Monday, June 25, 2012
My CONvergence 2012 Schedule
We're just a few short days away from CONvergence 2012. As always, it looks like it's going to be really massive, and there's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into this year's convention. The volunteers who help run it and keep it going do a lot, as well as everyone else who attends.
There are a lot of things that I'm looking forward to on the Schedule. Three highlights of mine:
There are a lot of things that I'm looking forward to on the Schedule. Three highlights of mine:
- Marian Call, Mainstage Thursday 8:30 PM
- Sophie Aldred (Ace from Doctor Who) - especially her mainstage interview, and I've wanted her to come to Minneapolis since she was first in the series in the late 1980s.
- Dungeons & Dragons Next Playtesting - I doubt I'll get a chance to do this myself, but there will be a lot of opportunities to playtest the upcoming version of the definitive fantasy role playing game, and I hope people have a lot of fun with it.
I'm sure that I could list another half dozen items, but that's just a great start.
My own schedule consists of:
- Convergence Events Open Meeting (Thursday, 9:30 AM)
- Learn about what CONvergence Events is working on outside of CONvergence. If you love the convention, here is your chance to enjoy our events all year round!
- The Avengers (Saturday, 11:00 AM)
- By the time the convention arrives, we will know if the combined testoserone on screen was a success or failure. Did Joss satisfy the faithful? Are we looking forward to a sequel or dreading it?
- If I Could Restart The Universe (Saturday, 12:30 PM)
- The 52 reboot gave DC writers the chance to build a new universe for their character. if you could build a new Comic universe for your favorite character, what would you do?
- Conventions Beyond CONvergence (Saturday, 2:00 PM)
- There are a lot of other conventions out there from the large Dragonconand Comiccon, the historic Worldcons, and conventions like Diversicon, Arisia, or Capricon in every city around the country. What makes each unique?
- Matt Smith Continued (Saturday, 5:00 PM)
- The Doctor, River, Rory and Amy Pond returned to do battle with The Silence and all manner of other things that go bump in the cosmos. Discuss your favorite moments from the second half of Matt Smith's second season!
- Once Upon a Time (Sunday, 12:30 PM)
- This show remixes fairy tales with a modern take for weekly television. What makes this show such a huge success?
I'll also be a part of Opening & Closing ceremonies.
It's going to be an epic event -- we're going to have over 5,000 people there, and hundred of people will help pull together to make it happen. Hope to see you there.
Labels: convergence, cvg2012, DnD, doctorwho, marian call
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Chicon 7 and the Minnesota Magpies
One of the things I've been working on this year is Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago this upcoming labor day weekend.
One really exciting part of this is that several of us are planning a party suite at the convention to celebrate Minnesota Fandom, and to be an outpost for our communities. That's especially true for people that might not have attended a Worldcon before, or as a place to gather together. We've got representation from CONvergence, Geek Partnership Society, Mn-stf, Minicon, Minneapolis in 2073, The Seamstress Guild, and I really welcome representation from across Minnesota-based fandom. I'm very proud of what SF&F Fandom has built in Minnesota, and want to represent that when Worldcon is as close to Minnesota as a Worldcon is ever likely to be anytime soon.
One part of this is that Joel Philips, Minicon's current chair and the head of consuite at Chicon (so we know it's going to be awesome), made a call out for people when making a room reservation at the Hyatt, so all of the people that wanted to be together in a late night party atmosphere with Minnesota fandom connections could be together. As a party of that, besides telling Joel, we referenced Magpie on our hotel reservations form. So we referred to this as "Minnesota Magpies", and I made some ribbons using a logo that Emily Stewart put together that I used at Minicon and also plan to use at Chicon to identify people participating in the room.
I wanted more than just a ribbon though, so I went ahead and created a Cafepress store so I could create a shirt and apron with the Minnesota Magpie logo, and I thought I'd open it up to other people to order shirts or any other material that they wanted.
One of the advantages of this is we can offer a pretty ride range of choices to people without encouraging any set-up charges, because out budgets won't allow that. But if people order from this store, some of the money will go back into making sure that we can afford the suite as a group, as well as helping all of the groups participating with getting the food and drink that obviously we want in a good party room.
I'm really excited about this. I definitely have my own magpie tendencies, and I'm really looking forward to a great experience at Chicon 7. Minnesota has a varied and diverse fanbase here for Science Fiction and Fantasy and all of those related Geek Culture things -- we've got a number of conventions that have run a long time, and there are more organizations, groups, and activities than anyone can track. So this is one part of celebrating and having a lot of fun.
So if you're interested in Minnesota Magpie stuff, please check out the store!
Labels: chicon, convergence, magpie, minicon, worldcon
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