That’s Master Kenobi to you!

Sep10

This week’s hobby is one that spans across many different areas, and has many many participants. It is called CosPlay (short for Costume Play of course). In this hobby people create costumes and then dress as their favorite characters from tv shows, films, or even comic books. Some people may think this is pointless, or childish even, but think back to the last time you wished you were someone else? Maybe some warrior from your favorite movie. Well CosPlay gives you an excuse to be that warrior!

CosPlay is almost exactly like dressing up for Halloween, except it’s not centered around one specific day. Many times you will see people dressed up at certain movie releases, conventions or other events, but you can dress up whenever you want. Some costumes may be extremely detailed and yet some very simplistic, but that’s one of the great things about CosPlay. It doesn’t take a fortune to participate! All you need is a desire to wear a costume and a little bit of time to create it. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to sew either, there are plenty of websites and tutorials out there that can help you, and if you’re really lazy, you could just get someone else to make the costume for you.

There are also many CosPlay groups out there centered around specific areas. Some of these require the costumes to be very close to the originals while others allow you to be creative. One of the most famous CosPlay groups is the Star Wars 501st Legion. They are a group that centers around Star Wars characters (of course), and they are very strict with Costumes. The 501st has members all over the world, and while they only allow “bad guy” star wars characters to join, they do a lot to help local charities and events. Even if you aren’t interested in joining the 501st, you could have them at your next event!

Here in Alabama, there are groups for Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more. The Alabama Fandom website can lead you to many of these groups, and you can learn more about them, and even join in the fun. This past weekend, the Alabama Ghostbusters were at DragonCon, and if you were there, you might have seen them in the parade. If not, you can see them in the video below along with many other CosPlay participants.

The Ghostbusters appear between 21:57 – 23:30.

So in the end, CosPlay, like many other hobbies, is about having fun. You make your costume, you dress as that character, and in the process you could even meet people who share the same interests as you and make many new friends. If you are interested in joining a CosPlay group, or just want to learn more about them, you can start with Alabama Fandom, or just do a google search for CosPlay groups in your area. Just remember, Have Fun!

Oh, and I said we would have a winner this week too…. Congratulations to the random winner (by coin toss) Jonathan! I will be contacting you about your prize.

The World’s #1 Hobby

Sep3

Have you ever wondered what the #1 hobby in the world is? No? Well I have, and from a little searching around I do believe I have figured it out. So without further ado,

THE WORLDS #1 HOBBY IS……. Reading!

You heard me, reading. Whether it’s reading books, the morning newspaper, magazines, comic books, etc, it seems that more people would rather sit down and read than plant a garden, scrapbook, or even collect stuff (hard to believe?). Since it’s so popular, let’s take a few minutes to take a little more in depth look at this wonderful hobby of reading.

Now when I refer to reading as a hobby, I’m not talking about reading road signs, instruction manual, or the typical things most people don’t enjoy. I’m talking about reading things for enjoyment. Among the items we may read for enjoyment, there are Books (which is a large category in itself), Magazines, Newspapers, and even Blogs (like this one!). These materials can be physically printed on paper or many other material, or they can be digital. It doesn’t matter what format you read in, it just matters that you enjoy it, and it’s easy for you to get.

Reading is not a hobby that requires a lot of preparation (other than actually knowing how to read). It’s as simple as finding an author, series of books, magazine, etc that interests you, and then read it, and continue to read it. If reading is for you, then you’ll find yourself not wanting to quit, or not being able to put that book down until you finish it. It’s a relaxing hobby that can lead you off into different worlds and let you imagination wonder. Best of all, there are many many sources of reading material out there for you, and many of them are free!

If you like books, you don’t always have to buy them. You can check the local libraries, or even get on the internet and look for books in the public domain that you can download for free. There are many great classic books that you can find in just a few minutes by doing a quick google search. If you like to read newspapers, you can also check out news websites. You can read the same things you would in the paper, but most of the time you can read it a lot sooner. Even with magazines, you can sometimes get the same articles online as you would on paper, and get it a lot sooner (although with online magazines, you may still have to subscribe).

But of course don’t forget blogs. There are so many blogs out there that can provide you with loads of reading material. Check out your favorite author’s website and see if they have a blog, or even go back to that wonderful website called google, and search for bloggers who write on topics you enjoy. There’s a chance you might have even found this blog that way. All together, blogs are a wonderful source of reading material, and with the great new devices out today that basically put the internet in your pocket, blogs are almost easier to get access to than books!

With all that in mind, if you are already a fan of reading, maybe you now know that there are other options out there that you may not have considered before. Get online and check out some different things if you haven’t already, and if you are one of those people who enjoys reading instruction manuals, you can find tons of those online now too (and for free of course!). So what’s holding you back from either starting to read, or increasing your “to read” list?

Now for the fun part. Use the comment section below to let me know what you like or dislike about reading. Maybe even suggest a book, magazine or blog for the rest of us to check out. What do you get from this you ask? Well, other than the obvious joy of spreading reading love to at least three or four other people, one random person will get a copy of my book “The Traveler.” I know it’s not much, but I bet it’s something you haven’t read yet, and if the winner wants, I’ll even write my name in it. It will be the only one like that in existence! So start commenting and next Friday we’ll have us a winner!

New, New New!!!

Sep2

That’s right, I have a new email address, a facebook page and a new twitter account just for Everybody Needs a Hobby! Now you can contact me at everybodyneedsahobby@gmail.com, and follow me at my facebook page and also at @enahobby!

Be sure to follow me for updates on new posts and other fantastically fun and amazing things! Oh, by the way, tomorrow starts the weekly in depth blog posts… and what better hobby to start with than the #1 hobby in the world? If you want to know what that is, then pay look out tomorrow!

More New and Exiting Features to Come!

Sep1

If you didn’t know, I spent this past weekend at a Conference in Dallas for Bloggers, Web Developers and Podcasters called Open Camp. I learned at lot, and met some great people, but most importantly I was encouraged by the speakers to continue to do what I’ve been doing and possibly even start some new stuff.

What does that mean for “Everybody Needs a Hobby!”? It means that the podcast is definitely NOT ending, and I’m going to be adding even more things that will be beneficial to anyone wanting to find a new hobby or learn more about your current hobbies.

First, because of my limited time (and unlimited ideas for other podcasts), the “Everybody Needs a Hobby” podcast will become a monthly thing. I’m not going to set a specific date of the month for it, so you may get it on any day of the month. That being the case, be sure and pay attention to facebook and twitter for new episodes (or just subscribe on itunes).

As for other features, the first is going to be a weekly in depth look at one aspect of a specific hobby. The hobbies will change every week, and what I focus on is also open to suggestion from you guys, so if there’s something you want to know about, LET ME KNOW!

I’m also going to be adding other little goodies like a twitter account, facebook page, voicemail (for fans to “call in”) and other things, so stay tuned. This thing is about to get kicked off again in grand style!