(no subject)

[louiselux]

So I've been off ill for two days, and now I'm back at work I suddenly have time to write this. Go figure.



One of the best things was meeting people, both new and old faces, and having the opportunity to ramble on and on about fandom in the sure knowledge that everyone else understands your obsession.

I missed the daytime panels on Friday and arrived in the middle of dinner, where I chatted with mandargora1, graculus and stagiera, then daegaer appeared like magic beside me- she has different hair than her icon lets on! She also laughs a lot, and is very cool, and hardly complained at all when the waitress poured hot tea all over her hand. She will also present you large boxes of anime DVDs and make you watch them. After dinner it was Slash Pictionary, managed admirably by watervole. moonlettuce scared us all with her, ahem, imaginative concepts. Kudos to the person who managed to draw 'Zaphod Beeblebrox gives Arthur and Ford a blowjob simultaneously' in such a way that someone *got* it. Pictionary went on for quite a while and we decamped to the bar where we sat and chatted until about 1am.

Saturday morning's panels included 'When slash goes mainstream.' One comment was that fandom was already mainstream, and there was agreement that this had been hastened by the net and by younger people getting into fandom and being very open about it. There was also some discussion of the social aspect of fandom and what effect these new fans have on established fandoms, and on older fans, who often have their own customs and ways of interacting. I think it was spacefall who said that even though old fans resent new fans, those new fans are what keep the older fandoms alive and they should be welcomed. Someone made the point that fandom is a social construct and that it's constantly grouping and regrouping-- if a fandom group gets too big, it will inevitably splinter down into a more manageable social group. I think one look at HP fandom tells you there's some truth in this--there's an huge number of fans and a huge amount of differentiation in interests. Lerida's summing up point was that as fandom does become more mainstream, generally people seem to be more relaxed about admitting to being in fandom and also to liking slash.

I spent some time chatting with predatrix about various things we were writing, before sneaking into the politics in fandom panel. I should mention that the panel suite (as well as the hotel generally) was terrifically overheated and it was necessary to go and sit in the relative cool of the cocktail bar from time to time. I think the hotel staff must've all thought we looked delicate or consumptive or something - I haven't sweated so much all year. Anyway.

What happens when when your politics don't match those of your fandom? There were lots of examples: Hornblower - set in time when slavery was legal, daegaer mentioned Good Omens - you're writing in a world where God exists and there's no way round that. The general consensus was that writers shouldn't try and change the politics of their fandoms to suit their own views and that if you do it sticks out like a sore, um, thumb. I think if you alter the political setup and beliefs of canon you're in danger of edging into AU territory, with your character inhabiting a different world from the one they should. There 's a difference between doing this on purpose and doing this because you'd like to espouse your own beliefs. The latter, however much you try to hide it, always shows through.

After lunch there were more panels, all of which looked quite interesting, and I remember thinking that I'd like to sit in on a couple. We'll just watch one or two episode of Weiss Kreuz, I think was the general agreement between daegaer and me. Famous last words. By the time I left on Sunday we'd managed to cram in 16 episodes. Okay, they're only 20 minutes each, but that's still about 6 hours worth. What is it about this stupid anime that's so addictive? Weiss Kreuz has to have the most ridiculous plot ever - angsty flower shop assistants by day, assassins by night. Evil, extremely cool, baddies and very bad English subtitles (I am Bye!)

Anyway, the TV room was down labyrinthine passageways and through echoing ballrooms so we could giggle undisturbed except for the odd unwary fan, and moonlettuce, who kindly came to check that we were still alive.

After the viewing marathon there was the Moderately Tidy Dinner, where we all admired daegaer's pendant and gloria1 and lexin sparked off some ideas about how to end my languishing Eroica fic. Then back to the main room for some really excellent vids (men, men men… anybody?) and much viewing of Peter Wingfield's naked thrusting bottom, courtesy, I believe, of mandragora1. In the other room there was enthusiastic filking and we turned up later at the bar to catch the tail end of what had obviously been a long and wide ranging discussion about Harry Potter, including Ron and the Big Gay Brain.

At the end of the night daegaer and I amused ourselves by reading out torturous bits of Professionals porn. I still think the words 'initial setback' are more appropriate to a marketing report than the tense moment when Doyle inserts his finger into Bodie's bottom. Call me old fashioned. Also, we couldn't help reading Cowley as Crowley, which out some very evil thoughts into our heads: one day there is a gleaming black Bentley sitting in the MI5 car park. Cowley, for no explained reason, has been replaced by Crowley. Daeger must write this, she must!

I didn't get much sleep, mostly due to the couple in the room above having a 3am screaming match complete with hours of sobbing.

Sunday's panel on 'The Power of Language' was brilliantly chaired by fides, who read out good and bad examples of writing, with various people chiming in. I thought she was very brave to read out to us a sex scene from her own original fic-- it got a good reception. Who will ever forget the Mexican waves of love? Wave after wave after wave after wave of ecstacy... you get the picture. katemonkey's panel on femmeslash was entertaining - Kate was very keen to get us all writing more, but I suppose for most fans it comes down to whatever floats your boat:

• Key points, you don't have to be gay to write femmeslash, neither do you have to put sex in it.


• Key words: Dykeadelic, Molten Cores.

Then daegaer and I slunk off to the TV room to soak up more Weiss Kreuz insanity, until it was time for me to leave. By this time I'd developed a bit of a sore throat, which possibly was to do with the squeeing, or more likely to do with Typhoid Mary who was coughing behind me on the train on the way up.

At various times over the weekend fandoms were pimped mercilessly. mandragora1 did a very good job of selling me Hornblower, Khaleesian likewise with her brilliant Too Fast Too Furious vids and I got a general vibe from Due South vids and blooper reels that I would like to lick a Mountie.

So, a long weekend, lots of cool people and much squeeing, a shiny new fandom - all very enjoyable indeed.

Comments

[cygny.livejournal.com]

Only now have I gotten around to reading this and it all comes down to one thing, I am so there next year (if you and Daegaer are of course :P)!