BREAKING NEWS: ARISIA 2008 -- SAVE THE DATE!

[lagilman]

Why?

Because yours truly, LAG, is going to be Writer GoH.

I am Already Plotting. *evil laughter*

Boston/Cambridge, MA, for those of you not familiar with the convention. Books, gaming, costuming, media, and an all around Good Time.

And it's gonna be FOUR DAYS!

That's right, Friday January 18- Monday January 21 (Martin Luther King Day)


Details and Plots As They Happen.

Comments

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

CooooOOOoooool.

That might even get my ass up there for the convention.

[lagilman]

the theme, I am told, is 'pirates vs. ninjas.' I know which side I come down on....

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Whoo!

[lagilman]

also, hoo! :-)

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo HOO!

[lagilman]

(he fakes not having known really well, doesn't he? *grin*)

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[lagilman]

danke!

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I've never been to Arisia myself.

[lagilman]

Clearly, it's Time.

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

Woo-hoo! You have arrived! Congratulations.

[lagilman]

Gratze, signorina. :-) Which reminds me, we need to talk about getting togther when I'm out your-way for ComicCon, if you're in town...

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Many congrats!

[lagilman]

Thankee.

[tryslora]

Kev and I say woohoo! And that might draw us back to our first Arisia since the Chicklet was born...

[lagilman]

Or you can just send the Chicklet. I may be in need of a page.... *grin*

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[lagilman]

Thanks!

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

How exciting! Woot!

[lagilman]

It should be fun, yeah. So, how many frequent flyer miles ya got? *grin*

Congrats!

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Congrats! I just got back from Arisia, and while the new hotel has a few issues (a certain lack in working elevators, some space constraints like having the Dealer's room on the 14th floor, etc) the con itself was incredibly well-organized. I was seriously impressed.

Plus, there was a great bar within walking distance. *grin*

Re: Congrats!

[lagilman]

I am thinking of ways to use my GoH powers to get able-bodied people to use the stairs, rather than the always-overcrowded elevator. I wonder if there's any way to tag people per flight, and give prizes out on Monday morning...?

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

Hee. Very cool. Congrats.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Run in fear everyone! I mean, congratulations!

[merlinpole.livejournal.com]

Whee! Hooray and congratulations!

Arisa had a membership cap this year and I expect it will have one next year, too. Hopefully the elevators won't be suffering from what was it, having maintenance being done on them and delays incurred such that I think there was one elevator that was down for the entire convention (as opposed to sick from overwork which often happens at conventions.

The number that I seem to recall hearing was 2000 as the cap; previous years have gone as as far as I think 2500. Even with the cap, though, it got crowded.

The art show was up on the 16th floor, and the view from the room is very nice, particularly at night --glass on three sides, one facing Boston over the Charles, and other two east and west. Originally there was a restaurant there, but the hotel converted the space from restaurant into function space.

The dealer's room was on the 14th floor. Larry Smith was there, Devra Langsam, and a used book dealer or two, the Trachtenbergs were there with ceramic dragons and such, Butch Honecker, the fellow whose name I never remember who does the airbrushed shirts, Lani Litt with hairsticks... there were people down on the 3rd floor in "dealer's row" which a Lunacon invented, and has been a feature of Arisia for years now. Pandemonium Books was there, Fabric Dragon, a corset maker, various gaming and garb sellers, one or more anime dealers (there was one up in the Dealer's Room, too..

Arisia is a media-heavy convention, it has film and video and anime, the Masquerade this year was much larger than anticipated and included someone in a centaur costume, a Harry Potter costume, Leo and Aries -- lion and sheep, a Gothic Mary Poppins... lots of very nice, impressive costumes, that were also impressive close up.

The featured filker was Luke Ski, who did an hour and a half long performance that included material in rap form about Lord of the Rings and other SF/F an lots of changes of clothing and props. It was rather bemusing for anyone from backgrounds more classically and/or folk and/or rock-oriented.

The lit part of the program was rather light this year compared to previous ones--some of it was probably that with a smaller facility and trying to shoehorn in all the gaming, LARPing, anime, video, film, costuming, kids' programming, fan interest, media-related (gaming, TV, film, webcasting/podcasting/e-distribution, etc.), science track, filk-related, etc., everything was getting downsized somewhat. Film and video and anime are things that are unitary--if they're each running in a room, that room isn't being used for something else.

[lagilman]

The lit part of the program was rather light this year compared to previous ones--

Yeah, I'm going to try and change that. Up with Books!

(I'm a media geek from way back, but the core of SF is in the written word. Even anime needs dialogue...>

[ianrandalstrock.livejournal.com]

Way neat! Congratulations.

I'd seriously been thinking about passing on Arisia next year (had a great time, but the physical plant difficulties really pissed me off). This news is a very heavy weight on the side of going back.

[lagilman]

Then I have already done (part of) my job as GoH.

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

W00T!! OK, this rawks. Now I'm really glad we pre-reg'd for '08. Notes for the bon-vivants: there was a seriously kick-ass seafood buffet Friday night at the hotel restaurant, and their other meals were definitely more than acceptable too. See my non-fan-friend's description of the bar/restaurant over here. Also, of course, proximity to Harvard Square, etc, which we didn't take advantage of. Himself regrets not having gone to find Car Talk Plaza :-) ("Our Fair City, MA") but the weather was rather crappy over the weekend, so walking around was Right Out--at least for us.

I see that someone else posted an extensive rundown of the hotel and con, so I won't get into the minutiae other than to mention that the three elevators that were in order (fourth still awaiting completion) were the ones that had already been upgraded....and they were hard-limited to seven people per. We tested this and got unhappy warning bells each time, and someone eventually broke one of the three on Saturday. Our usual trick, learned after years at the beloved Park Plaza, was to always hit both the up and down buttons when we wanted to go somewhere, then take whatever appeared first. Otherwise, a wait of up to 20 minutes was not uncommon.

I am long-winded, sorry. Was awakened rudely and may post about it tomorrow. Nothing truly horrid, just a woodstove incident and too much smoke in the house to go back to sleep. :-/ Called ADT so at least the town FD didn't have to be rousted.

[lagilman]

truly horrid, just a woodstove incident and too much smoke in the house to go back to sleep. :-/


eeeeeee! Here's hoping the after-effects are easily cleaned up and cleared out....

[klingonguy.livejournal.com]

My experience this year and intentions for next year were similar to Ian's (and he didn't even stay in the crappy hotel!), but how can I fail to return when you'll be GoH? Hooray!

[natmerc.livejournal.com]

Congrats! That's fantastic news and a real celebratory turning point.

Name = Dawn

We have some LJ "friends" in common, and I'm looking to add to my writer-as-inspiration reading to encourage me to get my butt in the chair and write. I don't expect to be friended back. :)

[lagilman]

We have some LJ "friends" in common,


with an LJ handle like 'natmerc'? Oh, let me think hard about who those friends might be.... *grin* Be welcome!

[equesgal.livejournal.com]

Yikes, I have never heard of this Arisia. Then again, I'm now on the left coast. But congrats anyway.

[mzipser.livejournal.com]

'Tis much groovitude!!

[rwglaub.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! A well-deserved and hard-earned honor. I'm going to have to get up there next year...

[graykin.livejournal.com]

Alas, some of us still must show up for work that Monday. But that won't stop me from going up to Arisia anyway :) And I've already started the campaign to drag klingonguy along too.

[klingonguy.livejournal.com]

I'm already planning to attend. You need to realize you're taking Monday off from work (or walking home).