There’s 365 days until Halloween next year. My Halloween was a chill night spent drinking beer with friends and staying out later than I usually do. Toward the end of September, I wrote a blog post about the October Bucket List items I wanted to accomplish. As always, my goal list was ambitious and I didn’t complete every task on this list. I wanted to do a brief recap of October 2018.

• Watch the Classic Horror Movies! I own Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy.

For me and the boyfriend’s 4-year anniversary, we watched the original Frankenstein although it seemed familiar which makes me think I watched the original in some high school or college class. The boyfriend ends up falling asleep throughout the movie which is unlike him.

• Watch Rocky Horror Picture Show *the original* which I have also never seen before.

Nope, but it’s in my Netflix Queue.

• Visit an Apple Orchard

Me and the boyfriend had plans to go to an Apple Orchard, but the weather didn’t cooperate as we had quite a few rainy days.

• Attend a Halloween Costume Party

On Halloween, me and a couple friends drove to a brewery that was hosting a costume party plus beer samples. Not necessarily a costume party, but I’m going to count the brewery as succeeding in this goal.

• See the new Halloween movie in theaters

I want to see this still, but I haven’t gotten around to it.

• Carve a Pumpkin

Carving pumpkins is messy which stopped me from completing this goal

• Watch Nightmare Before Christmas on Netflix

It’s on my Netflix list!

• Play a Horror-themed D&D campaign I linked my Call of Cthulhu D&D session.
• Attend the Minneapolis Zombie Pub Crawl

October 2018 was a blur because I was busy almost every single weekend. I’m sad to see October is over, but now I have these cute pictures to cherish forever ❤

I’m grateful to be living in a place that has a strong geek presence. I became aware of this community when I started writing for Twin Cities Geek in the summer of 2015. Three years later, Twin Cities Geek has allowed me to become comfortable in this geek community. Every year, Twin Cities Geek tables at Midwest Comic Book Association (M.C.B.A)’s two comic-themed conventions; Spring Con & Fall Con. Last weekend was Fall Con and I had the pleasure of attending this volunteer-run convention.

As I mentioned, this convention is run 100% by volunteers. This isn’t a for-profit show and the M.C.B.A. wants to highlight all of the Minnesota comic talent living and thriving in the Twin Cities area. This is a spending convention meaning it’s designed for people to show up, bring cash, and support local creators. However, I only brought $20 in cash, and I still left with two comics I’m looking forward to reading. You don’t need a lot of money to be able to support creators. $20 goes a long way.

An extra added bonus is the M.C.B.A. volunteers provide lunch to everyone who tables at the event. They always have hot dogs and pulled pork to share along with chocolate chip cookies and hot coffee. I gravitated to the hot coffee because I happened to be running on 4 hours of sleep. It’s especially appreciated by creators who are at their booths for hours. It’s easier to grab something quick to eat on site than to leave their booth to get food which risks losing sales.

Another nice feature of the con is the M.C.B.A. always gives away free stuff. They do raffles and draw tickets fairly often. In fact, when I received a ticket, it was automatically the winner. I could choose from coloring books, comics, and complete comic series. I ended up picking Spider-Gwen #2, Mockingbird #1, and Scarlet Witch #1. At Spring Con this year, I won a Lois Lane Bombshell figurine along with a graphic novel. It’s fun leaving the convention with free comics and comics I originally paid for.

A lot of my readers probably aren’t from the Minnesota or Midwest region of the U.S., however, if you are, this is a con you have to attend. Everyone is incredibly friendly and I have never had a negative geek experience at any of the M.C.B.A. conventions. I cannot wait for Spring Con to happen in May 2019.

Last weekend, me and two of my friends went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. This is my second Renaissance festival this year and even though I had to wait about an hour to get parked, this was my favorite Renaissance trip. Not only was it my friend’s birthday, but my other friend had never been to any Renaissance festival before. They both had a great experience filled with shopping, eating, and watching Fandazzi perform their annual fire show.

As I mentioned, the worst part about the Renaissance Fest is waiting to park the car. I saw more volunteers leading cars into the lot this year versus the other years I have attended. The line seemed to move quickly and I think it helped our group go on Sunday versus a Friday or Saturday.

Their first Renaissance Festival

One of my favorite parts about the Minnesota Renaissance Festival is all the vendors. Unlike the Bristol Renaissance Festival, I think the Minnesota Ren Fest has cooler items to purchase. I purchased a leather cup holder for my coffee thermos and it looks like Cthulhu. It’s green and it has a huge octopus on it. It was an automatic purchase for me because as soon as I laid my eyes on it, I had to have it. I also purchased two necklaces: one is a Cthulhu/octopus carved into metal and the other is two unicorns joined on top of a purple gem. Renaissance festival jewelry always adds something unique to my closet and I like being able to wear geeky jewelry at work with my professional attire.

Part of the reason I attend the MN Ren Fest is to eat good food. Every time I go, I always order the chicken wild rice soup in a bread bowl. It’s filling and extremely satisfying. I also tried the calzone for the first time which wasn’t too bad. Finally, to finish off the day I drank an apple cider float with cinnamon ice cream. It’s way better than a root beer float.

Ultimately, the more I think about it, the more I prefer the Minnesota Renaissance Festival over the Bristol Renaissance Festival in Wisconsin. This is an event I try to attend every year even though I was unable to attend last year due to being overworked. I can’t wait to start wearing my new Cthulhu necklace to work. 😛

Two weeks ago I visited New York City with my best friend. I had never been to NYC before and I didn’t know what to expect. I try not to create expectations about a certain city or country because I find if I do, I’m going to be disappointed. Case in point I visited Nashville last summer and was disheartened when I didn’t like Nashville as much as I perceived I would. Visiting NYC was an amazing experience and I cannot wait until my return trip.

We flew into JFK airport at 11:30 PM and we didn’t get to our Air B&B until 1:30 AM – 2:00 AM. JFK airport is past Brooklyn and Queens as our Air B&B was in Harlem located in upper Manhattan. If you look at Google Maps, you can see that it’s a long trek from the airport to our Air B&B. Plus we took the wrong subway which was our more direct route to getting to Harlem and took the longer route which went all the way through Brooklyn and up through Manhattan. My biggest advice for visiting NYC is to download the NYC Metra Subway app. It can give you detailed directions on which subway to take to get to a tourist area. We tried to use Google Maps which doesn’t work since you’re underground with no cell service.

On Friday, we explored Manhattan by walking around Central Park, visiting Times Square, and walking through the 9/11 memorial. Central Park is massive! We probably only walked around a fourth of the park and it’s easy to get lost. It’s mesmerizing in a city filled with millions of people lies a park filled with trees and beautiful flowers. Times Square is probably one of my least favorite parts of New York because it’s a tourist trap. There are people everywhere and it takes forever to walk around because of the groups of people that stop in the middle of the sidewalk as you’re trying to walk.

My favorite attraction we did on Friday was the 9/11 memorial. I was in 2nd grade when the two planes hit the Two Towers. My 2nd grade teacher had the footage on our TV set and my parents had the news on in our living room. If you’re ever in NYC, please visit the memorial. There were so many brave individuals who lost their lives that day to help save anyone they could from the towers. I was looking at all the items on display and my eyes welled up with tears thinking about how many lives were changed on that day.

On Saturday we visited the MET Art Museum. The MET Museum is also the site for the MET Gala where celebrities get together in fancy outfits and have dinner. My friend wanted a picture in front of the big steps of the MET because of the Gossip Girl TV Show. The pictures are neat because they show the big steps and the MET banner in the background.

On our last day in NYC, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge and explored Dumbo a neighborhood in Brooklyn. It’s right along the water separating Manhattan and Brooklyn. It reminds me of Minneapolis in a way because of the brick streets and the brick buildings. It’s a different side of NYC than just seeing Manhattan.

NYC is such a vast city and there’s so much to see. It’s overwhelming trying to see everything in the short time we were there. I’m envious of anyone who’s attending New York City Comic Con this year as I would love to go. I’m thinking next year of trying to purchase at least a day pass so I can explore this city one more time.

Today is my birthday! To celebrate my birthday I’m going to list 24 random facts about me in no particular order.

1. I’m left-handed! Every day after I work, I notice my left pinky finger is dark blue or black because I drag my hand as I write.
2. Halloween is my all-time favorite “holiday”.
3. Smoking is the one trait I find completely unattractive in a romantic partner.
4. My biggest insecurity growing up was tied between my uneven eyebrows and my big cheeks.
5. I played the Alto Saxophone in high school and for a full year in college.
6. I also used an Alto Saxophone in a D&D campaign as a weapon
7. The first comic I remember reading was Calvin & Hobbes.
8. I cannot resist Double Stuff Oreos.
9. My favorite recipe to make is garlic shrimp.
10. My patronus would be a cat.
11. I’m a Hufflepuff.
12. I have been Figure Skating since I was 6.
13. I hate rollercoasters.
14. I believe in ghosts, but I don’t have any ghost stories to share.
15. I’m incredibly clumsy. For example, I ran into a tree while playing football with friends sprained my ankle getting into my car, and fell off a landing backward while trick-or-treating with friends
16. My favorite arcade game is Dig Dug.
17. I used to be in dance in high school and I went to a tennis camp once in middle school. I am not a great dancer nor am I a great tennis player.
18. Fuck is my favorite swear word.
19. My Subaru is named Ripley Rey. Alien is one of my mom’s favorite film franchises and I bought my Subaru after The Force Awakens was released.
20. My Favorite Doctor is Christopher Eccleston
21. I love cereal and I could eat cereal for breakfast lunch or dinner.
22. I can’t snap or whistle.
23. I have never owned a dog.
24. It took me an hour to come up with #24 fun facts about myself 😀

My social media links are listed below. Thanks for reading my blog and I’m looking forward to another great year for blog posts.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bizarrebrunette/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bizzarebrunette

Instagram: @bizarrebrunette0117

This is the second CONvergence-themed blog post I wanted to write because this was the first year I rented a cosplay to wear. I went to CONvergence dressed as Wonder Woman except if Wonder Woman was a Viking. I wanted to share my experience of renting a cosplay in case any of you might be curious as to how to go about it.

To start off, I absolutely hate sewing or any crafting involving clothing. I will never make another cosplay again. A couple years ago, I made a Sailor Neptune cosplay that ended up going terribly. Apparently, I messed up the design and we had to redo a lot of it because I didn’t know what I was doing. With that experience under my belt, I basically gave up ever wanting to create my own cosplay.

There’s a Facebook page called “CONvergence Connections” where you can post about anything related to the convention. Someone had posted saying they had pre-made cosplays to rent. I was 100% on board. There were Disney princess cosplays, Renaissance-themed cosplays, and of course the Wonder Woman one I chose. The person I met with was friendly and suggested ways I could do my hair or my makeup to make the cosplay more accurate.

I was overjoyed with how my whole look turned out. A couple people came up to me wanting a picture with my cosplay and I received a ton of compliments. Renting this cosplay was extremely affordable. I paid $25 bucks to rent the entire outfit with accessories for 4 days. This is much cheaper for me versus having to buy all the materials myself.

If you aren’t into sewing or crafting, this can be an affordable way to have an accurate cosplay for a convention. I would 100% rent a cosplay again especially because my next convention will be in September of this year. Let me know if you have ever rented a cosplay, did you have a great experience? Let me know in the comments section below.

This past weekend I attended CONvergence for the 5th year. Usually, I plan different blog posts around my time at this convention because it’s honestly my favorite con I attend. Each CONvergence is special for me because it’s a chance to see friends I don’t see that often. This is my first year as a panelist as I appeared on the DC Comics / Justice League discussion panel!

Two weeks before CONvergence. you can sign up for panels that seem interesting to you. I only picked panels with topics I felt passionate about and I could talk about that topic for an hour. There were a couple I wanted to be on that I didn’t get picked for, but I was sent an email a week later from our moderator alerting me that I had been chosen to appear on the panel. He had sent me an email asking what topics to talk about for this panel.

Thursday came around and I walked into the room where my panel would be. I wasn’t sure how many people would be attending since the timing of my panel also coincided with a larger show on the main stage. I think we had about 30? ish. people came to see our panel including a couple friends of mine. As we waited for the panel to start, I found out one of the panelists wrote articles at Twin Cities Geek and he complimented the articles I wrote which was kind of neat.

The clock turns to 8:30 PM and I see our moderator hasn’t shown up. The moderator at a panel is responsible for keeping the panelists on a topic so we aren’t rambling about something unrelated. The moderator didn’t show up to the panel at all along with another panelist. Me and my two other panelists had to lead the entire panel without any prep. I will say I think we did a great job at keeping time, but also entertaining the audience by asking questions and getting their commentary.

Overall being a panelist was a really fun experience! It was slightly nerve-wracking before the panel began and my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest, but I felt energized after I had talked. If you have a chance to be on a panel, you should definitely apply! This CONvergence was certainly a memorable convention and of course, I’m already counting down the days till next year.

Until this weekend, I had never been involved in Pride. Usually, I always had something going on the same weekend as Pride. Fortunately, I was able to attend this year and I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting. I had a blast being a part of a vibrant community in the heart of the Twin Cities.

I arrived at Loring Park on Saturday hoping to volunteer but I couldn’t find the volunteer booth. Instead, I walked around looking at all the booths and photo opportunities. My friend joined me a half hour later to take pictures at the various photo ops. Target had a #TakePride statue you could get a picture with plus a rainbow confetti booth. I had to brush out all the confetti and I still found pieces in my hair hours later.

One thing I loved about Pride was how comfortable everyone was. I saw people wearing their hair a certain way or wearing a really cool outfit. I also saw individuals with their identity’s flag strapped as a cape. I didn’t know the color of all the flags so I had to look up what flag was linked to what identity, but there were more flags I didn’t even know existed.

Everyone deserves the right to love who they love and dress in ways that make them feel comfortable and to be addressed by the right pronouns that match their identity. If there is a Pride event in your city, I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to show your support. Allies are needed to continue this fight against hatred. I would attend Pride again next year if I’m free because it’s such a fun and uplifting place to be.

It seems that Solo: A Star Wars Story movie had a lot of drama behind the scenes. This includes firing the original directors and hiring an acting coach for Alden Ehrenreich. In the second link, Alden does address the acting coach rumors and says, “It was blown way out of proportion.” Spontaneously my friend bought tickets for me and the boyfriend to attend the showing yesterday. I must admit, it’s not my favorite Star Wars movie, but it’s much better than I was anticipating.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT 😀

Han Solo’s story begins on the planet of Corellia which is a horrendous planet. Solo (played by Alden Ehrenreich) is attempting to leave with his lover Qi’ra (played by Emilia Clarke) when he escapes and unfortunately, Qi’ra does not. Flash forward three years and Han is kicked out of the Imperial Academy and is connected with Chewie, Tobias Beckett (played by Woody Harrelson), and Qi’ra who he hasn’t seen in years. Of course, Lando (played by Donald Glover) is introduced and basically, the group of them fly the Millennium Falcon completing a bounty for Dryden Vos (played by Paul Bettany) who leads the Crimson Dawn criminal syndicate.

As far as Alden’s portrayal of Han Solo, I personally didn’t mind it. I thought Alden was dominant, feisty, and sarcastic which makes up Han Solo. I think with all of the hype for this movie, I believe Alden delivered.

I was skeptical about the casting of Woody Harrelson. He’s not a bad actor, but usually, the Star Wars franchise doesn’t include “huge actors”. I was afraid by watching the movie I would get distracted by Woody because of his notable roles. That wasn’t the case. I enjoyed his character and he teaches Han the crucial lesson of “Don’t Trust Anyone”.

If you’re still reading, there will be a MAJOR spoiler in the following paragraphs. Please stop reading if you haven’t seen the movie.

One of the biggest reactions to this movie is a surprise cameo. Qi’ra has just killed Vos and you see her steal his ring. She plugs it into this desk and is talking to Vos’s boss. I’m assuming this is going to be Supreme Leader Snoke maybe? It would help with developing his backstory as a villain. Instead, the cameo is none other than. . . Darth Maul!!!!

Darth Maul is a terrifying villain and it’s a shame he was killed so early on in The Phantom Menace. I know that Maul exists in Star Wars comics, I even read a Darth Maul book in the extended universe. I just wasn’t expecting him to appear in the movie. Literally, my mouth dropped and was open for his entire scene. I’m still shocked.

My biggest complaint thus far with the film is that Thandiwe Newton’s character dies in the first 20 minutes. What’s the point of even bringing her on board for the movie if you kill her so quickly? Seems silly to me.

Solo: A Star Wars Story was not a train wreck which is a nice surprise. The movie may have its flaws, but it’s ultimately a fun movie to see in the theater. I’m interested to see how things pan out in future movies, especially with the fun cameo I mentioned a couple paragraphs above. I’m always interested to hear what readers have to say, so leave a comment below. Please also be respectful of spoilers as it is the opening weekend for the movie.