Programming ideas for Minicon 44

Current ideas for Minicon 44 programming.

This is a BRAINSTORM IN PROGRESS. Nothing here is finalized. Nothing here is guaranteed.

New Ideas (not yet categorized or even scanned for duplicates)

Ideas we talked about at New Years Party

• BOOZE AND SCI-FI

There are several directions that this could take: a workshop on creating (and more important, naming) new mixed drinks; serious discussion of single malt scotch (preferably with samples); or a panel of con bartenders sharing their favorite stories.

• THE LEGEND OF FORRY ACKERMAN

In memoriam for Forest J. Ackerman, one of the founders of science fiction fandom.

• The Many Faces of Batman

Was there really any point in redoing The Joker with another actor after Jack Nicholson defined the character in the first Batman movie? Did Frank Miller go too far when he turned a beloved comics icon into a borderline psycho, or was it an improvement? Does the latest take on the Dark Knight pull its punches, or correct the balance?

Ideas from GL

• WHAT'S *NEW* IN *OLD* COMICS

Comics publishers have had to look beyond publishing periodicals to maintain their bottom line & have dug into the past to reprint classic material in collected volumes. From Marvel's Masterworks, Omnibus & Essential lines, DC's Showcase, Archive & Absolute lines to Dark Horse's reprinting of Gold Key classics (Magnus Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar, MARS Patrol, Tarzan, et al) and the Warren horror line, find out what's available at a fraction of the cost of the original back issues. Also: Titan Books' 007 newspaper strip collections, Gladstone's EC collections & various Irwin Allen & Gerry Anderson properties, 1960s Star Trek, Conan and more.

• THE CONVENIENT COMIC BOOK

Now that publishers are regularly collecting multi-issue story arcs into Trade Paperback & Hardcover editions, it is easier than ever to enjoy comics, without spending time looking for individual issues (& discovering you missed a chapter/issue) or trying to remember what happened last month. If you love comics, but gave up on the frustrating weekly pursuit of "floppies" (comic magazines) and just want to read a good stand-alone story of your favorite heroes with a minimum of confusion, find out which TPBs allow you to do just that.

• SF FILMS WITHOUT THE SFX.

Science fiction has always been about ideas. But, in film, they often take a back seat to the rush of visual effects. Some of the most thought provoking films in SF have little in (obvious) effects. Find out what they are and discuss their merits.

• SF HOLLYWOOD REMAKES: MAKING THE ORIGINALS SHINE

Did a Michael Rennie's then-unknown status make him a more convincing alien than superstar Keanu?

How many remakes of a Kevin McCarthy classic does it take to convince us that "THEY'RE HERE!" ?
Did we need to see Director Tim Burton "go ape"?
How many times can a man fall to earth?
How many versions of War of the Worlds are there?
Is Will Smith finally the Last Man on Earth after Charlton Heston & Vincent Price became 'Legend'? "
Are you tingling with anticipation over the upcoming Fantastic Voyage remake and dreading that of Forbidden Planet?      
   Make your pitch!
    

• THE PRISONER: "THE WHOLE WORLD AS THE VILLAGE"

Number 2's dream voiced to Number 6 in the 1967 episode Chimes of Big Ben. With security cameras everywhere, spyware online, theft of identity and other things we've come to accept, yet guard against today, did McGoohan predict this New Global Village in which we live? Plus, things you may not have known about this amazing series.

• THE PRISONER RIDES AGAIN

In addition, for The Prisoner, a new mini-series co-production from AMC/BBC will air in 2009. I've seen a teaser trailer, but not much else. Depending upon when it airs, this could also be game for a topic. I'd rather keep it out of the re-make panel, as I want to concentrate on Films, vs TV. I suppose a TV remake panel could also be done focusing on Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman and others.

Film Room

• B-List Movies: Cinema Obscura Ideas: Twilight Zone episodes, small indie sf films -- Is Metropolis public domain? The Thief of Bagdad -- the old silent one with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.

Literature and skiffy concepts

• Futurists -- Are they still out there?
• Empowerment of Children During War/Stressful Times Chronicles of Narnia, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, recent Dr. Who, others?
• Adventures of Young Women Girls' adventures stories seem to be fantasy, rather than sci-fi or “normal” fiction (Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Golden Compass)
• New Interest in Old Tech Is this another way of saying “steampunk”?
• The Future of Fashion: Fashion in the 31st Century Our idea of future fashion, or past ideas of future fashion; BladeRunner kind of broke that trend (that might be an interesting idea in and of itself)
• The Future of Food Astronaut food, high-tech foodies, genetically modified food, vat-grown meat
• Just Borges Just about Borges and his works
• Genocide Narratives in SF and Fantasy
• Let's Create a World Perhaps silly, perhaps serious (maybe do two different versions of the same panel?) -- Design it from basic geology, to chemistry, to biology, to intelligence, to civilization

Social Issues, Internet, Fandom

• Getting Back Into It - getting back into fandoms you've been absent from
• Polyamory 101 The basics of open relationships, polyamory, etc.
• What Do You Mean You Don't Know? I Posted it on LJ Navigating the social complexities of LiveJournal and toher social networking sites.
• Emily Post for the LJ Set Unfortunately, she doesn't exist, so maybe we can hammer out a few rules of etiquette for livejournaling.
• Drowning in Data Too much info at our fingertips
• Time to Go Back to Typewriters? What About the Paperless Office?
• Privacy in a World Full of Cameras Security cameras, satellite mapping, micro-cameras you can buy on the Internet.
• Seniors on the Internet
• Internet Vigilantes Scammer-baiters, but also hoax-spotters like Snopes, security activists
• Non-English Fandom What fandom's like in countries where the main language isn't English. (And no, not just Japan, either.)
• I Am Not A Number (But I am a database entry) Living in a world where we are all data

Science

• Secret Underground Physics Labs Something on Soudan? Other underground neutrino detectors/experiments
• LHC First Light The first collisions there may well be during Minicon
• Current Trends in Science If you had $700 billion, what would you put it into?
• SETI in SF
• Portrayal of Science/Scientists in Popular Media
• The Future of Batteries or How Can I Ever Get a Multi-Shot Laser Weapon? Energy storage in the future
• First Contact What else might we use beside radio waves? a message other than primes?
• Intelligent Balloons Seems like one long-term fannish meme is intelligent jellyfish-like creatures living in the atmosphere of a Jovian planet. How plausible are such creatures, and why are they such a fixture of xenology?

Writing and publishing

• Writing Historical Detail Getting your thread counts, cannonball weights and , Yes, it takes research. What else?
• What Negative Emotions is it Okay to Evoke in Your Readers? What about making past memories come back painfully?
• How Much of Social Contract Do Writers Have with Their Readers?
• How To Not Get Depressed When You Work Alone
• Balancing Writing and Family
• Writers' Day Jobs
• Harlequin Science Fiction panel You got your romance in my SF; no, you got your sf in my Romance
• What It's Like to Have Your First Book Remaindered
• Is There a Secret Handshake? Getting Your manuscript read and ready
• Wikis as Literature There's a long history of wonderful worlds presented in a reference or non-fiction format -- Pure setting, no plot -- One logical extension of this is for authors to create beautiful multimedia wikis (perhaps by a single author, perhaps by collaborative effort) that people can explore, and maybe even expand, without the encumbrance of a plot or main characters -- would people pay for this? What examples already exist?

Media and comics

• This Year in Film
• Here Comes the Watchmen Movie! Maybe, if the lawsuits don't get in the way...
• Minicon Sarcastic Theater Audience participation encouraged ala MSTK3000.
• What’s Happening in Comics? Online comics, republished in trade paperbacks, graphic novels go mainstream.
• SF Films Without SFX

Gaming and toys

• The Secret RPG Gamer People who play RPGs but don't admit it
• Board Games: What's new and cool (aka the Richard panel)
• Info-dumping in RPGs How to do it right, how not to do it
• Publishing your RPG How to go from basic idea to holding it in your hands to being a rich and famous RPG author. Okay, maybe not the last part.
• The State of Lego What's new and cool in Lego bricks

Not exactly panels

• Arts vs. Crafts People who do both
• Knit Knacks Is there enough to do this again?
• Collage Workshop This was popular in the past; is it still on sabbatical?
• Blimp Races
• Costuming How to get started, or some kind of workshop; working on historical detail in costume (or “future historical” detail)
• Prep for Anticipation? Sci-Fi French, or useful French, etc.?
• Texting Competition YA programming (or texting vs. Morse code)
• There and Back Again Sci-fi quotes run through machine translation as a game show
• Reading from Favorite Pulps
• Dueling Roombas or Roomba Obstacle Course (Maze)
• Some kind of game show or EPYC tournament or something
• The Traveling Panel (same panel at Minicon, Convergence, Marscon, maybe Diversicon)
• Opposable Thumbs Appreciation Part panel, part “workshop” on what it’s like not having opposable thumbs. Tentacles vs. thumbs -- how would society be different? Crossover appeal to children. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Guindon cartoons (huh?).
• Storm-Chasing with Shauna Lecture, maybe slide show?
• Chess Tournament for Kids