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Wil Wheaton's GenCon SoCal Recap
Mr. Wheaton (CleverNickName to you) had the chance to attend GenCon SoCal, the westerly companion to the event held every summer in Indianapolis. He writes, in his regular column at Suicide Girls, about the joys of a nerd in his natural environs. From the article: "I made my way over to the correct hotel, and finally felt like I was at one of the cons I remember. It was intimate, dimly-lit, and packed with people in costumes, people playing games, people napping on couches, and people doing the things that geeks do. I passed one guy gloating into his cell phone, 'So, I guess you're not picking up your phone after that humiliating defeat?' He was cleaning up the aftermath of a Magic: The Gathering duel. A pair of men passed me, heavily engaged in conversation. One of them said to the other, 'Not only is it a valid thought, it's a valid line of discussion!' I have no idea what they were talking about, but it certainly seemed, uh, valid to them. Four teenagers (two boys and two girls) walked in front of me as I crossed the lobby, one wearing a Cthulhu backpack. All of them were dressed in black pants, the boys with the obligatory flannel shirts unbuttoned over their T-shirts. " If you're worried about it, Wil's column is in a SFW part of the site. You can also read some of his editorial cuts on the WWdN In Exile blog.
Slashdot, none-news that's even more vapid than hello magazine? Did anyone think this was interesting enough to submit or are you skipping your meds again?
You know, I've never been to one of these, but they sound like fun. I'd only go to pick up chicks, though.
"l of them were dressed in black pants, the boys with the obligatory flannel shirts unbuttoned over their T-shirts. "
The official uniform of none conformity.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Like salmon returning upstream. Only without the spawning opportunities.
Seriously though, something like this is a good time if you are so inclined. Many years ago, I went to Origins several times, and it was great. It was in the summer though, so I left my flannel at home.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
~~=====> - The joke
0 - You
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"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I went to GenCon SoCal again this year. Probably the best time I've had yet, even though I volunteered the whole time. I did, in fact, see the Cthulu backpacks walking around.
I'm surprised they didn't get Wil Wheaton to do an autograph signing. During the first year of Gencon Socal they paid William Shater something like $400,000 to sign autographs, and nobody even bothered to show up for it (there was like a line of two people) -- the announcer on the PA system got increasingly desperate. "Mr. Shatner is now signing autographs." "Shatner is signing autographs now." "There is no line to get autographs from Mr. Shatner." "Mr. Shatner will be leaving soon unless more people show up to get autographs..." Etc. And no, I didn't get an autograph. I was busy.
Year 2, they got Val Kilmer. Unbeknownst to anyone at Gencon, Val had (maybe still has) a female stalker that follows him to all his events. So when this shy fan of his (not the stalker) poked her head around a corner and took a flash photo of him, he flipped out, stopped signing autographs (after about five minutes, tops), went back to his hotel room and drank and drugged himself into oblivion for the whole weekend. Gencon staff kept knocking on his door ("Mr Kilmer? Mr Kilmer?"). He finally came out on Sunday, and asked people if the con was still going on or something.
So yeah, after all that brilliance, Wesley Crusher would probably have been the best celebrity guest yet. (Oh, yeah. Our guest this year was that captain guy from Battlestar Galactica, who mainly just talked about how he tried to kill himself after the show got cancelled.)
Wheeeeee...
But I had a fun time running RPGA events (www.rpga.com), it was worth the travel and the sick people everywhere.