Here are some nearby genre Conventions listed at Kelly Lockhart’s Southern Fandom Resource Guide that I’m considering.

Oct. 2-4 Atlanta HorrorFest/Zombie Walk Atlanta, GA

Oct. 9-11 Spooky Empire Orlando, FL

Oct. 10 Boone Comicon Boone, NC

Oct. 30 – Nov 1 Hurricane Who (Doctor Who) Orlando, FL
This con has the advantage of being in the same town as Universal Studios Halloween blowout!

Oct. 30-Nov 1 HallowCon Chattanooga, TN

Nov. 15 Atlanta Comic Convention Atlanta, GA

Feb. 19-21 ConNooga, Chattanooga, TN

Feb 26 -28 2010 SheVaCon, Roanoke, VA

You probably noticed that many of these cons are horror cons.  Well, I’m actually much more into horror than scifi.  If you’re a buddy and are interested in making a trip with me to any of these, let me know.  I’m currently aiming for Atlanta HorrorFest, HallowCon, ConNooga, and/or SheVaCon.

Of course, this is all contingent on the roller derby schedule which are Cons to themselves!

Sept. 25-27 “Southern Fried Smackdown“

Oct. 17 – LCRG Special Smoky Mountain  Scrimmage

Dec. – LCRG home bout!

Star City were wonderful hosts, and the entire LCRG team would like to express their gratitude for the amazing hospitality they received from the team as well as from their great fans!

The bout was shot and streamed live by Star City Fame.  We will post the link here as soon as it is available.

Many photos coming soon to the Little City Website!

What’s a true fan?  All of them, actually.  However, it’s not their love of Star Wars or Dungeons and Dragons that make them a true fan, it’s the passion and care with which they share their love of their obsession with others.  That is really the common denominator here.  Even an individual who collects stamps or coins in the relative privacy of their own homes will have to interact with merchants and other fans to research and grow their collections eventually.

This is fandom: sharing passions with other people and seeking out still more to connect with!

I have read that as humans our brains are wired to hoard information.  We soak it up like sponges, it’s the basis of our civilization.  That’s why true fans have always existed.  I know in my heart that ten thousand years ago, there was a cave person with a stack of the most perfectly formed bones they could find.  It’s not a huge stretch to think that this cave person would eventually meet ANOTHER cave person with a few bones that their collection lacked!  The first fan club was born.

It’s not the business of collecting or participating that fascinate me in these videos, it’s the little moments of people being people that peek out between those moments.  At a con, how many times have you seen the goth kid in the amazing and beautiful dark prince(or princess) outfit have to stop and adjust their shoes or fiddle with a contact lens? These are the moments when the veils are lifted and people, beautiful people, full of flaws, fears, joys, and humor peek out.

We shot most of an X-Files fan video Saturday that I think will be funny.  It stars Kat Hawkins and Brett Cook as two fans who are NOT Mulder and Sculley, but truly want to be.  Unfortunately, we lost the light and will have to finish it later.  Later, in my living room, we shot a beautiful bit about gamers arguing over the rules of an RPG…they think.  These are the little moments, the beauty marks of fandom that everyone can connect with.

These videos were inspired not only to express my love to fans, but to make con organizations remember what it is to be one! Too often, in producing a scifi/fantasy/comic/horror/my little pony/furry convention, it becomes easy for the governing board and staff to become insulated from the fandom that they host.  The long hours and dedication of these individuals can’t be questioned, they sacrifice their time and their own attendance of the con to create the best experience possible for the guests!  However, in this sacrifice, I worry that these con staff have distanced themselves from the very fans they serve.  These videos will be a love letter to them to, hopefully touching on the love of fandom that we all share and inspiring everyone to put “work” aside and just geek out for a while.

When people get together and share a passion as strong as true fans, amazing things are possible. Passion, dedication, and selflessness can be a massive force of good in the world.  It also helps if we are having incredible doing it!

Jim, CJ, Corey and I shot 36 takes of the following spot at the Hyatt in Atlanta a couple years ago.  It was originally written for a DragonCon elevator ride, which is longer than an empty elevator ride!  We had to shorten it drastically.  We rode the elevator 36 times dodging hotel security, ACE fans, staff, and our own screwups.  I hope you like it. It’s our love letter to the strength of fandom.

At the beginning of June, I was informed that ETSU had bought our apartment house and we had 30 days to get out. The rest of the month was spent madly packing and searching for a new apartment. With a little luck, I found a place almost immediately!  It was bigger and I really liked the location.  Within days the paperwork was signed, I paid and after the bathroom floor was redone I would be able to move in.

Two weeks later, the bathroom was still in pieces scatted throughout the apartment building. The landlord is a really nice guy, in fact, he felt quite bad for the delay so he decided to put down a laminate floor instead of a tile floor as he originally planned.  It went south from there. The laminate floor install failed. I had to wait at least another week.

Meanwhile, I had moved everything I owned in.  This caused some trouble with their cleaning and painting..a task that I plan to finish myself. I couldn’t unpack or move the boxes because the bathtub in the living room made it impossible to maneuver large objects between rooms.  I stayed with my parents for a week while my dog lived outside in a kennel.

The landlord had offered me the use of another apartment on the Tree Streets as a temporary residence, but I knew that my parents would be glad to have me around for a while, plus, living there included dinner!

Another week went by, then I got the call from the landlord that the bathroom floor was down over the 4th of July weekend! It would take a few days to dry, then the plumber would finish the installation on Monday.  He also said that I don’t pay rent for July.  I told you he was a nice guy!

Monday was the happiest pee of my life!  The bathroom was together and the floor was nice! By Tuesday, I had started unpacked.  Verbal, my dog came home on Wednesday, and began his long road to accepting this new place as his home. (He had, literally, lived at our old Maple St. apartment his entire life!) I am STILL trying to get boxes unpacked, but until next pay day, the new place just doesn’t have the storage that I want in the kitchen and bathroom.

Last week, I made the last payment on my car! I paid nearly triple the monthly rate just to be done with it.  I’m eating bread and water this month, but the satisfaction that those credity bastards won’t get any more of my money is worth it.

In the roller derby world, I’ve been busy. (Probably TOO busy.) I’ve taken over management of their website, plus, I enjoy having input on the growth process the team is going through.  It’s rough trying to create any organization, but the DIY nature of roller derby makes it more complex since it’s really hard to get all members at the same place at the same time!

At work, I’ve been making lots of videos for folks.  They seem to like them.  The second full-length roller derby video is getting close to done.  I’ve chosen blip.tv as the online distributer of my videos.  They can take many file types and output them in a variety of formats! Most importantly, I can upload hour and two hour files to be streamed in flash players!

Big ideas, as always are on the horizon. Some more techbo comedies and thrillers as the fall descends on us.  I’m really getting into the groove.

What are you doing?

I might just have a roller derby addiction.

IMG_0911

Originally uploaded by Shannon, The Ringmaster

My dog is awesome.

I can’t wait until he comes home tonight!