#BaltimoreComicCon2013

It’s been over two weeks since the Baltimore Comic Convention. I’ve been busy with getting new ideas ready for the blog and work. But I really wanted to share my experience for anyone who’s thought about going. The Baltimore ComicCon is the perfect place to go for your first convention because of the friendly and knowledgeable staff and attendees.

This year’s convention took place on Saturday, September 7^th and Sunday, September 8^th at the Baltimore Convention Center. The Baltimore ComicCon is a comic book oriented annual fan convention that started in 2000. On the ground floor comic book creators, publishers, charitable organizations and vendor booths filled tables and booths as far as the eye could see.  People milled about investigating merchandise for sale.  Others hunched over boxes of comics for sale. Some held strange positions while complete strangers took their pictures.

On the second floor panel discussions featured industry names such as Perez and CBLDF presenting information on current and upcoming industry events. Panels covered a range of topics relevant to the comic book community such as the history of banned comic books, particular comic book series, self-publishing, authors and characters. There were two series panels that covered the history of banned comics and what that has meant for the industry and how to use comic books in the classroom. Also, Jay and Silent Bob held a special presentation preview of their new movie “Bob’s Super Groovy” on Saturday.

I purchased several comics with the help of a patient boyfriend, friendly vendor staff, and a fellow attendee. I’m very eager to read and report on them.

• Wonder Woman “Face-off at 30,000 Feet!,” Potter, Perez and Patterson,  March 1987, Issue 2
• Miss Fury, Williams, Herbert and Nunes, Issues 1
• Batgirl “In the Information Rage,” Horrocks, Leonardi and Delperdong, September 2004, Issue 54
• Madame Xanadu, Wagner, Hadley and Friend, November 2008, Issue 4
• Wonder Woman “Amazing” Attack! Tie-In,” Picoult, Dodson and Dodson, July 2007, Issue 9
• Love and Capes “Do you want to know a secret?” Thomas F Zahler, Issue 1

As you can see there is a trend to what I picked. Love and Capes I picked up because it looked different. Zahler, the author, was there and pointed out a very funny section (spoiler) that cinched the purchase for me.

The only thing that I wasn’t happy about was the Doctor Who store. I was so looking forward to buying some Doctor Who gear.  I marked it on the map early in the day, so I wouldn’t forget or miss it. But that’s exactly what happened. It was just two tables put together and at first I didn’t even realize it was there.  Of course it was surrounded by a mass of people but still I was hoping for something more. I didn’t buy anything there really wasn’t anything that stuck out.

You can check out my photos on my twitter page.

Next year’s convention will be over three days Friday to Sunday, September 5 to 7.

Bloggers Like Me: Experience DMV

#BLMexperienceDMV

Saturday, August 31, 2013

@ The 201 Bar

Finding The 201 Bar was pretty easy. I had never been there but from what I could tell by the map, it was a straight shot from the Union Station metro. Of course, everything went fine at first, I got to the blue line station and only had to wait less than 6 minutes. I got to the red line transfer and only had to wait 4 minutes. For anyone familiar with the Washington Area Metro system on a Sunday, you know this is pretty amazing. Google maps and I have had several fights before so I was ready for it to be indecisive and slow and it was. But I prevailed with only a five minute rant at the lack of signage on Massachusetts Ave in front of Union Station and arrived on time!

When I arrived I was warmly greeted by our hostesses Karen and Whitney.  Three well dressed women were sitting at one table carrying on a lively conversation. I’ll admit in a black top and shorts I felt confident leaving the house, but upon seeing them I felt out of my fashion league. Thankfully, the ladies (Demetrice from Impr4less, Antionette from Dedivahdeals.com, and Jonna from Naturally Glam) were nice and made it easy to relax. There were 17 female bloggers from as far away as Delaware and North Carolina. Blogger topics covered everything from fitness, hair, lifestyle, fashion, relationships, and aromatherapy.  These ladies were dressed to impress and I was impressed.

Blogger Like Me: Experience DMV image courtesy of BLM

The objective of the Bloggers Like Me: Experience workshop was to give bloggers the opportunity to come together to network and build our brand.  And that is exactly what we did, even though the workshop only lasted a couple of hours it was completely worth it. The main presentation was given by Arsha of BrandBuildSell.com. She is a dynamic and informed speaker, which I would highly recommend for anyone in the blogosphere.

There were four main take-a-ways for me.

1. If you’re not building your brand someone else is. Arsha shared five steps for building your personal brand that used popular product and personality brands to demonstrate the different types.

2. Branding is connected to how people feel about you when they think of you. So the questions becomes how do I want people to feel about me when they think of A.E. Hellar?

3. It’s important to have relevant and distinctive content. Don’t just fill your blog with posts to have stuff there. There is nothing worse than wasting your reader’s time with irrelevant information. Their time is important so respect it.

4. As a blogger it’s important to not just build you network with bloggers but also the business community. Businesses grow not just by connecting with other businesses, but consumers who are willing to pay for their services.

I have no doubt that by connecting with BLM, I now have the resources I need to take my blog and career to the next level.

It’s official everything is complete. I

It’s official everything is complete. I’m a BLM girl. Check out the new wall art.

#Dragonflight

Things are heating up in Dragonflight.

Dragonflight is the first in the Pern series by American-Irish science fiction writer Anne McCaffrey originally published in 1978.  From the very first page, you know that you are about to be witness to something amazing. The first paragraph sets a mood that carries over for the whole story. “Lessa woke, cold. Cold with more than the chill for the everlastingly clammy stone walls. Cold with the prescience of a danger stronger than the one ten full Turns ago…”  

There is no preamble of what life was like before, McCaffrey thrusts the reader head first into the unknown with no forgiveness. Okay there is some warning for those willing to do a bit of mental guessing. The introduction serves as a quick summary of the world’s history in broad strokes and the brief poems that begin each chapter reinforce the mood.

I’m about 70 percent through the book and I’m having a really hard time putting it down.  Lessa has demonstrated her ability to be a worthy adversary for every male character. I’m absolutely loving it. She’s not taking any crap from F’lar, R’gul or Fax. At every turn she proves that she is steps ahead of the men.  As the slave to Fax, Lessa contrived to keep herself undesirable by even the lowest standards. As the Weyrwoman, she uses her intelligence to manipulate the men to her end.

The dragons are pretty cool and provide a necessary levity.

I’m at the point in the story where the first Threads have started to fall and everyone is just trying to take it in. There has been a couple of “battles” where the Dragonmen have gone out to fight the Threads and men and dragons have been injured. Lessa and F’lar have paired up as a result of their dragons pairing up (which can I say is a bit weird.)  They are not a true couple in that they are romantically involved; F’lar has demonstrated more interest in Lessa, which I like because it’s often the woman who is pining after the man and trying to win him over.

The Dragonmen will persevere and save the world but because this is a series I’m not sure who will die. There must be a sacrifice for the story. So maybe F’nor will die, the brother to F’lar, but I think that would be too soon.  I’m really not sure who will die, but I’m sure someone will.