Mediawest*Con 2013, part 2: Food, zines and doors
I think I blew most of my budget on food. It's easy to do when you eat out, even when you get a free continental breakfast!
However, a group of us did go see Star Trek: Into Darkness, and I can see why fans are so enamored of Benedict Cumberbatch. He was fantastic as the bad guy, whose name I will not post for the 2% of fans who have yet to see the film and don't want spoilers. However, it's obvious J.J. Abrams has taken over as yes, someone DIES. Darn. And they're doing a spin/retelling of Star Trek the classic series. I liked the film, but would like more characterization over action, although the action scenes were good, and pay attention to small details, as they crop up in critical moments later on ;)
And a friend gave me this neat coffee pouches. These are the ones that survived the con, as I used a couple at the con. Now the hotel was the Ramada, which apparently from what I heard had only recently been bought and brought back to life, which showed in the age of the decor, the sinks, the pool, etc., but it was a good hotel. Elevator futzed out once but got fixed. However, many fans are now using scooters, and they have fire doors all over the place. Heavy fire doors. I joked that they should put submarine door handles on them. ("We've had a hull breach! Seal the hatches!")
I really don't buy a lot at cons. I'm sooo picky on zines (must be Stargate Atlantis, gen, so that limits me quite a bit) so I got one, plus I got some neat pins (one of which is a gift which I'll eventually get in the mail).
One day I hope to find a jellyfish pin...
My friend and I do the programming, so had to contend with new rooms and room sizes but I think overall, things went well. We'll be soliciting feedback shortly. The party suite worked well - it's large, well-ventilated and directly across from the elevators. Next year, we'lll make big signs as some folks missed it due to the weird way the room numbers ran around the floor. Unlike the former hotel, which was five floors, this is three floors and spread out. I referred to the rear area as the "Dagobah system" as it was a hike. I did a Stargate party, which went well except for hooking up the DVD player to the old TV they had. Eventually another fan brought her DVD player which worked much better (another huge THANK YOU!)
The dealers room, which is smaller, and this shot is the last day when some have already broken down their tables.
The windows, however, were nice lighting so you didn't feel cooped up all day. Zines, jewelry, toys and more. Fans are very creative:)
Part of the corridor leading down to the dealers room, and the former dining area, which had been converted to a gaming area. If the con uses the hotel next year, we'll keep the gaming in there as it worked out very well.
Fans were allowed to post flyers on all glass, but the hotel didn't mind if anything went on the wallpaper as apparently it's sorta vinyl so masking tape doesn't hurt it.
Which leads to door decorating. There would have been more, I'm sure, had fans not been scattered across several hotels. I passed an idea to the concom about possibly letting fans in other hotels uses other fans doors in the main hotel, a sort of "host a door" idea for fans who don't decorate, but won't mind if another fan does it. This was my door:
Which yes, doesn't look like much and it's hard to read. I'd packed stuff but when I got to the hotel, realized I'd left the newer material on the bedroom floor (*headdesk*) so after drinking a delicious but vodka-laden Mudslide at Finley's, simply took the stuff from two years ago and rewrote it. I got chortles from fans, which is all I really want. I forgot to enter the door decorating contest but next year hope to remember.
As for the rest of the doors, I'm sending you over to http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannellfan/sets/72157633800074848/, where
cannellfan has, once again, amassed a great selection of con shots as well as every door decoration :) Including mine, and a friend's door. They didn't have time to do stuff, so I 'defaced' their door for them. That's the second from last on the first page of the link above.
Meanwhile, another great aspect of the con is the pets. Yes, fans bring their furry family members: dogs, cats, lizards, snakes (once), birds. I get my pet fix there since I'm at the moment pet-less.
I did several panels - was happy to see a number of folks attend the Stargate Atlantis/SG-1 H/C fanfic recommendation panel, and I got links/names of some stories I must look up as I'm woefully behind in fanfic reading. Ran around talking with fans I only get to meet once a year, saw some great homemade lightsabers (wow!), ate far too much bad food, attending a nice nostalgic Kung Fu: The Legend Continues party.
I helped myself to the Yodels... which aren't in this picture cuz, well, I ate them. This was in the con suite, open to all fans. Oooh, cheese bits. Love cheese.
The main reason I've done this con for decades is the fans. I've made great friends here and this is, alas, sometimes the only chance I can see them every year, so we stay up late, catch up on what's happening, etc. While so much of fandom can be done online, there's nothing like sitting around and talking and playing games. A few of us played Doctor Who monopoly but it ended up a stalemate of us just nickel and diming each other as everybody had a piece of everybody's else properties. Next year we plan to do the game again, only earlier in the con before the dealer's room and panels open. I attended panels on Stargate Atlantis, Person of Interest (popular from what I saw), Elementary and a nifty pure science panel. Hope that panel occurs again next year.
And then before you know it, the con is over (insert whine).
Fans departing the lobby. The tables they set up were great. Hope we have them next year as we can set up Monolopy... On the plus side, we left Michigan right before all these storms came in. The trip back was basically uneventful (no storms, at least) but on the way from DC back to NY, we heard from Amtrak that the freight train/truck collision should not impact our train. (?!!) The train takes off, I'm checking news as the Northeast train has wi-fi and yup, train vs truck with resulting fire. I look up when my friend goes 'look at those storm clouds' and I go 'that's not clouds, that's the freight train on fire'.
Yikes... Fortunately it did not impact our return. When I got home, however, I discovered that the scallions I'd left in the kitchen window had, er, grown...
And the rhodedendrons had blossomed!
And of course, I had to vacuum rugs, mop the kitchen and all that stuff as no, it's not done while I'm gone. However, I did miss terribly not being greeted by the cat. The first time in, well, forever...
I emptied out all my luggage on the bedroom floor. Washed all the clothes but am slowly sorting out the rest and yes, it's been nearly a week since I got back but it will all be off the floor before, er, July 4th. Without a cat, I'm slower to pick stuff off the floor. I need a cat, obviously.
And that's about it. I'll be doing MWC again next year. By then, I swear, the entire con will be carrying AARP cards ;)
However, a group of us did go see Star Trek: Into Darkness, and I can see why fans are so enamored of Benedict Cumberbatch. He was fantastic as the bad guy, whose name I will not post for the 2% of fans who have yet to see the film and don't want spoilers. However, it's obvious J.J. Abrams has taken over as yes, someone DIES. Darn. And they're doing a spin/retelling of Star Trek the classic series. I liked the film, but would like more characterization over action, although the action scenes were good, and pay attention to small details, as they crop up in critical moments later on ;)
And a friend gave me this neat coffee pouches. These are the ones that survived the con, as I used a couple at the con. Now the hotel was the Ramada, which apparently from what I heard had only recently been bought and brought back to life, which showed in the age of the decor, the sinks, the pool, etc., but it was a good hotel. Elevator futzed out once but got fixed. However, many fans are now using scooters, and they have fire doors all over the place. Heavy fire doors. I joked that they should put submarine door handles on them. ("We've had a hull breach! Seal the hatches!")
I really don't buy a lot at cons. I'm sooo picky on zines (must be Stargate Atlantis, gen, so that limits me quite a bit) so I got one, plus I got some neat pins (one of which is a gift which I'll eventually get in the mail).
One day I hope to find a jellyfish pin...
My friend and I do the programming, so had to contend with new rooms and room sizes but I think overall, things went well. We'll be soliciting feedback shortly. The party suite worked well - it's large, well-ventilated and directly across from the elevators. Next year, we'lll make big signs as some folks missed it due to the weird way the room numbers ran around the floor. Unlike the former hotel, which was five floors, this is three floors and spread out. I referred to the rear area as the "Dagobah system" as it was a hike. I did a Stargate party, which went well except for hooking up the DVD player to the old TV they had. Eventually another fan brought her DVD player which worked much better (another huge THANK YOU!)
The dealers room, which is smaller, and this shot is the last day when some have already broken down their tables.
The windows, however, were nice lighting so you didn't feel cooped up all day. Zines, jewelry, toys and more. Fans are very creative:)
Part of the corridor leading down to the dealers room, and the former dining area, which had been converted to a gaming area. If the con uses the hotel next year, we'll keep the gaming in there as it worked out very well.
Fans were allowed to post flyers on all glass, but the hotel didn't mind if anything went on the wallpaper as apparently it's sorta vinyl so masking tape doesn't hurt it.
Which leads to door decorating. There would have been more, I'm sure, had fans not been scattered across several hotels. I passed an idea to the concom about possibly letting fans in other hotels uses other fans doors in the main hotel, a sort of "host a door" idea for fans who don't decorate, but won't mind if another fan does it. This was my door:
Which yes, doesn't look like much and it's hard to read. I'd packed stuff but when I got to the hotel, realized I'd left the newer material on the bedroom floor (*headdesk*) so after drinking a delicious but vodka-laden Mudslide at Finley's, simply took the stuff from two years ago and rewrote it. I got chortles from fans, which is all I really want. I forgot to enter the door decorating contest but next year hope to remember.
As for the rest of the doors, I'm sending you over to http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannellfan/sets/72157633800074848/, where
cannellfan has, once again, amassed a great selection of con shots as well as every door decoration :) Including mine, and a friend's door. They didn't have time to do stuff, so I 'defaced' their door for them. That's the second from last on the first page of the link above.
Meanwhile, another great aspect of the con is the pets. Yes, fans bring their furry family members: dogs, cats, lizards, snakes (once), birds. I get my pet fix there since I'm at the moment pet-less.
I did several panels - was happy to see a number of folks attend the Stargate Atlantis/SG-1 H/C fanfic recommendation panel, and I got links/names of some stories I must look up as I'm woefully behind in fanfic reading. Ran around talking with fans I only get to meet once a year, saw some great homemade lightsabers (wow!), ate far too much bad food, attending a nice nostalgic Kung Fu: The Legend Continues party.
I helped myself to the Yodels... which aren't in this picture cuz, well, I ate them. This was in the con suite, open to all fans. Oooh, cheese bits. Love cheese.
The main reason I've done this con for decades is the fans. I've made great friends here and this is, alas, sometimes the only chance I can see them every year, so we stay up late, catch up on what's happening, etc. While so much of fandom can be done online, there's nothing like sitting around and talking and playing games. A few of us played Doctor Who monopoly but it ended up a stalemate of us just nickel and diming each other as everybody had a piece of everybody's else properties. Next year we plan to do the game again, only earlier in the con before the dealer's room and panels open. I attended panels on Stargate Atlantis, Person of Interest (popular from what I saw), Elementary and a nifty pure science panel. Hope that panel occurs again next year.
And then before you know it, the con is over (insert whine).
Fans departing the lobby. The tables they set up were great. Hope we have them next year as we can set up Monolopy... On the plus side, we left Michigan right before all these storms came in. The trip back was basically uneventful (no storms, at least) but on the way from DC back to NY, we heard from Amtrak that the freight train/truck collision should not impact our train. (?!!) The train takes off, I'm checking news as the Northeast train has wi-fi and yup, train vs truck with resulting fire. I look up when my friend goes 'look at those storm clouds' and I go 'that's not clouds, that's the freight train on fire'.
Yikes... Fortunately it did not impact our return. When I got home, however, I discovered that the scallions I'd left in the kitchen window had, er, grown...
And the rhodedendrons had blossomed!
And of course, I had to vacuum rugs, mop the kitchen and all that stuff as no, it's not done while I'm gone. However, I did miss terribly not being greeted by the cat. The first time in, well, forever...
I emptied out all my luggage on the bedroom floor. Washed all the clothes but am slowly sorting out the rest and yes, it's been nearly a week since I got back but it will all be off the floor before, er, July 4th. Without a cat, I'm slower to pick stuff off the floor. I need a cat, obviously.
And that's about it. I'll be doing MWC again next year. By then, I swear, the entire con will be carrying AARP cards ;)