GeekGirlCon at Night

As the autumn sun set and the younglings were sent off to their suppers, the gears of GeekGirlCon shifted to more adult-themed topics.  Or at least in the seminars I, ah--just happened--to stumble into.  Tickets to the Whedonesque Burlesque show were sold out in less than 48 hours of the initial advertisement.  By the time I decided I could attend the convention, the tickets were long gone--and not a scalper in sight, within the City Center Park. 

I planned on browsing through the exhibitors hall in the Northwest Rooms, but that closed at 6 PM.  So I was left with a choice of attending Women in Fantasy or Nerd Burlesque:  Translating Fandom to the Stage.  I was reading the synopses of both seminars and wandered into the Lopez Room, when a volunteer closed the doors behind me.  I was in the Nerd Burlesque seminar. 

Yeah, I know, I could have walked out, but where's the fun in that?

Seriously, the remainder of this blog post deals with sensual and sexual topics and is intended for readers who are 18 or older.  And for you folks older than 18, some of the links border on the NSFW (Not Safe For Work) category.

"Nerd Burlesque" is a riske romp, based on sci-fi/fantasy shows and movies.  This panel's colorful cast of characters consisted of:  Elsa Von Schmaltz, Jo Jo Stiletto, The Mad Marquis and Sophie de Maltease (from Portland, OR), Billy Corazon, Hottie McNaughty, Miss Elaine Yes, Sailor St. Claire and Heidi Von Haught.  Heidi is "...co-producer of Seattle's Naked Girls Reading chapter and is currently acting as Chair for the Programming Committee of BurlyCon 2011..."  (Panelist Bio).

The basic topics of discussion were:  Paying homage to the show or characters you're parodying, the importance of being comfortable with one's body in order to perform effectively; and art versus exploitation.

It wasn't until I started this blogpost, that I realized I forgot to take any photos.  It's not like any of the panelists were indecently dressed--although some folks do have issues with the women's uniform in the original Star Trek series--I simply forgot to whip out my camera.

(Image:  Kaylee and Simon battling Reavers in Serenity)

Speaking of whipping things out, the last seminar, Everything You Wanted to Know About Kinky Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask), required presenting a photo ID to the volunteers at the door.  This steamy session was hosted by:  Allena Gabosch, Mac McGregor and Cunning Minx. 

What followed, was a discussion on every aspect of kinky sex imaginable.  If any topic was left undiscussed, it was only because we ran out of time.  In fact, the workshop went into 15 minutes of overtime. 

(Image: From Geeks and Sex and Kink! Oh My!)

Okay, is it really necessary to have such a seminar during a geeky, sci-fi/fantasy-type convention?

Well, Teresa Jusino, Pendard and Minx, explain this very well in their respective articles and podcasts. 

Geeks like to ponder and speculate about everything:  From space travel, nano technology and yes, even to human and/or alien sexuality. This not a 21st Century phenomena either.  Back in 1967, Star Trek, opened it's second season with the episode Amok Time, about Spock's ordeal with pon farr, the Vulcan mating ritual. 

Basically, geeks are willing to let their minds wander into what ever "final frontier" their imaginations--kinky or otherwise--will take them.

Convention Companion's Artistic Talents

(Image:  Portrait, from Joanna King-Yost's website gallery)

Sometime during our wanderings at GeekGirlCon, Joanna & I exchanged business cards.  Her website is  Grey Matters Art.  By clicking on the vertically arranged words:  Gallery, About, Services and Resume, you can view some of Joanna's skills as an artist, model, writer and tutor.

A link to Joanna's site can also be found under the Art Section of this blog.

(Image:  The Day I Got Married, from Joanna King-Yost's website gallery)

My Daylight Misadventures at GeekGirlCon 2011

Despite having only one day off this weekend, I managed to attend the Saturday events at GeekGirlCon.  My cunning plan was to be at the Seattle Center by 9:30 AM.  I ASSumed the convention took place at Seattle's Experience Music Project (EMP), but this was a case of not completely reading the instructions.

Fortunately, I wasn't alone and met up with two other lost souls, Amy and Joanna, on a quest to find the registration desk.  We stumbled across another convention goer.  (They were easy to spot because they were wearing bright yellow tags, or were in full costume).  She directed us to the Northwest Rooms--on the opposite corner of the city center park. 

We still managed to arrive by 9:30, but the lines looked like this...

Since I'm in the midst of producing my third on-line graphic novel, I wanted to attend the Comic Books for Breakfast seminar.  But alas, due to the long line, I missed it.  The panel was hosted by the following ladies:  Jennifer de Guzman, Rachel Edidin and Mariah Huehner.

The first seminar I managed to attend was  Boobies and Blasters:  The Women of Star Wars.

Okay, you can stop giggling now. 

Despite the titillating title, (sorry, I couldn't help myself), this was a panel discussion about the growth of female characters in the Star Wars EU (geek-speak for "Expanded Universe," which is everything created and produced beyond the original films).  The workshop was hosted by this elite squad of female fans:  Mercedes Santaella-Lam, Misty Buxton, Deunan Berkeley, Sarah Silverman and Amy Sjoberg.  Amy is the co-owner of the Etsy Store Nerdventions and is currently working on a life-size replica of R2-D2.

GeekGirlCon, though, wasn't all about the gals.  There was the Very Special Dudes, or as one panelist quipped, the "Token Males" seminar.

The panel discussed their attempts at creating stories with strong female characters, often in the face of opposition from coroporate Hollywood.  These guys, token or otherwise, were:  Sean McNeil, Greg Rucka, Mike Madrid, Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Alan Kistler, the host & creator of Crazy Sexy Geeks and author of the Agents of S.T.Y.L.E column.

A huge line had formed outside the auditorium, for what I thought was the next seminar I wanted to attend, Tell Your Story Through Audio Drama.  But in the dim light and without my reading glasses, I saw the parenthetical phrase "Ticketed Event."  So I rushed to the EMP's admission desk and bought the next-to-last ticket available.  Joanna joined me at the end of the line after purchasing the very last ticket.  Talk about making just under the wire.  We sat together in the filled-to-capacity auditorium.

Several minutes into the interview session with Jane Espenson, I realized I was in the wrong seminar.  I decided to make this a "turning lemons into lemonade" moment and stayed for the rest of the interview.  I'm glad I did.  Jane was the convention's keynote speaker, with a background in writing comedy.  She was the writer for such geek-loved shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, Angel, Warehouse 13, Dollhouse, The O.C., Game of Thrones, Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. 

Tell Your Story Through Audio Drama, discussed podcasting and was hosted by the following:  Julie Hoverson, Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard, Kimberly Poole, Rhys Torres-Miller and Beverly Poole.  Despite missing this audio panel, I managed to make it to the Women in Webseries seminar.

Just about every gaming geek knows of Felicia Day's The Guild, now in it's fifth season.  (I'm way behind in my geekdom and just started watching it a few days ago).  However, several other women have joined Felicia in producing--not to mention acting and writing--their own webseries.  This panel included:  Mary Higgins and Josephine Hoy, Glynis Mitchell, Joanna Gaskell and Vanessa Driveness, Trin Miller, along with keynote speaker Jane Espenson, who's now producing Husbands.  Jane's webseries is about two gay men who had gotten drunk in Las Vegas and woke up married to each other--mayhem ensues.

The biggest concern among those of us in the audience was our lack of technical/photographic skill.  The unanimous opinion from the ladies on the panel was:  Don't worry about the technical aspects, focus instead on content.  In short--tell a good story and you'll build your audience.

And so ended the day at GeekGirlCon.  Activities and festivities lasted into the night, but that's a subject for another post...