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neadods221BCon may have led me down the primrose path - now when I think "something about this convention is fishy" it's immediately followed by "But look at how great 221BCon turned out and you were really dubious about it, Nea!"
Well, I'm starting to get a strong whiff of fish off the North American Discworld con, and it's not coming from Baltimore Harbor.
There are apparently ill rumors in the wind (I haven't heard any of them directly, but I've heard of them and I'm trying to track them down). And of course Mr. Pratchett himself will not be attending, but that was, IMO, to be expected considering his health and his writing schedule.
It's the panel programming that I'm getting a worse and worse feeling about.
First, there are long gaps of nothing. Rooms are listed on the panel grid, but only have an hour or two's worth of programming in them. Other rooms are in almost constant use, but for no reason I can discern there is suddenly a gap in them. That's just... weird. And it doesn't make sense in an area that is stuffed to the gills with experienced con people. You can't throw a tribble in this town and not hit someone with panel experience.
Second, the panels listed skew heavily towards either arts-and-crafts or yoga/pilates. Oh, cute Discworld names have been slapped on them, but the fact remains that of the panel tracks already announced, a good half of them are about stretching or exercising or knitting or bead stringing or etc. And that's NOT including the kiddie track (which frankly sometimes sounds more interesting than the adult track.)
Third, the crafty panels are very tiny. (I know -- "This food is so bad!" "And the portions so small!") But when you've got a couple hundred people attending and one event that hour is a lottery-system coffee klatch and another is a 15-person-maximum crafting panel, just what are the other 170 people supposed to be doing? Dealer's room? I already own all the books, often in both audio and paper.
Also, if I wanted to pay for bead stringing, there's a store near here that would cost a lot less for a class and has room for more people, I'm just sayin'.
Fourth, there are surprisingly few panels that actually *discuss Discworld.* Of the non-craft panels, there are lots of coffee klatches with other authors, discussion of "if you like Discworld, you should look into" and a few nuts and bolts about the editing or staging of the books - but shockingly few actually discussing the characters and politics of the Disc.
Come on, people! I can come up with half a dozen juicy discussion topics off the top of my head!
WHAT I WANT:
- Stanley Really Was a Stamp Collector. Pratchett peppers his books with little historical references and other easter eggs. List and discussion.
- What is news? In The Truth, there was a discussion of what should or should not be important to print in the paper. Who was right? What was left out?
- Despot, Remember? The evolution of Vetinari from fat, stupid evil despot to thin, dedicated civil servant. Is Vetinari a good or a bad ruler?
- It's Myffic - How Pratchett uses (and twists) myth and folklore to suit his plots.
- The Madman in the Plot. Have you ever noticed that most of Pratchett's books have a really psychotic villian? Why is this, and would the books work without it?
- Women of Discworld: Do you think Sir Terry writes convincing women?
- Faith, Religion, and Small Gods
WHAT I'M GETTING
- Magical Libraries and Magical Books in Fiction
- Discworld Charades
- Reading of "How Beer Saved the World"
- Sword Fight: Watch and Learn*
- Knit Your Own Beard
- Tick of Time Yoga
*Probably time to note that "Fight Club" and "Fight Club II: Reloaded" are standard presentations at the local rennfaire. I know all of the moves (and the jokes) by heart.
There's one panel that I'm really excited about. One, in a 4-day con, and it's not about Discworld, it's about forensics.
*I* want to go argue the issues of a shared passion with other fans. *They* want me to come home with a sock monkey Mac Nac Feegle.
...!
Oh, and have I mentioned that much of the merchandise and IIRC the lotteries for many of the coffee klatches were available on the website in advance but WILL NOT be available at the convention? If you didn't keep checking the website (because some of this wasn't mentioned in the newsletter either, like the merch), you're outta luck. And whoever is doing the website is really, really fond of complexity. You have to download the grid, but pop-up the panel descriptions. Pop 'em up. One by one by one just to figure out what the titles mean. Because there's no unsexy but VERY USEFUL page just listing the damned things.
Damnit, I'm supposed to be looking forward to Friday, not congratulating myself for not taking time off work and saving my leave.
Well, I'm starting to get a strong whiff of fish off the North American Discworld con, and it's not coming from Baltimore Harbor.
There are apparently ill rumors in the wind (I haven't heard any of them directly, but I've heard of them and I'm trying to track them down). And of course Mr. Pratchett himself will not be attending, but that was, IMO, to be expected considering his health and his writing schedule.
It's the panel programming that I'm getting a worse and worse feeling about.
First, there are long gaps of nothing. Rooms are listed on the panel grid, but only have an hour or two's worth of programming in them. Other rooms are in almost constant use, but for no reason I can discern there is suddenly a gap in them. That's just... weird. And it doesn't make sense in an area that is stuffed to the gills with experienced con people. You can't throw a tribble in this town and not hit someone with panel experience.
Second, the panels listed skew heavily towards either arts-and-crafts or yoga/pilates. Oh, cute Discworld names have been slapped on them, but the fact remains that of the panel tracks already announced, a good half of them are about stretching or exercising or knitting or bead stringing or etc. And that's NOT including the kiddie track (which frankly sometimes sounds more interesting than the adult track.)
Third, the crafty panels are very tiny. (I know -- "This food is so bad!" "And the portions so small!") But when you've got a couple hundred people attending and one event that hour is a lottery-system coffee klatch and another is a 15-person-maximum crafting panel, just what are the other 170 people supposed to be doing? Dealer's room? I already own all the books, often in both audio and paper.
Also, if I wanted to pay for bead stringing, there's a store near here that would cost a lot less for a class and has room for more people, I'm just sayin'.
Fourth, there are surprisingly few panels that actually *discuss Discworld.* Of the non-craft panels, there are lots of coffee klatches with other authors, discussion of "if you like Discworld, you should look into" and a few nuts and bolts about the editing or staging of the books - but shockingly few actually discussing the characters and politics of the Disc.
Come on, people! I can come up with half a dozen juicy discussion topics off the top of my head!
WHAT I WANT:
- Stanley Really Was a Stamp Collector. Pratchett peppers his books with little historical references and other easter eggs. List and discussion.
- What is news? In The Truth, there was a discussion of what should or should not be important to print in the paper. Who was right? What was left out?
- Despot, Remember? The evolution of Vetinari from fat, stupid evil despot to thin, dedicated civil servant. Is Vetinari a good or a bad ruler?
- It's Myffic - How Pratchett uses (and twists) myth and folklore to suit his plots.
- The Madman in the Plot. Have you ever noticed that most of Pratchett's books have a really psychotic villian? Why is this, and would the books work without it?
- Women of Discworld: Do you think Sir Terry writes convincing women?
- Faith, Religion, and Small Gods
WHAT I'M GETTING
- Magical Libraries and Magical Books in Fiction
- Discworld Charades
- Reading of "How Beer Saved the World"
- Sword Fight: Watch and Learn*
- Knit Your Own Beard
- Tick of Time Yoga
*Probably time to note that "Fight Club" and "Fight Club II: Reloaded" are standard presentations at the local rennfaire. I know all of the moves (and the jokes) by heart.
There's one panel that I'm really excited about. One, in a 4-day con, and it's not about Discworld, it's about forensics.
*I* want to go argue the issues of a shared passion with other fans. *They* want me to come home with a sock monkey Mac Nac Feegle.
...!
Oh, and have I mentioned that much of the merchandise and IIRC the lotteries for many of the coffee klatches were available on the website in advance but WILL NOT be available at the convention? If you didn't keep checking the website (because some of this wasn't mentioned in the newsletter either, like the merch), you're outta luck. And whoever is doing the website is really, really fond of complexity. You have to download the grid, but pop-up the panel descriptions. Pop 'em up. One by one by one just to figure out what the titles mean. Because there's no unsexy but VERY USEFUL page just listing the damned things.
Damnit, I'm supposed to be looking forward to Friday, not congratulating myself for not taking time off work and saving my leave.
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no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 05:41 pm (UTC)Huh - spontaneous reading/staging of a Discworld story, methinks...
(I confess that I love Terry's female characters - he writes women as people first, which always wins prizes in my view.)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 08:51 pm (UTC)I hear that Terry won a prize from the girl guides for writing a "real girl" with Tiffany. If that's true, he certainly deserved it!
no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 05:25 am (UTC)Oh! I hadn't heard that, but I hope it's true!
no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 06:48 pm (UTC)Although the presence of empty panel rooms plus skimpy programming suggests an opportunity to schedule just-in-time panels/impromptu meetups. If the con staff can be persuaded to put up a message board in a central location, and encourage people to schedule their own programming in the empty slots, that might help salvage things.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 08:56 pm (UTC)Although there was a train wreck of an... October Trek? I think that was the name... where all of the panels ended up being impromptu discussions. But there's nothing to discuss here! It's "how to do x" or -- somewhat annoyingly to me -- "here's how costuming/stamps/etc work here in Discworld." I'm not a big fan of The Great Game when Holmesians play it; I would infinitely prefer to be meta about Discworld.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 09:18 pm (UTC)Are they doing the play and the room parties this year?
no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 10:27 pm (UTC)There's a play with puppets, if that's what you're talking about. But they decided to schedule that on Monday mid-day, when I have every intention of being back at work. (My corporate overlords are very hardassed about taking leave in advance, so I'm very parsimonious about taking time off. Also, con hotel hideously expensive.)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-04 09:20 am (UTC)