This Week in Geek 2012/10/15

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

'Tis finally the season! (image by Damian Gadal)

Multi-Day

• Horror - Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival - Silver Spring, MD - through Thurs
• The AFI Silver Theater is kicking off the Halloween season with their annual film festival. Check out this week's showings of the best new horror cinema. (*includes a post-screening Q&A with the director)
    Monday: Beyond the Grave (7:00) and Motion Sickness* (9:15)
    Tuesday: Nightmare Factory (7:00) and Gut (9:30)
    Wednesday: 247 Degrees Fahrenheit* (7:00) and Zombie 108 (9:30)
    Thursday: Nervo Craniano Zero* (7:00) and Crawl (9:30)
• More Horror - Halloween on Screen at AFI - Silver Spring, MD - through Nov 4
• If the Spooky Movie Fest wasn't enough for you, AFI is offering everything from a 90th anniversary showing of Nosferatu with live musical accompaniment to the cult favorite Shaun of the Dead. I have to stop myself before I just list out everything from their event page. Pick up tickets and go enjoy the best Halloween and horror-themed movies on the big screen again.
• More, More Horror - The Warehouse: Project 4.1 - Rockville, MD - through Nov 3
• Hallow Inc. has a warehouse filled to the brim with horror, and you too can experience the joys of a "realistic bloody, bio-hazardous warehouse filled with attacking zombies, decaying bodies, vicious military men and much more" now for the low, low price of $32. Check their schedule because they aren't open every night yet, and there are a few specials (for example, they're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays this week, on Wednesdays students get $5 off with ID, and Thursdays are saved for corporate reservations).

The promotional images from Project 4.1 look straight out of Portal
(image by Hallow Inc)

Tuesday

• Talk about the Future - Planning for the Future (Future Tense) - Washington, DC - 6:00PM
• New America Foundation, Slate Magazine, and Arizona State University have joined together in the (superhero-sounding) Future Tense Initiative, which examines emerging technologies and compacts them down into blog articles, tweets, and talks. This week's topic is thoroughly geeky: Planning for the Future is a series of talks about the infrastructure associated with internet connection, the increasing necessity of connectivity and communication, and the digital divide between the communities that are not yet connected.
• Build the Future - A White Hat Perspective on Cyber Security - Washington, DC - 6:00PM
• The Future Tense talk above includes discussion of "Individual citizens are organizing themselves and creating neighborhood Wi-Fi mesh networks" (GASP!). If you'd prefer to talk to, I don't know, the developers who are actually building exactly that, then I'd have to recommend HacDC's event. Depends on whether you prefer to hear about the theoretical conjectures and implications, or listen to the white hats, developers, and security experts who are out there making the tech. Obviously my bias will always, shamelessly, be with the makers, hackers, and DIY crowd.

So much sciency, sciency science this week!
(image from Wear Science)

Wednesday

• Science! - Science Cafe and the Science of Biodiversity - Washington, DC - 6:30PM
• Despite the reiterations of "science" in the event title, the topic for this Koshland Science Museum presentation can be broken down into several straightforward questions: How many species currently exist? How do we use and sustain them? What do we still need to know about this topic? With presenters from the fields of economics, environmental science, ecology, and evolutionary biology, the event looks perfect for those of you looking to add more crunchy hard science to your week.

Thursday

• Burlesque - Dr. Sketchy's DC is back! - Washington, DC - 7:30PM
• I first became aware of Dr. Sketchy's through Warren Ellis' post about the NYC tribute to Transmet, and I know that there are branches in Baltimore and Richmond. However, thanks to Red Palace and Reverend Valentine, the anti-art school is officially back in the district. For $10, you can show up and try your hand at drawing (yes, even if you aren't a professional artist). Check out the FAQ for more information.

Well, the poster design alone has me sold.
(promotional image from Raven's Night)

Saturday

• Cabaret - Raven's Night - Alexandria, VA - 5:00PM
• Self-described as "A Sultry Soirée of Macabre Entertainment and Dark Decadence" this event seems perfect for those who love the real fairy tales, the ones with all the gore and fear left in. The specifics of the event are shrouded in a bit of mystery, but the list of performers is impressive. Attendees should be over 18, and preferably decked out in fanciful costumes (steampunk, goth, industrial, fantasy, formal, and anything else that tickles your fancy). Grab tickets now on the Birchmere's website. 
• Challenge/Comics - Twenty-Four-Hour Comics Day - Global - All day
• 24 pages of comics in 24 hours. The challenge is deceptively simple to explain, but if my RSS feed is to be believed, absolutely grueling to complete. I'm sure there are other local comics participating, but Square City is making a meetup out of it, although not necessarily an in-person one. Check out their meetup page for information about the upcoming G+ Hangouts and other 24-Hour Comics Day goings on.

Did we miss something? If you have an event you’d like to promote that isn’t on this list, leave a comment or email us. Other weekly recurring events are listed on our website (such as Rocky, CCG tournaments, crazy themed happy hours). For more information, check out the calendars at DC Geeks. If you'd like to subscribe to DC Geeks posts, please check out our RSS feed.