Denver Pop Culture Con 2019: Day 1 Diary

3:12am Awake. Why am I awake?

3:47am Wide awake. Why? WHYYYYY?

4:18am Up. Head hurts. Maybe shower will help.

4:40am Shower did not help.

5:08am I’m so hungry. But we’re meeting for breakfast at 7:30. If I eat now, I won’t want proper breakfast.

5:10am Who am I kidding? I always want proper breakfast. I’ll just make a cup of rice noodle ramen.

5:15am And while I eat soup I’ll also make sure the gummy bear baggies are ready to go!

5:37am All right. Let’s check the list to make sure I have everything.

5:38am But wait – the sink is dirty.

5:45am I should wipe these counters too.

5:59am And the stove. Why is the stove gross??

6:10am Oh shit! Better wake up The Pook!

6:12am The Pook is stumbling around. But at least he seems friendly.

6:27am We are ready to go. Except we should have left ten minutes ago to catch the train I’d planned on catching. Maybe traffic won’t be bad.

6:32am Traffic is terrible!

6:50am Arrive at Light Rail. There goes the train we wanted!

6:52am Next train is already in station so at least we can sit on it while we wait.

6:53am Pook chooses weird seats next to the ADA wheelchair zone. At least we can stretch our legs out, I guess.

7:02am Commuters get on at Littleton station. Also a dude in a not very good Ant-Man costume.

7:03am Dude wearing Exhibitor badge for con engages Discount Ant-Man in conversation. This is a huge mistake.

7:04am First of all, Discount Ant-Man is actually Discount Thor. It turns out he has a cape which was bunched up inside the neck of the costume, and his hammer was in his backpack. Secondly, Discount Thor is the LOUDEST TALKER IN THE HISTORY OF TRAINS.

7:07am Commuters who have not yet had coffee are glaring. Guy in Exhibitor badge keeps trying to end conversation, pulling out papers to read. Discount Thor is NOT allowing it. He has stuff to say and by god, he’s going to say it.

7:08am I text Pook about how uncomfortable I am. “Same,” he texts back.

7:10am I dig in my bag for my earbuds and crank up some loud tunes.

7:14am Every time the Foo Fighters pause for air, I hear Discount Thor shout-talking. Commuters are terribly unhappy. I realize we are stuck on the train with this dude until our stop. 15 more minutes of this nonsense.

7:16am It occurs to me that 3 or 4 years ago, I would have found this funny and slightly charming. Now I am an old and jaded con-goer and I want everyone who’s been there before to bloody well act like they’ve been there before. WHY IS THIS TOO MUCH TO ASK?

​7:17am This dude with two scooters is also on the train.

7:18am Mildly attractive commuter guy gets on train. Stands too close to me so I have to stop lounging like I own the place.

7:19am He has great shoes though.

7:20am Honestly so many men fail at shoes. Just utterly fail. But these are really nice. Loafers, but not the dressy kind – the in-between kind. And a decent pair of jeans and a checkered shirt, no tie – it is Friday, after all – and a casual navy jacket.

7:22am Really great shoes.

7:23am He hates Discount Thor too. I can tell by his face.

7:24am The whole outfit, really, but the shoes in particular. So great.

7:25am I’m sure he knows his outfit is great, right? I don’t have to tell him? Someone at his home is surely in charge of this?

7:26am OMG Auraria station – we only have three minutes of this bullshit left.

7:27am Discount Thor is STILL TALKING.

7:29am Convention Center station. You’ve never seen Pook and I leap off a train so quickly. It is some superhero-level shit.

7:37am Arrive at Sam’s No. 3. Carolyn is already inside, and Megan’s car pulls up right after we get there. Yay! The gang’s all here!

7:40am We don’t get our favorite waiter but we do get one of our favorite tables. I guess we can’t have everything.

7:42am Carolyn doles out badges.

7:45am Caffeine is procured. This meeting has now come to order.

7:49am I break the bad news: I’ve forgotten the gummy bears. All the little snack bags I lovingly filled so we would have sustenance in the late afternoons of con – just sitting on the kitchen table, ignored, forgotten, unloved. Everyone is sad but we agree we’ll muddle through somehow.

7:52am FOOD. Real food. It’s glorious, just like that old musical said it was! I have eggs and bacon and all the potatoes ever.

7:58am Honestly potatoes just make me really happy.

8:09am Everyone is full now and ready to take on a Friday at con! Our now-traditional Sam’s No. 3 breakfasts before con are one of the wisest decisions we’ve ever made.

8:23am Bills have been paid, bathroom trips made, badges secured onto lanyards, and we are finally ready to walk over to the convention center. Here’s hoping there aren’t any major messes happening at the entry points.

8:30am Pook parts ways with us as he has a regular pass and we use the Media entrance. I was afraid he was going to be a jerk about it since he’s had Speed Passes in the past, but he’s too excited to spend the money burning a hole in his pocket to whine about anything, and he even hugs me as he leaves us for the regular entrance.

8:33am We walk right inside and head up the escalator to the security checkpoint – no back-ups at security as far as we can tell. Some of the staff are going through bags and stuff more thoroughly than others. I try to find a line behind someone who doesn’t have five hundred pounds of camera equipment.

8:39am It doesn’t matter – the security staff in the line I’ve selected is really into her job, and by now she has seen and commented upon every single item in my purse. I’m not sure what she’s thinking when she takes out my inhaler and holds it up and asks loudly “What is THIS?” I really want to tell her it’s a sex toy but I’m trying to behave.

8:42am Aaaanyway. Onward. To the convention floor!

8:44am Or okay – the ladies’ room and THEN the convention floor.

8:45am I mean for real, it’s that time of the month, and basically that means all I do is get atrocious cramps and pee a lot. It’s a real gift from the universe that this is happening just for comic con! Who among us doesn’t want to walk around cement floors for three days with nasty cramps and a headache and joint aches and all the other delightful stuff that comes along with menstruation?

8:55am The con floor is nice and quiet and empty of people, just how I love it most. We wander the aisles of Artist Valley, looking out for all our favorite artists and pausing at new booths that catch our eyes.

8:58am I’m NOT buying a ton of artwork though, so I need to calm down.

9:15am I’m now the proud owner of 11 new art prints.

9:17am AT LEAST THEY ARE SMALL.

9:18am Like three of them are small.

9:20am The team from Blizzard is testing their sound equipment. The head guy is coming around pre-apologizing to all the artists at their booths. He’s very nice about it. This does not change the fact that I want to murder their entire sound system its face.

9:25am Megan spies the booth of an artist she likes who makes Critical Role art, so we stop to look. Right next to this booth, someone is selling adorable DRAGONS and you can get wizard hats and house scarves and badges and dress your dragon like your little Ravenclaw baby dragon and some of the dragons have rainbow wings and omg I’m totally going to own a dragon before the weekend is through.

9:30am Oh wait, I have to pee again. At least the bathrooms are nice and clean first thing in the morning.

9:45am Anyway. I buy a Captain America print from the artist, and Megan gets some Critical Role art and we finally move on.

9:55am I decide to head downstairs before the con floor opens up to passholders. I’m going to wander around and chill before the first panel I want to see. Megan and Carolyn have to go swap out their Critical Role autograph receipts for actual tickets and this sounds very stressful as it’s taking place over in Celebrity Summit and no one wants to get trapped back there just as 5000 people are let onto the con floor. It could take DAYS to escape!

9:59am I make it down the escalator and into the main concourse of the convention center just in the nick of time – there is a huge line of people waiting to be allowed upstairs.

10:03am Time for another potty break. At this rate will spend as much of con in restroom as in panels.

10:10am Fill up my water bottle at water fountain then commence further wandering. I figure I’ll get some cosplay photos and check out the Star Wars fan group displays. Then Carolyn messages to let me know she’s already done getting her autograph passes and wants to come to the panel I’m planning to attend at 11, so she’ll meet me down here somewhere. I find some couch space in the lounge area outside the Wells Fargo Theatre and sit down to fine-tune my schedule. Notice lots of nerdy young ladies just sitting around reading books. I love this. Like, they knew they’d need a book to read so they packed one, and they’re making the most of their con down-time.

10:25am Carolyn makes it downstairs and we decide to just find the event room now. We’ve come to learn a thing or two about con and one of those things is that there is no point in standing if there are opportunities to sit down. There will be plenty of time for standing later on.

10:35am The librarian who is moderating this panel comes into the room and asks us if we have any questions for the panel, because she’ll write them down and ask them if we do. I use my old standby: What is your writing process like? And where do you find inspiration? These are lame questions, but writers always give the best answers.

10:45am The moderator is not actually a librarian, btw. She just SEEMS like a librarian.

11:00am First panel of the weekend! Graphic Novel Zeitgeist.

11:01am By the way, Carolyn only followed me here because there is a cute boy on the panel who was on The Flash tv show. Hahahahahahahaha I’m only half-kidding.

11:02am Andy Mientus. That’s the cute boy’s name.

11:03am Anyway! The authors are talking about why graphic novels capture or speak more to the zeitgeist than traditional novels right now. There is a general consensus that artists and authors of graphic novels can get away with more than novelists, and that because the medium is visual, it’s easier to make inclusive work – all you have to do is draw it. Graphic novels also make a bigger space for feminist and queer voices.

11:25am Also the trend is away from superheroes and more towards character-driven work. Middle-grade graphic novels are the biggest sellers and amongst that demographic, the massive hits are memoir-like stories – Raina Telgemeier’s work, especially Smile, is the best example. Readers want humor and characters they can relate to, both visually and emotionally.

11:35am The librarian does not ask my question so I raise my hand and ask it myself. All of the panel members answer with a variation on “I don’t believe in writer’s block so I write everyday no matter what, and there is inspiration everywhere.” Which is why they’re working authors!

11:50am When the panel ends, Carolyn and I book it to the nearest restroom.

12:00pm Then we locate caffeine for sale and get sodas.

12:09pm And find a spot to sit.

12:40pm I am off to find the room for the Cooper Andrews spotlight panel. Pook is going to meet me. Carolyn heads off to do an author interview.

12:50pm There is a line for this panel but it’s a very short one and the start time is only ten minutes from now so surely I won’t be here long. I stand and look over all the groups of people seated on the floor in the line area. There is a family eating a full picnic lunch. There is a young couple opening up Disney-themed mystery swag boxes. And right in front of me some friends are sharing sodas and M&Ms, and then one of them dumps their soda all over the carpet. And the mom in me just wants to lose my shit and start cleaning it up. But then I remember this is not my house, even though I’ve been here FOREVER.

12:57pm Pook shows up just after they let us into the panel room. He has spent the morning buying all the artwork ever. And of course it’s all horror-movie themed. Super excited about that IT clown coming to live in our house.

1:00pm Cooper Andrews! Of Walking Dead and Shazam! movie fame. He is just as adorable and funny in person. He is enjoyable to listen to. He got his start as a boom operator. He tells us a funny story about how he’s created a whole thing for his Walking Dead character where he won’t enter a room without looking all directions including UP, so he won’t be one of the characters who dies because of a walker falling on him from a ceiling. He has replaced Daryl as the “if he dies, the fans riot” character.

2:00pm Bathroom break!

2:10pm We get Pook a drink and a snack and then find a spot to sit for a bit before heading to our next panel. I check my phone and see that I’ve missed a call from work. Gross! It’s my nice coworker who is backing me up though so I guess I’ll call her back.

2:15pm She just has two quick questions about some billings. Phew. I was afraid it would be something complicated. Or that I was in trouble for something. I have residual parnoia from previous jobs, where it was unforgivable to ever take days off.

2:25pm I take Pook to buy some official Denver Pop Culture Con merch, including a tote bag for all the artwork he’s purchased today. I have him put my official pint glass in the padded pocket of his backpack. This will be important two weeks from now when I realized it’s still in there and hope he hasn’t destroyed it.

2:45pm We join the line to get into the Benedict Wong panel in one of the big theatres. The volunteer working the line strolls up and down shouting about how it’s the line for “BENEDICT WONG” so many millions of times in the next ten minutes that it doesn’t even sound like real words any longer. “BENEDICT WONG!” It’s going to haunt my dreams tonight.

3:00pm Benedict Wong! He doesn’t look at all like we expected. Probably because he has hair.

3:05pm Also as Pook points out, he talks like a Beatle.

3:10pm He is a delight.

3:11pm Benedict Wong, not Pook.

3:12pm Although Pook is also frequently a delight, that’s true.

4:00pm Bathroom break!

4:15pm Pook convinces me to go back upstairs and look at some stuff he wants to show me. This is fine, since I really want to get a dragon. But first, he insists on showing me the super cool and super expensive light saber replicas that everyone is buying. “I am NOT buying you a $200 light saber!” I tell him.

4:30pm I get my dragon. She’s green and has a Ravenclaw scarf and badge, and a black wizard’s hat. Pook is embarrassed to be seen here and hovers in the background, gazing vaguely at the Blizzard booth. I try to make him hug the dragon and he just shakes his head sadly, as though he never collected dragon baby puppets from the Renaissance Festival for 6 years of his early childhood.  

5:00pm After some further wandering, we head back downstairs and meet up with Carolyn again, and head to another bookish panel, All The World’s A Stage In Pop Culture. This one features Andy Mientus and a playwright/college educator named Crystal Skillman as the main panelists, and they talk about incorporating comic books and comic creators into their stories and stage careers. It’s a really fun conversation and when the panel is over, we linger so Pook can talk to Crystal Skillman for a few minutes about theatre education. She is so supportive and kind and even tells him to get in touch with her when he needs advice from a mentor.

6:30pm We all decide we’re too tired to stay for the opening night event and head back upstairs so we can walk back to the front of the convention center inside, instead of outdoors on the concrete. Carolyn departs to find a Lyft and Pook and I head for the Light Rail stop.

6:40pm We are dragging. And there isn’t a train to our station for almost 40 minutes. God, I hate RTD.

7:20pm We finally get on a train. We’re seated near some young women in cosplay who are also heading home from con. There is also this commuter guy I recognize from this morning, standing near where we’re seated. He asks us all about comic con and if it’s fun and what we do there. Pook will literally talk to anyone, anywhere, any time, and begins regaling this dude with a play by play not unlike the one you’re reading. Everyone starts pulling out artwork purchases to show him. I am jealous because one of the young women has a super cool Millennium Falcon poster and she doesn’t remember the name of the artist and it’s unreadable on the poster so I will either have to seriously hunt it down or learn to live without it.

7:28pm We notice after a few minutes that the train car we’re riding in is plastered from one end to the other with ads for a local law firm – the McDivitt Law Firm. It’s mostly a photo of a father and son attorney duo, but sometimes there is a little green cartoon frog. You can tell we are delirious and tired because Pook and I begin riffing on the McDivitt Law Firm the rest of the train ride, making everyone else laugh too because frankly we are hilarious, and finally Pook wonders what the deal is with the frog and I say I bet it’s because “ribbit” sort of sounds like “McDivitt”, which almost breaks Pook, it makes him laugh so hard. And it turns out I am 100% correct, according to the McDivitt Law Firm website! I still wonder how much it costs to plaster several RTD train cars with your business advertisement.

7:50pm Anyway. The train finally arrives at our station and we trudge back to the car. We text Rob to meet us at Big Bill’s for dinner and as we’re driving under the train bridge on our way out, the McDivitt Law Firm train cars roll over and we start giggling madly again.

7:59pm I know. I know it doesn’t seem that funny. But it was super funny.

8:02pm And look at the frog!

8:15pm Pizza is in the offing and then I can go home and take a glorious nap until morning.  

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for Day 2, coming… soon… ish. With 100% more Critical Role content!

For more information about Denver Pop Culture Con and Pop Culture Classroom, please visit their website: https://denverpopculturecon.com/show-info/about/