Bill Bodden's Blog, page 21

Grand Masquerade Trip Report, Part One of Two

This blog post originally appeared as a series of Facebook posts, cataloging my trip to New Orleans, Louisiana for the Grand Masquerade, a gaming convention focusing primarily on Live Action Role-Playing (or LARP, for short). I have collected these posts, edited them for clarity (and brevity) and present them to you here for your enjoyment.

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Day the First (Monday August 29):
After two different, wacky miscommunications left me wired and unable to sleep until late last night, I worried we wouldn't get far on travel day #1. We are in Blytheville, Arkansas now, and about to bed down for the night. My day went like this:

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2016/09/21/gran...

Grand Masquerade Inspiration

As you read this, I will be wending my way home from the Grand Masquerade in New Orleans. It's been an interesting trip, full of companionship and chaos, and was my first-ever visit to the Crescent City.

The Grand Masquerade is not held every year, and I can see why; the logistics involved in running a convention that moves around can be daunting to say the least. The last Grand Masquerade was also held in New Orleans, but five years ago. New Orleans has a spiritual connection to vampires thanks to the primary setting of Anne Rice's novel Interview With A Vampire.

A conversation I had with my buddy Matt McElroy and a new friend, Shannon C. from the UK, leads me to post about some of my favorite vampires of cinema. Our discussion was much more basic, but as it progressed, I realized...
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How Cosplay Is Ruining Conventions

Lego-inspired cosplay at CONvergence, July 2015


Recent articles quote a number of folks involved -- either directly or peripherally -- in the comics industry, decrying the state of modern comic conventions, and how the cosplayers, are, essentially, ruining everything. Perhaps I oversimplify their statements, but the sentiment is accurate, if not precise. Denise Dorman, wife of comic/sci-fi illustrator Dave Dorman, wrote a piece on this very topic, which Bleeding Cool reprinted word for word. You can read that piece HERE . Also mentioned in the article is a Facebook rant by Comic illustrator Pat Broderick. So how are cosplayers ruining conventions?
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My Geek.Kon 2016 Schedule

Geek.Kon is THIS WEEKEND in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin! I will once again be attending as a special guest, and I'm involved in several panel discussions and other events.

The main guests of honor include: actor Jason Carter (Marcus Cole from Babylon 5), writer Enrica Jang , voice actress Christina Kelly, voice actor Jerry Jewell , writers, cosplayers, and fans Brianna Lawrence and Jessica Walsh, writer John Jackson Miller , and voice actress Ryan Reynolds.

If you don't know anything about Geek.Kon, here's a LINK so you can check it out for yourself.

Here's my schedule...

To read the rest of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2016/08/22/my-2...

"World" Fantasy -- Apparently Not For Me, Either

I've been contemplating attending the World Fantasy Convention for several years now. It's more or less a trade show for writers, editors, and artists in the field, and is expensive to attend. Also, as a nobody writer, it's been made clear to me that this is a highly clique-ish endeavor; it's where a lot of business is done, and the implication I've always taken away from discussions with people who have attended is that you have to be outgoing and gregarious to make any headway. I'm not those things, so despite hearing from many sources that attending could be good for my writing career, I think I'd do poorly under those circumstances.

More importantly, there's been a very recent dust-up this year about...

To read the rest of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2016/08/17/worl...

Back From Gen Con -- With News!

Last week I attended Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana, along with 60,000 of my closest friends. I was working the Onyx Path booth during the show, and had a great time. It was wonderful to catch up with friends -- many of whom I hadn't seen in a year or more -- and to enjoy some excellent meals together.

I was excited that several books to which I had contributed were present and still relatively new at the show. First up, in the same booth in which I was working, was...

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http://billbodden.com/2016/08/10/back...

Cartoon Network Strangles Steven Universe

(l to r:) Pearl, Steven, Amethyst, and Garnet.


So my loving wife got me hooked on a new-ish animated series called Steven Universe. I've found it to be one of the most creative world-building exercises I've ever seen, and am in a constant state of admiration as new details are revealed in each episode that either explain things from past episodes, or deepen one of numerous mysteries.

In a nutshell, it's the story of Steven, and his three "Guardians," the alien Crystal Gems: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. The Gems are in fact living gems in humanoid form. As such they don't need to eat or sleep, though...

The rest of this post can be read at: http://billbodden.com/2016/08/01/cart...

The Steamy Motor City Affair

The author with Sarah Hans, author, editor, and all-around snazzy dresser

I just returned from Motor City Steam Con in Livonia, Michigan, and man, are my gears tired.
Motor City Steam is a first-year convention with a Steampunk theme. This was my first time taking my enthusiasm for Steampunk out of state, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The appeal of Steampunk for me is twofold. First, I love seeing the outfits people come up with. Steampunk is, at it’s heart, alternate history. Because of this, for someone (or a group) to say that something-or-other isn’t Steampunk is pure arrogance and elitism. On the other hand, I do love seeing people who make an effort, rather than just throw on their favorite renfaire outfit and go to town. Second, I’m fascinated by...

To read more, please visit:
http://billbodden.com/2016/07/25/the-...

A Mini Odyssey

A Mini Odyssey
Posted on July 19, 2016 by Bill Bodden

I freely admit that I’m a baseball fan. Every spring I look over a few baseball schedules and pick out a couple of games I’d like to see, and drop a note to a few buddies of mine who share a passion for the game — or at least a passing interest and a passion for the comradeship of the outings — and we get together for a field trip. This year I noticed an odd quirk in the schedule of the Madison Mallards — my local, college-level team. They were scheduled to play a doubleheader on one day in two different cities. The other team, a brand new outfit in Rockford, Illinois called the Rockford Rivets, would host the first game at 11 AM. Then everyone would pile into their team buses and drive the 75 miles north to Madison, Wisconsin for game two, with a 7:05 PM start time. It seemed like the perfect opportunity: an easy drive for an early game, a quick drive home with plenty of time (and opportunities) for places to stop and refresh ourselves, then another game, and we’d already be home — well, most of us, anyway.

To read more of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2016/07/19/a-mi...

More Cowbell

The last few weeks have been illuminating for me, blog-wise.

Two of my recent, marginally political blog posts -- on controversy over GenCon's Industry Insider Program and on the Carl Brandon Society -- went viral, drawing in a vast number of viewers (far more than I'm used to, anyway) while several posts pertaining to my personal life barely get any reaction at all. While this is not too surprising -- how riled up can one get over a post about me wanting to find a permanent home for a plant , or about rescuing an ...

The rest of this post can be found at my website. Here's a handy link:
http://billbodden.com/2016/06/27/more...