The Northeast's Largest Convention of Science Fiction, Fact, and Fantasy
Friday, March 28 - Sunday, March 30, 2003 at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook,  NY 11790
(click here for directions)

Newsletters

This page displays copies of the Inside Track, I-con's e-mail newsletter.  Anyone interested in the I-Con news at the time of mailing should look here.

I-CON 22 Inside Track - I-CON's E-Newsletter for 2003!

Greetings from the staff of I-CON 22. We are about a week away from the convention (March 28-30) and we have a great convention planned.

CONTENTS:

MEDIA GUESTS

I-CON 22 is proud to present a wide range of media guests from several favorite SF shows:

In addition, Media also welcomes:

I-CON is proud to award Anne Kuljian this year's Iconosphere Award for outstanding work behind the camera on film and/or television.

Anne Kuljian is an Oscar nominated Set Decorator, who has most recently worked on the yet to be released The Cat in the Hat (starring Mike Myers - you furries should be happy), Equilibrium and Minority Report. See the FILMS section of this newsletter for showings of Anne's movies.

Up-to-the-minute information can always be found at www.iconsf.org.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

New for Sci/Tech: Corey Powell, Senior Editor at Discover Magazine, will be at I-CON on Saturday. He'll be talking about his new book GOD IN THE EQUATION: How Einstein Became the Prophet of the New Religious Era. After Mr. Powell's talk, he'll be joined for a discussion of the concepts involved by several of our other science guests, and of course you, the audience.

Dr. Yoji Kondo of NASA will be discussing the Kepler mission to find habitable planets outside the solar system.

And there's more! We look forward to seeing you at the convention.

FILMS:

The Philip K Dick Theater: to celebrate the works based on this well
respected author. Minority Report, Total Recall, Impostor, Screamers (and,
if we can get the rights, Blade Runner).

The Anne Kuljian Theater: Oscar nominated set decorators films to be shown
include: Equilibrium, Bicentennial Man, Crow: City of Angels, Flatliners
and, once again, Minority Report.

IIFF: Independent and Fan films (the latter category was added several weeks
ago).

British SF Theatre: Dr. Who, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Red Dwarf

Please see the web site for other films programming.


AUTHORS:

ICON 22's Author's Track is pleased to present another great lineup of
writers, editors and an agent or two. Our guests include our GOH, Barry
Malzberg; Harlan Ellison; Julius Schwartz; Esther Friesner; Peter David; Amy
Grech; Charles Gannon; John Coker;, Owl Goingback; Scott Edelman;, Eric
Kotani (recent winner of the Asimov Award from the Lunarians); Adam-Troy
Castro; Terry McGarry; Ron Goulart; David Kyle; Tony Ruggiero; John Norman;
Linda Addison; Gerard Houarner and a host of others.

Awards and Audioconferences: Our Gallun Award will be presented to Robert
Silverberg during a live audio conference on Saturday. Our Moskowitz Award
will be presented to Anne McCaffrey during a live videoconference, also on
Saturday. The convention's second annual John L. Pilkington Memorial Award
for outstanding service to ICON will be presented to Harlan Ellison. We hope
you will join us for a lot of thought-provoking discussion, LOTS of readings
and a general good time!


PERFORMANCES:

Announcing The Brobdingnagian Bards! We are happy to inform you that this
duo will be appearing at ICON this year. Celtic drinking songs and filk come
with them. See them at their concerts as well as the Cabaret.

We are also happy to announce a psychic, the NYC Rocky Horror cast, Voltaire
(our guest of honor), Clam Chowder, (Our Filk guest of honor) and Ghoul a
Go-Go, among many, many others.

There is also a talent show that still has many open slots:
http://www.iconsf.org/talshow.htm has all the details you need.

All Performance Guests can be found here:
http://www.iconsf.org/perfgst.htm


FUN STUFF:

Jane Fan Girl: A cross between The Dating Game and Joe Millionaire. Come
watch some lucky young fangirl choose from among the throngs of hopeless fan
boys. If you want a chance... or just to cheer them on, come and watch the
selection process. Our fangirl will be passing out flyers in the ISC on
Friday.


ANIME:

The Anime Track is proud to announce its guest of honor for I-CON 22:
Richard Ian Cox. You might recognize him if you watch Ranma 1/2, or Inu
Yasha. Yes, he is the voice actor for male Ranma, as well as the voice for
Inu Yasha. Last year we had the voice of Akane, and now we have her
counterpart.

This year Toshifumi Yoshida of Viz Video will be back with his Dubbing
Workshop. If you have ever complained about the dubbing in an Anime, we
challenge you to do better.

The Anime Track is planning the return of some popular events. This
year will be the second for the Anime Cosplay. Come down and showcase
your Anime costume in a cool skit. To sign up in advance for the event,
please go to http://www.debu-hamu.com/cosplay22/

New this year is the Anime Karaoke. If you want to sign up for our Karaoke
tournament, please visit: http://www.debu-hamu.com/cosplay22/karaoke.html.

You will also have the opportunity to sign up at the Convention for
these two events.

We have many more anime events and programs scheduled. To read about them,
see http://www.iconsf.org/anime.htm

For comments and suggestions, please e-mail anime@iconsf.org.

Please Note: while some Anime is intended for younger viewers, other
Anime is definitely for ADULTS ONLY. Anime rated with an NC-17 in the
schedule contains mature subject matter or strong violence. Photo ID
will be needed to attend these titles.


CONSOLE GAMING:

The console gaming room will have something new for I-CON:a Dance Dance
Revolution contest. It will be a technical and freestyle tournament based on
DDRMAX USA. The pads provided are the new Red Octane Ignition 2.0 pads.
Standard rules apply.

There will also be a Guilty Gear X2, and a Capcom Vs. SNK 2 EO Tournament
for the fighting gamers.

When there isn't a tournament, DDR and the consoles will be on freeplay.
Every Con go-er can come in at anytime. Hope to see you there!

Please remember, the Console Game Room is not a place to leave your
children. Parental supervision is required for younger children.


GAMING:

Gaming at ICON 22 will be more exciting than ever! In addition to the
exciting RPGs, CCGs, War Games, LARPs and Electronic Games ICON has hosted
in the past, we have many new games, game designers and events.

We are pleased to announce that Monte Cook is coming as the Gaming Guest of
Honor!

For more information, visit the ICON web site at www.iconsf.org/game.htm


COLLECTIBLE CARD GAMES (CCG's):

I-CON 22 is proud to host a number of card games. We have:

Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer 40K, War-Cry, Yu-Gi-Oh, Star Wars TCG,
Dragonball Z, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Wars CCG.

Tournaments and demonstrations are scheduled at various times throughout the
weekend. We also have some volunteers ready to demonstrate the fine card
games "Are you a Werewolf", "Fluxx", "Chornonaughts", "Aquarius" and
"Nanofictionary" produced by Looney Labs. Some of the Sluggy Freelance crew
will be around saturday to demo their new game "Get Nifty!"

We have two big tournaments:

Jr. Super Series Tournament: Saturday, March 29, 2pm.

Dragon Ball Z CCG Regional Tournament.

For rules and entry requirements on the tournaments, see our web site at
http://iconsf.org/gameccg.htm

These two tournaments are just a taste of what is in store for all
Collectible Card Game enthusiasts!


CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING:

Come see what I-CON has to offer our littlest members!

Children's Programming will be hosting several age appropriate workshops and
activities designed to entertain and amuse. We will also be offering a wide
range of free-form, hands on crafts; writing; games; storytellers; and
costuming events. These activities will be available throughout the day
during Saturday and Sunday so we can appeal to kids of all ages, interests,
and attention spans.

Please keep in mind that Children's Programming will not be providing child
care. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Not
all videos and programming shown at I-CON are appropriate for children.
Programming that is appropriate for children will be marked with a happy
face in the pocket schedule. For all other programming, parents are
encouraged to use their discretion.


ANTHROPOMORPHICS:

This year we have as our Guest of Honor Dr. Samuel Conway. Also known as
"Uncle Kage," Dr. Conway is a researcher in both biomedicine and
agrochemistry. He's also a wildlife expert, specializing in birds of prey.
A writer, lecturer and story teller, "Uncle Kage's Story Hour" is always a
hit.

I-CON will also have as our guest Larry Wallach, Long Island Animal
Educator, who will bring with him some fascinating wildlife and some Baby
animals. He can be seen regularly on Long Island's News 12 Channel.

We have many more fun guests, so please check the I-CON web site,
http://www.iconsf.org/anthro.htm, for a complete list.


FILK:

A Generous serving of Clam Chowder, as we welcome our Filk GoH in several
performances.

Also appearing at I-CON for the first time are Kenny Young & the Eggplants
and Maury "the K" Kettlebaum.

And returning to our stage Tom "Sudden Death" Rockwell, and, all the way
from Texas, the Bards are back in town, The Brobdingnagian Bards.


COMICS

Comics has a tremendous lineup of creators this year. GoH is Walter
Simonson, writer and artist and multiple Haxtur award winner. We're also
proud to announce the appearance of Phil Jiminez, penciller on the New
X-Men. Returning this year is web-comics creator Pete Abrams of Sluggy
Freelance.

There's much more -- check the I-CON web site for details.


CYBERBAR:

.Matrix is reopening under new management!

Come relax cyberpunk style with all the intergalactic riff-raff! We will be
having a twister contest, live DJ, anime karaoke, a psychic, even belly
dancing. We will also be repeating last year's popular panel on the place of
alternative medicine in space.


NEW HOTEL:

An offer from a new hotel:

The Holiday Inn Express at Stony Brook would like to propose a discounted
rate of $99.00 per night plus tax exclusively to the travelers of the Icon
Weekend when they are in need of overnight accommodations. We are the
closest hotel to the Stony Brook University Campus!

In addition, we offer a complimentary continental breakfast daily and
complimentary shuttle service to and from Stony Brook University.Our heated
indoor swimming pool and fitness club are open from 5:30am - 11:00pm daily.
Our recently renovated guest rooms are all equipped with personal coffee
makers, iron & boards, two-line phone system with additional data ports,
free local phone calls and cable and in-room movies.

Feel free to step inside our hotel for a 360-degree virtual tour at
www.stonybrookny.hiexpress.com. If you would like to make a reservation
please call 631-471-8000. Beam me up Scotty!


VOLUNTEER INFORMATION:

Want to attend I-CON, but don't want to spend money? Maybe you don't know
what you'd do if you came? Why not volunteer? Then you don't pay for
admission, and we TELL you what to do.

Volunteers typically work 8 hours. In exchange, you get admission to the
convention, a T-shirt, and food. We need volunteers starting THURSDAY
(March 27) to help with setup, and ending Sunday (late) night, to help with
breaking down and cleaning up.

And it's fun. Really -- even I, your humble newsletter writer, volunteered
to do this.

Due to enhanced Stony Brook Campus security regulations, all volunteers are
asked to bring a photocopy of a picture ID with their legal name on it.
This photocopy must be handed in at the Volunteer station.

You can sign up in advance at this web site:

http://iconstaff.2y.net:8888/public/volunteers.asp

If you have any questions, please contact us at volunteers@iconsf.org.


IN CONCLUSION

We at I-CON would like to thank everyone who has contributed their time,
their effort, their sweat, and even their money to making this such a great
convention. We would also like to thank you, our members, for your support
and interest. We look forward to seeing you at the convention.
 

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03/26/2003