Ruby Velour

Well Supanova 2011 is finally over and I am exhausted. If you thought attending for two days straight was exhausting, try having a stall there as well as going and getting your geek on. It was intense! We decided to get a booth for the Brisbane Zombie Walk, to help promote it and get some extra funds from donations and selling some merch. We got a lot of registrations and sold all our left over shirts from last years walk as well as the figurines and books we had from some of our sponsors. We’ve already started planning our stall for next year which may involve brain-icing cupcakes to draw in the crowds.

Things I observed over the last two days while surrounded by Brisbane’s biggest nerds:

• The girl in the stall next to us drew people as anime characters and was revoltingly good at it. She would have made thousands from her custom portraits on top of the pre-drawn pictures of manga and anime characters she was also selling. We are amused to see one man get her to draw his little doll which he had sitting on his shoulder as he walked around the convention. It was super weird and probably the highlight of the weekend for all who witnessed it.


• There is absolutely no such thing as body-shame at a convention like Supanova. Guys and girls were wearing some of the most revealing and skin-tight costumes I have ever seen and they walked around like they did not give a damn. Good on ‘em because god knows I’d have to lose about 20kg before I’d ever feel that confident without pants in public!


• Tiny top hats are pretty popular at the moment which is kind of cool but also makes me very jealous and possessive because I feel like it is my thing. There were some amazing ones there though and will have to start hunting them down to add to my collection.


• I was able to identify a lot more of the costumes than I thought I would. Maybe I spend too much time on the internet, or maybe I just have an excellent memory for useless crap. But at the same time there were just so many costumes I couldn’t identify at all so I just assumed they were all from anime’s I’ve never seen or heard of .


• People were cashing in on internet memes like Troll face, fffuuu guy and Forever Alone which was hilarious. One guy had a mask of Troll Face and pranced and danced around all the time. Too funny.


• Many nerds lack manners. The amount of times I was nearly knocked rotten by some pimply faced teen who was making for some stall was appalling. But then again, many of them are all super polite and in some cases extremely chatty. A couple of times I found myself in intense discussions about Lara Croft or dyslexia which was interesting albeit a little bit disconcerting.


• People actually recognised me and read my blog! I was shocked to say the least. I’m now going to have to up the ante knowing people who aren’t my friends read this thing. Thanks to those who came said hello, it was so nice to meet you :)

As a grande finale for the weekend, my sister and I went and got photos with Tom Felton (aka Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter films). Naturally I was excited because I’ve always had a soft spot for poor Draco and loved how Tom played the character. He was really, really lovely and such a good sport. Basically the scene played like this:

Tom: Hi there.

My Sister: *loud whisper* Show him your tattoo!

Me: Hi! Um, I want to show my tattoo off in our photo *suddenly very starstruck and giggly*

Tom: Oh my god, is that genuine? *strokes my Dark Mark gently*

Me: Yep! *dying on the inside*

Photographer takes a photo, Tom has his hand around me and points at my arm and I try to pout but am overwhelmed with giggles so don’t quite pull of the come-hither look I was aiming for.

Tom: Thanks, lovely.

Me: Thank you! *walks the wrong way, dying some more*

Click the pic for the larger version

All in all it was a great weekend, though I am officially not doing anything zombie-related all week lest I end up strangling someone! I am probably going to be all Tom Felton/Draco Malfoy obsessed instead :D

Hi ya’ll. Because it’s now October which means the Brisbane Zombie Walk is on its way (in fact at this exact time in three weeks I will probably be drunk and having a grand old time at the after-party) which also means my life is all about zombies in one way or another. Today I spent the whole day with my mum getting my costume made (it’s going to be amazing, though a LONG way to go yet) and last Thursday we had a fundraiser party at Mana Bar!

Last year we had a fundraiser gig which did really well except it was a huge stress to organise and although we made a fair bit of money, half it went straight back to cover the expenses of the night. So this time we used a venue that was hugely popular and didn’t need live bands to encourage people to come along. Instead we were able to get some really awesome prizes to give away in a raffle (including a TV, xbox, lots of video games, movie tickets and merchandise and heaps of other cool stuff). As the Mana Bar is a small venue that only fits 60 people at a time, it was a small and intimate affair but we made a lot of money, met some really cool people and saw some fantastic zombie costumes! Some of which won their owners prizes!

Anthony and I at the start of the evening

We also got to meet and greet a few of the people who helped us out with fundraising, including Sally from the Sun State Roller Girls. Plus we also got to meet some avid zoombie walk fans, which is really cool because we’re usually so busy trying to make sure the day goes well that we can’t meet anyone on the day.

Sarah and I running the raffle

The winner of the night – the Deathtrooper

And on a final note, we received the official t-shirts and wrist bands on the day of the party which we got to show off to everyone! Fingers crossed we can sell them all because damn they’re mighty fine lookin’ and I’d hate for any of them to go to waste!

All of the Zombie Walk fundraiser photos were taken by the Mana Bar and can be found here.

I am a strong believer in not writing unless I have something worthwhile to say, hence why I have been a bit quiet round here lately! But I also believe sometimes it’s a good idea to blog about random things and not just about one subject each and every time. Which is why I am writing right now! I figured I’d keep ya’ll updated on what’s occupying me so that you k now I’ve not just ditched my blog and moved on to other things.

OMG look who is dressed corporate! That’s right, me! After getting so many excellent comments on my last post, I figured I’d suck it up and get some good corporate pieces to start myself off and see how I went. Even more shocking, I got both the short and skirt at Cue! On Friday after work while killing time before an appointment I accidentally discovered they were having a sale and found this gorgeous pencil skirt and shirt or over half price. Of course, being the spend thrift I usually am, this was still pretty pricey for what I’d planned to spend but damn they’re so nice! The skirt is lovely and fits so well and doesn’t give me the dreaded fat-office-chair-arse! It has a cute ruffle at the back but I’m afraid I am not yet brave enough to go posting pictures of my butt on the internet (sorry guys!). This picture doesn’t do the outfit justice as I was tired after a long Monday at work, plus I have a cold and am pretty run down. But I got lots of positive comments at work, my team leader was so delighted when she saw me walk into work! So it was definitely worth it. Now to brave the dreaded work pants which I also managed to buy this weekend (though as it turns out I’ve gone down a pants size so I was actually kind of excited about the pants in the end).

As I mentioned, I have gone and gotten myself another cold. I was still suffering from the one I got months ago and then BAM along comes another one! The fact I forget to wear jackets all the time probably played a significant part in this so I have no one to blame but myself. As such I spent the weekend at my mum’s place to chill out and avoid the temptation of going out (which was hard as a close friend was having a farewell do on Saturday night). As such I learned a new skill: SEWING! Yep, I’ve moved on from scrapbooking to sewing! I’ve always wanted my own sewing machine so I can remodel all my old, daggy clothes and I have sewn one or two minor things in my life, but this weekend I spent an afternoon learning how to sew a jungle-themed cushion! Oh yes! It’s not yet finished but I was pretty proud of my efforts and may well show off the finished product whenever I get around to it! And to prove it really happened:

AMAZING!

We are getting right into the organisation of the Brisbane Zombie Walk for 2010. Right now we are looking or sponsors to help us make sure the walk actually happens! We’re getting together business proposals and all sorts of crazy stuff I never thought I’d find myself doing in the name of zombies! So far the walk is set to take place on Sunday 24th October, though there is a slim chance that could change. I’ve just designed a logo for the walk (sneak peak here) and am now going to start redesigning the website which is very daunting but also pretty exciting. We’ll soon have the option where people can register, and for those extra nice people, donate money at the same time.

We’re actually looking for volunteers for helping out with this years walk, if you or someone you know is interested PLEASE let me know by emailing zombie@brisbanezombiewalk.com as we need all the help we can get!

• While it's only an estimate there were apparently 1500 people at this years walk. I think it can be safely assumed there were over 1000 people.
  
• So many friends of mine turned up, even ones who I thought might be "too cool" for the event, which was really, really lovely to see. One friend, Mike, came up from Newcastle just for the walk! How awesome is that?
  
• Despite the lack of police (more on that in a moment) I found the crowd easy to direct and willing to take instructions, though the ones at the front were a bit too eager at times and left most of the crowd behind as they lurched a little too fast.
  
• There were so many photographers, many of whom even dressed up! And lots of people with video cameras. I'm sure most were for personal use but I believe there were a few news crews and film makers there as well (I saw a lot of crews interviewing people).
  
• Lots of kids there, which is just too freaking adorable! One little boy who could only just walk was having the time of his life, growling at random passers-by and staying in character the whole time. There were even baby-zombies!

As well as a fantastic news story (you can clearly see us lying on the ground at the front): Zombies take over Brisbane City (I've been watching this over and over, it just makes me laugh)

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

• NO POLICE!!! I do not know what happened but am really unimpressed. I made sure to keep in contact with them, get the permit from them and do what I had to do. I even got a call form them on the way to the walk at 2pm asking when we planned to set off, how they would recognise me and telling me they'd be there. I hope they have a good excuse for not showing up, I was really disappointed.
  
• As a result of the lack of police there were some incidents. Some minor like participants getting carried away with "attacking" civilians. If they laugh or play along then that's cool. But when they recoil, yell or ignore you then LEAVE THEM ALONE. It's very basic and yet people seemed to forget it in all the fuss and excitement. I was also really annoyed at how people thought wiping blood and even spitting it on buildings was a good idea. And to the teenagers who thought it was OK to put bloody hand prints on people, zombie or otherwise - NOT COOL! I had to push one guy away who insisted on putting his bloody hand on my face, my sister and her friend Allie were covered in hand prints which they didn't want and people were doing the same to civilians. Seriously, what the hell guys.
  
• Even more disappointing was how, at the end of the walk while myself and my friends were trying to get people to start following us to the after-party, a guy decided to throw himself off the bus-shelter type thing the photographers were standing on (down below people were all acting like a ravenous mob of zombies for the cameras) as though he was on stage and they were a mosh pit. The result? Good friend dizzay was injured and had to be taken off in an ambulance with a concussion as well as neck and back injuries. The worst thing is, I did not know about any of this until a few hours later at the after-party, and I only discovered it was Diz this morning.
  
• I received a few emails last night/this morning berating the organisers for not doing more after the accident. One of them was quite rude. I explained that I did the organising by myself with the help of friends and family only, and at the time it happened we were trying to direct people into the Valley to either go to the after-party or else to public transport. In fact half of us had rushed ahead to get Planet open and ready for the after party.
  
• There's been some negative feedback about how we had DJs at the after-party instead of bands, how the drinks weren't cheap enough, how the party was too busy and that the sausages were "overcooked". I'm pretty appalled since the other option was no after-party at all. But I've been calm and just told people that we did the best we could in the grand total of six weeks we had to organise everything. I don't know, it just seemed really petty when no one made them go. Oh and I don't think most people minded the music since there were dozens of zombies danced for hours on end.

I'm going to have heaps more to write but am so tired right now I think I need to go to bed so I can function at work tomorrow. Oh and I didn't take a camera so I'm currently compiling photos from the day from various sources (and then slowly editing them all), so for now here's a great one of me, Allie (with my sister Erin behind us):

<sub>A zombie fan myself, I am very dissapointed because I havent found not one single form of advertising related to the brisbane zombie walk anywhere in Brisbane and the surrounding areas since I moved here 5 years ago. I only heard from word of mouth. And every person I talk to has just never heard of it at all. In the future I would love to see more advertisements and possible workshops - on zombie makeup, stalls? Posters, photos, artwork, zombie fansites, funding?

Don't get me wrong, I'm still looking forward to this years zombie walk for sure and it will be another gory blast like every year and hopefully it will be even better for years to come!</sub>