The ROM filled with people for Friday Night at the ROM.
It’s no secret to those around me that I love Halloween. I definitely don’t go as all out as a lot of people that I know but it’s up there with my favourite times of year. Who doesn’t love getting the chance to dress up as whatever you want and go to parties and other cool things?! I love the whole aesthetic and the chance to just act like a big kid again.
I’m a huge wimp so it’s kind of funny that one of my favourite times of year is the spookiest times as well. Even though I’ve been embracing the horror genre for film, I’m still perpetually scared of everything horror that I watch (seriously, I wound up flail slapping my bf this weekend while watching The Haunting of Hill House).
Anyways though, my Halloweekend was a lot of fun. On Friday night, a group of my friends all went to Friday Night at the ROM which is a big 19+ party with beverages and food at the Royal Ontario Museum (thus the ROM). They always put on a big party for Halloween and everyone gets all dressed up to dance and look at cool stuff like dinosaur bones. There are little mini parties happening all over the ROM since it’s huge. In one room, there was burlesque and a DJ playing great 90s/00s hits while downstairs in the main area there was a psychobilly band playing to a massive crowd. Other areas are a little bit more chill and have speakers that connect music from the other rooms. It doesn’t run until late which is really nice too (you know, as a person who is in her thirties and gets tired of being out and about quickly…)
Some of my friends attending the ROM – the majority dressed up as McDonald’s characters (I’m in the corner in pink)
My Mabel Pines costume from Friday night.
For Friday Night at the ROM, I dressed up as one of my favourite characters from TV: Mabel Pines from the series Gravity Falls. Only a handful of people got my costume but that was honestly okay because I was comfortable and had a blast dancing like a big little kid with my mini stuffed Waddles. Although I was melting in my sweater which seemed like a not-so-great life choice to be dancing around in.
On Saturday, my friend Jenn had a house party with a ton of people. She decorated and made her apartment look amazing and had all kinds of tasty treats (and a keg) for us all. It was great to see my friends in a less hectic environment than the night before at the ROM.
My Lydia Deetz (a la Beetlejuice: The Animated Series) costume.
For the party, I decided to dress up as Lydia Deetz, specifically from Beetlejuice: The Animated Series. Only one person at the party got the look (if others got it, they didn’t say anything) and my bf was convinced that I hadn’t done a very good job with my costume (due to thinking I was supposed to be Wednesday Addams…) but this was also an incredibly comfy costume so I didn’t mind. Well, it was comfy except for my hair which was essentially a big mess since I teased the crap out of it to make it stand up like Lydia’s hair does.
I stuck around with my friend’s there until one of the guys started a drinking game. As someone who has really minimized my drinking in 2018, this was when I knew I had to step out. My bf doesn’t drink either so it definitely felt like our time to leave. I AM TOO OLD FOR DRINKING GAMES.
Sunday was spent watching The Haunting of Hill House (and accidentally slapping my bf…) as well as carving pumpkins. I didn’t get great pictures of any of the pumpkins I did but it was a lot of fun to do. Plus roasting pumpkin seeds and munching on those is always a delicious treat – although I kind of botched mine because I didn’t let them dry out first. I have NO CHILL and wanted pumpkin seeds IMMEDIATELY.
Halloweekend was a great time and I still have a few more things to do for the remainder of October to celebrate Halloween which is exciting. All I want to do right now (for the most part) is sleep but HALLOWEEN ONLY COMES ONCE A YEAR so here we are.
After many years of almost starting in a D&D group and having it not pan out, I met up with some friends last night who had invited me to be a part of an upcoming campaign. I am very excited. I feel like D&D is such a massive part of geek fandom and even before it’s rise in popularity, it felt like something I would really enjoy doing. Now that it is almost a mainstream thing for people to do, it’s hard to ignore that it’s everywhere and I still haven’t played.
Last night, we sat down and talked about the campaign. I learned a little bit about what to expect, how to approach the game, and then we even got around to starting character creation. It was a lot of fun, but it almost felt a bit intimidating at first – like, I didn’t want to let anyone down and I wanted to build a character that would help our team accomplish the things!
I didn’t come prepared with a backstory or anything – I felt very unprepared. But we talked it all out, and I decided I wanted to base a character around the comic book character Nico Minoru from Marvel’s Runaways. I’m working on a way to incorporate a version of her into D&D terms and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a new way to look at the character as well, breaking her down into what makes her tick and trying to build something around her essence.
Anyways – I don’t have much else to say right now about it. I’m excited to start this journey to learn D&D and will update more with how it goes!
I was recently asked to share a list of my Top 20 Comic Books. It’s been a loooooooong time since I did any list like this so I started mulling things over in my head and decided to put something together.
I feel as though I’m missing a million things and this list is in no particular order whatsoever. I just wanted to share some of my favourite comics of all-time and hopefully they might give you incentive to check them out, if you haven’t already.
Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona (Marvel)
Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka and JH Williams III (DC Comics)
Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn Allen, and Shannon Watters (Boom! Studios)
You maaaaaay notice that a lot of these books featuring female characters. That was not intentional when compiling the list but here we are. I guess that maybe we gravitate towards the things that we see ourselves in.
What are some of your favourite comic books?
On Saturday I headed out to Mississauga with the lovely Tory Woollcott and Andrew Wheeler to attend MCX – the Mississauga Comic Expo. I had never attended before but one of the organizers is Jason Loo, who is a fabulous comics creator in the Toronto area. The con takes place in a library (the Mississauga Central Librady) and has a similar model to TCAF. It’s free to attendees, has a strong program for kids, and is overall a friendly and not-so-intimidating place to learn and get into some comic books (and art, etc.)
I’m getting really awful at not taking any photos at these things I’m doing but OH WELL. You can say that I’m living in the moment or something along those lines.
Anyways, I moderated two panels: one was a creator spotlight on Tory Woollcott and Adam Gorham. I’ve known Adam for years so even though the panel was originally meant to have Ramon Perez on it, I didn’t mind at all that Adam was swapped into it. Tory and I had only met for the first time that morning but we got along wonderfully so the panel was fun, flowed well, and was just an overall great time. Plus we learned about what stance the creators took on the important issue of pineapple on pizza – does it belong there or naaaaah? (spoilers: everyone said that pineapple is great on pizza which reaffirmed that Tory and Adam are great people)
Immediately following that panel, I was moderating a sketch challenge where four artists came on stage to do a drawing in front of an audience. I got the opportunity to chat with Brenna Baines, Emmanuelle Châteauneuf, Jahnoy Lindsay, and Jamal Campbell who were absolute delights.
The audience was primarily kids so I ran around the auditorium getting their questions for the panelists to answer. The panel only ran for 20 or so minutes so that the artists weren’t drawing for too long and to keep the audience interested (again, they were mostly kids). It was a really great crowd though and I had a blast chatting with both the kids and the panelists as they answered questions and hung out.
I didn’t really get out to explore the show much which I feel guilty about. I mostly stuck to my booth outside of the panels and chatted with new pal, Tory. Since I was repping Creator Resource, I wanted to help answer questions for anyone who might want to know more about the industry and be available to guide people.
We had several passionate people come to the table, eager to learn. I really hope I was able to assist them in some way.
The bottom line here was that MCX was a wonderful show with an excellent team of volunteers. I’m hoping I get the chance to go back next year for more panels, to hang out with cool creators (and fans!), and to just be a part of it.
I probably should’ve posted this earlier than the day before but I’ll be at MCX (the Mississauga Comic Expo) on Saturday October 20 (aka tomorrow). I’m moderating two panels as a part of Creator Resource and will be wandering around the show for the remainder of the day.
I’m really excited to be a part of the convention this year. It should be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to chatting with amazing creators, fans, and comic pros. Come say hello if you spot me!
Here’s my schedule:
Comic Creator Spotlight – Ramon Perez & Tory Woollcott Sat Oct 20, 1:15-2PM in the library auditorium
Comic pros Ramon Perez and Tory Woollcott share their creative process and behind the scenes stories. Moderated by Stephanie Cooke of Creator Resource.
Sketch Challenge
Saturday, Oct 20, 2:30-3pm in the library auditorium
We got four incredible artists lined-up to draw a character and scenario chosen by the audience: Jamal Campbell (artist for Marvel & DC), Emmanuelle Chateauneuf (creator of Queen Street and Captain Canuck artist), Brenna Baines (creator of Eos and @torontocomicsanthology artist), and Jahnoy Lindsay (Marvel artist). Hosted by Stephanie Cooke of Creator Resource.
I’m trying to get better about blogging again (we’ll see how long I can keep it up…) so I wanted to talk a bit about an event I ran last night.
You may or may not know that I’ve been running a site called Creator Resource along with some other amazing people. We decided to host an event last night at Page & Panel where we invited comic book pros at any level to come out and meet their peers. The idea is to create a positive and supportive community where we lift each other up and help each other out. Building up this community and making it bigger than it already is is something extremely important to me and vital for creators…which all sounds like some sort of sales pitch. It all sounds very hokey when I say it out loud. BUT IT’S TRUE. I want the best for this community and want to help make it better.
I was really worried that people wouldn’t come out to the event last night but it went extremely well and we really did have comic book creators at literally every level come out. I was an emotional mess in the wake of the evening, having gotten the chance to talk to a number of amazing people who want to do great things in comics. It felt like such a big step in the right direction for what I want to see in this industry and community.
I chatted with people I knew, people I had never met in IRL (and knew from social media), and people I just straight up didn’t know. I always expect it to be friends that I’ve guilted into coming out but it’s a wonderous surprise when it’s not.
I’m simultaneously exhausted from playing host all evening but also trying to plan out another event and figure out what we could do to make it even better in the coming months.
Making a better comics community is so important to me and to see people respond to what we’re trying to do through Creator Resource…well, it makes me so incredibly happy and grateful for the chance to do all of this.
<3
I’ve been voraciously reading this year and trying my best to get through as many book books (as opposed to comic books) as possible. I’ve neglected books for a while in favourite of comics so it felt like a good year to shift my primary focus. I’ve missed reading and building a world put down for readers solely in words and it’s been refreshing to make time for the medium again.
I’ve been enjoying a number of different types of books but I’ve definitely had a heavy focus on YA which have been doing a fantastic job of capturing my attention.
Here’s some of my faves that I’ve read in 2018 (in no particular order):
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Sadie by Courtney Summers
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Shrill: Notes From A Loud Woman by Lindy West
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Furyborn by Clare Legrand
To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
I discovered Laini Taylor this year and fell in love with her writing. Strange the Dreamer is probably the one book on this list that is in a particular order. It consumed me in every way and I simply could not put the book down. Taylor’s writing is nothing short of exquisite and I’ve never read anything quite as beautiful as Taylor’s writing within Strange the Dreamer.
I also got completely sucked into the Three Dark Crowns series and have been reading them faithfully as I can get my hands on them. Kendare Blake has put together a great series and has built a fascinating world.
Sarah J. Maas is an author that I discovered last year. I have eagerly devoured her books (which are great fantasy series’ that have fantastic smutty bits…) and follow her works pretty closely now.
Shrill is probably one of the only non-fiction books that I’ve read this year and if it had to be anything, I’m glad it was this one. Lindy West is nothing short of inspiring and absolutely amazing to me. I’m in awe of her as a feminist and as an overall human.
What books have you been reading this year? What books are you hoping to get through? Muse of Nightmares is the sequel to Strange the DreamerGoodreads and is definitely next on my list to get through. The full list of everything I’ve read this year (and ever…) is over on , if you’re curious.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s Halloween and that means that it’s a whole month of spookiness and costuming goodness. I’ve loved the month of October in all its haunted glory but previously it was for the costumes and parties, as opposed to the spookiness of the month.
In the last few years, I’ve started getting into horror films and I’ve worked on embracing the genre, despite being a huge scaredy-cat when it comes to watching them. I definitely still have to watch them exclusively at home so I can cover my eyes and hold a pillow or my cat for comfort. Still, I’ve watched quite a few now and so I thought I’d make a list of 31 spooky films that you should check out in the month of October.
These are some of my favourites. There’s a mix of fun as well as genuinely scary films so without further delay, let’s take a look at my list (click on a title to be taken to the trailer):
On Saturday I headed out to Mississauga with the lovely Tory Woollcott and Andrew Wheeler to attend MCX – the Mississauga Comic Expo. I had never attended before but one of the organizers is Jason Loo, who is a fabulous comics creator in the Toronto area. The con takes place in a library (the Mississauga Central Librady) and has a similar model to TCAF. It’s free to attendees, has a strong program for kids, and is overall a friendly and not-so-intimidating place to learn and get into some comic books (and art, etc.)
I’ve been voraciously reading this year and trying my best to get through as many book books (as opposed to comic books) as possible. I’ve neglected books for a while in favourite of comics so it felt like a good year to shift my primary focus. I’ve missed reading and building a world put down for readers solely in words and it’s been refreshing to make time for the medium again.
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