The Party Thread

BomanTheBear

Anyone want to tell me what Sealab is (aside from the show)? Is it a party or something?

whypick1

Well, last year Sealab was supposed to be a after PAX hotel party with lots and lots of booze. Instead, it turned into a giant mess that get everyone kicked out of the Crowne Plaza before the concerts even got out for a variety of reasons, including:

*The rooms being way way way way too small
*Some asshole who has yet-to-be-killed announcing the location of the invite-only party during PAX
*People getting let in too early (granted, I was amongst that group too)
*Minors who couldn't handle their booze or shut the fuck up
*Crowne Plaza threatening to call the cops for the above

Needless to say, a lot of people were pissed off, like the people who came out of the concerts who didn't know the party died a half hour before, or the people who spent lots of time and money on booze specifically for Sealab (like BigRed).

Not sure if you'll be able to get any more information about last year's out of anyone else, since it's kind of a sore subject that can only be described as an "unmitigiated clusterfuck".

TNTrooper

whypick1 wrote: »

*Some asshole who has yet-to-be-killed announcing the location of the invite-only party during PAX

The Friday night party was open to everyone not an invite only.

*Minors who couldn't handle their booze or shut the fuck up

They people running Sealab were pretty adamant about checking IDs at the door. I was at the concert at the time so I have no idea if the guy letting people in early was checking but they had plenty of reason to check IDs and not a single good reason not to.

Now that the facts are cleared up try to keep the thread from becoming another "ZOMG Sealab" flame war cause Moe probably won't be happy closing a third thread about it and telling all of us to stop bringing it up.

BomanTheBear

Well, was it set up by forumers? Also, I can't imagine a flame war about a party. I've seen some shit go down at major parties at school before, but not enough to cause problems. That's too bad, though, it's always a horrid bitch to see perfectly good parties get derailed.

Highfire

It was a set up by some of the Forumers, and it was to be a good time by all. But someone told someone, who told two, who told four. And so on. And there was a few people making bad noise about the party being shut down. I'm sure that next year, Moe will have something worked out. So this doesn't happen again.

KaitouAyashi

Highfire wrote: »

It was a set up by some of the Forumers, and it was to be a good time by all. But someone told someone, who told two, who told four. And so on. And there was a few people making bad noise about the party being shut down. I'm sure that next year, Moe will have something worked out. So this doesn't happen again.

Uhm, it was NOT word of mouth that caused massive amounts of people to converge upon the Sealab hotel room. It was DoNotPursueLuBu who walked around with a large sign at the Convention Center for SEVERAL HOURS advertising what room number and hotel the party was in. He did this WITHOUT the permission of any member of Sealab.

Therefore the "Invite-Only" party was shut down before it started due to large numbers of uninvited people showing up, lots of noise, and the hotel threatening to kick Sealab out of their hotel room. Basically anyone who had been invited got screwed over by LuBu, because there was no way they would have known the party was cancelled until they showed up with bags of booze and denied entry.


Anyway, in response to the original question: Sealab is a kick ass group of people. The Party at Sealab Party was an awesome, pre-planned hotel party that crashed and burned due to one person being an utter douchebag idiot.

b0wser

that sums it up pretty well, yeah.

Bambooza

Oh to think that was merely the start of that night of being kicked out of hotel rooms as the party moved forward. I have to say that all in all the hotels handled the noise violations pretty civil; we just need to find a way to truly have this epic party in 08.

mentok1982

I showed up too early (my mistake) but then I went back to my hotel to wait for the party to begin. When I returned to the Crowne, people were outside talking about how the party was canceled/shut down.

LAME!

We should pool some dough and rent a space (ballroom/meeting room) at a hotel. Then we can be much louder and there may be more tolerance for alcohol.

Tonkka

I believe that there was some talk before about tryig to get those who wanted Sealab to go off without a hitch to all try and reserve rooms on the same floor in order to cut down on the possibility of noise complaints.

Artificially create a "party floor" or something like that.

Bambooza

The issue with hotel booking systems is they do not actually assign your room until you’re in the process of checking in and that comes with a degree of availability and randomness as to which room you get.

Looking online at venues to rent it seems most only require a few hundred dollars to reserve and the full cost range anywhere 100 dollars an hour to several grand. But the major issue is the cannot have alcohol brought in from the outside and cannot serve alcohol after 2 Am due to state law. Which is way too early for us.

Tonkka

Well yeah, that's why hotel parties are so much better.

If the hotel in question is contacted early enough and by enough people they may see it our way (keep the ruffians on one floor as to not disturb normal folk who sleep).

Intimidation is always the best route with these people

Monoxide

Bambooza wrote: »

The issue with hotel booking systems is they do not actually assign your room until you’re in the process of checking in and that comes with a degree of availability and randomness as to which room you get.

Looking online at venues to rent it seems most only require a few hundred dollars to reserve and the full cost range anywhere 100 dollars an hour to several grand. But the major issue is the cannot have alcohol brought in from the outside and cannot serve alcohol after 2 Am due to state law. Which is way too early for us.

This is why I'm looking into planning a big open bar crawl. It's impossible to get as many people as would want to come into a hotel room, because as Sealab illustrated, they're just not big enough for it. There's 12 bars within 6 blocks from one another near the WSCTC, and if too many people show up to cram into one bar, it can be split into teams.

I won't have the details worked out until it's a lot closer to PAX, but unless some catastrophe stops me from going, it will definitely happen. Probably on Thursday night, so it can start early enough for a reasonable amount of drinking time before last call, then on friday and saturday people can just enjoy smaller hotel parties that can go later into the night.

edit: And enterprising bar crawl attendees could always throw an afterparty at their place if 2am is too early.

Phanman

mentok1982 wrote: »

I showed up too early (my mistake) but then I went back to my hotel to wait for the party to begin. When I returned to the Crowne, people were outside talking about how the party was canceled/shut down.

LAME!

We should pool some dough and rent a space (ballroom/meeting room) at a hotel. Then we can be much louder and there may be more tolerance for alcohol.

It will be too expensive and they won't stay open late enough.

I'll tell you exactly how I think the Sealab party will go down this year. Most people won't be invited, it will be a closer knit core group of PAX veterans and their friends. It will not be discussed and advertised on the forums and that's it.

Either that or they find a hotel who would tolerate it, and I doubt they'll find that.

I'm not trying to be a pessimist, I'm just speaking from experience. I'm very much an optimist and hoping that things go much better for Sealab this year.

Raiden333

Funny story.

Highfire and I were sharing a dinner table with 2 others on the west coast train trip home with two others, and at one point the conversation turned to Sealab and how we'd love to get our mitts on the little bastard who walked around with that sign...

"Uh, guys..." one of the guys starts quietly, "I'm LuBlu. I'm the one who walked around with the sign, I'm sorry, I didn't know better."

awkward

Liger

What did he expect by inviting 37,000 people to one hotel room? :P

Blamemonkey

Liger wrote: »

What did he expect by inviting 37,000 people to one hotel room? :P

A party of AWESOME!

KaitouAyashi

I suspect that there will be MORE parties this year, only with very private, invite only guest lists.

Bizzaro Stormy

I am Bizzaro Stormy.

Darkblade_1

Hi Bizzaro Stormy

Moe Fwacky

Haha, Bizarro Stormy never fails to amuse me.

Darkblade_1

I think if SE pulls off their party at the W they should dub it "Rapture"

BigRed

Darkblade_1 wrote: »

I think if SE pulls off their party at the W they should dub it "Rapture"

Because its doomed to failure or because they are all crazy like splicers?

:P

November6

BigRed wrote: »

Darkblade_1 wrote: »

I think if SE pulls off their party at the W they should dub it "Rapture"

Because its doomed to failure or because they are all crazy like splicers?

:P

A little from column A and a little from column B.

SergeantAuberie

whypick1 wrote: »

Well, last year Sealab was supposed to be a after PAX hotel party with lots and lots of booze. Instead, it turned into a giant mess that get everyone kicked out of the Crowne Plaza before the concerts even got out for a variety of reasons, including:

*The rooms being way way way way too small
*Some asshole who has yet-to-be-killed announcing the location of the invite-only party during PAX
*People getting let in too early (granted, I was amongst that group too)
*Minors who couldn't handle their booze or shut the fuck up
*Crowne Plaza threatening to call the cops for the above

Needless to say, a lot of people were pissed off, like the people who came out of the concerts who didn't know the party died a half hour before, or the people who spent lots of time and money on booze specifically for Sealab (like BigRed).

Not sure if you'll be able to get any more information about last year's out of anyone else, since it's kind of a sore subject that can only be described as an "unmitigiated clusterfuck".

I was underage last year,
as were my accompainiers.
We steered clear of the Sealab-ness for those reasons,
as we didn't want to cause trouble for others..

Anyhow, I'm turning 21 this year..
so I wants me some Sealab.

Raslin

Lets put it this way... Nobody checked my ID for sealab. I cant remember when exactly I got there, though I was invited(as opposed to just showing up).

Yeah, it was a clusterfuck alright.

ElectricTurtle

Nobody checked me either, but then I'm pretty well known to the Sealab crew.

Hopefully this year we can rent space for Sealab.

Moe Fwacky

Space rental or a party floor. Maybe the powers that be at PA will have more luck with that this year than last (or will just snap up the entire Sheraton for PAX instead of bits and pieces of other hotels).

b0wser

I do recall Mike F. saying something about looking into booking the entirety of a smaller hotel downtown, for the purpose of having a centralized party area. I don't know if that's still an idea on the table, but it seems like a pretty solid idea to me.

Highfire

All I'm saying, is make sure the hotel have better ice machines then the Sheraton.

BrokenAngel

I think Sealab should be held in an underwater facility for the sake of realism. We should also be required to wear an orange jumpsuit and make fun of pod 6 without mercy to gain entrance. I think it would effectively keep Sealab to a manageable size, while also being badass.

mentok1982

BrokenAngel wrote: »

I think Sealab should be held in an underwater facility for the sake of realism. We should also be required to wear an orange jumpsuit and make fun of pod 6 without mercy to gain entrance. I think it would effectively keep Sealab to a manageable size, while also being badass.

Oh god yes. Is there an aquarium nearby and can we book it for a night?

(Goes to look far an aquarium)

FOUND! I can't believe it is so close to PAX. It is about 2 blocks West then 9 blocks South (.8 miles).
http://www.seattleaquarium.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?&pid=257&srcid=183

Party with the stars! Sea stars, that is. The Seattle Aquarium offers a magical undersea venue that holds up to 800 people for any occasion from weddings to corporate functions. Entertain in the Puget Sound Great Hall with the luminous Window on Washington Waters (opening June 22) complete with hundreds of fish-your personal interactive party decorations! Guests will enjoy the seemingly choreographed fur seals swim. And don't forget the life of the party, sea otters. Cheers!

We offer spectacular spaces and seamless service for your private event. Whether you're planning an event for 100 or 800, the Aquarium is an ideal environment for any occasion.

To arrange an Aquarium tour or to find out more about Special Event planning services at the Seattle Aquarium, please call us at 206-386-4321.

Orange jumpsuits (meant for inmates or Halloween costumes):
http://www.nationaltextile.us/inc/sdetail/488 $13.95
http://cgi.ebay.com/ORANGE-PRISONER-CONVICT-CORRECTIONS-SAFETY-JUMPSUIT_W0QQitemZ290069711361QQcmdZViewItem $24.00

ElectricTurtle

The only question there is how they would handle 800 drunk gamers... I think the answer is roughly, not very well...

Queen Brewer

I went to a wedding once there. It's a amazing place, if you can convince them to accept a ton of drunks. It is probably fairly expensive though... It also probably book way ahead of time.

smes

Yeah I was turned away at the elevator, so I never made it to the lab. Though a party floor (perhaps charging admission or have a must bring booze rule) would be rad.

mentok1982

ElectricTurtle wrote: »

The only question there is how they would handle 800 drunk gamers... I think the answer is roughly, not very well...

800?! Really? I thought that Sealab was shrinking in size. I was thinking there would be less than 200 people invited.

Also, people drink beers and liquors at weddings and some weddings do get pretty wild. I imagine that we could convince them that "gamers" are just like other humans in many respects...

ElectricTurtle

mentok1982 wrote: »

... I imagine that we could convince them that "gamers" are just like other humans in many respects...

RUN, BOB! KILLER KIDS, LIKE ON TEEVEE!

But seriously, Sealab could be huge, the question is mostly logistical. However, for practical purposes, we are probably looking at sub 200 for this year unless a miracle happens.

collinc

I would love to go this year. I didn't attempt to in the previous year because of my age. I did end up partying with Ars Technica though.

ThePimpImp

If only BYOC people could stay in byoc and get drunk, computers plus networking plus booze definately is not dangerous...............

OK maybe the above statement might not be completely true, but the truth is it would be hilarious and fun.

Unfortunately the whole, be out of the building and the under 21 thing is going to make it impossible, among other concerns.

whypick1

pulls up a lawn chair to see how BigRed tears apart this idea

VThornheart

Then we'll make our own BYOC! With Blackjack! And Hookers!

In fact, forget the Blackjack, and the BYOC...

... eh, forget the whole thing.