Dirac Angestun Gesept

Sunday morning. Out the door and off to the bus stop, where despite Sunday service frequencies I had to wait only a few minutes, and arrived at the Sheraton in time for the 1000 panel “Heinlein: Let’s Take a Fresh Look”.

This was a fairly detailed (for a panel; not as detailed as a book, of course) analysis of RAH and his works, going beyond “juveniles good, late stuff bad” and discussing RAH as compared to Isaac Asimov (both in person and in print), the uncut reissues (and that The Moon is a Harsh Mistress got its wonderful dialect when his editor told him to cut the word count and he cut all the articles), comparisons and connections to both Kipling and Twain, and much more that I really can’t do justice to in a blog entry, even though I did take notes.

Next, the 1100 timeslot. I debated between “Layout & Design” and the Infodumps panel, picking the latter on the tiebreaker of “it’s closer”. Of the three panelists, only one (Greer Gilman) was there at the start; another (Kelly Link) showed up not too much later, and Juliet McKenna was brought out of the audience to complete the somewhat ad-hoc panel.

Discussion ranged from the use of infodumps in Atlanta Nights (as particularly bad examples) to various techniques for disguising infodumps (cutting them up and sprinkling the bits through the book) to fun & games (playing with the reliability/viewpoint of the “source” of the infodump in the world of the book) to examples as diverse as Dorothy Sayers and the movie Terminator.

1200, and time for “Pratchett’s Women” (with a short detour to the registration desk to buy next year’s Boskone membership, since it was on the way). This was fun, since the panelists went through all or nearly all of PTerry’s female characters, from Susan Sto Helit to Nanny Ogg to Lady Sybil Ramkin to Angua. Each of them was discussed in some detail, and contrasted with other characters. Choice quotes: “If Susan is angry, everything’s okay” (Kat Macdonald); Granny is “the moral core” (Chip Hitchcock, subbing for Esther Friesner).

I went to the 1300 “What’s in a Name?” but left when it seemed to be going toward more “how to pick names for your characters” writing discussion; not being a writer, I decided that getting food was probably a better use of my time. A visit to Urban Pain for some chicken chili took care of that part of the 5-2-1 rule, and I then made quick visits to the con suite (dessert: jelly beans) and the huckster’s room (to buy Making Book) before heading off to the 1400 “Sunday Funny Sunday” panel.

This year’s was “Crossovers: Mixing Worlds for Fun (and Not Much Profit)”. It was less enjoyable for me than last year’s was, because many of the crossovers suggested were TV shows that I don’t watch. (The description implied more books and/or comics, though I suppose those are harder to come up with funny ideas quickly.) That said, I still had fun, though I’m glad I didn’t wind up on the panel this year after all. (I wish I could claim that not volunteering to be on program was a way to avoid winding up on a panel with Orson Scott Card, but in actuality it was just me flaking out and forgetting about it. Besides, I haven’t had the energy to do it justice.)

After that, I headed off to the Gripe Session at 1500, not because I had any particular gripes to air, but to see what other people had to say. I did say that I liked being able to pre-register for next year at either the registration table or the NESFA Press table; that gave flexibility to use whichever was less busy. There being relatively few gripes (one major one being the return of “my coat went missing from the coat rack”, unfortunately), the panel ended early and I prepared to do some shopping and head home.

As I was about to leave, however, I ran into Michael and Nomi Burstein, who were talking to two friends of theirs. Introductions were made, and a foray to the Sheraton’s bar for chatting and libations was proposed. Having no pressing engagements, I happily joined the expedition, which lasted for about two hours (and one hot chocolate) and was most enjoyable.

Then, off to do some shopping, after which the plan was to take the bus to MIT, get food, and see The Incredibles. In actuality, it was too cold to wait for the bus and I was sick and tired of walking across the bridge, so I just hopped on the T and headed home.

Thoughts:

• The snow held off until Monday. Whew.
• With Arisia late this year, I wound up doing 3 cons in four weeks (Arisia, Vericon, “bye week”, Boskone). Fun, but tiring.
• I’m really glad Vericon is on this side of the river.
• I apparently still haven’t gotten the hang of this whole not-eating-alone thing.
• The #1 bus only runs from Harvard to Dudley; the return trips are illusory, at least whenever I want to ride it.
• I miss Marche Movenpick. Qdoba’s pretty good, though.
• I’m looking forward to Minicon (and next year’s Arisia and Boskone, but they’re a little farther out).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005 at 00:34 and is filed under Fandom/Congoing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the Atom 1.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.