Check out the NEWW site to see who was there (it’s a long list).  Don’t bother checking out the forum on the site – it was overrun by spammers just after the event happened.

I volunteered to videotape a few of the panels.  Below are links to the stuff I recorded – 2 panels and the webcomics awards ceremony.  Each video is broken into parts because of YouTube’s time limits.  My apologies for the lighting in some cases – I had no control over it.

Panel: Print vs. Web vs. a Bear

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Panel: Creative Partner Newlywed Game

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

Webcomics Awards Ceremony

• Part 1
• Part 2

Would one be foolish not to read the series?

Your Score: Ray Stantz

168 Heart, 154 Genius, 128 Cool, 156 Excitability

Dr. Raymond Stantz – (Dan Aykroyd)

Ghostbusters (1984)

You are Ray Stantz! The heart of the Ghostbusters. You’re well-meaning, smart, and you have a childlike sense of wonder about the world. You might get taken advantage of, every once in a while, but it’s okay… You’re doing your part to help save the world.

“Gozer the Gozerian… good evening. As a duly designated representative of the City, County and State of New York, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension.”

Other scientific possibilities:

Gary Wallace

Wyatt Donnelly

Peter Venkman

Jordan Cochran

Egon Spengler

Doc Brown

Newton Crosby

Paul Stephens

Ben Crandall

Wayne Szalinkski

Winston Zeddemore

Ben Jabituya

Lazlo Hollyfeld

Ray Stantz

Buckaroo Banzai

Chris Knight

One neat thing I liked about this quiz is that it has more than 2 options for answering the gender question.

I got this from Matt Quirk’s blog.  The person he got it from has a name beginning with ‘S’, so I put down different answers from hers:

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following…They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your name: Sean
Famous music artist/group: Skinny Puppy
3 letter word: Soy
Color: Sienna
Gift/present: Socks
Vehicle: Sedan
TV show: Sesame Street
Country: Somalia
Boy’s name: Stanley
Girl’s name: Sharon
Alcoholic beverage: Schnapps
Occupation: Sawyer
Monster: Sulley
Game: Scrabble
Flower: Spiderwort
Celebrity: Scott Shaw
Food: Salmon
Something found in a kitchen: Sink
Reason for being late: Slept late
Something you shout: SPOON!

They performed 2 shows last month at the Iron Horse Music Hall. Specifically, there were 7pm and 10pm shows on Saturday, May 5. We had decided to get tickets to the early show, thinking it might be less crowded. As it turned out, the 7:00 show was the first to sell out (eventually both shows were sold out in advance).

We arrived only about 15 minutes before show time, hoping to get a relatively close spot. What we didn’t know about the Iron Horse from our limited experience there was that they have the dance floor full of tables and chairs for early evening shows. Most patrons were dining when we got there. We did manage to get a table on the dance floor, but the presence of all the furniture meant no dancing. Had we known this would be the case, we would most definitely have gone to the later show instead.

Nevertheless, it’s always fun to see Them. It was just TMBG – no opening band. As They came out on stage, I could see that the lineup was the same as a year ago – John, John, Dan, Danny, and Marty.

I did not do a good job of memorizing the set list this time, partly because they debuted a number of new songs from their upcoming album, so here is a list of those songs I remember, probably nowhere near the order in which they were played. Songs from the new album are marked with *.

• Damn Good Times
• Older
• Ana Ng
• Birdhouse in Your Soul
• Take Out The Trash*
• Upside Down Frown*
• Experimental Film
• Fingertips
• Asbury Park
• Particle Man
• I’m Impressed*
• We’re the Replacements
• Why Does the Sun Shine?
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• James K. Polk
• New York City
• Drink
• Careful What You Pack*
• Alphabet of Nations
• Dr. Worm
• Drink
• The Shadow Government*
• The Cap’m*
• Contrecoup*
• The Mesopotamians*

Special features of the night included “Phone Calls from the Dead”, which involved John Flansburgh answering a “call” that was supposedly coming in over a direct fiber link to a local graveyard. The caller was none other than former president Calvin Coolidge. Silent Cal’s voice was a synthesized trumpet, so Flans had to translate what was being said. He also commented afterward that we might know Coolidge as the voice of the mother in Charlie Brown TV specials.

And I think that’s all I have to report.

Those familiar with the Pioneer Valley know that it is a place where anti-corporate sentiment, and feminism, not only thrive, but are loudly proclaimed. This billboard might as well have had a big target painted on it. It wasn’t long before the ad got reinterpreted through spray paint.

At first, it was changed to say, “We Infect Everything.” I saw this as some contractors were starting to remove the graffito, though I didn’t get a picture of it. The sign then had another week in its original form.

Then, it got altered again. Over Easter weekend, the “Everything” was
blacked out, and new letters painted in the same spot. This time, it was like that for a few days, and I got a picture:

“Expect Misogyny” I couldn’t have painted it better myself. Am I against sexuality, you ask? No, of course not. The point is that we’re bombarded with ads all the time that objectify women – reduce them to a sexual commodity rather than people – and someone decided here to call it like it is. The tough issue for me is the whole defacement of a billboard issue. I’m amused by what was done, but I certainly want to be careful about giving blanket approval to making political statements
in this way. I’d certainly feel different if Planned Parenthood put up a billboard about contraception, and it got defaced with an anti-abortion message. Of course, Anheuser-Busch is a much bigger and different kind of organization (and has much deeper pockets), so it’s not exactly a morally equivalent situation, but still.

I’d be very interested in any comments on this topic.

Also, I’m certainly not the first person to blog this.

It sounds like the plot of a goofy comedy movie from the ’60′s, but it is apparently true.

The story can be found here.

I especially love the part about nobody noticing.

No, I’m not making this up.

To some people (who are not me), this may at first seem like it is in poor taste.  Reading further on the site will reveal that it’s just as much a political statement as an entertaining product.  I heartily agree with the statement they’re making, plus the game actually looks like a lot of fun (the illustrations are great, but the EVIL balaclava is really the clincher).

The game is unfortunately kind of pricey, but perhaps it will go on my birthday list.