Orycon, Days Two and Three
Nov. 6th, 2005 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuSaturday my wife woke me as she left the house to go to her early morning college classes (I love being married to a beautiful college girl...). I'd intended to get up and take the bus down to the con hotel, but decided to sleep in a little. So I missed the 9 a.m. panel I'd intended to see, but I was willing to live with that. I did attend a couple of other panels that morning. I hadn't had breakfast--I never eat breakfast--but I also didn't have a snack midmorning, so I was starving by the time I got lunch about 1 p.m. I had lunch in the hotel restaurant and was pleased by it. The service was prompt (apparently that was a crapshoot--others I know had terribly slow service), the food came even more promptly, was tasty and fairly inexpensive, especially for a hotel restaurant.
Then it was time for a trip to the dealers room, where I ended up buying four novels. Two Barbara Hambly fantasies, a novel by one of the authors I saw at a couple of panels, and the latest Dresden Files novel by Jim Butcher in hardback--I'd been intending to wait til it came out in paperback, but I decided what the hell, that's what cons are for. More panels after that. My friend Rory was on a panel at 3 p.m. about the issue of realism in fight scenes. He had plenty to say, and also brought along four eye-opening videos.
One was surveillance-cam footage from a Russian apartment building. A skinny crackhead brutally assaulted a 15 year-old girl at the elevators, knocking her to the floor and kicking her in the head repeatedly, taking her purse, kicking her over and over and over again when she wouldn't stop screaming, going thru her pockets, kicking her still more before finally dragging her out of sight in an elevator before fleeing. She died about two months later. This was apparently his routine technique for preying on victims--quick, safe (for him) and effective. Predatory behavior at its "finest."
Another video was a short clip of two men doing what he calls the "monkey dance" (i.e., posturing and dominance games) before a third man appears seemingly out of nowhere to punch one of them out in a lightning blow.
The third video was of two women fighting. One woman seemingly cowered on the floor for most of the fight while the other woman punched at her repeatedly. Rory played this one several times before explaining that what the audience was seeing was a knife fight. The woman cowering on the floor was actually busily digging her her pocket for, then opening, a pocketknife, which she jammed into the other woman's knee. It didn't help all that much--she still got her ass kicked. The point of this video was twofold. First, as in most knife fights, you'll never know you're in a knife fight until it's been used; and second, that men and women have different adrenaline responses. Men get the surge of adrenaline sooner than women do, on average. Adrenaline is great for strength and speed, but sucks for fine motor control; a man wouldn't have been able to open the pocketknife under those circumstances, she retained the control to do that (though, again, it didn't help all that much in this case).
The last video clip was the most disturbing. It was taken from the dashboard camera of a rural police cruiser, showing the murder of a deputy. It began as a traffic stop and then went horribly wrong. The criminal refused to obey orders, approached the deputy shouting and cursing and threatening; the deputy resorted to using his asp (collapsible baton) to drive him back. The criminal went back to his truck, began loading a rifle, ignoring the deputy's repeated orders to put down the weapon, and then killed the deputy before departing the scene. This video was presented to demonstrate that "freezing" under stress doesn't always result in a "deer in the headlights" moment. You can also respond with a behavioral loop, performing the same ineffective act over and over and over again.
In this case, the deputy had his weapon drawn and aimed at the bad guy, but simply kept yelling "Put down the weapon!" again and again without ever firing until he'd already been shot. He returned fire, but ineffectively. The bad guy, a combat veteran, moved and shot and moved and shot, and hit the deputy several times. The deputy was off-camera throughout the encounter, but the bad guy wasn't--and you could heard the deputy screaming (and still trying to order him to put the gun down) to the bitter end. It was a horrifying incident.
The audience had a lot of questions and got some interesting stories. It was a very good panel. I also attended his class on police policies on use of force, the same class he teaches for his department. Lots of good information, but nowhere near as dramatic as the earlier panel.
I also attended several panels that Steve Perry (local SF writer) was on. I always make a point of attending those--Steve is a very entertaining guy. As a bonus, I learned that he has three books coming out in January and February. I'll be buying two of them (the third is a Tom Clancy series he writes, and doesn't interest me).
Otherwise, lots of interesting hall costumes. Some very hot women in very nice costumes; some others who were really asking for a visit from the Fashion Police. The only real issue with the new hotel was the elevators--they took forever to arrive, and were usually jammed when they did. Most of the con took place on three floors (the lobby, lower lobby 1 and restaurant levels), accessible by escalator. The art show was in lower lobby 2, accessible by stairs. But hospitality was on the fourth floor (the first room floor) and there was no way to get there except by elevator (presumably there are emergency fire stairs, but those weren't available for normal traffic). It made getting to hospitality a major pain in the ass. Still, it was a nice hotel, the staff was friendly and helpful, and if Orycon stays in this hotel, it won't be a hardship.
After sitting thru an excruciatingly awful panel on "Are Artists & Writers Crazier Than Normal People"* I went to dinner with Rory and Kami and a friend of theirs at the chinese restaurant across the street from the hotel, then I headed home.
Sunday I returned to the hotel and ran into Rory (whom I had not expected to see that day) and sat and talked to him--and to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snippy--who was sitting with him when I arrived. My lovely and talented wife had knitted a robot recently (pic available on her livejournal) and brought it to the con to show to friends. Kami suggested she enter it in the art show. She did. And she won the Judge's Choice award! When we went down to the art show to retrieve it, she discovered that someone had bid on it! She'd put a price on it, not really expecting to sell it--but she did! She was thrilled and excited all day about that. So now I'm married to An Award-Winning Artist. How cool is that?
We left the con about 1:30 on Sunday, stopped for sandwiches at the local bakery and then drove home. We ate, she took a brief nap, and then we went out to a party we had planned on for a couple of weeks. We only stayed for a couple of hours, alas--we were both tired--but it was fine while we were there. Now we're home. She's in bed asleep, and we both have the day off tomorrow to rest and recuperate.
Overall--a very good weekend.
*I'd have bailed out of the panel early on, but Rory had been assigned to the panel and I couldn't bring myself to abandon him. I think his take on the question was the most accurate. Are writers and artists crazier than normal people? No--but they sure like to think they are.
Then it was time for a trip to the dealers room, where I ended up buying four novels. Two Barbara Hambly fantasies, a novel by one of the authors I saw at a couple of panels, and the latest Dresden Files novel by Jim Butcher in hardback--I'd been intending to wait til it came out in paperback, but I decided what the hell, that's what cons are for. More panels after that. My friend Rory was on a panel at 3 p.m. about the issue of realism in fight scenes. He had plenty to say, and also brought along four eye-opening videos.
One was surveillance-cam footage from a Russian apartment building. A skinny crackhead brutally assaulted a 15 year-old girl at the elevators, knocking her to the floor and kicking her in the head repeatedly, taking her purse, kicking her over and over and over again when she wouldn't stop screaming, going thru her pockets, kicking her still more before finally dragging her out of sight in an elevator before fleeing. She died about two months later. This was apparently his routine technique for preying on victims--quick, safe (for him) and effective. Predatory behavior at its "finest."
Another video was a short clip of two men doing what he calls the "monkey dance" (i.e., posturing and dominance games) before a third man appears seemingly out of nowhere to punch one of them out in a lightning blow.
The third video was of two women fighting. One woman seemingly cowered on the floor for most of the fight while the other woman punched at her repeatedly. Rory played this one several times before explaining that what the audience was seeing was a knife fight. The woman cowering on the floor was actually busily digging her her pocket for, then opening, a pocketknife, which she jammed into the other woman's knee. It didn't help all that much--she still got her ass kicked. The point of this video was twofold. First, as in most knife fights, you'll never know you're in a knife fight until it's been used; and second, that men and women have different adrenaline responses. Men get the surge of adrenaline sooner than women do, on average. Adrenaline is great for strength and speed, but sucks for fine motor control; a man wouldn't have been able to open the pocketknife under those circumstances, she retained the control to do that (though, again, it didn't help all that much in this case).
The last video clip was the most disturbing. It was taken from the dashboard camera of a rural police cruiser, showing the murder of a deputy. It began as a traffic stop and then went horribly wrong. The criminal refused to obey orders, approached the deputy shouting and cursing and threatening; the deputy resorted to using his asp (collapsible baton) to drive him back. The criminal went back to his truck, began loading a rifle, ignoring the deputy's repeated orders to put down the weapon, and then killed the deputy before departing the scene. This video was presented to demonstrate that "freezing" under stress doesn't always result in a "deer in the headlights" moment. You can also respond with a behavioral loop, performing the same ineffective act over and over and over again.
In this case, the deputy had his weapon drawn and aimed at the bad guy, but simply kept yelling "Put down the weapon!" again and again without ever firing until he'd already been shot. He returned fire, but ineffectively. The bad guy, a combat veteran, moved and shot and moved and shot, and hit the deputy several times. The deputy was off-camera throughout the encounter, but the bad guy wasn't--and you could heard the deputy screaming (and still trying to order him to put the gun down) to the bitter end. It was a horrifying incident.
The audience had a lot of questions and got some interesting stories. It was a very good panel. I also attended his class on police policies on use of force, the same class he teaches for his department. Lots of good information, but nowhere near as dramatic as the earlier panel.
I also attended several panels that Steve Perry (local SF writer) was on. I always make a point of attending those--Steve is a very entertaining guy. As a bonus, I learned that he has three books coming out in January and February. I'll be buying two of them (the third is a Tom Clancy series he writes, and doesn't interest me).
Otherwise, lots of interesting hall costumes. Some very hot women in very nice costumes; some others who were really asking for a visit from the Fashion Police. The only real issue with the new hotel was the elevators--they took forever to arrive, and were usually jammed when they did. Most of the con took place on three floors (the lobby, lower lobby 1 and restaurant levels), accessible by escalator. The art show was in lower lobby 2, accessible by stairs. But hospitality was on the fourth floor (the first room floor) and there was no way to get there except by elevator (presumably there are emergency fire stairs, but those weren't available for normal traffic). It made getting to hospitality a major pain in the ass. Still, it was a nice hotel, the staff was friendly and helpful, and if Orycon stays in this hotel, it won't be a hardship.
After sitting thru an excruciatingly awful panel on "Are Artists & Writers Crazier Than Normal People"* I went to dinner with Rory and Kami and a friend of theirs at the chinese restaurant across the street from the hotel, then I headed home.
Sunday I returned to the hotel and ran into Rory (whom I had not expected to see that day) and sat and talked to him--and to
snippy--who was sitting with him when I arrived. My lovely and talented wife had knitted a robot recently (pic available on her livejournal) and brought it to the con to show to friends. Kami suggested she enter it in the art show. She did. And she won the Judge's Choice award! When we went down to the art show to retrieve it, she discovered that someone had bid on it! She'd put a price on it, not really expecting to sell it--but she did! She was thrilled and excited all day about that. So now I'm married to An Award-Winning Artist. How cool is that?We left the con about 1:30 on Sunday, stopped for sandwiches at the local bakery and then drove home. We ate, she took a brief nap, and then we went out to a party we had planned on for a couple of weeks. We only stayed for a couple of hours, alas--we were both tired--but it was fine while we were there. Now we're home. She's in bed asleep, and we both have the day off tomorrow to rest and recuperate.
Overall--a very good weekend.
*I'd have bailed out of the panel early on, but Rory had been assigned to the panel and I couldn't bring myself to abandon him. I think his take on the question was the most accurate. Are writers and artists crazier than normal people? No--but they sure like to think they are.
