Athene Numphe

I've gone to Comic Con two years in a row now, mostly to help out the Austin Browncoats. While I've enjoyed other events labeled as "con"s in the past, I find myself once again feeling awkward at Comic Con, even though I am surrounded by my peers. I finally figured out why.

The other cons I've gone to have been either panel/discussion or role playing based. At those cons, the main focus is to engage in conversation or games. If there are "celebrities" they are often authors who write things, usually things I really enjoy, so it is a pleasure to meet them.

Comic con is mostly vendors, actors from cult shows/movies, and comic artists. There are a few panels, but it's not the focus. While I enjoy looking at the art and the huge amounts of stuff there is for sale, I don't know most of the artists and I'm not a collector and don't have the money to buy all the things. As for the actors, do I really want to stand in line to say "I really like the work you did/I think you're cute/I dressed like your character once." Not really. I think that most of these people are just normal people who were doing a job. While it probably makes them feel warm and fuzzy to hear it, and the $$ the fans are paying for autographs doesn't hurt, they often look kind of bored. And I don't really know what to say to them.

I realized that they are not "my people" in the way that some of the actors/musicians/writers/etc who I know are nerds/geeks are. Those are the ones I'm much more likely to fan-girl over. Because they are part of my culture in a way that goes beyond just doing a job. They are the ones that I could have a conversation with that goes like this: Me, "Geek." Them, "Geek." Me, "Geek geek." Them, "Geek nerd geek." Which is why w00tstock will always be way more awesome for me than Comic Con.

That being said, I did pay $ to have a picture taken of LP in his Jayne hat with Adam Baldwin (see previous post). I figured that that was special.

All Nerdvember events are now over.

The month started with w00tstock 2.9, of which I have already done a full write up, but here are two pictures to prove how close I was to the stage (I have an original iPhone, the camera has no zoom).



Two weekends ago was Austin Comic Con. I got a free pass for spending 10+ hours helping out the Austin Browncoats with their booth. I'm really glad that I made that commitment because I think the Con was too small this year (being it's first year) to have been exciting for me for 3 days. lordaerith got a one dat Saturday pass, which worked out really well for both of us. I did see two panels: Billy De Williams, which was okay, and Buffy, which was actually kind of cool. Missed the Batman panel with Adam West and Burt Ward because it was right after Buffy. I also got to hug Doug Jones and Nicholas Brendon. I need to be less shy of going up to actors that I think are cool and just thanking them for the work they've done that I've appreciated. Got to be there on Sunday when the discussion of this happened.

After the Con on Saturday, there was a Something Positive/Hijinks Ensue meet-up, which was a lot of fun and involved meeting cool people, like bluejedi81 who is dating a friend of mine from grad school, and getting awesome drawings from Randy.

On Saturday afternoon, Aerith and I went to see HP7.1 at the Drafthouse. I dressed up in my Death Eater mask and cloak and scared people. hehehe. Ended up sitting right next to a little girl who was dressed in a Gryffindor outfit. I thought the movie was very well done. I cried a lot.

Sunday night was the Dresden Dolls concert. Got to the venue just in time to get in line with bluejedi81 and her boyfriend (who I went to grad school with!) who were near the front. We ended up standing (this was a standing only concert) about 3 rows back from the stage. So we ended up standing for an hour before the opening band. But we were having fun chatting and joking around and stuff. The opening band was okay. I wish I could have understood what the sexy lead singer was singing better. Ran into a bunch of people that I know when I went to get water.

After what felt like forever, Amanda and Brian finally came on. They KILLED it. The energy between them was so amazing. I don't remember most of the songs or the order (couldn't find a set list to snag), but they played a mix of old, new, covers, and two off of Amanda's solo. I do remember how awesome Brian was, as always. He's so expressive on the drums. At one point Aerith leaned over and said that Brian is like a human version of Animal. They played a 3 hour set.

I took a few pictures with my phone, but this is the only one that I really like:


Moments that stand out:

1. The lead in to the second song when Amanda and Brian were staring each other and playing slowly and you could feel the electricity between them.

2. The Pirate Queen song from Three Penny Opera

3. Amanda and Brian bringing a whole group of people on stage to sing and dance to the Jeep Song. I ended up in the back, but in the beginning of this video you can see me helping someone else up onto stage:



4. Brian starting this crazy drum jam and Amanda joining in. They two of them just pounding away at the drums and keyboard for a good 5 minutes at least before going into the next song.

5. Being part of the crowd that helped Amanda crowd surf during Mein Herr (part of the first encore).

6. Almost leaving after the first encore because my feet were killing me and Aerith's back was beyond dead, when they came back on and ended with "Sing." This was about 3 hours after they started playing. It was crazy, but awesome.



We left after Sing. We were going to stick around to say hi to them, but after standing for the better part of 5+ hours, we had to get home.

And that is Nerdvember. Next month is is also nerdy as there is the Webcomics Rampage and the Felicia Day signing at the Dragon's Lair the week after. I ♥ Austin so much!