Let’s Make A Journey To The Cave Of… Long Island! It’s Almost Time For ICON 28. Good Luck!

Some folks might recall that last year’s mega-ultra-neo nerdgasm festival in Long Island didn’t quite go as planned. Mostly, my heavy involvement with the behind the scenes turned out to be far more taxing and frustrating than expected or even needed to be. Enough for me to go “f*ck this” when all was said and done. I even began to wonder if my association with ICON had finally reached its end.

But shortly afterwards, there was some shuffling of key personnel, which meant a possible new shift in direction, which I had been hoping for some time. Plus, a new person in charge meant some guidance was needed, and I of course was the only one qualified for the task at hand (well I have been part key part of the electronic gaming portion of the show for five years now).

So once again, ICON is almost here, and I will be there, talking about games, along with some pals. Jason is finally back, plus Dave Gilbert is making his third appearance. And coming back for more is Scott Price and Lindsey Briggs, better known as Little Miss Gamer!

The following is my (tentative) schedule. Now, as some can see, it’s not a whole lot different from year’s past, and one of the main things I’ve been bitching about is things being far too same old, same old. Well, because I haven’t been so involved with the behind the scenes, plus there’s a new person in charge, learning the ropes, plus a change in venue, sometimes you have to stick with what’s worked in the past. Though I was adamant about getting rid of the Girl Gamer’s panel, since that had long runs its course, along with the Flamewars and Trolls topics. You can only rely on a wacky Battlestar Galactica message board admin dressed up as Doctor Who for so long…

FRIDAY

11PM – The NEXT Next Generation of Consoles: What’s Exactly Is Next?
2PM – What Are Video Games? Art, Social Commentary, Brain Rot?
3PM – What’s Ahead: New Games in ’09

… But again, there’s a whole lot more, just ones that I’m not involved in (though that might change).

Gamer’s Court will be my solo presentation this year. I’ve decided to give up on top ten lists, despite them being so popular in years past. I guess after topping myself two years ago (which again culminated in MTV News coverage), I simply don’t know where else to go with the format. Plus, they’re just pains in the ass to put together (I like to go all out, with nice screenshots, assorted clips, the whole nine yards). Instead, I’m borrowing a concept that I first saw at the New York Anime Fest late last year, in which I will act as judge, presiding over assorted cases that pertain to video games, which will be both argued for and against by gamers in attendance. For example, I’ll say “Final Fantasy totally blows” and choose one person to defend that statement and another to pick it apart. Afterwards, the entire room will vote who had the most compelling argument, though its up to me as judge to deem what is right and wrong in the end. Again, I’m all about trying to find ways to rile up gamer dorks, so this is a new, potentially fun manner to do so!

Oh, also worth nothing is how Scott will be doing another game design workshop, since last year?s proved to be so successful. So much so that it?s been expanded to two hours! Also, I?ve finally managed to bring chiptunes to the show, something I’ve been dying to do for years now. Sorta. Damian Lacedaemion, aka Glomag, aka Chris Burke will be present, and I know that he?s definitely going to do a live presentation of This Spartan Life, but whether he performs Game Boy music has yet to be determined.

Well, time once again to be totally honest: as I became more and more involved in the planning for this year’s event, even though it?s not nearly as much as the one prior, I began to slowly regret getting myself mixed up once again. Not to go into details, but let’s just say that it’s been even more balls out frustrating this time around in many regards. Though once again, it’s to be expected, given the change in location and all that jazz, plus putting something like this is never an easy task. But once I saw the tentative master schedule, I was once again reminded of why ICON is such an amazing, dare I say beautiful thing, and why I’m back. It simply defies description, and I don’t care how many other conventions you’ve been to, NOTHING comes close to what goes down in Long Island in terms of flat-out, bat-sh*t insanity and absurdity. Only people who have experienced it first hand truly knows what I mean, who must then return each year, like a moth to flame. And this year might in fact be the absolute weirdest on record.

I might get into some trouble for revealing the following, though that would make zero sense since most conventions post their schedules ahead of time. Plus, I’ve long felt that the organization as a whole does a pretty piss poor attempt at advertising, such as highlighting the things that makes it so unique. So here we have a small taste of the programming one can expect, broken down by days (along with my own notations, of course). Once more, all of this is tentative, but expect it to more or less be the same come the final weekend…

FRIDAY
- The Anime Dating Game
- Anime Faboy Fued (one of the many game show-esque events that ICON loves to throw)
- Psychoogy and Philosophy of Evangelion
- Super Hero S&M
- Medieval Torture (what?)
- Tentacles Don’t Know When No Means No (yes, the obligatory tentacle rape panel)
- Untitled Long Island Oddities (once again, I have no idea)
- Furry Gaming (there’s always a TON of furry related programming, but this year feels like the most ever)
- LARP: All the President’s Zombies 2009
- Open Filk (for those who forget my prior explanation of what filk is, it’s a combination of science fiction and folk music and is about as horrific as it sounds)

SATURDAY
- Footnotes Are My Kink: Fandom and Academia Mixing (some of the best panels are the ones that try to mix two separate things, you have up front some guy dressed as a sexy raccoon and then some professor from the English department)
- Furry Fandom for the Non-Furry
- Yo Mama Anime Fight (yes, it’s a your mother contest involving animu)
- Is It Still I-Con without Stony Brook? (I just love how ICON is so big and has been around for so long that there apparently needs to be around half a dozen panels on the show itself)
- Cosplay Haters: We Ain’t Playa Hatin’
- Most Dangerous Anime
- How To Pick Up Chicks (watch a girl explain to room packed with dudes that using soap is a good idea, and then watch them all scribble it in their notepads, furiously)
- Gamer Sex 101 (long story short, this is a “parody panel” in which girls spew advice to dudes whose girlfriends can’t who stay off their bf’s junk long enough to enjoy a game of D&D… the one I went to years ago with Dave Roman and John Green still conjures up fond memories… and I guess it’s back!)
- Gamer Sex 201: Relationships (plus there’s now a sequel?)
- Evil Laughter Competition (believe it or not, perhaps the most uncomfortable thing you will ever witness in your life and I mean that sincerely)
- I-Con Annual Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament (this show has something for everyone… even those who love poker)
- Things That Make You Paranoid (okay…)
- NC-17 Fanfiction Panel (there doesn’t appear to be any Mary Sue panels this year, but when it comes to laughing at the horrors that is the world of fanfiction, this one should more than suffice)
- Burlesque Show (I generally find burlesque pretty hilarious or headache inducing, so I can only imagine what a bunch of amateurs from Long Island will be)

SUNDAY
- History of Belly Dancing (Sunday has always been belly dancing day, don’t ask me why)
- Cyber-Crime
- Build-It-Yourself Gadgets
- NASA Today (once again, one of the best parts of the con is how there’s a lot of real science talk to be found)
- LARP: Is Dungeons & Dragons Killing Our Kids? (lol)
- Anime Karaoke
- Knight Rider Discussion (yes, an entire topic dedicated to Knight Rider)
- Celebrate Your Celtic Geek Music, Take 2 (for all those Celtic geeks out there)
- Who Loves “Alien vs. Predator”? (again, God bless the total randomness of this show)

… Oh man, that weekend shall be epic. For more information, simply hit the official site for directions, ticket sales, hotel info, and all that good stuff.