The Obligatory 'About Last Night' Post

If you want a a pitch-perfect synopsis of an Alpha Geek's rite of passage into 2 score and 4 years, you need to go here. I can't top that other than to point out that the 'cock and vagina' discussion at one end of the table was actually a scholarly debate on the layers of meaning and intended symbolism inherent in craptastic Doctor Who special effects. Well, that and roller derby girls do have an astonishingly creative vocabulary.

No question - it was a very, very good time, made all the better by meeting an even wider circle of new Geek faces. Fact is, I was glad to be invited to the celebration and even gladder to drag along my far better half, Deanna. Living with a Geek is one thing, drinking with a coven of never-laid-eyes-on-'em Geeks takes some kind of courage. And a pint of Guinness. I think she passed both tests.

So Kid, many thanks for having the foresight to land a birthday on a Saturday night in a quiet pub. Here's to hoping your questing brings fairytales and fortunes.

Living Dangerously

"Don't meet people in real life that you only know from the Internet".

That's what I tell my kids to keep them safe.

So I broke the rules (sorta, kinda) this weekend and met up with some folks that I've known mostly by their Innertube personas for quite some time and, yet, I had never actually met in meatspace.

I'm glad I broke the rules.

It's tough to pinpoint when-and-how the idea was born for our modest Geek Meet, although I think a near-miss on Free Comic Book Day might have been a recent catalyst. However the whole thing started, it was Jim Dandy that corraled everyone for a few hours of coffee-talk and comic-browsing. In addition to Mr. Dandy and myself were adamkantor, London's own Alpha Geek, and his charming-yet-deadly better half, Vulcan Ninja. A final addition to the round table - described to me as a roller-babe with a thing for Daleks - was a no-show due to an unfortunate geographical mix-up not of her making.

Meeting new people, even when they're not total strangers, is a pretty stressful thing for me. I tend to overcompensate for my natural anxiety through varied techniques: talking too fast, talking too loud, losing sight of a story's ending, and often wondering in which jacket I might have left my memory. But after a few cleansing breaths before I exited the van (true!), I screwed my courage to the sticking place, bought a large coffee, and it was introductions all round.

I'll simply say that it was a really lovely few hours. A nicer group of people one could not find, and it was not long before the Geek stories, updates, news, and rumours were out there on the table with the coffee cups. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

So many thanks, everyone. It was really great to finally meet you all - and to feel so at home. Let's do it again some time, eh?

best. FCBD. evar. almost.

Today was a far more productive Free Comic Book Day than I had even hoped. My usual FCBD compadre, JediBoy, was at a school event (long story...) that kept him tied up until Noon-ish. This threw a major wrench into our plans in a few ways: (1) we wouldn't be hitting the streets until the afternoon and (2) JediBoy was coming off his first all-nighter (again, long story...) which I feared would sap his staying power.

Of course, FCBD is about the collective power of geekery, and JediBoy was able to roll a pretty decent Stamina score. In fact, we were able to hit all 6 participating stores in town, which is a first for us! Our FCBD bags came home absolutely stuffed with treasure. In addition to the freebies, we continued our tradition of purchasing a little something at every comic-book store we hit - just our way of saying 'thanks', I suppose.

A few of the highlights of the day:

- Standing in line at Heroes and hearing someone 10 line-minutes behind us offer a free pizza to the crowd - an offer that was quickly accepted.

- Running into a good friend (with his 2 little kids in tow) and having a few minutes for breezy chat

- Serious haggling in the basement of L.A. Mood with a fellow who just wanted to move merchandise out the door, price be damned

- Seeing Sailer Moon cosplayers sashaying up and down Dundas Street

- Discussing with Bruno the best strategy for avoiding crowded screenings of Wolverine

- Getting that last passport stamp....

So what about the 'almost' part, you ask?

Since I was on JediBoy's schedule and had no idea of how we would be attacking FCBD, I had little hope of a pre-arranged confab with noted geeks, Kid Dork and Jim Dandy. That was kind of disappointing on it's own. Karma wasn't done with me yet, however. As I pointed the red Matrix down Dundas Street at approximately 1:40pm in search of parking spaces, imagine the biatch-slap as I spied Mssrs. Dork and Dandy in the environs of Heroes. A third member of the party was spotted but not identfied. I'm assuming it was Mrs. Dork(?). A U-turn was not possible (and would have been slightly stalkeresque), so all I could do was watch green sneakers disappear into my rear-view mirror's horizon.

So guys, I still have my $1.45 for a large double-double. Maybe some other time, eh?

In the meantime, I have some reading to do.

Bizzaro World

Don't ask me how I found a video involving Amanda Palmer, her underwear, a ukelele, Neil Gaiman, his laptop, and dark intimations of his Scientology ties - but I did.

I Will See This

And so will you.



Right?

When Meetspace and Meatspace Don't Meet

I missed last night's Who Tavern and I'm a tad pissed about it. Two reasons: I missed it, I said I was pretty sure I'd be there.

Before I continue, let's level-set with the best explanation of Who Tavern I can find.

Clear enough? Let's continue.

My Innertubes friend, The Kid, extended a very gracious invitation a few days ago to hang-out at a local variation of such an event. While my Saturday night was already booked, I was pretty sure that I'd be able to show up a little later in the evening and see what's what. While generally a shy fellow inside, I was intrigued by the idea of meeting some fellow Dr. Who fans. I was also intrigued by the promise of walking to up my Innertubes friends, The Kid and Jim Dandy, extending a firm handshake and saying in a loud-but-not-overly-jovial voice, "Hi, my name is Kevin - but you might know me as Crazylegs. So, what are we drinking? I'm buying the first round.".

But like so many things I plan at the last minute, Fate conspired against me.

Strike 1: Our (slightly) out-of-town visitors lingered awhile longer than they planned - hoping the snow might taper off for the drive home. As we eventually bade farewell and bon chance to our guests, my attention focused on JediBoy's hours-old Xbox360 wireless adaptor.

Strike 2: I had promised to get XboxLive up-and-running before the night was done. I'm an IT professional - so how hard was it gonna be? The Xbox360, of course, had an answer for that question that required an obscene amount of tinkering with port-forwarding, MS Live accounts, and parental permissions.

Before all my obligations were met, the clock was on the wrong side of 10pm and I elected to just shovel the driveway and feel bad.

So guys - my apologies. I hope you had a good time. And should the planets align someday and we're all in the same place at the same time, remember: I'm buying.

Eco-Friendly Space Travel?

So I'm driving home from work a few days back and I get behind a little Honda fuel-efficient something-or-other heading West on Riverside. I was thinking to myself, "Damn you all to H-E-double-hockeysticks for not buying North American!" when I noticed his bumper-sticker. So I took advantage of a well-timed red light to whip out my cellphone (screw you McGuinty!) and snapped a quick picture. The bumper-sticker read:

My Other Car is a TARDIS

Without the benefit of the TV-show technology that Jack Bauer uses every week to identify blood-spray patterns and foreign terrorists from high above the Earth's atmosphere, you'll just have to take my word that the above picture is the real deal. It made me smile at the end of what had otherwise been a craptacular day working for Da Man.

Is This Shark-Jumping?

So Jediboy and I have been watching these commercials for the new 'Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe' game - MK vs. DC for the kool kids. I'm a bit underwhelmed based on the fact that I've never quite grokked the popularity of Mortal Kombat. I figure this title will be a success with lots of fanboys snapping up copies all the while piling on the posts in the appropriate IRC channels and discussion boards.

Then Jediboy asks me, "Who's more powerful - DC or Marvel guys?". I'm ashamed to admit I really don't know how to answer him. Sure, I darken Bruno's door from time to time, but I've only ever been a gadfly in the comic book world.

But I know guys who'l know The Truth. So what's The Truth guys?