Yer humble narrator, Rathbone, and his crew invaded Penguicon over the weekend, and it were a better blast than an overcharged cannon! Penguicon be a fan convention celebrating all forms of geekery: fantasy & science fiction media, open source software, costuming, sustainability, food hacks, and promoting a better world by sharing knowledge.
Amy and Rory were even there.
On Friday night, Rathbone got the party started with his band The Likedeelers, playing sea shanties and doling out the rum. The Likedeelers featured Emily the Aptonymless on vocals, Marauding Mary on auxilliary percussion and baby slapping, and Cutthroat Clipner on bass. Rathbone assures you that Emily, Mary, and David (Clipner) have never heard these nicknames before.
Saturday started early for Rathbone with a 9 AM session called Pirate 101, followed by a 2-hour Pirate gaming session. At 1:00, Rathbone co-paneled Life As Adventure with Matt Arnold, Heather Fish, and Moshe [redacted]. Rathbone advocated making decisions with dice rolls and Moshe & Heather advocated learning to do one pull-up. Matt used dice to moderate, and encouraged people to stay away from couches, where there be almost no "luck surface area." Other advice included spending a week saying yes to every opportunity that appears and following the Cult of Done Manifesto.
At 5:00, Rathbone performed his Pirate Magic Show which runs the gamut from silly card and rope tricks to demonstrations of apparent mind reading. As a finale, Rathbone sent the audience back in time about two minutes.
After roasting former (and current) ConChair, Nuri Gocay, with a hilarious assortment of pirated insult jokes, Rathbone emceed the costume contest. Winners included a female Link from Legend of Zelda and a Pikachou/Tron mashup on rollerskates (fleeing a kabuki guy for some reason).
Rathbone then took a break from his crazy Saturday schedule to take in some third-party pirate entertainment by Duckman et. al. ("The Taking of the H.M.S. Virginity") which was amusingly ribald as expected. After which Rathbone commandeered a panel on random powerpoint improv. It seemed as though the presenters were not there, so Rathbone took to the head of the class and introduced the topic. He asked if anyone had a laptop to connect to the projector. Someone did, and as Rathbone addressed the crowd it became apparent that the people with the laptop were the actual presenters. They just didn't want to interrupt a pirate who was on a roll. Rathbone danced at the fifth floor hall party (thanks, Away Team!) and then drank rum until he fell down.
Sunday, being the Lord's day, put an end to Rathbone's deviltry, and he returned from whence he came. Thanks to everyone who planned, ran, presented at and attended Penguicon. Rathbone the Pirate, who seeks treasure for a living, knows no better treasure than the friends and experiences therein.
