Michael Lee's Train of Thought

Really, this changes nothing. But at the same time, it changes everything.

Not the official word (that went out to the voting members earlier this week) -- but my official word. At our last board meeting of the Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy we decided 12-0 (and the incoming 2 directors agreed as well) to spin off CONvergence from MISFITS, with the details to be worked out by January 1, 2010. Revenue donation will continue at current levels at least through the 2011 convention cycle. And we expect an active partnership between CONvergence and MISFITS for many years in the future.

I was in favor of this for a variety of reasons -- I've been actively involved with both CONvergence and MISFITS from very early on. (I don't quite get to be called a founder, but I was an early adopter.) I care passionately about both organizations, and am very proud of what we have done together. I've seen both organizations grow, mature, struggle, develop, and work together for many years. And I want them both to continue to do so as partners for many years in as successful a manner as possible.

I expect and will work to see that to continue -- and I am personally committed to an ambitious direction for the future as part of this process. The idea here is to build on our successes, support each other -- but then also get out of each other's way and not micromanage either. And let us all be the fantastic, imaginative, exciting community that I know that we are and will be.

There are a lot of details to work out. Lots of details. We'll have FAQs, meetings, discussions, arguments, decisions and paperwork to do.

But it is going to be exciting.

Labels: convergence, fandom, geek, minnesota, misfits, scifi

However, since many fans enjoy both literary and media fiction, it seems ridiculous not to pool our resources in protecting one another.

There is a very interesting article about some of the recent national SF convention failures.

As we come across our final pre-registration cut off for CONvergence, something like the above article is very sobering. Not every convention *is* run well. CONvergence, which tries to run things as professionally as possible, is still a fan-run affair that is being run for fun.

One thing that is nice today is that technology makes conventions more open -- you can find out about CONvergence by searching for Minnesota Sci Fi Convention on Google; you don't need to find out about it only by going to the right book store, or knowing the right person.

The thirteen year old kid who had his or her mind blown away by Star Trek last weekend deserves the same rich community and opportunity that the Science Fiction Community has given me.

And another piece of setting up that legacy is the very interesting copy of Argentus dealing with convention runnnig. There are some things that are Worldcon specific (which doesn't really interest me) but different sorts of advice are always good to read and take on.

And don't forget -- preregistration for CONvergence ends tomorrow!

Labels: convergence, cvg2009, fandom, scifi

Following up on an earlier post, we've scheduled a second meeting to discuss moving CONvergence to a 4 day convention on Wednesday October 22 at 6:30pm at the Rockford Road Library, located at 6401 42nd Ave. N., Crystal.

Labels: convergence, fandom, scifi

We just put up a FAQ outlying our plans to move permanently to a four day convention starting in 2009. We're planning a meeting on October 7th at 6:30 PM to discuss our plans. [The website has a typo.]

I certainly apologize for the short notice -- it all came together very quickly, and as you can expect, we're up against a pretty tight timeline for implementing it for 2009 -- and we've decided that it is better to continue with the new model that we started in 2008, and make adjustments to that, rather than wait until 2010 for it.

We've had lots of other meetings already on it with our various departments -- so this has been in the works since after the last convention and when we discovered that for most departments, four days was surprisingly easier than three days, not harder.

Labels: convergence, fandom, scifi

I went to see a sneak preview of Star Wars: The Clone Wars today.

I'll admit that I'm apart of a generation that loved the original Star Wars trilogy and could only be disappointed by the Episodes 1-3.

But this, while not recapturing the feel of the original Star Wars films for me, was a whole lot of fun. I enjoyed it and wasn't disappointed by it -- which is really the first time a Star Wars experience has done that for me since the first Phantom Menace trailer. And to be fair, it would be very, very hard to truly recapture that feel, and that's not really a fair standard.

This was recognizably something in the Star Wars universe, but something good for today as well. It's certainly something with a kids audience in mind -- but it's solid fun and definitely worth seeing if you were a Star Wars fan -- even if you have found yourself less of one after the prequels.

Labels: animation, movies, scifi, starwars

I'm excited to read -- or listen to The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away by Cory Doctorow -- one of my favorite Jonathan Coulton songs is The Future Soon, and Cory Doctorow is one of my favorite writers.

Really, all you'd have to do is mix Randall Munroe and Wil Wheaton into the project and the internet would implode.

Labels: geek, scifi

I'm shocked, shocked to hear that Jumpcon cancels its first two events. I always had my doubts about them -- running conventions, especially with a large media guest footprint -- is not easy. And they were very ambitious, trying to do a large-scale series of conventions around the country with a large variety of media guests that certainly require fees.

Certainly as we come to our tenth CONvergence we know exactly how much work an ambitious guest list is with something like two dozen guests. It's a challenge logistically, and it's a challenge to manage -- and it's something that really we've had ten years to prepare for.

And it's exactly because of that experience which makes stories like Jumpcon or FedconUSA so tragic and maddening -- it's difficult for all of us who love conventions, especially those of us that spend many, many hours working for free on these events. Especially when we're fans of media science fiction -- and like to see them a part of our conventions.

Like FedconUSA, this is very sad to see, especially for those fans that bought into it.

Labels: fandom, scifi

I may not be the programming head -- but the programming head will be reporting to me starting next year as part of the events division, and as I'd previously been a head, it's important for me to promote the schedule.

The schedule has started to solidify now, and to quote the current programming head:

And please, please, please - if you are attending the convention and see some panels you would like to be on - follow the email instructions at the top of the webpage and let me know. Usually we have a limit of six people per panel, so if you see a panel that already has six people on it, then it's full - pick some that have 0-4 people instead, you can really help the programming dept. out!

Likewise, some panels are just for guests of honor or are gameshow style panels that have certain panelists who are running the event (again, should be pretty clear which these are from the panel description).

We recommend a limit of eight panels per person to avoid burnout (but if you can handle more and I have personal knowledge of that - then we can make exceptions).

So, if you are attending the con, please sign up for some (more) panels and pass the message along!

It's going to be an exciting year -- and I'm really excited to see the schedule come together.

Labels: convergence, fandom, scifi

I'm astonished that CONvergence was chosen by City Pages as Best of the Twin Cities. Not because we were picked -- but that the category was even created this year.

It is a great compliment to the hundreds of people that have been involved in putting the event on, especially since the publicity was not searched for.

True, they had a typo and changed Marv Wolfman's gender (to Mary) -- but otherwise it was a very nice description and something I'm happy to point to.

Labels: convergence, geek, minnesota, scifi

I'm really enjoying this season of Lost. I know that some people find the never-ending mysteries of the series frustrating -- but I think that is part of the fun.

It is amazing that a series over three series has been able to avoid explaining even some of the most basic rules of the universe that it is in. It is obvious that it is some sort of fantastical premise -- but it is not clear whether it is a science fiction or fantasy series, or "how much" of either of those it is. It is not always clear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are -- and certainly people do bad things for good reasons, and may do good things for bad reasons.

But despite being so vague about the rules -- I rarely feel that this is a show that "cheats" -- it seems to be consistently playing by the rules that they've set out. Even though we don't really know what those rules are.

Labels: jjabrams, lost, scifi, tv

As I'll probably be getting day passes for Marscon - provided I get over this virus I've been fighting for the last couple of days -- I thought it was interesting to think about the reasons to have or not have day passes for your science fiction convention.

Day Passes make sense for some conventions and don't make sense for others. I think you lose some of the community aspect of a convention if you have people drop in for only one day. One of the appealing parts of a convention is that community aspect -- and day passes are more appropriate for the "show" events where people get tickets to see a celebrity, as opposed to the user-generated content of my favorite fan run conventions and the attendees are members and active participants.

I'd generally be against day passes for a convention like CONvergence -- if you have a large enough attendance that you don't need the additional people to make your budget, or if you were in a position where you need to cap membership (like Anime Detour) -- Day Passes make much less sense.

I can see where Day Passes would be useful for other conventions -- especially if you're looking to get as many people as possible. I can see it as being sensible if you've got certain sorts of entertainment guests -- this is why I think it makes more sense for Marscon, because they tend to have more celebrity actors, and their Dementia music track has a "show" quality that may have an appeal for day people.

The interesting thing is that Day Passes aren't really just an economic decision -- but one that can end up reflecting the kind of convention that you put on.

Labels: convergence, fandom, scifi

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I was a candidate for the CONvergence Events Division Coordinator position, and I got the most votes, so I'll be running the events division for the 2009 and 2010 CONvergence. (I just realized that was 2010. Can I be scared now?)

It's a bit daunting looking at the nine ring circus an event with 3000 science fiction and fantasy fans can be But it'll be an exciting challenge -- and I hope you check it out, and if you're willing to help -- I'm sure we'll need it.

Labels: convergence, fandom, scifi

One of the interesting things about the Star Trek teaser is that it looks like this is actually trying to do the same thing that it looked like Enterprise was doing -- bringing something like the 1960s Star Trek into the present day.

I think there is certainly an open question about how accepting a fan audience would be to see a new cast play the same characters -- I'm happy with the cast, and I would like to see the definitive dream of a better future for mankind be revitalized for the present day.

You wonder if this will fall apart because it's tied to tightly to the original series -- Nimoy's involvement makes this a concern --- or that it'll end up so different than the Star Trek we have grown up with that it'll be difficult to accept. I don't think it's impossible to recast; after all, characters like James Bond and Batman are reguarly recast.

It'll be interesting to see -- I know I certainly plan to.

Labels: movies, scifi, startrek

Gawker media -- which brings you some of my favorite blogs like Lifehacker, Valleywag, and Wonkette -- has launched a new blog about science fiction. So obviously I've subscribed...

Labels: geek, links, scifi

Last year I had observed that Heroes was the Geekiest show on televison. And we now know that Heroes:Origins will absolutely follow in that geek supergroup tradition as well.

Labels: heroes, kevinsmith, scifi, tv

I wish that we had seen this image last year when CONvergence's theme was all about space ships.

Labels: scifi

Neil Gaiman reported some alarming news about one of my favorite stores, Dreamhaven. They suffered a break-in, and it has been rough for their business.

The small bookstore is a very rough business, especially in our internet and big box bookstore age -- but one of the nice things about stores like Dreamhaven or Uncle Hugos is that they provide a center of gravity for our local fandom. They are the heart of our community. When out of town visitors that are science fiction fans come into town, I've always made sure that they visit these stores.

Labels: comics, fandom, minnesota, scifi

Are you searching for information about clubs, conventions, stores, or whatever in Minnesota for Science Fiction and Fantasy? What follows is a tailored google search engine. It's still early days, and if you've got a suggestion for a site that is appropriate for Minnesota area science fiction fans to have weighted a little higher, let me know.

The Minnesota Science Fiction and Fantasy Search Engine

Labels: minnesota, scifi, search

There's a good list of DRM-free science fiction here. I think it might be a good source of books to read for Geeks Read. (Found at Boing Boing.)

Of course, any time there's a discussion of free science fiction it's time for me to mention Escape Pod, which has excellent audio short stories each week. I can't recommend this podcast enough...

Labels: scifi

I'm in the middle of reading Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom -- and while you can down load it for free, I'm perhaps old school enough that having the physical book to read is nice, and worth paying for.

I'm really, really intrigued by the Whuffie concept. It strikes me as putting a numeric value on something that really does drive people in their hobbies -- a numeric tally of your egoboo. We sit bits of it already -- I've seen it on Linked In, sort of, and there are lots of other reputation-based systems out there. And in it's own way, the ranking system of Google is sort of like that as well.

Labels: books, scifi