Dark Shadows

I have lots of crafty stuff I could write about today. Quilts, a new sweater on the needles, some embroidery I am fixing to start. But I really want to talk about Dark Shadows.

No, I don't mean the movie with Johnny Depp. I haven't seen that yet. Oh sure, at some point I will but I'm sort of disappointed in the way Tim Burton made it into a 70's spoof. I thought this subject matter was ripe for something spooky and ethereal like Sleepy Hollow and that's why I'm bummed about the fact it's a comedy. But I digress...

The cast of the original Dark Shadows.

The Dark Shadows I love is the Gothic soap opera that aired from 1966 to 1971. By some stroke of luck, the original tapes of the show were not destroyed (or taped over) as was the custom for that sort of program back in the day. All of the episodes are available on DVD, including the pilot where the main protagonist (Victoria Winters) first comes to town.

Victoria on the train from New York to Collinsport, Maine.

The story is set in a fishing village in Maine called Collinsport. The biggest business in town is a fish cannery owned by the Collins family (yes the town was named after them 200 years ago) and they sort of run the show in Collinsport. Thus, due to class envy, everyone in the town hates the family who lives in the spooky house on the hill.

Victoria gets into town and is advised to "stay away from that house" by the locals.

And a spooky house it is. There are ghosts, vampires, con-men, time travelers, etc. in residence at one point or another. The house and the host of (mostly) supernatural crazy is really the star of the show. All of the madness is sort of seen through the eyes of Victoria Winters. She is a governess (of mysterious parentage) who is brought in from out of town to tutor the youngest member of the family in the big house. We sort of see the goings-on through her eyes. She helps bring perspective to the odd story lines.

The breakout star of this series is the character Barnabas Collins. He is a 150 year old vampire (and actual Collins) who passes himself off to the rest of the family as a cousin back from England. He has a fancy walking stick and a family resemblance so they welcome him to the estate with open arms.

I'm Barnabas, your cousin from abroad.

The whole show is great fun. So many of the characters are likable. Even though the show is dated by way of fashion, the story lines are still intriguing. I think I gravitate to this show for some of the same reasons I do to the movie Rosemary's Baby.

This show has quite a cult following. I even belong to a chat group about Dark Shadows on Ravelry.

I am fortunate enough to have this DVD series available here in our library system. But I know it is also available on Netflix rental (there are some episodes on Netflix instant streaming but they do not start at the beginning). I encourage you to give it a look. Start with The Dark Shadows: The Beginning, Volume 1, Disk 1 though so you can watch them from way back to the pilot. This show is a serial so if you miss the beginning you don't get all the back story. If you want to skip right to the episodes that stream on Netflix, get caught up with this recap first:

My geek is really showing today, isn't it?

–Cassandra

Nothing Geekier Than This

It's interesting that the Speak Out With Your Geek Out project came along when it did. Perhaps it wasn't random that it would be planned during, what I refer to as, "Con Season." 

For the uninitiated, July to October is when a large number of geeky conventions take place. From the mac-daddy of all conventions - Comic Con in San Diego - to smaller, regional cons, it is possible to get your geek on for months on end (assuming you have a big travel budget and lots of vacation time).

My convention-going started by accident. I lived in Atlanta for many years and one of my very best friends still lives there. A few years ago, my friend decided to attend Dragon*Con, a gigantic geek fan-convention held in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend. My friend was there for about a half a day when she called and said, "start saving your money now... you're coming here next year." I did and, with the exception of the year my grandmother died, I've been going every year since.

Labor Day weekend has, historically, also been host to PAX Prime (aka Penny Arcade Expo: The Original) a gaming convention held in Seattle. While I'm not an avid gamer, I've always lamented having to choose between these two conventions because, honestly, Wil Wheaton (high-priest of all geekdom) and a number of other super-cool, super-geeks choose to attend PAX instead of Dragon*Con. Made me curious and a bit jealous.

Then, this year, like some sort of miracle, PAX got moved to the weekend BEFORE Labor Day. *queue angelic music here* 

Within days my plans were set. Traveling with a friend who has attended PAX but not Dragon*Con, we would go to both PAX and Dragon*Con and introduce each other to our favorite conventions. August 25: Milwaukee to Seattle. August 30: Seattle to Atlanta. September 6: Atlanta to Milwaukee.

I had a blast. PAX was everything I thought it would be and much more. The convention was a bit overwhelming at first but once I found my place (table-top and retro games plus panels on the sociological impact of gaming) I was in heaven. The con is estimated to have about 35,000 attendees but it felt pretty small and intimate to me. Of course, I wasn't standing in the 3-hour line to play Mass Effects 3 either...  My best moments were getting to meet some of my geek heroes: Wil Wheaton (first meeting!), Felicia Day, Paul & Storm, Jonathan Coulton, and MC Frontalot. The people at PAX - attendees and staff alike - were fun and really nice. Plus we got pretty good swag.

Me & Wil

Me & Felicia

Me & MC Frontalot

Me & Jonathan Coulton

Me & Paul & Storm (note the hover hand)

The ultimate geek - Live D&D for an audience

Second only to the actual convention was just being in Seattle - one of my favorite cities. We visited the Pike Place market (of course), drank a lot of coffee (of course), and went to the Space Needle, the Experience Music Project (way cooler than I expected), and the Science Fiction Museum (AWESOME). We also ate in some fabulous restaurants. 

Then we were off to the insanity that is Dragon*Con. The actual attendance numbers are a mystery - I've heard that the organizers don't publish the real numbers for some reason - but people have estimated that it's between 50,000 and 60,000 over four days. I would totally believe it. The place is a mad-house of everything geeky - I couldn't possibly begin to capture the variety of programing tracks available. Suffice it to say, whether you like LARPing or Skepticism, books or TV, anime or science fiction, and on and on... there's something for you at Dragon*Con. I even attended a panel on ham radio operation.

From Storm Troopers...

To Severus Snape...

To My Little Ponies...

For me, Dragon*Con is mostly about seeing celebrities from movies and tv shows that I love. This year included seeing cast members from Eureka, V, True Blood, Battle Star Galactica, and The Guild, among others. Other highlights included seeing William Shatner speak (again) and meeting Colin Ferguson (from Eureka) and Mary McDonnell (from Battle Star Galactica and The Closer). And, because PAX and Dragon*Con were on different weekends, I was able to see Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton again - a week later. It was, pretty much, geek Nirvana.

So...dear readers... that's pretty much the geekiest I've ever been. And, probably, the geekiest I ever need to be.

- Alex

 PS: if you're interesting in wading through my as-yet-to-be-edited photos please feel free to go to my Flickr sets for PAX and Dragon*Con.

I'm a Giant Geek

Somewhere around 1997 or so, there was a cultural shift. I'm not sure how it happened - maybe it was the rise of Microsoft and Bill Gates becoming the richest man in the world - but suddenly nerds ruled the world. It was hip to be square. Or, at least, being a nerd didn't automatically generate ridicule.

For some of us, this shift was both scary and affirming. I'd spent more years than I care to admit trying to fit into the cool crowd. And then, seemingly overnight, I was not only allowed to be a giant geek but being a geek was actually kind of cool (in a way... sort of...)

It took a few years but eventually I embraced my geek-ness completely. It started in 2005 when a dear friend who lives in Atlanta invited me to come to Dragon*Con - the country's largest pop-culture fan convention. I went - a little reluctantly. I figured it would be good for a laugh and an excuse to spend a weekend with my friend. Little did I know that I would "find my people."

Now, before you start making fun of me, let me be clear that I don't do "cos-play" (costuming) which also means I don't LARP ("live action roll playing" for those not in the know.) I'm not a hard-core gamer and I don't know every line from every Star Trek episode ever. But, I love pop culture and the media. And this convention has it in spades.

In the end, most of the people who attend this convention are just like me. Their personal geek might be different than mine. They may actually be able to name every actor that played Dr Who. In order. With their respective years. But that's not what matters. What matters is that for one, glorious weekend 40,000 people respect that you love whatever that thing is that you love. And you don't have to hide your geeky thing - even if it is being a Furry.

So what does this have to do with crafting? Well...nothing really except that I made a dragon scarf (Morehouse Farm pattern*) for my friend who attends the convention with me and I'm desperately trying to complete another one for myself in the next 6 days. Here's the completed one:




The new one has about 7 spikes of the tail done. At this rate, I may finish it before the actual convention - if I don't get sidetracked as we all know I'm prone to do. (See blog name.)

Just to give you all fair warning, you can expect any post I do between 9/2 and 9/7 to be specifically about Dragon*Con. You will be regaled with real-time photos and stories because we're so "high-tech" over here at Ooo! Shiny!

The one thing from the convention that our readers might enjoy will be SteamPunk which is full of awesome craftiness - from clothes to everyday items to interiors and architecture. Check out this totally steampunked computer:



Last year was the first year of the Dragon*Con SteamPunk track. It's completely fascinating and I'm really taken with it. Had I not been so distractible, I might have actually pulled it together to make a costume this year - thus pushing me over the edge into the cos-play world and cementing my position forever as a complete and utter geek.

- Alex

*The Morehouse Farm site is great. They have TONS of fun "critter" patterns and kits. If you're specifically interested in doing the Dragon Scarf, I encourage you to visit my project page on Ravelry to get my tips on correcting a couple of mistakes in the pattern.