It is said "you can take the boy out of country, but you can't take the country out of the boy." On February 11th, I have the honor and privilege of going returning to my little hometown of Peotone, Illinois, a rural hamlet 46 miles south of Chicago, in a film critic capacity. One of my Blue Devil high school classmates, Patrick Schreurs, is organizing Lodge Con 2017, a brand new event for Midwestern gamers of all shapes and sizes, from role-playing adventures to card battles and miniatures.

Yours truly was asked to host a film-centered panel and I wholeheartedly accepted the chance to back a friend. The topic will be "The State of Genre and Fantasy Films" and I will attempt to hold court on the matter. I'm not going alone though. I have enlisted two Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle colleagues and fellow genre film fans to join me, John Robinson and El'Ahrai Stanek, of "The Harvey and Bob Show" podcast based in Woodridge, Illinois.

The three of us will host an hour-long panel at 1pm, open to audience questions and participation. Our plan is to live-stream the panel through The Harvey and Bob Show Facebook page. Afterwards, the podcasting team will record a live podcast episode on the premises of the Will County Fairgrounds Atrium bird-dogging the happenings of the Lodge Con event and bouncing around more movie, fantasy, and gaming talking points.

Come back to my website next week for pictures and a podcast link of the event! Be sure to follow both the Lodge Con 2017 and The Harvey and Bob Show Facebook pages and events to get in on the action! Better yet, RSVP, buy advance badges to the event, come to Peotone, and see what all the fuss is about in person!