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amediaWe had big plans for Spring Break - I was going to reorganize all our paperwork, put it back into the file cabinet, and do the taxes, plus we were going to assemble some of the furniture we'd bought last semester. Well, I got one exactly one form filled out. And as for furniture, well, my husband and I managed to put the arms and bottom pieces of the futon frame together, using some of the worst assembly directions I have *ever* seen, so that at least it described a rectangle, before I announced that my aching joints couldn't take any more.
One Spring Break activity that I did manage to fulfill, though, was attending REVELcon. I left home at about 12:30 and reached the hotel at 4:00 - that's about two hours to get to the Houston city limits, and the rest of the time to drive through mid-afternoon Friday-early-rush-hour traffic. But it was worth it!
I got to the convention with forty-five minutes to spare before a panel I was scheduled to be on started. I stopped to chat with Jan Meek, who was agenting for Lionheart at the con. My sister-in-law is a huge SW fan, and I had recently sent her a couple of old genzines, and she was utterly thrilled with them. I mentioned to Jan that I was hoping to find more, and she surprised me by pointing to a box under the table that was full of old zines in various fandoms that someone had consigned to her to sell. I found eight big classic SW zines - issues of KESSEL RUN and A TREMOR IN THE FORCE - and she sold them all to me for $35. Wow! Not only will my sister-in-law be happy, but my pocketbook was happy too!
I got to visit a little with Jacqueline from San Antonio; Mary, who has been ill, was resting, but I got to see her on Saturday along with the rest of the San Antonio gang. It is always a treat to see them. I was sorry to miss the Austin folks, but Leah had a rotator cuff injury and couldn't drive, so she and Vivian stayed home.
The 4:45 panel was on The Ins and Outs of Good Sex Scenes, and it was relaxed and fun. J.M. Griffin,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akite, and I were the panelists. At J.M.'s request, the panel began with the panelists and the audience talking about sex scenes they had recently read and enjoyed, which was useful in providing examples for later discussion. It was interesting to hear what different people liked to read in sex scenes; for example, J.M. mentioned that her latest kink is stories involving capitulation, whereas both A.K. and I like to see a snarky relationship between the slash couple. We also talked about what makes a sex scene good overall. Legion, a writer from Sentinel fandom, was supposed to be on the panel but was too shy, but she sat up front and contributed a lot of helpful insights. I especially liked what she said about the importance of balance in a sex scene, that is, balance between describing the emotions and interpersonal dynamic of the characters and describing the logistics of the sex act itself. There was also a discussion I followed with interest concerning "fade to black" stories – one fan said she doesn't like them because the story feels incomplete. Another fan, however, said she doesn't mind not getting the actual sex scene as long as there's a reference later in the story that makes it clear something happened, something like, "That was good last night." This led a few of us to suggest similar lines that would make it clear; mine, which was rather well received, was, "No thanks, I'll stand." In addition to being a panelist, A.K. was in charge of wrangling the panels, i.e., making sure the panelists were present and making sure that panels started and ended on time. After a time that seemed all too short, she let us know that our time was up. "Well, all right," J.M. said reluctantly. "Hey!" I said. "You're capitulating!" She grinned at A.K. and me. "And you two are being snarky!" she replied.
After the panel I went with Lorelei and Beth, old and dear friends from Rat Patrol fandom, to Souper Salad for dinner. We chatted and caught up on our lives. I confessed to watching Friends as a light & fluffy relaxation, which earned me a disapproving glare from Beth. When I described a very slashy episode I'd seen recently, however, she relented.
We returned to the con in time for the vid show/contest. There were seventeen entries, quite a healthy number, and some awesome vids among them. Most of the vids were new to me; the only ones I remembered having seen before were Recycled Media Station's delightful multi vids, "Passenger Seat" and "Redneck Woman." It hadn't really occurred to me before, but while "Redneck Woman" was well-received at Econ in New Jersey, with laughing and cheering, it was an even bigger hit in Texas, where people stomped and sang along!
I was especially impressed by a Firefly video by Llama Boy to "My Heart Will Go On," even though I dislike the song. I couldn't think of the word for the vid's genre at the con - I kept thinking "forced reality" - but I think the name is actually "constructed reality," in which a vidder creates a whole new storyline of events that didn't happen in the show. (Other examples would be the Media Cannibals' "Opportunities" or T'Rhys' "In the Air.") The vidder used not only clips of Kaylee and Inara together, but also clips of Kaylee being shot and Inara attending a funeral to make it look as if Inara is mourning the loss of her lover Kaylee and remembering their romantic relationship. As Dee observed later when we were discussing the vid in the con suite, the song was very well chosen because the vast majority of viewers will immediately recognize the storyline that the song is associated with (i.e., a woman recalling a lover who has died).
There were a number of Sentinel vids; no matter how well they are done, I get tired of seeing the same scenes over and over, so I was pleased with Jamie's new vid "No Matter What," which took a fresh approach and used a lot of shots I'd never seen in a vid before. There were a couple of unusual vids by Azonia and Ms.3M that I enjoyed; an instrumental called "Sakura" with scenes from the battle between Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in the movie Kill Bill, and a heavy-metal piece called "Whisper" with the battles between Luke and Darth Vader from ESB and ROTJ. The latter, which used some creepy effects in a spare and effective manner, was particularly edgy; I hope I get to see it again soon. [I had a chance to tell Ms.3M later, "Wow, that was really disturbing – I loved it!" Fortunately she recognized that as a sincere compliment.]
The last video was absolutely hilarious, a Stargate vid to the tune of a filk called "Star Wars Cantina." I loved the multiple layers of recontextualization: the song itself was a parody of Barry Manilow's Copacabana, and then the video mapped the SG-1 characters and situations onto the Star Wars characters. It was also very well-crafted. I don't think anyone was surprised to learn later that it won for best vid of show!
After the vid show I went up to the con suite with Dee and hung out for a while. Dee had kindly offered to host me at her place, and I accepted for Friday night. Although I had a car with me, Dee drove me to her house so I wouldn't have to risk getting separated and lost in Houston. After my experience driving down that afternoon, I was very grateful! I liked her house very much, the futon was very comfortable to sleep on, and her kitties - Patrick, a red tabby, and Briar, a long-haired tortoiseshell - made me feel right at home.
One Spring Break activity that I did manage to fulfill, though, was attending REVELcon. I left home at about 12:30 and reached the hotel at 4:00 - that's about two hours to get to the Houston city limits, and the rest of the time to drive through mid-afternoon Friday-early-rush-hour traffic. But it was worth it!
I got to the convention with forty-five minutes to spare before a panel I was scheduled to be on started. I stopped to chat with Jan Meek, who was agenting for Lionheart at the con. My sister-in-law is a huge SW fan, and I had recently sent her a couple of old genzines, and she was utterly thrilled with them. I mentioned to Jan that I was hoping to find more, and she surprised me by pointing to a box under the table that was full of old zines in various fandoms that someone had consigned to her to sell. I found eight big classic SW zines - issues of KESSEL RUN and A TREMOR IN THE FORCE - and she sold them all to me for $35. Wow! Not only will my sister-in-law be happy, but my pocketbook was happy too!
I got to visit a little with Jacqueline from San Antonio; Mary, who has been ill, was resting, but I got to see her on Saturday along with the rest of the San Antonio gang. It is always a treat to see them. I was sorry to miss the Austin folks, but Leah had a rotator cuff injury and couldn't drive, so she and Vivian stayed home.
The 4:45 panel was on The Ins and Outs of Good Sex Scenes, and it was relaxed and fun. J.M. Griffin,
akite, and I were the panelists. At J.M.'s request, the panel began with the panelists and the audience talking about sex scenes they had recently read and enjoyed, which was useful in providing examples for later discussion. It was interesting to hear what different people liked to read in sex scenes; for example, J.M. mentioned that her latest kink is stories involving capitulation, whereas both A.K. and I like to see a snarky relationship between the slash couple. We also talked about what makes a sex scene good overall. Legion, a writer from Sentinel fandom, was supposed to be on the panel but was too shy, but she sat up front and contributed a lot of helpful insights. I especially liked what she said about the importance of balance in a sex scene, that is, balance between describing the emotions and interpersonal dynamic of the characters and describing the logistics of the sex act itself. There was also a discussion I followed with interest concerning "fade to black" stories – one fan said she doesn't like them because the story feels incomplete. Another fan, however, said she doesn't mind not getting the actual sex scene as long as there's a reference later in the story that makes it clear something happened, something like, "That was good last night." This led a few of us to suggest similar lines that would make it clear; mine, which was rather well received, was, "No thanks, I'll stand." In addition to being a panelist, A.K. was in charge of wrangling the panels, i.e., making sure the panelists were present and making sure that panels started and ended on time. After a time that seemed all too short, she let us know that our time was up. "Well, all right," J.M. said reluctantly. "Hey!" I said. "You're capitulating!" She grinned at A.K. and me. "And you two are being snarky!" she replied. After the panel I went with Lorelei and Beth, old and dear friends from Rat Patrol fandom, to Souper Salad for dinner. We chatted and caught up on our lives. I confessed to watching Friends as a light & fluffy relaxation, which earned me a disapproving glare from Beth. When I described a very slashy episode I'd seen recently, however, she relented.
We returned to the con in time for the vid show/contest. There were seventeen entries, quite a healthy number, and some awesome vids among them. Most of the vids were new to me; the only ones I remembered having seen before were Recycled Media Station's delightful multi vids, "Passenger Seat" and "Redneck Woman." It hadn't really occurred to me before, but while "Redneck Woman" was well-received at Econ in New Jersey, with laughing and cheering, it was an even bigger hit in Texas, where people stomped and sang along!
I was especially impressed by a Firefly video by Llama Boy to "My Heart Will Go On," even though I dislike the song. I couldn't think of the word for the vid's genre at the con - I kept thinking "forced reality" - but I think the name is actually "constructed reality," in which a vidder creates a whole new storyline of events that didn't happen in the show. (Other examples would be the Media Cannibals' "Opportunities" or T'Rhys' "In the Air.") The vidder used not only clips of Kaylee and Inara together, but also clips of Kaylee being shot and Inara attending a funeral to make it look as if Inara is mourning the loss of her lover Kaylee and remembering their romantic relationship. As Dee observed later when we were discussing the vid in the con suite, the song was very well chosen because the vast majority of viewers will immediately recognize the storyline that the song is associated with (i.e., a woman recalling a lover who has died).
There were a number of Sentinel vids; no matter how well they are done, I get tired of seeing the same scenes over and over, so I was pleased with Jamie's new vid "No Matter What," which took a fresh approach and used a lot of shots I'd never seen in a vid before. There were a couple of unusual vids by Azonia and Ms.3M that I enjoyed; an instrumental called "Sakura" with scenes from the battle between Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in the movie Kill Bill, and a heavy-metal piece called "Whisper" with the battles between Luke and Darth Vader from ESB and ROTJ. The latter, which used some creepy effects in a spare and effective manner, was particularly edgy; I hope I get to see it again soon. [I had a chance to tell Ms.3M later, "Wow, that was really disturbing – I loved it!" Fortunately she recognized that as a sincere compliment.]
The last video was absolutely hilarious, a Stargate vid to the tune of a filk called "Star Wars Cantina." I loved the multiple layers of recontextualization: the song itself was a parody of Barry Manilow's Copacabana, and then the video mapped the SG-1 characters and situations onto the Star Wars characters. It was also very well-crafted. I don't think anyone was surprised to learn later that it won for best vid of show!
After the vid show I went up to the con suite with Dee and hung out for a while. Dee had kindly offered to host me at her place, and I accepted for Friday night. Although I had a car with me, Dee drove me to her house so I wouldn't have to risk getting separated and lost in Houston. After my experience driving down that afternoon, I was very grateful! I liked her house very much, the futon was very comfortable to sleep on, and her kitties - Patrick, a red tabby, and Briar, a long-haired tortoiseshell - made me feel right at home.
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Date: 2005-03-23 06:21 pm (UTC)LOL, it's true. I sang along with "Passenger Seat" and "Redneck Woman". The vids were delightful too.