![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyatI shot a lot of great video.
It's in Quicktime. I can't edit Quicktime. I found an AVI converter, and it made the files 12x larger, and reduced the frame rate. So, for now, you get photos.
Leaving Hamilton on Friday morning!
I stopped in London, Ontario to tank up on coffee and cholesterol, and hit the border around 10:00. The roads in Michigan are appalling, as are the graffiti, road kill, and political billboards. Indiana is much nicer in that regard.
Battle Creek was very... rust belt. It was full of huge homes, but most were in poor repair. Several businesses where closed, most of the cars were rusted, and the downtown core was haunted by a pair of terribly ugly art deco skyscrapers that loomed over all the smaller buildings constructed after the city's first flush of commercial success.
You heard that? This is ME, calling art deco skyscrapers ugly. They were UUUUUUGLY, kids.
The Google Map directions were correct, but the streets were confusingly named at one or two important spots, so it took me a while to find the Slan Shack. This, for those who haven't heard my spiel, was a science fiction fan commune from 1942 to 1944. It was to be the first fan home in a planned neighborhood of nerds... but the plan fell apart when the SF geeks realized that putting clever, arrogant, poorly socialized adults with zero job skills together in one house wasn't a recipe for brilliant success. They argued money and chores, and eventually everyone buggered off to California. The house was on a pleasant side street. The houses around it were larger, but in poor repair.
Here it is, in all its glory.
I stopped at McDonalds on my way out of the city, and managed to order a combination of food that cost exactly $6.66.
I arrived in Fort Wayne around 2 PM, and was quite impressed. The city was very clean and logically laid out, with several attractive pre-War and modern skyscrapers, impressive churches, and modern civic art installations here and there. Upon parking ($7 a day!) in the parking garage across from the hotel, I happened across a sheltered memorial to 9/11.
The paper was quite yellowed, suggesting it had been there since shortly after 9/11, 2001.
Very pointy office building.
The hotel was swank, and the attached convention centre beautifully modern... yet curiously empty. I saw no outward sign of the convention at all. I found a registration desk - the woman sitting behind it was the only person visible in the convention centre lobby. She directed me into a gaming room, where about 80 people were playing scheduled games. I found erstwhile Team Claw member Mr. Zodo waiting for his Jadeclaw players, and he set me up with a badge, in exchange for some special Cuban combustibles I'd smuggled over the border in a sunglasses case.
Yes, I broke a federal law in two countries and called art deco skyscrapers ugly, all in one day! Am I the REAL![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pyat??
The empty convention centre.
Mr. Zodo escorted me to into dealer's hall, which was curiously anemic. There were only 12 dealers, though some of them had very large tables. It was very quiet.normanrafferty, as befitted his status as Guest of Honour, was seated next to fellow GoH Jolly Blackburn. normanrafferty and I had a gladsome reunion, then spent most of the afternoon playing The Great Space Race with Jolly.
Behold! The product ofnormanrafferty's imagination and Mr. Zodo's printer!
The indescribable Mister Zodo!
Jolly Blackburn at work on a future edition of Knights of the Dinner Table!
Playing Space Race. A fine game!normanrafferty is on the left.
As the day passed, more people filtered into the con. By the time the dealer's hall closed, there were a couple of hundred gamers in the gaming room. Fort Wayne gamers seem to take their hobby very seriously - some of the setups were more impressive than anything I've seen outside of GenCon.
Chariot race game!
WWI dogfight game!
1 figure=1 man scale D-Day beach wargame!
Serious games require tape measures. In the background, one of the constant games of Darkus Thel is taking place.
In in the afternoon,normanrafferty and I first heard about Darkus Thel, a 31 year old RPG that is played almost exclusively in the Fort Wayne region. One person told it was a "the most feminine" game she knew. We resolved to find out more about this mysterious RPG!
The day ended withnormanrafferty and I eating gryos and talking politics, gaming, music, and modernism in the context of Theodore Dreiser's 1900s novel, Sister Carrie. normanrafferty needs to move to Canada. We fell asleep with the USA network burbling away in the background.
Good Night, Fort Wayne!
It's in Quicktime. I can't edit Quicktime. I found an AVI converter, and it made the files 12x larger, and reduced the frame rate. So, for now, you get photos.
Leaving Hamilton on Friday morning!
I stopped in London, Ontario to tank up on coffee and cholesterol, and hit the border around 10:00. The roads in Michigan are appalling, as are the graffiti, road kill, and political billboards. Indiana is much nicer in that regard.
Battle Creek was very... rust belt. It was full of huge homes, but most were in poor repair. Several businesses where closed, most of the cars were rusted, and the downtown core was haunted by a pair of terribly ugly art deco skyscrapers that loomed over all the smaller buildings constructed after the city's first flush of commercial success.
You heard that? This is ME, calling art deco skyscrapers ugly. They were UUUUUUGLY, kids.
The Google Map directions were correct, but the streets were confusingly named at one or two important spots, so it took me a while to find the Slan Shack. This, for those who haven't heard my spiel, was a science fiction fan commune from 1942 to 1944. It was to be the first fan home in a planned neighborhood of nerds... but the plan fell apart when the SF geeks realized that putting clever, arrogant, poorly socialized adults with zero job skills together in one house wasn't a recipe for brilliant success. They argued money and chores, and eventually everyone buggered off to California. The house was on a pleasant side street. The houses around it were larger, but in poor repair.
Here it is, in all its glory.
I stopped at McDonalds on my way out of the city, and managed to order a combination of food that cost exactly $6.66.
I arrived in Fort Wayne around 2 PM, and was quite impressed. The city was very clean and logically laid out, with several attractive pre-War and modern skyscrapers, impressive churches, and modern civic art installations here and there. Upon parking ($7 a day!) in the parking garage across from the hotel, I happened across a sheltered memorial to 9/11.
The paper was quite yellowed, suggesting it had been there since shortly after 9/11, 2001.
Very pointy office building.
The hotel was swank, and the attached convention centre beautifully modern... yet curiously empty. I saw no outward sign of the convention at all. I found a registration desk - the woman sitting behind it was the only person visible in the convention centre lobby. She directed me into a gaming room, where about 80 people were playing scheduled games. I found erstwhile Team Claw member Mr. Zodo waiting for his Jadeclaw players, and he set me up with a badge, in exchange for some special Cuban combustibles I'd smuggled over the border in a sunglasses case.
Yes, I broke a federal law in two countries and called art deco skyscrapers ugly, all in one day! Am I the REAL
pyat??The empty convention centre.
Mr. Zodo escorted me to into dealer's hall, which was curiously anemic. There were only 12 dealers, though some of them had very large tables. It was very quiet.
normanrafferty, as befitted his status as Guest of Honour, was seated next to fellow GoH Jolly Blackburn. normanrafferty and I had a gladsome reunion, then spent most of the afternoon playing The Great Space Race with Jolly. Behold! The product of
normanrafferty's imagination and Mr. Zodo's printer!The indescribable Mister Zodo!
Jolly Blackburn at work on a future edition of Knights of the Dinner Table!
Playing Space Race. A fine game!
normanrafferty is on the left.As the day passed, more people filtered into the con. By the time the dealer's hall closed, there were a couple of hundred gamers in the gaming room. Fort Wayne gamers seem to take their hobby very seriously - some of the setups were more impressive than anything I've seen outside of GenCon.
Chariot race game!
WWI dogfight game!
1 figure=1 man scale D-Day beach wargame!
Serious games require tape measures. In the background, one of the constant games of Darkus Thel is taking place.
In in the afternoon,
normanrafferty and I first heard about Darkus Thel, a 31 year old RPG that is played almost exclusively in the Fort Wayne region. One person told it was a "the most feminine" game she knew. We resolved to find out more about this mysterious RPG!The day ended with
normanrafferty and I eating gryos and talking politics, gaming, music, and modernism in the context of Theodore Dreiser's 1900s novel, Sister Carrie. normanrafferty needs to move to Canada. We fell asleep with the USA network burbling away in the background.Good Night, Fort Wayne!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 03:54 am (UTC)Some pretty cool convention pictures, too, with some really elaborate set-ups for the WWI dogfighting, and the Ben Hurish chariot racing. A snicker at "Vader was framed!" on one over-stretched T-shirt I saw.
The Slan Shack (complete now with an SUV, oh the irony) was also interesting to see. And Fort Wayne looks a lot like London ON (complete with aerial hotel walkways and rolling up the sidewalks early).
::B::
P.S. That vintage feminist RPG you heard of? It's actually Darkus Ethel...
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 10:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 02:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 03:35 pm (UTC)The Wiki page is incoherent. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Buchele_Cooperative_House)
Seriously, though, the Slan Shack was a little SF commune. You can see some of the tenants in these photos (http://www.midamericon.org/tucker/lez48.htm).
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 03:39 pm (UTC)Hey, you should answer my questions in the comment I made a couple posts ago...
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 03:54 pm (UTC)Anyway I love finding out about little communities like the Slan Shack.