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fangrrl_squeesIf you just want to see the (few) pix I took, go here.
My personal favorites are this one - I don't know what Lisa Bowerman, India Fisher and Laura Doddington are talking about, but they look like they're up to no good - and this one - although I'm damned if I can remember what had just been said that was so funny. Probably something about the catering at Big Finish.
I might as well tackle the event in somewhat chronological order.
The Thursday evening social was low-key but worth it for no other reason than Lis Sladen's fabulous ensemble which, unfortunately, rather defies accurate description. She looked smashing, though, if a bit frazzled from the flight.
Friday-ish:
No-one threw anything at me at The Ethics of Downloading for which I'm glad, and, whilst no-one jumped up with a promise to never steal content again, I sensed a distinct wave of guilty unease when, in response to a comment along the lines of "But I can't afford to buy the content legitimately!" I rather snappishly pointed out that I can't afford a Mercedes, either, but that doesn't mean it's okay for me to go steal it. Some consciences were definitely rumbling, even whilst I conceded that, no, of course content-theft is never going to stop and it's the rules of content ownership and distribution that are going to change, not the habits of most consumers.
A panel about Benny Summerfield at 15 - Lisa Bowerman, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Paul Cornell and Simon Guerrier, I believe - was pleasant enough although most of my knowledge of the character derives from wikipedia and a handful of NAs. I really like the character, though - hence my gpoing to the panel. It sounds like I really need to buy a copy of Oh No It Isn't, asap.
Lunch, and then the Big Finish panel, which featured some clips from the upcoming Key to Time series featuring the Fifth Doctor. I'm intrigued by the notion of BF taking on the Key to Time but I'd be lying if I said the trailers made me want to rush out and pre-order the disks. The previews sounded... alright. A bit histrionic but, then again, it's not like the Key to Time is a subtle, multi-layered plot mcguffin...
Then I did the Masquerade 101 panel which, I think, went over really well. I must remember to include a section on documentation in the notes, though. Still, there were about a dozen masque-neophytes in attendance and they seemed to be happy with what the panelists had to say. We were thanked for, in particular, bringing up green room etiquette and the notion that one shouldn't be a "ringer" when competing.
I felt bad that Paul Cornell was scheduled against Lis Sladen's first appearance of the weekend, but not so bad that I, er, attended his panel. *blush* Lis is great fun to watch and, I couldn't help noticing, an absolute master at not answering questions she doesn't want to answer - but oh so deftly and politely that you don't realize she's dodged the point until long after she's moved on to the next question.
Opening ceremonies was the usual woot-fest, and I skipped the evening game-show-event-thingie in favor of socialzing in the lobby.
Saturday-ish:
The Writing for Different Meda panel was interesting, although with a gang like Rob Shearman, Paul Cornell, Simon Gurrier and Gary Russel (especially Gary Russel) the gang were off topic more often than they were on it. Space-pirate badgers, forsooth...
The Women of Big Finish panel was a laugh-riot and v. interesting to hear them talk about the fun and challenge of audio acting.
Roleplaying in the DW Verse had a much bigger turnout than I expected - about 20 of us, or so - and it was a great roundtable. I occasionally had to wield a mallet to stay vaguely on topic, and I was guilty of going off on a tangent or two, myself. Still, I think that everyone who attended learned something new and enjoyed the time.
Fanfic Support Group was much lower-key and I really should have prepared something. As it was, it was a dozen of us cheerfully talking about what fanfic means to us and how we cope with the compulsion. One newcomer had literally just that weekend discovered the existence of fanfic, so she got a very thorough introduction into the perils and possibilities of ditto - great fun! Still, I don't think I'll offer such a panel up, again, as it was a bit too scattershot.
Chaos almost reigned at the masquerade meeting - no great surprise - but everything got sorted out in the end.
Cosplay 101 was another sparsely attended panel, but we got some good dialog going about the difference between wearing a costume and roleplaying a character and also gave a fair bit of general advice for fledgling costumers. Again, low-key but I think the attendees got something out of it.
(Saturday was my panel-death-march-day, can you tell?)
Then it was off to the green room for the masquerade.
The masquerade was, in a word, pretty darn awesome. There was a much bigger turnout than last year, and some great entries. In fact, there were only two clangers in the lot, really. A lot of the participants had timing issues - either they zoomed across the stage, not giving the audience much of a chance to see their costumes - or they stayed on just a bit too long. Timing a presentation is a tricky thing, forsooth, but there were lots of great costumes. I really wish I hadn't lost my notes with everyone's names, darnit. Suffice it to say that I would have given practically everyone some kind of award, if I thought it wouldn't have looked a bit funny, but almost all of the participants deserved something. And I should mention that the actual judging went very smoothly. As per most of my past experiences, despite my saying "I'm a workmanship judge, not a presentation judge", I was allowed to stick around for the presentation discussion and, indeed, threw a few cents in here and there. Fortunately, the decision-making was v. easy - none of those hair-splitting, agonizing decisions that judges fear - and I had a blast, throughout. Best judging experience yet, I'd say.
EDIT: I have since learned that the winner for workmanship in the novice category is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
violet_lane. She did a great job and I bet she hopes she'll never have to sew another sequin as long as she lives...
I made a point of being available to the participants for further chat about their costume - I'd been warned that a couple of competitors who didn't win an award had a history of complaining at the masquerade director and I wanted to deal with them, myself - but the only folks keen on chatting were folks who were happy about how the decisions had gone. I particularly enjoyed the chat I had with one person who's got up-and-comer stamped all over her. I hope that the recognition she got (a workmanship award from me and a judge's choice award for presentation) will encourage her, as I think she could go far...
Good lord, I almost forgot to mention my costume. I'm still hunting for some pix I like enough to share (I've received a couple, but I think the focus on the person's camera was off) but I doubt I'll have to wait too long as the Androids of Tara rig went over like gangbusters. For once, I was actually pretty happy with how I looked in the costume - the Big Purple Bathrobe fears were generally unfounded - and the rig was quite the hit with the other attendees. As I say, I'm still looking for pix, but as I think I posed for about 80 photos, I'm sure I'll find a keeper on the online communities sooner or later...
And then, there was a lot of wine. Wine and a guy who attached himself to me like a limpet and who I cheerfully tolerated - he was saying some rather nice things to me - until he crossed the line from flattery to creepy and several other women commented that he had made them uncomfortable, too. At that point, I did something I don't do nearly often enough and politely - but firmly - told him that he needed to chill out, stop pushing and generally not try so hard to be makin' it with the ladies. Honestly, I really think he was okay until he'd had that one drink (or four or five) too many and started ignoring people's personal space. Luvs, when you piss me off, you've probably already alienated every other woman at the con. I felt a bit guilty about that but, as folks told me the next day, if I apologized to him, he'd probably revert back to the bad behavior. The fellow is, apparently, infamous for going just that bit too far when chatting ladies up. Oh dear.
Indeed, it seemed that the entire het-male contingent of the convention wanted to be my knight-in-shining armor. All Sunday morning it was "If anyone bothers you tonight, you just tell me and I'll step in." - at which point, I surprised myself for the second time that weekend and said (not too acidly, I hope) that, in general, I don't need to be rescued by a man, thank you very much, even if I do understand that you mean well, sweetie. Perhaps it was because only the men made offers of rescue. The women just grinned, rolled their eyes and commiserated.
Sunday-ish
The Sunday brunch was nice in that I had a lovely chinwag with India Fisher. As I've said, all the stories about her being a fine person to knock back a few cups of coffee with seem to be well-justified. The food itself? So not worth the money. No fresh fruit, no toast/bagels, and generally a rather meager selection of items, throughout. I still did my best to store up a few calories, though, as it was only that and Fran's Cafe (the don't-call-it-con-suite) that kept me going over the weekend.
No-one showed up to the Notes From The Virtual Trenches panel, so it instead became whatrenn called the Secret Masters of the Universe panel and I'm just flattered that she didn't add "...well, except Johanna, of course". As a person who loves knowing behind-the-scenes type things, simply listening to the chairman of Gallifrey One hash out logstical details with Jason Haigh-Ellery was a fine way to spend an hour. I think that renn, meanwhile, just appreciated taking a break from the aaaaaah!! that is her life at the con.
More Elisabeth Sladen in the afternoon - jolly good fun. I really liked watching her interact with the young fans, she's patient and kind and it was just lovely.
Then there was some autograph hunting, some wistful wandering around the dealers' room. I bought a small toy Dalek more because the box promised menacing Dalek motion (as opposed to the more-usual Dalek motion, or something) and a plushie Wall-E for myself and one for my roommate. I was everso excited to see that the BBC have licensed a better-scaled metal-case version of the pocket watch from Human Nature, only to learn that it's a) $125 and b) a bit crap. The detailing on the case is bland - although that can be fixed with a bit of antiquing wax or something - and the watch face is quite different than the original prop's. It's shining silver, rather than white enamel, and the latch is pretty much guaranteed to break sooner rather than later. Yay for a licensed item, boo for it not being a very good replica. Haven't the guys behind the licensing figured out how detail obsessed the fandom can be?
Oh! I almost forgot: I had a really great conversation with Jonathon Blum. It wasn't about anything terribly important - just life stuff, but it was a good conversation of the sort that leaves you wanting to stay in touch with the person. Why do I keep meeting great people who live at least four time zones away?
The closing ceremonies and post-con socialzing were, again, rather low key - much quieter than last time, although my general sobriety might have had something to do with that. ;)bunyip came out to the hotel for a visit and that was lovely beyond words. Now, if I can just get him to go to Gallifrey...
I know it doesn't sound like I did much, but my feet barely touched the ground the entire time and I've made a few new friends - I hope!
Now I start the countdown to Gallifrey One. Eeee!
My personal favorites are this one - I don't know what Lisa Bowerman, India Fisher and Laura Doddington are talking about, but they look like they're up to no good - and this one - although I'm damned if I can remember what had just been said that was so funny. Probably something about the catering at Big Finish.
I might as well tackle the event in somewhat chronological order.
The Thursday evening social was low-key but worth it for no other reason than Lis Sladen's fabulous ensemble which, unfortunately, rather defies accurate description. She looked smashing, though, if a bit frazzled from the flight.
Friday-ish:
No-one threw anything at me at The Ethics of Downloading for which I'm glad, and, whilst no-one jumped up with a promise to never steal content again, I sensed a distinct wave of guilty unease when, in response to a comment along the lines of "But I can't afford to buy the content legitimately!" I rather snappishly pointed out that I can't afford a Mercedes, either, but that doesn't mean it's okay for me to go steal it. Some consciences were definitely rumbling, even whilst I conceded that, no, of course content-theft is never going to stop and it's the rules of content ownership and distribution that are going to change, not the habits of most consumers.
A panel about Benny Summerfield at 15 - Lisa Bowerman, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Paul Cornell and Simon Guerrier, I believe - was pleasant enough although most of my knowledge of the character derives from wikipedia and a handful of NAs. I really like the character, though - hence my gpoing to the panel. It sounds like I really need to buy a copy of Oh No It Isn't, asap.
Lunch, and then the Big Finish panel, which featured some clips from the upcoming Key to Time series featuring the Fifth Doctor. I'm intrigued by the notion of BF taking on the Key to Time but I'd be lying if I said the trailers made me want to rush out and pre-order the disks. The previews sounded... alright. A bit histrionic but, then again, it's not like the Key to Time is a subtle, multi-layered plot mcguffin...
Then I did the Masquerade 101 panel which, I think, went over really well. I must remember to include a section on documentation in the notes, though. Still, there were about a dozen masque-neophytes in attendance and they seemed to be happy with what the panelists had to say. We were thanked for, in particular, bringing up green room etiquette and the notion that one shouldn't be a "ringer" when competing.
I felt bad that Paul Cornell was scheduled against Lis Sladen's first appearance of the weekend, but not so bad that I, er, attended his panel. *blush* Lis is great fun to watch and, I couldn't help noticing, an absolute master at not answering questions she doesn't want to answer - but oh so deftly and politely that you don't realize she's dodged the point until long after she's moved on to the next question.
Opening ceremonies was the usual woot-fest, and I skipped the evening game-show-event-thingie in favor of socialzing in the lobby.
Saturday-ish:
The Writing for Different Meda panel was interesting, although with a gang like Rob Shearman, Paul Cornell, Simon Gurrier and Gary Russel (especially Gary Russel) the gang were off topic more often than they were on it. Space-pirate badgers, forsooth...
The Women of Big Finish panel was a laugh-riot and v. interesting to hear them talk about the fun and challenge of audio acting.
Roleplaying in the DW Verse had a much bigger turnout than I expected - about 20 of us, or so - and it was a great roundtable. I occasionally had to wield a mallet to stay vaguely on topic, and I was guilty of going off on a tangent or two, myself. Still, I think that everyone who attended learned something new and enjoyed the time.
Fanfic Support Group was much lower-key and I really should have prepared something. As it was, it was a dozen of us cheerfully talking about what fanfic means to us and how we cope with the compulsion. One newcomer had literally just that weekend discovered the existence of fanfic, so she got a very thorough introduction into the perils and possibilities of ditto - great fun! Still, I don't think I'll offer such a panel up, again, as it was a bit too scattershot.
Chaos almost reigned at the masquerade meeting - no great surprise - but everything got sorted out in the end.
Cosplay 101 was another sparsely attended panel, but we got some good dialog going about the difference between wearing a costume and roleplaying a character and also gave a fair bit of general advice for fledgling costumers. Again, low-key but I think the attendees got something out of it.
(Saturday was my panel-death-march-day, can you tell?)
Then it was off to the green room for the masquerade.
The masquerade was, in a word, pretty darn awesome. There was a much bigger turnout than last year, and some great entries. In fact, there were only two clangers in the lot, really. A lot of the participants had timing issues - either they zoomed across the stage, not giving the audience much of a chance to see their costumes - or they stayed on just a bit too long. Timing a presentation is a tricky thing, forsooth, but there were lots of great costumes. I really wish I hadn't lost my notes with everyone's names, darnit. Suffice it to say that I would have given practically everyone some kind of award, if I thought it wouldn't have looked a bit funny, but almost all of the participants deserved something. And I should mention that the actual judging went very smoothly. As per most of my past experiences, despite my saying "I'm a workmanship judge, not a presentation judge", I was allowed to stick around for the presentation discussion and, indeed, threw a few cents in here and there. Fortunately, the decision-making was v. easy - none of those hair-splitting, agonizing decisions that judges fear - and I had a blast, throughout. Best judging experience yet, I'd say.
EDIT: I have since learned that the winner for workmanship in the novice category is
violet_lane. She did a great job and I bet she hopes she'll never have to sew another sequin as long as she lives...I made a point of being available to the participants for further chat about their costume - I'd been warned that a couple of competitors who didn't win an award had a history of complaining at the masquerade director and I wanted to deal with them, myself - but the only folks keen on chatting were folks who were happy about how the decisions had gone. I particularly enjoyed the chat I had with one person who's got up-and-comer stamped all over her. I hope that the recognition she got (a workmanship award from me and a judge's choice award for presentation) will encourage her, as I think she could go far...
Good lord, I almost forgot to mention my costume. I'm still hunting for some pix I like enough to share (I've received a couple, but I think the focus on the person's camera was off) but I doubt I'll have to wait too long as the Androids of Tara rig went over like gangbusters. For once, I was actually pretty happy with how I looked in the costume - the Big Purple Bathrobe fears were generally unfounded - and the rig was quite the hit with the other attendees. As I say, I'm still looking for pix, but as I think I posed for about 80 photos, I'm sure I'll find a keeper on the online communities sooner or later...
And then, there was a lot of wine. Wine and a guy who attached himself to me like a limpet and who I cheerfully tolerated - he was saying some rather nice things to me - until he crossed the line from flattery to creepy and several other women commented that he had made them uncomfortable, too. At that point, I did something I don't do nearly often enough and politely - but firmly - told him that he needed to chill out, stop pushing and generally not try so hard to be makin' it with the ladies. Honestly, I really think he was okay until he'd had that one drink (or four or five) too many and started ignoring people's personal space. Luvs, when you piss me off, you've probably already alienated every other woman at the con. I felt a bit guilty about that but, as folks told me the next day, if I apologized to him, he'd probably revert back to the bad behavior. The fellow is, apparently, infamous for going just that bit too far when chatting ladies up. Oh dear.
Indeed, it seemed that the entire het-male contingent of the convention wanted to be my knight-in-shining armor. All Sunday morning it was "If anyone bothers you tonight, you just tell me and I'll step in." - at which point, I surprised myself for the second time that weekend and said (not too acidly, I hope) that, in general, I don't need to be rescued by a man, thank you very much, even if I do understand that you mean well, sweetie. Perhaps it was because only the men made offers of rescue. The women just grinned, rolled their eyes and commiserated.
Sunday-ish
The Sunday brunch was nice in that I had a lovely chinwag with India Fisher. As I've said, all the stories about her being a fine person to knock back a few cups of coffee with seem to be well-justified. The food itself? So not worth the money. No fresh fruit, no toast/bagels, and generally a rather meager selection of items, throughout. I still did my best to store up a few calories, though, as it was only that and Fran's Cafe (the don't-call-it-con-suite) that kept me going over the weekend.
No-one showed up to the Notes From The Virtual Trenches panel, so it instead became what
renn called the Secret Masters of the Universe panel and I'm just flattered that she didn't add "...well, except Johanna, of course". As a person who loves knowing behind-the-scenes type things, simply listening to the chairman of Gallifrey One hash out logstical details with Jason Haigh-Ellery was a fine way to spend an hour. I think that renn, meanwhile, just appreciated taking a break from the aaaaaah!! that is her life at the con.More Elisabeth Sladen in the afternoon - jolly good fun. I really liked watching her interact with the young fans, she's patient and kind and it was just lovely.
Then there was some autograph hunting, some wistful wandering around the dealers' room. I bought a small toy Dalek more because the box promised menacing Dalek motion (as opposed to the more-usual Dalek motion, or something) and a plushie Wall-E for myself and one for my roommate. I was everso excited to see that the BBC have licensed a better-scaled metal-case version of the pocket watch from Human Nature, only to learn that it's a) $125 and b) a bit crap. The detailing on the case is bland - although that can be fixed with a bit of antiquing wax or something - and the watch face is quite different than the original prop's. It's shining silver, rather than white enamel, and the latch is pretty much guaranteed to break sooner rather than later. Yay for a licensed item, boo for it not being a very good replica. Haven't the guys behind the licensing figured out how detail obsessed the fandom can be?
Oh! I almost forgot: I had a really great conversation with Jonathon Blum. It wasn't about anything terribly important - just life stuff, but it was a good conversation of the sort that leaves you wanting to stay in touch with the person. Why do I keep meeting great people who live at least four time zones away?
The closing ceremonies and post-con socialzing were, again, rather low key - much quieter than last time, although my general sobriety might have had something to do with that. ;)
bunyip came out to the hotel for a visit and that was lovely beyond words. Now, if I can just get him to go to Gallifrey...I know it doesn't sound like I did much, but my feet barely touched the ground the entire time and I've made a few new friends - I hope!
Now I start the countdown to Gallifrey One. Eeee!
