Marcon 44
This past weekend I attended Marcon 44 in Columbus with seramercury and fleurette. The theme for this year was "the British Invasion" so there was quite a bit of Doctor Who-related fun. Everywhere I looked there was a Tenth (Tennant) Doctor (including one who was about four years old), and even two Daleks running around. The rest of sci-fi fandom was well represented, too, of course. There were Klingons everywhere, including one who entered the masquerade as a Leonidas Klingon ("Today is a good day to dine--in Hell!"), and plenty of Starfleet (and Barfleet) officers. There were zombies, fairies, girls in corsets aplenty, Stormtroopers, and Darth Vader himself--seriously, this dude must have been seven feet tall, and he had the elaborate breathing apparatus and everything. There was a tall Rorschach and once I saw the Comedian and Silk Spectre milling about. There were BSG Viper pilots, Ghostbusters, members of S.T.A.R.S. and UNIT, vampires galore, and plenty of Anime characters, as well. I also spied "IndianaOhio Jones." We did not dress up but Vicki suprised us with some really great Doctor Who shirts that she hand-painted herself. She made herself a Tennant Doctor shirt with "10" on the back, Michelle got Davison with "5," and I got an Eccleston with "9." Everywhere we went while wearing them people really gushed over how cool they were. Unfortunately we forgot to take a picture with all three of us wearing them, so I'll have to take a snap of mine and post it.
I was told that the masquerade itself was quite a bit more subdued than in previous years (I don't know; this was my first one). In addition to the above-mentioned Klingon, there was a super elaborate dinosaur costume that was just wonderful. I have no idea what it was made out of, but it looked like one of those weird life-like T-rex costumes that showed up on the net last year. We had Romana II and a couple of Stargate costumes, and a lot of adorable little kids dressed like fairies and mermaids. Somebody even did a scene with Captain Shakespeare from Stardust. Vicki and I didn't stick around to see who won because there were other things we wanted to do, but it was a lot of fun.
The best costume of the whole convention was a girl named Betty who dressed up as one of the Weeping Angel statues from the Doctor Who episode "Blink." She was painted entirely gray and had the wings and dress. She would stand stock still and cover her eyes for pictures. She even stayed "in character" during the masquerade, when she won for best hall costume. It was amazing. The next day she also dressed as one of the clockwork droids from "The Girl in the Fireplace," which was even more elaborate.
Here's a link to some of Vicki's pictures, including a lot from "Dottore Who," a commedia put on by a group called the Confused Greenies, which was absolutely hilarious and at times completely adorable. http://picasaweb.google.com/GiaKohana/MARCON442009?feat=embedwebsite#
Here are some more. Scroll down for a gallery including Scary Vader and the Weeping Angel: http://diyfashion.about.com/
And more: http://www.angel-hare.com/media/photo-new/Maximillian/Marcon2009/
I did four panels, as well. The first one was Friday night at 8:00 and I was terrified. I'm not good at speaking in front of people so I was very nervous. I made Michelle and Vicki go to the bar so I could drink a beer before we had to go on. That first one was "Intro to British Sci-Fi" which I did sign up for, but put down as a last choice because I knew I wouldn't have much to say. Luckily we were on the panel with the guest of honor, Simon R. Green, who had tons to say, which was particularly interesting since he actually is British. He's quite hilarious, too. He brought up all sorts of old sci-fi shows, some of which I had never heard of. We talked for a long time about Doctor Who, of course, and I realized once again that I have absolutely the complete opposite opinion about the show from practically everyone, so I didn't have much to say. We did talk about various Frankensteins for a quick second, which was nice, but that was definitely my least-favorite panel.
I faired better that night at 10:30 on my "Vampires in Literature" panel. Author Tim Waggoner was the moderator. He was a really great mod--he made sure that everyone got to speak at least once, and asked a lot of very in-depth questions. I said quite a bit more on that one. We also ripped on Twilight a few times, which was a lot of fun. It had its own panel so we mostly kept away from it, but everybody did get to talk about their favorite vampire fiction and why they liked the genre so much. I talked about True Blood, 30 Days of Night, and Dracula, and I got to mention Let the Right One In. In a huge coincidence, one of my fellow panelists was a former professor from OUE, who I hadn't seen since 1999, who is one of my absolute favorite teachers, ever. That was really fantastic.
After that we kind of wandered and talked to a lot of people, then went back to the bar for a little bit. We were hungry so we decided to go up to our room and order some pizza from Papa Johns. The pizza didn't get there until very late, so we were up until about 2:00 am. Michelle and I both regretted eating that pizza the next morning--ugh, it was awful.
We were up in time for our Sarah Jane Adventures panel at 10:00, though. I thought that one went very well. We were on it with Vicki and with Joe from Psi Phi Columbus and his daughter Audrey. That one was a lot of fun, especially to hear from Audrey, who was about 12. Her age group is really the target audience of the show, so we discussed that quite a bit, and we talked about the show in relation to how appealing it is to Doctor Who viewers in opposition to Torchwood, and how different Sarah Jane is on the show, etc. We had a really talkative audience and everybody on the panel got to speak a bit. We couldn't talk about season 2 very much because it hasn't aired over here yet but those of us who have seen it somehow *ahem* made some hints and allusions that I think got people pretty intrigued.
Directly after that at 11:30 was The Hobbit panel. I didn't say much in that one either, but it was still a lot of fun because the audience was super into it. There was a lot of talk and speculation about Guillermo del Toro and casting rumors and such.
After that I sat with near my friend Roy and his girlfriend Penny for the "Star Wars Blasphemy" panel, which was a blast. Joe was in that one too and he said that his goal was to make someone throw something at his head. That didn't happen, but it was a great time. They'd throw out semi-serious things like, "I think Jar-Jar Binks was cool" or "Luke Skywalker screams like a girl" and wait for people to yell at them. The entire thing was very good-natured and hilarious.
I split up with Michelle and Vicki and went to a bunch of panels right after that. I went to "How Do You Write the Other?" with guest of honor Simon R. Green, Michael Z. Williamson, and Tim Waggoner directly after the Star Wars panel. There was only one very slight mention of RaceFail, which was pleasing, I have to say. They focused on a lot of things, from men writing female characters to writing aliens and people/creatures who don't speak English. Anything that Simon R. Green was on was both interesting/informative and a riot, and him together with Williamson was great.
I went straight over to a panel on the New Madrid earthquakes, which managed to be both fascinating and completely terrifying. I love doomsday scenarios and apocalyptic fiction, so this was just cool. It's pretty scary to learn about something that could potentially happen for real, but it's one of those "can't-look-away" type things.
Right after that I met up with the girls again for the "Dottore Who" presentation. The Confused Greenies are an improv group, so this performance was completely madcap and insane, but very affectionate and well-put-together. At one point I was laughing so hard I nearly cried. They lampooned Doctor Who especially, but tons of other sci-fi films and tv shows were also targeted. They had a fabric TARDIS and actually built a complete Dalek for the show. One of the actors actually got inside the thing and was wheeled around the whole convention. He also had a voice distorter for yelling, "EXTERMINATE" which lit up in red. It was elaborate as hell, but it looked like they had a great time putting everything together. A couple of their Doctor costumes were really well-done and it was really evident that they have tons of fun doing this.
After that we went to eat in the food court, then Vicki and I went to the masquerade while Michelle had a Stargate panel. Then we decided to go upstairs and rest for a bit. We noticed that there was a room party almost right next door to our hotel room, but we didn't really make much comment on it. We hung out in our room for an hour or so, then decided to go downstairs to catch one more panel.
I went to the Battlestar Galactica panel at 11:30, while Michelle went to a Buffy sing-along and Vicki went to check out the video room. After that we met back up and milled around for awhile. Finally, at this late time, we found out where the freaking con suite was--we had no idea! We went in there and got some more food and sat around with a bunch of folks. There was karaoke going on, so Vicki decided to sing. I was beat and was feeling kind of sick to my stomach again at that point, so Michelle and I bailed. We went upstairs where the party next door was raging on. It was close to 3:00 in the morning by this point so we were a little perturbed. Vicki came up soon after that and we all tried to settle into bed. Even with the air conditioner running and earplugs I still slept very fitfully.
The party went on until after 5:00 am. We had planned to get up at about 8:30 and go downstairs for breakfast, but Michelle and I were just so destroyed that we decided to sleep in for awhile longer. Vicki got up and went to hunt down some breakfast and stuff. Michelle and I made it downstairs in time for the panel on the new Star Trek movie at 10:00. That one was interesting. There's a whole faction of Trekkies who are thrilled with the new film, proclaiming it a rebirth of the fandom and such, and then a whole group who do nothing but bitch and complain about every little thing. I began to wonder who is worse: Holmesians or Star Trek fans, and honestly, I don't know. It's a tough call. It was a good panel, though.
After that Vicki had to go be on a Doctor Who panel, so Michelle and I ran upstairs to get our stuff ready for check-out. We took everything to the car and went back to check out. We milled around for awhile, intending to stay so Michelle could go to the Eureka panel later that day, but by that point we were exhausted and ready to go home. We waited for Vicki to get out of her panel and found her in the dealers' room, and then headed home. I spent the rest of the day lounging on my couch in a stupor with the cat, doing nothing.
I had a great time. I met lots of new and old friends and just generally enjoyed being a geek for three straight days. It was exhausting, but it really was a blast. I consumed about two gallons of coffee in three days, so yesterday had me a bit shaky, but I'm okay now. I can't wait until next year: the theme is "Necropolis," and the focus is on horror. Yay!
The Marcon folks really know how to put on a good show. I can't say enough good things about Lee Shamblin, Psi Phi Columbus, Doctor Who Columbus, and all of the people who worked the con. I'm definitely going next year.
I was told that the masquerade itself was quite a bit more subdued than in previous years (I don't know; this was my first one). In addition to the above-mentioned Klingon, there was a super elaborate dinosaur costume that was just wonderful. I have no idea what it was made out of, but it looked like one of those weird life-like T-rex costumes that showed up on the net last year. We had Romana II and a couple of Stargate costumes, and a lot of adorable little kids dressed like fairies and mermaids. Somebody even did a scene with Captain Shakespeare from Stardust. Vicki and I didn't stick around to see who won because there were other things we wanted to do, but it was a lot of fun.
The best costume of the whole convention was a girl named Betty who dressed up as one of the Weeping Angel statues from the Doctor Who episode "Blink." She was painted entirely gray and had the wings and dress. She would stand stock still and cover her eyes for pictures. She even stayed "in character" during the masquerade, when she won for best hall costume. It was amazing. The next day she also dressed as one of the clockwork droids from "The Girl in the Fireplace," which was even more elaborate.
Here's a link to some of Vicki's pictures, including a lot from "Dottore Who," a commedia put on by a group called the Confused Greenies, which was absolutely hilarious and at times completely adorable. http://picasaweb.google.com/GiaKohana/MARCON442009?feat=embedwebsite#
Here are some more. Scroll down for a gallery including Scary Vader and the Weeping Angel: http://diyfashion.about.com/
And more: http://www.angel-hare.com/media/photo-new/Maximillian/Marcon2009/
I did four panels, as well. The first one was Friday night at 8:00 and I was terrified. I'm not good at speaking in front of people so I was very nervous. I made Michelle and Vicki go to the bar so I could drink a beer before we had to go on. That first one was "Intro to British Sci-Fi" which I did sign up for, but put down as a last choice because I knew I wouldn't have much to say. Luckily we were on the panel with the guest of honor, Simon R. Green, who had tons to say, which was particularly interesting since he actually is British. He's quite hilarious, too. He brought up all sorts of old sci-fi shows, some of which I had never heard of. We talked for a long time about Doctor Who, of course, and I realized once again that I have absolutely the complete opposite opinion about the show from practically everyone, so I didn't have much to say. We did talk about various Frankensteins for a quick second, which was nice, but that was definitely my least-favorite panel.
I faired better that night at 10:30 on my "Vampires in Literature" panel. Author Tim Waggoner was the moderator. He was a really great mod--he made sure that everyone got to speak at least once, and asked a lot of very in-depth questions. I said quite a bit more on that one. We also ripped on Twilight a few times, which was a lot of fun. It had its own panel so we mostly kept away from it, but everybody did get to talk about their favorite vampire fiction and why they liked the genre so much. I talked about True Blood, 30 Days of Night, and Dracula, and I got to mention Let the Right One In. In a huge coincidence, one of my fellow panelists was a former professor from OUE, who I hadn't seen since 1999, who is one of my absolute favorite teachers, ever. That was really fantastic.
After that we kind of wandered and talked to a lot of people, then went back to the bar for a little bit. We were hungry so we decided to go up to our room and order some pizza from Papa Johns. The pizza didn't get there until very late, so we were up until about 2:00 am. Michelle and I both regretted eating that pizza the next morning--ugh, it was awful.
We were up in time for our Sarah Jane Adventures panel at 10:00, though. I thought that one went very well. We were on it with Vicki and with Joe from Psi Phi Columbus and his daughter Audrey. That one was a lot of fun, especially to hear from Audrey, who was about 12. Her age group is really the target audience of the show, so we discussed that quite a bit, and we talked about the show in relation to how appealing it is to Doctor Who viewers in opposition to Torchwood, and how different Sarah Jane is on the show, etc. We had a really talkative audience and everybody on the panel got to speak a bit. We couldn't talk about season 2 very much because it hasn't aired over here yet but those of us who have seen it somehow *ahem* made some hints and allusions that I think got people pretty intrigued.
Directly after that at 11:30 was The Hobbit panel. I didn't say much in that one either, but it was still a lot of fun because the audience was super into it. There was a lot of talk and speculation about Guillermo del Toro and casting rumors and such.
After that I sat with near my friend Roy and his girlfriend Penny for the "Star Wars Blasphemy" panel, which was a blast. Joe was in that one too and he said that his goal was to make someone throw something at his head. That didn't happen, but it was a great time. They'd throw out semi-serious things like, "I think Jar-Jar Binks was cool" or "Luke Skywalker screams like a girl" and wait for people to yell at them. The entire thing was very good-natured and hilarious.
I split up with Michelle and Vicki and went to a bunch of panels right after that. I went to "How Do You Write the Other?" with guest of honor Simon R. Green, Michael Z. Williamson, and Tim Waggoner directly after the Star Wars panel. There was only one very slight mention of RaceFail, which was pleasing, I have to say. They focused on a lot of things, from men writing female characters to writing aliens and people/creatures who don't speak English. Anything that Simon R. Green was on was both interesting/informative and a riot, and him together with Williamson was great.
I went straight over to a panel on the New Madrid earthquakes, which managed to be both fascinating and completely terrifying. I love doomsday scenarios and apocalyptic fiction, so this was just cool. It's pretty scary to learn about something that could potentially happen for real, but it's one of those "can't-look-away" type things.
Right after that I met up with the girls again for the "Dottore Who" presentation. The Confused Greenies are an improv group, so this performance was completely madcap and insane, but very affectionate and well-put-together. At one point I was laughing so hard I nearly cried. They lampooned Doctor Who especially, but tons of other sci-fi films and tv shows were also targeted. They had a fabric TARDIS and actually built a complete Dalek for the show. One of the actors actually got inside the thing and was wheeled around the whole convention. He also had a voice distorter for yelling, "EXTERMINATE" which lit up in red. It was elaborate as hell, but it looked like they had a great time putting everything together. A couple of their Doctor costumes were really well-done and it was really evident that they have tons of fun doing this.
After that we went to eat in the food court, then Vicki and I went to the masquerade while Michelle had a Stargate panel. Then we decided to go upstairs and rest for a bit. We noticed that there was a room party almost right next door to our hotel room, but we didn't really make much comment on it. We hung out in our room for an hour or so, then decided to go downstairs to catch one more panel.
I went to the Battlestar Galactica panel at 11:30, while Michelle went to a Buffy sing-along and Vicki went to check out the video room. After that we met back up and milled around for awhile. Finally, at this late time, we found out where the freaking con suite was--we had no idea! We went in there and got some more food and sat around with a bunch of folks. There was karaoke going on, so Vicki decided to sing. I was beat and was feeling kind of sick to my stomach again at that point, so Michelle and I bailed. We went upstairs where the party next door was raging on. It was close to 3:00 in the morning by this point so we were a little perturbed. Vicki came up soon after that and we all tried to settle into bed. Even with the air conditioner running and earplugs I still slept very fitfully.
The party went on until after 5:00 am. We had planned to get up at about 8:30 and go downstairs for breakfast, but Michelle and I were just so destroyed that we decided to sleep in for awhile longer. Vicki got up and went to hunt down some breakfast and stuff. Michelle and I made it downstairs in time for the panel on the new Star Trek movie at 10:00. That one was interesting. There's a whole faction of Trekkies who are thrilled with the new film, proclaiming it a rebirth of the fandom and such, and then a whole group who do nothing but bitch and complain about every little thing. I began to wonder who is worse: Holmesians or Star Trek fans, and honestly, I don't know. It's a tough call. It was a good panel, though.
After that Vicki had to go be on a Doctor Who panel, so Michelle and I ran upstairs to get our stuff ready for check-out. We took everything to the car and went back to check out. We milled around for awhile, intending to stay so Michelle could go to the Eureka panel later that day, but by that point we were exhausted and ready to go home. We waited for Vicki to get out of her panel and found her in the dealers' room, and then headed home. I spent the rest of the day lounging on my couch in a stupor with the cat, doing nothing.
I had a great time. I met lots of new and old friends and just generally enjoyed being a geek for three straight days. It was exhausting, but it really was a blast. I consumed about two gallons of coffee in three days, so yesterday had me a bit shaky, but I'm okay now. I can't wait until next year: the theme is "Necropolis," and the focus is on horror. Yay!
The Marcon folks really know how to put on a good show. I can't say enough good things about Lee Shamblin, Psi Phi Columbus, Doctor Who Columbus, and all of the people who worked the con. I'm definitely going next year.