Another Geek Hierarchy [dead link]. This one, instead of focusing on how geeks of all stripes rank themselves [another dead link], portrays the way “mainstream society” ranks geeks. I appreciate that it includes sports geeks. I’ve never understood why it’s considered acceptable to paint yourself blue, wear cheese on your head and giant foam gloves for a sports team, but wearing a Star Trek uniform makes you an outcast. (via sclerotic_rings [yet another dead link])
Category: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Comic Book Convention Prices Compared
I’ve been trying to decide whether to go to Wizard World Los Angeles this year. On one hand, it’s close. On the other hand, I just went to WonderCon last month. The astonishing thing is that a one-day ticket for WWLA costs almost as much as a 3-day membership to WonderCon. This got me thinking about comparing convention prices.
So I looked up the comic conventions in the area, plus the other two Wizard World cons that have prices up.
| Convention | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Full |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA Comic/SciFi (a.k.a. The Shrine) | $8 | N/A | |||
| WonderCon (advance) | $12 | $12 | $10 | $30 = $10/day | |
| WonderCon (onsite) | $15 | $15 | $10 | $40 ≈ $13/day | |
| Wizard World LA, Philadelphia | $25 | $25 | $25 | $45 = $15/day | |
| Wizard World Chicago | $25 | $25 | $25 | $50 ≈ $17/day | |
| Comic-Con Intl. (way ahead)* | $60 = $15/day | ||||
| Comic-Con Intl. (advance) | $25 | $30 | $35 | $20 | $75 ≈ $19/day |
| Comic-Con Intl. (onsite) | none | ||||
And to compare to some non-comic-focused conventions, some nearby, some just big:
| Convention | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Full |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ConDor (advance) | $25 ≈ $8/day | ||||
| ConDor (onsite) | $20 | $25 | $15 | $50 ≈ $17/day | |
| Loscon (advance) | $35 ≈ $12/day | ||||
| Westercon 61 (advance) | $60 = $15/day | ||||
| Gen Con Indy (advance) | $35 | $35 | $35 | $35 | $60 = $15/day |
| Gen Con Indy (onsite) | $45 | $45 | $45 | $45 | $75 ≈ $19/day |
| Dragon*Con (advance) | $65 ≈ $16/day | ||||
| Dragon*Con (onsite) | $90 ≈ $22/day | ||||
| Worldcon/Denvention 3 (advance) | $200 = $40/day |
It’s interesting to note that WonderCon (San Francisco) and ConDor (San Diego) are extremely cheap if you sign up far enough in advance. Also, when you expand to more general cons, San Diego Comic-Con is right in the middle of the range, with several conventions being more expensive. I’d guess that the more volunteer-based cons like Westercon and Worldcon probably don’t bring in as much money from exhibitors, so they’d be more dependent on memberships to keep afloat.
In compiling this, I discovered that this year, Comic-Con International isn’t going to be selling any memberships on-site. It’s going to be pre-registration only.
I guess they’re expecting it to sell out again like last year, and don’t want people to count on something they won’t be able to deliver. Plus I’m sure it’ll simplify matters for the con, since they won’t need to deal with taking money for registration.
Update: Added Loscon for nostalgia’s sake. Also fixed some links; GenCon rearranged their website sometime in the last 4 days, and I somehow typed in the wrong domain name for ConDor.
Note: These are the 2008 prices, except for the ConDor advance price, which is for 2009. All prices were obtained from the events’ websites except for the way-advance price for San Diego Comic-Con, which is simply the price I paid last summer for this year’s con. For shows with multiple membership packages, such as Wizard World, I selected the most basic package that lets you walk in the door.
*CCI always has a booth selling pre-registration for the following year’s convention at an even lower price.
Skiffy Links
The Beat has a couple of follow-up posts on the San Diego Comic-Con hotel issue: first, a wrap-up of the experience, then a post that puts San Diego into perspective, what makes it different from cities like New York or Los Angeles, and why just moving to Las Vegas won’t solve everything.
GTD In Space: Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains ranging from James T. Kirk to Malcolm Reynolds. (via ***Dave)
And, for the WTF-worthy, there’s Computer Love Day. As Mandriva puts it in their mailing:
Valentine’s Day is nearly here… February 14th, 2008. But think about it, who do you hang out with, who shares the good times and the bad ones, who drives you crazy but keeps your life together?………..Your computer, and it’s time to say it out loud: I love my computer!
Those Glowing Red Eyes
So, how appropriate is it that Lee Thompson Young, who played Cyborg on Smallville, would show up in an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles?
(Not, as far as we can tell, as a cyborg this time.)
Babylon 5 Scripts: The Bonus Volume
Hard to believe, but J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5 Script Books are almost done. Volume 13 of 14 just shipped (my copy arrived today by UPS), and it’s time to talk about the bonus volume 15, only available to people who’ve bought a complete set.
This is the book that has alternate versions of several episodes, the series writer’s bible…and a complete outline of the original arc with Sinclair all the way through. The site has a description of the contents [archive.org], but how to get it is a bit out of date. Vol.13 shipped with a notice that they’ve changed the procedure.
Instead of waiting until you receive all 14 volumes, then filling out a proof of purchase form, you need to fill out a form before ordering #14, and they’ll ship #14 and #15 together. The form collects your name, address, and the order numbers for the other 14 books. If you ordered them all through the same CafePress account, it’s easy: Log onto CafePress, look at your order history, and then copy and paste the numbers into the form.
Admittedly, “easy” depends entirely on how much other stuff you’ve made through CafePress. Unfortunately they only list order numbers on the history page, so you have to click through each number to see what was actually ordered. This makes it a perfect job for middle-clicking the links on Firefox (open in background tab): I just went down the list, clicking away, and then I had each order in a tab. Click, copy, click, paste. Repeat.
Golden Compass, Tin Man
Saw The Golden Compass. Enjoyed it a lot, though it felt very rushed, and I think it would have benefitted from having the actual ending instead of cutting it off early. Here’s hoping they do well enough in the long run to greenlight the next film. Now I can re-read the books.
Also watched Tin Man. 5 stars for concept, but only 2 for execution. The Wizard of Oz meets The Dark Crystal by way of 1930s scifi was fascinating as a concept, but they managed to make it dull and tedious. The only reason I watched through to the end was it was Friday night, and I was tired enough that knew I wasn’t going to be doing anything useful with the time anyway, and I knew I could sleep in the next morning.
Speaking of Tin Man, just out of curiosity: how does one manage to have a solar eclipse during a full moon, anyway?
Legality Links
Organization for Transformative Works – dedicated to protecting the expression of fan fiction, fan art, etc. (via Naomi Novik)
Open Standards, One Web, and Opera – Just why are standards important, anyway? (via Opera Watch)
Speaking of Opera, their EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft has been making waves. Responses at CSS3.info, Web Standards Project, Slashdot (edit: more Slashdot), Asa Dotzler, Opera Watch, plus a Q&A w/ Haarvard. My take: Good luck on unbundling, but if they can force Microsoft to catch up with the rest of the market in terms of standards support, I’m all for it.
Nissan vs. Nissan. On my way to work I saw a bumper sticker on an XTerra that said “In support of our freedom, it’s my last Nissan.” Huh? There was clearly a web address below it, but it was too small to read at that distance. So I looked up the phrase, and apparently there’s been a long-running dispute over the domain name nissan.com, between a small computer business named after its founder, Uzi Nissan, and the Nissan car company. The dispute was eventually resolved (correctly, IMO, since he has a legit reason to use the name) in favor of the little guy. On the other hand, I don’t see why the site makes such a big deal about Nissan’s “French Connection” to Renault.