A lawn program at Balboa Park’s International Cottages today celebrated Norse history and culture. The House of Norway provided food and entertainment, and a visit from Viking explorer Leif Erikson (an actor)!
What I found most interesting, however, was a living history “encampment” on the International Cottages lawn. Costumed members of Wolves ov Odin were showing what Norse life was like in the 8th century!
Perhaps you’ve seen Wolves ov Odin at the annual Viking Festival in Vista, California. They are a group that portrays Danish Vikings that lived in the Jorvik region of present day York, UK.
As you can see, curious people converged on several tables to see and touch history.
Read the photo captions for a bit of what I learned…
Viking chain mail armor on display. I lifted one end and it was heavy! Those steel helmets in the background were heavy, too! Better a sore neck than a hole in the head!Creating chain mail by interlocking iron rings was a long process undertaken by Viking smiths. Iron was rare and chain mail shirts were relatively rare.A beautifully engraved but deadly Viking axe. I wish I had learned more about it.A simple sundial made of wood, which could double as a compass to aid in Viking ocean navigation. An X marks noon–I took this photo a few minutes before the shadow lined up with it!Making a replica Viking coin, using a length of modern steel tubing for hammering safety.I got my own, freshly minted pewter Viking Raven Penny of Anlaf Guthfrithson!Demonstrating a replica Oseberg Sprang Weaving Loom, a loom from the Oseberg ship, a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in 1904 in Norway.Combing and spinning wool with a hand spindle preceded tablet weaving and making Viking clothing and ship sails!The spindles were very simple.It never occurred to me that Viking sails were made by weaving!Beads were a sign of wealth among Vikings.A smile and sample of Viking life.
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Lila and Corey Cleary-Stoner led a clean up event in Balboa Park yesterday. They and a group of caring volunteers walked around the park, removing litter from San Diego’s beautiful crown jewel, making it shine.
What was unique about this clean up? Lila and Corey combine litter removal with performance art. To attract interest from those nearby, they wear full Japanese costume and call their performance Cleanup Kitsune.
The two got the idea for Cleanup Kitsune from their attending Renaissance Fairs in costume. Both are Japanophiles. In Japan, they explained as I watched them sort collected trash, people are very careful about keeping their world clean and healthy. Why not inject some of that ethos here in San Diego?
According to the All Goods website: Since their launch in June 2023, CleanUp Kitsune has removed and sorted approximately 45,000 pieces/280lbs of litter & through their waste organization stations have diverted over 2000 pounds of waste from landfills. CleanUp Kitsune is also the recipient of the 2024 Enhancing Ecosystems sPARK award by Forever Balboa Park.
I spent much of Saturday morning wandering around Balboa Park, meaning to find Lila and Corey doing their thing in costume. I failed!
But I did find both speaking to the CleanUp Kitsune volunteers at the conclusion of the day’s effort. We all learned what sorts of trash can be recycled. Then the sorting began!
Thank you all for “littering kindness!”
This is what I missed:
I did discover volunteers picking up litter…
Forever Balboa Park and some friendly superheroes joined the effort!
Look at all the trash they collected! That’s Lila and Corey speaking to the assembled volunteers…
UPDATE!
Lila and Corey have told me that with nearly 40 volunteers they collected a total of 110.51 pounds of trash in Balboa Park. They diverted 49.55 pounds of trash from the landfill by separating waste into the following categories:
Enjoy a collection of colorful photographs. I took them today during the Fiestas Patrias event in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
These young ballet folklórico dancers are from Gift of Dance, a school Where Love, Technique, Joy and Tradition brings Communities and Families Together!
I’ve seen this group at other San Diego events. When they perform, I feel that life is indeed good. All the troubles of this world melt away, and one can see how the human race might be. Simply joyful.
After a fun Fiestas Patrias parade around Old Town’s central plaza (in which the costumed dancers participated), two separate dance performances were staged on the grass. Onlookers enjoyed a variety of traditional Mexican baile folklórico folk dances, including La Raspa, Los Machetes, and even a Mexican Waltz. Beginning dancers included a two-year-old!
At the end of each performance, the audience was invited to come up and dance on the grass, too!
I hope these photos convey the joy…
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Hundreds of super creative cosplays could be seen all around San Diego on Saturday during Comic-Con 2024!
Enjoy another collection of fun cosplay photos taken as I wandered here and there outside Comic-Con in the San Diego summer sunshine.
There’s one more day to go. Hopefully offsite lines are shorter this Sunday–there are still a few activations that I haven’t visited!
Too much fun!
If you want to see even more, click here to view 150 cosplay photos taken during past San Diego Comic-Cons!
Venom and Carnage cosplay.Miles Morales cosplay.Helldivers cosplay.Zebra Batman cosplay! First time I’ve seen this!Deadpool cosplay. Very popular at SDCC 2024.Borderlands Psycho cosplay. Also popular in 2024.Moon Knight cosplay.Batgirl and Kite Man cosplay.Powerpuff Girls cosplay.Black Panther cosplay.King Mickey cosplay.The Purge cosplay.Thor and Jane Foster cosplay.The Last Airbender cosplay.Luz Noceda and Jumanji cosplay.Grand Admiral Thrawn cosplay.Mario family cosplay.Cyclops cosplay.Joker cosplay.Joker and Harley Quinn cosplay.Demon Slayer cosplay.Barf from Spaceballs cosplay!Super cool Alien cosplay at San Diego Comic-Con!Average Joe’s from Dodgeball cosplay.Peely from Fortnite cosplay. Very appealing!Pee-wee Herman cosplay!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Not only is San Diego Comic-Con back in full force for 2024, but the cosplay you can spot around downtown, the Gaslamp Quarter and convention center is plentiful, and frequently amazing!
Here are more cosplay pics taken outside during Comic-Con 2024. Simply walking around randomly is like journeying through a wonder world of fantasy and imagination…
Feast your eyes on another collection of cool cosplay photographs!
Rubik’s Cube cosplay.Wario cosplay.Captain America cosplay.Thor cosplay.Doctor Octopus cosplay.Deadpool and Wolverine cosplay.Beetlejuice cosplay.Hellboy cosplay.Wolverine cosplay.Mystique cosplay.Spock cosplay.Elektra cosplay.Static Shock and Captain Marvel cosplay.Green Lantern and Hawkgirl cosplay.Power Rangers cosplay.Animal the Muppet cosplay!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Costumes worn by actors in both the Doctor Who and Star Trek science fiction franchises are now being displayed in San Diego for Comic-Con 2024!
The free-to-the-public exhibition is titled Friendship is Universal. It’s located at two separate locations: 226 and 230 Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter. The original television and movie costumes fill the latter address, and that’s where I took these photographs yesterday afternoon. (I’m afraid I accidentally missed two Star Trek costumes as I moved through the exhibit–Seven of Nine and Kathryn Janeway.)
If you’re in San Diego during San Diego Comic-Con this year, check it out! The offsite activation opens each day at 11 am. There is a photo op and merch to be had at the second address, just a few steps away. The lines for both locations tend to be small.
If you can’t see these costumes in person, please enjoy some cool photos!
Through fifteen Doctors and their companions and over a dozen brave captains and their crews, we’ve traveled on journeys spanning the cosmos…
Doctor Who costumes:
Left: Amy Pond, Vincent and the Doctor Costume. Right: Eleventh Doctor, Various.Left: Yasmin Khan, Flux Costume. Right: Thirteenth Doctor, Various.Left: Fourteenth Doctor, 60th Anniversary Costume. Right: Donna Noble, 60th Anniversary Costume.Left: Ruby Sunday, Boom Costume. Right: Fifteenth Doctor, Boom Costume.
Star Trek costumes:
Left: Beckett Mariner, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Right: Brad Boimler, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.Left: Nyota Uhura, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Right: Hemmer, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.Left: Emperor Philippa Georgiou, Star Trek: Discovery. Right: Michael Burnham, Star Trek: Discovery.Left: James T. Kirk. Right: Spock.Visor used by Geordi La Forge.Hat and pipe used by Data playing Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Are you a fan of Harry Potter and the Wizarding World “Potterverse” characters, as they were portrayed in the popular movies? Enjoy these cool cosplay photos taken today in San Diego outside Comic-Con 2024.
Comic-Con’s fun Harry Potter cosplay group has returned!
I spotted the witches and wizards on MLK Promenade, not far from Children’s Park. They would afterward walk through the Comic-Con crowds, casting their magic wherever they turned.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Russell from movie Up cosplay in the Central Library’s special Cosplay Repair Station.
Are you attending Comic-Con 2024 in San Diego? Is your cosplay costume sadly torn, falling apart, or in need of repair? Head a few blocks over from the convention center to the San Diego Central Library–you know the building with the big metal lattice dome!
On the fourth floor of the Central Library you’ll find the Cosplay Repair Station. They have everything you could conceivably need. Sewing machines, tools, tape, different glues and adhesives, you name it!
I swung by the library today to take a peek inside…
You can even make your own cosplay repair kit and take it with you!
You can make buttons, too!
Got some swag you don’t like? Swap it for something better!
The Cosplay Repair Station is open during San Diego Comic-Con on Friday and Saturday 10 am to 4 pm, and Sunday from 1 to 4 pm.
And what’s more–down in the Central Library lobby, at the used book store, there are comics to buy for only a buck each!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Red Hood and Starfire cosplay during San Diego Comic-Con.
A whole lot of very cool cosplay could be seen today, Thursday, outside Comic-Con 2024!
Here’s a collection of 29 photos. I spotted these creative costumes as I walked around downtown San Diego, the Gaslamp Quarter and the San Diego Convention Center.
Enjoy!
Thor, Loki and Hela cosplay.I asked if this is Scarecrow cosplay, but I got a shake of the head.Rogue cosplay.Mystery Science Theater 3000 cosplay.Raven cosplay.Star Wars cosplay.Cinderella cosplay.Rogue cosplay.Mad Hatter cosplay.My Hero Academia cosplay.Batman with Beetlejuice cosplay.Indiana Jones cosplay.Grogu armor cosplay.Jack in the Box cosplay.Daredevil cosplay.Cobra cosplay.The Incredibles cosplay.Marvin the Martian cosplay.Dungeons & Dragons cosplay.Star Trek cosplay.Star Wars cosplay.Zatanna cosplay.Spider-Man with pirate hat cosplay!Wolverine cosplay.Warhammer cosplay.Iron Patriot cosplay.Spock cosplay.Wolverine cosplay.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
A fun Wizard of Oz cosplay photo meet-up was held today in San Diego for Comic-Con 2024. A small group in steampunk Wizard of Oz costumes joined a few other cosplayers near the Marriott Marquis fountain.
The gathering might have been small, but the cosplay was fantastic, as you can see from my photographs taken shortly after noon!
We’re off to see the Wizard…
Wizard of Oz cosplay at Comic-Con 2024 includes Tin Man, Glinda, Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and the Wicked Witch of the West!The great Wizard of Oz himself has brought along a small Glinda and Wicked Witch! And there’s another Wicked Witch! Yikes!What fun!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Cool San Diego Sights! 