DISNEYLAND RULES
-THX

Technorati Tags: california, disney, disneyland, worldcon

Friday, in more detail, and Saturday.

I was over at the convention center when Jeff arrived, listening to Craig “slist” Newmark speak. We got Jeff two one-day memberships (a remarkable show of faith on his part), and I showed him around the exhibits and dealers’ room.

I spent the entire two days he was here stressing about whether he was a) having a decent time, b) pissed at having spent so much money to have a non-decent time, and c) embarrassed to have a sibling who’d do this willingly.

We went and watched some short films that were bad. We ate lunch and had some beers, not necessarily in that order, in the convention center, and maybe walked around some more. Jeff seemed bemused and befuddled, then amused. Really amused. Later in the afternoon we went to watch a human chess match that was pretty funny and, happily, featured (if you ask me) the entire “attractive, in-shape” subsection of fandom. That’s, like, forty people. Then we went to the glass [h]armonica demonstration, which was just awesome. That’s about where I started feeling like maybe Jeff would have a decent time.

I’ll have pictures up on kostia.net (photos link at the top of this screen) soon, and I’ll also be posting my glass armonica videos on youtube or Google video when I get a chance. I’ll let you know. Man, that was just great.

We stopped by the “youth” programming area (not children [under 12], but teenagers) and watched a little zombie makeup application and Quidditch. It was cute, and basically involved kids in school uniforms and mortarboards with entrails hanging off their faces (the makeup was pretty damn good; I’ll have a picture up soon) chasing miniature basketballs around on the floor with toy brooms. Chaos.

We watched an improv performance by D.I.P.S., and that was cute too. They were funnier in person than in the scripted (?) webisodes they showed on screen.

After a quick dinner at the Pizza Hut in the hotel, we went to the Masquerade. We had fairly decent seats, which is entirely due to the fact Jeff is much more aggressive about finding seats than I am, but the pictures still of course suck. That’s just the nature of the beast. There was no one costume that blew me away, but several that were very nice indeed, and I’m glad I saw them. Since my first Worldcon in 1998, when the best Masquerade costume I’ve ever seen was presented, nothing has topped it. I go to Masquerades every con just in case. If something as good as The Huntress ever happens again, I will not miss it. (Look again. That’s two people.)

I tried to brave the parties Friday night, but I just couldn’t do it. I don’t understand con parties, I don’t particularly know how to go to them, and they frighten me. Even the con suite, all I can bring myself to do is duck in and grab a free Coke and maybe some cookies or pretzels. It’s depressing. I did see Vinny and Susan on the deck outside one of the parties, but the sight of peripheral acquaintances, friends of friends, just cemented for me the fact that I was at a con where I didn’t know anyone.

In case I’m giving the wrong impression here, yes, I didn’t know anyone at this Worldcon. First time ever that’s happened. And you know what? I’ve had the best time.

Saturday, we had the breakfast buffet (watching Jeff fill a plate of food has always been a real show). We went to a slide show of behind-the-scenes photos from the set of Enterprise, which was a show I never watched, but the pictures were cool and the assistant director giving the presentation was on the ball, and Jeff seemed to enjoy it. My favorite shot was the Stanley Cup in the captain’s chair; apparently on his day-with-the-Cup one of that year’s championship team’s players visited the set with it, and hilarity ensued.

At one we saw a panel on special effects before CGI, which was interesting. The panel of four included guys who’d won at least two Oscars and six Emmys between them, and I thought that was neat.

There was a wedding on the stage in the food court area, and we happened to be around to watch that. It was sweet. A guy dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi (circa episode three) performed the ceremony. The bride and maid of honor wore corsets, the groom was decked out in full Scottish regalia, and the best man was in a kimono. Jeff seemed to find it funny (as do I, really) that people get married at Worldcons. Regularly.

At four, Trailer Park, of course, always a highlight of the convention for me. Derisive sounds from the audience for a lot of stuff I thought looked okay, and popular cheers (though later I overheard scoffs) for some upcoming animated things that looked adorable. I was thrilled to see the Ratatouille trailer on a big screen.

We went out to a place in Garden Grove and had sushi for dinner. I thought it was pretty good, Jeff thought it was just okay. We walked back to the hotel from there. I very much like that Jeff and I never seem to run out of ridiculous things to say to each other. Back at the hotel, I went swimming, we had another couple of beers out by the pool while lightly discussing his work, and at ten we went to Match Game SF After Dark, a game show the less said about which the better.

And Jeff left this morning. I meant to get up early with him and do some productive things (like, possibly, launder my clothes), but I slept very late instead. Oh well.

Today I went to the last half-hour or so of a talk by Ron Moore and some other folks involved in the writing and production of Battlestar Galactica (no season three spoilers, except that Tigh features prominently in the premiere and makes some good and right moves in fighting back, which is welcome news). To give you an impression of the relative popularity of such a panel, it was in the same triple ballroom with stage and big screen as Trailer Park yesterday. Wasn’t as full, but close.

As my last convention activity, I watched James Gurney paint a little. He uses a tripod instead of an easel, and the demonstration of that was kind of cool.

And now? The convention’s over, I don’t fly out until tomorrow, and what am I doing now, you ask?

I’M GOING TO DISNEYLAND.

And I’m not kidding.

Technorati Tags: battlestar galactica, california, disneyland, music, science fiction, worldcon

The frigging glass armonica was awesome.

I think I may be disappointed in the rest of the day.

I keep sleeping later than I mean to. It doesn’t make any sense. I’m three hours west; shouldn’t I be waking up earlier? Tomorrow I’m going to have to set an alarm just to make sure I don’t sleep past when Jeff’s supposed to arrive.

Today I went to a panel called Trivia for Chocolate, where rapid-fire questions were asked, answers were shouted out, and those answering correctly fastest were pelted with Andes mints. All of the questions were fantasy and science fiction–related. Most of them wanted authors’ names in exchange for information about or titles of short stories and seen-one-seen-’em-all series novels.

I walked out with about nine pieces of free chocolate, which is fine with me. A few answers I won on, like “Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster” and “Nearly Headless Nick,” were just me being the fastest, but the proudest moment was being the only one in the room who knew Sandy and Dennys were the names of the twins in A Wrinkle in Time (including, though it wasn’t asked, that Dennys was spelled with a y), though I know them best from their own book in that series, Many Waters, which says interesting things about Noah (did you know his daughters weren’t allowed on board the ark?) and from which I learned the word seraphim. As a further aside, A Wind in the Door is the best one in the series. I love that book.

But anyway. The winners easily had a hundred. Each. I couldn’t believe the kind of shit they knew.

This competition was utterly dominated by two fans of a very particular sort, the sort that makes it less fun to come to conventions. The sort that spend time reading science fiction that the rest of us spend on friends, family, and hygiene. I swear, the guy in front of me was the absolute apotheosis—epitome, if you will—of the form. Every time he moved there was a waft of B.O. It was inconceivable that he let an opportunity to speak out go by. People were actually shushing him. The other guy was one of those who’s so socially inept you feel bad for them, plus I think he had a speech impediment. And honestly? Neither of these guys needed free chocolate any more than I do. But they won, and they were happy, and I guess that’s what matters.

Also, there was a guy in the front row wearing a really well-done rune-decorated cape, with all sorts of matching accessories. Just really nice for what it was, which was an amateur hall costume. He kept getting accidentally pelted with chocolates meant for the dude next to him.

After that I finished walking around the art show, as I’d only seen half of it yesterday. There was a docent tour I’d been planning to follow, but it turned out the docent wasn’t able to speak loudly enough to be heard over the convention center ventilation system, so I just finished on my own. There are a few things in there I’m kind of excited to show Jeff. Unfortunately, the one artist I was really hoping to see isn’t there this year, but there’s a guy doing the same type of technique on a smaller scale. They aren’t as good, which is a shame, because this particular type of painting can really only be appreciated in person, and it is stunningly beautiful. I wanted Jeff to see it.

I toyed with the idea of watching a screening of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but it just didn’t seem worth the walk. This may be because it’s one of the DVDs I actually brought with me to watch on the plane. So instead I came back to the Marriott and went swimming, and then I sat in the bar and had a glass of wine and some really good sausage rigatoni, and half-heartedly watched some baseball.

The Angels, by the way, are not good.

Let me say something about wine. I don’t know if it’s because this is California, or because it’s a nice hotel, but here I am not resenting paying $8–$10 for a glass of wine. These guys pour a hell of a glass of wine. These glasses are easily as large as the ones at Lisa’s house (if you know what that means), and they fill them up. These glasses are so generous that if Lisa were pouring them I’d “whoa” her.

In an hour and a half I have a chance to go see this. Read this, and tell me if it still sounds fun. I have no idea if I’m going to go.

Technorati Tags: books, california, science fiction, trivia, wine, worldcon

So I just got back from what was one of the most fun things I’ve ever been to at a con, and certainly the most fun thing I’ve ever been to on a Wednesday at a con.

But first.

Because Jeff is coming Friday, I had decided to make this the first Worldcon where I actually attended and participated in programming. Went to panels and such. Didn’t just drink soda and use hotel broadband and enjoy the pool and read in the bar and go to the Masquerade and shop in the dealers’ room. Actually do stuff.

Last night I was too late to register so I familiarized myself with the hotel and ate and read in the restaurant and watched TV and did some work.

Today I got my registration stuff and shopped in the dealers’ room (There’s a necklace. It was expensive) and presupported both bids for 2008 and fished for freebies (free pen count so far: 3). These are my usual first-day activities. In the afternoon I ate takeout in my room from the Pizza Hut in the hotel and watched TV. I went to the panel I discussed earlier, where I spoke to Peter S. Beagle. At 5:30 I went to a very, very small charity auction (best item: a collection of Pirates of the Caribbean items available only to Disneyland cast members), then I ate dinner from room service (chicken caesar salad and Pizza Hut breadsticks), then I did some work. At 9:30 I went to an event in the film track called “Buffy Sing Along.”

This was fabulous.

Imagine, if you will, a smallish hotel ballroom, a DVD player and a projection screen, and the full, uncut version of “Once More, With Feeling,” subtitles on, and a hundred people singing along with every word. It was magically delicious. Without any planning or discussion at all, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, we split up the duets (dozens of men singing Xander’s part and dozens of women singing Anya’s, and so on), we sang the harmonies, we rocked it.

Definitely too good for a Wednesday. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they do it again before the weekend is up.

Technorati Tags: buffy, california, worldcon

Disneyland fake hotel ride from deck of convention center
Originally uploaded by kostia.

ETA: My whole point was I didn’t realize Disneyland—okay, technically, California Adventure, but they’re very close together—is right there. Like, it’s across the street. I’m so used to Orlando, where the park is in the middle of—and is—a really large and huge and vast piece of property. I was out on this deck, and there was a roller coaster right there, and on the other side of the arena dome thing (part of the convention center; can you believe the Masquerade is going to be in that?) is what is clearly not really a building at all but the Tower of Terror. Trust me, you could tell. Windows painted on and such. By the way, I’ve been to California Adventure, and this is the best ride there. The website doesn’t do it justice. It rules.

Technorati Tags: california, california adventure, disney, disneyland, worldcon

But today I just listened to a short, funny panel where a few writers read short stories they’d written in 30 minutes given mystery ingredients. Mr. Beagle was the only writer there whom I’d heard of, and his story (My Fair Lady, set in Casablanca, starring Asimov’s robot from Age of Steel) was by far the most carefully crafted and least funny (a very good thing).

(Peter S. Beagle, in case you don’t know, wrote The Last Unicorn.)

At the end I somehow poked myself in between a woman with three books to sign who was apparently an acquaintance and asked a lot of very personal questions and a man with an two-foot pile of books for two of the authors to sign.

And I just said thank you.

Technorati Tags: worldcon

Here’s what we did for a week in Bethany, roughly in order.

We got to the house Sunday evening. On the way we found a Sonic, one that isn’t even listed in their store finder. A secret Sonic, if you will. It’s in Bridgeville, Delaware. It was my first visit to Sonic, and it made me happy.

Monday it rained. We ate at the place with the frogs. Max was fascinated with the electric toy puppies outside one of the stores. “Puppy” is one of the few words Max says with consistency and clarity. He can also say other animal names, like “bunny” and “elephant” (really), but only after being prompted. Every animal is “puppy” first. Lin and I ate that great cheese soup for dinner.

Tuesday we went to the beach. Max was freaked out by the water but really enjoyed the sand. It delighted me that he picked up a shovel and immediately started shoveling sand into a bucket. He’d never played in sand before, yet the use and purpose of the little shovel was apparent at once. He also enjoyed using the larger shovels to scoop up the gravel from the back of the house where the car was parked. That got old quickly. I got sunburned fairly badly. Max also got sunburn on the parts of his back I missed, and Lin got sunburned in weird splotchy places she missed. But mine was worst, because I am stupid. We ate at the Mexican place, which has the world’s best iced tea but where the service and prices are (in my opinion) unreasonable.

Wednesday it rained. A lot. All the towels and beach blanket and suits on the clothesline got soaked, so that was fun. Lin’s WoW guild decided to transfer servers in her absence, so we took a little road trip to go grocery shopping and look for wifi. We found no wifi, but it worked out okay without her anyway. We took naps every day. We watched a lot of TV, mostly nonfiction stuff like the Deadliest Catch marathon and the season premiere of Dirty Jobs. I do so enjoy the Discovery Channel.

I kept having to force myself to relax properly. I haven’t had that many days off in a row (not counting actual unemployment, which is different from “days off”) since Hawaii last summer.

Thursday (and thereafter) the weather was beautiful. Cloudless blue skies and all that. We went to the bookstore. We ate lunch from Five Guys. We looooovvvve Five Guys.

Friday it was nice again. The naps began to taper off; Max slept so late some days that it wasn’t naptime until 5, and that just gets ridiculous. We ate dinner at the barbecue place. We went in for “a couple of beers” and ended up also ordering crab dip and a half a rack of ribs and a spinach salad. You may assume I was not the one who ordered the spinach salad. Lin went to the Internet cafe to make sure all was well. Apparently all was.

Saturday we had Max’s picture taken at the old-time photo place. I have always wanted to do this. He was such a good baby. The pictures are darling. We had some margaritas and fries at the Mexican place. The service was terrible, and the ladies at the next table were having a discussion about a toenail problem one of them had had, which really wasn’t appropriate for a restaurant. Around dusk we went and walked on the beach. Max was still scared, but I think it was because of the roar. When we covered his ears he was happy. I took a lot of pictures of him and Lin playing in the sand. I walked in the ocean. I had boardwalk fries (with insufficient vinegar) and fried clams for dinner.

On the way home today (Sunday) we went back to Sonic. It turned out to be much farther from Bethany than we’d thought. We got to Lin’s around 7:30 and I dropped her and the baby and their lots of luggage off. I got home around 9.

And now there is no ocean whatsoever and I have to work tomorrow.

P.S. I’m not sure how people reconstructed their vacations before online credit card statements. I’m just saying. My memory for which days we did what is not really this good.

Lin, to Max, who is crying about a diaper change: “I’m the one who should be crying. All you’ve gotta do is lie there.”

I’ll be back home Sunday, with pictures to follow.