"When I said in the beginning that absolutely everything that’s represented in this document is in response to stuff that has actually occurred at conventions, that is not hyperbole..." Author Peter David has posted his Fan/Pro Bill of Rights for sci-fi conventions and convention-goers. [more inside]
posted by magstheaxe on Nov 30, 2011 - 78 comments

While most folks are getting their Summer into gear, professional haunters are gearing up for Halloween. If you missed Hauntcon last month, you can still catch the Midwest Haunters Convention, June 3-5 in Columbus, Ohio. There you can polish up your scary voices, gory makeup, and generally get your scare on.
posted by cross_impact on Jun 1, 2011 - 7 comments

Starting from a proposal by vito_excalibur, the Back Up Project tries to intervene in sexual harassment at fan conferences. [more inside]
posted by nangar on May 24, 2011 - 85 comments

The nerdiest thing you will see today.
posted by crunchland on Oct 28, 2010 - 153 comments

Nelsonica ’08 is sold out. But for those who won’t be at the Official Bill Nelson Fan Convention in Yorkshire this weekend, comfort yourselves with these blazing live performances by the guitar god and his band Be Bop Deluxe: Maid in Heaven, Dangerous Stranger, Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape. [more inside]
posted by grounded on Oct 28, 2008 - 16 comments

It began with an innocent-looking Valentine's Day card in 2005. Inside the card were several slips of paper, a hastily cut-up printout of names of 550 secret detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The human rights lawyer who received "this weird valentine" handed it over to authorities, and this week the court martial begins for JAG LtCmdr Matthew Diaz, facing 36 years for divulging state secrets.
Whither goest thou, American Jurisprudence?
posted by planetkyoto on May 15, 2007 - 47 comments

Yearly Kos. Over a year and a half after PastorDan, a diarist at DailyKos, suggested a national convention, it's actually happening. Organized, at least at first, with very little encouragement or assistance from Kos himself, they've managed to pull together quite an impressive slate of speakers and panelists. Cspan will be covering it live all weekend. Is this a landmark for blogging?
posted by empath on Jun 7, 2006 - 37 comments

We are hosting the first and only Time Traveler Convention at MIT in one week, and WE NEED YOUR HELP! Anyone plan to attend?
posted by Ricky_gr10 on May 2, 2005 - 64 comments

Protests at RNC test appropriate response
An eyewitness account by I Can't Believe Its A Democracy - "I just have to pause here for a moment to make an observation. How many times have I seen an interview with an arrested protester who claimed he or she had done nothing to provoke the police. Almost always my reaction has been, "Yeah, sure." Only now I was seeing this very situation unfold in front of my eyes. These protesters, while certainly noisy, had obeyed police instructions down the entire length of the street. Now they were being treated as if they had gotten wildly out of control, but they hadn't. I know, because I was there."

Another account from Captain Normal (also an eyewitness and even got arrested and held for 24 hours without being charged or being able to contact a lawyer) discusses a family of French tourists caught up in the sweep as well as some of the other residents of "Gitmo on the Hudson".
posted by fenriq on Sep 2, 2004 - 75 comments

San Diego Opensource Convention Ends With "Positive Feelings"
The conference included a debate (documented in real time!) between Microsoft open source---what's the opposite of evangelist?---Craig Mundie and the CTO of RedHat Michael Tiemann entitled "shared source versus open source." Tiemann was feisty and "baited" Mundie, who remained cool as a cucumber. I thought we could all benefit from some postgame analysis here... (1, 2, 3)
posted by rschram on Jul 27, 2001 - 4 comments

A fans' view chronicles the strange spectacles that are anime conventions. I used to watch a lot of anime when I was younger, and I'm still a fan of some series, but I can't really get into anything new anymore. Besides watching shows, probably the strangest aspect of my old hobby is cosplay, where everyone dresses up as their favorite anime characters. Of course, this can understandably bring some unwanted attention...
posted by moz on May 17, 2001 - 8 comments