Big Bad Bunny: Emerald City Comic-Con 2012

I dunno know if you've noticed yet...but I really like costuming. I really enjoy putting on a show, and  I thing both Tobi and I love our own unique brand of humour. I think the place that this all comes together most clearly is at our resident annual nerdfest, Emerald City Comic-Con.
For those of you who don't read my other blog (And, really, how dare you sir and/or madam); I'm a costumer, and am now (very officially) going to school for costume and production design. I flex my costuming muscles by dressing up at local conventions celebrating nerd culture; and what sort of Rabbit Adventurers would we be if good ol' Harvey didn't get to experience ECCC in all it's glory along with us? And, really, what sort of a costumer would I be if Harvey didn't get a super spiffy costume all his own?

This is where your sense of irony ought to kick in

 Also, for those of you who don't read my other blog, several years ago Tobi and I fufilled our costuming hopes and dreams by cosplaying Two-Face and the Riddler from Batman Forever, perhaps one of the paragon films of the camp/cheese genre. It's an absolute standout in film history for scenes of unparalleled *ahem*...quality. I can't express the amount of love I have for this movie, and thus we honoured it's existance by playing it up for all it's worth at Kumori-con 2010.

Because we have class

 But as we adopted Harvey into our family, it became obvious that this little tradition would have to carry over to him; and the name Harvey was just too fitting. And at the very last minute, Tobi and I decided on a matching set.

Sugar, Spice, and Harvey Two-Ears

Harvey was ecstatic at his first Comicon experience. Although ECCC is three days long, Harvey only really had the energy for one day of that sort of sensory overload, so he came with us on Sunday, the final day of nerdfest. Tobi and I dressed up as Harvey's hench-women Sugar and Spice while Harvey strutted his stuff. And strut his stuff he did; Harvey was complimented many times over the course of the day, most excitingly of which, by Mr. Wil Wheaton, resident geek icon and blogger extraordinaire. Wil Wheaton is commonly thought of by many convention-ers as a geek patron and a generally awesome person. Not only is he hilarious (I never miss his panel) but he is also wonderfully gracious to his fans. His signature comes at the best price (completely free!) and when the convention staff accidentally overbooked his signing time, he stayed late to make sure that we got our swag signed, rather than making us wait several hours until the next open signing period. On top of everything, he takes the time to talk to every fan, if just for a few moments, which is shockingly rare, and extremely sweet considering the hundreds of people he deals with over the course of a weekend. Though he was tired and his handlers were pushing for him to leave, he took the time to compliment Harvey's spiffy outfit, admire the "amazing creativity" (cue an awkward Hannah reaction. Being the non-fangirl I am, I don't giggle or titter or get embarrassed. I just get awkward, as I would if any stranger complimented me, but even more awkward because talking to someone in person that you recognize from a series of shows and movies is sort of dissociative), and more importantly...

HE. SIGNED. HARVEY.

After waiting several hours in line, Tobi, Harvey and I took off for the single most engaging hobby at Conventions; costume hunting.

Harvey crashes with the Castle Crashers

Harvey is quite the He-Man but even he falls to the blade of Catra

Harvey ain't afraid of no ghost (busters)!

The most amazing Tony Stark with his entourage

And photobombing with the Borg

Perhaps most exciting was when we finally encountered a Batman costume. After a Batman-less day, we ended up running straight into a Two-Face. We both ran right up and asked for a picture. He didn't realize what we were at first, until we handed him Harvey. After a moment of obvious confusion, his whole face lit up and he ran over to his girl-friend waving Harvey at her and laughing. When she offered to take a picture of us we jumped at the chance. I wish I had thought to drop my bag, but Harvey was on his game, and with two Two-face's the picture couldn't have been less awesome. I don't know who this particular Two-Face was, but I hope we made his convention as much as he made ours.

After a full day of photobombing with the costumed masses, we stopped into a few panels, including catching the second half of the Jason Momoa  panel, which, though I have never seen any of his work, was hilarious. And though we didn't stay for the Christopher Judge (of Stargate SG-1 fame), our crew reports that it was amazing. I always recommend panels at ECCC. Unlike Anime conventions, Comic Conventions tend to be driven by the celebrity panels and the majority of celebrities are funny and generous to their fans (part of the perks of nerd culture, is that the celebrities tend to be nerds themselves, and thus excited to be among their own kind). Conventions are amazing experiences for the kind of people who are into that sort of thing. They have something for every kind of nerd, from Sci-fi actors to giant lego representations of the Seattle skyline during a zombie apocolypse and the crowd range from costumed fan-girls/boys to enterprising artists in search of work, and everything in between. It's a universe in of itself, really, where everyone is a geek/nerd/dork and having a fan-attack is perfectly reasonable and normal. I can't express how much I love conventions, but I really do love them. 

Harvey on the other hand is just there for the attention

Until next year!!!

There's no such thing as too nerdy at a convention (well, maybe there is, but I've yet to encounter it). And even those of us with stuffed Big Bad Bunnies fit right in. Sometimes the convention is a tad crowded, and the lines can sometimes be long, but there's never any shortage of entertainment, and the whole event is handled wonderfully by the "Minions" who run the show, and it couldn't be held in a prettier convention center. Surely we'll be back next year, just look for the stuffed rabbit photobombing all the guests. That's us.

Harvey goes to Archie McPhee's!

Archie McPhee is a name that's renown around Seattle. Who is Archie McPhee? A renown local politician? Historical figure? Sports icon?

Giant, monstrous, all-seeing eye?

Archie McPhee's emporium of the random, weird and utterly awesome! Ultimate, if-you-have-to-ask-you-aren't-allowed-to-know hot spot of the Seattle landscape. Starting in L.A., in the 1970's as a mail order service; it moved to Seattle in the 1980's and never looked back. Adding the decoratively bizarre flair of North Seattle, Archie McPhee's is the perfect go-to spot for any purveyor of the unique and/or ironic. Seeing as how we run a bunny-blog, we decided it was time to drop by for a visit.

We found ourselves right at home. I myself had never been to Archie McPhee's (which is a bit of a crime for a dyed-in-the-wool Seattleite like myself) so it was nice to see such a warm and familiar welcome. (Or was that creepy and slightly uncomfortable welcome? With Archie McPhee's it's never quite clear).

Archie McPhee's deals a variety of costumes, party supplies, and general doodads that aren't typically found in your average Party City. Namely giant rubber rats, baby masks (read: horrifying baby masks) and startlingly accurate fortune telling machines. One could easily spend hours trying on every bizarre mask/hat combo available, which is...well...exactly what we did. I in particular bonded with a strangely cute rat mask that I used to calm Tobi down after the baby mask.

(not pictured, the terrifying baby mask that I used to chase Tobi around with; primarily because it was too evil to be captured with mere film).

Harvey was awestruck into Anime Kawaii Mode.
It wasn't a pretty.

Harvey was clearly impressed by the immense selection, everything from grass purses to nose-shaped pencil sharpeners; Glass eyes to picked monster remains. Harvey was just glad that he wasn't quite monstrous enough to wind up alongside The Wallingford Beast; the resident chupacabra (technically its delicate palate prefers cats, and very technically it's taxidermied, not pickled). With so much to look at and so many things to choose from it was hard to pick just one souvenir from the bunch. Eventually we settled on a fez and Harvey picked out a stylish inflatable beard for himself.

That kind of discernment shows class

Although Tobi started to deal with some serious buyer's remorse after realizing that Archie McPhee's also featured a giant bacon who's affection was sorely fought over by she and Harvey. Although, in my opinion, and in the words of Rizzo the Rat; "Mom always told me, never eat singing fruit". I think that goes for grinning bacon as well.

Harvey was also kinda regretting not getting the
 Thai Palace for himself.

Finally after a long day of browsing, my first ever photobooth experience, costuming and the wearing of hats we left Archie McPhee's with our weirdness quota for the day almost full. Archie McPhee's is definitely an adventure that every person who passes through the Emerald City should have. Only a block of two from Dick's Burgers and just a few more blocks to the University of Washington; this region of Wallingford is the penultiment urban Northwest experience. Harvey, now sporting a stylish (and totally natural looking) beard, totally agrees.


Though I still regret not buying that rat mask.

Sleepless in Movie Theater Seats: Ultiment Marvel Movie Marathon

I'm a film nerd. I admit this freely. It increases with each passing film release, and being a film nerd, as well as a geek, well, imagine my excitement when I heard of The Ultiment Marvel Movie Marathon and the fact that it was playing at the local Movie Theater. I immediately called Tobi.
"This is my birthday present." I demanded. "Someone is getting this for me, and we are going to this. Case closed. It's happening."
Sure enough my wonderful parents fufilled that quota and Tobi, I and Harvey all packed up and settled in for 15 glorious hours of superhero movie goodness. It started early in the morning with Hannah arriving extra early to save seats from the  and retrieve our custom Marvel goodies, as well as a jumbo refillable bag of popcorn that would ease me throughout the next wide-eyed fifteen hours.

11:30 - pre-movie. We're wide awake and rarin' to go! Neither of us had been to a movie marathon before and were surpised when we got bags of swag. The coolest things were the custom 3-d specs (though we were all happy the not all the films were in 3-D, thats just a little bit more than my brain can handle). Also included were hilariously blatent advertisments for a chain of hotels disguised as an Avengers comic book. Harvey and Billy (guest star of today's adventure) spent most of Hulk reading it. They're slow readers (and Hulk is an even slower movie).

No. Seriously. More Popcorn.

-1:30 hours : Post Iron Man. So far so good! Although all of us have seen Iron Man tons of times its still probably the best of the Pre-Avengers movies and seeing it on the big screen again was fun. Iron man perfectly captures the sarcasm and humour of Tony Stark, and manages to handle the real world super hero in a way that doesn't come across as forced or kitschy. However, after an hour and a half, the first bag of popcorn had been thoroughly decimated by me (the resident Popcorn-beast) and it was time for more! Luckily there were good sized break times between the movies for bathroom runs or resnacking. However, the crowds sometimes made the wait unbearable, and since it's sacrilege to leave before the post-credit teaser, I found it best to make snack runs during the movies that I found the least engaging.

POPCORN!

-4:24 hours : Post Hulk. Only two movies down and the gang is already asleep on the job! Well, not technically asleep (I can't actually sleep in anything but a bed) but definitely feeling the strain. Hannah is nappy, Harvey is unconcious and Billy is whacked out on blue slushie. Hulk is far and away the worst movie of the series. It's dull, predictable and very uninteresting. Although it has some great actors, for the most part the subject matter is really hard to get into. The Hulk doesn't carry a movie on his own very well. He was great in the Avengers as a supporting member of the cast but as a central plot, its really just a monster movie with none of the emotional depth it was aiming for, and some pretty serious plot holes; (not the least of which is a main character who is frequently reduced to a giant green beast who has the vocabulary of a very angry toddler). We were all ready for a bit of a break, and something a bit more engaging then Hulk Smash!

Even Harvey and Billy were unsatisfied.

- 6:55 hours : Post Iron Man 2 - Halfway done! Are we tired yet? ...naww...

Iron Man is, like I said above, probably our favorite among the lot. Iron Man 2 is just as good as the first (in my opinion), and really perked me up after sitting through Hulk; not that you'd be able to tell through the overnight-bags under my eyes. The audience seemed to rouse a little bit (though the halfway break did a bit to help that out too. The audience at this thing was fabulous. Nothing but nerds who spent every break picking apart the movie plots and debating comic-book canon, and doing the obligitory Stan Lee cheer every time he appeared on screen. It was lovely. By sheer chance I ended up sitting next to a non-nerd who had come with her boyfriend. She was, understandably, a little overwhelmed by the sheer geekery. She turned to me, as a fellow female, hoping I would understand her discomfort. Sadly she failed to notice my trademark geek-speak and Captain America pajamas.


It's like Pajama Sam meets Stan Lee!

- 9:35 Hours : Post Thor - It's actually late at night now. Harvey and Billy were soundly asleep in the chair next to us, though the nerd herd were keeping themselves going with copious amounts of rage-debate and blue mountain dew. Tobi and I were tired, but not out of the game quite yet! We had overcome Thor, which neither Tobi nor myself have a very high opinion of, and there was only one movie between us and Joss Whedon-y goodness. Thor is not at all my favorite superhero, nor is his movie particular well made in my opinion. So I took no shame in taking the time to go on snack breaks or hit the bathrooms. It was also the first movie in 3-D which was not only a drain on my tired eyes but also the painfully high-pitched "Hammer sound" was beyond necessary in the surround stereo. If there is such a thing as Audio-induced epilepsy, Tobi has it; and the ringing call of Mjölnir was the worst trigger of her flailing, yelping, beat-Hannah episodes to date.

I clearly wasn't the only nerd bored by Thor though. Even the projectionist forgot to turn off the lights for half the movie

Find the Harvey!

By this point, the theater was a veritable campground for Nerds. There were blankets, pillow forts and the accumulated waste of 9+ hours of Nerd Rage. The two grown men behind me debated the about which Batman villain was "awesomer", one nerd was asking another couple to spoiler their discussion of Game of Thrones; and a man wearing a Dark Knight mask was running through the theater yelling "I AM THE BATMAN", and the poor girl next to me was looking increasingly displeased with her boyfriend's choice of date venue. There were loud stock-market-esque "3-d spec" trades happening from theater corner to theater corner. In a word, it was Nerdvana. And over all of the hubab, was the solid knowledge that only one more movie stood between us, and Avengers.

- 12:15 Hours : Post Captain America - Captain America is a great movie. It's cheesy, yes, and it's a super hero movie down to it's patriotic shoe polish, but it's a great movie. It actually turned me on to the whole Captain America canon, which had never really looked into before, and while I can't consider myself a real Captain America know-it-all yet, but I can definitely say I'm a fan. It was a great last movie, and a great reminder of the histories of the characters as well as the history of the Avengers as a whole. But, as much as I like Captain America, nothing could really get me to focus on the movie as much as I wanted to. For it was almost midnight, I had just sat through five movies of Marvel Superhero goodness, and what's more, it was time for...Avengers.

WE'RE GONNA SEE AVENGERS!

12:01 AM: Joss Whedon's "Avengers" - We made it. We watched 15 hours of Marvel Movies, and, even though I only vaguely remember Avengers through a haze of sleep, fake popcorn butter and nerd-citement (Nerd can be a prefix to any word, right? Totally right.), I do remember that it was one of the best birthday presents I ever got (even if I did prod my parents for months to get it for me). There is something truely amazing about the comradery of events like that. Much for the same reason I enjoy Comic conventions, going to gatherings where large groups of generally anti-social people live in a small space for a long span of time; you make friends and talk to people in ways you never would in any other circumstance. Also, Avengers was awesome. I may not remember all of it, but I remember laughing a lot, and loving Iron Man (like I do) and know that spoilers: Phil was doomed from the get-go, and also knowing that he wasn't really dead the moment they killed him. I remember being extremely pleased with how Whedon handled the Hulk, typically my least favorite character, but also wishing Captain America was a little less grumpy, though the irony that he was in fact a crotchity old man is indeed amusing to me. Harvey, also with the soul of a crotchity old man, agrees. At the end of it all, we'd had some hilarious conversations, some great photo-bombs of the guy dressed as batman, we'd seen six pretty great movies and we'd had a purely excellent time. Harvey, Tobi, Billy and I all look forward to our next chance to movie marathon. We'll be there with pajamas on.

And to all a good sleep!

Have you ever been told to make a wish at 11:11? Well around here that's all just hogwash. 11:11 isn't meant for wishing...it's meant for dancing! So on November 11, 2011; at 11:11 PM, Harvey shined up his boogie shoes and it was on like Donkey Kong.

Hey! So we have a Youtube now...

Yup! And it has all kinda of llamatastic videos.
Well, technically it only has one video.
And I made it...pretty early in the morning.
It's kinda crap. But hey!

It IS Llamatastic.

Check it out!

Harvey Goes to the Zoo!

What better place to take a bunny than an environment filled with large predatory animals? Obviously.

Honestly there is no better zoo than the Woodland Park Zoo, at least not that I've been to. The Woodland Park Zoo, which has been around since 1902. It was redesigned to create environments where the humans were more enclosed than the animals are. Harvey, obviously was excited to see his first kangaroo. He wouldn't say so, but I suspect he was hoping they would take him in as one of their own.

But first Tobi and I had some time to explore Greenwood a little before the whole Harvey Adventure Crew came up to Seattle. Greenlake, along Phinney Ave. is a great walk, so the three of us went for a stroll. I had been staying up in Seattle housesitting and had time to explore. Having a feel for the area I took Harvey and Tobi to experience the World's Best Ice Cream.

Sorry for the blur, but I was falling into a diabetic coma.

Mae's Cafe, with an attached ice-cream wing with it's odd cave motif for the booths makes the most literally diabetes worthy milkshakes in the history of such things. Harvey took a sip and his fur stood on end for hours. Tobi and I split a chocolate milkshake, which easily filled the two take away cups (though I suspect the server was being generous with the servings, but then the servings appeared to be always a bit generous...) and was literally awe-worthy. It was frothy, and chocolaty and swirled with fudge, topped with whipped cream, and just reminding Tobi of it now, several months after the fact, who is sitting next to me, caused her to lapse into a dreamy coma of chocolate memories. Oh yeah. It was that good. I can attest that their strawberry ice cream is equally delicious.

Harvey gives Mae's: 5

Though their ice cream stand can be a little hard to actually utalize, (it's off from the main building, and it's hard to tell where you need to be to actually order) but it's relatively easy to flag down an employee. They also are a cafe-cafe, and serve real food. I really wanted to try out their breakfast but I never got a chance.

Yum!

Back to the real business. After Tobi, Harvey and I wandered around, and getting properly hopped up on Chocolate, we met up with the whole gang (the whole gang being Cassi and Chase) and entered the zoo.

Image courtesy of FindWell

Of course to zoo is home to a variety of animals, and starting at the North Enterance is the newly referbished penguin exhibit. The penguins were all too happy to show off for us, but Harvey, it seems isn't too much of a water rabbit, Tobi and Hannah on the other hand...

Harvey unwilling becomes an oar for the lost mariners.





You're flying Harvey!



Sorry 'Bout that Harv...

Near the North Enterance to the Zoo is the "Historic Carousel", which I have actually never ridden. It's housed in a pretty sweet old building. It only costs two dollars to ride, and the thing is gigantic, but then again, as I said I've never ridden it. Usually when we go to the zoo, we're pretty focused on the animals. Still, Harvey was interested but none of us wanted to slow down and take him. We told him that this was the carousel. I don't think he was impressed.

Harvey sat down to take a rest in the Tropical Rain Forest Exhibit, perhaps unaware of the presence of another furry lifeform sitting only a few inches away.

I much admit. The Jaguar is usually the first place that all of us run, not only because it's close to the North enterance, and it's Cassi's second favorite animal in the zoo, but also because the Jaguars are almost always very visable and close to the glass. They enjoy napping on the heated rocks right near the viewers, and only once have I seen them in the actual forested part of their exhibit. If they didn't occasionally open their eyes, I would assume they were stuffed.

Then we swung around to the Gorilla exhibit, which is admittedly, to me, one of the entertaining exhibits and is widely the most popular (judging by the packed house everytime I visit). There are three sections of Gorillas, and all of them bring their own distinct flavour. My favorite animal in the zoo is Nina, the elderly matron of the Gorilla house, who to me always comes of as one of those spirited, but perhaps slightly insane grandmothers. She's usually napping in the third Gorilla area, or sitting around with a large stick, or her arms crossed. She's terribly interested in people (less so in their stuffed rabbits it seems though), and almost always is sticking out her tongue. To me, Gorillas are totally lovable. I mean, come on, how could you not love a face like this,  mean, really? 

I'm not sure why, but in my head he's making a wonderful honking noise.

Then on to Australiasia!

I want to insert a warning here for those of you who might someday have the oppertunity to get to know Cassi. She's a wonderful person, but, see, she has a bit of a problem. She's absolutely addicted to the Red Panda. Now, there's no support group for this sort of addiction. No twelve-step program. All of this is made worse by the fact that not only is the Red Panda in the enclosure perhaps least suited to quality photography, but he's also pretty camera shy. On this day, he was more active than usual (that is to say, not asleep), and running laps in his pen, regardless, he was sneaky enough to avoid good shots. Cassi entered true obsessive photographer mode and crouched in the spider infested bushes for well over twenty minutes, totally statuesque, only coming to life when the Red Panda was near. Eventually we worked out a gaurd system. Tobi stood on the other side of the enclosure, as she, Chase, and I relayed the Red Panda's movements to our obsessive Panda Lover.

The sad thing is that even after all of that, we still didn't get a great shot of him. Curse you Red Panda!!!

After the Red Panda we moved onto the the African exhibits. In the African area there is a really cool mock African village, with houses and a school room from which you can veiw the savannah. It's a very neat arrangement but I don't think Harvey enjoyed it to it's fullest... 



Behave yourself Harvey!

 


Harvey doesn't want to join the fossil collection either.





Harvey doesn't want to go to school either. But hey! At least the veiw was good.

Harvey was happier once he got to be the principal.

Chase was just thrilled that the zoo had a unicorn exhibit. Or, at least, that's what we let her believe. Her dance was just far too adorable to interupt

We heard there were Hippos around here somewhere! Keep looking Harv!

There they are!

Oh no! Chase noticed this poor sad Hippo locked out of his enclosure and sinking slowly into the sand! Somebody save him!!!

Then Harvey pointed out another Unicorn roaming the ground and Chase was forced to perform the dance again. Though it's not really a unicorn, I pointed out, more of a...unitusk?





Harvey took to the hanging out with the chimpanzees. I didn't expect him to, but perhaps it had something to do with his prehensil ears which allow him to climb with ease, but I could be wrong about that.  

No, no guys! That's not what a meerkat looks like! You're doing it all wrong. Harvey, Tobi and Chase will never pass for Meerkats in this town.  

Oh no! Harvey! Luckily there was no real Snow Leopards out and about to finish him off.

There some things that aren't just appropriate for the eyes of a young bunny at the zoo.

 As it turned out though, Harvey could hold his own in the carnivore arena. What can we say? He's spent time with the Boggio girls, who could easily out carnivore any fox, wolf or canine beastie. Harvey is a quick study.

Isn't the bear supposed to be the one in the cave?

One of these otters seems to have acquired a better catch than the other.

Oh no! Harvey! There used to be "fish" hanging from the fish drying rack, but now there's just a lone hawaiian bunny.

Harvey and the Kookaburra had a nice little stare off. The Kookaburra seemed a little concerned about the presence of a Harvey outside of his cage, maybe he heard a rumour from the wolves about Harvey's carnivorous nature.

Harvey learns what "Please Don't Disturb the Animals" really means. Luckily the fake rabbit is only preyed upon by fake Crocodyles.

The Woodland Park Zoo is really a must see for anybody visiting Seattle, and they can spend anywhere from a few hours to a whole day there. It's also situated in some fantastic shopping and park areas, so there's a bit of something for everyone. Most of all though, it's essential that any trip to the Woodland Park Zoo be followed up with another Seattle tradition. A trip to Dick's Burgers! Dick's is an instution in Seattle, so much so that local legend stipulates the Elvis, who was known to have greatly complimented Dick's Burgers when he dined there during the filming of "It Happened at the World's Fair", still lived nearby and can be spotted sneaking in for a burger in disguise daily. Dick's has a few locations around Seattle (six now!), and are often drive up, ordering counters, with no indoor seating, such as the one ear the zoo, but there are always (short) lines, and somehow eating in the car just makes the whole experience more genuine. Best of all, it's fast and extremely cheap. You can get stuffed for well under 5 dollars. Harvey recommends the Deluxe Burger, but could pass on the fries. The milkshake, however, is non-negotiable.  

Adventure Complete!

Hannah sometimes likes to pretend that she is a photographer. To check out more images of the animals of the Woodland Park Zoo, check out her gallery. Or check out the Youtube complation of our adventure including the UNICORN CHANT and the LLAMA DANCE on our Youtube