Transy vs. Charleston

Here's another great video of Transy Quidditch, one of my favorite teams.  This was the very last game of the evening at the World Cup.  I was so impressed with Transy for working so hard. 
I have mixed feelings about the extra Snitches who came in and then started switching the snitch around.  On one hand, I wonder if that's against the rules, just because it really should be.  (I mean, it's one thing when another team's snitch comes in, but they actually waited, three of them, to come into the fray.)  And how would we even check, because there's 700 rules?

Quidditch World Cup

I was lucky enough to make it to the Quidditch World Cup this weekend, and let me tell you, it was sweet. I was so impressed with not only the turnout of people but also the great sportsmanship of certain teams. Here's some photos from the event.


I asked this player to give me his game face, and this is what he showed me. Okay, so maybe it doesn't strike fear into the hearts of many, but it does probably make the enemy pause and wonder what's going on. So maybe it's a surprise tactic.
I'd also like to say here that I loved a lot of the jerseys that players were wearing. I would totally love to buy an MSU Quidditch jersey. Schools like McGill, Emerson, Middlebury and Wringley also had great jerseys that I would love to wear. So, if anyone knows anyone and has a reasonable price, drop me a message.


There are some very impressive players on the MSU team. Bailey, for example, is a good keeper. She's just a wall of scary. This here is Mike, who is the seeker. (You can tell he's a seeker because of the yellow-colored headband.) Mike and I have been acquaintances for a while (hazard of living in nerd-infested places) and even though he's kind of a creeper, he's a great seeker. He runs like Hermes and he's a spry little fellow. Professional teams should be all over this guy. (If you're wondering, that is what he gave me when I asked for his team face. Maybe it's a charm tactic? You make the enemy think you're harmless and kind and then BAM! you're winning the game?)


And that's Wilkins giving me his game face. Okay, does anyone on this team have a fierce game face? Or even a slightly serious one?


You'll be unsurprised to hear that MSU won against Syracuse. Right after the game, we decided to take a team photo. But then we realized that the coach was missing. He's that blur at the bottom, throwing himself into the picture. Notice no one even tries to catch him, they just let him dive bomb to the ground.


That's better. And much more respectable than some of the game faces I got.


This is a very social team. Everyone is friendly and analyzes the matches afterward so they can be better players. Here's Bailey and Erin having a conversation with someone off camera. And in the background, one of the other players is practicing what is probably his game face.


One of the treats was that, at the end of the night (after a great game featuring the Transylvania University team) was that Harry and the Potters showed up to play their awesome wizard rock. Here's the band during one of the early songs.


Loving the hair motion here. This guy can totally headband with the best of them.


And here I'm just loving the scream.

Don't discount wizard rock as anything less than punk. It's totally punk.
As always, more pictures on flikr for the fascinated.

World Steam Expo

So, after mentioning on the blog that there was a steampunk convention in town, I decided to just go.  And I had a really good time.
I spent a lot of time in the game room this convention, mostly because my friend Matt wanted to look at some games.  One of them happened to be Arkham Horror.  The goal of the game is to prevent monsters from taking over the town of Arkham.  It took a long time just to explain the game, and even while I was playing it, there was a small moment where I was confused.
But I am always really impressed with the art and storytelling that goes into these games.  The art is always so intricate and lovingly-done.  And all these complicated, tabletop games have elaborate-crafted narratives behind them that set the foundation for the story but also allow a lot of room for differences game to game.  Together, there's this incredible world-building going on, where they create full universes (and then some) for the game to take place in.  As an aspiring writer, I can't help but admire all the time, creativity and work that goes into them.
As complicated as a lot of these games are, I'm not sure that I really want to play them all the time, because some of these games can take hours, and unfortunately, I don't usually have time.  I don't play games often, but when I do, they're usually more as a filler while I think over something important, so they're relatively simple computer games (Solitaire, Mahjong, Bejeweled, Destruct-O-Match).  So I don't think I would invest in these games for myself, but maybe occasionally play them with friends.    
I also tried to get some pictures of the coolest steampunk costumes I saw while looking around.  I didn't get all of them, but I did get a few.


Here we have a young woman, not that it's easy to tell.  One of the things that was really popular at the convention (but I haven't seen much elsewhere) were these leather masks that people were wearing.  They sort of seem like a steampunk update on a similar idea from cyberpunk and cybergoth ten, fifteen years ago.


A mannequin doing the steampunk.


One of the many merchants at the convention.  I like that she incorporated green into her outfit.  A lot of people just do that brown, black and cream look, but it's nice to seem some color.  I also really love all the many things on her belt.


This guy was one of the most impressive costumes I saw.  I didn't ask where he got those tanks, but they looked really good.  (Though, like a lot of things in steampunk, not necessarily easy to move in.)  I love that he's doing a steampunk version of a Civil War soldier.  It would probably be easy, if you were a Civil War reenacter, to adapt your uniform into something steampunk-like.


One of the guests of honor were the creators of Girl Genius.  Here's one of them now, making a funny face.


She then apologized and asked to take a more serious picture.  What for? I thought.  I got a great picture of you right there.


A young man looking super swab.  This picture illustrates my point of how easy it is to do steampunk.  He's wearing clothes that most professionals have, plus a few accessories and touches to complete the look.  If he was at a business conference, no one would think "steampunk," but yet he's really looking the part here.
There are more pictures up at my Flikr, if you're interested.  
One of the strangest things was that we had to leave the convention to get lunch.  Police officers and others stopped us to ask us about our outfits.  (Nicely, of course.)  We weren't particularly overdressed, just a little odd looking.