Media*West Con 27 Report: Day Four

[bradygirl_12]

Day Four

 

Sunday, May 27, 2007

 

I realized that I had left out a part of yesterday’s activities, so since I doubt people who have already read Day Three will do so again, I’ll make a note of it here and slip in the same words over there for new readers. J  

 

It has to do with Superman and Batman, so I think people will be interested!  J

 

When I was doing my walkaround the Dealers’ Room on Saturday, I noticed that at the end of the room was a table with lovely glass suncatchers.  What catches my eye?  The ‘S’ and Bat symbols!  So naturally I had to go right over and inquire as to price.  Unfortunately they were a little too pricey but then I noticed two pins that were the same symbols.  Hallelujah!  The price was right and so I had some lovely pins that represented our boys. J

 

Okay, on to Day Four:

 

Of course it was raining again. J  Breakfast was buffet food this morning, and then I went to see if Registration for next year was open.  It was, so I registered for the con and for the room lottery.  Usually the line snakes out for a long length but this year it was short.

 

The con itself had been unusually quiet this year.  I had heard that instead of 900 members, it had been a lot less.  I could believe that.  Reasons for that?  The high price of airline tickets, gas, and other budget-busters.  I do know that I wasn’t the only one on a strict budget this year.  And the room lottery notifications had been so late, several people decided not to attend because of the uncertainty of a room in HIS.  Or maybe now that fandom is getting older, health reasons or burn-out has affected the con.  I do know that other cons of long standing have gone the way of the dodo bird.  A shame, but a lot of people also think they don’t need face-to-face interaction since the Internet.

 

The first panel I attended was Heroes and it was well done.  The comics flavor of the show and the superpowers are the backdrop for an intriguing story.  George Takei as Hiro’s father is popular, and all were glad that Ando survived.  J

 

Next it was the Wild Wild West panel!  Isleofhope and Big Miss Sunbeam were the moderators, and they had a nice little display set up on the dais: DVDs, mugs, toy horses, and a lunchbox from the ‘60s!  And a totally *gorgeous* lovin' illo of the boys framed and front and center! ;)  The panel was not designated as slash though we did manage to talk about that aspect at least part of the time.  We also concentrated on the friendship aspect of Jim and Artie.  Whether you consider them platonic or lovers, the feeling is strong between them.

 

We also talked about how the show and fandom can inspire RL interests.  For Miss Sunbeam, it was learning more about the Civil War and Ulysses Grant, which was easy to do as she comes from the Deep South.  My own background tends to the Northern POV when I write Civil War background, and every small town in America has the obligatory statue of the Civil War soldier and the scroll of names, with additions for later wars in many cases.  The War touched everyone and was such a touchstone in American history that it’s fascinating to see how popular media incorporates it.

 

Oh, yeah, and we talked about Jim’s butt in those tight pants, too!  ;)

 

Next was the topic “LiveJournal: Too Insular Or Community-Building?” Ironic with all the recent kerfuffle, but the discussion was lively.  One woman declared that LJ had people on it that could pretend to be someone else, but of course that’s true of all the Net.  Same for her contention that people substituted LJ for RL and damaged themselves.  But that’s true of any endeavor on-line, and even before the Internet, people were shut away from society for various reasons.  And with the Net, some of those painfully shy or awkward people can actually make friends!  So it all evens out, in my opinion.  A fan named Gairid and I talked after the panel and we parted with promises of meeting again at the next LJ panel.

 

Smallville was the next panel I attended and we discussed the final season.  We concluded that most of us disliked Lana, some of us liked Lois, and everyone loved Chloe!  J  It was a lively discussion, part gripefest and part speculation about next season. 

 

Speaking of Smallville, I picked up some new mugs that could be construed as slashy, and lots of glossy bookmarks and a mousepad.  Such wonderful eye candy this fandom has!  ;)

 

I didn’t need to go see the Art Show as I’d seen it yesterday.  Some very nice pieces indeed.  Lots of gorgeous jewelry, knitted items, and a series of little handmade boxes with fannish themes.  The hot fandom was Supernatural and was well-represented.  There were two separate Smallville pieces, one of Clark and one of Lex (the latter entitled “Save Me”).  I recall a picture of a few years ago done of the two of them on a picnic with Lex reading while trying to ignore a mischievous Clark floating above him.  J  I’m sure we can guess how that turned out!  ;)

 

My final panel of the con was about LJ again and whether or not it was the place to post fanfic.  We mentioned the kerfuffle, but then got into LJ itself and how we were using it for fic.  Gairid was there and the panel was a good one.  I slipped out a few minutes before it ended to pick up some icons I had made in the Dealers’ Room, then returned with my bounty.  J

 

After chatting with Gairid and showing off my new purchase, I went to dinner and had a rerun of the Angus burger meal and topped it off with French vanilla ice cream.  Yum!  J

 

When I stopped in the room I turned on the TV to check and see what the Ion channel was showing.  I was taping Battlestar Galactica and wondered which episode it would be, and it was my favorite, “War Of The Gods”. Hey, any episode with Starbuck crying over Apollo is a winner in my book!  J  I plan to write out some thoughts on the incredible slashiness of this episode.  I watched the last ten minutes and then headed down to the Art Auction.  

 

The Art Auction is always fun.  This year one of the biggest jokes was one of the male auctioneers looking at the picture he was supposed to shill and saying, “In 27 years of doing this, finally…a het picture!”

 

We all laughed as of course the explicit pics all tend to be slash and they always give them to the male auctioneers.  ;)  So this Han/Leia picture was quite the exception.  Unfortunately for het fans, it didn’t get much bidding at all, and one of the female auctioneers said, “A Leah Rosenthal cartoon gets $500 and the Han/Leia (named a smaller number I can’t remember).  No wonder this show doesn’t have het!” Laughter.

 

One woman dropped $1100 for a drawing of Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.  Good luck to her!  Even if I had the money I wouldn’t spend it that way, but to each her own.  It’s fun to watch the bidding and everyone has a good time.  I watched for about an hour then went to watch a repeat of the slash vids, then went up to a room that featured Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan dolls doing their thing.  ;)  I’d stopped by yesterday but they were just setting up.  In years past the ladies had done a very elaborate set-up, using several dolls and depicting domestic scenes, naked dolls before a fireplace, sitting in the park, etc.  This time Obi-Wan was being rescued by a gallant Qui-Gon from a tower.  Maybe the Padawan braid made him Rapunzel!  ;) 

 

I did one last walkaround and sadly, the con was over for me.  I had an early wake-up call the next day because of an early flight. 

 

Next: the trip home and some thoughts on Media*West present and past.                    

Comments

[sasha-anu.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately they were a little too pricey

Shame on you!

You should have bought them anyway.

*shakes head in disgust*

And you call yourself an S/B shipper.

*rips S/B patch off your shoulder*

[bradygirl_12]

Ouch! :)

[sasha-anu.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

Fine. I'll give it back but you better try harder in the future. lol

[bradygirl_12]