With the unprecedented oddness that is 2020, we could all use just a little pick me up. Sadly, this year has seen a lot and it’s only April. Yet there have been plenty of silver linings. While Denver Pop Culture Con announced earlier this month that it would be delaying until November, many have been left feeling out of sorts and concerned. Coronavirus has literally taken over nearly ever slice of media, and it’s hard to go a day without hearing about it. Many are left either not working or working from home, schools have been canceled and moved to online, and some amazing things have been postponed. So, what are we all to do in these trying times? Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but I have been using this time to catch up on some amazing works of literature. Personally, I’m reading Good Omens, which is also an amazing show on Amazon! Now is a wonderful time to get lost in a book, graphic novel, and even get the kids into it! Amidst all the oddness of our lives that is 2020, things have never been more optimal for finding a little reprieve from a good story. After all it’s stories that lift our spirits, give us hope, and inspire us in hard times.
 
With all that, Pop Culture Classroom has announced its winners for the 2020 Excellence in Graphic Literature! Who doesn’t love a good graphic novel? This award honors the best graphic novels in both fiction and nonfiction. There are many categories that books can win, which just goes to show how dedicated Pop Culture Classroom is to expanding its reach across genres and ages. These awards are a prestigious affair that any author and artist should be proud to take part in. These published works have been reviewed by a wide panel that look at many aspects of a graphic novel in order to truly decide what deserves a nod but know that all the amazing novels submitted for the award are worthy of a read. These novels also cover a wide range that deal with topics such as sexuality, faith, family, self-identity, self-acceptance, and so much more. Graphic novels have not always been considered to be an important part of literature, but thanks to organizations like Pop Culture Classroom, the graphic novel is finally getting the recognition it deserves. 
 
This year’s EGL Book of the Year winner is White Bird: A Wonder Story by R. J. Palacio. This is a beautiful story that takes place in France, during the Nazi invasion, following a young Jewish girl in hiding. This beautiful coming of age story showcases how truly important empathy is, and how acts of kindness are often the most courageous. Emotionally provoking and stunning, this novel definitely deserved the title of Book of the Year.
 
The Mosaic award is dedicated to novels that revolve around different nationalities, ethnicities, diverse sexualities, genders, and even beliefs. Now, if ever there were graphic novels I wish to have had growing up, its these. This year’s winner is called Kiss Number 8 and it is by Colleen AF Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw. This is a novel I could have honestly used in my life at 16, let me tell you. It follows a teen who’s desperately trying to get their life balanced; between faith, family, and the struggles of sexuality, that’s not always an easy task. In the end this is a hopeful story filled with so many emotions, but the main lesson is self-acceptance. 
 
Now these are not the only award winners! Other winners include Akissi: More Tales of Mischief, by Marguerite Abouet and Mathieu Spain for Best in Children Graphic Literature. Guts, a nonfiction graphic novel by Raina Telemeier won Best Middle Grade Graphic Novel alongside its fiction and Book of The Year counterpart White Bird: A Wonder Story. And while Kiss Number 8 is the Mosaic of the year, it is also this year’s fiction piece winner for The Best Young Adult Graphic Literature, while the nonfiction award in this category goes to King of King Court by Travis Dandro.  And lastly, the awards for Best Adult Graphic Literature award for fiction went to The Hard Tomorrow by Eleanor Davis and A Fire Story by Brian Fries took this award for nonfiction.
 
With so many different categories, topics, and options, it’s good to see how Pop Culture Classroom has strived to push literacy across ages. The stereotype that graphic novels are for preteens has long since been dispelled with PCC’s dedication and hard work. Graphic novels are a growing art form that can convey so many topics just as much as any normal novel. Often times a graphic novel can go further than its conventional predecessor. There has always been an unspoken draw to comics that many have used to escape reality, which is why they are as popular now more than ever. Yet the graphic novel has often been written off as nothing more than a silly pastime. The shift in cultural acceptance and the growing number of graphic novels has been a warm welcome into society. Graphic novels have proved that they are more than just the comic strips of old printed for sheer entertainment. They have tackled the most difficult of topics and reached out to the world to let people know, they’re not alone. To see such a diverse range of topics covered in a variety of age appropriate material just goes to show that graphic literature is just as serious. It’s here to stay and it’s desperately needed.
 
To all the award winners of Pop Culture Classroom’s 2020 Excellence in Graphic Literature awards, we here at Nerds That Geek would like to personally congratulate and thank you for your continued dedication to the craft and the spreading of literacy in the most creative of ways. You are pioneers in uncharted territory carving the way for future generations who will one day look back at your brilliance with awe. You’re making a new genre of learning possible and helping those who struggle with all these life topics never feel alone. May you continue to inspire us all.

I have begun to take the natural pairing of baseball and Star Wars for granted recently. Not so long ago the juxtaposition of these two very different fan bases didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. But as this pairing becomes more matter-of-fact it opens us up to further analysis of both as time, baseball and Star Wars move on, grow, and change. “Franchise fatigue” has become the subject of some debate these days; whether it even exists, if it does what constitutes that fatigue, and whether certain fan bases are experiencing it. 
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At its core, franchise fatigue is about over-saturation and diminishing quality. In film the franchises that bear names like Alien, Predator, Terminator, and even the MCU come under fire as they continue to roll out film after film with a dizzying frequency that gives viewers pause. We’ve come to expect a certain level of quality and spectacle as these massive stories evolve from film to film and as fan service and tired tropes rear their ugly heads more and more frequently, we begin to resent our movie-going dollars, hungry for surprises, for ingenuity. Perhaps no franchise is more beset by a passionate or perhaps presumptuous fanbase desperate to avoid fatigue than the Star Wars Saga. 

The Star Wars fan is unique in their very specific ideas about how story ought to progress, how tone should shift, and perhaps most juvenilely, how characters ought to evolve or fail to do so. We hadn’t started to discuss the notion of fatigue with regard to the Star Wars saga until after the release of the divisive Last Jedi film, but I would say that film serves as an example of the inevitability of that conversation. For better or worse, that film was different from what we had come to expect from our Star Wars films, it zigged when it should have zagged and it zigged so dramatically that it split the earth between members of its fandom. But it got us thinking about what the franchise was, what it could be, and how different our opinions of those ideas were in the fandom.

Now I could get caught up in the factors that contributed to the tabling of the slated Anthology films after the lukewarm reception and box office performance of Solo, a film that might very well be the first greatest casualty of franchise fatigue, and the, in my opinion, small-minded outrage inspired by Episode VIII, but that would lead us a bit off track. This is about Star Wars, but it’s also about Baseball. 

It would be strange to talk about franchise fatigue in relation to baseball. Or would it? I don’t think it’s too big a stretch to talk about Baseball as a form of storytelling. In fact, Baseball is a decades long story with its ebbs and flows, its shifting cast of players, and directing managers just like a film franchise. Just like Star Wars. I mean it is called “the show.” So why don’t we discuss fatigue as fans of baseball, the way we have begun to as fans of Star Wars? It’s not as if baseball fans are immune to over saturation or diminishing quality. The life cycle of any team season to season can fluctuate from hopeful optimism all the way through the seven stages of grief as poor management, underperforming prospects, or just plain bad luck radically alter the narrative of that franchise. So what is it that keeps us coming back to baseball after a season of disappointment, of these fatiguing circumstances? It’s distance certainly; having time and space enough to miss baseball helps. The new release every six months’ time frame that Disney had set out for Star Wars certainly contributed to fans experiencing fatigue. But more than that, the thing that keeps us coming back to Baseball, and ultimately the thing that will continue to bring us back to Star Wars despite fatigue, is nostalgia. 

I’ve said it before, as long as Disney is going to churn out new Star Wars films, I will be in the theater to see them. Doesn’t matter the quality, how bad the last one is, how silly the premise. And you know why? Because of that body buzzing exhilaration I feel in that theater the second I hear the opening flourish of the Star Wars Theme. It’s there for me every time and it takes me right back to being a little kid, sat a little too close to the TV, listening to my Dad reading me the opening crawl because I was too young to read it myself. It’s the same walking out and seeing the crisp lawn of the baseball diamond, every time I get that rush, that excitement, that little kid feeling that, “this is where baseball happens!” I believe that the power and purity of that feeling is what keeps us coming back to baseball year after year and I believe that same feeling is the secret to overcoming our franchise fatigue with Star Wars. 

You know the old adage, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out”? We might need to spin that to cover a certain annual trend in Major League Baseball. Let’s try: “I went to a Star Wars convention and a baseball game broke out”. That would be the most apt description of how Star Wars nights are trending. What began as a unique theme night has turned into a beloved tradition, a gathering of nerdy organizations and fans from around Colorado, and an extension of the comic and pop culture conventions that the state has to offer.
 
The sixth rendition of the event took place last Saturday, August 3rd, at Coors Field. This may have been the biggest one yet. Walking around, it was hard to distinguish whether you were at a con or at a baseball game, as the number of Star Wars shirts and costumes rivaled the number of Rockies shirts and baseball jerseys. The Mountain Garrison 501st Legion made their usual costumed appearance. They and stormtroopers, Wookies, and Jedi of all ages took the field pre-game for an impressive cosplay parade, the biggest one I’ve seen in my years attending the event. The line of cosplayers wrapped around the entirety of the field and then some. Just as impressive was the line of individuals collecting their beautifully designed purple Boba Fett t-shirt from the theme night ticket package. Fans entering the game early also walked away with an awesome R2-D2 drink koozie. 
 
The festivities continued throughout the concourse. A table of artists cranked out Star Wars sketches for fans, while face painters on the other side of the ballpark decked kids out as their favorite characters or with cool Star Wars designs. The Coors Field graphics team came up with another outstanding and hilarious Star Wars crawl for the jumbotron, taking shots at the opposing San Francisco Giants (and their famed garlic fries) along the way. The rest of the video package and the graphics throughout the game were a blast. 
 
The game on the field was a thrilling one, despite a heartbreaking home loss for the Rebellion. On paper, the matchup between two struggling NL West teams looked to be far from a powerful clash of the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. Instead, it was a back and forth affair that was so dramatic at times, it felt like “Duel of the Fates” should be blaring over the stadium speakers. The Giants held off an attempted Rockies’ rally in the bottom of the 9th to escape the mountainous Planet Coors with a 6-5 win. 

The mixed crowd of Star Wars and baseball fans was electric, to the tune of 47,540 in attendance. It’s becoming quite clear that Star Wars theme nights are both a staple and a major draw across the MLB. In fact, 29 of the 30 MLB teams hosted or plan to host a Star Wars game in the 2019 season. It has become a staple for fans of the franchise, too. What may have initially been a novelty for Star Wars fans is now a yearly staple marked on the calendar months in advance, as evidenced by those who bought their themed ticket package early and turned out in droves for the game. Sci-fi and sports have come to a harmonious accord that is sure to last long past Episode VII in 2020.

You know, it’s extremely difficult for any particular event to maintain the magic and wonder that one finds when you first attend it. Because by year two and beyond, you know what you’re getting into, which gives one a sense of routine and comfortability to the point where sometimes, you eventually let that event fade into your memory because hey, been there, done that. But, believe it or not, there are events out there that remain special and wondrous every time you swing by and in the city of Denver, there are two events that meet that particular criteria. One of them, is Denver Pop Culture Con, since it offers something new and lively every single year and the other, is the Denver Pop Culture Con Beer Release Party, an event put together by local beer wunderkind, Breckenridge Brewery.
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Which quite frankly, is quite the incredible feat, because on paper, this whole event should seem quite routine. You go in, you grab your collector’s glass, taste the beer in question and get on with your day. But every single year that I’ve attended this event, I’ve done so with a smile on my face, and I’ve looked forward to it every single year simply because this event really is something special and worth celebrating and after attending it for the umpteenth time this past weekend, I really took the time to reflect upon what makes it so special and so wonderful and it just so happens that the answer to that particular question ended up being far simpler than I expected it to be. For the real magic when it comes to the Beer Release Party is that it offers up loads of fun and, it provides the nerds and geeks that attend it, with a sense of community and for proof, look no further than this year’s event.

Because just walking up to the Monkey Barrel Bar, there was a sense of joy and excitement hanging in the air courtesy of the smiles that were plastered on everyone’s faces as they sipped on the new beer and chatted it up while the music gently thrummed in the background and that’s the kind of vibe that instantly perks you up. Because it means you’re about to share in the fun that everyone else is having and that just puts you in a good place mentally and, the smile on my face only grew when I stepped through those doors. For everyone inside the bar was simply basking in the moment, and reveling in the celebration and it was just a delight to see people complimenting one another’s costumes and talking about what they were looking forward to seeing at DPCC and really, all of this relates to that sense of community I made mention of a moment ago. Because everyone here was relaxed and clearly felt at home and the fact that I was able to say hello to some familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in ages only added to that vibe and once we all settled in with our nerdy brethren, that’s when the fun started.

Because thankfully, I got there right before the final word came down on who won the costume contest and that meant that I was in for quite the treat. For there was a tie for first place, and the only way to determine a winner, was to have a good old-fashioned dance off and this was outright amazing. In large part due to the fact that a Thanos costume was part of this final challenge and well, dear reader, I suppose it’s safe to say that you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Thanos twerk in real life and that happened here and the hilarity of that moment, and the joy it brought to the crowd only added to the energy of the night, and once the dance-off had concluded with Thanos as the loser, the crowd took to the dance floor and let loose with their nerdy selves and while I’m not one to cut a rug, seeing people dance from afar, and enjoying the new beer with my friends was enough to keep me happy and the fun and the laughs just kept rolling as the night went on, and it was wonderful to see people heading home for the night still grinning and from what I can tell, the party kept on going long after I left, and my group left pretty darn late.

Oh, but I’m almost getting ahead of myself here, because we cannot forget about the beer and whether or not Bocks Machina is worth a taste and, in a nutshell, the beer is outright delicious. It’s flavorful, it delivers on everything that Breckenridge Brewery promises, and it definitely goes down smooth and I’ll absolutely be having another one of these at the con. But, outside of that, this really was another incredible beer release party, and I cannot thank the folks at Breckenridge Brewery and Denver Pop Culture Con for taking the time to put on this event so close to the convention itself because I’m sure they have plenty of prep to do. But the awesomeness of the beer, and the care that went into this party, just goes to show that both organizations truly care about the community they serve, and the fans that make DPCC a rousing success and I’ll definitely be back next year to see what wonderful brew the Breckenridge folks have planned for all us to enjoy and to take part in that magnificent sense of community that’s present at a party, that’s truly designed for nerds and geeks.  

Tradition is a word that holds great weight with all of us. Because we all have traditions that we carry out that are near and dear to our hearts, for various personal reasons. For some, it’s about keeping something unique and wonderful going, and the thought of helping to create wonderful and joyous memories is what motivates us to pass it along from generation to generation and for others, well, sometimes tradition is all about keeping the memory of a loved one alive. Yet what truly makes tradition special, is the sheer fact that it unites us in ways we never thought possible. For when we take part in it, there’s a feeling of community that comes along with it, and that’s why I’m so happy this time of year.
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Because spring time and/or the beginning of summer is when nerds and geeks in Denver take part in their own unified tradition, the kind that celebrates everything we love about our favorite fandoms when we all assemble at Denver Pop Culture Con. But while the con in and of itself is important, what this convention has meant to the community speaks volumes to its wonder since it has helped to spring forth all kinds of wonderful new events, traditions if you will, that we can all take part in before the con kicks off and one that everyone loves to celebrate is the annual unveiling of the Denver Pop Culture Comic Con beer and wouldn’t you know it? The time has come once again to celebrate that new brew, come next Saturday night.

Yes, that’s right, come May 25th, anyone who heads down to The Monkey Barrel at 7 p.m. can get their hands on the latest Pop Culture Con brew from Breckenridge Brewery, Bocks Machina, and well, it looks like this this year’s party is going to be quite the wonderful event. Because not only will the first 200 nerds through the door get their hands on the fancy pint glass (pictured below) designed by artist Nick Hughes, there were will also be a DJ present, who will belt out tunes for everyone to dance to atop an LED Dance Floor and of course, it’s best you take the time to ready the costume you’ve been dying to wear because there will be a cosplay contest as well and the winner of this competition will get their hands on free tickets to Denver Pop Culture Con 2019.

But, since traditions hold their own magical meaning for everyone, I know that some people swing by this event to simply share in the wonder of a once in a year brew and thankfully Breckenridge Brewery is planning to take good care of the beer nerd as well. For Bocks Machina (which is a play on Vox Machina, the group from the web series Critical Role, and don’t forget you can see the cast at the con!), is another unique and exclusive entry in the DPCC beer family, since it just so happens to be a Malbock recipe. But, it’s not just any recipe, this particular one is Breckenridge Brewery’s own concoction and it managed to win a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival and what makes this golden and malty lager so special is its honey and grain taste, and sweet fruit sense, elements that should delight every beer lover at the con.

If anything, this is truly going to be a magical event. Because I don’t know of any other convention out there that’s inspired this kind of build up to the big weekend itself, nor do I know of any other brewery that goes the extra geeky mile to produce something as unique as a yearly beer for a convention and well, it’s just wonderful to know that every single year, nerds and geeks in Denver can take part in these lovely set of traditions and chat about the fandoms they share in over a cold and delicious brew and I cannot wait to see what fun will be had next week at Monkey Barrel, when we all kick of the countdown to DPCC 2019 in style.  

I remember my first ball game. We were living in Hayward California and my Dad got tickets to see the Oakland A’s play at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum with some of his buddies in the Marine Corps. I remember tailgating in the stadium parking lot, chasing after balls I couldn’t quite catch yet with kids I didn’t know, whose parents I didn’t know but it didn’t matter. That day felt different. We had all come together for something special, something that would reframe in my mind what baseball was. I don’t know who won, I don’t know what the score was, but I remember walking out and seeing that crisp green grass, and that rich brown alleyway lined with white chalk, that perfect, pure arena under an open sky and it was magic.

​There’s a moment in every ball game I’ve been to since that I attend as an adult (most of them at Coors Field), when the murmur of the crowd, the booming familiarity of the announcer swell and fade like the waves of the ocean, and I look out at the sun’s dying light and those lights burst to life, and I see that pure green, brown, and white diamond stretched out in front of me, and that magic returns. Doesn’t matter the seats, the company, the score, or the opponent, being at the ballpark fills me up in a way that few things do.

This past weekend I got a bit of that magic dear readers and a whole lot more. Through Nerds That Geek I was fortunate enough to receive press credentials for one of my favorite nights in baseball: Star Wars Night at Coors Field. I didn’t know what to expect as we ascended the elevator heading for the Press Room. I wasn’t ready. The emotion, the wave of joy, of childhood hopes never before manifested or imagined, staggered me. It was like magic. It was like seeing a ballpark for the first time again. To watch a game start from that room, to see the pitch move toward you in that room you’ve seen in the movies, was spectacular. That room, so familiar and yet so lofty, unattainable. I got to be in that room. I got to see baseball happen in that room. Readers this is an event centered on Star Wars, the lifeblood of the nerd laying these words out before you. I’ve only mentioned the theme once. This is how large baseball looms in my life, how ever-present it seems, and it’s frighteningly similar to the role Star Wars plays in my life.

I don’t remember a time in my life when I hadn’t seen Star Wars, there’s no grand crossover, no dark period before the guiding light of sabers. It feels built in, like a standard feature of my brain. It seems quaint now to think of the deflation, of the loss I felt walking out of Revenge of the Sith after seeing it for the first time. Not because I disliked the movie, (we can discuss prequel opinions at another time), but because I knew Lucas would never make another one, that it was the end of Star Wars on the big screen. It hurt, it was unfair. I got to hear the Star Wars Main Title in the theater, and watch the crawl, a ritual that I’d enacted at home so many times that I exhausted my poor Dad who had to read the bright golden space traveling words to me because I couldn’t myself yet. I was losing the ability to feel that novelty, to feel the magic of that opening fanfare and iconic beginning in person, in the place it was meant to be felt.

That fanfare has stopped me dead in my tracks out shopping, on the street, hearing it from another room. The feeling of excitement, of impending adventure is something I feel at the start of every screening of a Star Wars film (and I go to a financially inadvisable number of them nowadays) and every time I hear that song. It’s magic. It’s just like baseball.

Baseball and Star Wars have a lot more in common than just the magic of nostalgia. You can easily pick out the good guys from the bad guys by looking at the colors of their clothing for one thing. Star Wars began as the functional fusion of allegory and melodrama, so much so that the heroes wear heroic white (Leia and Luke) and the villains wear villainous grey and black (Vader and Tarkin). Even Han Solo’s outfit speaks to that character’s nature. A dingy, white tunic under a thin black vest speaks to Han’s rather thinly veiled heart of gold. His brusque roguish charm is merely a facade he puts on to hide how much he cares about people. Baseball is much the same way. The ‘villains’ wear different colored jerseys and you can identify them quickly and boo them appropriately.

There’s also a sense in both Star Wars and Baseball of a larger story, an expansive universe. You watch the colorful assortment of aliens, characters, and ships in Star Wars and you imagine the vastness of that world, of all those tiny points of light in the opening crawl and the richness of those millions of cultures. Star Wars feels big. Baseball is much the same. After over a century of history and 2,430 games a season today stepping into a ballpark feels big too. You feel the weight of those age old rivalries and the stories of the different series as you watch a single game. You’re hooked into to something bigger the way it feels when you’re watching Star Wars.

Both of these pastimes produce larger than life figures. When the moniker ‘iconic’ comes up in conversation the King of Crash is right up there with Jedi Master Yoda. The things these almost mythic characters do, whether its lifting an X-Wing out of a swamp, or sending a ball careening out of the park inspire the imagination, they delight us with their feats of focus, power, and determination. Ball players and Star Wars characters also share one of the coolest trappings of notoriety: they both have theme songs! They’re announced with a flourish of sound and whether it’s The Outfield’s ‘Your Love’ (in my opinion the greatest walk-up song in history so kudos to Charlie Blackmon) or John Williams’ ‘Imperial March,’ you know who’s coming into frame or up to bat before they appear. This shared allure makes Jeter, Griffey Jr., and Aaron seem just as otherworldly and larger than life as Solo, Skywalker, and Dameron do.

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve twirled a baseball bat accompanied by a self-generated signature thrum of a lightsaber. Thematically the two are very similar. They’re both pastimes passed from parents to their children, infused with a rich nostalgia spanning multiple generations and they’re all the better for the sharing. The feeling of community, of belonging that the Star Wars community is capable of (though more recently they’ve been using their powers for evil rather than good) is that ballpark experience. It’s being dazzled by the brightness of the lights, the crisp green of the turf, and the booming familiarity of the ballpark announcer.

Star Wars Night at Coors Field is an event that seamlessly fuses two of America’s greatest pastimes. It’s a marriage of themes and philosophies, spectacle and imagination that few sporting events achieve. It was a delight and an honor to attend as a member of the press and I look forward to returning to a galaxy far, far away and to a sandlot larger than life very soon. Until Next Time, Geek On!

This past Saturday, the Colorado Rockies teamed up with Pop Culture Classroom and Denver Comic Con to host their fifth annual Star Wars Night. As has always been the case, the Force was again strong at Coors Field. 47,809 baseball fans, Jedis, princesses, wookies, droids, and X-Wing pilots showed up to watch the Rebellion (the Rockies) try to continue a strong start to the series against the Empire (the Oakland A’s). They would not leave disappointed.
 
The festivities kicked off pre-game with the always-fun cosplay parade. Families, kids, and kids-at-heart sported a wide variety of costumes from the Star Wars universe in their lap around the field. Even A’s pitcher Edwin Jackson hung out by the edge of the dugout, admiring the costumes and interacting with fans - a pretty nice gesture for a Sith Lord from the Imperial team. The good times rolled on - literally - as a hilarious Rockies-themed Star Wars crawl on the jumbotron set the stage for the game. Players pictures were updated with movie graphics, placing the stars in Jedi robes, Lando capes, and other galactic attire. The galaxy’s only purple triceratops Jedi emerged again, as Rockies’ mascot Dinger donned his robes and wielded a lightsaber.
 
After foreboding clouds and rain showers rolled their way through town for a 51-minute weather delay, the activities picked up again. The Star Wars opening theme blared and several clips were shown for the intro video. The scoreboard was decked out in related graphics and detailed touches. Fans tested their knowledge throughout the game, as the night’s promotions turned Star Wars themed as well.
 
As for the game itself, the Empire struck first as the Rockies’ first inning woes continued, albeit at a less painful rate this time. Some small ball and a sacrifice fly got the A’s on the board with one run. But the Rebellion would find its vengeance swiftly in the way of an RBI triple by Fleet Admiral Tom Murphy and an RBI single by Padawan Pat ‘Patty Barrels’ Valaika. The Rebellion left the second inning leading 2-1.
 
In the third, Commander Nolan Arenado’s powerful lightsaber swing would knock the ball into right field for a solo home run that would put the Rebellion up 3-1. Padawan Patty Barrels made his presence known again in the fourth with a solo home run of his own. The Empire would not strike back, but they certainly struck out, as the Rockies’ pitchers combined for 10 K’s throughout the game. With the good guys up 4-1, the Dark Side would not be heard from again. Newly acquired Jedi Knight Seung-hwan Oh would make sure of that. Making his Colorado debut after being acquired from Toronto, Oh worked through his jitters and out of a shaky situation to keep the scoreboard clean. The Rebel Alliance reigned victorious.
 
Star Wars Night continues to sell out and is easily one of the most fun theme nights of the year around the league. 15,000 fans walked out of Coors Field with a fuzzy Chewbacca drink koozie, but all 47,000-plus left having a great time. Pop Culture Classroom and Denver Comic Con will surely return to Coors Field with Episode VI of Star Wars Night next season. If you want in, be sure to check out the Rockies’ booth at the Con and look out for theme dates when the 2019 schedule is released. In the meantime, the Rebel Rockies push towards one common hope… Rocktober!

Twas the night before Denver Comic Con, when all through the city, not a creature was stirring… Well, some were. While most convention-goers were already nestled all snug in their beds, some of us were at Marlowe’s on the 16th Street mall, getting beer drunk and feasting on a delicious meal prepared in partnership with Breckenridge Brewery.
 
2018 marked the seventh year that Breckenridge Brewery created the official beer of Denver Comic Con. In addition to brewing a special beer, holding a naming contest, and serving the beer onsite at DCC, Breckenridge Brewery hosts a slew of events leading up to and during the convention. The most delicious of those are the ‘Denver Comic Con Beer Dinners’ that help kick off the festivities. Their beer dinners are multi-course meals where each course is strategically paired with a brew that compliments its flavors. This year, Breck hosted a Marvel-themed dinner on Thursday and a DC-themed dinner on Friday. John and I were lucky enough to represent Nerds That Geek at the Marvel dinner.
 
There was once a stretch of my life where I wanted to be a chef. There is an ongoing stretch of my life where I think about how cool it would be to eat food and then write about it. I’m excited that Breckenridge Brewery has given me the chance to do the latter. Though I have no formal culinary training (outside of a few summers working in catering at Elitches Amusement Park), I’ll do my best to set the scene for what was a delicious and fun-filled evening.
 
We arrived at the upstairs space of the beautiful Marlowe’s and were greeted by some of the event’s organizers. Marlowe’s, the historic chophouse in the building conjoined with the Paramount Theater, provided the perfect, swanky setting. Most of the tables were already claimed by about 30 or 40 fellow nerds by the time we arrived, but we found a spot at one up front and were welcomed by Emily and Vince, who turned out to be gracious and friendly table guests for the evening. We all talked about what we do, what brings us to DCC, and what excited us about the coming weekend.
 
As each course was served, a representative from Breck Brew and a representative from Marlowe’s would approach the table and describe the dish, the beer it was paired with, why they paired them, and how the course got its name. Let’s dig into that good stuff and talk about the food, shall we?

The first course was ‘Namor’, a fresh crab cake served with a chili-lime aioli and on top of a bok choy salad. The name refers to Namor the Sub-Mariner, a fitting name for the first dish as Namor is Marvel’s first mutant character and is recognized as the first comic book antihero. The sea-dwelling Namor is also a good fit for the seafood course. It was matched with Breck’s Big Nose Wheat, a now limited run of a crisp wheat ale that went down well with the crab.
 
The follow up teaser course was ‘Valkyrie’s Vengeance’, an arugula salad, topped with pine nuts, pomegranate, parmesan cheese, and a vinaigrette. The salad was paired with the star of DCC: ‘Razznarok’, the Belgian Witbier made with raspberry puree that was brewed for the 2018 beer naming contest. For me, this was the best pairing of the night, in the sense that the food and beer complimented each other so well. My palate has never been sophisticated enough to understand which foods pair best with which beverages, but upon tasting the salad and the Razznarok, everything clicked. It hit me like a thunderbolt coming down from Asgard.
 
The main course, the ‘Elektra Wagyu’, was an ancho chile-rubbed cut of Japanese Wagyu beef alongside pickled garden vegetables. The red ancho chile gave the beef a nice kick, matching Elektra’s suit color and her power. It went well with the new Hop Peak IPA, a recent addition to Breckenridge Brewery’s mainline selection. It was a beer I want more of. And, while we’re at it, I wouldn’t mind eating Wagyu beef more regularly either.
 
Three courses (and thus three pints) in, we were all feeling pretty full (and pretty tipsy). But there was still a final treat to be had: dessert. The ‘Iceman’ was an ice cream float made with Breck’s Nitro Vanilla Porter (one of my favorite Breck beers), amaretto, and almond cream. It was the proverbial cherry on top of a perfect dinner.
 
Both fun and fancy, nerdy and sophisticated, Breck Brew’s Comic Con beer dinner was an experience like none I’ve ever had. The evening was spent trying new delicacies and chatting with strangers who quickly felt like new friends. I hope to do it again in 2019 and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. Tickets for this year’s dinners were $50 each, a price well worth it for four courses and four full-sized beers. As you begin your countdown to next year’s Denver Comic Con, keep the good folks at Breckenridge Brewery in mind and prepare for their event as well. Bon Appetit! 

The Force was strong in Coors Field as the Colorado Rockies celebrated their 10th sellout of the season. 48,235 baseball fans, Jedis, princesses, droids, and Sith Lords watched as the Rebellion (the Rockies) took down the Empire (Pittsburgh Pirates) seven to three. 
 
There’s a game I play when I go to baseball games or other sporting events. I keep an eye out for jerseys and caps of teams not featured in that night’s contest. When the Rockies took on the Pirates the other night, for instance, I also saw White Sox, Dodgers, D-Backs, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, and Royals gear around the ballpark. But on nights like Star Wars Night, things get even more interesting. There were as many people wearing costumes or Star Wars shirts as there were wearing the typical baseball gear. Many of those individuals were featured in a pre-game parade, as handfuls of Darth Vaders, Princess Leias, Yodas, Kylo Rens, Darth Mauls, and even a BB-8 made their way around the field. The Star Wars and baseball worlds fused together for an immersive experience throughout the game.
 
The game kicked off with a clever Rockies-themed Star Wars crawl, titled ‘Episode IV: Lodo Magic Awakens’, telling the tale of Denver’s purple warriors using their sabers made of ash to fight off invading black-and-gold clad buccaneers. The team names were replaced by ‘Rebels’ and ‘Empire’ on the scoreboard. Player pictures were accented by Stormtrooper helmets for the players on the Dark Side and Jedi robes or Rebel pilot helmets for the hometown team. Costumed characters filled the concourses for photo opportunities. The always amazing Rockies Twitter account tweeted primarily in Star Wars quotes throughout the game. Even Dinger reclaimed his title as the first purple triceratops to become a Jedi.
 
In past years, the team has given out X-Wing pilot Charlie Blackmon and Carlos ‘Cargo Fett’ Gonzales bobbleheads, as well as various themed t-shirts. This year’s treasures included Jedi Adam Ottavino bobbleheads for the first 15,000 through the gate and Darth Vader Rockies shirts for folks buying the Star Wars ticket package.
 
But the true prize is getting to see longtime fans of the franchise and their children celebrate it in a ballpark. The highlight of my night was seeing an eight year old boy decked out in Rockies gear stop and stand with his jaw dropped as the Star Wars theme blared over the stadium’s sound system. Star Wars and other pop-culture nights are now a common fixture across sports. They are a huge success in their ability to foster moments like these. So cheers to the Colorado Rockies, Denver Comic Con, and Pop Culture Classroom. We’re already excited for Star Wars Night: Episode V! 

When John asked me to come along and help him cover Nerd Prom 2017, I must have asked him at least three times: 'What is Nerd Prom?' His response, each time, was 'Exactly what you think it is.' This wasn’t exactly helpful, probably because the word 'Prom' conjures only one major theme for me: high school. And let’s face it: high schoolers go to prom because they don’t always have other ways to hang out with their friends and dance all night. Or at least, not ones their parents would approve of. The very idea of a prom for fully-grown adults, who have cars and jobs and spending cash and access to the typical variety of bars and nightclubs, seemed almost redundant.

The truth is that 'prom' is just a name, and the whole event is really designed to gather people in order to do what people do: talk, drink, dance, stumble, yell, and buy things. The chief draw here is that this event is designed for a particular set of interests. Instead of drawing the standard nightclub/live music/hipster/EDM/tinnitus crowd, they've gone out of their way to invite anybody interested in any facet of nerd culture. This actually creates what might be a surprising amount of overlap, and the continuing proliferation of 'nerd' and 'geek' culture into the mainstream means that, other than the costumes and video games being projected behind the bands, it doesn’t feel terribly different at first from your typical Saturday night in a nightclub or concert venue.

Standing by the merch stands surveying the crowd, it made me wonder: who exactly showed up? Did they draw the nerds who typically stay in their homes attracted by the promise of a lack of the typical crowd and the guarantee of others of their ilk? Or the normal live music crowd, delighted in a chance to combine some of their otherwise disparate interests? Perhaps they succeeded in drawing both? I certainly couldn't tell by observing the crowd; the one thing I could see was that everybody seemed happy to enjoy the event in their own way, to let others do so too, and to revel in the delights of a room full of people with whom they shared some common interests. There were people who like dressing up simply for the sake of dressing up, and people taking advantage of the opportunity to show off their efforts and fandoms. There were people who like music, or dancing, or bars, or who had been brought along by their friends. There were dumb jokes aplenty, of course, one host going so far as to declare: 'nerd prom every year is about us making terrible jokes.' And, really, what would any nerd event be without copious amounts of puns?

Something that was quite refreshing about this particular event was the breadth of scope: nerd culture encompasses so many things that, except for the dance floor taking up the center of the space, there wasn’t much of a singular focus, which made for a very relaxed atmosphere. Unlike a typical nightclub, you could feel free to do whatever you liked without worry. Don’t want to dance? Feel free to lean on a wall. Don’t want to lean? Feel free to sit. Don’t want to drink? They sell food! Don’t want your picture taken? Don’t step into the photo booth. However you like to socialize, I can almost guarantee there were others who liked it too, with at least some of them in costume.

The only truly prom-esque event was the crowning of a King and Queen, with impressive crowns constructed out of LEGO bricks.  Unlike a typical prom, where you know most people in your school by sight, this consisted of strangers voting for strangers, so instead of popularity it was perhaps more a contest of aesthetics. And, rather than being a dramatic declaration of who mattered, it was, like the rest of the event, simply another reason to laugh and cheer and revel in shared interests. Really, the whole thing made me think about just how much nerds are growing up. So much of what we associate with nerd culture, like 8-bit graphics and almost anything we now call 'retro,' originates from more than thirty years ago. The kids who liked this stuff in the first place are growing up and bringing it into the adult world with them. Some of it even survives simply by virtue of being 'old' in relation to the culture: The performers Mega Ran and MC Lars' song 'Infinite Lives' harkens back to the days when life counters and cheat codes were commonplace, and invokes fond nostalgia and retro cred simultaneously.

That, combined with one of our hosts’ talking to us about the importance of acceptance, inclusiveness, and kindness, really hit home just how much nerds in general are growing up. Because I am in the generation who is now at the forefront of internet culture, I often forget that nerd culture is much older. (Since the internet has been awash in nerd culture for so long, it’s easy for me to associate them a little too closely.) But here was a group of people covering a wide range of ages, all joined together by their love of fun. Nerds were once trapped in closets and basements and back rooms, and lots of journalists and writers and others have spent time pondering what it means now that they’re growing up and becoming the norm. Would there be a 'revenge of the nerds?' Would they become the new 'cool kids,' pushing others into lockers for not being able to name enough Pokemon? Well we have our answer, and the answer is 'no.' They spent their time being kind to one another and exploring new interests, and they came out with big hearts, no fear about social conformity, and a love of diversity, and now that they are coming into the light and moving into the mainstream they’re bringing those ideas with them onto society’s stage.

One of the other big questions when these things were just getting started was always: 'What are you going to do when you grow up? Keep throwing dice around? Keep reading your funnybooks?' And the answer, un-ironically and with no self-consciousness, is 'Yes.' Whereas our predecessors came home from work and watched Jeopardy or Walter Cronkite or played Monopoly, we watch Game of Thrones or read the next issues of our favorite comic or play Fallout or Halo or Madden. Where they would go to the bar to watch the big game we go to the bar to play Cataan or Dominion or play group trivia. They would go to friends’ homes for barbecues and we go to play DnD. The hobbies are different but they fit into the same spaces, leaving plenty of room for the other things, like jobs, which must inevitably accompany adult life. Like so many generational changes before, (rock’n’roll, flappers, etc.) when the kids grow up they bring their interests with them, and society doesn’t collapse. If anything, the diversity of nerd culture has helped society grow.

It’s interesting that nerd culture encompasses so many otherwise different things: comics, film, books, television, board games, tabletop games, video games, writing, cosplay, photography, theatre, etc. Yet they were all brought together by their common marginalization, and this inherent diversity has helped to create an atmosphere of inclusiveness and outward appreciation. Rather than pushing away outsiders, nerds are happy to accept and absorb them. As a result, especially as nerdism becomes more commonplace, things which were previously unassociated with nerd culture have become things about which you can 'nerd out.' After all, nerd culture is about enjoying whatever you enjoy, whether it’s 'normal' or not. I am beginning a watch collection, and I can guarantee you I could probably find someone with whom I could discuss the aesthetic and practical implications of differently colored watch faces, and our conversation would be just as nerdy as if we were comparing cameras, or bookbinding, or crocheting, or different methods of faster-than-light travel in fiction. Would we not be 'watch nerds' just as surely as two people discussing Batman’s publication history would be 'comic nerds?'

What being at Nerd Prom 2017 really taught me was this: nerd culture is not about any particular collection of fandoms or entertainment mediums, but about acceptance, fun, and love. It is as much about bickering about the new League of Legends balance patch as it is about moaning that Nightwing’s New 52 costume was red instead of blue. It’s as much about pondering the impact of the new Hearthstone expansion as it is about speculating the content of the fourth Evangelion Rebuild film (assuming it ever comes out.) It’s as much about analyzing the recoil numbers on the guns in Battlefield as it is about analyzing the career stats for your favorite quarterback. It’s about bemoaning the book-to-screen transition of a novel even as you marvel at the visual spectacle of the adaptation.

It’s about loving the things you enjoy, and not worrying about what others think. It’s about sharing that with other people, and enjoying it together. It’s about letting people enjoy whatever it is they enjoy, and celebrating that we have the ability to do so. In the end, it’s about teaching others about the things you love and learning about the things they love, and rejoicing about the many different ways we have for people to express themselves and find happiness and fun. That’s the lesson I took away from Nerd Prom 2017, and I hope it’s one you/we can share with the world: come as you are, and celebrate the things you love with us.

Strange, really, that I learned more at a prom hosted by bands and a radio station then I did at a prom hosted by a school.