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Aug. 20th, 2015 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretWorldcon so far...
I started the con with a reading from Aliette de Bodard's new book, which has something to do with post-apocalyptic France and fallen angels and magic.
Then I manned the audio theater room for a few hours, as we played Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds, a trippy '70s SF concept album adapted from the HG Wells novel with narration by Richard Burton (the actor, not the explorer). Then we played a Red Panda story, a comedy superhero radio play podcast.
I caught the end of a Tom Smith concert and the beginning of an Alexander James Adams concert at the First Night festivities, held in Spokane's Riverfront Park, the site of the 1974 World Expo. Then we had an FFA meetup in the park.
And lastly before sleep, there was supposed to be a star viewing party in the park led by the Spokane Astronomical Society and Vatican Observatory scientist Guy Consolmagno. Unfortunately, Washington state is on fire right now, and the acrid smoke has so filled the air that there are no stars to see at night. Instead a bunch of people gathered on a bridge in the park to talk astronomy, science history, and so on. I got Guy Consolmagno to autograph my copy of his amazing book, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial. Then I went to sleep.
This morning I did the Stroll with the Stars, the daily constitutional where fans and authors get to mingle. And then I went to the business meeting, which was much, much bigger than usual because of all the puppy nonsense. It was contentious at times, and the relatively high number of meeting novices meant it ran slower than everyone would have liked, but there were no great surprises. Nothing was Postponed Indefinitely except for the proposed amendment to extend Hugo elibility to two years... everything else was set on the agenda for debate over the next three days.
As to what I voted for? My tendency is with the conservatives at the meeting, generally speaking. I don't think 4 and 6 or E Pluribus Hugo will necessarily damage the Hugos, but I do think they feel like overreactions to a single year's problems. The solution that strikes me as most appropriate is to wait the trolls out and see if it really is necessary to mess with the rules. This position was a definite minority at the meeting, and I suspect it would have been a minority position even if the meeting hadn't been full of newcomers who were there to support EPH.
The most compelling and problematic retort to my conservative position is that a change to the Hugos proposed next year would require a three year ratification process rather than the current two. "Popular Ratification" aka 2+1, the proposal approved last year by Loncon to require a constitutional amendment to be approved by two consecutive WSFS business meetings AND THEN face a ratification of the whole membership of the succeeding Worldcon, is IMO the most serious threat to the future functioning governance of Worldcon, and I really hope it is defeated upon consideration by the business meeting tomorrow. It seems to me to make it just about impossible for WSFS to be responsive to current issues facing the convention. However, I will not be at tomorrow's business meeting, as I will be in the air by that point.
In a few minutes I'll be heading over to man the audio theater room once more. After I'm done there, I shall dine, then probably head to a few of the parties and finish the night with some filking. Unless all of that plan changes. My flight is at 5:35 tomorrow morning. I may not sleep before the flight. Wheee early mornings!
I started the con with a reading from Aliette de Bodard's new book, which has something to do with post-apocalyptic France and fallen angels and magic.
Then I manned the audio theater room for a few hours, as we played Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds, a trippy '70s SF concept album adapted from the HG Wells novel with narration by Richard Burton (the actor, not the explorer). Then we played a Red Panda story, a comedy superhero radio play podcast.
I caught the end of a Tom Smith concert and the beginning of an Alexander James Adams concert at the First Night festivities, held in Spokane's Riverfront Park, the site of the 1974 World Expo. Then we had an FFA meetup in the park.
And lastly before sleep, there was supposed to be a star viewing party in the park led by the Spokane Astronomical Society and Vatican Observatory scientist Guy Consolmagno. Unfortunately, Washington state is on fire right now, and the acrid smoke has so filled the air that there are no stars to see at night. Instead a bunch of people gathered on a bridge in the park to talk astronomy, science history, and so on. I got Guy Consolmagno to autograph my copy of his amazing book, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial. Then I went to sleep.
This morning I did the Stroll with the Stars, the daily constitutional where fans and authors get to mingle. And then I went to the business meeting, which was much, much bigger than usual because of all the puppy nonsense. It was contentious at times, and the relatively high number of meeting novices meant it ran slower than everyone would have liked, but there were no great surprises. Nothing was Postponed Indefinitely except for the proposed amendment to extend Hugo elibility to two years... everything else was set on the agenda for debate over the next three days.
As to what I voted for? My tendency is with the conservatives at the meeting, generally speaking. I don't think 4 and 6 or E Pluribus Hugo will necessarily damage the Hugos, but I do think they feel like overreactions to a single year's problems. The solution that strikes me as most appropriate is to wait the trolls out and see if it really is necessary to mess with the rules. This position was a definite minority at the meeting, and I suspect it would have been a minority position even if the meeting hadn't been full of newcomers who were there to support EPH.
The most compelling and problematic retort to my conservative position is that a change to the Hugos proposed next year would require a three year ratification process rather than the current two. "Popular Ratification" aka 2+1, the proposal approved last year by Loncon to require a constitutional amendment to be approved by two consecutive WSFS business meetings AND THEN face a ratification of the whole membership of the succeeding Worldcon, is IMO the most serious threat to the future functioning governance of Worldcon, and I really hope it is defeated upon consideration by the business meeting tomorrow. It seems to me to make it just about impossible for WSFS to be responsive to current issues facing the convention. However, I will not be at tomorrow's business meeting, as I will be in the air by that point.
In a few minutes I'll be heading over to man the audio theater room once more. After I'm done there, I shall dine, then probably head to a few of the parties and finish the night with some filking. Unless all of that plan changes. My flight is at 5:35 tomorrow morning. I may not sleep before the flight. Wheee early mornings!