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I was in Baltimore on a Sunday attending the second and final day of VidCon. As I was walking back from the Baltimore Convention Center to the parking garage where I had parked my car I noticed this plaque on the sidewalk that was devoted to the 1,000th curb cut that was created in Baltimore for people who have to use walkers, wheelchairs, baby strollers, or wheeled suitcases.
It basically said “Mayor William Donald Schaffer and the Citizens of Baltimore. 1,000th Curb Cut. July 22, 1985” and it included the internationally recognized symbol of a stick figure in a wheelchair. The one thing I love about walking around Baltimore is that you can encounter sudden unexpected things like this.
I attended the final day of the first-ever VidCon that was held in Baltimore earlier this month. It sounded really interesting and I wanted to check it out. I only paid to attend the last day because that final day had the most panels that I was interested in, and the prices were a bit high. I also wasn’t sure if I would like VidCon at all and I felt that it would be less financially painful if I paid only for one day only to have it turn out to be a bust than to pay for a full weekend.
There was already one disappointment before I even went to VidCon. The previous month I had gone to the 1A Fest in downtown Washington, DC where V. Spehar from Under the Desk News (available on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram) spoke at a panel. They said at the end that they was going to be in the general area so fans can come up to them and say hi. Except V. was whisked away from the area and the rest of the crowd were told to leave because this rainstorm was due to arrive soon. The storm was incredibly bad with lightning and heavy rain at times. The storm became so bad that the rest of the festival was cancelled.
But then I learned that V. Spehar was going to be at VidCon as a Featured Creator and I felt that at least I would have another chance to meet them. But then, about a week before VidCon, V. made this video announcing that they had to cancel VidCon because they tested positive for COVID-19. So that was a disappointment but I was still looking forward to seeing VidCon.
Usually I would drive my car to the North Linthicum light rail stop and take the light rail the rest of the way into the city because the round-trip fare is cheaper than the parking garages. But one of the panels I was interested in started early in the morning and the light rail doesn’t begin before 10 a.m. on Sundays so I ended up driving into the city. I was lucky that I found a parking garage that was a 15-minute walk from the Baltimore Convention Center that charged a special Sunday rate of $15 for the entire day.
Unfortunately I took the wrong path trying to walk from the parking garage to the Baltimore Convention Center so I ended up missing this early morning panel on animation that I was interested in. So I took a few photos of the convention in general, starting with this selfie where I wore my sparkly Minnie Mouse unicorn headband.
I know I had typed in a previous post that I was going to wear my Stitch hat to VidCon but I ended up changing my mind at the last minute because the temperature went into the low 80s that day and the Stitch hat tends to be a bit on the hot side when wearing in on a warm day. So I arrived wearing my Minnie Mouse unicorn headband instead while taking some photos of the entrance to VidCon.
Here are my badge and bracelet that I got from the registration booth.
The bracelet had this metal chip inside that I had to use to tap gates at certain areas of the convention in order to get inside of certain areas like the Exhibition Hall or to get readmitted to the convention if I had to step outside of the convention center for any reason. Pictured below is one of those gates that I had to tap with my bracelet if I wanted to access another part of that convention.
Since I missed the first panel I had plenty of time to get a seat to the next panel that I was interested in. It was held by Desiree Martinez on “Monetizing Your Passion: How to Make Money as a Small Creator.”
I found her workshop very informative with plenty of tips and, yes, I took a ton of notes. Whether I can be as successful as her remains to be seen.
After the workshop ended I found that the second panel that I was interested in was being held in the same room as the one that I had just attended so I basically stayed in that room and ate my lunch that I brought with me. (I purchased a chicken caesar salad along with two sodas from Wegmans the day before VidCon and brought it with me because it’s cheaper than buying food and drink at the Baltimore Convention Center. The nearby Harborplace is literally a dying mall that is going to be torn down sometime in the near future so going there for lunch just wasn’t an option for me.)
The second panel I attended in the same room as the first was interesting. It featured Amanda Golka of the YouTube channel Swell Entertainment and Hassan Khadair, who I mostly knew from his hilarious videos that he makes with this Mickey Mouse puppet. Here’s a video that’s a compilation of some of his Mickey Mouse puppet shorts that he’s uploaded on TikTok and YouTube.
Hassan Khadair also has a second YouTube channel called Bad Days, which is devoted to general commentary and he doesn’t use the Mickey Mouse puppet at all. Here’s a recent video from that channel where he tries every pumpkin spice food in America.
I confess that I wore my glittering Minnie Mouse unicorn ears because I had the chance to meet Hassan Khadair. I also brought three of my Disney Nuimos for that same reason—Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Here’s a photo I shot of the trio before the panel began.
So Amanda Golka and Hassan Khadair did a panel titled Creator to Creator. They spoke about their experiences with starting their YouTube channels and similar topics. It was pretty entertaining seeing them interact together.
After the panel ended Hassan Khadair hung around talking to those who attended the panel.
Here’s a shot of the Mickey Mouse puppet that he uses in his videos.
I approached him and told him that he influenced my style while showing him my three Disney Nuimos peeking out from the bag where I carried my lunch in.
He recognized the Disney Nuimos and he was very knowledgeable about that line. When he mentioned that the Nuimos have magnets in their hands a woman who was there was curious about the magnet part so i took two of my Nuimos out of the bag and showed how they are able hold hands due to those magnets.
I didn’t talk with him for very long because there were other people who wanted to talk to him and the room was getting prepared for another panel that was being held there.
I didn’t see much of Amanda Golka after the panel but I saw that she made this YouTube video about her experiences at VidCon a few weeks after appearing at that convention that’s worth watching.
I can understand her being disappointed by VidCon Baltimore because she had previously attended the one in Anaheim. From my perspective, I had never attended any other VidCon before so I was a total newbie at this convention. There is one thing that I have to admit though. I’ve been to other events at the Baltimore Convention Center, such as Otakon (before it switched locations to DC) and Baltimore Comic Con. VidCon was small compared to those other events (especially Otakon). I’m hoping that VidCon was small because it had never held that event in Baltimore before and it’ll be a bigger event next year with more panels and other type of events.
After that second panel ended I walked over to Exhibition Hall. Here are a few of the booths that I saw there, starting with one large booth where people were playing video games on the provided computers.
Some of the participating content creators had their own booths where you could purchase merchandise or contributed to a Kickstarter campaign to fund a project that they have in mind.
Some of the more popular YouTube channels, such as Gaming Mermaid, had larger booths.
VidaFair had this idea where you could get people to rent your content per video instead of subscribing to your video channel. It’s basically another method of monetizing your content so you can profit off of what you create. Their booth had props where you can get your photo taken while wearing or holding them.
Sune had this pretty elaborate booth. Basically Sune is a place where individual artisans can sell their handcrafted wares while providing videos about their work. It’s like a cross between Etsy and video hosting sites like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
I found that the people running the booths that featured hair and makeup products were the most aggressive. Every time I was on the periphery of those booths there were people who were waving at me to come over to their booths. They reminded me too much of the people who run the hair and makeup kiosks at some of the more upscale malls where they will wave you over to their kiosk then attempt to pressure you into buying their products. I didn’t go anywhere near those booths at VidCom because I wasn’t in the market for buying new haircare products and makeup. I managed to take a photo of that area from a distance.
If there was a booth at Exhibition Hall that I felt was the most memorable at VidCon, it was PBS, which was promoting an upcoming nature documentary called Spies in the Ocean.
The PBS booth had giant screens that showed underwater nature scenes while animatronic undersea animals like a dolphin, a shark, and a manatee moved their heads, fins, and flippers at various intervals.
Exhibition Hall had places where people of all ages can just chill out, such as Camp VidCom, which is pictured below.
Off to the side of Exhibition Hall was the Meet and Greet area where you can have the chance to meet your favorite creator. That area was only open to those who purchased the two-day Community pass or the Industry track. Since I had only purchased the one-day Community pass, that Meet and Greet area was off-limits to me. I didn’t mind since Hassan Khadair was the only participating creator whose name I even recognized and I managed to meet him after the Creator to Creator panel had ended. As for everyone else, I would’ve been awkward at meeting them because my first questions would’ve been “Who are you? What do you do?”
There was a Community Mainstage at the end of Exhibition Hall where the participating content creators were doing things like doing a quiz show or dancing or singing karaoke. (I didn’t stick around that area too long.)
Exhibition Hall had a booth that was staffed by the local tourist promotion group called Visit Baltimore. Basically they had a QR barcode that you scanned in order to bring up a video game on your smartphone.
Basically the video game was a Pac-Man clone where you get to control a crab who’s eating snacks while avoiding seagulls who are out to stop your crab.
Once you use up all of your three allotted lives you go back to the Visit Baltimore booth where you show your score and you get rewarded with a cookie. They originally had a variety of flavors to choose from but by Sunday the only cookie flavor they had left was a sugar cookie with chunks of peppermint candy so I took it. I found the cookie to be pretty tasty.
I expected people to wear cosplay costumes at VidCom. In fact, that was one of the reasons why I wore my Minnie Mouse unicorn headband. Compared to a comic convention or an anime convention, there were far fewer cosplayers at VidCom. I managed to shoot a photo of one of the few cosplayers I saw at VidCom—two people were dressed at Mario and Luigi from the Super Mario Bros. video game series.
I’m glad I only purchased a $59 one-day pass because there was so little at VidCon in terms of the panels and the Exhibition Hall that I would’ve been pissed had I purchased a $110 two-day pass or the $699 Industry Track. I don’t regret going to VidCon because I had fun and I enjoyed the two panels that I attended. Would I go to VidCon next year? I don’t know for sure. It would depend on who would be there, what panels and events were being offered, and whether I would have the time or money to go.
First up, I’ve uploaded a new post on my other blog on Substack, Deconstructing Kremlin Propaganda. This week’s topic is a brief history of Ukraine along with links to free places where you can do an even deeper dive into the history of that nation. Check it out: Russia vs. Ukraine: How Did We Get Here?
I also did a promo video for this post, which you can view on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
One other thing, this weekend is VidCon, which is being held in Baltimore for the first time ever. I’ll be there tomorrow, October 1, 2023. I had only signed up for one day partly because of the cost and partly because I’m not sure if I have the stamina to do a full three or four-day convention anymore. (Yes, I’m getting older, which sucks. I try to keep in shape but I still get incredibly tired if I take on a huge convention.) I’m thinking about wearing my Stitch hat to be fun and festive, just like I did at the Sakura Matsuri festival in Washington, DC back in 2022.
I’m definitely going to pack two Disney Nuimos but it won’t be Stitch (as seen in the above photo). I’ve heard that YouTuber Hassan Khadair is going to be at VidCon and he does these hilarious videos on YouTube with a Mickey Mouse puppet, such as this video.
I’m going to pack my Mickey and Minnie Mouse Nuimos just in case I run into him. If I do, I’m going to try to get either a picture or video of him holding my Nuimos.
Well, anyway, see you at VidCon! 😉
When I learned that VidCon was going to have an event on the East Coast of the United States and it would be held at the Baltimore Convention Center, I felt that I had to sign up. I’ve been making so many videos these days that it makes sense for me to go. I signed up for one day only (October 1) due mainly to money and concerns about whether my aging body can even tolerate a large multi-day convention anymore. (I don’t want to make a huge deal out of it but over the last few years whenever I went to large conventions for two or more days my body would end up feeling exhausted after one day. I would force myself to go for a second or even third day since I paid for it but my body would just feel awful afterwards.) I chose Sunday because there happened to be more panels on that day that I was interested in than on Saturday.
I also signed up on the Community Track because of money. (The full four-day Industry Track—which runs from Thursday to Sunday—costs $699. Going on the Community Track for both Saturday and Sunday costs $110. Going on the Community Track for only one weekend day—either Saturday or Sunday—costs $59.) Since I’m going for one day instead of both Saturday and Sunday, that means that I won’t be able to participate in this Meet & Greet Matchmaking event where you get paired with one of the Featured Creators at random. I looked at the list of Featured Creators and there were only one or two people whose name I recognized because I saw his/her video at least once so if I had qualified for the matchmaking event, chances are I would’ve been paired with a stranger and I would be asking that person questions like “Who are you?” So it’s no big loss for me to miss the Meet & Greet Matchmaking.
What do I expect to get out of it? Maybe I’ll learn some new tips on how to improve my videomaking skills or find new opportunities for monetizing the videos that I make. If VidCon turns out to be a bust for me, at least I only signed up for one day and I’ll only be out $59 so it’s no big deal.
So see you at VidCon Baltimore on October 1.
Like I wrote in my last post, I was in the Highlandtown area of Baltimore to attend Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, which is being held for the last time at the Creative Alliance. (The organizers have decided to look for a new venue for Dr. Sketchy’s and they are taking the summer off from running any new Dr. Sketchy’s events while making such a search.)
Since I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get to Highlandtown again, I decided to arrive to the area early so I could use the opportunity to simultaneously shoot enough footage for two new episodes of my ongoing web series The Baltimore-Washington, DC That Tourists Rarely See. The biggest challenge about going to Baltimore that day was the fact that the entire Baltimore-Washington DC region was on high alert for air quality due to the fact that the smoke from the Canadian wildfires had drifted southward. I had originally planned on making a full day excursion to Baltimore while shooting potential footage for my web series but I had to shorten it to just two hours before Dr. Sketchy’s began because of the smoke. There were times when I had to pause and cough while I was walking along the streets because the smoke had gotten bad.
So I ended up shooting two new episodes for my ongoing web series. One is devoted to the Frank Zappa Memorial, which I first wrote about last year.
You can see that video on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
The other episode I shot was about the historic Patterson Theater, which houses the Creative Alliance and, for the past few years, had also served as a venue for the Baltimore chapter of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. I always thought that the Patterson Theater was a neat building so I shot some footage of both the exterior and interior of the theater. A few days later I did some online research about the place and learned about its very interesting history, which I thought would be perfect as an episode of my series. I uploaded that episode on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
It has been exactly one year since I last went to Baltimore to attend Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. I remember a time when I was a regular at these events (and also to the DC chapter before that one became defunct) but now I seem to go less and less, even if I don’t have anything else scheduled at the same time. I think it’s because I’ve grown so weary at the hour-long commute both ways, especially late at night after Dr. Sketchy’s end and I find myself hoping that my car doesn’t have a breakdown in a crime-ridden area of Baltimore or I get into an accident. I’ve given up driving when it’s raining because making the hour-long return trip late at night is even more harrowing.
I decided to go to this one for a few reasons: 1) The weather was relatively pleasant. 2) The date of the event fell on what would’ve been my wedding anniversary had my husband not suddenly left me for that mentally ill friend of ours (whom he married just two months after our divorce was final). 3) It was the 15th anniversary of Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore chapter so to mark that occasion, there would be two burlesque performers serving as models instead of the usual one performer. 4) It would be the last Dr. Sketchy’s event that would be held at the Creative Alliance because the organizers have decided to look for a new venue. 5) It would be the last Dr. Sketchy’s event until the fall because the organizers want to take the summer off and use that free time to find a new venue. 6) Depending on where future Dr. Sketchy’s events are held and depending on what my schedule will be like in the future, it could be the last time that I get a chance to visit the Highlandtown area of Baltimore for a while.
It was also due to the fact that it would be my last visit to Highlandtown for the foreseeable future that I decided to get to the area early so I could do what I’ve long wanted to do: Shoot footage of a couple of Highlandtown landmarks for new episodes of my ongoing web travel series The Baltimore and Washington, DC Area That Tourists Rarely See.
The biggest challenge about going to Baltimore that day was the fact that the entire Baltimore-Washington DC region was on high alert for air quality due to the fact that the smoke from the Canadian wildfires had drifted southward. I had originally planned on making a full day excursion to Baltimore while shooting potential footage for my web series but I had to shorten it to just two hours before Dr. Sketchy’s began because of the smoke. There were times when I had to pause and cough while I was walking along the streets because the smoke had gotten bad.
So I walked around and shot the footage. I also encountered this store window that had the strangest product on sale—hookahs shaped like pink machine guns. You really can’t make this shit up!
Usually when I go I would get a boxed chicken dinner from Royal Farms then eat the meal outside before going to the Creative Alliance. I decided to do something different—I actually ate in a restaurant. The food was very good. The bad part was that the service was slow that I barely made it to the Creative Alliance on time for the final Dr. Sketchy’s event that would be held there. Here is what the stage looked like before the event began.
From this point on the drawings in this post are NSFW.
Eva Mystique and Bebe Bardeaux were the burlesque models for this event. Here are a few initial drawings I made of the pair.
The biggest challenge of drawing more than one person is trying to get as much as the drawing done before the timer rings and the models change poses. I think I did alright despite that challenge.
I only took part in one contest, which had a summer vacation theme. (After all, the summer season had just begun.) I drew Eva and Bebe as mermaids sunning themselves on a rock on a beach in Ocean City, Maryland. That drawing didn’t make it to the finals.
I did one last drawing of the pair before the event officially ended.
I also did a short video slideshow of my drawings with music. You can check it out on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
As I walked back to my car I took one last photo of the historic Patterson Theater (the building where the Creative Alliance is located) all decked out in lights against the night sky.
It’ll be interesting to see where Dr. Sketchy’s ends up next. I’m hoping that the new venue, whatever it is, will have a relatively short and easy commute compared to the previous locations at the Creative Alliance and the since-closed Wind-Up Space. I’m also hoping that I will have the time and money to continue attending these events but it really depends on what my schedule and finances will be like in the future.
Every now and then I’ll see something in my Facebook newsfeed that I think is worth checking out, which was how I found out about the existence of this year-round indoor flea market that is among the largest of its kind in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area. It’s called The Patapsco Flea Market and it’s located on the outskirts of Baltimore City just a few miles away from one of the exits on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
I found the place very impressive with all kinds of stuff available. I ended up buying nothing myself because I didn’t see anything on sale that captivated me enough to buy but that doesn’t mean that other people won’t find anything worthy about that place. Flea markets in general are a shopping crapshoot just like yard sales and thrift stores—sometimes you’ll go there and won’t find anything of interest so you leave empty-handed while other times you might find so much stuff that you want to buy that you’ll end up having to haul giant bags of stuff when you leave.
This flea market is located in a relatively seedy area of the city so I would only recommend going there during the daytime (especially during the winter months when the days are very short). When I was there I saw that there was a place at one end of the flea market that served seafood and pit beef but that place was closed. I have a feeling that it’s only open during the summer months (when seafood is in season). I would like to return in a few months so I could try eating there to see how the food is.
I shot a video for the latest episode of my ongoing series The Baltimore-Washington, DC That Tourists Rarely See. You can now see it on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
If you’ve missed any of my previous episodes in this series, you can check out this YouTube playlist where you can view them.
This past year (I can’t believe that it’s 2023 already!) I went back to the Christmas Village in Baltimore for what turned out to be my one and only visit. I wanted to return one more time on my birthday (December 15) but, as I wrote previously, the weather was absolutely horrible. (In fact, I later learned that the weather was so bad that the Christmas Village ended up closing early.)
The weather was relatively mild so I enjoyed myself as I ate outside, checked out some of the outside vendors, then entered inside of the main heated tent. At one point I shot video footage of a very talented fiddler who played a variety of Christmas songs, which I uploaded on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
I shot a bunch of photos that I later compiled into a video slideshow and uploaded on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube. Enjoy!
I finally went back to the annual Christkindlesmarkt that is held at Zion Lutheran Church in Baltimore for the first time in five years. Between financial struggles and the pandemic, I just wasn’t able to go back to that event. But, then again, I believe this event was also canceled for the last two years due to COVID-19.
In any case I went back for a visit and I was struck by how there were fewer items for sale than in previous years. Or I think there were fewer items for sale than previously. (It’s just that I have memories of previous years when the tables were literally cluttered with all kinds of German things for sale. But I didn’t buy too much stuff due mainly to tight finances.) On top of it I left home around 1 p.m. and, thanks to traffic and dealing with Baltimore public transportation, I didn’t arrive until an hour and a half before the event closed at 4 p.m. so it’s quite possible that there were more things on sale but they were sold by the time I arrived.
The Christmas Train Garden was still up and running and it looks the same as it did back in 2014 and 2017. This time I decided to shoot a short video instead of still pictures. I uploaded it on to TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
I also took photos of what I saw while I was there and I did a video slideshow that you can see on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
Last month I went to another Dr. Sketchy’s event in Baltimore. The model for that event was a burlesque performer named Blu. Some of the drawings I did in this post are definitely not safe for work.
Blu brought this really interesting prop with her. It was a male mannequin head and she sometimes posed with it. So now you won’t be wondering what is that disembodied head.
She also sometimes posed with a sheer tuille red scarf as well.
She also posed with these elaborate red fans.
I participated in only one contest. As a tribute to Blu, we had to incorporate the color blue. (Blu, blue—get it?) I had an idea of doing this Disney/Pixar Monsters Inc.-inspired drawing of Blu where she is being held by the big furry blue monster Sully. Blu was taking the place of Boo, the little girl from that movie. (That’s right, I had Blu as Boo.) Unfortunately my drawing failed to make it among the finalists.
I did one more drawing of Blu before the event ended for the night.
There was also an announcement that it would be the final Dr. Sketchy’s event held at the Creative Alliance until the fall. (Basically the organizers wanted to take the summer off.) Right now I can’t say if I will attend any more Dr. Sketchy’s events this year. It really depends on if I get a job, what my hours are, the location of my workplace, and how much of a workload I will get on the job. In any case, I created a video slideshow of my drawings of Blu from that event where I paired it with the 1960s French pop song “L’amour Est Bleu.” (Blu, Bleu—get it?) You can view it on TikTok, Clapper, and YouTube.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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