Spock's Pickled Brain

  Gondor is Middle Earth's tragic kingdom. Clinging to the strength and purity of their distant Numenorean heritage, Gondor survives the brunt of Mordor's renewed onslaught largely through bravado and a nihilistic resignation to fight until the bitter end. An end they are sure is coming, and one they are certain to make as bitter as possible. Gondor is fragility itself. Edge Of Night (Pippin's Song) - Howard Shore feat. Billy Boyd Home is behind, the world ahead And there are many paths to tread Through shadow to the edge of night Until the stars are all alight Mist and shadow Cloud and shade All shall fade All shall fade  For Whom The Bell Tolls - Metallica  (Gondor faces the threat of a renewed Sauron in Mordor.) Take a look to the sky just before you die It's the last time you will Blackened roar, massive roar fills the crumbling sky Shattered goal fills his soul  All My Life - Foo Fighters  (Denethor's ambition drives him and Gondor forward. He's never ab...

My dye job was, uh, not part of this particular costume. Okay, so "faux-hair headdress" sounds awful, but I've never been entirely sure how to define this particular style of headdress. It's a fancy hair hat for all of us out there who either don't have much hair, or who don't want to spend 4 hours working on a hairstyle that you wear for one day. It's like a styled wig, but extra. Anyway, so this hair hat was the product of my awkward love.hate relationship with the Star Wars prequel films, and my occasional yen for long hair (even though in reality it drives me crazy and usually looks awful). In particular, this hat was inspired by Padme Amidala's senate costume from Episode II (and returned in the Clone Wars TV show as well), which includes a fantastic conical hairpiece. On the Padawan's Guide site (as excellent reference guide to costumes in the Star Wars movies, as well as a fan guides to recreating those costumes), writers hav...

So, the local renaissance festival is in full swing, and the Loonatic and I recently spent a day seeing the sights. The Loonatic has already put up a post about the parts of her costume, so I thought I would do the same! I didn't make a specific character for the faire, but instead put together a look with a couple major pieces (a pair of wings and horns I made myself), with a motley collection of things from my closet. The end result is sort of a weird dragon-lady, which is pretty much what I always wanted to be, so: Mission Accomplished. Costume Parts 1) Skirt This is a thrift store skirt that I think may have started out as a dance skirt. It's made of a lightweight but draping fabric, and it's a full circle skirt, so it has a lot of swirl-a-bility. 2) Corset Not a thrift store find, this is a black and silver/lavender over-bust corset with black leather accents. It's pretty comfortable, but after 7 hours or so, my ribs needed a serious bre...

How to Make Dragon Wings (big, cheap, and light-weight) I've always loved wings, from bird wings to insect wings to bat wings (or angel, fairy, and dragon wings, depending on your interests). So for this year's medieval faire, I decided to try making my own! In general, I've found that the wings you can buy in costume stores are small and flimsy (personally, I'm not really moved by "sexy vampire wings," but maybe that's just me). And if you can find large wings, they're hideously expensive. I spent some time thinking about the important components of the big three types of wings (angel, fairy, and dragon), and decided that dragon was the way to go this time. I love them all, but angel wings seemed a little more difficult for a beginner, and fairy wings weren't peaking my interest at the time. If you're looking for other resources on building large wings, I would recommend HCC Cosplay (http://whatishcc.com/tutorials/angel-wings/), whose ...

Every time the medieval fair rolls around I'm ready to try another costume variation. In the past I've gone as a Pict warrior, berserker, temple guard, mercenary, and a Jedi (because really the only thing missing from Europe's medieval era is a laser-sword-wielding monk from a galaxy far away). But this year I aimed to create a character drawn from the rules and world of Faerun, as featured in the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons . Asking me why I chose this is a totally rational question. I have never played Dungeons and Dragons , or any of its spinoffs or imitators. Nor have I explored the world of live-action roleplaying (aka LARPing). But I have seen some of the movies inspired by the franchise, and I like the structure and world that it's built. Dungeons and Dragons provides an insane amount of background for a fictional universe's terrain, peoples, mythology, and magic. There are also several online character generators that help you build balance...