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Join a thousand of your fellow anime fans at DomoCon to celebrate Japanese animation and the culture surrounding fandom, including Hetalia, Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragon Ball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh, Lolita Fashion, Homestuck, My Little Pony, Sci-Fi, and Video Games. We encourage you to come in costume and join us in celebrating everything that geeks and nerds love.

Domo Con is like an anime convention and a comic con in Chicago, but with a lot more focus on making the convention fun for each individual attendee. Whether you like anime, video games, or the internet, you’ll love Domo Con!

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When: May 29th 6:15pm – 8:30pm

Where: Google Local Chicago, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago

Cost: FREE

Registration: Registration via Google Forms required: http://goo.gl/P9TOC

Have you ever wondered how places are added to Google Maps? Google doesn’t use magical fairies but they do have a few nifty tools, one of which is Google Map Maker — and now you can use it too.

Join the Chicago Nerds Social Club and Google Local Chicago for their first ever Community MapUp, where Googlers Aaron Babst and Amy Korin will guide you through a tour of the new Google Maps and Google Map Maker. Share your local knowledge of our city by adding the coffee shop that just opened on your corner, updating the contact information of the movie theater down the street or editing the hours of your favorite tapas bar. Help make Google Maps better, your friends and neighbors will thank you.

In addition to the MapUp, we’ll get a behind the scenes tour of the Google Chicago office and see the company’s famous fun and quirky workspaces. Food and beverages will be provided.

Advance registration is required, so be sure to RSVP using the form. All are welcome and space is limited. After you fill out the form we’ll be in touch to confirm your spot.

RSVP REQUIRED VIA FORM –>> http://goo.gl/1JFIW

Bring your laptop if you’d like but we’ll also provide computers, try to think of a few things that you can add to the map before you come so you’ll be able to get some hands on experience.

Please RSVP by Thursday, May 24. Space is limited so make sure to register now!

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Date: Wednesday, June 12th Time: 7:30P Location: The Atlantic, 5062 N. Lincoln Ave Tickets: $5 at the door to play Web: www.project891theatre.com

Do you kind of wish you could hunt for artifacts while being chased by Nazis? Have you always wanted to learn how to use a whip? Do you look great in a fedora? Want to flaunt your nerdy knowledge while winning prizes and bragging rights? Come and play, either by yourself or with a team. Prizes for first place! On Wednesday, June 12th at 7:30P, join the members of Project 891 at The Atlantic, 5062 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL, for Indiana Jones trivia. $5 donation to play. All proceeds go toward Project 891’s upcoming season.

For more information, please visit our website at www.project891theatre.com.

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As it was pitched during voting, the story centers on “a witch bounty hunter, a foul-mouthed pixie, and a lesbian vampire” (the Wikipedia article notes this character as bisexual).

What we discussed at the last book club meeting:

For May’s book club meeting we read Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley. The novel follows a fictional “Inside the Beltway” talk-show host whose career and life is altered forever when he is abducted by aliens.

We found that while Little Green Men contains plenty of amusing satirical points, the book as a whole falls short of delivering either a compelling satirical message or a strong and cohesive plot. A funny light read, but not a book that makes you think after you finish it.

When: Monday, June 10th, 2013 — 6:30pm-7:30pm

Where: Filter 1373-75 N Milwaukee Ave Chicago, IL

Cost: Free

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Per the workshop’s site description: A successful company is more than just a product, customers, and revenue. It’s a business that provides an efficient, reciprocating workplace for its employees. This workshop reviews the best practices needed to get a company up and running and on the road towards a self-sustaining workplace where employees and employer alike thrive.

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As part of its mission, ACen brings fans together with guests from the Japanese and US sectors of the anime and manga industry, as well as gaming, cinema, and Asian culture personalities. The event includes a huge exhibit hall, a massive video game room, concerts, dances, educational panels and workshops, premiere screenings, autograph sessions, 24-hour video rooms, tabletop gaming and much, much more!

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Sanctuary Nightclub (632 N Dearborn St.), 21+, 11PM to 4AM // Limited amount of $10 pre-sale, then $15 pre-sale, then $20 door

Photos of previous Neverland parties: http://Facebok.com/NeverlandParties

Tix: http://japanimation.brownpapertickets.com/

COSTUME CONTEST: The person with the best costume at Japanimation will win $250 and a spot hosting alongside our secret celebrity guest host at our next party on June 28th.

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Featuring performances by Improvised Star Trek, The Nerdologues, Plan 9 Burlesque, Yamato Potato Cannon (headed up by Jim Povolo of Team StarKid fame), Matt Griffo, The Hot Karl, Bri-Ko, and more!

“This festival is essential for the nerd community of Chicago,” says festival producer, Katie Johnston-Smith. “We nerds need to gather together to laugh with our brethren, and forget that The Big Bang Theory on CBS is how our parents explain us to their friends.”

The CHICAGO NERD COMEDY FESTIVAL runs May 30 – June 1, 2013 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont. The Festival’s performance dates and times are Thursday at 7, 8, 9, and 10pm, Friday at 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11pm, and Saturday at 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11pm. Tickets are $10 each and will be on sale Monday, May 6, 2013. To purchase tickets call 773-327-5252 or visit www.stage773.com.

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Time shifting gives fans an enormous amount of flexibility in how we watch our favorite shows. With work schedules becoming ever more malleable, personal schedules becoming more chaotic and our limited free time under assault from competing mediums, being able to dictate when and where we watch our favorite shows is a boon for us. Being able to fast forward through commercials isn’t so bad either, although I’ll argue that by doing so we’re eliminating the current motives behind good television. Alas, that’s another blog post.

But as nerds, this world of on demand viewing can have detrimental effects on our overall satisfaction of a program. Unlike the average viewer, nerds enjoy their favorite shows well outside of the 60 minute time slot it takes to watch an episode. Nobody cosplays as Joey from Friends or attends a Cheers convention. (I may have to fact check that Cheers comment actually)

Time shifting our television has some side effects that we’re passively aware of, but may never truly factor into our overall experience satisfaction. As nerds we’re social beings! We love interacting and talking about our favorite TV shows. My cursory observations would say that, the nerd community is a much more engaged audience. And that’s where things run afoul.

The Social Impacts of Time Shifting

Social Media

I’m going to use a broad definition of time shifting here. With Netflix and Hulu, the window for time shifting has gotten incredibly bigger. I know some folks who only watch shows once they’re released on Netflix, which puts them even further behind the curve. While this doesn’t fit the strict definition of time shifting, I think the same hurdles exist.

One thing I love about watching television live is the social media buzz about it. People are on Twitter talking shows up, almost like live running sports commentary. You’re starting to see hashtags in the bottom right corner of broadcasts to entice this behavior. Networks want you tweeting about their product, so they’re going to continue encouraging it. In my household we watch The Following as close to live as we can. But if we’re behind, the rule is NO SOCIAL MEDIA! Because social media during primetime hours is really just a digital marquee of spoilers.

Taking part in that conversation is fun! But if you’re behind on your show, you’ll miss out. Imagine if they had Twitter in the 80′s and someone tweeted “I can’t believe Kristin shot JR” four days after the episode aired. News moves a lot quicker these days as does the attention of the Twitterverse.

Real Life Interactions

Things don’t get much better when you make the move from the keyboard to the water cooler. A lot of the really interesting conversations about the show have already happened. Thank God we’re nerds, so we love rehashing a topic to death. But we’re also humans. And as humans we get a certain satisfaction from adding something new and fresh to the conversation. But when you’re a week late it’s a stream of

“Oh yeah, Fred mentioned that.”

“We were totally thinking that too! We talked about it a few days ago.”

“You must have missed when Sarah made that post making that exact same point.”

It may sound vain, but things are what they are. I know as a nerd, I’m not always interested in being a passive consumer of the conversation, I want to be in the conversation. That can be tough to do when the conversation ended 4 days ago.

Another well experienced downfall of time shifting is the accidental spoiler. Everyone has experienced the accidental spoiler. It’s not deliberate on the point of the person committing the spoil. It might be a simple glance, a smirk or even the lack of a reaction at all that tells you things aren’t what you thought they were.

Me: “I can’t believe what a punk-ass Mickey is on that show.”

Shawn: “Just wait!”

Those two simple words act as a spoiler. Not because I know intricate details that will spoil the plot. It’s that a hint to the future has been provided. I know a change in Mickey is coming. Just because I don’t know what that change is, doesn’t mean I’m not bracing for the impact. The act of bracing lessens the dramatic shock of the actual event or worse, it raises the stakes to an unobtainable point. Then when the reveal happens, you’re let down by what has happened. (See the final season of LOST)

On the same line as spoilers is that search for someone to match your excitement level. You just finished season 2 of Doctor Who and you’re in love! David Tenant is brilliant! You run to your friend and exclaim your love in a way that only a fanboy/girl can, just to be fed the classic line “Oh just wait until next season!” Mixed feelings here. While you’re excited that the show does indeed get better, the excitement for where you are right now in your journey is relegated to the “Eh, it’s good, but not great” category. It doesn’t mean what you’re experiencing isn’t real, it just isn’t current and therefore the people around you are not in the same place. Not to keep picking on LOST, but if you’ve finished the series, try talking to someone who just watched Season 1. By the time the conversation is over, I’m sure you’ve accidentally shit all over their hopes and dreams for the future of the show. But back in 2004 you were just as excited as they are now. And that excitement was infectious. But if you’re behind in the show, you’ve now got a disease that everyone else is immune to. Boo.

What to Do?

This article has already gotten longer than I intended, but I want to wrap things up and clarify something. I’m not saying that time shifting is bad per se. I’m simply arguing that thanks to time shifting, we’re missing a vital part of the experience, an experience that nerds thrive on.

It’s also not the intention of people who are current with shows to create a less than optimal experience for you. They’re begging for you to catch up with them! They have the exact same problems us time shifters have, but in reverse. Constantly having to think of what not to say or how not to react. It’s really a problem on both sides.

I remember hearing about something the AV Club was doing where they selected old television series and treated them as if they were being viewed today. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember the name of the group and couldn’t find it on their site, but I thought it was a terrific idea! You could pick a series, choose a date to have everyone watch, pick a hashtag and you’re off to the races. This was an awesome use for the Netflix party mode before it was removed by Microsoft.

I think it would be cool to tackle a series you’ve wanted to watch, but quickly fell too far behind. Doing it with a group of people that are also behind could be fun and exciting too. You just have to resist the urge to skip ahead and as nerds, the temptation may be too much.

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