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May 22, 2012

Category: Conventions

March 10, 2011

Anticipating The Geek Con Right

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Gaming — Tags: , , — 1 Comment

It’s a little odd to be sitting, of all places, in an airport on wi-fi waiting to meet up with people and yet feel excited about a future event, but here I am. This weekend, I’ll be hitting up PAX East in Boston for various reasons both professional and personal, and if the talk on Twitter, Facebook, and the internet at large is any indication, it’s going to be a mighty good time.

This is a direct function of an event and its organizers creating the right kind of anticipation for the event itself. I think it’s good to mention that I don’t mean hype. Hype is the kind of over the top craziness that you expect when it comes to pushing the envelope for extravagant and sweeping, and while it has its benefits, it is not anticipation. Anticipation is created from properly ensuring that people know your event is going to be a great time – that it will have what you want and give you some surprises as well. This is what PAX East has done, and done to successful execution.

How does it do this, even in the midst of a pool of geek cynicism? Part of it is the preparation tools and tech. PAX East went through a single vendor for hotel reservations, for example, and put up a bunch of neat little features like measuring distance from the hotel and one-click easy ordering to make reserving things a blast. Their registration process involves a third-party service that easily generates barcoding and efficient sending of badges through mail. They have an arrangement with Conventionist, an app that aggregates information about events and updates them in real time while giving people the chance to plot their con course. All of these kinds of tools, that make the process of getting ready for a con easy, also make getting ready for it more of an exercise in anticipation. People aren’t having a hard time with systems that should work but don’t. They are instead having a hard time with the things they’re supposed to, like deciding on two kick-ass events that are at the same time. Take away the tech trouble, build the hype.

The other way is through subtle little conveniences. Releasing the schedule a little early. Providing an ongoing map of confirmed vendors and develoeprs. Putting in periodic updates about attendance and badge sales. These are things that while subtle, build anticipation and excitement for an event. Organizers know that you can’t really shove what is supposed to be a fun event on attendees. You do little nudges and pushes, little winks of the eye, and the rest sort of takes care of itself – given that you’re organized, efficient, and know what you’re doing.

Ultimately, as it should be, the ones who are the best manufacturers of the anticipation for an event are the people attending. Geeks are the most passionate people around in many respects, and even though the pain of their discontent can be severe, the benefit of when they are satisfied, excited, and happy is well worth the risk. It isn’t a surprise that an event like PAX East is driven by fan and community support, but to get it to a hotly anticipated point, it takes just a little sly bunch of pokes to do so. It is, in many ways, a validation of the adage “if you build it, they will come”.

We’ll see if I can keep up my post-a-day New Year’s resolution at PAX East!

June 2, 2010

Among My Geek Peeps, or Why I Was Gone

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Social Geekery — Tags: , , — 2 Comments

There’s obviously been a big ass gap of posts on the blog lately, and there are a variety of reasons for it, some which I can get into here at Optimism Central, and others that I can’t. Sorry about that, guys and gals – it’s just that busy lately.

The most public reason, however, was that I was busy being among my fellow members of geekery. A couple posts back I’d explained that I was returning to a convention I hadn’t been to in 4 years. Not only was I doing that, but I was coming back, one weekend only, to a world of geekery that I’d left behind. Even though geeks in general tend to travel in rather varied social circles, the ups and downs of meeting and losing touch with certain folks still apply, just like for normal folks. So it was that I stepped back into staffing anime conventions, finding that while some things changed, much stayed the same.

I was heartened by the fact that aside from a bit of a younger face and a rather unhealthy obsession with things vampiric, most of anime geekery has stayed the same. There’s the same sense of release, as people who typically hide the fact that they like to dress as a ninja with multi-colored hair and a sword the size of a 2 by 4 get to express themselves. There’s the same burgeoning sense of wanting to be accepted by the mainstream and finding ways in which that happens (like with series that make it onto cable television or the news). And most of all, there’s the sense of shared camaraderie, the fact that people, for one weekend, gather together to celebrate mutual geekiness with a laser-like focus – in this case, anime and manga culture.

The event took a lot of work, both before, during, and after the show, and while my role in it was small compared to what I’d been crazy enough to do in the past (like being Convention Chair), it was still an intensive, tiring, yet ultimately fulfilling experience. In the circles that I run in today, that being more of the gaming, social networking, and hobbyist scene, I wish there were more events than just the huge ones for people to go to. There are events like E3 that are closed to the public (even though those are really the professional geek’s way of celebrating the same things), and those like PAX that are huge enough to draw thousands upon thousands, drowning you in a sea of (sometimes literally) unwashed masses. But the small to medium events are few and far between, and it’d be nice to have more of them. Maybe someone who is not me who is nuts enough to do that will find the value in those kinds of conventions – because I think geekery needs them.

But I enjoyed what I did, and am thankful to old friends who let me back in the door. What was it? Well, the good people of Facebook and Twitter who follow me know what it was, but in a rare bit of narcissism, here’s a little of what 3000+ people saw live:

I’ll be back to posting regularly!

May 10, 2010

Convention Staffing – The Real Masochism

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Social Geekery — Tags: , , — 8 Comments

Way back before I was building community in the gaming world, I was doing the same thing in the convention circuit – anime conventions to be exact. As I prepare this week to come back to a convention that I considered a part of home for nearly a decade, I began to muse about my experience as a convention staffer. In doing so, I came to the same conclusion I did when I left that little circle.

Convention staffing is masochism. You don’t have the whips and the chains, you may not have the purely physical pain, but it is, for many poor, slightly insane, people a form of hurt that does bring with it some pleasure and enjoyment.

At least in the anime convention circuit, the majority of staff members are unpaid volunteers. The fact that people willingly give of themselves and their time, sometimes years in advance, for something that they ultimately do not make a dime off of is perhaps enough. But throw in the fact that you deal with the usual trials and tribulations of interpersonal communication and hours and sleepless nights trying to work with guests, hotel staff, and attendees and you have a recipe of pain that can break down even the most mentally stable individual. The kinds of things you’re used to seeing in a day job or for pay are magnified working volunteer, when the only motivation for some people to stay is usually driven by personal values.

The equation of convention staff to a job is made even more painful by the fact that the centerpiece of it all is the event, and as you all know, sometimes events and plans don’t quite come together smoothly. In the decade or so worth of anime cons I staffed, I’ve seen everything happen onsite, from all kinds of property damage, to last minute staff changes, to the very unusual and disturbing occurrences that happen at 2am in the morning. Let me tell you that once you deal with a drunken Final Fantasy Black Mage costumer or caught two people doing what shouldn’t need to be done in a hotel stairway, you’ve just about dealt with…well, perhaps one-third of what you could potentially deal with at a con. The mental anguish of having to sometimes take responsibility for people who can’t be responsible is like having your delicate, soft body parts put through a vise. Ah, memories.

Geez. I got so carried away that I almost forgot to explain the good part of all this. This is an optimist’s blog after all.

Anyway, despite all of that pain and suffering, good convention staffers go through it to put on a great event for attendees. They work long hours with little sleep and on a diet of Mountain Dew, potato chips, and Snickers bars to get satisfaction from seeing people have a good time. They want to look at an event they put blood, sweat, and tears into and say “I helped build that community. I helped put that together for people to enjoy their pasttime”. The moments where this happens sometimes seem to be very far away and may only seldom happen in brief flashes. But that feeling of doing good, of creating something that will last, is enough for most convention staffers to keep going, year after year.

I hope that if you attend a geek-related convention, whether it’s for anime, for gaming, for tech, or something else in the geek arts, that you find a tired convention staffer at some point and give them a hug, or at the very least, a cookie. They deserve every bit of it for their part in creating microcosms of awesome community for a few days.

May 6, 2010

Revisiting The New Anime Generation

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Social Geekery — Tags: , , , — 1 Comment

For those of you among my humble little readership who don’t know, I used to work in the anime convention circuit. For nearly a decade I worked various events, mostly around my native Chicago and surrounding environs. What did I do? Well, you name it, I probably did it,whether it was fetching donuts and coffee or being crazy enough to chair the whole damn show. Of the many things I learned, I do have to say that the most significant was that a diet consisting of Mountain Dew, Krispy Kremes, and half-eaten chocolate bars isn’t quite good for you.

After putting in my time and doing everything I thought I could do, I exited the anime con scene. At the time of my retirement, the realization that anime was a generational medium and not a short term fad was just starting to take hold. TV channels were showing snippets of anime, the awareness of the culture and the nuances associated with it were just coming round the corner, and older fans mingled with a new generation of younger, excitable teens raised on mainstream anime exposure.

Next week I come back to what I consider my “home” convention, Anime Central, for a favor and a chance to check out what’s changed in almost 5 years. While I have yet to see what the fandom has come up with to express their love of anime, I am convinced of one thing – that in the intervening years, anime itself as cemented its place as a significant sub-culture of geek fandom. Anime news, information, media, and other resources have ballooned in the past few years, and finding a way to view the latest and greatest is extremely easy. The number of anime and manga related events has gotten huge, and long time events now hold court with smaller, determined ones that expand the anime exposure. The industry itself may have seen better times, but the fans are still around and holding things up.

More than that, though, I’m convinced the fandom is as generationally sound as ever. The younger fans that I know of that were around when I left are now college aged or emerging into jobs and roles as adults – and some of them might have even ended up on staff. Newer, younger fans (and in some cases, their parents) attend and are as excited about expressing themselves and socializing with those who share their interests. Programming that spans all ages and not just one or two age groups is the norm, and from a costuming standpoint, oldie but goodie classics like Sailor Moon clash with the latest and greatest in series like Clannad.

It’s a good time to be a geek and into anime, and next week, I’ll be heading right back into it just to see how good it really is. Exciting times, indeed.

October 31, 2009

A Comfortably Geeky Halloween

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Social Geekery — Tags: , — Leave a comment

cloud_02Ah, Halloween. That time of year when people who cosplay are actually not unique snowflakes in a public crowd. It’s also the time of year when the inevitable temptation of foodstuffs starts, starting with candy and sweets and finishing with an “I ate wayyy too much” Christmas dinner. I can feel my teeth rotting already.

While you could lump some geeks into the general pool of people who are apathetic or worse, cynical about Halloween, for others in the geek persuasion it’s a time to be a bit more comfortable with their own geek tendencies. There’s the obvious costuming practice, for example. Sure, there are still ways in which geeks tend to confuse people with their costume choices  (if you have to explain why your “computer byte” costume is funny, you’re doing it wrong), but for the most part, it’s a way to come out of your shell. If you’ve ever had an inkling to dress as a favorite video game character or sci-fi idol that looks sufficiently bad-ass enough to be generally appealing, Halloween is the time to express that desire in spades.

Deeper than that, there’s the whole idea of playing another role that is not yourself. Whether it’s in online games, role-playing endeavors, or the Internet proper, geek-folk are used to slipping into another skin and depicting themselves in a different way. When everyone’s doing it at Halloween, it’s not so bad, especially in a social scene where those of us that are inclined to do so head out on the town or to someone’s place for a night of visual hilarity. You really only get this kind of environment at conventions, where costumes are as common as comics, so to have a dedicated holiday for it is always a good time.

Me? I’m an observer, or in some cases, the trickster hiding in the bushes with the hose to scare potential candy-seekers. Being in this vantage point, I’m able to catch unique moments, such as the surreal imagery of a traditional witch and catgirl getting their boogie on with a Sephiroth and Cloud combo.  I enjoy seeing what people come up with for costumes but have only been in one a small handful of times. But if you’re curious about what a positive, sunny guy like me looks like, especially on Halloween, here’s a rare peek into my real life:

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I think I picked a devilishly handsome costume, wouldn’t you say?

Have a Happy Halloween, geekery!

August 6, 2009

Overly Positive Thoughts: The Wonderful World of PAX

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Gaming, Overly Positive Thoughts — Tags: , — 2 Comments
Penny Arcade Expo
Image via Wikipedia

Mike Fahey from Kotaku reports on the triple-digit exhibitors coming to this year’s Penny Arcade Expo, the fan-based show that took in all of the waylaid common gamer folk left out in the cold from E3. PAX has always been a show for the fans, and this year is no different.

Now, there’s a possibility I might be at this show this year, and while I’ve never been to a PAX before, one thing I do know is fandom. Years of working at conventions and even being crazy enough to chair them means that I’m somewhat well-versed in the ways of geek culture and how they pan out at events such as this one. But some of you might not know about the best of the best when it comes to geek fandom, so for those of you planning on attending, here’s a primer of incredible things you’re going to experience at PAX, or at any other show for geeks for that matter.

First things first – don’t think that you’re going to be a unique snowflake on a winter day. Just because your gamertag or userid is Sephiroth3 and you are totally cooler than all the other Sephiroth‘s because you got the single digits, doesn’t mean it’s going to cut it with your fellow geeks. Think about it – you are here with (literally) the unwashed masses, and unless you made a name for yourself getting caught having cybersex with a female who turned out to be a male who turned out to have a female voice, you’re not going to be known. Tens of thousands of fans come to PAX every year, so being unique is a bit difficult. On the bright side, if you don’t want someone to know about your escapades as Arktooth the Sex Hunter Orc, it’s real easy to blend in with anyone else.

You’re probably going to encounter at least one person who you might consider a “fanboy”. Now, unlike a forum, you can’t hit ignore on a fanboy, nor can you go to another part of the boards, or worse of all, take out your favorite blowtorch and flame them to death. The first two are difficult to do, and the third, while probably immensely satisfying in the short term, would probably land you in jail in Seattle. Fanboys typically lack social cues – meaning they don’t know that rolling your eyes or turning your back on them means you don’t give a crap about what they’re saying – and they most certainly will always stick to their guns even if you try arguing with them. There is, however, a good side to fanboys. First, they’ll always make you feel better for that secret fanboy-ish type fetish with Princess Toadstool that you’ve been hiding. And second, you can always counter one fanboy with another. Find another fanboy who agrees, or even better yet, disagrees with the one harassing you and turn them towards each other. Like Furbies, they’ll just keep yammering away while you make your escape.

Lastly, you might think that you’re all that and a bag of Salsa Cheetos against the AI or even online against scrubs, but don’t worry – PAX will be a humbling experience for any competitive game you choose to play.  You’ll be up against human players who can not only trash talk you over the mic but who you can see give you the middle finger as they teabag you into submission in Halo. You won’t have to hear that some 9 year old who uses the XBox as a babysitter trounced you in Street Fighter IV, you’ll see it happen, sometimes in front of a live audience of your geek peers. Relax though – all of this is either A)A learning experience that tells you that you need some humility on the geek ladder or B)A way to make yourself feel better that you can always fall onto the tired, yet classic excuse of “having a life” (despite going to conventions) as opposed to your 50 hour a week, never-gotten-laid-ever opponents. So either way, you win!

Yep, PAX – something every geek should definitely look forward to – maybe I’ll see you there. Just don’t hate me for having a grin on my face the entire time, ok?

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July 24, 2009

The Comic-Con Phenomenon

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Social Geekery — Tags: , , — 1 Comment
Kenan Thompson at the San Diego Comic-Con, Jul...
Image via Wikipedia

This weekend is geekdom’s well-known “nerd prom”, San Diego Comic-Con. Every year, tens of thousands of people make the pilgrimage to the West Coast to partake in the country’s most well-known show on comics, games, sci-fi, and more.

I have to say, every year this show stays in existence (and grows, if the numbers are any indication) is really a validation of the power of geek fandom and media, something which I take it upon myself to opine on in idealized, sunny ways. The main reason is that honestly, for the better part of a year, geek fandom is relegated to a niche, superceded by the latest celebrity news from Hollywood, popular and catchy top 40 music, and all the other things in mainstream entertainment that dominate the headlines.

But for a short few days out of the year, geek media thrusts itself out of its shell and stands in the spotlight. It’s undeniable that shows like SDCC have grown and made leaps and bounds, and the entertainment industry has really had no choice but to recognize it. There’s a bit of Hollywood at Comic-Con, and celebrities that attend take to the sudden geek love (and hate) with varying levels of adaptability. Mainstream entertainment has to turn its eyes and attention to Comic-Con not just because of the potential marketing opportunity but also for the fact that more than ever, there’s just a ton of stuff to tickle the fancy of an increasingly discerning audience. Originality, honestly, has one of the greatest potentials to flourish and to be recognized among geek society, where shunning the social norms and ideas of what is “entertaining” is the modus operandi.

Geekery, prior to these shows really booming, was kept in basements and in comic book stores, shuttered away from prying eyes and sometimes even the product of ridicule. These days, shows like Comic-Con highlight a more modern geek – perhaps still a bit shuttered but armed with the tools of the new millennium which, among other things, enable geeks to find peers beyond their own direct social circles. This, of course, enables them to connect in various ways – with Comic-Con being one of them.

One of these days, I’ll make it back to Comic-Con. And I’m sure that when I do, it’ll be going as strong as ever.

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August 15, 2008

The Geek Essentials

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Social Geekery — Tags: , , — Leave a comment

Mythic Producer Josh Drescher talked a bit today about fitting a bunch of junk into your little bags for a jaunt, pretty much calling out fellow employee Justin Webb for trying to cram everything into one carry-on bag for a trip to Germany’s Leipzig.

Now I’m not really sure what Justin is planning to do while at the convention, but you never really know – it’s entirely possible that a single bag can be filled by a geek in order to go to a gathering of other geeks. Times like these, we have to be thankful that the things that advance in technology actually are becoming smaller, and not the other way around. Can you imagine fitting a cellphone the size of a giant pizza into your carry-on?

I can’t really make a judgment either way whether or not Justin has the ability to stuff that bag silly. Granted, he has an advantage – he has a loving wife who can help. Women, and especially women geeks, somehow have this extradimensional power to put the necessities in purses – even things that aren’t really, as Justin says, “bits and bobs”.

Let’s take a look at the essential items any geek should take on their trip away from their precious, precious rig and Internet connection:

  • The Mobile Status Symbol - You know all those crazy people who buy an SUV even though the only off-roading they are planning on doing is pulling out of their clean suburbanite street into the driveway? They’re not really interested in off-roading, just saying “hey, lookit me, I gots me a gas guzzler!”. Geeks are the same way. Every geek has one mobile device that they like to whip out oh-so-nonchalantly and look sophisticated and advanced. An iPhone fits the bill nicely. So does a really slick-looking PDA that isn’t a Blackberry (because the geek more than likely has set up Blackberries for a clueless CEOa nd wouldn’t be caught dead with one). The point? Flaunt the technology you have that no normal person could ever hope to understand beyond “ooh shiny.”
  • The Computer – There’s no way a geek leaves home without some way to stay wired and feed their addiction to the OS of their choice. The funny thing is that we have this reverse Freudian thing where we like it small. The smaller, the better, the slimmer, the better. If you have an ultra-slim-light-featherweight computer with an 10 inch screen that you could break more easily than a pair of chopsticks, then you’re doing something right – and you’re saving space, too. Exceptions include geeks using largish computers to show off their latest 1080i render of a fan video of themselves killing the hardest boss in an RPG. See: Mobile Status Symbol.
  • The Sunglasses – Because the resolution of “the real world” is honestly too much for your refresh rate.
  • The Cool Quirky Thing – Every geek has something that they think is unique that they want to show to other geeks who might appreciate it. It might be a pen with light saber sounds. It might be the photocopied script of the latest Batman movie. Heck, it might even be the piece of lint off of Joss Whedon’s overcoat that he wore to the Serenity premiere. Either way, it’s cool, it’s needed, and it’s packed.
  • The Games – Geeks get bored easily, and trust me, you wouldn’t like geeks when they’re bored. Time-wasting games that geeks can bury their noses in are a must for any trip. With their gaming console probably owned by someone who is local, portable devices like a PSP or a DS rule the day. Anything to conveniently avoid unnecessary social interaction.
  • The Clothes – Geeks have three fashions – awake, asleep, and naked. Given the fact that they hopefully will not end up in naked mode at an inappropriate time, the only real difference between awake and asleep is which t-shirt, which unbuttoned or otherwise not-worn-in-the-intended way over shirt, and which pair of jeans or khaki shorts they choose to wear. At least 6 combinations can be had from three pairs of shirts and jeans, and you can count on a geek counting the clothes they are wearing as one combination. Still have space problems? Perpetuate the geek stereotype of being overweight by wearing multiple pairs of pants and shirts. Just hope you don’t get strip searched.
  • The Boring Stuff – toothbrush, soap, towels, undergarments, passport, plane ticket, toiletries, usually stuffed or thrown carelessly into the bottom, top, or sides.

Given all this, is it entirely feasible for someone like Justin to fit the essentials in a carry-on? That depends on Justin, but I’d have to say, don’t be surprised if one carry-on can hold a world inside of it.

August 11, 2008

The Geek Prom

by Frank — Categories: Conventions, Social Geekery — Tags: , — Leave a comment

Not too long ago there was a post on Mythic producer Josh Drescher’s blog about how San Diego Comic-Con is like “The Geek Prom”. That’s actually pretty accurate except for the fact that I don’t recall my high school prom having every other person dressed in spandex or having to deal with the fact that the food and drink was probably as unhealthy as injecting caffeine directly into your head.

It’s interesting to see how those of the geeky persuasion tend to lament the media coverage of such events. Yeah, sure, there appear to be two modes that the mainstream media tend to approach covering a convention of nerdy folks. Those modes are 1: Poorly Hidden Confusion and 2: Look at the Weird People. And yeah, when the media person chooses to interview the person who likes to dress in a chicken costume and talk loudly about cock all day, it might not put geeks like you or I in a positive light.

But geeks shouldn’t hide from this kind of exposure. In fact, they should embrace it. The thing of it all, is that conventions are perhaps the one time out of the year for many people when they can feel good about being the square peg in the round hole of society. You don’t like the fact that people give you funny looks when you show them your extensive Sailor Moon DVD collection, even though you’re male? It’s accepted at a con. You ever see a blank look in the eyes of your “normal” co-workers when you show up to your job with your hair dyed like the Green Lantern, complete with cool decoder ring? No problem for cons. What about the fact that you’re able to recite the entire season 1 episode finale of Heroes and can haltingly speak Japanese like Hiro? That’s all good too.

Geeks may have shunned, or not been able to act normal enough to ask someone to, the prom, but at a convention, even the geeks can get laid, even if it’s with someone who most certainly had trouble fitting into their Japanese high school student outfit. There’s hope, and if the media wants to look at you the same way as it looks at a 5 car and 1 beer truck pileup on the highway, then so be it.

As a convention worker (if you thought attending cons was weird, try staffing them), the best part of a con that I chaired one year was watching a real, actual high school prom who had had the unfortunate luck of being in the same facility as us. Despite our insistence that a picture of someone who thought they could be a ninja at 340 pounds was not the background ambience their event needed, they still wanted to show up. As the normal prom-goers showed up, wearing the latest and greatest in fashion and looking all the world like a 17 year old version of GQ magazine, they were quickly and suddenly surrounded and overwhelmed by costume-wearing, catgirl-calling, decidedly average looking masses of geekdom. And as the geeks looked at the oddly dressed teens with the same looks they got every day in school, you knew this was the modern Revenge of the Nerds.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. And neither should you.

July 27, 2008

Fan Convention Tips for Celebrities

by Frank — Categories: Conventions — Tags: , — Leave a comment

With this weekend being the geek orgy event that is Comic Con, I’m starting to see from my highly comfortable yet envious seat back here in the Midwest that there are a bunch of people who are first-time celebrities to Comic Con. Either they’ve become famous in the past year or so, or they’re heading to the event for the first time and are barely hiding their “deer in headlights” looks during their interviews. Well, it’s not like any of them will take the time to check out a random blog like this one, but for those people who just might mistype their domain search and somehow end up here, I’ve got a quick survival guide for you.

  • Minimize Direct Contact – The geek or fanboy that comes to these conventions takes care of themselves slightly better than an elephant at a zoo, and they probably look like one too. Watch for the telltale signs that they are about to try to touch you – including uncontrollable slobbering, nervous tics, and complete lack of speaking ability when in front of you. If you don’t want to go back to your mansion with something worse than the plague, deny the handshake.
  • Costumer Craziness – There will be costumers of every size, shape, and color at a typical con. Don’t worry – they mostly want attention on themselves and not you so you don’t have to worry about them fainting all over you and crimping that $5000 suit you’re wearing. Just be wary of the telltale signs that the screws are not quite tightened. Red flag – they’re costuming as you.
  • Crowds Can be Dangerous – Don’t think that just because you’ve become the Internet’s darling over the past year that you don’t think the massive crowd won’t trample you at a moment’s notice to get to the free giveaway or contest at the booth behind you. You are away from your limo and your entourage, and while you can count on the con organizers to provide warm bodies to get smashed while you make your getaway, make no mistake about it – there are people everywhere. Hope you aren’t claustrophobic.
  • Watch What’s in the Air – Because yes, that distinct odor is the smell of, literally, the “unwashed” masses.

Good luck this weekend, Comic Con virgin celebs! Don’t get scared off, and I hope we here at Overly Positive have given you the tools you need to survive to that next multi-billion dollar movie deal.

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