Having Fun With the Camera on My New Smartphone

Ever since I got my new Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone I’ve been amazed at the graphics capabilities on this phone. The graphics are brighter, more colorful, and more sharp than my older Samsung Galaxy S9. And the camera on this phone is pretty amazing. I shot my first video where I unboxed a new My Little Pony Opaline Arcana alicorn toy. I wrote about it yesterday but since it was buried under paragraphs about my recent smartphone drama, I’m going to mention it in this post one more time in case you’ve missed it. You can now view this video on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

The second video I shot on my new smartphone was when a local nonprofit community arts and STEM group known as The Space sponsored a comic book event at Beltway Plaza in Greenbelt, Maryland in conjunction with Free Comic Book Day, which is held in comic book shops across the United States each year on the first Saturday in May. Cosplaying was encouraged so I had put on this glittering Minnie Mouse unicorn headband with a Mickey Mouse face mask (that could also be used for Minnie as well) and an artsy Mickey Mouse t-shirt that I purchased on my last trip to Walt Disney World (which happened in 2011, just months before my marriage abruptly ended). I took a quick selfie before I arrived at the event.

Free Comic Book Day was basically a two-part event because there were other events that also took place at the same mall on the same day (which included a job fair and a fashion show). So the first couple of hours took place in this giant room at one end of the mall that used to house a Big Lots. Once the job fair and fashion show ended, we moved to the other end near T.J. Maxx, where there tend to be more people walking around. There were a few cosplayers who wore actual costumes (instead of doing what I did and just threw together a few things that I happened to have on hand in my closet). I shot video footage of the event in both places, which I uploaded on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.

Free Comic Book Day, Greenbelt, Maryland, May 7, 2022

Mother’s Day weekend was a total mess weather-wise. It was unusually cold for May (the temperature didn’t go above 50 degrees Fahrenheit) and it rained a lot that weekend. The local mall, Beltway Plaza, had this Free Comic Book Day event that was held inside so I decided to go there.

I’ve been to other Free Comic Book Day events in past years (mainly at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis and Big Planet Comics in College Park) but it was the first time that this was also being held in Greenbelt. (Free Comic Book Day is an annual nationwide event where, as you can guess from the name, free comic books are given away from participating libraries and comic book stores.) It was jointly sponsored by The Space, the Prince George’s County Public Library System, and Third Eye Comics.

I knew it was a special day when the mall had a man who performed songs on his acoustic guitar. I shot a short video of him playing a version of the song “Never Can Say Goodbye” (which was a major hit for both The Jackson Five and Gloria Gaynor), which I uploaded on to TikTok, Clapper, and YouTube.

That day was kind of special because not only was there a guitar player but someone had also set up a table to register voters for the upcoming midterm elections outside of the Giant supermarket.

Here’s a full shot of where the Free Comic Book Day event was held.

There was a cosplay aspect to it where people were encouraged to dress up as a favorite comic book character. I ended up wearing a Stitch hat with a matching Stitch face mask (after all the Coronavirus pandemic was still going on) while bringing my Disney Nuimos Stitch, which is identical to what I wore at the Sakura Matsuri street festival in downtown Washington, DC the previous month.

I know that some of you might think that Stitch isn’t really a comic book character since he originated in a Disney film. Well, there was a brief comic book series that was released in 2006 and a few Japanese manga series with titles like Disney Manga: Stitch!, Disney Manga Stitch! Best Friends Forever!, and Disney Manga: Magical Dance. So, yes, he does fit in with the other comic book characters. Here’s another photo of me wearing my Stitch hat and face mask with a group of cosplayers.

There were plenty of cosplayers who dressed up as various superheroes.

Donations were accepted where the proceeds went towards The Space, a nonprofit art studio and makerspace that’s located inside of Beltway Plaza.

There was a free drawing held where winners could received all kinds of comic book-related freebies, such as Funko Pops.

Of course with a name like Free Comic Book Day, there were plenty of free comic books to choose from.

Since Mother’s Day was the following day, one of the local stores in the mall also gave out a free rose to everyone.

Free Comic Book Day, May 5, 2018

I had a pretty busy day. In the morning I went to one of the trainings and town hall meeting for the Poor People’s Campaign in the morning. In the afternoon I decided to go to Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, since that day was also Free Comic Book Day nationwide. (If all that weren’t enough, it was also Cinco de Mayo. I ended up eating tacos at home that I made myself using ingredients that I purchased from Aldi. I learned a long time ago that it’s total folly to attempt to eat in any kind of Mexican/Hispanic/Latino restaurant on Cinco de Mayo.)

So after checking out the Poor People’s Campaign, I drove to Annapolis. I arrived at Third Eye Comics only to find that parking was harder to find than usual. I ended up parking a few blocks away in an office park, which had some nice wall murals.

The next photo shows how crowded that store was. The next photo shows the line to the checkout counter.

I saw these vintage Atari video game cartridges on sale. I remember when Atari originally came out but I never owned one mainly because I was in college at the time and money was a bit tight at the time. It never bothered me that I never owed an Atari because my college (the University of Maryland) had plenty of arcade games on campus and some of the local off-campus fast food places also had arcade games.

I saw a few other interesting things on sale at Third Eye Comics.

I came across a whole aisle full of the ever-popular Funko Pop! statues. I found one new trend: Funko Pops based on real dead rock stars like Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead and Joey Ramone of The Ramones.

There were plenty of Funko Pops based on comic book and video game characters such as Rocket Raccoon, Mega Man, Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent, Wonder Woman, Batman, Batwoman, and Batgirl.

I also found an actual WTF t-shirt and a special edition of the Monopoly game board based on the latest Jurassic Park movie called Jurassic World.