alicamel holding the Triluminary, our team's hidden alien artefact:I'm currently sat around in a very relaxed Dead Dog party with
dougs, asphodeline, johnrw, battythebat, and various other people who are probably on Livejournal but I don't know their handles. dougs has just produced a tripod from somewhere and is using it to take pictures of cuddly toys.As well as the opening and closing ceremonies, the Spy Game, the Crisis Management Game, the masquerade/cabaret, the pub quiz, and a session on the Orbital con desk, I seem to have gone to the following panels:
- Good and bad short run shows
- Red alert: How to fight a space battle
- Design a runabout spaceship 1
- What would you like to see at Orbital 2008?
- What is a singularity and will it ever happen?
- Wobblevision
- Military SF
- Was Orac sentient?
- What would you like to see at Redemption '09?
- Online pseudonyms: How do we pick them? Should we use them?
They were all worth attending, but the one that sticks out the most in my memory is "Was Orac sentient?" which wasn't specifically about Orac, but was an intriguing discussion on the psychology of all the different types of AIs and robots in fiction, and the nature of free will. It could easily have gone on much longer.
I like the Hinckley Park hotel. It's not perfect, but it's got plenty of function space, free Wifi, the bedrooms are nice, and it's not hideously expensive. The Rotunda (where I'm sat right now) is an excellent social space, but there are several other areas too - in fact there are people I know who are at the con but whom I've seen very little of because they've been spending their time in the bar areas instead (as a non-drinker I tend to stay away from bars). Here's a picture I took during a quiet period earlier today, looking down on the rotunda floor from one of the upper balconies:
Overall I've had a great time and I've already joined Redemption 2009.
