Re: [OTFCC] Sunday report

On 09 Aug 2003, JLvatron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> reported further:
On 02 Sep, Phillip Thorne commented:
On 08 Sep, JLvatron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> responded:

>>> I stopped by Vince DiCola's table,
>> Ooh, unheard Vince DiCola music!  
>I haven't checked his website. 

What would that URL be?  The most relevant I've found is:
http://www.tdrsmusic.com/vince.html

>[...] although much of Vince's music is quite Transformer-y.

Frankly, everything of his I've heard (TF:TM, prototypes, "Rocky 4")
shares major stylistic elements -- I don't know if his work *has* any
variety.  I happen to like that style, though, so I don't really care.  :)

> In-VINCE-ible, a 'best of' compilation [...]
>Unfortunately, the *wonderful* airline baggage checkers [...]
>the CD case broke. Not so inVincible after all!

Puns never translate well.  (Get it?  "Translate" = "to convert from one
language to another", "to relocate in a coordinate system", as in air
travel.  My comment on puns is a pun itself, see? ...Oh, never mind.)

>>>Vince may count on a letter-writing campaign [re: current movie]
>>]...] Is Transformers music necessarily a product of its times?
>> Is TF:TM's eclectic heavy-metal soundtrack [...]
> I think heavy metal kinda suits large warring robots and Vince's
>music is so sophisticated that non-metal fans can appreciate it.

Sorry, let me isolate the two concepts there: the TF:TM soundtrack
contained *both* heavy metal *and* Vince's electronica (which *isn't*
metal), plus whatever genre "Dare" and "The Touch" belong to.  

We all *think* heavy metal suits giant robot combat, but do we have any
reason beyond the *name* (ie, Metal == Robots) and youthful nostalgia?
Please note that I have no understanding of the difference between heavy
metal, thrash metal, etc; for that matter, I'm ignorant of most musical
genre nomenclature.

I can name examples in which unexpected musical styles have been used for
combat scenes, but have been nonetheless effective.  Eg, Yoko Kanno's
scores for (the air-combat specifically) "Macross Plus" and "Cowboy
Bebop", or the swing-pop for the sub combat in "Blue Submarine No.6".

>>> Good thing the VA panel wasn't as packed as Hasbro yesterday. 
>>>[...] Most questions asked were pertinent [...] 
>> But have the *proportions* of questions improving?  [...]
> Sorry Phil, I comprehended very little of that. What do you mean
>proportions or not-in-TRU form?

By "proportions" I meant "mix".  In previous years, you could expect an
appalling number of questions to be re: hoped-for toy reissues, topics the
Hasbro reps had no control over, and weren't-you-listening?-repeats.  

So, have fans finally gotten that out of their systems?  Are there enough
repeat-attendees, or people who follow TF news in other channels, to know
what questions are actually likely to elicit useful answers?

Specifically, reissue-questions have probably gone out of style because G1
*is* being reissued.  (Except maybe for: "For the last time, you'll never
see classic-Megatron-the-gun again, at least not until US toy legislation
changes.")

>>>- Next year's convention will be for 3 FULL DAYS! Starting Friday
>>>morning, and I believe the hotel exclusive will start Thursday night.
>> Yowsers.
> My sentiments excactly! Or at least, closely.

So: Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday till mid-afternoon.  I'd call
that "two days and two fragments", and travel planners would call it
"three days and three nights".

>>>- Attendance figures were around 2300; still higher than last year.

For historical perspective (from otfcc.com):

1994  175 **
1995  275 ***
1996  400 ****
1997  740 *******
1998  850 *********
1999 1104 ***********
2000 1647 *****************
2001 1850 ********************
2002 2100 **********************
2003 2300 ************************

>>I'm getting more nostalgic for 1997 by the minute: 700 is a number you can
>>wrap your head around.  [...]
> I know. At what point will it no longer be worth attending a Con if
>you have to wait hours and hours in all sorts of lines and not get a
>seat at the panels? I think I just answered my own question...

Well, Dragon*Con (Atlanta) and the Worldcon (itinerant), with 20,000 and
~6,000 attendees respectively, are *generalist* SF cons.  They have dozens
of programming tracks, hundreds of guests/pros, and "something for
everyone".  I don't know if TF can be slice-and-diced in sufficient ways
to keep that many people occupied (but it would be an interesting topic to
discuss).

>Meesum
>"Don't be absurd!"

I stand by my Constitutional right to be absurd at any time I dang well
please.  Phlbtt.  :)

..- Phillip Thorne, RPI BS-CSCI 1998 ------------- It's the boundary -.
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