The MediaWest catchup post
Flying to "Exotic East Lansing" may be less stressful than driving, but considering all the delays getting in and out, it's not all that much faster... (And to my vast amusement, on my way to the convention, I ran into two friends who were taking the same flight as I was in order to get to a *different* con this weekend, and our talking attracted the attention of a lovely man who was waiting to take the flight to a third con...) I'm home a lot later than I expected to be, so this is going to be rather quick and dirty, with more details in later posts if there's call for it. I'm also not even going to attempt to catch up with the last 5 days of LJ, so if there's something major I need to know, please put in comments.
Quick review - had a great weekend, and am sorry to come home (although I was missing my email and LJ). Had a wonderful time hanging out with jennetj, signeh, isamom, hildy, and the new to LJ momthemerciless. Love ya all... even if you did make me watch "Shark Attack 3: Megaladon."
More details below, cut so that folks can either read about the whole thing or focus in on the Whovian info.
General MediaWest Info:
Vids
There were only 3 hours of vids this year; part of me misses them, and the other part was thrilled that the Friday night showing wasn't an endurance contest. Most notable to me were:
Cherokee Chicks - Lost to Gilligan's Island
Vid Weasels - Right Now (Right now... Iolus has died almost as many times as Daniel Jackson... Write now... your fandom doesn't have enough fanfic)
Vid Weasels - Livin' La Vida Yoda
Spaced Ponies - Supernatural to I Believe in Ghosts
Chris & Christina - Lord of the Rings to Tom Smith's "Return of the King" ("Well, I'm supposed to marry Arwen the Fairy, Queen of the Saturday Nights... but until then give me Aeowyn and I'll blow out her northern lights!")
I don't usually do the slash vids, but I bought the Vid Weasel's DVD, and their House vid to the tune of "Courtship of Eddie's Father" had me rolling on the floor.
Adding to SiDic's usual annual heartbreak "These Actors Died" - which always rips my heart out twice, for the ones I regret losing and for the ones I didn't know had died - was the fact that so MANY actors have died that he had to do two this year. The first ended with a shot of Andreus Katsulus; the secon ended with John Spencer.
Doors
Doors were kind of "eh" this year. There was an elaborate Lost setup of Sawyer's stash tent that won first place, and there was an elaborate bit with fake torches and jungle noises for a "Kong" door, but only one caught my eye, and that's the Who one described below.
Panels
Two panels competed for Greatest. Title. Ever!
- "Here Brucie, Brucie: Shows that have jumped the shark
- "Gonna Have to Face It, You're a Dickhead on Lost" (Sawyer discussion)
Fandoms
Atlantis remains the hot fandom followed by the standards Lord of the Rings, Man from UNCLE, and Harry Potter, although respectable showings were made by newbies Numb3rs, Supernatural, House, and of all things, Boston Legal. And then there was Doctor Who.
Doctor Who at MediaWest
Doctor Who fandom has started late, but it's gaining traction FAST. And I say this not just as a fond fan; when the panels were first suggested there was only one Who general discussion panel, but by the time the final schedule was set there were five, and each one was packed, in some cases Standing Room Only. Weeeeeeeerrrrrrreeeeee BAAAAAAAAAACK!
The panels included "9 vs 10" (which wasn't a bitchfight over who was better, but a discussion of how each Dr handles issues compared to each other), the general discussion, the new series general discussion, the Barrowman Appreciation panel, and the Captain Jack panel. Good stuff on all of them, and some fun tidbits, like finding out that the toy sonic screwdriver functions as a conterfeit bill detector, because it lights up the security strip in dollar bills.
One panel was interrupted by a guy with a wild story about an unnamed friend of his who had just happened to find all the missing Hartnell episodes and would make them available to the fans... no wait, he was in negotiation with BBC... no wait it was something... but anyway, talk to him after the panel to get copies... Thing is, every time he tried to correct his story so it made sense, it started making *less* sense.
The Doctor Who Information Network (a Canadian fan club/info group) was doing their best to advertise themselves, with a series of room parties, including airings of Idiot's Lantern on Sunday. Prydonians of Princeton had flyers out. But the folks who got most of my attention (and money) were Alien Entertainment who are authorized American resellers of British Who merchandise. From that room I scored an almost entire year of Doctor Who magazine, the promo interview CD, and - HUZZAH! - the collected Nine comics that I've lusted after since Outpost Gallifrey announced they existed. I skipped the Dalek socks and the remote control Davros but I had to buy Back to the Vortex when I realized it not only talks about LiveJournal, but about time_and_chips specifically! I will be getting a sonic screwdriver from their online ordering in a paycheck or two...
There was a Dr door decoration - a chibi-style drawing of characters and events from Nine's season (and a chibi Eccleston glaring at a cuddly Dalek must be seen to be believed!) PR Zed put a Nine video in the competition to the song "Ghost." There was also a fair amount of Who stuff in the art show - photo manips and stills of Tennant and Eccleston, plus some cross-universe art. (The one of Lucy Pevensie about to open the TARDIS door was delightful.) I picked up two of the Tennant stills, fortunately not having to chase either one to auction.
Aside from the official dealer, there was a fair amount of unofficial merch as well; I picked up several photo keychains for both Nine and Ten. Also, there was one new zine which specifically focused on Nine and Ten, called Sonic Times. A word of advice for people who might consider buying it: DON'T! Learn from my mistakes!
Older zines were in the used zine bins throughout the con; I picked up three issues of Jelly Baby Chronicles and a Rassilon's Star, all of them Tom Baker Era with Sarah Jane or Leela. Admittedly, JBC #1 is also a bit of a typo-fest, but I will more than get my buck's worth of entertainment out of it when I ask the now pro and rather famous author to autograph his story at Shore Leave. The others may be yellowing, but their formatting and the excellence of their art are encouraging.
I was at this point going to brag that I also scored an old-fashioned TARDIS key for a dollar in a used-fannish-stuff sale, but I can't lay my hands on it, dagnabbit! And I was taking such particular care to make sure it stayed with me! (ETA: It fell out of the suitcase this morning and now resides on my keychain. So I'll be ready just in case a bloke in a blue box offers to take me away from all this at a moment's notice...)
As overwhelmingly wonderful as it is to see the online presence of Who fandom, it was lovely to see it gathering steam in the conventions, where I'm more used to doing my fannish interactions. Judging from the spike in interest this year, I think by next year it's going to be one of the hot fandoms.
And now I was supposed to be in bed over a hour ago, so I shall retire...
Quick review - had a great weekend, and am sorry to come home (although I was missing my email and LJ). Had a wonderful time hanging out with jennetj, signeh, isamom, hildy, and the new to LJ momthemerciless. Love ya all... even if you did make me watch "Shark Attack 3: Megaladon."
More details below, cut so that folks can either read about the whole thing or focus in on the Whovian info.
General MediaWest Info:
Vids
There were only 3 hours of vids this year; part of me misses them, and the other part was thrilled that the Friday night showing wasn't an endurance contest. Most notable to me were:
Cherokee Chicks - Lost to Gilligan's Island
Vid Weasels - Right Now (Right now... Iolus has died almost as many times as Daniel Jackson... Write now... your fandom doesn't have enough fanfic)
Vid Weasels - Livin' La Vida Yoda
Spaced Ponies - Supernatural to I Believe in Ghosts
Chris & Christina - Lord of the Rings to Tom Smith's "Return of the King" ("Well, I'm supposed to marry Arwen the Fairy, Queen of the Saturday Nights... but until then give me Aeowyn and I'll blow out her northern lights!")
I don't usually do the slash vids, but I bought the Vid Weasel's DVD, and their House vid to the tune of "Courtship of Eddie's Father" had me rolling on the floor.
Adding to SiDic's usual annual heartbreak "These Actors Died" - which always rips my heart out twice, for the ones I regret losing and for the ones I didn't know had died - was the fact that so MANY actors have died that he had to do two this year. The first ended with a shot of Andreus Katsulus; the secon ended with John Spencer.
Doors
Doors were kind of "eh" this year. There was an elaborate Lost setup of Sawyer's stash tent that won first place, and there was an elaborate bit with fake torches and jungle noises for a "Kong" door, but only one caught my eye, and that's the Who one described below.
Panels
Two panels competed for Greatest. Title. Ever!
- "Here Brucie, Brucie: Shows that have jumped the shark
- "Gonna Have to Face It, You're a Dickhead on Lost" (Sawyer discussion)
Fandoms
Atlantis remains the hot fandom followed by the standards Lord of the Rings, Man from UNCLE, and Harry Potter, although respectable showings were made by newbies Numb3rs, Supernatural, House, and of all things, Boston Legal. And then there was Doctor Who.
Doctor Who at MediaWest
Doctor Who fandom has started late, but it's gaining traction FAST. And I say this not just as a fond fan; when the panels were first suggested there was only one Who general discussion panel, but by the time the final schedule was set there were five, and each one was packed, in some cases Standing Room Only. Weeeeeeeerrrrrrreeeeee BAAAAAAAAAACK!
The panels included "9 vs 10" (which wasn't a bitchfight over who was better, but a discussion of how each Dr handles issues compared to each other), the general discussion, the new series general discussion, the Barrowman Appreciation panel, and the Captain Jack panel. Good stuff on all of them, and some fun tidbits, like finding out that the toy sonic screwdriver functions as a conterfeit bill detector, because it lights up the security strip in dollar bills.
One panel was interrupted by a guy with a wild story about an unnamed friend of his who had just happened to find all the missing Hartnell episodes and would make them available to the fans... no wait, he was in negotiation with BBC... no wait it was something... but anyway, talk to him after the panel to get copies... Thing is, every time he tried to correct his story so it made sense, it started making *less* sense.
The Doctor Who Information Network (a Canadian fan club/info group) was doing their best to advertise themselves, with a series of room parties, including airings of Idiot's Lantern on Sunday. Prydonians of Princeton had flyers out. But the folks who got most of my attention (and money) were Alien Entertainment who are authorized American resellers of British Who merchandise. From that room I scored an almost entire year of Doctor Who magazine, the promo interview CD, and - HUZZAH! - the collected Nine comics that I've lusted after since Outpost Gallifrey announced they existed. I skipped the Dalek socks and the remote control Davros but I had to buy Back to the Vortex when I realized it not only talks about LiveJournal, but about time_and_chips specifically! I will be getting a sonic screwdriver from their online ordering in a paycheck or two...
There was a Dr door decoration - a chibi-style drawing of characters and events from Nine's season (and a chibi Eccleston glaring at a cuddly Dalek must be seen to be believed!) PR Zed put a Nine video in the competition to the song "Ghost." There was also a fair amount of Who stuff in the art show - photo manips and stills of Tennant and Eccleston, plus some cross-universe art. (The one of Lucy Pevensie about to open the TARDIS door was delightful.) I picked up two of the Tennant stills, fortunately not having to chase either one to auction.
Aside from the official dealer, there was a fair amount of unofficial merch as well; I picked up several photo keychains for both Nine and Ten. Also, there was one new zine which specifically focused on Nine and Ten, called Sonic Times. A word of advice for people who might consider buying it: DON'T! Learn from my mistakes!
Older zines were in the used zine bins throughout the con; I picked up three issues of Jelly Baby Chronicles and a Rassilon's Star, all of them Tom Baker Era with Sarah Jane or Leela. Admittedly, JBC #1 is also a bit of a typo-fest, but I will more than get my buck's worth of entertainment out of it when I ask the now pro and rather famous author to autograph his story at Shore Leave. The others may be yellowing, but their formatting and the excellence of their art are encouraging.
I was at this point going to brag that I also scored an old-fashioned TARDIS key for a dollar in a used-fannish-stuff sale, but I can't lay my hands on it, dagnabbit! And I was taking such particular care to make sure it stayed with me! (ETA: It fell out of the suitcase this morning and now resides on my keychain. So I'll be ready just in case a bloke in a blue box offers to take me away from all this at a moment's notice...)
As overwhelmingly wonderful as it is to see the online presence of Who fandom, it was lovely to see it gathering steam in the conventions, where I'm more used to doing my fannish interactions. Judging from the spike in interest this year, I think by next year it's going to be one of the hot fandoms.
And now I was supposed to be in bed over a hour ago, so I shall retire...