For centuries, the zvoncari (or bell ringers) of Croatia have donned animal heads and paraded through villages to frighten away the evil spirits of winter and stir up a new spring.
Given how interminable winter in Baltimore has felt this year, maybe it’s time to import the custom.
With Otakon – the massive celebration of East Asian pop culture held at the Baltimore Convention Center – now in its 20th year, we wanted an insider’s view of the action.
So we turned to Carrie Wood, who has been attending Otakon since 2002 and has been actively cosplaying (for the uninitiated, that’s when fans dress up as characters from their favorite TV shows or video games) since 2003. Here’s her take on Otakon 2013.
With thousands of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” fans flocking to Baltimore for the annual BronyCon convention, Baltimore Sun photographer and videographer Christopher T. Assaf wanted to look at the individual convention-goers.
To capture the true “brony” spirit, Assaf set up a black backdrop and took portraits of costumed “My Little Pony” fans using the Hipstamatic app on his iPhone. He also asked the subjects of these photos why they came to BronyCon and why they chose their various costumes.
With Comic-Con International well underway, swarms of geeks have taken to the streets of downtown San Diego. Clad in costumes of their favorite characters, fans of comic books, movies and TV shows cram into San Diego’s convention center to meet celebrities and attend panels and parties.
Zombies are having quite the cultural moment in 2012, with a host of parades and events celebrating the walking dead. With Halloween approaching, we look back at some of the top zombie moments of the year.
This past weekend the Maryland SPCA held their 17th annual “March for the Animals” in Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park. Along with the 1.5 mile walk-a-thon, there was a dog agility course, a “flea-less” market of pet friendly vendors, musical chairs for the dogs, and of course, a pet costume contest. Despite all the attention focused on this wonderful cause, I couldn’t help but wonder whether our four-legged friends love, or loathe, being dressed up for our amusement. Until someone develops a good bark-to-speech app, we’ll just have to settle on appreciating their cuteness, while throwing in a few extra treats for good measure.
Let’s take a quick look at the adorableness from last weekend along with other past pet-centric events.
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Baltimore street photographers
Year in review
Freddie Gray: protests, aftermath
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A. Aubrey Bodine
Viewing Baltimore from above