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DragonCon, Part 2: The Parsec Awards
Sep. 6th, 2012 10:52 pmThere was so much going on at Dragon*Con that it's hard to isolate specific highlights, but there are a few things that seem worth mentioning, so the next few posts will cover them. The list is almost certainly incomplete, and definitely not in any kind of order!
The Parsec Awards!
For the two of you out there to whom I haven't expounded about this at length, the parsec awards are kind of the Emmys of podcasting. Ok, maybe not quite that big a deal, but it's still a pretty well-respected award within the community. I was honored this year to have taken part in not one, but two finalists in the long-form audio drama category, Second Shift and The Mask of Inanna.
The parsecs are given out at a ceremony at DragonCon, which was the excuse I gave myself for attending the con this year. To be honest, Second Shift and Mask of Inanna being up against one another led to some... complicated feelings for me, because I honestly believe that both shows deserved the win. Second Shift is my baby; I've personally put an enormous amount of work into it, and we have fans who've really fallen in love with our world and our characters in ways I've never seen from a podcast audience; I'm incredibly proud of that.
But then The Mask of Inanna is, hands down, the most ambitious audio theater project I have ever heard. A full-cast audio serial where each episode is over an hour long, and includes not only the two primary story arcs, each with a distinct setting and cast, but also an original, vintage-style radio play in a different style each week? My... my head hurts just thinking about it. And when you add to it the fact that after Second Shift and the PMRP's own Neil Marsh came up with the concept, outlined the story, and assembled a cast and crew, almost all of the writing, directing, and post-production was done by one person, Alicia Goranson... man. Don't tell Alicia, but I've become convinced that she's actually an android sent here from the future to study us, and does stuff like this when she gets bored with her primary mission.
On top of all that, we were up against some very strong competition, including Decoder Ring Theater, one of my personal favorite shows, run by one of my audio theater heroes, Gregg Taylor. So suffice it to say, I was full of... feelings at the awards ceremony. Julia Lunetta and I were both there, and as we'd each played parts in both shows (I am eternally grateful to MoI for casting me in a role that was not only fun, but about as far from my 2S character as possible! ;), we were there representing both.
I won't say it didn't feel kind of weird when Inanna was announced as the winner and I went up there to accept the award (strategically re-pinning my badge so that it covered the 2S logo on my shirt), but that's because I wanted my baby to win, not because I thought for a second that theirs didn't deserve to. The Mask of Inanna is Neil's love letter to radio brought to life by Alicia, and it is an amazing and most worthy thing. Check it out if you haven't!
My biggest take-away from this, though? Between Inanna, Second Shift, the PMRP, and all the other independent and side projects around here, Somerville has a friggin amazing audio theater scene! :)
The Parsec Awards!
For the two of you out there to whom I haven't expounded about this at length, the parsec awards are kind of the Emmys of podcasting. Ok, maybe not quite that big a deal, but it's still a pretty well-respected award within the community. I was honored this year to have taken part in not one, but two finalists in the long-form audio drama category, Second Shift and The Mask of Inanna.
The parsecs are given out at a ceremony at DragonCon, which was the excuse I gave myself for attending the con this year. To be honest, Second Shift and Mask of Inanna being up against one another led to some... complicated feelings for me, because I honestly believe that both shows deserved the win. Second Shift is my baby; I've personally put an enormous amount of work into it, and we have fans who've really fallen in love with our world and our characters in ways I've never seen from a podcast audience; I'm incredibly proud of that.
But then The Mask of Inanna is, hands down, the most ambitious audio theater project I have ever heard. A full-cast audio serial where each episode is over an hour long, and includes not only the two primary story arcs, each with a distinct setting and cast, but also an original, vintage-style radio play in a different style each week? My... my head hurts just thinking about it. And when you add to it the fact that after Second Shift and the PMRP's own Neil Marsh came up with the concept, outlined the story, and assembled a cast and crew, almost all of the writing, directing, and post-production was done by one person, Alicia Goranson... man. Don't tell Alicia, but I've become convinced that she's actually an android sent here from the future to study us, and does stuff like this when she gets bored with her primary mission.
On top of all that, we were up against some very strong competition, including Decoder Ring Theater, one of my personal favorite shows, run by one of my audio theater heroes, Gregg Taylor. So suffice it to say, I was full of... feelings at the awards ceremony. Julia Lunetta and I were both there, and as we'd each played parts in both shows (I am eternally grateful to MoI for casting me in a role that was not only fun, but about as far from my 2S character as possible! ;), we were there representing both.
I won't say it didn't feel kind of weird when Inanna was announced as the winner and I went up there to accept the award (strategically re-pinning my badge so that it covered the 2S logo on my shirt), but that's because I wanted my baby to win, not because I thought for a second that theirs didn't deserve to. The Mask of Inanna is Neil's love letter to radio brought to life by Alicia, and it is an amazing and most worthy thing. Check it out if you haven't!
My biggest take-away from this, though? Between Inanna, Second Shift, the PMRP, and all the other independent and side projects around here, Somerville has a friggin amazing audio theater scene! :)
