MarsCon 2012 - Rockin' The Apocalypse!

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Programming Ideas Page

If you’ve submitted ideas in years past you already know the plan: read the ideas list… if you see a program event you want to help with drop us an email. If have a suggestion for an event that isn’t yet listed jump to the form and tell us about it.

As always, MarsCon depends on our attendees for much of our programming. Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions.

Mysteries of Chemistry
Mystify your mind as we explore Chemistry! See a series of experiments that change, smoke, and spurt! Watch liquid change into a rainbow of colors. Our Mad Scientist will mix up a gooey, foaming paste, and an eerie, smoking genie - in an ordinary water bottle! See styrofoam "melt" before your eyes! Finally, a few volunteers will help make a vat of Mad Science Slime!

Mental Floss Sideshow
For the attention of: The Event Programmer Greetings!We are Mental Floss Sideshow - a Neo-Victorian travelling ensemble bringing to life the antics of Human Oddity, Professor Archibald Floss and his sidekick Dr. Charlotte Tann, Snake Oil Peddler of Some Global Renown! We are interested in working with you with respect to MarsCon. We offer; Acts of Wanton Stupidity - Sideshow Feats of Derring-Do!The Bed of Nails, Glass Walking and The Human Blockhead & more! 'Floss and Tann's Combined Travelling Congress & Pedlary' - our museum-style installation, featuring Prodigies and Quackery! Exhibits of medical & mythological wonder with a little dash of Snake Oil. Interactive Walkabout Master of Ceremony services Tailored to family friendly or adult only audiences, there is always an emphasis on showmanship over shock! Further details can be seen on our website www.mental-floss-sideshow.com - resplendent with plenty of photos of us in action. We are currently taking enquiries and bookings for 2012 and beyond. We'd be very pleased to hear from you. All the best, Karl & Lesley Thurston-Brown

L5...a different kind of TV Show
L5 is an upcoming Hard Sci-Fi TV show which is changing the way things are made. It is crowd-funded, cloud-based film making that uses real science to drive a compelling story about 40 Astronauts returning home to find an empty Earth. Cast and Crew will be on-hand...(with a Spacesuit!) to answer questions and chat about the show.

Geek Physique Yoga Quest (class and/or demo)
I am the leader of Geek Physique (a GPS Organization) and we currently offer a very popular and unique class called Yoga Quest. This combines a basic yoga class, with Fan Fiction story telling, multimedia, and drinking game (with poses not shots). In the recent past we have had several classes wherein our scripts have focused on the theme of Zombies, Vampires, demons, various apocalypse scenarios, Dr. Who, Sherlock Holmes, and much more. We would love the opportunity to present our unique blend of fitness and hilarity with the braoder Geek community that attends MarsCON.

Arming for Armageddon
Discussion about the best weapons for post-apocalyptic survival.

Creating a Role Playing Character
How to make an interesting character that is fun to run, plays well with other player characters, and reduces the work for the GM.

Interstellar Colonies
Many fictional interstellar colonies use nineteenth century technology. Is this a reasonable way to save shipping costs or is it just lazy thinking?

Convention Comics Jam
Come and participate in a comics jam! You don't have to draw like a top comics artist to participate, all you need is the ability to think out of the box and have a burning desire to get your ideas on paper!

Comics: A Forum on Character Creation, Writing, and Brainstorming
A panel about tips on creating and writing about characters for comics. Share and discuss how to make your characters appear more well-rounded and provide more springboards to write stories about.

The Dresden Files
The Dresden Files series, telling the story of Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, Chicago s first (and only) Wizard P.I. Come talk to us about the Books, and the Comics.

What YOU would do with Star Trek Technology
Time and again there were episodes where the solution to their problem could be easily saolved with something they had worked out in a previous episode - only they had forgotten. That has been addresed from time to time but it still gets less attention with many writers. Also, it doesn't take too much imagination from our "primitive" persective to find more imaginative applications for th level of technology avbailable. I'd like, for example, a "transporter weapon" thet removes about 2 cubic feet if the innards of a nasty alien and moves it six feet to the left. Let's see it survive that if it can bear up to full phasers! Also, old VS the new. In the next generation it was a major hastle to make a tractor beam repel, (it was needed) and in the old show, it was a swtich. ;)

Steampunk Dystopia
A partial apocalypse could well set technology back 100+ years. Could steam and clockwork be part of the answers for survival? Let's explore the "punk" part of steampunk!

Humor With An Edge: Mixing The Silly With He Profound
What is it about the writings of humorists (like Terry Pratchett) that allows them to work on controversial issues that other writers won't touch? Does humor give more license for subversion? What about depth? How does humor allow writers to strike deep emotional chords with their readers?

Love those Dystopias
Once again, dystopian fiction and movies are hot. Why do we love dystopias so much? Is it because they serve as a dark mirror to our own society? Or do we love the danger and the rebellion? What makes us want to delve into these dark fictional worlds?

Planned Year 5 Babylon 5 Plot
When Babylon 5 looked like it would be canceled after only 4 seasons there were major plot changes. Would would have happened with out those changes?

Dodging the REAL Apocalypse
Mining the Moon and building Solar Power Satellites to avoid civilization collapse when oil runs out.

Spaced Based Solar Power
Time to make use of space resources to help our energy problems.

Obligatory Gaming Panel
Intro into gaming! How to get a group, how to pick a game, how to set up your story, how to be a good player, and how not to wind up beating your friends and loved ones in the head with a gaming book.

Creating Plots for Role Playing Games
How to run a game where the players do more than just killing things and how to avoid overworking the GM while doing so.

Forging
If this panel does indeed occur, I would be delighted to participate! I have a background as a blacksmith at a (an?) historic site, have a long interest in the viking age, and by then should have a portable forge ready for after-panel demonstrations. Contact me through the DreamStitcher.

The End of the World in Film
Post-apocalypse has been done to death, but much rarer is a film that captures the final, fitful moments leading up to the end of the world... whatever that may be. 2012, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, 12 Monkeys and Dr. Strangelove all glimpse human (also, simian) approaches to coping with the oncoming end of it all. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy goes one step further and looks at life after the disintegration of the Earth. Share your favorite films that had the guts to go beyond turning the world into a mere desert wasteland, and destroyed it altogether instead.

The Apocolypse in Fiction
Who writes a really good apocalypse? What about an apocalypse we love to hate? Ecological devastation, nuclear war, zombies, apes, The Umbrella Corporation - pick your poison and come discuss it.

Women at the End of the World or What that Boy Can do with His Dog
We've come a long way since "A Boy and His Dog' but not as far as many of us would like. Tank Girl, Major Eden Sinclair in "Doomsday," Katniss Everdeen, Loup Garron of Santa Olivia and Sarah Connor are some of the most recent post-apocalyptic women but are they enough to get us past being victims/food? Come talk about the post-apocalyptic you love or hate and what you'd like to see next.

Broad Universe Rapidfire Reading
Members of Broad Universe read short excerpts of their work. An annual event!

How I learned to stop worrying and love the spoilers
Are we doing ourselves a disservice in avoiding spoilers? In our fear of spoilers, do we cut ourselves off from some wonderful journalism? Is it fair to others to silence water cooler conversations if we haven't seen or read something yet? Ultimately, does knowing the plot really spoil our enjoyment?

Comic Book Flicks Rises
From the conclusion of the Nolan Batman trilogy to Joss Whedon's The Avengers. Is this the summer that all of us have been waiting for?

Sherlock Holmes
This year has seen the film sequel to sherlock holmes and a new series on bbc. Let geek nd squee about it.

Missing Belived Wiped
In 2011 two thought to be lost doctor who episodes were discovered.In this panel we will discuss how the episodes might possibly released on DVD and what could happen to the other 106 missing episodes?

" I thought I had an intriguing storyline" or The panel about the muppets
2011 brought the return of Kermit,Fozzie and the rest of the gang. Did the movie make you go Mahna Mahna or did it make you want your money back?

The Best and worst movies of 2011
Did your year at the Cinema seem like midnight in Paris or did you wish you had never seen the dark of the moon again?

We Miss Babylon 5
The Babylon Project was a dream given form, a sci-fi epic for television with an extraordinary cast of characters, an intriguing view of the future, and truly exceptional writing. Reminisce with your fellow fans on what made B5 one of the best sci-fi shows ever made for American TV, along with some of the things about it that didn't quite work. Warning to newbies: there may be spoilers here.

Trailer Park
Check out trailers to the movies coming out this year! Be on your top game when conversing with other fellow folks here at MarsCon! Be ready for that panel! Plan what you are going to see next weekend? Don't miss THE TRAILER PARK!

Live Bats!
Join local bat conservation enthusiast and advocate Stephanie Reynolds, and learn about these often misunderstood creatures of the night.

Flint Knapping
Learn about flintknapping, the process of shaping stone into useful tools(i.e. arrowheads, projectile points, hand axes, etc...). The ancient art of flint knapping has been around for about 4 million years.

Forging
Learn about forging, one of the oldest known metalworking processes. Traditionally, forging was performed by a smith using hammer and anvil.

Once Upon a Time
Centers on a woman with a troubled past who is drawn into a small town in Maine where the magic and mystery of Fairy Tales just may be real. A talk about the TV show

Grimm
Remember the fairy tales your parents used to tell you before bedtime? Well, those weren't stories, they were warnings. A talk about the tv show.

Panel: Apocalypse Predictions for the Near Future, and Past Ends of the World
A look at some of the real-world beliefs about the upcoming end of days: The Mayan Calendar. Super volcanoes. Giant asteroids. Climate change. 7 Billion Living Humans. That guy who bought all those signs on the sides of buses. Also, a look back at humanity's fascination with its own impending (yet never-quite-occuring) demise.

Survival Kit for the Apocalypse
Items you should have in your bag to survive Zombies, Vampires, Ghouls, and Mad Scientists.

Flint Knapping
We may need arrows to survive the after effects of the Apocalypse. So lets watch Alan Johnson as he shows us the how to's of Flint Knapping.

Apocalyptic Game Storylines ... Too Formulaic?
An exploration of game writing and creation with an emphasis on apocalyptic storylines. Game Trailers. What works and what doesn't?

Why do we love the apocalypse
Zombies, Aliens, Raptors, Graboids, Skynet...why do we love apocalypse scenarios? A discussion of why we find these scenarios so enjoyable.

Chernobyl was safer than the USS Enterprise
This discussions compares the USS Enterprise's warp core design to Chernobyl and other nuclear reactor designs and explains how the lack of safety systems on the Enterprise creates a greater risk. Did safety engineering step backwards over several hundred years, or were the writers just lazY? How could the systems be improved in future designs?

Panel: Technology After the Apocalypse
What to take with you beyond the end of the world: A giant Mad Max car might be fun, but when gas is scarce you'll get farther with bicycles. Guns are great against zombies, but melee weapons never run out of ammo. Discuss some unlikely technologies that have popped up in post-apocalypse fiction and weigh in what makes the best tech in a world where phones, lights and motorcars are a thing of the past.

Big Bang Theory
come talk about what's happening on this nerdy, physicist-friendly show.

Urban Fantasy
From Patricia Briggs to Terri Windling, Laurell K. Hamilton to Jim Butcher, come to talk about the world behind the world. Whether the story is about those that go bump in the night, hidden behind the masquerade, the ones that we have to write laws for (is a vampire alive for reasons of life insurance?), or the story where we actively ignore them, they fascinate and entertain. Come talk about who does it well, who does it poorly, and admit to wondering if the real world is all there is.

Is The Internet Evil?
"Everything" is in some database somewhere on the Internet, including those old photos of you blotto which turn up the day you're trying to land a job. Is FaceBook evil because they make personal privacy impossible? Is Google NOT evil because they have a cool motto? Wikileaks reveals more than they ever intended to, governments are overthrown in protests organized via Twitter, and stories about kidney theft spread around the world in seconds. Is the Net fundamentally good, evil, or neutral?

Ready Player One: Why every geek should read Ernest Cline's book
At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed. Find out some of the panels favorite parts and references to this book!

A Funny thing happend on the way to the con.
Everyone has great stories about the funniest thing that ever happened to them at a convention. Even if it didn't happen directly to you, if you saw it, come tell it. Share your best convention stories. Be prepared to laugh until you cr

Dr Who Where do i begin
This is a primer panel for new fans looking for a place to begin watching the classic series.

The Best and Worst movies of 2011
This year we saw the ending of a boy wizard and the Beging of a girl with a dragon tattoo. Come discuss with your fellow film geeks what was amazing and what should have stayed in development hell.

Cardboard city apocalypse!
Attendees are invited to stomp and stampede through a city of cardboard box buildings, re-enacting their favorite Godzilla or other city-decimating apocalypse.

A Looking back at Harry Potter
Join us for a talk about all 8 movies, all 10 books, Pottermore, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, The Making of Harry Potter, and the Harry Potter fandom

It's a wonderful apocalypse
There are so many wonderful ways the world can go 'boom'. Which is your favorite? What's your survival plan?

MarsCon 2012
March 9-11, 2012

Crowne Plaza Hotel and Suites
(Same hotel, different name)
3 Appletree Square
Bloomington, MN 55425

If you are searching for the Marscon in Williamsburg, VA click here. They are worried about a 2012 Apocalypse too.