by Jason Eng
(Las Vegas, December 2009)
calgary comic & entertainment expo
when: april 24-25 where: bmo center
all weekend i was working at the woman's show at the roundup center. i found out quite quick that the calgary comic convention was happening just next door (it was not very hard to miss considering half of the attendees looked like batman, jedi warriors and the star trek crew). i badly wanted to go, expect nobody was willing to go with me and pay 25 bucks to get in, and yea i agree its a bit pricey BUT calgary never ever has cool things going on and even if the comic convention is not for everyone they do really try to make it into a world class event. leonard nimoy (old spok), brent spiner (data) and even peter facinelli from twilight for those hardcore twilight fans was signing autographs. even billy dee williams who was in episode 5 and 6 of star wars was there for photo ops.
so i went on sunday to look around and wisely spend that money. there was not much there other than comic book sales, comic book auctions and comic book artists, but the atmosphere and the people were super fantastic. they all love those comics, and i used to love sailor moon and i can kind of relate. i thought with my purple hair and nasty makeup from the shows i could blend in at least a little but even that wasn't enough to disguise me as a comic-azi haha. i even tried getting in for free but those comic book guys could not be phased by anything other than the first edition of spiderman or other latex clad superheroes. so thanks comic book convention for being so kind as to showing a clueless girl your ways, and your hospitality, i will probably only spend 25 dollars on you once, but i learned a lot. when i pointed out that lando carlissian has aged, i was kindly reminded that 'time happened for him too' by one of the men lined up to see him. i was also mistaken for a 'weird star wars fan' and compared to a fox from some odd anime show i have never seen before (i think it was a compliment).
this gentleman/klingon informed me of a star trek convention on october 15 for those of you interested. i know i'll be there
nothing better than inflatable tube men in the shape of wolverine and some other character-is that iron man? not too sure
toys
elf or vulcan?
'star wars fans are weird'
there you have it > i heard it's coming back next year
matryoshka
i found this while on my walk down memory lane last night, i thought it was quite cute so here it is. it is not polish, it's a russian traditional doll. i recently bought a beautiful set at the flee market that was originally bought in 1979 in the ussr. i can only guess the ones sold today have not even been hand made so i feel lucky that i can have something precious like that.
kozak's
my nephew had his 3rd ukrainian dance concert today with the yalenka dance society (who celebrated their 35th anniversary this year), watching him dance i could not believe how fast time flies, 3 years ago he was running off the stage crying because he was too scared to move one foot in front of the other, now he can do the coffee grinder. i am so proud. watching all the dancers brought nostalgia over me, making me remember when in kindergarten we danced traditional polish dances for our parents. right now i am totally into the idea of joining a folk dance group and becoming their star performer, this dream may and will change tomorrow but for now i will dwell on these photos and imagine...
this also makes me think of the burning of the 'marzanna' in the spring time. she is the slavic goddess of death and winter. on march 20, the tradition calls for building a life-size dummy out of straw, fabric and newspaper, taking her to the river and setting her on fire, after which you let her float, burning or drown her, thus saying goodbye to winter and welcoming spring. i miss this.
what movie... do you forfeit
i finally got around to watching this movie last night. it was paris. it was eva green speaking french, smoking cigarettes... it was sex and it was wonderful. it ended loosely and it was based around the history of the 60's a little bit, which i think required some knowledge of that decade. regardless it was very visual and i catalogue it with tom ford's 'a single man', the movies i don't fully understand but love to look at.
the photoshoot we did over the weekend with jason and devon is planned to be illustrated by the very talented andrea, i just saw her blog post today about what we did, she also took sometime to do figure drawings of us while we posed for the camera. her part is the one i am most excited for, it's something i have never been a part of and seeing how talented she is i know it will be something incredible.
here is a peak at what we worked on over the weekend. i'm very excited about the final product and hope to post it soon. meantime i have had quite a hell of day. my hair is back to being dark. it makes me want to cry a little bit because i know now i can't go back blonde for a long time, and trying to get used to an extreme is hard so i'm currently sitting here staring at myself thinking about what i should do. another thing that disturbed me today was the process of posting this photo. i was unsure of putting it up at all because of the effect it will have on the people that read my blog, like people at work or at home, and of course i ended up cropping it because i know that if i left it un-cropped i would get in all sorts of shit from a whole lot of different people and then i was thinking more and more about it. it made me so mad that i live in this society that is obsessed with hiding natural aspects of life. i was at my brother's house the other day and my nephew got in trouble for saying 'vagina' and yea, he is 7 years old, but why are we teaching him to be ashamed of saying words that were chosen to describe anatomical parts that all of us have (he got in all sorts of different situations shouting 'penis' in class too), nobody says anything when you say 'ear' or 'foot'. and the same goes for this argument i've been having with myself all day. how many of you that will look at this picture and think that there are two girls in it and they have their tops off and not think twice about it. why must i feel guilty for wanting to post a photo that has breasts in it, why do i even have to justify this. women glorify and drool over topless photos of men all the time, dirty men get off looking at porn all the time and they don't feel ashamed. so here i am, wanting to be able to feel proud of the beautiful things that we do, i am going to be wrinkly,old and saggy i am sure sooner than i know and wanting to hide enough then. little things like these make me wish that i lived anywhere but here. so here it is for the whole lot of you that want to become my european neighbors... and for the perverted (and you SHOULD feel guilty)... and the curious... and NOT MY BROTHER or my dad for god's sake, 'the best of'
by Jason Eng
models Ania & Devon
makeup Olga Onulov
goldfrapp came out with a new album, and i don't know when it happened since i was kind of dissapointed by the last one they released (Seventh Tree), but when i listened to it yesterday it blew me away. it's such a great throw back to the 80's i can not get enough of it. ever since 80's clothes and style started creeping their way back into pop culture i was wondering when it will be time for music to go backwards as well. my-as i am sure many of your prayers have been answered. this is trully amazing and their first single 'rocket' > bah! i can't even think about it without putting my dancing shoes on :)
we are the champions...
after a grueling 30 minutes we (and most importantly me) made it to the top of the tower. rob wouldn't even have to rest if it wasn't for me, but i did it and i had a free banana and a water at the top and i'm going to do it again next year. i am now partially responsible for the well being of alberta wilderness so your welcome albertans for preserving your beautiful nature and such.
adventures with gastronomy
julia child and martha stewart who? move over ladies, a new kid rolled into town... haha. this is amusing and significant for a very important reason, i NEVER cook or bake, i don't even squeeze lemons when i want lemon juice. my friend ola, however inspired me to make these granola bars, and since the recipe did not call for anything more complicated then roasting nuts and heating up some peanut butter, and since we have been trying to eat healthy for a little while, and it has not been an easy battle i decided it was time to put on an apron and pick up one of those spreader/spatula things. i have yet to find out how it really turns out when it cools off and i try to take a bite of it in the morning, but for now the excitement is in the air, and the oven is still hot. i have made my first 'food' since we moved out... and left the dishes to the professionals
... is running my life. this month has been craziness for me at work, and it's only been 2 weeks but i have been at work so much i am considering setting up a little sleeping area in my office so that i can just stay here if i'm at work late. it's almost pointless to be here till midnight, then drive all the way home to lie down in bed for 8 hours and then come right back. i am loving the opportunity to make some great overtime and i'm learning a LOT, 6 years of university taught me less than i have learned in the 4 months of work. but i will be welcoming time for myself just as well when that time comes