9 Things For Geeks To Do This Weekend In Arizona [WE 09/11]
This weekend, Arizona turns into a Kingdom of Loathing, meets an original Ghostbuster, has a mini-comic-book-convention, and shoots space bugs.
And lo, the geeks went forth and swarmed yon desert with their might.
And verily, they partied down. Verily.
Thursday, September 8th
Doodle Night! [Glendale]
- A perfect chance to casually hang with the AZ’s comic artist/writers scene.
- Show up and start doodling with the best of ‘em.
- At Jesse James Comics from 6pm to 10pm.
- Learn more and who will be there here.
Friday, September 9th
KolCon 8 [Mesa]
- Is an adventurer you?!
- Join other Kingdom of Loathing players IRL all weekend.
- Too many things to list, and it’s all over the place but…
- I will mention that both The Minibosses and MC Frontalot will be performing.
- Learn all about it in the KoL forums.
EncrediCon 2! [Mesa]
- An entire (almost) comicon crammed into Downtown Mesa!
- Cosplaying, local comic and video game artists, and even a SciFi Fashion Show.
- Starts around 6pm with events until 10pm.
- Learn all about it at Evermore Nevermore’s site.
- (Hey look, I went to last year’s!)
Galaga Tournament [Phoenix]
- Die, space bees, die!!
- Prove to the universe that you’re ready to defend it against evil pixels.
- Highest score wins some sweet swag.
- 7pm at The Cade Gallery.
- While you’re there, pretend you’re in the OASIS!
- (Okay, I’ll stop with the Ready Player One references.)
- Learn more on their Facebook Event page and at The Pause Button.
Saturday, September 10th
Dan Akroyd [Scottsdale]
- Yes, Dan Akroyd.
- Meet the man behind some of your favorite 80′s nerd movies from 10am to Noon at BevMo.
- The AZ Ghostbusters will be on site, with the ECTO_AZ and more.
- Get slimed with details from your local stream-crossers.
Sketches For Charity [Tempe]
- If you enjoy combining your love of booth babes with charity, here’s another chance.
- Hang with artists and cosplayers to benefit the Phoenix Childrens Hospital.
- At PopCulture Paradise from 1pm to 5pm.
- I found some details, so take a look if you’re interested.
*Update – Smash Brothers Tourney & A Magic: The Gathering Party [Mesa]
- I totally forgot to mention two Gamers’ Inn events this Saturday.
- There’s a SB tournament from Noon to 6pm.
- And a celebration of the most popular collectable card game ever at 1pm – 4pm.
- Learn more here, and here, respectively.
*Update – “Mega” LAN Party [Peoria]
- Just found out about this.
- Could be fun if you’re in that part of town, and love LAN parties.
- At Emerald Computers from Noon to Midnight.
- Get your details here.
*Update – HTML5 Game Coding and Hacking
- Luis left a note in the comments about a HeatSync Labs event.
- If you’re curious about coding games, swing by their place at 7pm!
- Here’s the link to their blog for more.
I’ll hopefully be getting out to a few events this weekend, so keep an eye out and follow me on the Twitter to stay in touch.
Hey Arizona, What Are You Creating? [Share]
I’m digging these two project that both Eric Torres and Steamcrow shared today.
Eric collab’d with Wesly Evans to pimp out an old-school X-Box controller.
It’s pretty fly, I must say.
And Steamcrow is building hilarious puppets based off of his equally hilarious Monster Commute web-comic.
If you’ve read it, you know how crazy accurate these are looking.
So, what do you create?
If it’s sweet and at least a little geeky, please let me know what you’re building, making, sewing, filming, writing, modding, collecting, or creating.
Email me at jonathan [at] lightningoctopus [dot] com, leave a comment, tweet me to death, or nag me on Friendface.
Can You Guess What Video Games These Came From? [Local Geek Art]
I’m digging this piece of art from local geek artist James Barnett. Can you tell what it’s from?
Instead of donning a beret (and pointy goatee) then setting up an easel on the side of a hill, James explores his favorite video game landscapes; roaming their cities and countrysides looking for his muse. When he finds it, he hits pause and starts painting.
With a colorful Fauxvist style (Honorable Art History Degree, please!), James brings out personality, charm, and some high class to games like Halo, Fallout, Half-Life 2, and even a personal favorite of mine – FFVII.
So, the challenge for you is to head over to his Flickr page and see if you can identify the games his art comes from – without cheating.
Check them out and share what you recognized!
