Crazy 4 Comic Con

My Comic-ConVersations continue with a very special guests. After interviewing the panelists from my Wrath of Con Bloggers panel (Thu 10a), I am now moving on to my GEEK WARS: The Nerds Awaken Panelist (Fri 10a). This panel will be a combination nerd trivia and social discussion with some awesome professional geeks. First up is Dr Ali Mattu, a clinical psychologist in Brooklyn that specializes in anxiety disorders. In our time together, we talked about our love for Star Trek, he shares what it was like growing up Pakistani, and how he blends fandom and psychology together. Oh, we talk Comic-Con too! He’s a real smart dude so I hope you get a chance to meet him at Comic-Con.

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You can find out more about him at AliMattu.com, ThePsychShow, and Super Fantastic Nerd Hour! Follow him @AliMattu  and don’t forget to subscribe to my podcast at iTunes to get the next installment of Comic-ConVersations!

Nerdy friendships… there is nothing quite like it. For a decade, we have been going to Comic-Con and spending countless hours in line for panels, countless miles walked on the exhibit floor, and countless dollars spent on exclusives. We named ourselves the CONtourage some time ago. Our friendships started in Texas, then we migrated to Tennessee, and finally landed in the Mecca of nerdom- Southern California. Most of us started going to SDCC around 2006 and it played an influential part in getting the rest of the CONtourage to move here. We’ve shared many fond SDCC memories, endured the heat of the Hall H line, and geeked out over celebrity sightings. In 2009, we started a podcast about Comic-Con not knowing what in the heck we were doing. We have gathered every year to do the same- and still not quite knowing what we are doing. Over the years, there have been marriages, babies, triumphs, defeats, and redemption in our crazy journey. In this special reunion show, join myself, @NerdOutburst, @NerdsInRecovery, @ScottNorth and @Rhino767 as we share our favorite con memories over the past 10 years, offer some advice to first timers, and a few key tips to having a great show.

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Don’t forget to subscribe through iTunes to get more podcasts leading up to Comic-Con!

As Comic-Con lumbers ever so closer with each passing day, our plans and excitement continues to grow as well. Here is my latest podcast on my mini-series called Comic-ConVersations. The goal of this is to go behind the scenes with some of the most influential con personalities on the web. I want to interview these awesome geek content creators and ask them about life, love, challenges, and what they are passionate about. Alyssa Franks of Friends of CCI Forum joins me today. Not only is she a panelists on my Wrath of Con Bloggers panel but she has built one of the most helpful tools to the con community with her forum- she is kinda like the ‘Architect’ of the Matrix! It was fascinating to discover how her past experience and current passions have converged to help the Comic-Con tribe.

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Thanks for listening, make sure to follow @FriendsOfCCI and leave a comment to encourage Alyssa and all the work that the forum moderators have done! Don’t forget to subscribe through iTunes to get the next installment of Comic-ConVersations!

As we head towards SDCC 2015, I’m excited to continue my mini-series podcast called Comic-ConVersations. The goal of this is to dive deep into the life of con personalities from my Wrath of Con Bloggers and GEEK WARS panels. A Comic-Con panel is a short 45 minutes, so there is little time to explore the journey and experiences of each panelist. So I want to interview these awesome geek content creators and ask them about life, love, challenges, and what they are passionate about. Next up is Leonard Sultana of An Englishman in SDCC. He’s not only been a trusted Comic-Con comrade but has helped to lead the UK tribe in their annual pilgrimage to San diego. We talk about growing up as a nerd in the UK, his career as a DJ, and his first time to Comic-Con. He puts out remarkable content each year and is an overall great bloke (is that the right way to say that?).

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Thanks for listening, make sure to follow EnglishmanSDCC and leave a comment to encourage Lenny! Check out last week’s ConVersation with The Nerdy Girlie and don’t forget to subscribe through iTunes to get the next installment of Comic-ConVersations!

I’m excited to launch a new mini-series podcast called Comic-ConVersations. The goal of this is to dive deep into the life of con personalities from my Wrath of Con Bloggers and GEEK WARS panels at SDCC. A Comic-Con panel is a short 45 minutes, so there is little time to explore the journey and experiences of each panelist. So I want to interview these awesome geek content creators and ask them about life, love, challenges, and what they are passionate about. First, we have Megan Gotch of The Nerdy Girlie and co-creator of the offsite events SherlockeDCC and Geeks Go Glam. She graciously shares about a difficult season in her life, what inspired her to blog, and what Comic-Con has meant to her. This was an insightful 1 hour and I am grateful to call Megan a comrade in the Comic-Con community.

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Thanks for listening and leave a comment to encourage Megan! Don’t forget to subscribe through iTunes to get the next installment of Comic-ConVersations!

Just got back from Philly Comic Con and had an awesome time! It has grown a lot over the years and it’s been fun being a part of experience- both behind the scenes and in front. I was grateful to moderate some great panels and facilitate some fascinating discussions- I’ll be posting a few here this week. First up is my talk with Katie Cassidy, aka Laurel Lance, aka Black Canary, from Arrow. She was super sweet and gave great insight on life as a superhero. In Portland I had a chance to interview Stephen Amell so it was really cool to get her perspective about the show. In this 45 minutes, she shared about how she started out in acting, how she got the part, and some fun behind the scenes stories.

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Thanks for listening and remember to subscribe through iTunes!

Just hours after seeing AVENGERS Age of Ultron, I quickly pulled together a couple of awesome geeks from Twitter to podcast some initial thoughts. In this spoiler filled 45 minute convo we discuss our overall impressions, strengths, weaknesses, and where the franchise should go from here. Special thanks to my amazing geek guest, Travis (@TravistheGrimm) and Tricia (@TriciaEnnis). Follow them and check out all the cool stuff they do. Most important, leave me your thoughts and comments below on what your thoughts were on Avengers Age of Ultron- did it meet you expectations, how does it compare to the first, what was your favorite parts, etc. Thanks for listening and remember to subscribe through iTunes… Nerds Assemble!

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I had a fantastic time at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim this past weekend. Fellow fans were awesome, the booths were incredible, the merchandise was amazing, and all the announcements were mind blowing! During my time there, I had a chance to interview some great content creators and ask them to share their thoughts on The Force Awakens and their own personal Star Wars stories. For me, I first saw just ‘Star Wars’ at a drive-in theater (kids, ask your folks) when I was just a wee lad. I had no idea what it was but fell in love instantly at the first sight of that Star Destroyer flying overhead. Over the next decade, Star Wars became my obsession with the release of each sequel. Not only did I accumulated a sizable toy collection but a warm collection of childhood memories that helped shape me as an adult. It was great to listen to similar stories from my fellow Star Wars fans this past weekend. Joining me on this podcast are Amy Ratcliffe (StarWars.com), Dan Casey (Nerdist), Peter Sciretta (Slashfilm), Raychul Moore (Pro Cosplayer), Chris Gore (Podcrash Show), and the dynamic duo, Chad & Angie (ScreenTeam Show). They are not only super cool but have great insights about our fandom. Enjoy!

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Leave a comment of what you thought of Star Wars Celebration and don’t forget to subscribe to my new iTunes show!

Big thanks to all those that attended my Geeks Keepin It Hot Panel at WonderCon. The purpose of this panel was to battle it out over some epic nerd trivia while engaging in some relavant discussion about the ‘hottest’ culture issues facing our comic community. Some of the topics discussed was racial diversity, the lack of female heroes, online bullying, the importance of taking risks, and more. Juggling the game component AND the discussion posed tricky but I think we were able to touch on some thought provoking points. Big props to that one kid that gave us hope in the next generation! To a packed house, I was joined by Amy Ratcliffe (writer), Chris Gore (comedian), Ivy Doom Kitty (cosplayer), Andre Meadows (comedian), Rachel Lara (actress), Sean Long (toy professional), Tracy Doering (writer), and Emily Ong (cosplayer, Fashionista). A special thanks to the staff of WonderCon for giving me a platform to facilitate this discussion. If you were there, I’d love to hear your feedback or thoughts about what was discussed. The podcast is below:

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Now that we are under a 100 days before San Diego Comic-Con 2015, I though it would be great to look back at the wrap up of 2014. Reposted from last July, I’m joined by the awesome Megan Gotch of The Nerdy Girlie and my sidekick Jeff Jordan of Nerds In Recovery. Just days after the 2014 show, we review our favorite offsite events, panel highlights, the new Wonder Woman costume, and hard lessons learned about cosplaying. We also debate the success of Nerd HQ, the Hall H wristbands, and is Comic-Con really about comics. Relive the wonder! Sorry for the wind noise- recorded outside! Mobile click here.

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