SMOF News, volume 1, issue 12

Mask vagueness, and news in brief.

The Best Intentions

The new standard in COVID precautions is to require proof of vaccination for all attendees and require masks to be worn at all times except when eating and drinking. After more than a year of mask requirements in all sorts of settings, most people have gotten the basic idea of how they work.

Author Seanan McGuire, a guest of honor at Windycon this past weekend, reported that some people thought they had found a clever loophole:

Because I was a GoH, I attended closing ceremonies. As soon as it ended, we were officially no longer at a con.

Several people took their masks off immediately.

Y'ALL. THE PANDEMIC DOESN'T END AT 4PM ON THE DOT. I truly wish it did. But no.

McGuire also noted “quite a few people” taking their masks off for no particular reason throughout the weekend.

Your correspondent, attending Kumoricon and OryCon the last couple weekends, saw similar scenes. Though the vast majority of attendees followed the rules, at Kumoricon there were dozens of people eating and drinking right beneath signs imploring “THIS IS NOT A MASK OFF AREA” and directing them to the eating and drinking area. At each convention I saw somebody taking “eating or drinking” to mean “sitting in the vicinity of a coffee cup”. At OryCon, one panel in a small room started with the moderator asking, “Does anyone mind if we remove our masks?” (People minded.)

Masks may be an unwelcome reminder of the times we are all struggling through, but they do work, so please wear one if you’re going to a large gathering anytime soon.

In Brief

• The Comic-Con Museum will have its “soft opening” on November 26th. Timed tickets are required and now on sale. The grand opening will be sometime in summer 2022, probably coinciding with next year’s San Diego Comic-Con, which has not announced dates yet.

• Entertainment Weekly reports that Adam Driver, appearing on The Graham Norton Show, did not recall his experience of going to SDCC as a celebrity guest fondly.

Event Calendar

Weekend of November 19-21

• Fantastika 2021 (Swedish national sf convention), Stockholm, Sweden

• HispaCón 2021 (Spanish national sf convention), virtual

• Philcon 2021, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA

• Anime NYC, New York City, New York, USA

• Consequences O: Otherworldly Consequences (gaming), Christchurch, UK

• U-Con 2021 (gaming), virtual (usually Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA)

• BGG.CON (gaming), Dallas, Texas, USA

• Anthro Northwest 4 (anthropomorphic), Seattle, Washington, USA

• Con Nichiwa (anime), Tucson, Arizona, USA

• Colossalcon Texas (anime), Round Rock, Texas, USA

• Sin City Anime, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

• Anime Town: Pensacola, Pensacola, Florida, USA

• London Film & Comic Con, London, UK

• New England Super Megafest Comic-Con, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA

• Heroes Dutch Comic Con, Utrecht, Netherlands

• Vienna Comic Con, Vienna, Austria

• Time-Flight 2021 (Doctor Who), Holtsville, New York, USA

Weekend of November 26-28

• Loscon 47/Westercon 73, Los Angeles, California, USA

• Chambanacon 50, Normal, Illinois, USA

• Chessiecon 2021, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• UK Ghost Story Festival 2021, Derby, UK

• Winter Wolfcon 21 (gaming), Chicago, Illinois, USA

• MAG 2021 (gaming/anime), Erfurt, Germany

• Atlanta AnimeDay, Duluth, Georgia, USA

• Comic Con Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

• Comic-Con Special Edition, San Diego, California, USA

• Chicago TARDIS 2021 (Doctor Who), Lombard, Illinois, USA

• Starbase Indy 2021 (Star Trek), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Weekend of December 3-5

• Smofcon Europe (con-running), Lisboa, Portugal

• Weymouth Steampunk Christmas, Weymouth, UK

• Midwest Furfest (anthropomorphic), Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Dragonmeet (gaming), London, UK

• Shorehammer (miniatures gaming), Ocean City, Maryland, USA

• Anime Frontier, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

• Nashville Anime Day, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

• For the Love of Sci-Fi 2021 (media), Manchester, UK

• Geek Days Lille (media), Lille, France

• Emerald City Comic Con, Seattle, Washington, USA

• L.A. Comic Con 2021, Los Angeles, California, USA

• Naiccon 2021 (media), Nairobi, Kenya

• Mini-Mini Con (media), San Antonio, Texas, USA

Weekend of December 10-12

• RADP 26 (Disney theme parks), Walt Disney World, Florida, USA

• PAX Unplugged (tabletop gaming), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• Anime Pasadena, Pasadena, California, USA

• Tekko 2021 (anime), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• Yama-Con 2021 (anime), Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA

• Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, Chicago, Illinois, USA

• Ocean City Comic Con, Ocean City, Maryland, USA

• TFCon Toronto (Transformers), Missisauga, Ontario, Canada

Weekend of December 17-19

• DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, Washington, DC, USA

• Sac Gamers Expo (video games), Sacramento, California, USA

• Power Up South Bend (video games), South Bend, Indiana, USA

• Holiday Matsuri (anime), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Con+Alt+Delete (anime), Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• AnimeFest 2021, Dallas, Texas, USA

• Comic Con Revolution, Ontario, California, USA

• Fan Party vol. 5 (media), Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

Coda

• How to Identify That Light in the Sky (Astronomy Picture of the Day)

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