On PAX and associated vacation activities
Aug. 28th, 2007 02:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseOur long-awaited trip to Seattle for the Penny Arcade Expo was about ninety different shades of awesome, and I had a lot of fun. Some things didn't work out so well, but we'll keep them in mind for next year, since we intend to go again. Following is a breakdown of some of the various parts of the trip, thoughts, and (just for fun) a letter grade for each.
The Plane Ride: It is in keeping with the laws of entropy that the shorter and less complicated a plane trip is, the less likely you are to meet with disaster in the forms of delayed flights, missed connections, security holdups, etc. Since we only had the one leg from Juneau to Seattle, things were pretty smooth - the flight down went fine, and the flight back was only delayed slightly. However, I find that I cannot give any coach-class flight full marks - the experience is simply too ingrained with misery in countless small but significant ways (cramped seats, wailing children, lavatory odors) that the best I can give it is: C+
The Red Lion on Fifth Avenue: I should probably state for the record that we booked our hotel room a month ahead of time, which, in PAX terms, is pretty much at the last minute. The only places that weren't sold out were the cheap places a few miles out from the convention center, and the Red Lion, which ran $165 a night but was two blocks away. Since we were hoping to avoid renting a car this trip, and neither of us wanted to stay in a no-tell motel for five nights, we ended up booking at the Red Lion.
It was quite a nice hotel - clean and well kept up with a semi-luxury atmosphere, comfortable beds, polite staff, and of course an excellent location. However, for the price (which, with "applicable taxes", came to $190 a night) it seemed to be missing quite a few amenities that one would think to be standard in that range: a courtesy shuttle from the airport, for instance, or a pool, or free local calls, or wi-fi that didn't require sitting right next to the door of the room to get a signal. All together, I felt rather cheated by the whole thing - I would've gladly taken Formica countertops in a $120 a night place with these services over granite countertops in a $190 a night place that doesn't have them. C-
The Line To Get In Each Morning: Kind of boring, but alleviated some by the amusement gained through seeing the entire stock of ThinkGeek t-shirts prominently displayed on various torsos. Also by pulling out the DS and watching people Picto-Chat wangs to each other. C+
The Keynote Speech: Delivered by Wil Wheaton with style, panache, and appropriate vulgarities sprinkled throughout, it was thoroughly enjoyable. While he got a bit long and rambling at times, he had more than enough experience with physical comedy to make it enjoyable; my personal favorite bit was his reenactment of his 9-year-old self's reaction to getting all the way to the end of Metroid to discover Samus' true identity. (Brian got some great pictures, which I shall have to post once he gets around to getting them off his camera.) In case anyone who missed PAX would like to hear his reminiscences on video gaming throughout the 80s and 90s, here is an mp3 of the whole thing, audience reactions included. Because really, you need to hear the reaction of several thousand gaming geeks to his opening line: "My name is Wil Wheaton, and Jack Thompson can suck my balls." A-
The Exhibition Hall: A veritable sensory overload of information on new games, mostly video with a few board and collectible card games sprinkled in for good measure. We picked up countless free t-shirts at various booths and bought several more for ourselves and friends; we tried out a few of the playable demos that were available; we watched a guided demo of Mass Effect, a new BioWare RPG for the Xbox 360 that looks pretty awesome in scope and execution; and we got to watch people play Rock Band, which was available as a playable demo but the line (unsurprisingly) was an hour long. My favorite swag: a Halo 3 backpack that, aside from having the Halo 3 symbol embroidered on it and on the zipper pulls, actually is a pretty awesome backpack; and matching "Jesus Says: Don't Be a Dick" shirts for Brian and me. A
Barnes & Noble, Borders, and the Vast Variety of Smaller Bookshops in Downtown Seattle: My only regret is that I didn't have much time to thoroughly explore some of the smaller used bookshops we encountered. A+
Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein: My first time seeing a Broadway-level production, and I have to admit I'm pretty stunned at the amount of stage magic $20 million can buy. The show itself was pretty classic Brooks: a few classic vaudeville gags, more innuendo than you can shake a stick at (see what I did there?), and the general design philosphy that if some is good, more is better and even more is hilarious. It worked pretty well, and I certainly feel I got my $100 ticket worth, but (with one exception) it often felt that the cast and their performances were dwarfed - both by audience expectations from the movie, and by the intimidatingly large and detailed sets and effects.
The exception, however, was Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor. Not only did he meet the expectation of "amusing" from the movie, he zoomed past it, capered right through "hilarity" and danced well into "sheer gut-busting madcap delight." It often felt like he was the only one not weighed down (physically and metaphorically) - he cavorted and jumped and gamboled about and contorted both himself and his facial expressions like the archetypal Court Jester on methamphetamine. I honestly think it was a shame he wasn't on stage more, but I'm certainly grateful for his one big musical number - I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages. Musical as a Whole: B+ Christopher Fitzgerald's Performance: A
Coming Back to Work: Not quite as bad as I'd anticipated, but there were still quite a few groan-inducingly large stacks of stuff to do. C-
The Plane Ride: It is in keeping with the laws of entropy that the shorter and less complicated a plane trip is, the less likely you are to meet with disaster in the forms of delayed flights, missed connections, security holdups, etc. Since we only had the one leg from Juneau to Seattle, things were pretty smooth - the flight down went fine, and the flight back was only delayed slightly. However, I find that I cannot give any coach-class flight full marks - the experience is simply too ingrained with misery in countless small but significant ways (cramped seats, wailing children, lavatory odors) that the best I can give it is: C+
The Red Lion on Fifth Avenue: I should probably state for the record that we booked our hotel room a month ahead of time, which, in PAX terms, is pretty much at the last minute. The only places that weren't sold out were the cheap places a few miles out from the convention center, and the Red Lion, which ran $165 a night but was two blocks away. Since we were hoping to avoid renting a car this trip, and neither of us wanted to stay in a no-tell motel for five nights, we ended up booking at the Red Lion.
It was quite a nice hotel - clean and well kept up with a semi-luxury atmosphere, comfortable beds, polite staff, and of course an excellent location. However, for the price (which, with "applicable taxes", came to $190 a night) it seemed to be missing quite a few amenities that one would think to be standard in that range: a courtesy shuttle from the airport, for instance, or a pool, or free local calls, or wi-fi that didn't require sitting right next to the door of the room to get a signal. All together, I felt rather cheated by the whole thing - I would've gladly taken Formica countertops in a $120 a night place with these services over granite countertops in a $190 a night place that doesn't have them. C-
The Line To Get In Each Morning: Kind of boring, but alleviated some by the amusement gained through seeing the entire stock of ThinkGeek t-shirts prominently displayed on various torsos. Also by pulling out the DS and watching people Picto-Chat wangs to each other. C+
The Keynote Speech: Delivered by Wil Wheaton with style, panache, and appropriate vulgarities sprinkled throughout, it was thoroughly enjoyable. While he got a bit long and rambling at times, he had more than enough experience with physical comedy to make it enjoyable; my personal favorite bit was his reenactment of his 9-year-old self's reaction to getting all the way to the end of Metroid to discover Samus' true identity. (Brian got some great pictures, which I shall have to post once he gets around to getting them off his camera.) In case anyone who missed PAX would like to hear his reminiscences on video gaming throughout the 80s and 90s, here is an mp3 of the whole thing, audience reactions included. Because really, you need to hear the reaction of several thousand gaming geeks to his opening line: "My name is Wil Wheaton, and Jack Thompson can suck my balls." A-
The Exhibition Hall: A veritable sensory overload of information on new games, mostly video with a few board and collectible card games sprinkled in for good measure. We picked up countless free t-shirts at various booths and bought several more for ourselves and friends; we tried out a few of the playable demos that were available; we watched a guided demo of Mass Effect, a new BioWare RPG for the Xbox 360 that looks pretty awesome in scope and execution; and we got to watch people play Rock Band, which was available as a playable demo but the line (unsurprisingly) was an hour long. My favorite swag: a Halo 3 backpack that, aside from having the Halo 3 symbol embroidered on it and on the zipper pulls, actually is a pretty awesome backpack; and matching "Jesus Says: Don't Be a Dick" shirts for Brian and me. A
Barnes & Noble, Borders, and the Vast Variety of Smaller Bookshops in Downtown Seattle: My only regret is that I didn't have much time to thoroughly explore some of the smaller used bookshops we encountered. A+
Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein: My first time seeing a Broadway-level production, and I have to admit I'm pretty stunned at the amount of stage magic $20 million can buy. The show itself was pretty classic Brooks: a few classic vaudeville gags, more innuendo than you can shake a stick at (see what I did there?), and the general design philosphy that if some is good, more is better and even more is hilarious. It worked pretty well, and I certainly feel I got my $100 ticket worth, but (with one exception) it often felt that the cast and their performances were dwarfed - both by audience expectations from the movie, and by the intimidatingly large and detailed sets and effects.
The exception, however, was Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor. Not only did he meet the expectation of "amusing" from the movie, he zoomed past it, capered right through "hilarity" and danced well into "sheer gut-busting madcap delight." It often felt like he was the only one not weighed down (physically and metaphorically) - he cavorted and jumped and gamboled about and contorted both himself and his facial expressions like the archetypal Court Jester on methamphetamine. I honestly think it was a shame he wasn't on stage more, but I'm certainly grateful for his one big musical number - I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages. Musical as a Whole: B+ Christopher Fitzgerald's Performance: A
Coming Back to Work: Not quite as bad as I'd anticipated, but there were still quite a few groan-inducingly large stacks of stuff to do. C-
