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neadodsTop posting. I know there are important things happening in the blogosphere, but tonight, this is what's important to me.
I don't know how many more MediaWests there will be, or how much longer I'll be going. The Internet has siphoned off much of what the con existed for in the first place - I'm no longer going to come home with the only fanzines I'll get and the memory of the only vids I'll see all year. (Although that latter? I am more than a little relieved that the vid contest hasn't become an endurance trial to see how long I can stay awake.)
And the economy is really cramping things. Gas has gone up 30 cents a gallon in just a few weeks. If I wasn't rooming with a group, I would have probably dropped out; as it is, several salwart regulars aren't coming or are going elsewhere. The teething troubles of a new hotel are not going to add to the ambiance... I've been at conventions at clueless or actively hostile hotels, and that's never a good thing.
And yet... it's not just nostalgia that takes me across four states. (Five this year, if I take the alternative to the PA turnpike. Which is tempting, because the kindest word that can be said about the PA turnpike is "industrial.") Celebrity cons, even fan-run ones, spin to showcase the celebrity's shows. Online, we self-select for our own interests. It's easy to lose track of panfandom as a culture itself, to assume that what you see is all there is.
MediaWest is all of panfandom, at least the convention-going part, and thus an excellent way of taking the pulse of what fandoms are hottest, which are rising, which are falling. It's also an excellent way of scaring up the one or two people who are also aficionados of that really obscure thing that you thought nobody else ever saw or loved.
My bags are packed, I'm ready to go. In two days, I head to where it's all live and enthusiastic and in-your-face. There will be animals. There will be door decorations - some as simple as a piece of paper and some pictures, some elaborate and running into the hall and along the walls (like the Hub door with flying Myfanwy and Jubilee pizza boxes piled up). There will be panels and arguments and squee and a hotel that's one big dealer's room because you're allowed (and to some degree expected) to sell stuff out of your room. There will be people who've come to all 29 years. There will be people who've never been to anything like it.
I don't know how many more MediaWests there will be, or how much longer I'll be going. But I'm still looking forward to this, drive and all, and I'll miss it when it's gone, because fandom will probably never see its like again.
I don't know how many more MediaWests there will be, or how much longer I'll be going. The Internet has siphoned off much of what the con existed for in the first place - I'm no longer going to come home with the only fanzines I'll get and the memory of the only vids I'll see all year. (Although that latter? I am more than a little relieved that the vid contest hasn't become an endurance trial to see how long I can stay awake.)
And the economy is really cramping things. Gas has gone up 30 cents a gallon in just a few weeks. If I wasn't rooming with a group, I would have probably dropped out; as it is, several salwart regulars aren't coming or are going elsewhere. The teething troubles of a new hotel are not going to add to the ambiance... I've been at conventions at clueless or actively hostile hotels, and that's never a good thing.
And yet... it's not just nostalgia that takes me across four states. (Five this year, if I take the alternative to the PA turnpike. Which is tempting, because the kindest word that can be said about the PA turnpike is "industrial.") Celebrity cons, even fan-run ones, spin to showcase the celebrity's shows. Online, we self-select for our own interests. It's easy to lose track of panfandom as a culture itself, to assume that what you see is all there is.
MediaWest is all of panfandom, at least the convention-going part, and thus an excellent way of taking the pulse of what fandoms are hottest, which are rising, which are falling. It's also an excellent way of scaring up the one or two people who are also aficionados of that really obscure thing that you thought nobody else ever saw or loved.
My bags are packed, I'm ready to go. In two days, I head to where it's all live and enthusiastic and in-your-face. There will be animals. There will be door decorations - some as simple as a piece of paper and some pictures, some elaborate and running into the hall and along the walls (like the Hub door with flying Myfanwy and Jubilee pizza boxes piled up). There will be panels and arguments and squee and a hotel that's one big dealer's room because you're allowed (and to some degree expected) to sell stuff out of your room. There will be people who've come to all 29 years. There will be people who've never been to anything like it.
I don't know how many more MediaWests there will be, or how much longer I'll be going. But I'm still looking forward to this, drive and all, and I'll miss it when it's gone, because fandom will probably never see its like again.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 01:01 am (UTC)