what does it look like, this orbital ball, from the fringes of the milky way.
Dragon*Con recaps woo!
Or, at least it is until I get bored and wander off to read/compile all my Humphrey Bogart movies into a playlist for later.
I went downtown to Dragon*Con on Saturday and Sunday, and it was my first time, and I had a lot of fun and I'm totally going back next year. I kinda even want to look into working, because I love being behind the scenes for things. Nina, maybe we both can write for the Daily Dragon next year? By that point I may even have my own Atlanta apartment with crash space for friends?
But back to this year's Con, which was great and I didn't expect to end with me hitchhiking in northern Atlanta at one o'clock in the morning. But we shall get to that later.
On the first day I dressed up as what I think may be a steampunk train captain. I do not think I qualify for airship captain just yet, but trains are plenty steamy and maybe they race the rails, captains fighting for their precious territories... or I just hold up brick walls and check my pocketwatch.
The boots, AKA Most Steampunk Boots Evar, for those that missed them the first day.
But best of all, I'd have to say, is the friends I got to meet for the first time in person.
(me bothering ninamazing ninamazing in the Daily Dragon newsroom, where she literally had her sleeves rolled up as she pounded out an important article. You can see the smoothie I brought her off to the side there; sadly, due to this creature, she had been rendered slightly problematized in the mouth. But this did not even slow her down from being awesome.)
(L-R intrikate88 , hollywoodgrrl intrikate88 , hollywoodgrrl , ohvienna )
The next day, ohvienna spotted me across a crowded room that Felica Day happened to be in, and after that panel, she, hollywoodgrrlhollywoodgrrl , and I immediately retired to a pub to discuss all manner of fangirly things, such as Ashes to Ashes, How Fandom Hates Rose, and the fact that there was a telly at the table actually playing Legend of the Seeker.
Later, we gathered for another panel, then headed out to party. The Yule Ball, unfortunately, was lacking in alcholic beverages which we all deemed highly necessary, but it was not lacking in a Dumbledore grinding with somebody, which is also highly necessary. We sought refreshment instead in the Hilton, where ninamazing was briefly able to join us, and a great deal of fun and, indeed, refreshment was had by all. Also there was hilarious karaoke going on nearby.
I LOVE Y'ALL!!!!!!!!1111!!!
I have to admit I was slightly disappointed in a few of the panels. This is because I have a really awesome flist and we have great discussions about things and I forgot the internet is not always intelligent about things. Also I miss Srs Meta discussions from school about stuff because I had to go and graduate like a person with no foresight. Therefore when the Brittrack apparently decided to forsake reasoned discussion with supported arguments in favor of repeating tabloid spoilers, I found myself a little confused.
However, several panels I went to were quite good. There was one in the Alt History track about history in the movies, and several of the panelists were professors, researchers, or other experts in their fields and had a lot of good things to contribute towards a discussion on how accurate or true to history movies such as Troy, The Patriot, Dances with Wolves, 300, The Last Samurai, and a few others were. The moral of the story was: Do not trust Mel Gibson with your history. EVER.
I also took a picture of this person at that panel.
I believe him to be a genie of some sort, and am sure he would probably grant all my wishes in some terrifying way.
Another panel I attended featured none other but Christopher Golden, who was quite charming and funny and said of the Buffy: Chaos Bleeds video game that he wrote, "If the zombie penguins go, so do I!" which I think is pretty much the final word on everything ever. He also believes that Spike without a soul is essentially a sociopath who occasionally imitates moral behavior to get close to people who intrigue him, which has in the past caused wanksplosions with Spike/Buffy shippers. "There are a lot of people who need Spike to genuinely LOVE Buffy. They are now Twilight fans."
I asked a question at that panel, not to Christopher, but to another panelist named Lars Pearson, who runs Mad Norwegian Press and has written several non-fiction books on Buffy. I told him about my intent to write an article with Dr. Lillie Craton on True Blood for that book I previously mentioned, and asked for research and writing tips on proposing that variety of analytical work. He said some things about coming up with an original concept that doesn't just state the obvious (which since we're talking about feminism in True Blood and vampire literature I was already a little worried, but I do think we can pull it off) and don't get too dry and academic (but since I turn in ragingly inappropriate stuff like this Twilight analysis for assignments I'm pretty sure nobody will accuse me of being dry in my academic work). After the panel, Lars asked me to stay behind, and told me about another Buffy book he intends to produce next year, and said that he might be interested in having me contribute. He hasn't replied to my follow-up email yet, but that would be a really neat opportunity if I could write something for that.
Going back to the Brittrack, I found I had a connection with probably the most obnoxious of the panelists, Carolyn McCully, who I just missed working for on Share Magazine. Among my friends who did work for her, and were unfortunate enough to suffer through her editorial meetings, there are opinions such as "My main goal in being editor-in-chief is to NOT be Carolyn", "what a cunt. I do have to say, though, she never misses an opportunity to promote herself," and, on the more positive side, "I was thinking fondly of Carolyn, I don't know of anyone that I can so dependly ask, 'How's stuff and shit?' and hear five minutes of every detail about her life. Five minutes because that's when I hang up." The person who said the last one cut off his finger with a table saw while working on Carolyn's edition of the magazine.
(I hate her issue of Share so fucking much. I do. It was designed to look like a record and have an urban feel. Instead, all the pages are in different directions so you have to turn the magazine just to read it, it's got "grafitti" for the graphic design, and it has a sleeve around it that we of the staff were forced to sleeve magazines for two years after she was no longer EIC. And its so badly copyedited that I was ashamed on behalf of the staff before I even joined and started running said staff. UGH.)
UM BUT ON THE BRIGHT SIDE THE BRITTRACK DID BELIEVE THAT WHAT THE DOCTOR DID TO DONNA WITH TAKING AWAY HER MEMORY WAS A HORRIBLE HORRIBLE THING TO DO TO A PERSON AND I AGREE. Yes. um. My future has hope in it though and that is all I will say for those avoiding spoilers.
LOOK AT ALL THE DOCTORS THAT CAME TO ONE PANEL.
My favorite panel of all, though, happened more than once. So, naturally, I went twice. It featured Charisma Carpenter, Julie Benz, James Marsters, and Kristy Swanson. They discussed working together on Buffy and Angel, though poor Kristy, she was a bit left out because she never worked with any of them. They all are lovely people, though, and James didn't try to hog the panel like I've seen him do on youtube videos at other cons, Charisma and Julie are both really funny, charming ladies. <3 Also I took quotes and lots of picures.
Julie Benz: (re: working on Rocky with Sylvester Stallone) We had armed guards in Thailand, we were getting death threats from the Burmese government...
James Marsters: You got death threats from the GOVERNMENT?
JB: Yeah...
JM: ...Fuck!
JB: I'm not allowed in Burma anymore.
***
Charisma Carpenter: (re: which Buffy or Angel guy was her favorite to kiss) Nicky (Nicholas Brendan) was my favorite. *happy sigh* I love him!
James Marsters: I've never told this story before... so while we were filming the early seasons of Buffy, Julie Landau (who played Drusilla) would come over to watch the episodes as they aired, and sometimes we would be off in the corner, talking about scenes, and my girlfriend thought we had something going on. So to make me jealous, she started having a crush on David Boreanaz... and it worked, I was terribly jealous. When we were film season five of Angel I wore lifts in my shoes so I wouldn't look so short compared to him... turns out, my girlfriend was just pretending she liked him, and I never knew.
Charisma Carpenter: Am I sad I missed out on "Once More With Feeling"? HELL, no.
***
James Marsters: When they started writing Spike being in love with Buffy I had a really hard time with it, because Sarah was such a little sister to me, and I just couldn't wrap my mind around convincingly acting that I was in love with her. And then on the day when I saw her shooting the scene with that hat from that fast food chicken place, and I started thinking about Buffy, not Sarah, and how she came back to what is hell for her, became essentially a single mom, has this shitty job, but she's so determined, so tenacious. And I looked at her in that hat, and smiled, and that's when I saw how I could be in love with those qualities in Buffy. And she saw me smile, and stomped up to me, and said, "Everybody's been giving me crap all day about this hat, but I thought at least YOU wouldn't!" and stormed off. I don't think she knows to this day what I was smiling about.
***
Re: SMG on acting.
Charisma Carpenter: She knew her shit.
James Marsters: She was merciless... but very professional.
Julie Benz: She had so much professionalism for someone so young. I'm older than Sarah... I have been for quite a while.
***
Charisma Carpenter : (on getting to stake her first vampire in "Graduation" and finally not being the damsel in distress) I asked Joss if I could please finally stake a vamp and he said because I was the only one to be nice to him that night, he would let me stake a vamp. I mean, who would be mean to Joss, though? To his face?
***
Julie Benz: I can't watch Dollhouse. I saw that episode where the guy is hunting Eliza through the woods with a gun... it just really affected me.
James and Charisma: ...says the woman from Dexter?!
JB: He's a lovable serial killer! He gets other baddies, he doesn't hunt women with a rifle!
***
JB: I like being an evil character. You can work out your anger. Eh heh... I have issues.
***
JB: I'm glad to hear you bought my performance. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on.
***
James Marsters: Buffy and Angel... really, those are the kind of opportunities that come along once in a lifetime.
Julie Benz: Um, I have Dexter.
Charisma Carpenter: What-ever.
Kristy Swanson: When Joss called me to be in Buffy, I was wrapped up in a movie with... oh, what's-his-nuts...
Everyone else: Stephen Segal?
***
Charisma Carpenter: I spent my entire twenties on a set while everyone else was going to college, dating, developing that way... you know, socially.
***
Charisma Carpenter: There was one time I had to simulate a sex scene with Angel and he put a pillow between my legs.
Julie Benz: He never put a pillow between my legs.
Kristy Swanson: (in the tones one of merely asking for the sake of knowledge) Did he get wood?
Julie Benz: Twitter is my geeky hobby... I'm gonna teach Charisma how to Twitter later.
Audience member: Who was your favorite enemy to work with?
Charisma: Her. *points at Julie*
Julie: Her. *points at Charisma*
So after taking my leave from ohvienna and hollywoodgrrl just past midnight on Sunday, saying that I might turn into a pumpkin if I stayed much longer, I got on what was probably the last MARTA train heading north from Peachtree Center. Of course, I knew that there was only one track heading north, unlike the Tube in London, where you could go many places you might want to go. Atlanta is not London in so many ways. On the train, I sat amongst some other con goers, three guys and a girl all about my age, who started talking about Buffy and Doctor Who, so of course I joined in, because we all know how good I am about Not Talking To Strangers.
The highway outside the train window looked unfamiliar. So did the stops. "Did I miss Medical Center station?" I wondered aloud. They all shrugged, and said that's what I got for getting distracted, and oh wait, wasn't that station on the OTHER northern line? So I announced that I would be getting off at the next stop and heading back to the station that connected with my line.
We all got off the train at Doraville. There was a train on the southbound track waiting at the station, which I was elated about until I figured out that all the lights being off inside the train meant that it wasn't running anymore. I realized at that moment that I was going to have to call my parents in the middle of the night to come and pick me up basically on the other side of the state, and began to wonder if the tracks truly were electrical enough to throw myself upon and hope for the mercy of the gods instead.
Also I had had a whiskey sour and a long island ice tea a bit earlier. Just to give you a clearer picture of where I was in life.
"Hey, you're parked right on the other side of 285, right? Want a ride?" came a voice from behind me.
It was my fellow con-goers from the train. "Really?" I said. "Do you mind? I would really appreciate it..." I may have sounded more than a little pitiful.
They all looked at me curiously. "It's not a problem," the boy who was apparently the car-owner explained, as if to someone a bit slow. "You're a con person. You're in fandom. Of course we'll give you a ride."
And they did. They drove me all the way over to my car, and waited to make sure I got in alright. At any other time, with any other people, I probably would have refused the ride, and tried my best to find a taxi. And maybe I was a little too trusting, but right there and then, I saw what a community fandom makes us, and remembered one of the main reasons I love it.
(NOTE: Some of you have your pictures in here. For now this post is locked to my flist. hollywoodgrrl , ohviennaninamazing, do you mind if I make this post public?)
Or, at least it is until I get bored and wander off to read/compile all my Humphrey Bogart movies into a playlist for later.
I went downtown to Dragon*Con on Saturday and Sunday, and it was my first time, and I had a lot of fun and I'm totally going back next year. I kinda even want to look into working, because I love being behind the scenes for things. Nina, maybe we both can write for the Daily Dragon next year? By that point I may even have my own Atlanta apartment with crash space for friends?
But back to this year's Con, which was great and I didn't expect to end with me hitchhiking in northern Atlanta at one o'clock in the morning. But we shall get to that later.
On the first day I dressed up as what I think may be a steampunk train captain. I do not think I qualify for airship captain just yet, but trains are plenty steamy and maybe they race the rails, captains fighting for their precious territories... or I just hold up brick walls and check my pocketwatch.
The boots, AKA Most Steampunk Boots Evar, for those that missed them the first day.
But best of all, I'd have to say, is the friends I got to meet for the first time in person.
(me bothering ninamazing ninamazing in the Daily Dragon newsroom, where she literally had her sleeves rolled up as she pounded out an important article. You can see the smoothie I brought her off to the side there; sadly, due to this creature, she had been rendered slightly problematized in the mouth. But this did not even slow her down from being awesome.)
(L-R intrikate88 , hollywoodgrrl intrikate88 , hollywoodgrrl , ohvienna )
The next day, ohvienna spotted me across a crowded room that Felica Day happened to be in, and after that panel, she, hollywoodgrrlhollywoodgrrl , and I immediately retired to a pub to discuss all manner of fangirly things, such as Ashes to Ashes, How Fandom Hates Rose, and the fact that there was a telly at the table actually playing Legend of the Seeker.
Later, we gathered for another panel, then headed out to party. The Yule Ball, unfortunately, was lacking in alcholic beverages which we all deemed highly necessary, but it was not lacking in a Dumbledore grinding with somebody, which is also highly necessary. We sought refreshment instead in the Hilton, where ninamazing was briefly able to join us, and a great deal of fun and, indeed, refreshment was had by all. Also there was hilarious karaoke going on nearby.
I LOVE Y'ALL!!!!!!!!1111!!!
I have to admit I was slightly disappointed in a few of the panels. This is because I have a really awesome flist and we have great discussions about things and I forgot the internet is not always intelligent about things. Also I miss Srs Meta discussions from school about stuff because I had to go and graduate like a person with no foresight. Therefore when the Brittrack apparently decided to forsake reasoned discussion with supported arguments in favor of repeating tabloid spoilers, I found myself a little confused.
However, several panels I went to were quite good. There was one in the Alt History track about history in the movies, and several of the panelists were professors, researchers, or other experts in their fields and had a lot of good things to contribute towards a discussion on how accurate or true to history movies such as Troy, The Patriot, Dances with Wolves, 300, The Last Samurai, and a few others were. The moral of the story was: Do not trust Mel Gibson with your history. EVER.
I also took a picture of this person at that panel.
I believe him to be a genie of some sort, and am sure he would probably grant all my wishes in some terrifying way.
Another panel I attended featured none other but Christopher Golden, who was quite charming and funny and said of the Buffy: Chaos Bleeds video game that he wrote, "If the zombie penguins go, so do I!" which I think is pretty much the final word on everything ever. He also believes that Spike without a soul is essentially a sociopath who occasionally imitates moral behavior to get close to people who intrigue him, which has in the past caused wanksplosions with Spike/Buffy shippers. "There are a lot of people who need Spike to genuinely LOVE Buffy. They are now Twilight fans."
I asked a question at that panel, not to Christopher, but to another panelist named Lars Pearson, who runs Mad Norwegian Press and has written several non-fiction books on Buffy. I told him about my intent to write an article with Dr. Lillie Craton on True Blood for that book I previously mentioned, and asked for research and writing tips on proposing that variety of analytical work. He said some things about coming up with an original concept that doesn't just state the obvious (which since we're talking about feminism in True Blood and vampire literature I was already a little worried, but I do think we can pull it off) and don't get too dry and academic (but since I turn in ragingly inappropriate stuff like this Twilight analysis for assignments I'm pretty sure nobody will accuse me of being dry in my academic work). After the panel, Lars asked me to stay behind, and told me about another Buffy book he intends to produce next year, and said that he might be interested in having me contribute. He hasn't replied to my follow-up email yet, but that would be a really neat opportunity if I could write something for that.
Going back to the Brittrack, I found I had a connection with probably the most obnoxious of the panelists, Carolyn McCully, who I just missed working for on Share Magazine. Among my friends who did work for her, and were unfortunate enough to suffer through her editorial meetings, there are opinions such as "My main goal in being editor-in-chief is to NOT be Carolyn", "what a cunt. I do have to say, though, she never misses an opportunity to promote herself," and, on the more positive side, "I was thinking fondly of Carolyn, I don't know of anyone that I can so dependly ask, 'How's stuff and shit?' and hear five minutes of every detail about her life. Five minutes because that's when I hang up." The person who said the last one cut off his finger with a table saw while working on Carolyn's edition of the magazine.
(I hate her issue of Share so fucking much. I do. It was designed to look like a record and have an urban feel. Instead, all the pages are in different directions so you have to turn the magazine just to read it, it's got "grafitti" for the graphic design, and it has a sleeve around it that we of the staff were forced to sleeve magazines for two years after she was no longer EIC. And its so badly copyedited that I was ashamed on behalf of the staff before I even joined and started running said staff. UGH.)
UM BUT ON THE BRIGHT SIDE THE BRITTRACK DID BELIEVE THAT WHAT THE DOCTOR DID TO DONNA WITH TAKING AWAY HER MEMORY WAS A HORRIBLE HORRIBLE THING TO DO TO A PERSON AND I AGREE. Yes. um. My future has hope in it though and that is all I will say for those avoiding spoilers.
LOOK AT ALL THE DOCTORS THAT CAME TO ONE PANEL.
My favorite panel of all, though, happened more than once. So, naturally, I went twice. It featured Charisma Carpenter, Julie Benz, James Marsters, and Kristy Swanson. They discussed working together on Buffy and Angel, though poor Kristy, she was a bit left out because she never worked with any of them. They all are lovely people, though, and James didn't try to hog the panel like I've seen him do on youtube videos at other cons, Charisma and Julie are both really funny, charming ladies. <3 Also I took quotes and lots of picures.
Julie Benz: (re: working on Rocky with Sylvester Stallone) We had armed guards in Thailand, we were getting death threats from the Burmese government...
James Marsters: You got death threats from the GOVERNMENT?
JB: Yeah...
JM: ...Fuck!
JB: I'm not allowed in Burma anymore.
***
Charisma Carpenter: (re: which Buffy or Angel guy was her favorite to kiss) Nicky (Nicholas Brendan) was my favorite. *happy sigh* I love him!
James Marsters: I've never told this story before... so while we were filming the early seasons of Buffy, Julie Landau (who played Drusilla) would come over to watch the episodes as they aired, and sometimes we would be off in the corner, talking about scenes, and my girlfriend thought we had something going on. So to make me jealous, she started having a crush on David Boreanaz... and it worked, I was terribly jealous. When we were film season five of Angel I wore lifts in my shoes so I wouldn't look so short compared to him... turns out, my girlfriend was just pretending she liked him, and I never knew.
Charisma Carpenter: Am I sad I missed out on "Once More With Feeling"? HELL, no.
***
James Marsters: When they started writing Spike being in love with Buffy I had a really hard time with it, because Sarah was such a little sister to me, and I just couldn't wrap my mind around convincingly acting that I was in love with her. And then on the day when I saw her shooting the scene with that hat from that fast food chicken place, and I started thinking about Buffy, not Sarah, and how she came back to what is hell for her, became essentially a single mom, has this shitty job, but she's so determined, so tenacious. And I looked at her in that hat, and smiled, and that's when I saw how I could be in love with those qualities in Buffy. And she saw me smile, and stomped up to me, and said, "Everybody's been giving me crap all day about this hat, but I thought at least YOU wouldn't!" and stormed off. I don't think she knows to this day what I was smiling about.
***
Re: SMG on acting.
Charisma Carpenter: She knew her shit.
James Marsters: She was merciless... but very professional.
Julie Benz: She had so much professionalism for someone so young. I'm older than Sarah... I have been for quite a while.
***
Charisma Carpenter : (on getting to stake her first vampire in "Graduation" and finally not being the damsel in distress) I asked Joss if I could please finally stake a vamp and he said because I was the only one to be nice to him that night, he would let me stake a vamp. I mean, who would be mean to Joss, though? To his face?
***
Julie Benz: I can't watch Dollhouse. I saw that episode where the guy is hunting Eliza through the woods with a gun... it just really affected me.
James and Charisma: ...says the woman from Dexter?!
JB: He's a lovable serial killer! He gets other baddies, he doesn't hunt women with a rifle!
***
JB: I like being an evil character. You can work out your anger. Eh heh... I have issues.
***
JB: I'm glad to hear you bought my performance. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on.
***
James Marsters: Buffy and Angel... really, those are the kind of opportunities that come along once in a lifetime.
Julie Benz: Um, I have Dexter.
Charisma Carpenter: What-ever.
Kristy Swanson: When Joss called me to be in Buffy, I was wrapped up in a movie with... oh, what's-his-nuts...
Everyone else: Stephen Segal?
***
Charisma Carpenter: I spent my entire twenties on a set while everyone else was going to college, dating, developing that way... you know, socially.
***
Charisma Carpenter: There was one time I had to simulate a sex scene with Angel and he put a pillow between my legs.
Julie Benz: He never put a pillow between my legs.
Kristy Swanson: (in the tones one of merely asking for the sake of knowledge) Did he get wood?
Julie Benz: Twitter is my geeky hobby... I'm gonna teach Charisma how to Twitter later.
Audience member: Who was your favorite enemy to work with?
Charisma: Her. *points at Julie*
Julie: Her. *points at Charisma*
So after taking my leave from ohvienna and hollywoodgrrl just past midnight on Sunday, saying that I might turn into a pumpkin if I stayed much longer, I got on what was probably the last MARTA train heading north from Peachtree Center. Of course, I knew that there was only one track heading north, unlike the Tube in London, where you could go many places you might want to go. Atlanta is not London in so many ways. On the train, I sat amongst some other con goers, three guys and a girl all about my age, who started talking about Buffy and Doctor Who, so of course I joined in, because we all know how good I am about Not Talking To Strangers.
The highway outside the train window looked unfamiliar. So did the stops. "Did I miss Medical Center station?" I wondered aloud. They all shrugged, and said that's what I got for getting distracted, and oh wait, wasn't that station on the OTHER northern line? So I announced that I would be getting off at the next stop and heading back to the station that connected with my line.
We all got off the train at Doraville. There was a train on the southbound track waiting at the station, which I was elated about until I figured out that all the lights being off inside the train meant that it wasn't running anymore. I realized at that moment that I was going to have to call my parents in the middle of the night to come and pick me up basically on the other side of the state, and began to wonder if the tracks truly were electrical enough to throw myself upon and hope for the mercy of the gods instead.
Also I had had a whiskey sour and a long island ice tea a bit earlier. Just to give you a clearer picture of where I was in life.
"Hey, you're parked right on the other side of 285, right? Want a ride?" came a voice from behind me.
It was my fellow con-goers from the train. "Really?" I said. "Do you mind? I would really appreciate it..." I may have sounded more than a little pitiful.
They all looked at me curiously. "It's not a problem," the boy who was apparently the car-owner explained, as if to someone a bit slow. "You're a con person. You're in fandom. Of course we'll give you a ride."
And they did. They drove me all the way over to my car, and waited to make sure I got in alright. At any other time, with any other people, I probably would have refused the ride, and tried my best to find a taxi. And maybe I was a little too trusting, but right there and then, I saw what a community fandom makes us, and remembered one of the main reasons I love it.
(NOTE: Some of you have your pictures in here. For now this post is locked to my flist. hollywoodgrrl , ohviennaninamazing, do you mind if I make this post public?)