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Posts tagged Katie McAwesome
So #Hipster It Hurts & I’M (almost) ON A BOAT!
1Good morning Internet! I am writing you a short note to let you know that I will miss you for the next few days. You see, I am getting on a boat for the Bahamas to see some guy and some girl get hitched.
This means two things:
1. I won’t be able to access teh Interwebz. As of about 2:00 PM today, I won’t be answering my phone and I’ll be counting the moments until I lose signal from any sort of cell tower.
2. I totally get to rock my new hipster hat on the boat while listening to music on my iPhone.
Expect pictures and other zany stuff when I return (and, yes, I still have to post the Tokyo DisneySEA stories from Japan; I know.)
Regarding the time I ran into Christina Hendricks from Mad Men – wait, what??!!!
02 years ago
by Tom
in Conventions
Working for Universal Studios in the 1990s destroyed my ability to place names with faces. If I didn’t know who you were, I’d just look at your name tag with a sly passing glance and pretend like I knew who you were the whole time.
(This was only difficult when a cute young woman was wearing a tag that said something like “Ralph” for obvious humorous effect. Then I’d wing it and say things like “ma’am” a lot.)
As I get older, I am finding out more and more that I have bumped into/appeared on stage/met people that I don’t even remember. Katie McAwesome showed me this photo last night knowing that I am a HUGE Mad Men fan. Too bad I wasn’t a fan (yet) at the FX Show in Orlando, Florida back in 2007.
Yes… I’m alive – and InvaderCON is finally completed.
02 years ago
by Tom
in Conventions
So my blogging has been pretty lax lately (except for the book reviews and a photos each week) due to working on Green Mustard‘s newest project: InvaderCON.
Well, InvaderCON over. I’m sitting in the Marriott still processing it all. The short version: it was amazing. The slightly longer version: it was really amazing.
I’ve been doing this zany convention thing for a long time now, but this was the first event I’ve help run that I saw to many families attend and enjoy together. It was an impacting and unique experience for so many people.
Just.
Wow.
I promise to type more later, but I’ve got to finish getting the “technical stuff” done to wrap up the convention. For now, though, here’s a great photo of some of the guests and amazing team from the convention at The Vortex in Atlanta, Georgia last night:
So here I sit at #MomoCon in Atlanta, Georgia and…
12 years ago
by Tom
in Conventions
Man – this reminds me of old school JACON.
MomoCon is the largest free anime convention in the United States. Last year, the event had over 8000 attendees on the campus of Georgia Tech and this year it looks about the same. Wasabi Anime is on hand to “bring anime to the people” and (of course) to promote InvaderCON which is happening down the street in two weeks.
We came with a box of 5000 flyers for our crazy little Invader ZIM convention and we’ve handed out all of them before the end of Saturday. Thus confirming the numbers for attendance to be pretty damn accurate.
As far as entertainment, we did DARE! The Transformers Panel Ultimate to a standing room only crowd. For an hour and a half I talked about giant robots that turn into cars and stuff with Ryan subbing in for Joey Snackpants. The crowd loved it and we got to meet a bunch of awesome new fans… and one pissed off Beast Wars fan. (Sorry dude, that series still sucks.)
Afterwards, we went to The Vortex for burgers. While there, Katie and I scored some awesome hipster gear.
That’s right. We’re WINNING!
Then we went back to MomoCon for Mystery Anime Theater 3000 to roast the Sailor Moon R movie. Then TRAGEDY STRUCK! The college decided to close the building at midnight because they (I assume) had finally had enough of the hyper anime kids running around. This caused an issue with our panel since 1.) the movie was scheduled at 11:30 PM and 2.) it runs over over sixty minutes.
Solution? Run the movie a 3x speed and do commentary. John (also subbing for Mr. Snackpants) brought down the house with a cleverly placed Scott Pilgrim gag in the film and I scored with an obscure How I Met Your Mother gag.
Now it’s Sunday and I have been sitting at the Wasabi Anime table writing this for the past hour… and during that time, I’ve been reminded that the fans really do make it worth it. A guy recognized me from the Transformers panel and walked up to tell me how much he loved it – and then showed me his Autobot and Decepticon tattoos on his legs.
An hour before that, a woman from the Sailor Moon showing last night dropped off a picture she drew for me because “I reminded her how much she loved Sailor Moon.”
Make no mistake - THE FANS ARE AWESOME.
The NASCAR Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada…
7(aka The Vegas Vacation Part III)
Previous Man v. Food locations I’ve been to:
- Shula’s Steak House in Miami, Florida
- The Vortex in Atlanta, Georgia
- The Buckhorn Exhange in Denver, Colorado
- The Jack-N-Grill in Denver, Colorado
- Gladys Knight And Ron Winans’ Chicken And Waffles in Atlanta, Georgia
What the hell was I thinking? Seriously?!!! Behold the naive look on my face:
Let’s start at the beginning: Since I began my hobby of visiting Man v. Food locations during my travels, I’ve ordered some pretty crazy stuff for meals. (You can check out the list above for details.) For each of these dining experiences, even the challenges, I would just sit at my table, order my grub, and make a fool out of myself with my wife or some friends around. Leave it to Las Vegas to turn stunt eating into a show for the masses.
The table I’m sitting at is the table Adam Richman used (now painted and themed) when he attempted the B3 Burrito challenge at the NASCAR Cafe in Las Vegas. When you order the mammoth meal, you are REQUIRED to sit at that table (or one of the two next to it) at the edge of the restaurant where everyone walking around the casino (the Sahara) can see you.
WAIT… it gets better: there is a chalk board behind you with times on it so everyone knows how long you’ve been sitting there trying to shove that monstrosity in your stomach. The challenge has a ninety minute limit.
WAIT… it gets EVEN better: above and in front of me is a webcam that streams the whole thing via the Sahara’s website. Check it out here http://www.saharavegas.com/nascar/
WAIT… it gets even BETTER than better: my drunk wife thought it’d be a hoot to post the webcam’s website address on her Facebook so folks could check me out while I make an ass out of myself eating food larger than a small infant. Here’s Shannon enjoying the buy one/get one free beer coupons she found:
See that smile? That’s the smile of PURE EVIL INTENT. She knows what posting something like that on Facebook would do in our world of online friends.
While trying to eat the B3 Burrito, my cell phone started beeping. A lot. Folks like Katie McAwesome were texting me to let me know that I wasn’t alone in my humiliation. My friends, and the Internet, were all going to share it with me.
Enough about that, though. Let’s talk about the food. This is the second burrito I’ve taken on from the MvF universe and it was pretty good! The thing you notice the most while ingesting it is the meat. The B3′s shredded beef is seasoned perfectly and it is very, very tender. The juices hold a lot of robust flavor and it mixes well with the rest of the burrito. Aside from being a “gimmick” meal, it was legitimately good eating.
For me it was only about a pound and a half of good eating. There was no way in hell that I was going to make it through six pounds. AND SO, Food defeated Man. (Adam Richman also failed to defeat this thing on the show.) The look of shame:
WAIT… it goes from BETTER than better to COMPLETELY FUCKED UP: If you fail to complete the challenge, you get a free t-shirt. A free pink t-shirt. A free pink t-shirt that says “Certified Weenie.”
Look for me to wear this in the future for important social functions like funerals, weddings and court appearances.
EPILOGUE: While at the NASCAR Cafe, I happened across an interesting crossing of paths proving how tiny our little planet is. You can read about it here. (There’s a follow up to it on another blog – click here to read it, too!)
My #DragonCon 2010 Report, Part 1 of 3: The Good
162 years ago
by Tom
in Conventions
Believe it or not, I normally don’t plan to go to Dragon*Con each year. When I do go, I’m usually only there for a day or two at the most. This year, though, I did the “full” Dragon*Con weekend experience by showing up on on the first day of the event and leaving on the last.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ANY LURKING BOT-TARDS: A few years back, Wasabi Anime talked to Dragon*Con about having DARE! The Transformers Panel Ultimate make an appearance and we were turned down. Strangely enough, I still think Dragon*Con is a great convention… which must mean only one thing: That’s right, BotCon was a weak convention on it’s own.
Moving on… I’ve broken my Dragon*Con report into three parts: the good, the bad and the ugly. Here’s a breakdown of the good stuff that happened last weekend.
- While in Atlanta, Georgia I took the time to eat at Gladys and Ron’s Chicken & Waffles. (Post regarding this coming next week.)
- I ran into LeVar Burton in the elevator our first night at the Hilton and we talked Twitter while a somewhat intoxicated Joey Snackpants proclaimed in a less than subtle fashion “OH MY GOD IT’S LEVAR BURTON!”
- That same night, I bought Edward James Olmos dinner at Trader Vic’s and Mr. Olmos then convinced Joey Snackpants to watch the new Battlestar Galactica. Read that story here.
- My Favorite DC Tweet: @TomCroom thinks nothing says #fail more than a Power Girl cosplay with less than a B cup. #DragonCon
- We went to a great Stargate panel… and (it seemed) that I pissed of John de Lancie with my question. Read this and then watch this. That aside, Christopher Judge is a RIOT and needs his own panel next year.
- I spent an evening walking around with a bunch of Stargate cosplayers (including Shannon, Katie McAwesome and Joey Snackpants) and wound up at the Stargate Charity Party. While going from hotel to hotel that night, I had someone recognize me from events I host at Florida SuperCon.
- We ate chicken nachos not once, but TWICE! at the Metro Café Diner.
- I had my photo taken with Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. QUANTUM LEAP AWESOMENESS.
- I tracked down Paul Dini via his Twitter posts so Shannon could have him sign her Harley Quinn books. Social Networking WIN.
- We went to a second Stargate panel. Going to more than one panel at Dragon*Con is extremely rare with my group… crazy!
- I met Drew Curtis from FARK. I bought a book from him, he signed it, and we made fun of Florida together. Good times.
- I got to see a couple of friends around the convention including “Uncle” George Lowe and Erin Gray… both great people.
- After being friends with my wife and a number of the Wasabi Anime staff AND being on my Facebook, I met Brian from Making Mischief for the first time (in person) in five years.
- After about two years of talking online, I met Kelly from Convention Fans in person for the first time.
- I also met fellow Twitter users @SarahNFisk and @EricaDodd at the convention in person. It’s fun using the Interwebz to meet get to know new people. Even more interesting: Sarah had a a friend she was meeting in one of the hotels that night… and her friend’s roommates in the hotel were my friends Angie and Tentacle Chris. (insert It’s a Small World theme here.)
- My other favorite Dragon*Con tweet: @thatDJSpider: ‘steampunk: when goths discovered brown’ #dragoncon
- A record THREE panels! We went to the Battlestar Galactica one, too.
- We went to the Stargate Charity Auction and Joey Snackpants scored an actual prop from Stargate SG-1.
- I met and got autographs from Michael Shanks and Ben Browder. Michael and I discussed our successful marriages while Ben and I discussed the fact that John de Lancie is a “serious” man who doesn’t answer questions about fast food restaurants.
- Before leaving town… we had dinner at a Zaxby’s. (I love that place.)
As you can see, it was a busy weekend at Dragon*Con 2010. Tomorrow’s post… The Masquerade.
