talkingsoup (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
talkingsoup) wrote2007-11-05 09:47 pm
talkingsoup) wrote2007-11-05 09:47 pm
The Con Report
The "T" is silent.
So! How 'bout them Heroes? Eh? Eh? Yeah, pretty awesome, huh?
So they totally spoiled the fact that Kensei was there in the future. They had a flash of him a week or so ago in modern clothes saying "I'm going to change history." And sometime during the beginning of tonight's episode they had Kensei say it back when he was with Hiro.
And then at some point during the episode I was like...wait a minute...what if Kensei literally can't die? I mean, it's seemed so far that Claire can't die at all. She got that stick stuck in her head, but once they pulled it out she "rebooted" and was alive again. So if Kensei literally can't die, that means he could be around in our time. And, ooh, guy who lives forever--visionary, guru type usually, right?
Soooo, maybe he's Adam?
Yeah, I totally called that one.
Still, this was probably one of the best episodes of Heroes I've ever seen. It was just total action and total awesomeness, and they even managed to reuse the gimmick of "goes into the future and holy shit the world is destroyed!" without it seeming like they were just recycling it. I mean, it did feel recycled, but they gave it enough of a twist that it was okay.
Excellent, excellent.
Bennett/HRG is going to die. I'm about as sure of this as I was that HARRY POTTER SPOILER DON'T LOOK DON'T LOOK
Snape was going to die
END SPOILER END SPOILER END SPOILER END SPOILER IT'S OKAY TO LOOK AGAIN
and I was right about that, wasn't I?
Mohinder is going to end the world. Thanks Mohindy.
Matt. I love you even more now, you big teddy bear.
Excellent ep all around
So, the Con Report is gonna be behind a cut since it'll probably be substantial. Before that, though?
I have a serious famous!person! crush on Guy Gavriel Kay. And his sexy, strange voice.
We left Ithaca about 5 PM on Wednesday and dropped our stuff off at Tammy's house in Syracuse, then picked up Tim and the lot of us went out to dinner. After that we hung out at their house and watched the Incredibles and played with their six cats (*squee!*). Tim also managed to fix Circe. Circe being my laptop's name, because she's a bitch but relatively awesome. Circe, I think I mentioned, had been randomly turning off and flashing a sort of Stripy Screen of Death at me, but Tim managed to install a new driver that hopefully fixed the problem.
Anyway.
Thursday afternoon we headed on out. And let me say right now that listening to Tammy and Tim talk is a perfect way to pass the three hour drive because they're so interesting and funny and cute. Thursday was the first day of the con, but we arrived late enough that we decided not to try to register or hit any panels. Also, our peeps hadn't yet arrived and we were staying in a different hotel than Tammy and Tim, so we ended up hanging out with them again until about nine when they drove us to the other hotel. We waited for another hour before the others showed up.
Our roommates turned out to be Sky, Julie's friend from Alpha, Jaida and Dani who need no introduction, and Aaron, Sky's friend who turned out not to a be a sixth girl. Julie and I bunked on the floor and I my shy was definitely showing. Meeting Jaida and Dani was kind of like meeting Tammy for the first time. But then again, at least when it comes to famous writers, you eventually realize that they're just regular people who happen to be a little more awesome than most (aka famous). Dunno if it works the same for celebrities, though.
Friday we went at about 10 to the con itself in Aaron's car, checked in and got free bags of books (yes!) in free duffel bags with free boxes of cookies. Oh my god I love cons. Then we all kind of went separate ways. Julie and I mostly stuck together. We went to Tammy's reading because, really, and we hit some panels. Frankly the readings were better than the panels, overall. There were only a handful of panels that really actually worked. Pretty much what happened was, the panel would talk about something completely opposite of what they were scheduled to talk about on the program, or the conversation would lead us completely away from whatever the topic was, or the panelists themselves would have no real expertise in whatever it was. Also went to Ellen Kushner's, author of Swordspoint and Privilege of the Sword, reading. She was utterly hilarious since she was reading from her children's book The Golden Dreydel which is a Jewish version of the Nutcracker, apparently. She did the reading with a peacock hand puppet. It was wonderful.
Midway through we checked out the Dealer Room, which was also rather disappointing. I only have Confluence to base my assumptions on, but I generally expect Dealer Rooms to be full of all kinds of things, like nick-nacks and doodads and pointy things and pretty things, yanno? The WFC Room was all books except for one table that was selling jewelry. Bruce Coville was in the back with his daughter selling audiobooks by Fullcast Audio, Bruce's company, and that was about it. But I did pick up a few books including Ellen
Tammy and Tim I guess are friends with Bruce (Tammy actually seemed to know pretty much everyone in the field, lol) and Julie and I went with Tammy, Tim, Bruce, his daughter Cara and another YA fantasy writer named Sara Beth Durst to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Excellent chai, excellent food.
After that was the mass signing, where pretty much every author in attendance sat at tables to sign books. Julie and I crossed paths with Jaida, Sky and Dani a few times, though they left early. The two of us, however, were determined to find Sarah Monette, the brilliant author of Melusine, The Virtu, and most recently The Mirador (which I just started reading XOMG awesome). We finally found her and got her to sign our books. Also had Tammy sign my copy of Terrier I'd got at the Dealer Room, and found Ellen Kushner, Scott Lynch (who looks suspiciously like Pat!!!), Holly Black, Elizabeth Bear, Laura Anne Gilman and Garth Nix. I almost passed out in front of Garth Nix. I can't believe I didn't bring the Abhorsen books for him to sign. Julie gave me a napkin, though. She was going around getting napkins signed by all kinds of authors--she has a napkin collection, lol.
After that Tim drove us to our hotel and we stayed up a little while to show Jaida and Dani some AMVs, probably further proving our dorkhood, though they seemed to enjoy them. Sky and Aaron stayed out late and the four of us crashed before they got back.
Saturday was much the same--panels and readings and Dealer's Room. This was the day of Anne Bishop's reading, as well as Guy Gavriel Kay.
I really can't explain Guy Gavriel Kay in words. The man is simply brilliant (that was a word, wasn't it?). He has a strange voice (I think he might have Bell's palsy...my uncle has it) but I love it for some reason, and he the way he reads is just so wonderful. He read a section of his newest book, which I'm picking up as soon as possible. It's called Ysabel.
Also went to the panel Laura Anne Gilman was on, the Animal Fantasy one, which like most panels wasn't what I was expecting--not in a good way. Also went to the Survey of the Field panel which was about what's getting sold today, and it was interesting if only to watch the panelists snipe at each other.
Dinner again with Tammy and Sara Beth Durst. Julie and I managed to score alcoholic chocolate chais without being carded.
Back at the hotel Sky and Aaron were once again out, so Jaida and Dani introduced us to this monstrosity which had me laughing harder than I have in ages, and we spent the evening trading YouTube vids and AMVs back and forth again.
Have I mentioned that Jaida and Dani are awesome?
Sunday was a short day--one panel that only I went to and which proved to actually be interesting (Urban Fantasy). I went out for coffee alone after that and read a bit more of the Mirador (zaugh!), then hooked up with the others in the Dealer Room.
And Tammy, bless her soul, bought me an ear cuff. For no reason other than that she's awesome and this is what she does--gives us things. Oh my god. How and I ever going to repay her?
After that was the awards banquet. Guy Gavriel Kay was master of ceremonies and was punning all over the place, which was delightful. No one I knew got awards, but that was alright since it was really cute and Diana Whynn Jones, who couldn't be there, had an awesome speech prepared for her lifetime achievement award.
Afterward we said goodbye to Dani, Jaida, Sky and Aaron, and headed to the car. Got waylaid on the way because of a veritable army of geese who passed by overhead.
Drove on to Syracuse to drop Tammy off, then went with Tim to dinner and headed back to Ithaca, during which Tim talked about how he and Tammy met. Ah, I love them, they're so adorable and awesome. Not sure Tammy would like me referring to them as "adorable," but still.
Overall, the con was brilliant, I met awesome people and had a lot of fun. Methinks the WFC is going to become a habit.
Also, Sharona, Michelle and Amanda are working to set up a new English class for next semester which will consist of us getting together, reading fantasy and sci-fi books, and talking about them. Fuck yeah.
And I'm writing Mot again!
So! How 'bout them Heroes? Eh? Eh? Yeah, pretty awesome, huh?
So they totally spoiled the fact that Kensei was there in the future. They had a flash of him a week or so ago in modern clothes saying "I'm going to change history." And sometime during the beginning of tonight's episode they had Kensei say it back when he was with Hiro.
And then at some point during the episode I was like...wait a minute...what if Kensei literally can't die? I mean, it's seemed so far that Claire can't die at all. She got that stick stuck in her head, but once they pulled it out she "rebooted" and was alive again. So if Kensei literally can't die, that means he could be around in our time. And, ooh, guy who lives forever--visionary, guru type usually, right?
Soooo, maybe he's Adam?
Yeah, I totally called that one.
Still, this was probably one of the best episodes of Heroes I've ever seen. It was just total action and total awesomeness, and they even managed to reuse the gimmick of "goes into the future and holy shit the world is destroyed!" without it seeming like they were just recycling it. I mean, it did feel recycled, but they gave it enough of a twist that it was okay.
Excellent, excellent.
Bennett/HRG is going to die. I'm about as sure of this as I was that HARRY POTTER SPOILER DON'T LOOK DON'T LOOK
Snape was going to die
END SPOILER END SPOILER END SPOILER END SPOILER IT'S OKAY TO LOOK AGAIN
and I was right about that, wasn't I?
Mohinder is going to end the world. Thanks Mohindy.
Matt. I love you even more now, you big teddy bear.
Excellent ep all around
So, the Con Report is gonna be behind a cut since it'll probably be substantial. Before that, though?
I have a serious famous!person! crush on Guy Gavriel Kay. And his sexy, strange voice.
We left Ithaca about 5 PM on Wednesday and dropped our stuff off at Tammy's house in Syracuse, then picked up Tim and the lot of us went out to dinner. After that we hung out at their house and watched the Incredibles and played with their six cats (*squee!*). Tim also managed to fix Circe. Circe being my laptop's name, because she's a bitch but relatively awesome. Circe, I think I mentioned, had been randomly turning off and flashing a sort of Stripy Screen of Death at me, but Tim managed to install a new driver that hopefully fixed the problem.
Anyway.
Thursday afternoon we headed on out. And let me say right now that listening to Tammy and Tim talk is a perfect way to pass the three hour drive because they're so interesting and funny and cute. Thursday was the first day of the con, but we arrived late enough that we decided not to try to register or hit any panels. Also, our peeps hadn't yet arrived and we were staying in a different hotel than Tammy and Tim, so we ended up hanging out with them again until about nine when they drove us to the other hotel. We waited for another hour before the others showed up.
Our roommates turned out to be Sky, Julie's friend from Alpha, Jaida and Dani who need no introduction, and Aaron, Sky's friend who turned out not to a be a sixth girl. Julie and I bunked on the floor and I my shy was definitely showing. Meeting Jaida and Dani was kind of like meeting Tammy for the first time. But then again, at least when it comes to famous writers, you eventually realize that they're just regular people who happen to be a little more awesome than most (aka famous). Dunno if it works the same for celebrities, though.
Friday we went at about 10 to the con itself in Aaron's car, checked in and got free bags of books (yes!) in free duffel bags with free boxes of cookies. Oh my god I love cons. Then we all kind of went separate ways. Julie and I mostly stuck together. We went to Tammy's reading because, really, and we hit some panels. Frankly the readings were better than the panels, overall. There were only a handful of panels that really actually worked. Pretty much what happened was, the panel would talk about something completely opposite of what they were scheduled to talk about on the program, or the conversation would lead us completely away from whatever the topic was, or the panelists themselves would have no real expertise in whatever it was. Also went to Ellen Kushner's, author of Swordspoint and Privilege of the Sword, reading. She was utterly hilarious since she was reading from her children's book The Golden Dreydel which is a Jewish version of the Nutcracker, apparently. She did the reading with a peacock hand puppet. It was wonderful.
Midway through we checked out the Dealer Room, which was also rather disappointing. I only have Confluence to base my assumptions on, but I generally expect Dealer Rooms to be full of all kinds of things, like nick-nacks and doodads and pointy things and pretty things, yanno? The WFC Room was all books except for one table that was selling jewelry. Bruce Coville was in the back with his daughter selling audiobooks by Fullcast Audio, Bruce's company, and that was about it. But I did pick up a few books including Ellen
Tammy and Tim I guess are friends with Bruce (Tammy actually seemed to know pretty much everyone in the field, lol) and Julie and I went with Tammy, Tim, Bruce, his daughter Cara and another YA fantasy writer named Sara Beth Durst to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Excellent chai, excellent food.
After that was the mass signing, where pretty much every author in attendance sat at tables to sign books. Julie and I crossed paths with Jaida, Sky and Dani a few times, though they left early. The two of us, however, were determined to find Sarah Monette, the brilliant author of Melusine, The Virtu, and most recently The Mirador (which I just started reading XOMG awesome). We finally found her and got her to sign our books. Also had Tammy sign my copy of Terrier I'd got at the Dealer Room, and found Ellen Kushner, Scott Lynch (who looks suspiciously like Pat!!!), Holly Black, Elizabeth Bear, Laura Anne Gilman and Garth Nix. I almost passed out in front of Garth Nix. I can't believe I didn't bring the Abhorsen books for him to sign. Julie gave me a napkin, though. She was going around getting napkins signed by all kinds of authors--she has a napkin collection, lol.
After that Tim drove us to our hotel and we stayed up a little while to show Jaida and Dani some AMVs, probably further proving our dorkhood, though they seemed to enjoy them. Sky and Aaron stayed out late and the four of us crashed before they got back.
Saturday was much the same--panels and readings and Dealer's Room. This was the day of Anne Bishop's reading, as well as Guy Gavriel Kay.
I really can't explain Guy Gavriel Kay in words. The man is simply brilliant (that was a word, wasn't it?). He has a strange voice (I think he might have Bell's palsy...my uncle has it) but I love it for some reason, and he the way he reads is just so wonderful. He read a section of his newest book, which I'm picking up as soon as possible. It's called Ysabel.
Also went to the panel Laura Anne Gilman was on, the Animal Fantasy one, which like most panels wasn't what I was expecting--not in a good way. Also went to the Survey of the Field panel which was about what's getting sold today, and it was interesting if only to watch the panelists snipe at each other.
Dinner again with Tammy and Sara Beth Durst. Julie and I managed to score alcoholic chocolate chais without being carded.
Back at the hotel Sky and Aaron were once again out, so Jaida and Dani introduced us to this monstrosity which had me laughing harder than I have in ages, and we spent the evening trading YouTube vids and AMVs back and forth again.
Have I mentioned that Jaida and Dani are awesome?
Sunday was a short day--one panel that only I went to and which proved to actually be interesting (Urban Fantasy). I went out for coffee alone after that and read a bit more of the Mirador (zaugh!), then hooked up with the others in the Dealer Room.
And Tammy, bless her soul, bought me an ear cuff. For no reason other than that she's awesome and this is what she does--gives us things. Oh my god. How and I ever going to repay her?
After that was the awards banquet. Guy Gavriel Kay was master of ceremonies and was punning all over the place, which was delightful. No one I knew got awards, but that was alright since it was really cute and Diana Whynn Jones, who couldn't be there, had an awesome speech prepared for her lifetime achievement award.
Afterward we said goodbye to Dani, Jaida, Sky and Aaron, and headed to the car. Got waylaid on the way because of a veritable army of geese who passed by overhead.
Drove on to Syracuse to drop Tammy off, then went with Tim to dinner and headed back to Ithaca, during which Tim talked about how he and Tammy met. Ah, I love them, they're so adorable and awesome. Not sure Tammy would like me referring to them as "adorable," but still.
Overall, the con was brilliant, I met awesome people and had a lot of fun. Methinks the WFC is going to become a habit.
Also, Sharona, Michelle and Amanda are working to set up a new English class for next semester which will consist of us getting together, reading fantasy and sci-fi books, and talking about them. Fuck yeah.
And I'm writing Mot again!