A Newbie’s Guide to Conquering Phoenix Comicon

When Phillip first suggested we cover Phoenix Comicon, I wasn’t sure how well that would fit with the whole Travelcraft Journal thing. I mean, yes, this is the home of the sci-fi-reference-riddled holiday party post. But still. We’re about makers and doers, creative people with a “hey, let’s try this!” attitude.

Then I realized: so is Phoenix Comicon. It’s filled with people responding creatively to what they’ve read or watched, who make their own costumes or miniatures or films or chain mail or sketches, who’ve travelled to learn more about something they’re passionate about. Which is super Travelcraft Journally.

pugs-comicon — Phoenix Ultimate Geek Smackdown. Photo: Phoenix Comicon. CCL.

So we requested press passes, researched, and started planning posts. I’ve never been to any of the events in the Comic-Con universe, so I reached out to some veterans about what a newbie needs to know to navigate the 5th largest Comic-Con in the U.S., which is happening next week. Here’s their sage advice, along with a few of my own newbie observations.

1. Planning Ahead

Jill Rouleau (Bespoke Software Solutions):

Have a plan for what you want to do before you go.
Be prepared to wait in line as much as an hour – or possibly even more – for big name speakers.
Don’t forget there will be programming at the hotels too! It can help to get out of the crowd for a bit.

Jeff Moriarty (Professional Geek and Shenaniganizer):

Phoenix Comicon can be overwhelming, so don’t even try to do it all. See what you can, have fun, but it’s okay to miss things. That’s just going to happen. Make time to try something brand new! Take advantage of a few thousand die-hard fans being around you to stick your nose into a topic you’ve maybe been curious about and see where it leads you. Walk away from Con with a whole new set of loves!

Ryan DeFusco (The Indie Imaginarium):

Check out the panels (genre-specific events hosted by individuals) that are going on and tentatively plan on attending some. But don’t be afraid to change up your plans if you discover something else you want to see.

Jason Hunt (The Wampa’s Lair Podcast):

Have a game plan. Phoenixcomicon.com helps by letting you make an account and add panels you’re interested in to your “ConQuest.” This puts them on a schedule that makes it much easier to look at.
The website only shows you events by category and does not have a daily calendar. If you like to see things blocked out by day, try and get to the Convention early so you can look over the schedule.

Stephanie (a.k.a. me):

Keep up with the Comicon-versation via hashtag #phxcc on Twitter and Instagram.
Ready to buy your ticket? What you’re looking for (in Comiconese) is a membership. Attendees are members (not guests).
Guests are authors, artists, living legends, space cowboys, bad guy kapow!-ers, ax-wielding orc slayers, paper clip missile defusers, former pitcher-fetchers turned dread pirates, and so on. One does not simply walk into Phoenix Comicon and become a guest.

Programming Picks

Ryan DeFusco:

My (first!) Comicon panel: DIY Chainmail Jewelry Make and Take Workshop.

Jeff Moriarty:

Check out the Phoenix Ultimate Geek Smackdown the first two nights of Con! It’s where geeks from all angles converge to hash out some of the most important and ridiculous topics you’ve ever heard. It’s a rocking good time and guaranteed to get you into the Con spirit!

2. Gearing Up

Ryan DeFusco:

[The first time I attended Phoenix Comicon] I wish I had brought a change of clothes. My costume wasn’t too uncomfortable, but my wig kept slipping out of place and I desperately wanted to take it off.

Jill Rouleau:

Wear comfortable walking shoes. No, really, however cute those boots are, wear comfortable shoes. It’s ok to not dress up in costume. No one will think you’re weird or less of a geek. It’s also super cool if you do dress up! Don’t be scared that your costume won’t be “good enough” if it’s your first time costuming, what matters is that you have fun.

Jason Hunt:

Carry cash. If you are a collector or find something interesting that you want to buy, it always helps to pay in cash. Some sellers have the ability to take cards, but those rely on mobile devices and usually have problems getting through. Get cash from your hotel’s ATM and save your credit/debit cards for offsite food purchases.

Jonathan Simon (Lightning Octopus, tips excerpted from this post):

Put your money in your front pocket. Not to get all paranoid on you, but there will be a lot of strangers carrying cash wandering around bumping into each other. Best keep your dead presidents somewhere a little more in your line of sight.
Keep your phone charged and ready. Photos aren’t just for posing with cosplayers – you never know what might happen or what you might find that you want to remember later. (Bonus: Bring a power strip to share an outlet and be everyone’s hero.)

jason-hunt-Phoenix-Comicon — Jason Hunt (center). Photo: Wampa’s Lair.

3. At the Con: Get Your Geek On

Jill Rouleau:

Be respectful and ask before taking someone’s picture.
Take time off if you start to feel overwhelmed. There’s some great places to grab a bite or a beer downtown. You’ll thank yourself for the break later in the day.

Jason Hunt:

If you’re going with a group that wants to split up, have a designated time and area to meet. DO NOT rely on cell phones, because all the signals in one area tend to clutter up the local cell phone towers.

Jeff Moriarty:

Go all in! If you think there is some fun, weird, or quirky thing that you’re into that nobody else loves as much as you…you’re wrong! This is the place to let yourself go, share whatever form of geekery you delight in, and connect with others who enjoy it just as much as you.

Jonathan Simon sums it up with this handy infographic:

(For even more great advice, check out the Lightning Octopus site and its readers’ comments.) Now I’m ready to take on Comicon! A big thank you to Jason, Jeff, Jill, Jonathan, and Ryan for sharing so much awesome info! If you see me wandering around the Convention Center, please say hello. (I may be lost.) If I survive the weekend, I’ll tell ya all about it and share some cosplay awesomeness. Tune in next time or subscribe to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

May 24, 2014May 23, 2023

Weekend brunch in Tempe

Phillip and I don’t always do brunch but when we do, it’s because I dragged him somewhere kicking and screaming.

But he likes it once there’s food in front of him.

I finally got him into Ncounter on Mill in Tempe a few weeks ago. It was pretty busy, but the line went quickly. And even though the cashier was moving customers through lickety-split, he still smiled when I joked that he must’ve known Phillip’s name since he handed us the letter P to identify our order.

Phillip ordered the meat and potatoes yin to my fruit and veggie yang. (Does that even make sense? I’m just gonna roll with it.)

The food was good. The coffee was good. We went to Tempe Town Lake to walk it off.

It was a nice day.

Hope your weekend is as lovely as brunch and a walk around the lake.

PS In case you’re wondering about this project, I need to keep you in suspense about awhile longer because of reasons. Keep guessing!

May 17, 2014May 17, 2014

An afternoon of travel expoing

So we got this email from our local public radio station, KJZZ, that included tickets to their Travel & Discovery Expo*, and we thought, “Hey, let’s go! Why not?!” Then Phillip and I had a really stressful week and almost skipped it, but I’m glad we went.

We met some really great people, learned a lot of things, and added a whole bunch of places to our “oh, we definitely have to go there” list. (It was already pretty long.)

We showed up just in time for the talk on touring Italy that I had been afraid we’d missed. (Love it when things randomly work out perfectly!) It was given by MariaLaura Boldini Creal of Fantastica Italia. She’s from Italy and had great insights into what makes a great travel experience, as well as insider tips. I planned to just listen but ended up taking notes furiously.

After the talk, we started working our way through the expo hall. I’ve been to some gargantuan, overcrowded expos. This one, however, was a nice, reasonable size – totally doable in an hour or two.

We were there near the end of the day, so the place wasn’t packed out, but there were still plenty of people wandering around. Lots of men wearing Hawaiian shirts and women in very packable-looking travel dresses. I guess going to a travel expo isn’t really enough to signal that you’re interested in travel. You should also look the part. I questioned my tshirt-and-jeans choice.

There were booths for cruise lines, tour companies, various types of lodging, and small travel businesses (I overheard one woman telling the story of following her dream to start hers, and it made my little entrepreneur heart smile).

But my favorites were the ones representing specific towns/regions of Arizona. They just want you to go visit Clarkdale or Bisbee or Globe. Or get out and enjoy the Maricopa County Parks. Or make your way up to the northeast corner of the state and take in the sights and/or shopping on the Navajo Nation.

We met Freeman Fry, who is on a mission to turn Ajo around. He’s working on attracting new development, spreading the word about his town, and giving it a facelift. He organized a team to repaint every building in town. Seriously. We’ve gotta get down to Ajo.

Another booth I was really excited to see (and did not expect) was Arcosanti’s. We were only able to chat briefly with Kate, who was representing, but I’m hoping she can shed some more light on the disparity between the myth surrounding the place and the really nice day we had there (which I’ll tell you more about soon).

Speaking of nice days, from catching up with Phillip on the train ride over to dreaming about future travels on the expo floor to sitting outside afterwards eating granola bars in the shade, it turned out to be a really relaxing, refreshing afternoon. Almost like a teeny tiny trip of its own.

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*Disclosure: We received free KJZZ Travel & Discovery Expo tickets because we’re members of KJZZ. Opinions in this post are my own.

**Additional disclosure: Navajo Nation Shopping Centers, Inc. gave us a really sweet water bottle. But, don’t worry, I didn’t let it influence me.

April 29, 2014April 29, 2014

The myth of Arcosanti: are there angry naked hippies living in the desert?

You can live in Phoenix and totally forget Arcosanti is there, just an hour outside the city. And then one day you’ll be driving north on I-17 to somewhere cooler, and you’ll see the sign for the turn off with these mysterious concrete structures in the distance.

Then you’ll start thinking about where to stop for lunch, and it will fade again into the fog of your memory.

On the rare occasions it came to mind, Phillip and I both had gotten this idea that it was some kind of New Age hippie commune with unspecified weird stuff going down. Growing up, seeing that I-17 exit sign was as close as I got to Arcosanti. I remember my mom making a vague comment once about people there not always being clothed.

So New Age hippie nudist colony.

And then one day just a few years ago, Phillip and I spotted an entry in our beloved Arizona Family Field Trips guidebook for Arcosanti, which it listed as “suitable for all ages” with visiting hours and a cafe. Not many New Age hippie nudist colonies can say the same.

A little online research confirmed the visiting hours – and left us with the impression that people there were pretty hardcore about their environmental ideals.

Despite this image of the New Age hippie nudist colony improbably populated by militant environmentalists, our curiosity got the better of us, and we planned to stop there on the way back from an upcoming trip.

But we got behind schedule. By the time we stopped for food one exit away, it was dark out and well past Arcosanti’s published visiting hours.

Phillip still wanted to go. I almost choked on my chicken sandwich. “Now?!”

This, of course, is typical of us – his “We’re here, why not?” attitude and my fear of militant nudist hippies.

He finally convinced me we should just drive out there and see what happened.

So instead of safely getting back on the freeway to head home, we passed underneath it and eventually got to an open gate with an Arcosanti sign. With McDonald’s and the freeway now well behind us and an unlit dirt road through the desert ahead, it was like the border between the familiar glitter of fast food capitalism and the murky counterculture beyond. We glanced at each other and then continued into the darkness.

“Do you think they have a lookout?” I felt exposed now that our headlights were the only thing not blending in to the blackness around us. “Will they come out and stop us?”

“Probably not.” Phillip drove on, unfazed.

Finally, we reached an open space near some walled concrete buildings. A dim, eerie light emanated from somewhere in the complex. We stepped out of the car. I tried to close my car door quietly, but it didn’t matter. It still seemed to echo through the night.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, since Phillip gave his door a carefree slam a moment later.

We peeked over a wall and to see the top of one of the arced structures.

As the breeze shifted, we could hear this ethereal flute music. It was startling and yet exactly what you’d expect to hear when you sneak up on a commune in the desert. We looked at each other like, “Are you hearing this too?” We listened for a few moments. I was wondered if it was an after-hours concert, spirit-summoning ritual, or just what a lone militant nudist hippie does with his downtime.

The wind must have shifted again, because then we could hear dishes clanking from what must’ve been the cafe. The sound brought us back to earth. Even militant nudist hippie colonies have dishes to do after dinner.

We considered sneaking around a little more, but we knew that people did live there. Whatever kind of weird angry naked hippie mystical flute-playing stuff they were into, they deserve to have their privacy respected. Plus, the setting was just plain creepy. So we got back in the car and drove back towards the freeway lights and then home.

Even if it meant that Phillip was right, I was glad we went. I was still unsure if the place was filled with lonely hippies or New Age nudists or militant flutists or what, but I was relieved that we hadn’t been confronted by anything more than the sound of an otherworldly flute over the silent desert.

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Note: I don’t have photos from this first trip to Arcosanti, since it was so dark. Post photos are from when we went back in the daytime – and got some answers!

I’ll be posting about what we found out soon! Keep an eye out here, on Twitter, or subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it!

April 22, 2014April 17, 2014

Arts and Flowers 2014

For four days every year, flowers sprout up throughout the Phoenix Art Museum. Okay, they don’t literally sprout. But fresh flowers do appear one Thursday afternoon.

Leading up to the Arts & Flowers event, floral designers create works of art from natural materials – flowers, tree boughs, baskets, stones, and even vegetables. Each piece is inspired by and in response to a work in the museum’s collection. This year also included a floral couture show (Savage Botanicals) and a bonsai exhibit.

I’d originally heard about it from my friend Karin, who has participated the last few years, but I just hadn’t made it over there. So I was excited when my Craft Hack group decided to go during Phoenix First Friday. There’s nothing like having a set time and people to meet to actually get you to go somewhere.

I took the light rail over and met the group at the cafe just as they were finishing up there. Then we started winding our way through the museum, enjoying all the Arts, but also scanning for the & Flowers like we were on safari.

Some of them were very literal interpretations of the original work, others more abstractly captured a certain aspect of it. There was also this interesting contrast between the solid permanence of the paintings, ceramics, and sculpture – some which had lasted centuries – and the organic and ephemeral nature of the arrangements, which could only exist for a matter of days.

I did my best taking a few photos, but it was tricky to get good ones with the lighting, crowds, etc. If you want to see more photos, my friend Eileen posted a bunch on Facebook, or you can check out the Instagram hashtag #artsflowers14.

Phillip had planned to meet us after work. By the time he got there and found parking, we were on the second floor. I’ve been to the Phoenix Art Museum several times, but not often enough to ever remember that there are two parts to the second floor, and they don’t connect. It’s a statement on our modern digital lives and the disconnect with past generations – or some artsy reason like that probably. I actually have no idea why the place is so hard to navigate, so I made that up.

Anyway, while I’m on the phone with him, wandering around, trying to figure out where he is, I totally lose the group. I finally flag down a guy in a museum polo, who explains how to get him to where I was. The Craft Hackers probably thought I ditched them for my man. I love Phillip, but that was not my intention. I’m not a ditcher. I am, however, pretty good at getting lost. (Have I mentioned that here before? That could be a post of its own. Maybe more than one. I’m adding a getting lost tag now.)

So I showed Phillip the highlights of my wing of the second floor. I said hello to Karin for the second time that evening and spent more time checking out the details of her miniature Italian garden. Then we worked our way over to the second second floor, where there didn’t seem to be any flowers.

We did find more in the Asian collection on the first floor. We also talked with a couple more of the floral artists. They were eager to chat about their work and answer questions.

Around this time, we decided we really needed food. We’d checked out the menu of the museum ahead of time, and it had some solid, clearly marked gluten-free options. The thing we didn’t realize is they close at 8:30 pm, but they stop serving food at 8:00. From 8-8:30 (when we got there), you can only order drinks and prepackaged cookies. Sad trombone.

We wrapped up at the museum, and then finished off the evening at Pita Jungle, which is open until 11pm on First Fridays, has reverse happy hour starting at 9, and is awesome with dietary restrictions and substitutions. (They’re not paying me to talk about them. I was just super excited to finally eat!)

Anyway, I do wish a few things had gone differently. That’s life, though. It’s not perfect. But any evening that starts with friends, flowers, and an art museum, and ends with my husband, a plate of hummus, and perfect patio weather is not a bad one in my book.

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P.S. If you’d like a heads up on awesome cultural events like this, that’s exactly the kind of thing that goes into our new monthly newsletter. You could have even met up with us at the museum for this! And then I could’ve lost you while I was looking for Phillip. See? Fun times!

You can sign up on the sidebar on the right or on our newsletter page.

Things to know about visiting Phoenix Art Museum:

Photos are allowed (without flash).
First Friday evenings are always free, so they’re especially crowded.
Parking can be a hassle during big events. The light rail is your friend. (Post on this coming soon!) There’s a stop across the street from the museum.
Check the museum’s events calendar to find out what’s going on when you’d like to go. If we’d had time, we could have also bought tickets to see the Hollywood Costume exhibition, which was going on at the same time. Or you might choose to avoid big events and go when it’s less crowded.
The museum restaurant, Palette, has a menu that includes gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options, but they close before the museum and may stop serving food earlier.
The upper floors are in 2 separate wings that don’t connect. Walking from the North Wing to the South Wing on the second floor/upper level is not a thing you can do.
During Arts & Flowers there are tons of museum staff (or are they volunteers?) around, and they are super helpful!