GGB Reno’s July Ghostbusters Brunch
In honor of the new film, the Reno chapter of Geek Girl Brunch held a Ghostbusters-themed July brunch! The Reno officers saw the movie the week before the brunch and couldn’t resist this theme as we laughed out loud throughout the movie, and had a great time. This month’s brunch also brought laughs and lots of great fun.
We held our meetup at a new location, the beautiful wine cellar restaurant and gourmet grocery Napa Sonoma South. With the new locale, it was fitting that every one of the attendees (other than the co-officers) were first time brunchettes! There were 6 of us in total, with attendance on the lower side likely due to a last minute change in date and also summer plans keeping many of us so busy.
To start things off, we introduced ourselves, talking about our #1 (current or lifelong) geek love(s) and our favorite ghost-themed movie/TV show/book. A couple of girls were not big scary movie fans, including Amanda, but she quickly mentioned Netflix’s Stranger Things and everyone at the table freaked out in delight. The popular series was definitely one of the winners of the day. Co-officer Erin is also a big fan and tangents quickly developed regarding 80s nostalgia in general. We also discussed the new Ghostbusters movie, of course. Everyone who had seen it thought it was a lot of fun, despite all the critical backlash. Erin even spoke up in defense of Ghostbusters 2, which many of us love! Additionally, Buffy the Vampire Slayer had multiple mentions, co-officer Vanessa loves the original Poltergeist and watched it at MUCH too young an age, and Kate suggested the movie Cat’s Eye. Her son is even interested in being a paranormal investigator!
Conversation moved along to our geeky loves, and Vanessa was very happy to know that new brunchette Kate is a massive Star Trek fan. Meeting another lady Trekkie is always a treat. Kate also recently started getting into serious cosplay, which should have made Lindsay happy – she came in full steampunk Ghostbusters getup and was the star of the brunch! She even had restaurant guests ask to take pictures of her. As a side note, all Lindsay’s kids are named for DC heroes, which helps to forgive her dislike of the Muppets!
Many of the girls are gamers (even if some of us admit to be “failed” or “terrible” ones, haha), and we discussed Nintendo, Star Wars games, PC vs. console, online gaming, and Amanda and Paola raved about the game Ni no Kuni. Of course, we discussed whether we or any of our loved ones had succumbed to Pokémon Go fever. Many of the girls played, and we all agreed that despite naysayers it is a fun way to get out and about with friends and family. Paola brought an international aspect to brunch, talking about how she grew up geeky (starting with Dragonball Z!) in Bolivia where geek culture is not as mainstream. We also had a lengthy discussion about book series. Paola is an avid YA reader (no apologies required at GGB!), and a fan of the Leviathan and Mediator book series. Lindsay suggested Ready Player One, Overdrive, and the Ender series.
As a parting gift, the Reno officers had Ghostbusters notepads to give the attendees. So cute! All in all, another successful brunch for Reno, and 4 new members who had a great time, and will hopefully join us again!