Dragon*Con 2012

Over Labor Day weekend, the Wife, Olivia, and I made our way to Atlanta for geek-Mecca: Dragon*Con 2012. For the uninitiated, Dragon*Con is a science-fiction, fantasy, geek-(excuse me, pop-) culture based convention taking up the better part of downtown Atlanta's hotels for a long weekend once a year. Officially, five of the largest hotels in downtown Atlanta play host to the affair, but since the entire block of rooms set aside by the convention sells out within two hours of being announced, attendees tend to take up a great deal more hotel room space than at just the host hotels. We, for instance, planned our trip in late May/early June of this year, and were not able to find a reasonably priced hotel room anywhere near downtown. Of course, over Labor Day weekend, Atlanta also played host to two college football games, a NASCAR event, and Braves Baseball. But mostly it was nerds in steampunk gear.

Dragon*Con consists of panel discussions and Q&A's presented by guests both famous and obscure. This year's guests included actors from shows like Star Trek TNG; Stargate (all of the iterations); Battlestar Galactica; and Firefly to name a few; numerous writers of sci-fi, speculative fiction, alternative history, and fantasy; and lots and lots of fanpersons who hosted discussions on their pet fandom.

Here's a quick rundown on the good, the bad, and the ugly from Dragon*Con this year.

The Good

James Marsters. As you can see from the picture above, we had a chance to chat with Spike (of Joss Whedon's Buffy and Angel). Super nice guy, and obviously appreciates cute babies. Asked us to check out his band, and you can too - Ghost of the Robot, downloads available on iTunes. Can't speak to the quality as I haven't actually checked them out yet (Sorry Mr. Marsters), but I figure he can take the time to speak with me and let me flash a camera in his face, so the least I can do is pimp his new project.

People watching. This is the most entertaining part of Dragon*Con if you can ignore the massive crowds. Lots of off the wall costumes (which undermine my belief that I am an informed geek, since I haven't the foggiest idea what most of these people are going for). Some of the costumes are just sad, but many of them are incredibly intricate and impressive. And they are everywhere. We were in the distinct minority by not dressing up. Mostly this was a logistical decision. Or laziness. Whatever.

Celeb Spotting. The majority of Dragon*Con's celebrity guests are B-List, if we're being honest, but it's still pretty cool to rub elbows with people you've watched on TV for years. Besides meeting Mr. Marsters in the Con's walk of fame, we were yards away from the likes of Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Jewel Staite, Adam Baldwin, Jason Momoa, and Richard Dean Anderson (that's right, MacGuyver).

The Bad

People Navigating. The crowds are obnoxious. Not the people - everyone is a geek at this thing, so most people are pretty friendly. But the sheer mass of humanity if ridiculous, especially on Saturday when the Dragon*Con parade takes over downtown. There is no such thing as moving quickly through these crowds, and the simple act of grabbing lunch in a food court is a two hour proposition. Several of the host hotels have elevated walkways above street level (super convenient, right?). Yeah, they reek of body odor, and require you to tiptoe slowly behind the three hundred other bodies compressed into the same small space and headed in the same direction. Fun times.

The celebs... some of them. So, the downside of being in close proximity to celebrities you've loved watching for years is that you may be disillusioned by them. Some actors are nicer than their on screen personas. Some, not so much. Also, some of the actors seem to enjoy the Con atmosphere... too much. The number of actors we saw in panels who were apparently drunk or hungover was a little embarrassing. While they may be more entertaining this way, to my mind it shows a lack of respect for the fans.

Parking. Same as people navigating, only with cars, SUVs, and lots of pedestrians to avoid killing.

The lines. A necessary evil of any Con of significant size, any popular panel required lining up an hour or more in advance. Apparently if you've ever been to Comic*Con (Dragon*Con's more trendy, popular cousin from San Diego) you scoff at these type lines because yours have been known to be twelve hours or more. But I don't like waiting. Fortunately, as mentioned above, the people in line with you are mostly nice, like-minded nerds who are willing to wait for the same thing you are.

The Ugly

Spandex. Seriously folks. It's a privilege, not a right. There are a lot of scantily clad people at Dragon*Con. And there are a lot of scantily clad people that have no business being scantily clad people at Dragon*Con.

Furry Fans. Tails, leggings, ears, whole body animal costumes, and a whole subculture I'm glad my daughter was too young to ask about.

Inconsiderate fans. In a group this size, I honestly expected much more of this, and so was pleasantly surprised at how rare the truly rude or obnoxious fan was. Unfortunately, while they were in the minority, the instances I saw were glaring. For instance: while I'm fairly certain the host hotels only permitted assistance animals, we saw at least one con-goer walking a distinctly non-working animal through a (carpeted) lobby, where said animal, probably scared out of its mind, promptly shat in the middle of foot traffic. The fan saw this, and promptly scurried away laughing. Seriously.

What we learned

All around, the Con was a great time, and we'd likely do it again one day. Without kids. Olivia was fantastic - better than she had any right to be all weekend - but the logistics of moving with a small child (particularly as she gets older and more able to locomote on her own) are limiting in an environment like this. We also discovered that the opportunities to take cute photos of your baby with famous people are less accessible than we expected, at least if you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on posed photos. All told, there is less to be gained by bringing your kids than by leaving them with grandparents.

We also learned that staying downtown (and thus, planning further in advance) is the way to go. While a few hotels offer shuttle service into downtown, there are no good ways to get in to the city for this event. Also, while the night life aspects of Dragon*Con are for people younger than me (sad to admit), there are a number of late evening panels and events we didn't get to attend because we were staying outside of the city. Had we been closer to our room, it would have been an option. Also, we would have punched a puppy for a place to put our feet up for an hour or so in the middle of the day, and might have saved some money and time on meals if we had stuff in our room to return to.

We will probably pass on 2013, but there are better than average odds we will go back one day. Hope you fellow nerds have a chance to go one day as well.

Year One

Olivia turned one a few weeks ago. This is shocking in a number of ways. It is a trite, cliched, and utterly true expression parents use in describing the growth of their children when they say "time flies." It is equally and paradoxically true that it is difficult to remember clearly what life was like before kids. I don't get it either, but both are true.

One year is a great age. Of course, as I understand it, they are all great ages until somewhere between eleven and thirteen when every child suddenly needs to be beaten daily and locked in an Iron Maiden until they turn twenty-five. But that's a ways off. At year one, Olivia has a lot of personality. She is very social, and rarely fussy. This has nothing to do with her age or any successful parenting strategy and everything to do with luck. (Don't worry - whenever the hypothetical number two comes along we'll get our payback.) She loves books - being read to, throwing them, pulling them off shelves, tearing the pages, and (just to drive her aunt Sara crazy) dog-earring the pages. She also loves music, and has developed the fascinating habit of keeping a beat with her feet when songs she recognizes come on . I'd say she could replace the drummer from Nickelback, but I'd like her to maintain some standards.

She has just started to become somewhat pickier about what she eats. I don't think she actually cares what she consumes so much as she likes to screw with us about when she's willing to eat it and when she's going to throw it on the floor and laugh. Or feed it to the dogs, and then get angry at them for having the nerve to eat it. The good news though is that there is nothing (or virtually nothing) she can't eat now, which makes feeding her when we are out and about much easier. Where we used to have to stop and feed her healthy organic strained squash, we can now throw a bag of Oreos at the kid and watch her go nuts.

Olivia is tentatively trying to walk. What this means in real terms is that she is walking all over the house with one hand on walls, furniture, bookshelves, etc, then taking her hand off of said "support" for about one second, realizing she is free-standing, and plopping on her butt and crawling away. We're signing her up for a Five K in a few weeks. Nothing like the deep end of the pool to teach a kid to swim.

This past year has been pretty amazing. Part of me wants to take five and enjoy this phase a little while longer, but that's not how this whole thing works. I do look forward to seeing what comes next.