w00tstock: Comic Con Edition

One of my top 3 events at Comic Con this year has to be the w00stock 3.0. The Better Half and I saw a w00tstock in Portland last year and it blew my mind -- I had no idea how much live, nerdy goodness could happen in one place in one night.

If you haven't heard about w00tstock yet, the basic idea is 3+ hours of music, stories, and video shorts focused on nerd culture. Musicians Paul & Storm organized this round in the geek capital (for 1 week a year), also starring Wil Wheaton (Eureka, Leverage, The Guild, and of course STNG) and Adam Savage (Mythbusters). Each version of w00tstock mixes up all the other players, sometimes including local/regional performers.

Version 3.0 featured ukulele & YouTube phenom Molly Lewis:

Mike Phirman (of Hard n' Phirm):

And video shorts between acts, like Axe Cop (art by a 29 year-old; story by his 5 year-old brother -- it's awesome):

Others too, but I don't have links or names to all of them.

I laughed my butt off for so long my cheeks hurt when I left.

I've already vowed to the Better Half that if there's a w00tstock to be seen on the West Coast (perhaps further if time/money permits), we're there. In the words of Paul & Storm's classic "Frogger! The Frogger Musical:"

Now that you have got my back
I see a new plan of attack
And suddenly the path is clear
The way to get to there from here

From the turtle to croc to stump
Getting closer with every jump
We reach the end somehow
Then I look in your eyes
And now I’m home…

(Lighter's/cell phones waving in the air)

w00tstock tickets - PDX

It takes a lot for me to leave the house for anything other than work anymore. But I saw that w00tstock is coming to Portland in May and couldn't help myself! I'm doing it people -- I am leaving the house for a non-work related event.

If you haven't heard about w00tstock, it is described as the following:

For decades, geeks were ostracized, picked on, laughed at and punished by the sun’s harmful UV rays. But there is only so long that a people can be kept down before they rise up against their oppressors; and, indeed, the dawn of the 21st century has seen the ascendancy of geeks and geek culture.

We now celebrate that rise to power–and let’s face it, nerds pretty much run everything now–with w00tstock, a special event for geeks of every stripe. Television host/special-effects artist Adam Savage (“MythBusters”), actor/author/blogger Wil Wheaton (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”, “Stand By Me”) and music-comedy duo Paul and Storm (hey; that’s us!) present a night of songs, readings, comedy, demonstrations, short films, special guests, and other clever widgets born from and dedicated to the enthusiasms, obsessions, trials and joys of geek pride.

This is the dawning of the Age of Geekdom–and its voices will ring true at w00tstock.

This event will help fill my geek-event quota nicely. To find out more, or get tickets of your own (you know you want to!), go here.