Month: September 2014

Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Sunday

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In spite of all of the mad rushing and hard work put into the weeks and days prior to the coming of this year’s D*C, there was a surreal moment on Sunday morning when I woke up, and thought to myself, “is it really Sunday already?”  Needless to say, the weekend quite literally felt like it flew by way too fast, and there was that melancholy feeling of wanting to see as many people as I could during the day, and to empty out my cooler as expediently as possible before the end of the convention.

And after feeling like I had too tiny a number of photos taken on Saturday, I really wanted to spend a good chunk of Sunday doing what I really enjoy doing the most; simply walking around and taking pictures.  Eventually the daylight hours gave away to night, and as has been something of a thing I’ve enjoyed doing, felt the compulsion to dress nicely.

Really, I just wanted to wear my wingtip shoes, that there is probably zero photo evidence of anywhere out there, but if I was going to wear wingtips, I needed to dress accordingly to match it.  Which brings us to the suit vest and tie.  I LIKE TO DRESS NICE, OKAY?

Continue reading “Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Sunday” →

Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Fifth Age Taric summary

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

More than a few times, I ran into a few League of Legends costumers the following day, and picked up conversations with them, before I came to the realization that they had no idea who I was, and that I was probably some weirdo.  Well, they’re correct in the weirdo assessment, but more than once I pretty much realized that they didn’t recognize me, and I had to remind them that I was the “Pink Taric from earlier.”

Overall, I was very pleased at how well received Armor of the Fifth Age Taric was from people, especially League fans, and it was admittedly nice to be in a costume that could legitimately rival the vastly more aesthetically pleasing looking women that I was privileged to be grouped up with in terms of popularity and cult following.  It’s like for every rando dude who just wanted a picture of hot chicks in tight costumes, there would be like two legit Taric fans to sing my praises about how truly truly outrageous my costume was.  No disrespect to the ladies, but this is somewhat of a new sensation for me.

Continue reading “Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Fifth Age Taric summary” →

Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Saturday

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Saturday’s gallery is vastly smaller than what a normal Saturday gallery should be, but that’s entirely due to the fact that I myself was in costume for a good part of the late-afternoon into the evening hours.  Now as much fun as I had being Fifth Age Taric, I’d be the first to admit that I spotted a lot of things that I’d really liked to have taken pictures of, had I not been in costume.  And Taric’s not exactly the kind of costume where I could sneak a point-and-shoot with me to take some B-roll shots, since both my hands are occupied in costume.

Regardless, most of Saturday’s highlights are lots of League of Legends costumes; I wandered around the gigantic group shot area outside of the Hilton, and waited out the group pictures, since to be perfectly honest, I hate taking pictures of monstrously sized groups, preferring more to take pictures of individuals or in small pairs or troikas.

Not saying there’s no pictures of things not LoL-related, but it’s pretty obvious to what has and is my preferred subject to take pictures of.

Continue reading “Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Saturday” →

Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Friday

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Admittedly, and embarrassingly, I admit that I spent the vast majority of Friday morning/afternoon dealing with a rager of a hangover from the previous night’s shenanigans.  That being said, I kind of felt like I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I normally do at a D*C, but at the same time, I was wondering if there were many things that me personally, wanted to take pictures of.

I’m not saying that what was out there was utter garbage, but it’s no secret that the unofficial rule of costuming is that the big guns come out on Saturday; Fridays are like for the secondary tier of costumes, or something along those lines.  After all, I can attest to having more than one conversation with friends and acquaintances that echo such a sentiment.

Regardless, there was still plenty of things to take pictures of, and again I’ll have to remark about how I’m disappointed in myself for being so negligent and unpracticed to have gone the entire weekend with my new camera and new lens operating without the image stabilization that an amateur like me probably really needs.

Continue reading “Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Friday” →

Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Thursday

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

So, this picture kind of sums up my personal Dragon*Con Thursday night experience.  Once the bourbon started to flow, it literally was like an hour before I hit the deck in a well, regrettable fashion.  I know this thanks to the timestamps on the photographs of the night, several of them that I have absolutely no recollection of being taken.

I am apparently a very affectionate drunk with an affinity for attempting Blue Steel.

A little bit of backstory however: about 45 minutes after I had unloaded all of my personal effects and finally settled into my hotel room, I came to the realization that my messenger bag was nowhere to be found.  Said messenger bag contained my camera, my iPad, and one of those long-forgotten devices known as a netbook in it.  Close to roughly $1,200 of electronics in it.

Continue reading “Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Thursday” →

We interrupt the following program for this announcement

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Ohio State sucks.  Bahahahahahahahahahaha

I love Virginia Tech football and all, but seriously, I didn’t even watch this game, because I thought it was such a foregone conclusion, that it wasn’t even worth watching.  #8 Ohio State versus an unranked Hokie squad slapped with the dreaded “rebuilding” tag, helmed by a coach known for his innovation with special teams?

Thanks to sports superstition, I have the belief that truly crucial games are best not being seen, because watching them will undoubtedly cause my preferred teams to lose.  That didn’t apply in this case, because I figured Ohio State was going to win something like 49-9 with the Hokies only being able to muster up three field goals, so I didn’t watch because I didn’t want to watch the seemingly inevitable slaughter.

Continue reading “We interrupt the following program for this announcement” →

D*C 2014: Seems legit not

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Picture progress notice: Picture processing is complete.  Rest of the weekend will be spent uploading them, and throughout next week, I will begin posting galleries.

A long time ago at a previous employer, I had a co-worker that told me the number one culprit on how to identify a fake Louis Vuitton item.  I’m not entirely sure how or why it stuck with me, but for whatever reason, it did.

Long story short, the apparent rule of the Louis Vuitton brand is that nowhere on any piece of Louis Vuitton merchandise, is the “LV” logo mark is NEVER cut off.  It cannot be cut off by an edge, a seam, or any sort of fold.  The LV logomark is 100% intact on 100% of the entire item, or else it’s probably counterfeit.

Continue reading “D*C 2014: Seems legit not” →