That weekend is here again: The Decatur Book Festival is upon us. Last year, my first year, I spent the whole thing hanging out around the tents and craftspeople on the square, where my wife was hawking wares, so I missed out on things like authors and readings and signings. This year we’re skipping the tent and I’m heading out to Decatur just for the authors.

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I don’t know about you crazy kids, but Saturday afternoon I’ll be downtown watching the DragonCon parade and snapping pics with my friend Kelly.

Dragon*Con is America’s largest, multi-media, popular arts convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film.

The parade route “follows Peachtree Street from Woodruff Park (at Auburn Avenue) to the Hyatt, then continues down Baker Street and ends on Courtland Street at the Marriott and Hilton.”

If you’re not up for a 10am parade, alternate options for shutter bugs include a love-in/photo stroll type dealie the Atlanta Flickr group is planning Saturday night.

If you’re interested in other tracks, the event and program information can be found on the official Dragon*Con site.

Anyone else planning on going out to either watch or participate in any of the events? Have you been in years past? Special advice and/or good stories?

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DragonCon’s coming up in two weeks. Sort of like a costume party with 30,000 people. Highly recommended.

I’ll be the nine foot tall robot covered in aluminum foil.

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I’m no expert, but I know what I like. And while I don’t actually participate in Cosplay myself, I can appreciate the time and effort (if not always the aesthetic) of the hobby.

That’s why it’s cool that local Cosplayer Sasuke (Hayley Chapman) is featured in this month’s Wired magazine.

It’s been a long time since I hit Dragon Con, but I hear the local Cosplay scene is quite diverse and thriving (see Anime Weekend Atlanta).

My wife actually works with a guy whose wife is another local Cosplay celebrity (Coslebrity?), Lindze Merritt. Which reminds me of the following exchange:

Dark Helmet: Before you die there is something you should know about us, Lone Star.
Lone Starr: What?
Dark Helmet: I am your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.
Lone Starr: What’s that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing! Which is what you are about to become.

Maybe I ought to try some Spaceballs/Mel Brooks Cosplay.

There you have it. Atlanta Cosplay on a Spring day!

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I’m not in the Atlanta area this weekend; I’m taking the first flight out to Cali to go be best man at my friend’s wedding. But if you’re intown, there’s three big events going on to be aware of if you’re anywhere ITP:

1. Atlanta Black Gay Pride
   Atlanta is the Black gay mecca; there’s really no disputing that. Annually over 40,000 Black gay men from around the globe descend on the A for fun and fellowship. The six-day long celebration starts Wednesday, August 31 and continues through the weekend, concluding with the Stand Up and Represent Black Pride March from the MLK Center to the Capitol building. Check out In the Life Atlanta for more information.
2. Dragon*Con
   If you’re on a MARTA train and notice Rinoa Heartley, a couple of kissing Klingons and a spiky blue-haired woman in a red catsuit, then chances are you’re running into a few of the thousands of attendees to Dragon*Con, going on in its 8th year over at the Hyatt downtown. Pre-registration is preferred, but hell, it’s just fun to watch, eh?
3. Montreux Jazz Festival
   The Woodruff Arts Center brings the famed Montreux Jazz Festival to its campus, brimming with the art and culture of its European namesake. Featured Atlanta artists include Takana Miyamoto, Life Force and International Groove Conspiracy. And you probably won’t see too many oddly dressed cats either.

Know of any other Labor Day Weekend events going on?

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(1) As of this post, we’ve got equal numbers of posts and comments (134). Hooray!

(2) This weekend, Georgia Tech is hosting the Black Box Improv Festival, a two-day event which will feature Tech’s and Emory’s improv comedy groups as well as local favorites Laughing Matters and Dad’s Garage, and visiting troupes from UNC, Clemson, and Nashville.

(3) Coming up in two weeks will be AnimÈ Weekend Atlanta, the biggest collection of freaks, geeks, and otaku ever to take over Cobb Parkway. (I think they’re expecting well over 3,000 guests this year.) As with DragonCon, you can buy a one-day or all-weekend pass, so you can get as much of the Japanese animation and comics, crazy costumes, animÈ music videos, and special guests (including the voice of SpeedRacer) as you like. I’ll be there — with a staff badge on, no less.

(4) And finally, don’t forget that the September 11th project will be tomorrow, with our own Chuck Tyron heading events at the downtown library.

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You can consider this a follow-up to Steve’s post. Or completely unrelated. It depends, I suppose, on your standing on a rather controversial case.

At any rate, while the various Klingons and Stormtroopers and Troma girls and faeries are partying downtown, the guy who helped get it all started, Ed Kramer, is under house arrest in Gwinnett County. Because of an arrest for child molestation. In August 2000.

No, the case hasn’t gone to trial yet. It was supposed to last fall, according to this Creative Loafing story, but as of now he’s been under arrest over four years without a trial.
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I do not love thee, New Orleans.
You separate me from my greens.
Once I had means; now I’ve no means.
I do not love thee, New Orleans.

No, actually, I do love N’Awlins very much. It’s so openly dirty, corrupt, self-mocking, dressed-up (well, I assume it’s dressed up. Mostly I was surrounded by dirty, flip-flop-wearing, happy tourists), and . . . walkable. The conference I was at had been spread out over four hotels in the central business district, but I could walk down two blocks, make a right, and be on Bourbon; or not turn right and just head north for the aquarium. The same conference is supposed to be in Atlanta in 2006, at the Hyatt Regency and the Marriott Marquis, and people will be able to walk to . . . to . . . help me here.

I mean, I’ve been to conferences at the Hyatt/Marriott combination (both past DragonCons and, more recently, the Libertarian Party convention), and while there are a fair number of food options in the area beyond Peachtree Center Mall, you can’t just walk a few more blocks and be among art galleries like you can on Royal Street in NO. At least not to my knowledge. Were I a convention planner, I might give New Orleans the edge unless I knew it was going to be boiling and conventioneers would need the Peachtree Center walkways.

Is it advantageous, however, that Atlanta doesn’t have a shop like Fleur de Paris, where they let you try on hats for an hour, and bring you hats you haven’t tried on, and narrow it down to two or three hats that suit you perfectly, and promise to send the Chosen Hat with a hatbox and a hatpin and a guide to Hat Etiquette, so you can conveniently forget (a) how much the hat costs and (b) how low the odds are that you will ever need to wear a hat that costs more than $30. If I lived in New Orleans, I’d be filing Chapter 11 and refusing to list my hats as assets. Instead I just go for broke once a year.

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