Thylacon - again
Jun. 19th, 2005 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithSunday. Hmm. Started off great, like the previous day, until I went into the city. Then it was like another convention. I mean, all the people looked the same and had the same names, but it just wasn't the same.
I'd decided to go to more panels today. "More" being greater than one, so it wasn't hard.
We decided to keep the ASIM table going for a second day, but only until lunch time, when Terri was leaving us :(, I was 'moving accommodation' and I'm Nicole had a reason too. Or maybe she was just being nice and going along with the rest of us.
The first panel I went to was 'Sorcery that makes sense', which was interesting enough but I don't recall it going into new ground, covering the usual things about having limits, there being a cost etc. Now as I write that, it occurs to me that it's probably new to a lot of people and I think it is something that's important if you're writing fantasy that uses magic. Which I don't usually do, I've only got one novel that has a "magic system". Uusually if my worlds have magic, it's part of the setting or in the objects used e.g. the sentient ships. Now whether the same considersations should be used with this sort of magic, I haven't actually thought about.
Then more sitting at the table.
Now at 12.45, there was the launch for one of the cons next year (Conflux?) with special guests, over in the Green Room, which was off in another part of the casino with a guide to take people over at relevant times. Now, I didn't go to the launch because I need to move my stuff from the con room to the hostel I was staying at, but almost everyone else did. There were about 5 people, inc. me, left in the dealer's room. Which reminds me, the reason the dealer's room keeps coming up, was the couches in the middle which meant it also doubled as the socialising/hang about area, which worked well. Probably encouraged more buying than might otherwise have happened if the dealer tables were in another room.
So, at 1, I took my overnight bag, my backpack, my heavy coat, my umbrella and by bag of books down to the bus stop. Fortunately, I ran in Bill at one point and he carried the big bag to the bus stop. Was not looking forward to getting into the city though. Although the backpacker place isn't that far from where the bus stopped, across the slowest intersection in the city, down at block, across another insection and then up a building. It just seemed a long way. And then, at the hostel, up to the third floor, with two flights of stairs between each floor. 6 flights of steps carrying heavy bag, back pack, thick coat, umbrella, bag of books and sheet/pillow case. ....
I left EVERYTHING there, including my jackets, and headed back to the con, wearing just a t-shirt. And the camera, of course.
Actually, I lie. I headed down to the waterfront to see if the two tall ships were lined up next to each other like they had been on Friday, hoping that with the better lighting, I could get some better photos but neither of them were there. I caught the Lady Nelson going out, just far enough out so I couldn't get good photos, so I thought I'd wait until she came back to get some photos of her in full sail. Even walked around to the end of Salamance Place to get closer. Was almost an hour before she returned and they started putting the sails up quite a way down the river, so by the time she got close enough, all I got was
Bah. Just having not luck with that. It was 2.50 pm by this time and the next panel I wanted to started at 3.10, so I hurried back to the casino. It took me half an hour, which was OK except the panel started at 3 so I missed almost half of it. Bah again.
'Alternate Landscapes - taking the Medieval Europe out of Fantasy', which can be an interesting topic. Well, Dirk said it would be, because he was the chair. As I came in, I think he was pointing out that there's a lot more to Medieval Europe than occurs in most fantasy stories. Or the third-hand version of it that occurs in most fantasy stories.
The international guest of honour's speech was next on my list. Anne Bishop (she's in the photo above and on the website) talked about why we tell stories. She's an interesting speaker.
By now I was getting tired. I also hadn't had anything to eat :( Went to a panel on con-running because it was something to do and I didn't want to fall asleep because I had a panel later.
After this was a bid party for Convergence to be the natcon in 2007 down in the Bird Cage. They had free beer & wine, which all seemed to be red, and gave out free penguins. Proably I should have gone and got something to eat instead. :(
The panel I was on later was 'Centrelink 2050, what jobs will we lose to the new technologies'. We looked at different occupations, and whether we'd thought they'd increase/decrease in the fure. It was rather fun, with lots of audience participation, but I didn't agree with one angle being pushed that jobs would be pretty much elimnated sometime in the future. Society has always adapted to technological change and there's no reason that should stop. Possibly we'll be working less hours, but that's not the current trend either. I was mostly arguing that as things become more automated, handmade/human touch would become more desirable.
From where I went to the Worldbuilding/audience participation session but I was too tired to concentrate, so headed into the auction instead. The auction is always entertaining, not just in watching people pay weird amounts of money for odd things. Some examples on website include bidding for a t-shirt so it could be destroyed and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zarabee modelling a Spamalot t-shirt.
There was party in Zara's room after this, I'm fairly sure it was for one of the cons (?). I did go to this, which was a bad idea. Ended up walking back to the hostel at midnight :( Was really a sucky end to a sucky afternoon/evening.
I'd decided to go to more panels today. "More" being greater than one, so it wasn't hard.
We decided to keep the ASIM table going for a second day, but only until lunch time, when Terri was leaving us :(, I was 'moving accommodation' and I'm Nicole had a reason too. Or maybe she was just being nice and going along with the rest of us.
The first panel I went to was 'Sorcery that makes sense', which was interesting enough but I don't recall it going into new ground, covering the usual things about having limits, there being a cost etc. Now as I write that, it occurs to me that it's probably new to a lot of people and I think it is something that's important if you're writing fantasy that uses magic. Which I don't usually do, I've only got one novel that has a "magic system". Uusually if my worlds have magic, it's part of the setting or in the objects used e.g. the sentient ships. Now whether the same considersations should be used with this sort of magic, I haven't actually thought about.
Then more sitting at the table.
Now at 12.45, there was the launch for one of the cons next year (Conflux?) with special guests, over in the Green Room, which was off in another part of the casino with a guide to take people over at relevant times. Now, I didn't go to the launch because I need to move my stuff from the con room to the hostel I was staying at, but almost everyone else did. There were about 5 people, inc. me, left in the dealer's room. Which reminds me, the reason the dealer's room keeps coming up, was the couches in the middle which meant it also doubled as the socialising/hang about area, which worked well. Probably encouraged more buying than might otherwise have happened if the dealer tables were in another room.
So, at 1, I took my overnight bag, my backpack, my heavy coat, my umbrella and by bag of books down to the bus stop. Fortunately, I ran in Bill at one point and he carried the big bag to the bus stop. Was not looking forward to getting into the city though. Although the backpacker place isn't that far from where the bus stopped, across the slowest intersection in the city, down at block, across another insection and then up a building. It just seemed a long way. And then, at the hostel, up to the third floor, with two flights of stairs between each floor. 6 flights of steps carrying heavy bag, back pack, thick coat, umbrella, bag of books and sheet/pillow case. ....
I left EVERYTHING there, including my jackets, and headed back to the con, wearing just a t-shirt. And the camera, of course.
Actually, I lie. I headed down to the waterfront to see if the two tall ships were lined up next to each other like they had been on Friday, hoping that with the better lighting, I could get some better photos but neither of them were there. I caught the Lady Nelson going out, just far enough out so I couldn't get good photos, so I thought I'd wait until she came back to get some photos of her in full sail. Even walked around to the end of Salamance Place to get closer. Was almost an hour before she returned and they started putting the sails up quite a way down the river, so by the time she got close enough, all I got was
Bah. Just having not luck with that. It was 2.50 pm by this time and the next panel I wanted to started at 3.10, so I hurried back to the casino. It took me half an hour, which was OK except the panel started at 3 so I missed almost half of it. Bah again.
'Alternate Landscapes - taking the Medieval Europe out of Fantasy', which can be an interesting topic. Well, Dirk said it would be, because he was the chair. As I came in, I think he was pointing out that there's a lot more to Medieval Europe than occurs in most fantasy stories. Or the third-hand version of it that occurs in most fantasy stories.
The international guest of honour's speech was next on my list. Anne Bishop (she's in the photo above and on the website) talked about why we tell stories. She's an interesting speaker.
By now I was getting tired. I also hadn't had anything to eat :( Went to a panel on con-running because it was something to do and I didn't want to fall asleep because I had a panel later.
After this was a bid party for Convergence to be the natcon in 2007 down in the Bird Cage. They had free beer & wine, which all seemed to be red, and gave out free penguins. Proably I should have gone and got something to eat instead. :(
The panel I was on later was 'Centrelink 2050, what jobs will we lose to the new technologies'. We looked at different occupations, and whether we'd thought they'd increase/decrease in the fure. It was rather fun, with lots of audience participation, but I didn't agree with one angle being pushed that jobs would be pretty much elimnated sometime in the future. Society has always adapted to technological change and there's no reason that should stop. Possibly we'll be working less hours, but that's not the current trend either. I was mostly arguing that as things become more automated, handmade/human touch would become more desirable.
From where I went to the Worldbuilding/audience participation session but I was too tired to concentrate, so headed into the auction instead. The auction is always entertaining, not just in watching people pay weird amounts of money for odd things. Some examples on website include bidding for a t-shirt so it could be destroyed and
zarabee modelling a Spamalot t-shirt.There was party in Zara's room after this, I'm fairly sure it was for one of the cons (?). I did go to this, which was a bad idea. Ended up walking back to the hostel at midnight :( Was really a sucky end to a sucky afternoon/evening.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 01:09 pm (UTC)