Post by Sam1444 on Sept 7, 2012 19:18:23 GMT -5
Hey there! Welcome to my first article, essay, story, blog, whatever you want to call it. Although, I suppose "blog" is the most appropriate term. Whatever.
Anyway, I intend for this to be sort of like a newsletter that doesn't show up in your inbox and pester you until you read it. You don't have to read this, although I'd greatly appreciate it if you did. I just hope you have fun with it .
So, last weekend I went to a big, volunteer-run convention called Dragon*Con. To anyone who doesn't know, a convention is a large meeting of people with common interests. One you may have heard of is Comic-Con, which is about ten times as big as Dragon*Con (which is pretty big). Anyway, at these sorts of conventions, they convince actors/actresses, authors, artists, etc. to come and do "panels", where they kind of interact with their fans and answer questions and basically it's all a ton of fun.
So at Dragon*Con (which I'll probably start shortening to D*C for the purposes of this article), they have these different "tracks", which are basically a grouping of panels with a common purpose. For example, there's a Video Gaming track where they run panels about video game stuff, a Young Adult Literature track, and a Tolkien's Middle-Earth track, to name a few. There are probably 20-30 tracks at D*C, and all of them run several panels a day, to give you an idea of the breadth of the Con.
Another fun thing about cons is the cosplays. Cosplays are basically when people dress up as a character from some sort of literature; for example, I dressed up as Penny from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog for two out of the four days, and I saw a bunch of people dressed up like Harry Potter characters or superheroes from Marvel or DC comics.
The entire weekend was, for me, totally awesome. I got to meet my favorite actress, who approved of my cosplay (which, being as she was Penny's actor in Dr. Horrible, was a pretty big compliment), and I attended multiple panels where I saw a video game writer from one of my favorite video games as well as more actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. While I had a total blast, I also learned some stuff about attending conventions, which isn't as straightforward as you would think. So I have compiled a list of things you need to know or do in order to be prepared to go to a convention. And trust me, you won't be a true geek/nerd until you do attend one.
*Buy your ticket and hotel room ahead of time.*
Dragon*Con encompasses several hotels in the downtown Atlanta area- four or five, I think. It is possible to get a hotel room in one of the "con" hotels... if you reserve a room several months in advance. Also, you have to buy a pass to get into the convention, so I suggest you pre-register ahead of time. That way, it's cheaper, and the line to get your little I.D. card is quicker once you actually arrive at the con.
*Do a cosplay.*
Seriously, you'll feel out of place at conventions such as this if you don't wear a costume. It doesn't even have to be a real elaborate one. I got all my stuff for Penny at a Goodwill store, no joke.
*Never walk around by yourself.*
Especially if you want to go to a late-night party. I stayed up at a dance called the Heroes and Villains Ball until 2am Sunday morning, and I saw a couple intoxicated people. Be careful if you plan to pull an all-nighter.
*Bring a lot of spending money.*
'Nuff said.
*Know, love, and worship Joss Whedon!!*
Joss Whedon is the best freaking director/writer you'll ever see. He's too big-name to go to Dragon*Con, really, but every nerd who's any nerd knows his name and his works. Most recently, he directed The Avengers and the horror film Cabin in the Woods. However, he is really well known in nerd-dom for his TV shows Firefly (which has accumulated sort of a cult following), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dollhouse, as well as a three-part webseries called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (mentioned previously). These are all awesome, and they'll knock your socks off. However, I don't advise watching them until you're thirteen or so. That said, I don't suggest going to D*C until you're 13.
*Know who Felicia Day is!!*
Felicia Day is an actress and a writer. She is known for acting in Dr. Horrible (she's Penny- I met her at D*C, and she was AWESOME), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and also a TV series called Eureka. She is a voice actor for multiple video games, my favorite of her works being Tallis from Dragon Age 2. She writes and acts in a webseries called The Guild as well, another amazing show. More recently, she has opened up a channel on YouTube called Geek and Sundry, which hosts multiple webshows now. Anyway, Felicia Day is the best. She's, like, my hero .
No, I did not write this thing just to advertise Dragon*Con and some of my favorite people in the world. I'm just trying to share with you guys how awesome and life-changing the entire experience was- I mean, I met my hero, for crying out loud, and I nearly slammed right into her at the Heroes and Villains Ball, and I listened to my favorite video game writer give us his secrets, and I got a free autograph from another actor in The Guild, and James Marsters (a Buffy actor) walked within a foot of me during the Con. Yes, I know I'm totally fan-girling, and that's pretty much the whole reason I wrote this, but I'm also doing it because I want to share the experience with you guys. Hopefully, one day you guys can go to a cool thing such as this one and enjoy yourselves as much as I did. Heck, maybe I'll post pictures . Anyway, this thread is unlocked and open for commenting, if you so desire. See you guys at the next article/blog entry! (which, if you're curious, will probably consist of either tips on character creation, more fangirling, or an examination of sucky literature these days....)
Anyway, I intend for this to be sort of like a newsletter that doesn't show up in your inbox and pester you until you read it. You don't have to read this, although I'd greatly appreciate it if you did. I just hope you have fun with it .
So, last weekend I went to a big, volunteer-run convention called Dragon*Con. To anyone who doesn't know, a convention is a large meeting of people with common interests. One you may have heard of is Comic-Con, which is about ten times as big as Dragon*Con (which is pretty big). Anyway, at these sorts of conventions, they convince actors/actresses, authors, artists, etc. to come and do "panels", where they kind of interact with their fans and answer questions and basically it's all a ton of fun.
So at Dragon*Con (which I'll probably start shortening to D*C for the purposes of this article), they have these different "tracks", which are basically a grouping of panels with a common purpose. For example, there's a Video Gaming track where they run panels about video game stuff, a Young Adult Literature track, and a Tolkien's Middle-Earth track, to name a few. There are probably 20-30 tracks at D*C, and all of them run several panels a day, to give you an idea of the breadth of the Con.
Another fun thing about cons is the cosplays. Cosplays are basically when people dress up as a character from some sort of literature; for example, I dressed up as Penny from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog for two out of the four days, and I saw a bunch of people dressed up like Harry Potter characters or superheroes from Marvel or DC comics.
The entire weekend was, for me, totally awesome. I got to meet my favorite actress, who approved of my cosplay (which, being as she was Penny's actor in Dr. Horrible, was a pretty big compliment), and I attended multiple panels where I saw a video game writer from one of my favorite video games as well as more actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. While I had a total blast, I also learned some stuff about attending conventions, which isn't as straightforward as you would think. So I have compiled a list of things you need to know or do in order to be prepared to go to a convention. And trust me, you won't be a true geek/nerd until you do attend one.
*Buy your ticket and hotel room ahead of time.*
Dragon*Con encompasses several hotels in the downtown Atlanta area- four or five, I think. It is possible to get a hotel room in one of the "con" hotels... if you reserve a room several months in advance. Also, you have to buy a pass to get into the convention, so I suggest you pre-register ahead of time. That way, it's cheaper, and the line to get your little I.D. card is quicker once you actually arrive at the con.
*Do a cosplay.*
Seriously, you'll feel out of place at conventions such as this if you don't wear a costume. It doesn't even have to be a real elaborate one. I got all my stuff for Penny at a Goodwill store, no joke.
*Never walk around by yourself.*
Especially if you want to go to a late-night party. I stayed up at a dance called the Heroes and Villains Ball until 2am Sunday morning, and I saw a couple intoxicated people. Be careful if you plan to pull an all-nighter.
*Bring a lot of spending money.*
'Nuff said.
*Know, love, and worship Joss Whedon!!*
Joss Whedon is the best freaking director/writer you'll ever see. He's too big-name to go to Dragon*Con, really, but every nerd who's any nerd knows his name and his works. Most recently, he directed The Avengers and the horror film Cabin in the Woods. However, he is really well known in nerd-dom for his TV shows Firefly (which has accumulated sort of a cult following), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dollhouse, as well as a three-part webseries called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (mentioned previously). These are all awesome, and they'll knock your socks off. However, I don't advise watching them until you're thirteen or so. That said, I don't suggest going to D*C until you're 13.
*Know who Felicia Day is!!*
Felicia Day is an actress and a writer. She is known for acting in Dr. Horrible (she's Penny- I met her at D*C, and she was AWESOME), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and also a TV series called Eureka. She is a voice actor for multiple video games, my favorite of her works being Tallis from Dragon Age 2. She writes and acts in a webseries called The Guild as well, another amazing show. More recently, she has opened up a channel on YouTube called Geek and Sundry, which hosts multiple webshows now. Anyway, Felicia Day is the best. She's, like, my hero .
No, I did not write this thing just to advertise Dragon*Con and some of my favorite people in the world. I'm just trying to share with you guys how awesome and life-changing the entire experience was- I mean, I met my hero, for crying out loud, and I nearly slammed right into her at the Heroes and Villains Ball, and I listened to my favorite video game writer give us his secrets, and I got a free autograph from another actor in The Guild, and James Marsters (a Buffy actor) walked within a foot of me during the Con. Yes, I know I'm totally fan-girling, and that's pretty much the whole reason I wrote this, but I'm also doing it because I want to share the experience with you guys. Hopefully, one day you guys can go to a cool thing such as this one and enjoy yourselves as much as I did. Heck, maybe I'll post pictures . Anyway, this thread is unlocked and open for commenting, if you so desire. See you guys at the next article/blog entry! (which, if you're curious, will probably consist of either tips on character creation, more fangirling, or an examination of sucky literature these days....)