Tag: dragon*con

D*C 2014: Seems legit not

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Picture progress notice: Picture processing is complete.  Rest of the weekend will be spent uploading them, and throughout next week, I will begin posting galleries.

A long time ago at a previous employer, I had a co-worker that told me the number one culprit on how to identify a fake Louis Vuitton item.  I’m not entirely sure how or why it stuck with me, but for whatever reason, it did.

Long story short, the apparent rule of the Louis Vuitton brand is that nowhere on any piece of Louis Vuitton merchandise, is the “LV” logo mark is NEVER cut off.  It cannot be cut off by an edge, a seam, or any sort of fold.  The LV logomark is 100% intact on 100% of the entire item, or else it’s probably counterfeit.

Continue reading “D*C 2014: Seems legit not” →

D*C 2014: Actually partaking in programming

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Picture progress notice: I’m going to be spending the better part of the weekend processing images.  If all goes well, then next week will be a series of gallery posts, from each day of the convention.

I know I’ve “bragged” about how very little advertised as convention programming genuinely appeals to me to a point where I really wish to participate in a panel or a show, or anything that requires waiting in a long and time-sucking line.  The fact is, I still glance at guest lists and panels regardless, it’s just that I ultimately don’t bother with them once the convention begins.  I’d rather wander around and take pictures and chance into running into friends and acquaintances as opposed to waiting in lines.  It’s not to say that I’m not interested in them, it’s more the fact that the reward of seeing or meeting doesn’t outweigh my love for flexibility.

I broke this trend this year, ironically, in spite of my most recent manifesto about how convention programming doesn’t appeal to me, when I went to go meet an author whose works I’ve really enjoyed over the last few years, Jonathan Maberry.

Continue reading “D*C 2014: Actually partaking in programming” →

D*C 2014: The dryhumpers

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Okay, I wanted to address this, before someone sees this picture in the eventual gallery and thinks “wtf, danny’s a fucking voyeur perv.”

Naturally, there’s a story behind it.

It’s no secret that lots of conventions, and not just Dragon*Con, are full of sexually frustrated boys and girls, hoping to get their rocks off at some point during the weekend.  After all, conventions are kind of the perfect setting; what with being away from home, a mutual meeting place for those who have been courting one another be it in person or over the internet, or those simply hoping to spontaneously meet and engage in a quick fling.  And in the case of D*C, there’s probably no other convention with as much alcohol flowing throughout the concourses and hallways, and with alcohol often times comes questionable decisions.

Like dryhumping in public.

Continue reading “D*C 2014: The dryhumpers” →

D*C 2014: Not as crowded?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I know it’s ludicrous to say such a thing, considering that at least at one point, every single person in the convention, myself included, uttered words along the lines of “it’s so goddamn crowded!” and that it was as a result miserably sweltering hot, and so forth.

Looking back at the weekend that once was, I actually think that this year’s D*C wasn’t as crowded as last year’s. Not to say I didn’t get agitated by my share of walls of sweaty humans from time to time, but the fact is, it sure seemed like I ran into a lot less of them than I have had in prior years.

Naturally, the worst crowds coincided with the never-timely release of panels or events, causing mass influxes of human traffic into the existing masses, but what it boils down to is that at least to me, it sure felt like there were far smaller numbers of said existing masses. What it boils down to is that it seemed like there were far less numbers of people simply milling around and hanging out, as opposed to people trying to get from point A to point B at any given time.

Continue reading “D*C 2014: Not as crowded?” →

The first of likely several post-Dragon*Con posts

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I realize that after giving out plug cards to my site throughout a weekend, it would be fortuitous if I actually had something about Dragon*Con on the front page, so that any new viewers aren’t hit in the face with social commentary or my more minutae ramblings, when ultimately they’re looking for pictures of themselves from the convention.  This is coming a little later than I had hoped, because upon coming home from D*C, it turns out that my furnace shit the bed, and I’ve been without air conditioning in a stifling home for the last 24 hours, until an HVAC guy could come fix it.

Anyway, it’s going to be a little while for me to process through the 300+ photographs taken at the convention, so if you’re just here for pictures, I’d recommend tracking me down on Facebook, where I occasionally inform folks when I upload my galleries.  Or, I certainly won’t mind having another reader, if you’re into verbose wordy opinions on a daily basis.

Continue reading “The first of likely several post-Dragon*Con posts” →

A Dragon*Con with an objective

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In spite of the self-imposed painstaking efforts I’ve undertaken throughout the last three years in doing League of Legends costumes at Dragon*Cons, I’ve never really gone to a D*C in the past with any sort of objective or goal in mind.  Usually, everything is up in the air, and all I really want is to walk around, take a bunch of pictures, and for one day, get in my own costume, before devolving into a night of drinking and partying and hanging out on all the nights.  I don’t care about guests, I don’t care about celebrities, panels, exhibitors or just about everything that is boasted being present at the convention.

As I’m sure I’ve said before, it really makes me wonder why I’m so eager and willing to drop exorbitant amounts of money on lodging, food, booze and parking, for what’s essentially a weekend of hanging out.

Probably, because it’s a weekend of hanging out, and I really enjoy simply hanging out.  The grandest stage for what’s essentially one giant convenient excuse to hang out with friends and acquaintances from near and far.

Continue reading “A Dragon*Con with an objective” →

“If I can’t have it, it probably sucks anyway.”

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

That’s the sentiment I feel like I’m deriving based on scuttlebutt chatter as Dragon*Con approaches.  As I alluded to in a prior post, there’s kind of a dour feeling in my small little world as the days tick down towards Nerdi Gras.  And it’s coming from two specific parties: people who are part of the costuming community and/or people who for whatever reason, cannot make it to Dragon*Con this year.

But the point remains is that if people aren’t fighting over opinions on what D*C is or is supposed to be, they’re deciding that it’s best if they let their own small little worlds know that they can’t make it, and that they’re glad.  It’s not being said, but there’s an implied underlying hint of resentment that they’re not going, and almost as if it’s by result, they hope it’s vastly below-par and less than satisfactory than if it were with their presences.

As for the people in the costuming community that can’t seem to get their heads out of their own asses, I’m seeing a different, albeit no less interesting phenomenon going on amongst those whom are textually sparring.  Person A makes snarky remark about a policy.  Person B gives their opinion that differs.  Parties C-G gives opinions that mirror A, while H-N show up to provide snarky, all-caps esoteric sarcasm rebuttals.  I don’t know what usually happens next, because by this point I’m usually hiding the conversation from my wall.

Continue reading ““If I can’t have it, it probably sucks anyway.”” →