OKay, so the day after i went to the Hospital for the flu, I was in Boston (actually, Cambridge) for ROFLcon. What is/was ROFLcon? It is/was the Internet, in real life. It was a gathering of Internet celebrities, meme makers, academics and people like me who spend too much time online. Speeches were given, discussion panels where held, shows were given, and people were met. It was a good combination of education and entertainment, about culture, technology, fame, fun and fads.
There was so much more when it comes to what ROFLcon was/is about, but I’m not going to go into that any further. There are others out there who are more articulate and more interesting and better writters then I who are discussing this. Just Google ROFLcon, and on Google News you’ll find a couple pages of articles.
Today, Im just going to write about my ROFLcon experience. What I did, what I saw and what I think. I’m not a reporter, so this is by no means a full report of the weekend, just my timeline of it.
OKay, so, Friday being a work day and all, we thought traffic going into the city would be thick in the morning, and as such, we left mighty early. Mighty early. 6am early. Well, traffic wasnt so bad, and we got to the M.I.T. campus about an hour or more before the 10 am. The worst part about the trip was that it cost me $70 to fill the gas tank. (As a side note, I have decided to start walking to work from now on!)
ROFLCON ON THE MIT CAMPUS
No problems going down, or getting there. Snacks were had, my fever wasn’t too bad, and the conversation was good. I went with my friend Roe. Roe is a talker, and normally people who talk alot bother the hell out of me. But I find Roe to be an entertaining conversationalist, so it’s like have a living talk radio next to you talking about things you are interested in, rather then being next to an annoying prick, which so many “over-talkers” can be.
Anyway, we get in line to register I think we are 10th or 15th-ish. Two guys in front of us are talking. One guy is a bit annoying (and oddly, this annoying guy will keep popping up around me all weekend, and all weekend I do my best just to ignore him. Sadly, I think he was there alone, and it appeared to me that he was trying to hard to make friends. Sad, sure, but I still found him annoying.). The other guy was a reporter. Turns out he was from Wired. After talking to the annoying guy he turns to us for our take on the weekend.
I dont really remember his questions, but I remember that in my answers I mention the long tail, the theroy of the 1000 “true fans”, and the saying that instead of everyone one being famous for 15 minutes, now we can all be famous to 15 or 15 hundred or 15 thousand people, and that is what this weekend was about. To cut forward a bit, the opening speech by David Weinberger was all about these topics, and every thing I had mentioned to the reporter, Mr. Weinberger referenced by name. This made me feel smart, and like I was in the right place for me! And I think Roe was impressed with my academic ability.
DAVID WEINBERGER GIVES THE KEY NOTE SPEACH
But back to the time line. We check in. We buy our t-shirts. I’m not cool enough to buy a lunch box. We get a goodie bag with a can of Brawndo, the official guide book for the weekend (which I have since lost. If anyone can spare a copy, please let me know!), and a crazy straw! We then go into the conference hall that will hold all 500 ticket holders, and where the opening comments will be held and the first panel discussion will be.
Now, it’s barely after 10 am. Things don’t start until after noon. We decide to leave and come back. But as we turn around to go, there he is, signing in like a mere mortal (but he is so much more then that!), there he is, the legendary Tron Guy!!! Holy Fuck, this Internet thing is real, and it is here in person!
TRON GUY CHECKS IN
Something about seeing the Tron Guy, ten feet away, well, it made us a bit giddy. Up until this point, we weren’t sure what we were in for. We didn’t know if this event would be a over hyped flop, full of faux academia and pretentious discussion, or if it would be something really cool. Well, when Jay Maynard, THE TRON GUY!, walked through the doors, then we knew it was on!
We said hello to Mr Maynard, and I had my picture taken with him. He was the only “celebrity” there I did this with. I didn’t feel comfortable walking up to other people, but there is something cool about a pot-bellied guy in a glowing spandex suit that makes you just have to go up to him and say hello and ask for a picture.
ME AND THE TRON GUY, MR. JAY MAYNARD!
After meeting Mr. Maynard, we couldn’t leave. We had to see who else was going to walk in! I saw faces I knew (Bre Pettis, Steve Garfield, Andy Ihnatko -all of who where there in the crowd, they weren’t even people on any of the panels!), and I saw people who’s sites I knew, but whose face were new to me. It was all very exciting in a geeky sort of way. Plus I got a free ‘Dead Meme’ T-shirt, for Snakes on a Plane! I love me the free t-shirts!
Oh yeah, and we met moot! Roe was giddy as a school girl! It was funny. moot was cool, but seemed amazed that two no-bodies like ourselves would want to talk to him. I bet he got over that by the end of the convention. Anyway, he was funny in very subtle way. (I wont tell you what he said about getting advertisers for 4Chan, but it was classic!)
Well, the standing around watching people did start to get boring, so we killed some of the the two hours buy running downstairs to Dunkin Donuts, and by counting the media. We saw press from BBC, The Guardian, USA Today, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Rueters, Boston Globe, MSNBC, G4 and others. Downstairs, we sit outside, and are right next to Andre Baron and the crew from Rocketboom! They looked busy coordinating, so I don’t say hello. But I do sneak a pict!
ROCKETBOOMERS
Outside, we listen to a live DJ from some outdoor international festival going on, I feed a bird from my hand, and we watch little kids dance.
Then the event starts. Who kicks off the event? The MC was none other then LEEEEEEEERROOOOOOOOOOOOOY JENKINS!!! Damn, I couldn’t get my camera into video mode fast enough to catch his battle cry on video.
As I mention, gave the opening speech, about fame and celebrity in the Internet age, and how the power of the people online can now “make fame” in ways that we were unable to do only 15 years ago. It was interesting, smart and fun. Then the first panel began. The topic was about if people are able to make money in there online endeavors. Andrew from Rocketboom was up there (yes, he does okay), The Million Dollar Homepage Guy (Yes, but that was the point of page, and now that he made the money, no new cash is rolling in), the One Red Paper Clip guy (yes, he traded up from a paperclip to a house, and he got a book out of it), the Chuck Norris Facts guy (no, no money. In fact, he is being sued by Chuck Norris), one of the guys from Jib Jab (yup, big time money there), and the Marmaduke Explained guy (no money going his way.)
The discussion was interesting, but it really didn’t stay on topic once the crowd was able to start asking questions. People just wanted to ask about the projects these people do. This was a problem at other panels I went to during the weekend; they didn’t always stay on target.
So, after that ended, we had some time to kill during the lunch break. We ended up at a place called Cinderellas on Mass Ave, where we GIANT sandwiches for next to nothing. I couldn’t finish mine. But then, at this time, my fever was back big timr and I was feeling oddly, but I was trudging on.
Walking around M.I.T., or any big college campus always makes me mad. I’m angry at my parents, my teachers, my guidance counselors and all the adults in my life who let me slip through the cracks as a kid and who didn’t guide me along the path towards adulthood properly, like I feel adults have the moral obligation to do with the children under their care. I could go on about how I was an abandoned child, but i wont, but I will tell you that I get so jealous/upset/regretful when I visit big schools. Sure, i should have taken more responsibility for my own education, but damn it, at age 15 I was only 15 years old, so to all the adults in my life at that time, fuck you, you all failed me.
Okay, enough of that tangent. After the lunch break, we got in line for tickets for the ROFLcon Concert that was going to be held that night. In line, we heard our first rendition of Rick Astleys “Never Going To Give Your Up”. Before this weekend, I enjoyed Rick Rolling. Now, I’m sick of it, and I think this fad has to end. Ugh! Also, in line, I saw Leslie Hall and Matt Harding, from “Where The Hell Is Matt”.
After getting our tickets, we then went to the talk by historian Jason Scott, who gave talk about memes in the pre world wide web world. Apparently, where there has been communication technology, there have been memes. Interesting stuff, and an entertaining speaker.
JASON SCOTT
MATT AND JAY
After Jason Scott was a talk by Matt Harding and Jay Maynard about surviving internet fame. Matt said it has been easy for him. He has not had to face any negativity, because he is just a goofy guy dancing with a big grin on his face. His videos are just pure joy, and it would take some one really dark to try and crap on it. The Tron Guy, well, he has it a bit harder, as you would guess. He didn’t set out for the world to find him. He just put his picture on his site to share with friends and family, and to show the creation process. But, the world did find him, and at first, there was a lot of negativity sent his way. But like I said before, he over came this, and is stronger for it. Actually, Matt did say that “wacking morning dj’s” have been rude to him, but that’s about it. Jay said he had the same problems. And he said they’re not wacky, just assholes.
When talking about places where people gave him crap, Jay mentioned Fark. And funny enough, Drew Curtis of Fark was there in the audience. There was a funny exchange between the two, but it was all in good nature!
That was it for the academic side of the day. It was time for dinner, then we needed to kill some time before the show. We walked to Harvard Square and got some undercooked burgers. On the walk there, we decided we would be best served to skip the music show and drive home. If we stayed for the show, we would have left Boston until after midnight. This would have meant a long drive home only to have to turn around and drive back after only 3 or 4 hours sleep. Plus, we thought MC Frontalot was going to be at the show when we got the tickets, but it turns out he wasn’t going to perform, and he was the guy we really wanted to see. Plus, I was feeling really crappy at this time, and Roe was tired (he said only got 4 fours of sleep the night efore) So, we ate, and drove home. We missed a good show from what I understand, but, well, we just simply weren’t up for it. Ugh.
That was it. End day one. Day two, tomorrow.
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