ALL HAIL PLUSHY CTHULU!
Sep. 4th, 2002 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperOkay, so I'm a little late getting to this after getting back yesterday evening, but well hey, this is what having to get caught up post-vacation does to you. At any rate, this is the Worldcon Report.
I actually went to panels for once, as I've been trying to participate more in the programming of science fiction conventions I go to, and the programming was rather entertaining. I found a decent range of panels on aspects of SF I'm actually interested in -- ranging from the use of music in SF stories, to romantic SF, to a Godzilla slide show, to "underwater" fiction (I couldn't resist a panel title like 'Spam in a Can', though I was disappointed that the panel didn't involve as much ragging on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as I'd hoped for), to a plethora of panels on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Buffy programming was particularly well-attended, and covered a number of aspects of the show -- which characters have progressed well over the seasons and which haven't, why it seems to be continually disregarded in mainstream media awards despite the generally consistent brilliance of its writing, whether the killing off of Tara fed into "dead lesbian witch" stereotypes, and the like. I noted that they were doing a showing of the Buffy Musical Episode, though I completely spazzed on it before the actual showing time rolled out. I would have been amused to see it in a crowd setting, but no big loss; I've already seen the thing several times anyway and have the soundtrack CD on order with Amazon.
Favorite panel: I really enjoyed the Alien Musicology panel, which got into talking about whether we would recognize the music of an alien species or not.
I tried to go to the filk the first night, though I'm afraid I chickened out after that, since I tried to sing the one filk I've written and unnerved myself badly. Sigh. Dar actually went to the filk more than I did, though she reports having had train wrecks trying to play too. I'm hoping this doesn't bode ill for playing at Monica's wedding.
The dealers' room was suitably large for a Worldcon, and I rarely get out of a con without buying something; this time was no exception. Bought a couple of books, including the next Jim Butcher book I was anxious to get, and a couple of Lovecraft books as well.
The Lovecraft came from Dar having borrowed one of Paul's Lovecraft anthologies, and since I'd actually never read any H.P. Lovecraft before I swiped it and read it. Liked it well enough that I wanted to read some more, so we bought some, though I was amused by Mr. Lovecraft's tendency to write about horrible, icky, squishy things that CANNOT POSSIBLY BE DESCRIBED so his characters don't even try.
Which is why I laughed my ass off when I found the Cthulu plushies in the dealers' room. They had several sizes, and I bought the smallest one, though I also laughed my ass off at the electronic toy Cthulu which said on its box "Electronic Eyes Glow With LOVE!"
Read a couple other books as well and also did a considerable amount of writing, working on roleplay logs to post to my web page, and the usual time wasted on Nethack. ;)
Although I did skip the filk for the most part I did still practice since it was needed for the upcoming playing at Monica's wedding... though I kind of missed having my big mandolin easy to hand, I had fun playing with the little one again for once and trying to pick out fingerwork passages in The Fables' "Buy Us a Drink". Also tried to play through several long flute pieces I have, though they don't work nearly so well on the piccolo.
Wound up watching the first part of the mini-series version of The Shining that they were running on the Sci-Fi channel, just because it was there, and was pleased to note that it was rather more intriguing than the movie version with Jack Nicholson. It's been a while since I've read the book so I can't say how well the mini-series holds up to the book, but there was loads more time spent setting up the family's background history, with an eye on the father's past as a recovering alcoholic and both of the parents having to deal with their son's "fits". It was also fun to see scenes at the Overlook Hotel before it actually shuts down for the winter and the main body of the story gets underway.
I wound up skipping the Masquerade, the Hugos, and the Art Show, though the latter was unintentional; I was generally so busy going to panels for once that I actually forgot to check out the Art Show except the one time that it was actually closed on Sunday. Doh. The Masquerade and the Hugos, however, I skipped on purpose, just because I had been so busy throughout the course of the day on both Saturday and Sunday that I was tired of being surrounded by people.
One evening programming event I did attend, though, was "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker", which was this Star Wars parody done as a 1940's-era radio play. It was very funny, featuring a bunch of witty impersonations of actors and actresses from the era to play the various roles from A New Hope, and Bela Lugosi as Darth Vader and Rin Tin Tin as Chewbacca alone were well worth spending the whole time watching it. Dar and I wound up buying the audio CD of the production they were selling after the show.
Dar and I are now in possession of attending memberships for the next three Worldcons, which are going to be at Toronto, Boston, and GLASGOW (HURRAY!). Nobody was surprised that Scotland won the bid for 2005, since they were running unopposed; I'll be eager to see Scotland again ten years after the first visit. I also pre-supported for Japan's bid in 2007 and Australia's bid for 2010. Dar pre-supported for L.A. in 2006, though she left her credit card in their room party; fortunately, they found the card and we were able to claim it the next day.
Notable personages spotted: Catherine Asaro was on the "Romantic Sci-Fi" panel I attended. She wrote two novels I have bought, and which I kind of liked: The Veiled Web and The Phoenix Code. Sean McMullen was a British gent on the "Alien Musicology" panel, but he sounded like an Aussie almost, and I noted him because of a) his accent, and b) his talking about people having very physical reactions to music, with which I completely sympathized. Kage Baker is an author whose books I have seen but not yet actually read; Connie Willis was there, and along with Gardner Duzois at the "Give It Up Already" panel (which was on when you should just bail entirely on trying to write ;) ), she was very amusing. Apparently she's still getting regular razzing from Mr. Duzois about her longstanding crush on Harrison Ford. Phil Foglio, who was manning his table in the dealers' room and overseeing the rush of interest in the comic book Girl Genius, amused me with his badge that read "Gentleman Pornographer".
Weird personage spotted: this guy who apparently has started himself a yearly tradition of taking pictures of me at Worldcon. I have NO IDEA who he is, but he apparently knows to address me as "Anna", and this year he wanted to take pictures of me from the backside as well. He told me I looked good from any angle, for which I thanked him, but I'm still a little weirded out that this complete stranger wants to take pictures of me.
Friends in attendance: Dar and I roomed with Rod, of course, who we know from Kentucky. Jay and Cheryl, two other friends we know via Kentucky fandom, were also there. We saw Jon Singer, as well as Paul and Francie Selkirk and their kid Kylie, who had stayed over at the Murk a scant few days before the con. Dar met up with Julia, an acquaintance from the Elfinkind Digest. Discussion was had on Monday as to the number of people still actually in attendance at the con -- and we surmised that due to widespread unemployment, a lot of people couldn't afford to be there in the first place, but for those that could, there was likely not a reason to hasten off on Sunday. So on Monday it still felt to some extent like the con was still in full swing.
Weather in San Jose: hot and muggy for the most part. Bleah.
Downtown San Jose: mostly kind of dull. Well maintained, and kind of nice looking, but there were a lot of empty storefronts on the streets we wandered. The convention center was nice enough, and it was amusing to go across the crosswalk on the street out in front and hear the Walk/Don't Walk frobs beeping at one another. Thanks to the acoustics in the immediate vicinity they set up an echo. I did notice the Adobe building in walking distance of our hotel, though. And they had a Street Fair going on over the weekend in the immediate area as well, though I didn't get a chance to cruise it and see whether it was comparable to the University District Street Fair at all.
Our hotel: Kind of pretentious in some ways, in terms of what they were trying to do with the decor, but it was also kind of nice as well. Very good, comfy down mattresses on the beds, and nice deep tubs as well, very good for relaxing bubble baths and reading the gentle soothing works of H.P. Lovecraft. ;)
Food: We had one accidentally expensive dinner at a fancy grill place which turned out to be amusing mostly because the old waiter gent serving us was witty. We were horribly underdressed for the place, and the salmon was sort of dry, but Helmut was amiable and chatted with us rather nicely. Compare and contrast to Johnny Rockets, which was amusing mostly because I noticed the irony of the Extremely White-Centric Art on the walls when the place was predominantly staffed by Hispanics.
All in all: Not the best Worldcon I've ever been to, but it certainly didn't suck.
I actually went to panels for once, as I've been trying to participate more in the programming of science fiction conventions I go to, and the programming was rather entertaining. I found a decent range of panels on aspects of SF I'm actually interested in -- ranging from the use of music in SF stories, to romantic SF, to a Godzilla slide show, to "underwater" fiction (I couldn't resist a panel title like 'Spam in a Can', though I was disappointed that the panel didn't involve as much ragging on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as I'd hoped for), to a plethora of panels on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Buffy programming was particularly well-attended, and covered a number of aspects of the show -- which characters have progressed well over the seasons and which haven't, why it seems to be continually disregarded in mainstream media awards despite the generally consistent brilliance of its writing, whether the killing off of Tara fed into "dead lesbian witch" stereotypes, and the like. I noted that they were doing a showing of the Buffy Musical Episode, though I completely spazzed on it before the actual showing time rolled out. I would have been amused to see it in a crowd setting, but no big loss; I've already seen the thing several times anyway and have the soundtrack CD on order with Amazon.
Favorite panel: I really enjoyed the Alien Musicology panel, which got into talking about whether we would recognize the music of an alien species or not.
I tried to go to the filk the first night, though I'm afraid I chickened out after that, since I tried to sing the one filk I've written and unnerved myself badly. Sigh. Dar actually went to the filk more than I did, though she reports having had train wrecks trying to play too. I'm hoping this doesn't bode ill for playing at Monica's wedding.
The dealers' room was suitably large for a Worldcon, and I rarely get out of a con without buying something; this time was no exception. Bought a couple of books, including the next Jim Butcher book I was anxious to get, and a couple of Lovecraft books as well.
The Lovecraft came from Dar having borrowed one of Paul's Lovecraft anthologies, and since I'd actually never read any H.P. Lovecraft before I swiped it and read it. Liked it well enough that I wanted to read some more, so we bought some, though I was amused by Mr. Lovecraft's tendency to write about horrible, icky, squishy things that CANNOT POSSIBLY BE DESCRIBED so his characters don't even try.
Which is why I laughed my ass off when I found the Cthulu plushies in the dealers' room. They had several sizes, and I bought the smallest one, though I also laughed my ass off at the electronic toy Cthulu which said on its box "Electronic Eyes Glow With LOVE!"
Read a couple other books as well and also did a considerable amount of writing, working on roleplay logs to post to my web page, and the usual time wasted on Nethack. ;)
Although I did skip the filk for the most part I did still practice since it was needed for the upcoming playing at Monica's wedding... though I kind of missed having my big mandolin easy to hand, I had fun playing with the little one again for once and trying to pick out fingerwork passages in The Fables' "Buy Us a Drink". Also tried to play through several long flute pieces I have, though they don't work nearly so well on the piccolo.
Wound up watching the first part of the mini-series version of The Shining that they were running on the Sci-Fi channel, just because it was there, and was pleased to note that it was rather more intriguing than the movie version with Jack Nicholson. It's been a while since I've read the book so I can't say how well the mini-series holds up to the book, but there was loads more time spent setting up the family's background history, with an eye on the father's past as a recovering alcoholic and both of the parents having to deal with their son's "fits". It was also fun to see scenes at the Overlook Hotel before it actually shuts down for the winter and the main body of the story gets underway.
I wound up skipping the Masquerade, the Hugos, and the Art Show, though the latter was unintentional; I was generally so busy going to panels for once that I actually forgot to check out the Art Show except the one time that it was actually closed on Sunday. Doh. The Masquerade and the Hugos, however, I skipped on purpose, just because I had been so busy throughout the course of the day on both Saturday and Sunday that I was tired of being surrounded by people.
One evening programming event I did attend, though, was "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker", which was this Star Wars parody done as a 1940's-era radio play. It was very funny, featuring a bunch of witty impersonations of actors and actresses from the era to play the various roles from A New Hope, and Bela Lugosi as Darth Vader and Rin Tin Tin as Chewbacca alone were well worth spending the whole time watching it. Dar and I wound up buying the audio CD of the production they were selling after the show.
Dar and I are now in possession of attending memberships for the next three Worldcons, which are going to be at Toronto, Boston, and GLASGOW (HURRAY!). Nobody was surprised that Scotland won the bid for 2005, since they were running unopposed; I'll be eager to see Scotland again ten years after the first visit. I also pre-supported for Japan's bid in 2007 and Australia's bid for 2010. Dar pre-supported for L.A. in 2006, though she left her credit card in their room party; fortunately, they found the card and we were able to claim it the next day.
Notable personages spotted: Catherine Asaro was on the "Romantic Sci-Fi" panel I attended. She wrote two novels I have bought, and which I kind of liked: The Veiled Web and The Phoenix Code. Sean McMullen was a British gent on the "Alien Musicology" panel, but he sounded like an Aussie almost, and I noted him because of a) his accent, and b) his talking about people having very physical reactions to music, with which I completely sympathized. Kage Baker is an author whose books I have seen but not yet actually read; Connie Willis was there, and along with Gardner Duzois at the "Give It Up Already" panel (which was on when you should just bail entirely on trying to write ;) ), she was very amusing. Apparently she's still getting regular razzing from Mr. Duzois about her longstanding crush on Harrison Ford. Phil Foglio, who was manning his table in the dealers' room and overseeing the rush of interest in the comic book Girl Genius, amused me with his badge that read "Gentleman Pornographer".
Weird personage spotted: this guy who apparently has started himself a yearly tradition of taking pictures of me at Worldcon. I have NO IDEA who he is, but he apparently knows to address me as "Anna", and this year he wanted to take pictures of me from the backside as well. He told me I looked good from any angle, for which I thanked him, but I'm still a little weirded out that this complete stranger wants to take pictures of me.
Friends in attendance: Dar and I roomed with Rod, of course, who we know from Kentucky. Jay and Cheryl, two other friends we know via Kentucky fandom, were also there. We saw Jon Singer, as well as Paul and Francie Selkirk and their kid Kylie, who had stayed over at the Murk a scant few days before the con. Dar met up with Julia, an acquaintance from the Elfinkind Digest. Discussion was had on Monday as to the number of people still actually in attendance at the con -- and we surmised that due to widespread unemployment, a lot of people couldn't afford to be there in the first place, but for those that could, there was likely not a reason to hasten off on Sunday. So on Monday it still felt to some extent like the con was still in full swing.
Weather in San Jose: hot and muggy for the most part. Bleah.
Downtown San Jose: mostly kind of dull. Well maintained, and kind of nice looking, but there were a lot of empty storefronts on the streets we wandered. The convention center was nice enough, and it was amusing to go across the crosswalk on the street out in front and hear the Walk/Don't Walk frobs beeping at one another. Thanks to the acoustics in the immediate vicinity they set up an echo. I did notice the Adobe building in walking distance of our hotel, though. And they had a Street Fair going on over the weekend in the immediate area as well, though I didn't get a chance to cruise it and see whether it was comparable to the University District Street Fair at all.
Our hotel: Kind of pretentious in some ways, in terms of what they were trying to do with the decor, but it was also kind of nice as well. Very good, comfy down mattresses on the beds, and nice deep tubs as well, very good for relaxing bubble baths and reading the gentle soothing works of H.P. Lovecraft. ;)
Food: We had one accidentally expensive dinner at a fancy grill place which turned out to be amusing mostly because the old waiter gent serving us was witty. We were horribly underdressed for the place, and the salmon was sort of dry, but Helmut was amiable and chatted with us rather nicely. Compare and contrast to Johnny Rockets, which was amusing mostly because I noticed the irony of the Extremely White-Centric Art on the walls when the place was predominantly staffed by Hispanics.
All in all: Not the best Worldcon I've ever been to, but it certainly didn't suck.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-09-04 05:45 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-09-04 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-04 10:38 pm (UTC)There's a mailing list, btw, which Jim often reads and responds to:
http://www.iago.net/mailman/listinfo/mcanallys
He's a very cool guy. :)
Re:
Date: 2002-09-04 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-04 11:30 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-09-07 04:46 pm (UTC)Though it also makes her tell herself, "Y'know, if THEY are doing it..."
no subject
Date: 2002-09-05 12:25 am (UTC)It really is true. Everyone knows Jon Singer. Hah!
Well, almost everybody...!
Date: 2002-09-05 09:47 am (UTC)I'm jealous!
Date: 2002-09-05 07:27 am (UTC)I'm sure you'll do fine at the wedding, btw. Yes, I've performed a fair bit. Yeah, it's nerve-wracking to play for an audience and all, but the important thing to remember is that you're really there to play for your friend, so she's the only person that matters. :) And when I suggested finding someone "safe" to flirt with, I was indeed serious. :) A grandfatherly type is usually safe, because they know it's just flirting, generally. But then again, when I'm nervous and performing, I tend to flirt with every 2-legger around. *wry grin* Except kids, of course.
Oh, wait, you asked if I'd performed at a wedding before. Yes, I've been a performer (in Ren garb, woohoo!) at ... two, at least, and may be forgetting one or two. The group I was with tended to be asked to things like the May Revels, the MD Ren Faire (fun gig), and celtic festivals. It's fun!
The cutest l'il ol' Elder God you ever saw
Date: 2002-09-05 09:52 am (UTC)I don't know if the folks who were selling the Cthulus were dealers local to California or not; I'll have to check the dealers' room if I go to another Orycon. I'm fairly sure I haven't seen them at Norwescon or the Westercons I've attended up here in Seattle. The next California-based con I'm likely to attend won't be unless L.A. gets the Worldcon for 2006, though.
As for the wedding... it's less me alone I'm worried about (I've played in front of people before) than the jamming group as a GROUP... as a group we haven't played in front of people before. I'm just hoping we'll do it okay. :) But thanks for the encouragement, hon!
Re: The cutest l'il ol' Elder God you ever saw
Date: 2002-09-05 11:00 am (UTC)Ohah, I see! You're worried about a collective "choke"? That can happen to anyone. Just make sure any string players have spares for each of their strings and that nobody loses their instrument. ;) My worst was when I got to the MD Ren Faire, about 30 minutes from home, discovered I didn't have my instrument, and had to go on in 10 minutes. Augh. :)
I look forward to hearing all about the wedding! :D
Re: The cutest l'il ol' Elder God you ever saw
Date: 2002-09-07 04:45 pm (UTC)And well, we had a rehearsal last night which went pretty well; I've got musical homework to do, though. And eek, when did I start singing so much?!
Details will be posted on the wedding when I have 'em, I assure you!
no subject
Date: 2002-09-10 01:59 pm (UTC)How's work going!
Re:
Date: 2002-09-10 07:30 pm (UTC)