Gweniver's Journal

LFG Expo Registration Now Available

gweniver — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:20:46 +0000

I’ve posted about this conference before, but recently received notice that their registration site is now available. In addition to individual registration, they will have a guild registration feature also.

I also noticed a few new items posted on the LFG Expo website recently. A Guild Party Room is going to be available that will have a bar and DJ. In addition, you’ll be able to join a group to complete live quests and Live PVP using foam weapons. This is in addition to the several other contests that have already been announced.

In my opinion, information about the conference so far has been a bit limited, but it does sound promising as long as they are able to spark enough interest so that it will continue on in years to come.

Since this is the first year for the conference though, I’m sure many are a bit hesitant to sign up and buy their plane tickets until more information is released about what gaming companies will be represented.

Below is the recent press release I received:

PRESS RELEASE: Looking For Group Expo Registration Now Open
Register now before all 500 early-bird passes are purchased

Minneapolis, MN – March 31, 2010 – Last Straw Productions announced today registration is now open for the upcoming Looking For Group Expo and MMO Developer Awards. In addition to a low early-bird rate, there are three standard options that give added flexibility based upon attendee preference. Early-bird pass availability is open to the first 500 registrants with availability expected to sell out early. To grab a low-rate pass while supplies last, register online at www.lfgexpo.com.

“LFGX’s mission is to provide gamers with the ultimate MMO fan experience. The opening of registration is just one more milestone towards achieving that goal.” says Last Straw CEO Jonathon Stevens. “When attending LFGX, you will be able to participate directly in many of the contests and competitions throughout the event. Bring a costume to show off, defeat a challenger in PvP LAN matches, live-quest with others, and many more activities will be available.”

In addition to the numerous contests and group competitions open to all attendees, LFGX includes the world’s first award show designed specifically for massively multiplayer online games. The show features fan-nominated awards selected by an awards panel. Fans will vote on their chosen games at various partnering media sites.

About Looking For Group Expo

LFGX offers a cost-effective solution for game developers and publishers to showcase their existing and future MMOs without the added overhead of creating their own events. Games will get exposure to current fans as well as prospective future fans with this unified event. Games will be able to create more brand awareness and connect with the current and future players on a level that all MMO fans will come to love as much as the games themselves.

About Last Straw Productions

Last Straw Productions, founded by CEO Jonathon Stevens, is built on a passion for building success in independent MMOs both in its own studio and industry wide through LFGX and IMGDC.

# # #

If you’d like more information about LFGX, please contact media relations at: Jonathon.stevens@laststraw.info

Scotland Part 2

gweniver — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:57:06 +0000

Well we’re back home, everything is unpacked, and will be back to work / a regular schedule starting tomorrow.

Overall, our trip was great other than for some conflicts that are prone to happen when you have 15 people staying in the same location for a week. I’m pretty sure though that everyone was able to do their top to-do item while we were there though. We needed at last one more week there though to see all of the other things everyone wanted to do.

During our stay, our party saw 3 different celebrities. We saw Colin Ferrell at the airport behind us on the way to Scotland. Goran Visnjeck (Dr. Luka from ER) was eating dinner at the same restaurant we were at for the wedding dinner, and Jessica Lang was in first class on our plane from London to Chicago.

Of note, several of the castles / locations that we wanted to go to were actually closed due to us being in Scotland during their off-season. At least where we where, many of the touristy locations are only open from April 1st through fall.

Castle Lachlan via Google Maps

The castle is located about 1.5 hours west from Glasgow.

We arrived on Thursday, but most of our activities actually started on Friday. Friday was a fairly casual day though and we spent the majority of the time exploring the local area around Castle Lachlan.

We also visited the original Castle Lachlan and family graveyard. The oldest date we saw in the graveyard was sometime in the 1700s.

On Saturday, we spent the majority of the day at the castle getting ready for Dan and Bridget’s wedding. We then went out to eat in the evening.

Dan & Bridget with parents. Since McNitts are a branch of the MacNaughton family line, Jim is wearing the MacNaugthon family tartan.

On Sunday, we toured Argyll visiting the original MacNaughton family lands, where the old MacNaughton castle used to be and took a look at the existing MacNaughton castle from afar since it is no longer owned by the family and it is not open to visitors anymore.

We also visited Inveraray Castle (closed), Inveraray Jail (did the tour), Dunstaffnage Castle (closed by the time we got there), and Kilchurn Castle (closed also).

Inveraray Castle

Dunstaffnage Castle

Kilchurn Castle

On Monday, we toured Dumbarton Castle which really was more of a fort than a castle. Below is a picture of a photograph and the majority of us walked the hundreds of stairs to get to the top. Its a scary adventure for someone who doesn’t like heights like me, but the pictures from the top of the hill are impressive.

Afterwards, we toured a local scotch whiskey distillery called Auchentoshan.

In the evening, I hosted the mystery dinner party (Maggie and Mark made the meal while I organized the mystery event).

Tuesday was finally my day to go visit the Burrell Collection in Glasgow. We also spent some time at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. A few of us visited these two museums while others went shopping in Glasgow.

I took over 350 pictures just in the museums, but below are a few of my favorite shots.

To view more photos, feel free to visit my Flickr archive at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenmcnitt/sets/72157623520873686/

Hopefully someday we’ll be able to go back to see many of the locations that were either closed or too far to go to for how long we were there.

Scotland Part 1

gweniver — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:18:28 +0000

After 2 connections in Chicago and London, we made it safely to Glasgow Scotland. Fifteen are staying in Castle Lachlan and 4 others are staying at a nearby bed and breakfast. After abit of confusion trying to get rental cars (we needed 3), we finally were able to get on the road to the castle.

Driving was a adventure in itself with having to drive on the left side of the road on roads that seem super tiny vs our roads. Plus we all got separated once and had to figure out how to regroup.

Once we got to the castle half of the group went out to eat and my group went for groceries. Most of the brands we’re used to in the US where no where to be found. For example we could not find pancake mix or syrup though they did have crep mix. They also had no clue what powdered drink mix was (like Crystal Light).

That was it though for day one in Scotland.

Today we toured the local lands on foot which included visiting the old castle ruins and graveyard.

Tomorrow is Dan and Bridget’s wedding and we’ll also go out to eat.

The majority of our sightseeing will be done Sun to
Tues where we will visit the area castles and museums. We’re mainly here for the wedding so everything else that we get to do is bonus.

Looking for Group Expo Media Partners

gweniver — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:20:36 +0000

I’ve been following the upcoming LFGX MMO conference since it is going to be hosted in a town that is local to me (Minneapolis, MN). So far, there hasn’t been a lot of information circulating about it yet, but the recent press releases definitely show that they are moving ahead with getting the EXPO ready by June. Still, that is only 4 months away and I haven’t heard of much talk of anyone going to the Expo yet.

Below is the press release relating to the media partners for the conference. Of the list below, I regularly visit MMORPG.com but the others are fairly popular MMO websites also.

I was hoping to see LAGWAR on this list since I frequent that website often (mainly for the podcasts). [Edit: Yay, LAGWAR is now listed as a media sponsor. :) ]

Hopefully Last Straw will be publishing the list of the MMO companies who will be partners for this conference next.

PRESS RELEASE: Looking For Group Expo Announces Media Partners and Sponsors
The biggest names in MMO media are partnering with LFGX

Minneapolis, MN – February 17, 2010 – Last Straw Productions announced today the addition of several Looking for Group Expo (LFGX) media partners and sponsors: Tazti Game Studios, MMORPG.com, Events For Gamers, MMOSite, The MMOGamer, Stratics, GuildHelper, and MMOGuildSites. Media Partners aggressively market the event and help bring the LFGX vision to the world through websites, podcasts, live streaming, and newsletters. Sponsors will showcase their games, products and services at the event and sponsor special events during the show.

Looking For Group Expo media partners will be giving out free passes to the event this June in Minneapolis, MN on their respective sites. Media partners also serve on the awards committee for the MMO Developer Awards which honor professionals in the industry for outstanding work and achievements. The MMO Developer Awards will take place at the Looking For Group Expo.

Looking For Group Expo offers a cost-effective solution for game developers and publishers to showcase their existing and future MMOs without the added overhead of creating their own events. Games will get exposure to current fans as well as prospective future fans with this unified event. Companies will be able to increase brand awareness and connect with current and future players on a more personal level through participation in LFGX.

Looking For Group Expo is currently offering key sponsorship packages. Please contact Jonathon Stevens at jonathon.stevens@laststraw.info, or visit LFGX’s website at www.lfgexpo.com for more information. Looking For Group Expo can be found on Twitter and Facebook as LFGX.

About Looking For Group Expo

LFGX is a three-day exhibition for massively multiplayer online games, virtual worlds, tabletop, RPG card games and comics. LFGX is a personalized fan event for the MMO gamer dealing with any related to the games you love to play. LFGX is a community of gamers coming together to preview upcoming games and expansions, connect with people from your guilds and clans, participate in developer panels and community discussions, compete in tournaments and have a bad ass time doing it.

About Last Straw Productions

Last Straw Productions, founded by CEO Jonathon Stevens, is built on a passion for building success in gaming. Last Straw strives to celebrate developers through the Independent MMO Game Developers Conference as well as the MMO Developer Awards. Last Straw also celebrates gamers through the Looking For Group Expo.

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Looking for Group Expo

gweniver — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:57:28 +0000

I’ve been keeping a close eye on a new gamer conference that was announced late last year called Looking for Group Expo. What is interesting about it for me is that it relates to my other past time (playing MMOs) plus it is going to be hosted locally to me. Every other gaming conference I’ve been to has either been on the West coast or on the East coast so this is going to be a nice change.

I’m very interested in the Costuming contest since I’ve done this in the past when I used to attend the DAOC Roundtable conferences. My current plans are to enhance the Warhammer White Lion costume that I wore for Halloween to wear at some point during the conference (potentially the Cosplay contest also). At some point I would also like to make an Archmage costume that I could wear as a floor costume since it would be a bit more comfortable than wearing armor all day.

The conference’s web site is: http://www.lfgexpo.com/

As a side note, I also received the following press release about the developer awards that will be given out at the conference:

PRESS RELEASE: First Annual Last Straw MMO Developer Awards
Honoring the achievements of the MMO game development industry

Minneapolis, MN – February 3, 2010 – Last Straw Productions announced today the first annual Last Straw MMO Developer Awards. The world’s first award show designed specifically for massively multiplayer online games will be given at the Looking For Group Expo coming this June to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Winners are chosen by a board of media partners and by votes from players at the official LFGX site at www.lfgexpo.com.

Last Straw Productions will be unveiling the awards over the coming weeks starting with: MMO of the Year, Best Game Design, Best Artistic Design, Outstanding New Content, Best Sound Design, Independent Game of the Year, Best Cinematic, and Best Costume Design.

“MMOs are massive games that take an enormous amount of time and creativity to put together. Last Straw felt it was time to start recognizing the excellent people who have helped mold the future of online gaming” says Last Straw CEO Jonathon Stevens.

Looking For Group Expo media partners will sit on a board of award advisors who will help determine what awards to offer as well as who the nominees and winners will be. The award show will feature a couple fan-chosen awards which will be voted for on the official LFGX website by the fans of the games. For more information on becoming a media partner for LFGX, please contact Jonathon Stevens at jonathon.stevens@laststraw.info.

About Looking For Group Expo

About Last Straw Productions

Last Straw Productions, founded by CEO Jonathon Stevens, is built on a passion for building success in independent MMOs both in its own studio and industry wide through LFGX and IMGDC.

# # #

If you’d like more information about LFGX, please contact media relations at: Jonathon.stevens@laststraw.info

Dress

gweniver — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:24:26 +0000

NOTE: This is an old post that was only uploaded to LiveJournal. Going to upload it here for consistency. Original date of post was May 1st. This dress is now completed and I’ll post more about it in an upcoming entry.

Yay, some progress today. We’re going out to a movie with my parents tonight, but I was able to pin the trim onto my doublet bodice this afternoon. I will hand sew the trim on this weekend.

Very cool…

gweniver — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:36:46 +0000

I just found out that Windows Live Writer also supports posting to LiveJournal! Now when I create a new post, it looks like I can copy it to both LJ and my Blog. I’m testing that out with this post.

Sleeves

gweniver — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:48:19 +0000

My doublet top and skirt for my Spanish gown are almost done, but I’ll post more information about them later on.

Of late, I’ve been working on the sleeves for my Spanish gown though. For the undersleeves, I’m using a pattern that I’ve used before with success.

Undersleeve

Similar to the undersleeves in the below portrait, I decided to use a gold cording to decorate the sleeve. I’m using gold thread with a couching stitch to stitch the cording in place.

Gold Cording

For the oversleeves, I decided to draft a sleeve similar to the one in this portrait:

Anna de Austria

After a lot of investigation, I was not able to find an existing example of a period or modern pattern for this style of sleeve. I noticed though that this Spanish sleeve also had another varient that I found in several portraits found here: http://sayaespanola.glittersweet.com/anadeaustria.htm Unfortunately you can only view the thumbnails for most images, but if you look closely you’ll notice that the bottom of the sleeve is not tucked into itself like the variation I’m working on is.

Since I didn’t have a pattern to start with, I decided to start from scratch. I used the basic sleeve shape of a Spanish Round sleeve, but instead of the opening being in the front, my desired variation has the opening in the back closed using ties/points.

Round Sleeve

The sleeve cap for this pattern also took a bit of time to play with since I couldn’t use a standard bell shape sleeve head. Ultimately, below is what I came up for with the shape needed. There is a slash in the middle of the sleeve to allow for the arm opening.

A decorated band will be added at wrist level to which tabs will also be attached.

Current Progress

gweniver — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:38:18 +0000

Though it has taken me a bit longer than I originally planned due to other projects, I have been gradually making progress on my Saya.

Last week, I spent some time working on the gowns undersleeves. Unfortunately, I found that I do not have enough trim for the sleeves though. I’ll be running to JoAnn’s later this week to pick up what I find that I’m still missing.

This weekend, I spent the majority of Saturday afternoon adjusting my existing doublet pattern since it was not fitting quite right. Since I was fitting the doublet alone though, the fitting ended up taking the majority of Saturday afternoon. I do have a bodice dressform I usually use at this point though, but since it does not have a neck I had to finish this portion on myself while I was wearing my corset.

Yesterday and today, I was able to finally finish cutting out the doublet in the three layers needed for it (fashion fabric, interlining and lining). The outerlayer is black veleteen, I used canvas for the interlining, and black cotton for the lining fabric. I also attached boning to the interlining front two pieces and then finished putting together the outer fabric and interlining pieces. Finally, I attached the interlining to the fashion fabric. My next task will be to add trim to the front and back doublet pieces.

The skirt is now ready to be pleated also so I should have this done by the end of the week too.

Since I’m writing this article on my IPhone, pictures will be attached later.

Some progress

gweniver — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:35:02 +0000

Over the past week, I spent a bit of time re-organizing my sewing room. I can actually move around in it again!

Below are "before" pictures. I’ll take a few "after" pictures later on. It is still not 100% straightened, but it is much better then it was!

Edit : Adding ‘After Pictures’

It is a little bit better.

Along with cleaning the room, I relooked at several of my resource books to refresh my memory of Spanish gown styles. Since it has been several months since I started on this project, I had actually forgotten about some of the original design decisions that I had made.

Instead of making an entire underdoublet, I’m going to just make tie in undersleeves. This is due to the fact that the materials I originally purchased are different then what I would need to make the underdoublet. Making tie in sleeves will save me time in the long-run too.

I’ll make the doublet for another future project though since I really like the rasberry color of the material I found for it though.