Strippers, an Engagement, and Laser Sights: Gridlock
GridlockDC was ROCKlock. (azriona it was great to meet you!)
The con unofficially stripped kicked off on Friday, with the Black Cat club up the road having a Sherlock Holmes burlesque. I didn't go, but it was popular enough to need to have a second late show and twitter the next day included lines like "the hound is dancing to Metallica!" and "And then Sherlock was led off wearing a leash and a ball gag."
... I... still don't know if I'm sorry or relieved not to have been there.
Saturday morning, two of our Tin Box members got engaged. Congratulations!
When the convention proper started, I was very glad to see that Three Patch Podcast was down on the main convention floor, where it was easy to get to their handouts and parties and panels. They are not an official part of 221B Con and thus are up in a suite, whereas GridlockDC turned over a room to them and told them to have fun. I particularly enjoyed their Fandom Mixer party, where we were all given a sheet with 9 or so boxes on it labeled 'John's Mustache' or "OTP" and had to get people to put "something creative" in each box. Signed, so you had to approach at least 9 different people. (Groups were forming around the standing tables, passing sheets to the left until they worked their way home.) When it was filled in, you got your pick of a little prize -a button or a sticker or the ilk. I got the button "Rebooting is for cheesecakes."
The concom was completely on the ball, working hard to make sure everything ran on rails. (Possibly a little too hard; my co-panelist for Women in Sherlock couldn't make it and I was startled to walk into the room to see a full table of panelists before I got there. It was a great panel, I will say, I was just surprised to go from 0 co-panelists to 3 in one fell swoop.) The concom's absolute triumph, though, was stepping in smooth as butter when Queer Readings in Canon started getting contentious. Without missing a beat, the room was shifted from hands-up questions and comments to moderated written comments and questions. This alone was well handled, but I got impressed right down to my socks when they swung in to deal with a well-known shouty complainer an the same panel and managed to quiet her down. I've had to deal with the same person;I want to know how that magic works
The whole panel program is online, and I'll be adding tumblr links to details as they become available. So I'll hit 3 highlights:
1) Transcontinental fandom was a delight; it basically was a sampling of how Sherlock fandom is addressed/sold/parodied in Japan, Russia, South Korea, Norway, etc.
2) Peter Blau Story Hour was as wonderful as we all hoped. The best part is he's always full of surprises; while I knew the story about the ASH picketing the BSI dinner, I don't think anyone except Peter knew that much about William Gillette's impact on cannon itself.
The third is too good to hide under a cut: THE event of the con was the cosplay Q&A on Sunday. A John, Mycroft, and Sherlock were answering questions in character, and the room was ready to ask anything and everything. Mycroft in particular had a good delivery of "Redacted" and an excellent hard stare, both used very often (especially when Sherlock asked "How many chocolate eclairs did you eat for breakfast?") Questions ranged from canonical - John was asked to defend his military experience and just where he was shot - through internet fanon - like questions about Mystrade.
And then Moriarty strode in, slinked his way up to the panel, and coolly asked "Did you miss me?" As soon as the howls of joy from the audience died down the hands rose, the first question being "Richard Brook. What was your inspiration for the children's story 'The Barber Who Gave Me a Bad Haircut and Then Was Found Dead in a Skip'?"
But the real inspiration came at the end of the panel... when someone in the audience decided to play along and suddenly there was an unexpected and unscripted laser pinpoint flaring red across Moriarty. The audience squealed and howled, and while Moriarty tried to figure out what we were reacting to, Sebastian Moran BURST out from the audience shouting "Get down! Get down!" and tackled him to the floor. They hid behind the podium; when Moran looked out, the laser aimed dead center of his chest and Moriarty dragged him back to safety until they could both retreat.
That moment is going to live in GridlockDC -- and MorMor -- history -- forever.
The con unofficially stripped kicked off on Friday, with the Black Cat club up the road having a Sherlock Holmes burlesque. I didn't go, but it was popular enough to need to have a second late show and twitter the next day included lines like "the hound is dancing to Metallica!" and "And then Sherlock was led off wearing a leash and a ball gag."
... I... still don't know if I'm sorry or relieved not to have been there.
Saturday morning, two of our Tin Box members got engaged. Congratulations!
When the convention proper started, I was very glad to see that Three Patch Podcast was down on the main convention floor, where it was easy to get to their handouts and parties and panels. They are not an official part of 221B Con and thus are up in a suite, whereas GridlockDC turned over a room to them and told them to have fun. I particularly enjoyed their Fandom Mixer party, where we were all given a sheet with 9 or so boxes on it labeled 'John's Mustache' or "OTP" and had to get people to put "something creative" in each box. Signed, so you had to approach at least 9 different people. (Groups were forming around the standing tables, passing sheets to the left until they worked their way home.) When it was filled in, you got your pick of a little prize -a button or a sticker or the ilk. I got the button "Rebooting is for cheesecakes."
The concom was completely on the ball, working hard to make sure everything ran on rails. (Possibly a little too hard; my co-panelist for Women in Sherlock couldn't make it and I was startled to walk into the room to see a full table of panelists before I got there. It was a great panel, I will say, I was just surprised to go from 0 co-panelists to 3 in one fell swoop.) The concom's absolute triumph, though, was stepping in smooth as butter when Queer Readings in Canon started getting contentious. Without missing a beat, the room was shifted from hands-up questions and comments to moderated written comments and questions. This alone was well handled, but I got impressed right down to my socks when they swung in to deal with a well-known shouty complainer an the same panel and managed to quiet her down. I've had to deal with the same person;I want to know how that magic works
The whole panel program is online, and I'll be adding tumblr links to details as they become available. So I'll hit 3 highlights:
1) Transcontinental fandom was a delight; it basically was a sampling of how Sherlock fandom is addressed/sold/parodied in Japan, Russia, South Korea, Norway, etc.
2) Peter Blau Story Hour was as wonderful as we all hoped. The best part is he's always full of surprises; while I knew the story about the ASH picketing the BSI dinner, I don't think anyone except Peter knew that much about William Gillette's impact on cannon itself.
The third is too good to hide under a cut: THE event of the con was the cosplay Q&A on Sunday. A John, Mycroft, and Sherlock were answering questions in character, and the room was ready to ask anything and everything. Mycroft in particular had a good delivery of "Redacted" and an excellent hard stare, both used very often (especially when Sherlock asked "How many chocolate eclairs did you eat for breakfast?") Questions ranged from canonical - John was asked to defend his military experience and just where he was shot - through internet fanon - like questions about Mystrade.
And then Moriarty strode in, slinked his way up to the panel, and coolly asked "Did you miss me?" As soon as the howls of joy from the audience died down the hands rose, the first question being "Richard Brook. What was your inspiration for the children's story 'The Barber Who Gave Me a Bad Haircut and Then Was Found Dead in a Skip'?"
But the real inspiration came at the end of the panel... when someone in the audience decided to play along and suddenly there was an unexpected and unscripted laser pinpoint flaring red across Moriarty. The audience squealed and howled, and while Moriarty tried to figure out what we were reacting to, Sebastian Moran BURST out from the audience shouting "Get down! Get down!" and tackled him to the floor. They hid behind the podium; when Moran looked out, the laser aimed dead center of his chest and Moriarty dragged him back to safety until they could both retreat.
That moment is going to live in GridlockDC -- and MorMor -- history -- forever.