Gender-bending costumes kick all the ass!

X-Men’s Gambit!

Star Wars’ Imperial Officer

Freddy Krueger!

Cobra Soldier!

To the creative ladies of Dragon*Con… THANK YOU!

Jon and Leigh sit down together again to interview another of DragonCon’s directors.

For this interview it is our pleasure to welcome Jennifer, Director of the Wheel Of Time track.

As usual we try to get to know Jennifer a bit, as well as learn how something so specific as Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time has it’s very own track – Spoiler Alert: Jennifer has no one to blame but herself.  Plus, just to tick off the folks in the Tolkien track, we insult Elven Poetry (please don’t hate us).

Besides DragonCon Track Site, Jennifer (and more Wheel of Time goodness) can be found here:
Dragonmount.com: http://www.dragonmount.com/main.php
JordanCon: www.jordancon.com
Twitter: DragonMount

Let us know what YOU think by leaving comments, emailing, or even calling the comment line/Skype.

Email the geeks at: thegeeks[ at ]theuniquegeek.com

Comment Line: 813-321-0TUG (813-321-0884)

Skype: theuniquegeek

Subscribe via iTunes OR via Some Sort Of Other Feed Thingie

The cast members in this issue can also be found here:

Jon - Twitter

Leigh - Twitter

Log 001 2010

What has Changed

We at The Unique Geek and Need Coffee are doing our planning for Dragon Con 2010 and I am back to help you navigate your way through an even bigger Con.

First let me start off by saying this:  even though I wrote last year’s survival guide, I seem to have neglected a few of my own notes. One morning I found myself over sleeping from our long night of the Gonzo Film fest, then running to see my good friend interview the fabulous Leonard Nemoy on Sunday morning.  Needless to say, I skipped breakfast, and thus setting myself up for a day of feeling like I was running behind. I did manage to grab a salad at Starbucks (of all places).  To make matters worse, I forgot my mini snack as well as my water.  At least I did not get the dreaded headache.

New Official Hotel

Dragon Con will be adding yet another host hotel this year. It is the Westin. 210 Peachtree Street, which is down the street from the Hyatt. Alternative History and Whedonverse will be in that hotel.

Last year, we attendees enjoyed the opening of the Habitrail from the Hilton to the Marriott. This allows a quick stroll between the hotels. This means you will only have to be out in the day-ball to get to the Sheraton and the Westin.

Tip: If you are in the parade (you must have a ribbon) a quick way of avoiding people traffic is the head into the Marriott, then up one flight to the Habitrail that leads to the Hilton.

Thursday is the New Friday!

Even though the con panels start on Friday, Thursday is a great day to kick off your con experience. Registration opens up at 4 p.m and last year it seems that it opened up a wee bit earlier. Get there early.

Thursday is also a great day to meet up with friends you see only at the con. I have been tellng people I know how great Thursday is. You can use the day to go to the High Museum, CocaCola World, and the fabulous Georgia Aquarium. It is a great day to venture up to Altanta’s cool Little Five Point’s. There is an Indian Restaurant that makes a great Mango lassi drink. See last year’s note about Marta on directions to get there.

Be sure to use the hotel’s amenities on Thursday. The Hyatt pool gets covered on Thursday, so call your friends if they are in any of the other hotels to get into their pools. It is the day I use the Marriott jacuzzi.  I like to hit the spa at the Marriott; it is fantastic. The prices run about the same as any other spa. Check with Marriott for their services and prices.

Don’t forget to have dinner and drinks with your friends on Thursday, because, as you know that over the course of the con days texting and squeezing in face time with your friends can be difficult. I have made many new friends on Thursday.

The Hacky Sack circle starts Thursday night. I played several card games in the bar in the Hyatt. If this is your first time and you are in Atlanta on Thursday, it is a great time to familiarize yourself with the layouts of the hotels. The Hyatt’s lower levels can get a bit confusing.

See you at Dragon Con.

Rox can be found on Twitter, at her blog, and campaigning to be Hobo Queen 2011.

Even Cobra Commander enjoys an ice-cold Colt 45 from time to time.

Colt 45 and the Baroness – It works every time.

Jon and Leigh sit down together as we kick off our series of DragonCon director’s chats.

For this discussion it is our pleasure to welcome Regina, Senior Director of Programming.

We discuss all things programming, including how the decisions are made as to which guests are approved, what her responsibilities are, and why last year was so great for her.

Let us know what YOU think by leaving comments, emailing, or even calling the comment line/Skype.

Email the geeks at: thegeeks[ at ]theuniquegeek.com

Comment Line: 813-321-0TUG (813-321-0884)

Skype: theuniquegeek

Subscribe via iTunes OR via Some Sort Of Other Feed Thingie

The cast members in this  issue can also be found here:

Jon - Twitter

Leigh - Twitter

Hello gentle reader.

I have been going to Dragon*Con in Atlanta GA now for quite a few years and one of the things that I have really grown to love is the attendance by celebrities and pseudo-celebrities. As a member of The Unique Geek, I have agreed to do a weekly highlight on one (possibly more than one) of the Con attendees that qualifies for ‘celebrity’ status.

This week, I will feature someone who in my opinion is THE BIGGEST celebrity to attend Dragon*Con 2010: Stan Lee.

Stan Lee (with partners Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, & Steve Ditko) created the most well known Marvel comics heroes like Spider-Man, the X-Men, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, and Daredevil. Mr Lee is well known for his ‘catch phrase’ EXCELSIOR!

Stan The Man, to me, is the biggest ‘get’ at Dragon*Con since he has not been to this Con in ages and the popularity of his character creations seems to be at a zenith. Each and every character mentioned above has had their own major motion picture. More of his creations will be appearing on the silver screen soon (Thor, re-booting Spider-Man) which will continue to build the love for Stan Lee’s genius.

I have personal reasons as to why I am so excited that Stan Lee will be at Dragon*con 2010 as well. When I began to read comic books at age 11 or 12, Marvel comics were my books of choice. The hours and hours of entertainment that those books provided, along with the ability to give my young imagination the spark and focus it needed was priceless. My favorite Marvel heroes, The X-Men, hooked me from the first issue I read. Comic books provide kids, who would not be considered strong readers, a launching platform from which they can gain a foothold into reading.  At the same time, providing other young readers an escape through great stories. It is my sincerest hope that these young readers develop a lifelong love of reading.

I have not read a Marvel comic in more than a decade, but Stan Lee gave me a gift. He built my love for reading and stories, both simple and complex. He gave me the ability to imagine the great and unexpected. He gave a kid who needed ‘something different’ to do a fantastic forum to read and image great things. Most importantly to me, he gave me a common ground to build friendships that have and will last my entire life, my brothers and sisters here at The Unique Geek.

Thanks Stan Lee!

Jon, Serv, Rox, Ron, Scott, and Michael get together to record the kick-off of 40 Days Of DrangonCon. We discuss our first times and other experiences at DragonCon.  For added entertainment, at various points, Jon almost dies.

Let us know what YOU think by leaving comments, emailing, or even calling the comment line/Skype.

Email the geeks at: thegeeks[ at ]theuniquegeek.com

Comment Line: 813-321-0TUG (813-321-0884)

Skype: theuniquegeek

Subscribe via iTunes OR via Some Sort Of Other Feed Thingie

The cast members in this  issue can also be found here:

Jon - Twitter

Rox - Spazhouse – Twitter

Michael Baily – Fortress Of Baileytude – Twitter

Scott C – Need Coffee – Twitter

Jon, Serv, Shag, Rox, and Ed hide in a closet together and chat.  The discussion this time around centered on tech, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (or the eventual demise of Universal Studios), and trademarks.  The coda covers the wonders of Serv’s spam folder (and Rox’s lovers).

Let us know what YOU think by leaving comments, emailing, or even calling the comment line/Skype.

Email the geeks at: thegeeks[ at ]theuniquegeek.com

Comment Line: 813-321-0TUG (813-321-0884)

Skype: theuniquegeek

Subscribe via iTunes OR via Some Sort Of Other Feed Thingie

The cast members in this  issue can also be found here:

Jon - Twitter

Shag - OnceUponAGeek.com – Twitter

Ed – ECTech.info – Twitter

Rox - Spazhouse – Twitter

Jon, Serv, Cary, Shag, Rox, Ed, and Special Guest Leigh huddle together to have a chat (as the Brits say).  We mostly discuss why DC can’t seem to translate from the comics page to other media. We also play a new game that may or may not stick the Smurf around.

Let us know what YOU think by leaving comments, emailing, or even calling the comment line/Skype.

Email the geeks at: thegeeks[ at ]theuniquegeek.com

Comment Line: 813-321-0TUG (813-321-0884)

Skype: theuniquegeek

Subscribe via iTunes OR via Some Sort Of Other Feed Thingie

The cast members in this  issue can also be found here:

Jon - Twitter

Shag - OnceUponAGeek.com – Twitter

Ed – ECTech.info – Twitter

Rox - Spazhouse – Twitter

Liegh – Twitter

Jon, Serv, Cary, Shag, Rox, Ed, and Special Guest Dr. Jen get together for a long overdue chat.  We start off a bit rusty, but quickly find our footing.  Topics covered include Lost, Iron Man 2, Spartacus, V… well you get the idea.

Email the geeks at: thegeeks[ at ]theuniquegeek.com

Comment Line: 813-321-0TUG (813-321-0884)

Skype: theuniquegeek

Subscribe via iTunes OR via Some Sort Of Other Feed Thingie

The cast members in this  issue can also be found here:

Jon - twitter.com/JonBoutelle

Shag - OnceUponAGeek.com – twitter.com/OnceUponAGeek

Ed – ECTech.info – twitter.com/EdwardCrosby

Rox - Spazhouse – twitter.com/RoxOfSpazhous

Jon, Serv, Ron, Cary, Shag, and Ed get together for an impromptu recording.  We mostly just chat and happen to stumble upon a few interesting topics (well to us anyway).  Including: Great Actors, things that disturb us, and our favorite bad movies.

Email the geeks at: thegeeks[ at ]theuniquegeek.com

Comment Line: 813-321-0TUG (813-321-0884)

Skype: theuniquegeek

Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts

Subscribe via iTunes OR via Some Sort Of Other Feed Thingie

The members of this cans can also be found here:

Jon - twitter.com/JonBoutelle

Shag - OnceUponAGeek.com – twitter.com/OnceUponAGeek

Ed – ECTech.info – twitter.com/EdwardCrosby

I watched Fox’s ‘Human Target’ last night. The show is based on a DC Comics character, but I admit I know very little about him. What I do know is TV, and this is good old fashion fun television. Think ’24′ minus all of the angst.

It stars Mark Valley (who also stared in one of my favorite shows of all time, ‘Keen Eddie’),  Chi McBride (who seems to be making a career out of sitting behind a desk), and the brilliant Jackie Earl Haley (Watchmen, Little Children, and the upcoming Freddy Krueger).

Don’t forget to set the DVR: Wednesday nights.

Final Word Count: 100

We talk a lot on the podcast about the listServ, and I encourage you to head over there and join the discussion, but what I thought I would try to do each week is hit some of the highlights from the last week on discussion group. So here is my first attempt at doing just that….

We started the week off with Ron pointing out the the ‘official’ trailer is up on YouTube

James and Ed countered by trying to claim they never liked the A-Team… This only proves that Kid Ed was the same grumpy old man as he is today.  That, or that he had a problem that the A-Team could solve but he couldn’t find them. (James, you get a pass… this time)

Cary (who was very busy on the board this week) brought this nugget to our attention:

Shag replied that  he was worried about what our kids will say about us.. Don’t worry Shag, it can’t be anything worse than what you were called in High School.

Cary also brought us this great link from Neatorama in which we learn what The Big Lebowski would have been like if The Bard had penned it.

Ed posted this little nugget which started the obligatory “I Heart (Heart) Dr. Who / Dr. Who Sucks!’  (full disclosure: I am on the hate side) back and forth between Serv and Shag.

Cary (told you he was busy) started a lawyer hate-fest with a post about this article – eventually the ThUG unofficial in-house lawyer, Ron, was called in to set everyone straight.

Ron also posted his thoughts on Kim Kardashian being sued for tweeting that the cookie diet is unhealthy in this post. For the record: the Cookie Monster disagrees – he has eaten nothing but cookies and hasn’t gained a pound in years.

Cary also did a lot of pontificating on Google and the Nexus One, which was all interesting, but I want to close this post out with a trailer that Serv brought to the table – it is full of awesome.

Be sure to head over to the discussion group for more Geek Goodness.

Until next week…

]]> http://www.theuniquegeek.com/thats-what-we-are-talking-about-1172009/feed 0 http://www.theuniquegeek.com/2009-the-geek-year-in-review http://www.theuniquegeek.com/2009-the-geek-year-in-review#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:15:41 +0000 admin http://www.theuniquegeek.com/?p=531

Jon, Serv, Ron, Cary, Shag, Ed,  Sterling, and Need Coffee’s very own Widge and Scott blather on about the year that was 2009. We hit on what was the best and worst of 2009 in geekdom. We also have a brief explanation of where the heck we have been for 4 months.

Email the geeks at: thegeeks[ at ]theuniquegeek.com

Comment Line: 813-321-0TUG (813-321-0884)

Skype: theuniquegeek

Sponsor: Try GotoMeeting free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomeeting.com/techpodcasts

Subscribe via iTunes OR via Some Sort Of Other Feed Thingie

The members of this cans can also be found here:

Jon - twitter.com/JonBoutelle

Shag - OnceUponAGeek.com – twitter.com/OnceUponAGeek

Sterling – NewBardsPress.com

Ed – ECTech.info – twitter.com/EdwardCrosby

Widgett - NeedCoffee.com - twitter.com/Widgett

Scott – NeedCoffee.com – twitter.com/Scottums

Hey gang!

As you may have heard, several of The Unique Geeks were in Atlanta this past weekend for Dragon Con. Well, original Unique Geek and (apparently) official photographer, Shag (Once Upon A Geek) has posted some 600+ photos up in our gallery.

Just click on that photo gallery tab above (or if you are too lazy click here) and enjoy the goodness that was D*C 2009.