Last weekend, the Mutineer and I attended our last convention of 2018: Heroes & Villians FanFest in San Jose/WalkerStalker Con. HVFF is small, but well-organized, well-staffed, and with plenty to the offer to the casual congoer. It was probably one of the best conventions I’ve ever attended, and I’ll tell you why.
One thing I love about living in Southern California are the numerous concerts, museums, conventions and geektivities that are available within a decent driving distance. This weekend, The Collectress and I attended The Cure Tour 2016 and saw the 80s goth band play at the Hollywood Bowl. I’m such a great blog-mate; I bought these tickets back in October and when I found out Collectress was a fan, decided to take her for her birthday. As a reformed goth girl, the Cure holds a special place in my black, black heart and their popular 1983 release, “Lovecats” is one of the first songs I remember actively enjoying on the radio when I was just a wee Diva!
https://twitter.com/dearcollectress/status/734584237572100096
Unfortunately, Robert Smith didn’t decide to play OUR FAVORITE, but we still had a blast! Here are my 3 impressions.
The Hollywood Bowl is an amazing place to enjoy a relaxing evening of music and friends. I’ve attended the LA Philharmonic performances there, but this was the first actual pop show I’ve seen at the Bowl. What I love about the Hollywood Bowl is that visitors can bring in food, drinks, blankets and picnic baskets and sit under the the Hollywood sign and just enjoy the environment. To private “leased” events (such as, when a performer rents the venue as the Cure did), patrons are not allowed to bring in cans or bottles. During the summer events such as the Philharmonic performances and jazz festivals, audiences are allowed to pack wine and beer. Collectress and I bundled up, brought a picnic, enjoyed the sunset and swayed to the mellow sounds of the Cure echoing off the hills all evening. Even the cheap seats have a great view and a wonderful sound! If you’re like me and hate to drive in traffic, there are park & ride options all over SoCal that will get you to the Bowl for pretty much any event held there. We parked in Pasadena and took a shuttle into Hollywood, getting us through the melee of fans leaving the venue and we made it home before midnight.
As you probably know, I’ve been on a huge Beyoncé kick in 2016. Starting with the release of “Formation” and her Super Bowl performance and reaching a pinnacle with the Formation World Tour, which I attended LAST NIGHT with The Spaniard.
The Formation World Tour may not technically qualify as a Geektivity, but I fangirl hard over Queen Bey and that’s reason enough to share the experience with you, dear reader.
Although I haven’t had nearly enough sleep at the moment–the traffic in and out of Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego took us an hour both ways and definitely leaves something to be desired–seeing Queen Bey live is an experience I will never forget, so I guess I won’t complain about my 4 hours of sleep and early work morning. *yawn*
Here are my 3 impressions of the show.
Beyoncé is a masterful performer with skill and talent enough to rock a stadium of 5,000 people for an intense and powerful hour-plus of music and she kept the Spaniard and I and everyone around us on our feet the entire set. She has an authentic connection to her fans and seemed legitimately pleased by the response to certain songs, dance moves or moments in her performance. Honestly, her smile is like the sun, and when she grinned at her fans for singing along to lyrics or for cheering to a picture of her at 15 years old, it felt real and sweet. Also, her fans are so diverse–I saw queer couples as well as men and women of all ethnicities, including numerous black girls with natural hair and ethnic clothing. It was so wonderful to be at the mirror in the restroom next to 4 other women with hair that looked like mine–wild, frizzy, natural and free.
Last weekend I attended New York Comic Con 2015 and it was fabulous. There’s something thrilling about being surrounded by hundreds of other geeks and some of the biggest names in the industry. Now, this wasn’t my first convention and it wasn’t even my first time at NYCC. I went four years ago in 2011 with my sister, when she attended school in New York.
Back then NYCC was large but not in the same sense that it is today. I remember buying my tickets a month after they went on sale and still snagging a three day pass. This year the four day passes were sold out after a few hours and nearly all tickets were gone by the end of the day. So, if you were planning on going next year, buy those tickets as soon as possible. The Convention has grown a lot, but to be honest, geek culture has grown a lot. This is clearer than ever when you visit the same convention four years later and see what has changed.
When my friend Emmy text me to ask if she could crash on my couch this week so that we might make a pilgrimage to Misha Collins’ jogging path through the Hollywood Hills, I didn’t know what to say at first. Well, yes, I did. I called her crazy.
“Crazy good, or crazy bad??” She text.
“Both.” I replied. “Both.”
Emmy left her home in San Francisco to make the six hour drive to Los Angeles, arriving in time for a late lunch/early dinner at In ‘N’ Out and a movie night that consisted of “Saturday Night Fever” on Netflix, which was a much more problematic film than I remembered it to be, if I’m being honest. We went to bed at a decent hour because we planned to leave early enough to beat the SoCal heat on the hills, and set out before 9am to Hollywood, California to visit the Griffith Park Teahouse, a piece of installation art built by a group of anonymous artists from the area with reclaimed wood from the 2007 fires.
The June 30th sunrise unveiling of the Teahouse was covered by the Los Angeles Times and sparked the interest of our overlord, who tweeted the article, quickly causing fans to draw conclusions that our quirky, woodworking, GishWheS masterminding, Hollywood Hills jogging ringleader just might have something to do with the project.
Hmmm…
The Collective bloggers were at San Diego Comic-Con for the first time, and we want to share our […]
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