I just returned from three days of Con (Geek fest) at the Plaza on the west end of Freemont. This was their first attempt at the convention and, although I was initially disappointed, I still had a good time. Please allow me to lay out the good and the bad.
First what was bad:
- Very low turnout. I would be surprised if there were more than 150 registered. It was a first time con that was not very well advertised. Heck, I wouldn't have known about it if I wasn't in Meetup.com groups.
- Not many notable guests (so no draw). Minor role characters and scream queens from sci/fi, fantasy and horror, authors and artists. The most notable guests : Chase Masterson from DS9 ,the M:TG artist Brom! and the Puppet Mater from the Heroes TV show.
- Not many exciting events scheduled (in my humble opinion). many of the scheduled events bombed from the lack of attendance
- A dealers room with several artists and not many shops. I may be jaded, but I'm used to a dealers room with 200+ vendors.
- A silent auction that had lackluster items and equally lackluster bids
What was good:
- Getting involved and learning a new munchkin dungeon crawl game and competing in a tournament. No I didn't win, but I laughed my ass off. (A depressed commode - o dragon... I guess he was fed up with all of the shit - you get the idea)
- Of Gods and Men, a Star Trek fan film. 90 minutes of new story with many stars of the existing series. Add in the fact that Chase Masterson was a green Orian Slave Girl in the show. :-)
- The fashion show. Eye candy along with realization of a geek's fantasy.
- I won tickets to Neoncon for later this year.
What was amazing:
- My offhand flirtation with a beautiful young lady trying on a corset in the dealer room. It turned out she is scream queen starlet and movie producer Brooke Lewis
(AKA Ms. Vampy)... little did I know. She and I exchanged some kind words and smiles several times. Did I mention she was beautiful? Oh yeah, I guess I did. Unfortunately for me, she had to leave on Saturday to go to the Fangoria convention back in LA.
Brooke, if you read this, and I know you probably will... let me know when you are coming back to town and I'll take you to dinner. One can hope right?
So, all in all, a lame con but good first attempt; and yet $50 well spent.
I guess I'll probably be back next year.
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