I am filled with such grief. Today we had another school shooting…by another bullied boy who believed had no other option. What will it take before adults actually make bullying enough of a priority to make it stop? This is not something kids ever recover from: even assuming they don’t strike out at themselves (as suicides) or out at others (as school shooters), the effects of bullying have been clearly shown to stay with them their entire lives.
The fact that bullying in our schools still exists is horrible; the fact that people still try to deny it causes school violence is a travesty. When a kid shoots up his school, it is not because he’s a psychopath, it’s because he’s been systematically broken down and tormented for years. If this happened to an adult, we’d call it torture, and the police would be called. When it happens to our children, we call it ‘part of childhood’ and say they need to ‘toughen up’.
Sometimes the only way a kid can figure how to be tough enough, is to carry a gun into school.
School shooters are not psychopaths, are not villains or bad guys.
I just got home from my first ever (it won’t be the last!) trip to Gallifrey One. It was a completely fabulous trip! I flew into LAX on a Thurs morning – a very early Thurs morning. I had to get up at 1:20am in order to catch my shuttle!
Once at the hotel, I met up with Wench Posse friends Glynnis, Suzette, and Nell. I hadn’t met any of them before, so it was great to finally meet face to face – and they are just as fun and amazing in person as they are online. They made excellent room-mates!
After settling into the hotel, we took a bus to the Santa Monica pier. It was lovely to see the beach and the sunshine!
Above is the view from the Santa Monica pier’s Ferris Wheel. We also rode a carousel. Nell claimed the rabbit.
Santa Monica is the end of the Route 66. After filming the fake version in Revelation video I did the costumes for, it was kind of cool to be at the real thing!
Friday, we skipped the morning/afternoon events at Gallifrey and went to LA’s fashion district instead. We are all costumers, after all! Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable amounts of fabric and trim! Good thing I saved room in my luggage, because I filled one of my suitcases mostly with stuff I bought.
Fabric…fabric…everywhere! I’m thinking next time I go, I’m spending a lot more time here. To get to the district, we had the hotel call us a cab…but our ‘cab’ turned out to be a limo! Hurrah for awesome concierges!
Besides the district, we visited the FIDM museum, and saw an exhibit of the costumes from Oscar-nominated films. My favorite dress was from The War Horse:
In the photograph it doesn’t look like much, but it has the most lovely embroidery around the neck. I completely adored it. Also on exhibit was pieces of famous movie costumes – Fred Astaire’s tap shoes was one especially cool item. There was a small room of extant historical gowns as well. They have one of Queen Victoria’s mourning dresses, and wow. I knew she was short, but I was not at all prepared for how short! Teeny-tiny!
Saturday was the first day to spend all day at Gallifrey. I wore my Idris costume, Nell and Glynnis wore their Clockwork Droid costumes, and Suzette (who didn’t bring costumes this year) was our minion, offering everything from corset-lacing, to bag-holding, to foot massages! Minions are excellent things to have. 🙂
There were many, many excellent costumes there. Torchwood:
Lots of Elevens, large and small:
Lifesize Daleks wandering the halls and interacting with people:
Novice Hame:
Cybermen:
Vampires from Venice:
Girl in the Fireplace costumes:
A giant adipose:
A weeping angel:
The panels I went to were fabulous. Mainly, I went to anything with the actors I liked in them, so there were lots of Mark Sheppard ones! 😉 Daphne Ashbrook (Eight’s companion performed “I Don’t Need No Doctor” with backups by Eight (Paul McGann) and the film’s director!
One thing that was very cool about these celebrity panels, was how much they were enjoyed by the celebrities themselves. All of them had grown up fans of Doctor Who, and most had been dying for a chance to act on the show. When the call finally came, they didn’t even care what the part was! The genuine love they all have for Doctor Who just shone out from them, and that was truly amazing. It wasn’t just actors doing their jobs, it was us and them, united equally as fans. I’ve never experienced that before, and it was awesome.
My favorite guest was, of course, Mark Sheppard, because I have loved every single role of his I’ve seen. His dad, W. Morgan Sheppard is also wonderful, and the interaction between the two of them was heartwarming and quite funny at times. They obviously have a terrific relationship.
I had my picture taken with Mark Sheppard and Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler).
Sunday, I wore my steampunk Tenth Doctor costume, Nell wore her female Fifth Doctor, and Glynnis wore her Vampires of Venice outfit.
Nell and I had our picture taken together at the actual Eighth Doctor TARDIS console.
The console is very cool:
Check out my ribbons! By the end of the con, I had 25, far more than I’ve ever managed to collect at any other con…which is a testament to how truly welcoming and friendly Gallifrey is. My favorite ribbon is the one (collected while I was wearing Idris) that says “Bitey Mad Lady”. 🙂
One of my very favorite costume I saw there was this Flesh outfit. She was spot-on perfect – the makeup was film quality!
The other favorite was the Cassandra team. There were two ‘moisturizers’, and when one of them saw me in the crowd of photo-takers, he called me over to get a pic with them – he especially wanted me to help moisturize! That was fun.
Amber Benson (Tara on Buffy) was there signing copies of her new book, so I got one and chatted with her for a bit. She’s super nice, funny, and very down to earth. And gorgeous! So very gorgeous, even when she’s just in normal clothes and makeup!
Altogether, it was the best con I’ve ever been to, and I really, really want to go back. Next year is the big 50th anniversary, and they are promising MAJOR guests from recent years of the show. Dare I hope for Tennant? I’d be happy with Alex Kingston!
For more info on my costumes, and making-of photos, see my costuming blog:
This is just absolutely outrageous. The media and the GOP are joined together to stop America’s greatest (and possibly last) chance to save America from losing all her freedoms.
I’m talking, of course, about Ron Paul. And if your knee-jerk reaction to hearing that name is “he’s crazy” or “he’s dangerous” or “he’s unelectable”, then you need to stop letting the media indoctrinate you and start thinking for yourself. Start with this link, if you think he’s ‘dangerous’.
If you think he’s unelectable, consider this: There is no ‘front-runner’ in the presidential primary so far. The top four are fighting for position, and while the media doesn’t want you to know this, Paul is the ONLY candidate who is consistently gaining ground…every one else is slipping in the polls.
Maine just held their caucus, and it’s a perfect example of how the media and the GOP are working together to promote a wrong image of Paul. The last thing they want is real change for this county. The media is saying that Romney has won Maine…no he hasn’t. Paul is less than TWO HUNDRED votes behind, and Washington Co (which is Paul’s stronghold in Maine) hasn’t been allowed to hold their caucus. It has been postponed because of a projected snowfall of 1 – 3″ of snow. This is MAINE. It snows in Maine all the time. The girl scouts were out holding their events during this time, completely unfazed by this projected snowfall (which didn’t happen, btw.) But here’s the kicker: not only did the Maine GOP postpone the caucus among Paul’s biggest Maine supporters, but they had this to say:
“Maine GOP Executive Director Michael Quatrano announced that the OFFICIAL RESULTS ARE PERMANENT AND WILL NOT BE CHANGED WHEN THE NEW RESULTS COME IN.
“Washington County GOP Chairman Chris Gardner objected, saying he had known his county’s tally wouldn’t be included in Saturday’s announcement but didn’t realize it wouldn’t be counted at all. He said he had called state party leaders and “expressed my complete and utter dismay.”
Excuse me? Maine isn’t even going to announce the real winner of the Maine caucus? They are going to continue to let Romney say he won, even when he’s officially de-throned?
This is wrong, people. And more than wrong, this is a flagrant and obscene attempt to sway voters.
Even if I hadn’t studied out Paul’s stance on the issues, I’d be inclined to vote for him after this. Anyone the establishment is trying so desperately hard to throw out of the race must have real change in mind.
Ron Paul will:
Cut 1 trillion in spending his first year in office.
Take a presidential salary of only $39,336 – the median salary of any worker.
Throw out the IRS and their unfair taxation.
Cut five departments of the government.
Bring all our soldiers home and stop policing the world. (Remember when Obama said he was going to do this? Suddenly he’s about to start another war. And Guantanamo Bay? Not only did Obama break his promise to close it, but he’s adding on to it.)
Support Israel the way Israel wants and needs to be supported, by stopping aid to her enemies, allowing her to defend herself, and set her own policies and rules without us forcing her to give concessions to those who want to wipe her off the map. Paul is NOT anti-Israel. Here’s Israel’s Prime Minister endorsing Paul’s ideas:
Ron Paul is not like any candidate you have ever voted for. His voting record is %100 consistent. He does not flip-flop, and he understands how our constitution is supposed to work, and why America is currently slipping into another Great Depression. Most of the great-sounding things you’ve heard the other candidates saying? They are parroting what Paul has always said, and what they themselves snickered at in the previous election. The difference is, while they are merely mouthing what they know America wants to hear, Paul has been saying it all his life…and voting for it.
I’m voting for Paul, in the primary, and beyond. I will not write any other person’s name down on my ballot to become my president. There is no one else who can do the job.
Okay. I have to say it. I think FX’s show “Justified” is the best thing currently on tv. I can’t say it’s the best show I’ve ever seen (HBO’s Rome has that honor) but is Justified in second place? I think so. It beats all my other television loves: better than Doctor Who, better than Dexter, better than…(oh do I have to say it aloud? I feel so disloyal!)…it’s better than Firefly.
It’s so so so good, and hardly anyone I know is watching it, which makes me sad. It deserves to be better known than it is. It’s just…everything about it is spot-on perfect. Perfect casting, perfect writing (the dialogue is particularly excellent) and it just has such heart. I love how the show treats its characters, and how complicated they all are.
I’d seen Timothy Olyphant in a few things before, but he never really clicked with me until this role. He just IS Raylan Givens. I am a girl who does NOT like cowboys, or anything do with cowboys, so how in the world did I fall so hard for this show:
That’s a cowboy hat he’s wearing there, in case you can’t tell. The show is basically a modern western, which should be anathema to me, but this show is so terrific that it doesn’t matter what genre it is. It transcends.
It also doesn’t hurt that the brilliant actor Walton Goggins has one of the major roles. I’ve been a fan of this guy since he played Shane on The Shield, and he’s no less fabulous here.
And then there is Jacob Pitts as Marshall Tim Gutterson. I’ve never seen him in anything before, and he hardly registered with me on Season One of Justified. But in Season Two, they finally let him out to play, and his few scenes made me laugh so hard. He’s just such a deadpan oddball. I hope he’ll get a lot more screen time in Season Three, because I completely adore Marshall Tim. I wish I could find a video clip from the Season Two episode “Full Commitment” because it contains a couple of lines of the most perfect Tim TMI dialogue ever. If there are any fans of the show reading this, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m referring to!
Joining the cast this season is another of my all-time favorite actors, Neal McDonough (him of the impossibly blue eyes!). So happy to see he appears to be playing a very complicated bad guy. Those are the best kind.
So if you are not watching this show, do yourself a HUGE favor and pick up season one.
PS: Thank you Tressa for telling me I had to watch this show!
Out of Eden 