ConneXions!

[sam_gamgee]

connexions was so amazing and I'm really sad it's over. I hope we can have it again in 2007 and will do pretty much anything in my power to help with that. (Famous last words, right? :-P)

I went to some really good panels aside from the normal fannish ones (like for Starsky and Hutch, Firefly, Angel, Buffy, NCIS, The Sentinel, etc). One was "When Fandom was Young 2" and was a continuation from last year on the history of fandom and, obviously, the slash aspect. I am pretty dang grateful for where things are now, considering where they were. Another was "Coming out of the Other Closet" - about coming out as a slasher to your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/significant other. Which, even though I don't have any of those in my life now, I know I will at some point, plus, I wanted to see if there were any tips/whatever that could be translated into coming out to non-fannish family/friends. And I think I'm now basically into "The Sentinel" fandom. There goes my streak of being fandom-monogamous, or, at least, not being in *that* many fandoms. Ack, vell. There was also one called "Falling for the 2nd Banana" about why we love the sidekick instead of the hero. And "Spirituality and Slash" was good - we mostly talked about characters' spirituality/religion, or lack thereof, but also about authors' spirituality/religion. Today's panel "Can Fandom be Healthy" was good and I'm really glad we had it. The "Sex Scenes" panel was also a good discussion on writing sex scenes in general.

And as to the slashiest character in the Buffyverse (and both Lorne and Andrew were brought up), everyone seemed to agree with my statement of "Well, Andrew's obviously gay, but Lorne's just fabulous."

Had fun at the room parties. Went to one Thursday night for "The Sentinel" and saw the first two episodes, so I need to go track that show down. Thankfully, I have some leads. Was going to go to the "due South" party on Friday, but by the time I got there, it had left DS and moved on to hardcore gay porn. (And it wasn't even that good from the bit I saw.) Last night I went to the "Starsky and Hutch" one for a while and we watched part of an episode and a bunch of songvids. Then I wandered down the hall to the Harry Potter one, where I actually ended up talking to someone about Smallville and pimping serafina20's Corner of the World story. (Since, obviously, neither she nor it can be pimped enough.) Then I wandered down to the "Highlander" party and ended up watching the first part of the Four Horsemen two-parter. And it was kind of interesting, because everyone was pretty loud and all for a long time on Thursday, then not so much on Friday (but still well into the wee hours) and then last night, it was pretty dead as I walked down the hall around 12:30/1:00 - and I don't think it was completely because of the time changing.

The vid shows were both great. Friday night's Previously Viewed vids had a bunch of really good ones, among them were vids from kimberlyfdr ("Walking Away", "Remember When" and "Used to Somebody" - all S&H), Recycled Media Station ("Passenger Seat" - multifandom and "Bring on the Rain" - can't remember the fandom), one each by mpoetess ("Declaration" that was Xander/Krispy Kreme) and Diana Williams ("Invisible" - multifandom to the Clay Aiken song) that I had somehow not seen before. The Saturday Premeiring vidshow was also really, really good. There were two by Diana Williams (HP Snape to Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" and "Handle With Care" - multi-fandom to The Traveling Wilburys - both of which are on her site for download). wolfling did one called "Desperation Song" for LotR. mpoetess did one called "Not Pretty" (Black Adder fandom). And wesleysgirl did an *amazing* one for the movie Priest to the song "The Truth About You" (can't remember the artist off-hand). I really need to see if I can find copies of these vids now. I know that at least some of them will be going up within the next few days. And I know that I'll be able to get them all on the con dvd that slashmommy is having put together. I also *really* want to learn how to vid now.

abelladonna to kimberlyfdr while they're talking about vidding at the Starsky and Hutch room party - "You can't have the world's biggest dork [my note - Paul Gross] as a musical source."

Managed to do pretty well in the dealer's room. Did buy a Sentinel zine that came highly recommended, as well as a Kiefer/Lou zine. Also bought some dvds of Diana Williams' vids. Almost bought a very nice (and slashy) Jim/Blair piece of art, but didn't. Besides, I don't really have anywhere to display it right now. But it was very nice. Maybe if I see it again.

I got to meet byrne, dancetomato, essene, ladycat777, and (obviously) kimberlyfdr - all of whom are really cool.

Randomness:
- slashmommy's little girl is quite possibly the cutest little girl *ever*.
- I also now own the first season of "Carnivale" and all the eps so far of "House".
- I have decided to start outting myself as a slasher to my mundane friends, starting with my best friend. And I know that doing it through an email is probably not the best way to do it, but I know that by the next time I see her, I may not remember, and I don't want that to happen. With my mom I'm going to do it with one of my fics (Galileo for anyone wishing to know). For some odd reason, I'm getting the vibe that I should use a songvid to tell my dad, so any recommendations for that would be greatly appreciated. (I'm thinking a "Starsky and Hutch" one, but I'm open.) Not exactly sure how to come out to my brother and other friends (or if it's even really necessary, though I do want to be open with them). Am not telling the grandparents, unless they find out inadvertantly.

I am now off to update my friends list, write that email to my best friend, get some other things organized, and possibly start printing out the story for my mom.

Comments

[nakedwesley.livejournal.com]

*snicker* MP's 'Declaration' vid was Xander/Crispy Creme Donuts, and 'Not Pretty' was Black Adder fandom (Black Adder/Tim McInery's character whose name I forget because I'm not as fond of Season 2 as I am of S3) She wins for most creative choice of fandom, in my opinion. *g*

I'd forgotten about Diana Williams' vids on Sat. She even makes Harry Potter good. (Not that I dislike HP, but the vids don't hold my interest normally.)

Regarding 'coming out', your dad's pretty into visual media in general, so I can see showing him a vid or two as being a good introduction. It's a good way to show examples of how subtext can be so easily found when you look for it. I'd say Sentinel or S&H would be good choices. Maybe one of the more humorous ones, depending on what you've got on hand. Good luck with that. When I tried to explain regular fanfic to my parents I was met by blank, confused looks, so I can't see taking that next step...well, ever, probably. More power to you.

And on that note, I am going to collapse into bed and hope I can sleep for more than 2 hours.

[sam-gamgee.livejournal.com]

Lol. Thanks. I fixed those. I knew I should've written down the fandoms. And I agree about Diana Williams.

And thanks for the input. I'm hoping I can get some of KimberlyFDR's stuff, since a) I really liked that one vid - "Remember When" and b) my dad really likes country music, so I'm sure that'll help too. Plus, even though it's only stills, I think the point comes across pretty clearly. But we'll see what happens, since I'm still not too sure about particulars - like when and such.

[spikesleman.livejournal.com]

*sighs with satisfaction*

Now this is the way a Con report should read. *grin*

I'm so glad you had a good time.

[sam-gamgee.livejournal.com]

*grins*

I'm glad you enjoyed reading it.