Beware of the Seagulls is go.

So after dealing with a great deal of self doubt (mostly with some counteractive drinking), I've finally decided to take the plunge and Kindle-publish Beware of the Seagulls.  It's been almost 10 years since I finished it, and I've never had the nerve to throw it out to a wide audience and see how it fares.

To be honest, a large part of me isn't actually bothered about its reception - it may pick up a couple of fans here and there, or it may be read by half a dozen people who all think it's garbage, who knows?  But this was something I put a lot of my heart and soul into when I was younger, and writing it brought me a great deal of joy.

The sequel - which was roughly 90% complete when I left it - possibly meant even more to me, as I continued to run with characters I'd come to love.  So regardless of what happens at this point, this is a gift from me to 25 year old Rob.  Beware of the Seagulls is public.  Your story is finally out there for all to see.

Cosplay goal achieved: Spider Jerusalem.

So this weekend was MCM Comic Con at the NEC in Birmingham.  I've been off the convention circuit since Birmingham Comics Festival in April of last year for various reasons, but managed to come back this time with a brand new cosplay: Spider Jerusalem from Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson's Transmetropolitan.

For many years Spider's been my favourite comic book character and Transmet has been my favourite comic book series, but as I've had no experience in making props I've always had to put him on the cosplay back burner due to those pesky glasses!  But this year I finally had a crack at them and came out with something workable, bought a cheap suit on sale, picked up a cheap shoulder bag with radioactive decals and a transient smiley badge, and put the whole thing together!  Ended up having a great time at Comic Con.

So first of all came the big disaster.  Got up at 4am to start the tattoos, which I actually thought was overkill.  Turned out I needed every minute of the 3 hours until 7am when I had to set off for the train!  However, seeing as this is the first time I've cosplayed with asymmetrical makeup, I forgot to flip the head tattoo in the mirror and painted it onto the wrong side.  I didn't realise this until I was already on the train en-route to the NEC, so I just had to grin and bear it throughout the day.

Fortunately no one picked up on it, and on the rare occasion I was recognised I pointed it out to avoid any heckling.  Every time I did point it out, folks just shrugged it off with a "dude, you're still Spider, and it's awesome", which was really encouraging.

All in all I was stopped by people who recognised the character a grand total of 6 times, which made a somewhat relaxing change from the 100+ stops I usually have to make as The Joker!  It left me much more free to enjoy the rest of the convention, in spite of my inability to recognise colours for the entire day.

For once I had a bit of spending money, so I was able to pick up a few bits and pieces, including the Hostage Negotiator board game, a Harry Potter scarf (Slytherin all the way!), and some Christmas presents for family.

Of the two show highlights though, the first was meeting Alix Wilton Regan, a fantastic voice actress and bloody lovely person to boot.  As a Bioware fanboy she's Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor from Mass Effect 3, and my chosen Inquisitor from Dragon Age Inquisition.  As she didn't have a queue I was able to chat with her for a good few minutes about Dragon Age, Mass Effect (she liked my tattoo), Andromeda, and she seemed genuinely interested in the character I was dressed as.

I loved the message on this one :)

The second highlight, was getting my photo taken on the Iron Throne, from Game of Thrones.  There was a booth there where for £10 you could get your photo taken on the Iron Throne, or for £25 you could have it taken on the throne with Joffrey's crown and a sword of your choice.  Both options were expensive, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity and went with the cheaper package.  After a little bit of photo editing to move the head tattoo to the correct size, this was the result...

House Jerusalem: We Hate it Here

After a few hours of wandering the halls, admiring the cosplay, buying things with money I don't have and enviously staring at things I couldn't afford, it was time to go home.

Seeing as I was only stopped for a couple of photos and I wanted some more cosplay images to mark this occasion, I took a few more outside the flat after I got home.  Again, I had to tweak them a little to get the tattoo moved, but was happy with the outcome.  A couple were just bog-standard poses, but I also tried to replicate a couple of my favourite cover images from the series... not always accurately due to working from memory!  But here they were...

All in all, pretty amazing day.  I am, however, having to come to terms with the fact that I'm not as sprightly as I was when I started cosplaying 10 years ago, and my hips are the ones to suffer from walking around a convention hall all day.  Perhaps I should switch to the version of Spider later in the series when he becomes ill and has to walk with a cane...

Anyways, I'm by no means done with Spider.  For one thing I want to go back and do him properly, actually putting his tattoo on the right side of the head, and I want to tidy up the arm tattoos (which were far more visible than I was expecting).  Prop-wise, I'm also hoping to have a bowel disruptor, two-faced cat, or Chair Leg of Truth to take with me on my next outing... time will tell which one wins out!

Getting ready for harvest mice

This month marked the 4th year of me living in my little flat, and whilst it is small, it's served me well and I'm still thoroughly happy within its four walls.  It also marks four years for my marine aquarium, which is still going strong, with a trio of assorted fish, a coral banded shrimp and a fairly colossal hermit crab.

But as beautiful as the tank's inhabitants are, I've been fancying having a little more life to share the flat with me, so over the last couple of weeks I've been looking into harvest mice.  They're small, relatively easy to care for (so if I'm stuck in work until stupid o'clock day after day, they won't miss me), and are the dictionary defenition of cute.  They're also absolutely tiny, which suits the size of my flat down to the ground.

So today I've been assembling their tank, with a view to picking up a pair of little critters next weekend, and here are the results!

 

 

 

 

All in all, around £90 was spent on this setup.  This consisted of:

• A medium-sized glass tank with a single shelf and fine-mesh lid, for good visibility and security
• A food bowl and shallow water dish, for obvious reasons!
• A little wicker wigwam and ball, both for hiding purposes.
• A length of bark for climbing.
• A pair of wooden ladders/barriers, which can be shaped for various purposes.  One is shown above, the other is being saved for later.
• A nut selection in an edible wafer bowl.
• Another nut selection in a hollow bark toy.
• A herb tunnel, containing hay (also saved for later).
• And a bag of wood shavings and straw.

My parents have just been trimming the pear tree in the garden as well, so I popped by for some opportunistic branch gathering!  I picked a handful of branch ends, using three for the tank and saving an extra couple for later.  It might seem odd to be saving so much "for later", but I like the idea of giving my mice something new to explore further down the line.

 

So next weekend I'm aiming at picking up a pair of bucks to inhabit this little tank, and depending on what they enjoy I may have a slight reshuffle, but for now this is how things are looking!  Hopefully I'll be updating with some photos and maybe even a short video soon!

Still: A Zombie Short Film

I certainly can't deny leaving this blog to decay and fester, and so I very much doubt there can be anyone left reading this.  However, I'm on an important mission, and so am using any and all means at my disposal to help!  I've resurrected my Facebook account, ended my self-imposed social exile, and am now dusting off the blog.

 

My acting life, both zombie and non-zombie related has gone well over the last year, getting my first living role, my first lead role, and my first paid speaking role.  Now, I'm trying to drum up attention for something I've been hoping to land for a very long time: my first lead zombie role!

 

Still is a short film by Carl Timms, shooting in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter in October 2015.  Local actor Joe Capella will be playing the lead human role, with myself opposite him as the lead featured undead, at the head of a horde of fellow zombies.  It's a 5 minute dark comedy, and having read the script I can promise it's going to be a great little film!  To make things even more exciting, the lead zombie effects are going to be done by Stuart Conran, the man behind the zombies in Shaun of the Dead.

 

Although the filming dates are already nailed down, funding for the film is not yet complete.  Costumes, prosthetics, props, insurance, expenses - all of these and more cost money, and that's where this plea comes in!

 

Still currently has a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.  The goal is to raise £3000, and with over £1000 raised so far they're doing a great job.  Pledge levels start from as little as £1 (for which you will receive the gratitude of the cast and crew, and a warm fuzzy feeling insisde), and go all the way up to £1500 for the role of Executive Producer on the film.  In between there are perks such as £25 for a copy of the film on DVD (or £20 if you snag an early bird), £50 for the role of a featured zombie in the film, £250 for the role of a key zombie (including makeup by Stuart), and many more.

 

So I humbly ask that you follow the link below and take a look at the project.  If you can afford to pledge anything - even just £1 - it all helps!  If you can't afford it, then maybe you'll know someone who could be interested, and can spread the word to them.  There are links on the Indiegogo page to share on Twitter and Facebook, so spread some zombie love, and help in the creation of this year's best zombie short film!

 

Thank you :)

 

 

Birmingham Memorabilia/Comic Con November 2014: Show Joker some love!

Last weekend was Birmingham Comic Con again, and for once I wasn't a zombie!  I'd spent the last 6 months planning this outing, and spent the weekend as The Joker from Arkham Asylum :) So I'm now begging favours and asking please give my photo below a Facebook 'like'. The pic with most likes will get posted across MCM'c social networking sites, and together we can all spread some Mr J love! :)

Post by Mcm Expo.

Last weekend was Birmingham Comic Con again, and for once I wasn't a zombie!  I'd spent the last 6 months planning this outing, and spent the weekend as The Joker from Arkham Asylum :) So I'm now begging favours and asking please give my photo above a Facebook 'like'. The pic with most likes will get posted across MCM'c social networking sites, and together we can all spread some Mr J love! :)

Too Orangey...

Just... this...

If you understand, I love you.

Birmingham Memorabilia/Comic Con November 23rd 2013

It's been a while since I last posted (as usual!), sorry about that.  It's been a busy few months with my board game review blog taking off massively, a new relationship on the go, zombie appearances being booked (and subsequently cancelled), and a load of fun hobby times!

 

Well today's update is all about Birmingham Memorabilia/MCM Comic Con which is taking place over the course of this weekend!  I attended yesterday, and Zombie Walter White was putting in an appearance once again!  As with most zombie days, it started at an unreasonable hour of the day.  I was up at 5am so that I could start makeup at 5:30, in order to be leaving for the train station at 7:00 for an 8:30 arrival.  I went by myself, mostly so that I could spend the majority of the day not breaking zombie character, and I managed to achieve that fairly well :)  I did start speaking normally when people asked me direct questions, or broke character to wave at a couple of kids who were otherwise probably about to start crying at the sight of me!  Oh and I saw a couple cosplaying as Jon Snow and Ygritte out of Game of Thrones, so I chased after him shouting "Jun Snu!", but was happy to break character for that!

 

Anyways, I arrived at the NEC on time (I just made it onto the train as the doors were sliding shut!), and once I was in I immediately starting shuffling and groaning about the place.  I didn't have a massive budget, and the zombie contact lens obscured my vision so badly that I couldn't see most of the stalls' wares anyway, so that helped me to keep from overspending!  I did pick up one massive bargain though, in the shape of Sedition Wars - a tabletop system/board game which normally costs around £50, and I picked up a sealed copy for £10!

 

 

Aside from bargain-hunting (and taking any opportunity to dress up as Heizomberg), my main aim for the day was to meet Chris Barrie, aka Rimmer from Red Dwarf.  In past Memorabilias I've met Danny John Jules (Cat) and Craig Charles (Lister), and I've got Robert Llewellyn's (Kryten) autograph from sending him a fan letter when I was younger, but Chris Barrie was the one crew member I was yet to add to my collection.  The queue to meet him was quite long, but I was happy to wait, and he was happy to post for a photo with my very own Mr Flibble, which brought a massive smile to my face :)

 

 

Aside from meeting this legend and picking up my lovely cheap game, I managed to refrain from spending for the rest of the day (aside from lunch, obviously).  I was stopped for plenty of photos as usual, but on this occasion I actually made the effort to drop out of character and take photos of other folks' amazing costumes!  But before I end this post with a stream of photos, I have a begging favour to ask my readers...

 

 

Please like my photo by Mcm Expo on Facebook! :)  They were taking official photos and whichever one gets the most likes wins a Nintendo WiiU, which would make me a very happy zombie.

Anyways, here are my other photos of the day...