Category Archives: Conventions

New and Updated

Emerald City ComiCon
CHS Otaku Fest
Supanova Pop Culture Expo
Realms Con
East Coast Black Age of Comics Con
Context 22
FenCon
Florida Extravaganza
Infinite Bits
Bubonicon 41
Ohio Science Fiction Film Marathon
Sci Fi Shows — London Expo
Dark X-Mas
Technicon 26
Aftershock 2009.2- Chain Reaction
Hanami
Enfilade
Hub Productions
Otaku Omaha
ConCom Con 16
Anime Next
Farpoint
HorrorHound Weekend
Northeast Filk Convention – ConCertino
Midwestcon 60
Trek Fest
North Carolina Gaming Con
Azkatraz
Infinitus

Alien Invasion

One of the more interesting costumes from last weekend’s Farpoint was a rather authentic looking Alien, that looked like it came straight out of the Sigourney Weaver movies.

An alien.

Very cool looking outfit, but I can’t help thinking it must have been rather warm. Nonetheless, he was in that costume for a while on Friday evening and most of Saturday afternoon and evening. He was having great fun with it though, “stalking” his prey (other attendees) and just generally acting the part.

I happened to be in the men’s room when the Alien walked in (thus settling the question of the gender of the person in the costume). He hissed as he walked past, and vanished into a stall.

The first thing to cross my mind was, “Now there’s a scene that didn’t make it into any of the movies.” The next thought was, “What if it had been an Alien in the next stall that Senator Craig had tapped toes with?”

I mentioned this series of thoughts to Todd Brugmans and in no time at all, his pencil was a flyin’.

Senator Craig's final mistake.

Bad Horse Rides Again

Wandering through YouTube this evening, I discovered that Bad Horse (or at least his chorus) made a string of appearances at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) back in August.

You Tube has a number of videos of their appearances, here they surprise Felicia Day (Penny) who was a very good sport about it.

I assume it’s a group of fans and not Nick Towne, Jed Whedon, and Rob Reinis. But whoever they are, they’re good. So does that mean they’re not qualified for the Evil League of Evil?

2008 Browncoat Ball Open for Bids

The Browncoat Ball Oversight Committee is currently accepting bids from groups wishing to host the 2009 Ball. Details are available [PDF] on the Chicagoland Browncoats website, but an important item to note is that bids are due by September 14. (Short notice I know. The first email I saw about this — on an established Browncoat mailing list — arrived yesterday. But hey, who needs lead time? This is all about the thrilling heroics!)

Past Browncoat Ball host cities:
2004 Chicago, IL
2006 San Francisco, CA
2007 Philladelphia, PA
2008 Austin, TX

Shopping for Zombies

Earlier this evening I received information about a new horror con called the “Zombie Fest.” Horror’s not my personal genre of choice (though I certainly won’t dispute its popularity), but this one caught my attention a bit more than usual.

The Zombie Fest is taking place in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, about 20 minutes from where I grew up. Most shows in Monroeville take place at the Expo Mart, but this one’s taking place in Monroeville Mall.

That’s an unusual location for a convention, though it’s certainly appropriate in this case. Back in the winter of 1976, George Romero filmed Dawn of the Dead there. (The plot summary on IMDB refers to the mall as “secluded.” It didn’t seem that way to me growing up, and much so less now the area has been even more built up.)

Off the top of my head, I’m not aware of any other conventions taking place in shopping malls. I just wish the ice rink was still there.

Going non-Postal

Ever since I started this convention list (would you believe it’s been nearly 10 years?) I’ve been reluctant to include events which didn’t have postal contact information.

A good deal of it was pragmatic, when I first started the list, it was for publication in a club’s newsletter. The organization claimed to have around 4,000 members, and at the time (10 years ago) it seemed pretty likely that a number of them wouldn’t have internet access and therefore wouldn’t have much use for convention information that didn’t include a postal address.

Things have changed since then. Internet access is common and an increasing number of conventions (particularly anime and gaming events) have chosen to forgo postal points of contact in favor of online registration and email for questions.

So as of today, the convention listings now include events which don’t have a postal point of contact. Those events won’t be included in the syndicated copies of the list, but in general this will make more information more easily accessible and it’s hard to see that as a bad idea.

What do you think? Is this an overdue adaptation to the way cons are run? Or does it open the door for problems?

Comment is invited. In the comment section below, on the Conventio.ning site, or if you’d prefer to talk privately, through the feedback page.

Conventioning

Conventioning, verb: A term used to describe any activity related to conventions, be it attending, organizing, or otherwise participating.

Fandom already has several gazillion blogs (including this one), and several gazillion more pages on various social networks. But so far, with all the various social network sites (MySpace, Facebook, etc), there don’t seem to be any social networking sites specifically for fans. (Or if there are, nobody’s invited me!)

So I’ve created the Conventio.ning network. Although the main focus is on the world of conventions, all are welcome.

It’s very small right now, but I’m hoping it will grow over time. Please stop by, check it out, and be sure to invite your friends!

The Conventio.ning web site can be found at: http://conventio.ning.com/

Getting Involved

Have you ever wanted to participate in a convention? Not just attend, but actually be a panelist, or maybe do a presentation for the children’s programming track? Or maybe there’s a killer topic you’d like to see discussed in an a panel?

Many of the conventions out there are looking for someone just like you! Programming chairs are always looking for suggestions on workshops and panel topics. And if it’s something you’d be willing to run, that’s even better! (Likewise, most gaming conventions are looking for people who would like to run a game.)

So how does this work? All you have to do is ask! Just visit the web site for your convention of choice, find the contact information for the event’s programming chair, and send them your idea.

That’s all it takes!