This past weekend I attended, performed and worked at a local Nashville convention called Geek Media Expo (GMX). This year marked the second year for the con (I happened to work it last year as well as VIP assistant) and I admit that I had an awesome time this year.
The special guest lineup was most excellent and I had the chance to meet Jeph Jacques, Bob & Carl: Sci-Fi Janitors, Dominic Keating and Garrett Wang along with a slew of other folks. In between running from my panels to performances, being painted green and then washing it all off and trying to find time to eat a bite or two, I did get the chance to hang out with various friends who had come into town for the convention and others that I’ve seen at every convention I’ve worked since the Tattoo & Horror Festival in April. (yep, 4 conventions this year that I’ve run into them at so far)
I didn’t spend a lot of money on stuff, though I was sorely tempted. I did purchase the Questionable Content book which Jeph autographed for me. That was pretty much my only purchase though I happily browsed the dealer room and wandered the guest tables, looking longingly at other merchandise.
This weekend I was also keeper of the Timmy from ThinkGeek.com. I have three costumes for him currently in my possession and he happily wore two of them to the convention: a “THE†shirt from Questionable Content (and yes, Timmy got his picture with Jeph Jacques, the created of QC and a Jedi outfit, complete with lightsaber. That last outfit got quite a few smiles and he posed for pictures with Bob & Carl and even the entire group of folk who attended my panel on Jedism (and the other 2 Star Wars panels I ran).
There were some great events including an Orion Slave Auction where you could bid on folks who were offering services like “Pool Party Escort†or “20 minute massageâ€. Me, I had a friend airbrush me green and I offered a front row, no wait seat to the showing of Repo! The Genetic Opera that my cast was performing at. There was a small bidding war for me and that prize but the final amount was $90. All the money from the auction was being donated to St. Jude’s and we actually raised quite a bit during that event.
The Race of the Tauntauns was another event that was hilarious. We had the slight problem of having only one Tauntaun sleeping bag….so with the help of Brian and Crispy from WhattheCast, we improvised an “imaginary†tauntaun sack race. They provided the commentary and interviews with the 11 racers. We also had 3 obstacles: a guy in a Jar Jar mask who laid on the floor and had to be hopped over, Amanda in a Greedo mask that had to be shot before she shot them, and finally the racers had to stop by Garrett Wang’s table and get their photo taken with him. As the racers approached the finish line they had to hop in slow motion and were penalized if they sped too fast through that part.
Here’s what made it so hilarious…
Imagine them doing a sack race without the sacks.
That’s right. Our racers basically pretending to have Tauntauns that they had to mount and we made them hop the length of the course as through they were really wearing a sleeping bag.
There was a bonus treat for Repo! and RHPS fans on Saturday night. A true Science Fiction Double Feature with back to back showings of those two cult films complete with shadowcast performances. Our local Repo shadowcast, Testify!, rocked the showing that night!
Now that the con is over I’m already looking forward to next year and it just spurs on my excitement for Dragon*Con when I’ll get to see many of these folks again!
Did any of you attend GMX this year? What were your favorite panels or events? (bonus points if you happen to claim it was one of the crazy things I was involved in)
