Nerdfest 2008 Photos

Here's our lovely accommodation. It really was perfect for getting away from the craziness of the convention at the end of the day. Mmm... Jacuuzi tubs.



Indianapolis is a beautiful town. It had some interesting buildings, and it was clean and well laid-out. The conference center was right smack dab in the midst of everything. The older building is a playhouse. Maybe we can see a play next year when we go.




Tomas the Lapidary was milling away on various lovely pieces of jewelry. He was good fun to talk to, and I always love watching craft like that. He does historical pieces. This was a copper headpiece for a bride-to-be.



Ed, Alex and some aviator dude talk to Andy K. about Japanese/English translation. Andy and company's book is the first Japanese RPG to be published in English.



Rebecca Guay makes really neat Wyeth-inspired paintings. She also did a couple lectures.



A lot of the fun was not of the type you take photos of--lectures and interesting chats with people from around the world, etc. One definitely photoable and fun part about Gen Con was the cosplayers. Sure, there were a few people in outfits that they reaaally shouldn't have left the house in, but for the most part, it was good fun, and there were some really well done ones. Star Wars seemed to dominate a bit, probably because Peter Mayhew was there. There were also at least three Captain Jack Sparrows walking around.

Boba Fett and Obi Wan totally hang out when they're off-duty. They're best buds. Seriously.



Darth Vader spent the whole time complaining about convention center food. "I find your lack of cheesy pretzels disturbing." Fun fact: Vader looks about ten feet tall only because the storm trooper was about five foot one. Also, YES. This is a storm trooper in a kilt behind them. Heh!



Speaking of costumes, this lady has maybe the most perfect original series Star Trek costume ever. Simple, but perfect. As for the gentleman--the costume was great, but I'm not sure where it was from. The bag says Torchwood, but isn't that a sci-fi series? He looks rather steampunk, or old west. Huh. Does anyone know?



The Empire is recruiting them young---This adorable storm trooper almost made my head explode. He took off his helmet because he was drinking a juice box. Hey-that's not against regulations!



This girl is cosplaying a character from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. It's a pretty decent costume, but I don't think she put all that much work into it.

The Other Side of the OH.

Well, I'll be gosh-swoggled! Apparently there is actually more to this state than flat farmland and Cincinnati.

This past week I went on a getaway to Southeastern Ohio (about an hour and a half due east), and found that, geography-wise, it was far more interesting than I'd imagined. One arm of the Appalacians extends into that area, and due to a massive meteor impact age upon age ago, there are plenty of gorges, cliffs and caves to explore.

We rented a "lodge" on Highland Nature Sanctuary that was actually an old farm house from the turn of the century. It was still filled with neat antiques and had most excellent wrap around porches and lots of nooks, comfy chairs, and hammocks to settle down with a book. Interestingly, though I am a veritable mosquito magnet, there were actually not many out in the woods at all.

Behind the lodge was a hiking trail that takes you down into the gorge, and along the cliff face by the river down there. It was pretty darn lovely. The preservation society has been buying up land in the area to protect caves and rock formations and such, and they've only recently begun renting out Ravenwood and Beechcliff lodges. Incidentally, people, these places are ridiculously cheap. If you dig on the website, you can find individual prices.



This has not very much to do with anything, but I find it really amusing that this turkey was hitting on a chicken. He was doing all his puffing and prancing, and she just kept rolling her eyes.



The other cool thing about the area, for those of us interested in decaying historical buildings, is that there are a plethora of tiny towns that are basically just a stoplight with abandoned general stores and houses right up by Rt 50 as you drive through. It's pretty fascinating to see, and I wish my camera hadn't run out of juice. Chillicothe in particular is not such a small town, but it's a prime example of that really interesting crumbling beauty. The downtown is like a ghost town--there aren't many for sale signs, but many of the beautiful high ceiling-ed buildings on and around the main street are empty, and unused. One such is an old opera house, that I had to restrain myself from breaking into to look around. You can just picture the old motorcars on the cobbled roads when the place was actually Ohio's capitol--bustling with people, all coming to that part of the state for business, or theraputic mineral soaks and tours through newly discovered caves and Hopewell Indian mounds.

I'm kind of tempted to look at real estate prices in Chillicothe--not because I'd want to move there, but just because I'm curious how much one those great old houses would run in a place like that.