Dragon Con 2008 Excerpts from a trek into the belly of the beast pt. 1
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008This 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.
