WorldCon 2010 Day 4
Sep. 5th, 2010 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenThis morning, I looked out my hotel window at the tangle of roads below, and I was reminded of what Henry Ford allegedly said: "You can have any colour you like, so long as it's black." Look how far we've come, so many years later! You can have any colour you like, so long as it's black, white, silver, red or blue. Or yellow if you're a taxi. I did spot one green car, but that was out of a lot of cars.
I may have arrived at the convention centre later, but I feel as if I did more things, particularly in the afternoon.
10:30am: fan lounge, surf and post stuff. Discover that, probably due to the storms, my home system is down; at least, I can't ssh in, and the website is not up. Oh well, can't fix it until I get home in a couple of days.
11am: Reading, Jean Johnson
I had bumped into this lady twice earlier in the convention, and both times she was very friendly, so I decided to check out her work by going to her reading. I was a little late, because I couldn't find the room, but I don't think I missed much. Military SF, but the twist is this: not only does the heroine come from a heavy-world planet (which means that the sergeants are extra hard on her, because they want her to reach her limits) but she has a psi power for seeing potential futures (which isn't that reliable, but can be overwhelming at the wrong time). And I gathered that she was driven to join the Forces because of a vision of disaster which she wanted to prevent. So that gives this a little more interest to me than just a war-and-boot-camp sort of story. The book comes out next year, so I hope I remember to check it out when the time comes.
11:30am: Reading, Jenny Blackford
I stayed in the room for the next person, who disclaimed that her work couldn't be more different than the previous one, since it was a historical novel set in ancient Greece. Well, I'm not averse to historical novels set in ancient Greece, so I stayed. Unfortunately, she was no Gillian Bradshaw; her prose didn't sing, and her characters didn't grab me. It didn't help that the author felt she had to stop and explain things while she was reading, rather than let the text stand for itself. Not the sign of a good writer, sorry.
12 noon: fan lounge, nibbly lunch (dried fruit, beef jerkey, water) More surfing.
1pm: Fantasy Before Fantasy, Science Fiction Before Science Fiction
(Ben Chandler, Rani Graff, Helen Lowe, Carol Ryles)
This panel wandered all over the place, but I didn't feel as if I learned anything new. Some of the things that some of the panellists said irritated me ("Christianity is myth" even though BC apologised before he said it), some were just re-treading old ground, and of course there was a bit of a disagreement about what was the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy anyway, and whether anything could really be called "Science Fiction" that was written before the term was invented in the 1930s by Hugo Gernsback.
2pm: Mission to "Mars", David D. Levine
Now THIS was interesting. I think I should have gone to the panel before this one in the same room also, since it was about Mars and probably would have been more interesting than the Fantasy Before Fantasy panel.
The speaker had gone on a Mars Mission Simulation in Utah (Mission #88) as "crew journalist", and it was fascinating (lots of pictures) and, er, I really can't encapsulate the talk very well.
* water, water, water
* if it is broken, fix it yourself, because nobody is going to fix it for you
* never throw anything away, even if it is broken, because you never know what might come in handy, and you can only use what you've got right there
* space suits are really annoying to work in
* shared adversity builds comradeship
* the landscape is beautiful
3pm: We Are All Fairy Tales: Doctor Who's Fifth Season
(Rani Graff, Narelle M. Harris, George Ivanoff, Kathryn Sullivan)
This was a rambling but entertaining fannish discussion full of personalities and opinions, particularly Narelle Harris and George Ivonoff. They didn't touch on the "We Are All Fairy Tales" bit, unfortunately, but more of a "What I liked and what I hated about the fifth season", and the inevitable comparisons between the Rusty era and the Moffat era. Everyone on the panel agreed that the Vincent episode was the best one of the season. Narelle declared that if she were Amy and she'd been shown the wonders of the universe, she'd probably want to kiss the Doctor too, but that she was also glad that Eleven is more asexual and not attracted to his companions, because "that would devalue(*) his love for Rose". This immediately made me think of
lizbee and how she would laugh at that remark.(**)
George Ivanoff remarked that both Rusty and Moffat seemed to be following the "George Lucas" school of writing - make everything bigger and louder and more epic, at least with the season finales. First you have the Daleks. Then you have the Daleks and the Cybermen. Then you have the Master. Then you have Davros destroying the whole of the multiverse! Then you have the Destruction Of Time Itself! And then Moffat destroyed the universe again. Narelle piped up and said that she wished that the next season finale would come right back down in scale, such as the Doctor being yelled at by someone's mum. George pointed out that that had been done already, and Narelle countered that she'd like them to bring it back.
As I said, very fannish, nothing particularly enlightening, but fun all the same.
(*) The word wasn't actually "devalue" but I can't remember what the exact word was.
(**) And I discovered later that Lizbee actually had been there, and had snorted at that remark.
4pm: Where Do Elves Come From?
(Jeanette Auer, Dave Freer, Duncan Lay, Rose-Marie Lillian, Linda Taglieri)
This one was mildly interesting, though they did wander from the topic a bit. Celtic myth, Norse myth, and did you know that premature babies can have pointed ears? Hence one possible explanation for the Changeling myth. Are elves an expression of the Other? Of our own Xenophobia? Of our desire for immortality? Has the Judeo-Christian idea of Good and Evil changed our portrayal of Elves? Are Elves and Faeries the same thing? A lot of these questions were answered yes, no and maybe.
5pm: Boxcutters Presents: Writing Doctor Who
(Paul Cornell, Rob Shearman, John Richards and second Boxcutter person whose name was not on the programme)
This was awesomely fun.
"Everyone went to my wedding." (PC)
"I kept on expecting them to tell me that they really wanted someone else." (RS)
"So, of course, you have to keep on killing your babies, so we'd take out all the old-school continuity references."
"And then Rusty would put them back in again."
"He kept on resurrecting our dead babies."
"So Rusty ended up with an army of zombie babies."
You had to be there.
Then, as I was walking towards the door after the item had finished, who should I spot but Lizbee! So there were hugs and talking and introductions (Kathryn, meet Caitlin, Caitlin, meet Kathryn). Lizbee had to go, though, as she was going back home rather than staying in a hotel. Hopefully I will see her tomorrow.
6pm:
Dumped stuff in hotel room.
Went to food court for dinner. I think I saw Lizbee walking past with someone else, but it might not have been her.
Back to hotel room.
Wrote this.
I deliberately didn't go to the Hugos because I got the impression they would go late, and I didn't want to be trapped there that late.
I may have arrived at the convention centre later, but I feel as if I did more things, particularly in the afternoon.
10:30am: fan lounge, surf and post stuff. Discover that, probably due to the storms, my home system is down; at least, I can't ssh in, and the website is not up. Oh well, can't fix it until I get home in a couple of days.
11am: Reading, Jean Johnson
I had bumped into this lady twice earlier in the convention, and both times she was very friendly, so I decided to check out her work by going to her reading. I was a little late, because I couldn't find the room, but I don't think I missed much. Military SF, but the twist is this: not only does the heroine come from a heavy-world planet (which means that the sergeants are extra hard on her, because they want her to reach her limits) but she has a psi power for seeing potential futures (which isn't that reliable, but can be overwhelming at the wrong time). And I gathered that she was driven to join the Forces because of a vision of disaster which she wanted to prevent. So that gives this a little more interest to me than just a war-and-boot-camp sort of story. The book comes out next year, so I hope I remember to check it out when the time comes.
11:30am: Reading, Jenny Blackford
I stayed in the room for the next person, who disclaimed that her work couldn't be more different than the previous one, since it was a historical novel set in ancient Greece. Well, I'm not averse to historical novels set in ancient Greece, so I stayed. Unfortunately, she was no Gillian Bradshaw; her prose didn't sing, and her characters didn't grab me. It didn't help that the author felt she had to stop and explain things while she was reading, rather than let the text stand for itself. Not the sign of a good writer, sorry.
12 noon: fan lounge, nibbly lunch (dried fruit, beef jerkey, water) More surfing.
1pm: Fantasy Before Fantasy, Science Fiction Before Science Fiction
(Ben Chandler, Rani Graff, Helen Lowe, Carol Ryles)
This panel wandered all over the place, but I didn't feel as if I learned anything new. Some of the things that some of the panellists said irritated me ("Christianity is myth" even though BC apologised before he said it), some were just re-treading old ground, and of course there was a bit of a disagreement about what was the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy anyway, and whether anything could really be called "Science Fiction" that was written before the term was invented in the 1930s by Hugo Gernsback.
2pm: Mission to "Mars", David D. Levine
Now THIS was interesting. I think I should have gone to the panel before this one in the same room also, since it was about Mars and probably would have been more interesting than the Fantasy Before Fantasy panel.
The speaker had gone on a Mars Mission Simulation in Utah (Mission #88) as "crew journalist", and it was fascinating (lots of pictures) and, er, I really can't encapsulate the talk very well.
* water, water, water
* if it is broken, fix it yourself, because nobody is going to fix it for you
* never throw anything away, even if it is broken, because you never know what might come in handy, and you can only use what you've got right there
* space suits are really annoying to work in
* shared adversity builds comradeship
* the landscape is beautiful
3pm: We Are All Fairy Tales: Doctor Who's Fifth Season
(Rani Graff, Narelle M. Harris, George Ivanoff, Kathryn Sullivan)
This was a rambling but entertaining fannish discussion full of personalities and opinions, particularly Narelle Harris and George Ivonoff. They didn't touch on the "We Are All Fairy Tales" bit, unfortunately, but more of a "What I liked and what I hated about the fifth season", and the inevitable comparisons between the Rusty era and the Moffat era. Everyone on the panel agreed that the Vincent episode was the best one of the season. Narelle declared that if she were Amy and she'd been shown the wonders of the universe, she'd probably want to kiss the Doctor too, but that she was also glad that Eleven is more asexual and not attracted to his companions, because "that would devalue(*) his love for Rose". This immediately made me think of
lizbee and how she would laugh at that remark.(**)George Ivanoff remarked that both Rusty and Moffat seemed to be following the "George Lucas" school of writing - make everything bigger and louder and more epic, at least with the season finales. First you have the Daleks. Then you have the Daleks and the Cybermen. Then you have the Master. Then you have Davros destroying the whole of the multiverse! Then you have the Destruction Of Time Itself! And then Moffat destroyed the universe again. Narelle piped up and said that she wished that the next season finale would come right back down in scale, such as the Doctor being yelled at by someone's mum. George pointed out that that had been done already, and Narelle countered that she'd like them to bring it back.
As I said, very fannish, nothing particularly enlightening, but fun all the same.
(*) The word wasn't actually "devalue" but I can't remember what the exact word was.
(**) And I discovered later that Lizbee actually had been there, and had snorted at that remark.
4pm: Where Do Elves Come From?
(Jeanette Auer, Dave Freer, Duncan Lay, Rose-Marie Lillian, Linda Taglieri)
This one was mildly interesting, though they did wander from the topic a bit. Celtic myth, Norse myth, and did you know that premature babies can have pointed ears? Hence one possible explanation for the Changeling myth. Are elves an expression of the Other? Of our own Xenophobia? Of our desire for immortality? Has the Judeo-Christian idea of Good and Evil changed our portrayal of Elves? Are Elves and Faeries the same thing? A lot of these questions were answered yes, no and maybe.
5pm: Boxcutters Presents: Writing Doctor Who
(Paul Cornell, Rob Shearman, John Richards and second Boxcutter person whose name was not on the programme)
This was awesomely fun.
"Everyone went to my wedding." (PC)
"I kept on expecting them to tell me that they really wanted someone else." (RS)
"So, of course, you have to keep on killing your babies, so we'd take out all the old-school continuity references."
"And then Rusty would put them back in again."
"He kept on resurrecting our dead babies."
"So Rusty ended up with an army of zombie babies."
You had to be there.
Then, as I was walking towards the door after the item had finished, who should I spot but Lizbee! So there were hugs and talking and introductions (Kathryn, meet Caitlin, Caitlin, meet Kathryn). Lizbee had to go, though, as she was going back home rather than staying in a hotel. Hopefully I will see her tomorrow.
6pm:
Dumped stuff in hotel room.
Went to food court for dinner. I think I saw Lizbee walking past with someone else, but it might not have been her.
Back to hotel room.
Wrote this.
I deliberately didn't go to the Hugos because I got the impression they would go late, and I didn't want to be trapped there that late.
