Sylvester McCoy, Seventh Doctor and all around master of physical humor and musical spoons, tells us all at Dragon-Con about where he got his stage name, how he put a ferret in his pants and drops hints about his upcoming role in The Hobbit.
(spoiler warning: his character’s outfit is brown!)
For as long as I’ve attended, Dragon*Con has always had its particular music favorites: Abney Park, Voltaire, The Crux Shadows, and a few others that rotate in and out, many of them falling under the umbrella of goth or steampunk. That’s why this year I was surprised and delighted to see that an old electronic friend of mine, Freezepop, would be performing. Freezepop is a small electropop band from Seattle and while they may not have the deeper lyrics or tormented tone of many of the other Dragon*Con acts they do have is fun bippy music that everyone can dance to, perfect for 1:30 am on a Sunday morning.
Freezepop, starring a line-up of Liz Enthusiam, Robert John “Bananas” Foster, Sean Drinkwater and Christmas Disco-Marie Sagan took over the stage from Abney Park to a very well-warmed up group. The choice of leadband was excellent, after the meaty lyrics and deft instrumentation of Abney Park, Freezepop was like a refreshing sherbet to top off the night. Although there was some delay switching over the instruments, it gave the distinctly tipsy crowd a needed moment to stop, recover their hearing and scope out perspective attractive partners to jump around with (and in case of one unlucky girl, look for her gloves. I hope you found them!)
Freezepop performed a solid hour and a half set, featuring new songs and some of their iconic pieces, like “Science Genius Girl” and “Bicycle Thief”. The band had a great stage presence and kept the song set list moving briskly, although due to equipment issues the vocals were hard to understand. However, the enthusiasm of both the band and the audience made for a great combination before we all staggered off to bed, ears ringing. If Freezepop’s presence this year means that Dragon-Con is opening up to a greater variety of music acts, then I can’t wait to see what 2012 brings!
To learn more about Freezepop, check the band biography at the Dragon-Con website.
Hello everyone, I’m WhiteRabite and I’m here to round out our week of Speak Out with my geeky passion, knitting! Yes, knitting! I know, what’s my problem? Knitting doesn’t have a great reputation, even in the wider geeky circles. It’s become more trendy in the last five years, but the popular image of knitting is still seen as something ladies in classic literature do while waiting for the more interesting people to arrive, or as grandmas creating deeply hideous jumpers to give to their grandkids. So what’s knitting’s attraction to me?
It’s all about creation! The urge to create is a pretty deep one in humans. We want to leave our mark on the world around us and the people around us (hopefully in a positive way), and there are few things more satisfying than taking a raw material and creating something new from it. There are few things more satisfying than being able to say “I’m made this.”
Sure, socks and gloves may not seem that glamorous at first, but before humans ever asked themselves “What’s out there? Why I am here?” they were asking themselves “Why am I so cold? How do I keep my toes warm?” THEN they asked themselves “Can I make a cuddly dalek?”
Yup
Is knitting a cheap and easy hobby?
Protip: Don't own yarn and cats
Well, what you get out of any hobby is equal to what you put into it. Some people never go beyond using a size 7 needle and worsted yarn from Hobby Lobby to make scarves and that’s fine! There’s no finish line to knitting and you’re allowed to dabble. However, if you really want to push yourself, than no, knitting isn’t any cheaper or easier than any other hobby. Want needles to go below size 5? Want sport or DK-size yarn? Want to know what those words even mean? Then you’re going to need to start checking out local knitting stores, taking lessons and talking to other knitters. I’ll be honest, knitting definitely has a learning curve. Lace knitting laughs at your pain. Enterlac will defy reason the first time you pick it up. And one tangled skein can ruin an hour’s work
Shawls made for grandmas = 2x amazing
But the nice thing is that there’s always something to learn and something new to master and someone new to talk to you about mastering it. All those things I just named? Some other knitter picked them up in a second and is scrabbling at the keyboard, eager to tell me how to do them in an easier, more approachable manner (Hi Lauren!). Just like I love helping people figure out Fair Isle knitting. If you’re willing to do the work, you can make something pretty amazing!
So knitting has a community?
Yup, just like any other geeky community, knitters love other knitters. Stitch and bitches are common across the country and it’s not hard to find one at a local library, coffee shop or knitting shop. Some groups create projects for charity, some are all about sharing techniques (and wine) and others are about such diverse projects as yarn-bombing or The Happiness Project. If you’re looking for conversation and company, knitting is a great hobby to pick up. Just a word of advice though, most stores sell tutoring lessons. So if your project is truly fubar, or if you’re visiting during business hours and not open-knit hours… well, don’t be the guy at the party forcing the medical student to look at his rash.
From the book "Creepy Cute Crochet" by Christen Haden
What about crochet, you jerk?
Hey,don’t get me wrong! I love crochet. I’m just not that good at it yet and probably shouldn’t be making any broad statements about it. That doesn’t mean I don’t realize the awesome geeky power of it!
How do I get started?
If you’ve never knitted, I recommend checking out your local knitting stores. Most offer classes and give discounts on class supplies. A few of my favorite websites are:
www.ravelry.com (A humongous community of knitters and crocheters Need free patterns? Need advice? Need to brag on something you made? Rav’s got it all)
http://knittinghelp.com (a website with a very friendly forum and a ton of video references for the inexperienced knitter)
knitty.com (lovely free patterns to inspire you)
craftzine.com (a creative blog, showcasing professional artists, tutorials and all sorts of ideas that anyone can do)
GreenEggsNSamm and I recently had a chance to chat with Javier Grillo-Marxuach, a veteran television writer and comic book creator. Javier has worked on shows such as Lost and Medium. He also created and wrote one of our favorite shows, The Middleman. We got a chance to speak with Javier about his favorite Middleman moments, his advice to aspiring television writers and his exciting new projects!
SpaceGypsies is happy to present the 2010 Dragon-Con Futurama panel. Voice actors Billy West (Philip J. Fry, Professor Hubert Farnsworth), Phil LaMarr (Hermes Conrad) and John DiMaggio (Bender) were present to answer questions about Futurama‘s past and future, voice-acting and to comment on their appreciation of the strong support they’ve received from the Futurama fan community.
Note – Due to camera issues, SpaceGypsies was not able to capture the whole panel. Sorry!