I Have Returned...
Aug. 23rd, 2011 03:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerrib... to Chicago, home of wind, rain and humidity. Also source of my paycheck, the earning of which has kept me busy today. Herewith are my thoughts on Reno and the Worldcon That Was:
The convention itself was well-laid out, accessible and generally seemed (as a mere attendee) well-run. The only glitch was the shuttle bus service, which was in part hampered by some ill-timed road construction on the only viable road between the various sites.
Well, except for the party floor. Held on the 15th and 16th floors of the Atlantis casino, the elevators were slow, the hallways crowded and the rooms small and hot. Dave O'Neill wondered aloud to me as to why "the market hadn't fixed the AC?" I realized an answer the next day - the owners of the casino don't want you to have a big party in your room - they want you on the casino floor gambling away!
Since I wasn't hitting the parties, I attended the Worldcon masquerade, which I usually don't go to. The most entertaining part of that show was the "half-time" event, which was a SF-specific take on a British talk-show / game. I'm drawing a blank on the name of the show, but the gist was for contestants to talk "for one minute without digression, pause or repetition" on a subject given them by a presenter. Seanan McGuire (AKA Mira Grant) cleaned house on the event.
The Hugo Awards show was fun. I did think Chris Garcia (Best Fan Writer) went just a bit over the top on his acceptance "speech." Mary Robinette Kowal was of course her ever-gracious self, and Robert Silverberg milked his presenter's speech for all it was worth. Jay Lake (hosting the Hugos), on his blog, says that there were several foul-ups in their script, but darned if I saw any.
Reno itself is not a big city, either in population or size. It has a smallish downtown area, with a few big casinos and a collection of tiny ones, and probably six or so "resort casinos" in outlying parts of town. There is no "Strip" of casinos to walk. The city itself is also visibly struggling economically, with lots of closed businesses. The up side to this, from a tourist perspective, was good prices. $5 single-deck blackjack was available at both convention casinos even on Saturday night, something that you'll just not see in Las Vegas.
In the coming days I'll have thoughts on Mary Robinette Kowal's "puppet show" Whatnot, my day at Lake Tahoe (definitely worth it) and the writer Sheri S. Tepper's novel The Gate to Women's Country.
The convention itself was well-laid out, accessible and generally seemed (as a mere attendee) well-run. The only glitch was the shuttle bus service, which was in part hampered by some ill-timed road construction on the only viable road between the various sites.
Well, except for the party floor. Held on the 15th and 16th floors of the Atlantis casino, the elevators were slow, the hallways crowded and the rooms small and hot. Dave O'Neill wondered aloud to me as to why "the market hadn't fixed the AC?" I realized an answer the next day - the owners of the casino don't want you to have a big party in your room - they want you on the casino floor gambling away!
Since I wasn't hitting the parties, I attended the Worldcon masquerade, which I usually don't go to. The most entertaining part of that show was the "half-time" event, which was a SF-specific take on a British talk-show / game. I'm drawing a blank on the name of the show, but the gist was for contestants to talk "for one minute without digression, pause or repetition" on a subject given them by a presenter. Seanan McGuire (AKA Mira Grant) cleaned house on the event.
The Hugo Awards show was fun. I did think Chris Garcia (Best Fan Writer) went just a bit over the top on his acceptance "speech." Mary Robinette Kowal was of course her ever-gracious self, and Robert Silverberg milked his presenter's speech for all it was worth. Jay Lake (hosting the Hugos), on his blog, says that there were several foul-ups in their script, but darned if I saw any.
Reno itself is not a big city, either in population or size. It has a smallish downtown area, with a few big casinos and a collection of tiny ones, and probably six or so "resort casinos" in outlying parts of town. There is no "Strip" of casinos to walk. The city itself is also visibly struggling economically, with lots of closed businesses. The up side to this, from a tourist perspective, was good prices. $5 single-deck blackjack was available at both convention casinos even on Saturday night, something that you'll just not see in Las Vegas.
In the coming days I'll have thoughts on Mary Robinette Kowal's "puppet show" Whatnot, my day at Lake Tahoe (definitely worth it) and the writer Sheri S. Tepper's novel The Gate to Women's Country.
