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tracker7I got back to Louisville late Monday afternoon. I do love being at the farm, but the isolation was starting to get to me. I'm not some kind of super-outgoing social butterfly, but I do like being able to get together with friends for a game or a movie or drinks or whatever on a few minutes' notice, and I was many miles from that opportunity.
I've spent far too much time these past few days reading about the cascade of fuckups around a local convention, FandomFest. I got roped into this hot mess back in 2012 and 2013, and tales of the 2013 debacle still circulate, waiting for a Google search. This year, the con advertised its location as the Fair and Expo Center - up until about two and a half weeks before the con. That's when the actual location was announced - the hastily-named Jefferson Mall Event Center! In other words, the old Macy's space. Then, announced guests started dropping out. About 25 of them, mostly for "personal reasons." Booking agents started popping up to deflect this, making sure that people knew that their clients weren't just blowing things off - in most cases, the con hadn't gotten contracts signed or had failed to arrange flights and hotels and guarantees. In two cases, the con announced the appearance of someone who lives here in Louisville, and those locals opted to not attend after hearing about the goings-on. One of them lives about ten minutes from the event site - I've been to his house - and he still noped outta there. The site itself had problems, including a dead raccoon spotted on the floor a couple of nights before vendor setup began (Ralph the Raccoon quickly became a mascot). The con owners didn't bother to get fire marshal approval until the day before the show. According to the local FD, the con first asked for approval for 30,000 attendees, then 10K. Then they checked with the mall and its formula for occupancy of that space - 4225. The fire marshal eventually approved the space for 1700 people. From what I've heard, they've been in no danger of hitting that number. Vendors have lost big. The con organizers have run off representatives of other shows that were handing out flyers - something that happens at every con. It's just an utter shitshow.
Apple discontinued the iPod Nano and Shuffle last week. The only iPod left now is the Touch, an iPhone 5 without the cellular radio. I do love my Nano, so much so that I think I'm going to buy another one for when this one eventually shuffles off its mortal coil. Yes, I could use my iPhone, and it certainly has more storage space than the Nano, but I am no fan of Apple Music.
SYR's tonight. Four D&D games, two Call of Cthulhu, one Ten Candles. I'm getting a real hankering to play something, in addition to running my Star Wars game ... just not so much at the SYR environment.
I've spent far too much time these past few days reading about the cascade of fuckups around a local convention, FandomFest. I got roped into this hot mess back in 2012 and 2013, and tales of the 2013 debacle still circulate, waiting for a Google search. This year, the con advertised its location as the Fair and Expo Center - up until about two and a half weeks before the con. That's when the actual location was announced - the hastily-named Jefferson Mall Event Center! In other words, the old Macy's space. Then, announced guests started dropping out. About 25 of them, mostly for "personal reasons." Booking agents started popping up to deflect this, making sure that people knew that their clients weren't just blowing things off - in most cases, the con hadn't gotten contracts signed or had failed to arrange flights and hotels and guarantees. In two cases, the con announced the appearance of someone who lives here in Louisville, and those locals opted to not attend after hearing about the goings-on. One of them lives about ten minutes from the event site - I've been to his house - and he still noped outta there. The site itself had problems, including a dead raccoon spotted on the floor a couple of nights before vendor setup began (Ralph the Raccoon quickly became a mascot). The con owners didn't bother to get fire marshal approval until the day before the show. According to the local FD, the con first asked for approval for 30,000 attendees, then 10K. Then they checked with the mall and its formula for occupancy of that space - 4225. The fire marshal eventually approved the space for 1700 people. From what I've heard, they've been in no danger of hitting that number. Vendors have lost big. The con organizers have run off representatives of other shows that were handing out flyers - something that happens at every con. It's just an utter shitshow.
Apple discontinued the iPod Nano and Shuffle last week. The only iPod left now is the Touch, an iPhone 5 without the cellular radio. I do love my Nano, so much so that I think I'm going to buy another one for when this one eventually shuffles off its mortal coil. Yes, I could use my iPhone, and it certainly has more storage space than the Nano, but I am no fan of Apple Music.
SYR's tonight. Four D&D games, two Call of Cthulhu, one Ten Candles. I'm getting a real hankering to play something, in addition to running my Star Wars game ... just not so much at the SYR environment.