Bisamråtta means "muskrat" in Swedish.

[bironic]

I didn't make it over to muskratjamboree Thursday night when people began to trickle in because I had to finish an assignment and can't manage my time at all, but I did go for most of Friday and yesterday, and lo, it was fun. I hadn't been able to see linaerys since leaving NY in August, and I hadn't gotten to talk to kassrachel in person since first meeting her in July halfway across the world, so most of all I was glad to spend time with them at meals and between panels, and to meet some of their friends too.

The second-best thing was an item in the registration bag:



That's right: I, too, can be a little like John Sheppard! I totally wore it to class on Friday under the black shirt I already had on. My ex-Air Force classmate was amused.

.

While we're on the social aspects, if you'll permit obnoxious name-dropping for a minute: It was cool to see the faces of people whose names I know from Harry Potter and SGA fandom, like marginaliana, hermionesviolin, wolfshark and kimberlyfdr, or friends of friends, like celli and slodwick. I got to tell wesleysgirl and giddygeek how much I like their stories, and talked briefly with a couple of people who run the Transformative Works and Cultures journal. The Boston crew ignazwisdom had introduced me to were there as well, including of course Iggy herself, and jadelennox and bathsweaver—b., if you're reading this, I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't realize who you were when we were discussing room-sharing. Also, there was one woman I kept sort of staring at at the dance party Friday night, because something about her made me like her; it took until the next day for me to realize she reminded me of deelaundry. ♥

And yes, I actually danced at the dance party! I surprised myself. By the end, I may even have looked marginally less like a lackluster marionette.

.

Before the dance party came the vid show. I'd never been to a vid show, but now I want one every Friday night, please. Because the con was multi-fannish, there were three pan-fandom vids out of 18, and the rest of the 15 represented different fandoms. Turns out it didn't matter that I only know a few fandoms; these were enjoyable even when I knew next to nothing about the shows.

• My favorite of the evening was Filthy Mind by SE (BtVS/Angel, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, Interview with the Vampire, Dexter, SGA, Life on Mars, a quick clip of House, and others). She calls it a free-association stream-of-consciousness vid. It has the sort of lightning-quick cuts that usually turn me off, but something about this one made me just unfocus my eyes and let it wash over me. Really cool rapid splicing-together of images from different sources. And finally, someone compared Giles' tattoo to the Dark Mark!


• Everyone who knows Dr. Who probably knows this, but I recommend Seah and Margie's No Handlebars to anyone who likes to contemplate the dark potential in powerful heroes.


• kassrachel premiered a Lost vid with a fantastic sense of black humor, Skullcrusher Mountain.


• What else. Snakes on a Plane by dualbunny (Harry Potter) was funny, killabeez's The Way I Am (Supernatural) was adorable whether you want the family or Wincest interpretation, Half Acre by Jarrow and Laura Shapiro (Six Feet Under) made me choke up even though I didn't know everything that was going on, and Something to Talk About (Starsky and Hutch) was a lot of warmth and fun, with a great style where clips would freeze into snapshots. Oh, and synn, you might've liked the NCIS vid, sabella's Office Politics.

.

Then there were the panels, of course. I'm used to the format of presentation(s) followed by Q&A, but these were run entirely as group discussions. Maybe that's more typical of smallish slash cons? With one or two exceptions, it worked out all right, but I'd still have liked more structured introductions. Sometimes it would take the whole session to reach the point where I'd've liked to have started.


Tinhatting McShep (mod: airinshaw)

I like McKay/Sheppard, but for a long time I didn't buy it when I watched the show, and I certainly don't 'ship it exclusively, so it was interesting to go to this panel and see how and why other people do.

When people became certain about McKay/Sheppard and/or lost all belief in other pairing possibilities: "The Shrine," calling for John; "Doppelganger," John's nightmare; "The Game," the fact that they played together in secret for years. I don't think anyone mentioned The Scene from "Miller's Crossing," but I'm sure it's on their lists. For all of the above, people said: "It doesn't make sense otherwise."

Why people believe McKay and Sheppard are made for each other and no other: they're complementary, Sheppard silent and McKay plowing through with speech where others would've given up; they both have a hard time asking for help or admitting they're wrong, except with each other; they have the emotional capabilities of a turnip; John likes Rodney for who he is, doesn't try to change him or see some inner sweet guy; little looks, like the indulgent glance while whale-watching in "Echoes"; Rodney likes intelligence, and John fascinates and surprises him, is bright, doesn't fit a military stereotype; Rodney excessively jealous of Chaya; John only flirted with Norina after Rodney expressed interest. Also, they're the most fleshed-out characters on the show.

On John's possible gayness: His mystery became his character; fits in well with a closeted gay man. Introducing women to John was like bouncing things off a wall. Leaning on that dummy torso watching Ronon beat up the Marines: "look at my new boyfriend." How JF joked about how with no love interest Rodney became John's girlfriend. How all three actors and the editors had to be in on the subtext in "Outcast" when Dave met Ronon. People waiting for JF to say he'd been playing John as gay.

On Rodney's possible gayness or bisexuality: he's a scientist, and statistically, he has a better chance of getting laid if he considers both sexes; doesn't care; just wants someone smart above all else; obtuse, trying to be happy in the totally wrong way (with women); looking for a girlfriend/wife like it's part of a checklist. And, inevitably, the arguments against Rodney/Keller: Rodney's in love with the idea of a wife and family, and is listening to Jeannie's pressure and confidence-busting comments while looking at how happy she is, and wants to mend their relationship by showing her he's okay with having/wants to have a family, while Jennifer's in love with her own idea of who Rodney is. Or—and this one was new to me—Rodney's with Keller to protect John's reputation, i.e. "Oh, John can't be sleeping with Rodney, because Rodney's with Keller." Rodney as SGA writers' avatar: he can't be gay, because then they'd be gay too, right?

Other tangential points were made. Such as: JF intellectual and wealthy (?!) so he doesn't have to act for money and doesn't have to be afraid of making enemies in the producers, and may have taken John and run with him in the interpretation he wanted, because he was tired of playing the hot boyfriend. Or: It was nice to have two unusual leading characters, which happened because, according to the "Rising" commentary, DH acted combatively, and JF wanted to try something different too.

Then I had to go to class. I can only imagine what happened in the last 15 minutes.



Dude Looks Like a Lady: Exploring Genderfuck/Genderswitch/Genderswap in Fannish Works (mods: Joy, Claire and frog)

Opened with discussion of what constitutes genderswap, and whether the three suffixes imply different situations. What about AUs where the character has always been a different sex?

Far fewer girls-inhabit-male-bodies than guys-inhabit-female-bodies fics out there. Because we know what it's like to be women? Because, vindictively or not, we want them to walk a mile in our shoes? Trope may be about making men into the ideal, the way we want them to be. May be where the "I'll love you no matter what body you're in" comes from, which, one attendee said, her husband doesn't agree with. Like to see when men-in-women's-bodies don't recognize the danger signals women have had drilled into them all their life.

Serve as exploration of how much of our personalities is connected to our bodies.

Question posed: Anyone know of men / MTF / FTM who've written genderswap, and whether there's a difference in what's addressed? One respondent: a transfic where much more attention than usual was paid to the technicalities of the sex change. Someone mentioned an SGA trans fic she couldn't remember the name of, which I think is kyuuketsukirui's Life (Sometimes It Washes Over Me).

I asked, because I've wondered for a while, why we call it genderswap when the majority of the stories are about switching sexes, i.e. identification vs. bodies. Someone said she's been seeing "sex-switch" or "sex-swap" on the rise; others said it's awkward to call it "anatomy swap" or "sex-swap," and bodyswap doesn't work because that means trading places with someone else.

A good time, but I wish we'd have gotten into more discussion of the complexities genderswap can get into, like when characters become a sex they've identified with more, or when the partner doesn't like them in one of the bodies. cathexys I think had an essay on this about stories by thingswithwings and fiercelydreamed that went much further than the session. Participants also didn't clearly distinguish sex, gender identification, sexual identity and gender performance.



The Linguistics of Fandom (mods: kalpurna and eledhwenlin)

Started out nicely with a definition of social linguistics and the idea of prestige, where certain people wield more power in making new words spread, such as BNFs or actors/band members for bandslash. (There were a lot of bandslash people at the con.) From there, though, we mostly talked about fandom jargon rather than phenomena, along the lines of "do you know what IAWTC means, and (when/where) do you use it?" Again, it would've been nice to expand on an idea that came up, this time about particular fandoms that have their own subset of jargon; Merlin and Xena were mentioned. Not much attention given to the fact that fandom isn't unique in having its own set of vocabulary to express common ideas. But there was a great point made that people want to use certain fandom terms in non-fandom conversations because they fill a gap in the English language, i.e. "normal-people English" needs words for "squee" and "embarrassment squick" and fandom provides. Also that seclusion leads to language specialization in fandom as well as in the real world. Point made that sometimes words or acronyms become symbols instead of letters. Jargon and emoticons make up for the nonverbal cues we lack when we communicate on the Internet. Evolution of terms: OTP to OT3 to OTband and broTP.



A Man Walks Into A Bar… Writing Comedy (mod: calathea)

Hm; it seems I didn't take any notes on this one. The discussion was less about how to write comedy than about whether certain canons lend themselves more to comedic fic, and whether some people just can't be funny (answer: no; anyone who laughs at something can study what works and learn to replicate it). Consensus that if you write something that cracks you up, someone else will find it funny too, rather than writing something that you think other people will laugh at even though you don't; that's condescending. On the first point: comedy can be written for any source material. Often the most tragic canon can easily slip into humor, because what can you do but laugh? Someone: the human experience is fundamentally absurd, so if you recognize that, then you can see humor in anything. Key to writing comedy is timing, tightness of prose, and getting out of scenes/stories sooner than in drama. Some people find humor easy, and some find drama easy.



Little Black Dresses and Why We Love Them (mods: sharkie and justhuman)

Conversation stuttered in this one, but there were nevertheless some interesting points. wolfshark had done a poll at her journal and made a pie chart of which characters are (that slice of) fandom's favorite little black dresses—characters who pair well with lots of people. Top ten were Jack Harkness, Spike, Harry Potter, Dean Winchester, Methos, Severus Snape, Daniel Jackson, John Sheppard, Lex Luthor, and Gregory House. (James Kirk was #11.) People tried to figure out how Harry ranked higher than Snape.

Questions about whether there's a difference between someone who matches up with everyone within their canon vs. with characters from other canons. And whether someone becomes one half of an OTP vs. a dress. Sleeping around different from serial monogamy. Point that some canons make it easy to consider multiple pairing possibilities, like BtVS and Torchwood.

What makes for a little black dress:

• Attractiveness
• Sexual chemistry with other characters/objects
• Sleeps around in canon
• Morally ambiguous
• Needy
• Universal kind of character
• Lifespan
• Alienation
• Missing pieces of backstory
• Sexual preference ambiguity/flexibility

Who's not good? Dissent here. Possibilities: Strong moral character; self-confidence; rooted in their canon. (Counterexamples given for each.) My point: if you think someone's hot, you'll find ways to pair them with lots of people. But then, I don't do OTPs.

Why are little black dresses usually men instead of women? (Possible exceptions included Faith from BtVS.) "Slut" factor that's okay to apply to men but not women because of historical/social connotations?

Someone also brought up the idea of a little black dress pairing, a couple that can be transplanted just about anywhere. e.g. McKay/Sheppard goes well with any universe.



The Closing of SGA Canon (mods: kass and JiM)

I've been worried about fannish migration as people from SGA flock to Merlin, so I wanted to hear what people had to say in this session. Maybe a quarter of the attendees came; the rest were in the Supernatural panel opposite. A sign? But the general mood was optimistic; people seem to think SGA will follow in Due South's footsteps to become a fandom that remains vibrant years after the show has gone off the air. Possible reasons: affection for the characters; timeless quality to the canon (not that it was high-quality, but that it doesn't necessarily date itself through technology); affection for many of the secondary characters; affection among the characters and among cast members; sense of community among fic writers; if a film is made, it'll boost participation again; it's people's comfort fic. May be a renaissance down the road. Still, a few people worried that because they're slow writers, there won't be anyone around to read their work when they finally finish.

I found it interesting that someone phrased it, "they canceled us" (my emphasis).

Other points: relief when the show was canceled. Fandom likes the characters more and is less schizophrenic in portraying them. Question: Will the films count as canon? Answer: Only the parts we like. Want more vids and art. Vids may be good for viewers, who miss seeing the show, but harder for vidders, because there's now a finite amount of footage. Will people focus more or less on John/Rodney now?

What do people want to see more of in fic now that the show has ended?

Ronon/Keller bead's cat!John John!farr John/Ronon Radek/Teyla crossovers Pegasus cultures (besides sex rituals)

separation from Earth wacky AUs OT4 Pegasus being smarter than Earth trope inversion wacky scientists being wacky

What do people not want to see? Keller-bashing, I said. Kass pointed out that most of what she doesn't want to see in fic, she got from the show.



High School, College Professors (and College), Dancing, Pilots and Artists: Alternate Universes and Why We Love Them! (mods: miss pamela and giddy geek)

A fun talk about alternate universe fic, what works and what doesn't, what are the categories, which are the standards, and what people do and don't want to see. Distinction made between AU—completely different setting, like they're pirates or animals—and AR, alternate reality—when something is tweaked in canon, like 'what if Character X hadn't --?' Debate about the extent to which characters can only be themselves if they're in the canon setting; a) some canons are essential in defining who their characters are, which may explain why there aren't many Torchwood AUs, and b) there are some universes that just aren't right for a certain cast of characters.

Requirements: characters need to be distinct in canon; character voices in AU need to be strong; character interrelationships in AU need to be recognizable.

Why AUs? Can see the essentials of what makes a character him/herself. Can explore silly details of characterization (If X were a barista, what kind of coffee would s/he order? Or, if X were coffee, what flavor would s/he be?). Lend themselves well to first-time and coming-out stories. Can have fun with favorite kinks/fantasies (e.g. student/teacher). Shortcuts to plot lines. Don't have to take the show's plot with you. Can help if something about the source is intimidating. Good way in for people who don't know the canon. Can lead to a surprise, as opposed to when the end of the canon is known (e.g. Arthur will become king). Comfort fic. Gives insight into AU writer's conception of the character(s)—"I like her brain!"—fandom's relationships to the characters and to the source material.

AU tropes (I added a couple of my own):

high school slave hooker rock star cowboys, pirates, etc. (post-)apocalypse religious family/kids

movies fairy tales, myth Harlequin transformation (animals, objects) fusions mundane occupations magic/non-magic social commentary (i.e. the dom/sub 'verses)

Other things: Fandom can embed AUs in AUs in AUs, whether it's AUs from canon or AUs from fandom. Question: Supernatural canons lose something in all-human AUs? Response: can replace the supernatural with a real-life equivalent, such as Death Eaters become white supremacists. AU taboo: Holocaust stories. You can break AU rules more easily if you've built up audience trust with past work.

I've heard people say that sci fi/fantasy canons are more likely to spawn AUs than reality-based ones, and I'm not sure I agree, unless it's not taking into account the preponderance of sci fi/fantasy canons represented in fandom in the first place. We didn't talk about this, but I was glad to hear examples of reality-based and RPS canons that have many AUs, and sci fi/fantasy ones that don't tend to.

This was another of the times during the con that I wished we could take one sentiment and expand it into a whole panel/study. Like, people mentioned in passing that certain AUs are more suited to certain fandoms, and I would have liked to talk more about that.



Supergeek! The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth (mod: kimberlyfdr)

Audience consensus: We like geeks on TV because they're like us; they're competent; they're valued for using their brains; either they're good in bed because they know how to focus, or they aren't good in bed and we like to see them learn/be taught to get better. Examples of people's favorites included McKay, Zelenka, Abby from NCIS, Sam Winchester, Tony Stark, Jake 2.0, Chuck, Chloe from 24, Willow and Xander, River Tam, people from The Big Bang Theory and Numb3rs and CSI, and a bunch more I don't remember and/or didn't recognize. Discussion turned to geeks who become more traditional action heroes, combining intellect with brawn/weapons/bravery, like McKay becoming decent out in the field rather than "just" saving the city from his work station; disappointment that geeks aren't always good enough as geeks but have to take on this additional dimension to be truly accepted. General perception that geeks are becoming more popular in the media, especially unapologetic ones. Wonder about the extent to which geeks on the production side influence the previous two points. Didn't really touch on the problems of continuing exploitation of geekdom for laughs. I also wonder whether there are any examples out there of geeks who try physical-heroic stuff, are good at it, and then decide to stay geeks. On the other hand, I only stayed for half; maybe that came later.




I didn't get to go to the panels on the OTW, feedback, what shows seem to make good fandoms, and what keeps the fandoms of some closed canons active, so I'm looking forward to people's reports on those to see whether anything new was said.

It was a crazy couple of days, what with doing work and going to class and traveling between the con and home and negotiating a sublet for the summer and having to drive an hour south last night for my thesis, and at times it felt hard to socialize when a lot of groups already knew each other, and I still don't identify as a slasher so much as a ficcer, but all in all it was a good time.


ETA: kass' report

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay; what a fabulous con report! And thank you for the notes from the SGA panel -- I will link to them in my con report.

The Lost vid is available for download from here. I am trying to resolve some imeem issues (I uploaded it, but the aspect ratio somehow got screwed up on imeem although the file looks fine on my machine) so it's not yet available for streaming, but at least the d/l is online. :-)

It was fabulous to see you, too! We'll have to do that again.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was fast! Thanks for the link -- I'll add it up above.

And yes, I very much hope there'll be another chance to get together before I have to leave again. Or, you know, after, somewhere.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Oh, WOW, how I wish I could have attended MJ!

Re "The Closing of SGA Canon": Maybe a quarter of the attendees came; the rest were in the Supernatural panel opposite. A sign?

I've always been fascinated by what happens to an open-canon fandom when the source text ends. How is enthusiasm for the source maintained, what is the balance between ongoing fanon and finite canon, what are the expectations on writers now that they have all of canon to play with; how long can a closed-canon fandom actually last? Inquiring minds want to know.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Indeed, yes. Discussion touched on the relief people feel that they can't be jossed any more, and that the SGA crew can't ruin anything else; but we never got around to talking about how to keep people interested in the fandom, or whether there's some kind of formula as to what makes a closed-canon fandom become a Due South rather than a ... fandom that dies, and the example used escapes me at the moment. There've been papers before that make the point that a weekly show or series of movies keeps fandom active with its periodic infusions of new material, so you get something like a sine curve of activity -- so what does happen after the last one airs, and can decline be prevented or is it inevitable, or is it inevitable in certain cases, and if so, which?

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

Do you know where I can find those papers? The only thing on that subject I can think of is this. I wonder how lasting closed-canon fandoms and the likelihood thereof have changed over the years. With video tapes, rewatching became easier. With DVDs, you get not only rewatching, but the expectation that people will start watching the show after it's over. I don't know what percentage of Firefly fen saw the show while it was still on, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a minority.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's cool. The one I'm thinking of was more general. Can't remember the title; had something to do with BtVS fic and the definition of jossing, from a... journal... somewhere. (Sorry! My collection of printouts is at home, not here.)

[theninth.livejournal.com]

The second-best thing was an item in the registration bag:

My MedicAlert tag is a dog tag for just that reason. *blush*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It is something I never thought of, and is so simple, and yet now that I have it I never want it to go away!

[theninth.livejournal.com]

It's a small thing, and something that no one else has to know about. :D

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Someone looked like me? No one looks like me.

Well, a lot of people look vaguely like me. I am a rather nondescript type. But nobody looks a lot like me.

Glad you had fun!!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

There was something about her mouth, and her expression -- enough to remind me pleasantly of you, but not to mistake one for the other. :)

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

I'm terribly jealous. This sounds like so much fun!

Discussion turned to geeks who become more traditional action heroes, combining intellect with brawn/weapons/bravery, like McKay becoming decent out in the field rather than "just" saving the city from his work station; disappointment that geeks aren't always good enough as geeks but have to take on this additional dimension to be truly accepted.

That sounds awfully familiar. "Sure, Daisy can be happy without a man. Now let's pair her off, quick! Sure, she can be happy with non-movie-star looks. Now let's get her a makeover, quick!" Pop. media has gotten to the point of accepting that geeks can be heroic, but we know what "heroic characters" look like, and we have to have some way of indicating that these people are heroes... *eyeroll* I don't mind geeks being jokes -- who doesn't love Galaxy Quest? -- but the back-handed compliments sting. And we need more girl-geeks. I really hate the stereotype of all geeks as male (who naturally desire/deserve a non-geek girl of their own -- it's not like there's any other kind of girl, right?).

By the way, ever seen the Xena episode "Send in the Clones"? It's the only on-screen representation of slashers I know of. And is the reason I own season 6 of Xena on DVD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I have not seen any Xena, but now you've got me curious about that episode. Someone said something this weekend about an SPN episode where the brothers basically encounter someone who's writing fic about them?

I really hate the stereotype of all geeks as male

That's part of the reason Willow and Fred, and Abby on NCIS from what little I've seen of it, are cool. Girl geek power, yay.

I'm sorry you were not there. You could go to the next MJ in two years 'f you wanted. :)

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are a lot of fan-related Xena episodes. If you were to see just one episode, I'd recommend "A Day in the Life", which features the first sighting of Minya-the-fan, and is a fun introduction to the series in general. Minya (or a descendant of hers) appears as 'Clea' in "Send in the Clones", where she and two other Xena fans create clones of Xena and Gabrielle to fight injustice in the modern-day world. To "trigger the clones' memories", the fans show them what are basically vids. The other girl fan is into action and kicking ass, the boy fan is all about the women being hot and the men being underappreciated, but Clea makes an 'alt' (='femslash' in Xena fandom parlance) vid. Actually, I could upload it if you want...

That's part of the reason Willow and Fred, and Abby on NCIS from what little I've seen of it, are cool.

Also Mac from Veronica Mars, Wendy from The Middleman, and prob'ly Sam from the Stargates. :) But I demand MOAR!

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you were not there. You could go to the next MJ in two years 'f you wanted. :)

Heh, maybe. On the other hand, IRL, trying to socialize with a whole bunch of women I barely know is a rather stressful experience. *blush* LJ is special to me because it's the one place doing that is relatively easy. I am a coward when it comes to social things, doubly so when the socializing involves women. Elementary school was traumatic, okay? ;P

[yevgenie.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a really interesting con! Thanks for writing up your notes. :)

On personal notes (and please forgive the random skipping around, I have a stupidly huge headcold), I watched Merlin and didn't enjoy it, so I will be sad if that is the brand new shiny big fandom. Sigh. I have had enough love/hate relationship with SGA, don't need any more, and I kind of got to like having a huge fandom to play in.

I feel like canons with huge buddy pairings and a hint of the comic breed AUs; then again, I'm thinking mostly of due South and SGA, which have so many. At least I remember dS having tons; it's been a while, and those were my pre-delicious days. It is like, you can pick up Fraser and Ray or John & Rodney and put them down *anywhere* because the voices are strong, the show voice lets you get away with some silliness, and the rapport is broad and built on obvious grounds (the complementary skills aspect) which translates well to different sets of specific skills. I don't read or watch Supernatural, but I wonder if it has the same thing going?

Also, I am deeply, deeply saddened that Alex Krycek is not on that list of favorite Little Black Dresses. THAT IS A TRAGEDY. *Sigh*.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Krycek was... *checks* 12, actually! I'm sure wolfshark will post the complete results, too.

I think the sentiment right now is that Merlin has become the next big fandom; people like astolat and rageprufrock have already migrated, and many more have followed. I've seen many of my HP and SGA friends transfer their primary affections thataway too. I'm resisting so far because it's popular, because I'm contrarian like that. Even though it makes no sense, because one thing I've loved about SGA is the volume of fanfic that's always being refreshed for me to enjoy.

I feel like canons with huge buddy pairings and a hint of the comic breed AUs

Interesting. I'm not polyfannish enough to come up with theories about this, but I also wonder how much of the popularity of AUs within a fandom depends on the canon and how much depends on the fic that's already been written -- as in, does the first wave, or I suppose even later waves, create a welcoming atmosphere in the fandom for AUs?

[yevgenie.livejournal.com]

Re: Merlin, drat. Oh well. I tend to have one main fandom and several others that I'm reading as the mood takes me at any one time; I will probably just hang out in SGA and revisit HP and make my slow-ass vids for a year or two and see what the state of the fandom is then. That's exactly what I did with SGA! ... Which sucked me in anyway, dammit. [grin] But maybe I'll be more resigned to the Merlin by that point.

Re: AUs, yeah, I was realizing last night that Sports Night is the big flaw in my theory -- exactly the dynamic I was thinking of, and yet not many people tried to set the entire office on a pirate ship (that I know of!) or made them all professional card sharks or whatever. (Which is sad, because the idea of the Sports Night crew as pirates is pretty hilarious.) Maybe the fandom wasn't quite big enough to get a critical mass for AUs? Maybe I just missed them. But I think you're right, in that there has to be some sort of support for the total AU -- the one where the whole world is different, not where just some aspects of it have changed (the they-are-so-not-dead AU of HP, for instance). Like, it has to hit a fandom that is willing to welcome it. (Also within fandoms, I wonder if certain pairings have more AUs than others? SGA is not fair to compare, because of the sheer amount of McShep fic vs. everything else, but I wonder with, say, XFiles -- where Mulder/Krycek (my preferred pairing) didn't have many AUs that left the world of the show. I wonder if Mulder/Scully had more, if that dynamic was easier to pick up and move? Or if XFiles was just not much of an AU fandom.)

It's an interesting topic, but I am frustrated by my inability to pin things down further.

[distorquere.livejournal.com]

That was really interesting. Thank you for the report!

Do you have any more information on that linguistics panel? It sounded so fascinating, and I might want to do my MA on a that subject, so I'm wondering what kind of information there is about it.

And that dog tag... !!!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I think I did take more notes than I put down here -- give me maybe a day, and I'll come back to this comment with more for you?

[distorquere.livejournal.com]

That would be awesome! I don't want to give you more trouble, but just in case you wrote down some names of people that worked on this, or websites. Thank you!!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Sure, no problem. No names were mentioned, but the mods may have recommendations.

Also to say that other people will probably be putting links to their own con reports over here (http://community.livejournal.com/muskratjamboree/61881.html) in the next few days, so people who wrote down things I didn't, or who had different perspectives, may help you too.

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

Thank you for putting up such great notes on the AU panel!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thanks for running it! :)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'm so happy you wrote it up - it was a treat :D

John!farr

I lol'd. That's... so succinct, and yet wrong.

The dogtag is awesome. Also, the linguistics thing sounds really interesting - it's amazing to think how much terminology you get from fandom that makes absolutely no sense in RL. I'm thinking of things like "teal deer" and TTIUWP and the previously very mysterious, "so, what are your thoughts on yaoi?" XD

The geeks thing is interesting, if only because I have never quite understood the appeal of geeks on TV. Of course, I guess that depends on one's definition of geekdom. I tend to think of the geeks from Buffy and such - not attractive! There must be someone...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

john_farr. Really.

TTIUWP? (Sometimes I can puzzle things out, but... not this time.)

*gasp* Did you not think Willow was pretty? Tsk. People did talk about whether (un)attractiveness was a factor in geek categorization -- for instance, someone said they'd like to nominate Sam Winchester, but they weren't sure because he was too pretty -- and the decision was that you can be lovely-looking; the critical factor was knowing a ton about a specific area, especially an esoteric area although that's changing, and being super-passionate about it. We deliberately did not get into the minutiae of geek vs. nerd vs. dork etc.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

O.O *sputters*

This Thread Is Useless Without Pictures. Baffling. I'm pretty sure I had to google that one at some point.

She was... kind of pretty? I mean, technically I suppose, but not in the sense of, idk, I didn't think she was particularly attractive. [But by Buffy geeks I actually meant the... you know, the nemesisis boys.] River from Firefly I'd give you, but then I didn't think of her as a geek. Hmm, I suppose that goes for Giles, too. Tosh from Torchwood, maybe = pretty geek. I guess for me attractiveness does factor into it XD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

How about Fred from Angel? She was gorgeous, but very geeky -- physics, poor social skills, etc. -- until she also turned into a -- well, not a hero, a villain, but still an ass-kicking, sexy vixen-type action girl.

I used to be upset when girl geeks were beautiful on TV, because I was jealous they had it all. Now, having been in fandom with its feminist bent, my thoughts are more along the lines of, Why do the girl geeks have to be pretty while the boy geeks don't?

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hello! Just got home and hope to watch House... very soon *g*

Hmmm, I didn't find Fred all that gorgeous either, but then she and Willow are kind of a 'matched set', as it were - I find them drawn from much the same mold. This is obviously the mold that Joss Whedon finds attractive, or something.

Yeah, well, I guess things have always been unfair where women and looks have been concerned. But if you're talking boy geeks, I think they have to be attractive too for mass appeal, don't they? Or perhaps you are making the point that unattractive boy geeks at least EXIST on TV, which is true. It's kind of unfeminist, but when I saw the 'chubby Willow' I was weirded out, too.

Oooh - House time :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'm so happy you wrote it up - it was a treat

Figured I owed you after having never written up that all-male Twelfth Night. :D

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

House -> O.O

And speaking of things never quite done, I hope to post That Thing you spent so much time looking at by the end of this week. I'm still not happy with it, but it's not going to get any better XD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool. I think people will like it.

I haven't watched House yet, but I ended up being spoiled for three things in like 10 minutes as it was ending, all from different people by accident. Oh well.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I think (hope) I wasn't one of them, but awww. I stayed away from all spoilers, and found the whole thing completely out of left field.

[bell]

Why am I so far away from these awesome convetions. :(((

[bironic.livejournal.com]

You will just have to organize one. People will come for the beautiful vacation and superfun fannish discussions.

[roga.livejournal.com]

Thank you for writing all this up! It sounds so awesome, and yay for it being so nearby for you! And eee, all the people you met! WANTS.

The panels sound great. The AU panel in particular -- I do think scifi/fantasy fandoms lend themselves much more easily to AUs. But then, Generation Kill has a surprising number of AUS for a small fandom, and you can't get much more realistic than GK, so maybe what you said, about the first wave of writers setting the tone, also makes sense. Fandoms eventually develop their own conventions and fanons and tropes, and they're a hard mind frame to exit once you're actually in the fandom.

Merlin definitely feels like the new SGA in terms of scope of fanfic and the amount of writers who transferred, which I don't mind really -- I'd started growing apart from SGA around mid-season 5, and I was never in it for than canon anyway, just for the fandom. Merlin is like that, in that the show is, you know, okay at best (although maybe even slashier than SGA, my god, but the stories people are writing are epic -- both in quality and length. It's another fandom that leaves a lot of room for originality, and it has one of my favorite tropes (one character's hiding a huge secret from the other; what will happen when arthur finds out?). But the big difference, I think, is that the Merlin universe is a lot more limited than the SGA verse. SGA has a horde of minor characters and planets and aliens and technology; Merlin has Arthur and Merlin and magic, and that's basically it. The fandom is heavily slash oriented, because even the power dynamics in Merlin don't allow the kinf of OT4 teamness that SGA had. And Merlin will never be as mainstream in RL as SGA was.

But, you know, the fic is awesome :-) (NOT THAT I'M TRYING TO CONVERT ANYONE OR ANYTHING but if you want a rec list I'm there for you. And speaking of using AUs to lure new people into a fandom, rageprufrock's AU was totally how I was lured in.)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I'm terribly contrarian and am resisting Merlin because it's popular right now. However, I've been told that, Merlin fan or not, I must read Pru's "Drastically Redefining Protocol." We shall see.

I wish you could have been there. With kassrachel we could have had an awesome reunion.

[celli]

*waves*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hi! Really was lovely to meet you, if only for a few seconds. Hope you're safely home (or having fun if you're still in town).

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

and Something to Talk About (Starsky and Hutch) was a lot of warmth and fun, with a great style where clips would freeze into snapshots.

Just wanted to drop in and say Thank You for your kind words about my vid! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ah, hello! Yes! I don't know Starsky and Hutch really at all, but I thought the vid was wonderful.

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

Well, thank you! :) The show is so canonically slashy, it's just too easy. :D