Our First Family Granitecon

Luna and the Captains
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00257

We were invited by the creators of the Granite State Comicon to come up as guest of the convention. Prior to the convention I promoted the Comicon and even gave away a set of family passes.

The Granite State Comicon was created by the founders of Double Midnight Comics. This year they celebrated with a very Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles heavy theme because it was the 35th anniversary of the creation of TMNT. They had all four of the original voices from the cast of the original cartoon. They even had Kevin Eastman there to give a talk as well.

We drove up from home this morning and got to the DoubleTree just about 10am when the doors opened. We picked up our badges which were spectacular in themselves. Probably the best badges that I have ever had at a conference. They had original TMNT art on them! We walked around a bit and got oriented. We went over to where they had a mini kids con and there they also has Southern New Hampshire University there with their eSports team letting folks play several of the games. We played Super Smash Bros as a family and had a great time. I wish that they had eSports around when I was in college because I definitely would have tried out for the team. SNHU also has several classes in Game Development and art. Wow, that is incredible. Again, I wish that was an option as a kid.

The New England Brethren of PiratesWe also battled pirates, the New England Brethren of Pirate. These folks set up a booth and let kids battle them with giant foam swords in exchange for a donation that went to the Manchester Boys and Girls Club. There were many organizations collecting donations for the official show charity. We were happy to donate and the kids had so much fun.

With Forbidden Planet RobotWMUR the local station had a booth too with retro toys and video games and even a couple of robots. The robot from Lost in Space and the one from Forbidden Planet. The kids liked this booth and Allison showed them how to use a rotary phone. Crazy!

The kids also took an art lesson from Emily Drouin of EPLIS Comic Series. They enjoyed this very much and each drew three characters. Emily and her husband run Kids Con later on this Fall. I wish we could go but we cannot.

Next we had a treat to see Rob Paulson speak. I was moved to tears by what he said and the humility and compassion of this man just hit me. I was already a huge fan but being there listening to him he became a hero. He was so inclusive to everyone and part of his session was done with Adam who is the creator of Calmer Con. It was another part of the convention that I actually did not experience. This is where kids and adults with sensory sensitivity could go for a convention experience but it was quieter and more sedate for them. I should have checked it out to see it first hand and learn more about it. Everyone went to Rob’s session. The kids did well sitting and listening but they weren’t up for a second one so I went to the Kevin Eastman session alone.

Kevin went over the history of the turtles from their origin in Dover, NH to today. He spoke his mind about what he thought was the best as far as movies (The first one) and Casey Jones (Elias Koteas). I thought Elias was spectacular as Casey but Stephen Amell was the bright shining part of the second Bay-Turtles movie. But no one can do Casey Like Elias did Casey.

playing Boss MonosterAfter Kevin’s session we were able to check in to our room. I checked in and then took the kids to the Gaming room. Allison went to relax. In the gaming room we played a game that I very nearly brought with me called Boss Monster. We learned to play the game and cannot wait to play it as a family. I think we need a weekly game night.

While we were in the Gaming Room I met Doug from Victory Condition Gaming and I purchased a game called Tiny Dungeon. It is a quick way to get into role playing games with the kids. I am excited to play that, too.

We went upstairs and chilled out for a while. Then we drove onto South Willow street and went to C.J.’s for dinner. Allison ran into someone that she grew up with and we had a great meal. Then back to the hotel to get some sleep because the next day would be a busy one. When we returned we got on the elevator with none other than Kevin Eastman and his wife. I was tongue tied but managed to tell the kids that he was the one who created the turtles!! Allison was asking me for the next 20 minutes if my breathing had gone back to normal.

Review: Tall Girl

Tall Girl Movie
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00256

Tonight Andrew went to a Parent’s Night Out Event at the Karate studio. It was a Nerf War night and Andrew had a great time. So, with Andrew out of the house we had Eva alone for the night and we decided that we’d do a special movie night with her. It just so happened that a brand new movie came out on Netflix called Tall Girl and it was a perfect one for a special movie night with Eva.

Tall Girl Poster

Tall Girl is a movie starring Ava Michelle as Jodi. Jodi is the tallest girl in school. This is something that she has been very uncomfortable with. At 16 she longs for something more normal. She is being teased relentlessly by the other students except for her two best friends Jack and Fareeda. She has a loving and supportive family including her father Richie (Steve Zahn and mother Helaine (Angela Kinsey) and her beauty queen older sister Harper (Sabrina Carpenter). Her father is over protective and worried about how tall she got so fast. He tries all sorts of things to help her fit in but they just make things worse. Eventually when a foreign exchange student, Stig (Luke Eisner) arrives things get interesting.

Jodi makes a connection with Stig. This does not sit well with her longtime lovesick friend Jack. He has been figuratively carrying a torch for her as long as he’s known her while literally carrying a milk crate. To add insult to injury Stig is staying with Jack as his exchange family. As Stig and Jodi get closer Jack attempts to drive them apart.

I think this was the one thing that didn’t totally sit well with me. Stig seemed like a genuinely nice guy and through Jack’s influence he gets lured by the seductiveness of popularity.

The main point of the movie was to accept and love yourself no matter what you look like. It is a fantastic movie for families and was a pretty wholesome movie. Eva thoroughly enjoyed it. The thing that I liked about it was the relationship between between Jodi and her dad. He tried so hard and was so scared about her happiness. I saw so much of myself in this character. When he finally “gets it” there is one incredible moment between father and daughter that I loved. I think it truly captured the parental struggle to stay connected as your children get older and begin to pull away or they suffer major disappointments. You have to check out this movie. The trailer is below.

Head to www.netflix.com/tallgirl to watch.