GRRM and the Hugo Losers' Party.
Sep. 1st, 2019 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
George R.R. Martin has issued a statement on File 770.
For those of you out of the convention fandom loop (and I listen but do not congo), for a decade or so GRRM has thrown the "Hugo Losers Party", at which winners are welcome to attend but have to wear funny hats and be mocked. For a couple of years those parties became the responsibility of the Worldcon where they were held; GRRM took them back. This year's party was a logistics disaster. People who couldn't get into the Hugo Awards (another logistics problem) went directly to the Hugo Losers Party. That meant that when the actual losers had finished with the awards, the party was full up. People were dropped off by minibus in front of the venue and left to wait until space was freed up by people leaving. There were tweets. There was anger.
I linked to GRRM's statement of what happened. The mood of the piece is that the Hugo Losers Party is a gift he gives congoers, not an entitlement. That's completely reasonable and appropriate. Renting out a floor of a brewery for a party is an extravagant thing to do.
However, wow, were there bad logistics choices made. GRRM rented a venue with a capacity of 450; there were worries that the venue might be too small. The contingency plan was the expectation that the venue would violate the fire code (if there were still a marquee tag, I'd be using it) or allow the party to overflow into space they hadn't rented. Even if he'd offered cash to expand it on the night, it would have been much too late to staff that space.
GRRM was at least annoyed by the discovery that there would be 280 spots reserved for the Hugo losers and their plus-ones. "280 spots of out 450 were already gone, before I had even invited a single guest of my own. " Here's the core problem. GRRM doesn't see the losers as guests of his own. This isn't actually the Hugo Losers' party, and that's just fine; GRRM can throw any party he likes. But being annoyed that the Hugo losers expect to go is dooming yourself to disappointment. This realization would also have been a great moment to reevaluate the amount of space being rented. However, as he amply documents, even GRRM couldn't have afforded to rent another floor, with liquor and the food required by Irish law.
GRRM arranged for a single minibus seating twenty to bring people from the convention center to the party. He appears to have thought of this as a way to slowly integrate new partygoers. Instead, it meant long lines at the buses. He is annoyed that ConZealand decided that there wouldn't be enough taxi space to accommodate all the partygoers, and rented two bus-sized buses to transport partygoers to the party. There went GRRM's only attempt at crowd control.
> They were obeying what we were told was the law.
"What we were told"? I mean, come on, this is basic basic big-party planning that GRRM's team should have figured out months in advance. Fire codes are a thing in every venue everywhere, and when they aren't, people die.
> But much of the outrage about what happened seems to have its root in a mistaken belief that this was their party, intended to “honor” or “celebrate” them, that it was being staged “for” them, that they should have been given preference over everyone else, an assertion that just reeks of entitlement.
GRRM doesn't want to throw the Hugo Losers party. That's fine. But everybody should stop calling GRMM's party by its original name.
For those of you out of the convention fandom loop (and I listen but do not congo), for a decade or so GRRM has thrown the "Hugo Losers Party", at which winners are welcome to attend but have to wear funny hats and be mocked. For a couple of years those parties became the responsibility of the Worldcon where they were held; GRRM took them back. This year's party was a logistics disaster. People who couldn't get into the Hugo Awards (another logistics problem) went directly to the Hugo Losers Party. That meant that when the actual losers had finished with the awards, the party was full up. People were dropped off by minibus in front of the venue and left to wait until space was freed up by people leaving. There were tweets. There was anger.
I linked to GRRM's statement of what happened. The mood of the piece is that the Hugo Losers Party is a gift he gives congoers, not an entitlement. That's completely reasonable and appropriate. Renting out a floor of a brewery for a party is an extravagant thing to do.
However, wow, were there bad logistics choices made. GRRM rented a venue with a capacity of 450; there were worries that the venue might be too small. The contingency plan was the expectation that the venue would violate the fire code (if there were still a marquee tag, I'd be using it) or allow the party to overflow into space they hadn't rented. Even if he'd offered cash to expand it on the night, it would have been much too late to staff that space.
GRRM was at least annoyed by the discovery that there would be 280 spots reserved for the Hugo losers and their plus-ones. "280 spots of out 450 were already gone, before I had even invited a single guest of my own. " Here's the core problem. GRRM doesn't see the losers as guests of his own. This isn't actually the Hugo Losers' party, and that's just fine; GRRM can throw any party he likes. But being annoyed that the Hugo losers expect to go is dooming yourself to disappointment. This realization would also have been a great moment to reevaluate the amount of space being rented. However, as he amply documents, even GRRM couldn't have afforded to rent another floor, with liquor and the food required by Irish law.
GRRM arranged for a single minibus seating twenty to bring people from the convention center to the party. He appears to have thought of this as a way to slowly integrate new partygoers. Instead, it meant long lines at the buses. He is annoyed that ConZealand decided that there wouldn't be enough taxi space to accommodate all the partygoers, and rented two bus-sized buses to transport partygoers to the party. There went GRRM's only attempt at crowd control.
> They were obeying what we were told was the law.
"What we were told"? I mean, come on, this is basic basic big-party planning that GRRM's team should have figured out months in advance. Fire codes are a thing in every venue everywhere, and when they aren't, people die.
> But much of the outrage about what happened seems to have its root in a mistaken belief that this was their party, intended to “honor” or “celebrate” them, that it was being staged “for” them, that they should have been given preference over everyone else, an assertion that just reeks of entitlement.
GRRM doesn't want to throw the Hugo Losers party. That's fine. But everybody should stop calling GRMM's party by its original name.
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Date: 2019-09-01 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 01:25 pm (UTC)(clip of The Red Wedding)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btzq18TkaUc
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Date: 2019-09-01 06:43 pm (UTC)I can't even.
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Date: 2019-09-01 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-01 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2019-09-02 11:46 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2019-09-01 08:10 pm (UTC)And not caring about Fire safety is very much a dick move indeed. I mean, they're Guinness. Quite apart from the bad publicity of having people die at your venue, they have zero interest in getting shut down for fire code violations. Accepting a venue's rules as final is event planning 101, and you don't get to whinge about it.
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Date: 2019-09-02 12:43 am (UTC)I mean, really, yikes.
P.
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Date: 2019-09-02 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 09:47 pm (UTC)P.
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Date: 2019-09-03 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:19 am (UTC)I'm having a culture shock moment here, I confess. Most of the time, I forget just how strongly I come from a host culture.
If I behaved this way, if I threw a party ostensibly to cheer people up for losing a big award, and then did not make sure there was room for them at the ball? My mother would murder me. If I not only didn't make sure they was room for them, but actually called the TICKET BEARING, formally invited (!!) guests entitled for being sad about missing out? My mom would drag me from the dead just so she could murder me again. Possibly repeatedly. DEFINITELY repeatedly.
I'd be handwriting earnest 'I'm so very sorry' notes to every last one of them, at the very least. Even if it took years.
I mean. GRRM can throw whatever sort of party he likes for his little friends. He doesn't have to send a valentine to everyone in the class if he doesn't want to!
But he did use the name of the award and he did invite award-nominees and he did use the resources of the convention for organizing some of this. If he doesn't want to be thought of a clique-loving kindergartner, maybe next time he shouldn't use class time and class resources to distribute his 'only MY friends are important' cupcakes? Jeez.
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Date: 2019-09-02 11:29 am (UTC)Also, taking account of safety regulations when planning *is* hospitality, and assuming the venue will just make space comes in under rudeness to people who can't just tell you to take a running jump without threatening their own livelihood. :(
* or 'Nope, X is not welcome in my space, for Reasons' or whatever
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Date: 2019-09-04 05:29 am (UTC)And yeah, one of the things I learned from a young age when watching them do that was, ALWAYS CHECK THE VENUE. Because there will always, always be something that might screw everything up, and it usually doesn't become apparent until the last minute, and you need to be able to fix it on the fly or head it off. And it sounds like he thought that was some very unspoken arrangement where other people would do that for him -- oh, they won't be that strict about the fire code, or, the last time this happened people spilled out into the hallway and by the pool (and yes the hotel could have shut that shit down, omg), or, well it's just understood all losers are always welcome, &c &c.
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Date: 2019-09-02 02:21 pm (UTC)I mean, I'm with you? And I....cannot THINK of a context I've encountered where what's described in that link would not be incredibly rude. BUT there's enough of a thread of people going " . . . guys? What are you even freaking out about? If you can't get into a party you just do something else, why does a 'ticket' make a difference?" that I AM entertaining the possibility that there's a strong cultural thread that does not perceive this kind of thing the way we are.
(And by "culture" here I absolutely mean and include the kind of actually quite BIG cultural differences that can actually exist even within what is generally spoken of as "the same culture".)
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Date: 2019-09-04 05:24 am (UTC)Yeah, my parents would have done the BUT HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR GUESTS "not angry just very, very disappointed" thing for YEARS. Particularly at leaving people -- including disabled people -- literally standing OUT IN THE RAIN, with no shelter and no guarantee of when they could at least get in and dry off. Like, if you send someone an invitation, even if it's Entry Not Guaranteed, you do something for the people WHO GOT INVITES. It's like, you take on a responsibility when you do that, you've made a promise. (LOL now I sound like the Iliad, "Your father was a guest-friend of mine!")
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Date: 2019-09-02 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2019-09-02 03:03 pm (UTC)I can't honestly see how, even if it were raining, it was remotely appropriate for anyone to stand outside and tweet complaints about a party (or not to dress for the weather, because Dublin, for chrissake, it'd be like complaining about getting rained on here). Like, that is so far beyond anything I can ever imagine doing in a social situation. There are valid ways to deal with minor physical discomfort and the inconvenience of not being able to go to a party. Public callouts aren't among them.
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Date: 2019-09-02 04:14 pm (UTC)If I then found that the host had been joking about 'they should have got here earlier' (ie, while the ceremony was still going on) I would definitely find myself thinking 'this person's sense of humour and mine aren't a match, I should probably not try to attend any of their parties'.
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Date: 2019-09-02 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2019-09-02 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 09:28 pm (UTC)I don't know how the logistics of a twenty-seat minibus for 450 people ever made sense to anyone, but whoever planned this party for Martin failed to do a job that there are loads of professionals out there doing well every day.
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Date: 2019-09-03 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-03 06:46 am (UTC)WonkaGuiness factory. It's not that big. Even with the adjoining hall.2. I've always been irked by the Hugo Loser Party's exclusivity. The convention members vote on the award. I understand it's considered a gig where the shrimp floats past on boats in a stream of booze, but the "you ain't cool enough" thing is off-putting. Conventions need safe spaces for marginalized people. Hugo winners and losers aren't automatically marginalized people.
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Date: 2019-09-03 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2019-09-03 04:18 pm (UTC)