Matt Walljasper

Sep 4, 2024 | atlantamagazine.com | Myrydd Wells |Matt Walljasper

This past Labor Day weekend, 72,000 folks flocked to Dragon Con to celebrate all things nerdy, don incredible cosplay, collect badge ribbons, meet celebrities, sweat in the skybridges, and dance the night away. In the four days we spent on the convention floor, here are some of the things we noticed. Costumes (and trends) by the numbers:For the first time in our 10 years covering this convention, we actually noticed two franchises dominated the cosplay trends.

Apr 23, 2024 | shorturl.at | Xavier Stevens |Matt Walljasper

Rachel Bomeli stood on the roof of the Fox Theatre and knew something was off. Renovations for the “Onion Dome” that crowns the building were almost underway, and Bomeli, the vice president of facility operations, compared the current dome to a photograph of the original. Somewhere in the Fox’s 95-year history, someone had taken creative liberties. Bomeli and Karen Gravel, an architect with Lord Aeck Sargent, chose to restore the Onion Dome to its original glory.

Mar 25, 2024 | atlantamagazine.com | Matt Walljasper

The Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex has always been a region obsessed with its image.

Sep 5, 2023 | atlantamagazine.com | Myrydd Wells |Matt Walljasper

With an attendance number clocking in at roughly 70,000, this year’s Dragon Con wasn’t too much larger than last year’s 65,000-person extravaganza, but it certainly felt like it, particularly in jam-packed skybridges (we’re looking at you, Marriott to Hilton bridge) and escalator lines. But with more people came more cosplay, more dancing, more swag and ribbons, and more joy.

Jul 24, 2023 | healthindustrywatch.com | Allison Salerno |Matt Walljasper

John Miller carries a red oak chair into the conference room at Union County’s civic center and places it beside a long table, where seven older men sit, carving wood. “This is a Franklin chair,” says Miller, 70, wearing a Gun Owners for Trump cap on his head and a hearing aid in his left ear. The men pause their carving—they’re making Li’l Abner boots under an instructor’s guidance—to look over his chair.