Acid for Blood

My SDCC Swag Goes to @maxjenius!

Thank you to everyone who tweeted haiku professing their love for game, television show, film, or something else from pop culture. As a reminder, the winner gets everything listed in this post. The winner is @maxjenius with this submission about Doctor Who:

I love when they say
"It's bigger on the inside"
Denied this season

I liked this one because I think it shows dedication to a fandom. It expresses enjoyment at a recurring joke and disappointment when fan service isn't given, and I think no matter what your fandom, you can probably relate to this.

Congratulations, Thom! I'll contact you via DM.

Score SDCC Swag by Tweeting a Geeky Haiku at Me

I collected a lot of swag during Comic-Con. I also have some other geeky odds and ends. These things are just gathering dust in my flat. I would also like to mark passing 1337 followers on Twitter (this happened a while ago, but better late than never) in some way. So, I'm going to give this swag away using Twitter and this blog post.

Here's what I'm giving away to one lucky poet:

• Threadless swag: 5 buttons, discount code for $7 off an order of $18 or more, 10th anniversary postcard, 10th anniversary sticker, standard sticker sheet
• Think Geek: voucher for $10 off an order of $30 or more (See bottom of post for update)
• The Walking Dead: "Live Dead" silicone bracelet (sold first at SDCC)
• Gelaskins: discount code for 15% off an order
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: sticker sheet
• Alien: SDCC paper mask
• Dexter: temporary tattoo; looks like a bleeding cut
• Dragon Age II: SDCC promotional poster
• Hello Kitty Online: one copy of the PC game
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria: one copy of the PC game
• City of Heroes: button
• BBC America: giant Doctor Who/Being Human SDCC bag
• Viz Media: tote bag
• Dungeons & Dragons (3.5): Exemplars of Evil source book
• Dragon Quest IX: promotional brochure
• Lost: Artifacts from the Lost Encyclopedia hardcover mini book
• Guild Wars: signed art print; "Asura Warrior"
• Geek Girls: button
• Prism Comics: "Geek" rainbow button
• Grey alien "identification" card
• Scorpion lollipop
• Polyhedral 7-die set: one each of D4, D6, D8, D10, D%, D12, D20

What do you have to do to get all of this? Since most of this swag is media-related, I would like to see people express their love of geeky past times with a haiku. There are two easy steps:

1. Write a haiku about your favourite geeky pop culture story, game, character, comic book, film, etc. on Twitter, and send that tweet to me (@Brinstar) in an @ reply.
2. Leave a comment on this blog post with the permanent link to your Twitter haiku. To link to a single Twitter update, simply go to your profile on the Twitter website, find your post in your profile stream, and click on the date on which you posted it (e.g. 5 hours ago, 8:37 PM Jul 27th, etc.). Go to the address bar of your browser and copy and paste that URL into the comment field of this blog post, and submit your comment.

At the end of the submission period, I will select the winner based upon which haiku I like the most. The submission period will start on 29 July 2010 at 00:00 and end on 12 August 2010 at 23:59. I'll announce the recipient of the mega swag pack on or around 17 August. If no one enters or if I don't like any haiku, I'm just going to distribute this swag among all my (local) friends.

I'm giving this stuff away to only one winner, and sending this swag to that winner (anywhere in the world) at my own cost. I would rather not complicate my life, so that's why I'm only going to send this stuff to one person.

Oh, to be fair to everyone, each person should only submit one haiku.

Be creative! I don't want to restrict people to only writing about certain fandoms, but you'll have a better chance if I'm at least somewhat familiar with it (if you choose to write about a specific IP, that is), since I'm the one choosing the winner. For example, I know very little about Red Dwarf, so I wouldn't be able to appreciate a haiku about that as much as I would about Doctor Who.

If you have any questions, send me an email: acidforblood@gmail.com.

Good luck and happy haiku-ing!

ETA - 21:43, 02 August 2010: Upon closer inspection of the Think Geek voucher, I noted that it expires on 13th August, which is before I announce the winner. Therefore, I will substitute this prize with a set of 7 polyhedral dice.

Comic-Con International 2010

I was in San Diego from 21 - 25 July for Comic-Con International 2010. I had some free time during the con to go off and do my own thing. Here are my personal highlights:

• July 21: Preview Night. Got to roam the Exhibit Hall before it opened to both those who paid for Preview Night and the rest of the attendees who would start arriving on Thursday. This gave me the opportunity to not only grab some swag, but learn the layout of the hall, which would come in handy throughout the week.
• July 22: Checked out the Threadless Everywhere Tour. Got my Threadless Everywhere Tour badge on Gowalla and was given a free Gowallazilla Threadless shirt. I also got a bit of swag there.
• July 22: Dragon Age II sneak peek. I was first in line for the first player look at the game. According to the BioWare blog, I was the 11th person in the world who had seen it outside of EA and BioWare, which is kind of cool.
• July 22: Wesboro Baptist Church counter protesters.
• July 22: Massive group of Doctor Who cosplayers gathered all in one spot. Pictures on my Flickr.
• July 22: Whilst walking through the Sails Pavilion, saw Virginia Hey (AKA, Farscape's Zhaan)
• July 23: Geek Girls and Friends Tweet-Up. I met a bunch of people and friends, and generally had a great evening.I won some prizes during a trivia competition for answering who the protagonist of the Metroid games is, and for correctly naming the BBC television show that John Barrowman (AKA Doctor Who/Torchwood's Captain Jack Harkness) is hosting. I felt doubly chuffed that no one shouted out the answer to the second question except for me.
• July 24: Ate breakfast Syfy Channel's Café Diem. Saw Aaron Douglas (AKA, Battlestar Galactica's Chief Galen Tyrol).
• July 24: Acquired the final piece of friends-requested swag. Honestly, trying to get swag that some of my friends asked for was one of the more fun bits of Comic-Con.
• I quite enjoyed looking at how all the various media properties marketed their IP, whether it was fully wrapping buildings with brand images, to large balloons tethered to staff handing out swag, to giving out giant convention bags, to Foursquare check-ins, and more, it was all very interesting to me.

Booth highlights:

• Alien Anthology booth - This booth had four 'cryogenic stasis pods' in which attendees could lie down in to watch a promotional trailer for the new Alien Anthology on Blu-Ray. After watching the trailer, you received an Alien shirt. They were also giving away paper Alien facehugger masks.
• AMC's The Walking Dead booth - It was an incredible booth that was built to look like a house. You queued up to have a picture of your face captured by a television (computer web cam) so you could get a personalized video that shows you zombie-fied in a Walking Dead clip.

Lowlights:

• The crowds. I expected it to be crowded, so I wasn't surprised. Knowing what to expect doesn't mean that it doesn't suck. Crowds hindered me from almost everything: getting from place to place in a normal amount of time, going to the bathroom, finding a place to sit so I could rest my feet, getting swag, buying merchandise, etc.
• The queues. Ditto the first point. One of the most frustrating experiences was being required to get into a queue, to get a ticket so that I could get into a queue to purchase a toy, and then upon reaching the booth to queue with my ticket, finding that no one freaking checked my ticket anyway! So me queuing to get the ticket so I could queue was utterly pointless! What comedy. Thanks a lot, Hasbro! (BTW KC, I hope you appreciate your Marvel Super Hero Squad figures, because this is what I had to go through to get it! ;-)) Secondly, the thought of queuing for long periods of time discouraged me from attempting to attend panels I was interested in (Caprica/Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead)
• Time spent on feet. Likewise, I knew this would suck. Doesn't mean I can't list it as a lowlight.
• July 22: Being stuck on a shuttle bus whilst some extremely loud homophobic guys went on about "fags" and "faggots" and how certain people or fandoms were "faggy" and so on. They also talked about people or things being "raped" because those people or things were defeated by someone or something else that was more powerful. They weren't actually talking about rape, but rather how something like being defeated (at a game, for instance) is exactly like being violently sexually assaulted and forced into sex against your will and without your consent. They also made sexist jokes about women, and openly and loudly mocked other passengers for getting excited about fandom things said passengers saw outside the window. I wish I had said something to them, but I was intimidated and a little afraid for my safety, considering all the violent and homophobic language they were using and the fact that they had no qualms about disrupting other passengers. I couldn't trust that other passengers would back me up if I said anything, and I really dislike drawing public attention to myself in situations like this, so I stayed silent. I felt really bad afterwards about not doing anything, but I just felt trapped and powerless there.

I took quite a few pictures, and created a photoset to hold them all. You can view those pictures here or in this slideshow:

I had a generally good Comic-Con experience, and a fun time working there, too. I'm not sure if I would go to Comic-Con if I had to spend my own money, despite my childhood dream to attend. It's a completely different convention to the Comic-Con I wanted to go to when I was a kid, and it will never return to what it was.

Going to Comic-Con, Advice Sought

Having grown up reading comic books, I'd always wanted to attend the San Diego Comic-Con. During my university years, I gradually moved away from reading mainstream comic books, having gotten fed up with the plots and lack of characters I identified with, as well as the sheer expense and the accumulation of paper that the collecting aspect entailed. I eventually stopped buying single issue comic books altogether. I still read and occasionally buy trade paperbacks, but my days of collecting comic books are over. I still enjoy the medium, however.

Work is sending me to Comic-Con this July, and I'm a bit excited. I'm aware that the convention has changed drastically in the two decades or so since the time I had originally dreamed of going. It's more of a popular media convention now, than a comic book convention. It should be interesting, and exhausting.

Being a complete newb to Comic-Con, I have only a vague idea of what to expect: long queues, lots of walking/standing, massive crowds, new and unpleasant smells from the unwashed or from those who simply smell bad, and the like. I have already been advised to wear comfortable shoes and try to plan out my schedule before landing in San Diego. Apart from that, is there anything else? 

In particular, I am wondering:

• How is the wifi inside the convention centre? (Is there wifi inside the convention centre?)
• How about mobile phone reception (particularly for T-Mobile)?
• Are there many reasonably-priced food options within the vicinity (walking distance) of the convention centre?
• Are there any popular social gathering places?
• Do exhibitors at Comic-Con only take cash, or is credit card an option?
• How punctual are the shuttles to and from the downtown hotels? Should I budget any money for taxi rides during the convention?
• Are there any cafés in the vicinity from which I can use the wifi, and is the wifi decent?

Has anyone been to Comic-Con, and can you offer any additional advice?

Video: Girls Suck At Video Games / Les Filles Sont Nulles Aux Jeux Vidéo

Girls suck at video games / Les filles sont nulles aux jeux vidéo from Stéphanie Mercier on Vimeo.

This animated video uses the concept of a videogame to illustrate the obstacles and expectations that working women face.

Better by Design has a transcript.

[Via Better by Design]