#sci-fi valley con 2024 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

criticalotterstudies · 6 years

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A funny inspection of where that line is happened when the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail sued Dan Brown over The Da Vinci Code. One is a wild fabrication posing as historical scholarship; the other, a thriller supposedly based in said historical fact. It’s a hard sell to claim someone is violating your copyright when they pretend to fall for your scam. Although the two books function almost identically, their authors occupy different points on the spectrum between the schlock artist and the con artist. Hubbard, who started out as a two-bit sci-fi writer, is an interesting case of someone devolving from one to the other. ... lon Musk’s mythology is full of Promethean tasks for mankind, and as with any religion, they are spearheaded by the Prophet himself. Yes, the chance that everything you know is not just a cosmic computer game is “one in billions” — but this is good news, sayeth Elon, since otherwise the world might be coming to an end. Better safe than sorry, though, which is why Musk is transforming us into an “interplanetary species” by 2024. As for our godlike sentient computers (they’re almost here!), those will eventually spawn endless new virtual realities, in a glorious cycle of recursive creation stories, originating with demiurgic geeks jerking off to their PlayStations. “The singularity for this level of the simulation is coming soon,” Musk has declared. No wonder the doctrine is often described as “the Rapture for geeks” — and not just ironically. It’s one thing to make metaphysical statements that cannot be tested, but whatever happened to all of Elon Musk’s more immediate predictions and promises? At this point, he was supposed to have been ferrying space tourists on sightseeing trips around the moon for over three years, since 2014. That’s the same year he had “vowed” to have his third-generation electric car available for less than $30,000, with 100,000 of them on the road already since 2009. ... Every story about the Way of the Future mentions Elon Musk as another high-profile singularity adherent, a thought leader on a similar mission to mitigate the coming transition over to our new robot overlords. There can only be one high priest of Silicon Valley mumbo-jumbo, though, and Musk has stated his stern opinion that Levandowski is the last person who should even be allowed to conduct such dangerous research. “You know those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water?” he asked the audience at an MIT symposium. “And he’s like — yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon? Doesn’t work out.” That’s meant as a funny analogy, but there is really no difference: Silicon Valley executives are like kids freaking themselves out with a Ouija board. Though Levandowski’s spiritual order is competition rather than a sectarian ally, Musk, too, is no stranger to avoiding taxes. In a twist befitting the times, our modern-day prophet’s biblical missions come with market-based solutions. We need to incentivize tech billionaires to save the species, because it’s not just the right thing to do, it’s good business! Except that it’s not. Musk wants to project the image of a self-made man, even while his business empire is on a steady diet of government subsidies and tax breaks (to the tune of at least $4.9 billion). His latest publicity stunt — shooting his own car into space — was perfectly timed to distract from the announcement of Tesla’s biggest quarterly loss ever. It’s a good use of public resources, of course, if George Clooney can save some money to be “stuck on the side of the fucking road,” pretending to care about the environment. And we’ve also greatly reduced the cost of building rockets that explode before reaching orbit. (Don’t blame Musk for that one time it might have been caused by a UFO, though, as he mused.) ... Leave aside the fact that electric cars won’t solve the perils of our planet, and that Mars fantasies are a costly distraction. How much does having Elon Musk at the helm of these projects contribute to the production of usable new technologies? Is his leadership extremely helpful, somewhat detrimental, neutral, something else? With all the federal assistance it receives, SpaceX has sometimes been described as a de facto arm of NASA. What would be the difference if NASA built its own rockets? Or if the research was led by an actual rocket scientist, maybe one who didn’t make it about himself? If you are a mere mortal like me, there are only two things to go by. One is to evaluate his past predictions and promises. It’s not a good look. The other is to inspect the “vision” he expounds in public, which is drivel: a mix of nerd New Age and neoliberalism. And it’s dangerous. Musk’s idea for urban transportation is a uniquely American nightmare of three-dimensional underground car traffic, which will probably turn out to be another (literal) pipe dream. As for Mars, even if we consume all the fossil fuels we can yet unearth, then have an all-out nuclear war for dessert, Earth will still be a vastly more habitable planet. As a practical plan, terraforming Mars makes about as much sense as trying to colonize the bottom of the ocean. I can’t think of a more suitable use for the phrase “capturing our imaginations”. There’s such a legion of people around the world, including in business and politics, whose dreams and ambitions are held captive by Elon Musk’s personal mystique that our collective fate may actually end up mirroring his whims. Cults are notoriously hard to quit. In this case, leaving is not an option, even if you never wanted to join.

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therogerclarkfanclub · 9 months

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Roger's* 2024 Comic Con Schedule

Interested in knowing if Roger is coming to your city or town? Check the listings below. Updated as new info becomes available.

If you've been waiting for the opportunity to meet Roger & The Gang, or you would like to meet him/them again, feel free to bookmark ("Like" 😉) this post if you want to keep up with Roger's Comic Con appearances. I will update and reblog this list as soon as new info becomes available.

Alternatively, you can always keep tabs on Roger's social media for the latest dates.

*This is listing is not limited to just Roger, it will also include any other cast members attending a specific Con.

⭐ LAST UPDATED: August 31, 2024 ⭐

JAN 07 - Added: Fanboy Expo

JAN 25 - Added: FANEXPO Cleveland

JAN 31 - Added: RetroGameCon

MAR 04 - Added: Fanboy Expo Orlando

MAR 06 - Added: Washington Gaming Expo

APR 10 - Added: Florida Supercon

APR 21 - Added: Stellar Con York

APR 22 - Added: Sci-Fi Valley Con

MAY 04 - Added: Fanboy Expo Orlando (Alex, Roger)

MAY 04 - Added: WonderFest 2024

MAY 07 - Added: Rob to Sci-Fi Valley Con

MAY 15 - Added: New York Comic Con

JUL 02 - Added: Brasil Game Show

JUL 26 - Added: Pittsburgh Gaming Expo (Roger)

JUL 28 - Added: Pittsburgh Gaming Expo (Benjamin)

AUG 06 - Added: FanEXPO San Francisco (Rob)

AUG 11 - Added: Soda City Comic Con (Roger)

AUG 26 - Added: Rhode Island Comic Con (Alex)

AUG 31 - Added: Comic Con North East (Roger, Rob)

─────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────

GalaxyCon Presents: Animate! Raleigh

Dates: January 5-7, 2024 City: Raleigh, North Carolina Venue: Raleigh Convention Center 500 S Salisbury St. Raleigh, NC 27601 Confirmed attendees: Roger, Benjamin, Peter Cancellations: Rob

Fanboy Anime Toy Gaming Knoxville

Dates: March 9-10, 2024 City: Knoxville, TN Venue: The Knoxville Convention Center 701 Henley Street Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 Confirmed attendees: Roger, Rob

GameOn Expo

Dates: March 15-17, 2024 City: Phoenix, Arizona Venue: Phoenix Convention Center - North Building 100 N 3rd St. Phoenix, AZ 85004 Confirmed attendees: Roger & Rob

Washington State Gaming Expo

Dates: March 29-31, 2024 City: Puyallup, Washington Venue: Washington State Fair and Events Center 110 9th Ave SW Puyallup, WA 98371-6811 Confirmed attendees: Roger & Rob

FANEXPO Cleveland

Dates: April 12-14, 2024 City: Cleveland, Ohio Venue: Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland 300 Lakeside Ave E Cleveland, Ohio 44113 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

PopCon Indy

Dates: April 26-28, 2024 City: Indianapolis, Indiana Venue: Indiana Convention Center 100 South Capitol Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46225 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

WonderFest 2024

Dates: June 1-2, 2024 City: Louisville, KY Venue: Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport Hotel 830 Phillips Lane Louisville, KY 40209. Confirmed attendees: Rob

Sci-Fi Valley Con

Dates: June 7-9, 2024 City: Altoona, PA Venue: Blair Country Convention Center One Convention Center Drive 100 South Capitol Ave. Altoona, PA 16602 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

Stellar Con York

Dates: June 15, 2024 City: York, Pennsylvania Venue: York Fairgrounds 334 Carlisle Ave York, Pennsylvania 17404 Confirmed attendees: Roger

Black Hills Redemption

Dates: June 21st - 23rd, 2024 City: Deadwood, South Dakota Venue: The entire town of Deadwood Panel will be held at: Homestake Opera House Meet & greet sessions: Saloon No. 10 Confirmed attendees: Rob, Steve, Benjamin, Robert Bogue, Mick, Peter, Alex, Jim Santangeli, Howard Pinhasik, Kaili, Meeya, Jim Pirri, Curzon, Roger, Samantha, Jo, Gabriel, Penny O'Brien, John Hickok, Sophia Marzocchi Cancellations: Gabriel

Florida Supercon

Dates: July 12 - 14, 2024 City: Miami Beach, Florida Venue: Miami Beach Convention Center 1901 Convention Center Drive Miami Beach, FL 33139 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

Comic Con Wales

Dates: August 10-11, 2024 City: New Port, South Wales Venue: International Convention Centre Wales Coldra Woods Newport South Wales NP18 1HQ United Kingdom Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

Soda City Comic Con

Dates: August 24 & 25, 2024 City: Columbia, South Carolina Venue: Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center 1101 Lincoln Street Columbia, SC 29201 Confirmed attendees: Roger

🌟 Fanboy Expo Orlando 🌟

Dates: September 6-8, 2024 City: Orlando, Florida Venue: Orange County Convention Center - West Concourse 9800 International Drive Orlando, FL 32819 Confirmed attendees: Benjamin, Roger, Alex, Rob, Peter, Kaili

🌟 Pittsburgh Gaming Expo 🌟

Dates: October 4-6, 2024 City: Monroeville, Pennsylvania Venue: Monroeville Convention and Events Center 209 Mall Plaza Blvd Monroeville, PA 15146 Confirmed attendees: Roger, Benjamin

🌟 Brasil Game Show 🌟

Dates: October 09-13, 2024 (10th and 11th only for Roger) City: Sao Paulo, Brazil Venue: Expo Center Norte Rua José Bernardo Pinto, 333 Vila Guilherme São Paulo - SP 02055-000 Brasil Confirmed attendees: Roger

🌟 RetroGameCon 🌟

Dates: October 11-13, 2024 City: Syracuse, New York Venue: The Oncenter Convention Center 800 South State Street Syracuse, NY 13202 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟 New York Comic Con 🌟

Dates: October 17-20, 2024 City: New York City, New York Venue: The Jacob Javits Convention Center 429 11th Avenue New York, NY 10001 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟 Comic Con North East 🌟

Dates: October 26-27, 2024 City: Newcastle upon Type Venue: Utilita Arena Newcastle Arena Way Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne & Wear NE4 7NA, UK Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟 Rhode Island Comic Con 🌟

Dates: November 1-3, 2024 City: Providence, Rhode Island Venue: Rhode Island Convention Center & Amica Mutual Pavilion 1 Sabin Street Providence, RI 02903 Confirmed attendees: Alex

🌟 FanEXPO San Francisco 🌟

Dates: November 29, 30, and December 1st, 2024 City: San Francisco, California Venue: Moscone Center West 800 Howard Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Confirmed attendees: Rob

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