Cosplay Pics from Naka-kon 2012

My husband and daughter recently returned from their annual sojourn to a local anime convention, so I thought it might be nice to introduce you to it as well. Dubbed Naka-kon, this convention is held annually in Overland Park, Kansas, to “celebrate Japanese animation and the influence anime has in the Midwest and around the globe by educating people from all walks of life in many diverse facets of popular and traditional Japanese culture.”

No matter whether promoting Japanese anime, video games, or the otaku lifestyle in general, these Kon-goers love to cosplay! The following are but a few examples that my husband took over the weekend.

Montage of photos from NakaKon 2012

I spy cosplayers as No Face from Spirited Away (or what I call “that freaky ghosty thing”), Mojo JoJo from Powerpuff Girls, a Stormtrooper, Mario & Princess Peach, and GLaDOS from Portal, but I don’t recognize the others. Do you?

Naka-kon homepage
More Anime crafts on GeekCrafts
More Cosplay posts on GeekCrafts
More Convention posts on GeekCrafts

Category: Anime, Craft, Geek, Video Games | 2 Comments

February 7

Tutorial Tuesday: Aperture Science Office Bonanza!

This picture does not do this epic project any justice!

The Internet better be all over this soon! Hear that Pinterest?! I want to see Aperture Labs living rooms, kitchens and nurseries before Easter!

Telnets.org give you a whole bucket of tutorials to get you started on your Portal office project:

via Sprite Stitch

Category: Craft, Sci-Fi, Video Games | Comments Off

December 18

What a crazy random happenstance!

If you have these on your wall, what does it say to people who walk into your house?

“I have a PHD in horribleness.”
“You’re driving a spork into your leg.”
“I don’t go to the gym, I’m just naturally like this.”

somekindofrobot on Etsy has made these beautiful canvas paintings of your favorite Dr. Horrible characters. They’re definitely unique and will certainly liven up the place when Dr. Horrible gives you the keys to a shiny new Australia.

Also in her shop you’ll find a Boba Fett canvas painting, Ghostbusters painting, and even a GLaDOS painting.

Category: Comics, Craft, Geek, TV | Comments Off

December 5

Well, hello there!

Hello! I’m Coral, another new Geek Crafts blogger! I’m an engineer-turned-web librarian living in Anchorage, Alaska with three birds, a chinchilla, and my very geeky husband. Obviously, I’m a computer geek and a fan of science fiction/fantasy literature: it’s almost required for my job, right? I’m also into tabletop roleplaying games—Shadowrun was my first love, but I’ve enjoyed everything from Exalted to Call of Cthulhu and Dungeons & Dragons—and an ever-shifting array of fandoms. While I’m not a computer gamer, I’m married to one, so some of my crafts have followed that theme. See also: weighted companion cube! (I used plastic canvas and yarn, as well as some deceptively heavy filling.)

As for my craft habits, I have a deep and abiding love of oldey timey craft styles reapplied in funny, geeky, and snarky ways. I love geeky (and subversive) cross-stitch, especially, though I’ve been known to knit on a loom, to home brew beer and soda, to cook up a storm, and to attempt inadvisable things with a hot glue gun. Learning to crochet is definitely on my to-do list, because there are so many excellent patterns out there!

To the left, you can see a QR code cross stitch I did (the first and last ever). It actually resolves to text—a quote I particularly like.

Anyway, I plan to bring the library love, along with my love of SCIENCE!, internet memes, bird nerdery, good speculative fiction, terrible vampire novels, caffeine, RPGs, and bicycles to share with you every Wednesday. If you want to know what I’m up to on a daily basis, you can find me on my personal blog (mostly library stuff, with some craft content), on Twitter, or Google Plus. (If you add me on G+, drop me a note to tell me you belong in my craft and/or geek circles! :))

Bonus points if you get the ::1 joke. ;) If not, I explained it here.

Category: Books, Computers, Craft, Games, Geek, Video Games | 3 Comments

October 16

GLaDOS cosplay

I mentioned in a recent post that my daughter is very in to Gir these days. She’s also very in to the video game Portal – Portal 2 to be specific. If she sees any expanse of flat white wall, she remarks, “that would be a good place for a portal.” Very observant and strategic, my last-born.

So again, in honor of her, I bring you another Halloween costume idea. Via GeeksAreSexy.net, here’s an interesting manga/anime-esque interpretation of GLaDOS.

Per Wikipedia, GLaDOS is “short for Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, a fictional artificially intelligent computer system in Valve Software’s Half-Life video game series and the main antagonist in the video games Portal and Portal 2...She is responsible for testing and maintenance in Aperture Science research facility in both video games.” Some call her “a narcissist, passive-aggressive, sinister, and witty. She has been considered one of the greatest video game characters ever created, particularly from 2000 to 2009.” “A number of websites and magazines listed her as one of the greatest video game villains including IGN, which ranked her the all-time greatest.”

Here’s what GLaDOS really looks like in the game, as well as a shot of the voice actress Ellen McLain. (via ThePlayVault.com).