Safe, Safer Safest

I decided that this year I might try and be an adult. Well I do go to bars, take vacations...all the fun adult things but this is a boring adult thing. I thought it was about time I pulled together all my important documents in one place and what better place than a safe.

I get this really heavy duty safe off Amazon ( and now my UPS guy hates me ) and go 'a hunting around the house to find any of the things I should put in there. After a quick perusal... no luck( and for those of you who have seen my house you know why ). But wait, low and behold what shows up in the mail...my Dragon*Con passes for 2013.

So for all my attempt at doing something adult I now have this really nice, fire proof, water proof safe containing only my Dragon*Con passes and lanyards. Let it never be said I don't know what's important.

Sunday

Jim Henson: Not Da Muppets
A discussion of Henson's other works for film & television. These aren't your cute & cuddly Muppets. From Dark Crystal to Farscape and beyond.

Artists Alley

Freemasonry and The Lost Symbol
Elonka Dunin, namesake for “Nola Kaye” in Dan Brown's “The Lost Symbol”, talks about mysteries behind the novel and the link to Freemasonry. E. Dunin

Borderlands 2: Return to Pandora

Those Weird Extra Solar Planets!
Kepler has found over 2300 exo-planets & doing so has completely changed theories regarding planet formation! There's some strange planets out there!

Curious About Curiosity & Opportunity at 3000 Sols

Masquerade

Parade Day

Man mornings come early....why why why why.....*sigh*

We're skipping the parade today. Since last year the parade was already too crowded and this year there were more 4 day tickets sold and Saturday is the biggest one day ticket sale and then add all the people who just come down for the parade...well you get the picture. Of course that doesn't mean we get to sleep in either. Because we're driving, you still have to be there bright eye-d and bushy tailed or you won't get into the parking garage. Oh yeah, and we thought it might be nice to actually bring some food this time.

Eureka: Global Dynamics Exit Interview
J. Paglia, C. Ferguson, F. Day, N. Matter, T. Locke, D. Farentino
Nice to see the the Global Dynamics crew had been partying and having a rough morning too.   :-)   (No GD hangover pills?)   Much discussion about the sadness of striking the sets,   future projects,  and some thanks to the major prankster (Colin) on the sets, for making shooting sometimes take days longer than originally scheduled.

Capt. William Shepherd: The 1st ISS Commander
Our first NASA Astronaut will talk about his time on board the nascent International Space Station & share his 'home' movies! 
Besides Barrowman (come ooon Barrowman), this turned out to be my favorite panel.
Very informative,  Capt Shepherd (No relation to Capt Shepherd of Mass Effect Series :-)  was one of the folks who set up the ISS, and was the first international commander of the Space Station.   His movies showed something that we all believed:  "Duct Tape can be used to fix almost everything".  (Every tool belt in sight had a roll firmly attached!)  We got to see some of the soviet training and launching facilities as well,   and saw the handing over of Command to the Russians when he returned to Earth.  

Star Wars: The Old Republic—Meet & Greet
*finger wiggle* This is the MMO you are looking for. We promise to keep the jokes about "Deep Sith" to a minimum
This was a Master Johnathan panel. The MMO had put a free version out for people to try and John was interested in hearing from some of the developers. Problem is PAX is at the same time as Dragon*Con so the developers were still in Seattle. The panel ended up devolving into a discussion among the crowd about how to play certain characters.
(Master Johnathan:   Sorry for dragging you to this panel... At least we snuck out early and got some lunch!)

Heaven, Hell and Purgatory— Supernatural & XFiles vs Literature
Thought this was going to be how Supernatural and XFiles compare with the actual religious documentation and history found there,  but one of the presenters, who was a pastor,  hadn't watched much of the show, and seemed irritated that the leads were two good looking guys. I tried getting him to stay on topic but to no avail....so out we went, along with half the room. Such a bummer, I think it could have been a good panel.

The Higgs Boson—So did we actually find it? If so, what's the big deal?
What is a Higgs boson? How does its discovery fit into our physics theories? And have we reached the end-of-physics upon finding this "God particle"?



I'm noticing about now that Dragon*Con fatigue is setting in...we're already looking at the schedule and nixing anything in the Westin and the Sheraton hotels because they are two blocks off the main three. Sorry, no more Trek or Whedon Universe track panels for us.

Dragon After Dark Contest
Our adult-oriented costume contest, providing an opportunity to showcase naughtier or grotesque costumes in a safe and controlled environment
Well the first issue with any evening Dragon*Con event is that you have 40k people downtown looking for stuff to do and limited events going on. Our second issue with this event is that the line didn't start at the door but somewhere else and by the time we realized that we ended up very far back in line. Add to that it started an hour late. I think in all we ended up waiting 2 1/2 hours for a 40 minute costume show. And most of the costumes we had seen already because the people were wandering around. I wouldn't recommend this event. Not enough bang for the buck so to speak.

Survival

As you know we skipped the parade to do a little shopping. I just had to share with you my new favorite T-shirt.

For those of you who know me.....you know I will.

Feeling the luv?

Moon Over Dragon*Con

Torchwood: Inside the Actor's Gaff with Barrowman, and Owen

Hey...for once we made it to the first Friday panel early enough to get in. And what a better way to start off a morning than watching John Barrowman!!!! It started off with Barrowman coming on stage and mooning the audience with his Dragon*Con underwear. I don't think I can really say anything more about this panel. That says it all. There are five other parts to this panel on YouTube if you're interested.

You'll have to forgive the lack of tweets. As Dragon*Con get's moving the cellular network  is a bit saturated and my phone randomly works depending on the hotel...*sigh*..I really was trying this time.

SG: Atlantis and SG:U—Supergate I
R. Picardo, J. Flanigan, C. Trinneer, P. Kelamis
I'm actually not familiar with either of these shows. I just got around to watching SG-1 this year. But I like the actors themselves from other shows One of the interesting questions was: What Sci-Fi type programs do YOU (the actors) watch? Most didn't watch much television, but Richard Picardo, said that he was VERY concerned about the lack of "good" Sci-Fi on television these days, and that cheap "reality TV" shows were a sign of the apocalypse. :-)

Stellar Consciousness
Stars are amazing! They have mass & energy flows that dwarf anything on a planet. They live for billions of years. Could they possess consciousness?
Mmmm about the only thing I can think to say aboout this panel is that I was sitting next to  an outlet and was able to  charge my phone.  I thought it was about the plasma flows between stars and how they form structures similar to a double helix. It ended up being some tree hugger hippie nonsense about stars really having consciousness. Unexpected on the Science track. Sorry Master Johnathan for dragging you.

A Woman Leading Change!
Nichols, R. Lehnen
Master Johnathan and I split here. He wanted to see Gearbox speak (Borderlands! Borderlands!) I keep missing original Star Trek speakers and, let's face it, they  aren't getting any younger, so I went to see Lt. Uhura. . I can pretty much say that Star Trek fans ask the worst questions. All those skits and jokes you see "Remeber in episode X when whatever happened..." or "In 1995, when you were at insert random function and I was  at your table....Do you remember..." Seriously? She very graciously answered every question but then I guess after all these Cons she's a pro and still looks damn good btw as well.

Big Damn Heroes!
A. Baldwin, J. Staite, S. Maher
So one thingI dislike about anything related to FireFly are their fans. They are fanatical but not in a good way. Master Johnathan's  panel was full so he was able to get in line crazy early. By an hour till the line had already reached the rooms capacity. We hadn't seen Adam Baldwin in a panel yet which is the only reason we even considered going. Firefly Crew is always amusing.   This time, a fan offered them a sealed bottle of  "FireFly"  Bourbon+Tea,  which was recently marketed,  and Jewel said "Let's break this puppy open!!!"  (There's alwasy alcohol. Last time it was champagne.)  Lot's of discussion about the other actors, and the running gags on the sets, and how much fun it was to work together...And as always Nathan Fillion called in to try and upstage the show.

Friday Night Costuming Contest
One of the issues with costume contests is that he audience is more interested in being amused than seeing a well designed costume. This contest is is specifically for costume designers. Sorry there aren't any pictures. I really need a better camera (insert where is Kevin when I need him). I liked it, of course it also reminds me I have no artistic talent but we all knew that anyway.

No Lines, No Lines, No Lines

Brunch was a little late today. I was thinking maybe eat around 10:30 or so and get downtown around noon. That way if getting badges took a while we would have slack in our schedule. Twitter feeds are showing badge pickup taking about an hour. That is the same as last year without the computer issue we had. But maybe we didn't make it to brunch until noon. I think I counted on that actually. We always seem to run late for Dragon*Con.

We parked in our favorite garage around 1-1:30, which is about a block from the Sheraton. From where we are we can tell the line isn't wrapped around the building....good sign. As we reached the light to cross we couldn't actually tell where the line was. There didn't seem to be anyone outside..very confusing.  As we approached the building we were waived inside...what? No one waiting outside? So we keep walking to the "labyrinth"  it looked like this:

No line, No line, No line. Whatever they changed this year....keep it up.

So we were in and out so fast we didn't quite know what to do with ourselves. We walked around for a while but nothing was set up yet so we left to just go start drinking at the Highlander. We've decide this will be tradition for now on.

And in following in the footsteps of last year...there was much beer to be had...maybe too much..ok maybe  just too much for me.   Our first waitress:

Nice sleeve huh? Her husband runs a tattoo parlor can't cha tell. But to avoid a repeat of last year we hightailed it out of there before going through a second waitress.

Here's hoping for a less chaotic start to Dragon*Con this year.

Cause I've Got a Golden Ticket...

Ok maybe not gold, maybe it's blue, but it still get's me into the most wonderful playground.

"Come with me
And you'll be
In a world of
Pure imagination
Take a look
And you'll see
Into your imagination"

Twitter feeds have picked up (my phone is chiming at me every couple of minutes). A lot of people in airports are playing the "Guess whose going to Dragon*Con game" by what people are wearing. Looks like people have been arriving since Wednesday night. Chatter lately has said Thursday is the new Friday. Wouldn't that be fun, add one more day to Dragon*Con.

We're tempting fate today.  Last year we arrived to badge pickup early and the lines were longer than later in the afternoon. It didn't help the computers went down either. This year we're going to finish up some last minute errands, grab brunch at Java Jive and then brave the lines downtown. Last year pre-ticket sales were 46K and this year they are saying 55k so maybe this isn't such a smart idea. We'll see. 

Our schedules are up. Crazy as always and way over booked. Let's us know if you have any votes for one thing vs. another. If you want to look at them in a larger format so you can actually see:

Mistress Dawn

Master Johnathan

Oh and yesterday I got a delivery in the mail.....I got my Caffeinated Nixie Tubes (as they are actually called).  Think Geek had a new shipment arrive late last week so I snatched them. 

Lock and Load People....It's Dragon*Con

Owen's Hobby: A Narrative Short Film

So you're at Dragon*Con and you have your schedule all booked up with Star Trek panels and photo ops with Richard Dean Anderson but have you ever given a thought to the FILM track? All these great ideas for shows such as X Files and Eureka had to start from somewhere?

Welcome Owen's Hobby (trailer here). A movie about true love....no wait....a movie about a stalker...now that's more Dragon*Con style. A campy tale by Independant Film Director Zachary J. Burke about  "abused mama's boy" Owen, the meticulous milk drinking accountant, who,  unable to relate to people directly, with binoculars and notepad in hand, is relegated to watching the object of his affections from afar. And today,  he watches helplessly as she is kidnapped and taken away by another. What will Owen do?   Does he go after her and if he does can he save her? Will the fantasy live up to the reality if he does?

A cute romp that Dragon*Con goers will certainly be able to identify with,  from the characterization of Owen, to his next stage,  this film shows us how we see ourselves, and how others view us, even when we think we have hidden ourselves away.

Two tentacles up!

So on Friday night, just after the days events and just before Dragon*Con night life really kicks into gear, why not grab a drink, kick back and start the evening supporting Independent Films and see if even a stalker can find his inner hero. You won't be disappointed.

Film Festival Screening: Action,

Suspense, and Darkest Comedy

Meet a personable assassin, a caring

stalker, a slimy business man, and a pair of

adventurers. Staring Ray Park, Zachary Levi,

Malcolm McDowell. Fri 7:00 pm; Learning

Center [HYT]

Backup Ribbon Project

The Backup Ribbon Project has been around for many years throughout many conventions. It's mission is simple: they provide ribbons to people who request them so that at a convention, if someone is feeling harassed, they can go to this person as someone who can "back them up".  I hadn't heard of them till last year. The gentlemen in my party last year wished to obtain these ribbons but they were all out.

This year Dragon*Con came out with an official statement on the group.  Now I understand that Dragon*Con would have had to say something for legal reasons. Something absolving themselves from affiliation is annoying but necessary in today's sue happy society. Instead they came out and demonized this group making statements like "good intentions can lead to bad situations" and "potentially dangerous situation". I felt the Backup Ribbon Project response addressed this statement well.

My personal issue with the detractors is I feel they are missing the point. To say that more police presence will fill their niche, places an unfair burden on the police. There are over 40k Con goers alone. Now add football fans in town for a game and regular hotel guests and that is quite a lot of people to police. As the saying goes "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away." That's not meant to be a slight on the police but more to point out the reality of the situation. Most of these harassment situations happen because harassers think they have found easy prey. Even my self, at 5' 4", standing next to a harassed person and glaring at the perpetrator has caused them to quickly move on. I didn't do anything, I didn't say anything, I just stood there and that was enough.

Stating Con goers should look out for each other is unrealistic. In today's society people tend to ignore other people even if they are obviously in trouble. This ribbon isn't about heroism or vigilantism it's about stating "I won't ignore you." If you need me to stand next to you and say "NO" with you I will. If the situation requires anymore than that police should be involved. This is just about a group of people standing together saying I don't like your behavior go away. I found it very disappointing that the Dragon*Con staff should go out of their way to create unsupported panic and, I believe, scare people away from standing up for themselves and others.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.....

Where is Dawn Now? Year 2

Vesta July 24, 2011 taken from a distance of about 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers)

So last year, right before Dragon*Con, the Dawn mission was just pulling into orbit around an asteroid named Vesta. To continue the trend I thought I'd post Dawn's status now. To update my status: I have just finished the Vesta mission and am, at this moment, slowly breaking orbit to continue to the next mission around Ceres.

I guess I really get around (get it? orbit...around? stop booing and hissing).

Mobile App Update Review

My biggest pet peeve with this app in general is its insistence on reinventing the wheel. This isn't the 90s where there are no industry standard apps for these types of features  and no APIs for integration. I get that if you keep everything in house you can control the software better and keep costs down by not having to pay license fees to use APIs but good lord.

This year the mobile application has added the ability to link "friends" schedules together. Makes sense, odds are you didn't go to Dragon*Con alone. Now calendar systems like Google calendar and anyone that supports iCal already support syncing and sharing of multiple calendars across devices, people and the internet  and do it better. Just to test it out I joined an Android phone and an iPad. It's fairly easy and quick. And as a basic feature it does deliver. Of course you can't look at a friend's calendar and yours at the same time. And, if I understood this right, if you use it on multiple devices it considers those all separate "people" so to speak. Makes sense since this is a peer to peer type application. I just see a problem if you edit everything on your iPad but take your phone with you it takes three steps to get to the calendar and you can no long modify it.

The other feature you now get with "friends" is the ability to send messages. It's cute. It works. It's very basic.  You can only message one person at a time and you can't attach a picture or anything. There is also a status box so all your friends can see your status. That, I believe, is the most useful thing they've added.

Now all that being said, if you want current updates to the Dragon*Con schedule this app is a must. Also, the only way to rate each event you see is through this app. You really should do this, especially if it is not one of the major events, because this allows Dragon*Con to see how well attended and liked certain events are.

In conclusion my original review stands: if you would only use this app and do not need integrated calendars or twitter than this is probably a 4 star app. It's 3 star for those of us who insist on better integration into smart phone apps.

Dragon*Con TV Food Pyramid

For those of you who have never attended Dragon*Con (what the hell have YOU been doing your whole life), Dragon*Con TV puts out these little clips to amuse the audience while waiting for whatever the event is to start. Since this was tweeted to me in reference to my caffeinated pixie sticks I thought I would share.

I wonder.....if I add my caffeinated pixie sticks to beer would that get me there?

Welcome 2012

Dragon*Con August 31- September 3

I'm a little late in getting started. I was just so ever slightly distracted by this thing called the Olympics. I'm not saying I'm a junkie or anything but maybe every iPad, laptop and TV was tuned to a different live stream. Just maybe. Of course Darkchild is the same and he managed to call me every time there was a Dragon*Con update. I guess I just don't have my priories straight.

This year is going to be very meagerly attended. And by meager I mean just Master Johnathan and I. Due to that I was being lazy in starting this years accounting. Although, when I think of it, I should be a bit more diligent since all non-attendees will have to hang on my every word and live vicariously through me. HA Good luck with that.

On a sad note I've already had my first casualty of planning. I just realized several days ago that I only had 3 caffeinated Pixie Sticks left. Everyone should *gasp* here. This is a real tragedy. When I went to order more I was informed they are back ordered till after Dragon*Con. Oh no!!! The horror!!! Everything is ruined!! And after Master Johnathan peeled me off the ceiling he convinced me that Dragon*Con would go on, with or without the Pixie Sticks. thppppppppp

Helping me to better track our every movement I'm borrowing Master Johnathan's iPad so I can take notes between events throughout the day. Maybe this time I'll actually report on Dragon*Con as it's happening.  Trying to type on my phone was such a non-starter (excuses excuses). Of course this year we're packing our own vodka and Red Bull so I'm not making any promises.

If you're following the twitter feed on the blog at all, you may notice tweets but none from me. I appear to be having issues getting my tweets to show up and only some of my mentions. So people are responding to me about tweets you don't see. If I can't get it fixed I may just yank my tweets off the page. If it disappears that's why.

So here is the current cast list for this year's festivities (it's so sad and small, I know):

Mistress Dawn
   The ever lovely, eloquent, and charming Lady of the House.
Master Johnathan
   Man of miscellaneous knowledge and Lord of the House.

All Hail the Dragon*Con Cast of 2012

My Very Own Mech Warrior

So I get this email from Master Johnathan entitled 'Want' and all it contained was the following link:  Suidobashi Heavy Industry's Kuratas

You too can own your own 13-foot, diesel-powered mech robot for $1.35 million!!! What a bargain. Talk about the coolest entry in the Dragon*Con Parade ever!!

 I highly recommend following the link. There are videos of this machine at work and it's pretty impressive.

I guess we all knew Master Johnathan was not a man of simple tastes. Then again, in the back of my mind I'm secretly whispering "I want one too".

It's All About Forgivness

I decided to wait 6 months to update the blog so that people would have something to keep them going till the next Dragon*Con. Always want to keep them coming back for more. Anyone buying this? I didn't think so.

Apparently trying to write a blog during Con was a bit more of an undertaking than I had anticipated. I forgot to eat some days so blogging really wasn't going to happen. My phone just really wasn't up to the challenge of something like this and even with two extra batteries it was still going dead. The mornings were out because I was trying to get everyone's schedules together for the day and the evenings were out because it was either late or we were cooking dinner.

I would have done it after everyone had left but life has a way of going sideways and I spent the next several months traveling around as some of you know. When I stopped to catch my breath in December I really had anticipated finishing it off but someone lent me crack in the form of all 10 seasons of Stargate. Hey I know where my priorities lie.

By January the thought of finishing just seemed silly but it was a fun ride and I did promise. So in February I started another blog and thought if I have time to start yet another blog the least I could do is bring my last one up to date.

I'm setting up the entries to post under the date they happened not the date I published them. You'll want to go back and start where we pick up our badges. Mostly I think I just want to get the pictures out. Since it's been so long it's more of a timeline than specifics.

Hopefully I'll be rolling these out for all to enjoy and perhaps begging a little forgiveness. It will never happen again. I promise. No really I promise.