Zorro the Musical, Kajaanin Kaupunginteatteri, 30.4.2022

 I saw Zorro the musical in Kajaani with my friend Hanna. Kajaani is far away from Espoo, and going there took six hours in train. I actually managed to forget what time the train would leave; I remembered it would leave 12:19PM and not 11:19AM. So I left in quite hurry, but I managed not to miss the train. I forgot my headphones, but Hanna was lovely and borrowed hers to me. The journey was not easy per se, as there is so little room in the train, but surprisingly the six hours went quite fast. We arrived at the hotel, left our stuff there and went to the theatre. We were originally supposed to go there in 22th, but the event got cancelled, so we went there in 30th. So we spent the May Day there, I would have loved to see my friends that day, but we can't always have what we want.

The musical itself was pretty good. It had a lot of energy, the songs were fine even though none of them really stood out, and the singing was pretty good. They had some of the orchestra players on stage in costumes, which was a nice touch. Zorro was played by Jukka Peltola and he was pretty good. He had a nice voice and presence. What I was a bit disappointed with, was that there was not a lot of sword fighting, but he did his fighting pretty well. 

The actress that stole the show was Maija Pihlajaoja. She played Inez, a woman in love with Diego, and she was such a strong and fun character. Pihlajaoja sung really well, she probably had the best voice of the cast, and her movements and attitude was so great to the character. Her dress also looked super cool.

Another woman in love with Diego was Luisa, played by Satu Turunen. She looked very Nordic, she was pale with blonde hair, and that really did not give me a feeling of a latina. Her voice also was not the strongest, but I still liked her. Her acting was pretty good, and her more calm attitude was a fun contrast with Inez's fiery one.

The villain of the story was Ramon, Diego's brother. The story basically was that Diego went to Spain and never returned, and Ramon, his power-thirsty brother, had kidnapped their father, said he was dead, and made himself as the governor. Ramon was so over the top evil and I loved it. He hanged two boys for treason for no reason, and there was even a scene where he had a whip, suggesting that he whipped people. The actor, Tom Salminen, was also quite Nordic looking, with blond hair and pale skin. In the end of course it is revealed that their father was alive and Ramon got killed.

Like I said, I could not really remember any of the songs, they were very similar, but I appreciate the actors' energy. In the end we talked one of the ensemble cast, told her that we were in a train for six hours just for this musical, and when she asked what musicals we wanted to see, I of course said Tanz der Vampire, which she had said seen in Vienna. She also said she'll tell forward about the musical I had suggested. After the musical we went to a bar for few drinks, it was May Day after all, but we did not stay long because we needed to wake up next day early. Anyway, it was a great experience, and even though Kajaani's theather is a small one in the middle of nowhere, it was still pretty good. In this year I am going to see the Finnish version of Anastasia the musical, in Kotka I will see The Addams Family musical, which I saw earlier in Jyväskylä, and at the end of the year, the British version of Cats will be touring in Finland.

Zorro, played by Jukka Peltola.

Inez, played by Maija Pihlajaoja.

Luisa, played by Satu Turunen.

Ramon vs Zorro, played by Jukka Peltola and Tom Salminen.

A free program they had. It was really small, but it had a bit of information. Too bad I've broken it.

Kibecon, 14.-15.5.2022

 I already kind of opened the con year when I visited Tampere Kuplii at Sunday, but Tampere Kuplii is not a con technically, it is a comic book festival. So Kibecon was the first con of this year. Kibecon is very nice because it is so close to me. It is in Sello Library, that is only 15 minutes away from me. So going there was not very difficult. I was planning to get a cosplay there, but I had no time, so I went in a cyber goth look. I actually was quite a bit late on Saturday; I was planning of going there at 12, but I had managed to lose my headband which I need for the look. I looked everywhere for over an hour, and could not find it. When I used the headband in Tampere Kuplii I took it off in my home, so it has to be here. But I could not find it, so its location is a mystery.  Because of that I was quite late, arriving at the con at 2PM. But I managed to pull off a pretty nice look. My makeup was fine, and I absolutely loved my outfit; red and black cyberlox, metallic red PVC corset, PVC miniskirt and fishnet stockings. I got many compliments and many people wanted to take pictures with me or of me. Kibecon is a small con without an entrance fee, so most of the people there were children. I actually hanged out with teenagers the whole con. As a 25 years old, I felt sooooo old, oh my god. One of the funniest comments that I got was from a girl whose age I don't know, but she was quite young. She told her friend wanted to be a cyber goth when they were at second grade. Second graders are eight year olds, so that was quite funny.

I met Luca, who I noticed from his piercings. He had a massive 8mm septum piercing, which was super cool, even though I would never stretch my septum to anything big. He showed his pictures which showed that he was a goth, and he looked so good. Too bad he lived far away, he actually told he and his friends travelled to Kibecon for five hours, which I could not fathom. He was 19, and I felt kind of old, but at least he was an adult. He was super nice and friendly, and we talked about going to other cons; they are apparently going to Kitsunecon where I'm also going.

I was little bit disappointed at the seller's hall, since they mostly had people who only who sold their own artwork. They had two people who sold plushies and figures, someone who sold kawaii stuff, and Manga Cafe, who sells Asian treats. I wanted to buy something from the con but I could not find anything, so I bought a bag of candy and a dry strawberry "ice cream". The "ice cream" is from a company called Giant Caplico and it was super good, gotta buy it sometime later also. The candy bag was actually American, and I did not even know that Manga Cafe sells American products, but it was not very good, so not gonna buy it again. 

At Saturday I actually walked with my Demonia boots for about an hour, but not any longer. When I was young I could walk long distances with the boots and wear them for hours, but not anymore. But I had black ankle boots with a shiny snake skin pattern, so I think my shoes looked still pretty good.

I also met Liltsy and Ramona, who I met in Tampere Kuplii this year. Liltsy was cosplaying Grell Sutcliff from Kuroshitsuji, and that gave me serious flashbacks, since I also cosplayed her years ago. We had a small photoshoot, their friend had a proper camera but the circumstance was not ideal; cyber goth look should be photographed inside, because the cyberlox goes everywhere in the wind. We took many pics, but unfortunately I could not use any of them.

The whole con was just hanging out. I had no programs to go to, they had Another Castle, a choir that sings nerd tunes at Saturday, but I missed it, and it was the only program I wanted to see. So I just hanged out the whole con. 

My look after the con in Saturday. I took this picture in a hurry so my cyberlox is quite messed up and  I'm not wearing the headband which makes me look a bit silly. I actually thought can I go to the con in a cyber look without headband but I decided to go anyway. Too bad I don't have a full picture of the outfit.

The products I bought from Manga Cafe. The candy bag was quite bad, but the "ice cream" was delicious.