West End Live

West End Live is an opportunity for people who can't afford to buy Musical tickets or maybe just don't have the time to see one to still get a taste of it. Or maybe you are just not sure what you want to see.

At WEL several Musicals perform up to three acts from their show on a stage at Trafalgar Square. This year it included old plays like Les Miserable, The Phandom of the Opera and Lion King as well as rather new ones like Aladdin.

Funnily enough I saw two songs from Wicked before going to see Wicked that afternoon. So even though I was in the very top circle at the far back I had a closer look at the actors earlier that day.

There isn't much to say except that you should really go and see it. Everyone is very talented and the atmosphere is awesome. I'm really happy to know about it.

Bletchley Park

Everyone and their grandma knows Benedict Cumberbatch at this point. You know, the guy from Sherlock? Smaug from the Hobbit? Oh, and he played Alan Turing in the Imitation Game.

The Imitation Game is a movie about the mathematician Alan Turing who invented a machine during the Second World War that would make it possible to decode German messages encrypted in Enigma. The whole thing is actually Alan re-telling his war time story to a police officer after his house gets broken into in 1951. It also contains flashbacks to his childhood/early teenage years in 1927 when his best friend, whom he was in love with, dies. In the end, Alan commits suicide after being forced to undergo hormonal therapy when it comes out that he is homosexual.

Now, the film is very good. The acting is great and you can see a lot about the issues from back then as well as the horrors of WW2. But the reason I mention it in the first place is that the war time part of the film takes place at Bletchley Park. Here the code breakers of WW2 spent their days unable to talk to anybody about what they were doing. And it's only a short train ride away from London!

I would recommand to come to Bletchley Park as early as possible. It closes at 5pm and if you want to see everything you will definitely need some time. You can also go on a free tour where the tour guide explains what the workers did at Bletchley Park and why some people who worked here didn't even hear about Enigma until after the war.

A part of the little mansion is dedicated to the film itself since the pub scene was filmed here (and can be visited). You can read and find out more about the actual war work in the original huts right next to the mansion. You can see why it had to be kept as much of a secret as possible and try your luck in the little games that try to show you how Alan and his team worked. 

In Block B you can also see a fully-operational Bombe rebuild, a gallery about Alan Turing as well as several Enigma machines, the Japanese part of the decryptation work and a timeline of Bletchley Park/"computers" before and during the war.

And if you are tired of wandering around you can always sit outside on the picknick benches or the chairs and just lie down on the grass. Luckily we had a sunny day and sat there for a bit eating. It would be a waste to not do that on a sunny day (especially in the UK, as cliche as it may be).

MCM London Comic Con!

A week too late I am finally back to tell you about my experience at the MCM London Comic Con. I don't really have an intro except how freaking cool it was!

For anyone who doesn't know, Comic Con is a three-days event in the Excel Hall near the London City Airport. You have a mix of Japanese Manga and food culture, British youtubers, Gamers, TV shows and movies as well as your usual nerd stuff to buy like wigs, clothes, weapons and small gimigs. All throughout the day you have several panels at the same time that you can attend for free or you can go and get a photo or an autograph from your favorite actor (if you have the money; it can be a bit expensive).

Preparation

Now, a lot of people, if not most of them, aren't just regular visitors. They are cosplayers. Some put more effort, time and money into their costume than others, but that doesn't matter as long as you have fun. 

And of course, because I have no idea to how many Comic Cons I will be going, I thought I might as well try it, too. At first I was thinking about going as Bucky Barnes/ the Winter Soldier from the MCU Captain America movies, but I wanted an attachable 'metal' arm and that would have been terribly hard to get back to Germany. Maybe I'll do that when I'm going to a German Con.

So, instead, I decided to go as Harley Quinn from the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. That would be easier, right?

Well, yes and no. The Tshirt and small things like the bracelets, fishnet stockings, even the baseball bat - an inflatable one in my case - were really really easy. Just go to Primark or ebay and that's it. The biggest problem was the jacket and the shorts. If you don't want to spent hugh amongst of money on a premade jacket you have to get creative. So I searched for a blue and a red baseball jacket to sew them together. Which sounds easy enough except it's harder than you would think to get the right colour. I couldn't find anything I was happy with until I was ready to just buy a normal blue/white one at New Look or go for another costume all together. The next week, We went to Manchester for our North-trip and I actually found two baseball jackets in the perfect colours for only 5 pounds each! Luck was on my side for once.

Anyway, a friend and I sat together to work on the jacket because to be honest, I had never done that before and didn't want to mess up. It took a few hours, even though that was mostly because we took quite a few breaks, but we finished it and it looked genuinely good.

The shorts I did myself out of the other half of the leftover jackets, and it went somewhat good. I cut up some old Primark sports shorts that I wanted to throw away anyway and then sew the finished Harley Quinn shorts and the elastic band together. It did resemble a pair of shorts in the end, but not very 'stable' ones. The materials fault, not mine! I swear!

So yeah, on the second day I went for a pair of normal black ones instead.

Day 1

That Saturday I woke up earlier than usual to get into my costume and most of all, put on my Harley Quinn make-up. Luckily it's not too hard, just some smudges and some drawn-on tattoos, but I wanted to get it done as soon as possible so I could be on my way. I had priority day tickets, which means I could go into the hall at 9am instead of 12am like everyone else.
On the tub you can already see others that are clearly on their way to Comic Con. It's like 'spot the emo' game during concerts, only it's 'spot the nerd' and a bit easier. A lot of people have priority tickets and the halls are filled with cosplayers by the time I join the mass.

That first day I meet Tomska in the youtuber section and see the cast of Being Human (the UK version) during a panel as well as the cast of Outcast, a new TV show. We are allowed to see the pilot almost two weeks early and it's great, a bit on the creepy side and not for an easily frightened person.
Other than that I just walk around and take pictures with a few people. Sadly I forgot to get some cash and the line in front of the only cash machine is hugh, so I stick to getting a bagel to eat and leave any shopping to the next day.
The last place I visit is a small panel/interview of the voice actor of Finn the Human from the Cartoon Network series Adventure Time. He - kind of - answers my question about what he would do if he could direct/write an episode. Well, he doesn't really answer it, since it would be a spoiler for the next season. Still a nice guy, though.

Day 2

Sunday starts at 11am which means more time to sleep. I take my Harley Quinn shorts with me, but put on my black jeans shorts and don't change them in the end. It's just way too comfortable.
That day I go to two panels I really want to see: One with the Big Bang Theory stars Melissa Rauch and Kunal Nayyar as well as Jesse Eisenberg. They talked about Jesse and Kunal's new theatre performance in London as well as the future of TBBT. They are all really nice and funny but drop hints of serious thoughts when it comes to their characters and their motivation.
The second panel is one about the DC TV show Arrow which is the last on of the day. Willa Holland and her co-star (I don't remember who, sorry) are funny and open about wanting caps and how much work everything is as well as how much of a prankster John Barrowman is actually. Great group.

Between the two I take a closer look in the Japan/Manga section which I kind of left out the day before. I take some Japanese candy with me as well as cute badges and a key chain. Then I go outsidee just to be met by a hugh group of other Harley Quinn cosplayers posing for pictures. Not just Suicide Squad Harley's, but also original ones, steam-punks, mixed, one cross-dresser and funily enough, a girl I met at Summer in the City almost a year ago. She recognized me, but anyway, how much of a coincident is that? I joined in on the pictures and then went on to the little music stage where a K-Pop band just finished up (at least I guess it was K-Pop, I'm not an expert).
Next came Make Out Monday, which features the voice actor from Adventure Times that I saw the day before. The band is really good, and I got a free CD as well as Tshirt, so I'm sure as hell not gonna complain.

After the set and only about 1,5 hours more to spare I went back inside and walked by the youtuber section once more when I saw another youtuber I like, Dean from Jack&Dean. He signed my Tshirt and we talked  bit about an upcoming project of theirs. He's a nice guy!
For some reason, the guy at the weapon store recognized me and I was really tempted to buy a katana or machete but I can't do that. How would I bring it to Germany after all?!

Conclusion

Some of the cosplayers really take it to the next level: a really convincing Mystique from the X-Men movies who must have been cold as hell, a Jack Sparrow who managed the right walk and mannerism, steam-punkers, Game of Thrones characters as well as other people in armour that looks too real to not be real are all over the place. And there are the clever ones, like Daredevil before he got his fnacy suit or superman in his normal undercover outfit. I wish I had taken more pictures.

In the end I would say that Comic Con is an event that's worth spending some money on. the tickets are really not expensive and you can have a lot of fun even of you don't get a picture with a celebrity (the panels are free at least!) or if you don't dress up. Hell, I would say even a non-nerd would have fun watching us get all excited about stuff.
Do yourself something good and relax for a day by letting your inner nerd out.