1 Day Until Pax

Tomorrow is the big day, and I hope we are ready! Today’s final countdown to PAX post, and possibly one of the last posts you’ll see until Monday depending on how busy we get out here, is a quick preview of the panels we are the most interested in. Panels are great because you get to hear from people on specific topics and often have some good question and answer time with those people. This blog was conceived during the Geek is No Longer a Four Letter Word panel at PAX East, so we especially appreciate how panels can spark ideas. Here are some that look great to us.

This was the Pitch Your Game Panel at PAX East.

2 Days Until PAX: Concerts

PAX is just so close! The excitement is crazy. So, let me tell you about one of my absolute favorite parts of PAX: the concerts. I am a music lover, sometimes a music geek even. Therefore, being able to have two nights of geeky music concerts as part of PAX is awesome to me. Let me tell you about my favorites that you should be looking for.

A pic from the awesome PAX East concerts by Brian

3 Days Until PAX: Games

Let’s be honest, PAX is a video gaming convention, and one of the things that people really want to do there is play video games. Fortunately, there are a variety of games to check out on the expo floor. The games range from big name to indie to local developers, and encompass a variety of styles. Here’s some stuff we’re excited about.

A shot of one of the PAX East games.

4 Days Until PAX: Celebrities

One of the great things about going to places like PAX is the possibility of running into someone totally awesome like Wil Wheaton. Okay, that’s my dream, but there are many equally awesome celebrities to be found at PAX and here’s how to find them, and how not to freak out when you do!

Two of my favorite celebs in one place! Swoon!

5 Days Until PAX: Swag

PAX East, 2010, was my first PAX, and it was quite the learning experience. Therefore, I thought that I would give people some quick ideas of what to expect and how to make the most of your PAX experience. All week, I’ll have brief articles on various things to know to improve a PAX experience.

Today: Swag

Some swag gotten by Alex and found on Flickr

1 Week Until PAX: Gabe!

O.M.G. We are only a week away from the greatest video game convention this year! I’m already in Seattle learning the lay of the land. Actually, I’m at ISME, the International Symposium on Microbial Ecology. That’s been pretty great. Still, I’m more excited than ever about PAX. I have a color coded, highlighted schedule. I have handmade costumes for the pub crawl. I have a collection of games to play in line. Yeah, I’m close to ready.

Now, I just have to worry about one more thing: how to not go super-crazy-squee-fangirl when I meet Gabe and Tycho! Last week, we highlighted just how awesome and incredible Tycho is, and this week we’re going to talk all about the ever-so-much fun Gabe! Gabe is so hilarious that it has been tough not making this article really, really, really, long. I hope that you enjoy Gabe as much as we do, and I hope that he’s incredibly awesome close-up and in person!

Sexy Gabe is sexy!

2 Weeks Until PAX: Tycho!

We are a mere 2 weeks from PAX! I’m actually leaving for Seattle on Sunday because I have a scientific conference the week before PAX. Our badges came in the mail today, yay! My Harry Potter pub crawl costumes are close-ish to done. I made a color coded version of the schedule grid. I think I might be almost ready. However, with only two weeks to go, there’s only two important things left to highlight in our Countdown to PAX series, and that is the gentlemen who started this whole thing: Gabe and Tycho. This week I’ve got some comics that show the various awesome facets of Tycho. Now, without further ado: Tycho, the Man, The Myth, the One Who Is Always Fussing At Gabe.

3 Weeks Until PAX: Favorite T-Shirts

PAX will soon be upon us, and that means we are starting to plan important things, like what to wear to PAX! Although we have some amusing plans for the Harry Potter themed pub crawl, the rest of the time we are probably going to be in classic geek attire: t-shirts. It just so happens that Penny Arcade sells t-shirts, and some pretty awesome ones at that, so today we are going to highlight a few of our favorites.

Now, Penny Arcade’s selection of shirts in women’s cuts could be better (we might be trying to start a petition for all designs to be released in girl cut …), but there are quite a few enjoyable ones, including a number that we own!

This is the infinite slide based on the game Portal and portrayed in this strip. This shirt confuses more people in my lab than anything else I wear. I guess they’re just not thinking with portals.

4 Weeks Until PAX: Strip Sagas

We are getting so close to PAX and it’s so exciting! Just under a month to go and we’ll be in Seattle. Our theme for this week’s countdown is actually quite timely as we are going to discuss some of the continuing stories that Penny Arcade has done over their years. Although most stips are just snippets from the lives of Gabe and Tycho, once in a while a story requires more than one strip and becomes what I call a saga. Here are just a few of my favorites.

I’ll start recent, because we just got to see what I think was one of the best stories on Penny Arcade. Although the idea was conceived by Gabe and Tycho, it was implemented fabulously by  Ben Caldwell and Gary Whitta. Start with part one and then click forward to read the whole story.

5 Weeks Until PAX: Favorite Anthropomorphic Strip Characters

The countdown continues as we draw yet another week closer to PAX. As I’ve read Gabe and Tycho’s strips over the years, I’ve noticed that my husband and I are often drawn to some of the interesting characters that appeared over the years. Although we’ve encountered many great parodies of people who know and some interesting DnD characters, the most amusing ones tend to be the anthropomorphic creations that steal the show more often than not. Today, we offer a tribute to these lovable (sometimes) creatures.