Man, do I have a lot to say this time around! So much that I'll break this up into several posts.
So, Post 1: Dragon*Con
Dragon*Con is a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Multi-Media convention held in Atlanta, GA over Labor Day weekend every year. It encompasses 5 hotels (Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, Sheraton and Westin) and the AmericasMart across from the Hyatt and beside the Westin. This year, with the addition of the AmericasMart, was bigger than ever. It is quite impossible to describe all that Dragon*Con is to someone who has not experienced it. One simple way is to say that it's a weekend spent with 50,000 of your closest friends, met and un-met, all geeking out over actors, tv, movies, authors, games, books all having something to do in one way or another with the sci-fi/fantasy genre. It's awesome.
We got to Atlanta on August 28. We like to go on the Wednesday before the Con so we can get re-acclimated to everything because Atlanta is vastly different to where we live. Normally we relax and nap/lay around so we can be completely rested up for when everything starts. This year, though, we decided to go to the Atlanta Aquarium. We walked instead of taking a wheeled conveyance. (activity, yay!!!) It wasn't a bad walk, but it was hilly and it was hotter than blue blazes. The best thing about the aquarium was that they had otters! River otters and sea otters, even! Anywhere that has otters is pretty darn ok in my book. I also liked that they had huge Whale Sharks and rays. They even had a tank that was modeled after a barrier reef, complete with waves. Loved it!
Wednesday night we rested. Thursday morning we went to registration. While we were in line we made some new friends and passed the time bwfore registration opened. I worked on my knitting, which I'll talk about a little later. On Friday, the convention started. I'm not going to detail everything we saw and did. Let's face it, I do not have the memory of an elephant. Let's just say that we had a great time and stayed on the go the whole time. Two of the biggest highlights for me was getting a hug from Grant Bowler who plays Nolan on Defiance (show on SyFy channel) for my excellent Ugly Betty knowledge and getting to meet George Takei.
Before we went to D*C we started watching another show on SyFy, Heroes of Cosplay. The show documents several men and women as they developed costumes and competed in contests at conventions around the US. I thought it was a great show that really showcased how much hard work and creativity is involved in cosplay. Overall, I thought the show was very positive, but it did voice what is possibly a prejudice in the cosplay world. I say possibly because I do know that a good bit of the show was editted to within an inch of its life and much could have been taken out of context. Several of the people on the show made comments indicating their beliefs that overweight people shouldn't cosplay certain characters. I call bullshit. If a person pays attention to detail and does the costume right, who cares if they are a size 4 or a size 34? Personally, I would love to see a plus sized woman cosplay Wonder Woman. I would love to see her confidence as she portrayed such an iconic character and showed everyone that superheroes come in all shapes and sizes. And honestly, if the thought of someone overweight cosplaying a character who is not overweight on paper or screen disgusts you, get over it. I envy the confidence of overweight people who cosplay. I wish that I had not spent so much of my life listening to so many people who said I couldn't do something because I was fat, or any other reason. I wish instead of being cowed by disapproval, I had held my head high and told them to watch me while I suceeded. Believe in yourself and make everyone else believe in you!
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