Yes, yes, I KNOW we need a Bigger Boat
Note: These are my thoughts about some of the issues facing CONvergence. They should not be construed as policy decisions, policy recommendations or as a dismissal of the point of view of anyone making suggestions for the convention. I’m just thinking out loud.
Once CONvergence is over, the inevitable parade of commentary begins on what would help make the convention better. I don’t hate this commentary. I welcome it. One comment we hear almost constantly is “x panel needs a bigger room” and while the comment is absolutely fair, the response is not so easy.
Geeks Without God Episode 2!
Hey everyone! Episode 2 of Geeks Without God went live this morning! Recorded in front of a live audience at CONvergence, we talked to Kammy Lyon of Skepchick.org about SkepchickCon and coming out as an atheist.
It’s only 30 minutes long! Go listen!
Alphabetical Movie – Inside Man
Inside Man is a heist movie that, like most Spike Lee movies, has an agenda. While it is possible to enjoy the movie as thriller and ignore all the deeper philosophy, I’m not going to do that.
Because one of the central philosophical issues the film asks us to consider is one of redemption.
Alphabetical Movie – Innerspace
Every generation has at least one comedian who ends up being popular in films in spite of the fact that they are almost universally despised. Or so it would seem.
Take Martin Short, who stars in Innerspace. At the time the film came out, he was a fairly popular comedian and most of the people I knew could never figure out why. His spastic characters grew tiresome very quickly and while he had the likable nerd thing going on, Rick Moranis did it way better.
Sweet Sweet podcast-y goodness!
There is a new podcast up over at Vilification Tennis, along with a lot of other new stuff.
The latest podcast includes all sorts of weird stuff. Among other things, I won the Vilification Tennis Home Game for the first time ever. Also we learn that the Huffington post is just a little bit behind when it comes to sexual fetishes.
So go listen and read and stuff, OK?
Kickstart me!
We launched a Kickstarter last Friday for the Vilification Tennis home game and while there is a lot of information on the Kickstarter page, I’m going to blog about why I wanted to do it in the first place and some of the stretch goals we have in mind if we can reach our initial goal fast enough.
Why do I want to create a real version of a game we created specifically for on stage entertainment?
Because it’s a lot of fun. When you play the game, very little of what you come up with is golden. It is funny simply because you have to come up with something funny very quickly and that is kind of impressive. It makes unfunny stuff funnier.
Shit that Pissed me off this Week – 7/13
Two weeks of shit but CONvergence took up most of it so it is still a pretty light week.
Rob Schneider is a Complete Idiot
Knowing that Rob Schneider is an anti-Vaxxer is not a big deal. I mean, lots of people with no medical knowledge believe that vaccines cause cancer even though they don’t.
Thing is, why the fuck is he being allowed to talk about anything in public. Someone want to tell me the last time the guy was funny?
Anyone who says Duece Bigalow can leave right now.
The dude doesn’t even look funny.
All sorts of clueless people say clueless shit all the time. Famous people say it into microphones. That doesn’t bug me as much as this:
Why is Rob Schneider still getting microphones stuck in his face????
I don’t want you to feel comfortable about being a bigot
I wrote a radio play for Vaudevilification Tennis and because the show took place during Pride, I decided to include a “public service announcement” against the gay marriage ban. My opinion on the issue should be clear but I saw a good opportunity for some comedy that also made a statement that is important to me.
When it came time to put that script in the CONvergence show, I initially balked at the idea of including the public service announcement because I felt that CONvergence is not a political convention and the announcement might be out of place.
Two things changed my mind.
CONvergence 2012 Highlights
There were a few low points at CONvergence 2012 but they aren’t even worth mentioning. Most of them had to do with last minute planning failures and my complete inability to sleep past 7:30, even when I went to sleep at 5:00 A.M.
So forget that stuff, here’s some of my best moments from CONvergence 2012 (more or less in chronological order):
Alphabetical Movie – Inglourious Basterds
I was at a panel about Tarantino films at CONvergence this weekend. Because the convention theme was Wonder Women, the panel was about Tarantino as a “feminist” filmmaker.
I’m not going to rehash the entire panel but the question of Tarantino as a feminist filmmaker is a complex one. Some of his films pass the Bechdel test but by no means all of them. Inglourious Basterds, for instance, does not.
Grail Diary 