Around Dragon Con – The Center for Puppetry Arts

[This article was originally written for publication on the Needless Things website in August of 2018. Unfortunately, it was a part of the archives lost in the September 2018 migration of the site to a new platform. In the case of this and the other ‘Around Dragon Con’ articles being published this month, the things covered here are still as contemporary and relevant as they were when these articles were originally on Needless Things. Enjoy this one and the others, and, hopefully, you’ll find something in the ‘Around Dragon Con’ articles that will make your time in Atlanta better than it’s been before.]

 

Tucked away on the corner of 18^th Street and Spring Street in Atlanta, Georgia is the Center for Puppetry Arts. If you’ve been to Atlanta but never visited the Center for Puppetry Arts, this or next year’s trip down for Dragon Con would be very good times to consider rectifying this oversight. Now, unlike the Georgia Aquarium, this isn’t a sight you can see with just a short walk down the street from the Dragon Con host hotels. It’s anywhere from a 45 minute to 1-hour walk depending on who is doing the walking. You can drive to it in about 15 minutes, but what levels of insanity would you have to be suffering under to cause you to consider driving in downtown Atlanta?

Around Dragon Con – Food

[This article was originally written for publication on the Needless Things website in August of 2018. Unfortunately, it was a part of the archives lost in the September 2018 migration of the site to a new platform. In the case of this and the other ‘Around Dragon Con’ articles being published this month, the things covered here are still as contemporary and relevant as they were when these articles were originally on Needless Things. Enjoy this one and the others, and, hopefully, you’ll find something in the ‘Around Dragon Con’ articles that will make your time in Atlanta better than it’s been before.]

If there’s one piece of advice that we- as in anyone and everyone giving advice about Dragon Con –beat like a dead horse every year when talking to you- as in anyone going to Dragon Con no matter how many times you been before –every single year, it’s that you need to shower and use deodorant. Sometimes, like, say, Saturday, you might even want to do it more than once depending on what you’re wearing and doing, and, no, Axe body Spray, Febreze, and/or Fresh Linen scented Lysol are not acceptable substitutes. Yes, I have seen people at cons try to shortcut matters by spraying what they’re wearing (even while they’re wearing it) with half a can of Fresh Linen scented Lysol. It doesn’t work. Ever. So, yeah, get a shower in at the start or the end of each convention day.

However, right behind that bit of advice is the other beaten like a dead horse bit of advice pertaining to the human body’s nutritional needs. You must eat, and, preferably, you should do it more than once a day with meals consisting of more than power bars, meal drinks, and/or beef jerky. Fortunately, the hotels have their own restaurants, quick grab places, and bars that serve food and Dragon Con long ago conquered the Peachtree Center Food Court and made it the official convention canteen. Not so fortunately, all of these combined are not quite capable of serving and seating the now 85,000+ attendees with the same speed and efficiency of service that they can when not slammed with Dragon Con attendees, football fans, and the miscellaneous others in town for the various Labor Day weekend events. This is especially true on Saturday. That can occasionally be an issue when you want to have a good sit-down meal while not having the time to wait in line for 45 minutes and then having the (extremely understandable) smaller delays as the staff has to juggle serving you and the small army of other people looking for a meal.

That’s where a little pre-planning can help you out a lot.

Around Dragon Con – The Georgia Aquarium

[This article was originally written for publication on the Needless Things website in August of 2018. Unfortunately, it was a part of the archives lost in the September 2018 migration of the site to a new platform. In the case of this and the other ‘Around Dragon Con’ articles being published this month, the things covered here are still as contemporary and relevant as they were when these articles were originally on Needless Things. Enjoy this one and the others, and, hopefully, you’ll find something in the ‘Around Dragon Con’ articles that will make your time in Atlanta better than it’s been before.]

Located in downtown Atlanta by Centennial Olympic Park- just a few blocks diagonal from the Dragon Con host hotels -is the Georgia Aquarium. Officially opened to the public in 2005, it was the largest aquarium in the world until the 2012 opening of the Marine Life Park in Singapore. Someone else coming along and beating it out for sheer size was no small feat. The Georgia Aquarium is home to several thousand species of saltwater and freshwater life from around the world living and swimming in over 10 million gallons of water. Just a little over 6 million gallons of that water can be found in the aquarium’s primary exhibit, allowing it to be one of only two institutions in the world to house whale sharks. You’ll also see swimming alongside the whale sharks some of the largest manta rays you’re likely to ever see, as well as more fish and more varieties of fish than you can likely count in one single day’s trip to the Georgia Aquarium.

What’s sometimes still a surprise to me when at Dragon Con is talking to my fellow con-goers and discovering how many of them have never been to the Georgia Aquarium. It’s even more surprising when they seem to not even know there is a Georgia Aquarium. Why? Well…

Around Dragon Con – Preparation

[This article was originally written for publication on the Needless Things website in August of 2018. Unfortunately, it was a part of the archives lost in the September 2018 migration of the site to a new platform. In the case of this and the other ‘Around Dragon Con’ articles being published this month, the things covered here are still as contemporary and relevant as they were when these articles were originally on Needless Things. Enjoy this one and the others, and, hopefully, you’ll find something in the ‘Around Dragon Con’ articles that will make your time in Atlanta better than it’s been before.]

Preparation, you ask? What, you ask, is this another article about getting ready for Dragon Con going over all that well-worn advice about how it’s important to have quality snacks to nibble during the day, vital to hydrate, the importance of getting sleep, begging you to shower and use deodorant, reminding you to eat a few proper meals every day, etc. that gets written about and talked about every single year as Dragon Con draws closer? Well, outside of that sentence, no, not really.

This year I’ll be writing several articles talking about what’s out there around Dragon Con and not actually inside the official Dragon Con footprint. So, no, no talk about how it’s important to have snacks, hydrate, get rest, shower, use deodorant, etc. while at the con or even about getting in some exercise before heading down to Dragon Con so that the (now five day) weekend doesn’t kick your butt. However, we will be covering some of the same concepts as well as a few others that, while perhaps too late to make them useful this year, may make future Dragon Con weekends a bit more fun.

Take one more look at that photo of just one small portion of Atlanta. That’s a photo taken from a high spot over by The Georgia Aquarium (which we’ll be getting into a lot of detail about later in the month) and Centennial Olympic Park. That’s an area that a lot of people who I’ve spoken to who attend Dragon Con never seem to get around to visiting. This is somewhat surprising given the opportunity the layout offers for cosplay photoshoots and, of course, this little thing called the Dragon Con Night at The Aquarium.

This is one of the things I’d like to see more people change about their annual visits to Atlanta. Why? Because there’s a lot of stuff in Downtown Atlanta that are absolutely awesome to see and experience. How awesome? Since my family changed how we set up our Dragon Con vacation and started seeing more of the area, I’ve seriously considered relocating. Of course, I then somewhat more seriously consider the fact that I’ve got seven more years to go before I can retire from my department with a full retirement intact, and, well, Atlanta does seem to frequently get its summer weather on loan from Hell and I absolutely hate heat. So, for now, it’s just staying my favorite vacation spot.

It’s Here…

Horror News Radio Goes Dragon Con 2016

Everyone has their two great tastes that taste great together moments. Well, we’ll all be getting to enjoy one of those moments this coming Labor Day weekend in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. This particular version of rich chocolate plunging into creamy peanut butter is going to be in the form of the Grue Crew of Horror News Radio/Decades of Horror descending upon Dragon Con 2016 and landing in the Dragon Con Horror Track as panelists.

The 2016 Dragon Con Parade Just Got a Lot Easier to See

Everyone loves a parade. Dragon Con has one. You may have seen me mention that here before.

Well, there’s some interesting news about the 2016 Dragon Con Parade that just broke the other day that anyone who is going to Dragon Con this year, anyone who can’t go this year but loves the parade, and/or anyone who has never been but is curious might want to know about.

Some Interesting News from the Convention Front

Atlanta has been home to Dragon Con for 30 years as of 2016’s convention. While it’s by far the biggest convention in Atlanta and the region in general, Dragon Con is not the only convention claiming Atlanta as it’s home. Another convention, MomoCon, has been making quite a name for itself. 

Dragon Con 2015 – So Much to Do, So Little Time to Do it in

Okay, so you want to see the sights, hear the sounds, and do whatever is doable at Dragon Con. You’ve looked over the schedule and you’ve checked off just the things you want to see or do that you absolutely can’t live without while spending four days in Atlanta, Georgia at everyone’s favorite fan convention. You’ve looked at the schedule you’ve blocked out, double checked it and triple checked it, held it up to the light and looked at it sideways, and squinted in a kind of funny manner at it. It’s about then that you realize that you’ve blocked out a schedule of about 138 hours of programming for Saturday alone, and the other three days you’ve blocked out aren’t looking any closer to just 16-20 hours of stuff to see and do than Saturday’s schedule.

Congratulations, you’ve discovered the one thing about Dragon Con that will drive you buggy if you let it. There’s just no way that you can see and do anything close to everything you want to see and do at Dragon Con. It’s just not possible. But that is a good thing.

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Dragon Con 2015 – T- Minus OMG Days and Counting

[[>This is a repost of material I wrote for another geek website that I’m no longer affiliated with. Per the agreement made with them for my creation of content of material for their site, enough time has passed for me to republish it here on my own blog. I wrote for this for Dragon Con 2014, but, with a few tweaks, it remains just as true this year.<]]

It’s that time of year again. We’ve endured the winter’s snow, ice, and traffic nightmares, we’ve survived the Spring’s annual blessing of yellow rivers that drift lazily through the air, coating our homes, cars, and lungs with a carpet of pollen, and now we’ve finally reached the hot, sauna days of summer. And, if you listen carefully, you can hear the anguished cries of desperation as thousands of cosplayers throughout the land clutch their latest project to their chests and whimper, “I don’t have enough time. It’s less than 60 days away!” This can only mean one thing: Dragon Con is upon us once again.