I am the Kat that Walks By Itself

Belated convention report for Continuum 11, which took place over the Queen's Birthday weekend. Possibly not as detailed as reports I have done previously. We shall see.

( Friday 5th June 2015 )
( Saturday 6th June 2015 )
( Sunday 7th June 2015 )
( Monday 8th June 2015 )
( Collected Recs )

This report is delayed because I was so tired that when I got home on Tuesday morning, I slept most of the day. I'm starting to wonder if it might actually be better for me, in future, NOT to stay at the convention hotel, but get a taxi in and out each day. Even though taxis are not cheap, it would be still be cheaper than a hotel, and I would sleep better. Sleep better? Yes, because I was just glancing at my old Continuum 9 report, and I slept badly on that occasion too. So it isn't just a one-off thing; hotels just seem to be too hot for me in winter. On the other hand, I would have to carry everything with me and have nowhere to retreat to. Contrariwise, while I would have to carry everything for a day with me, I wouldn't have to pack stuff for four days. Hmmmm.

Costume: the costume without a name
I'm not sure what category this falls into; something non-mundane at least. Black-and-white poly-satin pseudo-Japanese top; black pants; clockwork sandals; chainmaille headdress. Later on, I exchanged the headdress for two plaits, one with my chainmaille hair-chain, and the other with a doubled-over non-clasp necklace (that is, a long string of beads which is intended to dangle or be tied in a knot). Also, ear-cuffs, but I ended up taking them off because they were a bit uncomfortable.
( Panels and stuff )
( Further Thoughts on the Fake Geek Pride Panel )
back to Sunday

A very restless sleep in the hotel. Despite my setting the thermostat to 18C, I was still too hot, and kept on waking up overheated. Had nightmares about sleeping in and missing the Kaffeklasch. Problem is, the curtains in the hotel room are so light-blocking that you cannot tell what time of day or night it is when they are shut. Unfortunately, because my room looks in on the inner courtyard, you can't really tell what time of day or night it is even when the curtains are open, not unless it is a bright sunny day... which it wasn't. I finally crawled out of bed to look at the clock, because my nightmare had convinced me it was either 01:00 in the morning, or 11:00 in the morning... turned out it was 07:54 instead. So I got up and got ready for the day.
( Read more... )
back to Friday
on to Sunday

Mostly extracted from my previous locked post, plus some additions. Putting this here so that I can point to it when I know who to point here.

* The Heroine's Journey - is it the same as the Hero's Journey or not?
* Worldbuilding - panel or workshop
* Culture-building - a subset of worldbuilding; could also touch on Appropriation, How Not To.
* Linguistics 101 - from Nyota Uhura to fantasy languages (if one could tempt an actual linguistics academic to come, this would be great)
* Eat, Drink and Be Merry - food, drink and song in SF/F
* The Many Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes
* Gone Too Soon - underrated shows that were cancelled after one season
* Here All Along - SF/F authors who have been hidden, blocked or dismissed because they were women or persons-of-colour or some other discriminated group.
* Religion and Atheism in SF/F
* Where's My Jetpack? - the futures that didn't happen
* Paranormal Romance - Romance, SF or both?
* Kids' SF/F - is our affection merely nostalgia, or were they actually good?
* Utopias: Construction and Deconstruction
* Made of Awesome - a panel purely for squee.
* Subverting the Dominant Paradigm - no idea what this would be about, but it's a cool title, yes?

Edited to Add:

* Mining Gutenberg - the best of the public domain SF/F available on Project Gutenberg
* Bwa-ha-ha! - The villains we love to hate.
* Anti-heroes - why do we like them so much?

Edited to Add More:

The "We Do This Stuff So You Can Write About It" panel was a great idea, but not quite so workable in the execution of it. I've been pondering alternatives. What I'm wondering is if it could be a sort of mini-stream, where it has multiple slots in a smallish room with a large table (so as to promote informality), and each slot has only two people scheduled for that slot. I say two, because if nobody turns up for that slot, at least they can talk to each other. Possibly two tables, one person at each table.