Kathryn A. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kerravonsen) wrote2014-06-06 10:09 pm
kerravonsen) wrote2014-06-06 10:09 pm
Entry tags:
Continuum X - Friday
Spent the morning packing, or, to be more precise, most of it was writing lists of what to pack, and then packing it.
Costume: Ravenclaw (somewhat improvised)
blue-green trousers, blue-green turtleneck; sleeveless pale green shirt with a collar, so I could wear my Ravenclaw tie - yes, those years of private school winter uniforms were useful for one thing: I still know how to tie a tie. Black waistcoat over the top. I was originally wearing a light green tracksuit-jacket over that, but the hotel is so well heated that I was too hot, so I took it off. Time turner around my neck on its new longer chain. Wand up my sleeve (but I think that damaged it, because it started wobbling later, alas)
I found the rego desk after wandering wrongly into the dealers' room. Happy known faces (Lizbee obv.) Took my con-bag up to my room to go through it, and transfer my carefully highlighted info from my printed-out version of the program to both the full program and the tiny pocket program. Though of course no program survives intact once it makes contact with reality.
Back downstairs again, asking Lizbee if I was too late to sign up for Kaffeeklasch... turned out the forms weren't there yet.
So... first panel! One that I was on, too!
I was fangirling Ambelin Kwaymullina before the panel started, because I'd managed to finish reading The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf this week and it was awesome.
The panel itself: Good governments.
Unexpected Katherine Phelps. A very well-prepared Katherine Phelps too. She was coming from a point of view of computer game design, and she had long lists of different kinds of governments and economic systems. Because government and economic systems are intertwined... though we also concluded, in the course of the discussion, that culture is also inseparable from the kind of government which forms. Ambelin had some good insights in that regard, from her own cultural background. I suggested that availability of resources also had a big impact, but Diana Evans wisely pointed out that different people have different reactions to scarcity; some grow generous, others become misers, and thus with the culture, and thus with the government. Though the other aspect of this - in regard to writing a story, one has to first decide what kind of culture/economy/government best serves the story you want to tell. Another point was, taking Anne McCaffrey as an example, that if one doesn't think about the government of your universe, what you'll get is a government you didn't think about, because there will always be bits and pieces in your story which refer to the civilization your story is set in. The last question from the audience was about what the panellists' favourite unusual (SFF) governments were. He cited the Anarchists in The Dispossessed, and I agreed with him (as I had been thinking about it earlier). Diana picked the Aztecs, because of their practice of not only embalming previous kings, but bringing them out and consulting them. Ambelin said she liked stories where you had disparate cultures working together, whether that be humans and aliens or humans and humans. Katherine said she liked Chimpanzees because they solved all disputes with sex.
(Post-panel thought: it's funny how so many utopias have people who are the best they can be, while dystopias have the worst aspects of human nature ascendant. I mean, one could argue that the only reason why any given utopia is Utopian is because it is populated by good people, not because of the system that is around them.)
After the panel I wandered around a bit, managed to sign up for the Kaffeeklasch, sat down and read bit from the con book, and then caught the last ten minutes of the Stage Combat workshop.
We Do This Stuff So You Can Write About It started a little bit late, but it was, as expected, interesting. The panellists scattered about the room so that people could talk to them individually. I ended up talking to two people; one about being a lab technician, and the other about glass-craft. Most people seemed to be listening to Gillian Polack, though I don't know which of the interesting aspects of herself she was actually talking about.
I was quite hungry by this time, so I went up to my room to regroup and figure out where I was going to eat, or whether I would just get room service. I ended up going to one of the hotel restaurants, because I wanted to see what it was like. Well, it was nice, but more high-end than I'm used to. However, I hadn't finished by the time of the opening ceremony, so I didn't go to it.
After I'd finished, I retreated to my room and wrote this.
on to Saturday
on to Sunday
on to Monday
Costume: Ravenclaw (somewhat improvised)
blue-green trousers, blue-green turtleneck; sleeveless pale green shirt with a collar, so I could wear my Ravenclaw tie - yes, those years of private school winter uniforms were useful for one thing: I still know how to tie a tie. Black waistcoat over the top. I was originally wearing a light green tracksuit-jacket over that, but the hotel is so well heated that I was too hot, so I took it off. Time turner around my neck on its new longer chain. Wand up my sleeve (but I think that damaged it, because it started wobbling later, alas)
I found the rego desk after wandering wrongly into the dealers' room. Happy known faces (Lizbee obv.) Took my con-bag up to my room to go through it, and transfer my carefully highlighted info from my printed-out version of the program to both the full program and the tiny pocket program. Though of course no program survives intact once it makes contact with reality.
Back downstairs again, asking Lizbee if I was too late to sign up for Kaffeeklasch... turned out the forms weren't there yet.
So... first panel! One that I was on, too!
I was fangirling Ambelin Kwaymullina before the panel started, because I'd managed to finish reading The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf this week and it was awesome.
The panel itself: Good governments.
Unexpected Katherine Phelps. A very well-prepared Katherine Phelps too. She was coming from a point of view of computer game design, and she had long lists of different kinds of governments and economic systems. Because government and economic systems are intertwined... though we also concluded, in the course of the discussion, that culture is also inseparable from the kind of government which forms. Ambelin had some good insights in that regard, from her own cultural background. I suggested that availability of resources also had a big impact, but Diana Evans wisely pointed out that different people have different reactions to scarcity; some grow generous, others become misers, and thus with the culture, and thus with the government. Though the other aspect of this - in regard to writing a story, one has to first decide what kind of culture/economy/government best serves the story you want to tell. Another point was, taking Anne McCaffrey as an example, that if one doesn't think about the government of your universe, what you'll get is a government you didn't think about, because there will always be bits and pieces in your story which refer to the civilization your story is set in. The last question from the audience was about what the panellists' favourite unusual (SFF) governments were. He cited the Anarchists in The Dispossessed, and I agreed with him (as I had been thinking about it earlier). Diana picked the Aztecs, because of their practice of not only embalming previous kings, but bringing them out and consulting them. Ambelin said she liked stories where you had disparate cultures working together, whether that be humans and aliens or humans and humans. Katherine said she liked Chimpanzees because they solved all disputes with sex.
(Post-panel thought: it's funny how so many utopias have people who are the best they can be, while dystopias have the worst aspects of human nature ascendant. I mean, one could argue that the only reason why any given utopia is Utopian is because it is populated by good people, not because of the system that is around them.)
After the panel I wandered around a bit, managed to sign up for the Kaffeeklasch, sat down and read bit from the con book, and then caught the last ten minutes of the Stage Combat workshop.
We Do This Stuff So You Can Write About It started a little bit late, but it was, as expected, interesting. The panellists scattered about the room so that people could talk to them individually. I ended up talking to two people; one about being a lab technician, and the other about glass-craft. Most people seemed to be listening to Gillian Polack, though I don't know which of the interesting aspects of herself she was actually talking about.
I was quite hungry by this time, so I went up to my room to regroup and figure out where I was going to eat, or whether I would just get room service. I ended up going to one of the hotel restaurants, because I wanted to see what it was like. Well, it was nice, but more high-end than I'm used to. However, I hadn't finished by the time of the opening ceremony, so I didn't go to it.
After I'd finished, I retreated to my room and wrote this.
on to Saturday
on to Sunday
on to Monday
no subject
He cited the Anarchists in The Dispossessed, and I agreed with him
"You can share the handkerchief I use."
no subject
no subject
no subject