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Snapback Story Time: Midwest Murrfest
11 years ago
I could be all boring and post an "MFF Con Review" but it's getting close enough to Christmas so lets all get into the holiday spirit why don't we. Plus, who doesn't love a good ol' Snapback Story time?
LETS GET RIGHT DOWN TO BUSINESS HERE.
Never doing that much work before a con. Ever again. If I do, that shit's gotta be done 2 weeks BEFORE, NO LATER. That said though, I successfully managed to print, cut, laminate (with the help of amazingly chill & sweet
), AND wrap with some Canadian TREATS, a total of 26 individual (7 double sided making an actual total of 32) badges! While successfully forgetting a page of 4 badges including my own, GOOD JOB SNAP/
I still have 6 gifts wrapped with love that didn't get given, which will be mailed with another 5 (CON DELIVER-ER EXTRAORDINAIRE) in cat treat boxes bc fuck yeah.
But, that aside, still had fun, did cool shit, ran around as an otter, A++ on the fun scale. But, even then, the things I really wanna blab about, are the cons of this con (snrk I'm very punny)
As we know, Saturday was a testing night starting with "gas leak wtf?" & ending at "has anyone heard from ____?" and "contact everyone you know to make sure they're okay"
It could have in all seriousness been a lot worse, and the attack itself could have been much more malicious. I'm glad it was handled so well, and I'm proud of how well all of us stuck together and looked out for one another, despite the fact that it still leaves a bit of a sore spot on everyone's vibe.
There were some personal things I encountered over the weekend that left me feeling a bit more blue than usual but that's only my personal con experience. I would however like to speak up about something I keep noticing and really just gotta bitch about.
I didn't compete in Floor Wars or the Fursuit Dance Competition this year. I'd like to talk about why.
Alright so first, I actually did have something planned with a friend and idol of mine for the dance comp, but both of us didn't bother to sign up or anything lol Which after watching the preliminaries, I'm kind of glad we didn't. Aside from him having a very bad back at the con (I didn't even know about that haha), and already having way too much on my plate with badges, watching it all play out and hearing from those trying out I gotta say one very blunt thing.
Y'all way too up tight about fursuit dance competitions.
Seriously, I understand putting months of practice into a routine, careful planning, dedicating hours of time to it, but don't be upset when there's only like 20ish finalist slots and friggin like 35 people entered. Don't put that much work into something with that high of a cut rate unless you can take the fall without taking it out on others. If you're that serious about it, and reeeaaaally wanna perform it, keep trying again or, better yet, make a video out of it where you won't fuck up from stage pressure or slippery floor or something.
Of course, anyone is gonna have a bit of a hurting ego getting cut from tryouts, even I would be a little disappointed, but what I really hate seeing is "it's an elitist popularity competition" / "it's biased the judges all pick their friends" / "I worked super duper hard I don't think it's fair" So now anyone that got in is immediately gonna take the heat for others getting cut?!
I'm sorry but if that's what the attitude towards competitions is coming to, you won't see me entering in big dance competitions anymore. End of story. I don't want people being cheesed at me because I like dancing and wanted to enter the dance competition. Would people consider me elitist for being enthusiastic enough about dance that I get the chance to perform on the Sunday at a furry convention? With veteran and novice categories now, there should be NO reason for all this salt, but I'm seeing so very much of it, and want nothing to do with it.
This isn't World Of Dance guys, its a wee little dance competition panel at a furry convention..
Chill out~
I'm still gonna do this lil secret duo with my friend at a future con, and I'm still gonna enter the odd competition at my discretion, but unless the general attitude of many competitors changes from it's current high-sodium formula to a more positive one, I'll be enjoying more dance competitions from the side lines, cheering with others who, quite frankly, don't give two fucks about competing or cheering.
In accordance to "taking the heat", if anyone wants to argue me on my BitchRant, please do, I wouldn't complain about this if I wasn't prepared for a counter argument of some kind. Bring it on.
There's my essay on my weekend in Chicago (seriously though how do these journals end up so massive??? I suck) now lets not spend so long on some more stuff that SmepBek wants to rant about.
1. Got super nasty Norovirus (along with about 1k other peeps) and survived!
2. Had super awesome birthday weekend (planned last minute bc norovirus) and survived!
3. Christmas is in 9 days... Will I survive? To be determined...
Also I did mention doing badges AFTER mff (oh golly would you look at that mff was about a week ago)
I totes still wanna do them up to Christmas and through until after christmas too if people are interested, but you see I am superbad at doing the after part of like, printing, laminating, and shipping...
So I was wondering if y'all would be cool with like, just the digital art.
I'll do badges like I did for mff, and other art things, and just gib u da digital file. Mind you, for badges, I could totally absolutely print them out and finish them to take with me to a con for con delivery (like furnal equinox or something) you just would have to poke me like 2 weeks before the con.
...Does that sound gucci to you guys?...
OK I'M DONE I SWEAR KBYE
LETS GET RIGHT DOWN TO BUSINESS HERE.
Never doing that much work before a con. Ever again. If I do, that shit's gotta be done 2 weeks BEFORE, NO LATER. That said though, I successfully managed to print, cut, laminate (with the help of amazingly chill & sweet
), AND wrap with some Canadian TREATS, a total of 26 individual (7 double sided making an actual total of 32) badges! While successfully forgetting a page of 4 badges including my own, GOOD JOB SNAP/I still have 6 gifts wrapped with love that didn't get given, which will be mailed with another 5 (CON DELIVER-ER EXTRAORDINAIRE) in cat treat boxes bc fuck yeah.
But, that aside, still had fun, did cool shit, ran around as an otter, A++ on the fun scale. But, even then, the things I really wanna blab about, are the cons of this con (snrk I'm very punny)
As we know, Saturday was a testing night starting with "gas leak wtf?" & ending at "has anyone heard from ____?" and "contact everyone you know to make sure they're okay"
It could have in all seriousness been a lot worse, and the attack itself could have been much more malicious. I'm glad it was handled so well, and I'm proud of how well all of us stuck together and looked out for one another, despite the fact that it still leaves a bit of a sore spot on everyone's vibe.
There were some personal things I encountered over the weekend that left me feeling a bit more blue than usual but that's only my personal con experience. I would however like to speak up about something I keep noticing and really just gotta bitch about.
I didn't compete in Floor Wars or the Fursuit Dance Competition this year. I'd like to talk about why.
Alright so first, I actually did have something planned with a friend and idol of mine for the dance comp, but both of us didn't bother to sign up or anything lol Which after watching the preliminaries, I'm kind of glad we didn't. Aside from him having a very bad back at the con (I didn't even know about that haha), and already having way too much on my plate with badges, watching it all play out and hearing from those trying out I gotta say one very blunt thing.
Y'all way too up tight about fursuit dance competitions.
Seriously, I understand putting months of practice into a routine, careful planning, dedicating hours of time to it, but don't be upset when there's only like 20ish finalist slots and friggin like 35 people entered. Don't put that much work into something with that high of a cut rate unless you can take the fall without taking it out on others. If you're that serious about it, and reeeaaaally wanna perform it, keep trying again or, better yet, make a video out of it where you won't fuck up from stage pressure or slippery floor or something.
Of course, anyone is gonna have a bit of a hurting ego getting cut from tryouts, even I would be a little disappointed, but what I really hate seeing is "it's an elitist popularity competition" / "it's biased the judges all pick their friends" / "I worked super duper hard I don't think it's fair" So now anyone that got in is immediately gonna take the heat for others getting cut?!
I'm sorry but if that's what the attitude towards competitions is coming to, you won't see me entering in big dance competitions anymore. End of story. I don't want people being cheesed at me because I like dancing and wanted to enter the dance competition. Would people consider me elitist for being enthusiastic enough about dance that I get the chance to perform on the Sunday at a furry convention? With veteran and novice categories now, there should be NO reason for all this salt, but I'm seeing so very much of it, and want nothing to do with it.
This isn't World Of Dance guys, its a wee little dance competition panel at a furry convention..
Chill out~
I'm still gonna do this lil secret duo with my friend at a future con, and I'm still gonna enter the odd competition at my discretion, but unless the general attitude of many competitors changes from it's current high-sodium formula to a more positive one, I'll be enjoying more dance competitions from the side lines, cheering with others who, quite frankly, don't give two fucks about competing or cheering.
In accordance to "taking the heat", if anyone wants to argue me on my BitchRant, please do, I wouldn't complain about this if I wasn't prepared for a counter argument of some kind. Bring it on.
There's my essay on my weekend in Chicago (seriously though how do these journals end up so massive??? I suck) now lets not spend so long on some more stuff that SmepBek wants to rant about.
1. Got super nasty Norovirus (along with about 1k other peeps) and survived!
2. Had super awesome birthday weekend (planned last minute bc norovirus) and survived!
3. Christmas is in 9 days... Will I survive? To be determined...
Also I did mention doing badges AFTER mff (oh golly would you look at that mff was about a week ago)
I totes still wanna do them up to Christmas and through until after christmas too if people are interested, but you see I am superbad at doing the after part of like, printing, laminating, and shipping...
So I was wondering if y'all would be cool with like, just the digital art.
I'll do badges like I did for mff, and other art things, and just gib u da digital file. Mind you, for badges, I could totally absolutely print them out and finish them to take with me to a con for con delivery (like furnal equinox or something) you just would have to poke me like 2 weeks before the con.
...Does that sound gucci to you guys?...
OK I'M DONE I SWEAR KBYE
Kind of a bummer, it sucks all the fun out.
WEEK AGO
fuck wit us an then we tweakin ho
hope you had fun
anyways
other then that gas thing that happened
And I'm cool with digital 'cause tbh I don't necessarily like cutting out things and laminating them either.
(Mind you the heavy duty lamination at Staples is amazing like HOT DAMN)
A positive attitude like yours is what all the downer debbie's need~
The judges are the ones you can approach afterward for serious feedback or criticism if desired, which would bring me into an entirely different bitchrant about how judges should hold off on constructive crit during the competition itself; it doesn't really benefit the crowd and can shoot down the dancer's morale, considering how sensitive a lot of the competitors are.
As far as placing goes, in a competition with a typical 2 categories for individuals, Novice and Veteran, 10 competitors in each category; there's almost a 70% chance of not placing, and the flip side of the coin is considered for the most outstanding performance (note that I said performance; I do not believe that dancing skill should be the sole factor in placing. It is a competition, requiring not only dancing skill but performance skill; floor wars is the place for competition decided solely on dance skill and musicality.) I've only ever placed at all at smaller conventions; I'm personally just happy to be participating.
I'm seriously considering banding up a few people to host a free for all fursuit dance showcase panel, much like the comp but first come first serve with as many competitors as possible (perhaps excluding those in the actual comp) minus any winners or actual competition of any kind..
It was really cool meeting you! Annnd sorry for hovering awkwardly for ages before finally saying hi xD Gradually getting better at introductions and shiz
Hope you're feeling better!
One complaint I must admit has come to irritate me a little is "They gave me crappy songs, I couldn't dance to them." mostly because I can understand it as a beginner; shit I used to say the same thing so I'm a bit of a hypocrite, but if one expects to get into a comp and aspires to place, I personally feel it isn't the song that determines your skill during preliminaries.
Hehe no worries man, cons are the place where clumsy introductions and sometimes awkward "hug-and-go"s flourish! I do it all the time myself haha You'll get the hang of it at some point and then just start doing it (several cons since my first I can finally just say hi to people and start a conversation rather than poking and staring or some other odd action)
Feeling much better as well, thanks! <3
I'm totally looking forward to the time when I can just chill, chat with everyone, and not feel like I'm being a nuisance xD But yeah, definitely gonna work on that and interact with waaaay more suiters next con. I was sorely lacking in the fuzzy hug department
Glad to hear it~ :D
As someone who has always sat and watched dance comps, never competed, is it more fair for me to think that Dance Comps are a popularity contest?
I mean, i get people being upset, but you're totally right. Don't be a little punk about it. It's a dance comp.
I've watched great dancers get titles they deserves, but I've also watched /even better/ dancers get pushed down because of their low popularity.
I think theres a lot a con can do to prevent this, including and up to getting judges that know a bit about dance but don't know much or anything about the popular dancers.
I understand how that would get hard, especially since dance comps all over the country generally get the same dancers... because there is such a small dancer fur community. So I'm kinda iffy on the things.
I do know that people need to take them with a grain of salt. Have fun, it's a furry convention....... for realsies. take it as constructive criticism.
It is true that many aspects of comps are generally unbalanced, however I am of firm belief that the critique is based on the entire performance including pacing, musicality, flow, dance skill, as well as most importantly how captivating it is as a whole; those concerned on just dancing ability alone should veer more towards Floor Wars when seeking fair judgement on their talent. For those who, no matter what you tell them will still put importance on an FDC, these are the things they should really be considering when it comes to how fair or unfair the judging is.
Your last statement is basically everything I ever want to say summed into one quote.
These competitions aren't worth a grain of salt when all is said and done.
Wish people would take all this into consideration, but i guess we all can't be adults!
I was really sad I missed MFF and didnt get to see you :c
Honestly the dance comp thing is the reason I moved to doing performances, teaching, and judging as opposed to competing.
WOD isn't even close to as salty as furry conventions!
Comps are changing but some people are taking things way to hard and being very entitled.
After all, competitions are still competitions. You don't win every one.
This is why a lot of the judges try to offer critique for people to improve.
On that note I'm doing a judge performance with dwudles at FC. Whats your con schedule look like? :3c
I was so looking forward to rubbing your beard at MFF and stuff :C
Dude furries need to try the new low sodium formula, I feel myself shriveling up from all this salt.
The competitions are getting big, very big. There is increasingly less room for success, and I wish people would realize this when they don't place, or don't pass prelims.
I'm seriously thinking about starting up a new big dance event, like a fursuit dance free for all. optional constructive criticism, no competing against each other, no 1st 2nd or 3rd place, just honorable mentions at most. I want it to be a thing and I wanna see if others would be interested in getting it going.
OH MAN I WISH I COULD DO FC it would be a dream come true ; ;
It'll be either FWA or MCFC, not sure which one yet, but that'll be my next trip to America land for Furry shitfest :3
I miss you a lot and can't wait to see this double trouble you have planned with DWOOOODLEZ
C'est la vie. Wish people could just do their best and leave it out on the floor. It's so kidz saturday morning cartoon special level idealistic, but for real it should be that way.
There needs to be a completely separate "dance jam" panel or something with same comp format minus any winners, no preliminaries, just first come first serve signup, open ended, fursuit dance performance.
Dude I'd love to dance with you at a future con :3 Maybe even go up against you in floor wars one day hehe
Glad you're feeling better
Hope you stayed clear of the con crud!
yeah lol i read someones journal about dance comps being rigged and stuff and i was like yo we're in animal costume why is this serious again????????
super serious dancing animal people. love that new icon btw its wunnerful.
But omfg thank you that's how I feel its like, you're just a very upset fluffy fox/dragon/unicorn who's getting aggressive because the white and blue lemur gets to flail on a stage and you don't?
FUCKING
THIS ICON
my life is complete because of it
ill have you know i am a purple and rainbow FOLF and i DESERVE to be on that stage /hairtoss
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9364906/
I've been singing this all day for some reason... besides the season.
2nd, I was kinda sad not to see you dancing but I can definitely understand not wanting to.
3rd, I know this is probably just an "old fogie" talking but it REALLY pisses me off with the "get a trophy for participating" generation... I mean seriously, put on your big girl/big boy drawers and suck that shit up. In the "real world" just cause you "try your hardest" doesn't mean you deserve shit. Life is a competition itself and in all honesty, you can still lose at it.
Now I'm not saying, "you have no hope just go away" to anyone. I'm just saying that you shouldn't cry and blame others for your short comings. Everyone can't be good at everything and if you really want something, keep trying until you get it, or find an innovation that will get you something similar/better.
I've always wanted to dance in the comps since I started going to the cons but I can't dance to dubstep to save my life. I look like a jittery, twitchy idiot. lol I'm not discouraged nor will I give up. I'm going to try out at FWA and see where it goes. What's the worst that could happen? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I think I got a little side tracked there...
Anyway, people shouldn't be so "oh popularity contest, i have no chance, bla bla bla" If you wanted to dance "for fun" you don't enter a COMPETITION. You dance "for fun" lol. I could go on and on in a rant about this and similar things but it'd be like beating a dead horse. -_-
Lastly, I wanted to say, it was great seeing you even though we didn't get a chance to talk much. I got a photo though so I think I'll manage. lol Do you think you'll make it to FWA this coming year?
yr idea for a kinda free for all dance event sounds awesome, not everything needs to be a contest imo??
i needa get one of those badges ooomg theyre so cool...
Come to FWA SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT STUPID SHIT
ALSO WHERE DID YOU GET THAT ICON. It's so freaking cute ;A;
I totally agree with you on the dance comp. It's definitely a hot ego show and it is also somewhat of a popularity contest. The dance comps are getting bigger and as more people enter, the more competitive its gonna get.