this Friday, the Star Wars fans are out in full Force. I thought it would be fun to show some fantastic costumes from Comic-Con.
The Official Star Wars Blog has a great article about the best Star Wars costumes in their Comic-Con photo gallery.
So many great costumes! It’s fun to see the traditional Star Wars characters as well as the creative variations such as the pink Darth Vader and Legos characters. And of course, no Star Wars photo gallery is complete without Leia in her metal bikini….
CLICK HERE for the entire photo gallery.
And remember, The Clone Wars opens in theaters this Friday. See you there!
When it comes to throwing a party as big as the Olympic opening ceremony, the Chinese take it very seriously. It’s a chance to showcase their culture and history to the world so the show must be spectacular. Based on some of the pictures I’ve seen, they succeeded. The 3 ½ hour show highlighted 5000 years of history, featured 20,000 performers and 33,000 fireworks. And apparently, the creators of the show spared no expense on costumes. I was not able to include some of the most impressive costumes here, but you can view them on the NBC Olympic web site. 
What is it about vampires that captivate the imagination? Is it the concept of immortality or maybe the thought of being loved by a broodingly handsome lord of the night?
Whatever the fascination, Stephenie Meyer seems to have tapped into it in her Twilight book series which has turned into somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. Twilight fan sites have shot up all over the internet and the books have sold more than 7.5 million copies.
The Twilight series follows the relationship of average teenager Bella Swan and the vampire who loves her, Edward Cullen. While the seemingly improbable relationship is the stuff of young girls’ fantasies, the book manages to capture the real-life angst and passion of the teenage years. But surprisingly, it’s not just teenagers that are reading it. Take it from me, a forty-something fan living in the “Twilight Zone.”
While Twilight’s vampires don’t wear costumes, fans of the book series do. In fact, hordes of them turned up in costume for the national book release parties, Friday night (August 1) to welcome the fourth installment in the series, Breaking Dawn. Barnes and Noble stores hosted “proms” while Borders book stores hosted “A Night with a Bite.” Borders reported selling over 250,000 copies in the first 24 hours following the book’s release.
It’s sad to see the series end, but I’m looking forward to some closure (I’m on page 79 of Breaking Dawn right now). I’m also looking forward to the to the movie version of Twilight, to be released in December. I think I’ve watched the trailer about twenty or thirty times already. Looks like a piece of entertainment you can really sink your teeth into!
Previously we posted about Flight of the Conchords and the zany costumes they come up with for their music videos. But they’re not the only band that dresses up for fun!
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with wizard rock. It’s a genre that promotes literacy and fighting evil by rocking out to Harry Potter-based music. There’s much more to wizard rock that I can really cover in a pithy sentence, but what I’m really here to talk about, of course, is the costuming. Part of what makes it so awesome is that everyone can dress up. The bands dress as characters from the books, the fans dress up as witches and wizards, and even the instruments get costumes!
Music, Harry Potter, and costumes—all in one! It’s too good to be true!
Brothers Joe and Paul DeGeorge wear Harry Potter costumes for their band, Harry and the Potters. The two of them created their band, and wizard rock, in 2002.
An estimated 10,000 people wore costumes at Comic-Con last weekend. Lots of great photos are showing up online. Cinemablend.com just published a gallery with dozens of excellent photos.
Wow, everybody looks great! Be sure to visit Cinemablend.com to view the entire gallery.
It’s that joyous time of year again — Comic-Con! And thousands of people in costumes flock to the big event in San Diego. All the great costumes… it’s brings a tear to my eye.
Wired.com has a good article and photo slideshow of this year’s costumes. Looks like so much fun!
Well I hope everyone has a fun and safe Comic-Con. I know it’s sold out, and I’m so jealous for the people who get to go.
To view all of these great photos, head on over to Wired.com’s entire photo gallery.
You love superheroes, and you love fashion. But other people don’t share your appreciation and they laugh when you wear your Batman cape to the grocery store.
Apparently, those people haven’t been to the Superhero Fashion Exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art. Running through September 1st, The Superhero Fashion Exhibit aims to explore the symbolic and metaphoric associations between fashion and the superhero.
Some of the exhibits are for pure, fantastical enjoyment while others offer practical variations of super hero costumes in high performance sports or fashion wear. Hey, you can even buy a hot pink and green Batman-esque scarf at the gift shop, for $35.00, that’s classy enough to wear to work!
So let people laugh at your every day Batman attire…bet you won’t see their clothes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Going to Comic-Con? Marvel Comics will be teaming up with costume vendor Disguise to hold the first ever Superhero Costume Fashion Show at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego.
The Fashion Show begins in the Marvel Booth (Booth #2429) Friday at 2:00 and will be followed by a photo-op with the models.
According to the press release:
This is no cosplay; these are seriously fierce costumes worn by incredible models, strutting their stuff down the catwalk, for the debut of the sexiest line of costumes ever created and inspired by Marvel super heroes.
Dressing up as a super heroine in the past would have meant spandex and tights. No more! Disguise has tossed this old and unflattering cartoonish concept and instead made fashionable, wearable and fun costumes that not only fit great but look fabulous. These costumes are inspired by some of the hottest and most iconic heroes to grace the pages of Marvel, and this will be your first chance to see them live as they make their Comic-Con debut!
This looks awesome! I’m pretty sad I won’t be going to Comic-Con this year.
For a special preview of the costumes, CLICK HERE.
Do you like superheroes and supervillains? Are you a fan of musicals? Then wait no longer.
Head on over to www.drhorrible.com to view Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog!
It’s the story of a low-rent supervillain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.
This musical will be free to watch for one week only. After July 20th, 2008, the video will only be available for purchase on iTunes. A DVD packed full of fun extras will be released sometime in the near future.
For an additional back story of Capt. Hammer, be sure to check out his “Be Like Me!” Capt. Hammer online comic published by Dark Horse Comics.
And don’t forget to pick up your Dr. Horrible T-shirts!
So what are you waiting for? And be sure to tell your friends.
Just when I was starting to despair that I wouldn’t find anything clever and unique to say about costumes, I stumbled upon Ennio Marchetto while doing some internet research. I was floored by this guy’s creative ingenuity when it comes to quick costume changes on stage.
Ennio Marchetto is world renowned and has performed in over 80 countries for more than a million people. His unique show has earned numerous awards and international critical acclaim.
He performs alone on stage, without any backstage help, changing character almost every minute, often in front of the audience. All his costumes, wigs and props are made out of paper and cardboard, flipping and folding to change from one character to another.
Marchetto and his costumes impersonate 350 characters including a wide variety of icons, from pop stars to opera singers, from works of art to mythological figures and each show is adapted to the particular country he’s performing in.
I could go on and on about this guy…but I’ve gotta go see some paper and scissors about a costume.
JUNEAU, ALASKA — The Juneau Empire has a good story about last Saturday’s Only Fools Run at Midnight costume race. 600 people, mostly in costume, raced to raise money for SAIL’s ORCA program which helps disabled people enjoy the outdoors.
Juneau’s resident Paralympic skiing champ, Joe Tompkins, was on hand to work as a race volunteer.
Tompkins, who is part of the U.S. Disabled Alpine Men’s Ski Team, is currently ranked as the 5th best mono-skier in the world.
“I think what SAIL does with these guys to raise money to help people with disabilities is amazing … It shows people with disabilities that it is not over,” Tompkins said. “You can get out and do stuff just as much as anybody else. There is way to do that and SAIL opens people’s lives to that.”
Nothing beats putting on a costume for a good cause. Looks like a lot of fun, too.
Here are some amazing costumes made from duct tape! And yes, we’ve blogged about duct tape costumes before.
These particular costumes are modeled after the characters Mal and Kaylee from the TV show Firefly. In one of the episodes, Mal and Kaylee go to a fancy shindig all dressed up. It’s remarkable that a costume made from duct tape could look so similar.
The costumes’ creator posts about his efforts on Fireflyfans.net.
I decided to enter the “Stuck at Prom” contest sponsored by the company that makes Duck Tape. In this contest, high school students from all over the country create prom outfits using duct tape. Ten finalists are selected from all of the entries, and online voting determines the winner. To demonstrate my devotion to Firefly, I created my duct tape ensemble inspired by Mal’s tux and Kaylee’s dress from Shindig. These outfits made it into the top ten.
I used over 20 rolls of duct tape, and had to overcome laws of physics (all those ruffles are heavy!) as well as wear the outfit in Phoenix summer temperatures exceeding 107 degrees.
Wow, great job! I hope you win.
You can see all of the Top Ten finalists at stuckatprom.com.
UPDATE: Watch the video HERE.
This weekend I got the opportunity to go to the Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. It was awesome! I got to see some rocking celtic bands, participate in celtic rituals like waulking, eat haggis for the first time (seriously, yum), and of course I was dazzled by the eye candy! Tartan was draped everywhere, there were hundreds upon hundreds of kilts, not to mention a variety of period costumes and other fun things to wear!
This family sang an a capella rendition of the national anthem for the opening of the Highland Games.
What would you do if you saw Elvis…no, make that Elvi, flying down the slopes of your favorite ski resort?
Each spring, Ski resorts host some clever costume events to amuse and delight skiers and spectators, alike.
Ever been to a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game? If so, chances are you’ve seen The Great Sausage Race that occurs during the 7th inning stretch. This hilarious, and hugely popular event involves five people in sausage costumes racing around the field.
The 7th Annual Himalayan Performing Arts Festival will be held Saturday June 7th, 2008 at the Krishna Temple one mile south of Spanish Fork, Utah. The festival offers a mix of folk dance, classical Indian dance, drama, music and beautiful world costumes.
Rita Riggs was recently profiled in The Ann Arbor News. At age 19, Rita is a professional circus performer, clown, hula hoop dancer, sword swallower, ballerina… and BIG costume lover. She also performs regularly with the Tickled Fancy Burlesque troupe in Ann Arbor.
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