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DenFur 2019 Wrap-Up
6 years ago
I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
I think I'm still processing the whole thing, but I would like to try and get some thoughts down while they are still fresh in my mind.
MONDAY
Yes, Monday. The day that the convention's Twitter feed dropped the bomb on us that parking would be $6 each time you left the lot, unless you were staying at the hotel. I can understand why the hotel would do this, but I fail to understand why the convention couldn't get this information to us before the 11th hour.
FRIDAY
I got up early, had breakfast, showered, made sure I had everything, and headed out. I stopped at a nearby gas station to top off my car's gas tank, and then hit the freeway. Unfortunately, there's ongoing construction on the I-25, so much of the stretch from Monument to Castle Rock that used to be 75 miles per hour has been lowered to 60 miles per hour. Plus, traffic was slowed massively just south of Castle Rock because two vehicles had pulled off to the side of the road. The whole trip took about 2 hours, I think, and I arrived at the convention around 10:00 A.M. I got through registration very quickly, although I did have to go back to get a copy of the con book. I was able to get into the Dealer's Den a little early, because I had registered at the Sponsor level. I didn't really purchase anything and was just really browsing. Although, the layout they had picked for the Dealer's Den this year was pretty bad. The tables were set up so that there was only one path through the whole space. I think this is what contributed to that room feeling like an oven at time, because people would be clustered in parts of the one path. Anyways, I had lunch in my car afterwards, and then headed to Opening Ceremonies. I also got in early to that this time due to being a sponsor, so I had a decent position to film the event. And I had charged my camcorder the day before, so I wasn't messing with the settings during the event like I had to last year, so the video should be much better. I think I just hung around and took some pictures for a while, or I may have browsed the Dealer's Den and Artist's Alley a bit. I know at some point during the day I purchased a Certified Rat badge from Mary Mouse and 2 CDs from Pepper Coyote. Eventually, I decided to go to the Talent Show. There were a lot of really great performers this year, although I can't really make a comparison to last year. That wrapped up a little early, so I think I wandered a bit before going to the Q&A session with Ben Diskin. I wasn't really excited about the voice actor guests of honor this year, because I haven't seen any of Aggretsuko, and reading their bio blurbs in the con book, there was a lot of cartoons and games I had heard of, but wasn't really a fan of. But what did catch my attention was that Diskin had voiced Eric Sparrow in the game "Tony Hawk's Underground," so I asked him what his favorite thing about doing that was. Apparently, it was getting to pet a dog at Neversoft studios. After that, I had intended to go to the panel on the Space Race, but I got confused and didn't remember where the room was, so I ended up going to the Reindeer Games panel instead. That was interesting. I didn't participate in the games, but I did get to sample the Finnish candies along with everything else. Most of it was fine, but the Megahot lozenge at the end was terrible. There wasn't really anything else I was interested in after that, so I headed back home for dinner. Although, once again I was delayed due to a crash north of Monument.
SATURDAY
I got up early again, had breakfast, and took a shower. I got my stuff together, including my duster, because I was trying to do a cosplay of Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly. I don't think anybody recognized it, so I guess I need to put a bit more effort into that. I headed out around 8:00 A.M., because I wanted to arrive in time for the Saturday Morning Cartoons panel. Unfortunately, the person who was running the event wasn't present, so the event was canceled. I ended up hanging out with some of the other people who were there for a while. I went back to the Dealer's Den afterwards, and I think I did a fair bit of purchasing during that time. I had lunch at 12 in the Sponsor's Lounge, and then tried to find a spot for the Fursuit Parade. I have no idea what the staff were thinking, because this year, they decided to route the parade around the outside of the hotel instead of through the hallway. So at first I was set up outside of the Main Events room, but there was music constantly playing, and I realized that any video I recorded would probably be hit with lots of Content ID claims if I posted it on YouTube. So I ran around the outside of the hotel to get to the Atrium. That might have been a decent spot, except for all the people who kept crossing in front of me or just standing in front of me. Oh, I had brought my tripod for this, because I didn't want to hold up my camcorder for 20-30 minutes. However, holding up the camcorder for that long might have been better, because again, people kept crossing in front of it or just standing in front of it. I'm going to have to go over the video and see just how bad it all is. I might not bother releasing it. So after putting my tripod away, I decided to go to the Photography and Videography panel. I don't think there was a lot of information I didn't already know, but it's good to have a refresher every once in a while. That wrapped up early, so I was able to catch the second half of the Foxes and Peppers All Ages concert. They sounded incredible, although I couldn't understand the lyrics all the time. But that does tend to happen in rooms that aren't optimized for sound. I went to the Intro to Twitch panel after that. I'm not sure if I will be doing any streaming in the near future, but the panel was still very informative. I think I wandered a bit after that, before eventually heading to the Fursuit Handling 101 panel. I'm spending a fair bit of time with other suiters at local meets, so learning how to be better at handling them felt like it would be useful. I think I went back to the Dealer's Den after that, but I had been checking it out periodically during the day. I ended up getting a fair bit of soap, as well as a deck of cards, some lip balm, and a commission from Foxene. I also got several prints from Little Fang Studios, Vantid, Michelle Light, and DarkNatasha. And I got a comic book from one of the artists in the Artist's Alley. Oh, and a sticker from Sari Neochaos in the Artist's Alley as well. But yeah, the last thing I did that day was head to the Getting Started with Video Content Production panel. Seeing as I run a YouTube channel, I was hoping I could get some ideas on how to improve my content. I'm already doing a fair bit of what was recommended, such as editing and rendering at 720p, but I did get some ideas about trying to add in a face cam. Also, Ash Coyote was helping run the panel, so I got to speak to her a bit. I also got to talk Pokemon Go with some of the panel attendees, because it was the Community Day for August, so I was trying to catch a lot of Ralts. After that, I had dinner at the nearby A&W, because I felt it would take too long to get back home for dinner. But I did head back home after that. I stopped by a local game store, because I was hoping to acquire a copy of Firefly Fluxx. They didn't have it in stock, but they did have Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Fluxx, so I purchased that. I also found a package from Contact Caffeine waiting for me. It was supposed to have arrived on Friday, but I guess it got delayed. Still, it meant I had a lot of soap for the foreseeable future.
SUNDAY
Originally, I had considered trying to attend the Anime panel, but I would have had to get up incredibly early in order to arrive in Denver in time for that. So I slept in a bit. I was able to shower with my new Lavendeer soap from Contact Caffeine, so that was invigorating. I got all my stuff together, although for some strange reason, I felt like I was missing something. I wasn't able to figure out that feeling, so I headed out. I stopped at the gas station again to refill, because I was down to about a quarter tank of gas. Traffic wasn't too bad on the way up. I arrived around 10:00 A.M. I didn't really feel like doing anything, so I hung out in the game room for a while. Around 12, I had lunch in the Sponsor's Lounge. My timing was pretty good, because I ran into Yudy, Andi and Tutunkari there. I hung out with them for a bit, and accompanied them to the Dealer's Den for a while. I did another batch of purchases that day, picking up a Foxtrot print from Pita, the Red Sands trilogy of books, and a copy of Skirmish and Volume 2 of Dreamkeepers from Corvus Publishing. I also picked up a Tribble from the U.S.S. Tiberon table in Artist's Alley, a Croconana from Sorbet Jungle, and a handful of comic books from ayA studios. I eventually made it to the Improv Workshop panel, although I had to leave multiple times throughout that to use the restroom. I also left it a bit early to pick up my completed commission from Foxene. But after that, it was about time for Closing Ceremonies, so I headed over and got a decent seat for that. It didn't take too long for them to get started after that. Plus, they wrapped up around 5:30 P.M., which meant I was able to leave earlier than I thought I would. Although, one drawback is that I may have to retire my digital camera. It was fine that morning, and I was able to get a picture at some point, but around midday, a problem cropped up. The battery case won't stay shut when there are batteries in it, but it will stay shut if there aren't batteries in it. So I may have to look into purchasing a better camera. Or I could try using duct tape to keep it closed.
CONCLUSION
I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about this one. I enjoyed the time I was able to spend at the convention, but there were some things that definitely could have been better. I think the convention should consider other hotels for next year. Also, I have seen other people complain about the panels being lackluster. I'm not sure if I can agree with that, but I think they may have a point. I wasn't really excited for the guests of honor this year, but I tend not to go to a convention solely based on the guests of honor. I can't really say right now if it was better this year than it was last year, but there's definitely still more room for improvement.
MONDAY
Yes, Monday. The day that the convention's Twitter feed dropped the bomb on us that parking would be $6 each time you left the lot, unless you were staying at the hotel. I can understand why the hotel would do this, but I fail to understand why the convention couldn't get this information to us before the 11th hour.
FRIDAY
I got up early, had breakfast, showered, made sure I had everything, and headed out. I stopped at a nearby gas station to top off my car's gas tank, and then hit the freeway. Unfortunately, there's ongoing construction on the I-25, so much of the stretch from Monument to Castle Rock that used to be 75 miles per hour has been lowered to 60 miles per hour. Plus, traffic was slowed massively just south of Castle Rock because two vehicles had pulled off to the side of the road. The whole trip took about 2 hours, I think, and I arrived at the convention around 10:00 A.M. I got through registration very quickly, although I did have to go back to get a copy of the con book. I was able to get into the Dealer's Den a little early, because I had registered at the Sponsor level. I didn't really purchase anything and was just really browsing. Although, the layout they had picked for the Dealer's Den this year was pretty bad. The tables were set up so that there was only one path through the whole space. I think this is what contributed to that room feeling like an oven at time, because people would be clustered in parts of the one path. Anyways, I had lunch in my car afterwards, and then headed to Opening Ceremonies. I also got in early to that this time due to being a sponsor, so I had a decent position to film the event. And I had charged my camcorder the day before, so I wasn't messing with the settings during the event like I had to last year, so the video should be much better. I think I just hung around and took some pictures for a while, or I may have browsed the Dealer's Den and Artist's Alley a bit. I know at some point during the day I purchased a Certified Rat badge from Mary Mouse and 2 CDs from Pepper Coyote. Eventually, I decided to go to the Talent Show. There were a lot of really great performers this year, although I can't really make a comparison to last year. That wrapped up a little early, so I think I wandered a bit before going to the Q&A session with Ben Diskin. I wasn't really excited about the voice actor guests of honor this year, because I haven't seen any of Aggretsuko, and reading their bio blurbs in the con book, there was a lot of cartoons and games I had heard of, but wasn't really a fan of. But what did catch my attention was that Diskin had voiced Eric Sparrow in the game "Tony Hawk's Underground," so I asked him what his favorite thing about doing that was. Apparently, it was getting to pet a dog at Neversoft studios. After that, I had intended to go to the panel on the Space Race, but I got confused and didn't remember where the room was, so I ended up going to the Reindeer Games panel instead. That was interesting. I didn't participate in the games, but I did get to sample the Finnish candies along with everything else. Most of it was fine, but the Megahot lozenge at the end was terrible. There wasn't really anything else I was interested in after that, so I headed back home for dinner. Although, once again I was delayed due to a crash north of Monument.
SATURDAY
I got up early again, had breakfast, and took a shower. I got my stuff together, including my duster, because I was trying to do a cosplay of Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly. I don't think anybody recognized it, so I guess I need to put a bit more effort into that. I headed out around 8:00 A.M., because I wanted to arrive in time for the Saturday Morning Cartoons panel. Unfortunately, the person who was running the event wasn't present, so the event was canceled. I ended up hanging out with some of the other people who were there for a while. I went back to the Dealer's Den afterwards, and I think I did a fair bit of purchasing during that time. I had lunch at 12 in the Sponsor's Lounge, and then tried to find a spot for the Fursuit Parade. I have no idea what the staff were thinking, because this year, they decided to route the parade around the outside of the hotel instead of through the hallway. So at first I was set up outside of the Main Events room, but there was music constantly playing, and I realized that any video I recorded would probably be hit with lots of Content ID claims if I posted it on YouTube. So I ran around the outside of the hotel to get to the Atrium. That might have been a decent spot, except for all the people who kept crossing in front of me or just standing in front of me. Oh, I had brought my tripod for this, because I didn't want to hold up my camcorder for 20-30 minutes. However, holding up the camcorder for that long might have been better, because again, people kept crossing in front of it or just standing in front of it. I'm going to have to go over the video and see just how bad it all is. I might not bother releasing it. So after putting my tripod away, I decided to go to the Photography and Videography panel. I don't think there was a lot of information I didn't already know, but it's good to have a refresher every once in a while. That wrapped up early, so I was able to catch the second half of the Foxes and Peppers All Ages concert. They sounded incredible, although I couldn't understand the lyrics all the time. But that does tend to happen in rooms that aren't optimized for sound. I went to the Intro to Twitch panel after that. I'm not sure if I will be doing any streaming in the near future, but the panel was still very informative. I think I wandered a bit after that, before eventually heading to the Fursuit Handling 101 panel. I'm spending a fair bit of time with other suiters at local meets, so learning how to be better at handling them felt like it would be useful. I think I went back to the Dealer's Den after that, but I had been checking it out periodically during the day. I ended up getting a fair bit of soap, as well as a deck of cards, some lip balm, and a commission from Foxene. I also got several prints from Little Fang Studios, Vantid, Michelle Light, and DarkNatasha. And I got a comic book from one of the artists in the Artist's Alley. Oh, and a sticker from Sari Neochaos in the Artist's Alley as well. But yeah, the last thing I did that day was head to the Getting Started with Video Content Production panel. Seeing as I run a YouTube channel, I was hoping I could get some ideas on how to improve my content. I'm already doing a fair bit of what was recommended, such as editing and rendering at 720p, but I did get some ideas about trying to add in a face cam. Also, Ash Coyote was helping run the panel, so I got to speak to her a bit. I also got to talk Pokemon Go with some of the panel attendees, because it was the Community Day for August, so I was trying to catch a lot of Ralts. After that, I had dinner at the nearby A&W, because I felt it would take too long to get back home for dinner. But I did head back home after that. I stopped by a local game store, because I was hoping to acquire a copy of Firefly Fluxx. They didn't have it in stock, but they did have Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Fluxx, so I purchased that. I also found a package from Contact Caffeine waiting for me. It was supposed to have arrived on Friday, but I guess it got delayed. Still, it meant I had a lot of soap for the foreseeable future.
SUNDAY
Originally, I had considered trying to attend the Anime panel, but I would have had to get up incredibly early in order to arrive in Denver in time for that. So I slept in a bit. I was able to shower with my new Lavendeer soap from Contact Caffeine, so that was invigorating. I got all my stuff together, although for some strange reason, I felt like I was missing something. I wasn't able to figure out that feeling, so I headed out. I stopped at the gas station again to refill, because I was down to about a quarter tank of gas. Traffic wasn't too bad on the way up. I arrived around 10:00 A.M. I didn't really feel like doing anything, so I hung out in the game room for a while. Around 12, I had lunch in the Sponsor's Lounge. My timing was pretty good, because I ran into Yudy, Andi and Tutunkari there. I hung out with them for a bit, and accompanied them to the Dealer's Den for a while. I did another batch of purchases that day, picking up a Foxtrot print from Pita, the Red Sands trilogy of books, and a copy of Skirmish and Volume 2 of Dreamkeepers from Corvus Publishing. I also picked up a Tribble from the U.S.S. Tiberon table in Artist's Alley, a Croconana from Sorbet Jungle, and a handful of comic books from ayA studios. I eventually made it to the Improv Workshop panel, although I had to leave multiple times throughout that to use the restroom. I also left it a bit early to pick up my completed commission from Foxene. But after that, it was about time for Closing Ceremonies, so I headed over and got a decent seat for that. It didn't take too long for them to get started after that. Plus, they wrapped up around 5:30 P.M., which meant I was able to leave earlier than I thought I would. Although, one drawback is that I may have to retire my digital camera. It was fine that morning, and I was able to get a picture at some point, but around midday, a problem cropped up. The battery case won't stay shut when there are batteries in it, but it will stay shut if there aren't batteries in it. So I may have to look into purchasing a better camera. Or I could try using duct tape to keep it closed.
CONCLUSION
I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about this one. I enjoyed the time I was able to spend at the convention, but there were some things that definitely could have been better. I think the convention should consider other hotels for next year. Also, I have seen other people complain about the panels being lackluster. I'm not sure if I can agree with that, but I think they may have a point. I wasn't really excited for the guests of honor this year, but I tend not to go to a convention solely based on the guests of honor. I can't really say right now if it was better this year than it was last year, but there's definitely still more room for improvement.
