Toronto Comicon: where else can you see three Vaders together?

TORONTO COMICON, IN PICTURES

On Friday we headed out on the five hour drive to hit the Toronto Comicon. I haven't been to a con in Toronto before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, except that it was likely to be large and crowded. I wasn't disappointed.

A portion of the lineup outside.

The organizers estimated there'd be between 65,000-90,000 people in attendance; I have no idea how many ended up showing, but I can tell you that the show was sold out on the first day and the line to get in circled the baseball diamond (the Rogers centre) beside the actual convention centre.

I spent most of my time helping out at the Comic Book Shoppe booth, but when I did get out to look around, I got to see some pretty great sights. I'm just gonna let the photos do the talking here...

Voltron costumes so cool, I just stared in wonder.

Crowded place!

The best Borg I may have ever seen.

A Dr Who Tardis turned Transformer. Much cooler than a normal Tardis.

Some very cool steampunk outfits.

See no Dark Side, hear no Dark Side, Speak no Dark Side.

The infamous 501st, a serious Star Wars fan club.

Behind the scenes of the cosplayers.

Even Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn needs a time out.

Wolverine out on a smoke break...with a cigar, naturally.

Shoppe staff! On the right is the infamous MJ!

Tiny awesome Batman.

Dr Crusher looking fine.

Riker, looking aged but still pretty cool.

Geordi Laforge looking exactly the same as ever. Go, Reading Rainbow!

Adventure Time fans with some zombies. By the end of the con, it was one big crossover.

As wild as Toronto Comicon was, I'm even more excited for Ottawa and Montreal, where I'm gonna actually be warm enough to dress up in costume. Though I kinda wish I had a Voltron costume now...

Adventure Ahoy! Julie & Colin Angus and the OAT show are coming!

YOU'RE INVITED TO FIND YOUR ADVENTURE!

credit: Sean Williams

The motto of the Girl, Crafted blog is Make Stuff –Do Stuff – Eat Stuff – Love Stuff, and so naturally, the upcoming Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show is going to be a great place to scope out things to do. The 2013 OAT show is happening on March 16 & 17, spanning the large space available at the Ernst & Young Centre (formerly called the CE Centre at 4899 Uplands Drive).

The organizers of the OAT show say there’s a steady increase in the number of people looking for adventuresome activities and travel. Lying on a beach endlessly may appeal to the couch potato who wants to become a baked potato, but the rest of us—at least 63% of us, they say—are looking to do something more exciting with our leisure time.


Whether you’re into hardcore adventure time like skydiving and dogsledding, or you’re interested in something a little more tame, like canoeing or cycling, the show will have information on it all.

And, not only are there going to be tons of cool exhibitors showing off what they offer for adventurous souls, there will also be some top-drawer speakers, like Julie and Colin Angus. Julie and Colin are a Canadian adventurer couple, bestselling authors, and the first couple to circumnavigate the globe on human-powered transportation alone. I asked them a few questions ahead of the OAT show, where you can see them share their story live.

Q&A WITH JULIE AND COLIN ANGUS

credit: Martina Cross

Who are you and what's your story?
We’re just regular Canadians that have been lucky enough to develop a lifestyle where we explore the world and embark on adventures for a living. Basically, we come up with different adventure concepts such as circling the world entirely by human power or researching the origins of the most influential fruit, the olive, and then create books, videos and presentations so we can share our adventures with the world.


What adventure are you currently working on or wrapping up?

We’re currently wrapping up an expedition we conducted in partnership with National Geographic researching the origins of the olive tree. We spent five months voyaging the Mediteranean looking into all aspects of the olive – it’s huge influence on the development of the western world, health benefits and history. We also were partnered with the Plant Genetics Institute of Perugia, Italy gathering genetics from ancient olive trees around the Mediterranean looking to shine some light on the mystery of whether early Phoenicians were responsible for spreading the cultivated tree from its origins of what is now Syria. This summer Colin will be attempting to break the human powered speed record from Whitehorse to Dawson City.

Were you both adventurers from the start, or did one of you bring the other one into the lifestyle?

credit: Martina Cross

Colin started out as a nerdy kid with a dream to go adventuring at a young age. His first adventure began shortly after graduating from high-school, buying a beat up old sailboat and spending five years offshore sailing. Julie became an adventurer much later, after spending many years in university and working in the corporate world. She was inspired to do something out of her comfort zone after reading about an English guy who planned on rowing across the Atlantic.



Julie: on GIRL, CRAFTED we talk a lot about crafting oneself; have your adventures made you who you are? How has that journey gone?

Undoubtedly, adventure has partially crafted who I am, but it’s hard to say exactly how much. My early life experiences –upbringing, peer groups, etc – helped form the determination and confidence required to embark on the adventures in the first place. Experiences such as spending five months rowing across an ocean definitely reinforced these attributes, and changes your perspective on yourself and the world in general.

What advice would you two give to someone who has a dream outside the norm?

Believe in yourself, and don’t let criticism erode your confidence. Always, when you do something outside the norm there will be people questioning your ability to pull it off. Only you know what you are capable of.

What's each of your favourite moments so far on your travels?

credit: Martina Cross

Julie: It was our interaction with a turtle so friendly, that ironically the situation became dangerous. After stroking his flippers and taking pictures of him, we realized that our boat was in danger as waves slammed the hull down on its giant shell. It got to the point where Colin and I had to row as hard as we could to escape the turtle. He gave chase, but we were able to outrun the turtle.


Colin: For me it was the opportunity to experience a hurricane intimately from a small rowboat. Of course it didn’t seem like such a great experience at the time, but I do enjoy revisiting that moment through hind-sight goggles.

Colin: on any of your adventures (I'm thinking of the Atlantic in particular), did you ever consider giving up? How did you keep going?

Absolutely, the great thing about the Atlantic was we didn’t really have the opportunity to give up without instigating an international deep sea rescue effort. That’s always a great motivator to keep going. I find the most important thing to do when I feel like giving up is to really focus on little baby steps forward. Just think about what you have to do for the next hour without overwhelming yourself about what’s ahead.

Anything else to say to an audience of Do-It-Yourself'ers?
When you have a good idea, go ahead with it. It’s too easy to let those great ideas sit in a closet forever.

credit: Julie Angus

We’ll chat more with Colin and Julie at the Adventure &Travel show next weekend, and I hope to see you readers there!

Alfredo sans dairy: more dairy-free edibles

DAIRY-FREE (VEGAN FRIENDLY) ALFREDO SAUCE

Okay, so week 3 of my no-dairy fast started off with a bang. I think I’m getting into the swing of it. I invented a recipe and I’m soooo proud of myself for this one. I came home the other night and had nothing—NOTHING—to eat in the house except some coconut milk, pasta, and canned veggies. I thought to myself, this would be a good time to make an Alredo sauce, except I can’t do dairy...so I called MJ and asked her how you make it. As she explained, I just substituted with non-dairy stuff. Here’s literally an accounting of the recipe.

YOU WILL NEED:

Butter alternative (note that many commercial margarines still have lactose)

Milk alternative (I used coconut milk—the kind that drinks like milk, not the canned kind)

Vegan cheese

White flour

Peas if desired

Soup stock (the dry cube kind)

Spices

'Butter', but not enough flour yet.

MJ: “First, you’d melt about 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter in a pot.”

Jordan: “Done.” (Note: I didn’t measure, I just threw in about a handful amount.)

MJ: “Well, then you’d mix in some flour, a little bit at a time, stirring all the time. You keep adding flour ‘til it thickens up like icing. It kind of balls up.”

Jordan: (after a lot of hmm’ing and hawing) “Done.”

Butter and flour! This is called a roux.

MJ: “Then you can start adding in your milk, a bit at a time, whisking constantly. Just keep doing that ‘til you’re happy with the consistency.”

Jordan: “Wow, okay. That took about 2/3 of my tetra pack of coconut milk.” (Remember the extra butter...it all makes sense.)

MJ: “Now you can throw in a bouillon (soup stock) cube, and any spices you want.”

Jordan: “Done. And I’m adding peas.”

MJ: “Well, you do like cream peas on toast.”

Jordan: “This is Alfredo!”

MJ: “Now, if you weren’t dairy-free, you’d add a bunch of parmesan at this point.”

Jordan: “I have...Toffuti cream cheese. Let’s try that.” (Scooped about a Clementine-sized amount into the pot.)

Jordan: “It’s thickening up.”

MJ: “You can add more milk if you want.”

Jordan: “Done. And I’m adding spices.”

MJ: “That’s about it.”

Jordan: “I’m amazing! Look at me go! I have Alredo!”

MJ: "That took...18 minutes from start to finish."

Jordan: "And I've got about 4 servings here! Amazeballs!"

(Jordan then sits down with a big plate of rigatoni, and some sparkling lemonade in a wine glass since she doesn’t drink.)

Voila, my friends. Try it out. It’s delicious and it’s dairy-free! Enjoy!

When to Boycott a Book: boycott success and retrospective

THE ORSON SCOTT CARD BOYCOTT: UPDATE

Regular readers of the blog will be aware of the recent controversial boycott (part 1 and part 2) by Ottawa's Comic Book Shoppe on Bank Street, of the famous sci-fi author Orson Scott Card. Card, in a nutshell, is an outspoken homophobe who has actively petitioned for GLBTTQ people to be denied equal rights like same-sex marriage; in fact,  he's gone so far as to refer to non-hetero people as 'genetic dysfunctions'. The Shoppe decided to boycott an upcoming Superman series that was to feature Card's writing. The book would be available for special order only, and this caused a flurry of public support and outrage. Other shops across the continent participated in the boycott, and a petition was even formed (garnering over 16,000 signatures) to have Card removed from the comic entirely. 

BIG NEWS: THE ARTIST BACKED OUT.

Well, the big news broke this week: Card's artist, Chris Sprouse, has bowed out of the contract. Sprouse has stated that due to the level of public rebuke for this project, he asked DC to let him out of the project, and DC obliged. This is pretty fantastic, and good news indeed.

But is it a big deal?

I caught up with Shoppe owner Rob Spittall this week and he stated that he was amazed by how 'big' this had all gotten. For him, this was a small, logical stand against a hateful man writing, ironically, for a hate-quashing superhero. For him, the effect the boycott and petition has had is a big deal. For him, the outcry by (I'll say it) unenlightened individuals was a big deal, as was the deluge of positive emails, drop-ins, and facebook messages. When he told me it was feeling like a big deal, I looked at him quizzically and said, "This is not a big deal." 

MJ and me at Ottawa Pride

But here's why I said it. 

As a person who came out around age 14--well over half my life ago now--this is not a big deal. Because when you're queer, every day is another socio-political minefield, and conversations routinely can get as heated as the Card conversation has been. As a bisexual, when I announced my engagement to a male over Facebook, even that happy news was marred by comments like, "Finally, you found a good man to straighten you out". Comments followed that supported my bisexuality, as did scornful comments about being over-sensitive. This is one tiny example of how a gay person's life is, daily, a lot like the Card debate. 

As a person who also spent her teens and twenties actively working in GLBTTQ rights advocacy groups, I'm also used to making a public stink that elicits response from the media and haters. I have stood at the front of a room to provide a GLBTTQ sensitivity training to a team of rural social workers and had questions asked like, "Who sexually assaulted you as a child that turned you gay?" I have been on the cover of the local gay paper and my parents dealt with the fallout from homophobic peers who said terrible things right to their faces. None of this is new to me.

But it's new to Rob.

A NEW ALLY FIGHTING OUR OLD FOE. 

Rob has self-identified as a straight man. He also happens to be financially sound and white, without a visible disability. He is what our culture calls a 'privileged' individual. Not his fault, of course; but this is one of the first times he's used his stature and role in the community to affect change for a minority group (on such a large scale). This is his first time stepping into the laser sights of the homophobes, religious zealots, and backhanded media. And he's amazed at how 'big' this has gotten.

I feel bad for telling him this wasn't a big deal fight. It was, and it is. I forgot what it was like, in my early years of queer advocacy; how I'd emerge from a sensitivity training drenched in sweat, or how I'd be harassed on my lunch hour by a coworker asking incredibly lewd questions about my sexual activity 'just because he wanted to understand how girls have sex with each other'. I forgot how much it hurts to see people you thought were good people say bad things. 

At the end of a bad day of being gay, though, I would go home and tell my queer partner all about it; I would go to the Icon (long-gone gay bar) and work it out over pints with my drag queen friends; I would do crazy things like get a series of rainbow paw prints tattooed on my back to remind me to always be proud of my identity. Rob doesn't get that same relief exactly, because he's standing up for a community he's not part of. His battle has been far more isolating in some ways.

SO YEAH: IT'S A BIG DEAL.

So I take my comment back, on many levels here. It *is* a big deal, folks. It's a big deal that a straight-owned business (and the others across the country) have stood up to Card's homophobia. It's a big deal that his incredible staff team and business partners have stood beside him in this boycott (you guys are all heroes, too). It's a big deal that Rob has watched haters and supporters battle head-to-head across his Shoppe's facebook page. It's a big deal that he's received emails from queers across the continent thanking him for being a hero. It's a big freakin' deal that someone who didn't have to do something did something. 

Maybe what I should have said is, it's a big deal--but it shouldn't have *had* to be. And sadly, it's close to a normal day for many queer people. 

Rob has written a statement to wrap things up that you can find on the Shoppe's fanpage; for more discussion on the topic, you can request access to their group page, too; check it out. Then lend your reciprocal support to this business next time you find yourself itching for a new graphic novel or awesome nerdy tee shirt.

Twitching, Giggling, and Quitting Smoking

LOOKING CRAZY AT WALMART: BLENDING IN WITH THE LOCALS

Yesterday I got wrapped up in a conversation with MJ on the phone while I was running errands and I didn't want to cut her off, so I put my earphone thingy in my ear. It just looked like one earbud, and the cord was hidden inside my scarf and jacket, so it's not a surprise that people kept thinking I was talking to myself or to them. But after the second or third store I'd run into, the stupid earbud started shorting out, sending mini electrical shocks into my ear. Every time I would shift or move it would shock me again. This meant that I was constantly twitching and wincing like I had some sort of terrible tic. In line at Walmart, MJ was regaling me with a particularly funny story, so I was just listening and laughing on and off, but every time I laughed I'd get another shock. The man ahead of me kept looking over his shoulder with a worried expression. But I say, it's Walmart. How are you surprised by a twitching, giggling lunatic here?

SMOKING KILLS...YOUR SHOE SHOPPING 

A current typical smoking warning on a pack of Canadian smokes

In Canada, our cigarette packs have warnings on the outside, and on the inside. The outside of the packs portray a series of grotesque and frightening images showing eye surgeries, tumours, and blackened gums. These are clearly meant to somehow frighten you out of buying the pack, I suppose, except that in Canada, you also aren't allowed to put your cigarettes on display in a store; so by the time you see the warning label, you've already bought the damn things and now you're stuck staring at these horrible photos.

source

When you open up your pack, there's another little health-related warning label, but these ones are just text, and they say things like, "Never quit quitting!" It's almost as if Health Canada is saying, "Stop smoking, you moron!" on the outside, and then, "Well, better luck next time..." on the inside.

I think the real problem here is that the outside labels are actually too horrific to be effective anymore. They're desensitizing, like watching the SAW movies back-to-back: you know it's gross but your brain stops processing that this is supposed to be realistic. I think, if Health Canada really wants to be effective, they need to try a new strategy:

One just for teens

Just a couple ideas I had. Got more? Email me at jordandangerwrites (at) gmail.com with yours.

A tent, a tantrum, and Italian shoes: random tidbits this week

TEN DOLLARS OF JOY: KIDS IN A TENT 

How Max eventually fell asleep.

A couple weeks ago, I had Blueberry and Max stay over at my house. I'm awaiting on the arrival of my new roommate, but in the meantime there was an empty bedroom and I found a kid's tent on Kijiji for $10. It seemed like a good opportunity to see how the kiddies would feel at my house, and I figured the tent would make it feel less strange. I don't think I was prepared for the aneurysm-inducing joy the children would explode with upon seeing the tent. Their eyes widened, they ran inside of it, they insisted on closing the flap and then opening the flap and then closing the flap and declaring they were hidden and we'd never find them--bear in mind I'd just opened and shut the flap twenty times for them. 

Alan and I sat on the couch listening to them shrieking until two hours past their bedtime, when Alan went upstairs and gave the same lecture parents have given their children for years: "You're supposed to be asleep. You have been up here giggling and shouting for an hour and a half now. I've had enough. Blah blah blah..." you know how it goes. You heard it when you were a kid and not a word of it has changed.

TERRIBLE TWOS VS STUBBORN THIRTIES

I also took on Blueberry during one of her Terrible Twos tantrums. It was a stand-off about a winter coat, and because consistency is important, plus I refuse to lose to a human half as smart as my pug, I started and finished the fight. Poor Alan and Max stood there in abject misery while Blueberry wailed and I tried to keep her in a time-out. This was at the very end of their visit, so when the fight finished they were whisked away to the car and I swear, I don't remember the next couple hours at all because I think I was in shock; but I know the time passed because there was a trail of shellshocked tweets I'd sent, and the exhausted sympathetic replies of various tweeter parents.

Smores for the sleepover.

FASHION MAG WOES

Also, I bought a fashion magazine. This is something I only do about once every two years, because a) they're bad for you, and b) I'm always 8-12 months ahead of the current trend. I was looking for kelly green dresses a year-and-a-half before they came out in stores. I wanted riding boots two full winters before they became the new fad. Unfortunately, now that they're all the rage, I'm on to new ideas. 

Anyway, I arbitrarily picked up a copy of Elle Magazine, because it looked really focused on fashion and looked like it might be for the right age group. Well, it might have been the right age group but it certainly wasn't for the right tax bracket. I flipped through the ads (which are really the only useful part of a fashion magazine) and silently mouthed all the fancy designer names. Ferragamo...Gabbana...Chanel...brands where, if I saved for a year, I might be able to buy a belt, or one left shoe. 

So anyway, I figured I'd look at the clothes because what I'd really bought the magazine for was to see what the hell is going on with spring fashion this year because it seems really confused and all over the place. Unfortunately, all these designer ads were showcasing their insane haute couture styles; so if I take it literally, we're supposed to be wearing giant hoop skirts and Guinan headdresses and absurdly oversized suit jackets. I may have to extend my research. Or maybe one day I'll just show up at work in one of my dad's suit jackets and a borrowed Little Bo Peep dress, and when my boss asks me what the hell I'm doing, I'll say I just spent $10,000 on this outfit so she should be impressed. I know the haute couture stuff isn't really supposed to be taken so literally, but honestly I couldn't see much in the way of actual, wearable concepts hidden between the awkward silhouettes and roman sandal-boots.  It may be a season to just avoid the shops. Or hey, just drink the kool-aid: hit the costume barn and be done with it. 

Dairy-free cupcakes: week 2 of my dairy fast

Week 2 of consuming no dairy went fine, though it was a bit challenging to get my family on board. It was my birthday weekend, so we bought a dozen cupcakes from the local vegan bakery, Auntie Loo’s. They were dulce de leche, and they were quite delicious.

*I* know they’re good. Auntie Loo’s does such a good job of their vegan baking that I regularly choose their treats over regular non-vegan treats. But people have ideas in their heads that everything vegan is made of sticks, twigs, and flax seed. My dad was particularly sceptical, but here’s his honest reaction:

Better still was my brother-in-law, who has such a funny way of phrasing things:

I will also confess, I made dairy-free chocolate chip-oatmeal muffins at one point with bran and spelt flour, and didn’t tell Dad before he ate them; guess who thought they were great, too?

Dairy-free, turns out, isn’t so bad in terms of missing out on goodies...it’s just way more frustrating to try finding. I accidentally ate three sea salt n’ malt vinegar Mrs Vickies chips this week before looking on the bag and seeing that they actually add lactose as a specific ingredient. I was furious and disappointed. I appeased myself with candy corn and hickory sticks.