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more Worldcon thoughts
Sep. 3rd, 2001 11:19 amThe machine on which I'm typing this has a Sun logo on it and kind of looks and behaves like a Mac. (I haven't used a Mac in several years. There's no uber-menu with the apple icon at the top of the screen, but maybe that can be disabled. They really only want people to use Netscape here at the con, after all.) I wonder what the heck this box is.
The Harry Potter book won the Hugo for best novel last night. I am disappointed. I haven't actually read any of the nominees, so I can't say what the best novel was this year, but I am highly skeptical that Harry Potter was it.
The winner for drammatic presentation was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and they showed it after the awards. I didn't see it in the theatre because I wasn't willing to spend 8 bucks to find out whether I would be able to read the subtitles (size, contrast, and speed of deployment being highly variable in these things), so I went to the free showing at the con. I missed the first couple minutes, but I don't think I missed anything essential. It was a decent movie, but I'm not really sure what all the fuss was about. (I'm also not really convinced that it's SF or fantasy. If you replaced the swords with guns would the movie still be elliglbe, or would it be a western?)
I will admit to some puzzlement at the ending. I suppose that was intentional. If both of them had taken the action taken by the woman, I would know the result; as only she took that action, I don't know if he got the desired results. (I'm being vague to avoid spoilers here, but won't be vague in any followup comments.)
This has been a pretty good con for programming -- better than I remember Bucky (Worldcon 3 years ago) being. I've only been to these two worldcons, so I can't generalize.
We shared the convention space with a group called "For His Glory" this weekend. (They seem to have disappeared Sunday afternoon.) They are obviously a Christian group, though I don't know what specific denomination. (They were most prominent Sunday morning, when several hundred were gathered -- all wearing white robes -- and singing and drumming. Kind of neat to listen to.) They were very polite and easy to share space with; no proselytizing, no public evangelizing, no in-your-face tactics, no pamphlets. But friendly to talk to in the elevators and the like. I hope that the anti-Christian (and anti-religion-in-any-form) elements of fandom were paying attention; for a community that gets branded (often unfairly) as dangerous weirdos, you'd think fans would be a little more open-minded about other groups.
I was on two panels yesterday. The SCA/fandom one was poor; the other person did show up (late), but didn't go to the green room beforehand. So we had no opportunity to figure out what we were going to do. It turned into heavy audience participation, which is good, but the audience contained one annoying person who would not shut up or stay on topic, and we had to stomp on him a few times. That was kind of frustrating. (Also frustrating: I spottee some friends there, Justin and Caitlin from Carolingia, but I had to run off to my other panel so I didn't get to talk with them. And I haven't seen them since.)
The other panel, on performing with other people, went pretty well. It was a fun group of people to be with, and it looked like the audience was enjoying it. It would have been nice if we'd been able to continue the conversation informally, but there was a concert immediately after (that one of the panelists was in), so we all went to that instead.
Three Weird Sisters is a good band, by the way. I don't think I had heard them before. There are three of them (duh); all sing, and the instruments are wire-strung harp, guitar, bodhran, and string bass. I picked up their CD, which I gather they just released.
Apropos of nothing, I have noticed a much higher density of wheelchairs at this con than in the general public. I wonder whether this says something about who's attacted to fandom, or about Philly, or about Worldcon, or what. (It could be the last: Worldcons tend to be kind of spread out, so people who might normally not use a chair might need to here.)
The Harry Potter book won the Hugo for best novel last night. I am disappointed. I haven't actually read any of the nominees, so I can't say what the best novel was this year, but I am highly skeptical that Harry Potter was it.
The winner for drammatic presentation was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and they showed it after the awards. I didn't see it in the theatre because I wasn't willing to spend 8 bucks to find out whether I would be able to read the subtitles (size, contrast, and speed of deployment being highly variable in these things), so I went to the free showing at the con. I missed the first couple minutes, but I don't think I missed anything essential. It was a decent movie, but I'm not really sure what all the fuss was about. (I'm also not really convinced that it's SF or fantasy. If you replaced the swords with guns would the movie still be elliglbe, or would it be a western?)
I will admit to some puzzlement at the ending. I suppose that was intentional. If both of them had taken the action taken by the woman, I would know the result; as only she took that action, I don't know if he got the desired results. (I'm being vague to avoid spoilers here, but won't be vague in any followup comments.)
This has been a pretty good con for programming -- better than I remember Bucky (Worldcon 3 years ago) being. I've only been to these two worldcons, so I can't generalize.
We shared the convention space with a group called "For His Glory" this weekend. (They seem to have disappeared Sunday afternoon.) They are obviously a Christian group, though I don't know what specific denomination. (They were most prominent Sunday morning, when several hundred were gathered -- all wearing white robes -- and singing and drumming. Kind of neat to listen to.) They were very polite and easy to share space with; no proselytizing, no public evangelizing, no in-your-face tactics, no pamphlets. But friendly to talk to in the elevators and the like. I hope that the anti-Christian (and anti-religion-in-any-form) elements of fandom were paying attention; for a community that gets branded (often unfairly) as dangerous weirdos, you'd think fans would be a little more open-minded about other groups.
I was on two panels yesterday. The SCA/fandom one was poor; the other person did show up (late), but didn't go to the green room beforehand. So we had no opportunity to figure out what we were going to do. It turned into heavy audience participation, which is good, but the audience contained one annoying person who would not shut up or stay on topic, and we had to stomp on him a few times. That was kind of frustrating. (Also frustrating: I spottee some friends there, Justin and Caitlin from Carolingia, but I had to run off to my other panel so I didn't get to talk with them. And I haven't seen them since.)
The other panel, on performing with other people, went pretty well. It was a fun group of people to be with, and it looked like the audience was enjoying it. It would have been nice if we'd been able to continue the conversation informally, but there was a concert immediately after (that one of the panelists was in), so we all went to that instead.
Three Weird Sisters is a good band, by the way. I don't think I had heard them before. There are three of them (duh); all sing, and the instruments are wire-strung harp, guitar, bodhran, and string bass. I picked up their CD, which I gather they just released.
Apropos of nothing, I have noticed a much higher density of wheelchairs at this con than in the general public. I wonder whether this says something about who's attacted to fandom, or about Philly, or about Worldcon, or what. (It could be the last: Worldcons tend to be kind of spread out, so people who might normally not use a chair might need to here.)
