These are the real problems facing geeky 23 year old women in today's world

I have a problem that I don’t like to admit to people, because they think I’m fucking weird. Either that or they think it’s sexy, but mostly they think it’s weird and I don’t enjoy getting looks that say – ‘why are you spending money on dress-up things when you’re 23?!’ just saying. But in the interest of full disclosure, I have a costuming problem. Call it cosplaying, call it dressing up, call it whatever the fuck you want, but close to half of my closet if full of pieces of clothing that are intended for costuming purposes only. I’m fucking serious about it – my costumes have to look perfect if they’re from a movie, and I typically don’t settle for cheap things when I’m buying materials. &&& I wonder why I’m poor. I know, I know, I know…

I use Halloween as an excuse, but more than that, I use comic cons as my main reason for costuming so much. Do you know how sad I am that I’m not going to New York Comic Con this year – about as sad as I was when I didn’t get that three day pass to Wizard World Philly. I know, I have serious white girl problems that I’m dealing with here, but now where am I going to wear my Slave Leia costume?!? Not to work for Halloween, because I’d probably get fired – although I may bring back Silk Spectre for the occasion. What are they going to say, I’m sorry your shorts are too short? Oh wait, they’ve already done that to me, so I guess it won’t really matter – they should be expecting it, because apparently no one working at Fulton Bank knows what fashion is! Okay okay, but back to the costume rant. I’m seriously, I need a second closet for all of the shit that I have and it needs to be Halloween every other weekend, because when else am I going to wear three different Alice In Wonderland costumes?? (shhh, I like Alice, what can I say?)  

But for real, I need to find somewhere good to go for Halloween this year – last year Manayunk Brewery was okay, but I feel like people were just kind of beat there. So suggestions, please, because I have no friends, and my cats don’t even like me anymore, so my life is pretty much a mess.

- RIOT! (aka Morgan)

I HEART WXPN

I have been a supporter of public radio for a long time, through my mother, who taught me what real music was. I refuse to listen to radio stations that have annoying commercials or loop their sets during the afternoon or night, and I certainly avoid overly energetic DJ’s who think they know about music when all they really know is what’s popular at the moment. WXPN – 88.5 if you’re a Philly local, is an awesome station that runs out of the University of Pennsylvania, and streams online. They play a huge array of genres (between XPN and XPN2) from alternative to jazz to folk and indie to anything you can think of really, and they mix it together with well thought out commentary on the music and artists and news that actually matters, instead of celebrity gossip. With programs like World Café (which happens to be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year) and XPN Local (where I discovered bands like Good Old War and the like) they’ve drawn support from people like me:  a verging on poor, twenty-three year old. I donate every year, because public radio stations need our support to continue existing – they don’t play commercials, they don’t get paid for advertisement the way corporate radio stations do. I even donated my old car to their vehicle donation program when I bought my new one. The point is, that public radio isn’t just bullshit talk radio that no one over the age of 45 listens to – there are wonderful things going on at WXPN, the XPoNential music festival to say the least, and they need your support. They’re on the tail end of their fall fund drive right now, but you can pledge any amount, any time of the year. I’m really not asking you to give them money, I’m asking you to give them a chance, a listen, because if you do, then maybe you’ll become a supporter like I have.

- RIOT! (aka Morgan)

Bamboozle 2012 - gushfest

The 2011 Bamboozle Festival [Trailer] from Choonimals Clothing Co. on Vimeo.

I’m sorry, I know this came out like, 2 months ago, but I felt the need to write something because someone posted it on facebook again tonight and I legitimately freaked out a little. I’m so fucking excited for Bamboozle next year. It’s gonna be a shit show. End of story.

- RIOT! (aka Morgan)

SLUTWALK, Philadelphia

GRRRLS, HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO SUPPORT AN AWESOME CAUSE IN PHILADELPHIA. IT’S THIS WEEKEND – LET’S GET ON IT!!

I fell in love with being defiant

I remember running away to New York for days on end – sleeping with the dog in the back of my truck and wandering around Central Park during the day, and wandering the streets at night. I saw so many shows by bands whose names I don’t remember, but I do remember how it made me feel. I felt alive and free and like I could finally be myself. But now, only four years later I feel like I’ve been pinned down. Sometimes I can’t help but feel like I just need to break out of the life that I’ve created for myself – I’m become too complacent, too comfortable in relative nothingness.

I don’t like it – feeling like I have to answer to someone. I miss being able to just pick up and go on a whim. And I shouldn’t admit this, but I much prefer when there is no one around to worry about me. I’m much better on my own – markedly happier and less concerned about hurting people with decisions that don’t directly involve them. I always saw myself alone, and I was never really afraid of that the way some people are. I think I could be, at least for a while, content with just being alone and not having anyone to worry about. Maybe that’s selfish, but it’s also so freeing – to be able to do what you want, when you want without the fear of it hurting someone else.

I thought that living on my own again would clear up some of the confusion I’ve been feeling about my life, but it hasn’t. It’s only made me question further why I allow myself  to fall deeper into feeling nothing. I think that I’m closing myself up – getting further and further away from the girl I discovered when I was finally on my own for the first time. She was happy and she knew what she wanted, even if she was impulsive about it and she could see where she was going. I’m going to be 24 in November, I shouldn’t be feeling this way.

Maybe it was because my two closest friends got engaged that I started to believe that I needed to calm down and grow up. Maybe it was because I was in a relationship that was headed in that direction, perhaps by my own doing. Regardless of the cause, I only ended up feeling pressured to get engaged myself, which was not something I was ready for. I soon came to the realization that what other people want isn’t necessarily when I want, and I’m okay with that. Maybe getting married young isn’t for me; maybe kids aren’t for me – I’m 23, I have time to figure things out and I’m going to spend that time doing what makes me happy.

I feel like I’ve forgotten an important piece of myself over the last few years and I need to rediscover all of the things that used to make me feel alive. Impromptu all day hikes, long drives to places I don’t know I’m going to until I get there, and photography sessions with flowers that have just bloomed. I can’t allow myself to keep going the way I am – unhappy and unsure as to why. So I’ll make a change, and see if things improve. It’s all I really can do…

- RIOT! (aka Morgan)

The Bouncing Souls, The Scandals & Blanks '77

July 16, 2011

First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia PA

I’ve been listening to The Bouncing Souls since I was in middle school. They were the first band I ever snuck out of the house to go see, my first pit experience, my first time crowd surfing any my first sweet black eye from some guy I didn’t know. That concert started something in me – a need to experience bands live, because we all know that sometimes things are just better in real life. The Bouncing Souls are no exception to this, and I can say the same for the other two bands that opened for them – The Scandals and Blanks ‘77. First Unitarian Church, while perhaps not what someone would think of when they think of a venue for a punk show, is actually the perfect spot. It’s small, so people can be right on top of the stage – literally, when kids were trying to crowd surf they would get up on stage right next to the performers and jump off. It’s that kind of collective closeness that makes a real punk show – getting punched in the boob is just a perk I guess.  I got a little fuzzy inside when we drove past the church to park and I saw all the people sitting out front just chilling. There was just a collective energy of - 'I don't give a fuck' and excitement for the music. The only bad thing about small, tightly packed venues in the summer is that they’re hot as hell – hence my need to pass out on the couch right in front of my air conditioner once I got home.

The Scandals opened the show, and while I’ve seen them before, I’m always struck by this sort of electricity that builds up when they perform. They’re classic Jersey punk, which tends to draw me in, and Jared Hart’s voice is awesome. It’s lower than you would expect, coming from the skinny 21 year old, but with their heavy guitar riffs it just fits perfectly. What little crowd that was there to begin with definitely enjoyed the set; I saw some kids in the front row singing the lyrics to a lot of songs, which always makes me happy. And I always love when I see bands making themselves available and chatting with people before small venue shows like this was, so I have to give The Scandals props for that.

Another Jersey punk band, one that’s been around since the early 90’s, Blanks ’77 has gained a huge following over their years together. Never one of my favorites, I can honestly say that seeing them changed my mind somewhat. It’s not their hectic sound that I dislike, it’s Mike Blank’s whinny voice. Don’t get me wrong, I like different sounding voices – Frank Iero during his Pencey Prep days was extremely whinny in a way that I found appealing, I have just never been attracted to Blanks ’77 vocal style. They do know how to rock out however, and I must say, they got the crowd going big time. Their fast paced, loud style of punk is hard not to get hopped up on, and I admittedly love guitarist Renee Wasted, because let’s face it, she can shred with the best of them. They played a nice long set too, and who doesn’t love getting every penny’s worth of an $18 ticket.

The place was wall to wall, body to body packed by the time The Bouncing Souls went on, since it was after all, a sold out show. Ironically, they played the entirety of two of my favorite albums – The Gold Record and Ghosts on the Boardwalk, one that came out the year I graduated from high school, and the other just last year. It’s amazing, that a band that’s been together for over 20 years can put out consistently good albums and tour and sound just as good as they did when I saw them 7 years ago. I still got that rush when Pete Steinkopf played the first riffs of The Pizza Song and Greg Attonito started singing – it was awesome. Their laid back sound translates so well into melodic but punky songs that are both catchy and memorable, even after all this time. It’s hard to find something wrong with a band as well known as The Bouncing Souls, who have done stadium tours with bands like Green Day and My Chemical Romance, when they’re getting back to the roots, and playing a venue like First Unitarian Church, with bands like The Scandals and Blanks ’77.

It’s not hard to argue why I tend to be so loyal to these Jersey punk bands, among others. Their sounds, while different, cross the spectrum of the punk genre and have helped to dictate past and present trends. Like almost every band I’ve seen recently, I would recommend seeing any one of these acts if you get the chance. Each of them had something different to offer, and it was worth every penny and every sweaty second to see them.

- RIOT! (aka Morgan)

Wizard World Comic Con - Philly

June 19, 2011

Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia PA

I admittedly, am a huge geek – video/computer game player, comic book and action figure collector & yes, cosplayer. So when the Wizard World Comic Convention comes around to Philly, I get pretty excited. Last year I was lucky enough to have a 3 day Arthur Suydam VIP pass, and dressed up as 3 different Zenescope characters (Calie and Alice Liddle and Sela Mathers). But this year because of work obligations, I could only go on Saturday, one of the busiest days for the con, which seemed to have even more support than last year. I always love seeing people dressed up and meeting artists for the first time (or again) and feeling the rush of finding a comic that I’ve been looking for.

I spend ridiculous amounts of money on comics on a normal basis at both Cyborg 1 in Doylestown, PA and Brave New Worlds in Willow Grove, PA. I read all sorts of things, although on the recent spectrum I collect The Boondock Saints and Grimm Fairy Tales Dream Eater Sage from Zenescope. I’m more into back issues of older comics like Spawn, Doom Patrol and X-Men. It’s easy to find trade paperbacks with compiled series, which is why when I go to WWCC I tend to search for things that are a little harder to find. Ever since I was a kid watching X-Men on TV and reading the comics I loved Gambit and Rogue, so since I already had all of Rogue’s limited series, I figured I could finish up my Gambit collections. I have no idea why some of these comics are so hard to find at cons, since they’re on eBay all the time, but what fun is just ordering these kinds of things online? I love flipping through boxes of comics, finding pieces of the collection that I need one by one.

I’m also a huge fan of Todd McFarland and all of his figures. Anything Spawn happens to be of particular interest, and since I’ve been drooling over his Age of Pharaohs series, I managed to pick up 3 out of the 6 figures in the set. Of course the 3 I really wanted, Spawn, Isis and The Crocodile King were nowhere to be found, but that’s to be expected. Incredibly, I also completed my Watchmen set by finding the last Rorschach variant that I needed. After countless horror and comic conventions not seeing it, I didn’t think I’d find it anywhere but eBay, so I was very happy about that.

Now, being the huge geek that I am, how could I not be a fan of Star Wars? I mean, I grew up watching the first 3 movies on VHS and had high hopes of one day having an Ewok stuffed animal. Well, last year I bought Paploo (with tag) and was ecstatic to finally have one of these Kenner creations from the mid eighties. This year I actually completed the collection of large sized dolls by buying Wickett W. Warrick, Princess Kneesaa and Latara. Yes, I am totally lame, I realize this.

I got a few things singed, mostly by artists that I’ve already met like the Zenescope crew of Raven Gregory, Nei Ruffino and Mike Defalbo. While I was there, although I don’t go to comic conventions to meet actors I also met Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus for the third time (this time not at a horror convention). The highlight of my life was last year, when I got to meet and have some comics signed by Lee Weeks, one of my all time favorites.

My preparations have already begun for Philly Con next year, but coming up in October is the New York Comic Con, for which I’m hoping to have a brand spanking new costume (Leia’s Metal Bikini from Episode VI: Return of the Jedi). It should be interesting to say the least…

- RIOT! (aka Morgan)