the_other_sandy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_other_sandy) wrote2007-09-15 09:10 pm
the_other_sandy) wrote2007-09-15 09:10 pm
Entry tags:
ZebraCon -- Day 2
Yesterday was party day, but today was all about the panels.
I thought the first panel I wanted to go to started at 1:00 p.m. It started at 11:00 a.m. I discovered this at 10:30 a.m. while still at home. D'oh. I was late, but I still managed to catch the second half of "Stargate: Can't We Like Both Versions?" Discussion centered on things we liked and disliked about both shows, and what we did and didn't want to see in the upcoming season of SGA.
"Heroes: Now What? A Look Ahead" was kind of disappointing. The person who was supposed to moderate the panel couldn't make it at the last minute, and the replacement moderator didn't know very much about the show, so she kind of abdicated the panel to the audience. Without an active moderator, discussion quickly got off topic and wandered aimlessly through multiple other fandoms, including The X-Files, Star Wars, Babylon 5, and Misfits of Science. Yes, I said Misfits of Science. Every now and then, someone in the audience would wrestle the discussion back on topic, but it wouldn't last long. We spent way more time discussing things other than Heroes. On the plus side, someone brought a laptop and used the hotel's wi-fi to let us all see the new Heroes trailer for the new season.
I'm not sure what the point of the "Online Reference Sites" panel was supposed to be. There was a handout of sites to visit for information on a number of shows, but the sites listed were either really obvious (are there people in Due South fandom who don't know about Exwood?), or really obscure (for fandoms they didn't know well) when there were much better sites they could have listed (Supernatural Wiki, for one). The actual discussion centered on the best brand of MP3 player, which DVD players were easiest to hack the multiregion features of, and the best software for playing downloaded video files. I got bored and left about halfway through.
I was going to wait until I had a one hour break between panels to eat lunch, but I was really hungry and figured I could manage to grab lunch at the hotel in 35 minutes. Instead, I met a very nice woman who didn't want to eat alone, so we wound up having lunch together (I'm noticing a trend where I never seem to eat alone when I go to cons--people keep adopting me). We got to talking, so I was a little late for my next panel, but I had a nice lunch and conversation.
"Stargate Atlantis: Should We Fear or Welcome the End of SG-1?" was the liveliest panel of the day. Feelings were running pretty high. We managed to discuss a few aspects of the show, but the most dominant topic was the upcoming casting changes and what they could mean for season four. Things got a little loud but never degenerated into rudeness or personal attacks.
The last panel of the day for me was "Robin Hoods Then and Now." We had a pretty low turnout (two moderators and two audience members), possibly because it was getting on towards dinnertime and people wanted to eat before the big party in the evening, which would only be serving snacks, not real food. It was fun anyway, and everybody got a chance to talk a lot because there were so few of us there. We managed to cover Robin Hoods from Errol Flynn to Jonas Armstrong, with much of the focus being on Robin of Sherwood (because we were all fans) and on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (because it was universally reviled and because it stole liberally from Robin of Sherwood). I amazed the crowd (if you can call three other people a crowd) by pulling the release date for the next Robin of Sherwood DVD set out of my PDA. Yes, I keep DVD release dates in my PDA. I also have the release calendars for all the major manga publishers. You know, I hear some people use PDAs for work. Go fig.
In between sitting in panels and going to lunch, I managed to squeeze in another round in the dealer room. I picked up a shirt I'd paid to have made the day before (a really great Jack & Daniel SG-1 shirt), a new SGA paperback, and a very hot John Sheppard magnet for my fridge. And, umm, I bought another zine. I know, like I need a hole in my head. In my defense, I have to say it was #5 in a series that I have the other four zines of. I can't not buy the ending, right?
I'm not really a general party person (the room parties are different because they're about the shows--you don't need to know anybody to have a good time), so I decided to come home and watch Torchwood instead of going to the all-con party tonight. The only events scheduled for tomorrow are the charity auction and the farewell party. Since the only people I knew at Zcon were either real life friends or people I'll see at MediaWest next May, I've decided to leave the farewell party to the Zcon regulars. I'll be at home tomorrow studying for my next Spanish test. Overall, I had a good time, though.
I thought the first panel I wanted to go to started at 1:00 p.m. It started at 11:00 a.m. I discovered this at 10:30 a.m. while still at home. D'oh. I was late, but I still managed to catch the second half of "Stargate: Can't We Like Both Versions?" Discussion centered on things we liked and disliked about both shows, and what we did and didn't want to see in the upcoming season of SGA.
"Heroes: Now What? A Look Ahead" was kind of disappointing. The person who was supposed to moderate the panel couldn't make it at the last minute, and the replacement moderator didn't know very much about the show, so she kind of abdicated the panel to the audience. Without an active moderator, discussion quickly got off topic and wandered aimlessly through multiple other fandoms, including The X-Files, Star Wars, Babylon 5, and Misfits of Science. Yes, I said Misfits of Science. Every now and then, someone in the audience would wrestle the discussion back on topic, but it wouldn't last long. We spent way more time discussing things other than Heroes. On the plus side, someone brought a laptop and used the hotel's wi-fi to let us all see the new Heroes trailer for the new season.
I'm not sure what the point of the "Online Reference Sites" panel was supposed to be. There was a handout of sites to visit for information on a number of shows, but the sites listed were either really obvious (are there people in Due South fandom who don't know about Exwood?), or really obscure (for fandoms they didn't know well) when there were much better sites they could have listed (Supernatural Wiki, for one). The actual discussion centered on the best brand of MP3 player, which DVD players were easiest to hack the multiregion features of, and the best software for playing downloaded video files. I got bored and left about halfway through.
I was going to wait until I had a one hour break between panels to eat lunch, but I was really hungry and figured I could manage to grab lunch at the hotel in 35 minutes. Instead, I met a very nice woman who didn't want to eat alone, so we wound up having lunch together (I'm noticing a trend where I never seem to eat alone when I go to cons--people keep adopting me). We got to talking, so I was a little late for my next panel, but I had a nice lunch and conversation.
"Stargate Atlantis: Should We Fear or Welcome the End of SG-1?" was the liveliest panel of the day. Feelings were running pretty high. We managed to discuss a few aspects of the show, but the most dominant topic was the upcoming casting changes and what they could mean for season four. Things got a little loud but never degenerated into rudeness or personal attacks.
The last panel of the day for me was "Robin Hoods Then and Now." We had a pretty low turnout (two moderators and two audience members), possibly because it was getting on towards dinnertime and people wanted to eat before the big party in the evening, which would only be serving snacks, not real food. It was fun anyway, and everybody got a chance to talk a lot because there were so few of us there. We managed to cover Robin Hoods from Errol Flynn to Jonas Armstrong, with much of the focus being on Robin of Sherwood (because we were all fans) and on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (because it was universally reviled and because it stole liberally from Robin of Sherwood). I amazed the crowd (if you can call three other people a crowd) by pulling the release date for the next Robin of Sherwood DVD set out of my PDA. Yes, I keep DVD release dates in my PDA. I also have the release calendars for all the major manga publishers. You know, I hear some people use PDAs for work. Go fig.
In between sitting in panels and going to lunch, I managed to squeeze in another round in the dealer room. I picked up a shirt I'd paid to have made the day before (a really great Jack & Daniel SG-1 shirt), a new SGA paperback, and a very hot John Sheppard magnet for my fridge. And, umm, I bought another zine. I know, like I need a hole in my head. In my defense, I have to say it was #5 in a series that I have the other four zines of. I can't not buy the ending, right?
I'm not really a general party person (the room parties are different because they're about the shows--you don't need to know anybody to have a good time), so I decided to come home and watch Torchwood instead of going to the all-con party tonight. The only events scheduled for tomorrow are the charity auction and the farewell party. Since the only people I knew at Zcon were either real life friends or people I'll see at MediaWest next May, I've decided to leave the farewell party to the Zcon regulars. I'll be at home tomorrow studying for my next Spanish test. Overall, I had a good time, though.