What happens when you mesh mirror-like shards commonly found on disco balls with the finest soldiers this side of the Darth Vader’s Empire? Disco Trooper, who in this case decided to crash the Battlestar Galactica‘s Fleet party at Dragon*Con 2009.

I followed around the groove jivin’ man inside the Disco Trooper suit, Chris Lee. Interestingly, he was accompanied by an entourage of folks that flashed strobe lights on him whenever it looked as if a picture was being taken. Also, there was a guy dressed as a nun — well either it was a guy or a really convincing asexual lady of the cloth.

Either way, I brought the flipcam along. Video starts with me questioning the ethics of this gathering in the company of the Holy Sister and ends with Disco Trooper bustin’ moves to Lady Gaga…

Until the emergence of Adult Swim‘s Squidbillies, never had there been an animated program that so eloquently embodied the life of an alcoholic talking squid and his illegitimate son in the rural foothills of Georgia.

Such is true of the voice acting for Squidbillies‘s hillbilly squid Early Cuyler, who routinely provides a plethora of thought provoking philosophical quotes such as his dinner table prayer:

Lines of dialog like that can only be delivered effectively by one man, Stuart Daniel Baker a.k.a. the legendary Unknown Hinson. And long before becoming the voice of Early Cuyler, Hinson made a name for himself as a Rockabilly musician who is still touring. His songs are exactly how you’d imagine them to be (ridiculous and offensive). Actually, the amount of ridiculous shit that comes out of this man’s mouth is pretty much exactly like his Squidbillies character.

For proof I’ve provided videos of Unknown Hinson’s performance at the Dragon*Con 2009 Squidbillies panel…

As you may have noticed, our video team on the scene (I just made that up — gold star for me), Doug E. Karate and Rob E.Danger did a fantastic job of finding interesting things and people at Dragon*Con 2009 and showcasing them for all who didn’t attend to see.

This time around we have three pretty epic videos for you to enjoy — two interviews, and even an in-depth lesson in the Gothic culture. The first chat is with a woman talks about how she fell in love with The Green Lantern while watching the cartoons in Spanish growing up, and who even attended the convention dressed as a Lantern herself. Next up, you’ll meet a real, live inventor who brought along one of his creations. I can’t honestly tell you what it is or what it does, but it does throws a bunch of random phrases at you. The contraption is rather big and hangs around our new friend’s neck as he strolls. It actually kind of looks like an ’80s computer and a calculator had a romantic romp inside Jeff Goldblum’s The Fly machine, and then was teleported via the ship from Galaxy Quest, resulting in some form of inside-out electronic device.

After you check those out, prepare to take notes, as a couple of young kids will shatter all that you think you know about what Goth really is and what it means. If you’re like me, all you have to go on is what you’ve seen on South Park (Conformist!), and a little learnin’ will do help a lot. You’ll learn about what music they listen to, which ranges from exactly what you might expect to…bluegrass? You’ll discover that not all Gothic kids these days are total Satan groupies, and that some are actually Goth-Christian. And yes, you shall find out that there is in fact many “sub-species” to the overall Goth style, including the more bright and vivid Cyber-Goths, the Lolita Goths, and — wait for it — the confusing and highly contradictory Preppy Goth!

Click on over to see the videos. You know your curiosities have moved beyond temptation to pure necessity.

The plus side to having everyone dress in elaborate costumes for an extended weekend is that it gives the fairer of the genders a reason to adopt the likenesses of their favorite fictional characters — even if that means causing them to go half naked and/or require the application of mass body paint.

I’m not going to lie to you folks. Dragon*Con has the most gorgeous scenery in all of Georgia and this was probably the most enjoyable thing I’ve covered for the site in a long time.

Geek photographer Derek Deweese (dwrd.net) would definitely agree with me as he managed to meet several beautiful women (shown below) using perhaps the best excuse ever: “Uhh, hi. I’m with Geeks of Doom, can I take your picture?”

Sweet and bountiful Lord have mercy, I’m glad they all said yes. Check out images of 25 cosplay babes from this year’s Dragon*Con.

[Alternately, be sure to check out Derek’s personal site, dwrd.net, for more Dragon*Con visuals]

James Marsters gave details about the role his character will play in the upcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica in a fan panel at Dragon*Con 2009.

“I saw the pilot. All I have to say is I was disturbed and had to shut it off,” Marsters said, after explaining that he can’t go into too much detail since the show is months away from airing.

He did add that playing a role with darker, most serious tone was very exciting.