Geek Weekend

It seems like it's a really appropriate way to end the week - a convention. This weekend, I'm not only attending Arisia Con, a big SciFi/Fantasy convention down in Cambridge, Mass, but I'm also going to a show of Spamalot in Boston with Sam and Miranda, two good friends of mine, who, like me are very geeky.

The con and show seem like the perfect way to cap off the week, which in and of itself has had a good share of geek-related things. First up, there was the Texas UFO sightings. Extraterrestrial or not, it's a fun news story that the media has picked up and run with.

This past week, I've also begun a major project with the 501st, tracking each major event and troop that will be held world-wide. It's a small project that's been growing each month, now to the point where I've put myself in contact with the heads of each garrison, as well as the PR officers. Hopefully, I'll be e-mailed regularly with events, which I've started plotting on a google calendar, and from there, I've been reporting the events to the legion in a weekly list that covers events for the rest of the month. It's fascinating to see what's going on. This weekend, there's six different events world-wide. And I'm sure that this list is going to grow as more people get back to me. Already, events are plotted all the way to December.

Back to this weekend, it'll be great to get the armor back on with the NEG. I've been looking forwards to it for a while since I attended the Woburn Parade back in October. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to the convention in November, but I'm hoping to go to the Science Meets Imagination Opening in Penn. in February and the Boston St Patrick's Day Parade in April. March is the scheduled release for the film Fanboys, which there's been some talk about going to the opening in armor. Of course, there's also been some talk about boycotts because of some recent changes that might be made to the film.

Recently, I've been looking at the phenomenon of fandom more and more closely. Not just Star Wars fandom, which I'm most familiar with, but with the interactions of fans and material in the Science Fiction and Fantasy realm since the mid-1920s. When I was in London, I wrote a paper on the history of fandom in the UK, and came across some really interesting things, mainly with the history of fan clubs, real grass roots stuff. And I realize, looking at my education and overall goals in life, this is the types of things that I'd love to study, research, write and teach. It's a huge part of American, and even Western culture. Maybe someday...