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20 Mar
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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Last year I found out about a little SF/fantasy con in Cincinnati called Millennicon. It just so happened that 2011 was the con’s 25th anniversary, so the Husband and I attended. We had an awesome time (read my con report from last year here) and so going back to Millennicon 26 was a no-brainer.
The con begins Friday afternoon, but what with babysitting considerations and all, we couldn’t get there before about 7:30 p.m. There was no line at registration (there wasn’t last year either). We’d pre-registered so picking up our badges and programs was incredibly simple and quick. The registration staff, at least at this point, was friendly and polite (unlike the veeeeeeery stressed registration staff you usually see at larger cons). Because we arrived so late we missed a couple panels that looked like they were interesting: Avengers vs. X-men and a Carcassonne match (all you Carcassonne players should be thanking your lucky stars too, because I am amazing at Carcassonne and would have handed all of you your asses). We weren’t able to stay for the dance, not because we’re too old to stay up past midnight- although we are- but because we had other plans. We don’t get babysitters very often, so we used to opportunity to see John Carter as well (notes: similar to the book, fun to watch, Woola is the best and most of the production budget probably went to buy self-tanning cream for the Red Martians). We stumbled into the house just before midnight so we could recharge for Saturday.
Saturday morning we arrived a bit late to the 10 a.m. panel Once Upon a Time There Was a Grimm. I hadn’t read the program description closely enough, so I was terribly disappointed to find out that the focus of the panel was two TV shows I had never heard of (we don’t watch TV- and I’m not being all superior here, we really don’t. We watch stuff on Netflix. Our little digital box isn’t even hooked up to the TV. No annoying commercials on Netflix). When I realized the panel wasn’t actually about fairy tales, the Husband and I made a slick getaway to the Art Show and Dealers’ Room. The Art Show was pretty impressive, lots of nice, reasonably priced artwork (lots of dragons). The Dealers’ Room is small but well-stocked, though I was saddened by the lack of used book sellers (there were a couple last year) and small presses (only one). Half of the room was taken up by steampunk costumery (is that a word? It is now), which doesn’t interest me in the least. There was also a new book dealer, a couple jewelry crafters and some art/stuffed shoulder dragons/fantasy weapons etc. booths. I bought a necklace to go with my awesome Gencon costume (check back in August to see the post-Gencon pics), and a CD by Tom Smith, a famous filker in the geek community and a hell of a funny, friendly guy. Last year he sang a song that almost killed me; literally, I was laughing so hard I almost choked to death. It’s about fairies. Here’s a video; ignore the dumb animated bits and just listen to the song. But not while eating or drinking anything.
We had lunch at the Max & Erma’s attached to the Holiday Inn. I had soup and salad, he had the biggest hamburger I have ever seen. Service was woefully slow, but we didn’t mind. I suppose they were short-staffed, and to be fair the menu notes that when buy the kind of hamburger my husband chose, it takes a little longer than a normal hamburger (my policy is that if I can’t lift it with both hands, I won’t eat it. He has no problem using utensils to eat a hamburger).
After lunch we hit a reading by local-ish lovable curmudgeon and multiple Hugo/Nebula award-winning author Mike Resnick. He read a couple stories; one a brand-new one he’d just sold that week, and the other an older one. He said it was his first award-winner (from the American Dog Writers’ Association, which should have tipped me off) and was called “The Last Dog” (another clue I should have fled). Instead I stayed, he read the story and I bawled like a little bitch with a skinned knee. Seriously. I can’t take dog stories. Here it is in audio, if you want to embarrass yourself in the privacy of your own home:
http://www.clonepod.org/2009/01/30/episode-27-the-last-dog/
After we fled, me wiping my eyes, we went to Coming Out of the TARDIS. It was a panel supposedly built around stories of geek ‘coming out’ experiences, and how people reacted to their revelations of geekery. I guess I have been lucky, or maybe I just tend to read my audience better (I’m not going to bring up Batman: Knightfall and the psychology of Azrael with the other library story time mommies, for instance, but I will with co-workers who are comic fans), or maybe I just don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of me, but I can’t say I’ve ever been shunned for being a fan. At any rate, halfway through an interesting discussion it got derailed into a debate about what was wrong with the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie and never really seemed to get hauled back on track.
After that was Short Story to Novel Transition, featuring Resnick and several other authors. I assumed it was a panel offering tips for short story writers to segue into novels (one of the panelists did try to do this, as she apparently assumed the same thing) but it was much more a debate about whether a new writer should start a career with a novel or by doing short stories first. Resnick, in classic style, seemed to be pissing off the rest of the panel by stating that new writers should start with a novel, should write what publishers ask for and never sell a story to any markets that don’t pay SFWA professional rates. While I thought his advice was wise-to an extent, if you want your career to be lucrative- I also thought he was coming from an older time. He doesn’t seem to take advantage himself of the opportunities offered by e-publication very often, which are a godsend to a new writer. But then, I have already violated all his rules, so perhaps I am biased. I always enjoy hearing him talk about writing, even if I don’t always agree with him. Resnick says exactly what he thinks, always, which is not a bad quality when you are trying to learn from him.
I then accompanied the Husband (a biochemistry researcher and Ph.D) to Science: Love It or Hate It. We, as you can probably guess, love it. None of the panelists were researchers, which is not knocking them, but the Husband had been interested in the opinions of other researchers on the first line of Science (we always pronounce it with a capital S). What we heard was rather the old generation war: young folks today aren’t interested in science, they have computers to do everything and can’t use slide rules/the abacus etc, CNN science articles are idiotic (well, we all agree there). The conversation might have come around to other topics, but the Husband wanted to slip out so we did. After peeking in at the Tom Smith concert (“I rule you, you rule me/Someone rules us secretly/It’s a vast conspiracy/the Illuminati Polka!”).
Next up was Shuttle: Reflections and Predictions, with the Guest of Honor, SF writer Tobias Buckell. The panelists seriously knew their shuttle history, but diverged when it came to the ‘predictions’ bit. The large audience was very involved and knowledgeable themselves…all except for me. Once the Science started being thrown around, my barely-functional brain bowed out. I got a whole scene written in my new werewolf story, though.
6 p.m. Was Winter is Coming, obviously a George R.R. Martin panel (more specifically, a discussion on how the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire was translated to the screen in the HBO series). I got to bitch about the lack of The Hound in the first season, so I was totally happy. There was also more interesting discussion on casting and predictions for the second season, which starts next month; we saw the first season after a wonderful friend DVR’d it and then recorded it on VHS for us- those were big, bulky things with tape in them that we watched before Hulu, kids.
Finally we ate dinner at Skyline. I am an anomaly in the larger world; I prefer watery, sauce-y, sweetish Cincinnati chili to real chili. I had a 3-way (I love to tell people this who don’t live around here, their eyes get really wide), a coney and a Pepsi. I always have to have a coney, no matter what else I am eating. I will make room in my stomach for a coney; anytime, anywhere.
We wandered back in time for a speculative poetry panel (specpo?), What Rhymes with Gamera (camera?). The Husband writes poetry and was intrigued by the idea of a market for specpo. The single panelist, Matt Betts, was super-knowledgeable (he’s a specpoet himself) and very willing to answer any questions. Even though I write prose exclusively (I have NEVER been a poet, I just can’t. Funny how things people tend to think of as easy- poetry, kids’ books- are usually the hardest to write), I thought the presentation was interesting and the huge packet of specpo resources and examples was interesting to read.
Then we hit the Masquerade. Millennicon is not a costume con by any means, and most of those costumers are RenFaire types or steampunk fans. The Masquerade had eight entrants, all of whom were quite good. It ended earlier than expected. I’d mentioned to my husband that I wanted to hit up MadLibs SlashFic (with a panel name like that, how could I not?) just to see what it was about, and then I would slip out. He declined to attend with me, which was too bad for him because instead of staying 15 minutes I stayed almost the entire hour. Originally I stayed because there was only one other audience member there and it would have been awkward to walk out, but pretty quickly I got into it, coming up with the most exotic verbs my decently expansive vocabulary holds. I think ‘exsanguinate’ was the evening’s winner (I didn’t mention to the very funny panelists that I learned it from an episode of The X-Files…you know, the one where the identical girls end up being clones of this mad scientist lady and kill their parents?). Eventually some other participants rolled in and I left, more because I pitied the Husband than because I wanted to leave.
Sunday morning we hit the con bright and early at 10 a.m. for Geek Pimp Squad. The program description was a little vague so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect (the name of the panel was definitely promising though). It turned out to be about how technology has seeped into every level of society; even janitors have to be computer literate to order new stock. The discussion covered what would happen, in our hyper-connected country, to the people who are unable or unwilling to learn, and which worker class ‘geeks’ mostly belong to (uhhh…retail worker here, and proud of it). It was a very interesting discussion.
After that we hit the art show and dealers’ room one last time; I bought a dragon print (by Theresa Mather, www.rockfeatherscissors.com) and the Husband bought a cool space print. I found a sparkly stuffed dragon for the toddler, which immediately became A.) the nemesis of The Superhero Squad and B.) the pet of the people who live in his Fisher-Price dollhouse. A real double identity there!
Last panel of the con was Death of the Bookstore. This subject is of particular interest to me because, well, I work at an independent bookstore. The large and involved audience discussed with the panelists the fall of Borders, the rise of e-books and the crushing blows dealt by Amazon. It definitely left me with a few things to think about.
After that, sadly, we were done with the con and had to return to real life (the babysitter-my mom- had to leave for the 2-hour drive home, bless her).
Millennion 26 didn’t entirely live up to my expectations, formed after last year’s con, but it was certainly a weekend well-spent. I had hoped for more writing-related panels or literary panels, but-as the saying goes- you have to be the change etc etc, so I’m thinking that next year I will fill out a handy programming submission form and host a couple myself. Maybe one about real fairy tales…
I’d like to thank a couple people for making my experience that much more enjoyable and useful: Denise Verrico, a Columbus-based author who kindly answered my questions about the women writers’ organization Broad Universe (admission application sent yesterday!) and Ariyana Dragonwagon, one of the MadLibs hosts who was a lot of fun and who complimented me on the dress I wore Sunday (vintage 70′s blue boho prairie, ebay, $15), and also Ramon Crespo (who must work every local con there is, as I have seen him at two others), who issued my initial invitation to Millennicon last year and who paused in his busy day to speak to me in the dealers’ room. People like you are the reason I love cons!
The Verdict: We’ll be back…
| Category: Events | Tag: con report, millennicon 26, photo essay |
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23 Aug
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed early again; my first panel wasn’t until 9 but my Saturday costume hairdo took even longer than my Friday costume hairdo. It was a brand-new shiny costume, too: original Mary Marvel, red dress, white cape, Mary Tyler Moore flip and all. I even packed Tawky Tawny in my bag (I had the brilliant idea of getting a Tawny on Wednesday night before we left, so part of my Thursday morning rush included finding a stuffed tiger). I got it all together with the help of a metric fuckton of hairspray, and we headed down to breakfast around 8:30. Immediately a lady asked for a picture, apologizing profusely for the early hour. Um, hello, I’m dressed like a superhero. I’m a total attention whore. Of course you can have a picture.
Shazam!
I had to grab a cinnamon-raisin bagel to eat on the walk to the convention center (it was too dry, no time for butter). We got there just in time for my first panel, about writing trilogies. It was entertaining, but didn’t tell me much that I didn’t know (like, second books tend to be slow so throw in some new badass conflict to keep readers engaged etc.).
Then there was a panel about the slush pile. This is the mountain of unsolicited manuscripts that editors have to look at every day and sometimes they yank one out at random and read it, then either send a form rejection or pass it along to possibly be published. The editors on the panel attempted to explain what makes a manuscript attractive to a slush editor, and the answer is that there is no specific answer so just write whatever you want. Which I was planning to keep doing anyway. There was one great story from an editor who, while just starting out in the early 1980’s, was told by his chief editor to call an author and tell him that if he completely rewrote his story, the magazine would print it…the poor guy said, “You want me to call Poul Anderson and tell him to rewrite his story?!”).
After that I had a couple hours so I grabbed lunch (chicken strips from A&W…God, A&W root beer is like sex in a plastic cup). Now here is where I am going to tell you about my Mary Marvel costuming experience. I chose Mary because A) she doesn’t dress like a total skank and B) even though I love the grit and the darkness and the raping and the murdering of modern comics, sometimes I like to sit back and read stories about squeaky-clean heroes who catch bank robbers and Communist spies, and Captain Marvel and his peeps are pretty much poster children for that kind of old comic. If I had a nickel for every time someone screamed “Shazam!” at me that day, I would be goddamn Scrooge McDuck. If I had a nickel for every old comics fan I made happy, I would probably have enough to go to dinner at a pretty restaurant. If I had a nickel for every time someone asked if I was the Flash’s sister, I might be able to get a can of soda.
It wasn’t all old men, either. Two Italian kids who looked like they were barely legal in the US were thrilled to see me, and a teenage girl discussed the Marvel family with me at length. It was gratifying to see how many people still love the old stories.
Old-skool
Solve this shit...
I also got hit on. Only once, but I never get hit on, even at cons, so it was noteworthy. The guy looked like a homeless vet, smelled terrible, and talked like a stoner. Now, I’m about a level 58 hippie. I recycle. But this guy had capped out. I extricated myself gracefully (I kicked him in the shins and screamed “Stranger danger!” before running away).
More writing panels; The Part-Time Writer (I am a full-time mommy, part-time payroll employee, part-time housekeeper, part-time cook and gardener, part-time writer) on how to fit writing into the rest of your life (I think I do a pretty good job of it but the panel was funny at least). Then Twenty Ways to Kill Your Novel, Trends in Terror, and Publishing in the Post-Paper Era (I am all for e-publishing!). It was a three-panel run. More ass numbness.
A couple of the husband’s friends were at Gencon that day, so we met up for dinner at 7. There is a certain Geek Comfort Zone around conventions; if you stray more than about 6 blocks from where the convention is being held, you risk exiting the Geek Comfort Zone and freaking out the locals. We stopped into a couple restaurants stuffed to the seams with geeks, only to find out that the wait was waaay longer than my 3-inch heeled boots could stand. So we finally went to this place called Jillian’s. We were seated immediately. YES! Then we waited. And waited. And waited. All told, it took us almost an hour to get our food. We ate (yummy pizza), then waited and waited and waited for our check. So the entire dining experience took nearly 3 hours. But it was OK. Because Jillian’s was showing UFC fighting.
Now, I hate fighting sports. I hate boxing. My son can do anything he wants with his life, except be a boxer. He’s too pretty to box. I have never even seen real boxing, but I saw Rocky and The Fighter and that was enough for me. So I thought UFC fighting would also disgust me, and I never watched it. But I had to the when the TV was literally right next to my face.
And I discovered something. UFC fighting is fucking HOT. It’s basically two dudes slugging each other, but at some point they ALWAYS (and usually sooner rather than later) end up grappling on the floor and it totally looks like they’re banging. Even the expressions on their faces are sort of roughly orgasmic. The friends claim it’s not gay even though balls are touching because there is no eye contact. No, but only because one guy has his head nestled against the other dude’s chest.
After the revelation we left, because it was almost 10 p.m. and I wanted to see Cardhalla go down. Unfortunately we were near the back of a crowd and I am only average height for an American female so I didn’t see much. We tossed a few coins though, yay for charities.
We did a little more wandering, then headed back to the hotel for sleepytime. First we stopped at Starbuck’s and I tried the coconut crème drink thing. Delish. Except for the shipped cream they use, I know it’s real whipped cream but it turns my stomach a bit. I prefer Cool Whip (even though I have read the ingredient list on Cool Whip about fifty times and still don’t know what it’s made of).
Here is a list of all the shit I ate that weekend that I shouldn’t have:
A&W chicken strips and fries
Not one but TWO plates of food court Chinese food with eggrolls
Not one but TWO pricey Strabucks milkshake-like things
Half of a pepperoni pizza dripping with grease and mozzarella strings that hung between your mouth and the rest of the pizza
And…actually that’s it. I thought it was worse than that. Guess I can go eat that bag of iced animal cookies I bought at the dollar store now (you know the ones. Not the low-fat slightly-sweet animal crackers your parents gave you. The ICED ones you really wanted).
One more day to go!
| Category: Events | Tag: Events, gencon 2011, report |
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13 Aug
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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On Friday I got up at the ass-crack of dawn (and by that I mean 6 a.m.) because I am just that dedicated to geekery. And I had to get my costume on.
Usually I just cosplay shit because it looks cool. This time, I had another reason. My friend Gina loved The Lord of the Rings. She loved the books since she was a kid and loved the movies and everything about the whole mythology. And when she passed away in April, after a short but vicious battle with cancer, she left me her replica of the Evenstar from the movies. I wanted her to see me put her gift to good use, so I cosplayed Arwen on Friday, Evenstar and elf ears and all.
After a quick but yummy breakfast at the Fairfield (bagel and fruit…with loads of butter and honey, what do you take me for, some kind of health nut?), we headed to the convention center. For some reason I thought it would be awesome to have three panels in a row between 8 and 11 a.m. The first was The Name Game, where several small-press authors chatted about how they named the people and things and titles of their books (My pet peeve? Fucking apostrophes. If every one of your characters has at least two apostrophes in their names, you are stupid. I’m looking at you, Robert Jordan). Entertaining, but nothing I didn’t know or that isn’t common sense, like, don’t give two main characters names that start with the same letter, because that’s just a pain for everyone). The next panels were about small presses and editing novels, also entertaining but hardly revelatory.
Statue of some guy in some books I;m pretty sure no one reads
At that point my ass was good and numb, so I hobbled to my pointy-shoed feet and met with Shapiro Keats for lunch in the mall attached to the convention center. The food court was packed with an interesting mix of geeks and normal people who looked vaguely disturbed by the geeks. We ate at Johnny Rockets, this fake chrome 1950’s diner-place that has pretty good hot dogs and cute waitresses. There was this little girl there with her family or something and she kept staring at me. It was awesome. I mean, who’s not going to stare at Arwen cramming a hot dog down her gullet?
After lunch I went to my first Spouse Activities panel. They do these so the wives of the hardcore geeks can come and do stuff related their slightly-less geeky pastimes (most of the panels seem to involve costuming or RenFaire shit). Since I also do costuming and RenFaire shit, I thought I’d check some out.
Noon was the Snood-Making workshop (those little nets women at RenFaires put their hair in). Every RenFaire we attend seems to be hotter than the inside of a rocket engine, I figured I could use something to out my hair back. The girls doing the panel were obviously experienced crafters and very nice, but they pretty much gave us combs, nets, beads and wire and told us to go for it. I don’t know if everyone else in there already had snood experience, or if I just suck that hard, but I got nowhere with all that stuff. I won’t post a picture because it looks like a pack rat’s nest, all tangled up. I will not be opening a snood shop anytime soon, let me tell you.
I left myself four hours on Friday to explore the Exhibit Hall and wander the con. I’m glad I did, because the Exhibit Hall easily took two hours to get through when it wasn’t even that crowded. There were booths selling everything: kilts and corsets and gaming stuff and leather contraptions with buckles and anime stuff and art and books…I managed to keep my wallet closed the first time through, but the second time I just had to pick up a Captain Marvel t-shirt for me (and a matching one for Gohan. What? It might be lame, but I figure I only have a couple more years where I can make him do lame stuff like wear matching superhero t-shirts with me, before he learns to hate me). Cincinnati’s own Iron Wind Metals was there, so I rummaged in their bulk bins and came up with a sweet-ass dinosaur and a kirin- I’m one of those painters other painters hate, because I don’t play anything; I just buy and paint stuff I like. And of course I had to stop and get a shot with my boyz from Troma. I also had to drop by the Doctor Who booth and see if it really is bigger on the inside than the outside…if you know what I mean.
Troma-tized!
Hello? Anyone home?
I kept on the lookout for costumes and found this cute Zatanna trying on a hat, and this awesome mini-Cap. But even though there were lots of costumes, few of them interested me…because I can’t fucking stand steampunk, and about 85% of the costumes I saw were steampunk, another 5% were people’s RPG characters and the rest were pirates. There were some cool ones but I had rotten luck catching them; I chased an American McGee’s Alice through half the convention center and never did manage to catch up with her.
We hit up a Chinese food court place for dinner (damned free bourbon chicken samples) and I headed to Michael Stackpole’s Plotting Seminar. I suck balls at plotting, so I hoped it would help. He laid things out in a very easy-to-understand way; unfortunately the antibiotics I was on made me really drowsy about 5:30 so I spent part of the seminar in a haze. I hope the people next to me didn’t notice me almost dozing. So embarrassing!
At 6 was another Read and Critique. This was fun again, and useful, but took waaaaay too long for the number of participants. The panelists apparently all knew each other and were friendly so there was a LOT of repartee that didn’t mean much to me.
Anyway, I was finished around 10 and Shapiro Keats was still kicking the asses of tiny metal mecha (aka Battletech tournament) so I decided to chill in the hallway. Magic: The Gathering had set up a cool little booth with beanbags, and since no one appeared to be playing Magic there I flopped down. There was another guy playing on his DS or something, and he kept turning around to look at me every few minutes. Maybe he was trying to get up the nerve to ask me to have coffee with him? Or maybe he just thought I was a total weirdo. The Magic booth was right across from where a local massage place was offering cheap massages for tired, tense gamers. Nice touch.
He gamed too long! Stay hydrated, kids!
Shapiro Keats finally got out and we walked back to the hotel. There’s a walkway to the Marriott across the street (had to go back outside to get to the Fairfield, but at least we didn’t have to cross the very busy street) and lo and behold, there’s a Starbucks in the hotel. I’m not sure why I was surprised, because they’re like coffee kudzu. A few months back I went into a Starbucks for the first time. I don’t even drink coffee, but they had these milkshake-like things that were fucking delicious. I figured it was Gencon so I could be a total pig. I got one, all 3,000 calories and $6. What the Hell.
The weird thing about Friday was that my feet hurt like a motherfucker when I got back to the hotel. My Arwen shoes are basically ballet flats, but they dug into my left toe (I have a bunion there, to be fair) and my heels were raw. I was a little nervous about the next day, because my Saturday costume had 3-inch heels. But I wrapped some thermal pads around my poor feet and tried to sleep (note to thermal pad makers: make really long, thin ones people can wrap around their feet).
And then came Saturday.
| Category: Events | Tag: gencon 2011 report |
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9 Aug
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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We have returned alive and mostly well from Gencon 2011! This is a big fat deal since it was my very first Gencon ever and the first time in years that Shapiro Keats (the husband) has been able to attend all weekend.
Thursday morning before we left I got to go to the doctor and get more antibiotics for a sinus infection that just won’t quit (although I suspect some of my problems are due to TMJ, not the infection). This was OK but I felt like a drug addict all weekend popping these pills, four or five a day, and one of them tasted like potting soil (seriously nasty). We finally left the hobbit with Grandma about noon and took off for Gencon, blasting Rob Zombie and MC Chris and all the other profane stuff you can’t usually listen to when you have a kid. Right around the time we hit Indianapolis, Shapiro Keats decided to introduce me to his new favorite band, Sun. Now, if you are a demon who resides in the darkest crevasse of the Earth, you will probably like Sun a lot. If you are, say, me, you will most likely find it horribly disturbing on a molecular level.
We arrived at our hotel, the Fairfield Inn and Suites near the Indianapolis Convention Center, about 3:30. There was no wait to check in and everything went smoothly. I was delighted to discover we got a free continental breakfast. Hey, the Marriot was slightly closer and swankier, but they certainly don’t give you free food!
We made our way to the convention center, which has the weirdest statue ever in front of its doors. There are two turtle/Monopoly man/Shriner things standing on a big money bag, and some half-formed doughy creatures taking their picture. I suppose I could look it up and see what it means, but I think I’d rather remain in the dark.
I was worried about the will-call wait time, because the last time we went to Dragoncon and preregistered, we ending up languishing in line for 3 hours, and last year my friend waited for 6 fucking hours. But Gencon is either smaller (Shapiro Keats says it’s bigger) or they have magic organization kung fu, because we were in the line and out in 15 minutes. The first thing we saw after getting out of the line was a big Lego Minotaur. It seemed like a good omen.
Shapiro Keats escorted me around the joint (this convention center is nice…huge wide halls, everything very new and crisp). We found the Giant Hall o’Miniatures Gaming, the Exhibit Hall, Cardhalla, and these crazy Battletech simulation pods. Which seemed really popular even though being shut up in tiny little cubicles and forced to pretend to kill other robots kind of freaks me out.
We hit up Subway for dinner and got back to our 6 p.m. panels. The husband had a Battletech Tournament and I had a Read & Critique panel. In the Read & Critique panel, you bring in some of your work, read it for 5 minutes in front of 4 professional authors, and then stand still while they stomp the shit out of your dreams. Luckily for me, I have been doing this for a long time and have skin like a fucking rhinoceros. The great thing is, with four people critiquing you, half of them will have one opinion and the other half will have the exact opposite opinion. So you can really pick and choose who to believe.
The panel was scheduled for 2 ½ hours but took 4 (now I know for next year…and there will be a next year). I met up with Shapiro Keats and we walked past this giant troll statue on the way back to the hotel. Then we watched half an hour of Goldeneye and went to bed at 11:30 because we are lame and old.
Friday was even wackier, trust me.
No way troll, these are MY Ruffles!
And yes, that’s a Jayne hat, no, I don’t even like Firefly. I just like the hat.
| Category: Events | Tag: gencon 2011 |
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7 Aug
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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Just dragged ourselves back from Gencon. It’s going to take a couple days for me to get my day-by-day photo essays together, so to tide you guys over here is a quick rundown of the really important shit:
Major Lesson Learned: If you are wearing a short skirt and also carrying a heavy bag on one hip, constantly check that hip to make sure the heavy bag isn’t making your short skirt ride up. No one needs to see that.
Number of Utilikilts Counted: 24 (although I am not sure about one of them, it might have been just a pair of really baggy shorts)
Number of Times People Yelled “Shazam!” at Me While I Was in Costume on Saturday: I lost count at 40.
Minor Lessons Learned: I will never open a snood-making shop, and making handmade cards is really fucking boring.
Number of Battletech Tournaments Played by Shapiro Keats: 2
What I Am Excited About: The Munchkin Axe Cop game.
| Category: Events | Tag: con report, gencon 2011 |
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2 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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Ed and I discuss what we’re looking forward to checking out at Gen Con 2011! We talk seminars, cool stuff to buy (hint: Burning Wheel Gold and the Mouse Guard Box Set!), Games on Demand, and the 2011 Gamerati Tour!
Show Notes:
- Gen Con Indy
- Burning Wheel
- Action Castle
- Jeff Miracola
- The Eye of Argon
- Burning Wheel Gold
- Bulldogs
- Diaspora
- Mouse Guard Box Set
- Stealing Cthulhu
- HP Podcraft
- Dungeon World
- Adventurer Conquerer King
- Epic Table
- The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild
- Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple
- Games on Demand
- Gamerati Tour 2011
- Yottaquest
- Gateway Games and More
(Note: The Fogo de Chao deal we mentioned is not happening until after Gen Con, therefore I edited that portion out and have replaced the file accordingly. Sorry to anyone who was hoping to take advantage of that…)
| Category: Events, Podcast | Tag: Events, gaming, gen con indy, roleplaying games, yellow menace gamecast |
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26 Jul
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Posted by Musashi
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Ed Healy (Atomic Array, Iron GM) will be in Cincinnati on Tuesday, August 9th to kick off the Gamerati Tour 2011! This is a one-day event to raise awareness about and celebrate gaming; Ed will be hitting two local game stores – Yotta Quest in Mt. Healthy and Gateway Games and More in Eastgate. If you live near Cincy, come on out and help us make this thing a big success…we’re hoping to bring in as many gamers, gamer media personalities, and game professionals as we can.
Better yet, do what you can to spread the word – Ed’s launched a new site at http://tour.gamerati.com to help promote the tour. Share the link and help us kick this sucker off! The fun starts at 10am at Yotta Quest, with the second event kicking off at Gateway Games at 5pm. Hope to see you all there!
| Category: Events | Tag: Events, gamerati, gamerati tour 2011, gaming |
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22 Mar
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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I’ve lived in the Cincinnati area for more than two years now, and for some reason this is the first year I’d heard about Millennicon.
There were many reasons for me to attend Millennicon. For instance, it’s a literary SF con (reading and writing: not just for fags). It’s close (1/2 hour from my house). 2011 was the 25th anniversary; I figure any con that has survived for 25 years is probably pretty neat. And- this is the big one- they gave me a free press pass, my first ever.
And now I have one more reason to go back to Millennicon: it fucking rocks.
There are some cons that are fun, but hectic- Dragoncon comes to mind- where you waste more time running between four different hotels to make your panels than you actually spend in panels (doesn’t help that crowds make me twitchy). None of that at Millennicon. The entire con took up two halls on the first floor of the Holiday Inn Express in Mason, and part of the 12th floor. The rest of the hotel was host to the teams in some kind of teenage soccer tournament, as we learned by sharing an elevator ride with a couple of bewildered soccer dads.
We arrived Friday night around 9 p.m. (the con officially started at 4, but you know, babysitting). There was a slight delay at the registration table, because there was only one registration staff member working, but it was no big deal. I picked up the promised press pass (in hot pink) and Shapiro Keats got his badge, and away we went.
Unfortunately we arrived so late that we missed the panels we’d wanted to see: specifically, a panel on how most authors have day jobs, and a panel intriguingly titled “Creepers” (how not to be one, how to get rid of them). We were also beat, so we wandered around and figured out where everything was for Saturday, then headed home.
Saturday we got there bright and early at 11 a.m. for “How Electrons Changed Reading and Writing”, a panel on how e-books are taking over the universe and how technology makes it easier (or not) to write. Mike Resnick is a very entertaining curmudgeon, incidentally, and Tobias Buckell is simply adorable.
I managed to talk Shapiro Keats into attending “Consocialogy 210” with me. To explain: apparently Millennicon has a series of panels on How Not to Be a Freak, which is a great idea and could be even more useful at Dragoncon, where I had a man dressed like Indiana Jones stare down my shirt for a full 15 minutes once. We missed the Friday panels on how to meet people at cons and how to act normal. “Consocialogy 210” hopped it up a level to Flirting. I intended to sneak in, listen in a bit (not that I need help with flirting, of course, it was all in the interest of being a thorough YM correspondent), but the presenter, a massive man in full Scottish regalia named Peter Beer Slayer (seriously, that’s what the program said) forced me to sit in a circle with two other women and three men, and eventually the husband worked up the nerve to join me. And…it was kind of fun. And surprisingly useful, because, as Peter Beer Slayer explained, flirting is not just about trying to get laid, it’s about making connections. And boy do I need some connections, because my son is going to have to play with other kids, which means I have to interact with other parents, and I don’t actually like other people very much so I have to learn to fake it.
This man can teach you to flirt.
By then it was 1 p.m. and we were starving so we went to the Max & Erma’s that is connected to the hotel. We sat next to Robert J. Sawyer, who was the guest of honor this year. I had a chicken sandwich. Shapiro Keats ordered something called The Garbage Burger. It was seriously about 6 inches high, I measured with my fingers. And he ate it all.
Then we hit up “Medical Ethics of the 21st Century”. Genetics was the big topic here, as you can imagine, and particularly gene therapy, cloning, making it so all your kids are girls or have blue eyes or can play ice hockey etc. I was glad that the panelists emphasized that none of this stuff is going to happen anytime soon. There was some minor debate when an audience member claimed that redheads were persecuted and murdered in Britain so they couldn’t pass on their devilish hair color, but that was the only hint of crazy I heard all weekend, really.
I wanted to see the little kiddies in their costumes at the Costume Parade at 5 (Millennicon has a LOT of programming for kids), so we killed time before then by going to the Tom Smith concert. Tom Smith is a filker, and in the con world he is the Mick Jagger of filkers, so I’m not sure why I’d never heard of him before. He’s very, very funny though, with songs about demonic sheep horror movies, Firefly, Harry Potter’s dead parents and- the one that had me laughing until I couldn’t breathe- killing fairies (I fucking HATE fairies).
Then came “SF & the Television Industry”, in which Robert J. Sawyer talked about why Flashforward failed, and everyone reminisced about their favorite SF series that died too soon, Firefly being the main one. Hello people, VR5?? Seriously.
We saw the costume parade, which was every bit as cute as I’d anticipated, and went out for a quick dinner. And all the nice old people in Skyline at 6 p.m. didn’t even blink at my red-and-black-striped knee socks and Thor’s Hammer necklace, which I found slightly disappointing. But maybe they were too consumed by jealousy of my fashion sense and couldn’t bring themselves to look at my striped pagan awesomeness.
Coming back from dinner, we saw this.
Rock on, tiny Catbus car.
When we got back we hit the Art Auction, where everything was way too expensive for a scientist and a stay-at-home mom/writer to afford (although I did get a good look at the gentlemen who extended the offer of a Press Pass, Chris Barkley, who at a distance has an uncanny resemblance to a younger Laurence Fishbourne- not like Apocalypse Now young, but younger than CSI).
Which reminds me of Ramon. I met Ramon in the hall between panels; he is a staffer and is also the guy who read YM and saw that I intended to attend Millennicon, and thus talked Chris into hunting me down and forcing me to come for free. So thank you Ramon, you are a gracious gentlemen and I am giving you a holla.
After the auction came the masquerade. Now, Millennicon is NOT a costume con- sad for me, since I love costumes, but it fit the informal, mature atmosphere. The masquerade only had about 7 or 8 entrants, mostly variations on military uniforms/steampunk/Renfaire (there were a couple Klingons wandering around all weekend, but they weren’t in the masquerade). My favorite entrant was a little boy dressed like the fat kid in Up, but unfortunately I can’t post a photo here because, well, he’s a kid and that might be creepy. And even if I didn’t attend the panel on how not to be a creep, I still know a little about it.
Shapiro Keats didn’t want to stay for the karaoke. I don’t know why he doesn’t like karaoke, because I think it’s hilarious. I can pretty guarantee that I sing 10x worse than anyone singing that night, but at least I don’t flaunt it. We headed home.
I don’t like Firefly particularly, but my friend made my kid a Jayne hat that is big enough to fit me, so I wore it on Sunday. What? It’s not like he wanted to wear it; he hates hats with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns (also scarves, mittens and meat of any kind).
Sunday was nonstop. At 10 a.m. we hit the “Small Publishers & the Author Partnership”, which was very, very useful to me as a writer (we stopped in the dealer’s room to talk to Stephen Zimmer later; he was one of the presenters and works with Seventh Star Press). They pretty much convinced me that small press is the way to go, at least for me; it might be less money, but it’s also less bullshit.
We stuck around for “The Best Science Fiction I’ve Never Read”, which was run by two book dealers, including one from whom we’d bought a couple (okay…several) books over the course of the weekend. They didn’t stick on topic; the lady book dealer talked more about fantasy (especially urban fantasy, which I loathe), but it was interesting enough. Then we had a break for lunch at Max & Erma’s again (French onion soup FTW) before “Horror, Romance, SF & Fantasy”, a panel about just that.
And then it was over and we had to go back to our boring daily lives. Ah, well.
It’s not often that I get to attend a con where I am one of the youngest people there (I’m 32, if you’re interested), but that was the case with Millennicon. Most of the attendees were of the gray/dyed hair variety, but there were also plenty of people with kids of their own (in fact, I think Gohan will be old enough to go next year, at least for a while, so I…uh, he can show off his Doctor Who outfit). The entire thing is laid back; there’s no skankily-dressed people leading around other skankily-dressed people on dog leashes, no drunk Starfleet officers stumbling into walls, no shrieking teenagers and only a few pairs of boobies wrenched to heights nature never intended (seriously ladies, if you could look down and suffocate in your own cleavage, maybe you should loosen that corset a bit). The dealers’ room was small but quality; small presses, handmade stuff and- best of all!- lots and lots of books. We ended up adopting 11 used titles, for the low low price of $2-$3 apiece. Sure, we need more books like we need holes in our respective heads, but if you tell me you can resist a stack of out-of-print Zelazny, you’re a filthy liar.
You could have the Klingons put people in disco jail and then donate to charity to get them out. I told Shapiro Keats I wouldn't divorce him if he did that, but I would murder him.
One last comment concerning Root Jack. Root Jack is a kind of soda, root beer flavored with orange and Vitamin C to ward off scurvy. The label has a pirate wench on it, and the stuff was ice cold, so I had to try a bottle. It tastes like medicine. Seriously. Shapiro Keats tells me that sailors used to drink ale or something augmented with vitamin C, and I can guess it was only slightly worse than drinking Root Jack.
The Root Jack failed to leave a bad taste in my mouth, however, since the rest of Millennicon was so damn fun. I’ll be back next year with a vengeance, Ramon and Chris, so load up that dealers’ room with used New Wave SF novels and get Peter Beer Slayer on the line.
Final note: while Millennicon has a few anime panels and a full-time gaming room, don’t expect it to be much of a presence of all. There are also art demos and panels and an art show, but the con is primarily literary in focus, so if you don’t read or write, you might be bored. But then, if you don’t read or write you probably have bigger problems than being bored at Millennicon.
Nex year Millennicon...next year.
| Category: Events | Tag: cincinnati, con report, millennicon, ohio, photo essay |
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17 Mar
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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Damn you guys, sorry I’ve been MIA…well, all week actually. The Khouri household has been out of its routine due to the fact that my not-even-two-year-old has decided to stop taking naps. This means 14-hour days for Mommy with no Internet breaks during the day (I work from home so I have to spend my ‘leisure time’ in the evenings doing my job).
Anyway, the news for today is that this weekend I will be attending a con in Cincinnati called Millennicon. It’s been around for 25 years so I figure it must be pretty good; it’s literary SF-based (yay!) but also has panels on anime, gaming, actual science etc. Shapiro Keats and I should be there all weekend, give or take a few hours, so keep an eye out for the woman in pink tights and totally cute sparkly shoes. My Mary Marvel costume won’t be ready by this weekend so I have to resort to clothes about a decade too young for me.
I’ll be putting up a photo essay afterward, of course, so you can see everything you missed. We’ve got a pretty full con schedule this year: Anime Punch, GenCon (the whole staff should be there!), Sugoicon, plus assorted RenFaires and shit.
| Category: Events | Tag: cincinnati, millennicon, ohio, science fiction convention |
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9 Nov
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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The last year I attended Sugoicon was 2007. I remember not enjoying it very much; the venue was small, there were far too many hysterical teenagers and most of the panels were not well-run. I am not sure what happened since then: either the con has improved, or taking a break from the anime con scene has mellowed me out. But Shapiro Keats and I decided to hit Sugoicon 2010, which ran this past weekend, November 5th-7th.
The con is still held at the same venue: the Drawbridge Inn in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. This place is going for some kind of medieval theme, and it mostly succeeds: the halls are narrow, the walls are wood-paneled, and there are low ceiling beams and random suits of armor stuffed into corners. They had some trouble naming the conference rooms though; there were panels in the Woden Room and the Grendel Room as well as the Tudor and York Rooms. Seriously people, find an era and stick with it.
Hey, how's it goin'?
I tramped over the Drawbridge on Friday afternoon, Gohan in tow, to pick up our badges (Shapiro Keats, Musashi and I were scheduled to run a couple panels). The place was already crowded, and it already smelled like a con (you know what I mean- flesh and sweat and Pocky). There was a hellacious line for…something. I hauled my son to Con Ops for the badges, only to discover they were at Registration, and the hellacious line was for…Registration. Gah! A wasted 20-minute drive with a toddler.
This is where the Angel of Con Gofers comes in. He personally walked me from Con Ops to the Registration Table, escorted me past the line, and made sure the very nice Registration lady got me and Shapiro Keats our badges. I don’t know if I had some serious puppy-dog eyes (I could NEVER have stood in that line- some people claim they were there almost four hours!- with Gohan) or of Gohan was just that cute, but I can’t tell this guy, whose name I sadly don’t remember, what a great and awesome human being he really is.
Since you can’t really expect a 15-month-old to sit quietly through a panel on Tezuka, and because the joint was so crowded that getting around with a kid in your arms was a serious problem, I headed home to wait for Shapiro Keats to vacate the lab and for his mom to arrive (she had babysitting duty this weekend while we rock and rolled all night and partied every day). Around eight Shapiro Keats and I went back to the Drawbridge to see what was up. What was up were a zillion kids who were mainlining Red Bull and Pixie Stix directly into their veins. I’d forgotten (or repressed) images from past cons, of kids forlornly holding pieces of notebook paper that offered or requested hugs, in ballpoint pen. I wasn’t sure if me hugging one of these kids would be considered statutory rape in Kentucky, so I refrained. And shoving them into a suit of armor would probably be considered assault (seriously, they were taking up space in the already narrow hallways).
We checked out Artist Alley and were suitably impressed by the talent on display, looked for cosplays we could recognize (there weren’t any, we’re a little behind on the times) and watched an episode of Kenichi, The Strongest Disciple (amusing) and an episode of Narima Daikon Brothers (funny at first, but holy shit…people breaking into song and dance works in a Broadway musical, I guess, but in an anime it’s just tedious, especially when it happens every two minutes). We’d intended to stay for Anime Hell at 11 p.m., but I got up at 6 a.m. that day and Shapiro Keats got up at 5, and we’re old, so we just went home. But not before someone lauded my sweet Threadless t-shirt (“Shakespeare Hates Your Emo Poems”). So, that was worth the drive.
Saturday morning Shapiro Keats went to work. I dragged out my Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of Winds) cosplay – I hadn’t worn it in years, but it’s still one of my favorites- for Saturday. Still fit! I made sure to put on the wig in front of Gohan before I left, so he would know it was still Mommy, but as soon as it was on he began to bawl. Oh, shit. I did what any good mother would do and beat a hasty retreat out the door. Oh, and I had three pictures taken within ten minutes of walking into the Drawbridge, so yeah. Attention whore, aisle three.
There were some really crappy cosplays, and some really decent cosplays, and even a couple remarkable cosplays (Yoshimitsu from Soul Caliber FTW, and a lady whom I believe to be from Trinity Blood, but I’m not sure because Trinity Blood was so awful I couldn’t watch past episode three). The vast majority of the cosplays, I didn’t recognize- mainly because I don’t play Final Fantasy or watch Hetalia (although, I did learn that Hetalia is an anime and not a BL dating-sim game as I had assumed). For some reason all the best costumes weren’t even anime cosplays- one of the fairies from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, A Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jack Skellington, and Frank from Donnie Darko (OK, actually I am not sure there was a Frank cosplayer there. I saw him at the end of a hallway, and asked Shapiro Keats to look and make sure he was actually there. He claims that he saw him, but when I glanced back he was GONE. So I remain unconvinced that we didn’t share a delusion).
Had a panel at 10 am, a Fanfiction Workshop. I had envisioned a few people, workshopping some fanfic around a round table, like a college creative writing class. That vision died when about thirty people showed up. Damn! I was baffled, so I muddled through, just asking questions and giving pointers and all. It was fun, even if I did almost ignite a firestorm with a nasty Twilight comment- should have known better.
Next I hit a panel with Yasuhiro Koshi, a military consultant for movies like Battle Royale 2, and…and…the live-action Space Battleship Yamato EEEEEEK! We here at YM are pretty much salivating over this movie so it was seriously exciting. He was really entertaining and I learned a lot- like there is a movie called Everywhere Sinks but Japan (it didn’t do too well outside of Japan, for some reason) and how to do a proper Yamato salute. He didn’t admit to it but I bet he secretly sneaked into the Captain’s chair at least once during shooting. I am now trying to teach Gohan how to do the Yamato salute. He doesn’t get it yet, but he will. If he knows what’s good for him (Although, apparently he doesn’t, because today he tried to climb on the kitchen table and fell and cut his lip.).
He's the Japanese guy, past the afro
Shapiro Keats tried to watch the first Gurran Lagaan movie in the viewing room, but it’s abridged in a really bizarre way so he figured he’d just keep hitting up Netflix. We had lunch at DQ and I resisted the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard (although I have dreamed about it every night since). Then we wasted time in the Dealers’ Room. It’s funny, we used to buy lots of toys and such, but not anymore, because they all end up in the kid’s mouth. And owning DVDs doesn’t seem so important now we have Netflix on the Wii. We’re becoming all minimalist and shit.
We hit the dealers’ room and Artist Alley less because we needed/wanted anything than because that’s kind of what you do at cons. I ended up with three cell phone charms. WHAT?? I just realized that hooky-thing on the back of my phone was so you could hang charms on it. I have a lion, a triceratops and a maneki-neko (beckoning cat). Shapiro Keats said I couldn’t get all those charms on at the same time, so of course I had to spend half an hour doing just that.
Fear my charms!
We attended the showing of the AMV contest entries and let me say, several of those sucked. Hard. One was very likely the worst video I have ever seen, but apparently the song used is some kind of Hamster Dance meme crap so everyone got up and danced to it like rabbits being electrocuted. Another video was not great but used a song that Shapiro Keats is now obsessed with (some kind of dance thing featuring Katy Perry, though I don’t know why they needed her specifically, they Autotuned the bejeezus out of her so it could be anyone really).
We popped into the Rock Band tournament after that. Only stayed for one band, but that was pretty much all we needed. The singer for the band was a girl who looked pretty normal. Then she opened her mouth and went all Archenemy and shit on us. I’m serious, this girl had one super-impressive death growl. All other bands were ruined for us after hearing her sing her poor, abused lungs out. Good job honey!
We dropped in on the Studio Ghibli panel but didn’t stay long because the room was crowded and hot. We hit up Gourmet Wok on the way home. Mu shu pork is God’s gift to Americans who want to eat Chinese food but not real Chinese food because that involves large amounts of gristle and fat and chicken feet.
Sunday dawned bright and early (literally, my kid was up at 7 a.m.). Musashi and I had a Ghost in the Shell panel at 10…that is, we would have, if he wasn’t sick (he really was sick too, he sounded like crap on the phone so I know he wasn’t faking). So it all me, and Shapiro Keats, and my awe-inspiring Powerpoint presentation on the history of Ghost of the Shell. We had a decent crowd, considering it was the morning after any con’s biggest party night, and everyone was cool except this one asshole who came in for no other apparent reason except to babble about some Gainax show called Panty & Stocking. Never heard of it, not a Gainax fan, it has nothing whatsoever to do with GitS, so GTFO. Which he did, after delivering his verdict on the series. And it was wise that he did, or I would have set Shapiro Keats on him. He may be skinny, but he’s tough. I managed to unload all my excess Halloween candy too, which was a bonus. I was freezing my balls off in the panel room, despite the fact that hotel staff had loaded it up with space heaters.
Another quick look through the Artists’ Alley and dealers’ room…and we were gone. To Chipotle, to be exact, but at any rate that was end of Sugoicon 2010 for us.
And you know what? Despite being the oldest people there, despite being crowded by shrieking teenagers at every turn, we had fun. One day, as we were struggling down the hall, we heard a girl say, “At school, I’m a nobody, but here everyone’s so friendly!”.
Yep.
I could beat your ass with Mitsurugi any day, but nice mask
Possible upcoming events:
Millenicon 2011- Shapiro Keats and I plan to be at this Cincinnati SF con, and we might even persuade the rest of the staff to venture out of their caves (and not get sick) and come too!
Anime Punch 2011- Another SK and AK dea, in Columbus. , I’ll probably be running a panel or two.
Gencon 2011- Shapiro Keats has decided I have advanced enough to ascend to the next level of geekdom. More than likely, the entire YM staff will be there.
| Category: Events | Tag: Anime, Convention, kentucky, sugoicon 2010 |
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28 Oct
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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So, you might remember that we mentioned local con Sugoicon in the last podcast. Specifically, we’re going to be there- at least, Shapiro Keats and Musashi and I are, and maybe Mazinga will drop by and also Ed, but probably just to make fun of us (I don’t know if Ed’s wife will come, but she would not make fun of us because she is actually nice ^_^).
Anyway, I haven’t been to Sugoicon since 2007 (found my old badge the other day while digging out my Nausicaa cosplay- it actually fits, so I am induging myself and wearing it again on Saturday). Anime cons have just gotten too young for me; but these days I am desperate to get out of the house, so here we are! I’m honestly really looking forward to it, even if I have no idea what the kids are watching these days (like, seriously, I just finished Ghost Hound tonight; I’ve been watching it on and off for almost two years. Does anyone know what the Hell Hetalia is and why all the little teen girls love it?).
YM news: I am running a Fanfiction Workshop on Saturday at 10 am. Drop by if you are at the con. I bought about 7 bags of Halloween candy so I think I’ll have a bunch left over to give anyone who comes. Also, Musashi and I are running a Ghost in the Shell panel, which is going to knock your socks off because I made a Powerpoint presentation for it. Also, candy. It’s 10 am on Sunday. We’re recording it for a podcast too, so if you come you might be on the YM podcast! Isn’t that exciting?
A cool bit of news: one of the guests, Yasuhiro Koshi, was a production consultant on the live-action Yamato movie, and according to the Sugoicon website he has permission to tell us all about it. Since the entire YM staff passed out from ecstasy just from seeing the teaser, I think we’ll all be at his panel.
So, that’s what we’re doing next weekend. If you need to waste some time, come by Sugoicon and give us a shout. Check out www.sugoicon.org for more information.
| Category: Events, Uncategorized | Tag: Anime, ghost in the shell, sugoicon, yellow menace podcast |
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17 Sep
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Posted by Musashi
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The entire Yellow Menace staff will be attending the Cincinnati Comic Expo tomorrow (Saturday, September 18th), which is being held at the Cintas Center on the campus of Xavier University. Lots of industry folk will be there, and there will be something of a gaming presence as well thanks to the sponsorship of local game outlet Yottaquest.
We’ll be recording an episode of the Yellow Menace Podcast on-site, so if you’re attending the con be sure to look us up!
| Category: Events | Tag: cincinnati comic expo, comic books, conventions, Events |
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10 Sep
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Posted by AnaKhouri
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Cincinnati denizens- the Midpoint Music Festival is apparently some kind of big deal here (crowds are not my thing, so in the two + years I’ve lived in the area, I have never attended). This year, Japanese punk-pop-GRRRRRL power trio Shonen Knife is playing at the Contemporary Arts Center on the first day of the festival- Thursday, September 23rd at 11 pm. So if you can get off work Friday and don’t mind staying up late, check them out- they’re super cute (but in a tough, awesome way)!
| Category: Events, Music | Tag: cincinnati, midpoint music festival, ohio, shonen knife |
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16 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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As inappropriate as it sounds, my first thought upon hearing that reality-TV star Tila Tequila had been manhandled by a bunch of trashy hip-hop nerds dressed like clowns was ‘They sort of deserve each other, don’t they?’
Supposedly Ms. Tequila appeared at the Gathering to rock the crowd with her singing ‘talents’ and was greeted with thrown rocks and bottles. At one point Tequila tried to assuage the crowd by taking off her top, but that only enraged them further.
Tequila Twittered her plans to file a lawsuit against concert organizers, telling fans “Pretty soon the owners who run the Juggalos will be bankrupt. My attorney Alan is already on it. This is disgusting behavior from men.”
Well that’s her first mistake right there – Juggalos aren’t actually men, they’re some wierd evolutionary offshoot somewhere below neanderthals…Homo Juggalosis, if you will. Boobies make the ape-men mad, Tila – remember that.
Update: Video!
| Category: Events, News | Tag: gathering of the juggalos, insane clown posse, juggalos, tards, tila tequila |
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12 Aug
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Posted by Musashi
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Robert Bohl is an independent game designer and creator of Misspent Youth, an indie RPG he describes as ‘Teenage rebellion in a fucked up future.’ Recorded 8/7/10 at Gen Con Indy 2010.
Show Notes:
| Category: Events, Podcast | Tag: gaming, gen con indy, interview, misspent youth, punk rock, robert bohl, role playing games, rpg's |
