M46 Programming

Minicon 46 Programming Ideas - postmortem M45

Starting off the brainstorm with some ideas that came up at the Minicon 45 post-mortem.

Music and the Brain

How does music affect the brain? How much of our reaction to music is hard-wired and how much is cultural? What is the relationship between music and memory? Did human beings sing before they spoke? I think that the sacred geometry of music and the Forbidden Interval should figure in here somewhere, but I'm not sure how. read about it here.

Music and Fandom

Musical traditions are very important in s.f. fandom, but fannish musical traditions are not all the same. Is Minnstf Music significantly different from the musical traditions in other fandoms (including other Twin Cities cons)? How has fannish music evolved over time?

Making Beer and Wine

Lots of fans like to drink beer, and quite a few of them like to make their own. So let's have a panel about home brewing. Ideally, this panel will have a range of experience and brewing styles. Who uses malt extract? Who does a full boil? What are the advantages and disadvantages of dry hopping? Bottling or kegging? How about fruit beers and ciders? What's the best use for spent grain?

Shakespeare in the Bush

Suppose you were swapping stories with a group of friendly extraterrestrials. How hard would it be to come up with a story that resonated for an audience with a very different set of cultural expectations? Consider how well it worked for this anthropologist trying to share the story of Hamlet with an audience that agreed with her that human nature is pretty much the same everywhere, but somehow came up with a radically different interpretation of the bard's great play.

Fandom on a Budget

Share some thrifty tips for conventions, collecting, gaming, and just getting by - with or without resorting to ramen three times a day.

The Awesomeness That is The Short Story Format

Forget the twelve part epics, let's spend some time discussing our favorite under-appreciated short stories. What's are some of the positive and negative issues in the short story market, and what would authors like to share with each other? What are your favorite collections? What makes a good short story?

Makers Make Stuff and Talk about Making Stuff

Needs longer description

Privacy Is Dead

Needs description

Linguistics

What is your favorite alien language? How does one go about constructing a language from scratch? The secret languages of twins, and are our brains hard wired that way?

Non Traditional Book Formats

Pop-ups, teenyweeny books and others. Share your favorites.

Papercraft and Origami

Show and Tell? Available at Reg Table?

Zeppelin Art

Interactive, decorate your own zeppelin. Learn about why Zeppelins are important to Minneapolis' history.

Cthulhu Art On Display

Everyone is going CRAZY about Cthulhu! Bring your favorite creation to display, and maybe you'll be among the last to be eaten.

Costume Parade

A costume parade in a similar fasion to the 2010 costume parade, only probably noisier this time.

Take It Apart

And you don't even have to put it back together!

Ask A Scientist

Ask a scientist anything that isn't about global climate change.

How to Destroy The Earth

We are bereft of giant bugs and alien invasions, so we'll have to do it ourselves.

I'm so sick of...

The bearded wise man who speaks in platitudes! The overly sharp blade of cutting stuff! An android discovers emotion and loses control! Alien races full of hard consonants! Steampunk, steampunk, steampunk! What are some tropes that have been done to death?

What Happens After the Cure?

Science/Medicine/Magic Cures Everything is a common trope in SFF, especially with regard to disabilities. What stories rarely explore are the consequences of these "fixes". What personal and social implications are involved? Are there any works that do a good job of exploring these effects?

Giant Soma Cube

Pretty much what it says

Giant Jenga

Like a giant Soma Cube, but different

Clever and Creative Photography

Appropriate lighting and the use of a flash, catching 'candid' shots, choosing and framing your subject, how to spot the clutter behind your subject... All of this, and more, adds up to preserving your convention memories.