Noreascon Notes
Sep. 5th, 2004 06:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeHoo!! Where to begin? It's quite a story... (I did take pictures, not as many as I wish I had, but I will post them later when I get them developed)
I got up even before the alarm clock rang: washed up, had my breakfast, did my hair, put on my costume... Mark showed up at about 8.15. We got on the Red Line subway (locally known as "the T", short for MTA) at the Alewife station in Cambridge, only to find out that there was construction on the tracks, so we had to get off, go up to the surface and get on a shuttle bus that took us to another stop beyond the construction. So we got on the Green Line, which took us to a stop not far from the Hynes Convention Center. A goth guy and an average-looking woman got off with us, both of them with 5-day badges on their jackets; the goth guy got ahead of us, but we walked with the woman, who turned out to be from Florida. Mark and I got talking with her a bit as we walked along; Mark introduced me to our companion as "a bit sci-fi fan and a sci-fi writer". I added that I was also a "Matrix" geek, to which our friend said, "I figured that: the Trinity costume was a dead give-away."
While Mark registered for the day, I picked up my badge. I'd been worried that my (now expired) learner's permit wouldn't fly as a photo ID, but it passed! We'd arrived too late for a talk on Christian science fiction, and the writers' workshop with James Patrick Kelly (a local writer, whom Mark and I had met at a reading Mr. Kelly gave at a Borders bookstore in Peabody) was postponed till Sunday. So we got the tail end of a panel discussion on "Great Moments in Sci-Fi Film". Then we managed to hear the second half of Terry Pratchett's Guest of Honor lecture: If you've ever read any of Mr. Pratchett's "Discworld" novels and wondered what kind of person writes this stuff, let me tell you, he's every bit as dryly goofy as a speaker!
We poked around in the dealers' hall for a few minutes, then we had lunch at the convention hall's cafe "the Mended Drum", named after a tavern in the Discworld books.
After that, we split up since there were different talks we wanted to hear. I went to a short panel discussion given by an emerging young writer, Brian Sanderson, along with the literary agent and the editor he works with. I had every intention of catching up with the literary agent, whose name escapes me right now, though I wrote it down, but that somehow didn't happen.
Next, one of the high points of the day, I heard Brian Aldiss's reading, which included one of his short stories, "Working in the Rocket-Shipyards", the musings of a man who works building rocketships, and his views on life and love and "the Human Condition". I had every intention of asking Mr. Aldiss what had inspired him to write "Supertoys..." but I choked on my words. But I did get his autograph, and that's what counts. Maybe I can find another way to contact him...
After that, I met up with Mark briefly: he'd gotten his hands on a newer version of the poster for "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", the new, old-style sci-fi flick featuring Jude Law as a heroic military pilot, which is supposed to come out in a couple of weeks. This poster was the newer one done in the style of a 1950s B-grade poster. Very stylish! The movie "Robot Stories", which I wanted to see since I ran across it on imdb.com, was on the list of movies being shown in the "Movie Room", so we agreed to meet up back there in time for that.
Next, I heard a panel discussion on detectives in science fiction: very inspiring for the non-fanfic version of "Along a Knife's Blade" (I gotta come up with a better title for that, one that isn't so evocative of "Blade Runner"). Then I attended another panel discussion on roleplaying games and their effects, positive and negative, on writers. Of course, I'm of the camp that thinks RPGs are perfect for writers, since it helps us get into our characters' heads better.
I poked around in the dealers hall for an hour, where I bought a few things:
--A set of roleplayer's dice, green with gold numbers, including a d4, d6, d8, d9, d12, d20, & d90;
--A couple issues of "Girl Genius", a steampunk comic book serial by Phil and Kaja Foglio, with color by my dear friend Laurie E. Smith ((::waves:: Hi, Laurie!)). Just these two issues have me itching to find more...
--A 6-inch tall plush Cthullu. What self-respecting sci-fi fan doesn't have some Cthullu item in their collection? Especially a sci-fi fan from the New England area, where H.P. Lovecraft set his stories?
--A few books including Ray Bradbury's "The Halloween Tree", Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man" (both bought from a booth with tons of old sci-fi paperbacks); Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle", "Exploring the Matrix", a collection of critical essays on yours truly's favorite series; Glenn Yeffeth's "Taking the Red Pill", another collection of essays on the same, which I had a heck of a time finding in the stores. The editor himself was right there, so I got my copy autographed. He asked me what my name was, so of course I said "Matrix Refugee"; he got a kick out of that, though it was pretty obvious why I'd have *that* for a nickname.
There weren't as many people in costume as I thought there would be, at least at first. But then you started seeing people in odd stuff: a girl in red and black PVC, another girl in a floaty pink and green gown with fairy wings on her shoulders, several people (including quite a few kids!) in cloaks, an older woman dressed like a gypsy fortuneteller, people in renaissence clothes, guys in kilts.
I met up with Mark in the Movie Room, where he'd met up with a friend of his from the sci-fi discussion group he joined, at a local bookstore.
"Robot Stories" is a small, low-budget sci-fi movie, basically four short movies put together, directed by an aspiring writer/filmmaker George Pak. It's kind of a low-budget "A.I." with a tiny touch of M. Night Shyamlan. The first segment, "My Robot Baby" involves a couple who want to adopt a child, but first the agency tests them by having them take care of an egg-shaped baby robot; the husband grows fond of the odd little being, but the wife hesitates... In the second, "The Robot Fixer", a woman tries to repair and complete her comatose adult son's collection of robot action figures in the hope that he'll soon recover. The third, "Machine Love", is a kind of romantic comedy involving two office worker androids, male and female, working in different offices, who are denied positive interaction from their organic co-workers, yet are able to forge their own relationship; oddly enough, the male android looks very like Gigolo Joe (his hairline, at least...). The fourth, "Clay", was probably the strongest of all: a dying artist is offered a chance at having his consciousness uploaded into a computer, but he rejects it, even though he could be reunited with a loved-one who has agreed to this procedure. I won't say this was a great film, it left me a little cold, but it had some great concepts in it.
Then... to the Hugo Award Ceremony. The Academy Awards of Sci-Fi. Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite writers, was the master of ceremonies, and one of his stories had been nominated for Best Short Story: which, to his surprise, he won! Robert Silverberg gave a short retrospective on the Hugo Award ceremonies, including memorable moments like the 1958 ceremony, which featured Hugo Awards made from Oldsmobile hood ornaments which someone who worked in an Oldsmobile factory had nicked for this purpose, since the Olds hood ornament at the time looked like a small rocket! Or the year (in the 1970s) when the Hugos were hosted in Baltimore at a crab bake... complete with hammers for cracking open the crabs.... and then they technical difficulties that took a half an hour to resolve, during which time, someone got annoyed and started banging on the table with one of the hammers, which got other people doing it.
Come to find out that all three of the "Lord of the Rings" movies have won Hugo Awards... fitting, since there's an actor named Hugo (Weaving) in 'em!
We almost were going to stay a little while longer and see if we couldn't "crash" one of the parties going on. We almost stuck around for a dance party, only to find out the music was this rather strange a-rhythmical stuff played on saxophone, electric flute and synthesizer, plus assorted odd precussion. Very hard to dance to! But our last train was at 12.05, so we had to leave quickly... which wound up being a wise decision, since we still had the same transportation issues to contend with. I didn't back get to my door till almost 1 a.m.... A long day, but a delightful one!!
I got up even before the alarm clock rang: washed up, had my breakfast, did my hair, put on my costume... Mark showed up at about 8.15. We got on the Red Line subway (locally known as "the T", short for MTA) at the Alewife station in Cambridge, only to find out that there was construction on the tracks, so we had to get off, go up to the surface and get on a shuttle bus that took us to another stop beyond the construction. So we got on the Green Line, which took us to a stop not far from the Hynes Convention Center. A goth guy and an average-looking woman got off with us, both of them with 5-day badges on their jackets; the goth guy got ahead of us, but we walked with the woman, who turned out to be from Florida. Mark and I got talking with her a bit as we walked along; Mark introduced me to our companion as "a bit sci-fi fan and a sci-fi writer". I added that I was also a "Matrix" geek, to which our friend said, "I figured that: the Trinity costume was a dead give-away."
While Mark registered for the day, I picked up my badge. I'd been worried that my (now expired) learner's permit wouldn't fly as a photo ID, but it passed! We'd arrived too late for a talk on Christian science fiction, and the writers' workshop with James Patrick Kelly (a local writer, whom Mark and I had met at a reading Mr. Kelly gave at a Borders bookstore in Peabody) was postponed till Sunday. So we got the tail end of a panel discussion on "Great Moments in Sci-Fi Film". Then we managed to hear the second half of Terry Pratchett's Guest of Honor lecture: If you've ever read any of Mr. Pratchett's "Discworld" novels and wondered what kind of person writes this stuff, let me tell you, he's every bit as dryly goofy as a speaker!
We poked around in the dealers' hall for a few minutes, then we had lunch at the convention hall's cafe "the Mended Drum", named after a tavern in the Discworld books.
After that, we split up since there were different talks we wanted to hear. I went to a short panel discussion given by an emerging young writer, Brian Sanderson, along with the literary agent and the editor he works with. I had every intention of catching up with the literary agent, whose name escapes me right now, though I wrote it down, but that somehow didn't happen.
Next, one of the high points of the day, I heard Brian Aldiss's reading, which included one of his short stories, "Working in the Rocket-Shipyards", the musings of a man who works building rocketships, and his views on life and love and "the Human Condition". I had every intention of asking Mr. Aldiss what had inspired him to write "Supertoys..." but I choked on my words. But I did get his autograph, and that's what counts. Maybe I can find another way to contact him...
After that, I met up with Mark briefly: he'd gotten his hands on a newer version of the poster for "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", the new, old-style sci-fi flick featuring Jude Law as a heroic military pilot, which is supposed to come out in a couple of weeks. This poster was the newer one done in the style of a 1950s B-grade poster. Very stylish! The movie "Robot Stories", which I wanted to see since I ran across it on imdb.com, was on the list of movies being shown in the "Movie Room", so we agreed to meet up back there in time for that.
Next, I heard a panel discussion on detectives in science fiction: very inspiring for the non-fanfic version of "Along a Knife's Blade" (I gotta come up with a better title for that, one that isn't so evocative of "Blade Runner"). Then I attended another panel discussion on roleplaying games and their effects, positive and negative, on writers. Of course, I'm of the camp that thinks RPGs are perfect for writers, since it helps us get into our characters' heads better.
I poked around in the dealers hall for an hour, where I bought a few things:
--A set of roleplayer's dice, green with gold numbers, including a d4, d6, d8, d9, d12, d20, & d90;
--A couple issues of "Girl Genius", a steampunk comic book serial by Phil and Kaja Foglio, with color by my dear friend Laurie E. Smith ((::waves:: Hi, Laurie!)). Just these two issues have me itching to find more...
--A 6-inch tall plush Cthullu. What self-respecting sci-fi fan doesn't have some Cthullu item in their collection? Especially a sci-fi fan from the New England area, where H.P. Lovecraft set his stories?
--A few books including Ray Bradbury's "The Halloween Tree", Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man" (both bought from a booth with tons of old sci-fi paperbacks); Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle", "Exploring the Matrix", a collection of critical essays on yours truly's favorite series; Glenn Yeffeth's "Taking the Red Pill", another collection of essays on the same, which I had a heck of a time finding in the stores. The editor himself was right there, so I got my copy autographed. He asked me what my name was, so of course I said "Matrix Refugee"; he got a kick out of that, though it was pretty obvious why I'd have *that* for a nickname.
There weren't as many people in costume as I thought there would be, at least at first. But then you started seeing people in odd stuff: a girl in red and black PVC, another girl in a floaty pink and green gown with fairy wings on her shoulders, several people (including quite a few kids!) in cloaks, an older woman dressed like a gypsy fortuneteller, people in renaissence clothes, guys in kilts.
I met up with Mark in the Movie Room, where he'd met up with a friend of his from the sci-fi discussion group he joined, at a local bookstore.
"Robot Stories" is a small, low-budget sci-fi movie, basically four short movies put together, directed by an aspiring writer/filmmaker George Pak. It's kind of a low-budget "A.I." with a tiny touch of M. Night Shyamlan. The first segment, "My Robot Baby" involves a couple who want to adopt a child, but first the agency tests them by having them take care of an egg-shaped baby robot; the husband grows fond of the odd little being, but the wife hesitates... In the second, "The Robot Fixer", a woman tries to repair and complete her comatose adult son's collection of robot action figures in the hope that he'll soon recover. The third, "Machine Love", is a kind of romantic comedy involving two office worker androids, male and female, working in different offices, who are denied positive interaction from their organic co-workers, yet are able to forge their own relationship; oddly enough, the male android looks very like Gigolo Joe (his hairline, at least...). The fourth, "Clay", was probably the strongest of all: a dying artist is offered a chance at having his consciousness uploaded into a computer, but he rejects it, even though he could be reunited with a loved-one who has agreed to this procedure. I won't say this was a great film, it left me a little cold, but it had some great concepts in it.
Then... to the Hugo Award Ceremony. The Academy Awards of Sci-Fi. Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite writers, was the master of ceremonies, and one of his stories had been nominated for Best Short Story: which, to his surprise, he won! Robert Silverberg gave a short retrospective on the Hugo Award ceremonies, including memorable moments like the 1958 ceremony, which featured Hugo Awards made from Oldsmobile hood ornaments which someone who worked in an Oldsmobile factory had nicked for this purpose, since the Olds hood ornament at the time looked like a small rocket! Or the year (in the 1970s) when the Hugos were hosted in Baltimore at a crab bake... complete with hammers for cracking open the crabs.... and then they technical difficulties that took a half an hour to resolve, during which time, someone got annoyed and started banging on the table with one of the hammers, which got other people doing it.
Come to find out that all three of the "Lord of the Rings" movies have won Hugo Awards... fitting, since there's an actor named Hugo (Weaving) in 'em!
We almost were going to stay a little while longer and see if we couldn't "crash" one of the parties going on. We almost stuck around for a dance party, only to find out the music was this rather strange a-rhythmical stuff played on saxophone, electric flute and synthesizer, plus assorted odd precussion. Very hard to dance to! But our last train was at 12.05, so we had to leave quickly... which wound up being a wise decision, since we still had the same transportation issues to contend with. I didn't back get to my door till almost 1 a.m.... A long day, but a delightful one!!
