Cool cosplay for Halloween

As Halloween sneaks upon us, it is time to think about what cool costume you are going to wear for that party, that cosplay event or even trick or treating. As in most areas of my life, I'm always looking for ways to incorporate all things geeky, and Halloween costumes are the perfect opportunity!

Will I be a gender-swapped Joker? Or maybe a classic Harley Quinn? I know my boys will always want to be someone from Star Wars (Palpatine is the current favourite). Perhaps you are looking for something to wear to Armageddon, which is also almost upon us. Our library collections are the perfect place to start your search for the ultimate costume or cosplay.

Quite possibly one of the best places to start would be with 1000 incredible costume & cosplay ideas : a showcase of creative characters from anime, manga, video games, movies, comics, and more! by Yaya Han, which is just jam packed full of awesome costume ideas. From Speed Racer to Battle Angel Alita, Captain Jack Sparrow to R2D2 and many many more. This is a wonderful book to get you all inspired, but note that it doesn't have tutorials on how to make the costumes.

However, Geek knits : over 30 projects for fantasy fanatics, science fiction fiends, and knitting nerds by Joan of Dark aka Toni Carr totally has you covered with a vast range of actual knitting patterns designed to help you 'embrace your inner geek'. I really really need someone to make me a George R R Martin Dire Wolf, a Communicator Purse and a pair of Cthulhu Gloves. Anyone? Guess it's time for me to take up knitting!

I was pretty excited to come across Geek mom : projects, tips, and adventures for moms and their 21st-century families by Natania Barron, as it looks to be the perfect Mum Manual for me :). It says that it 'explores the many fun and interesting ways that digital-age parents and kids can get their geek on together'. As well as helping you to come up with some thrifty Halloween costumes, there are also loads of other cool things, such as hobbit feasts, magical role-playing games and home science experiments. I need this book pronto!

The fangirl's guide to the galaxy : a handbook for girl geeks by Sam Maggs is just one of the best books ever! With chapters on how to rock awesome cosplay, write fanfic with feels, defeat Internet trolls, and attend your first con, what more could you want?

Lastly, in The big book of Halloween fun by Susie Johns, there are loads of more traditional costume ideas which could easily be adapted to be geektastic. The Eezy Zombies just scream Walking Dead, the Mucky Medieval Peasant would be totally be at home in Westeros, and any Harry Potter fan will love the Wonderful Wizardly Warlock. My personal favourite is the Truly Terrifying Mummy, which brought back many happy memories of The Mummy and Brendon Fraser *happy sigh*.
Not only does this book have loads of costume ideas, it also covers you for Pumpkin carving and Halloween crafts, fiendish food and drink ideas and even some games for your younger Halloween participants. I can't wait to whip up a batch of skeleton popsicles and wicked witch hats!

Comic Book Month, Baby!

It's my favourite month of the Auckland Libraries year - September! This means...

Comic Book Month!

Every year we in the Libraries host a whole bunch of comic/fandom themed events, and generally go crazy about one of my most favourite formats for reading. At first, September was all about celebrating comics and graphic novels, but slowly, this month has also been expanded to include things like movies, cartoons, zines and other geekery and pop culture.

Already underway, Auckland Libraries has had some awesome events such as LibraryCon, a fantastic Panel of comic artists/cartoonists, and other community library based events (I myself ran a small cartooning workshop in one of my fave libraries, ho ho ho).

Displays are up, people are buzzing, and as always we have our comic book card comp - where you get a stamp for each comic you read, open to all ages (not staff, unfortunately ): before I was staff, I went crazy for this!) to get awesome prizes.

If you've ever read any of my posts, you'll know that I am crazy for comics. I go wild for graphic novels, I fangirl over fanart and cry over cartoons. So you can expect, with the amount of buzz about them this month, that I'll be preparing some awesome graphic novel-related posts soon.

But for now, I'll share with you the place to check if you wanna see if there are any events near you - and remind you (or share for the first time, if you don't already know!) about our cosplay workshops! Although they start at the end of this month, I'm still gonna pop the info here so you can check it out.

And remember to have a gander at our new titles page, where you can see all the new graphics we've gotten our mitts on for adults, as well as teens and kids, so you can pass your geekery on to the next generation (and always take some time to scroll through our non-fiction lists for some hidden gems, like this or this).

If that isn't even for you, also check out the popular culture nextreads eNewsletter. Not just for comics, this newsletter puts the light on some new releases, actor/screen related biographies and general popculture-y awesomeness.

Geekalicious gifts you can make Mum this Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day, why not make Mum something a little different, something a little geektastic even. I took a wander around our library this afternoon and found an absolute treasure trove of books full of gift ideas that I would be proud to get from my own little mini-geeks this Sunday ;)

1000 steampunk creations. Surely Mum would love a little steampunk goodness in her life, this book is full of inspiration for home design, art and sculpture, fashion, jewellery and more. My personal jewellery collection is chocka with steampunk goodies but could always use some more (hint hint).

Maybe you have some old books you would like to turn into something special for Mum. The repurposed library : 33 craft projects that give old books new life could be just the thing for you! Can we just suggest maybe not using your library books for this one, we have lots of withdrawn books you can buy that would totally do the trick though ;)

Maybe Mum would love something that is a little eco-friendly too. MiniEco: a craft book is full of cool paper craft, macramé and more. Who wouldn't want an awesome pop-up pixel card or an incredible origami lampshade?

Just perfect for the cosplaying Mums out there is 1000 incredible costume & cosplay ideas : a showcase of creative characters from anime, manga, video games, movies, comics, and more! With ideas and inspiration from across a HUGE range of platforms, she'll be all sorted for future Armageddon events and cosplay picnics in no time at all.

If steampunk jewellery isn't Mum's thing, perhaps she'd be keen on some Creative chain mail jewelry. There are some beautiful pieces in this book, from the Bicycle chain bracelet to the chain mail watchband.

If Mum needs a little more adorable in her life (I know, she probably doesn't when she has you already, just humour me here), you can't really go wrong with Felted knit amigurumi : how to knit, felt and create adorable projects. I squee'd my way through the contents page, the book is just crammed full of cuteness :)

Perhaps you'd like to whip up something special for Mum in the kitchen? I picked up Gastrogeek for it's lovely geeky title, but apparently it is just the trick when you are in a hurry, hungry or hard up. I sure wouldn't say no to a batch of Salted peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, om nom nom!

The feisty stitcher : sewing projects with attitude uses all sorts of cool unexpected materials and top techniques to make Mum loads of home sewn goodies. I'm pretty sure we all need a Hit-the-road backpack and Nip & tuck T-shirt in our lives at some stage.

So these were just an handful (or rather an armful) of fab books I found in our library today - go forth and check out your local branch and make Mum something magical! We all know that Mum really loves something you've made yourself especially for her :) (although wine and chocolates never go astray either, ahem).

Armageddon Auckland 2014

Recently over Labour weekend, Auckland hosted the annual Armageddon Entertainment Expo. I thought rather longingly about attending, but wasn’t sure it would be manageable with two rather hectic under 5 year olds, even a couple of pop culture loving ones. Then just two days before, I managed to win tickets to the show, so WAHOO! It was obviously meant to be. Here are a just a few of my highlights from the Monday I attended.

The cosplay
Due to those pesky pre-schoolers (I love them really), it has been a good 5 or 6 years since I last went to Armageddon, and oh my goodness how the cosplay has grown! My significant other and I used to lament the fact that NZ didn’t really do it on the level of overseas conventions, but that has changed indeed and I absolutely loved it :) My sons were in seventh heaven posing with an array of characters, including Iron Man, a rather amazing Dalek, and Star Wars characters galore.
We have some fabulous books on cosplay in our catalogue (I’m getting started on planning my costume for next year) such as:

1000 incredible costume & cosplay ideas : a showcase of creative characters from anime, manga, video games, movies, comics, and more! / Yaya Han, Allison DeBlasio & Joey Marsocci a.k.a. Dr. Grymm.

Cosplay New Zealand / Sylvie Kirkman.

Cosplay world / Brian Ashcraft and Luke Plunkett.

And you really need to see this video of Eveychu, the overall winner of this year’s cosplay competition (not to mention the Trans-Tasman Champion 2014), with her stunning cosplay of Katniss from the Hunger Games; she really deserved her win!

The exhibitors 
Ahhhh, there was something for everyone. From the big stores such as Mighty Ape to smaller stall holders selling the most amazing pop culture goodies. I’m a steampunk fan, and picked up some stunning steampunk pretties, Achievement Christmas shopping was indeed unlocked!

Yet our favourite stand would have to have been the Auckland Libraries one. I may be a little biased, but my aforementioned significant other and small people were extremely happy to have somewhere to put their feet up and play games on the library iPads, while I checked out the cool Makerspace badge making going on.

I did manage to get in a little trouble though, as said SO perused the collection there for borrowing, and noticed that we loan out games…I CAN BORROW GAMES! How did I not know this? (said he) *cough cough* (said I).  Did you know you can borrow console games from the Library? We have Nintendo DS, Playstation 2 and 3, Xbox and Xbox 360, PSP and Wii games for hire….there, hopefully I'm sparing anyone else from getting into trouble :)

The celebrities
There was a huge range of awesome guests this year, none of whom I ACTUALLY got to see (blame those small people, not so good with queues). From a number of brilliant voice actors from shows such as Ben 10, Regular Show and Adventure Time, to cast members from great shows such as Stargate SG-1 and Supernatural. The big two this year were MacGyver and Stargate SG-1's Richard Dean Anderson, and Jenna Coleman, Dr Who’s current companion Clara. Who, according to the many friends that DID get to meet her,  is just super lovely in person. I'm trying to be happy for them, really I am :) Guess I’ll just have to settle for watching her fantastic Dr Who episodes through our collections, or perhaps a little Richard Dean Anderson in his earlier (and somewhat tastier) years ;)

Wondering if I cosplayed myself? Miao ;)

PS - would love to hear about your highlights too, please comment away!

Stalking the catalogue: 1,000 incredible costume and cosplay ideas

"Remember that always dressing in understated good taste is the same as playing dead."
- Susan Catherine

1,000 incredible costume and cosplay ideas : a showcase of creative characters from anime by Joey Marsocci
I adore Cosplay like I do chocolate. I've always wanted to dress up. I've just never been sure who as. As a result, I've never done cosplay, and I feel the lack like a physical ache. Somewhat fanciful, and wholly true. I believe that there must be such incredible freedom and celebration in dressing up like your favourite character. I view cosplay very much how I do fanfic - as people loudly (and proudly) proclaiming their interests and fandoms where everyone can see them, admire them, engage with them and, best of all, identify with them. Cosplay FTW.