Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Madison is hopping this weekend. Festivals and conventions for all breeds of folk are invading...and when I say invading...in some cases I mean literally.

For example, check out Odyssey Con 2006. This rather successful roleplaying and sci-fi convention event was one of the first conventions Dane101.com wrote about last year. In fact it was one of my favorite entries because it gave me the opportunity to write:

Quote: "The other day Dane101 was having a horrible problem with our fire elemental. No matter how many times we tried to bind it back into the furnace that operates our mountain island lair in the middle of Lake Monona it just wouldn’t cooperate. Our budget is already nonexistent so having all of our office furniture turned to ash is not healthy. In the future, we may have to hire one of those expensive high priests from the Cthulu cult that meets in the basement of the Capitol building. This weekend we think we’ll just head over to Odyssey Con 2005: Madison’s Science Fiction Convention where they have a panel on “Care and Handling of Supernatural Creatures."

Any opportunity to write the name of one of the Great Old Ones is a good day in my book (plus we get to use that cute Sleepytime Cthulhu artwork created by Steve, visit his site here).

While it doesn’t appear we can learn how to care for our supernatural creatures this year, there are plenty of other important workshops.

For example, kicking off the event will be a discussion on "The Darwin Awards of 2150: Discovering new and clever ways to kill ourselves." Other programs include "Narnia Chronicles: universal tale, or Christian propaganda?," "Bouncing Boomerangs Batman!: Outrageous comic heroes and villains," and "Brains! Need brains!: zombies and their foul kin." And speaking of Cthulhu, one panel is dedicated to remembering August Derleth, the Sauk City native who invented the term "Cthulhu Mythos."

OddCon also - most likely unintentionally - expresses the new guard in fandom. Gone are panels dedicated to Gene Rodenberry and Star Trek, replaced by multiple panels dedicated to Joss Whedon and his creations Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly

Meanwhile, the University is hosting the Southern Graphics Conference 2006. Printmakers from around the world will be descending on Madison for a theme of "Genetic ImPrint...loosley blends Madison’s instrumental roles in both biotechnology and printmaking by considering issues surrounding genetics through the framework of prints."

Panels include "The Animal Body," "Widening the GeneticPool: Cross-Cultural Initiatives in a Global Print Community" and "How Do My Genes Fit?" (a little snug).

The conference kicks off today and runs until April 8. Informally in conjunction, the One Ten Gallery is back in action and will be hosting a show at the King Club featuring Charlemagne, Super Eights and Sleeping in the Avery.

Then also on the University campus is Slutfest 2006. We interviewed Nicole Pagowsky last year ad I’m sure she has many of the same things to say this year, read the review here. For those of you that are unfamiliar, Slutfest is a "is a two-day music and skillshare fest focusing on the theme of healthy sex and sexuality." Check it out April 7 and 8 at Club 770 (also makes Contessa’s top 10 events list). Band list at the Slutfest website.

Also being presented this weekend at the University, is the 13th Annual Festival of InterArts and Technology. Not only is FIAT a car it is also "a unique collection of student artwork presented in a variety of mediums including video, live performance, electro-acoustic sound and other digitally manipulated 2D images." The fest starts at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 8 in Lathrop Hall.