Geeks and the City

I’m not the target audience and I know that. I have no objection to it, either.

Well, those are Jim Emerson’s words in regards to the Sex and the City movie. But, they also apply in my case in regards to science fiction conventions. I like sci-fi and horror and all that, but deep down I’m not really a genre guy at heart.

Anyways…there are a couple of “Sci-Fi” conventions coming up in the area with attendant film screenings. This weekend brings SoonerCon to the OKC Metro. They’ll have two days of movies as part of their SoonerCon/Bare Bones Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Film Festival.

Then in late July, Conestoga 12 arrives in Tulsa. They’ve got a short film contest going on as part of The Conestoga International Film Festival. They are still taking short film submissions until July 1st. Then at the convention, the winners in various categories will be awarded and screened.

In both cases, the film screenings are perhaps not worth the full cost of convention admission if that’s all your going for. Still, I’m curious about these sorts of conventions if only in a sociological sort of way. I see that SoonerCon has a session entitled “Is Blogging Helping or Hurting your Career?” What career? There is another session called “Creating Believeable Aliens.” Is “believable” really the appropriate word to be used here? Really? In any case, I’d like to know what sort of consensus they achieve. Which characteristics differ between a believable alien and one that just requires too much suspension of disbelief? Which brings me to perhaps the most fascinating session which takes place Sunday morning–”Morning Worship Service.” After digesting the wealth of material you’ve learned in a previous session about how to create believable aliens, you’re going to wake up on Sunday for a little worship. How nice. And, who or what will they be worshiping exactly? And, furthermore, is this deity more or less believable than the alien? Oh, how I wish I were a fly on the wall. Hmmm, I wonder if there’s a session on achieving believable human-to-fly metamorphosis…

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Okie Film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  1. Sarah says:
    June 4, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    A potentially “believable” alien would be some kind of single-celled organism, perhaps…but would it be as much fun?

    Is the Morning Worship Service what it sounds like? Are you sure it’s not some tongue-in-cheek honoring of the FSM or something?

  2. Dwight says:
    June 4, 2008 at 7:00 pm

    But, a single celled organism would still be an off-shoot (albeit a very early one) of our own evolutionary development wouldn’t it…with DNA/RNA and such? I’d have to go with something more along the lines of the cloud in Hoyle’s Black Cloud.

    Maybe you’re right about the worship service. But, even if that’s the case, you know it would still be entertaining (esp. if someone showed up expecting something, uh, more traditional).

  3. Jessika says:
    June 5, 2008 at 8:18 am

    I’ll be at SoonerCon, but not able to watch any films or attend any panels due to Baby Grrl. I’m not sure what they mean by “believable”, but now I want to find out!

    And morning worship could be for the Jedis. They do have a church, and are recognized as a religion in the UK.

  1. Andromeda, Andromeda, Andromeda — filmcake says:
    June 9, 2008 at 9:20 am

    [...] The Andromeda Strain – This was the 1971 version. Very science-y. Most of the movie is just a group of four scientists performing tests to determine what the mysterious life form is and why the two survivors haven’t been killed. Perhaps that makes the pacing a bit slow to some, but for me it was very much welcomed. I like that the saviors were scientists for once instead of the same old sinewy action heroes. Also, the nature of the “alien” (lacking any amino acids) might fit in with what one may describe as a “believable” alien. [...]