Check-Up #41

 So I've had an interesting month which started with some time off. I attended a Doctor Who convention for the first time in over a decade. It was an interesting experience as I had been going to these since 2004 (mainly for Buffy fandom but moving into other shows) when I was in my early 20s. I didn't do cosplay at that time, the first con I did it at was in 2011, and I certainly didn't crossdress at all. I think it must have been lurking at the back of my mind but I never did anything about it. Also at the time and being as young as I was, I saw these events as the place I might be able to find a romantic partner which I think I put a lot of pressure on myself to do so. Although I never got together with anyone I had a few kisses, crushes and near misses. I never also managed to make friends as well so to see everyone greet each other like long lost friends was a bit depressing. 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to recreate all that though so I went with some trepidation but determined to enjoy myself and try to feel like I had moved on emotionally in the last 20 years. In the end I did have a good time. There were some things that I found a bit frustrating but that was to do with the con in general and the odd autograph system they had in place. The convention was quite inclusive though which is nice and of course one of the best parts is the hotel buffet breakfast. I did a couple of cosplays which I enjoyed and when I wasn't doing that I had a couple of dresses for the dances and a red skirt I coupled with some t-shirts I mostly wore to get food and sit around between panels. I even had some nice compliments on just being myself and I managed to find some people to talk to. 

The following weekend I caught up with some friends and we attended a geeky event together. It's always nice to know that I'm (hopefully) on the right track with fashion and I'm always surprised when I get a compliment. In the early days especially I was expecting hate so much that the good caught me quite off guard. The weekend after that I ended up going to a friend's birthday party in full Star Trek cosplay which was probably one of the more nerve wracking times I've spent in cosplay as it involved going into central London. The cosplay was a short red dress from the original series and luckily I had a long black coat to cover it up to walk through the streets. 

I'm in a bit of a funk regarding captions at the moment as a couple of weeks ago I had another unfavourable social media comment. Now, I'm not against someone disliking my work as that's par for the course but someone went to the trouble of retweeting me and accusing me of not being able to speak English! I don't think they even got the kink aspect of the story I was trying to tell (in a small space as well) so I don't know how they stumbled onto my stuff. I have restricted my profile a bit but I've been a little hesitant to stap captioning in that format again. I may start writing some longer form stories instead to scratch that itch and I have started on one already. To be honest I've been thinking of doing it for a while. 

Ok and for a final bit of levity here's a few comments on the costumes for the recently started series 21 of Taskmaster. I'm not sure if I've talked about it before but this series has really been a go to happy place for me in the last few years. Five comedians are given silly things to do and are then assessed by the Taskmaster. There are a number of pre-filmed tasks and more often than not they choose to wear specific costumes to do these in. 

Publicity shot of the American diner themed
Taskmaster series 21

Going from left to right, starting off we have Joel Dommett. I'm not the greatest fan of Joel but here the costume is wonderful: a leather look 90s skateboarder outfit complete with skateboard! Always love a prop and it reminds me of Andy Zaltzman from series 18 with his full cricket whites including helmet and bat. Amy Gledhill is next and she's wearing a kind of jungle woman/cave woman outfit. In particular I notice the fishnets as often those that choose to do tasks in a skirt or dress, like Liza Tarbuck or Victoria Coren-Mitchell, often have leggings on perhaps to do with the more physical nature of the task and the danger of them tearing which I expect is a continuity nightmare. Amy is my tip for the winner of the whole series too. Next we have Kumal (OMG he's so famous!!) Nanjiani who is in a basic but functional jacket, top, jeans and trainers. Sensible but unremarkable. Then we have hosts Greg Davies, the eponymous Taskmaster, and his assistant Little Alex Horne (the series creator and person behind the fiendish tasks). Joanna Page is next wearing dungarees which is a Taskmaster staple much like the jumpsuit and recalls Charlotte Ritchie and Sophie Willan. She's also coupled it with a yellow top which makes her look like a minion however there are questions over whether this is intentional. Joanna is another strong contender for the top spot. Finally Armando Iannucci looking spiffy in a suit and tie. Always respect a man doing the show in suit and tie much like Frank Skinner or John Kearns (who always lobbed a jacket out of shot whenever he started a task). Two episodes have aired so far and I'm looking forward to the rest.