DragonCon '08

August 21, 2008 1:05 AM

Second convention thread of the week: Dragon*Con is coming up Aug. 28 - Sept 1. Anyone else planning on attending? What panels are you thinking on attending?

Some things at the convention that I personally find interesting:

- It seems there's a Robotics track, and every year they hold a robot building competiton. People who sign up ahead of time get a box of robot parts, including a battery, a motor, a remote control, and other mechanical odds and ends. They attempt to construct a device, that day, that can compete in events such as running through obstacle courses and playing soccer with ping-pong balls.

- The EFF actually has a pretty strong presence at the 'con, and holds SRO "Hacking X01" panels. It'd be awesome to storm "Second Life: Great or Awesome" with a horde of snarking MeFites. (Or, maybe, polite MeFites who five minutes after the panel come up with all the terrific things they so totally should have said.)

- Every night the British Sci-Fi Media track watches UK television shows all. night. long. The last day of the con last year they showed the first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the unaired pilot to Blackadder. Great shows, and great company.

- Satellite News reports that Joel, Frank and Trace from Mystery Science Theater will be there this year, although I've been unable to find mention of them on the guests list.

posted by JHarris to MetaFilter gatherings at 1:05 AM (20 comments total)

I'll be there.
posted by arimathea at 5:19 AM on August 21, 2008

Actually I think it's the fourth this week.
posted by smackfu at 7:10 AM on August 21, 2008

I skipped the first week of school to roadtrip to DragonCon a few years ago; have a great time! (Alas, I live on the wrong coast now.)
posted by kaibutsu at 10:30 AM on August 21, 2008

Oddly enough, I'm a guest.
posted by jpburns at 11:35 AM on August 21, 2008

Hey jpburns, that's awesome! I'll see about dropping by and saying hello.
posted by JHarris at 1:30 PM on August 21, 2008

Oh, and about your tweet referring to Joel, Frank and Trace showing up being "cool if true," it IS worrisome that the only place I've read about it has been the Satellite News site. They're pretty well-connected there, but the Brains-in-question still haven't appeared on the guest list. May be worth looking into.
posted by JHarris at 1:33 PM on August 21, 2008

Hold that, Joel has a guest page there. Interesting biographical information there, too!
posted by JHarris at 1:37 PM on August 21, 2008

I think there is a MMPORG seminar there, I'm planning on seeing that. Mainly I go for the photo ops...I'll be there the entire weekend this time. Can't wait! It's the only time I seem to get to be a full on geek!
posted by Hands of Manos at 1:41 PM on August 21, 2008

I ran into Joel at Siggraph one year. He was just in the crowd, hanging out and watching a demo. I got to go up to him and tell how much I had enjoyed his work, and shake his hand. Nice guy.

I'll be pimping my newest book. Please stop by and say hello.
posted by jpburns at 2:18 PM on August 21, 2008

James Randi, and Paul&Storm are on my "must kneel before" list. Otherwise, most any night I'll be hanging out with camp chairs in the "Smoking Con-Suite" on the Hyatt pool deck.
posted by Megafly at 6:35 PM on August 21, 2008

I'll be there.

* The Science track is underwhelming this year (did they get some nuclear weapons expert as their only guest--WTH?), but I'll probably go to a couple of the Space track sessions.

* The Mad Scientist Ball has the singing Tesla coils again this year.

* The Apocalypse Rising track is always fun for those that are zombie-inclined.

* We're missing the Mythbusters build team this year, alas.

* Paul & Storm! Note to self: Bring panties.

* The MST3K guys were on the list before-- ah, they're on the main list.

* A note to the uninitiated, the Hyatt Ballroom Level is not your friend. Don't go there unless you really have to.
posted by elfgirl at 10:12 AM on August 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

I really need to get my act together with regards to panels.... oh, who am I kidding? I won't decide until Thursday night when I get my badge.

But I plan to be there.
posted by mephron at 12:50 PM on August 22, 2008

Ah, thanks bunches elfgirl! Alas, I didn't get to see the Mythbusters guys last year either. And also thanks to you Megafly for reminding me Randi's going to be there.

If there's going to be so many of us there, maybe we should pick a time and/or place to all meet? May I nominate wherever jpburns is put as a suitable hangout point for MeFites? (Assuming this is okay with him, of course.)

Er, that reminds me, jpburns, where are you going to be? Do you have a table in the exhibitors' hall? Are you in a single panel and nothing else?
posted by JHarris at 7:07 PM on August 22, 2008

Yeah, just 1 panel:

Comics-the Oppressed Fandom

How comics get used and used and still get little respect.
Tony DiGerolamo, James Burns, Jennie Breeden, Erik S Burnham, B Curtis(M); 1:00 P; L508 [M]

(whatever the heck that's about...)

I'll be at table 56 in Artist's Alley, Marriott Marquis, International Hall North (basically next to the escalator).

When it comes to getting together for a meet-up... I'll be a little shorthanded when it comes to running my table (for some reason my 16-year-old daughter isn't interested in comics...), so it wont be easy for me to get away.

Stop by and say hi, and we'll play it by ear.
posted by jpburns at 9:12 AM on August 23, 2008

Sounds good jpburns, I'll definitely be dropping by.

Should we pick a place for everyone to meet at once? Maybe a restaurant? There was a Chinese place across the street from one of the hotels we went to last year, might be a good place. Don't remember what it was called though.
posted by JHarris at 7:26 PM on August 23, 2008

No further responses? Ah well.

I'd like to suggest some way for us to tell each other apart. A MeFi t-shirt would be great, but it's too late to order one now.
posted by JHarris at 10:20 AM on August 26, 2008

I'll be the 49-year old grey-haired tall geezer who kinda looks like the Grumbles Guy.
posted by jpburns at 1:29 PM on August 26, 2008

I'll be there?

Hmm, would it be possible to have a button or badge?
posted by pointystick at 6:44 AM on August 27, 2008

I was thinking along the lines of a ribbon worn around the arm (a blue one, of course), but that might be considered teh gay. A MeFi T-shirt would really be best, but it's too late for those now.

I'll be the 35-year-old guy who looks like he's 20 (not helped by being at Dragon*Con) with glasses and probably a tote bag.
posted by JHarris at 5:06 PM on August 27, 2008

Con's over. I'll probably post a recap here later. Great meeting you jpburns, shame I didn't recognize anyone else.

I got to ask a question at the first MST3K panel, and got to mention Metafilter in conjunction with my question about Jollyfilter. I was partly hoping that it might be a way of bring out other MeFites, but alas it was not to be.

Still, lots of cool stuff happened. Seemed about a day too short this time.
posted by JHarris at 8:35 PM on September 1, 2008