This Week in Geek 2012/02/19

A showcase of this week's finest geek and geek related activities for the week. Mark your calendars.

Longer Term

• Food - National Harbor Restaurant Week - National Harbor, MD - February 20 - March 4
• Yes, yes, yes, I know, you just left National Harbor. Between MagFest and Katsucon many of us have been spending weekends there for the last month. And yes, we all know Peri-Peri is the best place in walking distance of the Gaylord, but hey, its good to give new places a try. This way you can scout out new eateries before the next con makes you so sleep deprived that a weekend of granola bars sounds like a good idea.

No, seriously, it can be amazing.
Photo by avlxyz

• Food - Annapolis Restaurant Week - Annapolis, MD - February 20 - February 26
• And while you’re swinging towards the eastern part of Maryland just keep heading out to Annapolis. A nice change of pace for those of us off the water, more than 40 restaurants in the area will be holding fixe prix meals for the week. Get out, enjoy the last weeks of spring winter and enjoy the city.
• Arts - INTERSECTIONS Arts Festival - Washington DC - February 23 - March 11
• Dance, film, performance and readings from artists of all ranges from around the region. Personally, I need events like this. I need to get out every few weeks and experience the creativity, the energy, the visions of other people so I don’t fall into a rut of grey ashes and listlessness. It also helps me come up with the weirdest, best plots for games.
• Comedy - Jim Gaffigan - Washington, DC - February 23 - 25
• Hot pockets, spray cheese, and panda sex - that’s really all you need to know. No? Fine, fine. To my mind he’s the next step in from the Redneck Comedy guys that were the biggest draws a few years ago. He’s more like Suburban Comedy, the last show I saw focused on issues such as commercialism, overconsumption and vanity. Just don’t let the spidery, whispery voice scare you off - he just wants to pick a hole through your skull and climb into your head.
• Convention - Prezcon - Charlottesville, VA - February 20 - February 26
• I enjoy the occasional board game, though I have some friends who are heavy, heavy addicts (Roll on luggage for boardgames just for a potluck? Alright, fine, yes, I did used to need a portable filing cabinet to cart my Shadowrun books to games, I won’t throw stones) and I admit to my amateur status. Then I looked at Prezcon and realized that I’m not even an amateur. I’m a chimp banging together two pieces of sub-critical uranium because I like the sound. The main events for the con start on Wednesday, but early events start Monday. And I’m not talking little events. These folks have more than 90 tournaments going on, multiple style tracks and a whole prize system set up. Charlottesville isn’t bad this time of year and its even better if you have a board gaming monkey on your back. So head west to feed your hunger.

Remember that you have to take care of that
two-point flaw: Dependent.
Photo by Benny Mazur

• Convention - Dreamation - Morristown, NJ - February 23 - February 26
• Another one of those events that falls under “well, its outside the region but its big, so...” Then again heading to that part of New Jersey is actually closer than heading to the southern edges of Virginia, just with more traffic. That being said, if you’re a gamer like me than Dreamation looks amazingly appealing. More than 700 gaming events, entertainment, poker and national events as well it bears more than a brief look. If anyone does head out to Dreamation this weekend, please, drop me a line and tell me about your experience. Oh, a final note, you can only reserve game seats if you’re preregistered, so hop to it.
• Convention - MangaNext - East Rutherford, NJ - February 24 - February 26
• You know, if you’re going to be in New Jersey anyway... MangaNext bills itself as the only dedicated manga convention in the country and I see no reason to disbelieve that. Given the size and quality of AnimeNext I’m willing to put some faith in to the organizers and just head up. Well, I would if I hadn’t already blown my con budget for the quarter. However, that’s no reason for you not to go. Personally I’d love to see the results of their 24 Hour Figure Building Challenge.
• Convention - MystiCon - Roanoke, VA - February 24 - Feburary 26
• This week’s contribution from the series of small and medium sized cons that take place in the Valley during this time of year (ShevaCon being last week and Madicon coming up in a couple of weeks). A good offering of games and what looks like a great collection of panels, workshops, and presentations for the curiour geek are offered up for your consumption.

Saturday

• Performance - Truth, Justice and the American Way of Lying - Fairfax, VA - 7:00 PM
• Presented by a collective of storytellers in Virginia, this event introduced me to the group I’ve been looking for for years, even though I didn’t know what to call it (lack of appropriate terms is the bane of my Google-fu). In this installment its a group of storytellers telling tales of moral corruption, public disgrace, the lies people tell in office and just what the truth is.

Other weekly reoccurring events are listed on our website (such as Rocky, CCG tournaments, crazy themed happy hours) and with the holidays over they’re back with a vengeance! For more information, check out the calendars at DC Geeks.