Podcast - Aye, Dark Overlord!

Dark James President the IIIrd (pronounced "ayarrd!") ran the card game Aye, Dark Overlord! for a few of us and was kind enough to let me record it. The game started out with us trying valiantly to stick to the rules, but quickly devolved into hilarious chaos.

Mostly, I blame the fact that the "dream grass" card was played so early. In the end, the game could have been about the antics of a trio of goblins, or the hallucinations of my squeaky little Fizzwidget. Fizz had the best intentions, but absolutely no sense of self-preservation. Was the overlord's cat melted to slime or was Fizz just snorting dewormer cut with dandruff powder? We may never know.



I assure you: we were all stone cold sober for this podcast, but there are swaths where we couldn't talk because we were laughing so hard. James has a great booming overlord voice, which really made the game for me. Unfortunately, I wound up cutting the instructions because they were impossible to hear over the card shuffling (lesson learned for next time). The short version is that there are cards that you use for plot fodder, those used for shifting blame, and the overlord gets "withering glare" cards - three strikes and you're out.

But after ten minutes, we were barely reading the cards, and the formal rules for drawing more had gone out the window. Impressively, the game mechanics are simple enough that you can let them get out of the way and just tell stories, if you have the momentum. It seems like the full rules set could be handy for more timid players.

Overall, the game was amazingly fun, and far more coherent than most of the games of Baron Münchhausen I've played (probably because we were stone cold sober). Aye, Dark Overlord is the type of game where you'd want to keep a running quote list, but the game moves too quickly, which is one reason I'm glad I just recorded the whole thing. We all had a great time playing, and I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks again to fellow gamers: James, Brittany, and Brannen.

Now I really want to play a game of Kobolds Ate My Baby.

2nd Quarter 2012 Con Forecast

Something we've meant to do for a while now here at DC Geeks is a preview of conventions coming up in the quarter ahead. Let's be honest: a lot of geek interest activities we can make spur of the moment decisions on, hop in the car, and just go. If you have any kind of need for a budget though, cons aren't one of those events. They take planning, prior arrangements, and funds. So best if we can give you a head's up in time enough to plan and who knows? Maybe even introduce you to some new events that are a stone's throw away. Hang on folks, this is a long one.

As usual, the further away the con is the bigger it is for us to list it  on DCG. Although there is a bit of personal, geographic bias here - if I can drive to your con in the same amount of time or less than it would take me to drive to the tip of Virginia to pick up my favorite drink, then you're in "easy range" to my mind.

April

And that's just the tabletop gaming area. You know. The small part of the con.
Image by Jameskm03

• PAX East - April 6 though 8 - Boston, MA
• The 800 pound gorilla of the month, PAX East is about ready to kick off. Music, panels, games of all types, a massive celebrity and industry presence - its you and thousands of your new best friends all ready to drink deep of our favorite pass times.
• MTAC Omega - April 6 through 8 - Nashville, TN
• An option if anime is more your focus, then head west young otaku to Nashville! (Yeah, yeah, I know, I feel weird saying that, too.) A three day con focused on anime and its attendant fandoms with a special focus this year on end of the world and post-apocalyptic themes in the genre. Give the con's growth trend it wouldn't surprise me if more than 6000 people show up, so you won't be alone in your needs.
• Anime Boston - April 6 through 8 - Boston, MA
• I don't know if its genius to have large anime con (comparable to AnimeUSA if the reports are right) going on at the same time and nearly the same place as Pax East (to get all the alt-fandom SO's from those going to Pax) or if its just unfortunate timing. Or you could risk life and sanity and go for the Hardcore Boston achievement by trying to do them both.
• RavenCon - April 13 through 15 - Richmond, VA
• A modest sized con in Richmond that, much to my shame as a native from the area, I'd never heard of. On the other hand, it looks like the staff is really doing things right. A packed guest list, panels and live entertainment (Bella Mort? Really? Tempting...). Not to mention the promise of their gaming area running without close or pause from con open to con end. 
• Robotfest - April 14 - Linthicum, MD
• Its like show and tell for builders, makers, tinkers, hackers and other folks drawn to back together tech to make themselves giggle. Add in to this the close location, the bucketful of workshops and the large list of professionals, hobbyists, and clubs that will be exhibiting their creations and you've got an amazing day out with the smell of ozone.
• Boston Comic Con - April 21 through 22 - Boston, MA
• Maybe its because the snow is finally melting and the folks in Boston can finally leave their homes that is the reason they've got so much going on in April. They've got a long list of comic artists that'll be showing up, they're throwing their first film festival, CCG tournaments, and the guests of honor are all from Mad Magazine this year. What's not to like?
• T-Mode - April 20 through 22 - Rockville, MD
• Like so many geek cons, T-Mode started as one thing (a console tournament con) and has morphed and grown through the years to embrace more and more fandoms. One aspect that sets them apart for a lot of April's offerings is that they intentionally are trying to keep the con small and friendly feeling, with an intimate atmosphere. Gaming of all sorts, cosplay events, panels, live music (Otaku karaoke I need to be there for - tipsy, but there) and a lot more, the staff look to have packed a lot into three days.
• Game Days 2012 - April 26 through 29 - Timonium, MD
• Now here's a change of pace that very well could have my boardgame obsessed friends running for the site: four days of open gaming, a game library, game demos, and some sort of unholy AI driven used game swap meet (I, for one, welcome our new overlords...). No distractions, no different tracks, just games, games, and more games.
• Malice Domestic - April 27 through 29 - Bethesda, MD
• Another change of pace for one of our less visible fandoms, Malice Domestic is seriously vying for my con dollars in April. Its a literary con devoted to the art of the mystery. Now in its 24th year the convention brings together dozens of authors and hundreds of fans with events, panels, readings, discussions and more about the beloved mystery novel.

May

• Zenkaikon - May 11 through 12 - Oaks, PA (basically Philly)
• An anime / manga / Japanese culture convention held at the Philadelphia Expo Center, the event has grown to more than 3000 people in just the last few years. Beyond the usual panels, games and music that one would expect at a quality anime con, Zenkaikon seems to have an especially heavy emphasis on cosplay and cosplay events. Including a cosplay version of The Dating Game. I... I really hope someone records that event.
• Nebula Awards Weekend - May 17 through 20 - Arlington, VA
• It amazes me that more of a to-do isn't made over this event. Its right here in DC, its the top names and best stories of the year being honored. Then again, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. The workshops and panels are aimed pretty solidly at authors themselves, but its not closed to the general public (at least those who will buy an event membership).
• Animazement - May 25 through 27 - Raleigh, NC
• You know, I think of North Carolina, I think of crabbing on the beach with my grandad or the long hike on the AT in the mountains. I don't think about anime. And yet here's Animazement, an anime con in central NC on track to top more than 8000 attendees this year. Panels, a solid GoH listing, live music, contests, and anime, anime, anime all look like a recipe for a good time.
• Balticon - May 25 though 28 - Hunt Valley, MD
• A wide ranging Scifi and Fantasy con with dedicated topic tracks that just made me stop and stare for a bit. Gaming? Sure. Literary tracks? Check. New media's role in the science fiction publishing space? Okay. Its close, its extensive (the folks are advertising more than 300 hours of programming at the moment), and after 46 years the people have their game down.

Its cute, but the vendor area really is large enough to call for street signs.
Image by Will Merydith

• Origins Game Fair - May 31 through June 3 - Columbus, OH
• Columbus? Yeah. Columbus. Check my distance rule above (I can make Columbus in six hours; I have to drive 7-8 to get to the corner of Virginia where my favorite drink comes from).  This is the big one for May if you're primarily a gamer geek, like me. Last year they ran more than 4000 games during the con. Its huge, a large part of it is an industry epeen measuring contest, and it can be an amazing amount of fun. Just a few notes: be sure to pre-reg so you can find out exactly what's going on, and be aware that certain rooms and events (such as the boardgame room and the Mayflower Games room) require additional entry fees.
• Philadelphia Comic Con - May 31 through June 3 - Philadelphia, PA
• Ash, Thor, Captain Kirk, and Stan Lee (plus a huge list of other top shelf sci-fi associated actors and writers) will be there. If I could somehow get the four of them into a single photo I would gladly sell my aunt and potentially win. Just, in general, win. 

June

• AnimeNext - June 8 through 10 - Somerset, NJ
• The name may have tipped you off, but this is an anime and manga focused con, a heavy focus on voice talent for guests, a massive manga library and an attendee turn out that's pushing 10,000. Expect AMV contests, lots of cosplay, live music, and a heavy smattering of games as well (the LARP description looks like there could be a lot of fun in the works). 
• TooManyGames - June 15 through 17 - Oaks, PA
• This one, well, games. I know, you knew that already. But its that simple. Video games, boardgames, card games, panels about games, music acts and DJs that focus on games (it was originally the East Coast Gaming Expo), these people aren't too far north and have 80,000 square feet of games for you to consume your soul.
• Anime Mid-Atlantic - June 15 through 17 - Chesapeake, VA
• A good sized con (it should brush against 5000 attendees this year), and not too far away, this is the twelfth year for this anime focused con. Lots of panels and workshops relevant to the fandom, live music (from adventure rock to JPop), and a slew of cosplay focused time, its one of the closer cons in June, just the little taste to feed your monkey till the Fall. 

You know. Maker Fair. Where they make things...
Image by Bob n Renee

• Maker Fair North Carolina - June 16 - Raleigh, NC
• At the state fairgrounds and just one day, but what a day. Its for people who make things, from Aunt Mae with her cookies to Junior and his Bowel Disruptor Cannon. They make it, hack it, craft it, and you don't want the day to end. Music, fun, but most importantly - show and tell.
• Heroescon - June 22 through 24 - Charlotte, NC
• This is one of the biggest independent comics cons in the country and one of the oldest (if my math is right this is the 30th year). They've got a guest list longer than my leg, a huge amounts of panels and workshops, but that's not the real draw for me. No. The real attraction is Indie Island. Its a huge space in the middle of the Artists' Alley that looks more like a freewheeling market, with exotic figures hawking their exotic art and forbidden words to any who pass nearby. I'm a fan.

And that's in for the next quarter. Is there a con coming up in April, May, or June that should have been on here? Comment or email me and I'll take a look. Until then, may your roadtrips be smooth, your budgets hold out, and the fun hit you like that outlet your mom told you not to stick a penny in when you were a kid.

This Week in Geek - 26/03/2012

A showcase of this week's finest geek and geek related activities for the week. Mark your calendars. 


Longer Term

• Convention - I-Con - Stony Brook, NY - March 30 through April 1
• The only regional convention on the calendar for this week (a nice break after the last month of being triple booked), and one that looks like a whole lot of fun. With dozens (and I literally mean dozens upon dozens) of guests from scifi TV and films, authors, artists, anime guests; with hundreds of panels, games, events; with one of the largest con art rooms in the country and a packed vendors corral it looks like a really good time.

Pale blossoms, pale stone, dim sky, my preferred time along the monuments.
Image by Ryan Stavely

• Skill Expansion - Cherry Blossoms at Sunrise - Washington, DC - March 26 through April 8 - 6:15 AM
• Part of being a geek (at least to my mind) is making. We'll get into specifics in a dedicated post, but this ongoing workshop is a great example. For those geeks who love their cameras (and I saw nearly as many of you at Katsucon as I did cosplayers), this is a chance to hone your craft in a more serene space. Held in the early morning hours around the Tidal Basin, led by a professional photographer, it seems like an amazing way to start your day.

Saturday

• Aeronautics - Blossom Kite Festival - Washington, DC - 10:30 AM
• Come on, how often do your inner child and your inner engineer get to play together without causing mayhem (I still maintain that a mass accelerator is a perfectly legitimate basement project)? The festival gives kite lovers a chance to come out and, for the more dedicated/confidant, a chance to show off and compete in three dozen categories. 
• Movies - Samurai Cinema - Washington, DC - 11:00 AM
• An add on to the NatGeo samurai exhibit, this pack of three classic samurai films from the 1950s and 60s will be shown back to back (though you pay by the film, so you can pick and choose if you want). All the films will also be shown from their original 35mm format. Bonus: if you've bought admission to the exhibition at the National Geographic building than the films are free. It is first come, first seated, though, so get there early.

Its not for everyone, but for supporters of the culture,
the respectfully curious, and the experimentally inclined...
Image by Hyougushi

• Culinary Spiritual Cultural - Tea Gathering at Ippakutei - Washington, DC - 12:30 PM
• This is probably the event of the week that has me most excited. There is a formal tea house on the grounds of the Japanese embassy and members of Omote Senke Domon Kai will be leading traditional tea ceremonies on this day. Reservations are required, so hop on this one soonest.

Sunday

• Holidays - April Fools Day - Everywhere - All Day
• So are you more of a prankster, an absurdist, a mind bender, or one of those who just tries to ignore the whole day? Personally I incline more towards the surreal in my humor, but then again every day is a great day for jokes, puns, and twisting logic lines that make a formalist just weep and then burst into a rage. Mu advice for this one? Let your creativity flow.

Yeah, we're a bit heavy in one direction this week with all the cherry blossom focused events soaking into our geek culture. Then again, this annual moment is one of the aspects that makes DC geek culture unique in flavor and mood. At this point it would not surprise me (nay, it would make me happy) to see someone cosplaying as Y.T. zooming around the tidal basin on her skates, vanishing like a ghost beneath those pale blossoms.


Did I miss something? If you have an event you’d like to promote that isn’t on this list, leave a comment or email us.

Other weekly reoccurring events are listed on our website (such as Rocky, CCG tournaments, crazy themed happy hours). For more information, check out the calendars at DC Geeks. 

This Week in Geek - 2012/03/19

A showcase of this week's finest geek and geek related activities for the week. Mark your calendars.

Its that time of year again
Image by Stephanie Clifford

Longer Term

• Beauty! - National Cherry Blossom Festival - Washington DC area - March 20 through April 27
• Its back! And delightfully early this year thanks to the complete lack of winter in DC (although I'll be honest - I could handle hosting winter just one year out of four). The blossoms are the center piece and can be taken in at your leisure (though if that happens to fall on a weekend, plan for crowds). All the other events though; the art showings, the parade, the street events, the cultural displays, are highly scheduled and you should really check the calendar. For those fans of Japanese culture and for those fans of beauty I can't recommend it highly enough. As a personal note, there's just something about walking under those delicate blossoms and then going to see a naginata school face off against a kendo studio under the spring sunlight...
• Convention - Tekkoshocon X - Pittsburgh, PA - March 21 through 25
• You. Anime. Games. Costuming. Thousands of people who love the same thing. Pittsburgh. That's Tekkoshocon in a nutshell. Extensive anime and related fandom sessions from Thursday through Sunday, constantly running shows, and a great hotel venue. And let's be honest: Pittsburgh is just as close as some other cons we'd list as "in the DC region" so don't be shy about the drive.
• Convention - Virginia Festival of the Book - Charlottesville, VA - March 21 through 25
• A convention in a looser sense of the word than most of us are used to, this is a networked series of presentations and panels about literature held at locations scattered through Charlottesville starting later this week. Panels on everything from how twisty family relationships can work in stories to retelling myths and fairy tales to author focused sessions on the uses of social media for writing (and career) promotion, the Festival is at once not quite focused on our subcultures and yet speaks directly to the processes and dreams many of us pursue.

Saturday

• Politics - Reason Rally - Washington, DC - 10:00 AM through 6:00 PM
• Normally we try to stay fairly apolitical here at DCG (with exceptions: see Aine's SOPA piece and Jeff's Occupy experience). The Reason Rally is another one of those exceptions. Its an event for those who seek to place rationality at the forefront of public discourse, something I, personally, would enjoy. However, that's not why its here. Its here because there will be talks and performances by figures many geeks love, such as Paul Provenza, Adam Savage, Penn Jillette, Richard Dawkins, and Eddie Izzard. Two notes: 1) If you've never been to a long event on the Mall (especially a political one) Google accounts, packing lists and travel hints. They can be great events, but also taxing ones. 2) Be prepared for some conflict seekers as religious protestors are expected and some tea party folks are holding an anti-Obama, anti-health care protest just a couple of blocks off the Mall at the same time.
• Sports - The Harlem Globetrotters - Washington, DC - 1:00 PM
• Its... alright, listen, is the Harlem Globetrotters. Take them as a retro-chic act, as a political statement about the absurdist nature of Jim Crow era racial politics, take them as a sports-comedy performance. And if you don't know who they are or what I'm talking about then set aside your crunchy cynical shell for an afternoon, grab some friends, and go watch.

Would this man lie to you?
Image by uncle_shoggoth

• TV Science - Mythbusters: Behind the Myths Tour - Washington, DC - 8:00 PM
• I... I'm actually really sad I didn't notice this one till it was too late to budget for it. Its Adam and Jamie. On stage. Demanding audience participation. Performing experiments, sharing anecdotes and trying to stump each other. I can only hope there are explosions.

Did I miss something? If you have an event you’d like to promote that isn’t on this list, leave a comment or email us.

Other weekly reoccurring events are listed on our website (such as Rocky, CCG tournaments, crazy themed happy hours). For more information, check out the calendars at DC Geeks.

This Week in Geek 2012/3/12

A showcase of this week's finest geek and geek related activities for the week. Mark your calendars.

This week's theme seems to be retro-geek in a lot of ways. Or at least for me. But I will tell you this much, my fellow geeks: I love you so much I'm letting the galaxy burn under Reaper onslaught right now, just for you.

Longer Term

• Musical - Spamalot - Washington, DC - Tuesday through Sunday
• Watery tarts, singing knights and a distinct need for spankings. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. For all those times you wanted to sing the Circus at the top of your lungs and no one else knew what you were on about - your time has come.
• The Circus - Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus - Washington, DC - Thursday through Sunday
• I've got to admit, I haven't been to the circus since I was a kid. And I have got to admit even more excitedly that I'm planning a double outing to see some amazing sports and follow it up by cotton candy and highwire acts. Maybe some drinks afterwards to round out an amazing day.

At this point, I'm not sure whether to write about geeks
as explorers or explore the role of women in geek cultures.
Image by ryanrocketship

• Video Game Culture - The Art of Video Games - Washington, DC - starting Friday
• Right. It's the Smithsonian. It's the Smithsonian saying that video games are a legitimate part of culture. That's practically governmental endorsement of the gaming lifestyle right there! The exhibit is opening this week (and we might even have a preview up before it opens) and is running through September.
• Video Game Culture - GameFest! - Washington, DC - Friday through Sunday
• The Smithsonian gets even more into the spirit of things during the first weekend of the above exhibit. The schedule isn't as packed as most cons we're used to going to, but the talent is top notch, the panels and concerts look great and its hard to beat the venue (I want to have the whole Mall to run an event, you have no idea how badly I want that...)

Pi: Not as creepy as the movie made it out to be.
Image by Mykl Roventine

Wednesday

• Math! - Pi Day - Universal Constant - All Day
• Oh, sure, the Golden Ratio gets all the sexy press, the photo shoots, the built-in Photoshop editing templates, but I'm a traditionalist. Give me my perfect circles and my delicious confectionery and just let that unchanging constant soak in to my mind as the sugar hits my blood.
• Human Relations - Steak & BJ Day - Not a Universal Constant - How adventurous are you feeling?
• Yes, well, its very popular with some of the populace, popular with reservations by others, and, well, you know what? You're adults (my gods, I hope you're adults), so I'll let you figure this one out from citations already made.
• Science - The Science of Sleep - Washington, DC - 6:30 PM
• This one is retro for me simply because of my lifelong interest in things like sleep, grief, ecstasy and other things that make the human mind tick. With a pair of presenters like the NIS has gotten for this one, it'll be worth the trip over to the campus.

Did I miss something? If you have an event you’d like to promote that isn’t on this list, leave a comment or email us.

Other weekly reoccurring events are listed on our website (such as Rocky, CCG tournaments, crazy themed happy hours). For more information, check out the calendars at DC Geeks.

Podcast - Katsucon Happy Hour

While at Katsucon, Scooter, Jeff, Brannen and I got together for a DC Geeks Happy Hour. Saturday of Katsucon, we recorded the first half mid-afternoon, and the rest is from after the costume contest, around midnight. There is swearing, liquor, and a ton of spoilers (so if we mention a title you don't want spoiled, hit pause quickly). I love doing podcasts like these. Looking forward to getting to try it at Madicon.

The first five minutes or so is streaming on SoundCloud. To listen to the full hour, you'll have to download the file. Please comment here or on SoundCloud to let us know what you think.

OBP: 5 DC Bars a Geek Will Love

Just off the beaten path in DC lies a bizarre bar scene.
As follow up to our 5 Cool Places for Geeks in DC, this article takes a look at area drinking establishments that have something cool about them. This will add to any outing you decide to take, whether with a special someone or a mob of your gamer buddies fresh off a Mountain Dew and Cheetos binge looking for a good time. D&D can inspire drinking, you gnome what I'm sayin'? Let's look at part 2 of Off the Beaten Path.

The beautiful interior (via PX)

PX

Next to Eamonn's, Blue light just off of King Street

This is one of those bars you've heard about. No advertising. Strictly word of mouth and crazy blogs like ours talking about it. This is a speakeasy that sticks to the theme rather more extremely than you'd expect. The staff are dressed in prohibition era clothing (garb), the motif is all hardwood with ornate decorations, and the entryway is only distinguishable from the door to a house by a bright blue light illuminating the immediate area around it. I'm telling you, this is at the top of this list because if you live around DC and you haven't been to PX, you aren't anyone. This place is very awesome. Their drinks are... expensive ($15 - $20 range) and you may have to get reservations a week out. Completely worth it. This is probably one of my favorite locations to take a date (spinning up about how it's a secret location that you can't tell them about until you "stumble" on to it).

I took a few friends of mine here for the first time not too long ago. If you're lucky, you can ask the person waiting behind the front door if you can pirate the sport of a canceled party or if there is room at the bar. They were full up and we didn't have reservations, but it was worth it for the build up of walking around the corner, talking about this cool bar I was going to take them too, then just walking up to an unassuming door, knocking, whispering to the person behind it, then casually walking away like nothing happened. Spy points for the win.

Recommended Costume: Dick Tracy

Before a Grindstone show at the Red Palace (via jsmjr)

Red Palace

1210 H Street Northeast, Washington D.C., District of Columbia

The Red Palace is the combination of two old, fantastic bars, The Red and Black and The Palace of Wonders. Both locations I used to love spending time at. I'm pretty happy to say, after seeing a few shows at the Red Palace, it seems to have the best of both worlds.The Red Palace is a sexy, freaky, relatively large bar that has a variety of music and dance performances. We can't forget the burlesque. The wonderful, funny, bootilicious (that's still used right?) burlesque dancing. Good rock music and burlesque. It's hard to think of the Red Palace without it.

I've seen a number of burlesque shows here. We used to have fun bringing our less daring friends out to see shows here. It's always fun seeing the look on their faces during their first burlesque show. HWHAHA.    Take that, friends! Fantastic location, my only complaint is parking: It's shit. No metro within walking distance, and finding parking can be horrible. Worth it though.

Recommended Costume: Dr. Frankenfurter?

Sonic Screwdriver? Yes please. (via irrezolout)

Science Club

1136 19th Street Northwest  Washington D.C., DC 20036-3602

This is a pseudo nerd bar as it is. Well, not really, but sort of. As you can see from one of their menus, at the very least they have a fantastic sense of humor / drink name selection. The main aspect of the Science Club, other than its awesome name, is the use of scientific instrumentation across the entirety of the bar. Especially microscopes. It gives the bar an interesting look. This adds an interesting backdrop to inebriated adventures through the District.

Of the random talks with people and hangouts I've had here, I'm most impressed with the other people there. A few times, I've sat at the first floor or outside with staff and regular patrons just shooting the breeze about random stuff. Pokemon, music, science, just about anything. I honestly run into a problem finding interesting people to talk to, especially at bars. Good solid people. Beyond the bar name and the decorations, from what I've seen that's probably the foundation of this location. I hope it's still the case, haven't been back in a bit. Better be though.

Recommended Costume: Dr. Horrible

Similar design, but not beaten up like this (via Sergi Balaguer)

Bilbo Baggins

208 Queen Street, Alexandria, VA

This, for a very long time, was my favorite bar on the planet. Obviously since it's still on the list, I still love this place. It's a bar with a partial hobbit theme. Especially where the main bar area is. They have an amazing round style mirror that looks very similar to the picture we have here. The menu and drink options are often hobbit themed as well. They keep trivia cards from different games at each table, so you and your friends can laugh and feel like idiots putting away a few. I've been half tempted to go dressed in Lord of the Rings style attire... but haven't. Let's get to why.

I love the look of this bar. I've had some absolutely amazing times at this bar with the random people that I would run into who were still drinking with me at 1 am. Fortunately and unfortunately, Bilbo Baggins became sorta crazy popular in the last year. I've been there two or three times in the last six months, and each time it's been hella busy. Good for the bar, but it makes it harder to enjoy the atmosphere. Check it out, especially during the week, should be a little less crowded. Still an interesting bar, worth seeing if you haven't been before.

Recommended Costume: Aragorn

Actually a pretty typical sight at Piratz Tavern (via  Rob Speed)

Piratz Tavern

8402 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD

Pirate themed bar. By that I mean the bar looks like the insides of a pirate ship, the staff are dressed as pirates, the drinks have a pirate theme, and the entertainment tends to be sexy pirate-ish themed. Drinks, other than grog, tend to be relatively normal for a bar (minus their pirate names). Really, the entertainment and environment are the reason to check it out. Oh, and occasional fire spinning. Man, I'm weak to a good fire spinning act.

Friday nights so far seem to be the best. They have belly dancing with Rosie (a sweetheart if I've ever met one, tip her for me will ya?) as well as a house pirate band (Pirates of the Drunken Ferret). Alright, this location has me using the word "pirate" way too often. Hmm, I wonder if going by the location theme, I should dress up as a music pirate or a Somali pirate.

Recommended Costume: Ren from the Pirates of Dark Water

UPDATE: It appears the Piratz Tavern has been restructured to have a corporate non piratey feel.  Sadness. Will let you know more when it becomes available.  I've met most of the staff, the people make for an awesome establishment, so it's still probably worth checking out.

Life on Mars

I am recently returned from planet Katsucon. A strange and alien world where nothing is real. Characters from video games, Japanese anime and manga, Disney cartoons, and even the odd Captain Jack Sparrow danced and cavorted through the halls of the Gaylord National. Styrofoam wigs in brilliant orange and vibrant lavender sat precariously atop the heads of giggling girls, some of whom were wearing little else, while boys in garishly bright trench coats with improbably sized swords dueled 14-foot tall robots against the backdrop of the atrium fountains’ carefully choreographed music, light, and water show. The Gaylord National is a perfect venue for hosting a weekend’s sojourn from reality, the hotel’s atrium itself being an impossibly idyllic recreation of a street in Olde Town Alexandria.

Katsucon is a cosplay convention. Conventions, by and large, are not my thing. Cosplay and anime conventions even less so. As should be no surprise, I spent much of the weekend feeling isolated and alone; as if in my visit to the strange and wonderful world I could see everything, grasp everything, but isolated by my protective suit never truly feel it. I spent much of the convention and the days since grappling with the how and why of this isolation.

To enjoy a convention you need to slip inside its skin and understand how it breathes. If you go home at 10 pm, you miss the late night room parties, sneaking into the guest suites to hot tub with the celebs, and the late night elevator raves. But somehow, this convention was just too slippery for me to get my hands on…

Perhaps I had grown too old. The dozens of young girls scampering about in bras and hooker shorts, far from being titillating, made my skin crawl. They seemed so young. How many were only 14? 16? I even caught myself wondering where their parents were. And let me tell you, when you have that thought for the first time, you suddenly feel ready to cash out your 401k, take your Metamucil, and put yourself to bed at the reasonable hour of eight o’clock.

Perhaps I was responding to something else. Though I have consumed all manner of anime and Japanese video games, I will freely admit that there is something about, for lack of a better term, “Weeaboo” culture that just rubs me wrong. I lived in Japan for a time. Many of the people I met there were not particularly appreciative of having their entire culture reduced to cartoons and video games. In my world travels, I found that much of the world does the same to us. Americans are all irrational gun-toting nuts that solve their problems with car chases and gratuitous violence. Neither flattering nor fair.

I must also admit that this is not a fair criticism of Katsucon. Katsu is not a celebration of Japanese culture. It is a celebration of the anime/manga/video game/cosplay subcultures. Calling it racist would be like calling a tattoo convention racist for portraying all Americans as tattooed rednecks—for the record, fans of tattoos, don’t send angry letters.

I stopped at one point and spoke with members of the jazz band SwingLab, who regularly play weekends in the Belvedere lounge at the hotel. They loved the convention. Woody Hume, the SwingLab drummer, told me that many of Katsu people, apart from wearing “wildly entertaining costumes” were friendly and generous. The Katsu guests were much more likely to approach them, talk with them, request songs, and tip them. They loved the Katsu crowd. Which left me with one inescapable conclusion.

The problem was me. How was it I, as someone who would regularly author articles for a Geek blog, could be so dismissive of such a large segment of Geek culture? Regardless of whether or not it is “my thing,” the idea that I could treat it as so other, so alien, was repulsive to me.

In the end, I cannot say I found a way to connect. I remained apart. I spoke with many attendees, but despite a shared identity as “geeks,” that shared sense of experience, that chemistry, just was not there. But for one moment, I did know what it was like to be a citizen of planet Katsu, to fully enjoy being part of that world. It was when a 14-foot tall Red Robot with glowing eyes stomped past me in the hall, and for a moment, I could believe he was real.

This Week in Geek 2012/03/05

A showcase of this week's finest geek and geek related activities for the week. Mark your calendars.

If you head to Madicon, you'll get to hang out with the 501st.
(via Kelvin Lok)

Longer Term

• Convention - Madicon - Harrisonburg, VA - March 9th through 11th
• A good example of one of the small cons in the DC region, Madicon will be held for the 21st time this year on the Spring Break solitude of JMU’s campus. A fair handful of panels, games, vendors. and tournaments will be offered. It looks like this year the con is also allowing itself to be fully colonized by outside fan groups, such as the 501st Star Wars group and their permanent location for the weekend. For the price its hard to beat for a weekend’s worth of entertainment. Most of the DCG staff will be there if you want to say hi.

Monday

• Hangout - Boxee hosts a DC meetup - Washington, DC - Tonight at 7:00
• Keep in mind this is THIS Boxee not THAT Boxxy. According to them, “We have T-Shirts, Swag, A Slingbox and a Boxee Box all to give away, so invite all your friends and come down for a couple of drinks.” I’ve been interested in Boxee since it seems to pop up as at least a mention on every Lifehacker article about home theater systems. If you’re not doing anything tonight, the hangout sounds worthwhile.

Thursday

• Literature - Politics and Prose Science Fiction Bookgroup - Washington, DC - 6:30 & 7:30 PM
• Really, if you aren’t familiar with P&P then you owe it to yourself to stop by the next time you’re killing a couple of hours in the District. This week there is a double header with a discussion of Mythago Wood (be still my heart) at 6:30 PM and a discussion of Ender’s Game (love Ender, wouldn’t want him as a kid - and his siblings should have been recycled for parts) at 7:30 PM.

Saturday

• Camarilla - Changeling and Requiem LARPs - Manassas, VA - 1:00 PM & 8:00 PM
• I don’t usually mention the Cam on here because they have their own system of mailing lists that tend to keep members well informed of upcoming events. However, if you’re new or curious about the Cam, you probably aren’t on those lists, so I thought I’d put it up. Dropping in unannounced might be a bit sketchy for non-members, so you may want to hop on their Out Of Character list and introduce yourself.

Did I miss something? If you have an event you’d like to promote that isn’t on this list, leave a comment or email us.

Other weekly reoccurring events are listed on our website (such as Rocky, CCG tournaments, crazy themed happy hours). For more information, check out the calendars at DC Geeks.