Worldcon Report, Part the Last
Sep. 9th, 2004 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gnomiWhen last we left our merry band, it was Saturday night. Thus, moving on to...
Sunday
When I woke up at 9, Bob was already up and dressed and almost ready to leave for the day. I blearily said good morning as he headed out toward the convention and I pondered the fact that, yet again, it was morning. MAB and farwing were still asleep, but they soon awoke, and we started our respective days. After breakfast, we headed out toward the convention area. MAB and I headed toward the ConCourse so that I could reserve a spot at his Monday morning Kaffeeklatsch. We wandered the ConCourse for a bit, seeing people and finding out that Japan had won the vote for the 2007 Worldcon.
At 11, MAB was on the panel "Writer's Tools (and Desk Fetishes!)," which discussed the items - both practical and whimsical - that the panelists use for writing inspiration. A number of good books were discussed as references, and each writer on the panel brought items that they considered personally inspirational for them (and talked about others that they couldn't bring, such as their specific writing area or large pieces of artwork).
After the panel, MAB and I went back to our room to eat lunch and to pick up books we wanted to bring to autographings being held later that afternoon. These books included two by Frederik Pohl and our 16th edition Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, for which Terry Pratchett wrote the Introduction. We then headed back down to the convention area, where we headed over to the dealer's room to work our shift at the NESFA Press table. MAB settled in at the table while I went down to take spot #3 in Neil Gaiman's autographing line. When I got the book signed, I confirmed with Neil that we'd meet that night in the bar at 9, and then I headed back to the dealer's room to work the NESFA table. While we worked the table, we saw a number of people, including Jack Speer, from whom we got an autograph;rwl; my mother; and a bunch of friends who dropped by to say hi.
Once our shift was done, MAB and I headed out to stand in queue for Terry Pratchett's 3 PM autographing. Even one hour before the start of the signing, there was a significant queue. While we were waiting, I knit some more. A number of people came by the line and talked, including our friend Charles,teddywolf, and others. Pratchett actually started signing early, at 2:45, as he had to leave at 3:40. And this was good for MAB and me, as MAB had a 3:30 reading. As we got closer to the head of the line, we were told that Pratchett would be signing just three books per person and only personalizing one book per person. So MAB and I divided the two books we were holding between us so that we could get both personalized. MAB had him sign Once More with Footnotes, Pratchett's Worldcon book, and I had him sign the aforementioned Brewer's. Pratchett was absolutely delighted to see us bringing Brewer's for his signature, and not only did he personalize it, he added a message as well. He told us that ours was the first Brewer's he'd been brought so far at the convention, which surprised and pleased me.
After we got the signature, we headed over to the room in which MAB was going to be reading. A number of friends showed up to hear him read his forthcoming story "Pedagogy," which will appear next year in I Alien. I missed part of the reading, as I brought our now-signed books back to our room and then returned to the reading.
From the reading, I had to head quickly down to moderate my next panel, "Jewish Time-Based Mitzvoth in a Lunar Colony." I ended up being a couple of minutes late due to the sheer distance between the location of the reading and the location of the panel, butsdavido and Janice Gelb had ably gotten underway in my absence. The panel was quite well attended, and both the panelists and the audience seemed to be having a good time, so I consider the panel quite a success (and I'm always amazed by how popular discussions of Jewish esoterica can be at conventions). MAB went to Frederik Pohl's signing at the beginning of my panel but then came to the panel afterwards.
We stayed around for a brief time after my panel to continue the conversation, but then MAB and I booked it over to the Marriott to catch the very end of the wedding-renewal celebration of Esther Friesner and Walter Stutzman. While we'd missed the ceremony itself, we arrived with enough time to wish the bride and groom mazal tov (and watch Terry Pratchett sample Manischewitz sweet concord grape wine for the first time). We hooked back up with Bob and headed with him back to our room and then over to the SFF.net suite, where he was scheduled to do a reading. Since the only people who showed up for the reading were, in fact, MAB and me, at 6:15 Bob canceled his reading and we headed out to wander. We went back to the room, where we ate dinner and then picked up our laptops to take back to the ConCourse to check e-mail and to blog a bit. Also at this time, I calledeal to see how she was doing in the midst of Hurricane Frances (I got her voicemail; she later responded on my voice mail and reassured me that she and her household were all OK).
Bob, MAB, and I went down to the ConCourse for a while, and then Bob and our friend Steve headed over to queue for the masquerade and MAB and I headed back to drop off our machines.
A little before 9, MAB and I headed down to the Sheraton bar to meet up with Neil Gaiman. While he had not yet returned from dinner, Anne K.G. Murphy and her husband Bill were there, as were a couple of their friends. We sat with them and Bill showed MAB some juggling tricks, and then not long after Neil and some of the people with whom he'd gone to dinner joined us in the bar. I lost track of who joined us when, but over the next 3 or so hours, we talked with Neil, Nick Sagan, Shawna McCarthy, Martha Soukup, Rick Berry,dianora2, scarlettina, and others.
It was well after midnight when the gathering began breaking up. MAB called Bob to see where he was, and we all agreed to meet back at the room, as we were going to have to get an early start in the morning. MAB and I said goodnight to all and sundry and headed back, where we foundfarwing already asleep. We were soon joined by Bob, and not long thereafter we went to sleep.
Monday
We got up at 8 AM and began packing up our stuff, as check-out was at noon and we had a number of commitments in the morning. After some packing and breakfast, we all headed out. MAB, Bob, and I headed down to the con suite for MAB's Kaffeeklatsch, where we were joined by Marsha Hamel,ckd, and Darcie DeAngelo. MAB introduced everyone to each other at the table, and much fun conversation was had.
After the Klatsch, Darcie and Bob came back to the room with MAB and me, where we had lunch and then finished up our packing. All four of us then went over to my sister's hotel room, where we stashed our stuff (so that we could check out of the room; my sister and brother-in-law were staying at the hotel through Tuesday morning). We then headed back down to the convention.
At noon, MAB was on the panel "Alternate Holocausts," where the panel discussed multiple possible alternate-history plots, where the turning points would be, and what the impact would be from those turning points.
After that panel, MAB and I took an hour to finally shop in the dealer's room (where we, in total, bought one book). We also stopped by tables of people we knew so that we could say hello for a couple of minutes.
MAB had a panel at 2, "TV Storytelling: From Arcs to Episodes," which was very well attended and very well received. The panelists discussed the different types of TV storytelling: the "Star Trek" model (truly episodic, no arc) to the "X-Files" model (an underlying mythos but no true arc), the "Buffy" model (one arc per season), and the "Babylon 5" model (a five-year arc). Pros and cons of each type were listed, and the panelists each talked about which model was their favorite.
During MAB's panel, I had the thought that I couldn't recall whether or not I'd remembered to pack my contact lenses when we were packing up the room, so after the panel I quickly headed back to check the hotel room (they were not there because - as I discovered when I got home - I had in fact packed them). I then met back up with MAB for the convention's closing ceremonies. Deb Geisler thanked the guests, the committee and staff, and the attendees, and then officially closed the convention. The rest of closing ceremonies were hosted by Intersection, the 2005 Worldcon to be held in Glasgow, Scotland. This included a humorous presentation of an overview of the whole convention (including a kazoo band) and a performance by a troupe of bagpipers.
And then Noreascon 4 was over. We hung around a bit, which gave me an opportunity to finally talk for a few minutes todancingdeer and to introduce Darcie to kalessin (who convinced Darcie to join in the fun of tear-down). MAB and I got our luggage, got a taxi, and headed home.
While the convention was over, however, we still saw people from the convention. As we had dinner with family, we sawjonbaker and mamadeb, who had come out to our local kosher Chinese restaurant for dinner. On Tuesday, MAB saw Dan Kimmel, whom we'd seen at the convention, and on Wednesday, MAB and I had dinner with Norman Cates (the DUFF delegate) and Darcie DeAngelo.
I was thrilled to see everyone I saw, and I know I missed a number of you. I hope to catch people at the next regional convention or the next time we're in the same city. Thanks to everyone who came to Boston and made Noreascon 4 such a wonderful time.
Sunday
When I woke up at 9, Bob was already up and dressed and almost ready to leave for the day. I blearily said good morning as he headed out toward the convention and I pondered the fact that, yet again, it was morning. MAB and farwing were still asleep, but they soon awoke, and we started our respective days. After breakfast, we headed out toward the convention area. MAB and I headed toward the ConCourse so that I could reserve a spot at his Monday morning Kaffeeklatsch. We wandered the ConCourse for a bit, seeing people and finding out that Japan had won the vote for the 2007 Worldcon.
At 11, MAB was on the panel "Writer's Tools (and Desk Fetishes!)," which discussed the items - both practical and whimsical - that the panelists use for writing inspiration. A number of good books were discussed as references, and each writer on the panel brought items that they considered personally inspirational for them (and talked about others that they couldn't bring, such as their specific writing area or large pieces of artwork).
After the panel, MAB and I went back to our room to eat lunch and to pick up books we wanted to bring to autographings being held later that afternoon. These books included two by Frederik Pohl and our 16th edition Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, for which Terry Pratchett wrote the Introduction. We then headed back down to the convention area, where we headed over to the dealer's room to work our shift at the NESFA Press table. MAB settled in at the table while I went down to take spot #3 in Neil Gaiman's autographing line. When I got the book signed, I confirmed with Neil that we'd meet that night in the bar at 9, and then I headed back to the dealer's room to work the NESFA table. While we worked the table, we saw a number of people, including Jack Speer, from whom we got an autograph;
rwl; my mother; and a bunch of friends who dropped by to say hi.Once our shift was done, MAB and I headed out to stand in queue for Terry Pratchett's 3 PM autographing. Even one hour before the start of the signing, there was a significant queue. While we were waiting, I knit some more. A number of people came by the line and talked, including our friend Charles,
teddywolf, and others. Pratchett actually started signing early, at 2:45, as he had to leave at 3:40. And this was good for MAB and me, as MAB had a 3:30 reading. As we got closer to the head of the line, we were told that Pratchett would be signing just three books per person and only personalizing one book per person. So MAB and I divided the two books we were holding between us so that we could get both personalized. MAB had him sign Once More with Footnotes, Pratchett's Worldcon book, and I had him sign the aforementioned Brewer's. Pratchett was absolutely delighted to see us bringing Brewer's for his signature, and not only did he personalize it, he added a message as well. He told us that ours was the first Brewer's he'd been brought so far at the convention, which surprised and pleased me.After we got the signature, we headed over to the room in which MAB was going to be reading. A number of friends showed up to hear him read his forthcoming story "Pedagogy," which will appear next year in I Alien. I missed part of the reading, as I brought our now-signed books back to our room and then returned to the reading.
From the reading, I had to head quickly down to moderate my next panel, "Jewish Time-Based Mitzvoth in a Lunar Colony." I ended up being a couple of minutes late due to the sheer distance between the location of the reading and the location of the panel, but
sdavido and Janice Gelb had ably gotten underway in my absence. The panel was quite well attended, and both the panelists and the audience seemed to be having a good time, so I consider the panel quite a success (and I'm always amazed by how popular discussions of Jewish esoterica can be at conventions). MAB went to Frederik Pohl's signing at the beginning of my panel but then came to the panel afterwards.We stayed around for a brief time after my panel to continue the conversation, but then MAB and I booked it over to the Marriott to catch the very end of the wedding-renewal celebration of Esther Friesner and Walter Stutzman. While we'd missed the ceremony itself, we arrived with enough time to wish the bride and groom mazal tov (and watch Terry Pratchett sample Manischewitz sweet concord grape wine for the first time). We hooked back up with Bob and headed with him back to our room and then over to the SFF.net suite, where he was scheduled to do a reading. Since the only people who showed up for the reading were, in fact, MAB and me, at 6:15 Bob canceled his reading and we headed out to wander. We went back to the room, where we ate dinner and then picked up our laptops to take back to the ConCourse to check e-mail and to blog a bit. Also at this time, I called
eal to see how she was doing in the midst of Hurricane Frances (I got her voicemail; she later responded on my voice mail and reassured me that she and her household were all OK).Bob, MAB, and I went down to the ConCourse for a while, and then Bob and our friend Steve headed over to queue for the masquerade and MAB and I headed back to drop off our machines.
A little before 9, MAB and I headed down to the Sheraton bar to meet up with Neil Gaiman. While he had not yet returned from dinner, Anne K.G. Murphy and her husband Bill were there, as were a couple of their friends. We sat with them and Bill showed MAB some juggling tricks, and then not long after Neil and some of the people with whom he'd gone to dinner joined us in the bar. I lost track of who joined us when, but over the next 3 or so hours, we talked with Neil, Nick Sagan, Shawna McCarthy, Martha Soukup, Rick Berry,
dianora2, scarlettina, and others.It was well after midnight when the gathering began breaking up. MAB called Bob to see where he was, and we all agreed to meet back at the room, as we were going to have to get an early start in the morning. MAB and I said goodnight to all and sundry and headed back, where we found
farwing already asleep. We were soon joined by Bob, and not long thereafter we went to sleep.Monday
We got up at 8 AM and began packing up our stuff, as check-out was at noon and we had a number of commitments in the morning. After some packing and breakfast, we all headed out. MAB, Bob, and I headed down to the con suite for MAB's Kaffeeklatsch, where we were joined by Marsha Hamel,
ckd, and Darcie DeAngelo. MAB introduced everyone to each other at the table, and much fun conversation was had.After the Klatsch, Darcie and Bob came back to the room with MAB and me, where we had lunch and then finished up our packing. All four of us then went over to my sister's hotel room, where we stashed our stuff (so that we could check out of the room; my sister and brother-in-law were staying at the hotel through Tuesday morning). We then headed back down to the convention.
At noon, MAB was on the panel "Alternate Holocausts," where the panel discussed multiple possible alternate-history plots, where the turning points would be, and what the impact would be from those turning points.
After that panel, MAB and I took an hour to finally shop in the dealer's room (where we, in total, bought one book). We also stopped by tables of people we knew so that we could say hello for a couple of minutes.
MAB had a panel at 2, "TV Storytelling: From Arcs to Episodes," which was very well attended and very well received. The panelists discussed the different types of TV storytelling: the "Star Trek" model (truly episodic, no arc) to the "X-Files" model (an underlying mythos but no true arc), the "Buffy" model (one arc per season), and the "Babylon 5" model (a five-year arc). Pros and cons of each type were listed, and the panelists each talked about which model was their favorite.
During MAB's panel, I had the thought that I couldn't recall whether or not I'd remembered to pack my contact lenses when we were packing up the room, so after the panel I quickly headed back to check the hotel room (they were not there because - as I discovered when I got home - I had in fact packed them). I then met back up with MAB for the convention's closing ceremonies. Deb Geisler thanked the guests, the committee and staff, and the attendees, and then officially closed the convention. The rest of closing ceremonies were hosted by Intersection, the 2005 Worldcon to be held in Glasgow, Scotland. This included a humorous presentation of an overview of the whole convention (including a kazoo band) and a performance by a troupe of bagpipers.
And then Noreascon 4 was over. We hung around a bit, which gave me an opportunity to finally talk for a few minutes to
dancingdeer and to introduce Darcie to kalessin (who convinced Darcie to join in the fun of tear-down). MAB and I got our luggage, got a taxi, and headed home.While the convention was over, however, we still saw people from the convention. As we had dinner with family, we saw
jonbaker and mamadeb, who had come out to our local kosher Chinese restaurant for dinner. On Tuesday, MAB saw Dan Kimmel, whom we'd seen at the convention, and on Wednesday, MAB and I had dinner with Norman Cates (the DUFF delegate) and Darcie DeAngelo.I was thrilled to see everyone I saw, and I know I missed a number of you. I hope to catch people at the next regional convention or the next time we're in the same city. Thanks to everyone who came to Boston and made Noreascon 4 such a wonderful time.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-09 08:03 pm (UTC)Oh dear. And how did he take it?
BTW, at Jewish TimeBased Mitzvot, you promised us a URL about Rosh Chodesh and the Martian moons. I could probably find it via Google, but if you have it convenient...
no subject
Date: 2004-09-15 09:43 am (UTC)http://hertzlinger.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_hertzlinger_archive.html#107458132877917170
no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 05:25 am (UTC)Hee!
Date: 2004-09-10 10:41 pm (UTC)Now that ALMOST makes Frances worth it.
On the plus side? Ivan should be over and done before Rosh Hashanah (as it's spelled on my calendar) starts. If it ain't, you'll get a message on your machine when we're clear, okay?
M