Log In | Register | Help
Nxt Blog Index
April 25, 2008
ROFLCon: Get Fame, Get Paid?

First session of the afternoon just wrapped up and I'm still digesting all the geekery and chumminess around this place.
Although I know almost no one here, walking around feels like you're at a party with a bunch of friends or acquaintances.

And I'm sorry I can't keep typing, "Chocolate Rain" just started playing somewhere though the halls and people are singing along.

"They're rainrolling us," says a guy next to me.

Also, as I type just a few feet away from someone is filming a segment for Geek Entertainment TV with David Weinberger.

The earlier panel on Interweb Fame with Kyle MacDonald, Joe Mathlete, Ian Spector, Andrew Michael Baron, and Andy Ochiltree, was candid, funny and strangely deep for a short period.

While most of the discussion centered on the different paths each of the panelist took to where they are today, the discussion got more sociological and less geeky after someone asked whether the web is "the great leveler" and communications tool since all the guys on the panel were young white dudes.

After a few uncomfortable can-we-maybe-change-the-subject jokes from the panel, they actually addressed it.
While some said people other than young white guys have better things to do with their time, others said young white guys are the ones with high speed Internet access and spend a lot of time online.
Others said it may be early to make judgments as online culture is just starting to take off.

But the biggest applause line came from none other than The Tron Guy (in costume of course) who said:

"On the question of Internet fame skewing to white males, it is the distribution of age, gender and race in the geek population" that is the cause, he said. "As more and more women become geeks and realize it's OK to be a geek, will see it even out as time goes on."

So sayeth The Tron Guy.

Any one care to venture some guesses or theories on the diversity of web culture?

Keep checking in and don’t forget the Twitter feed.

Also I've got a Flickr stream of ROFLCon up.

Posted by at 02:41 PM

E-mail this entry to a friend

Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?







Please enter the code as seen in the image above:



Blog Index

Justin is a former newspaper intern and has the scar tissue to prove it. Justin has been a staff writer for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram since 2003, and in 2004 began writing a weekly column in the Monday Magazine.

If he had to pick a label, the column would fall under "youth culture," covering everything from high school dance etiquette, dealing with college debt, the resurgence of Roller Derby and Portland's one-of-a-kind music scene. This of course has not stopped him from answering letters to Santa Claus or writing about his experience riding shotgun in a drift car.

Justin is an export from the Midwest. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri and is originally from Minnesota. He enjoys bacon, cheap beer, redheads, Burt Reynolds jokes and wondering what the soundtrack to his life would sound like.

When he grows up he wants to be an international art thief. Or Captain America.

Until then he'll be bringing you dispatches about "the young people" and what they do.





Updates
Sign up to be notified when there's a new entry
RSS
Subscribe
Most Recent Comments
Press Play - New DVDs with Videoport Jones (1)
Alex Steed wrote: I think that more romantic comedies should incorporate elements of "Teeth."...

NXT Radio: Geekspeak with Whitney from Pop Candy (1)
Alex Steed wrote: That meme panel sounds pretty off the wall. I've talked with Christian a...

Sound Off: A civil (rights team) discussion (6)
wrote: Seeing even more off topic comments today makes me really wish the Portland...

The Weekend - The Golden Avenger, a flea market and free comic books (1)
Amanda wrote: I can't believe you didn't even mention the Kentucky Derby!...

ROFLCon: Let's LOL it up (2)
TBone wrote: Too bad the LOLcops (www.lolcops.com) were stuck working ROFLCon security....

Press Play - New DVDs with Videoport Jones (3)
Elsa wrote: "Name at least one GOOD romantic comedy. Just try." Hey, I was just play...