Terminus, Entry Eight. Summaries: Friday.
Aug. 14th, 2008 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valis2I am eating Cockroach Clusters to sustain myself.
So on Friday I got up early while the roomies slept on and tottered off to the nine workshop called Vocal Techniques for Wizard Wrock. I was very intrigued by the title, and hoping that it would be a nice primer to singing.
It was run by two middleschool choral teachers, and there were about eight other people there, all of whom were around the age of twenty. So I felt a wee bit self-conscious, but that's okay.
I was worried about my voice because of the hotel room. You see, there are no fans in the bathroom. No fans = no drawing out the moisture = mold. And I started feeling horrid within a day of getting there. Plus, I had my usual hoarse voice fatigue woes because I talk too much. (This cannot be a surprise to anyone reading this.)
Back to the vocal techniques. We warmed up, and they gave us a handout about what to avoid while singing, and what was helpful while singing. And then we sang a Belinda Carlisle song.
I must admit that, when thinking of Wizard Wrock, Belinda Carlisle is not the first person who comes to mind.
Nonetheless, the song was harmless, and in a middle range that would not be too taxing to anyone. The girl sitting next to me kept singing an octave lower, and was corrected once, but just kept plowing through. I had to leave before the song was completed, because I had to get to...
...the Snupin meetup!! Whee!!
Always the highlight for any con. In attendance:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bronze_ribbons, gmonkey42, drusillas_rain, apythia, tjwritter, marginaliana, r_grayjoy, leni_jess, Leoninedragon (?), twilightsorcery, Jin Fen-something (the Snarry artist).
We were camped out in the corner of the Caribou Coffee, parked right in front of the door to the men's room. Some poor guy tried to get in but he had to get past us first. We all should put change in his therapy jar.
First we talked about classics, likescribbulus_ink's Wicked Game, and we talked about classic Snupin writers like snegurochka_lee and nehalenia, people who write amazing amazing works that just grab you and pull you right in. Someone mentioned a fic called Amor Mortis. We talked about how so many people have been drawn into fandom through Wicked Game.
Some squicks: Mpreg, adultery. Really dense!Snape. Though a lot of people like slightly dense!Snape, you know, when he's just not really understanding what Lupin wants from him. There were mixed thoughts about bestiality; some people are for it, some people aren't, but we all agreed that anything, no matter how squicky, even Thestral/Dobby BDSM bloodplay, can be done well. If a good enough author writes the hell out of it, someone will read it.
We talked about more fave authors.westernredcedar, arionrhod, and bronze_ribbons were mentioned, and we talked about how difficult it is to write a really good drabble.
A guy went past on the sidewalk swinging his arms like Rocky Balboa.
Fests were discussed. Some prompts are super long and detailed, and some pieces can take a very long time to work out. Exchanges can be uneven. Also, the universal rule is that everyone wants the recipient to acknowledge the writer of their fic in some way. Yuletide exchange was discussed at length, and it was fascinating to hear about very small fandoms that need love (Care Bears, for example).
DH: We talked about the barely acknowledged "Death on a Table" of Lupin, and how some people are thinking that because he is a werewolf, that he might not have really died. Peter's death was considered strange--some of us thought there was going to be a Lupin/Peter showdown because of the silver hand. There was also disappointment with Lupin's characterization in DH.
Other pairings that people like: Snagrid, Squid/willow, everyone/everyone (that might take some time to write).
The Erotic HP Reading Night was discussed, and I was sad that I missed it.
Muggles came in off the street, and there were some curious looks.
Snupin fandom's new direction can be summed up as: death? What death? Also, because Snupin has such strong leadership, it can respond to challenges. People in the Snupin pairing tend to encourage new writers/artists and be very welcoming to those trying on the pairing for size.
Feedback: It doesn't matter if you make a short comment or just squee. Even abandoned fics need love!
Someone was challenged to write veela!Snape (eee!)--and then someone else was challenged to draw pornstache Lupin with plumber!crack jeans on.
Recs are important. How do we find quality work besides recs? We read stuff that's finished, support the fests we are involved in by reading the fest fics, watch our favorite writers' journals, and listen to recordings of fics. Ribbons told an amusing story of listening to an NC-17 fic in the car...she had been listening to it, and went somewhere and turned off the car. Later, she got back in with a family member, and when she started it, it was in the middle of a rather pr0ny moment.
We also talked about fandom in general, and where it is going. Wrock will continue to grow.
2:00: Canon/Fanon Snape withbethbethbeth, femme_quixotic, goseaward, and someone whose name I couldn't hear.
I went to enter the room where this panel was being held, and the volunteer at the door was quite flustered, saying that she had no idea where the presenters were. I figured they'd wander in right at 1:59, and, sure enough, that's what happened.
Metjuniperus, hooray! She was in a different row, and we didn't have time to talk, boo.
So this panel was about studying Snape and different aspects of his character/life in fanfic and the books, traced one book at a time.
Beth talked about Snape's career. She studied his jobs through the years. For example, before HBP, he was usually employed (in fanfic) at Hogwarts, whether as a teacher, in potions research, or spell research. Post HBP, there was an enormous range of jobs. Artificial limb creator, bookstore owner, head of an orphanage, author, etc. Post DH, there was another shift--his job didn't seem to matter, just that he was alive. Goseaward talked about his spying, tracing it in fanfic from book to book. The unknown presenter taked about Snape's family background, and how Snape was formed. In earlier fanfic, there were wild demon-child fics, vampire fics, etc., but as the books are released, it transforms into Pureblood Snape and Snape Manor. Eileen & Tobias were sometimes Pureblood abusive parents. With DH--the focus gets much more narrow. Femme talked about sex and Snape, but unfortunately, I had to run and missed a bunch of it.
I went to Wow Bao with Marginaliana and Bronze Ribbons, which turned out to be a bit of a hike, made very wheezy by mass ingestion of mold spores for three days.
I've never eaten bao before, and I must say, without irony, Wow. Bao are steamed dumplings with mixed yummy things inside, and I absolutely adored them. Totally delicious and now I'm craving them all the time. No forks necessary--they're in a little piece of waxed paper, and you just nom nom nom right out of your hand. Thank you SO much, Ribbons! What a terrific experience.
We talked about Snupin and how welcoming it is to everyone, especially newbies. I wondered about the concrit dilemma--does anyone even want to leave it anymore?
Then I walked back alone, and got my car out of parking and took the Snarry stuff over to the Snarry meetup. I reparked the car and met withdjin7 and reddwarfer, and we took a cab over together to Edwardo's. The Snarry shippers rented the whole restaurant, which was a super smart idea.
I sawsaridout, and he introduced me to alchemia and bugland, which rocked unbelievably! I have always loved their Bittersweet Potion series, though I've lost track of it over the years, and I really wanted to yammer on and on and on about their writing and imagery and how magic really feels like magic and the dark, twisted magic that they create is so imaginative and--yes, it's very good that I ended up sitting at another table because I'm afraid someone would have slapped duct tape over my mouth at some point.
The gift bags are always extraordinary, and there were naughty chocolates involved, and Snarry rubber duckies (pics soon, I promise) and all sorts of other fun things like finger puppets and naughty stickers and gummi rats, oh my! Truly amazing! It's so well run. I sawamanuensis1, tripperfunster, dementordelta, and met bewarethesmirk and reddwarfer. BTS is from my flist, and I couldn't quite recollect who she was until just now. *headdesk*
Reddwarfer sat across from me and we laughed ourselves sick reenacting moments from Red Dwarf. She is absolutely hilarious and I can't believe how many lines she knows--verbatim!
verdenia sat next to me, too, and then later oulangi sat at the same table only I didn't recognize her! Argh! I so totally would have had a fun conversation if I had realized that.
I also sawtracy_loo_who and sexts, and they're adorable as always. And I met a very sweet girl named lavillanueva, who, upon viewing her LJ, reveals herself to be rather naughty. She fits right into fandom, let me tell you!
Who else was there?bethbethbeth, accioslash, titti, aliciamasters (who is always wonderful and very sweet), and then it turned out that venivincere came out just for the night!! Squee! Though I only talked to her on the way back. But it was a great conversation. And I met adbaculum, who promises to be a new squid!friend.
Tons more, I can't recall--I'm sure there are complete listings somewhere.
And I metthemostepotente! Finally! That was a highlight. I also met dacro, though I didn't realize it at the moment.
It's a wonderful meeting because many of these people have been friends for years, and this is one of those events that most refer to as the "con behind the con." It isn't official programming, it's a get-together where you drink and talk and get excited about HP and slash and very naughty things. Some people have custom T-shirts with their favorite pairing emblazened on them, some have fanart, and it's really a fascinating fanbase with a lot of very intriguing people.
I talked about a local get-together for HBP, but it turns out it's being delayed until next year. Boo.
They continued partying in Grant Park afterward, and I'm certain they were law-abiding citizens and no animals were injured.
I went back to the room and crashed.gmonkey42 and I tortured loudmeggaphone by watching CSI: Miami with her and making unflattering comments about the show.
So on Friday I got up early while the roomies slept on and tottered off to the nine workshop called Vocal Techniques for Wizard Wrock. I was very intrigued by the title, and hoping that it would be a nice primer to singing.
It was run by two middleschool choral teachers, and there were about eight other people there, all of whom were around the age of twenty. So I felt a wee bit self-conscious, but that's okay.
I was worried about my voice because of the hotel room. You see, there are no fans in the bathroom. No fans = no drawing out the moisture = mold. And I started feeling horrid within a day of getting there. Plus, I had my usual hoarse voice fatigue woes because I talk too much. (This cannot be a surprise to anyone reading this.)
Back to the vocal techniques. We warmed up, and they gave us a handout about what to avoid while singing, and what was helpful while singing. And then we sang a Belinda Carlisle song.
I must admit that, when thinking of Wizard Wrock, Belinda Carlisle is not the first person who comes to mind.
Nonetheless, the song was harmless, and in a middle range that would not be too taxing to anyone. The girl sitting next to me kept singing an octave lower, and was corrected once, but just kept plowing through. I had to leave before the song was completed, because I had to get to...
...the Snupin meetup!! Whee!!
Always the highlight for any con. In attendance:
bronze_ribbons, gmonkey42, drusillas_rain, apythia, tjwritter, marginaliana, r_grayjoy, leni_jess, Leoninedragon (?), twilightsorcery, Jin Fen-something (the Snarry artist).We were camped out in the corner of the Caribou Coffee, parked right in front of the door to the men's room. Some poor guy tried to get in but he had to get past us first. We all should put change in his therapy jar.
First we talked about classics, like
scribbulus_ink's Wicked Game, and we talked about classic Snupin writers like snegurochka_lee and nehalenia, people who write amazing amazing works that just grab you and pull you right in. Someone mentioned a fic called Amor Mortis. We talked about how so many people have been drawn into fandom through Wicked Game.Some squicks: Mpreg, adultery. Really dense!Snape. Though a lot of people like slightly dense!Snape, you know, when he's just not really understanding what Lupin wants from him. There were mixed thoughts about bestiality; some people are for it, some people aren't, but we all agreed that anything, no matter how squicky, even Thestral/Dobby BDSM bloodplay, can be done well. If a good enough author writes the hell out of it, someone will read it.
We talked about more fave authors.
westernredcedar, arionrhod, and bronze_ribbons were mentioned, and we talked about how difficult it is to write a really good drabble.A guy went past on the sidewalk swinging his arms like Rocky Balboa.
Fests were discussed. Some prompts are super long and detailed, and some pieces can take a very long time to work out. Exchanges can be uneven. Also, the universal rule is that everyone wants the recipient to acknowledge the writer of their fic in some way. Yuletide exchange was discussed at length, and it was fascinating to hear about very small fandoms that need love (Care Bears, for example).
DH: We talked about the barely acknowledged "Death on a Table" of Lupin, and how some people are thinking that because he is a werewolf, that he might not have really died. Peter's death was considered strange--some of us thought there was going to be a Lupin/Peter showdown because of the silver hand. There was also disappointment with Lupin's characterization in DH.
Other pairings that people like: Snagrid, Squid/willow, everyone/everyone (that might take some time to write).
The Erotic HP Reading Night was discussed, and I was sad that I missed it.
Muggles came in off the street, and there were some curious looks.
Snupin fandom's new direction can be summed up as: death? What death? Also, because Snupin has such strong leadership, it can respond to challenges. People in the Snupin pairing tend to encourage new writers/artists and be very welcoming to those trying on the pairing for size.
Feedback: It doesn't matter if you make a short comment or just squee. Even abandoned fics need love!
Someone was challenged to write veela!Snape (eee!)--and then someone else was challenged to draw pornstache Lupin with plumber!crack jeans on.
Recs are important. How do we find quality work besides recs? We read stuff that's finished, support the fests we are involved in by reading the fest fics, watch our favorite writers' journals, and listen to recordings of fics. Ribbons told an amusing story of listening to an NC-17 fic in the car...she had been listening to it, and went somewhere and turned off the car. Later, she got back in with a family member, and when she started it, it was in the middle of a rather pr0ny moment.
We also talked about fandom in general, and where it is going. Wrock will continue to grow.
2:00: Canon/Fanon Snape with
bethbethbeth, femme_quixotic, goseaward, and someone whose name I couldn't hear.I went to enter the room where this panel was being held, and the volunteer at the door was quite flustered, saying that she had no idea where the presenters were. I figured they'd wander in right at 1:59, and, sure enough, that's what happened.
Met
juniperus, hooray! She was in a different row, and we didn't have time to talk, boo.So this panel was about studying Snape and different aspects of his character/life in fanfic and the books, traced one book at a time.
Beth talked about Snape's career. She studied his jobs through the years. For example, before HBP, he was usually employed (in fanfic) at Hogwarts, whether as a teacher, in potions research, or spell research. Post HBP, there was an enormous range of jobs. Artificial limb creator, bookstore owner, head of an orphanage, author, etc. Post DH, there was another shift--his job didn't seem to matter, just that he was alive. Goseaward talked about his spying, tracing it in fanfic from book to book. The unknown presenter taked about Snape's family background, and how Snape was formed. In earlier fanfic, there were wild demon-child fics, vampire fics, etc., but as the books are released, it transforms into Pureblood Snape and Snape Manor. Eileen & Tobias were sometimes Pureblood abusive parents. With DH--the focus gets much more narrow. Femme talked about sex and Snape, but unfortunately, I had to run and missed a bunch of it.
I went to Wow Bao with Marginaliana and Bronze Ribbons, which turned out to be a bit of a hike, made very wheezy by mass ingestion of mold spores for three days.
I've never eaten bao before, and I must say, without irony, Wow. Bao are steamed dumplings with mixed yummy things inside, and I absolutely adored them. Totally delicious and now I'm craving them all the time. No forks necessary--they're in a little piece of waxed paper, and you just nom nom nom right out of your hand. Thank you SO much, Ribbons! What a terrific experience.
We talked about Snupin and how welcoming it is to everyone, especially newbies. I wondered about the concrit dilemma--does anyone even want to leave it anymore?
Then I walked back alone, and got my car out of parking and took the Snarry stuff over to the Snarry meetup. I reparked the car and met with
djin7 and reddwarfer, and we took a cab over together to Edwardo's. The Snarry shippers rented the whole restaurant, which was a super smart idea.I saw
saridout, and he introduced me to alchemia and bugland, which rocked unbelievably! I have always loved their Bittersweet Potion series, though I've lost track of it over the years, and I really wanted to yammer on and on and on about their writing and imagery and how magic really feels like magic and the dark, twisted magic that they create is so imaginative and--yes, it's very good that I ended up sitting at another table because I'm afraid someone would have slapped duct tape over my mouth at some point.The gift bags are always extraordinary, and there were naughty chocolates involved, and Snarry rubber duckies (pics soon, I promise) and all sorts of other fun things like finger puppets and naughty stickers and gummi rats, oh my! Truly amazing! It's so well run. I saw
amanuensis1, tripperfunster, dementordelta, and met bewarethesmirk and reddwarfer. BTS is from my flist, and I couldn't quite recollect who she was until just now. *headdesk*Reddwarfer sat across from me and we laughed ourselves sick reenacting moments from Red Dwarf. She is absolutely hilarious and I can't believe how many lines she knows--verbatim!
verdenia sat next to me, too, and then later oulangi sat at the same table only I didn't recognize her! Argh! I so totally would have had a fun conversation if I had realized that.I also saw
tracy_loo_who and sexts, and they're adorable as always. And I met a very sweet girl named lavillanueva, who, upon viewing her LJ, reveals herself to be rather naughty. She fits right into fandom, let me tell you!Who else was there?
bethbethbeth, accioslash, titti, aliciamasters (who is always wonderful and very sweet), and then it turned out that venivincere came out just for the night!! Squee! Though I only talked to her on the way back. But it was a great conversation. And I met adbaculum, who promises to be a new squid!friend.Tons more, I can't recall--I'm sure there are complete listings somewhere.
And I met
themostepotente! Finally! That was a highlight. I also met dacro, though I didn't realize it at the moment.It's a wonderful meeting because many of these people have been friends for years, and this is one of those events that most refer to as the "con behind the con." It isn't official programming, it's a get-together where you drink and talk and get excited about HP and slash and very naughty things. Some people have custom T-shirts with their favorite pairing emblazened on them, some have fanart, and it's really a fascinating fanbase with a lot of very intriguing people.
I talked about a local get-together for HBP, but it turns out it's being delayed until next year. Boo.
They continued partying in Grant Park afterward, and I'm certain they were law-abiding citizens and no animals were injured.
I went back to the room and crashed.
gmonkey42 and I tortured loudmeggaphone by watching CSI: Miami with her and making unflattering comments about the show.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 12:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 12:11 am (UTC)I ended up talking to just about no one, because I was seated with
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 12:29 am (UTC)Also...1:59 is still on time for our panel. We aren't quite cool enough to risk "fashionably late" *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 01:02 am (UTC)Exactly. I did tell her not to worry, that you'd be there, but she told the person behind me the very same thing. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 01:56 am (UTC)Also the CSI episode was about SECOND LIFE of course we're going to make fun of it!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 03:08 am (UTC)Oh, I totally forgot about the Second Life part of it!!! ahahaha! So that was...CSI NY, then, I think. hee! That was so much fun. Now I want to call you whenever something like that is on so we can mock it long-distance.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 12:31 pm (UTC)I'll have Acid post the pics and vids, though may be a week or two as Sinick is still camping out with us.
Safe travels for your trip today.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 03:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 10:13 pm (UTC)Lol, I think bugland would have eaten it up. You may have had to put duct tape on MY mouth- when I'm on lots of meds (as I had to be to function at this thing) I yammer on and on, to the point of spoiling people throughally for my works, recent movies other books etc
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-17 01:50 am (UTC)*hugs*