This Week in Geek: Happy Memorial Day Weekend

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

Wonderful Death and Dream cosplay
(image by Mike Goren)

Longer Term

• Convention - Balticon - Baltimore, MD - Friday through Monday
• In its 47th year, Balticon is now an institution. Although the con’s main focus is literary with panel and presentation tracks for writers, editors, small press, and readers (which will make many of book geeks sigh with delight), it also covers the usual con basics of anime, art, costuming, and way too many others to list out.
• Convention - GAD-Con - White Marsh, MD - Friday through Sunday
• The Games and Dice convention is this weekend. From the event list, it looks like there are more tournaments and Pathfinder games than there are hours in the con. With “dice” right in the name, doesn’t it give you nostalgia for that first mug of dice you bought all those years ago? At $40 for the weekend, it’s definitely worth consideration. Here’s their Facebook Page.

Friday

• Burlesque - Twisted Teases - Washington, DC - 8:45PM and 11:00PM
• This event was a request by Wendy Bryan (owner of I Heart Guts) because we promised to let her know about the next burlesque show. And the Black Cat has provided us with perfect timing. Unwind from the week with Twisted Teases, a troupe that promises a night of weird, wild, and unexpected variety.

Dear tourists, remain calm.
(image from DC Zombie Lurch by Joe Loong)

Saturday

• Zombies - DC Zombie Crawl - Washington, DC - 6:00PM
• Registration is $25 and the proceeds go to Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation. Meet up on the Mall, dressed in your zombie finest. at 7:00PM zombies will respectfully take over their designated sections of the mall. Then, if you’re over 21, at 9:00PM the party will continue down to Adams Morgan. And you get a cool bracelet that’ll get you discounted drinks at several bars.
• Holiday - Geek Pride Day - Global - All day
• Do we need a pride day? Haven’t the geeks effectively won? That may be sacrilegious (as the author, Aine accepts all blame/hate mail). Instead of using this day to gloat with your friends about who won last week’s round of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, consider looking at ways to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) in local schools.
• Activism - The Glorious 25th of May - Global - All Day
• What started as a mere reference in Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch, has grown to mean much more. Originally, on May 25th, characters of the book “took the lilac” to commemorate the Glorious Revolution - fitting that it should be so close to Memorial Day. However, because of the beloved author’s diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s, some fans have taken to wearing lilac to raise awareness and funds towards researching a cure.

"If you don't know where there was, you weren't there."
(image by Liam Moloney)

• Run! - Survive DC - Washington, DC - 7:00PM to 1:00AM
• You know the next check point, whether it's asking a stranger for a signature or garnering some other arbitrary proof that you've hit the right location. They, They are always after you, relentless. You don't know who They are, but you know that if you fall, you'll become one of them - a chaser. Now run, little adrenaline junkie, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

Sunday

• M:tG - Dragon Maze Game Day - Washington, DC - 1:00PM to 6:00PM
• Standard Format tournament for those of you already familiar the Magic: the Gathering tourney rules. Each player gets a promo card (top players will get foils), with first place claiming a champion playmat. There’s only room for 24 players, though - so show up early. “Entry fee is $5. Standard-legal sets include Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored, Core Set 2013, Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, and Dragon's Maze.”

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.