Crib Notes

This is third and final installment of a three-day journal that I kept while trying to make sense of Dragon*Con ‘08

Monday, Sept. 1

I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it Dragon*Con again today or not. I had already endured two-days of intense crowds and the filking…

But when I read on the schedule that the guys from TAPS were giving one more panel discussion about the scariest things they’ve encountered on their ghost hunting excursions, I figured why not.

It was good. Grant Wilson and Dave Tango were joined by a couple of other ghost hunters, including Robb Demarest from “Ghost Hunters International.” Dustin Pari from “GHI” was there too. Jason Hawes skipped out so he could be with his daughter for her birthday… Bummer.

Not much music going on afterward, but I wandered around in a zombie-like state, looking at costumes and telling myself to leave. I stumbled upon Cedric once again, this time he was playing a violin with a handful of other violin players in the lobby at The Hyatt.

The night before he had given me a Bedlam Bards CD, titled On the Drift Music Inspired By Firefly and Serenity. The night before he had also made a few allusions to “the Browncoast”, and the back of the disc said that the CD was dedicated to the women’s rights organization, Equality Now. So I decided to follow up with him and about the shows, that inspired the songs, the Browncoats, and about the connection to Equality Now. This is what he had to say…

“Okay, ‘Firefly’ was a short-lived TV show created by Joss Whedon, who is better known for ‘Buffy the Vampire-Slayer.’ Fans of ‘Firefly’ are known as Browncoats, kind of the way that fans of ‘Star Trek’ are known as Trekkies. (The term ‘Browncoat’ is taken from the term for soldiers who fought in a rebellion in the past of the ‘Firefly’ story).

Browncoats value a spirit of community and mutual support, a willingness to stand up against difficult odds, and resistance to oppressive regimes, whether fictional or real.

In my experience, Browncoats are fun people to be around, even if the conversation has nothing to do with ‘Firefly’ (and it often doesn’t). In addition to getting together for fun, Browncoats gather to support various causes, including the recent writers’ strike and numerous charities.

Joss Whedon’s favorite charity is Equality Now, a worldwide organization that advocates for women’s rights. (EN was founded by a student of Whedon’s mother, actually, and Whedon himself has been honored by EN for his positive portrayals of women in fiction).

Some people say the organization is too controversial, but I see nothing controversial about calling for the passage and enforcement of reasonable rape laws, the end of cutting off little girl’s clitorises, and enforcement of human trafficking laws here in the U.S.

Every year around Joss Whedon’s birthday, Browncoats across the world host screenings of his movie Serenity to raise money for Equality Now, in an effort called Can’t Stop the Serenity. Since 2006, the organization has raised over $160,000; this year, I auctioned two performances which combined raised over $8,000 for CSTS. For more information, check out www.cantstoptheserenity.com

And with that I withdraw from Dragon*Con ‘08.

Back to MARTA, back to the real world.

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This is part two of a three-day journal that I kept while trying to make sense of Dragon*Con ‘08

Day 2
Sun., Aug. 31.

Filking. It sounds like a ridiculous and disgusting porno term, but according to Wikipedia, “filk is folk music, usually with a science fiction or fantasy theme. But this definition is not exact. Filkers have been known to write filk songs about a variety of topics, including but not limited to tangentially-related topics such as computers and cats. The other common definition is anthropological (and recursive): Filk is what is sung or performed by the network of people who originally gathered to sing at science fiction/fantasy conventions. Yet another definition focuses on filking as a community of those interested in filk music and who form part of the social network self-identified with filking.”

Of course I am duty bound to look further than Wikipedia’s suspect entries. So when I learned that a filk concert was taking place Sunday night. I hopped on MARTA after dinner. I stopped by Aurora in L5P to grab a coffee first and bumped in to CL staff writer Thomas Wheatley. Thomas said he was at Dragon*Con the night before from about 11:30 p.m. until 3:45 a.m.

“What’s Dragon*Con like at 3:45 in the morning?” I asked. Then I remembered seeing a video the day before. It featured a woman passionately kissing a Storm Trooper under the words “What happens at Dragon*Con stays at Dragon*Con.”

I didn’t pry any further.

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This is part one of a three-day journal that I kept while trying to make sense of Dragon*Con ‘08

Day 1

Sat., Aug. 30. 11:15 a.m. I had to work last nights so I didn’t make it to the opening night of Dragon*Con, and I can’t remember what time the Storm Trooper parade from 5 points to Peachtree Center starts today. I hope I didn’t miss it.

11:30 a.m. Damn. According to Dragon Con’s website the Storm Troopers started marching at 10 a.m. I missed it again.

12:30 p.m. The MARTA train ride went by faster than I had anticipated. All told the jog from Inman Park to 5 Points to Peachtree Center took about 20 minutes. Good timing, I guess.

The long, slow escalator ride from the train to the surface at Peachtree Center is a tough one, though. If I stare too long at the top of the escalator I start feeling woozy. The best thing to do is look at my shoes and dwell on existential dilemmas, such as why is a music journalist keeping a diary of Dragon*Con?

12:15 p.m. I was still a block away from the Hyatt when it hit me: This place is completely out of control. There are nerds everywhere and they’re mingling with beautiful women wearing costumes that conceal very little; and they’re all having the times of their lives.

The hotel staff looks worried.

A young woman wearing what appears to be a few pieces of toilet paper or very thin cloth of some sort wrapped around her naked body passed me on the right. On the left, a giant Gingerbread man is posing for pictures (NOTE: Remember to bring my real camera tomorrow, ‘cause this cell phone camera won’t do these people justice). Little Red Riding Hood, several Jokers and a gang of ninjas and Boba Fetts followed in their wake.

This must be something akin to the kind of fear and loathing that Hunter S. Thompson felt when he took those first, fateful steps into that hotel lobby in Las Vegas so many years ago, but I’m not on drugs. Not yet anyway.

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