MEGACON 2018: The Age of the Geek Comes to Central Florida

     ORLANDO, FL -- Tis the season to be geeky!  That's right, this memorial day weekend, the pop culture world is slated to land squarely on Orlando Florida.  From May 24 until May 27, 2018 at the Orange County Convention Center, it's the MegaCon Convention!

     Among the guests and attractions will be the breakaway hit Youtube show the Hangin With Web Show, as well as special appearances by social media music sensations Billy Floyd, Jay Stephens and the Kitchen Killaz.

     There are expected to be tons of special activities for kids and adults.  There is Cosplay of all kinds and many featured cosplayers such as central Florida's Bri Bri Cosplay and the Cosplay Bombshells, as well as Central Florida cosplay superstars like Amelia Poole with HarlequinArts Cosplay and Crafts, the Charles Stark Foundry and the Florida Con Artists and renowned cosplayer Mark Robards of Mark Knight Rises Cosplay.  The floor is expected to be bustling and to host more than 250,000 visitors from every corner of fandom.  

    Among special celebrity guests are The Justice League's Jason Mamoa, television's Daredevil Charlie Cox, several celebrities from AMC's the Walking Dead and actress Jewel State best known for her role in one of pop cultures most beloved science fiction shows, Firefly, as well as Allstar celebrity cosplayers like Ya Ya Han, Jessica Nigiri, Cecil Grimes Cosplay, who is one of the world's premiere Walking Dead cosplayers, as well one of the cosplay community's youngest celebrities, Central Florida's own 7-year-old Cosplay Michael.

     There is something for almost everyone at this all star event.  

     "MegaCon is a show we look forward to all year long," said Hangin With Web Show host G.W. Pomichter.  "It's a kind of extended family reunion for many of us in the pop culture world, and for so many fans."

     Guests and celebrities will start arriving as early as Wednesday to set up and help organize the show which brings hundreds of thousands of visitors to central Florida each year.  

    "We have such a full schedule and we're planning so many great events for kids and adults alike," said Charles Watson of the cosplay community group The Florida Con Artists.  "MegaCon is a great show and one that knows how to bring something for every fan."

     The show will also include after hours activities for adults like Saturday night's Oasis After Dark after party.  The Pajama Party themed event organized by Moshi-Moshi Production, led by John Moshi will feature cosplayers, celebs and live music including the Orlando based Kitchen KIllaz, whose musical stylings have been revolutionizing the way social media is used to spread music and art and build communities.

     "This is the kind of terrific event where our whole community comes together to create an exciting and memorable experience for every fan and visitor," said Kitchen Killaz singer Billy Floyd.  "It's a great time and a really great look at the fun and sense of community that is on full display as a part of convention culture."

     In a press release, Fan Expo, the organizers of the event described it thusly:

     "Everyone is a fan of something, and MEGACON is a place to celebrate all things pop culture. Get an autograph or a photo with your favorite guest and get the inside scoop about your favorite movies & TV shows at our celebrity panels! Watch professional comic artists battle it out in our popular Sketch Duels, learn from our “How To” workshops, and take photos with your favorite costumed characters! It’s also a great place to buy a unique gift (or treat yourself!) with over 400,000 square feet of shopping madness."

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MEGACON™ TAMPA BAY 2017 WRAPS ANOTHER YEAR WITH OVER $25,000 RAISED FOR HURRICANE RELIEF

Tampa Bay, FL – October 5, 2017 – MegaCon™ Tampa Bay 2017, the Southeast’s largest fan convention, wrapped up another weekend at the Tampa Convention Center. The three-day multi-genre convention welcomed fans to revel in panels, shopping, celebrity fun and more. This year’s show was packed with exciting activities for fans of all ages and featured celebrity guests including Marvel Comic legend Stan Lee, William Shatner (Star Trek), Kevin Smith (Clerks), Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries), Jason Mewes (Clerks), Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things), and many more.

Stan Lee Auction for Hurricane Relief

Friday evening, MegaCon Tampa Bay welcomed Stan Lee for a Q&A and live auction. Seven one-of-a-kind items were auctioned by actor/director Kevin Smith (Jay & Silent Bob, Clerks) with all proceeds benefiting Feeding Florida for hurricane relief. A one-on-one dinner with Stan Lee was auctioned for $3,000 with a fierce battle in the audience. Then a surprise item was announced when Kevin Smith auctioned a cameo in his upcoming movie Jay and Silent Bob Reboot for $6,000. Lastly, an all- expenses paid trip to Los Angeles to hang out with Stan Lee, have dinner and go to a Black Eyed Peas concert with him was auctioned for $10,000. There was even a proposal!

Between the auction and ticket sales, more than $30,000 was raised for Feeding Florida.

Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4xrzelbf810eclr/AACR3_7gazJ8b4Ms56If35pCa?dl=0

Video: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dva708o48ht4m29/AABe6_kcfk5p8evFW0HgyXn-a?dl=0
Caption: Stan Lee Auction at MegaCon Tampa Bay to Benefit Feeding Florida on Friday, September 29

Cylon Raider Ship from Battlestar Galactica

Why do the bad guys always have the coolest looking ships? This amazing display, a half scale model of the Cylon Raider ship from Battlestar Galactica circa 1978, is the only one ever built to scale as there were none built for the actual production of the show!

Booth Highlights

Tattoo Alley had 20 artists from The Ink-Fusion Empire lead by Marc Draven. Ink-Fusion Empire is the only professional Tattoo program that has a license agreement with Lucasfilm LTD and works side-by-side with the likes of Stan Lee, Dave Nestler, Arthur Suydam, James O'Barr, and countless other TV and movie celebrities. Artist alley was packed each day with eager fans waiting for their next tattoo.

Panels, Photo Ops, Signings, much more

Many panels and photo opportunities took place this weekend, including Q&A with Stan Lee where he answered numerous questions from fans, photo opportunities with William Shatner and Caleb and Gaten from Stranger Things and much more.

Can’t wait for next year’s MegaCon Tampa Bay? MegaCon Orlando 2018 will take place from May 24 to May 27, 2018 – tickets go on sale in late November. MegaCon Tampa Bay returns September 21 to September 23, 2018. Check back at www.MegaConOrlando.com and www.MegaConTampaBay.com for ticket sales.

"Hangin With" web series and the Florida Book News: Meet the Authors Book Fair sponsored by Authors fo...

Hangin With host G.W. Pomichter and his team were honored to spend the weekend with a great collection of writers, authors, artists and creators at the 8th annual Eau Gallie Arts Festival and Meet the Authors event at the Eau Gallie Civic Center in Melbourne, Florida.

We interviewed more than 30 authors, artists and creators, and had the privilege of making many new friend including our newest bloggers and web partners, Florida Book News.

As always our interviews will be web-cast from our YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/user/GarrettPomichter and as an iOS Podcast, but look for many of them with our great new friends below!

So log on and tune in to Hangin With..., and in the mean time head on over to Florida Book News and see what they're cooking up next!

Florida Book News: Meet the Authors Book Fair sponsored by Authors fo...:   We had a great day at t he Meet the Authors Book Fair.  If you didn't make it down on Saturday, be sure t o stop by Sunday, 11/ 21.......

Watch TV: It's not the "boob tube" any more (It's Literature)

Modern Fiction by Firelight

"Literature -- an expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest."

The tradition of storytelling dates back to the earliest human beings.  Those early homo-sapiens sat beside the fire and passed on their histories, their hopes, dreams and fears in the flickering orange hues and the creative juices of humanity began to flow.

Soon, these oral stories inspired visual representations.  Early people scratched their stories in stonewalls in caves.  Later, these caverns replaced by monolithic stone constructions, again adorned with tales from the endless creative depths of human consciousness. 

Born of this well of creative spirit, the rudimentary foundations of written language were formed, and from this, stones gave way to papyrus, and then modern paper.  Gathered around the campfire, carving in the flickering torchlight, writing under the candlelight and lamplight, still people created and shared their stories.

In all of these mediums, human beings poured out their collective dreams onto the page.

In the 20^th century new storytelling technologies were birthed into the industrial world.  The film projector poured light out over crowded theaters and soon one creator’s dreams were the collective observations of audiences.  From there, the sounds and voices of these creations filled the air between the streams of photons and immersed movie goers in imaginative and fanciful worlds flickering in hues of grey over the silver screen.

The advent of color in motion pictures blurred the lines between the creator and the audience, making images more lifelike and, when needed, even more fantastic.  But even as the fires of industry burned brightest for storytellers, a movement arose to bring the collected content of human creativity back to the tribe and family, where it was born.

In 1900 at the World’s Fair, the first television was introduced.  In 1937, the first television network was formed and by the 1960’s, the television was fast becoming a household appliance.

Although early decades saw largely the expansion of technology without true purpose, lending credence to expressions like “boob-tube” and “idiot box” because of its uses for pure entertainment and amusement, it wasn’t long before storytellers heard the siren’s song of those tiny boxes in living rooms across the world.

More channels and greater variety in programming soon became the ethos of the medium. 

In recent decades, the technology has led to larger, thinner flatter screens, donning the walls of multiple rooms in our homes.  Broadcast television, born in 1950, gave way to cable and then to satellite signals and today these paradigms of storytelling are currently shifting again to Internet delivery services connecting viewers of many cultures and geographic regions through the global tether that is the world-wide web.  But still, despite it’s reputation and it’s reach, these technological advances have returned the flickering light around which we gather to the fundamental social unit — the family, the tribe.

In all this, one thing remains a constant.  It is the desire, nay — the imperative — of human beings to gather beside the flickering embers, and whether as members of the family, or as citizens of the global tribe of humanity, listen to and tell our stories.

So many may lament the imagined loss of past “golden ages” of literature and then film or even radio, but for that longing and for the nostalgic harkening of lifestyles long past, there is in these changes some consolation.  It is comforting to think of those early human beings, so disparate than we in their struggles for survival, seated in the setting sun’s last rays, beside a flickering amber glow to share their stories of hope, their fears of what lay beyond, their histories and their dreams, so like we in the 1080p glimmer shown over carpets, couches and easy-chairs. 

So, before you judge that tiny box or massive screen, consider its implication.  It is the modern campfire.  Consider, if I might ask, that it is not merely the latest gadget, but it is your end of a thing string that tethers humanity to the first of us — today’s stories to the first stories — today’s truths to the first truths of our existence.

Just another thought "thunk" by a storyteller no smarter than you.