It’s time to get out
Image courtesy Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
It’s easy to find your tribe online. Whether you’re into FPS‘s or Pokeman Go, a group of people who’re just as enthusiastic about what you love are usually just a short series of clicks away on the internet. So blerding out in the virtual world has always been rather simple. But we’re smack dab in the middle of summer, and there’s still time to close that laptop, turn the lights off in the basement, and venture out during daylight hours like normal folk…or Blade. Here are BlackSci-Fi.com’s picks for the best places to soak up some subculture before summer ends.
The movies–but not just any movies
Ghostbusters, Image Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
If you can find outdoor screenings that only require blankets and coolers, you’re lucky. If not, then at least you can take comfort in knowing that Black Panther is just one short Earth year away with its all-star cast to blow the thonged, organic woven hemp sandals right off your feet. (You probably shouldn’t have been wearing those with socks, anyway.) In the meantime, the Ghostbusters remake and Suicide Squad look like promising pastimes.
A motherf**cking meteor shower
It’s midsummer and the skies are clear. If you have a telescope, take that baby up on a rock and make an evening of it, because one major meteor shower and a few other star-studded events are coming to light up the night skies.
If everybody knows your name here, you might have a drinking problem.
Bars with board games
One of the benefits to having your blerd gang meet up in big cities are the plethora of bars that cater to everyone from slackers to hackers. One of DC’s main drags has an arcade bar that’s awesome, but even if your city doesn’t have one, it shouldn’t be hard to find a spot to engage in an adult version of recess. Here’s our short list. If you don’t see your city, Foursquare is a great place to check.
| NY | LA | MD | AZ |
| IL | PA | DC | GA |
Front-end hacker meetups
They exist. Ruby and Python lovers can rejoice because MeetUp.com is loaded with meetups to learn coding techniques every week. The best part is, most of them are free and some either begin or end as mixers. Don’t see one for your area? Start one. That’s the beauty of MeetUp.
Cosplayers and comic book artist/ creator George Perez at Dragon Con 2015, photo credit Robert Jeffrey II
There’s still time to be a pro at cons
The summer wouldn’t be complete without hitting a sci-fi or comic book conference or two. The are still about a dozen of them left to attend before the year ends and a handful left before the summer ends. Grab your crew, stock up on face paint, and get out there. Go forth and cosplay, my friends.
M’Shai S Dash is a freelance writer and blogger from Washington D.C. She’s a pop-culture connoisseur and Legend of Zelda fanatic who writes about blerd culture, social justice issues, and afrofuturism. Dash is currently a staff writer for Blacksci-Fi.com.
