Balticon Over, FioS On
Technically Balticon continued today, but I slept in instead. My legs were all bruises and muscles pulls, Mom & CJ were cranky, and there really isn't much to it on Mondays, so I picked up some crabs (first ones this season) and settled in for a bunch of movies on FioS' special free OnDemand promotion. So far, 'Cabin in the Woods' (it was different/twisty, but not the way I thought it would go), 'The Avengers' (NOW I understand why the Avengers panel at Balticon was titled 'And Schwarma After...' ), 'The African Queen', on the 100 films list and hooray, Hepburn's character was NOT a helpless dame in distress. at least not after adjusting to her circumstances; and 'The Hunger Games', credits presently running. What happened to the tribute who saved Katniss at the Cornucopia? But I kinda figured that's how they'd solve the one survivor problem. Hoping to squeeze in one more, probably the remake of 'True Grit'.
Meanwhile, Balticon had hotel issues. The hotel was bought by another chain very recently, and apparently they fired the whole staff and only hired half of them back; they disconnected the reservation system so only people with a paper printout from the previous chain were able to check in without drama; the bathrooms weren't cleaned; a corkage policy was instituted days before the con (grrr), etc. Yippee. Someone apparently decided to rectify this by punching a hole through the men's room wall. The art show had its own issues with artists (which is not unusual) and serious issues with the customers (not usual). At least one, expensive piece has gone missing, a piece was broken, apparently deliberately, and bid sheets kept disappearing either entirely or showing up in other parts of the art room. Trying to reconcile the paperwork was not fun. Sheesh.
Meanwhile, Balticon had hotel issues. The hotel was bought by another chain very recently, and apparently they fired the whole staff and only hired half of them back; they disconnected the reservation system so only people with a paper printout from the previous chain were able to check in without drama; the bathrooms weren't cleaned; a corkage policy was instituted days before the con (grrr), etc. Yippee. Someone apparently decided to rectify this by punching a hole through the men's room wall. The art show had its own issues with artists (which is not unusual) and serious issues with the customers (not usual). At least one, expensive piece has gone missing, a piece was broken, apparently deliberately, and bid sheets kept disappearing either entirely or showing up in other parts of the art room. Trying to reconcile the paperwork was not fun. Sheesh.