Fanboy News Network Episode 65

“Geeks of a certain age”

Jeff talks about attending Norwescon 41.

What we know about the new Star Wars Attractions at the Disney Parks.

Jeff reviews Pacific Rim: Uprising.

The countdown to Avengers: Infinity War and Marvel Phase 4.

Daniel review a Wrinkle in Time.

Jeff talks about the Netflix movie Mute.

Jeff sings the praises of the TV Series The Magicians.

Daniel talks about Series of Unfortunate Events and Into the Badlands.

Legends of Tomorrow and a journey into meta.

Jeff talks about spending most of Norwescon playing Artemis: Starship Bridge simulator.

 

Fanboy News Network Episode 52

“Caught between a con and a bats day.”

This episode was plagued by tech issues, weird sounds, and special spouse appearances.

The boys sadly must talk about Cons behaving badly, specifically Odyssey Con

Marvel Comic’s problematic relationship to diversity and not understanding why people are upset they made Captain America a Nazi.

Jeff’s adventures at the Norwescon 40

Mystery Theater 3000 returns and Jeff explains why he is happy and his special relationship with the show.

Daniel talks about discovering Into the Badlands.

Jeff explains Riverdale to Daniel. Daniel is not convinced Jeff isn’t lying.

The boy’s talk about recent trailers that have dropped, Specifically the New Thor, Star Wars, and Guardians of the Galaxy trailers.

Congratulations to Wolf 359 on their Webby nomination.

Jeff previews his upcoming trip to Disneyland to participate in Bat’s day at the fun park with Jillian Venters, which Jeff and Jillian will podcast about afterwards.

This leads to a discussion of what constitutes goth the brings in Jeff’s wife from the other room.

A shout out to Scarecrow video, a significant film library and video store.

Jeff is getting ready to read The wonder wizard of futher-mucking Oz by Matt Youngmark. Daniel is getting ready to read The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley.

 

Fanboy News Network Episode 38

Fanboy News Network Episode 38

“A tale of two conventions”

Jeff and Daniel talk about their adventures at Norwescon and Emerald City Comicon

A discussion about Melissa McCarthy and why the new Ghostbusters is going to be a good companion to the original.

What Jeff and Daniel hope is their last discussion of Batman v Superman.

A talk about the way Warner Bros make films vs how Disney handles it.

Why Jeff has hope for some DC movies but not the entire franchise.

How diversity is being played out in geek films, and how white washing is still a problem.

Touching on being able to like something and still call out it’s problematic aspects.

A quick review of the Supergirl/Flash crossover.

A look at the current state of comic based TV shows.

Daniel gives a spoiler free shout out to the Game of Thrones fans.

A look at what may be coming up with DC Rebirth.

A look at the Wolf 359 live episode.

And Jeff talks about the podcast Children’s Hour of Knowledge.

Fanboy News Network Episode 37

Episode 37

“If I may indulge for a moment”

Jeff and Daniel give a shout out to two fans who reached out and let them know they have listeners.

Daniel makes good on an apology to the cast of Wolf 359

An announcement is made about a new podcast project that Jeff has created with Jillian Ventures.

Daniel explains why he had not started listening to the new season of Wolf 359. Jeff talks about his following behind the scenes information in order to get ideas for his own show.

Jeff talks about a new podcast he found called Limetown.

Jeff talks about his attending Norwescon as a panelist.

Jeff and Daniel talk about why so many conventions are on Easter. Daniel explains how the date of Easter is determined.

Jeff and Daniel talk about gate keeping behavior and why it personally annoys them.

A discussion about the films Ex Machina and Kingsmen.

Discussion of the appearance of Spider-Man in the Captain America: Civil War Trailer.

The renewal of almost all the comic book based TV shows. Also why Supernatural will not die.

Jeff admits to his reading sins, and Daniel reports his latest attempt at Neal Stephenson.

The evolving view of harassment in geek culture

 

John Scalzi

John Scalzi

Author John Scalzi has opened a new chapter in the ongoing debate about harassment at fan conventions. Scalzi is a successful science fiction author, and until very recently he was the president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. A week after his tenure as president ended, Scalzi announced what he refers to as his new hard requirement for any convention that wants him as a panelist, participant, or guest of honor. The convention must have a very clear and readily accessible anti-harassment policy.  Said policies must include clear guidelines about what is unacceptable behavior, and where attendees can go for help in those circumstances. The policies have to be made available in places such as the program book or the convention website.

This comes in parallel to another recent incident involving Penny Arcade. You can find more specifics here, but in short Penny Arcade co-founder Mike Krahulik got into a fight on twitter over comments involving transgender issues. The commentary got heated and Krahulik made what many people felt were transphobic comments. Taken on its own it is bad enough, but there was also the specter of the “Dickwolf” controversy from a couple of years ago, which had many people starting to look at Penny Arcade and it’s convention PAX as a hostile environment. The irony here is that PAX has one of the strongest anti-harassment policies of any convention out there. Immediately people started distancing themselves from Penny Arcade, including one game company canceling their booth at the event.

During the Dickwolf issue Krahulik stuck to his guns, which turned a lot of people off. In the time between then and now, he and the people around him clearly learned from the experience. The two days after the transgender argument saw Krahulik issue multiple apologies, admit he has an issue of getting hostile when feeling threatened, and a vow to try to work on these issues. He also made a $20,000 donation to the Trevor Project as a sign of contrition. He also acknowledged that his behavior was damaging to the Penny Arcade brand.

So with these events having just happened, we are once again having the conversation of how welcoming the fan community environment is to people. The positive in both these cases is that there is clear recognition that there are issues and that they need to be dealt with. I also feel they show that progress is being made.

In the Penny Arcade case, in the past this issue would have just festered, but now there is acknowledgement that there was a problem and an actual apology. It is a step in the right direction.

In the case of John Scalzi, you have a prominent author using the cred he has built up over the years to attempt to influence positive change. As of this writing, several 100 people, myself included, have co-signed his pledge.

This does put me in a slightly awkward position, of course. My local convention, Norwescon, is one of the conventions currently lacking in such a policy. However, they aren’t ignoring it. They had a discussion forum that I participated in at this year’s convention about adopting such a policy. Also someone connected with the convention posted in Scalzi’s comment section that they are forwarding the discussion to the convention committee for additional consideration. It is all about getting these important conversations started.

Emerald City Comicon is also in the same boat. I expect they will be addressing this soon as well. At least I hope they do.

It is worth noting that San Diego Comic Con also lacks an adequately published policy. They have one apparently, but it is not where you could find it.

If you are looking for a good listing of which conventions do or do not have policies in place, the site Girl Wonder is compiling a database that can be found here.

While it is clear that we still have a lot of work to do, I feel hopeful that we are seeing positive change, and that geek culture is coming around in regards to how it treats everyone.

I’ll be keeping an eye on all of this and I am sure we will be talking about it again in the future.

The Fanboy Convention Survival Guide

Ah, conventions. That time when those of us that make up geek culture can come together and celebrate. In the next two weeks there will be three fan conventions in my area. Easter weekend is huge for conventions here in the Geek Capital of the World.

As such it seems fitting to devote some time to this center piece of geek culture.
If you have never been to one it can be a bit daunting the first time. It’s not like a trade convention where people come to see the new products and get tips on how to sell next year’s new vacuum. I am talking about fan conventions.
The first thing to clarify is that not all fan conventions are alike. The three upcoming are considered different genres. So when I say a convention is a fan convention it could be any of the following either as a single focus or some thematic mix:
·         Science Fiction
·         Anime
·         Comic Book
·         Horror
·         Filk (think folk songs with a geek twist)
·         Steampunk
·         Tabletop Gaming
·         Computer Gaming
·         Costuming
·         Specific Fandom (Star Trek, Firefly, Buffy, etc…)
·         Specific mythology (often fairy based, but others can happen)
With all this diversity these events all have one thing in common. People have a chance to come together and mingle with others who share a specific interest.
So if you are going to go forth and attend a convention here are some tips.
First is what has come to be known as the 5/2/1 rule. It is a straight forward rule to ensure your health and well-being as well as making sure others will still want to be around you. The rule is simply this; every day of the event you need to have a minimum of 5 hours sleep, 2 full meals, and 1 shower. Really just basic maintenance but during an event when you want to cram in as much as possible it becomes surprisingly easy to miss these.
Also keep in mind that you are going to be in a limited area when a lot of people. It is not uncommon for illness to spread in these conditions. We often call this “con crud.” I recommend that during the event pay attention to health details like washing your hands. Also taking a multi vitamin during this time is not a bad idea.
Besides health issues, the other thing to keep in mind is the social aspect.  Yes, you are in a place where you are surrounded by people with a shared interest. This does not free you from normally accepted social behavior.  Trust me when I say that being polite and remembering personal boundaries is still important.
The flip side is to remember that other people are there to have fun too. If someone is indulging in a part of fandom you do not participate in, such as cosplay or gaming, remember it is important to them and be respectful.
To sum this up, as one person once taught me, at all times keep your brain with you.
On a personal front, I will be attending Emerald City Comicon this weekend March 30 through April 1. I will be taking notes during the show a will try to have short updates here every day. I will also be tweeting from the show, my tweeter is @caliban1227.
The following weekend I will be at Norwescon, I will probably still tweet, but I probably will just do a single write up following the con.