Comic Cons and Craziness

So......

Life has finally hit a small bubble of free time where I can sit for one minute (pretty much literal time allotment) and take stock of life the last few months. Now that I have become a year older (and supposedly wiser).

Main focus being Comic Con. For various reasons I am going to focus on Denver Comic Con, with a bit of Fort Collins Con thrown in!  Because as anyone who is involved in cons in any way knows how it takes over your life! haha

This year was my first Denver Comic Con, so I went outside of my comfort zone to do as much as possible for it.  To start with I was one of the 25 or so crazy people that was outside the doors at 6, or earlier, everyday to be first in to the con. Which I have to say from my perspective was totally worth it, especially on Saturday!! As I was not going to be sleeping anyway, due to too much excitement, I got to hang out with some cool people and watch gleefully as the line behind me grew knowing that I didn't have to be part of that and got to sit the entire time. (Evil I know!)

Friday, first day of con, Mission: Get the lay of the land and recon with friends. Mission status: Accomplished. Most people get overwhelmed by the size and massiveness of the convention center and con. I am not one of those people, scarily enough. It didn't take me long to learn the navigation of rooms and I had already mapped out the panels that I wanted to go to. I managed to get to all of the panels that I wanted and they were all enjoyable.  I found the my friends vendor table, Tabletop Fables which ended up being my base for the weekend. Helping out with the booth and hanging out included. Figured out where all of my friends were getting out of panels so was able to connect with them there or at the table and spend some fun time. Got to meet some awesome new people and just explore the entire building.

Luckily my brother lives close enough to Denver I could room there and have just a short drive there and back. Perks of connections!

Saturday, Second day of con, Mission: Get to Celebrity and other panels and continue friend recon. Mission status: Accomplished. This was the day I was very happy to be at the front of the line for as there were SO many people this day. Having a plan for panels and appropriate spacing between really helped me to get to what I wanted without having any stress. Was able to spend some enjoyable time with my friends. Learned some fun new things during panels and meet some cool people, one of my favorite panels being on screenwriting. Had an amazing lady on that who wrote for Star Trek and others shows during a time when women were tokens in the industry. She had some awesome stories!
Also made some new friends during the day and at the afterparty, definitely need to work a little on coordinating with people for the after partys though! haha

Sunday, last day of Con, Mission: Same as above. Status: Accomplished. Either I have really low standards, or I just am super good at making the most of everything. Probably spent the most time at my friends booth this day helping out, but it was still awesome and fun.

Overall I really enjoyed the panels. The quality varied with regards to the content and presentations for them. My friends panels win every time on both those categories though!!! Panels are, outside of hanging out with friends, the best part of cons to me so content is super important.  I love the atmosphere walking around the con, with everyone dressed up in cosplay. Which I did all three days because why not! The celebrity guests were entertaining and it is interesting seeing the charisma they have in action.

Rating of the con would be a B+. I felt that there was an air of detachment for people there at times. The panel content was good, nothing that stood out as outstanding, friends panels aside being great. The atmosphere felt a bit too commercialized for my liking. The fever people had to get to panels/see celebrities/get that item takes away from the attitude that I feel makes a con special. That of having time to appreciate the effort people put into costumes and building a community by being able to spend quality time talking with those who share your fandom and passion. The air of have to get to my next panel really cuts off the chance of building any acquaintance.

That being said I am gearing up for this years Fort Collins Con. Last year this event was my first con, so it will always be special for me. I felt it A+ed at everything which a con should be, highlighted above. This year being one of the people in charge of programming has me super pumped for the awesome panels that are going to be presented! As it is the end of August (Tickets on sale now and going fast) the excitement is going to build from here.

To be honest I am more excited about one of our celebrity guests, Richard Hatch, then I was for any celebrity at the Denver Con. As I definitely plan on getting a photo/autograph from him, while I didn't make a point of that for Denver.

Anyway, this years Fort Collins Con is going to be awesome!!! I am so happy to be working with the awesome and creative people that are working behind the scenes to pull this event together. The hard work is paying off and coming together!

Signing off for now.

Mary

Dora's Jinx Book Review

Heyo!!

Time to try something new. I am going to be reviewing some books from time to time, first up Dora's Jinx by Boom Baumgartner

I am lucky enough to have met and know the author of this book in real life which is hugely exciting for me! Being connected with other creative people is inspiring and empowering because it can trigger creativity in you. Anyway, on with the review.

I will attempt to keep this as spoiler free as possible as I personally HATE spoilers!

Dora the main protagonist of the book is someone I can relate with on many, many levels which made this a great book to me. She is struggling with something we all face at some point, trying desperately to avoid becoming what everyone expects of her. Due to certain circumstances she also feels invisible, and when she isn't invisible it is for reasons she finds embarrassing.

As if being a teenager in high school is not hard enough there is the added down side of having somewhat embarrassing family connections. Which can definitely subtract from your cool factor.

There is also the issue of friends, throughout the course of the novel Dora struggles to make friends and it takes her time to realize what the word truly means. Having a boyfriend is something she desperately wants but none of them seem to even notice she is in the room. In the end she finds that connection and true friendship mean a lot more then the romantic ideal of being in a "relationship" like society expects of everyone.

This book includes fantasy, friendly banter, a bit of mystery, adventure, good story/plot, relatable characters, and true growth for the protagonist. All things which I love in a book and admire in writing.

I really like Dora because she struggles with forming her own identity while receiving pressure from family and society. What is expected of her is not what she wants, from how she dresses and the effects that has on those around her, to where and who she is supposed to spend her time around. Thrift store clothes and weird, nerdy, and unpopular friends are things I have in common with her that I wouldn't change for the world.

Dora's Jinx is a book which I would recommend to anyone! I think it is important as it highlights the power and magic of friendship over romantic relationships, which is prevalent in teen fiction today. This will definitely be enjoyable for those on the asexual spectrum as well because it doesn't focus around love/sex/romance like most books.

Last words on this are go and get this book so you can enjoy this fun adventure as well!!!  :)

Stay cool (er...nerdy...whatever is you)!

Mary