07/08/07

The Heinlein Convention Was Disappointing (permalink)

kansas_city book scifi science_fiction centennial con convention heinlein

Last Saturday, I attended the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial held at the Westin Crown Center Hotel here in Kansas City, Mo -- Robert A Heinlein's hometown. I am sorry to say that the event was a disappointment. It felt as if it was planned to be a high profile convention with a few thousand attendees that would inspire some genuinely insightful looks into the author's life. Instead, the convention felt almost second rate, thrown together and lifeless.

To be fair, I only purchased the visitor's pass, which did not allow full access to the convention, and I only spent a couple hours wandering around taking it all in. However, the turnout was such that we were assured by the attendant at registration that we would not be turned away if we wanted to attend any panels we wished to, excepting the gala dinner. In fact, the panels we did see as we wandered the halls seemed to rarely have more than five or ten attendees, and looked to be very somber lifeless affairs.

The dealers room was filled with about 5-8 different merchants, and most of them were very loosely connected to Heinlein. The only memorable aspects of the dealers room were the Yard Dog Press booth, an offering by an indy publisher I am fond of, and my discovery of the Heinlein Prize scholarship program which was genuinely interesting. I also took the opportunity to sign up for KaCSFFS, The Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society in which Heinlein was a member when he was alive.

The most disappointing feature of the convention was the Heinlein "Life museum." This collection of scanned-in printouts of various documents provided less insight and history into Heinlein's life than a short trip to Wikipedia would. Most of the information on display was basic biographical fluff that anyone paying to go to a convention for the author likely already knew. I wondered as I wandered passed the sparse offering when I would come across the insight or revelations about Heinlein that I expected,

but it never came. The highlight and culmination of the "museum" was a bunch of scans from an old Starship Troopers board game and a few shots of storyboard art from the movie of that story.

In the end, I am glad I attended the parts of the con that I did, and I feel that it was at least minimally interesting. In fairness, organizing an event like this is a massive undertaking and takes hundreds if not thousands of man hours of work to complete. Adding to the problems, several guests canceled just before the convention and circumstances caused some of the more interesting events, like the bus tour, to be canceled as well. If the organizers had not tried for so much and instead concentrated on improving the quality of fewer offerings, I do feel the convention could have been a greater success.

07/05/07

This Weekend: Robert A. Heinlein Centennial (permalink)

scifi science_fiction book con convention robert heinlein centennial

This weekend I will be attending a convention celebrating what would have been Robert A. Heinlein's 100th Birthday. The event lasts three days: from this Friday through Sunday, and will be held here in Kansas City, Heinlein's hometown, at the Westin Hotel at Crown Center. There are a great deal of events and panels planned, but I will most likely be sticking with the visitors pass, which is significantly cheaper ($10 per day versus $60 a day or $120 for the weekend) but restricts access to just the dealer's room, Heinlein life museum and some panels.

Hopefully, it will be a fitting tribute to the life of one of my favorite authors, and a fun time as well.

Find out more at: http://www.heinleincentennial.com/

06/14/07

Otaku Omaha — The Masquerade (permalink)

anime con competition convention cosplay masquerade omaha otaku

As anyone who has read much of this blog will know, one of my favorite features of anime and science fiction conventions is the masquerade. Something about watching a bunch of nerds get up on stage in costume, sometimes acting out a short skit, is very entertaining.

Otaku Omaha's masquerade, though small, was interesting. There were several original and creative costumes which I had not seen attempted before, and a couple very detailed costumes that were better than any version I had seen before. The few people who attempted skits did not do anything particularly memorable. However, I had a great time, the event was run well without any problems, and all of the contestants seemed to have a great time.

06/13/07

Back from Otaku Omaha (permalink)

otaku omaha anime convention con nebraska travel

Last weekend I attended my third Anime convention this year, Otaku Omaha. While it was the smallest of the conventions I have attended, and there were some serious problems with the hotel (see the previous post about the horrible, horrible Carlisle hotel), there were some definite highlights to the experience.

To begin with, the dealer's room was one of the best I have seen this year. Though not quite as extensive as the Naka-Kon dealers' room, the Otaku Omaha version made up for it's size by hosting a much wider variety of merchandise as other cons as well as offering some tremendous deals. I took advantage of the con discounts and purchased several manga, a DVD collector's box set of FLCL, a gunslinger girl hat and a couple boxes of Pretz (much better than pocky).

Besides the dealers' room, the con offered several interesting events and panels. Personally, I attended the Masquerade, a AMV best of showing, AMV-Hell (adult oriented AMVs), the dance, a video-game gameshow (I won Pocky), and a panel teaching how to sew a plushy keychain. I found the plushy keychain panel to be especially interesting, since I had not sewn anything at all in over 10 years and because the hands-on style of the panel allowed me to walk away with something to keep. I may post a bit more about that panel later.

I very much enjoyed my trip to Otaku Omaha and may return in the future, at least if the organizers can find a new hotel.

06/11/07

The Funk of Forty Thousand Years (permalink)

carlisle foul disgusting nasty hotel con convention anime omaha otaku travel

I just got back from my trip to Otaku Omaha last night, and while I will be posting photos and information about the con later, I thought I would make a quick post about the hotel the con was at.

Without a doubt the Carlisle Hotel (a Days Inn) is the worst hotel I have stayed at in a long time. The hotel is obviously old judging from the architecture and decor and the state of repair and neatness of the hotel suggests that there has been no maintenance or cleaning done to the premises since it first opened. The EPA should categorize the place as a Superfund site and seal it off for the betterment of all mankind.

Because I am tired and lists are easy, here are some fun facts about the hotel:

• The whole place smelled like a mix of the chlorine leaking into the building from their chemically hazardous pool, disease, mildew, and the fumes of noxious cleaning chemicals (not that I ever saw any evidence of cleaners being used).
• One of the big selling features of the rooms on their site is the inclusion of a clock radio. It didn't work.
• The carpets had so many stains it was impossible to discern the original pattern.
• The rooms featured hung ceiling tiles, many of which were broken, sagging, heavily stained or un-matching.
• The wallpaper was peeling at almost every seam, missing in several places and was covered with an array of stains that I did not care to investigate.
• The beds were horribly old and would sag almost to the floor under normal weight making the springs creak.
• The view from our room was facing someone's driveway and an old beaten down car.
• The entire place was kept at about 85 degrees, causing the smell of a few hundred sweaty nerds to add to the general funk and greatly increasing the discomfort.
• There was no weather or sound sealing on the room doors, and there was about a once inch gap between the door and the floor where you could see out (or in).
• None of the staff seemed to give a shit about their customers, and were extremely unhelpful.

Click here for some shitty reviews of the carlisle hotel in Omaha, NE.

(as an aside, one of the only good reviews on that site contained this sage wisdom in response to the negative reviews: "donot aspect more crispy without oil.")

In short, DO NOT STAY AT THE CARLISLE HOTEL. If you must attend a convention or event at the Carlisle hotel, I recommend staying at one of the several hotels right next door, including:

• The Best Western Kelly Inn, Omaha
• The Hawthorn Suites Omaha
• Super 8 Motel Omaha West

Photos (these would be much more illustrative with smell):

The shitty smelly floor of the carlisle:

The crappy view from our room:

The door to go outside passed through a service room filled with trash and an even stronger odor:

Don't let this photo fool you, this cleaning cart never moved the two days we were here. I think it is a prop to fool future customers into thinking that they actually clean the place once in a while. Oh, and the lighting in this photo is very representative of the gloomy lighting in the hotel and not a camera defect.

A sign outside the carlisle hotel bar. I took the first half of the hotel sign's advice, and it did make the stay more bearable, but not by much.

06/08/07

This Weekend: Otaku Omaha (permalink)

otaku omaha nebraska anime convention con travel

This coming weekend I will be attending my fourth nerd convention of the year, Otaku Omaha, an Anime convention held in South-Eastern Nebraska. From what I can tell, it is a fairly small Anime con, but nonetheless looks to have some very interesting events in the lineup. Because Omaha is only a 2 and a half hour drive from Kansas City, and it is a smaller con, we will only be attending for Saturday and Sunday. Expect a report sometime after I return about the events.

05/31/07

Conquest: Story in a Bag (permalink)

conquest kansas_city convention con writing book scifi science_fiction fantasy competition

While attending the Conquest KC science fiction and fantasy convention this year, I participated in the Story in a Bag contest. For the contest, the conquest staff prepared a series of bags containing short sentences or words that had to be incorporated into a new, custom written story which the contestants had one hour to complete. The best stories in each of three categories (science fiction, fantasy and horror) were judged within three skill levels (youth, adult amateur, and adult professional/published).

For my entry, I chose to write within the Science Fiction category and qualified for the Adult Amateur level. My topics were as follows:

• Theme: A Trip Home.
• Character: A Crying Baby.
• Item: A Box of Chocolates
• Setting: A Run Down Apartment Building
• Starting Sentence: "Seven years ago today my life changed completely when..."

I ended up writing a story about a researcher who was indentured into service only to return to his home planet seven years later and try to pick up his old life. It turned out ok, considering it took me 20 minutes to decide on a plot which left me only 40 minutes to write and edit the 6 page story.

All of the stories were judged by convention attendees, and in the end out of the four stories that were submitted in my category and level, I won a close second place. I hope to compete again next year and try for first.

05/29/07

Conquest Idol (permalink)

music science_ficiton scifi convention con kansas_city

One of the main events at the 2007 Conquest Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention was the Conquest Idol Competition. This was the first year for this event at Conquest, but its popularity will ensure that it will continue next year.

The effect of listening to a bunch of dedicated nerds get up on stage and try to sing was both painful and hilarious. The best acts, unsurprisingly, were those that embraced their bad singing and used it along with intentionally horrible song choices for maximum comedic effect.

Though the singing was almost universally bad, the event was a blast and I hope to see what next year's entrants can do.

05/25/07

This Weekend: Conquest KC (permalink)

conquest books scifi science_fiction fantasy convention con kansas_city anime

This weekend, I will be spending some time at the Conquest science fiction convention here in Kansas City, MO at the airport Hilton hotel. This is the 38th year for the con, but will be the first time I attend. I met one of the con organizers at Naka-Kon a few months ago, and saw him again at Anime St. Louis/ShoMeCon last month. It seems to be a very well organized convention and they have a lot of interesting events, so it should be a good experience. I will be posting several updates and photos after the con, so check back for more next week.

05/06/07

Masquerade - Anime St. Louis (permalink)

cosplay masquerade con convention showmecon st_louis anime

One of my favorite features of anime conventions is the masquerade. Well over half of the attendees of anime cons generally show up in costume, and the masquerade is a great way to show off the incredible workmanship that goes into some of the costumes. Not only that, but the participants often perform short skits or performances as well.

The Masqerade at Anime St. Louis, while one of the smaller cons I have been to, had one of the best run Masquerades I have seen. Not only did it start on time, which is rare for a convention, but it also was run very smoothly and with minimal problems. It was a great show with many impressive entrants and several awesome skits. I am looking forward to next year's show already.

04/27/07

Piano Squall - Anime St. Louis (permalink)

gaming concert showmecon music con convention st_louis anime squall piano

"Piano Squall" is the stage name of a pianist who specializes in video game and anime music. I attended his concert Anime St. Louis last week and was very impressed with his performance.

Piano Squall began the show with an entertaining story of his origins and gave some insight into why he chose to pursue the performance of anime and video game music as a career. The bulk of the concert featured a variety of songs from anime such as Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist and Evangellion, and video games such as Chrono Trigger, Super Mario World, and most of the Final Fantasy series. It was obvious by his actions that Piano was very emotionally attached to the music he was playing. The crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause after the conclusion of every song.

At the end of the concert, Piano once again spoke before the audience to promote his new album "Game" which he produced with the aid of EA games. I found his salesmanship of the album to be a bit on the tacky side -- he very much seemed to be channeling the spirit of a thousand infomercial hosts in his presentation. Nevertheless, at the conclusion of the concert he was swarmed by the crowd elbowing their way to his table to pre-order his album and obtain a signed poster. While I did not join the crowd mobbing him at the end of the presentation, I was very impressed with his performance and the quality of the piano arrangements he wrote for many of the songs. I hope I get a chance to see him in concert again.

04/26/07

Dragon’s Keep - ShowMeCon (permalink)

fantasy gaming larp st_louis anime showmecon con convention scifi science_fiction

While at Anime St. Louis and Show Me Con last weekend, I saw a production by the theatre/LARP troup "The Dragons Keep." From their website:

"TDK is a unique role-playing game and improv show that mixes improvisational theatre with a Dungeons & Dragons style LARP (Live Action Role Playing). Think Saturday Night Live meets Lord of the Rings with Audience Participation. The cast play all of the NPC's (Non-Player Characters, like monsters) and a few selected members of the audience are called up on stage to be the PC's (Player Characters). Only audience members that fill out a character card prior to the beginning of the show will be eligible to be called up on stage. These audience "party members" are given a quest. To assist them with this quest they are given a spell orb (with seven spell charges), weapons and armor. With the aid of a guide (one of our cast members), the party is lead through a somewhat perilous adventure that tests their wits, strength, and overall moral worth. Some party members successfully make it through the entire adventure, and others.well, let's just say they aren't as lucky. Every show is a chapter in our ongoing, two-year story arc, so every show is unique. "

While normally they use an on-going story arc, for the purposes of the convention the troupe chose a stand alone lighter story line so that people new to the experience could better appreciate it. The story they chose was based upon the premise that a new mega-dungeon named "SlayMart" had moved into town and was running all the smaller dungeons out of business. The heroes then had to travel into the SlayMart and attempt to shut it down for good. Overall the production was interesting if a bit clumsy, and the story was pretty funny. If they are performing at any future cons I attend, I will definiitely be in the audience.

04/25/07

Anime St. Louis / ShowMeCon 2007 (permalink)

gaming anime convention con science_fiction scfi st_louis missouri showmecon travel

During my trip last weekend, I attended the ShowMeCon and Anime St. Louis held at a Marriot hotel. It was a joint anime/science fiction convention and attracted over 1000 nerds, geeks, and other socially awkward types to come together and celebrate their nerdiness for a weekend.

Aside from the other anime convention I attended this year, Naka-Kon in late march, I hadn't attended a convention of this type in several years. Prior to this year the last one I attended was Otakon in 2000, at a time when the anime fandom was just starting to get huge and there were still only a handful of anime conventions. Now, even living in the midwest, there is one or more convention almost every month within driving distance of my home. Even more surprising is even the smaller cons are attracting upwards of 1000 people.

This year was Anime St. Louis' first year at a bigger venue, and the first (and probably last) time they partnered with SciFi con "Show Me Con." According to the numbers they gave at the closing ceremonies, last year's con attracted only 300 people and was located on the college campus. This year they were hosted at a Marriot Hotel (who treated the con horribly) and had upwards of 1000 people in attendance. At least 80% of those in attendance were there specifically for the anime portion of the con.

Overall my convention experience was awesome, though there were problems. The hotel, a Marriot located in south-west St. Louis, pretty much dicked the con over with some bad business practices. Originally the convention organizers had reserved many of the meeting rooms and salons as well as the grand ball room to host the activities in. The hotel, however, decided it would be a good idea to double book everything and also promised the grand ball room to a wedding, a fashion show and a bat mitzvah, and gave the anime convention several smaller rooms instead. This made the larger and more popular events uncomfortably crowded, and caused many con-goers to be left out.

The combination of Anime St. Louis and Show Me Con caused some problems as well. Though the two cons were supposed to be partnered for the weekend, the two had separate schedules, meaning people without both did not know the full extent of what was scheduled when. Additionally, from what I heard, the Show Me Con folks did not fully live up to their part of the obligations and left Anime St. Louis to do much of the running of the con. Finally, most of the con-goes were attending only for one con or the other, and the two groups of attendees mostly ignored each other. In the end, it would have been better if either the two cons were kept separate, or, if they spent more time truly integrating the conventions with crossover panels, joint events and a shared schedule.

Even with it's problems I had a blast at the convention, and only wish I had more time to see more of the panels. The ones I did make it to were: Dragon's Keep, a combination LARP and play, Piano Squall's Concert, the Masquerade, the Swimming party (and Mankini Con, which will only make sense to those who were there), a Filking concert with Gary Hanak, the strange Japanese fetishes panel, a panel on MMORPGs, a panel on single player RPG gaming and the closing ceremonies. I will make a more detailed post later on a couple of the bigger events. I was definitely glad I attended the events of the convention last weekend and hope that I can make it back next year.

04/23/07

Back From a Busy Weekend (permalink)

camping science_fiction scifi disc_golf personal convention con friends gaming anime

I just got back from a crazy busy weekend trip. I left Friday with my two roommates to go to another friend's wedding reception, which was very non-traditional and very fun. We left the wedding late Friday evening and drove 2/3 of the way to St. Louis where we stopped at Graham Cave State Park to camp for the night. We woke up at 7:45 in the morning and explored the park and the historic cave the park was named for, and then drove to St. Louis, stopping on the way at a trucker diner for an incredible breakfast. In St. Louis, we registered for Anime St. Louis/ShowMeCon, a combination anime and science fiction convention held at a Marriot hotel. The convention had over 1000 people in attendance and we spent the greater part of Saturday late into the night and sunday until about 3:00 at the convention. After leaving the convention, we traveled to a nearby park just outside St. Louis and played a round of Frisbee golf. On the trip back we stopped in Columbia, Mo. for dinner, and finally made it home.

Needless to say, I am exhausted, so I am about to get some much needed rest. I will be posting more in detail about the proceedings and loading an image gallery in the morning or when I have time.