Greg Sanders

Review: Guidebook Android App for 2012 Otakon

Are you the type that's always desperately searching through a convention/conference schedule? Hopping from a panel to a screening in search of a free seat or more exciting content? Addicted to your smart phone and wanting to apply it to ever more aspects of your life? Then I heartily recommend the Guidebook Android app. It may also be available for the iPhone; I haven't checked.

I'll be attending Japanese anime/manga/culture convention Otakon this weekend up in Baltimore and downloaded the app after hearing about it from Omar. It has exceeded my expectations: the schedule is searchable, you can easily add and remove events from your own personal schedule, and it even offers reminders. However, the best part is that it seems both fast and robust. Even the slightly clunky bits, like the listings for fan parodies and AMVs which presumably had to be updated at the last minute, aren't really a problem.

While I'm writing this up in the context of Otakon, I think I'd find it handy for professional conferences as well.

Feature for which I'd be willing to buy a premium version: The main additional feature I would like would be the ability to share schedules and maybe check-in to events. I'd put my price point for such a feature at $5 for a premium app or the like. I some how doubt that there's enough demand to make it worthwhile, so for now I'll appreciate the features that are there and try to remember to "like" my favorite panels as I go.

Sleep No More (3 of 3)

After wandering away from the bar, my last hour began watching a scene in a bedroom and coming to the increasingly strong and eventually undeniable realization that there was a secret passage in the room. I feel a little silly in my hesitation to use it; the elevator operator introducing us to the show encouraged boldness and if the chance to follow a secret passage isn't the time to be bold, I don't know what is.

That said, this was perhaps my most conventional hour. This definition of convention includes nudity, male nudity at that, so worry not, we're still talking experimental theater. However, I have taken to heart out of context advice from over at L'Hote: don't be afraid to do something even if it might make you look like a stereotype or a naïf. So, after my sojourn through a hidden gateway I resumed exploring and travelled down to the lower levels of the Hotel. There's a grand ballroom that was at the time of my arrival functioning as Birnam Wood. Rather cleverly, the ballroom is surrounded by a balcony which makes it one of the better spots for mass gatherings and having one's choice of multiple scenes. Passing through the mobile forest, I walked into an altar to see MacBeth praying. Rest assured, his dear wife soon arrived to put a stop to that in a manner that was perhaps more vampiric than traditionally seductive.

While both impressed me - playing the dead as MacBeth did briefly can under circumstances look as challenging as playing the quick - I chose to follow Lady MacBeth into the ballroom as she readied the space for a dance. That proved to be one of my more memorable choices, as she came walking in my direction and after I made one small step out of the way I realized she was headed towards me rather than past me. She took my hand, stroked my palm briefly, gave it a light kiss and then closed it around nothing at all. This is not one of the vaunted one on one scenes - the cast do choose people for simple interactions as I witnessed a handful of times later that night - but I'll admit, the odd sensation of interacting with a character probably hooked me into seeing that particular plotline through.

If you don't know the rest of the tale of the Scottish play, you probably shouldn't hear it from me. Suffice to say the cleaning off of blood was handled quite well and left MacBeth as exposed as his wife had been earlier, but for him it was at a far lower point in his life. The downside of following one of the main plots is that there are far more observers about, but the principles made use of all of the space available to them and I never felt crowded out of the action. The show ends as the ghostly guests are gathered together, for a scene that I'm told plays different for the final iteration of each set. We were then let out to live music at the initial bar to discuss what went down and gird ourselves for the long trek back to Brooklyn.

So after that show, my main gameplay tip would be to focus on big picture exploration. I might also recommend leading off with a more conventional experience of picking an actor or perhaps an object to follow and then setting of on your own after you come to recognize a few more of the players and how they fit together. On a more practical note, a watch that lights up can be quite handy and contacts are to be preferred to glasses if at all possible. Finally, I largely avoided spoilers, but if you're likely to only go once it may well be worth finding some online playbill or the like. I generally found the experience was enhanced when I knew who someone was. For tips on performing well as an observer and getting a one-on-one scene you'll have to go elsewhere, but I think it is safe to say that being an active observer and being quick to follow things that catch your eye is quite often rewarded.

Source: Bought my own ticket, but only made it up because Matt suggested it and did most of the driving. Thanks Matt and thanks Brainy Gamer for initially piquing my interest. Also, thanks to Ian and Kris for the lodging!

Sleep No More (Part 2 of 3: Here there be spoilers)

At midnight, the story began anew in the Hotel McKittrick. I was wandering the third floor cemetery and discovered that pointing statues are oddly capable of evoking my fear. Perhaps because I was never certain that there would not be a living statue - a legacy of too much D&D and the odd street performer I'm sure - and because of a sense of dread at what they might be pointing out. The ambient music largely heightened the effect, although the number that Lady Gaga sampled to start the extended video for Born this Way may have subsequently lost its power to frighten me. Regardless, the musical cue and the actions of my fellow masked guests drew me to the main bedroom of the MacBeth's.Continuing into what might be considered spoilers, a nurse came in and prepared and laid out a dress for Lady MacBeth by the bath. Multiple copies of a letter were also left waiting for her, describing the recent good news her husband had received. Or at least that's what I thought it said; cursive has long been my nemesis and the darkness doesn't help, but a working knowledge of the Scottish play will do wonders.

The Lady's scene left her quite exposed physically as she prepared for her bath and emotionally as she danced with her joy at her husband's advancement. Upon his return the mood stayed celebratory for a time, but again through dance they argued and made up, came together and clashed. I am no connoisseur of dance, but could pick up the gist of scenes in plays I knew, even when they weren't necessarily occurring in order. Similarly, while the show made some use of side rooms guarded by black-masked staff, the sheer agility required to run dance scenes amongst observers is truly impressive.

As the MacBeths went about their business, I decided to go exploring and went up to the fifth floor: the hospital and forest maze. The hospital itself was quite fully-realized, although I don't think it drew me in quite as much as other settings. I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect both from personal experience reasons and because they are a common setting for survival horror, few of my favorite stories or moments have taken place in such. Watching the nurses was interesting; they had their own fairly creepy routine which was fun to watch in short snippets but I wasn't tempted to follow them. That changed when I was walking in a room with cut pages hanging off lines of strings, taking up much of the corner. I had studied them for a time, not divining their meaning, when a nurse walked in and revealed several of the secrets of the room. Even better, she then proceeded to the forest maze, climbed through a gate, and found a fellow nurse in a locked hutch in the corner of the maze. While this was happening the number of people observing the scene steadily increased - big moments typically happen in accessible spaces - but witnessing the prelude made it all the more thrilling. I have no idea what any of it meant, but watching the dance of the two nurses was the weird and wonderful moment that most defined the show for me.

Satisfied with my exploration of the fifth floor, I proceeded back to the fourth, where the elevator first let me off before I chased after an actor. This was the town of Glen Gallows which was home to a number of small shops and two rather different classes of bar. A second of hesitation in following an action scene I stumbled across cost me the chance to witness an interrogation scene, but there was some consolation in wandering into Hecate's Bar and witnessing a dance by the character known as the sexy witch. This was followed by an encounter between two characters that was almost normal by comparison and a valuable reminder that when sharing a drink with a suspicious person, make sure they take the first sip. Subsequently, I enjoyed the puzzle-solving satisfaction of helping fellow observers try to piece together a torn-up note. I never actually pursued this strategy, but I do wonder if following items rather than people might be a good way to learn more about how the various stories interwove.

I'm not sure of my timing, but I think around this moment, the the clock struck one and the final hour began.

Sleep No More: In which my adventure gaming heritage distracts me before midnight (part 1 of 3)

Sleep No More is a form of theater as immersive setting: actors rush between intertwined stories while visitors navigate the ambient gloom. It takes its inspiration from Macbeth and Hitchcock's film version of Rebecca, but the real romance of it is getting to see a play where the backstage is just as fully realized as what is typically shown to the audience, a sort of survival horror version of the conceit behind Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The audience members all wear white-beaked Venetians masks, ones that may startle you if seen in the mirror and that helps your fellow voyeurs fade into the background as ghosts of lesser importance.

The nominal Hotel McKittrick, location of the show, is in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The show is up to three hours, but you may need to arrive well before your ticket time in order to get that early call to the elevator. The check-in process was pleasingly efficient; the coat check fairly mandatory if you have any bags, but it would be a good idea even if it wasn't. The hotel lounge was a fully realized velvet room that left me vaguely apprehensive that the protagonist from Bioshock would be bursting in at any moment to slaughter us all. The bar is a pleasant place to wait for your card to be called, and you do want to be called earlier. The start times are necessarily variable to avoid overcrowding but the end time is fixed. We arrived at the hotel at eleven and discovered a substantial line; I think I made it to the show itself less than a half hour before midnight.

The elevator let me off on the fourth floor, the town of Gallows Glen, and I looked around a few of the rooms before I gave chase to an actor who went flying through to the stairway. I successfully arrived at the places of rest floor (bedrooms and a cemetery), but I lost the actor. Exploring the bedrooms was an excellent consolation prize as they managed to be creepy using a variety of approaches from bizarre to insidious. Some of the advice I heard suggested treating the Hotel McKittrick as an adventure game setting (sans kleptomania): appreciate the amazing staging by rooting through drawers, glancing through books, and seeking out what is hidden. However, while I found little details like an array of letters scribed on a bedframe, I came to reject that strategy. If a letter, a mirror, or a wardrobe draws your eye, by all means take a closer look, but unless you've planned multiple trips there is far too much going on to spend time on a pixel hunt. Instead I alighted to the cemetery which soon enough led me to my first scene.

2012-06-30 Journey to the Northwest

We were extraordinarily lucky in our vacation timing, as when we left the D.C. area there were temperatures above 100 degrees and thunderstorms causing widespread power outs. During the first few rainy days locals were apologizing for the weather; we gladly informed them that no apology was necessary. Our flight out to Seattle was straightforward; the only point of note is that this was my first flight where Southwest had both the technical capacity and legal authority to offer wifi on the flight. I passed on this revolutionary opportunity as I didn't feel like paying the fee, $5 if memory serves, although some future flight will no doubt dun me for my internet addiction. The airport itself was a bit more exciting as we got our Seattle transit smart cards:  One Regional Card for All (ORCA). That said, we misused our Orca cards on our maiden trip and managed to miss the validation stations. We felt chagrined about that we docked our cards on the way out rather than the way in.

We used a Budget rental car place off 4th Street; it was a great location and we were relieved that they let us immediately leave our car in their garage as parking in Seattle starts at $4 for a half hour. We walked over to the Seattle Public Library on advice of Kate's coworker. The design is quite distinctive and modern with curves on the outside and any number of observation points and views out as well as towards the often open architecture on the inside. My favorite gimmick was the book spiral, depicted on the left. The hallway gently ramps letting bibliophiles walk through the entire Dewey Decimal System without needing to use stairs or elevators.

After seeing the library we walked down to Pike Place Market, known for its fresh fish and produce and thus quite a pleasing olfactory experience. We bought groceries and flowers and walked by the shops on the lower level. Kate was excited to see the original Starbucks, although she put off her pilgrimage through the line until later in the evening when the line was shorter. After seeing the market we enjoyed a late lunch at the nearby Crepe de France, which surprised us by the ampleness of their entrees. Our lodging was a timeshare in Birch Bay, some hundred miles to the North near the border, so we did not stay too late in Seattle. The journey up was  beautifully adorned by fog which clung to the hills in a manner that I found difficult to capture on camera despite reminding me of Kurasawa films.

Review: Founding Farmers in Rockville

My family went to Founding Farmers near Rockville a month or two back for the first time. It's a chic new chain known for its emphasis on organic and local produce. It can be rather busy on a weekend afternoon. We'd made a reservation but despite accidentally arriving rather early we had to wait to be seated until a bit after our reservation time. Similarly, we waited for forty-five minutes for our entrees to arrive; that was partially due to a miscommunication about whether we wanted beignets as an appetizer or dessert but was still a bit frustrating. Our one other problem was the noise level; the place is fairly wide open in a way that makes conversation more difficult without the benefits of live music or the like.

Those complaints aside the food and drink were both quite good and did live up to the promised local and organic appeal. I thought the entrees ranged from good to great. Portion size was variable, my grandmother's macaroni and cheese was overly abundant by my mother's dish was a bit small. Also I did like that that the standalone meals weren't too expensive; the costs come more from the enticing selection of drinks, appetizers, sides, and desserts. I don't think all restaurants need to do that, but I like when the more frugal and the more extravagant can dine together without too much fuss.

All and all, not a bad experience, but I'd recommend sticking to times when they're less busy.

The line holds and the ceremony of innocence lives another day

The Surpreme Court  decision on universal health care was a frightening near thing. Four justices voted to find the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional and appear to be preparing a judicial assault against the New Deal. Chief Justice Roberts decision stepped us back from the brink of a Supreme Court legitimacy crisis, a change made perhaps at the last minute, although still a decision that will complicate future efforts to improve national programs that are implemented through the states.

The battle now proceeds to the election. This will be a hard one, thanks to difficult worldwide conditions and successful obstructionism by Republicans in Congress since the beginning of the crisis, economic recovery is slow in coming. As Dan Drezner notes, the U.S. is performing above par internationally, but the average American voter doesn't grade on a curve. I have no special insight into how to win that election so instead I"ll look at the topic of how did we win this round?

To answer that question, I turn to Will Wilkerson, a libertarian with liberal sympathies, who seems scornful of the win in a way that strikes me as informative:

Mr Roberts observed the livid reaction to Citizens United, as well as the liberal freak-out over the mere possibility of a ruling striking down Obamacare, and determined that prudent custodianship of the court called for a light, conciliatory touch. Indeed, my hunch (and none shall doubt my amazing intuition!) is that Mr Roberts may well have chosen to join his conservative colleagues had the court not lost so much public goodwill following the Citizens United decision…

Thus, all that was required to avert a looming "crisis of legitimacy" was to uphold Obamacare, for whatever reason, and Mr Roberts seemed to have known it. Mr Chait and his partisan allies clearly dislike the way in which Mr Roberts avoided the "crisis" of their collective tantrum, but the great relief that has now washed over them will be enough to keep them from attacking with full force the "bizarre and implausibly narrow reading" of the commerce clause which Mr Roberts just embedded more firmly in constitutional law.

This is a tradeoff I will gladly take. Achieving universal healthcare is no mere battle in building a more humane, it is the war. As Kevin Drum argues, the distinction between activity and inactivity never came up before and is unlikely to come up again. The practical result is that we will have to call things taxes in the future, scary I know, but the present Democratic party aversion to ever using taxes is on any but the top 1% was already unsustainable. We may yet lose the election, but Roberts had the votes to end it here and now via what James Fallows called a slow motion coup and he choose not to. We are a better country for that and we are a better country because liberal politicians and pundits were taking Michael Tomasky's fine advice and preparing to come out swinging. As Wilkerson notes, this wasn't a one off preparation either, the vehement reaction against Citizens United may not be enough to  overcome the effect of big  money donors but it did better prepare us  for this fight.

In some ways, this recalls the bully  pulpit strategy of presidential leadership: appeal to the public to move popular opinion and pressure members of the legislature. Political science has not found support for that idea. However, in part because supporters are defending an existing law rather than trying to institute change via the court, vehement arguments seem to have helped win the day. I'll keep an eye out for any further research on this matter, as I expect the minority mentioned above will be back for future attempts to roll back the welfare state.

Usual caveat: Speaking for myself, not my employer.