Wednesday, July 25, 2012

SDCC 2012: Panels Part 2: Geek Women and Masquerade

So I went to 3 panels after the American Mary panel on Thursday: The Most Dangerous Women at Comic-Con, Masquerade 101, and The History of the Modern Zombie (which I will be saving for September Zombies). Yay! Lots of panels!

* The Most Dangerous Women at Comic-Con



All the women on this panel are geeky about something and are doing big things in the nerd scene. Bonnie Burton moderates the panel, which includes Adrianne Curry, Katrina Hill, Leah Cevoli, Holly Conrad, Abbie Heppe, Clare Kramer, Kristen Nedopak, Milynn Sarley, Stephanie Thorpe, and Patricia Tallman. I honestly wasn't familiar with all of these women, but they are all incredibly awesome and contribute to the geek community. I was familiar with Adrianne Curry from her various reality TV shows, like America's Next Top Model, but didn't think too much about her. She earned some serious brownie points with me just for the Raptor Jesus costume. She is very opinionated and outspoken about everything. Her most memorable anecdote was at last year's Comic-Con when a bunch of cops freaked out about her skimpy (and very accurate) Aeon Flux cosplay and was told she bared an illegal amount of skin. Clare Kramer played Glory on season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I was very excited to see her. Holly Conrad was in Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope and makes monsters, aliens, and awesome, epic costumes. Her Fem Shepard is amazing. Leah Cevoli does voices on Robot Chicken. Katrina Hill is super passionate about action films and mourned missing The Expendables 2 panel for this one. Patricia Tallman was a surprise because she has been in a lot of classic science fiction and horror works, such as the remake of Night of the Living Dead, Army of Darkness, Babylon 5, and some of the Star Trek series (TNG, Voyager, DS9). Her perspective of coming to Comic Con primarily as part of a job was insightful and different from the others on the panel. All of the women on the panel were witty and hilarious. They discussed their own individual interests and then addressed why they would be considered dangerous. I personally think just being strong women is still dangerous to some people. Women are rapidly becoming a large demographic at conventions that were previously thought to be frequented mostly by men. This panel was awesome and I look forward to what these ladies will do in the future.

* Masquerade 101



This panel was very small and focused on how to make the best costumes and the best presentation for the Masquerade. The panelists were Martin Jaquish the director of the Masquerade for the last 20 years, John Ruff Masquerade assistant, Allan Lavigne costumer, and Judy Grivich cosplayer. I wasn't actually super interested in this panel. It just happened to be in between 2 I was interested in, but I'm glad I saw it. They had wonderful advice for anyone making their own costumes or interested in presenting it in the famous Masquerade. I found the following tidbits very helpful: Money does not make good costumes. The internet is your friend and can help you find instructions for working with practically any material. Being comfortable in a costume is important, so spend some time in it before the Masquerade. Always bring makeup, needle and thread, duct tape, and any other repair or needed items with you. Accidents will happen. Follow the rules and keep in mind the dimensions of the stage. (There was a huge dragon someone made as a prop and they weren't able to move it into the Masquerade venue. :( It was so awesome.) Anyway, it gave me a lot to think about when I try to create my own costumes and perhaps enter the Masquerade myself.

Even more panels coming!

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