347 days is too long!
Jan. 31st, 2005 08:33 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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arisiaThere are 347 days until the next Arisia. Am I the only one who thinks that's too long?
If anyone can recommend other fun cons or events in the interim, please do! I'd prefer local events, if at all possible.
Incidentally, I found the exact number of days until the next Arisia at http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html . It's true: you can find anything with Google. :D
If anyone can recommend other fun cons or events in the interim, please do! I'd prefer local events, if at all possible.
Incidentally, I found the exact number of days until the next Arisia at http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html . It's true: you can find anything with Google. :D
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Date: 2005-01-31 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-31 02:00 pm (UTC)If you're ever really really bored, and want to be MORE bored, ask me about my experience with NERO sometime.
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Date: 2005-01-31 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-31 02:42 pm (UTC)It's coming up in only a few weeks, and is a bit more literary & smaller than Arisia, but otherwise is somewhat close in character. Boskone is at the Sheraton Boston over President's Day weekend. Once very large, it still has a good compliment of pros.
Next, in mid-March, comes Lunacon, in upper NJ's Meadowlands (www.lunacon.org), then Balticon in Baltimore (www.balticon.org) at the end of May. Those are a bit further afield.
Boston will be hosting Gaylaxicon over July 4th weekend at the Hyatt Ziggurat on Memorial Drive; shortly thereafter, there's the very serious, author-laden Readercon (www.readercon.org) out in Burlington, MA at the Marriott.
Then, in the fall, there's Capclave in DC, Albacon in Albany NY, and finally Philcon, at the beginning of December.
There's an extensive list of cons at www.sflovers.org.
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Date: 2005-01-31 03:03 pm (UTC)I tried Boskone a few times, and came away with the feeling that it was nowhere near as friendly and open as Arisia. And that was despite the fact that I am an older fan with a strong background in genre literature, particularly older genre literature - which seems to be the core Boskone crowd.
Lunacon sounds fun, but is probably too far away. Balticon likewise; I'd love to try them, but I simply cannot afford to stay in hotels this year.
Gaylaxicon...um, since I'm not gay I'm guessing that might not work for me. :D
Readercon is definitely a possibility, although it doesn't sound very much like Arisia.
I guess that's the problem: I'd like an event with some of the looseness, the general sense of fun that Arisia has. It wouldn't even have to be a con. A friend of mine used to fantasize about buying a bar and having a once-a-week genre night, with all sorts of cool stuff; art, maybe a costume competition a few times a year, videos, panels, that sort of thing.
It's a nice fantasy, but you'd need a perfect location and a lot of money to make it work...
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Date: 2005-01-31 03:45 pm (UTC)Gaylaxicon's program focusses on gay issues, but I'm quite straight, and I've visited it. So long as a guy saying he has to "check with his husband" doesn't phase you, it's OK. It tends to be small.
There's no con in New England as large, or diverse, as Arisia.
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Date: 2005-01-31 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 01:26 pm (UTC)Wow, I see that Orson Scott Card is the GOH. Maybe I'd better not go. I still haven't forgiven him for rewriting A Planet Called Treason. :D
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Date: 2005-01-31 08:24 pm (UTC)I've been to both and they are quite different cons in many ways and I don't think this is by accident. IMHO Boskone dropped the "fun/party con" mantle after the implosion and Arisia picked it up and ran with it.
I preferred Boskone out in Framingham but that is mostly due local convenience; without staying in the Sheraton, getting to Boskone now is much more of a hassle. Right now, I'm not sure I can afford more hotels.
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Date: 2005-01-31 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-31 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-31 06:04 pm (UTC)Good lord, that sounds perverted.
But seriously, thanks for the suggestion. I can't afford to travel that far this year, but it's good to know that the option is there for the future.
Of course, a large part of what makes Arisia special for me is that so many of my friends are there - friends that I only see once a year - and doing panels. I don't suppose that I could be a panelist at other cons, unfortunately.
Which is more of an incentive for me to write some fiction and get it published, I guess. If only I could.
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Date: 2005-01-31 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-31 06:22 pm (UTC)Part of what I like about Arisia is that there's such a wide scope of activity and fannish subcultures...I suspect that I would be horribly out of place at a furry convention.
I may just be out of luck, I fear.
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Date: 2005-01-31 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-01 05:04 pm (UTC)Oddly enough I ran into a furry guy on the commuter rail a few weeks ago. He saw I was reading a science fiction book, and started to tell me all about a convention I might like...Arisia!
He was taller than me, and had a teddy bear hanging out of his backpack. Truly, fandom is an amazingly varied thing.
Got to admit that I don't get the furry thing at all. But I'm okay with that.
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Date: 2005-02-02 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-01 04:42 am (UTC)