REVELCon 17 (all except the vid show)

[amedia]

REVELcon 17

Thursday, March 16, 2006

The convention fun began a day early for me! I was thrilled to learn some months ago that my dear friend keikokin and her hubby were coming to REVELcon all the way from Pennsylvania. I picked them up at the airport and took them home to see our new house – the first house we’ve ever owned, as we rented when we lived in PA and lived in apartments before that – to see the hubby again, to see our old kitty again, and to meet our new kitty! The old kitty has gotten cranky and set in his ways, but from the mere fact that he let Keikokin and John pet him without hissing, I figure he remembered them. The new kitty merrily introduced himself and climbed all over them without the slightest regard for personal space. They loved the mod furniture we bought and the way it looks in our odd-shaped – but way cool - living room. And they understood the rest of the house being a work in progress as far as furniture goes.

Despite getting up at 7 a.m. to drive from their house in PA to the BWI airport and then having a turbulent three-hour flight to Houston and a two-hour drive to where I live, they were incredibly gracious and willing to be schlepped over to my sister-in-law’s apartment to meet her menagerie. As soon as they saw the autographed pictures of Star Wars characters on the walls, they knew this was the home of another fan! They made very gratifying ooh’s and aah’s at her Star Wars collection (a fairly small but impressive percentage of which is actually on display). The four kitties came to check everyone out, and John managed to coax the littlest and shyest, a two-month-old black and white kitten named Cho Chang, to let him hold and pet her. Darth Fluffy, Whiskers, and General Grievous, the older kittens, all came out and paraded around investigating the visitors. Our hostess took everyone upstairs to meet Anakin, the flying squirrel and the two snakes, Sabrina and Vader. To say nothing of the fish in the fish tank, whose names I have forgotten. Then we all went out to Mike’s Barbecue, a very decent place with a statue of a giant steer on the roof.

Finally we loaded up the car and headed back down to Houston. I felt bad that Keikokin wasn’t feeling well – she was SO patient about being driven around hither and yon! – but relieved when they both fell asleep on the way down. We had an uneventful, safe drive, the best kind.

Friday, March 17, 2006

I woke up about 8:30 a.m., so I was awake when John called about 9:00 with a request: could he borrow my little TV/VCR to use as a monitor in the vid room? Of course, said I, and brought it down about 9:20. Was he ever in his element down there! Computers, DVD players, a mixing board, two monitors – video geek heaven.

I had brought my boxes of songvids (I’ve been collecting them for about fifteen years now) in case they were needed; it turned out they weren’t needed for the vid room, but I was able to show John the original version of “Data’s Dream,” a gorgeous older vid impaired by technical problems that he told me was recently redone. He had the new one, so we watched both and compared. It was cool to see the old clips without the copy-protection interference, but it was strange to see new clips in several places.

I got my badge and registration packet, but it was still too early for the con proper. So I took my travel journal (a pretty LOTR journal that Keikokin gave me for Yule one year) and sat in the lobby and finished writing up an account of a recent excursion to a winery; I also got to chat briefly with sidewinder about her recent adventures troll-hunting in Stewart Copeland fandom. I went into the dealers' room shortly after it opened at noon and touched base with Barbara, who was selling things for my old friend Ann Johnson in Austin, and promised to come back later and help her price artwork. Across from her table, the San Antonio group was setting up. One of their number, Mary Helm, died of cancer last year. Jacquelyn Sykes asked me up to her room for a bit, so I did, and we visited until about 1 p.m. She told me about Mary's memorial service and a little about her last days and how things had gone since she passed away. I showed her the picture I had brought for the Remembrance Party and she was pleased because she didn't have a chance to bring any. It seems so strange to see Jacquelyn without Mary, and I truly missed seeing Mary.

Jacquelyn and I went back down to the dealers' room, where I bumped into Dee Beetem. By this time I was ravenous, having skipped breakfast, and asked if she had plans for lunch – we eventually walked over to the little strip of shops near the hotel for barbecue. We got back in plenty of time for my panel at 2:15. akite did a terrific job wrangling the panels, making sure everyone was there and that the topics were announced in time for folks who wanted to attend to get there. In this panel, "From Firefly to Serenity," Liz Knauel, TerriTrek, and I led a discussion on how the movie Serenity carried on the plot, characters, and other aspects of the series Firefly. On the whole, the panel and the audience all seemed to agree that the movie captured the spirit of the show and the characters, and we mostly wished, if we could have asked for anything more, that the movie had given us more backstory on some of the characters, like Book, whose intriguing past was never explained, or Inara, whose entire Companion subculture was something that would have been fascinating to explore. We also agreed that Jayne was a character whose early development would have been nifty to see, and that his mother was someone we’d like to meet – but not (I said) in a dark alley. We got a big compliment on the panel later from someone who observed that it seemed to stay 99% on topic, a rarity indeed with panels at conventions!

After the panel ended, I went back and helped Barbara price artwork. I mentioned that I would try my best to be fair and resist the conflict of interest when there was a piece I might want to buy. Barbara told me that she had had a conversation with Ann on that very topic:

Ann: Get Amedia to help you. She’ll be fair.
Barbara: But what if there’s a piece she’s really jonesing for? It would be so tempting to mark it low.
Ann (very firmly): No, she’ll still be fair.

I felt very warmed by this, and did my best to strike a balance between trying to get a good price for Ann and wanting to set a price where the pieces were likely to sell at this convention, trying not to even think about what I might want to buy. sockii had the table next to Barbara’s and kindly agreed to help out; she’s been involved in convention art shows much more recently, frequently, and directly than me, as she is a fine artist, and I appreciated her input.

While I was pricing the artwork, some McCoy pictures really caught my eye, so I finally gave in to temptation and asked Barbara to hold them for me, along with a Tholian Web snowglobe that I had already arranged to buy. Then I drifted to the next table and bought some gorgeous amber earrings from sockii and we visited a while. She told me that she hadn’t had a chance to make a copy of the Chinese version of Legend of Drunken Master for me yet (we had talked about it before the convention) – I figured I would just give her postage money to send it to me when she had a chance, but to my astonishment she pulled out her original for me to borrow! I was very grateful and impressed.

After shopping, I took my photos for the Remembrance Party over to registration, where they had supplies set up to put the pictures on construction-paper backing prior to hanging them on the wall. J. M. and Eileen were really pleased with the pictures I had brought, and I was glad they had turned out so well; I had made 5 x 7” enlargements, often cropping the original considerably, on the Kodak machine at CVS. I brought one picture each of Mary Helm, Jackie Horgan, and Susan Beasley, three pictures of Ann McKannan, and one of Ann participating in Ann(e) Squared, a musical routine she used to do at conventions. I wasn’t sure about the last picture since her partner in the routine is still alive, but they said it was okay. While I was choosing colors of paper to use as backing, one of the concom was using a color printer to print out a very nice picture of Carol “Mac” McGuire that a family member had emailed; it turned out great.

Lorelei, Beth, and I went to Bangkok Palace for Thai food for dinner. Much yumminess. The back of the menu had a little paragraph about the Thai salutation “sewadee” so I asked our (also yummy) waiter about it, and he showed us how to pronounce it and make a little bow with hands together while saying it. Very cool! I said it when we left, and both he and the other waiter said it back. I also ordered take-out pad thai for Keikokin and we picked up a Whataburger for John, so they didn’t have to leave the vid room. I suddenly wondered whether Keikokin could have pad thai or whether it was too spicy, so I also picked her up a chicken sandwich along with John’s burger. (John needed to run the equipment and Keikokin’s back was bothered by riding in cars.)

Shortly after we got back, the Remembrance Party began. It was a truly lovely idea, celebrating the lives of fans who are no longer with us. I was glad I had brought so many pictures, because there were only a few others. J. M. Griffin had done a lovely collage poster of Laurie Haynes, and Keikokin brought a picture of a fan named Shelley Anderson. There was the nice picture of Mac, and someone else had brought a wonderful picture that I had never seen before, of Ann McKannan in her Silver Alpha costume from around 1990.


Susan, Shelley, Mac.


Ann, Jackie, Mary.


Laurie.

The Remembrance Party segued into the vid contest. I saved a ballot and copied my comments from the one I turned in onto it, which meant I had to scribble very fast between vids, but I now have a complete list and a duplicate set of my comments! I’ll try to get that typed in and posted soon. It was a very enjoyable show. Afterwards we watched a few of the WOAD Society’s brilliant Classic Trek vids, like “Razzle Dazzle,” “As,” and “Momma Told Me Not To Come.” They were still showing vids when I finally tore myself away because it was time for the slash pajama party!

The pajama parties were held in the hospitality suite this year and run simultaneously: gen in one bedroom, slash in the other. I wore my Si and Am pajamas (the Siamese kitties from Lady and The Tramp). This year everyone was required to wear pajamas, so I wasn’t the only one! It wasn’t a huge gathering, but it was a very nice group. Akite bravely led off with a very funny and erotic Due South story called “Tootsie Pop.” I really like the way she writes RayK’s POV. J.M. Griffin read a compelling excerpt from a longer Sentinel piece featuring her original characters; she also read a hot and snarky Stargate:Atlantis story. Kat Weller, a first-timer at REVELcon, read a short except from a long Sentinel AU story. I brought a couple of stories, but suffered a sudden attack of shyness, so Glenda read "Post-Post Pelennor" for me, doing a great Gimli and an awesome Gandalf, and J.M. read "Not Kissing Joey" really, really well. The people (except for akite!) were a little surprised at the idea of a Friends slash story at first, but I gave them an example of how slashy the show was (http://amedia.livejournal.com/31290.html) and they warmed to it quickly. Both stories seemed well-received – people laughed in the right places – and the next day one of the attendees, Ann Walton, came up to me in the dealers’ room and told me how very much she enjoyed “Not Kissing Joey.” That made my day!

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Saturday morning bright and early – 10:30 a.m. to be exact – I had my first panel of the day. This was the gen chemistry panel with Erika and Lorelei. I was surprised at first to realize that both of them were thinking of the panel in terms of shows that only have gen fic because they don’t attract slash – since when, I asked, is gen nothing more than not-slash? When did slash become the default? It turned out that Erika had a similar theory to mine: shows that don’t have the chemistry to generate slash also don’t have the chemistry to inspire gen. On the other hand, Lorelei did have some shows in mind that have gen fandoms but no slash (e.g. Route 66, Adam-12). When we got to talking about gen in and of itself, Lorelei had a nifty theory. I had been trying, ahead of time, to figure out what makes for good gen chemistry, and I was thinking along the lines that it happened when the characters considered their relationship more important than… something. But that ran into a snag, because often what the characters have in common is some kind of quest or duty that means more to them than anything, even their own lives, and if one of them acted as if the relationship was more important than the duty, he would lose the respect of the other. As soon as Lorelei mentioned her theory, I thought, “Wow! That’s way better!” She said that a really fic-inspiring gen pairing happens when two characters have a relationship such that each one could be himself. (Or herself, since gen relationships can be any combination of genders.) The characters might disagree, but neither one has to pretend to be someone else to gain the other’s approval – each respects the other for who s/he really is.

After the gen panel, Lorelei and I had lunch in the hotel restaurant, where they had a salad bar set up and offered hot sandwiches as well. To be honest, their food isn’t that great, but they had opened for lunch to help out the convention, so I wanted to support them. Shortly afterward I went to the Alchemy panel from 1 to 2, which focused on slash relationships. I was on the panel with J. M. Griffin, Kat Weller, and Beth Arganbright. This was less analytical than the gen panel, as we mostly discussed various slash pairings without getting meta about what made them tick, but it was still interesting. I was tempted to apply Lorelei’s theory about gen relationships: In a good gen pairing, the characters can be themselves with each other, while in a good slash pairing, the characters can be themselves NAKED with each other. But we never got that analytical. I did get to plug some of my favorite pairings – J.M. asked us each to list our three top pairings. I listed Moffitt/Dietrich (Rat Patrol), Harris/Dietrich (Barney Miller – different Dietrich, of course), and Kelly/Scotty (I Spy), explaining that you really have to forget about the Jell-O Pudding commercials to recognize the true hotness of that last pairing. I also mentioned that I considered Spock/McCoy a sort of ur-pairing for me, even though I haven’t often seen them slashed and don’t feel the need to slash them myself. It’s just that I’ve always loved that surface snarkiness combined with underlying love and respect.

Speaking of snarkiness, so many people have been trying to pimp me into Stargate:Atlantis that I decided to go ahead and watch the pilot, which was shown in the vid room at 3:30. I had some time before it started to do some fun things. I visited the hospitality suite for a while and had a snack; I looked around the art show; I looked through zines in the dealers’ room. The last item was somewhat fruitless, as I tend to be into small quirky fandoms that either don’t have their own zines or whose few zines I already own. I had more success at the art show, where I put bids on a beautiful Master and Commander piece of Suzan Lovett, a hilarious Lord of the Rings cartoon featuring Legolas and Gimli by Jane Mailander, and a wonderful kitty picture by sockii. She had another piece that tempted me because it looked just like my older kitty, but I saw that Keikokin had already placed a bid and I didn’t want to bid against her. I visited with Dee some more and got a copy of the latest version of the LOTR saga she’s working on, promising to return it with comments. I bought a bunch of videotapes on a huge sale ($1 each) at the Orphan Zine table, including a bunch of eps of The Rifleman for the hubby and a tape of Sledge Hammer, which I remember loving when it was on, plus eps of Red Dwarf and a Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror." And I had a chance to drop off some books I wanted to clear out on a space near the flyers table; I put a little note that said "Free to good home. Or bad home. Whatever."

I was the only person who watched the Stargate:Atlantis pilot all the way through (except for John and Keikokin, who were in there anyway). People occasionally drifted in for a few minutes, but for the most part I was the only audience member. John said this was typical, so I suggested we should run the idea of DIY time past the concom for next year, where people sign up for chunks of time and bring their own choice of show to watch; when we did this at Econ, it was hugely popular and we showed songvids during any unreserved time. Anyway, I did enjoy the SGA pilot. I can’t say it lit a fire under me, but it was certainly watchable and I did like the characters and the snark. I bought a couple of zines afterwards to see how I liked the fic. I would be nice to be in a current fandom with lots of zines!

Following the SGA pilot I went to dinner with a bunch of folks, including Keikokin and her hubby, Akite, Barbara, Keikokin’s beta allexandrya (whom I really enjoyed getting to meet), Vivian (Vivian-from-PA, not Vivian-from-Austin), Kat, Judy (concom Judy, not gun panel Judy), and a young woman whose name I never learned. (Anyone remember?) We went to the Hobbit Café, a Tolkien-themed restaurant that has been around since long before the current movie series. It is in a low, cozy building with a very Shire-esque feeling. We initially were going to eat outside, but just as we were served it began to rain! So they moved us inside. I had a Hobbit Wrap with avocado, chicken salad, and lots of veggies, which was both huge and yummy.

I skipped the costume cabaret, as I was tired and wanted some downtime. I heard afterwards, though, that it was a lot of fun. I stayed in my room, watching music videos (the vid room didn’t need my little TV/VCR any more) and reading one of my new zines. John called me down in time for the art auction. I must say, cell phones have made finding people and events a lot easier!

Nine pieces went to auction this year, which was a REVELcon record. Six were by Suzan Lovett, including the Master & Commander piece, which I was very excited to win! The highest price was fetched by a Lovett picture entitled The Swordsman and the Scholar, featuring Jack and Daniel from Stargate:SG-1 in gorgeous medieval garb; it went for $100. Next came the charity auction, which benefited the American Heart Association. I had brought a couple of items and was glad they both went for a respectable amount. One of them wasn’t actually from me; it was the DVD player used at a couple of Eclecticons until we realized it would only play purchased DVD’s, not the homemade ones on which so many vidders now submit their work. Agel wanted it donated to a charity, so I brought it here, where it fetched $20 for the AHA (and some nice publicity for Econ). I also brought a Star Trek Monopoly game that was given to me by a student at the Evil Empire during that last awful semester before I walked away. I had never opened it; kindly as the gift was meant, it reminded me too much of bad times. So I donated it and was tickled when John wound up winning it! If I’d known he would want it, I would have just given it to him, but this way the Heart people wound up benefiting, so it was all good.

I visited with Jacquelyn Sykes for a little while afterwards. She had donated some old Star Trek memorabilia in Mary Helm’s name that had proven surprisingly popular at the charity auction and was quite pleased. She also told me very excitedly about picking up the new Lord Peter Wimsey mystery (Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh) from the free-books pile, and I told her I was the one who put it out! I was glad to see it going to a good home where it would be enjoyed.

I called the hubby to let him know how things went and he was glad to hear that I was having fun and spending money. I finished reading the zine and then fell asleep.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

I came down shortly before 10 a.m., checkbook in hand, and pre-registered for next year’s con, much to Eileen’s mock astonishment. (I tend to forget these things.) J.M. was at the concom table as well and thanked me for being a panelist. She said the kindest thing: that she likes putting me on panels because I have pithy, interesting things to say, but I don’t try to dominate the discussion. That had me grinning for quite a while!

While I was filling out my pre-reg form I learned that they needed a gofer to sit security outside the dealers’ room from 10 to 11. “I can do that,” I said, although I hadn’t signed up as a formal gofer. It’s a great place to sit and see everybody, after all. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a special gofer button with the cute REVELcon logo on it, for so little work! While I was sitting, John & Keikokin came by to show me the artwork they had gotten from the art show. I was delighted to see that they had bought the two beautiful large portraits of Arthur and Guinevere, which will look wonderful in their medieval-themed den. I also agreed to mail them back for them, since there would be no way to take them on the plane! Keikokin also showed me the picture she had bought of the kitty that looked like my kitty – and then gave it to me as a present! She too had noted the resemblance. There was only one appropriate and dignified response: I jumped up, yelled “Squeee!” and hugged her tight.

When my gofer shift was up, I went to the art show and paid for the auction item I had won as well as the items I bid on that didn’t go to auction – I got both the cartoon and the kitty picture at minimum bid. Checkout was very quick and efficient and I truly appreciated how smoothly Friends of Fandom handled it. I put the artwork in my room, came back down and tracked down Dee, who was at the Orphan Zines table. I gave her back her story, which had had much more new material than I was expecting (a very pleasant surprise) and gave her feedback on the new material and how it fit in to the story so far. I hope there’s more of it to read soon! Then, checkbook still in hand, I went to Barbara’s table to pay for the globe and artwork. I had set aside two pictures on Friday, a color print of a McCoy collage by Sharon Young, and one smaller black and white McCoy portrait by another artist. There were two other black and white portraits, but I decided to wait and see if anyone else wanted them. No one else had bought them – so I nabbed them!

I also made a last sweep of the Star Wars genzines at the OZ table, to see if I might find anything for my sister-in-law, whom I have been introducing to fanfic. I found the novel Knight of Shadows, written in 1982, an attempt to chart Darth Vader’s tutelage under Obi-Wan and his turn to the Dark Side. My sister-in-law is very interested in Anakin, so I thought she would enjoy comparing this very early extrapolation to the recent canonical version.

Lorelei helped me carry my few bags (I didn’t even pack a full-sized suitcase) and much larger load of TV, songvids, and fannish purchases out to my car, so I was able to check out of my room in time for the vid room showing of… ta da… The Rat Patrol (in color)! At first, Lorelei and I were the only audience members, but we were joined by a few more viewers just a few minutes in. I have to confess that, since the pilot isn’t that good, we coaxed John to show another early episode instead, "The Kill or Be Killed Raid," which we all enjoyed. I stayed afterwards, as did Lorelei, to watch the pilot episode of The Professionals, a show of which I had previously seen exactly two complete episodes and countless songvids. I found the pilot highly entertaining and particularly liked Cowley in it.

I was set to go home after that, but I was invited to a late lunch with a bunch of folks, including Kris and Heidi (and Candy Pulleine, and Kandy Fong, and Beth Arganbright, and Kris’ hubby Mark, and more!). We went to the seafood restaurant where the same bunch of us, more or less, went last year, and had a very mellow get-together. It was a fun and relaxing way to conclude a fun and relaxing convention!

Comments

[akite.livejournal.com]

*blushes at all the compliments you gave me* The young lady that went to dinner at the Hobbit Cafe with us is Michele, aka Lady Angel. Wonderful con report! A whole lot more detailed than mine. *g* Next year I'll have to take notes as you do, if I have time.

[blktauna.livejournal.com]

YAY another Moffitt/Detrich gal!

Sounds like a great con. I hope I can make it someday.