This was a tiring work week. I was working extremely long days which led to me coming home and passing out on my couch. The break from writing was much needed. I wanted to recap my sixth CONvergence. This year was different because CONvergence moved hotels from the DoubleTree in Bloomington to the Downtown Minneapolis Hyatt. This CONvergence was one of my favorite years I attended due to the change in the hotel.
The Downtown Minneapolis Hyatt Hotel was a perfect location for CONvergence. Since the hotel is located in the heart of Minneapolis, it’s easier to drive to. I ended up staying with a friend who lives slightly south of the cities, but we ended up taking an Uber each way which was convenient. It’s freeing to not have to worry about the status of my vehicle and whether or not I’m parked in an illegal space. This was the first CONvergence where I didn’t have my car on site and it was worth it.
One of the highlights of CONvergence besides the hotel was the accessibility to the gaming floor. In the DoubleTree hotel, the gaming floor was on the 22nd floor. To play a game, you had to leave the festivities on the main level and wait for an elevator only to get to the 22nd floor with all gaming slots being filled. Instead, this year, there were more empty tables to play games with friends. Additionally, since the gaming room was on the fifth floor, it was easier to play a game here and there while being able to return to the con at any given moment.
Finally, being in Downtown Minneapolis meant there was access to great food. There were many restaurants, breweries, and taverns located within walking distance. We visited the local brewery, Lakes and Legends, quite a few times. I may have been the only one in cosplay at the brewery, but I had no shame.
This CONvergence was one to remember. Severe con depression sank in the Monday I returned to work because of how great my weekend was. CONvergence is always a highlight of my summer and I always count down the days till next year.
Without a doubt my favorite Stephen King novel is Carrie. She is the protagonist I would constantly root for as she gets revenge on her bullies, yet she’s a villain because of her methods. Plus Carrie features the absolutely terrifying fictional mother I have ever read about. Since reading Carrie in high school, I tend to gravitate to his books. When my fiance took me to see It, I was blown away by how great the movie was. The child actors they picked could act despite their age and Bill Skarsgard became this demonic clown creature. As more is being revealed about It Chapter #2, the more excited I become to see this movie in September.
The newest trailer dropped at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). After watching the trailer, one of the things I loved was the soundtrack. In horror movies, the music makes the movie. It’s creepy and the theme music stays with you.
Another reason I’m personally looking forward to this movie is the casting. Besides Bill Skarsgard, the “Loser’s Club” is perfectly cast. Bill Hader is the older Richie incarnated. Richie is this humorous, slightly nerdy kid, and Bill seems to adapt his personality well. Jessica Chastain seems to embody the adult Beverly with her red hair and how she holds the whole group together. James McAvoy plays Bill Denbrough which is another excellent casting choice. The sequence in the trailer with James McAvoy in the fun house mirrors chasing after the little boy who is also being targeted by It is fucking scary.
I’m not a horror movie fan, but I can’t wait to see this movie opening weekend. It Chapter #2 opens on September 6th, 2019.
One way I play more TTRPGs is to join various Facebook groups. There’s a local group that I’m a part of and I can occasionally find one-shot games to join. Last month I drove to the Source Comics & Games to partake in a small campaign utilizing the Star Frontiers rule book. Having never played Star Frontiers before, I would recommend it for any one-shot campaign as I had a blast.
Combine 80’s sci-fi action films with DnD and that’s how I would describe Star Frontiers. Star Frontiers is set in the center of a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way. In this setting, ships can jump to the “Void” allowing ships to travel to various planets. The basic game takes place in the “Frontier Sector” where four races have come together to form the United Planetary Federation which is similar to Star Trek’s United Federation of Planets. After acknowledging the background of the Star Frontier, this is where the role-playing session begins.
The four races to pick from were Humans, Dralasites, Vrusk, and Yazirian. I picked Dralasite which reminds me of the adipose in David Tennant’s run of Doctor Who. The Dralasites have a voice box, so in the actual DnD session, I used my “alien” voice. It helped to make the character sound more real. The Dralasites can have as many limbs equal to their dexterity divided by 10, rounded up. I didn’t roll high on my dexterity, so I only had four limbs, but it would have been cool if I had so many limbs that I looked like a squishy octopus.
Our campaign started in a bar where we saved a fellow Yazarian from some bounty hunters. Our team decided to help this Yazarian locate the treasure in this pyramid statue. One of my favorite parts of our session was when we were fighting these poisonous spiders. Once we defeated them, I touched the poison on the wall. The DM advised me not to do that, but I did anyway. I rolled a critical success and became “immune” to the poison. I created a vaccine I could use for the other players. The DM was shocked.
Our one-shot lasted about four hours. The time completely flew by as I became immersed in the 80s space nostalgia of Star Frontiers. If you’re looking for a completely new system, I would recommend this one because who doesn’t love 80’s sci-fi films?
This past weekend, I attended CONvergence at the Minneapolis Downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel. This will be my sixth year attending the con, and I always have a fun time hanging out with friends, wandering around in cosplay, and taking lots of pictures. Whenever I attend CONvergence, I try to choose a couple of panels that pique my interest. This is what inspired me to write this post.
My friend’s husband and I sat down for a panel discussion about antagonists we sympathize with in pop culture. The white panelists dived into discussing Killmonger from Black Panther which led to a discussion about race. It’s not that white people can’t talk about race, but it looks bad especially when there are no POCs (people of color) on the panel. A couple of audience members chimed in and their points were thought-provoking. The fact is being white eliminates us from understanding racial bias since it’s something we don’t experience. This racial bias contributes to Killmonger’s story. Diversity among panelists would have avoided this issue entirely.
Besides the discussion of race, there was another instance in the panel that left me feeling irritated. A female panelist was discussing a book series she liked, but had given a content warning for the sexual assault in the book. The discussion went as follows:
Female Panelist: This is a book series I really enjoy and the female villain is put through tremendous trauma, so I’d like to give a content warning regarding sexual assault to any female audience members.
Male Moderator: I didn’t think the book was that bad.
What rubbed me the wrong way was it felt dismissive of her experience. Sexual assault is a topic I am sensitive to, so I appreciate content warnings ahead of time. I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt to this panelist because he did seem to backtrack after she made a response back to him.
Overall I had a great experience at CONvergence, but this panel left a bad taste in my mouth. If you happen to be on a panel where the panelists are one-dimensional, I would involve more audience participation to retain an adequate discussion. Let me know in the comments section if you have ever had an experience like this with attending a panel at a convention, I’d like to hear about it.
I realize I haven’t done a blog tag post in a while. I saw this tag from Emily at Monster Lady’s Diary and thought it was a great tag, but there were other blog posts I wanted to write first. I’m mostly caught up on those, so here are my responses to the Fictional Characters Tag.
Which Character Was Your First Love?
In third grade, my mom let me watch the James Bond movies. We owned boxed sets with the various Bond films from different periods. When I watched each Bond film, I became engrossed in the beautiful dresses, lustrous travel destinations, and action sequences. My love of action films has grown from the Bond movies. As I re-watch them as an adult, I realize how misogynistic James Bond is. How he treats women as a disposable item and how his love affairs can cost them their lives. The James Bond franchise will always have a special place in my heart because it reminds me of my mom, but also brought me to appreciate the finesse it takes to film an action film.
How Would You Describe All The Characters You Love?
When I become attached to characters from books or other media, I find these characters are genuinely good people. I’m never one to identify with the villains, but with the heroes who often have to stand up to evil even though they may be alone in their cause. As I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series, I like to think of Hermione’s S.P.E.W. protest as she is fighting for something unheard of and she’s made fun of constantly by Harry and Ron. To me, that’s a character I can support.
A Character You Love That You Think Most People Hate?
Life is Strange is one of my favorite video games of all time. One of the main characters is Chloe who’s a teenager dealing with the death of her father. I would say most fans dislike her because of her immaturity. I like Chloe as a character because she’s a realistic teenager. When my father passed away, I’m sure I acted immaturely to put this image on myself that I was okay. I could identify with Chloe’s struggles of going through puberty along with having her friends move away. The friendship shown between Max and Chloe is one of the main reasons why Life is Strange is such a great video game.
Does One Character In Your Life Have a Strict Personality?
Whenever I think of a character who is “strict” I think of Cath from the novel Fangirl. Cath is strict with herself as far as what she does in college and who she associates herself with. What I truly love about Fangirl is Cath’s ability to slowly open herself up which connects her with a group of people who love her for being herself. Cath reminds me of my days as a college freshman and how I have grown since then.
A Character I Wouldn’t Get Along With?
Any character that is blatantly racist or despicable would be a character I wouldn’t get along with. When I thought to make a list of what these characters would be, I immediately thought about Lucius Malfoy. His bigotry has been passed onto Draco, but also how he works with Cornelius Fudge in The Order of the Phoenix to slander Harry is downright troubling.
A Character You’d Travel the World With?
The Doctor! Specifically David Tennant or Matt Smith. I could go all across the globe, but even beyond the galaxy. I need to re-watch Doctor Who sometime soon.
A Character You’d Rely on To Help You Get Over Your Fears?
Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation would be my character to help me overcome any of my fears. She would inspire me to chase my dreams and keep my head in the clouds.
Where Do Most of the Characters You Love Come From?
I’m an avid reader and TV watcher, so most of my characters from this list will probably come from those types of media. If I have time, I watch movies, but it’s rare for me to watch a movie than a forty-three-minute TV episode.
A Character You’re Most Likely to Have Weird Dreams About?
I don’t remember my dreams regarding whether specific fictional characters appeared within them. I’m into Lucifer right now and hardcore shipping Lucifer and Chloe, so maybe that would be included in a dream of mine sometime soon.
A Minor Character You Love
I counted Phil Coulson as a minor character in the scheme of the Marvel movie universe. He was one of the common links in the Marvel Phase #1 movies. His untimely death brought The Avengers together to battle it out in NYC. Since his revival, Agents of Shield has been successful on ABC. I regret to say I have fallen way behind in the show, but the first three seasons are some of the best TV I have watched.
What Character Represents Your Mentality?
How could I not choose Luna Lovegood? I have her wand on display above my nightstand for this reason. She’s an authentic character who’s extremely quirky and at first not taken seriously. Eventually, she proves herself during Dumbledore’s Army training as she summons her rabbit patronus. She helps Harry to find the diadem, so he can destroy it. I could go on, but I aspire to be like Luna.
Here are the questions if you’re interested!
Which Character Was Your First Love?
How Would You Describe All The Characters You Love?
A Character You Love That You Think Most People Hate?
Does One Character In Your Life Have a Strict Personality?
A Character I Wouldn’t Get Along With?
A Character You’d Travel the World With?
A Character You’d Rely on To Help You Get Over Your Fears?
Where Do Most of the Characters You Love Come From?
A Character You’re Most Likely to Have Weird Dreams About?
It’s been a rough start for me this week trying to get back to reality after attending Twin Cities Pride all last weekend. I had a blast walking around and taking pictures. I decided to spend my Sunday after Pride writing about this new card game I tried out with friends titled Cultists & Cthulhu. If you read any of my board game reviews, you shouldn’t be surprised how much I enjoy any game based on H.P. Lovecraft’s stories. I found this game at Con of the North, a gaming convention I attended in February. This would be a perfect game to pack for a convention, or to a brewery.
Cultists & Cthulhu is a card game where players are trying to roll dice to complete rituals. On a single turn players will draw cards from the purple deck. These cards will either be cultists or minus cards which impact another player’s dice roll. Cultists are the most important card in the game because to complete a ritual, you need a cultist in play. This is where the game becomes tricky because you can steal cultists from other players. This is how I lost the game because my friend stole my cultist, so I couldn’t complete the rituals.
Once a cultist is in play, the player has to roll 4’s, 5’s, or 6’s to receive ritual tokens to be placed on a ritual card. The twist on this is if you roll at least three 1s and 2s in one roll, the cultist loses their sanity and has to be discarded. Fortunately, I rolled extremely well, so this never happened to me. My friend, however, had to discard two of her cultists in one game. I like the dice roll aspect of the game because it makes every game different.
Winning the game includes completing a ritual that earns points. Each ritual card has a book icon on the bottom left. This is the amount of ritual tokens needed to complete a ritual. The Cthulhu symbol on the right of the card is the amount of points received once the ritual has been completed. The first player to have twenty-one points worth of completed rituals wins the game.
Cultists & Cthulhu is a sinister card game that’s perfect for any Lovecraftian fan. Prolific Games, the publisher behind Cultists & Cthulhu, is a local MN-based board game company. It gives me a sense of pride to share my love for a board game crafted in my state. To purchase Cultists & Cthulhu, head to Prolific Games online store where you can find the many fabulous card games to add to your game collection.
This August I will be attending Gen Con for the first time with a press badge! Instead of attending under Bizarre Brunette, I will attend on behalf of Twin Cities Geek. As a board game and DnD player, I cannot wait for Gen Con. I have already started putting money aside to spend at the con because I want to purchase all the board games. This will be the first road trip me and my brother take together because I invited him to attend Gen Con this year. I’m already counting down the days until Gen Con begins.
The road to attending Gen Con began in January 2019. I have a friend from college who used to own a game store. He has been attending every Gen Con for years. I had always wanted to go, but being in college made that difficult to afford. He reached out inquiring about whether I would want to go this year. For shits and giggles, I decided to fill out a press badge with the full intention of paying full price for a badge in case it didn’t work. In February, I received confirmation from Gen Con that I would be receiving a press badge. I was elated and began to research where me and my brother would stay for the convention.
Speaking of hotels, I started looking too late for a hotel room. Hotel rooms usually sell out when Gen Con badges go on sale in January. Virtually every hotel I had checked was full. This is where I decided to look for an Airbnb. I found an affordable Airbnb northeast of downtown Indianapolis. I’m slightly worried that it’s too far from the convention center, but that’s what Uber is for. My lesson was learned if I want to attend Gen Con and have a hotel downtown, I need to book it early.
Last month, the event lists were released. These include various DnD campaigns, MTG 2020 Core Drafts, and a group fitness class titled Buff Barbarian. You better believe I signed up for the Buff Barbarian class. Besides the Buff Barbarian, I also put down a couple DnD campaigns. However, when I clicked to register for events, I was 6,119 in the queue line. 6119!!!!! It was safe to say I didn’t get many of the events I pre-registered for. I also didn’t realize events were paid. Each event costs anywhere between $2-12 dollars. I wonder if that’s to pay for the DM hosting the event? I’m not quite sure. This limited the events I wanted to do because of the cost per event.
As far as cosplays, I haven’t quite established which cosplays I will bring. I’m my Viking Wonder Woman-inspired cosplay and my Harry Potter Gryffindor student cosplay. I’m not sure how many people cosplay at Gen Con or if it’s more of a gaming convention meaning fewer people cosplay. No matter what I will wear a cosplay because cosplaying is fun.
I cannot believe I’m attending Gen Con as press this year. This is an amazing achievement for me and I hope to spread the word about Bizarre Brunette while I’m there. If you’re going to Gen Con as well, I’d love to meet up! Let me know in the comments below.
Me and my brother loved watching Law & Order SVU in middle school. Law & Order SVU is the show I watch when doing chores or when I need a distraction from a tough day. Lucifer is a Law & Order-inspired show with demons thrown into the mix.
Lucifer is the literal king of hell played wonderfully by Tom Ellis. He’s the owner of a nightclub and finds amusement in having sex with beautiful women and drinking copious amounts of booze. After one of Lucifer’s friends is shot and killed, he meets Chloe Decker, an LA homicide detective who’s assigned to this case. Chloe, played by Lauren German, is unique because she’s immune to Lucifer’s gifts. His “gifts” include being able to persuade people to reveal their deepest darkest secrets. Chloe uses this to her advantage to solve crimes throughout Los Angeles.
Each season of Lucifer has a larger subplot intertwined throughout the season. The first season involves Lucifer getting shot by Chloe and he starts to bleed. Lucifer is immortal, so why is he bleeding from a simple gunshot wound? Meanwhile, Chloe is trying to build a case surrounding a supposed corrupt cop. The plot twists in the first season were shocking.
Lucifer is a favorite show of mine because of the characters. Lucifer can be an asshole, but he also has good intentions despite being the retired ruler of hell. Chloe is sassy to Lucifer while using her cunning investigative techniques to seek the truth. I cannot forget to mention Trixie, Chloe’s cute daughter. Trixie adores Lucifer which is hilarious since Lucifer hates kids. His apparent hate for children doesn’t stop Trixie from giving him hugs throughout the season.
I wanted to give a special shout-out to the fans who utilized the internet to save the show. Lucifer originally premiered on Fox until it was canceled. Fans were irritated and created a petition to save the show. Netflix realizing they could make money off of Lucifer fans, swooped in to renew the show at the last minute. I wish I was a part of this legion of fans, but I only discovered Lucifer a week ago.
Lucifer is a fabulous show featuring demon drama in downtown LA. I finished season one a couple days ago and I plan on watching season two either today or tomorrow. I’m trying to slowly get through the show as I don’t want to wait for new episodes.
On Sunday, I drove to Rochester, MN to participate in the Magic the Gathering: Modern Horizons Pre-Release. This will be the third pre-release I have attended since rejuvenating my interest in Magic: The Gathering. I’m still an amateur player, however, playing in these events has given me the confidence to keep playing the game. I had a blast playing with the new cards, but I also wanted to share some general tips for drafting in Magic that one of my friends sent me.
Modern is a format in Magic where decks are built with at least sixty cards versus standard Magic where decks have forty cards. Me and two other friends participated in this pre-release except it wasn’t like a typical pre-release I attended, it was a draft. Drafting in Magic can be difficult. Drafting is where everyone opens a booster pack and picks only one card. The pack gets passed to the next player and they pick a card from the pack. This means I need to pick cards from what’s passed to me without knowing what cards were picked by other players. I chose to make a blue/white deck with flying creatures.
My deck wasn’t that great. I found the other players in our group had more “aggressive” decks. This means their decks worked faster than mine. I only won one game out of twelve games (as I said, I’m still an amateur). After this experience, my friend sent me an article about what to look for when drafting. It’s titled BREAD which stands for:
B – Bombs. These are the super powerful cards. This could mean creatures that can’t be removed from the game easily or instants that can remove many creatures at once. It’s a card that you can’t pass up, so pick this card first in a draft.
R – Removal. These are cards that remove creatures or artifacts. If a deck doesn’t have removal, it’s useless. Creatures make up a deck, but the deck needs to be defensive.
E – Evasion! Choosing creatures that are difficult to block. This includes finding abilities such as flying, deathtouch, unblockable or I find menace to be an obnoxious ability. My deck was based around flying creatures, but the deck failed. That’s because of . . .
A – Aggro. This is why my deck failed. Aggro refers to filling up a mana curve. This means you want to cast a creature card every turn if able. This means choosing creatures that are cheap to cast. My flyers were great creatures, but often required at least 3 sometimes even 5 mana to cast. This means by the time I could cast a creature, my opponent had at least three or four creatures out at once. This cost me almost all of my games.
D- Duds! These are the cards no one wants. I was playing a blue/white flying deck, but I still found cards that were green or black which didn’t work with my color scheme. This happens to everyone at a draft where you’re forced to take cards no one wants. These cards can be sorted out when the deck building begins.
Even though my deck sucked, I liked the cards I drafted. I pulled a couple “Phantom Ninja” which cost three mana. Their special ability is they can’t be blocked. This is useful because anytime I attack with them, my opponent can’t do anything about them. I also liked my “Wall of One Thousand Cuts.” It’s a wall that provides a blocking creature for my deck. I also like the artwork on “Oneirophage.” This is a squid illusion in which every time I draw a card, I put a +1 / +1 counter on Oneirophage. This squid could become powerful as my turns progressed.
As I reflect on the pre-release, I learned valuable deck-building skills. Deck building is the hardest thing for me to grasp in Magic: The Gathering. Once I have a successful deck, I’m good to go. I’m trying to play more Magic because, in August, I’m going to Gen Con. If I can win at least one game in Gen Con, I would be thrilled.
June is one of my favorite months out of the whole year. It’s the start of summer, but it’s also Pride month. I’m technically not a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, but I want to show my support in any way that I can. I wanted to share what I’m doing this month
Not Spending Money on Rainbow Stuff
It’s not that buying rainbow-themed stuff is bad, but buying rainbow clothes doesn’t necessarily go back to the LGBTQIA+ community. Some retailers are donating certain proceeds to various organizations. I did a quick Google search and found this article on Mic which lists various companies who are giving back to the LGBTQIA+ community. Please spend money on this merchandise versus the random rainbow stuff corporations are selling.
Supporting through charities or through purchasing art or books from LGBTQIA+ authors
To start off, I wanted to share a Kickstarter I recently backed by an LGBTQIA+ artist. The Prometheite is a lesbian retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in a graphic novel format. The Prometheite was created by Ari Mulch.Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite books in Gothic Literature, so when I stumbled upon this Kickstarter, I knew immediately I had to back it. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, here’s the link to their campaign. Ari can be found on Twitter or through their website.
As far as charities go, I personally like the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project focuses on helping LBTQIA+ youth under the age of 25. It provides access to suicide prevention hotlines and community resources for those who need it.
Encouraging Corporations to Support LGBTQIA+ All Year Round Instead of in June Only.
Victoria’s Secret is in hot water because of recent comments made about supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. It’s great to pledge support, but this is also the same company who said they wouldn’t hire trans or plus-size models because it wouldn’t “fit their fantasy.” This is what a lot of corporations will do. They will mean well when they say “Happy Pride.”, but it’s often filled with hypocrisy since that same company probably said something transphobic earlier in the year.
Bizarre Brunette 