Sidewalk Superheroes

I’m sorry it’s been a bit quiet around here lately. We haven’t really been out doing superhero stuff for a while, which is why the world is such a mess. All day Saturday was spent retouching photos for me, Sunday was family time, and yesterday Catwoman and I finally reunited for something we hope will be really worthwhile. If you follow us on Zannel (or read the tiny print on my widget to the right, or follow me on Twitter), then you know that we applied for street performer permits last week. This is what happened yesterday:

We really didn’t stay long at all, slightly less than an hour on the Pier. It wasn’t too bad, though because it was a weekday afternoon and ridiculously windy there weren’t a whole lot of people out. Still, better than the boulevard! There have been some days where we’ve stayed out for 4 hours and only made about $7 each, so we consider this an improvement. Also, no competition from other characters, the police are on our side in Santa Monica, and most importantly, no drama! Everyone just keeps to themselves. It was a little bit lonely and we did miss the few good characters we like (you know who you are), but seriously, there’s just been so much crap we somehow got dragged into the middle of that it was time to get out.

Today another piece of the Mystery Costume came as I was heading out to do some errands. Yay! Here’s the two major pieces that I have so far, I’m just waiting on one more, which is en route:

I wear a lot of yellow and black

After piece #3 comes, it’s a lot of cutting and sewing, and then it should be all set. Then you can finally see what I’ve been blabbing about all this time and hopefully be as excited as me! 🙂

Well, I’m not sure when Catwoman and I will work again. We’ve been pretty busy doing separate things lately and we haven’t been too good at synching up. If it’s any consolation I’ll be working with a really great local photographer soon who really wants to do a Batgirl shoot, so if worst comes to worst you’ll just have to look at some pictures of Batgirl hanging around LA.

For a second, I thought Luke Skywalker had mailed me my boots:

c/o Hoth

P.S. I know the creature’s name is spelled “tauntaun.” Humor me.

It’s quite possible that maybe I’m just cranky, or sensitive, or something else, but right now I’m getting a wee bit tired of people continually hammering me about my Batgirl cowl. Of all things! First it was “ehhh, she needs a cowl! Ehhh!” because I was either going without or using a domino mask. Then I modified a Catwoman mask to be a serviceable Batgirl cowl, because honestly folks, they don’t exist. I can’t just run out to a costume shop or Halloween box store and buy one, and you can’t buy them online. They’re either part of a packaged costume and all wrong, or else people make the domino paste on masks which isn’t the Batgirl I’m doing. So I’m making the most of the materials I have on a shoestring budget, and really? It’s still miles better than any other hobby costume you’re going to find.

See, what we’re doing here is just a hobby. We spend our own money, a lot of it, putting together these costumes and Catwoman and I are both nitpickers by nature. If you’re going to do it, do it right. We aren’t making much money, if any, on the boulevard, so we’re not even getting our investments back. There are no day jobs to speak of because we were both let go from our last jobs and we have the bad luck to live in California, part of the US’s crumbling economy and the state’s own huge mess (the worst in the country). We keep looking and trying, but there are no jobs right now. So really, we’re breaking our backs trying to get this off of the ground, do some business, make some money and have some fun. We could just be the lazy costume-in-a-bag characters that you see everywhere else, but that’s not us.

This is also why it irritates me when people drop little snarks about our costumes. It’s one thing to say, “I know that’s not quite accurate to the comic, but how can you really recreate that?” or “Oh yeah, getting a slave Leia costume custom made costs around $300, I don’t blame you for using your money to pay rent and buy some food,” or even “Nice work in progress! It can only get better.” Even, “If you’re interested, I know where to find/who to call for a more accurate ________.” We do get that, and thank you to the people who are kind enough to give us that feedback, or even better, tell us where/how to get even better pieces. That is greatly appreciated. But to just say, “That’s not right at all. I hate it,” or “Why don’t you get something better?” without offering anything constructive is not, in fact, constructive criticism. It’s just complaining to complain, and only asses do that. So if you come around, either to here, YouTube, Flickr, or anywhere else we may be just to grouse, kindly STFU. If you’re dumb enough to do it to my face, I’ll gladly give you the uncensored, full-length version of STFU because really, someone needs to tell you that. The world has too many nasty people who just say rude things because they can, and I’ve taken it upon myself to not have any of that in my little corner. Life’s too short to let yourself get knocked down by people who can only feel better by pulling others down.

the current cowl

Anyway . . . if you have such a big problem with that damned cowl of mine, why don’t you put in a donation towards a better one? Materials and my time as a seamstress cost money, and if you want me to do things for you, then you’re going to have to do something for me, too. Hell, if you want, donate enough and I’ll build whatever costume you want to see me in. You can even get a private set of pro pictures in return, for your eyes only, if you’re into that sort of thing. Just don’t whinge and be negative without any sort of options. It’s rude and your mother would be embarrassed.

How appropriate: Bob Dylan’s “Idiot Wind” just came on the iPod.

Well hey, it’s about time I showed up again. I’ve been busy trying to figure out how to pull of the Mystery Costume perfectly, so that means a lot of time researching on the Internet, looking up patterns and figuring out how to take from them and modify to make my own patterns (because I never got a degree in Fashion & Design, just took the courses), and shopping around for bulk PVC. I think I have a source.

Anyway, after the worst month ever, February, it feels good to be getting back into the swing of things. Last Thursday and Friday Catwoman and I went out to the boulevard to work, and a lot happened in the relatively short time we were there.
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Finally! The Oscars came and went, and after tomorrow, the boulevard will be back to normal. Well, as normal it can be for being Hollywood Boulevard. I’m actually not sure how long it takes them to pack up all those giant styrofoam statues, but the lightboard signs put up all around that block had said that the roads would be closed through Tuesday. So maybe Wednesday we can start making up for lost time?

In the meantime, I started making a pattern for the Mystery Costume out of newspapers, though I just now realized that I might have goofed and have to start over. Curse my unclear sketches! I knew this would happen, but I did it anyway. Boning always trips me up. At least I didn’t get very far, and I can pretty much use the two pattern pieces I did sketch and cut out to make the proper pieces. *sigh* It’s just so hard to make a corset on nothing but sheer luck. (Oh yes, there’s a corset.)

I’ve also been working on the site behind the scenes. Over the summer I geeked out and borrowed a Joomla! book from the library, and now I have it again and I’m using it. So far it’s a little weird, though I am really rusty on what little CSS I did know, but it’ll work out. This site will be so awesome! One day. 😉

P.S. Can I just say: Finally!

<3

So, how do you like our new digs? Exactly like the old ones, right? Well, not exactly. There’s a shiny new .com name, and a lot of headaches behind the scenes for Catwoman and I. Half of yesterday was spent trying to make this new blog look like the old one (functioning, hah), even though I hate the theme. I picked it, but I hate templates. So boring, so uncreative. So not me. Anyway, I had to go through all of the old posts and re-edit them because the embedded video got broken in the move. Not enough bubble wrap. So they’re all fixed, and tonight, as I recover from another bloodletting (the Red Cross seriously stalks me — must be my super blood), I’ll fix up the pictures and start playing with the CSS code itself.

But since we’re in the process of building the website and revamping the blog and just doing everything over, now’s as good a time as any to ask: what would you like to see? We have a few major plans up our sleeves, and there will be loads more pictures of us (as opposed to us snapping everyone else), but what else would you like to see? It can vary from colour schemes to layouts to what sort of pictures or videos we should start doing, or even costume suggestions. Between geek code building sessions I’m also going to start making pattern pieces for the Mystery Costume, because I need to get cracking on it, but even with a project literally in hand, I’m already looking ahead.

We’re also looking at some public appearances to show off our hard work on costumes and drum up some new fans. Besides Comic-Con, WonderCon and Dragon*Con, are there any other fanboy meetups or conventions that we could probably get to without too much travel that would appreciate what we do? I’m already planning on Comic-Con, to show off the Mystery Costume and also get Sergio Aragonés (Mad Magazine) to sign some books for me, since I couldn’t make last year’s convention, and we’re currently scrambling to see if we can still make WonderCon and maybe crash somewhere for free.

Anyway, any and all feedback would be appreciated and taken seriously. You’re the people that make or break this website!

Okay, I have to get back to optimizing feeds. A superhero and a supergeek! I need this shirt:

oh baby

Ooh, someone’s been making improvements around here! Okay, it was me. If you hadn’t noticed yet, or you’re reading off a feed and don’t drop in regularly, I’ve just added two new pages to the top bar.

24 Hour Party People should be pretty self-explanatory. Catwoman and I are officially offering our services as costumed entertainers to anyone who wants them. Go to the page itself for more details and contact information, but please note, we like to keep it PG. So no, we don’t strip or let you paw us. It has to be said.

Custom Costumes is all about, duh, custom costumes. Mainly, how you can get your hands on one of your own. If working here has taught me anything, it’s that the old adage, “If want something done right, you have to do it yourself” is so very true. We’ve gone through all the headaches and sweat and tears to get our costumes together, and now that we’ve done all the nasty work, you can reap the benefits! If you covet any of our costumes, consider putting in a request for your very own. As a bonus, it’s handmade by a superhero. Just please know that with any custom-built, high quality costume, it’s not cheap. You definitely get what you pay for, though.

Okay, just wanted to let everyone know about these additions, and hopefully they’ll help someone out. Enjoy!

This just came on my iPod, no joke. God, I’ve been waiting for an excuse to post this!

For the past hour or so I’ve been scouring Flickr for pictures for my next costume. It’s not going to be Zatanna Zatara, like I’ve mused upon, or even slave Leia, or even Hawkgirl like Baby Jack (the Jack Sparrow that looks about 12 years old) suggested. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned what it was on here, though I have told a few people on the boulevard about it. I sort of pushed it aside, but after showing my sister a trailer for a certain upcoming big film, it’s on the front burner again. The release date is a lot closer than I expected, and I need to get cracking! It’s also got a bit too much PVC to really be a summer costume, even though it is pretty skimpy.

Anyway, while I don’t have a movie to watch, bootleg or otherwise yet (still too early), no screengrabs either, I do have some high quality promotional stills and shots to sketch off of, and I think I can do this. I think I have all the details drawn out, with little scribbles next to them that I’ll hopefully be able to decipher in a month. What’s more, I could sew it all up myself if I had to. And I probably will . . . as long as I can find yellow PVC lying around. Think it’ll work?

Catwoman and I were debating going to work today, but it’s been raining off and on, and just an ugly, stay at home sort of day in general. Which is good, I needed some time to finish up things. I cleaned both my yellow and white boots, re-blacked the bat logo, and further took in my Batgirl costume so she looks even better. And curvier. 🙂 Plus, I had the time to put on some Nouvelle Vague and draw for a few hours, which hasn’t happened in years. I’d say it’s a pretty good day, even if I didn’t make any money off of it.

Ugh, Old Boyfriend just called again. And he didn’t leave a message, thankfully. Maybe he’s getting a clue. I just hate having That Conversation over the phone, you know?

P.S. If you’d like to know what this new Mystery Costume is going to be before the unveiling, speak up! I can’t read your minds . . . yet.

. . . said the Caterpillar to Alice. Anyway, I’m uploading video to YouTube for Catwoman and uploading some pictures to Flickr (have I really already uploaded 75M this month?), and Numb3rs is on in the background. It opens with a tour group boarding a bus in front of the Chinese Theatre with a Marilyn Monroe impersonator in the background (I missed it, so I don’t know if it was one of our girls, or some paid extra), and they somehow manage to drive west and past the Kodak Theatre. The Kodak is just east of the Chinese Theatre, so the bus either circumnavigated the globe in about a minute, or they circled the block for no reason. Honestly, the writers live here, it’s one of the most famous city blocks in the world, and they can’t get it right? Maybe I just complain too much. Plus, they called it the Bodak Theatre, so someone was too cheap to get permission to use Kodak’s name. Huh.

Anyway, here’s some snaps of me improving Batgirl 2.0 and making her rock.

black and blue

I took off the bat logo from crap Batgirl 1.0’s costume, and the trim was blue. It would have looked funny, and Batgirl is black and yellow — unless we’re talking Yvonne Craig’s marvelous purple Batgirl, which is what 1.0 was supposed to be — so I took a Sharpie to the trim. It worked surprisingly well; it didn’t bleed onto the yellow, really, and the colour held pretty well. It still looks a bit blue-black in sunlight, but another going over should take care of that.

ready for her close-up

cape town

The cape that came with 1.0 was okay, black and yellow cheap satin, but it was sewn together in the stupidest way possible. There was a slit in the back with a useless tie back there, since they were lazy and just sewed the cape to the costume, and the black and yellow were just basted together with a sloppy overlock stitch. So I took it apart, sewed up the slits in back, sewed the two colours together properly:

moody bat

and sewed the tie on properly so it looks like a real cape:

the feeling is mutual

I also took in my catsuit a lot to make it good and snug, but I forgot to take pictures of that. I do have pictures from today’s work, though I’m not in them because I was snapping them, but it’s getting late and I need to shower. Tomorrow’s another long day!

In an attempt to have something fresh up every day — or nearly, I’d like to have some life — I’m going to start sharing more behind the scenes. More costume building, more headaches, more desperate searches for supplies, more obsessive film watching and detail picking. More craziness. It’s only fair I give you the full scope of the mania of boulevard life.

Anyway, today I resolved once and for all to never get another store bought costume. I would like my summer costume to be Princess Leia’s slave costume:

slave Leia

I know there’s a “licensed” version out for sale, and really, I don’t know why they bother licensing those pieces of crap. I would be embarrassed to have my franchise tied in with such shoddily made, overpriced knockoffs, but maybe that’s why I’ll never mass produce my creations. Anyway, I was thinking that I might do my now usual routine of buying the one time use costume, wearing it until it literally falls off of me, and then making a better version. But why do I do this? It’s such a waste of money. I went to a nearby Halloween box store to try on the slave Leia costume:

the knockoff

And that’s when I found out they don’t have dressing rooms. What a stupid concept. I must remember it if I ever open a store that sells clothing. The girl was nice about it, though (not that it was her fault anyway), and took me to a nearby mirror and helped me slip the bottoms over my jeans. I guess the next time I want to try on anything, I should go out wearing a leotard. Just in case. The sample set was a small, and it fit fine over my pants, which probably means I could go extra-small. Yes, hate me, I’m teeny. I just had to sort of hold the bra part over my chest to get the general idea, since the rubber bits wouldn’t lay right and the velcro in back didn’t go small enough to enclose my pretty sunken chest. Eh. I thanked the girl profusely and took off, and that’s when I made my resolution. It’s just a lot of hassle and far too much money for some piece of crap. Roughly $60 for smelly, warped rubber and two drapes of fabric to cover my arse and hoo-ha? Eh.

The only bugger is that I’m not a master of resin casting. I searched a bit online and found some people who cast and sell the resin (what looks like metal on her costume) pieces, but it’s between $200-300 for unsanded, unpainted pieces, and another $100 for the creator to do the dirty work for you. And then there’s shipping. That’s still just the resin pieces, which means I have to fabric shop and match the bra to the boots I would inevitably have to cut up, which is more money. It’s crazy. But I’m lucky and have good geek friends, and one of them set me up with a local lady that will hopefully work out great. I’d love to have a really good slave Leia costume, because I know it’d kill during the summer and be very cool to wear (though I’m going to have to buy stock in sunblock), and I just like the kink factor of having a roleplaying costume around. Guys apparently really dig that sort of thing.

Besides the money factor, I’m paranoid about not being toned enough. A friend of mine resolved to practice yoga every day, and I decided to join her. Not just for moral support, though I do that because I’m a good friend (I gave up red meat as a sign of solidarity with a friend ages ago), but also because I want to be really toned for this costume. Everything will show, even when I make a special pair of underwear so my bits are covered and I don’t get arrested, and my abs in particular could stand to be more granite in appearance. My butt, while getting the Most Improved award last year, could also stand more toning. So there’s all the work that will have to go into the slave Leia costume before I finally get around to wearing it sometime in July (since I’m aiming to spend the entire month of June in Scotland). Wish me luck!

Hey there. Catwoman and I have been busy working this weekend, and we have a few stories and pictures (Superman Returns!), but I’m not going to do them yet. We went out with Photographer Friend and a couple of his friends, and, well, I didn’t get home until 5 AM. I have no idea what happened to Catwoman, I sort of left her to her own devices. I also can’t believe I’m awake right now, I should still be out cold. But no hangover and no regrets!

Anyway, maybe tonight I’ll get all the pictures uploaded and my brain will be working normally so I can remember what all happened. I just found a note I wrote to myself that says, “My left is drunk! -me,” which tells you what state of mind I was in a few short hours ago. It was actually supposed to say, “My left foot is drunk!” because I was wearing little black flats and someone dropped their beer, getting some into my shoe. I said, “My left foot is drunk!” and we all laughed because the rest of us were just as drunk, and I thought it was so clever I wrote it down. Now you see how stupid I become, and what a recovery it will be.

In the meantime, I did get a new toy to play with, and it came in ahead of schedule, always a nice surprise:

ignore the mess

work in progress

I just threw it on as soon as the package was opened, it’ll look better on the boulevard. And I did cut off the tag afterwards. Okay, I have to eat. I’m starving.