Well, my actual website is now fully operational. I assure you, it is quite deadly. A lot of the content from this blog has been copied over there already, not sure if I'll move the rest or not.
Right now we have a couple of articles, weekly columns, bi weekly webcomic. Soon we'll have some videos up there too. So go there... go there now. Add it to your favorites. Share with your friends.
Please... I beg of you. For the love of all that is good, visit my site. Now back to the old and out of date blog you've somehow found:
So I’ve bought my tickets to PAX East a little while ago. When I initially bought them I will admit I was sort of “meh” about the whole thing. Unlike some of my geekier associates, I’ve never really been into conventions (or “cons” as the cool kids call them… and by cool kids I mean these guys … oh sure, these are supposedly Halloween costumes, but a nerdy looking kid dressed as a nerd for Halloween? I think he just forgot what day it was, waking up in his computer chair, covered in stale Pringles crumbs, WoW character just standing there on the screen, his Google calendar reminding him he has a party to go to… no costume? No problem. He’s going as a nerd). Growing up I went to car shows on a pretty regular basis, but those were different, those were manly.
But all that changed a little over 2 years ago when I went to my first Fan Expo. Now a big part of the draw for Fan Expo was that I have a good friend who lives in Toronto, so I was basically just spending my cash on passes and gas (hee hee… pass gas…) so there was very little “risk” involved. While there were other things going on (costume parties, movie screenings, video game tournaments, lan parties, etc), I had two main interests, the big convention floor and the “celebrity” panels (celebrity is in quotes because they range from real celebs, like Bruce Campbell, to niche celebs, like artist Alex Maleev or writer Peter David). The floor was fun, like an enormous comic shop, and had the added benefit of having artists selling prints and sketches which helps spruce up my apartment. The most enjoyment of the show however, came from the panels, listening to people who work in various industries that I’m a fan of was tons of fun, hearing their anecdotes, what inspires them, etc was a little inspiring for me.
A high point from my con experiences was a Q&A session with Roger Corman (Fun Fact: Roger Corman has a producer credit on 388 films, and a director credit on 56. holy. shit.). There were only about 20 people in the room, and he was just this awesome old guy with the best stories about making B-movies spanning his 50 year career. I have a deep love for B cinema, so this was sort of awe inspiring. I was a little bummed for him that only 20 people (out of 60,000 attending the con) showed up for his Q&A (there was seating for probably 150), but this was totally made up for when he got a lifetime achievement award at the Oscars. I’d chalk that up into the “sweet justice” column.
So anyways… yeah… PAX. A videogame con, which I think is second only to anime dress-up cons on the geeky scale. There was a video game portion of Fan Expo, and other than a quick walk-by… it never really made a lasting grab for my attention. PAX, of course, is run by the good people of Penny Arcade and I figured that they’d have a pretty good idea of how to run one of these things, what with the success of the main PAX con out West and all. So I bought tickets since PAX, similar to Fan Expo, is being held where I have a place to crash (Boston), and of course will be going with a good friend, which greatly impacted my decision.
I was not truly excited about it though, until I checked the schedule. The scope of the panels have me giddy with delight: indie games, video game journalism, chip tune music, game design… basically stuff that I’ve always been into, but never before have they all been presented in a singular locale. Now I’m super pumped for PAX. Also, Will Wheaton. If he’s not a reason to get pumped, then I don’t know what is.
I think I’ll also take PAX as an opportunity to do a rapid-fire-update Twitter feed, I’ve had an account (www.twitter.com/50moretrash) for a while and never saw a purpose for it, but I think tweets about PAX will be fun to do. So bandwagon, here I come.
But all that changed a little over 2 years ago when I went to my first Fan Expo. Now a big part of the draw for Fan Expo was that I have a good friend who lives in Toronto, so I was basically just spending my cash on passes and gas (hee hee… pass gas…) so there was very little “risk” involved. While there were other things going on (costume parties, movie screenings, video game tournaments, lan parties, etc), I had two main interests, the big convention floor and the “celebrity” panels (celebrity is in quotes because they range from real celebs, like Bruce Campbell, to niche celebs, like artist Alex Maleev or writer Peter David). The floor was fun, like an enormous comic shop, and had the added benefit of having artists selling prints and sketches which helps spruce up my apartment. The most enjoyment of the show however, came from the panels, listening to people who work in various industries that I’m a fan of was tons of fun, hearing their anecdotes, what inspires them, etc was a little inspiring for me.
A high point from my con experiences was a Q&A session with Roger Corman (Fun Fact: Roger Corman has a producer credit on 388 films, and a director credit on 56. holy. shit.). There were only about 20 people in the room, and he was just this awesome old guy with the best stories about making B-movies spanning his 50 year career. I have a deep love for B cinema, so this was sort of awe inspiring. I was a little bummed for him that only 20 people (out of 60,000 attending the con) showed up for his Q&A (there was seating for probably 150), but this was totally made up for when he got a lifetime achievement award at the Oscars. I’d chalk that up into the “sweet justice” column.
So anyways… yeah… PAX. A videogame con, which I think is second only to anime dress-up cons on the geeky scale. There was a video game portion of Fan Expo, and other than a quick walk-by… it never really made a lasting grab for my attention. PAX, of course, is run by the good people of Penny Arcade and I figured that they’d have a pretty good idea of how to run one of these things, what with the success of the main PAX con out West and all. So I bought tickets since PAX, similar to Fan Expo, is being held where I have a place to crash (Boston), and of course will be going with a good friend, which greatly impacted my decision.
I was not truly excited about it though, until I checked the schedule. The scope of the panels have me giddy with delight: indie games, video game journalism, chip tune music, game design… basically stuff that I’ve always been into, but never before have they all been presented in a singular locale. Now I’m super pumped for PAX. Also, Will Wheaton. If he’s not a reason to get pumped, then I don’t know what is.
I think I’ll also take PAX as an opportunity to do a rapid-fire-update Twitter feed, I’ve had an account (www.twitter.com/50moretrash) for a while and never saw a purpose for it, but I think tweets about PAX will be fun to do. So bandwagon, here I come.
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