Bat(man) Country

Pic from http://www.bryanyoungfiction.com/2011/10/lost-at-con-audiobook.html

I saw this book blip up on my radar a while back and tucked it away for later, like I do (speaking of which, I think I need out seek out "Scoundrels") and when (I saw it "free on Kindle for limited time" I jumped on it and thought I might read it on the cloud through my browser, but then I "shared" it with my fiance through her Kindle and blasted through the book in no time. I read it like a fiend.  After I read it, I actually bought the hard copy because I found it fantastic. As far as why, below I leave, what I believe to my my only Amazon review of ANYTHING to date.

Just Like A Con
It started a little slow, but the Gonzo Journalism feel it had kept me in until . . . I don't want to spoil anything, so I will say, to me, it felt like after the first third of the tale, it got into full swing. And don't worry, the first third will zoom by, just like an actual con, it was over much too quickly.
I will openly admit here that for a short time I thought this book was non-fiction and based on actual events (other than all the ridiculous things us con-goers KNOW actually happen every con) and was ready to start reading another Thompson-esque author with a secret Nerd-on. But alas, this was a beautiful, heartfelt, perfectly plausible flight of fantasy.
When I got into, what I felt was the "guts" of the story (Saturday night into Sunday night?) I could not put down the book. I blazed through the pages ready for the next event, no matter how terrible, or absurd. I was well rewarded.
I felt it got a little mushy at the end but it's brief enough and it was all info I wanted for closure, and I've read worse, so it was fine.
So yes, much like attending a con, all excited to start, trying to pace it out, make it last, then you get embroiled in the flurry of it all, a whirlwind of adventure punctuated by exhausted blackouts. And finally, the lingering painful ending filled with heartache that it's over but the safe knowledge that it will be there again, and is happening all over the world, hopefully making the human race a little less revolting to be a part of.

Pic from http://www.flickr.com/photos/itsatrap/2820804290/in/photostream/

 If you want to borrow it from me, let me know, its short, and it's an awesome read, highly recommended.

HOLY BALLS BUSY

Don't worry, not dead, just Terminally busy (and no, not on Termenus, as much as I would like)

And also, unfortunately it's not about anything in particular I havn't talked about previously or care to expound upon.

For those that REALLY MUST KNOW, I had a sort of family emergency that put me out of wack for a good two days solid, and then on top of work and rehearsal, our store is at the Cow Palace again this weekend for the Gun Show, so that kept us busy as well, AND T1nk finally opened all three of her shows over the last two weeks, so of course I had to go see those, usually after work, after fight call's on Saturdays, or even taking her to rehearsal, doing some reading while I waited for her to be finished (as wireless is spotty out at the farm, I could not really work on the blog).

Just as reminders though:

T1nk

Me

and then we're both going down to SDCC and will actually be spending most of our time at G4m3rCon!!!

summer wars

Holy Cow This movie is a adorable and you need to go out and watch it NOW, like NAO!
Okay, I will concede, it's a little "cute" but really, I was riveted for the last hour & a half of the movie. T1nk noted early on in the movie that it was a bit slow, but shortly after she said that she didn't ask a single question till the film finished.

I keep telling people that it's kind of like what would happen if Miyazaki took War Games and updated it and set it in Japan, and instead of a government defense computer it's Google.

I was at Fanime and was looking at the programing to find something that tickled my interest and saw this title. I couldn't remember a single thing about it but something at the back of my brain went, "yeah, that one!" So I listened. I was well rewarded.

There was a malfunction near the end of the film and it seemed as if the computer they were running the film on died, and everyone kinda sat in stunned silence for a minute. As soon as it became apparent that the PC was back up and running, restarting the movie and then fast forwarding to the place we left off, NOBODY LEFT. And the AV guy was like "no, I have to start it from exactly where we left off as we don't have much time, the next film needs to start on time" but I think they made the wise decision to let us watch it till a little over time as we would have nerd raged had they cut the film short.

And in a rare occurrence, I ran right out and bought it Tuesday after the Con and made T1nk watch it with me. I have also been slavering on about it to my other friends that they need to watch it. AND NOW YOU!
Here's a music vid I found that was fairly cool. I TRIED finding a clip or a trailer for it but the English dub was kind of lame. Doesn't matter either way CAUSE YOU NEED TO GO WATCH THE MOVIE!

S.G.I.S. 6 REG!

It's ON!

Hatein on Paypal because of the Regetsy thing? GOOD! Gimme the money in person, mail me a check, take it to my folks. NO EXCUSES!

I watched CAMP("sequel" to fame), Camp Nowhere, Meatballs, and Addams Family Values(due to thanksgiving, love the turkey day scene). And it doesn't stop there! No horror movies for me, but you can enjoy them if you like. And also, got me some musical inspiration from Mr. Gambino's latest album
and tour.

As of Today I have 8 people total payed up, and I'm confident 3 more after tonight, thats almost half the spots available and I have almost half a dozen more who have said "they're coming" but just need to get me the cash, so get on it.

As I may have mentioned elsewhere,  although I may not get my fancy campfire sing-a-longs, arts & crafts, or and end of camp -athalon, what I DO want is to play some Pathfinder Society, so if anyone feels like stepping up and running an adventure path, a module, or even a Beginner Box Bash, please let me know, because if I don't hear from anyone about it, I will set one up myself. No pressure, I would love to set it up and run it myself, just letting you know.

Also, I have been working on changing up the menu for this year, and yes, I am aware we have certain dietary requests so I will try to bring along substitutions or alternatives, Please let me know ASAP if you have issue with the proposed NEW menu as it is flexible and not yet set.
B-fast: cereal, pancakes, egg, bacon, sausage (usual)
Lunch: (usual) sandwich stuffs, ham, turkey, cheese, PB&J, chips
Dinners: STEW! (potentially soups as well & bread bowls, funds permitting, def w/bread if not & salad)
Potato Boats! DIY with sour cream, chili (vegitarian and "con carne"), cheese, chives, butter, etc. again with the salad!
HOT DOGS!! (soy & hebrew national if I get my way) again with fixin's similar to the potato boats

So, ONE WEEK!!! GIMME YO MONEY!! We're going to CAMP!

S.G.I.S.Con 6 Secondary Update

Time rolls on and the weekend of Geekends grows ever closer. As of today we are on track for our regularly Scheduled Shinanigans, However, as always, T1nk & I reserve the right to cancel the Con should things come up (such as shows & other things "blowing up").

Lake Gikswongonirmi, near SGISCon Main Site

In my vain hopes to follow a theme, I will move forward under the assumption this year will be Camp-centric.
So far visions of the following dance through my mind:
-Nightly Camp Fire: to include tales, songs and vague native American/patriotic rhetoric speeches
-Fat Camp Event (Eating contest? There is a sandwich shop & a pizza place just down the road)
-Merit Badges or Beads for different event completions (This I would SERIOUSLY need help with but I think could be a blast)
-Science Camp Event (I'm sure a few of you crazy kids have something a far blast better than baking soda & vinegar volcanoes)
-Arts & Crafts (Underwater Basket weaving actually sounds fun, maybe even 'paint your own miniature' tutorial)
-Official Pathfinder Society Sanctioned Game (click through the links if you have no idea what that is)

AND: Recap of the pertinent info:
Date: January 13-16 2012

Price: $25 "Standard Reg" $40 "Late Reg"

Reg dates: November 25 - January 6 "Standard"

January 7 - 16 "Late"

Thanks again to all of you for being the motley band of reprobates I love and I hope to see a whole mess of you there. If you need ANY further info, you should know how, or at least know someone who does know, how to get a hold of me.

A Gateway to Societal Paths

Just got back from Strategicon:Gateway, almost "today (as in we almost got home past midnight last night)" but in retrospect, I am so glad I decided to tag along with J.C..
First day we had not even asked ourselves what we wanted to play when a enthusiastic gentleman began to chat us up. apparently he was running a pathfinder game where the PC's play a band of goblins, a fantastic one shot. I agree to go play. (Apparently it was a one shot for Pathfinder Society, which I had toyed with signing up for in the past, but had not committed to, as I had not fully researched it.) We assemble and start picking pre-gen goblins, but there is a small army of us, grossly exceeding the encounter CR so we move to a different room and split into two groups as one of the players volunteers to DM. I opted to join the Last Second Group, where I meet "D.J?.", an older gentleman than myself with a goatee and a wicked glint in his eye who volunteered to DM and "H.Hazzard." a bespectabled, well built, prematurely-balding-batman-baseball cap wearing, crazy eyed glaring chap as well.
The goblin crew set out, I opted for the NE cleric of the Goblin God (we were all evil, and, like you do, hate dogs & horses and LOVE fire) and at the beginning of our first combat, before we were allowed to perform any actions, we had to sign our "goblin song (all the pregen's had a quaint little flavor text box)" in order to continue the session. An hour goes by as we get to the dungeon(read:combat grid map section) and barrel through it as H.Hazzard's goblin has a barbarian like rage whenever he smells dogs. Quote "Ah hayt dawgs. Aye smell'um." and as evidence from some of the other parties in character voices, these goblins have cajun accents as our speculated cooking also runs along that vein.
We barrel down into the boss fight as H.Hazzard busts through a floor to get to the dogs, wielding a "goblin sized great club" (a horse joint we hacked off our first major encounter "stompy") and the hilarity ensues. Our alchemist cant stay standing, our rogue, shy from one of the first fights, doesn't make come into the room till round 4, the fighter wont even consider the boss(an evil druid with a Med. Frog companion) until all dogs are rendered unidentifiable, and the bard is doing his/her best to be useful. Seeing as the rogue is wielding a gift from the chief (a +1 weapon) he has a n extra "dogslicer(knife)" and refusing to dual wield with his standard one, I, the cleric, Sleight of Hand it off of him while he's prone, 2 combats previously and am now a dual-wielding cleric.
I get a swarm dropped on me, there are three dogs up as well as the boss & her toad, so, I do what I think any self respecting NE goblin cleric who already blew his burning hands earlier that day would do! Channel negative energy, three consecutive rounds. Even until the last day of the con (four days total) the Goblin MVP's were myself for nearly dropping half of my own party as the CLERIC, and the alchemist from the OTHER group for playing sloppy with the AoE from his bombs. And so, just as I get swallowed by the toad, my group manages to finish off the toad & the druid, all wrapped up in less than 2&1/2 hours. A fantastic introduction to Pathfinder Society if I do say so myself. D.J?. granted us every bonus and accolade he could for that session on the Chronicle sheet.

Second day, I waited around for something, decided to opt out, then was dragged along to a live event called The Dungeon Master and since I had not yet done any RP that day, decided to sign up to play/perform.
This was a blast. Despite the fact some of our party members had not even hit puberty yet, they were enthusiastic and ready to solve every problem with whatever weapon they had at hand. I felt I presented a slightly better than mediocre display of my wit and wisdom as well as a one shot on the "boss" of the session. Apparently my snark, ability to combine rhymes for pun-tastic couplets, and willingness to contribute to the terrible pop-culture references and inside jokes made me the audience favorite for that session, gaining me free admission to their shows for their next season.

Day Three, I am on a mission to play another game with D.J?. as the DM if he runs one and I have also resolved to join the Pathfinder Society in full and roll up a character. I have done a bit of research and am learning about the world of Golarion so I begin trolling the corner/hole the society had been regulated to. I find D.J?. and he is sitting, eyes closed and chiming in to a game he seemed to be helping with. I tried to chat him up a bit and after hearing simply that he would be running other games, wandered off to begin rolling up a Pathfinder legit toon. I find some amiable gents who've been playing Society for some time, as well as H.Hazzard, and the BSing ensues while I choose what type of ridiculousness Golarion is about to defile its universe.
I opted to join in to a tier 1 game and so my reign of silly has begun. After gaining the approval of 1 and 2 1/2 ninja's (i would say only half approval from two of the three) oh, I'm sorry, "merchants," and noobing it up/messing with our cleric (who was being RPed excellently) I had completed my first real Society mission.
I tracked down D.J?. again, this time he was MUCH chipper (apparently a 6 hour nap has that effect) and agreed to let me jump into a game with a pregen he was running later that eve.
And so, at 8pm we assembled, H.Hazzad was running his crazy high AC warrior (33 AC before buffs), I snagged the Rogue from the core book as my other choice was the warrior, and we already had one. The gal RUNNING a few things at the con decided to jump in as our healer, the Cleric from the core as well. AND to round out our crew we had a fantastic battle-buff-bard/savage skald of serious Nordic flavor. APPARENTLY, this tier was 8-9, the "real" characters were level 8 and the cleric & I were level 7, so we we're technically UNDERpowered for the session. so, about 2/3rd through the first encounter we almost KILLED, like, dead dead, more than -10 plus -your con score, but thankfully, D.M?. re-did some math and realized he was using the higher level stats for the encounter so re-dialed the damage. We were then offered the opportunity to restart the session for a more appropriate adventure, but we opted to be badass, and managed to plow through and complete the task, we might have had SOME help from the DM, but even with some junk rolls and maybe some meta-gaming from the DM and the cleric, we had some great moments. Even so, I think we earned those points.

Game-con-on

This weekend M'Lady & I will be in SoCal attending Strategicon's Gateway gaming convention. She will be helping keep the con looking good with the D20 Girls and I will be riding along for shiggles.
Although I don't normally attend gaming cons I do hope to change that. I'm looking forward to trying some different systems. My coworker "RunningRyan" recommended I try Arkham Horror, as I've never actually played it and maybe even put my acting chops to good use in a LARP, as there seems to be a cool Eberron session set on the lightning rail and of course a steampunk game also.

To add some vaguely relevant personal insight to this post I might discuss the new Campaign that just started with Eric the Blave as DM.

As a flavor/powering component he has had us roll up lvl 1 NPC class characters, and then when we level we will take the first level of a core class. However, instead of having us play a short prologue like he has done once previously, we rolled straight into the first session of the game.

It has been interesting so far, I like the idea in general as a neat quirk but even up against po-dunk peasants it was a challenge.

I don't mind low powered survival scenarios and if I know that's the kind of game we're going into I know to enjoy it. However, I don't know why I never learn with this DM, I expected something more epic, initially.

So, the idea is that magic is returning to the world after thousands of years and our characters are inheritors of this concept (i.e. sorcerers are unheard of, there is no "live" pantheon, everyone worships the elements, but we are the rare few to bring about change in the world). Being that our group would be (after our first "real" level) fairly unique and definitely more powerful than the average citizen of the world I anticipated some fun derring-do our first session.

I was wrong, as I so often am in Eric's games. Brad_again(rejoining our group once more after a 3+ year hiatus) and I would joke about making a kill order list of every named NPC we met and general taking a KoS view of the world if anyone was a jerk or TOO helpful. The joking was about 60% joke and 40% serious as intelligent, articulate, polite and EVIL JERKS seem to infest The Blave's worlds.

Although, even with a mob of peasants vs 3 level 1 npc's I am learning the power of a reliable strength score as well as controller characters. Even as an expert, which gets no BAB, built to level into bard, I was able to make excellent use of trips and grapples.
As much as I want to gripe, perhaps I will have enough time to see how effective I can be "dual wielding" a quarterstaff with a -2/-4 attack. For some inexplicable reason I seem to be terribly adept when my characters have absolutely no business doing a certain thing, and then does them. (My full progression Wizard who had a Bastard Sword for looks and ended up one shoting a peasant and some utiugs on separate occasions.)

S.G.I.S.Con 6 Alert

Sgis-six! people. I have strong leaning towards "summer camp" theme for anyone who cares to indulge my deep seated need to have themes and itinerary.

salute your shorts requst video by classicnick90

Date: January 13-16 2012

Price: $25 "Standard Reg" $40 "Late Reg"

Reg dates: November 25 - January 6 "Standard"

January 7 - 16 "Late"

This is the Six Month Warning. We have even more people interested than normal this year so call me up, get your cash ready and make sure you remember to "register" as soon as it "opens."

I seriously want to try and have a couple events this year besides our usual D&D game. I'll post a few ideas when the three month mark rolls around and see what you guys think. If you have any ideas of your own, let me know.

My Tale of Two Cons

I will be at Anime Expo this year, and due to the hubub, I will also most likely go take a gander at AM2.

Holy Smokes, that's alot of Anime, J-culture, Con, & Driving, BUT, I'm not working, I will have my partner and good friends, so it should be survivable.

I am a little bumbed I wont have any good costumes YET, but there has been plotting, and as soon as I can PURCHASe the items necessary, I will be crafting like an 85 grinding from skill "1"

So keep an eye out for my signature headgear, say "hi" or if not, just be like "huh, I think that's that h47 dude, cool"

Also, please dont creep on my Cosplay homegirls, be polite and chill, and they can cut you!
C.J. or "T1nk"

Calamity Jane or "C.J."
and a myriad of other ladies who associate with me for my impressive, large, wit!

Fanime 2011

I'm at Fanime mouthafuggers!

Since our store wont have a booth at fanime this year I will be attending as per normal. We shall see whether or not I hijack a booth like I did last year for some impromptu nerdcoreness. Or if filled wiht enough bravado from friends I might just start busting rhymes at random.

I will also be guerrilla gaming all weekend. Some homeboys who wont break down and pay the cash to attend will try to sneak into the gaming hall for D&D OR we'll just procure some tables on the concourse and play to the sounds of Stage 0 shenanigans.

Also, check out the Twilight Knights Dojo where Master Ben Hsu will be laying down Martial Arts knowledge, and BONUS! My store is doing combo packs for training for that. Get em quick, we will probably sell out.

So keep an eye out for my vaguely famous headgear and say hi. See you web-space cowboys!

Con-Flicts

[Warning!!! If you wish to use that hour of your life in a much more productive way, Do not read this post, wait for thurs/friday, The meme-orable should be chuckle worthy, I warned you.]

Alright H47ites, ready for a r4n7? To make up for it I will try my best to throw up memeorables and so forth up until 3rd 4 t3h nrrd next month (unless of course the Rapture comes Saturday, then we have bigger issues).

Alright! I work at a store in the bay area that sells blades. Specifically swords & knives. That's kinda what we're known for. We also sell airsoft guns, what I call "gothic kitch" which is mostly dragon, pixie & Egypt statues & fake skulls. A little bit of chess, some cool "high end alternative fashion" such as Lip Service, and neat jewelry from Alchemy Gothic. The thing we like to tell ourselves is that what sets us apart from everything is not only our eclectic & eccentric merchandise is our staff and expertise. If you're here you're either a friend of mine being nice and/or you find me witty/entertaining or are a mental masochist and find my ramblings painful, in a good way.

Yeah, the store is called Armor-Geddon.

We have been a vendor for about 3+ years at WonderCon slinging steel left and right. Although I don't pay too close attention to the numbers, our most constant sellers are fake weapons, like foam swords, plastic swords and wooden practice swords. As well as novelty butterfly items including trainers (dull, can not be sharpened), bottle openers, pens (Bali-Yo's, word up Spyderco!), and seatbelt cutter multi-tools. And third best sellers I'd say are goofy fake fantasy knives and knock off anime swords (as much as I love to promote copyright protection and licensed merchandise, they dont exist for these swords. We have licensed replicas of any sword we think will sell, but they often cost WAY too much for what they are and are even more difficult to track down, and this is from a guy who honestly believes $300 for a sword is a good price to pay). For a few years we've been doing this and never heard of any issue what so ever. sometimes we sell the occasional benchmade on the side since we bring a small display, but that is mostly because we know some customers from The City who love it when we come to Wondercon, we give them a little deal and they get a new blade from two companies they trust (Us & Benchmade) no harm. We card, we have procedures on how to handle items and we have 2 people in the booth (or 3) at all times watching the merch.

This year (Wondercon 2011) we roll into the Moscone center with all our display and merchandise for the weekend and get started with setup. Our store has PAID for two booths, checked in for the show, sold THE SAME ITEMS for AT LEAST two years previously with no complaints. We spend about SIX HOURS in the center, our booth is built, we are just putting the bulk of the blades up, and a gentleman in a suit comes up and asks to talk to our manager.

We are still investigating what exactly is going on, but the information I received from our manager was effectively, There is now a cap on the number of Blade Vendors at Wondercon, we are not on the list of allowed vendors, we were allowed to go about or business THIS YEAR, but it did NOT sound like we would be allowed to sell swords next year. Also, come Sunday morning of the show, we were asked to no longer sell PRACTICE butterfly items. From what my manager could tell me (I have not pressed on this particular subject, but some of you may know English is not her first language so sometimes it takes time to fully communicate ideas and concepts) there was no reason given to us as to why we could no longer sell these items.

Now, I hope in the future, definitely before next Wondercon, to have some more elaborate answers, but that is the tale of our Wondercon Conundrum so far.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fanime:
To anyone who really cares to stalk me, its fairly easy to deduce I currently live in Santa Clara county in California. I work in Cupertino, I attended San Jose State University, I do theatre all over the silicon Valley, and "MY" local Con is FANIME!

Because Wondercon had been going so well (in 2010) our store decided to try to branch out to other conventions. Fanime only made the most sense. Fanime 2010 I had done some scouting in the Exhibitors hall and saw about three vendors who had full blade displays and a few other exhibitors with a bunch of blades as part of a larger inventory. From my observations I felt we had a solid chance to make some money as well as, the most important thing in my opinion, to represent at "our(local)" con and let more of our local nerds know we exist.
As our main sellers are the practice weapons (foam, wood "plastic"), something I saw in short supply at the other vendors, I felt we would not encroach too much on the other booths market. As well as, from what I could tell, our store brings a larger supply of higher end weapons to shows than the other vendors had displayed. This would allow locals who wanted a high end item to know where they could acquire one if they wanted to spend all their cash at the con and then come by after their next paycheck/allowance date.
Additionally, perhaps they ARE biased, but I have yet to hear anything to the contrary, countless customers, a few mentions online, and informed opinions of people WHO WORK FANIME, our store has more approachable and knowledgeable staff, and as I said, we bring higher quality merchandise for our booth spread.

Anyway. November rolls around, the Fanime website has still not updated (as I understand is Fanime is all run by volunteers, so everyone gets some slack, just telling the story) but the dealer email is still the same so I shoot off an email. within the end of the month I receive an email telling us that there are too many weapons vendors already and that no more will be allowed. In November of 2010, and the website has not even updated for 2011. Okay, fine, perhaps the vendors are more on the ball than the IT department, perhaps there is a seniority to the vendors, fine. Perhaps we can work something out?

Besides, we are working on a collaborative effort with The Twilight Knights, a local martial Arts group who teach weapons classes every year at Fanime, to make special training weapons packages for their classes this year (see store for more details). We figure we might have an in (at that time).

Shortly after this rebuff, I rally the store and shoot off another email, the bulk of the email i sent read:

"That sounds fantastic, we will feel right at home then. We don't actually sell all that much steel at conventions and trade shows, the majority of our inventory and sales are comprised of collectible items (such as lightsabres and pop culture paraphernalia), Martial arts clothing . . ."

" . . . we hope to move a large amount of training items. Also, many of your own staff in the vendor hall in previous years, not to mention many con-goers in the area, have expressed joy over the last year (since Fanime 2010) at the idea that they will be attending Fanime and looking forward to some of deals we intend to offer as one of the newest vendors.

Although We do carry, and had hoped to bring along a few edged items of high quality and unique origin compared to the products other booths normally carry, we had not intended in bringing anywhere near 30% of our inventory as live weapons or "anime blades."

At this time we had only hoped to acquire a single booth space, our goal being dominantly to have representation at (in a local sense) "Our Con" and let the attendees at Fanime know they have a shop that is local that serves several needs that link into the fandom that the convention was based upon.

We can't wait to receive the vendor info for registration as it has not yet been placed on the website, but we have been studying the 2010 contract in hopes it will resemble this years."

Our store gets busy with Holiday season, I get busy with a show, Wondercon goes by (yes, this last one) I start getting nervous about Fanime because I STILL had not heard a reply one way or the other. So I shoot off another email, last week actually, this is the whole email, minus names & such:

"This is Armor-Geddon again with great concern as to our ability to procure a booth in the Exhibitors hall at this year's Fanime. We realize we are mere weeks away but still have hope to purchase a booth from which we may advertise ourselves as a local company to potential customers and revel in your festival of fandom.

Due to your last correspondence we received we are under the impression that you may have reservations allowing us to have a booth in the hall due to our most commonly perceived merchandise.

We also presumed our reply email might ease those conceptions and allow us begin the registration process but received no reply in the affirmative or the negative.

If it is the intent of the Fanime Exhibitor to have a certain cap on "weapons vendors," then we will respect that. However, does that exclude our shop if we dominantly carry; apparel, jewelry, fantasy statuettes, collectables, sample catalogs of items we carry in shop, or even provide a photo opportunity setup as not only has our store been described as a destination, we are proud to have award winning cosplayers working with us, at the booth? Of course we would like to be able to display some of our higher profile items (at the expense of the inability to sell them on-site), but, if necessary, we are willing to work on an item-by-item basis in order to ensure we are able to attend and that your hall reflects the type of exhibitors you wish to showcase.

Thanks to the convenience of our mutual locations, should the conversation be more complex than email correspondence allows, I would love to meet in person to discuss specifics and limitations, either at our storefront in Cupertino or at any convenient place for any relevant parties, within Santa Clara County.

Thank you again for your time, patience and understanding in this situation and I hope we can all come to terms that will benefit not only our respective organizations but for the most important parties, the fans."

I receive an email shortly thereafter, explaining that other sword vendors have complained in the past about the amount of OTHER SWORD VENDORS and that the Exhibitor hall will have a cap set, and that we are not the only weapons exhibitor to be rebuked.

At this point I am exhausted, and, because I was on the clock at work at the time, fighting an emotion I had not identified yet. I was simply keeping it suppressed to stay focused for our customers. I thought it was anger, but upon closer inspection of my feelings and opinions, I was actually depressed. Sad and disappointed that my favorite convention would reject a shop that loved it so.
+ + + + + + +
On a similar tangent, I have come to love Fanime, the same way I loved SJSU. The people, the events, the classes(programming) are all awesome, so much fun, you have a BLAST while you're there. However, the bureaucracy, the red tape, the rules and the management, are . . . . .
I don't want to use words like "suck," "bullshit," "Assholes," even though I know people who would readily scream these things. I think the words tedious and beleaguered would be the best. Before you start ragging on the Fanime heads, realize that no one is paying them (so that I know of) and they are doing the best they can on a show that has the capability to rival AX of old. Some of them we're just teens or undergrads in college when they took up their positions and have been dealing wiht the same crap, or new and terrible crap, each and every year to put on the biggest anime con in norcal (from what I know.) I don't personally know anyone higher up than "pass volunteers" so I can't say anything about anyone's character, but I DO KNOW that when an institution is run by "friends/fans" many people get jobs they may not be best suited for because someone either wanted a particular job or was given a title just to keep them occupied.

(NO! I AM NOT SAYING THIS ABOUT THE VENDOR HEAD SPECIFICALLY. This sort of thing could get out of hand, I am not accusing anyone in particular, I am making a broad assumption based on interactions I've had over half a decade of attendance at the Con and this is from interactions with ALL of the departments.)

These people become bored or tired of their job. Drama occurs and relationships are strained. Outside influences put pressure on your infrastructure and you have to deal with them and stay all cheery even though you wish to tell them to take a hike.
------------------------------------------------------------------

So, now that you have ridden that ride with me, check this out, that makes no sense.
We have been, basically told "we don't care" by two of the biggest Norcal Con, but then, out of the universe, Wizard World calls US and asks us to come be vendors at Anaheim Comic Con. Like, a call a week to see if we're in or out. We went (see THIS post by T1nk for a vicarious recap) and it was a learning experience, I think we will attend next year, good juju.

And of course, we wanted to try Anime Expo. As soon as our manager called them they we're fairly enthusiastic to have us as vendors. We have got continual updates and been given great service so far. We have not yet decided if we will be vending at AX or the fledgling AM2, but in typical overenthusiastic fashion, I suggest our store can do both, at the same time.


So perhaps I should just let the bridges be and go with cons that actually want us? Is it wrong that I am so crushed to be rejected by cons that have nurtured and welcomed me in a professional and personal capacity? What is the proper response for an adult who wishes to be mature and professional? I am thankful to have a manager to make my decisions for me and also to have the great support of my fiance who ALWAYS brings a totally different perspective to these things from how I would want to proceed.

If anyone has ANY information or insight as to what is going on at Fanime or Wondercon, Off or On the record, I would love to hear from you @ " T3h . H4773r @ Gmail . com " (just take out the spaces). If you feel moved to help do something about it, perhaps we could get a petition or initiative together to present to Wondercon or Fanime and let them know what the fans, the attendees, the Perceived REASON these events are held, think and want from their event.

And for those of you who read this ENTIRE STUPID THING, thank you.

If you want to waste another hour of your life, possibly laughing your ass off if you play table top RPG's, here, perhaps these will soften the blow.

Bully, Sir? Not for Me

The Bartitsu Boys (and gals) are still at it!
As some of you might recall a while back I did some posting on Bartitsu and have since been following their site, waiting for different projects to be finished. If you're ready to jump in right away there is a small library worth of resources already, Or, if like me, you have a couple other tomes to dig through (Castle & Hutton personally) they have completed the fore mentioned Documentary. HUZZAH!

Soon, h47ites, I do affirm. I have managed to locate a couple schools in my area that teach European Martial arts as well as I've made a few contacts with different Fight Directors, so I hope to continue my training (and improve my physique at the same time perhaps?) in tandem with bartitsu research and incorporate my knowledge into my fights. I have also been researching Jiu-jitsu schools in my area and even a cane defense teacher in the area to start some cross training in the areas I want to focus on.

I've been contemplating trying to stalk some of the names posted across the Bartitsu site to see if I can get some hands on, live training, I think that would be the most invaluable. We'll see what Shows and work have in mind as far as scheduling.

I am a little annoyed with myself that I had never heard of Combat Con but plan to attend in the near future, maybe even try and talk my store into attending if we get into out-of-state shows. but perhaps more on that in another post.

No Small Wonder

Word up h47ites! Quick tip! If you didn't already know I will not ONLY be rockin' the role of Turckle in "Cuckoo's Nest" at Brodway West this weekend (and a couple after) By day, I will be H4773r Not-at-all-mild-mannered Blade Vendor for Armor-Geddon's Booth at Wondercon!
Come by, say "hi" and meet one of our new employees, a world renowned cosplayer, as well as one of the 'Geddon Veterans. Most of us will be dressed all snazzy while we sling steel to needy little weapon enthusiasts. Maybe even pick up one of my custom made Combo Packs, eh? Extra Wit is included FREE!
Hope to see you there!

H47 Was Closed . . .

Due to AIDS!, I mean, S.G.I.S.Con V.

Sorry about that, Sgiscon kicked my but and all I did yesterday was unload the car and try not to be exhausted. And catch up on twitter, holly hell, it literally took me like three hours. No joke.

Some Hi-lights from the weekend include:

H47-Cake! There will be pics eventually, it was delicious, custom to my specs, delicious, and awesome.

There was Nantleing, it was naughty.

Lack of internet, I assume inspired even MORE nerdery in social capacities.

"Its so adorable I could punch a goblin!"

As well as putting encounter monsters in mason jars, oh yes!

Thats just the tip, as I'm sure you are aware. more to come later this week or perhaps a full recap and some pics for next week, we shall see.

On A Bet

These are two of my buddies Moose (the one in red) and Mario (the one in blue being . . dry humped?) and this pic is titled "Frios Frijoles "

I am posting this pic on a bet that has nothing to do with the picture or where it was taken. If you really must know, I will share the story with you elsewhere.

As I've said before, the more obscure the joke, the funnier it is.

S.G.I.S.Con V

Con Five is ALIVE!!



The Theme is TEA PARTY!

The dates are JANUARY 2011, FRIDAY 14nth, SATURDAY 15nth, SUNDAY 16nth, and MONDAY 17nth!

Do not show up before 10 am on Friday please!

Registration is "open" its the same $25 dollars a head. If you can't handle this, contact me or T1nk. If you don't we will assume you are not coming as we will not have your money.

This year T1nk and I are not so hot financially, so we will not be able to help cover costs until people show up, SO, please get me the money by any means possible before or on JANUARY 2011, WEDNESDAY 12th BEFORE WE GO SHOPPING FOR FOOD. This means if you are paying by Paypal make sure to allow for however long it takes for it to process from your bank, into paypal, then into my bank.

If you have issue with paying for foods for the weekend contact us, we will try and work something out.

The cap limit is 25 (TWENTY FIVE!) PEOPLE, just like last year, many couples are slated to attend so get your registration in quick. I will be keeping a tab, so contact me as soon as you send money my way OR/AND make sure I put your name(s) in my book.

So many people enjoy this weekend long nerdcamp that I could not bring myself to cancel it. However, it has gotten progressively more shitty to organize without any pay and worrying about people all weekend so please help me keep putting this shindig together by keeping the drama and bullshit to a minimum. If you have ANY questions about ANYTHING to do with this event, PLEASE contact one of us and we will try to resolve something.

If you magically wish to donate to this event more than registration or even just as a Birthday/Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Graduation/Guilt Present, we will find a way to recognize you (or not, Epyon Avenger, I'm looking at you) for your contribution, whatever it may be. Contact us if your contribution is not monetary.

Aright kids, lets keep things all "two lumps O' sugar" up in here and have a kickin' Sad Geek In Snow Con V!!
(word up to Bri Chan and her awesome skills)

Tired Post, S.G.I.S.Con V

Just as a Note, Registration for Sad Geek In Snow Con Five has not opened yet, nor have I set a date for it to open, AS WELL AS, I'm still not sure it's even going to happen.
DONT FREAK OUT
there are a few factors out of my control that would influence whether or not I would want to have the party, and none of them are linked to anyone or anything to do with the party in the past.
Just bare with me, keep in touch, and stay tuned, I will update you as soon as I know.

until then, something I find, just my style.

S.G.I.S.Con V Theme!

MOVE DOWN! CLEAN CUP! It's Tea Party Time Bitches!!

Sad Geek In Snow Con Five shall be Tea Party Themed!

Blatantly ripping off LoL's (Lisa out Loud) birthday party theme, as well as indulging several genres and my own moniker, we will be having a "spot" on weekend, eh?

I'm still working out some itinerary ideas, but, expect several incarnations and concepts of "tea party" and I think we will be having tea at tea time every day as well as consuming, of course, massive amounts of herb flavored drinks.

So! Registration is not open just yet, but keep your fingers peeled to this blog, updates will be posted soon.

-H47

Going Home

Today h47's getting a little heavy, but coming straight out of almost an entire work week of Con, I think it a fitting musing.

I've watched Nerdcore Rising and a clip or two of the concert at PAX. I've been consuming everything Penny Arcade for the last 3 years (twitter, PATV) and I want to go "home" to PAX.
What is that? that sense of geek home, where all us geeks are accepted and valid as human beings?
Is that our issue? We have become so accustomed to being "other?" Is it so intrinsic to the nature of nerdery that we be pariahs?

I have been reduced to tears, literally, at least 3 times because of an awareness of that experience, that "home" feeling. Wil Wheaton mentions it, you can SEE Scott Kurtz live it on the latest episode of PATV, I definitely get that vibe from Front when I see him reference the PAX concerts.

It fascinates me.

My buddy Epyon Avenger has mentioned how at Fanime the convention center slowly evolves into a nerd molded shanty-town. Chairs get moved into circles, music jams start to occur and the "community" assembles and reconnects every year.

To be clear, I fully support this and think it is wonderful. The thing that stays with me is why?
I guess I feel the same way about it as I do about Nerdcore. It would be awesome if it became the norm and our world was full of fluffy killer bunnies and school girls. But then I don't think it would be the same. I would guess that an essential part of the experience is the fact that there is a common bond from the shared memory of our exclusion from "the normals." From that, these institutions become havens where we understand each other or at least tolerate and revel in our "off-ness."

Maybe that's it then. I think I knew it in my life meter, but it wasn't in my spell-book. In doing a little mental craft grinding I discovered something. And from this I hope I can foster that emotion in my own corner of cyberspace as well as at S.G.I.S.Con. As long as my readers understand what I just said, or at least get the gist of it, I think the nerd world will be just a little bit better and grow in scope. But not too much, for perhaps that etheral thing, that light, intangible concept might press L2 & R2 if we try to force it.

Thanks for listening inter-natives, see you at home.

Pros & Cons

Not here, not on our web-comic, nor upon my twitter shall you hear me speak of "i"'s or pads together or conjuctively, apart perhaps, except for just now. Most likely not of "i" anythings as they are merely products that one company happens to put out shine-ily and loudly. I am happy for you if you enjoy them and that's very nice. I prefer other things and being locked into a lifestyle, "i" or otherwise, do not currently work smoothly with other styles and habits.
What the hell was that about!? I'm not entirely sure and I am the one writing it. But that's what you should come to expect by now. On to the real meat of the post.

Con season is kicking up with Wondercon just passed. I was there in partial force as an "Elite Humanoid Lvl. ?? Blade Vendor " (dont let the skull scare you, I was released in BC) (Full force would have been if we had a booth for the blog/comic) and illicitly shouting and hollering about my hard pointy things. Yes, your humble h47 was breaking rules all weekend. Upon closer inspection of the legal jargon(why was I reading the exhibitor contracts, I'll get to that) I found on several Con/exhibitor contracts detail that no barking/hawking/carnival like attractions shall be allowed in the hall. That's right, all my witty quips & yells were not on the up & up.
BUT! being an enthusiast of my place of employ and a consummate con . . . consumer (yay alliteration) my boss-ninja-lady finally relented and suggest I do some Team Leading on our store's Con Team. SO! I began my research as her & I are to meet and discuss various con related things. We shall see in what capacity I will be attending many cons in the future.