Arisia '08 thoughts
Jan. 22nd, 2008 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiPanels:
Eight panels is probably too many, even at a four day con. Four of those panels in a five hour span is definitely too many. Having one of those panels occur fourteen floors above and five minutes after the other is really, really bad. Having another occur right after a large panel moderated by someone who decided that she could run over her time (as in, run past the starting point of the next panel) is very annoying. Having one panel rudely interrupted at the end (but well before we’d even come close to running more than about ten seconds past) by an asshole from the next panel who felt the need to cut off a wrap-up speech in the least subtle or polite way imaginable is annoying (but not surprising, given the person in question).
That’s all the bad of the panels, and it’s really not much at all. When you’re on eight panels, you expect a lot more to go wrong.
Four of the panels were movie panels: Non-Genre Films that Fans Love, The Living Dead, Science on the Big Screen, and Comic Books Go to the Movies (the last was officially on the comics track, but was a movie panel for all intents and purposes). The first and third both had![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ericmvan, whom I’d so associated with Readercon that I was surprised to realize that he is a tremendously voracious and insightful fan of movies. He added a lot to both panels. The science panel (which I modded) also featured two genuine scientists who made some damned fine comments, and Barry Longyear, whose discussion of the Enemy Mine screenplay were pretty much my reason for wanting to be on that panel. It was easily my favorite panel.
The Comic Books Go to the Movies panel allowed me to share panel time with the awesomehughcasey, and was a blast. The Living Dead featured marlowe1, as well as a room with no table, meaning that the four of us were forced to sit in chairs in the middle, with some folks out of our line of sight. It was still fun (when is talking about zombies not fun?), even if no new ground was likely broken.
The comics panels — Continuity? What’s That?, Gods and Monsters, and Misogyny in Comics were all a blast, as they dealt with themes that could be discussed for hours. The last of these had me on a panel with bothasim and my lovely wife. It also, alas, was poorly attended (much of the con was likely trying to hit the Noon checkout time), with the panel outnumbering the audience at the start (although attendance picked up). Alas, Arisia doesn’t always pull in a Wiscon crowd, but it’s an issue that a number of us will keep bringing up, and we spread the word about sites like When Fangirls Attack.
(Lack of mention of any other fellow panelists, likesovay or jducoeur, or of my other panels themselves is not an indication that they were also great panelists, but that my brain can only remember so much; like I said above, there was little to complain about here.)
Other than the panels I was on, and the ones thatshadesong was on, I only went to one or two panels. I think I’ll try for a less ambitious panel list for myself next time, as there were tons of great panels on media, comics, lit, and other stuff.
Gaming:
One of the best things about extending the con was that I was able to game late into the night on both Saturday and Sunday (Friday’s usually out for me, as I hit the con after a long day of work, and am exhausted by the end of the day). The gaming room, as always, was a lot of fun, and where I spent the majority of my non-panel time. Games played included:
*On the Underground (which was made of awesome, and has been added to my wishlist)
*I'm the Boss (which hadslipjig, ckd, and cracking up and probably annoying half the game room at times)
Zendo
*Power Grid (I finally understand the fuss)
No Thanks
*RoboRally (see my comment for Power Grid)
Betrayal at the House on the Hill (first time playing it with the errata in use)
and
*Talent Pool (slipjig’s nifty Hollywood-themed game, currently in beta)
Asterisks indicate games I played for the first time this weekend.
I might well be forgetting some games, of course.
Also, thanks to a Euro Games panel on Fast Track (run by next year’s Writer GoH, Walter Hunt), Elayna has now played No Thanks and Space Beans. Woohoo!
Since I attended the Looney Labs demo of Zombie Fluxx (although I didn’t get to play), I ended up with one of the 10th anniversary packs of Fluxx cards, too. Yay!
Hotel: Honestly, other than them refusing to offer any late checkout options at all (something that’s never been an issue with any other hotel I’ve dealt with), the Hyatt handled things nicely. The staff here are consistently nice and patient, and really work hard to make your stay enjoyable. If you decide to spring for the food at the restaurant, it’s always good (and the service is attentive). The lobby food bar was slightly more expensive this year ($7 individual pizzas and $5 hot dogs), but it was still a cheaper alternative than the restaurant, and the food was there 24/7.
The layout of the hotel, and the problems caused by it, are another issue, but that’s one that’s out of the hands of everyone involved. The space was used much more efficiently this year, though.
Other stuff:
‘Song’s first Con Reading! Yay!
Great to finally meet and chat withmodpixie on Saturday.
I finally got to meetkradical! Woohoo!
Had a wonderful dinner out at Mary Chung’s withhughcasey and ckd. It was great to get away from the con for a bit and just enjoy a nice conversation and amazing food.
The consuite (courtesy oftamidon) and the green room (courtesy sinboy and rosefox) were both wonderful, and both improved over the previous year. Part of this was the better locations; the consuite wasn’t crammed into a tiny room with three tables, and the green room was in an actual meeting room, instead of a normal-sized hotel room. Both had lots of places to sit, and room to maneuver. Both also provided lots of precious coffee as well as other good things to eat. Props to everyone involved with both of them.
The free wireless, of course, was a win.
I saw, talked to, laughed with, and hugged more of you than I can even attempt to remember. In some cases, I actually couldn’t even tell you at the time who I was talking to, laughing with, or hugging. That said, if anyone deserves to be singled out, it’s Jasra, who probably had more stressful situations thrown at her than anyone I talked to this weekend, and who kicks ass.
Elayna had a blast, between the masquerade (yes, her outfit probably needed something other than sneakers on her feet), gaming, running around with all the other kids, and having a much greater sense of freedom here than at previous cons.persis, as always, did a great job running Fast Track.
There was and is the usual minor drama online about the con (and at least some of that comes down to the fact that cons, like sausage, are best experienced when in denial of how they’re made), but overall there’s little for me to bitch about here. I’ll get more lit and science at Boskone in a month, and in the meantime, I managed to enjoy the entire experience this weekend.
Oh, and needless to say, I was pretty much AWOL from LJ between Friday afternoon and now. If you posted anything important
Eight panels is probably too many, even at a four day con. Four of those panels in a five hour span is definitely too many. Having one of those panels occur fourteen floors above and five minutes after the other is really, really bad. Having another occur right after a large panel moderated by someone who decided that she could run over her time (as in, run past the starting point of the next panel) is very annoying. Having one panel rudely interrupted at the end (but well before we’d even come close to running more than about ten seconds past) by an asshole from the next panel who felt the need to cut off a wrap-up speech in the least subtle or polite way imaginable is annoying (but not surprising, given the person in question).
That’s all the bad of the panels, and it’s really not much at all. When you’re on eight panels, you expect a lot more to go wrong.
Four of the panels were movie panels: Non-Genre Films that Fans Love, The Living Dead, Science on the Big Screen, and Comic Books Go to the Movies (the last was officially on the comics track, but was a movie panel for all intents and purposes). The first and third both had
ericmvan, whom I’d so associated with Readercon that I was surprised to realize that he is a tremendously voracious and insightful fan of movies. He added a lot to both panels. The science panel (which I modded) also featured two genuine scientists who made some damned fine comments, and Barry Longyear, whose discussion of the Enemy Mine screenplay were pretty much my reason for wanting to be on that panel. It was easily my favorite panel. The Comic Books Go to the Movies panel allowed me to share panel time with the awesome
hughcasey, and was a blast. The Living Dead featured marlowe1, as well as a room with no table, meaning that the four of us were forced to sit in chairs in the middle, with some folks out of our line of sight. It was still fun (when is talking about zombies not fun?), even if no new ground was likely broken.The comics panels — Continuity? What’s That?, Gods and Monsters, and Misogyny in Comics were all a blast, as they dealt with themes that could be discussed for hours. The last of these had me on a panel with both
asim and my lovely wife. It also, alas, was poorly attended (much of the con was likely trying to hit the Noon checkout time), with the panel outnumbering the audience at the start (although attendance picked up). Alas, Arisia doesn’t always pull in a Wiscon crowd, but it’s an issue that a number of us will keep bringing up, and we spread the word about sites like When Fangirls Attack. (Lack of mention of any other fellow panelists, like
sovay or jducoeur, or of my other panels themselves is not an indication that they were also great panelists, but that my brain can only remember so much; like I said above, there was little to complain about here.)Other than the panels I was on, and the ones that
shadesong was on, I only went to one or two panels. I think I’ll try for a less ambitious panel list for myself next time, as there were tons of great panels on media, comics, lit, and other stuff. Gaming:
One of the best things about extending the con was that I was able to game late into the night on both Saturday and Sunday (Friday’s usually out for me, as I hit the con after a long day of work, and am exhausted by the end of the day). The gaming room, as always, was a lot of fun, and where I spent the majority of my non-panel time. Games played included:
*On the Underground (which was made of awesome, and has been added to my wishlist)
*I'm the Boss (which had
slipjig, ckd, and cracking up and probably annoying half the game room at times)Zendo
*Power Grid (I finally understand the fuss)
No Thanks
*RoboRally (see my comment for Power Grid)
Betrayal at the House on the Hill (first time playing it with the errata in use)
and
*Talent Pool (
slipjig’s nifty Hollywood-themed game, currently in beta)Asterisks indicate games I played for the first time this weekend.
I might well be forgetting some games, of course.
Also, thanks to a Euro Games panel on Fast Track (run by next year’s Writer GoH, Walter Hunt), Elayna has now played No Thanks and Space Beans. Woohoo!
Since I attended the Looney Labs demo of Zombie Fluxx (although I didn’t get to play), I ended up with one of the 10th anniversary packs of Fluxx cards, too. Yay!
Hotel: Honestly, other than them refusing to offer any late checkout options at all (something that’s never been an issue with any other hotel I’ve dealt with), the Hyatt handled things nicely. The staff here are consistently nice and patient, and really work hard to make your stay enjoyable. If you decide to spring for the food at the restaurant, it’s always good (and the service is attentive). The lobby food bar was slightly more expensive this year ($7 individual pizzas and $5 hot dogs), but it was still a cheaper alternative than the restaurant, and the food was there 24/7.
The layout of the hotel, and the problems caused by it, are another issue, but that’s one that’s out of the hands of everyone involved. The space was used much more efficiently this year, though.
Other stuff:
‘Song’s first Con Reading! Yay!
Great to finally meet and chat with
modpixie on Saturday. I finally got to meet
kradical! Woohoo!Had a wonderful dinner out at Mary Chung’s with
hughcasey and ckd. It was great to get away from the con for a bit and just enjoy a nice conversation and amazing food.The consuite (courtesy of
tamidon) and the green room (courtesy sinboy and rosefox) were both wonderful, and both improved over the previous year. Part of this was the better locations; the consuite wasn’t crammed into a tiny room with three tables, and the green room was in an actual meeting room, instead of a normal-sized hotel room. Both had lots of places to sit, and room to maneuver. Both also provided lots of precious coffee as well as other good things to eat. Props to everyone involved with both of them.The free wireless, of course, was a win.
I saw, talked to, laughed with, and hugged more of you than I can even attempt to remember. In some cases, I actually couldn’t even tell you at the time who I was talking to, laughing with, or hugging. That said, if anyone deserves to be singled out, it’s Jasra, who probably had more stressful situations thrown at her than anyone I talked to this weekend, and who kicks ass.
Elayna had a blast, between the masquerade (yes, her outfit probably needed something other than sneakers on her feet), gaming, running around with all the other kids, and having a much greater sense of freedom here than at previous cons.
persis, as always, did a great job running Fast Track.There was and is the usual minor drama online about the con (and at least some of that comes down to the fact that cons, like sausage, are best experienced when in denial of how they’re made), but overall there’s little for me to bitch about here. I’ll get more lit and science at Boskone in a month, and in the meantime, I managed to enjoy the entire experience this weekend.
Oh, and needless to say, I was pretty much AWOL from LJ between Friday afternoon and now. If you posted anything important
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 05:05 pm (UTC)The space was used much more efficiently this year, though.
Dear sweet jumping Jesus cluny frog on a stick, it was less efficiently used last year? That scares me.....
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 05:33 pm (UTC)Examples:
The con suite was in that glass-enclosed room behind the restaurant. Enough space for about three tables, and major crowd issues.
The green room was in a standard hotel room on the second floor that required us to go through the restaurant and the buffet line, and which had enough room for maybe four people to sit.
The Fast Track (kid area) was on the second floor, in a suite of four rooms that were used as party rooms this year.
There was a Dealer's room on the 14th floor.
In fairness, most of those problems are the result of the first year at a new hotel, and everyone trying (in a compressed period of time in which there are a zillion other things to do) to figure out what can go where.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 05:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-23 01:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-23 03:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-23 05:24 am (UTC)Quickly...
Date: 2008-01-22 05:18 pm (UTC)I must have missd you, because I think I started trying to imitate you.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 07:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-23 07:05 pm (UTC)I have, at least, played quite a few games of Ricochet Robots.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 10:52 pm (UTC)I've never played Power Grid.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-23 01:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-23 07:06 pm (UTC)I avoided dancing, but given some of my dumb mistakes, maybe I should have just gone with the flow.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-23 02:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-23 07:06 pm (UTC)