Music News! Rammstein Video Released!

Hey everyone! Today we're talking music news. And the biggest story is a brand new track and accompanying video from none other than Rammstein!


Now, I knew we were supposed to see some new material from the band this year, and some cryptic pics had been showing up on the socials but nothing else. Then a post shows up on my Instagram feed:

Head to YouTube, it tells me to come back on the date (March 28) for Deutschland.

Fast forward to said day. It's after work, its been a long (and unnecessarily fraught) day and I finally to sit down and listen to and watch the first new Rammstein material in a decade.

It was worth it. Guys, Rammstein are BACK!  And I LOVE it!

I don't even know where to start. Musically, Rammstein have never suffered from an overabundance of lyrics per song. Its better to think of it more like a poem, where less can be more. In this case, looking at both the history and the future of their homeland. It's also filled with little nods and callbacks to previous videos and songs peppered throughout, from the very first word to the angelic image of Germania rising on Till's Engel wings as the band crawl like dogs below Mein Teil-style.

These wings. This is one of our own pics, from Winnipeg 2012

Of course, once you couple the words with the visuals, then things really shine. As always, the video is stunning, weird, disturbing, and fantastic. The color palette is appropriately red, black, and gold, though some parts bring in a futuristic white. Germania is played by actress Ruby Commey, and is phenomenal, portraying the personification of her (and the band's) home country through time, from Roman invasion to now and towards the future. And the costumes are stunning. My personal favorite is the gold armor with the crown over the mail coif. So badass.

Also quite nice, that view count, which is current to this writing.

Of course, certain imagery in the video has caused controversy. To that, I can only say this:

Other Business:

-Sabaton currently has a countdown on for April 2nd. As they have announced a new album for this year, I'm quite excited to see what Tuesday will bring.

-We are 35 days out from the con. I do not feel prepared. We did get a few things taken care of tonight, but there's at least one kind of big thing that's posing a problem. But progress is being made.


So there it is! Hopefully we'll be back again early next week talking about something similar in regards to Sabaton and a more detailed cosplay-progress post. See you then! 

Captain Marvel Review- Spoiler Free!

Hey everyone, I'm back with an actual review! Yay! Today we're going to be talking about the newest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel. As usual, no spoilers ahead.


So we're going to do this as a pros then cons, with my thoughts at the end. Pretty straightforward.


Pros

 -Carol herself. She was brusque, snarky, and didn't have time to be 'nice'. And you know what? I liked that a whole heck of a lot. And there was nothing Sexy(TM) about her. She was either in her costume or the shirt/jeans/cap from the trailers. She didn't do any 'sexy' fighting movies either. In fact, she stalked around punching and blasting folks with her fire hands because she had Shit To Do. It was great. 

-Carol and Fury. They had a great bond and a fun relationship, and having Nick Fury back, even in an earlier time than we're used to, is always great. One conversation where they're trying to prove to each other they aren't Skrulls is one of my favorite moments between them. 

-Goose! Goose was kind of like Groot in that he tended to steal the scene when he showed up. And seeing Fury get all squishy about a cute cat is pretty awesome. It was fine when it was an actual cat, but there were some iffy CG moments. Once you see the movie, you understand why he was in so much of the marketing. 

Also a very handsome boy

-The Skrulls were more interesting than I expected. I didn't think we'd get as much into them as we did, so that was welcome. I figured Ben Mendelsohn and co. would be one note, but you actually spend time with them, especially him. I know people say that this is leading into Secret Wars, but after this, I'm not really sure how. But fleshing the Skrulls out was something I didn't expect, and was a pleasant surprise. 

-Annette Benning. Okay, I don't want to talk about her role in detail because spoilers, but she was obviously having a really good time, especially in one 'part' (I don't know if that's the right word, exactly) of her character. 

-The intro. Okay, so this is the only mild spoiler I'll give. The Marvel logo intro is different than usual and is part of a tribute to Stan Lee. It was lovely. 


Cons

-The Kree get very little time. Carol is part of a Starforce team, but you don't really spend a lot of time with them or get to know them. I don't think I even knew half their names. You also see a little of pre-eyeliner Ronan and Korath, but not a whole lot. Of all of them, Jude Law gets the most time. The resolution for the arc of his character and Carol is so great, too. But yeah, not a lot going on with these guys.

I don't know who half of y'all are

-There are a lot of side characters. Okay, so the Kree aren't the only ones who don't get a lot of screentime and attention. There are a lot of characters, especially since this is an origin and trying to tie into the greater MCU and the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. Maria and Monica Rambeau didn't get a lot of characterization outside of what related to Carol, Coulson didn't get a lot of time, either. Hell, I was hoping for a cameo from another character who would've probably been in S.H.I.E.L.D at the time and they didn't show up at all. There's a lot going on, and the movie isn't going to hold your hand and explain it. Either you're along for the ride and you know the basic gist of the MCU or you don't.

this, basically.

 
-Slow in parts. I use the 'five-year-old rubric' to measure this. As in, did my five-year-old sit and watch the movie or did she get bored? By this measurement, there were some slow spots. And since she sat through both Black Panther and Infinity War without a fuss, this should've been no problem. She did enjoy it overall, though.


So, in conclusion, what did I think? I thought this movie was just fine. I had a good time with it. It's not my absolute favorite Marvel movie, but it's a good time and now that we've been introduced to Carol, I'm quite interested to see how this plays into Endgame. Would I recommend it? Sure. If you aren't chomping at the bit to see it (in which case, you've probably seen it already), go see it on cheap Tuesday or whatever your equivalent is.
   

Con Announcement and Cosplay Updates!

We've got so much to talk about today! And lots of exciting stuff, so let's get right to it!


Con Announcement!

We are going to our first con! May 4th we will be attending the Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo in Regina, Saskatchewan. It's about 3 hours-ish from us, so not too bad, travel-wise. As it's still during school, we will just be doing Saturday this time. But we are all super excited! And the best part? We'll be at our first con on STAR WARS DAY! That being said, we'll be doing our Diablo III group that we were supposed to do at the cancelled con we were supposed to attend in the fall.

So we are full steam ahead on getting our costumes done and up to snuff! Halloween gave me some great insight into my Barbarian armor and what I need to do to get version 2.0 off the ground and make it easier to wear and better fitted.

like some better clips for the breastplate

Also grabbed a couple of new septum rings, one of which I might include with Barbarian 2.0. Guess which one? (It's the spiky one, of course. Unless I can find one with a skull or something)

the 'big' ring on the right is my size 8 wedding band for size reference

We even put in an order today for some costume pieces, including coins for Elder Spawn's Treasure Goblin. There aren't too many more things to actually acquire, just a few things for the kid's costumes, like Younger Spawn's boots for Leah. Most of it is just assembly at this point, so we've got a bit of an advantage going forward.  So stay tuned, because there's going to be a lot of updates leading up to May!



Other Costumes


 Valkyrie Frigga

Just a quick update here, since these other costumes are taking a bit of a back burner for now. But I got some gorgeous material for lining my cape.  Now to just put the damn thing together!

of course I take a pic of a manky corner with strings all over

X-Wing Pilot

I know you're thinking, what is this? Well, a couple years ago, I did an X-Wing pilot costume for Halloween. I loved it (enough that she has a name and backstory!), but there was room for improvement. I happened to dig out my old coveralls that I'd used to do Chell from Portal and what do you know, they fit better than when I bought them! I'd need to redo the life support vest, but it's a great costume and if I can bring it out again I totally will.

hence the 'Aperture' on the chest. The logo is painted on the back.

These are so much nicer than the crap ones I bought when these ones didn't fit!

 And any excuse to bust out that awesome helmet I made!

I love this thing! Rebel Alliance for life!

Housewife Freddie

I found my shirt! Thrift store for the win! Which is where I figured my best bet to find such a thing would be. It's a bit brighter of a pink than the version in the music video, but somehow I don't think Freddie would mind. For a grumpy old goth like me, though, who prefers to wear black or red, this is so bright. Even in the crappy, late-night lighting of these pics. But a bullet bra will really take this shirt up to the next level, because as these pictures prove, a regular bra just isn't going to cut it. 

IT'S SO PINK

wine glass for #aesthetic

NEWLY ANNOUNCED- Dr. Eva Malcolm!

So, hubby does a genderbent Dr. Sarah Harding from The Lost World: Jurassic Park. And it occurred to me that he could use a companion costume. And so, Dr. Eva Malcolm came into being! And the great thing is, it's the leather jacket I already own and the clothes from Casual Ragnarok Loki! In the order I made today, there's a turquoise ring and necklace, so other than shoes (which I need for Loki anyway), this one is done! Can't wait to have it all together and get a picture of Drs. Eva Malcolm and Samuel Harding together! Won't be at this con, sadly, but as soon as we can!

Life, uh, finds a way...  and yes, those are theater 3D glasses lol.

 

It's been an exciting couple of days, but there's lots more to come, so stay tuned! Also would like to see Captain Marvel next weekend, if possible. So maybe I'll finally do a review, too!

Cosplay Update!

Another quick update and some possible awesome news at the end!


Barbarian 2.0

A super lucky thrift store find has gotten me my first piece of Barbarian upgrade! In the form of pants/leggings. Not only are these ones thicker than the original pair, they're more comfortable and don't feel like they're going to fall down or need to be pulled up! And, they have the fun faux leather front and a faux suede-ish back, which is a neat contrast. Oh, and they're the perfect freakin' color! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

I also have several lists (more on that later) in the works of what needs to be done to fully upgrade Lady Barb from version 1.0 to 2.0 and what the others costumes need for completion, as well as some notes on makeup. Just things I thought of at work. Because when I do planning, I make lists. So many lists.

liiiiissssstsssss......

Valkyrie Frigga

In the same thrift-store trip, I picked up a nice piece of blue cloth for my cloak. It's not the exact color, and it's not the same material, but I really like it.

It's such a nice royal blue! Too dark for the movie-accurate cape, but I'm already taking liberties with the cape as it is, so I'm not going to lose sleep. I like this one better, color and texture wise. We are planning a trip into the city this weekend so I'm hoping to hit the fabric shop to get a nice gold for a lining. Oh, and maybe a nose ring I can incorporate into Barbarian 2.0!

 The other piece that came in was my Frigga wig. And I gotta tell you, I am SO impressed with it! It's soft and really nice, and it looks amazing! And it's super long and the color is great! Trying to find the right color was really frustrating, but I really, really like what I've got going here.

It's weird because I'm pretty sure I've dyed my hair this color

I am really happy with this. I'm going to de-static it and then try some styling but I'm not sure how just yet. Probably braids in some form, but I haven't decided and I think I just need to try some things.


Okay, and the final thing. We're looking at some possible options for attending a con! For real! I don't want to say too much yet because we have to work out vacation time with hubby's work and make sure we can get everything organized. But, it may finally be happening! If we can make it work, expect a LOT more cosplay updates as I ramp up production significantly to get things ready. So fingers crossed!

That's it for now, guys. Work is starting to get back to a more normal pace again so hopefully that means more time for me to actually do stuff and see stuff to write about. So fingers crossed on that, too! Oh, and Captain Marvel will be out soon and we are so going to that!