Events
Buffy Philosophy Board Dinner
Some background, I’m completely and utterly addicted to Buffy the Vampire
Slayer. I am likewise addicted to talking about Buffy on the Buffy Philosophy
Board. Good stuff.
We had various people converging from out of town in the Bay area, so
we met twice. Once on Thursday Evening. Once on Saturday evening.
Deeva, D’Herblay, Masquerade d'Herblay, Dead Soul and myself met at
the Stinking Rose, a garlic oriented restaurant in the San Francisco, to
which no vampire dare go.
It’s nice to put faces to names, even if they are self created. Especially
if they are self created.
We chatted about Spike (to whom all threads lead), Restless (about
which all other threads lead), Joseph Campbell (to which all other other
threads lead) and absent but thought of board members (about which threads
sometimes revolve.) Actually, we made some effort to hit all the points
that the board so often hits. I mean really, why not.
Most of the people (everyone but me) is involved in writing a summer
boredom board fanfic, the Fanged Four. That way the chatting also wended.
It was a good evening. Certainly something worth doing again and again
and again.
Wedding
08.17.02
On August 16th, Crystal and I got up bright and early to drive down to
Orange County for my cousin's wedding (congrats Meghan and Vinnie!). It
was a quick, uneventful drive down Hwy 5. We made it to Valencia by 1pm.
Unfortunately, my little brother was arriving at LAX at 3:45pm. So we hung
out on Ventura Boulevard - shopping in funky vintage clothing stores and
looking for a pair of shoes that matched my dress. I found squat, but Crystal
bought shoes, a hat, and more. We only had 10 miles to go so we left a
half hour before we needed to pick up Seth. Big mistake. Rush hour had
started. It took us an hour. We despaired of getting anywhere on the 405
so we took the Pacific Coast Highway down to Camp Pendleton where the bride's
family was staying in "cabins" on the beach. That took us 3 more hours
and the cabins were run down trailer homes, but they were on the beach.
It was all worth it because when we got there they had food, beer and wine,
a beach bonfire, and singing. My family used to do this all the time, but
it's been at least 10 years since the extended family was together like
this. I had even more fun than I did as a kid because even though we had
forgotten a lot of the words and were no where near on key, we were tipsy
and together. It was marvelous.
The wedding
itself was at 2pm the next afternoon. The bride was beautiful, the groom
was handsome, and they looked very happy. The priest (catholic service)
was hilarious and moving by turns. He asked the people in the church who
had come farthest for the wedding in the best standup comedian tradition,
then turned his back to us and lifted his arms so that the long sleeves
of his robe hid the bride and groom from view. Ha! After the service we
took some pictures then headed over to the reception at Cannons Restaurant
and Terrace in Dana Point. We were on the terrace with an amazing view
down a straight cliff to the harbor and the Pacific Ocean below. We ate
a delicious buffet, drank wine, and danced. I got to dance with my dad
and both my brothers. I was totally shocked that they let family sentiment
overcome their fear of being not-cool in public. They were very sweet.
The best moments were the sentimental ones - when Grandad cut into the
bride's dance with her father so he could dance with his granddaughter
I think we all cried. It was a great way to start a life together.
The next day, we helped clean up the cabins then headed back home. We
left early enough that we had time to do some wine tasting near San Luis
Obispo. Yummy.
World Con
World Con was a whirlwind of panels, costumes, parties and exhaustion.
Let’s see :
Friday
* Costume – not so much. Work clothes, ‘cause you know, I came from
work.
He’s Dead Jim, but what Killed Him?
Teresa Edgerton, Lois McMaster Bujold, Irene Radford, Cordelia Willis
The discussion focused mainly on ways to interestingly kill characters
and the impact of those deaths. It boiled down to two types of deaths,
thematically.
Red shirts/spear carriers, whose function in the work is to demonstrate
the seriousness of the threat.
The second kind of death is the death of a beloved character, which
serves to push anther character in a new direction or forces that character
to grow/feel miserable. In a couple of instances, the panel authors mentioned
creating characters far in advance with the intention of killing them when
the plot reached such and such a point.
Since Lois McMaster Bujold was on the panel
(******spoilers for anyone who has not read The Warrior’s Apprentice)
the discussion touched on the death of Sergeant Bothari, a scene that
causes me to cry every time it. Bothari’s death (in the abstract) was the
central plot pivot of the book. Bothari is not a red shirt and his death
ripples throughout the series.
(end spoilers ****)
Oh, and there was a third kind of death. Where authors kill their main
character to shut them up so other characters get to say/do something.
Reading by Lois McMaster Bujold
New book, which is a sequel to Curse of Chalion, which she hasn’t finished
yet, which is annoying and yet, cool focus. I’m not sure how many fantasy
adventure novels focus on a middle aged woman figuring her post wife, mother,
daughter phase of life.
* Costume-Elementals. We have
Fire, Earth, Water and Fire, but Air has been a little hard to see.
Saturday
* Costume - Dendarri (from the
Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold). Gina wore a cool skirt and
bodice. No picture.
Costuming Your Character
Sarah E. Goodman, Janet Wilson Anderson, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jess
Miller
We talked about the psychology of clothes and how colors affect perception.
The difference between military mad Barrayarans and Betans in sarongs and
body paint. The differences between what an author imagines and what costumers
create. Good stuff. Lots of note taking all around.
Creating Memorable Characters
Lois McMaster Bujold, James Patrick Kelly, Jennifer Roberson, Sharon
Lee, Wen Spenser
It boiled down to some of the most interesting characters are the ones
who are the most passionate about things.
Although in a digression on characters being appropriate to the plot,
I was quite taken by the vision of switching Hamlet and Othello, which
would lead to two very short plays. Othello kills his uncle after speaking
with the ghost. Hamlet dithers so much Iago kills himself in frustration
and Desdemona’s innocence is proved through more dithering.
* Costume - Alice from American McGee’s
Alice and the Red Queen.
The Buffy Season Pattern
Jim Mann, Ben Yalow, Michelle Sagara West, Nicki Lynch
This was a very annoying panel. I didn’t get the impression that anyone
had prepared for the discussion. I wanted to raise my hand and say, “Hey,
lets all log onto the Philosophy Board essay section.”
Thus we left to go shopping.
Buffy Philosophy Board Other Dinner
This was much more pleasurable. Some background.
Anyway, we (Masq, D'herb, fresne [me], Vickie, Vickie's hubby, Dochawk
my housemate Karen, and our friend Kevin from out of town) met in the hotel
lobby, where we started by complaining about the previous panel. You may
notice that we have secret identities. Names are like costumes. Of course
all the costumes that I like are relevent to me.
You know I wish I could recapture the flavor of the event, but basically
we chatted On Topic for the board and Off Topic cause you know, in person.
There was a brief discussion, about how people post, which got me to
thinking about the nature of on-line communities and this one in particular.
Liquidram caught up with us at the restaurant and brought her kids.
Her daughter, with whom I had a chance to talk cartoons, (she quite right
mindedly likes Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas) was utterly adorable.
Unfortunately, the table was long and it was a little difficult to hear/talk
to people at the other end.
After dinner, Buffyboy, Dochawk, my housemate and myself went to the
Masquerade (in no way affiliated with Masq)
There were some great costumes. I particularly liked Alien Elvis (which
was very funny) and the Alien Conference (which was amazing and pulled
off non-humanoid aliens. Just some beautiful craftmenship.)
After the Masquerade, parties.
* Costume – Catwoman, Karen was a flapper and Gina was Countess de
Muerte. No pictures.
Sunday
* Godesses, Persephone of the
Spring,Queen Hera, and Eris the Discordian
Myth as Source for Fiction
Katie Waitman, Carol Berg, Irene Radford, Laura Frankos, Judith Berman
We came very late, our costumes took awhile to assemble, but the last
15 min was very interesting. Okay, it was interesting, but Gina wanted
to be seen. So, we goddessed off.
Torturing your Characters
Carol Berg, Lois McMaster Bujold, Susan R. Matthews, Liz Williams
Reasons for and how to put your characters through the emotional and
physical wringer. Because it’s good for them.
Writing Romantic Sci-Fi
Sharon Lee, Pauline J. Alama Ph.D, Denise Little, Catherine Asaro
Very interesting panel. I particularly, like the comment about the evolution
from boy meets girl, boy looses girl, boy saves the universe, boy gets
girl back to girl meets boy, girl looses boy, girl saves the universe and
looks good doing it, girl gets boy.
Steve Miller (who was in the audience and BTW, he and his wife Sharon
Lee were as cute as buttons in their matching Liadan-esq costumes) made
a very interesting comment about how, there is a tendency in current Western
readers to read love relationships as sexual ones. Citing as an example
the sheer number of letters he and Sharon Lee get asking if two of their
male characters are gay. To which the response is, no, they are like brothers,
they love each other, but it’s not that kind of love.
Feminist Utopias: Deceptive Visions or Promising Realities?
Lois McMaster Bujold, Mari Kotani, Chris Moriarty, Dr. Janice Marie
Bogstad
This panel tied very nicely into the previous one, and Steve Miller’s
comment, given that one of the methods that writers try to get at the Feminist
Utopia is the use of Aliens as a way of trying to get around/play with
gender.
There was also some discussion of books which use role reversal (did
you know that the Berkeley Physics Dept does not have a women’s restroom),
which as I think about it Buffy plays with a good deal, and separation.
* Costume - Flapper (new and meshes interestingly to dancing to Goth/Industrial
music), Gina was Pipi and Karen was
just plain gothic. Leather skirt of evil, you know the drill.
Monday
* Costume - Come on that’s enough already.
Breaking Ground in Buffy
P.C. Hodgell, Chris Garcia, Nicki Lynch, Eric M. Van
Much better than the other Buffy panel that we attended. Although
mainly it boiled down to episodes that we liked and why.
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