The Life of the Traegorn

The Con Season is in Full Swing

Traegorn — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:55:01 -0500

With MarsCon last weekend, and Anime Milwaukee this weekend, one can reasonably say that the convention season is in full swing at this point. For those who didn't notice, I've posted my full MarsCon report to TRHOnline, and like my previous report on Daisho Con, I've decided to include several stick figure cartoons to illustrate the write up rather than take pictures or video.

Because as previously stated, I'm determined to actually experience cons now.

I'll be doing a full report like this for Anime Milwaukee too, which means I'll probably never get around to doing a STEAK report... but I am a man with finite time. Between con reports and drawing UnCONventional, I only have so much time in the day.

Now I only do 3-5 cons a year. I know some people, like my friend Mike, who do well over a dozen. He also makes more money than I do and has a lot more free time... and he's also not planning a wedding and a move, while trying to balance a limited amount of PTO at work.

It's funny trying to explain what the con scene is like to those outside it. They think it's a completely alien world or something, when those of us inside it know the truth: It's a massive party that lasts for several days.

See, people often think that Cons are full of lonely shut-ins, but that really isn't the case. Sure we're a bunch of nerds and geeks, but we're the nerds and geeks who like to get out of the house and have fun. The shut-ins are... well... still shut in. They don't come out for stuff like this, because doing so would make them no longer shut-ins.

Or something. That sort of made sense in my head.

The point is, as I attempt to meander back towards it, is that conventions are fun and are filled with fun people. Yeah, I think that's what I was getting at. I wish I had more time to go to these things, because I honestly do love them so much. Once Crysta and I move south in a few months, I hope that I still can make it to my normal cons... and add some local ones to my list as well.

Frankly, if I can't find a convention in my new home, I might just see what I would have to do to start one myself. It's not like I haven't done that before anyways.

Modernizing MarsCon

Traegorn — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:03:24 -0500

So as most of you know, I was at MarsCon this last weekend (the one in Minnesota, not the one out east). I'll be posting my full report on the event later this week, but I wanted to talk about a few things before hand that weren't about my own weekend: MarsCon needs to Modernize.

Before I get started, I want you to understand that I love MarsCon. It's the only science fiction convention I still fit into my schedule. I've been helping run the No Brand Con room party there for years because I love being at this convention.

But MarsCon's attendance has been dropping off these last few years. The estimate I heard about this year's attendance was only 500, which is much smaller than it's been in previous years. The attendees are also aging, with far fewer new folks coming in. Let's face it, I'm twenty-nine years old, and I'm at the young end of the spectrum. I'm used to running conventions where people my age are considered "The old guard," so it's strange to be the kid again.

That said, I want to give some advice to MarsCon on how they can attract a newer, younger crowd without abandoning the awesome identity they have. So, with my love of them in mind, here is my unsolicited (and likely unread and unwanted) advice:

Redesign the Website
This is the easiest thing to do. The MarsCon Website looks like it's ripped straight from 1998. This is the first impression potential attendees get when they look you up, and when your website looks that antiquated people assume your convention is. A modern design doesn't just signal professionalism, but also makes people feel like they aren't going to end up at a 6 hour "Blake's 7" lecture.

(And yes, I love Blake's 7, but even most of MarsCon's attendees haven't watched it these days.)
Offer Day Passes
I don't mean the reduced rate weekend passes that they do now -- but genuine, actual day passes. People under the age of 30 are, for better or for worse, poor. There are many college students who would love to go to MarsCon, but who can't justify a $60 weekend pass. Offer a $20 day pass, and suddenly more people are going to want to come.

Take the No Brand Con people for example. I have never gone to the Convention Proper at MarsCon because, well, I'm poor as dirt. I show up, run a party, and pretty much never leave the No Brand Con room all Saturday. Why? Because I'm there for one day, and I can't justify spending the (reduced rate) $40 for one day of a convention.

So rather than spend my Saturday shopping in the vendor room, or going to panels... I sit in a hotel room, browsing the web on the dreaded-ethostream wireless, and pretty much end up being bored until the party that I'm running starts.

I am not the only person who does this, and I can think of more people who would have come with if day passes had been available. I know that I could have gotten at least 10 more people registered myself -- so as a con that needs to attract more people, it's something to consider.
Change your Volunteer Policy
Okay, so the whole "Register and then we'll reimburse you for the future!" worked great fifteen years ago. Except that it didn't. I've never liked this, and let me tell you why. You're adding a barrier to volunteering which will prevent a good percentage of people from helping your con. That aside, when someone volunteers, often they bring friends who then pay to get in. It expands word of mouth, and gets more people in the door. Someone might volunteer to try out your con, and then pay to go the next year.

There's a reason grocery stores give out free samples.
Highlight the content which will bring in younger people
Now I am not proposing that MarsCon change any of its programming. While things like Anime draw in a younger crowd these days, if MarsCon tried to become an Anime con, it would be a disaster (and kill what makes MarsCon, well, MarsCon). That said, MarsCon does have programming that would attract newer people.

For instance, Table Top Gaming has a presence at MarsCon which doesn't get enough press. Targetted advertising in gaming stores highlighting this content would attract people who would enjoy parts of MarsCon's already existing programming.

And if I recommended anything be added to their programming that isn't there now, it would be the addition of a Video Game room. Your existing attendees will love it, it will bring in new people, and more and more it's being seen as a standard feature at any convention.

Now all of this is just my own opinion, and I'm not speaking on behalf of anyone but myself here. I love MarsCon and I want it to succeed in the long run. I'll post my full report on my experiences later this week (likely Wednesday or Thursday) even if I have to forgo the stick figure cartoons.

As the con season is in full swing, this weekend I'm going to Anime Milwaukee - which will be a very different experience... and I expect to feel old again.

Why don't I have a library card anymore?

Traegorn — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:30:47 -0500

There was a time in my life where the library was a familiar site. I grew up just a few blocks from a public library, and as I have always been a voracious reader, it was one I frequented quite regularly. The public library was what exposed me to many of the authors that I still love deeply, whose books I've read and re-read many, many time. It was a place I felt as comfortable in as I did at home.

And then I moved to Eau Claire.

I've lived in Eau Claire (with only the occasional summer in Milwaukee) since 1999. And while I've been in this town for a decade, there is one building in this town I have never once entered: The public library.

I feel terrible saying this, and while I've actually known quite a few librarians and students of library science over the years, I've still never bothered to visit my local book-borrowing establishment. Now, while I was in college I often used the University library, but this was for purposes of research and not the pleasure reading that I usually did via a public library. And since ninety-nine percent of what I used the University library for was to access online resources like J-Stor, it barely even counts.

And it's not as if I read any less than I used to. I read quite a bit, and have a nice queue of books I'm anticipating getting through. But these are books that I own myself. Perhaps employment and my ability to purchase books has led to one of the largest reasons for this change in behavior. I can afford to go out and buy the books that I love so much.

The problem here though is that I rarely find myself being exposed to new authors. If I think about the last five books I've read, all of them are by authors I've been following for years. I didn't randomly pick any of them off the shelf, because I was (as previously stated) buying them. I didn't want to take a risk, and just stuck to people whose books I knew I liked.

And I think this is the major flaw in my current lifestyle. As much as I love Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Orson Scott Card and Sarah Vowell, if I only stick to their work I'll never find the next author whose work I might love. Libraries for me are about exploring new works. They're about picking up something by someone I've never heard of and giving it a try.

So here I am, resolving to make a change. I will yet again begin to use the public libraries that made me fall in love with reading to start with.

Sadly, I'm going to be moving away from Eau Claire in a few months, so I don't think I'll end up having time to start patronizing the Eau Claire public library. But we're still looking for our next apartment, so maybe I'll make sure it's within walking distance of whatever public library awaits us.

I want to bring back the adventure of not knowing whether or not a book is actually going to be any good.

Apocalypses and Parties

Traegorn — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:39:36 -0500

So today is a day like any other day for the most part. I'm sitting in the office before work (as I always arrive a tad early so I'm actually awake once I start), and there is very little of interest going on.

It's absolutely riveting, I know.

So, as I mentioned just about everywhere else on the internet except here, we've released the second No Brand Con 2010 plot video into the wild. We shot that waaaaay back in September (to get the weather right for an end of February/Beginning of March release), and I've had to sit on that... knowing that people might actually like it.

The soundtrack in that video includes a short clip of Happy Wednesday's "Sandwich" along with a brand new Lt. Snorkel piece I'm calling "Duct Tape Rescue." I haven't put up a download for the MP3 version of that song yet (and probably won't for a little while), but it will be on the second Lt. Snorkel album (which will likely be a free download). You can also stream it on both the Lt. Snorkel MySpace and the (new) Lt. Snorkel Facebook Page if you're impatient and want to hear the entire 4 minute version of the track.

And yes, the synth guitar is supposed to be that bad -- it is the post Apocalyptic theme for Duct Tape Boy after all.

As I mentioned on Monday, Crysta is flying out to Purdue tomorrow. It means I'll be getting up before dawn to drive her to the Airport shuttle, which while unfortunate, is sure better than driving to the Twin Cities and back (for which I would have had to take time off of work to do). She comes back on Saturday, when I'll be at MarsCon -- which means I'll already be in the Twin Cities, and can just drive over to the airport and pick her up quickly. Crysta is then going to help us run the No Brand Con room party at MarsCon. I am, needless to say, excited about going. I haven't been to a con since November... and I like cons.

If you're going to MarsCon this weekend, you can find our party on Saturday night in room 1309. We'll be right across from the elevators, and you'll probably see the large banner fairly easily. I anticipate awesomeness.

...and I am rarely wrong.

So I took a week off of the Internet

Traegorn — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:30:49 -0500

As the few of you who actually read my usually thrice weekly meanderings of text I loosely call a blog might have noticed, I haven't posted a new entry in slightly over a week. I wish I could say that it was for some grand reason, but in truth it's merely because I felt like taking a week off of the internet.

In this last week I wrote no blog entries, and I barely touched Twitter (the UnCONventional posts going up via an automatic system). Mostly I just was feeling stressed out and didn't feel like writing a bunch of stuff. Crysta got her wisdom teeth out last Monday, and I've also been taking care of her. She's absolutely fine now, and even eating normal foods (albeit slowly) so everything is good there.

So many things have happened lately, including Yushi's party on Saturday night, which was actually quite awesome. I've always enjoyed a good party, and we haven't had one for a while. I think we need random reasons to celebrate more often. That, and random people like "Pretty Boy" Mike (as mentioned in the Daisho Con Report) drove into town for the event. As stated previously in this paragraph, the party was awesome.

On Thursday Crysta flies down to Purdue for a recruitment thing (she's already been accepted into their grad school and into the program she applied to), so I'll be on my own in Eau Claire for a few days... but I shall endeavor to survive.

I still haven't put together my STEAK report, which is too bad. Especially since MarsCon is this weekend in the twin cities... and a week after that is Anime Milwaukee (in, you guessed it, Milwaukee). Trae is a busy, busy monkey for the next couple of weeks, and I'll probably just break out the camera for these cons rather than spend the time to draw a bunch of stick figures... but we'll see.

I am fickle when it comes to that sort of thing.

Let's Get Some Stuff Done!

Traegorn — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:24:12 -0500

At this moment, Crysta is in Iowa City, IA as she's interviewing for the University of Iowa graduate school. She flew out yesterday and comes back on Sunday. This means I am on my own for these couple of days...

Which means I'm going to try and actually get some crap done.

Of course, this weekend is also the weekend of STEAK 4. STEAK is an annual gaming event which is SUPPOSED to be held in the fall, but didn't this year for a myriad of reasons that are rather unimportant. It's not quite meant to be a convention, instead a two day free gaming event that No Brand Con puts on every year to effectively do test runs on events for our Tabletop Gaming room.

What that means is that I'll be down at the University (where STEAK is held), but still trying to get stuff done.

One of the things that I want to get done is compose the song for the third No Brand Con 2010 plot video, which I'll probably work on tonight. I know you're saying "But you haven't released the second plot video," to which I reply "Yes, but that's actually completed already."

During STEAK itself I'll probably be drawing some more comics for UnCONventional as my buffer is currently only a week. The good news is that I have comics written through the end of May, so it's not like I'll be facing some big creative block. I expect Saturday will mostly be me kicking back, enjoying watching bad movies on a projector, and drawing terrible stick figures.

It should actually be a fun time now that I think about it.

On Sunday I'll drive out to the Twin Cities and pick up Crysta from the airport. I think this is actually the longest the two of us have been apart since we started living together, and that's actually a pretty strange thing to think about.

Ash Wednesday and Being a Cultural Outsider

Traegorn — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:40:46 -0500

Most people who read this blog are aware that I didn't grow up in a Christian household, and that the religious choices I made in my life have taken me in a very different direction. For the most part, I'm a fairly normal guy who is integrated into the culture at large (with merely an incredibly geeky slant). But as today is Ash Wednesday, I'm reminded as to how I've in many ways felt like an alien in my own homeland.

It all has to do with something that happened ten years ago. I know I've told this story before in this blog, the last time three years ago, but I don't think I've ever really explored my full point of view.

As many of you know, I first went to college for a year in 1999/2000 before taking three years off of school. One morning in the Spring 2000 semester I walked down the UWEC hill to my morning classes and was confronted with a sight that absolutely befuddled me: large amounts of people were walking around with something smudged on their foreheads. And it wasn't just one or two people; it was a fairly large group.

I kept walking to class, not saying anything, hoping that I'd see some sign explaining this... but nothing came. The worst part was no one was saying anything about it. Everyone was just walking around like this was normal. There were no quiet discussions in corners, no one was asking anyone about it -- a large percentage of people were just walking around with stuff on their foreheads.

Hours passed, and I found myself getting more and more confused. Finally, halfway through the day, I asked a friend of mine, "Why are people walking around with stuff on their forehead?"

He looked at me with a puzzled expression, and merely replied, "It's Ash Wednesday."

This was not a helpful response. In fact, this was the antithesis of a helpful response. After a few moments, I got him to explain why that was actually significant.

Now while I wasn't raised Christian, I wasn't raised in a vacuum either. I had heard of Ash Wednesday, I just had no idea that the name was so literal. I mean, I knew it was the day after Marti Gras, I knew it was the beginning of Lent, and I actually was fairly familiar with the theological idea behind the day. But I had no idea that they literally put stuff on their head.

It was then that I realized how alien my experiences were from my peers. That something that seemed so odd to me was not even something that they blinked at. To them, it was normal. For me, it was a strange religious ritual that I didn't understand.

It did teach me a lesson though. From then on, if someone has ever told me how strange they think some other culture or religion's custom is, I merely tell them my story about being a nineteen year old first exposed to Ash Wednesday. It helps give me perspective, and see how we take for granted our own inherent strangeness when judging others. I got to experience being a cultural outsider in my own homeland, and it's become something that I cherish.

...and I've totally stopped calling it "Crazy Stuff on Forehead Day."

Why io9 is pretty much NSFW

Traegorn — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:29:27 -0500

I used to read Science Fiction news blog io9 regularly. I chose it over other scifi blogs mostly because it was just a click away from the formerly Gawker owned Consumerist, and while I kept reading for a while after the Consumerist was sold to Consumer's Union, I stopped because:

It was inconvenient to go to
I got tired of their snark for snark's sake

I don't want to spend too much time talking about how the general negative attitude of a large portion of the io9 staff bugs me (as that isn't the point of this entry), but it's there none the less.

Now, recently I decided I would check it every once and a while after my many month hiatus from it. Much to my chagrin this morning though (as I arrived at work ten minutes prior to when I'm scheduled to start), I found myself unable to keep reading it without constantly looking over my shoulder. To be clear, I work in a sizable office, and there is nothing about my cubicle that doesn't scream NERD. There was no embarrassment over the geeky content, as everyone knows that I'm that guy who helps run that one convention, and there are Transformers all over my desk.

The issue that plagued me was simply the high ratio of sexual content.

Now, I'm not going to claim that the majority of content on io9 is sexual, but just enough of it is to make sure that most times SOME of it is on my screen while reading the front page. At the time of this writing, of the 42 stories currently displayed on the front page, five of them are blatantly sexual. That may not seem like many, but that's still about 12%. This isn't including the "featured story" with a suggestive image.

Now, I'm not a prude on any level. I'm not uncomfortable talking about the subject (although I assume that some of my readers may be uncomfortable with ME talking about the subject), but there are some things which I just can't have up on my screen when my boss walks by.

I honestly never thought about it before, but the io9 crew seems to focus on sexual content much more than any other scifi blog out there. I'm not against mentioning it, but it's almost as if they go out of their way to FIND more of it. Maybe it drives ad views, but to me... it makes it not safe for work.

Dicks Get It Done

Traegorn — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:30:52 -0500

Whenever I get an email complaining about something my friend Peso said or did, I am never surprised. I simply look at them and explain "That's because Peso is a dick."

This is because Peso has absolutely no problem telling people when he thinks they are wrong or doing something foolish. What makes people get even angrier about it though, is that more often than not, Peso is actually right too.

Thus begins our problem.

A few weeks ago Crysta and I were listening to the commentary track of the 2007 Transformers movie. Now, whether you like the film or not, there is no question that the film is visually stunning. Michael Bay, for better or for worse, has mastered the art of the on screen explosion. We had just watched it, and Crysta commented on how the movie looked cool. While watching the commentary track though, she just had one response:

"Wow, Michael Bay is kind of a dick."

Of course he is! I have a theory that the majority of great creative works were created by complete jerks. This is not because jerks are inherently better at things, as jerks have put out a lot of BAD works as well, but because of the simple fact that nice guys compromise.

If a visionary has a great idea, but then changes it because someone with LESS vision doesn't like it, then they will produce an inferior product. When you start listening to every voice in the room instead of the artistic vision you end up with a Camel.

A Camel, as the old saying goes, is a Horse Designed By Committee. Sure, it will get you from point A to point B, but it will never win the Kentucky Derby.

A dick on the other hand, will fight for his or her vision. They will stand their ground when necessary, and they then have a chance to make something truly great. Orson Welles? Dick. Howard Hughes? Reclusive dick. One time I heard Einstein punched a guy in a bar for suggesting that the speed of light in a vaccuum wasn't a constant.

Okay, so I made that last one up, but you get the point.

I resolved years ago that I wasn't going to care if someone thought I was a dick. I'm assertive when I think I'm right, and I don't back down unless you can show me that I'm wrong. Of course, I'll never be the dick that Peso is, because part of me still wants people to like me... but still... sometimes it's hard to argue with the man.

Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan Must Be Out of His Damned Mind

Traegorn — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:26:54 -0500

So I may be the only one I personally know actually following the drama surrounding the lawsuit between TechCrunch and Fusion Garage over the whole CrunchPad/JooJoo fiasco, but it fascinates me as I am:

A person who reads TechCrunch.
A person who has wanted a simple web tablet for years.

For those of you who are reading this, I'll sum up the situation as best I can.

Michael Arrington, who owns the popular technology blog network TechCrunch, a while back proposed building a simple web tablet for cheap. With some help, they developed some prototypes and named it the CrunchPad. After working on the project for a while, Arrington partnered with Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan's company Fusion Garage to work on building something they could bring to market. In November, Rathakrishnan tried to push Arrington out of the project just prior to the expected launch, and renamed the tablet "The Joojoo" (which is a terrible name if you ask me).

Cue lawsuit frenzy.

Now, I'm the only one of my siblings who isn't a lawyer, and therefore I'm not about to argue the merits of Arrington's case or the movement for dismissmal that Fusion Garage just filed. What I will comment on though is what I titled this loose collection of text with:

Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan must be out of his damned mind.

Anyone who has looked at a tech blog in the last week has been unable to escape the coverage of Apple's impending iPad. Regardless of your opinion of it, the iPad is, without a doubt, one of the most publicized products Apple has put out in a while. While not without it's flaws, I will admit that I'm a big fan of the iPad as it stands -- but as previously stated I was already looking for this exact product.

This exact $500 product.

When the Joojoo was known as the CrunchPad, it had many price points attached to it. Arrington wanted to build something for $200, but that price kept going up. The price they were finally hovering around was $300-$400, as (or at least as the story goes) Arrington had managed to secure some personal favors to reduce costs. Rathakrishnan lacks the goodwill in the industry that would have made this possible though, and the final price of the Joojoo is instead $500.

Rathakrishnan has said that he's not threatened by the iPad though. He thinks his product is the better one and that consumers will choose to go with Fusion Garage's web only tablet.

While the Joojoo has a larger screen than the iPad as well as Flash Support and a webcam, it lacks the ability to actually store anything or run any sort of non-Web application. If you don't have a WiFi signal, it is an expensive paperweight. The iPad on the other hand runs local applications on a robust platform, plays locally stored media, and the WiFi only version costs the same amount of money.

Who on earth buys the Joojoo now?

Think about the risks of quality control and support. Given the choice between one of the most well known tech companies and a start-up embroiled in legal action, who do you think will build the better quality product? Who will have the warranty support to help you? Who will patch the OS if something is wrong?

The answer is apparent.

If Rathakrishnan doesn't think his product is DOA, he's either delusional or an idiot. It's entirely possible he's both. Of course, it's also entirely possible that he knows it will flop, and plans on taking the money and running -- but that's just pure speculation. I mean, it's not like the man has a history of ditching his partners when it's to his personal advantage or something.

Oh, wait...