To Nerd, It Is Cool
2006-06-25, 12:45 p.m.

I�m back. Before I tell y�all about the reunion, I have to tell you about�
ADVENTURECON.

I heart AdventureCon.

I have never been to a convention. Let me rephrase that: an INTERESTING convention. I have been dragged as a child to trade conventions ad nauseum and stuffed bags full of ball point pens and jar openers and miscellaneous swag while my dad talked widgets, but no, I�m talking an honest-to-God costume-and-comic fest here. Celebrities and collectibles. Light sabers and Grizzly Adams lunchboxes and Monster Squad board games and real Stormtroopers patrolling the aisles.

125,000 square feet of pure, unabashed geekdom.

Nerdapalooza.

I have found my people. I have come home.

It took awhile to make it inside. Son and Guru III went as Mario and Luigi and were treated as celebrities in their own right. We made it six inches inside the door and were stopped by a camera crew, where the Brothers Mario gave a mini-interview on their views of the upcoming releases. Other kids asked to pose for photos with them. Overall they had their picture taken about 25 times in the 4 hours we were there. Daughter, Actor Boy, and I did not dress in costume for the event, so being the pathetic ones that suck, we quickly grew adept at stepping out of the shot. We three would be great celebrity assistants.

At our first stop is where I really got my nerd on. Smack in the center was Mr. Felix Silla. In case you do not remember who he is:

Not only did he play Cousin Itt, but he was Twiki on Buck Rogers (oh my word I LOVED that show), he was an Ewok, he was on Planet on the Apes, and he has done a lot of other cool stuff that is too much to list here. And he is also a very nice and gracious man. He told us about the costumes, about filming in black and white versus in color, about being on The Addams Family, about being on Buck Rogers, he posed for photos with the kids, with the kids and me (I booted out Daughter to work the fancy schmancy camera and got her to take ones with me in them), he told us about his granddaughters. He wanted to go to Dollywood during his brief stay here but instead had to spend his time tracking down lost luggage. I would like to go beat someone in the airline senseless with a Samsonite.
You. Lost. Cousin. Itt�s. Luggage.

There were exotic species there once thought nearly extinct, and gladly not so. Behold, a sighting of the Corey-us Feldman-ticus:

After that, we paid $390 for hot dogs. The kids wanted cheeseburgers, but they accepted only dilithium crystals, Goa�uld mother ships, or outlying moons in the Dagobah system as payment, and I�m fresh out.

Oh yeah, there were zombies.

But Mario and Luigi knew what to do. All they needed was some artillery from Stargate Command. But where�s Teal�c�s staff weapon when you need it?

I noticed that there were no wandering Vulcans on this voyage. The Force was out in full force (Ray Park was in attendance), but where were the Trekkers? Guru III said he saw two red-shirted ensigns, but they didn�t make it all the way through the convention hall.

::::::::::::rim shot:::::::::::

(Hey, that�s good for an 11 year old.)

I got me a �BEAM ME UP� t-shirt. With sparkly things.

We saw a lot and oohed and aahed a lot and Mario and Luigi had their pictures taken AGAIN and we had to leave too soon. We are most definitely going to come back next year. But I am thinking seriously about going back this afternoon sans children.

My tribe is calling me.

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