This weekend I'll be diving deeply into a world of alternate realities, colorful utopias, and overflowing buckets of borrowed imagination. I'm going to DreamCon in Jacksonville, a science fiction convention, where my inner geek can breathe free.
Science-fiction conventions (or "cons") are not just for social outcasts or dangerously introverted 37-year-old bachelors, of course, that's just a cliche perpetuated by people who have gone to one. But all of us have something we care strongly about despite the indifference of our peers or its relevance to "real life," whether it's the precise location of Harry Potter's scar, the earned run records for the 1956 baseball season, or the flight specifications of a Cyclon Raider from "Battlestar Galactica." Why not go someplace where you can talk about it with a few hundred people who agree with you, or at least disagree in an entertaining manner?
If you've never been to a con, here's a quick rundown of what you can expect.
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quote: If you stopped while reading this column and muttered, "Idiot, the cloud city scene was in 'Empire'," I'll meet you in the Dealer's Room. I'll be the one wearing the pointy ears.
Here I was thinking that test would include anyone who caught the misspelling of "cylon" (which includes myself) and you went and fixed it.
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Yup. Although I didn't have nearly as much fun as my buddy Alex. He has a just-shy-of-stalking obsession with Callisto, and he was behind me in line for pictures. I whispered in her ear about his interest, and when he stepped up she flung herself at him and just draped herself all over him. He managed to blush up over the top of his head.
[ June 09, 2004, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
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Wild! (At least) two different fan events that we were both at before we even knew you!
Say . . . you aren't the guy who bought her dress are you? o_O
Cor says we should have a Xena party sometime, but I'm afraid I'm not sure what that would entail . . . o_O
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I was at an anime convention and Yoko Kanno was there. It involved standing on a lot of long lines for a long time and people in cool costumes.
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One of the science fiction magazines had a calendar, but they probably don't mention stuff like Xena or comics.
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Cons are especially fun for women, especially if you have all your parts in the right place, weigh less than 400 lbs and have all your teeth.
It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Seriously, my sister dragged me to VulCon last year... and some guy in very convincing Klingon makeup/costume grabbed me out of the blue and started... growling in a lascivious manner. I pushed my sister at him and said, "She's the one who bites, take her!"
It was very amusing. As was this column, Chris. Nailed another one.
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Mmmmm... Cons... hundreds of hot, lonely, geeky people all crammed together in one hotel..."Oh! Rocky!" The stories I could tell... naughty seductive Telperion...
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two of my brothers usually run a table at comic cons, i haven't been to a con since i was very small, and it was a relatively small comic con, anyway. i missed the huge comic con by mere days in san diego that some of the hobbits and andy serkis attended. whoah that would have been sweet.
my brothers both got cool pictures with jim lee in chicago, though. so uh...yeah. hooray comics and sci fi?
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quote:is there a centralized sort of site that has a calendar for various comic/sci fi/fantasy conventions across the country?
if not there should be.
I found one a few months ago, listing cons and planned guests across the USA for the next 2 years, but the one I wanted to go to in Salt Lake was becuz Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin from Babylon 5) was gonna be at it, but he died, so I don't want ot go anymore. And I can't find that site again. But it was awesome. I just tried a quick google search. Seems lots of companies put out their OWN schedules, but not a compliation like that site had.
Hmm. Now I'm wanting to find that site again.
*goes off to search*
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My brother is going to a Harry Potter convention this summer, but I can't afford it! I'm extremely jealous.
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i gave my roommate in college a hogwarts style scarf for christmas, he loved it. i wish i had got one for my self. it would be neat if they could reconstruct a banquet hall for everyone to dine in
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I believe Jim Lee is a comics artist unrelated to Stan Lee...could someone with a better memory verify?
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