julieandrews: (Default)
This was my first Boskone. Also, since I've never attended an Arisia, it was my first time in this con hotel as well. I was waffling all over the place, so I missed the room block at the con hotel. I called to see the price of a non-block room and it was $260. Yea.. no. So I stayed at the Marriott Renaissance a block or so away. Both hotels only had free wifi in the lobby, so no on-the-spot con reports.

I got a ride down with two fellow NH Broads *waves*. Thank you! I'd been prepared to take the bus, but this was faster, involved less schlepping, and more conversation.

I'd intended to attend the discussion group on Harrassment in fandom, but was too new to the con to actually find it before it was half over with. And at that point, I didn't want to interrupt. See, what threw me was that there's this huuuuuge room with eeeeeverything in it! That the dealer's room and artshow should share the same space made sense to me. That it was also the consuite, and a gaming space, and demo space, and discussion group and kaffeeklatsch space.. wow, that's a lot. I did eventually start to appreciate how it brought everyone together in interesting ways, but it does have its downsides.

The freebie table was packed! Overflowing with old sf/f magazines mostly. I did snag a Cecilia Tan antho (to say which would make me blush more than just saying 'Cecilia Tan antho') and I did see some Arietty posters that tempted. I was trying to travel light though and thought they'd get smushed.

I'd been expecting a Dunkin Donuts and CVS every five feet, but there were neither! Well, my phone insisted there was a DD, but it was down on a pier and I didn't see any signs, and there was a gate across the road.. so I gave up that search. Later, I found the con restaurant guide which guided me to the Italian deli/market right near my hotel! Yay! I'm doing this out of order, but.. there were 3 Starbuckses between the two hotels and the only other building you pass between them! And did you know they sell bagels, but they don't toast them?!

At the Italian deli/market thing, I got a cheese sub for a very reasonable price of I think $3.50 and some potato salad. It was not good potato salad. It was giant chunks of potato and a little bit of mayo and other stuff. Seriously, it was like eating a bunch of red bliss potatoes, without butter or salt. The sub was good though. They also do breakfast, so if I go to Arisia or Boskone next year, I'll be going there again.

Consuite food was interesting/different. Nobody is beating Wiscon's consuite in my mind, not with the popcorn and the veggie hot dogs. But they did have a constant supply of interesting breads and there was fruit. The thing I most appreciated were the hard-boiled eggs. It's a good dose of vegetarian protein. And portable!

The artshow was very impressive to me, who knows very little about art. I saw some artists I recognized from Wiscon. Mostly it was the sheer _amount_ of art, almost all of it really good and also coooool. One of these days I'll have a place with a lot of wall space and need to buy some of this cool art I keep seeing. Dragons! Space! They also had displays up of authors/artists who'd passed away in the last year, and those were nice.

The only thing I bought in the dealer's room was _Machine_ by Jennifer Pelland, from the Broad Universe table. Got it signed! And got two other awesome Broads to sign my copy of UnCONvential (which you should totally buy/read). I was trying to travel light, as I said, so I didn't browse the dealer's room much beyond one wander around. Didn't want to be tempted!

I guess I'll do the panel reports, such as they might be, in another post. And at another time, when I have my notes in fr... actually, it just occurred to me I do have the schedule (on my phone) and the notes in a notebook right in front of me. Well, later in any case!

But a final shoutout to that phone app! Awesome! I think the app itself is Guidebook, so other cons, you should definitely use that!! They released an update on Friday that wiped out my schedule and screwed up the descriptions so they didn't match the panels, but they eventually fixed it. I was worried about installing the further updates, because I thought it might wipe out my schedule each time. Learning curves. But srsly, I want this for Wiscon!

Boskone

Feb. 10th, 2012 10:13 am
julieandrews: (Default)
I'm going to Boskone next weekend. So expect some con reports from me. I won't promise specifics. Just that there will be some. Well, at least one. :) I think both hotels (the con hotel and the one I'm staying in) have sucky, expensive wifi. So the con reports may not come until after the con. I may tweet or facebook from my phone, if you're one of my stalkers.

This will be my first time going to Boskone. I don't have any sort of schedule, because I'm not on anything. You might find me hanging out with some Broads.

Now to go look at the schedule!
julieandrews: (Default)
I just finished watching S2E3 of Sherlock. Wah. Now I have to wait for more Sherlock!
And I have to wait a superlong time for more Doctor Who. Grr.

Spent the first week of January in Florida with my family. We did 1 day Magic Kingdom, 2 days SeaWorld, 3 days Universal. They did Legoland while I chilled in the room (well, actually they did the chilling, since it was really cold that day! Ha!). Of course we did Harry Potter. Very crowded! And that was in the off season!

If you want to do Harry Potter, I have one of two suggestions for you:
1) Stay at a Universal hotel. You'll get in early.
2) Go to the Harry Potter con in July. You'll get in exclusively! With a bunch of Harry Potter geeks!

If you can't swing either of those, then plan to do 3-4 days at Universal and hit the park the moment you can get in and go straight to Harry Potter. Do that each day for as long as you can stand the crowd, then go do something else.

The Three Broomsticks does not have good (any) vegetarian options, so be prepared to eat potatoes, corn and salad if you eat there. After you've had the experience, you can go next door to get a Jurassic veggie burger. Though SeaWorld's veggie burgers were better, I think.

Seaworld surprised me by the quality of the shows. A lot of stuff was closed because January is apparently the time to renovate things. But they still had five shows and they were very theatrical and well-done. You don't think you need 2 days for Seaworld, but since day 2 is free, it's worth it. The Manta coaster was a big hit with those who rode it.

The Magic Kingdom had the light parade, which they hadn't had the last 2-3 times I went, I don't think. So it was nice to see that.

My library science classes start again next week. I'm trying 2 this semester, since first semester seemed kind of easy. I may come to regret that. But this will get the mandatory classes out of the way and I'll be free to pick fun electives after that. Rumor is they'll offer Chinese in the Fall. Which is totally tangential, but I'm so easily suckered into a language class. And we do have Chinese books in our library! I was book selector for them for awhile.

I'm behind on Triple Take reviews. Link to Triple Take right here. I need to do October's, November's, December's, the special Little House project, and a very very very late Turing book. Next up on our Nebula Project is The Dispossessed. I borrowed two copies of that so long ago that I no longer know where one of them is. I read this one at least twice in college for classes, but I don't remember it much. After that is a bunch of novels I know nothing about. Yay!

I should do some Wiscon reading, now that it's only 4 months away. Eep!

Considering going to Boskone. I was considering going to Arisia, but it was right after I got back from Florida and that really would've been a little crazy of me. But it did look like fun!

I've blown through almost all my vacation time now though, so I need to make sure I'm saving time for Wiscon. Once July hits, I get more floating holidays and personal days in a lump, so I'm less concerned after that.

That's probably enough rambling for now. Just thought my LJ deserved an update of some sort.
julieandrews: (manga)
I'm thinking about going to Arisia. I've never been before, but I've certainly heard about it. Anyone out there in lj-land have any thoughts, comments, advice about it? Should I go? It turns out it's more convenient to get to than Readercon was, and I can only assume it has better food possibilities.

The overflow hotel is cheaper and there's a free shuttle. Normally I'd try to stay in the con hotel, but just how inconvenient is it in this case?

Any thoughts on the guests, the panels, the atmosphere?
julieandrews: (Default)
My Doctor Who download hasn't finished yet, so...

I found this erm.. column? It's so hard to tell what to call things these days when they're 'news' according to Google and show up on newspaper sites. They could be news articles, or columns, or letters to the editor, or something else entirely. And how can you tell?

Anyway.. Science-fiction fans a breed unto themselves by Ben Bova in the Naples Daily News

Science-fiction conventions are unlike any professional, business, scientific or political conventions that I've ever seen. They are fun. They are educational. And, more often than not, they're not terribly well organized.

I think that does conventions and the fans that run them a disservice. Very often what seems like chaos is order and what seems like order is chaos behind the scenes.

Consider that a typical convention is run by volunteers who get together in person rarely, if at all during the year. A good majority of pre-con organization is run these days online, through forums and mailing lists. The con chair or chairs probably have never been a con chair before, though they may have been vice con chair the year before.

They have to organize the volunteer staff, the gophers, the dealers, the guests, the industry reps, the press, the hotel, and sometimes outside companies such as security, medical staff, or caterers. For two or three or four or more days, there are at least half a dozen events going on simultaneously, and more likely a dozen or two dozen. Some of these events, such as video rooms, could be running around the clock.

And with WorldCons, as specifically referenced by Bova, each con is run by an entirely new organization and staff in an entirely new city or even country every year.

It's a monumental task and even the greatest organizer in the world would have a hard time running their first con. And probably even their second or third.

Why are science-fiction conventions so popular among the fans? I think it’s because science-fiction fans often find themselves regarded by the "mundane" world as oddballs, nerds, weirdos. At a convention, though, all these ugly ducklings can come together for a weekend and be swans.

This last sentence I take objection to. I am not an ugly duckling wanting to be a swan. I'd more happily claim the designation 'oddball', 'nerd', or 'weirdo' (though I prefer 'geek'). What's the 'swan' in this metaphor? A normal person? A 'mundane'?

Who wants to be that?
julieandrews: (Default)
Aren't new cons exciting? Julie Holderman and Tamora Pierce found a gap in the con world. There's no cons for readers and writers of YA sf/f.

I've been lax on my blog reading, or I would've found out about this sooner.

If you're interested in finding out more or volunteering, head on over to The YA FSF Con livejournal community. Be sure to read the Community Guidelines.

At least one of my Clarion classmates beat me to it!

Comic Con!

Jul. 28th, 2007 01:03 pm
julieandrews: (Default)
I'm going to try to keep this entry short and quick. Quick is more important than short. Stuff to doooo!

Everyone warned that Comic Con was huge and insane. What they didn't say was that it's HUGE! And INSANE!

Most of us went yesterday, though we only stayed for a few hours. We actually workshopped in the morning, like good little Clarionites. Some people are going back today and tomorrow, though I don't think that will include me.

The convention center is huuuuuuuuge. They were very organized though. We never stood in line for registration, and I actually got registered in like 10 seconds. They had rows and rows and rows of registration computers.

I went to stand in the line for Allison Bechdel with a couple people, but five minutes after the panel was supposed to start, the line wasn't entering the room yet. I was worried about getting in to see the Muppets, which started in about 40 minutes. So I left the line to go find the Muppets, stopping by the freebie table. Freebie table was all flyers and cards. :( People, if you want me to pick up your advertising, give me pins! Magnets! Something! (Well, at least it was a promotional learning experience.)

The Muppets were in the ballroom. The ballroom. Was. Ginormous. You could take the largest ballroom I've ever seen at a con and put like 6 of them in there. Fortunately they have two screens on either side of the stage and two more screens halfway back into the room, otherwise you'd never see what was going on on stage.

Had to wait a bit, but when the previous show ended, I managed to snag a decent seat on the aisle. Not the best seat, certainly, but hopefully some of my pictures come out.

Lisa and Brian Henson were there, along with some other Henson company people and, briefly, a guy from SciFi.com. They talked about stuff coming out soon. DVDs of this, CDs of that. Notably, graphic novels of The Dark Crystal and, I think, Labyrinth, from Tokyopop. And Rygel and DRD plushies.

They showed a clip from Tinsel Town, which looks like it'll be really good. They said it'll probably be on air this Fall, but I forget the channel, if it was said. It's a gay couple -- a bull and a pig -- and they have a teenage son (a human). And it was, naturally, very funny.

They also showed a webisode clip, which was all humans, and erm... I forget the name. But think Pee-Wee's Playhouse with only the people and not the playhouse, and you'll come close to it, I think.

Then the Skrumps. Which sound cooler than they are. The technique behind it was interesting. They have one person puppeting the head and doing the voice while another puppets the body and arms, and it's real-time computer animation. I'm afraid the actual Skrumps seemed childish and silly to me.

Then they did some of Puppet Up! for us, with special guest puppeteer, Ben Browder. If you haven't heard of this, it's improv Muppets. To help them hone their humor and acting skills. They're going to start doing it monthly in Hollywood somewhere. Which was cool news for the locals, I guess, but doesn't help me any!

I ducked out when the Q&A started so I had time to do the exhibit hall.

Exhibit hall. Huge. Awesome. Lots of stuff to look at. Lots of stuff to buy. I wasn't buying though. Scored myself some free swag, though there didn't seem to be as much as I expected there to be. Maybe I was looking in the wrong spots. I asked at some publisher booths for free books. Harper Collins gave me an Octavia Butler. Penguin gave me a YA book, then told me about a panel going on upstairs shortly. Tor said he'd have more tomorrow, but had none left for today. Other Clarion people scored with Tor, because they timed it right and used their connections. ;)

I didn't think to look for magazine publishers. Doh! I found out later Locus was giving away free back issues. :( :(

I wandered around some more. I wanted to at least feel like I'd seen a good portion of the place. So I walked the whole length of it once, on one side. Which is probably how I missed the magazine publishers.

Then I ducked out about 25 minutes before it officially closed to go find the promised free books at the Penguin panel. Took me like 10 minutes to walk there. Did I mention the place was huge? They talked about upcoming books and raffled some off. Once they appeared to be done raffling, I ducked out, collecting a free book on the way out.

Then we met up and left the con to find food and stuff. Lots of walking ensued. Eventually got back after midnight.

And that was my brief Comic Con experience.

Did I mention it was huge?

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