PAX EAST

So I want to talk a little about PAX East. BE FOREWARNED: THIS BLOG POST HAS LOTS OF PICTURES IN IT.

Let me start off by saying thanks to everyone who made this weekend so much fun. I met a lot of people for the first time this weekend, and I can honestly say I think Internet is a pretty cool guy. eh kills aliens and doesn't afraid of anything. (Last two sentences were intentional Amy.... just letting you know now. TRUE NERDS GET MY JOKES.) But seriously, to those that I finally met this weekend: YOU ARE AWESOME. THANK YOU.

Next year, TT.TKO should definitely invest in media badges and try to get some interviews. Like I said in my previous post last Monday, I wish I had had the foresight. Next time perhaps.

Anyway, on to the pictures:

This was my view Friday morning. WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE.


This was actually the next day. I waited for a clear day to get a picture. This is the Boston Convention Center


So this little guy was waiting inside the front doors, behind the information desk


Here is a view of the main Expo Hall from the main entrance (I'm looking to the right in these two pictures, but there was also tons of stuff to the left)

Mind you: this is not long after doors opened on Saturday, so it actually was busier than this later on...


Then I descended into the crowd. Here are some highlights























Here's the Expo Hall seen from behind:




This was an area specifically for table-top gaming.

Seems unpopular, right? Here's the same room later


They also had rooms for console freeplay. There were hundreds of games that you could "rent" and go play






There were also classic consoles. Here's TMNT on SNES


Battletoads on SNES


Some Atari games




And some system I've never even seen


There was also an arcade full of old classics (GALAGA4LYFE)


Here's the stage in the main theater. This is right before the RoosterTeeth panel. The whole thing was set up symmetrically, but I was too close to get all of it in one picture, so I just took one side.


RoosterTeeth filled the theater. There were 4000 people in attendance....


Here's the gang


Burnie took some pictures of us


To top it all off, here's Barbara being... Barbara (with Garrett from Mega64; their booth was right next to the RT booth)


I spent a ton of money, but most of it on food, tolls, and parking. I "bought" two shirts and two cds at the RT booth. (The quotes are for a reason.... those who attended know the story most likely. And no, I didn't steal anything.) I was a teensy bit fanboyish and got all the RT guys to sign my stuff

There are not a lot of events like this in the world, and it actually made a significant impact on me. Coming home and typing up this journal... it's hard to really convey what it was like. So much is lost on the reader, and the pictures hardly do justice. They encapsulate only what the eye sees, which in the end is very little of the overall experience

I had an amazing weekend and I can't wait to do it again next year.

More on Books and PAX East

The previous post was all about books. (GO READ IT.) I have some particularly fond memories of Book It because not only did I have a crazy appetite for books, but also because my mother worked for Pizza Hut for a while during my upbringing. (Not to mention I KICKED ASS at reading COMPETITIVELY. Because Book It was definitely a competition.) Amy and I seem to be on the same page with this: rewards for doing something I enjoy? YES PLZ.

But I've been thinking more and more lately about associations I have with certain books and certain albums. Especially books from high school...

When I was a sophomore, I read a book by Tom Robbins called Another Roadside Attraction, and at the time I had just really gotten into a band called boyhitscar. The book and the album mixed together perfectly, and I essentially listened on repeat to their album while reading this book. Tom Robbins was my favorite author for several years, and this book introduced me to him.



Between junior and senior year, I was given a long list of choices for summer reading. I had to choose one book each from two different categories, and then select a third the choice of which was left to me (subject to some constraints). The third book, the one I chose, I've never been able to remember, but I definitely remember the other two: Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha and Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf. The two albums I had been listening to were The Mars Volta's De-Loused in the Comatorium and Hot Hot Heat's Make Up the Breakdown.


The Mars Volta's album particularly fits Steppenwolf, a very strange album for a very strange book, but I also associate the album with Memoirs. The Hot Hot Heat album doesn't fit either book at all, but I guess I just listened to it so much that it's always stuck with me.


Any time I think about these albums, I think about these books, and vice versa. Without fail. Do you guys have any associations like this?

IN OTHER NEWS: This weekend I will be acting as representative of TT.TKO at PAX East. If I'd had more foresight when I bought my pass, I would have tried for a media pass, but I'll have CDs and business cards hoping to draw us some attention.

I'm excited but nervous. This is a huge convention, and I've never been to anything like it... Yikes. This will also be my first time in Boston, so I have that to look forward to. Anyway, I hope everyone has a good weekend, but you definitely won't have as much fun as me.