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valis2Last summary entry. Thank goodness.
Sunday
I got up early (yes, because of those bastard elfvators) and made my way to the 11 am Dr. Jenkins presentation, Why Heather Can Write.
The chair in front of me was festooned with glitter. I'll bet it wasn't from the aerospace convention earlier on in the week.
Anyway, he talked about participatory culture, especially the Daily Prophet phenom, which involved children designing, writing, and editing their own newsletter for an imaginary boarding school. He also told a terrific story about his son, who had an online relationship with a girl in Omaha, and then he talked about a trip he took to Tokyo, and the cosplayers he met, who have their own fascinating hierarchy of outfits.
Then at noon I attended a panel about plagiarism. The panelists mentioned that the closest fanfic has ever come to an actual trial involved a writer who penned a treatment of Rocky IV, and the studio just went ahead and made it without crediting him or paying him, so he sued, only to find out that he was in the wrong for writing the treatment in the first place.
They mentioned that when Gulliver's Travels first came out, many authors wrote the further adventures of Gulliver and sold them, a situation which led to our copyright laws of today.
2 pm. Opals & Folklore. At this point I noticed the wrapper for my Starbucks treat read:
flavors my senses
sweetens my disposition
stirs my imagination
nourishes my dreams
To which I must respond: GET OVER YOURSELF. YOU ARE SUGARY FAT FROM A FOOD SERVICE TRAY, NOT CALLIOPE.
Anyway, the presentation was very short, and she mentioned that witches used opals to magnify their powers, and that "ophal" is associated with the evil eye. There is a lot of folklore surrounding the opal...it seems that they have to be given to you, you can't buy them for yourself, unless they're your birthstone. Don't even get me started on birthstones, btw.
So another bit of folklore is that if you wrap an opal in a bay leaf and stick it in your pocket then you can see, but no one can see you, like the Hand of Glory (TM).
Okay, so I sat with Aurora Grayeyes from TPMM for the ginormous Snape: Friend or Foe debate. Someone asked Aurora if she thought Snape was good or evil, to which she replied..."I think Snape is Good...in bed" with a wicked grin.
The most interesting bits from the debate were the theories. One person posited that it seems to be mirroring the whole Isis/Osiris/Horus/Set legend, and she mentioned that the final battle in that legend consists of Set taking the form of a snake and Horus avenging his father and taking the form of a griffin. I'm not certain, however. Osiris is cut into seven pieces, not Set...but she did mention that Anubis helps Osiris, even though he never officially sides with one side or the other, making him all Snapey.
She also thought that Lily had an Unbreakable Vow with Snape, which was a totally fascinating concept. I adore the idea of Snape seeing her eyes in Harry's face, constantly reminding him of his vow, but still, even though it's a pretty great theory in many ways, there are one or two things that break down for me in places.
Also, the debate was structured with three Foes and three Friends and a Mod, and the three Friends said Snape would die, while the three Foes said he would live, which I found rather fascinating.
Someone behind me was snoring through just about the entire thing. Loudly.
Julian & I went out for dinner, and upon our return found that the Masquerade Ball was starting up. So many fantastic costumes! Lucius & Narcissa dressed as each other, which cracked me up. I missed a few great costumes; there was a satyr (awesome, btw) and a couple just amazing gowns that I never got a chance to snap. It was just so busy and the lobby was so full.
I wanted to get![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
droxy's pic, she was dressed as Snape and had even used makeup and prostheses, but when I asked her to pose with a squid, she glared at me. When I offered Hedwig (in her squid costume, of course), she started shouting about slashers and how we want to take it up the arse. Really, I'm not certain what she was talking about, though in hindsight perhaps she thinks that Squidwig was the offspring of a slashy relationship between Hedwig and the Giant Squid...no, wait, it still doesn't make sense.
I danced withmarginaliana, mad_maudlin, and sor_bet, and it was a total blast. I also stepped very hard on some poor, poor girl who was only wearing flip-flops. I feel terrible about that!
So I flailed about for a few songs, and then Marginaliana and I went off to the GoF viewing. We listened to a presentation about the movie, which pointed out the good things and the bad things and was very entertaining. Umbridge showed up wearing cat pajamas and a little silk cap, and we had a great time shouting at the screen, of course.morganmuffle was kind enough to share her squashy purple sleeping bag, also.
Monday
I wanted to get to breakfast, so I got up early. As I was brushing my teeth, Julian knocked on the door, and we both squinted at each other (like mole people, according to Julian) and outlined our plans for the day.
At breakfast I sat withdementordelta and sor_bet, along with titti, who was holding court at the table. The closing ceremonies involved handing out awards. Apparently Lumien won, despite being in last place the night before. We really are sneaky pirates!
One person mentioned the NBC/MTV cameras, saying, "Thank you for being so nice to the press, they say you're supah edumatated and intellectual." I snorted and added, "Yes, that's what they said here," to which everyone agreed...we all have to see the articles/shows first to form our opinions.
julian_black, long may she live and breathe, brought me real beignets from Café du Monde, for which her place in heaven shall be...oh, who are we kidding?
Then I dragged her along to Lafayette cemetery. I'll babble about that when I put up the pics from the cemeteries...they're awesome.
Then we ate at Commander's Palace, which is across the street.
WOW.
I mean...
WOW.
Strawberry salad, gulf fish with avocado, and...the best fucking strawberry snortcake I have ever eaten in my entire life.
After that we headed toward the airport, slithering along like two overfed python snowflakes, and made our sad goodbyes (we saw the Malfoys, too, and the pirate leader of Lumien house), heading back to our respective homes.
Sunday
I got up early (yes, because of those bastard elfvators) and made my way to the 11 am Dr. Jenkins presentation, Why Heather Can Write.
The chair in front of me was festooned with glitter. I'll bet it wasn't from the aerospace convention earlier on in the week.
Anyway, he talked about participatory culture, especially the Daily Prophet phenom, which involved children designing, writing, and editing their own newsletter for an imaginary boarding school. He also told a terrific story about his son, who had an online relationship with a girl in Omaha, and then he talked about a trip he took to Tokyo, and the cosplayers he met, who have their own fascinating hierarchy of outfits.
Then at noon I attended a panel about plagiarism. The panelists mentioned that the closest fanfic has ever come to an actual trial involved a writer who penned a treatment of Rocky IV, and the studio just went ahead and made it without crediting him or paying him, so he sued, only to find out that he was in the wrong for writing the treatment in the first place.
They mentioned that when Gulliver's Travels first came out, many authors wrote the further adventures of Gulliver and sold them, a situation which led to our copyright laws of today.
2 pm. Opals & Folklore. At this point I noticed the wrapper for my Starbucks treat read:
flavors my senses
sweetens my disposition
stirs my imagination
nourishes my dreams
To which I must respond: GET OVER YOURSELF. YOU ARE SUGARY FAT FROM A FOOD SERVICE TRAY, NOT CALLIOPE.
Anyway, the presentation was very short, and she mentioned that witches used opals to magnify their powers, and that "ophal" is associated with the evil eye. There is a lot of folklore surrounding the opal...it seems that they have to be given to you, you can't buy them for yourself, unless they're your birthstone. Don't even get me started on birthstones, btw.
So another bit of folklore is that if you wrap an opal in a bay leaf and stick it in your pocket then you can see, but no one can see you, like the Hand of Glory (TM).
Okay, so I sat with Aurora Grayeyes from TPMM for the ginormous Snape: Friend or Foe debate. Someone asked Aurora if she thought Snape was good or evil, to which she replied..."I think Snape is Good...in bed" with a wicked grin.
The most interesting bits from the debate were the theories. One person posited that it seems to be mirroring the whole Isis/Osiris/Horus/Set legend, and she mentioned that the final battle in that legend consists of Set taking the form of a snake and Horus avenging his father and taking the form of a griffin. I'm not certain, however. Osiris is cut into seven pieces, not Set...but she did mention that Anubis helps Osiris, even though he never officially sides with one side or the other, making him all Snapey.
She also thought that Lily had an Unbreakable Vow with Snape, which was a totally fascinating concept. I adore the idea of Snape seeing her eyes in Harry's face, constantly reminding him of his vow, but still, even though it's a pretty great theory in many ways, there are one or two things that break down for me in places.
Also, the debate was structured with three Foes and three Friends and a Mod, and the three Friends said Snape would die, while the three Foes said he would live, which I found rather fascinating.
Someone behind me was snoring through just about the entire thing. Loudly.
Julian & I went out for dinner, and upon our return found that the Masquerade Ball was starting up. So many fantastic costumes! Lucius & Narcissa dressed as each other, which cracked me up. I missed a few great costumes; there was a satyr (awesome, btw) and a couple just amazing gowns that I never got a chance to snap. It was just so busy and the lobby was so full.
I wanted to get
droxy's pic, she was dressed as Snape and had even used makeup and prostheses, but when I asked her to pose with a squid, she glared at me. When I offered Hedwig (in her squid costume, of course), she started shouting about slashers and how we want to take it up the arse. Really, I'm not certain what she was talking about, though in hindsight perhaps she thinks that Squidwig was the offspring of a slashy relationship between Hedwig and the Giant Squid...no, wait, it still doesn't make sense.I danced with
marginaliana, mad_maudlin, and sor_bet, and it was a total blast. I also stepped very hard on some poor, poor girl who was only wearing flip-flops. I feel terrible about that!So I flailed about for a few songs, and then Marginaliana and I went off to the GoF viewing. We listened to a presentation about the movie, which pointed out the good things and the bad things and was very entertaining. Umbridge showed up wearing cat pajamas and a little silk cap, and we had a great time shouting at the screen, of course.
morganmuffle was kind enough to share her squashy purple sleeping bag, also.Monday
I wanted to get to breakfast, so I got up early. As I was brushing my teeth, Julian knocked on the door, and we both squinted at each other (like mole people, according to Julian) and outlined our plans for the day.
At breakfast I sat with
dementordelta and sor_bet, along with titti, who was holding court at the table. The closing ceremonies involved handing out awards. Apparently Lumien won, despite being in last place the night before. We really are sneaky pirates!One person mentioned the NBC/MTV cameras, saying, "Thank you for being so nice to the press, they say you're supah edumatated and intellectual." I snorted and added, "Yes, that's what they said here," to which everyone agreed...we all have to see the articles/shows first to form our opinions.
julian_black, long may she live and breathe, brought me real beignets from Café du Monde, for which her place in heaven shall be...oh, who are we kidding?Then I dragged her along to Lafayette cemetery. I'll babble about that when I put up the pics from the cemeteries...they're awesome.
Then we ate at Commander's Palace, which is across the street.
WOW.
I mean...
WOW.
Strawberry salad, gulf fish with avocado, and...the best fucking strawberry snortcake I have ever eaten in my entire life.
After that we headed toward the airport, slithering along like two overfed python snowflakes, and made our sad goodbyes (we saw the Malfoys, too, and the pirate leader of Lumien house), heading back to our respective homes.