Dragon Con is over. Long live Dragon Con. The 2018 con is in the books. 80,000+ attendees, over a thousand panels and events, and exactly one Ewok/Thanos cosplay mashup (that I saw). For those of you who don’t know, Dragon Con is a pop culture convention that combines artists, makers, and fandom from just about every conceivable media and gaming iteration in history. Four days across multiple massive buildings and several city blocks that dominates a fair chunk of downtown Atlanta and utterly baffles the random unaffiliated drivers who find themselves stuck behind colorful human traffic … [Read more...]
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Robots and Cats
It's the roundup—all the happenings that sparked enough of my interest this week to inspire a blog post. I wage a constant battle NOT to notice things so that I can get more novel-writing done, so this list represents a tragic defeat by the forces of fascination. The war against distraction is real, my friends. Walking Stoically Through a European Rave I saw the new Mission Impossible. I think this installment is called…Falling from High Places Really Fast While Fighting? It was fantastic, a great time, highly recommended if you are a fan of fun. I like fun. The film hooked me … [Read more...]
My Impossible Ancient Vacation Bucket List
Last Saturday, I visited the ancient history collection of the Carlos Museum at Emory University here in Atlanta and was straight-up shocked at its size and quality. It’s embarrassing that an ancient Mediterranean history geek like me failed to realize this collection was sitting just four miles from my home. If you’ve ever met me—or have read any of my posts—you know I’m a ridiculous human being. I get overly excited about the distant future, and I gush over the ancient past. How many people do you know who listen to Roman history audiobooks in the car more often than they listen to music? … [Read more...]
Paying Attention at Dragon Con
Short post today. I have to finish my work early this week to make some extra life space for the return of Dragon Con, which will consume my Friday, Saturday, and Sunday over Labor Day Weekend. I have a media badge this year and will be writing two or three short Star Wars-related pieces for Outer Rim News, so it's not all wandering and random entertainment this time; I actually have to pay attention. A few random thoughts on the coming weekend's craziness: 1) As predicted, I once again failed to take a stab at real cosplay. I will not be traveling through the looking-glass. I will be … [Read more...]
Anthropomorphizing the Unanthropomorphizable, or: Why Is the Jumping Spider Cute?
Last week I posted a picture of a wind scorpion (camel spider) on Facebook to “celebrate” the first sighting of one in Georgia. Responses were quick and visceral. Most took the form of “NOPE” or “Kill it with fire!” I didn’t have this reaction to the picture. Didn’t creep me out. Don’t get me wrong—if I saw one racing toward me, I’d definitely grab a bystander and throw them on top of it. But just the idea and image of one was more fun than freaky. I chalk it up to personal experience and preference (and being a kid who played with bugs), but it got me thinking about what humans … [Read more...]
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