See also: Geek Speak: The animated genius of Ray Harryhausen, a true cinematic titan
10) Geek Out in the Teacher's Lounge Ready to expand your pool of geeky subjects and have a few laughs while doing it? Bovine Metropolis Theater's Geek Out in the Teacher's Lounge weekly is a good place to start. Each week, the designated geek will drop an insane amount of knowledge on their topic of expertise, then the improv performers will take that knowledge and perform a show based around it. So you not only get the experience of diving deep into a niche of pop culture with an expert, you also get to have a few laughs based on that material afterward, which might even help it all stick.Fridays at 8 p.m. starting September 13 at Bovine Metropolis Theater. Tickets are $16 at the door, or $14 presale. For more info and tickets, visit the Bovine Metropolis website.
9) Dark Days of Fall Tour What's better than a kick-ass genre author doing a book signing in our fair city? How about five all at the same time? The Tattered Cover will host the Dark Days of Fall Tour featuring five HarperCollins authors of teen genre fiction. Rae Carson, Mindy McGinnis, Michelle Gagnon, Sherry Thomas and Madeline Roux will all be on hand to promote their latest teen-lit works, covering the gamut from fantasy to dystopian sci-fi. Sure, it's technically teen lit, but come on, don't you have a nephew or cousin or something? Or you could just admit that plenty of your favorite books are YA. We all love The Hunger Games, you know?
These five authors will be signing their books at 7 p.m. September 26 at the Tattered Cover Highlands Ranch. Admission is free; the books cost $17.99 each. For more info, visit the Tattered Cover website.
8) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom How long has it been since you saw this classic tale of high adventure and heart-ripping horrors in the theater? What's that? You're under 35, so you've never seen it in the theater? Well then, the Esquire's Midnight Madness is the perfect chance. Temple of Doom is easily the most underrated film in the whole series, and seeing a dude get his heart ripped out will never look better than on a big screen sometime after midnight.
See Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at midnight Friday and Saturday September 13-14 at the Esquire Theatre. Tickets are $8. For more info and tickets, visit the Landmark Theatres Denver site.
7) Myths and Legends Con Ever feel left out because your particular corner of fandom is too obscure, too small or just too new to have its own, dedicated con? Well, Myths and Legends Con -- MalCon for short -- is here to help! The con promises dedicated panels and discussion areas for Dr. Who, Firefly, Harry Potter, pirates, Bronies and more. And hey, if you're a pirate Brony with a deep and abiding love for Dr. Who, you probably just found heaven. Of course, all the usual con attractions -- dealers room, gaming areas, some unique performers -- will be on offer, too.
Get your con on September 27-29 at the Sheraton DTC. Tickets start at $40 for the weekend (half that for kids 7-12) with a variety of VIP upgrades available. For more info and tickets, visit the MalCon website.
6) Real Genius The Alamo Drafthouse's Back to School program has a few sweet geek opportunities (you'll probably want to check out Battle Royale too), but the highlight is the '80s college comedy/geekfest Real Genius in which an impossibly young Val Kilmer stirs up science-y hijinks at Pacific Tech while taking a young, high-strung whiz kid under his wing. The high-tech college pranks are fun and the nerds-vs.-shadowy government story is fine, but the real draw here is a movie where the geeks get to be awesome just being geeks, even though it was the '80-s when it was still cool to fear and loathe nerds. A movie ahead of its time for sure, plus it has a shitload of lasers. Everyone loves lasers, right?
Witness acts of Real Genius at 7 p.m. Monday, September 9 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas. Tickets are $10.50. For more info and to buy tickets, visit the Real Genius event page.
5) Magic the Gathering: Theros prerelease Put your store of Greek mythology -- even if you learned it all from Clash of the Titans -- to use in the newest Magic the Gathering set, Theros. Okay, chances are good you won't be able to do much with that knowledge beyond impressing/annoying your opponent with trivia about how many women Zeus seduced, but hey, you take your victories where you can find them. As always, prerelease events are the most casual of all tournaments, perfect for new players, old players that have lapsed and are looking to return, or casual fans who don't usually make it out for the big tourneys, so you don't have to worry if your skills aren't all that. Everyone is just there to have fun, open the new cards and maybe, just maybe, do a little toga partying. Or wait, was it the Romans who wore togas? Whatever. Togas are always fun.
September 21-22, various locations. Price may vary, but expect to spend about $30, which nets you six packs of cards plus a special promo card. Find a location near you with Wizards of the Coast's store locator.
4) Capitol Hill Classics: Ray Harryhausen series Hey, did someone say something about pop-culture versions of Greek mythology? Film legend Ray Harryhausen knew a thing or two about that -- see Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts -- and all month the Esquire's Capitol Hill Classics is dedicated to his work. Kick it off with the octopusploitation classic It Came from Beneath the Sea, then enjoy The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts before Clash of the Titans wraps it all up. Four of the master's best films means four chances to get your fix of the very best in the ancient arts of stop-motion animation and rear-projection.
Capitol Hill Classics screen every Tuesday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Esquire Theater. Tickets are $8. To buy tickets or for more info, visit the Landmark Theatres Denver website.
3) Mile High Sci-Fi: Short Circuit In Short Circuit, a state of the art combat robot gains sentience due to a lightning strike, then teaches some silly humans how to live and love and dance, because if it had killed them all, it would have been Terminator, not Short Circuit. Then, the good people of Mile High Sci-Fi came along and gave this ludicrous robo-fantasy the kind of send up it deserved with some live comedic riffing as it plays, Mystery Science Theater 3000 style. You'll never look at poor Johnny-5 the same way again, but that's probably a good thing, right?
Mile High Sci-Fi takes on Short Circuit at 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday September 27-28 at the Sie FilmCenter. Tickets are $12, or $10 for Denver Film Society members. For tickets and more info, visit the Denver Film Society website.
2) Re-Animator One of the best things about September is that it's almost October, so people start getting in the Halloween spirit and we get things like a rare chance to see Stuart Gordon's classic gorefest Re-Animator on the big screen. Death is just the beginning for Herbert West, whose grotesque experiments leave a lot of dead -- and undead -- bodies around. Plus there's that infamous severed head cunnilingus scene featuring a guy that could easily be Secretary of State John Kerry's evil twin. What's not to love? Seriously, if you somehow haven't seen Re-Animator you have to seize this opportunity. If you have seen it, then you don't need to be told, right?
See Re-Animator September 27 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas. For showtimes, ticket prices and more info, visit the Alamo's Re-Animator event page.
1) Nan Desu Kan Get your fix of anime, manga and all things Japanese at Nan Desu Kan, the Rocky Mountain region's biggest and best anime con. Twenty celebrity guests, including voice artists, animators, studio reps and musicians are just the start of the fun. You also get a massive dealer's room, gaming, cosplay, panels, dances, art shows and more -- everything an otaku could ever want, all in one place. If you're a fan of Japanese pop culture in any form, or even just curious about what it has to offer, you won't want to miss this.
Nan Desu Kan runs September 13-15 at the Marriot DTC. Weekend passes are $50 and day passes can be had for $30. For more info, visit the NDK website.
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