Apparently there was some kind of convention in San Diego recently.  Does anyone know anything about this?

No, just kidding.  I and 125,999 of my closest friends hit the ol' Sandy Eggo for some fun far away from the sun.

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Folks, we have a lot of new images being put out pre-Comic Con, and it is only going to get better on Saturday, from what I can tell. The ramp up for Thor is hard core. We have HIGH RES stills, including our first view of Loki WITH his horned helmet and a very golden throne room in Asgard. We have two of the warriors three. We have Comic-Con movie concept-art posters for Cap AND Thor. AND. AND we have Thor standing in the rain flexing every muscle on his body. Follow the links for the Better quality images at their sources!

Let me begin with the poster art released by Marvel. It'll be available at the Marvel booth at the con!

I dare you to look at that poster and tell me that this movie looks lame.

Higher resolution image of the Hall of Asgard, a la LA Times, which came through for us again. The original release was print only, but they threw up the digital not long after. Incidentally, Russ Fischer at Slashfilm.com did a great job pulling out the details for us on this image for a close up of Loki, Frigga, Hogun and Fandral while Thor kneels before Zod Odin. Slashfilm.com also includes the original bootleg EW image of Thor and Odin in high res in that article, which can also be found on Marvel's site. I'll post a lower res of the Hall of Asgard image here, as a preview but definitely go get the full effect! (EDIT: YES WE HAVE HELMETS THANK YOU COMIC CON!)

 The Money Shot and my thoughts below the cut!

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Was it just last year that I was whinging about lack of female geek content at Comic-Con?  I'll have to find something else to complain about, because THIS year we girls are rocking out with our X chromosomes out.

Thursday!

• Panel: Geek Girls Exist 5:30-6:30 PM, Room 8
• Geek girls' meetup/tweetup at Jolt'n'Joes, 8-11PM

Friday!

• Panel: Where are the action chicks?  2:00PM - 3:30PM, Room 26AB
• Panel: Girls Who Kick Ass 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Ballroom 20
• Panel: Girls Gone Genre 5:00PM - 6:00PM, Room 24ABC

Saturday!

• Panel: Her Universe: Shining the Spotlight on Female Fans 6:30 - 7:30 PM, Room 24ABC

Sunday!

• Panel: The Women of Marvel 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Room 7AB 

BE THERE!

For those of you late to this party, Comic-Con is an enormous convention that is theoretically devoted to American comics, but that over the past ten-ish years has become the de facto Big Genre Convention.  Geek idol Joss Whedon is a confirmed devotee.  Cool stuff gets announced there.  Cool stuff gets premiered there.  And you can be around to watch!  It is more fun than several barrels of monkeys.

Now.  All this may be academic to those of you who haven't already bought tickets, because the entire con is now sold out. But, for those of you who've taken the plunge and are all abrim with nervous excitement... read on!

First things first: with apologies to Douglas Adams, it is big.  Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way from one end of World Con to the other, but that's just peanuts to Comic-Con. It is a solid quarter mile from one end of the dealer's room to the opposite end. Something like 125,000 people attended last year, and that's with only some memberships being sold out in advance.  This year they're all gone already, so I think we can reasonably expect a full house.

Generic convention survival tips

• Water. Bring a water bottle.  Drink before you're thirsty.  Remember our motto: pee clear.
• Food. It is ancient con tradition that con food be both expensive and awful.  Comic-Con is a proud adherent to tradition.  My usual food strategy for cons is constant grazing.  I tuck into a good breakfast at the hotel, munch on trail mix throughout the day, and then dinner.  The idea with the snacking is to eat before you notice you're hungry: at the beginning or end of a panel, cram down a handful or two of trail mix and a nice big swig of water.  Keep this up, and you'll spend the day in a happy state of non-hunger, and the siren song of the $8 hot dog will become much less enticing.
• Shoes.  You live and die by your shoes at cons, especially at the cosmically huge Comic-Con.  Now is not the time for new shoes.  Nor is it the time for stiletto heels, no matter how sexy they make you look.  Save them for parties or the masquerade.  Your comfy, beat-up tennies that fit you like a second skin: those are the ones to wear.  Also, once you've put them on in the morning, don't take them off until you get back to the hotel at night: your feet will swell and you won't be able to put them back on again.
• Other body care.  A day's supply of your prescription meds.  A couple tablets of your favorite painkiller.  A wet-wipe-in-a-pouch.  A band-aid. A safety pin.  A tampon. A couple of cough drops or hard candies, either for your own use or to press on the person hacking up a lung in the row behind you. One of those little packets of Kleenex.
• Costumes.  Costumes are for fun.  Cosplay is for fun.  Don't worry about it being "good enough" or about people making snide comments about your costume; cosplayers are a supportive bunch and consider bashing other people's costumes (to their faces, anyway) unacceptable behavior.  Even very simple costumes can be awesome: one of my favorites ever was a teenaged girl who wore a fitted red Superman tee, a blue miniskirt, and red tights.  Instant Supergirl!
• Do NOT plan on seeing the whole thing.  Let go of this idea RIGHT NOW.  If you were capable of duplicating yourself, like Multiple Santa in The Tick, you still could not see all of Comic-Con.  It is not necessary to schedule an activity for each block of time in the interests of "getting your money's worth" or some such; in fact, it's a bad idea.  If you've identified three-four panels a day that you want to make, you've already got yourself a busy day.
• Bring your own Sharpies.  What sucks more than running into (say) Alison Bechdel, and asking for an autograph, only to find that neither of you has a writing implement?  Nothing, that's what.  I suggest a silver Sharpie for maximum contrasting ability.
• Bathe. Truth be told, there are not remotely as many gross con-goers as lazy media stereotypes would have you believe. But there's always a few who seem to think that their own personal body has no odor, and one or two who practically emit cartoon-style wavy smell rays.  I suppose it bears repeating, though, so: Daily bathing of your person is required.  Complete change of clothing into clean clothing at least once every 24 hours is required.  If someone tells you you smell, believe them.
  
• Check out the art show.  It costs nothing to look, is very rarely crowded, and you'd be surprised how affordable some of it is.  Especially considering how much of it is awesomesauce.
• Twitter.  Twitter, IMHO, may well be the killer app for conventions.  Keep an eye on the relevant twitterstream to find out what's going on.  Or follow some of your favorite celebs--some (Neil Gaiman, @neilhimself, springs to mind) are very good about tweeting their forthcoming appearances and/or retweeting cool things they hear about.

Comic-Con specific tips

• Plan ahead.  They post the programming schedule a couple of weeks before the con opens. Decide ahead of time whose autographs you MUST have, which panels you MUST attend, etc., etc.  They employ a ticket system for the most popular guests: you show up in the Sails Pavilion at a given time to get a ticket, and only ticketed people are allowed into the autograph queue.
• Don't automatically rule out things just because there's a long line.  Give it a shot, especially if it's in one of the big halls--they're bigger than you may think; and, even if a panel's at capacity, the Door Guardians will let new people in if enough people leave the panel.
• Make peace with disappointment.  What with all the waiting around and not being everywhere at once, you will miss cool stuff.  Also, sometimes you won't make it into a panel that you were dying to get into, even after waiting three hours in line.  Try to take this in stride.  Life at Comic-Con is like that sometimes.  Last year I was within the first five people after the cutoff for the Russell T. Davies autograph session, and I felt like throwing things.  Take a deep breath.  Put it in perspective.  I find that the universe usually makes it up to me somehow, with some kind of awesome unexpected treat.
• Scout out the dealer's room early in the weekend. Companies often host their own special events, right there at their booth.  Also, the coolest stuff goes fast.
• Consider parking the kids somewhere. I don't have kids, so perhaps I'm biased, but it's hard to visualize Comic-Con as the sort of thing small or medium-sized kids would like.  It's big and crowded and noisy and full of grownups, and you spend a lot of time waiting in line.  For those of you who insist on bringing the next generation along that they may be trained up wisely in the ways of geekdom, though, there's child care on-site.  They're open only when the con is (i.e. not when you show up at 6 AM to get a spot in the line for the Panel That Everyone Wants To Attend, and not when you decide to stay 'til 10 PM to attend the Buffy singalong.) and they take kids through age 12.
• Come early.  No, earlier than that.  No, even earlier.  There's a line for Registration, lines for autographs, and lines for the panels.  Your best bet is to befriend someone like my friend Pete, who has the uncanny--nay, supernatural--ability to be at the head of any given line.  (It's his personal superpower.  I have another friend who can always find a parking spot. Alas, neither of them is coming.)  Failing that, plan on showing up an hour or two before the con opens if there's a line you really really want to join.
• No roller bags and/or briefcases-on-wheels.  Yeah, I know--I wanted to bring one, too.  They're banned from the dealer's room floor; and for good reason, as I realized after a moment's sober reflection: imagine if everyone brought one.  You'd be tripping over them all the time, and THAT doesn't sound fun, does it?  Bring a backpack instead.
• Donate blood, if at all possible.  Not only will you do your Good Deed For The Day, the freebies are insane.  I'm a long-time blood donor--nearly three gallons--and usually the most you can hope for is free cookies.  Last time I donated at Comic-Con, I got a stack o' comics, a T-shirt, AND a super-rare, limited-edition Buffy the Vampire Slayer figure, plus they enter you in a raffle for MORE treats.  If you've been rejected for low iron, or if you're surfing the Crimson Tide, take a supplement for a couple of weeks beforehand.   There's a sign-up sheet in the Sails Pavilion.  Sign up for a time, and present yourself at the appointed time. I allow an hour for the whole donation process, from walking in to walking out.  Repeat blood donors: San Diego Blood Bank is a separate outfit from the Red Cross, so you'll have to sign up all over again. Sorry.
• Bring a book.  Comic-Con is tremendous fun, but the fun tends to arrive as punctuation to long stretches of tedium.  Rooms are not cleared between panels, which means that the best way of getting a seat in a panel you're dying to attend is often to attend the panel before it.  Or the two panels before it.  (Answer to obvious question: Once you have a seat, you can get a bathroom pass from the Door Guardians.)  For the really popular panels, expect a stupidly long line starting ridiculously early.  So: book.  But don't bother bringing an iPod.  It's too damn loud.
• Shop wisely.  Remember that you're carrying all your cool finds around on your back, and that lockers are scarce and expensive.  Try to do your major shopping in one go.  Bargain hunters, try waiting until Sunday afternoon--vendors want to move stuff, and may be inclined to cut you a "we don't want to ship it home" deal.
  • Christmas shop wisely.  I'm a big believer in doing my Christmas shopping throughout the year, and cons are prime shopping grounds for your geeky friends.  Is there someone in your life who'd squee over a personally dedicated copy of the latest Girl Genius trade paperback?  Of course there is.
  • Bring cash.  Lots of the smaller publishers will only take cash.  Women wearing busty costumes without room for pockets sometimes keep their cash tucked into their cleavage, where it's easily accessible and reasonably secure.  Come to think of it, superhero costumes seem to be light on pockets, so I bet this is how real superheroines keep their cab fare handy if they can't teleport or fly.  Me, I keep the main wad o' greenbacks in a little pouch around my neck (under my shirt), and a bit of walking-around money in my wallet, replenished as necessary from the pouch.
  • Bring one of those rigid cardboard tubes people use to ship posters. Beats buying one at the con.
• Dress wisely.  San Diego * summer * 100K people = a bad time to wear a foam-padded bodysuit.  But don't dress for the surface of Mercury, either--they keep the rooms fairly cool.  Dress for a summer day, but bring a light jacket.

Autographs

• Prepare your materials.   Peruse the schedule to get an idea of who's attending.  Now, identify what you'd like your target autographers to sign: Books? Comics? Liner notes from DVD sets?  (You can be optimistic here.  Failure to secure an autograph costs you only a sticky note.)  A couple days before the con, assemble them all in a pile on your table.  Now get yourself some sticky notes.  Write down the name of the target autographer on the note, and stick it to whatever you want him or her to sign: for an author, the title page of the book; for an actor, a page of the liner notes; etc.  Repeat until you've got everything flagged with a sticky note.  Put the stuff that's susceptible to creasing in a rigid folder.  When your target autograph is acquired, remove the sticky note and throw it away.
• It is not necessary to reassure someone that you're not one of those fans.  Famous people already know that they have 99 perfectly lovely fans for every psycho, and they will assume that you're one of the good fans unless you give them reason to believe otherwise.  If you're stuck for something to say, repeat after me: "Hello. I love your work."
• If you think you're going to have to spell something out for them, write it down instead.  If your name is Aeryqah, write it out on an index card beforehand and hand it to them.  Same thing goes if you're getting something signed for your friend Alyssenne: write it out for them.
• Be very very sparing with requests for custom inscriptions.  There are 85 billion people in line behind you.  Most autographers will write something like "To so-and-so, signature".  A request that they write "To so-and-so, Happy birthday! signature" is probably OK; anything much longer or more complex is pushing the boundaries of being a dick.  You have a little more leeway here if you're paying for the autograph, or if you're the only person in line, but do be considerate of the artist's time and energy.  How would you feel if you had 85 billion autographs to sign and someone wanted you to write out what amounted to a postcard's worth of text?
• Make it as easy for them as possible.  Do not get to the front of the line and then make everyone wait while you fumble around for your pen, as if you couldn't have done that in the hour and a half you were waiting.  This goes double if you're planning on discreetly ambushing someone right after a panel (usually this only works at small or medium panels, but you never know): approach your target with your book already flipped open to the right page and your Sharpie already uncapped.

Handy tips for men (or, How To Not Be One Of THOSE Guys)

• Do not assume she's being dragged along under duress.  See Goddess of All's post last year on what this feels like.
• Do not assume that she's new to geekdom.  Maybe she is, but then again maybe she's been at it longer than you.
• Female geeks are under no obligation to date you.  They're there for their own reasons, and they are emphatically not there so that the straight male geeks can fish from a stocked pond.
• Refrain from classifying other attendees as trufen or posers.  Here I am thinking specifically of Twilight fans, the pariahs of last year's Comic-Con. Twifans aren't interlopers in your convention; it's their convention too. Besides--remember when you were an awkward teenager who'd discovered something you thought was wonderful but that everyone else viewed with contempt?
• Do not assume that she's only interested in paranormal romance / Twilight / manga / kawaii / other stereotypically girly things.  She's a geek, just like you.

See you at the con!

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My friend Tony is a professional film geek: he runs film festivals. The big one is the Bradford International Film Festival. It's the UK's equivalent of Cannes, and it's amazingly successful. Because he runs the BIFF, though, he also gets to be involved with the other film festivals run in Bradford: BAF, Bite the Mango, and the Fantastic Films Weekend. The #ffw (pron. fuffwoo) is a joint venture between Tony and Sarah Crowther, and is a glorious celebration of a very British geekdom. If you're British, and of a certain age, you will remember late night horror movies on the BBC.

My own initiation into horror came with Taste the Blood of Dracula at the tender age of six, and was swiftly followed by such classics as The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, Vault of Horror, and many, many other wonderful films. The FFW gives me the chance to see these as they were meant to be seen: in a darkened cinema, sitting with my mates, clutching a paper cup (although, given the civilised nature of the National Media Museum, the paper cup generally contains Proper Beer rather than fizzy pop).

Classic films shown this year included Psycho, Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General, and The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue. But the FFW is not just about classic films, it's a total experience. There are new films too, and the museum's TV Heaven facility shows selections of sci-fi and horror TV shows, and directors and actors come to talk about genre film-making and to introduce their films (I loved Jenny Agutter talking about American Werewolf in London a couple of years ago) and the film make-up ladies from the local film school come and do wound make-up on people (I got my wrist slashed) and teach you how to do it yourself if you want to learn.

Sometimes they show silent movies with live accompaniment. Sometimes they dig out 70mm prints of films (Aliens in seventy mill was amazing). Sometimes films break, or there are typos on the tickets, but that doesn't matter, it's all part of the charm (as is the annual dusting off of the ropey old print of Horror Express, IMHO the best film ever made, to be shown to a whooping, cheering, utterly appreciative audience - Monster? But we're BRITISH!)... It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. It's also unique in the UK. They do a similar thing in Manchester, but it's nowhere near as good, and the facilities at the National Media Museum are unique in Europe in the range of types of film they can show.

The nicest thing for me, though, is the atmosphere. I get to run into old friends and make new ones. Because I have been going to it for years, I have got to know some of the museum staff (shout out going to Jeni and Tristan). Everybody is happy and enthusiastic about the films and the geekery, and you don't get looked down on by people like Mark Lawson, who think that horror and sci-fi can only ever be trash. I know that most of the audience for this blog is USian, but if you have an opportunity to get to Bradford in June of any given year, and you have any fondness for horror or sci-fi or fantasy movies, you should totally support the FFW.

Because it's unique, it's also precarious. Every year the museum gets a lot of event pitches, and it's always wanting to do new stuff, so it needs to be reminded that there is a public demand for the FFW to continue. Tony is already soliciting suggestions for stuff to show next year (I have asked for Dark City and Ginger Snaps) and if you have a suggestion, you can send it to tony DOT earnshaw AT nationalmediamuseum DOT org DOT uk. The more emails he gets saying "I loved the FFW this year, please do it again next year, I'd love to see *insert name of genre film here*", the more likely it is that the museum won't drop it in favour of something else.

 I hope to see some of you girls there next year :D

Further reading: reviews are up at the blogs of several geek-girl attendees: my own, innerbrat, and Purple Pen. You can follow Sarah Crowther on Twitter, and the National Media Museum has an official tweet stream. And you van check out the views of the (mostly) boys on the British Horror Forum here (although you WILL need a free account for that one - shout out to Daz and Sladds and Moo and Nadia and James).

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On the off chance that you all haven't heard about this already, an all-star panel of geeks (including Joss Whedon and Stan Lee) are making a documentary about the weirdos people who go to Comic-Con San Diego--and they could use some fodder, in the form of YOUR geeky life.  Regular readers of this space may recall that I am a habituée of Comic-Con, so I urge you all to get your geek on!

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Regular readers of this space may recall me waxing rhapsodic about Gallifrey One last summer, and now another Gally has come and gone.

G1, for those who don't know, is Los Angeles' annual Doctor Who convention, usually held on President's Day weekend*, and it is more fun than several barrels of monkeys.  Though it's grown dramatically (doubling in size in the past 3 years), it's still a fairly small con, with around 1500 attendees, and has (so far) managed to hang onto its "family" feel.

Details below cut.

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If you knew me in Real Life, you'd probably already know that I'm dangerously addicted to TED Talks. If you are reading this and have no idea what TED is, here's an explanation from the TED website:

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.

The TED Talks are video recordings of  people giving talks at these TED conferences. The smartest, most accomplished people in the world, telling me about their work, their ideas, their cutting edge gadgets. Right there on the web, for free.

I could lose DAYS on this stuff. I'm not the only one. Last year, my husband and brother-in-law (with total family involvement from our excited children)  hacked their Wii remote to create a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer after watching this TED Talk by Johnny Lee:

I ask you, where else could you find information that would make a whole family excited about disassembling  part of an expensive video game system instead of just, you know, using it to play games. (Of course, later that summer we created a low-tech air conditioner with a a box fan, a length of copper tubing and a bucket of ice water,  so maybe we're not the best examples.)

Still there is a lot of information to be had there. I can trace the fact that my sons are now home schooled back to this talk by Sir Ken Robinson, about how schools kill creativity (fair warning- it's 20 minutes long, but quite amusing):

 

 Now, for the tech-lovers among us, take a look at this jaw-droppingly awesome augmented reality mapping technology from Microsoft:

They have now added a "Best of the Web" feature which allows them to share extraordinary and inspiring talks that were not recorded at TED conferences. Like the Harvard commencement speech given by J.K. Rowling that has so recently moved and inspired me, The Fringe Benefits of Failure.

Many of the shorter, more entertaining videos have made their way onto YouTube. The best of these give us insight into our world and ourselves, or else give detailed instructions on how to turn household appliances into doomsday devices.

Well, okay. Not really. But TED Talks are like the best bits of the best lectures you might ever have heard in college, and they are totally free. What's not to love about that?

I am going to leave you with one I found to be quite fun, though perhaps not earth-shatteringly revolutionary. Micheal Shermer: Why People Believe Strange Things.

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I first encountered Doctor Who as a wee slip of a girl, but as I was not 100% sure that I hadn't hallucinated it*, it probably doesn't count.  I encountered it again much later--after college, even--and recognized in it a union of my lifelong love for SF and the love of camp I'd developed as a teen.  After years of watching MST3K and feeling faintly guilty when I liked one of the movies, I discovered in Doctor Who a show where not only was it OK to laugh at the bad parts while still being inspired by the good parts, it was encouraged.

And lo! after years in the wilderness, Doctor Who is cool again.  Chances are good that you, O reader, know a fan, and are perhaps wondering what sort of gift would elicit the Squee of Joy and not the Oh How Very Nice of Meh.  We don't know that, but you could do worse than to surprise her with one of our specially-selected treats--read on for details!

(Images mostly from the Doctor Who Image Archive)

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We GeekaChica bloggers may be Geeks, but we know how to have fun. Of course, being Geeks, sometimes our fun includes costumes. And parties. Lots and lots of parties! But you're not here for my blah-blah-blah-ing, so on to the pictures!

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Apparently, there's a war on science fiction happening.  Thankfully, Spearhead has published an article to make us all aware of a very tragic situation.

Let us begin simply with the first paragraph, which is about enough to make me build some sort of projectile device for launching flaming tampons:

Science fiction is a very male form of fiction.  Considerably more men than women are interested in reading and watching science fiction.  This is no surprise.  Science fiction traditionally is about men doing things, inventing new technologies, exploring new worlds, making new scientific discoveries, terraforming planets, etc.  Many men working in the fields of science, engineering, and technology have cited science fiction (such as the original Star Trek) for inspiring them when they were boys to establish careers in these fields.

To coin an Internet meme, O RLY?

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     It's that glorious time of year again!  I'm  not talking about the beginning of the school year or the end of summer.  No -- it's Dragon Con time!!!!! For all you lovely Geekas who have been overly sheltered, Dragon Con is an annual gathering where 40000+ of your nearest and dearest geeks, freaks, nerds, and gamers gather in celebration over Labor Day weekend.  Held in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA, it is a sight to behold! Fabulous costumes, amazing artists, phenomenal writers, our favorite actors, world-famous scientists, mind-blowing musicians (and did I mention 40000+ fans?) all gathered to celebrate all that is geek.

   If you are wondering what kind of place would be large enough to accommodate this kind of crowd, the answer is there is not one but four hotels -- the Hilton, the Marriott, the Hyatt, and the Sheraton -- that sell their souls to be a part of the festivities.  Oh, but there is more -- there are also multiple other hotels who participate by allowing shuttle service and having special rates for all of us.  

     So we are up to four days, four fabulous host hotels, fantastic guests, fans galore -- back up...what's that? I didn't tell you who will be there? There are 511 guests and bands booked this year!  No, we aren't talking expendable crewmen from the Enterprise. William Shatner, Leonard Nemoy, Patrick Stewart and Kate Mulgrew will all be there.  You aren't into Star Trek?  How about Twilight, Serenity, Firefly, Battlestar Gallactica, SG-1, Doctor Who, Star Wars, or Ghost Hunters?  Check out the guest list on www.dragoncon.org.  For those who are into writers, how about Timothy Zhan, Sherilyn Kenyon, Charlaine Harris, Jody Lynn Nye, and Todd McCaffrey -- to name but a few. Add to that fabulous artists, comic book legends, and top scientists and you have a can't miss event.  The best part is that most of them are willing to take the time to talk to all their fans...and, more often than not, to share a beverage or nourishment with them.

      If you've never been to a Con -- this one will shock and amaze you.  Yes, there are panels where fans discuss all that is right -- and wrong-- with their favorites.  But there is so much more.  Dragon Con offers a writer's workshop that is phenomenal.  There are free (yes, you heard me FREE) concerts.  There is a masquarade contest as well as a hall costume contest.  Miss Klingon is crowned at Dragon each year, as is the Goddess Dawn (by Joe Michael Linsner himself).  For those into Young Adult Literature, there are numerous events such as the Yule Ball.  There are drum circles, costuming classes, all night video pajama parties, robot wars, a Whedon Universe, and a chance this year to become a part of the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest group simultaneously performing the "Thriller" dance in one place.  And the parade!!!!! How could I forget the parade?!? All of the great costumes march down the streets of downtown Atlanta in all their glory. Last year I even got a picture of Adam West in the original Batmobile and of Klingons on Harleys.   Check out the website. There's something for everyone!

A disclaimer: Daytime activities are entirely kid-friendly, but those who shelter their mini-geeks may want to exercise caution for some of the after-dark events.  The pocket guide is online (they give you copies of it at the con) and will let you know which may be questionable for little eyes and ears. Childcare is available.

      If you sense a note of sadness from this Goddess, it is because regrettfully I will not be attending this year.  I had to give up my Dragon this year to attend Comic Con next year.  So -- my dear geekas, I charge all of you who are near the Atlanta area -- go.  Have a fabulous time and take lots of pictures! Post them! You will have a blast and it will become an annual event for you as well. 

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Oh, look: ANOTHER women-discover-fandom article.

But it also contains the first instance I've seen of the people interviewed going "Of course women are genre fans. If this is news to you, then you are either an idiot or have been living on Mars."  So, hooray! Maybe this sort of article is on its way out.

Also, the article claims that this year's Comic Con was 40% female--and, as I think about it, that seems about as I remember it.

Addendum:  Doubtless some of you are now thinking "Now, Nightsky, when you say that the women-discover-fandom meme is built on a raft of sexist assumptions, don't you think you're overstating things just a tad? Sexism, in 2009, honestly?  Among fans--generally well-educated people who have been brought up to see women as equals?" Allow me to present, in toto, a comment that appears under the above-linked article.

When a girl tells me she's a "fan" but is obviously just a fan of Twilight, I usually attempt to save her soul by recommending some of Whedon's stuff or Gaiman's Sandman. If she goes for it, then I've done my duty and fandom really will have another member of the fairer sex. If she doesn't, well then there was just no helping her anyway!
By the way, am I the only one who's asking himself where all these hot girls were at the comicons back when I was young and single? *sigh*

Totalling up the patronizing and sexist assumptions behind this statement is left as an exercise for the reader.  Mine are behind the cut, if you want to compare notes.

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Several wonderful people have blogged about the fact that women not only enjoy science fiction books and movies but that we love comics.  They usually go on to make the point that we are an invisible majority, or at least invisible equals, when it comes to fandom.  I had not really been affected by that so much because I have always been a geek and it was accepted that scifi, fantasy, comics, games and generally weird topics were a part of my composition.  I guess I was always accepted as one of the guys when it came to that.  That was until this past weekend.

My family and I attend several conventions every year.  We’ve been to Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Charlotte, and several others. Next year we plan to make it to San Diego for the Mecca – Comicon.  We look for comic stores every time we go out of town.  We even found a comic book store when we went to Niagara Falls in Canada last year! One of our annual favorites, however, is Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC, held annually over Father’s Day weekend.

Heroes is a wonderful show!  Artists, writers, and collectors gather to share stories, collections, knowledge, drinks, and fun.  It was here I first met Elaine Corvidae, one of my favorite authors, and Joe Michael Linsner, creator of the goddess Dawn.  My children dress in full anime regalia and my husband searches through box after box to fill the holes in his extensive collection.  I chat with writers and artists who gladly peruse my portfolio and offer advice and encouragement.  All in all – it’s fantastic.  But this year…

One artist – on a back corner table – had a sign.  This was not just any sign…it was a totally odd sign – so, of course, I had to photograph it.  He saw my daughter and me walking by with my Kabuki prints safely enveloped in a heavy-duty Mylar protector and commented that “tag along spouses and children” were welcome to browse too.  Tag along spouse?  I think not!

I, in my beautiful Dawn t-shirt, proceeded to question him about why he would assume that someone was a tag along spouse.  He chuckled and replied that most women were dragged to the show by husbands and boyfriends.  Does he think we are that stupid? That we need to be led by our big, superior spouses or male counterparts through the maze of science fiction? UGH! I was highly offended – so was my comic-reading, game playing, science fiction-writing daughter.

Do these chauvinists think that we organize vacations around conventions as a ploy to please our men, or to appease them, so we can shop?  Do they think that we carefully catalog books and artwork for their insurance value alone?  Do they think we attend shows hoping to catch a glimpse of man candy? (OK…so that happens occasionally!) No! No! No!

We attend shows, book signings, conventions because we LOVE the genre!  Not all women are “Sex in the City” girls – although many geekachicas ARE beautiful and stylish as well as incredibly intelligent.  (Funny how that’s what our significant others find sexy!)  We like well-written, well-thought out plots.  We like science.  We like math.  We like Klingon warriors and intergalactic travel. We have voices and speak out against anyone who would berate us as second class geeks! We are SO much more than "tag alongs" and it’s about time they acknowledge it.

Goddess of All is our newest addition to GeekaChicas, and she always takes her camera to Cons. (Yay!) We hope to hear more from her as Con Season gets into full swing.~The Management

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Considering how the Torchwood panel three years ago was standing room only--for a series that had yet to premiere in the US--and all they had present was a handful of writers and producers, THIS ought to be entertaining.

David Tennant, Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Euros Lyn,*and* John Barrowman are ALL coming to ComicCon.

Fans can visit the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629) to capture their own photograph alongside part of the Doctor Who set – as well as purchase exclusive merchandise including David Tennant figures.

More here.

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For those of you late to this party, Comic Con is an enormous convention that is theoretically devoted to American comics, but that over the past ten-ish years has become the de facto Big Genre Convention.  Geek idol Joss Whedon is a confirmed devotee.  Cool stuff gets announced there.  Cool stuff gets premiered there.  And you can be around to watch!   Case in point: a musical episode of Batman: The Brave And Bold, with Neil Patrick Harris as the singing villain, is being shown on Friday this year.  I think I speak for all of us when I say, "Aw, hell yes!"

Now.  All this may be academic to those of you who haven't already bought tickets, because the entire con is now sold out. But, for those of you who've taken the plunge and are all abrim with nervous excitement... read on!

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Are you psyched for Comic-Con?  I am!  It'll be my third year going, and this year I am taking a 14-year-old to his very first convention.  Yes, as conventions go, it's a huge impersonal funfair--as opposed to, say, Gallifrey One, which is like a family reunion with costumes--but it can't be beat for star power.  Last year, I passed within inches of Ray Bradbury while out on the show floor.  The year before, I got into the Futurama panel and very nearly got to ask a question.  Also, if you're lucky, there are the neatest goodies to be had. (Hint: donate blood if you're at all able. The freebies are unreal.)

So it was with delight, initially, that I saw an LA Times slide show intriguingly titled The Girl's Guide to Comic Con.  My happiness faded as I read it.

 Perhaps I am being unfair. Maybe every Comic-Con-bound she-geek except me will find it massively useful.  Me, I was mostly irritated: women going to Comic-Con, apparently, are there to drool over the hunky stars of our favorite media.  Now, I'm not saying that isn't a benefit, but... really, is squee all we're there for?  Nobody suggests that guy fans attend solely to ogle the eye candy.  Any mentions of, I dunno, panels on woman-written comics?  On gender representations in any geeky medium?  A look at the problem of Women In Refrigerators, and some analysis on whether it's gotten better or worse since it was identified? Maybe there will be, but not in this slide show... instead, it breathlessly informs us that the upcoming "G.I. Joe" movie (by the way: ?!) will star a handsome man, which will surely be "the girl draw".

But maybe the slide show just was unlucky enough to hit a few of my own personal Issues. The very first slide hit one of them when it offhandedly mentioned that Comic Con "is not just for nerdy guys anymore".  Here's the thing: it never was. Women have been there since the beginning--in all of genre fandoms, actually--and this notion of women as perpetual recent arrivals makes me grind my teeth.  It's meant well, which I do appreciate, but it's also a real minimizing, devaluing, and concealment of women's contributions to fandom.

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