shanmuirbroden (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shanmuirbroden) wrote2006-08-24 05:41 pm
shanmuirbroden) wrote2006-08-24 05:41 pm
WorldCon Report: Wednesday -- Panel Report and Book Purchases
(note: due to being cheap and not being willing to pay for internet access until after noon Thursday at the Marriott, this portion was delayed. Apologies.)
After Opening Ceremonies, I was so impressed by Connie Willis -- and realized I would have a lot of time on my hands to read between panels -- that I went down to see if there was one book of hers that I could find that interested me. I walked away with "The Doomsday Book" and 24 hours or so later am already on page 212. That's because it's hard to put down and just writing about it makes me want to go back to it right now!
But I need to finish this...
Then I came back to the hotel for a personal pan pizza and bottle of water from the Pizza Hut, and when I headed back for the 4pm panel that interested me, I stopped to finish the rest of my water and heard someone nearby introduce a woman to two other people.
"... and this is Janis Ian..."
And I'm thinking, say what? So I can't help but take a look over. And if it wasn't *the* Janis Ian, she was a dead ringer for her. I'm convinced that it was.
Still with some time on my hands, I also looked at one of the major exhibits and learned something very important. They had art on display from members of IATSE 790, the Illustrators and Matte Painters union. Please note this includes people who storyboard for LIVE-ACTION film. Yet animation storyboard artists are in IATSE 839, the Animation Union. In a way, this seems just as important as the argument that animation writers should be in the WGA versus IATSE 839. It takes the same skill set for an animation storyboard as far as staging and action as someone doing live-action, and animation storyboard artists have to draw "on model" like the illustrators. This of course comes out of the history of how IATSE 839 formed (post Disney strike). Just something interesting to ponder...
The 4pm panel focused on "Fantasy Doesn't Have to Be About Kings and Wizards" but didn't quite live up to my expectations. Panelists were Sean Williams, Mary Kay Kare, and Alma Alexander. Darrell Schweitzer, who should have been the moderator, had flight delays and didn't make it. Mary Kay Kare, the token fan of the panel, filled in as moderator with the two remaining writers. I did learn a few things from it, and authors to look for that break the mold. In particular learned about a Charles de Lint book that interests me called "Forests of the Heart".
In between, I had a very short break of about an hour, so I spent some more time in the dealers room checking everyplance for the Charles deLint book, "Forests of the Heart". I did find one copy of it, hardcover, for $20. A little out of my budget. But the Native American spirits versus the Irish fairies is SO up my alley! I want!
However, there was a really neat find out of this. I am a *HUGE* fan of the "Chicks in Chainmail" anthologies edited by Esther Friesner (and by extension, the full length novel "Mathemagics" by Margaret Ball -- I don't know of any other novels that came out of this anthology but if anyone else does let me know!). Anyway, what I did NOT know is that an edition of the anthology called "Turn the other Chick" came out in 2004! I've never seen it in a bookstore before, but I found *ONE* copy here at all of the vendors I've visited. Believe me, I bought that in a hurry.
At 5:30 pm, I went back up for the panel, "Do We Need a New Definition of Literacy?" This panel was led by Fred Lerner (a librarian and SF fan who apparently did fanzines back in the day from one of his comments), Richard Foss (journalist), Melissa Conway (head of the Eaton collection, the largest collection of SF in the world housed at UC Riverside), and Justin Lloyd (owner of game company). They discussed first trying to define literacy, which they were restricting to the printed word until Justin who arrived slightly late and had been the topic proposer indicated he had in mind how blogs (like what I'm doing right now) are the journals of today and text messaging is the language of a subculture. This took the whole hour in a completely fascinating and deeper direction, and the time spent was far better for it. The panel came to the conclusion that literacy, like language, constantly evolves.
That ended the panels for the day.
After Opening Ceremonies, I was so impressed by Connie Willis -- and realized I would have a lot of time on my hands to read between panels -- that I went down to see if there was one book of hers that I could find that interested me. I walked away with "The Doomsday Book" and 24 hours or so later am already on page 212. That's because it's hard to put down and just writing about it makes me want to go back to it right now!
But I need to finish this...
Then I came back to the hotel for a personal pan pizza and bottle of water from the Pizza Hut, and when I headed back for the 4pm panel that interested me, I stopped to finish the rest of my water and heard someone nearby introduce a woman to two other people.
"... and this is Janis Ian..."
And I'm thinking, say what? So I can't help but take a look over. And if it wasn't *the* Janis Ian, she was a dead ringer for her. I'm convinced that it was.
Still with some time on my hands, I also looked at one of the major exhibits and learned something very important. They had art on display from members of IATSE 790, the Illustrators and Matte Painters union. Please note this includes people who storyboard for LIVE-ACTION film. Yet animation storyboard artists are in IATSE 839, the Animation Union. In a way, this seems just as important as the argument that animation writers should be in the WGA versus IATSE 839. It takes the same skill set for an animation storyboard as far as staging and action as someone doing live-action, and animation storyboard artists have to draw "on model" like the illustrators. This of course comes out of the history of how IATSE 839 formed (post Disney strike). Just something interesting to ponder...
The 4pm panel focused on "Fantasy Doesn't Have to Be About Kings and Wizards" but didn't quite live up to my expectations. Panelists were Sean Williams, Mary Kay Kare, and Alma Alexander. Darrell Schweitzer, who should have been the moderator, had flight delays and didn't make it. Mary Kay Kare, the token fan of the panel, filled in as moderator with the two remaining writers. I did learn a few things from it, and authors to look for that break the mold. In particular learned about a Charles de Lint book that interests me called "Forests of the Heart".
In between, I had a very short break of about an hour, so I spent some more time in the dealers room checking everyplance for the Charles deLint book, "Forests of the Heart". I did find one copy of it, hardcover, for $20. A little out of my budget. But the Native American spirits versus the Irish fairies is SO up my alley! I want!
However, there was a really neat find out of this. I am a *HUGE* fan of the "Chicks in Chainmail" anthologies edited by Esther Friesner (and by extension, the full length novel "Mathemagics" by Margaret Ball -- I don't know of any other novels that came out of this anthology but if anyone else does let me know!). Anyway, what I did NOT know is that an edition of the anthology called "Turn the other Chick" came out in 2004! I've never seen it in a bookstore before, but I found *ONE* copy here at all of the vendors I've visited. Believe me, I bought that in a hurry.
At 5:30 pm, I went back up for the panel, "Do We Need a New Definition of Literacy?" This panel was led by Fred Lerner (a librarian and SF fan who apparently did fanzines back in the day from one of his comments), Richard Foss (journalist), Melissa Conway (head of the Eaton collection, the largest collection of SF in the world housed at UC Riverside), and Justin Lloyd (owner of game company). They discussed first trying to define literacy, which they were restricting to the printed word until Justin who arrived slightly late and had been the topic proposer indicated he had in mind how blogs (like what I'm doing right now) are the journals of today and text messaging is the language of a subculture. This took the whole hour in a completely fascinating and deeper direction, and the time spent was far better for it. The panel came to the conclusion that literacy, like language, constantly evolves.
That ended the panels for the day.