Dragon Con
Dragon Con (formerly Dragon*Con) is a multi-genre fan convention held annually on Labor Day weekend (usually the first weekend of September) in Atlanta, Georgia. It attracts over 30,000 people to five hotels in downtown Atlanta and is hosted by a staff of over 1,500 people. It has been running since 1997.
The four-day event comprises approximately 3,500 hours of panels, seminars, demonstrations, and workshops, with over 30 specialized programming tracks that include writing, art, anime, gaming, science fiction and fantasy literature, comic books, costuming, space science, online media, independent film, podcasting, Asian cinema and culture, robotics, filk, scientific skepticism, Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, X-Files, Joss Whedon creations, apocalyptic themes, Anne McCaffrey's Pern, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, British and American SF television, the Dark Fantasy track, the Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival, and general programming which specific guests of honor attend (e.g. Clive Barker's Lost Souls and Storm Constantine's Grissecon).
Podcasters such as Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont have been among the dozens and dozens of guests of honor for the convention.
Dragon*Con 2010
Main Article: Dragon*Con: Con of a Dragon
Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young attended for their first time in 2010.
There was a live NSFW show which some of the original live studio audience attended. Veronica Belmont was a guest of the show and Tom Merritt also made an appearance. OMG Chad and Bonnie the Invisible Wife were also present. The live taping was also broadcast in multiple parts due to poor Internet connectivity. It was on Friday at 7pm at the Hilton, room 204. Word is that four times the room's capacity had tried to attend and were turned away. NSFW has been promised a larger room next year. Refer to Dragon*Con: Con of a Dragon for full details on the live NSFW.
Brian also performed his Bizarre Magic show at 8:30pm on Saturday in the Crystal Ballroom. It was standing room only.
Guests and Performers
Among the list of guests and performers in 2010 were the following:
- Veronica Belmont
- Brian Brushwood
- Tom Merritt
Phil Plait(cancelled)- James Randi
- Adam Savage
Not My Line
Not My Line was an attempt to break the world record of Most Celebs Quoting Lines From Movies/Shows/Comics That They Are NOT Part Of.
It all began with mass-tweeting celebs and pointing them to NotMyLine.com and asking them to be part of a world record!
Fans who participated in the effort were asked to add the #NotMyLine hashtag to the tweet, so it will show up on http://NotMyLine.com/
People were asked to mention the following:
- The location (Hilton) but not the room # (just sounds a little creepy)
- The time (8 PM) and date (Friday September 3rd)
- The website (http://notmyline.com)
People were asked not to retweet because it just turns up as spam!
Several Twitter templates of ways to say things could be found in this here: http://bbliveshow.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=106
The Not My Line attempt was soon abandoned/modified and Brian and Justin went through Dragon*Con's Walk of Fame themselves to get video recordings of stars saying these famous lines.
Dragon*Con 2011
Main Article: Dragon*Con: Con of a Dragon 2: Double Complete Dragon
Brian Brushwood, Justin Robert Young, Tom Merritt, and Veronica Belmont all returned for Dragon*Con 2011. The convention took place on September 2nd-5th, 2011.
The following TWiT (and related) shows were live from Dragon*Con:
- Sword and Laser - Saturday, September 3 @ 1:00pm, Marriott A601/A602
- Tech News Today - Saturday, September 3 @ 2:30pm, Marriott A601/A602
- Frame Rate - Live From Dragon*Con - Sunday, September 4 @ 4:00pm, Hilton 205/206/207
- NSFW - Dragon*Con: Con of a Dragon 2: Double Complete Dragon - Sunday, September 4 @ 8:30pm, Hilton Crystal Ballroom
Live NSFW
Trailer
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Dragon*Con 2012
Main Article: Dragon*Con: Con of a Dragon Three Equals Equals Equals Dee
Brian Brushwood, Justin Robert Young, Tom Merritt, and Veronica Belmont all returned. The convention took place August 31st through September 3rd, 2012.
NSFW was recorded live on Sunday of the con, September 2nd, at 8:30pm. It was again held in the Crystal Ballroom at the Hilton. Old John Smokey had tweeted that he would be at "the dragon conference" and George Hrab was on the guest list again. Also among Dragon*Con's guest list were some friends-of-friends of the show such as Felicia Day, Grant Imahara, and the cast of The Walking Dead. Michael Rooker had suggested that he may crash the party.
During the launch of The Diamond Club: A Novel, it was promised that proceeds from the book would be used for a party at Dragon*Con. However, it was revealed during Abotalit that the book made much more money than expected. Some of the money will be used for a party and the rest will go into the NSFW War Chest.
Update: On August 21, Brian posted his Dragon*Con appearance schedule on shwood.com :
- Title: Skeptrack Kick Off 2012
- Description: A panel of some of our skeptic guests discussing who skeptics are, and some of their passions and issues are.
- Time: Fri 10:00 am Location: 207 / 206 / 205 - Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
- FSL Tonight LIVE!
- Justin Robert Young and Tom Merritt will bring you the post-game wrap-up from the FSL championship. Vulcan vs. Lannisport? Coruscant vs. Rivendell? Whatever it ends up being, we’ll be there, with special guests Brian Brushwood and more
- Time: Fri 05:30 pm Location: 204 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
- Title: Scam Your Way Into Anything
- Description: Learn the tricks used by magicians and abused by pseudoscientists. From talking with the dead, hunting Bigfoot to debunking witchdoctors.
- Time: Sat 11:30 am Location: 207 / 206 / 205 - Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
- Title: Wait, Wait, Don't Fool Me!
- Description: Trivia game show with some of your favorite thinkers.
- Time: Sat 07:00 pm Location: Crystal Ballroom - Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
- Title: Irrational and Mistaken
- Description: Public perceptions of science and scams how irrational and mistaken beliefs affect the ability to explain the world in news and entertainment.
- Time: Sun 05:30 pm Location: 207 / 206 / 205 - Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
- Title: Scam Your Way To #1
- Description: Scam School was created specifically to take advantage of gaps in the podcasting space, and how it totally cheated the way to the #1 spot on iTunes.
- Time: Sun 07:00 pm Location: 204 - Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
- Title: TWiT - NSFW LIVE!
- Description: An irreverent fun-fest featuring unusual guests, bizarre games and more!
- Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Crystal Ballroom - Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
- Also: Presenting at the Parsec Awards: Saturday, September 1st, at 4:30 - 6:30 pm in the International North room at the Hyatt
Dragon Con 2013
Main Article: Live From Dragon Con 4
On Rejected Vagina Monologues, it was announced that Michael Rooker would be appearing during NSFW.
Brian Brushwood, Justin Robert Young, Tom Merritt, and Veronica Belmont all returned. The convention took place August 30st through September 1rd, 2013.
Fun Facts
- Patrick Delahanty tweeted out to Brian from Dragon*Con 2009 that he really needed to be there.
- Justin Robert Young showed his tits at Dragon*Con 2010!
- Dragon*Con appeared in Andrew Mayne's novel Public Enemy Zero.
