Lumos, Take Five: The Summary. Part Two: Friday.

[valis2]

Friday

A quick note: these are not comprehensive and factual summaries; they're simply what I remember, through my own peculiar lens, which I admit quite possibly might be defective.

I woke up relatively early on Friday. The time difference affected me a bit more than it normally does, and I found myself wide awake at 7:30 am, so I figured I might as well get downstairs.

I shared the elevator with a very nice girl from the Leaky Cauldron, who informed me that breakfast was being served in the Great Hall. Lovely, I thought. The breakfast was supposed to run from 8 to 9 am, but when I showed up at 8:46 am, they were clearing tables (and discarding plates with uneaten muffins on them, wah). So I ran over to Starbucks and grabbed chai and a croissant. I can't remember if I talked to anyone or not.

I wandered off to the Het/Slash panel (full name: Slash Versus Het: Fanfiction and the Fandom Divide). I had heard about it on bethbethbeth's journal, and it sounded very interesting. Beth brought up some statistics, and mentioned that she had read 400 stories in the last two weeks, which is quite impressive. Honestly, though, I think they could have used more time. There are so many fascinating asides in the topic that they could have quite seriously talked for hours.

I then dashed off to The Perils of Closing Canon, which I was extremely interested in. And that's when I ran into a phenomenon that I had never experienced before: Roundtables.

I've only ever attended panels, you see. Or presentations by one person. Or author question and answer segments. I was unprepared for what followed, which involved the chaos theory to some extent.

Those of you who have read my journal might remember an entry about closed canon (which I can't seem to find, damnit) that I made some time ago, where I asked people who had been in other fandoms what had happened after canon ended. Because I've only ever really actively involved in HP fandom, I really don't know what to expect after the books finish. I mean, I started in the Mummy fandom, but I only read some fic; I didn't really participate much. So now that I'm in HP, I'm curious as to how things change once the canon closes. Since there are so many other fandoms out there who have experienced this, I wrote an entry about it, and people responded with interesting information.

Unfortunately, that entry was more interesting than the roundtable discussion, which seemed to keep focusing on "What I Did or Didn't Like About HBP" or "My Fic Was Jossed by HBP". Look, those are interesting thoughts, but that's not what I thought this roundtable was going to be about, and it was rather frustrating, let me tell you. Someone was mentioning the need to keep small, pairing-specific archives open even after their traffic has dwindled because of closed canon. Toward the end some people began talking about the need to preserve our earlier fanfics, and present them in the context of the time, which was very thought-provoking. One woman in particular was rather strident about this, and I can see where she's coming from; she mentioned how some people who are new to a certain pairing are inevitably confused when they read a fandom "classic", mostly because it doesn't make sense in light of newer canon. She said that it would be helpful if people who have a history in the fandom and have been around longer would take the time to write about older fandom classics and explain why they were important or ground-breaking. Very fascinating stuff, and it almost made the whole thing worthwhile, except the other thirty-five minutes that were devoted to "Waaaaaaah".

Time for the Keynote Luncheon about Snape! I must mention that I was completely excited about this. I really was chomping at the bit. I had reserved my ticket when I first registered, and when I found out it was about Snape, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

While I was standing outside the luncheon, waiting to get in, I noticed the terrific Snape cosplayer standing there. A woman said, "Anyone want to buy a ticket for the luncheon?" and the cosplayer walked up, hand outstretched.

I started giggling, of course. Who would imagine that Snape would have to purchase a ticket for his own luncheon!

So I attended said luncheon with a light heart, hoping for a great experience. I've forgotten who I attended it with; my memory truly is horrible. But I have to say I was a bit disappointed. They had three people to "debate" Snape (one was Steve Vanderark, yay), and each one took a different position: good, bad, who the hell knows. Unfortunately, they seemed to be presenting the Cliffs Notes version, and the one arguing for bad gave as "proof" a few rather flimsy reasons that are still open to interpretation. I think Steve's mention of the Hermione tooth insult was probably the best piece of evidence presented, honestly. *grins*

Hmm. I think I sat with sigune and a few others. Oh! This is where I met mysduende. She was sitting nearby. She's definitely unmistakable! I didn't get much time to interact with her, though, the whole panel thing started up.

I do remember having a hilarious conversation where one of us wondered about Bellatrix, and what bad feelings the Dementors could have fed on in Azkaban. A fascinating thought, really. I mean, the things that would horrify us and feed the Dementors would actually give her thrills of joy. So I said that if Dementors got near her she'd probably see Care Bears coming after her, trying to give her hugs. And baskets of kittens.

I think I was also sitting with _grainne_, seaislewitch, and lewlinx, but I can't be sure. I think this is where I originally met them, though.

Anyway, they served Shephard's Pie, which was tasty, and looked simple enough that now I want to make it at home. I just wish it had delved a lot deeper into Snape. Heh.

Okay, getting my mind out of the gutter and on to the next thing...Let me think...what did I do? I know what it was! I went into the Harry Potter and the Sparkly Princess of Doom presentation. Those of you who read my LJ regularly know that I am truly obsessed with the Mary Sue phenomenon. I've written more than one entry about her. She fascinates me. So I was extremely excited about this talk.

The presenter was standing at the mic, waiting for 1:30 to roll around, I presumed. The few people who were there were talking, as we all do in a fan setting. 1:30 arrives, and the presenter says, "Okay, I..." Yes, she trails off into nothing. I don't think anyone even heard her. They kept talking. Really, most people get up to the stand and say something, then wait for the talk to die down before continuing, but she seemed totally flustered, and didn't seem to know what to do next. Then she said something along the lines of, "I can get started, or you can keep talking, if you want..." I don't think she meant to be cranky, but it was a really strange way of putting it, and I think some people were a bit put off.

Anyway, within the first three sentences she said something to the tune of, "Mary Sue is a phenomenon unique to fanfiction." And that, dear readers, is when I got up and left. Because it is definitely not unique to fanfiction, and I was getting irritated. Of course, I then spent the rest of the weekend trying to put together a Mary Sue presentation in my head, until I realized that I would have to do a Snape/Mary Sue presentation, honestly, because that's what I know best. And that would be just too narrow a presentation to be popular. I wonder if Snapecast would be interested in some blather about it.

Then I went to a terrific, entertaining presentation at 2 pm by Steve Vanderark called Welcome to the Wizarding World. He's the owner of the HP Lexicon, one of my absolute favorite reference sites for writing fanfiction. If you ever get a chance to see any of his presentations, I heartily recommend that you jump on it. Seriously. It was well-done, and, what's more, he's an excellent speaker. Funny, relaxed, and totally informative. He spoke about time and location in the Harry Potter world, and that was worth its weight in gold. I'm always into any details that can make the HPverse come to life, and this was great. He had the maps (including the map of Hogwarts that I used when I first started writing), and he talked about the timeline of the books. It was super awesome.

At one point someone's cellphone went off, and he strode forth just like a teacher with his hand outstretched and took it from her...he even answered it, which was hilarious. At the end he did a mini-presentation on his efforts (with a lot of help from a guy in England) to find the location of Hogwarts, and he showed the fruits of his labor...many slides delving into a remote, rural English location, complete with a lake, a forest, and a big sign on a gate marked "PRIVATE". It was quite charming. It really is nice to have so many visual cues to assist with the story writing. I've said before that having ac1d6urn's terrific drawing of an OFC really cemented her in my mind, and gave me a stronger image overall of the story, and it was true after this discussion as well.

He also talked about logic, and Jo Logic, which was hilarious. He mentioned that wizards are all just forty seconds away from everything, and that was a really great concept. He mentioned how weird it seems to Muggles that Seamus takes the Hogwarts Express from London, when he already lives in Scotland, but in the wizarding world, London is just as far away as Scotland for him...forty seconds. And the logic of the wizarding world is that you have to take the Hogwarts Express to get to Hogwarts. Totally fascinating.

I was there with lewlinx and seaislewitch, and they were awesome. Lewlinx cracked me up big time because Steve mentioned that Arthur and Molly had eloped, and she shouted "YES!" and pumped her fist in the air. It was hilarious!

I ran into a few people afterward, and somehow I don't remember what I did here, but eventually I went to the Snupin Gathering at the Irish Pub.

Oh wait! I think this is where I met larilee. Yay! She was wearing a witch's hat AND a tiara, which is a great feat if you can manage it, seriously. She was hilarious!

At this point the Squid was a great conversation piece, and I was having a terrific time taking pictures of people with the Squid (who has since been named Lord Voldemollusk by gmonkey42). I have a bit of social anxiety, you see, and it's hard for me to take pictures of random strangers in costume...but the Squid made it so much easier. Most people laughed or did something funny with the Squid.

Julian found the Uber Sekrit Fantastic Gathering Place, and I was so bummed! Seriously, the hotel should have announced its existence. Smoke free, tons of tables and seating, all hidden behind the Palms elevators! Sigune, Seaislewitch, Julian, Lewlinx, and I all hid back there and had a lovely chat.

Anyway, the Snupin gathering was just as cool as I had imagined. bronze_ribbons, catrinella, ac1d6urn, sinick, ellid, hazel_hawthorne, marginaliana, thermidor, jedirita, chazpure, odogoddess, karasu_hime, islandsmoke, and gatewaygirl...oh, I know I'm forgetting people, and I apologize! It was terrific, though. Just terrific. The Snupin people are just so nice, and so friendly, and I love the pairing and the writers/artists so much! I ended up talking to Jedirita and Hazel quite a bit. They liked the Squid a lot. And Ellid and Island were quite wry and funny, smart and interesting.

It was great to talk with these animated women. While we talked, many people were sketching, and wow...it was amazing to watch Ac1d at work. I mean, seriously amazing. The precise hand movements, the way the illustration came together...I am stunned. And Julian kept sketching, too, drawing Snape after Snape into people's yearbooks. It was so fabulous! I have not a shred of drawing ability, so it was fascinating to watch.

People were passing around their programs and notebooks so that everybody could write in them, just like high school. Thing is, I never have a clue what to say, so all of my inscriptions are totally boring. Later I realized I should have written some naughty drabbles or something, but it just didn't occur to me at the time. I did write something in poor Gatewaygirl's book about having to retitle my fic because of her famous Blood Magic fic, though. Then I thought it was weird that I had written that. Heh. Oh well. It's Sinick's fault, anyway.

I think I told the Muppet Babies story again (poor Julian) We all talked about commenting, how remarkably kind and gentle the Snupin pairing people are, how there is so little controversy, and how so many good writers and artists have found the pairing. Bronze_ribbons was talking about how the writing has changed somewhat in the years that she's been reading/writing the pairing, and everybody talked about the angst/schmoopy divide. This was definitely one of the highlights of the con for me.

(I'm such a dork. Right now I'm making spaghetti (my Thursday night ritual, shifted to Weds this week because of dinner with mom/sister tomorrow), and, as always, as I throw in the noodles, I start singing "Shock the Pasta" (which is just like "Shock the Monkey" by Peter Gabriel, only with pasta instead). Yeah, I should have the Dork Mark permanently tattooed on my arm so that I can embrace my inner dorkitude more fully.)

So I took off around six o'clock, because the movie viewing was beginning. They were going to play SS and then CoS, so I was totally geeked. I mean, what's better than watching movies with a bunch of like-minded fans?

Well, I had told some new-found friends about it, but some were going out to dinner (Grainne, Seaislewitch, etc.), so they wouldn't be there until later. Grainne said she would call me at some point. So I went to the movie viewing, and who should be wandering around the lobby but Mr. Creepy, who asked me if I was going to watch the movie. Wah! The girl at the information booth gave me a sympathetic look. I said I was calling a friend, which was the truth. Later I did go into the Great Hall, where they were showing it, but in the dark I couldn't see very well, unfortunately. I sat down and watched the best Snapey bits of SS, and then realized I was absolutely freezing.

I went back to my room, and grabbed my jacket. I called a few more numbers, got no answers, and eventually called a RL friend, who asked me how I was doing. I said, "I'm having a great time" and then inexplicably broke down into tears. After a few more pertinent questions were asked I realized that I hadn't eaten all day, except for the croissant, and the social anxiety was sneaking up on me.

While I was on the phone, Grainne called, and said they were at the Great Hall and CoS was about to start. So I ran downstairs, grabbed a fruit juice, and ran into Julian as well. So we all watched CoS...Julian, Grainne, _vocalion_, lunafish, Seaislewitch, and Lewlinx.

It was an absolute blast. Seriously. We were shouting things at the screen. Lewlinx turned out to be a major Weasley fan, and her Molly love knows no bounds; she was doing all of the Molly dialogue, it was hilarious! Anytime that Gred & Forge did something amusing, she'd shout, "There's my boys!" We were laughing so hard.

I did have one great line...at the end, when Harry accuses Lucius of wrongdoing, Lucius has this great moment where he says, "Prove it." I shouted, "I'll prove it all night long, baby!" which actually garnered applause. There was some other line, too...I think Harry shouts, "He killed my parents!" and then I shouted (in my best Inigo voice) "Preparrre to die!"

I highly recommend watching the films with other fans. Seriously. It was so much fun it should have been illegal.

Went to bed thoroughly happy and ready for the next fan-fun-filled day.

Pics Part One (Costumes)
Pics Part Two (More costumes)
Pics Part Three (Funny)
Summary Part One (Thursday)
Summary Part Two (Friday)
Summary Part Three (Saturday)
Summary Part Four (Sunday/Monday)
Pics Part Four (More Funny)
Pics Part Five (LJ People)

Comments

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Just passing through to read your excellent Lumos updates.

Aw, thanks for the compliment! I would have said "silly", myself. ;)

And I will do that! I'm very into MS/Snape and OFC/Snape stuff...I've written a few entries about it, and thought about it quite a bit.