Enjoy A Cosmic Conference This Weekend, Arizona! [UFOs]

It’s time to stop carving mountains in your mashed potatoes and wake up, people!

If you’ve had enough of those pesky Greys and/or Lizard People having their way with your cattle, cornfield, and tuckus, get out to Fountain Hills this weekend and unite.

Folks with very open minds will be gathering at an annual International UFO Conference to discuss their favorite forms of unexplained phenomena. Check it out if you’re a believer, curious, or a people watcher.

Personally, I can’t help but love this stuff. I grew up on Unsolved Mysteries and the UFO & Bigfoot episodes were always my favorites, so I’m a bit of a sucker for it. Plus, the magazine sponsoring it, Open Minds, has a really cool logo.

Deep probe these details:

• The invasion begins with a kick off tonight, the 21st.
• The goes Feb 22 through Feb 27.
• At Fort McDowell Resort & Casino in Fountain Hills, AZ.
• Lots of presentations by UFO type peoples (technical term).
• There’s even a UFO film festival.
• (Not sure if it will work at the door, but the code “AZLO” may get you 40% off tickets.)

Have fun, and let’s unmask our reptilian overlords!

(Oh, and check out Bob Beard’s amazing round up of Arizona conspiracy theories.)

Lightning Octocon 2012!

In the beginning, there was The Great Octopus, and he created a website for fun, and it was good.

And on the first year, he partied down at Lightning Octocon 2011, and verily it was pretty sweet, and the geeks rejoiced.

And on the second year, he asked “Should we haveth another one?” and some people on Facebook said “Verily!”

Yea, and the doors of a venue were opened unto him, and a date was chosen and written in stone and pixels, and thus Lightning Octocon 2012 was born.

(So say we all…)

Lightning Octocon 2012 will happen Saturday, June 2nd at 7pm.

It’s the first Saturday in June, and one week after Phoenix Comicon.

Where?

The most excellent and gracious Amy, owner of Lulubell’s Toy Bodega in Downtown Mesa has offered her space for the evening. I swung by the other day to check it out and it should be perfect. I am very excited about it and Amy is beyond cool for offering.

I’ll miss having it at Gangplank, like last year, because they were so great to work with (seriously, great place), but I’m also pleased to be more central for most people.

So what’s all this then?

Lightning Octocon is a few things:

• An annual celebration of this blog. This will make 2 years!
• A “thank you” to everyone who reads the blog and/or supports local geek culture.
• An excuse to get back together and have fun after Phoenix Comicon.
• An opportunity to meet some of you that I’ve yet to run into in person.
• Sweet tunes, snacks, games, photos, festivities, and birthday cake ( GLADoS promises)!

In short, it’s a little nerd party – heavy on the nerd.

If you’d like to help, thank you!

I’m still planning everything, so the best way to help at this point is to spread the invite around to your friends. The more the merrier!

You don’t need to RSVP or anything to come, but dropping a “Yes” over on Facebook would help give me an idea on what to prepare for.

If you have ideas, suggestions, questions, etc, please shoot me an email or message me on Twitter or Facebook.

Rock on! I’m excited.

Hail, Phoenix’s Vul-Con 2012!

The guys behind Vul-Con 2012 are going big in February.

Of course, everything these guys do is on a large scale, from the size of the venue, to games, to guests, to tournaments.

I’ve been to a Vul-Con Gaming Arena before; it’s hard to convey the size, quality, and details of some of their creations:

Built around a Roman Empire theme, Vul-Con 2012 is promising to be the biggest tabletop gaming event ’round these parts and guests include Magic artists, game designers, writers, and all-around world builders.

Fancy yourself a bit of a game designer?

Bring your ideas and participate in Board Game God (a reality-show-style competition), and bring it to fruition.

Details?

• February 25th – 26th.
• At the Phoenix Convention Center.
• Gaming, gaming, and more gaming.
• Volunteering has its perks!
• Learn everything you need on their site.

Render unto Vul-Con the things that are Vul-Con’s and get tickets for around $40.

Though I admit that tabletop games and miniatures are not my expertise, I am planning on checking it out.

And I’ve been enjoying ending my posts with somewhat relevant videos lately. Enjoy: