emptying my brain onto the internet since 1998…
Resident Evil: Afterlife:
I loved the first film. Â I liked the second one a lot. Â The third one was fun, but I had some issues with it. Â I’d make a comment about downward trends, but who would I be fooling? Â No one. Â Of course I’m going to go see this movie. Â It’s zombies, it’s action, and it’s in 3D – and that’s all I need to know. Â Now, the only question is who will I go see this with?
Mur Lafferty crafts a world where superheroes must be licensed to practice, and are paid by the city through tax revenue. Â A world where those with powers apply to the Academy and have their powers tested. Â If you are deemed worthy, you get a name and a suit and get to fight crime. Â If you are deemed weak, you get to try and live like a normal person and try to forget your aspirations of heroism. Â This is the world of Playing for Keeps.
Keepsie Branson’s power is that she can “hold” (put it a sort of stasis) anyone who tries to take anything that belongs to her. Â She runs a bar across the street from the Academy that is frequented by people rejected by the Academy. Â She has a waitress who can lift and balance anything on a tray, a cook who always knows what people want to eat and can make it, and friends who can learning things about people by smelling them, heal people one inch at a time, have super strength in five minute bursts, fire streams of feces from his hands, and other “useless” powers. Â They wind up getting caught in the middle between the heroes and the villains, and have to learn to make use of their powers to survive.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the book. Â It’s short, and certainly not a time waster. Â You could do worse.
Day Four is done, and the con has drawn to a close. Â The MMORPG Track’s final panels ran smooth, and it was great to have about forty people come by to tell us what we did right and wrong and looking forward toward next year at the Post MMOrtem.
Today, the day after, is about sleep and unpacking and staying off my feet as much as possible.
This year was my first on staff with Dragon*Con and the MMORPG Track, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Â Not only are the track staff a great bunch of folks, and it helps that I really enjoy the subject matter, but just being a part of the staff just feels great. Â I lost count of the number of times people asked me for help on where to find things or what was going on and I was able to help them out. Â (It is also a testament to my many years of attendance and that I’m a giant schedule/map memorizing nerd that I knew what to answer most of the time.) Â Plus, there are bonuses. Â Like, you know when you are walking through the tunnel and you see some people stopping to take photos even though there are signs that say not to and you can’t do much but maybe yell at them? Â Well, when I saw that, I just walked up, put my hand on their shoulder and said, “Hey, great costume, and you guys deserve to get photos, but you can’t do it in the tunnel. Please take it to one of the hotels on either end where there is more room.” Â And the best part? Â They listened and moved. Â Not once did anyone ever give me a tough time, they just said sorry, smiled and moved. Â Sure, a bonus like that doesn’t get you to skip lines, but it does earn you the gratitude of the dozens and dozens of people who were stuck in a slow tunnel thanks to the photo takers. Â It feels good to help make the con a good experience for the people who attend. Â I’m really looking forward to being a part of it again next year.
Well, maybe… on the last day, the wife and I got some Chinese food and I got quite possibly the best fortune ever.
Yep, that says I will be the President of a small country. Â So, I might be busy.
And we comes to Day Four of Dragon*Con, the cruelest of Dragon*Con days. Â Why? Â Because most people don’t stay through Tuesday, seeing as how everything is done by 5pm (the panel schedule is so light that most people won’t find much to attend), it means they have to check out. Â By noon. Â Or 11am. Or whatever hour their hotel kicks them out. Â And many people when faced with the dilemma of having their luggage sit in the holding area under bellhop guard or just proceeding out to the car and heading home will head home. Â Checking out means Dragon*Con is over.
Where will I be today? Â In the Sheraton, Savannah room, hiding. Â We run a panel on legal issues in MMOs, another on Guild Wars 1 & 2, and our last panel of the con is where we talk about how the track did: what rocked, what sucked, and what we missed.
But what about yesterday? Â The Guild panel was great. Â Sandeep (Zaboo) and Jeff (Vork) are both great guys, oh and Sean Becker too (the director). Â After that I took my annual tour around the exhibitors and dealers halls, things were bought, pictures will be posted in the aftermath post tomorrow. Â I enjoyed the rest of my afternoon in my hotel room, trying to stay off my tired little feet. Â But after not going to and later hearing about the Kingdom of Loathing party, I knew I had to go. Â Plus, you know, last night of the con. Â Essentially, it’s like going to a room party in a hotel, only you don’t have to have a secret handshake to get in, we post it in the schedule and invite everyone! Â Day Three was a smashing success.
And look at that… I didn’t stumble into bed until nearly 5am and my 8am post is only 45 minutes late. Â I am a con warrior!
Day One, 8am post… Day Two, 8am post… Day Three? Not 8am. Â We’ll get to that in a minute.
Today I’ll be work the Guild Q & A with Vork and Zaboo and then I’m done. Â The track has a few nifty things for the MMO-inclined like a Global Agenda panel, EVE Online, City of Heroes, a session about guild management and more. Â Then of course, we have the Kingdom of Loathing party tonight, which was great last year so I’d expect it to be great again.
Now, let’s talk about Day Two… We had almost 600 people show up to see us show off Cataclysm. Â Then nearly 200 to hear Sandeep Parikh talk about The Legend of Neil. Â 180 came to hear about the best WoW Addons. Â At 5:30, we did the WoW Meet & Greet with fun and prizes, which I don’t have numbers for because I worked the camera instead of the door. Â This was such a blast, especially the dance content due to the insane guy who actually did the WoW Troll dance. Â Then we had over a hundred people for a second night of machinima. Â And then…Â At 10pm we opened the doors on our MMO Gathering of Heroes. Â I don’t have any final numbers, but I hear over 1,000 people dropped by throughout the evening. Â We danced. Â We drank. Â We danced some more. Â I stumbled back to the room around 3am. Â It was a great day.
Day Two is often less painful that Day One… except when you need to get up and dawn thirty. Â Gooooooood Morning, Dragon*Connnnnn! This is not a test! This is MMO!!! Â Time to rock it from Azeroth to the realms that are free! Â Today I’ve got lined up another long day of working panels. Â Starting with the Live Snarkcast in the Savannah room then I’m off to the World of Warcraft Q&A in the Capitol Ballroom. Â Next, a Q&A with Sandeep Parikh and his work on The Legend of Neil. Â After that it’s back to Savannah for WoW Addon Kung Fu, back again to the Capitol Ballroom for the WoW Meet & Greet and Trivia, and finally once more to Savannah for a Machinima panel. Â Tonight is also the big MMO Gathering of Heroes party which is sponsored by SOE, AQ Worlds and Comcast Xfinity. Â I’m not working it, but I’ll probably be there.
So how did Day One go? Every panel went great and we had attendance in numbers from 50 to 141. Â The only small turnout that I worked was the Funcom panel, which we expected because Funcom wasn’t able to attend, but we love them so we ran the panel anyway. Â I didn’t stick around for the Guild Q&A with Vork and Zaboo because I needed food and sleep, and I decided to spend the rest of my night wandering the con.
Apologies if you saw this earlier, Dragon*Con got in the way and I didn’t finish it…
The American:
I have no idea what this movie is about. Â I haven’t even seen a trailer for it. Â It just isn’t on my radar. Â But Clooney is pretty much always good, so… I’ll see it at some point.
Going the Distance:
Saw a screening of this last week, and before going in I didn’t pay any attention to the rating of the film. Â So, I entered expecting a typical PG-13 romantic comedy that the wife would love and that I would tolerate. Â What I got was an R rated hilarious masterpiece on the frustrations of long distance relationships. Â There was just so much funny and good about this film that I don’t know where to begin. Â Totally worth paying to see, in my opinion.
Machete:
Just two nights ago I went to the Fete Machete down at the Plaza Theater. Â It was awesome. Â If you liked the Grindhouse double feature from a few years back, you’ll love this.
Ahh… Day One of “Oh my, this is early…” Â If you are down at the con and looking for me, I’ll be in the Sheraton in the Savannah room most of the day. Â There is the MMO Track kick off at 10 am, then the MMO Roundtable at 11:30 am, Funcom 101 at 1 pm, New MMO Showcase at 2:30 pm, and MMO Failures and Flops at 4 pm. Â If all goes well, at that point I’m off for the day, but I’ll still be sticking around for The Guild with Vork and Zaboo at 5:30 pm in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton, then back down to Savannah for Breaking into the MMO Industry at 7 pm and Machinima at 8:30 pm. Â After that, you’ll probably find me in the lobby of the Marriott or maybe at the Zombie Prom.
As for yesterday, I showed up, got badge, gave blood, and then met with the track staff. Â We set up, got given a lecture, and then ate some food. Â All is good and right with the world.
It’s Thursday, where are you? Â If you are local to Atlanta and pre-registered for Dragon*Con, your answer should be, “Reading this on my phone from the line.” because pre-registration badge pick-up just started. Â Pre-regs get a nice solid 6 hour jump on everyone else this year, so hopefully that will help with the lines.
Preparation for con is always a big deal.  You have to make sure you pack everything.  Technically there are a few shops around, but mostly tiny stores with seriously jacked up prices.  There is a Publix about 8 or 10 blocks away, but since public transit in Altanta is pretty crappy, you’ll likely be hoofing it, in September.  “Hot and humid” just doesn’t really describe Atlanta well enough.  Long hikes in the city are uncomfortable at best.  But in addition to packing everything, you also need it to be manageable.  You don’t really want to be juggling a dozen suitcases.  You’re best bet is to pack one case (with wheels) of regular clothes (shorts, t-shirts, socks, underwear and toiletries – deodorant, toothpaste, even soap and shampoo if you prefer your own over the hotel stuff), a cooler (with wheels) packed with food and stuff (don’t bring ice, all the hotels have ice machines – and unless you specified in your reservations that you had to have a fridge for medical reasons, you won’t get one, so you’ll want a cooler if you want to keep anything cold), and then a case (with wheels if possible) for costumes and stuff that can’t be packed into the regular clothes.
You might have noticed a theme there. Â Wheels. Â Trust me, lugging around heavy cases just isn’t worth it. Â Every year I see some poor schmuck hauling around a half dozen old no-wheel-having suitcases, or standing in line waiting for a bell hop, or leaving the cases at the front desk to have them delivered to the room at some point in the future. Â Meanwhile, the wife and I roll on by and head to our room. Â The cooler is even more awesome because of the extending handle means we can even stack a couple things on top of it (like sodas or a box of extra snacks) with ease.
And of course, if you plan to buy anything, make sure you have a way to take it home. Â (If you aren’t local, there are, I believe, a FedEx and some other shipping store in the hotels or close to the con, and don’t worry about them being closed for the holiday, most of the time you can leave a package with your hotel with shipping instructions and a tip and they’ll send it off for you on Tuesday.)
Anyway… enough about packing… you might be wondering, “If the con begins on Friday, what is there to do on Thursday?” Â Well, lots actually. Â Plenty of fan groups will have unofficial gatherings on Thursday night (this is why you should find the sites/forums for the various tracks and fans groups, and keep up with them throughout the year), and there are a few bands playing. Â Plus, the lobbies and hotel bars will be hopping with people, both out of costume and in.
What will I be doing on Thursday? Â Well, for one, since I’m staff this year, the MMO Track is having a little party where the director lays down the law, people can swap shifts and we can let our hair down a little more than we’ll be allowed to during the con itself (not to say we won’t be enjoying the con, but staff is expect to not show up for shifts completely plastered). Â Check out our schedule from this nice rundown provided by Krystalle over at Massively. Â I’ll be wandering around the hotels pretty much all day, though when not with the MMO crew (or perhaps even with them) I tend to be in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis, not only because it is the hotel I’m staying at, but, in my opinion, it is the best hotel for seeing and being seen. Â Perhaps I’ll see you around…
Just as aside… in previous years, I posted at the end of the day with what I did. Â This year I’ll be posting in the morning with my plans for the day and my reflections on the previous day.
I’m really psyched about the upcoming release of Dead Rising 2 because Dead Rising was one of my favorite games. Â However, now I hear about Dead State. Â Check out this article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun and then come back. Â I’ll wait.
It is as if someone took a peak inside my brain and designed the game I’ve been looking for. Â Obviously, I love zombies. Â Not in the “I want to be a zombie” sort of way, but in an “I’m pretty sure I could survive a zombie uprising, and I also think it makes a great setting for stories” sort of way. Â Frankly, I just don’t get the people in the former group at all. Â But if every promise of Dead State comes true, they are talking about making a game with no defined goals, no boss to beat, no final cut scene that leads to the inevitable sequel. Â You run a local shelter during a disaster and you have to go about finding supplied and food and other people. Â Based on how you choose to do those things will determine if the people you run into will like you or not, creating your enemies and obstacles through your decisions.
With a release date of “Not in 2010” we’ve got a long wait ahead of us…