Mon, 30 May 2005

All the Baycon in the World Couldn't Save You Now[*]

If you watch the flickr photo-stream over on the side there, you've already seen the few, crappy photos I managed to snag of my experience of BayCon.

But pictures don't do the experience justice, especially the ones I took.

So given that their site tells you what they set out to do and who was there, and my pictures show the things which stood still long enough, in bright enough light, for me to capture them, everything else is a subjective set of reactions.

  • The con space is huge. A leisurely circuit could take upward of thirty minutes, depending upon crowd density.
  • Events got double-booked in the same space.
  • A lot of people take costuming very seriously.
  • The con-suite and anime room, which I'm used to being 24x7 at the cons I attend had much shorter hours.
  • There were a couple on-site food options, ranging from quick and mildly over-priced to delicious and extravagant.
  • Some people are exactly the same in print as they are in person.
  • I really miss sleeping on a futon.
  • There was no map of the space provided in the registration packet.
  • The hotel provided free wi-fi in the lobby, but there was annoying worm-like activity on it.
  • The panel scheduling didn't seem to be tracked or grouped by theme, so I often had to choose between one of three interesting sounding ones, or find something else to do for ninety minutes.

Overall, I had a good, but not great, time. Special thanks to Alice, who provided vital crash space and made attendance possible, via coffee.

posted at 23:06 PDT (-0700)     (comments disabled)   permanent link  

Sun, 19 Oct 2003

Words, Words, Words

This year, instead of going to ICON, I went to Bookfest. I'd never been before and it was a real treat. I saw a couple panels, the net effect of which is what I want to read Michael Gruber's Tropic of Night, and anything by Kage Baker and I now know that Bruce Schneier is just as erudite in person as he seems in prose.

I managed to escape buying only one book, an L.E. Modesitt, Jr. novel, Archform: Beauty, which I let him sell me [and autograph] largely because it sounded like an inverse Rashomon's structure. I bought a book-holding apparatus of nifty design for stormagnet and something for Vylar but nothing for Crag, since he's not really a reader, as such.

I had a splendid time, but transportation issues prevented my going for the second day, and I'd definitely recommend it to you. Yes, you. If you're reading this, you're literate enough to groove on the bookfest. You have no excuse.

posted at 13:35 PDT (-0700)     (comments disabled)   permanent link  
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