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? [suggested by Chas, shakily explained by Sharon]

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? [suggested by Chas, shakily explained by Sharon]

Making Beer

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.

Communism in Science Fiction

There have been lots of s.f. writers who let their libertarian leanings spill into their fiction, but what about the other side? How has communism been portrayed in science fiction, by American writers and those writing behind the Iron Curtain? Political arguments during the course of the panel will be emphatically discouraged. This is about the literature, folks.

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.