Nerdtacular 2015

Wow.

I've been a member of the Frogpants community for a while now. I came into it via their most popular podcast, "The Instance", when I was playing World of Warcraft a lot more than I do now.

Since then I have become a regular consumer of several of the podcasts, notably "Film Sack", "The Morning Stream" (yeah, it is something of an unfortunate title), and "Comic Dorks" (which I think has sadly disappeared into the void). There are several more shows that should appeal to almost any variety of nerd out there. As new people come into the family of shows and old ones spin off into new ventures (but remain close), the shows continue to grow and change.

But the greatest thing about these shows is the people. From the celebrities to the newest fan, these are some of the coolest, most open, most welcoming people I've ever had the privilege to know.

Every year since 2009, Scott Johnson (host of many of the shows) and his family have put on an ever expanding group gathering in their home town, Salt Lake City, Utah, where they and as many of the networks hosts as possible come to hang out, talk, run panels, and share experiences/put on shows. This is the first year that I have attended.

Again, wow. The crew was amazing, the scenery was to die for (we held the convention at the Snowbird resort), the food was out of this world, the service phenomenal, and the people were amazing. I keep saying that because it 's true.

I've been to a few conventions. Thus far a few Trek cons put on by Creation, a couple of the Emerald City Comic Cons, and of course PAX Prime several times. I've never felt the same about any of those cons or their attendees. Each of those others still felt like a bunch of strangers crammed together in moderately polite groupings, but there was still an inherent standoffish feeling.

It certainly never helped that in each of these the event was so crammed that every single show or gathering you wanted to go to was crammed in a sweaty mass of humanity giving off a collective "ugh, leave me alone".

Not so with the Frogpants folks. I just couldn't help smiling while wandering the convention. EVERYONE was nice.

I missed a few shows I wanted to see, but caught many more that were just a blast.

I will link what I can as it comes up to YouTube.

Must. Go. Again!