ConFuzzled 2009

[lupestripe]

So ConFuzzled rolled up for the second and final time at the YHA in Manchester. Here is my review of sorts, as promised. I fear some of you may disagree but then that's how opinions work I guess.

 

Highlights Of ConFuzzled:
The people. Put simply, it was the people who made this con rather than the events and what was going on. Saturday was the greatest day I have ever had in the furry fandom because I was with like-minded people and, fundamentally, I was relaxed. Those who know me know that being relaxed is something that I have great difficulty with but it was finally achieved on the first main day of the con. This was quite weird as this had nothing to do with the events itself. In fact, for me, it was the worst day I have ever had at a con regarding events as nothing interested me. Yet, it was the greatest day of my life in the Fandom. All very interesting. As washu_chan_uk intimated late on one night - it may have had something to do with everyone else being relaxed as no one needed to rush back for trains and could go for a sleep when they wanted to.
Meeting people I haven't met for ages. This is particularly true of the London Furs and the Scottish Furs, who I hadn't seen since January. There are a few furs I have considerable empathy with and who always make me smile and laugh. It was great catching up with them again (you know who you are).
Shep Shepherd for being extremely distinctive. The funniest thing about the con.
The creation of my new furry character - Cup-A-Lupe (see posts passim). Badgerguy's reaction to Cup-A-Lupe (although he was a little cruel).
Singing Flower Of Scotland with the Scottish furs and getting stuck with the words at the third line. Also singing We Love Coupar Angus by Splen over and over again.
Having a random written conversation with Big Blue Fox on a piece of paper in the lobby in German. I still don't know whether he knew it was me. I was drunk but it was me!! Mwah ha ha.
The drunkenness of blue_woozle. A very cherished friend and an absolutely hilarious moment.
BASILDON/MACCLESFIELD/GOOLE CAN YOU HEAR ME!!
Being asked by Cheetah whether I could run a couple of SIGs at EF with Wolfie and Zuki. A massive honour.
The Writing SIG. It was the first SIG I had presented myself and I think nidonocu and I did ourselves proud. Thanks should also go to Cheetah, Wolfie and Zuki in particular for keeping the debate lively. I think everyone had a great time. I still think I drank a little too much during the SIG though so if I made an arse of myself, sorry.
Finally cracking a furry dilemma I have had for about a year and getting the fantastic fen_ra to create the artwork for me. In fact, thanks go to fen_ra to for the best furry commission I have ever had - the pic of Wolfie and I is just gorgeous *wags*
Getting some excellent commissions from shirik and winning some excellent artwork in the auction too.
The many kind words from all of my furry friends upon hearing the news that Middlesbrough had been relegated - special thanks go to stuart_otterson, actively_lazy, kennofox and panthras.
Speaking to tabbiefox - a true gentleman and a fantastic guy. Sorry if I bored you to death about my vacation in Slovakia :P
DJ graafen's set. The heavy metal set is a nice antedote to the trance stuff that is so often played. A bit of trance is fine but it all sounds the same to me so it was good to have a little diversity :)
Sharing a room with Pinky and Bhavfox. Everything went smoothly and it was great getting to know you both more.
Pimp My Sandwich - Cheetah is a genius :) In fact, all of Cheetah's SIG was fascinating.
The geese and goslings going for their first swim. The way the little geese hit the concrete wall and bounced into the water was so sweet. It was also sweet when mummy geese honked at a fursuiter who was scaring her.
Kage's Story Hour - The Sponsors Only event was an excellent idea and our favourite American scientist didn't disappoint. Still owes me that bottle of wine from RBW '07 though :P And cream teas and scones - marvellous and quintessentially British.
The Auction - even though I was less drunk this year and got less bidding in, I still won what I wanted to and was amazed at some of the prices that things went for. And Furble taking his shirt off is mega lulz. And the auction for fursuit dancers was a stroke of genius, I thought.

Drawbacks Of Confuzzled
I don't want to go too much in depth about these as I have already written to the staff with a few suggestions for next year and most of them will be alleviated by the change in venue.
Stuff like the poor food and the fact I felt that the staff didn't give themselves enough set-up time between events (particularly after meal times) has already been noted. Also the fact that Fur-E-Oke was on at 10am when everyone was nursing a hangover and that a lot of events were in the morning slots when a few of us (like me :P) were struggling to get out of bed perhaps need looking at.
I also feel that the theme wasn't made particularly obvious. I know that budget and hostel space constraints would significantly affect this but apart from the Conbook, a few costumes and a couple of auction items, I didn't think the Victorian theme was expanded upon as much as it could have been.
I still also feel that perhaps CF (and a lot of cons) are a little fursuit heavy and offer very little that's new. I have now been to five cons and they're getting a little samey - indeed I didn't go to some events because of this reason (although I accept cons do have to have certain staples too). The main reason I go to cons is to meet people now whereas before it was to meet people and participate in events. If Saturday is anything to go by, I will keep going to cons, but the money involved means that I am starting to consider whether it is value for money. Having said that, I am the sort of person who does things once and wants to move on to the next thing, so that may be more a personality trait of mine than the con's fault. However, I also know that the con is only as good as the events they have on and I guess it's all down to people volunteering themselves to run events.
The sound situation in the bar. I couldn't get in to the PawPet show (a main hall with a capacity of 100 for a con of 200+ was a little silly - but obviously this will be rectified next year) and had to watch in the bar. Unfortunately, the sound was a mess - the contrast was too high - I couldn't hear what James Mountbatten Windsor was saying and sadly I gave up halfway through as I couldn't work out what was going on. This is sad as I had been looking forward to this for a good number of weeks.
The lack of PA annoucements - I was only told in passing about Cheetah's talk being moved to later in the day - was this listed anywhere?

I think that's about it really. It was a rather brilliant weekend that had some fantastic highs and, as I say, the best day I have ever had in the Fandom. I would like to thank all the staff for their tireless dedication and hard work over the last twelve months and particularly over the last weekend. I think they did everyone and themselves proud and I know I am grateful for the effort they put in.

Comments

[orona-red.livejournal.com]

Thanks ^^

[graafen]

I was only told in passing about Cheetah's talk being moved to later in the day - was this listed anywhere?

Just wanted to let you know before I go to bed that yes, it was. It was written on a board outside the con rooms on the second floor, in quite big letters. ;)

Thanks for your comment regarding my set. Next year it should run for it's full length. :)

[shep-shepherd.livejournal.com]

It was distinctive, although I'm now impecunious ;)

[fen-ra.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the compliment buddy, it was smashing to see you too. ^^

[metamorphosys.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed reading that. Thanks for posting it :) Take care.

[panthras.livejournal.com]

It was splendid to see you again sir! And I'm delighted that you liked the commission, here's to Boro bouncing back next season :3

Fursuit heavy? Oh my, and here's me contributing to next year's count ;P

[shirikdraguinea.livejournal.com]

whee! was awesome seeing you again :D

[tungro.livejournal.com]

About the sound - the balance was perfect for in the stage area. The problem with that room is that it's still fairly small, and some of the cast (such as Fairlight, voicing James Mountbatten-Windsor) project their voices naturally anyway. This meant that their microphones were turned down lower than others, which in turn meant they were much too quiet on the feed to the bar.

What we'd need is separate mike volume controls per output of the desk, which'd really complicate things! I don't quite know how to achieve this, but it's definitely food for thought.

And the showing of it in the bar was somewhat last minute anyway!

[stuart-otterson.livejournal.com]

I certainly enjoyed the social aspects of the convention as well. I'm glad they did add in a small Victorian tea event with the scones. The Kage story hour was rather enjoyable.

I also enjoyed your writer's workshop by the way Lupes. I found the discussion highly invigorating even if I didn't contribute anything myself. Sorry I abruptly left towards the end, I had signed myself up for Shep's event that didn't happen in the end and I didn't want to interrupt to explain where I was heading.

Oh and congratulations on being asked to do a little reading thingy event for EF! :D Hope you can work with the time you have left to pull it off!