burntcopper | being bitchy and con etiquette

woken up this morning by ming texting me to say that Brian's con report said we'd both blanked him. Which I said that I definitely did, the two times I passed him in hallways. And like the sadomasochist I am when it comes to this kind of thing (with enough curiosity to kill a herd of cats), I went and read said con report. Where once again he's being depressed, getting the wrong end of the stick, and determined not to have fun. :rolls eyes:

Spends a large amount of time complaining about the structure of media cons. Which yes, are run with a view to breaking even, are focussed on Q&As, signing and getting photos. (and yes, there's a reason why there's restrictions on when you can take photos. During talks, it's to prevent flash blindness. During all other times, it's so the guests don't get harassed.) You'd think he'd have got the picture of these cons by reading people's reports of these kind of things. All other times, there's the parties and the bar. He seems to have not gone near the bar - hanging around the lobby is not the same thing. And being alone and not connecting with anyone. Plus lots of guests not being anyone he's ever heard of and thus not worthy of his attention. Added complaining about the clique mentality - with proviso that the person he did know who was in the clique wouldn't give him the time of day.

Quick primer for the equally clueless :

To have a good time at these, you must be willing to talk to other people. Lots of random people, who're all there to meet new people who share the same passions they do, and amazingly, most people seem to have fun doing it. I talk to loads of people I've never met before when standing in queues, hanging out in corridors, on steward duty, in the bar, you name it, at every con I go to. Some were boorish. Some were brilliant. Some I pissed off. Some I bumped into and asked how they were on monday morning after giving them directions on thursday evening.

Guests you've never heard of? Trip along to their talks anyway. Talk to other people to find out if they give good talk. Go along if they're new and find out, to give them support. There are guests who have huge fan following at these things just because they give brilliant talk. (see Jonathan Woodward and Neil Roberts, both of whom you will probably never heard of but can pack out aircraft hangers) I've never seen a single Xena ep with Adrienne Wilkinson, I've never seen a single ep of Andromeda and thus have never seen Laura Bertram in action, but I go to every talk of theirs that I can because I took a chance and found out that they're funny and engaging and I make a point of asking Adrienne how her indie film work is going because it's great to hear her talk about something she's passionate about. And she always looks so surprised that someone remembered and took an interest.

Clique mentality : you mean the thing where there are groups who have friends? And that the people who've been to a lot are friends with the other old hands? And that shock horror, there might be a new language to learn?

Kane performance : if you hadn't noticed, a lot of other people were enjoying it. Including one bloke who was sitting next to me and stated that he didn't like country, but he was enjoying the atmosphere anyway and using the music as a background while he chatted to people he'd met.

Oh, and Brian? If you read this, has it not occured to you that if someone's acting pissed off with you, it might be because you did something? Tal asked me for my side of the story. We traded. And then she told me that you'd been talking shit about me. Thankyou so much. Let's just say blanking you was me being nice.