Month: September 2021

Beth’s Dragon Con 2021 Recap Part 3

Well I’m just going to start by saying that my Saturday sucked. It was not only the worst in a very long time, but also my worst convention Saturday ever. I am a woman, and as a woman certain hormones are at work in my body. Those hormones cause things to happen at times of their own choosing. And when they’re feeling particularly vindictive they cause massive amounts of “knock you flat out on your ass” pain. By noon on Saturday I had taken my entire weekend’s supply of ibuprofen and was still unable to get out of bed. So I did the only thing I could do: take a sleeping pill and pray that it would be at least a little better when I woke up. And during all that sleeping I missed four Star Wars panels that I had really wanted to see. Eventually I woke up feeling a bit better, and went to CVS to get more drugs, and to find some food. With all of that done I decided to answer some of the messages coming in asking where I was. There was some more hanging out on the Hilton patio, and a lot of wandering that would not have been possible without the day of rest I’d had. Saturday is usually the toughest night to get around the Marriott. So many people just go Saturday, and they all want to be in the Marriott either in their cosplays or looking at all the cosplayers. It was not bad at all this year. Thanks attendance cap and limited day passes! We knew that the dance parties would be impossible to get in to when they were starting up so we made for the Adult Puppet Improv instead. It was hysterical, and I highly recommend it if you enjoy adult puppet humor. Once that was over and the dance party lines were still way too long we went back to the Hilton patio just to hang out with all the people again. And, aha! This was the night we went to the Metro Diner at 1 or 2 in the morning. I will not get into too many details about who needed the Metro Diner to keep from having a terrible hangover because calling someone out for having one too many opens me up for getting yelled at. Or worse, it opens me up to be publicly shamed for any similar behavior past or future. Once we were fueled up again it was either find a dance party we could actually get in to or go to sleep. So we went to sleep.

Beth’s Dragon Con 2021 Recap Part 2

Someday I might look at getting a hotel room starting Wednesday night instead of waiting until Thursday. Anybody else remember when Dragon Con started on Friday? I’m sure plenty of people do, but it seems like a long time ago. Anyway, my roommates this year were the lovely Nicole and Ryan Cadaver. They had to work Thursday, and I couldn’t check into the room until they got there. Not a problem since that gave me time to drop my bags at the hotel, and grab my badge. Since media badges don’t come from the Sheraton I can’t comment on the line situation I heard so much about the first few days. Most of the people I spoke with personally understood the limitations the convention was under this year, and I know the few volunteers they had did the best they could. With badge secured, and the Cadavers a few hours away I decided to wander for a bit and maybe grab an early dinner. I ended up at the food court several time over the weekend because it wasn’t nearly as crowded as usual. Not much was though overall. I then snagged a delicious seltzer drink from the Hyatt, and let me just say that the canned drinks on offer this year were pretty great. I’ve really been enjoying seltzers when it’s warm outside. So I drank my refreshing seltzer and wandered around while I waited for everyone else to arrive or get situated. The very instant we got into our hotel room to get unpacked and arranged the lovely Oz started blowing us up. He needed a buddy to go with him to badge pickup. Since Dave and I were badged I went to meet him so we could buy around while the others got their badges. A few hours later we were all set, and ready for a dance party. The Variant Ball was going on, and seemed like a good way to pass the time until we had our Troublemaker viewing at eleven. There was a line to get in, but it really wasn’t bed. And in our con excited state we didn’t realize it wasn’t that bad because a whole lot of people weren’t there yet. Fun dancing time had to end so we could get to the American Sci-Fi Classics track room to watch Wilson’s movie about Dave. There were some technical problems beyond our control so we got started pretty late. And I really should start taking notes about the unscheduled stuff we do. The nights kind of start to run together. Was that the night we went to the Metro Diner? No, that was the night Noel led us to this year’s arcade location because he was the only one who knew where Agatha’s used to be off the top of his head. I was so sad not to have the arcade attached to my hotel this year, and the game assortment was definitely a bummer, but you just gotta roll with that stuff until we get through this mess. I really missed all the crazy Japanese games I couldn’t figure out how to play though.

Beth’s Dragon Con 2021 Recap Part 1

Well it feels like a really long time since I’ve written anything. Oh wait, it’s been close to two years. Shortly after Dragon Con 2019 we started working on our plan to start the Execute Chapter 66 podcast, and that took a whole ton of my writing time. Reading a novel every other week is a bit more time consuming than watching a movie and saying something about it. You know what makes me want to start writing again? More Dragon Con! As weird as this year was it was still wonderful, and I am so glad I didn’t chicken out. I’m really happy to be back this year to give you the lowdown on the fun that was had, and how it went. If you didn’t go, you can live vicariously through me. If you did go, you can see what you might have missed (I mean none of us sees everything in any year) so you can plan for next year. All of my fingers and toes are crossed that things will be a little more normal next year. Here’s what I won’t do – get political, give my uneducated opinion on whether or not we should have had an in-person Dragon Con, or criticize what anyone chose to do for their own sense of safety. What I will do – talk about how well the protective measures taken by Dragon Con worked (spoiler alert: pretty darn well from everything I saw), let you know about all of the cool things that I saw, and encourage you to get vaccinated so that we can loosen up these restrictions next year. Masks suck, getting sick sucks, and getting someone else sick simply because you’re selfish really really sucks. So don’t suck, get vaccinated. This will probably be broken up into a few parts because there is an awful lot to talk about.

Needless Things Podcast 378: Geek Year 1991 Live from Dragon Con

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-mpxv3-10e9d39

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This panel was recorded LIVE at Dragon Con 2021 for the American Sci-Fi Classics Track!

Listen in as Needless Things flashes back thirty years in the past for some pop culture fun!

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“Procrastibate” by LeSexoflex.com 

Interstitial music provided by The Mystery Men? 

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