Archive for February, 2009

The guest list for the 20th annual FX con, one of the area's biggest pop culture conventions, has been announced:

James Marsters - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, Dragonball and Torchwood
Julie Benz – Dexter, Buffy, Angel, Rambo 4 and one of the Punisher movies
Lindsay Wagner – Bionic Woman (the good one)
Ray Park – GI Joe, Star Wars (prequel) and X-Men
Mark Goddard – Lost in Space

Going to an FX con is like going to several different cons at the same time (and in the same building, all using the same bathrooms). While the celebrity guests are signing autographs and posing for pictures, comic book fans are meeting famous guest writers and artists, horror fans are buying up memorabilia, doll and stuffed bear fans are doing whatever doll and stuffed bear fans do, and the rest are busy cosplaying, gaming or just trying to get by for the golf convention in the next wing. It's a madhouse, and a fun one.

This year they're also launching a celebrity poker challenge. According to the release: "The FX Celebrity Poker Challenge is a charitable event with 100% of the net proceeds being donated to the American Cancer Society and other related organizations. Dealers will consist of FX guest celebrities, local celebrities, comic book professionals and tournament staff. The celebrity dealers will rotate from table to table, allowing all players an opportunity to meet them." Meaning you'll have to keep your poker face on while various vampires and Lords of the Sith loom over you. Watch those tells!

FX 2009 is later in the year this year, running April 17th-19th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.  Get more details at the FX Web site.

There's another serial killer coming to town! Fortunately, it's just Serge.

Serge A. Storms is the monomaniacal, relentlessly cheerful, homicidally inclined "hero" of 11 books by author and former newspaperman Tim Dorsey. Along with his sidekick, the chemically-enhanced and clinically laid-back Coleman, Serge travels the length and width of the state appreciating the finer points of Florida while taking a moment to deal deadly and creative karma to to con men, tourist hustlers and the inexcusably rude (as defined, of course, by Serge).

This time Serge has a new sideline: blogging travel tips to needy travelers. And not the boring stuff like pool quality or finding the best drink specials. No, he delves into the important things every tourist needs to know, like how to recognize barracuda hookers, how to determine which cars at the motel belong to felons and the vital importance of Home Depot to the casual killer.

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