Next Sunday Bravo!
Jul. 22nd, 2013 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davemerrillSpeaking of Con Bravo, we'll be there this upcoming Sunday:
Con Bravo is a local show that started out in Oakville, moved south to Burlington, and has now moved even further south to Hamilton, that rough-and-tumble steeltown on the banks of Lake Ontario. Its first year featured fairly typical media-convention guests and events, but the show soon found its groove, a internet-celebrity con-culture groove. This year there's live role-playing, a parody musical, a videogame swap meet, 20 classic arcade games (!!), speed dating and flash friending, and a wide variety of guests from the world of video games, the world of talking about video games on the internet, and the world of trying to become some sort of celebrity by talking about video games on the internet. Also Mara Wilson, who played Matilda in the movie "Matilda".
We're people who make fun of stuff on the internet, so I guess we fit in, somehow, but I never feel as old as I do when I see the culture that's sprouted around people who are celebrities for making little videos where they talk about movies I didn't see or video games I didn't play. We didn't make the 2012 show (we were in Tokyo) but seeing Nathan Barnatt inflict his Keith Apicary character all over the hotel in 2011 was a desperate cry for help on somebody's part. It takes a lot to be annoying enough that the hotel bans you before the convention has a chance to, but he accomplished it. I don't believe any current guests are quite as emotionally needy as this. Anyway, it's Hamilton. Chances are some of them might not make it through the weekend without a tattoo or a substance abuse problem.
Anyhow, Con Bravo is a fun show. It's run enthusiastically by people who are excited to be running a show and getting to play in the convention-world sandbox with all the convention-world toys, and when the organizers are having fun that's a good sign. We'll be there on Sunday only; Friday we're both working because we're working peoples, and Saturday is our 11th wedding anniversary and God love conventions but damned if we're spending our wedding anniversary at a convention. So it's Sunday. See you there!!
Con Bravo is a local show that started out in Oakville, moved south to Burlington, and has now moved even further south to Hamilton, that rough-and-tumble steeltown on the banks of Lake Ontario. Its first year featured fairly typical media-convention guests and events, but the show soon found its groove, a internet-celebrity con-culture groove. This year there's live role-playing, a parody musical, a videogame swap meet, 20 classic arcade games (!!), speed dating and flash friending, and a wide variety of guests from the world of video games, the world of talking about video games on the internet, and the world of trying to become some sort of celebrity by talking about video games on the internet. Also Mara Wilson, who played Matilda in the movie "Matilda".
We're people who make fun of stuff on the internet, so I guess we fit in, somehow, but I never feel as old as I do when I see the culture that's sprouted around people who are celebrities for making little videos where they talk about movies I didn't see or video games I didn't play. We didn't make the 2012 show (we were in Tokyo) but seeing Nathan Barnatt inflict his Keith Apicary character all over the hotel in 2011 was a desperate cry for help on somebody's part. It takes a lot to be annoying enough that the hotel bans you before the convention has a chance to, but he accomplished it. I don't believe any current guests are quite as emotionally needy as this. Anyway, it's Hamilton. Chances are some of them might not make it through the weekend without a tattoo or a substance abuse problem.
Anyhow, Con Bravo is a fun show. It's run enthusiastically by people who are excited to be running a show and getting to play in the convention-world sandbox with all the convention-world toys, and when the organizers are having fun that's a good sign. We'll be there on Sunday only; Friday we're both working because we're working peoples, and Saturday is our 11th wedding anniversary and God love conventions but damned if we're spending our wedding anniversary at a convention. So it's Sunday. See you there!!
