VVC report, part 1

This was my second time going to Vividcon—the first was summer of 2010—although I never posted about that one because the experience was so jam-packed joyful (and because, like this year, I had to go straight back to a busy office). 2010 was a special VVC for many reasons, among which were the unusual concentration of fan friends of mine whom I hadn't had a chance to meet before then (thingswithwings, eruthros, toft, isagel, anatsuno, chagrined, livrelibre, others I'm forgetting, but holy hell what an awesome group) and of House and SGA fic writers I hadn't known were attending (frostfire17, harriet_spy, spike21, thehoyden, anoel, others I'm forgetting again), plus roga was in the country and able to attend too. That was also the first time I met heresluck and astolat and elynross and cesperanza, who accompanied me to my airport gate on the last day to chat because her flight was a little later than mine. I was still new at vidding and didn't feel confident enough to discuss technique or strike up conversations with big-name vidders beyond "I loved X" (though I was fine talking about general fannish stuff or specific fandoms with anyone), or to submit any vids as premieres.

This year's con was different on many fronts as expected, but it turned out to be perhaps even more of a satisfying experience. Not going with a buddy meant I ( talked with a lot of people. )

They are not scary! Well, okay, I remembered from last time that milly isn't scary. :) & of course it was great to see kassrachel again, although bittersweet because she has her own circles and we didn't intersect much.

Right, but aside from what now looks like obnoxious and/or uninteresting name-dropping, I knew enough about the craft to take useful notes and contribute (I hope) not-stupid comments and questions at panels, but still have more than enough left to learn so that the panels were all interesting. I'm getting better at remembering which vidder has done which works that I've liked. Not least, I had two vids premiere and a third play in a themed vidshow and they all did well, which has made my heart swell like the Grinch's. For the first time, vidders I deeply admire came up to me to say nice things. I don't have words yet for what that was like.

I guess it's all part of the process of becoming a member of the community.

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So. Ack, from what angle do I attack this write-up?

I guess we start at the beginning. After dropping my stuff in the hotel room Thursday afternoon, I was lucky enough to catch thirdblindmouse among the fans in the lobby, whom it was great to finally meet, and also kerithwyn and amnisias, who are lovely and with whom I spent a lot of time over the weekend. Finally properly met settiai in the way where I will now actually remember her, oops. talitha78, serrico, danegen, charloween and a few others joined for a fun dinner. Then it was time for registration—and shortly afterwards, rhoboat's

( Mystery Vid Party )

So that was a good time for the couple of hours I lasted until bed. It also set the mood for the weekend: There's nothing to be afraid of when it comes to talking to or hanging out with some of the world's best fanvidders.

Breakfast the next morning, the con welcome, and then two vid shows:

( History of Vidding: Club Vivid )

( Let's Put on a Show )

Saturday night were_duck, heyiya and I checked out the Weird Science vidshow DVD. It was okay. Most interesting to me personally was that kiki_miserychic set a vid to the beautiful Symphony of Science autotune mashup We Are All Connected. I confess I still prefer looking at Richard Feynman and Neil deGrasse Tyson than at the SGU characters. I also liked bradcpu's House vid Vertigo, which I must have seen back in the day but didn't remember.

I'm really looking forward to watching the Let My Lyrics Go! and Vids That Go Bump in the Night playlists.

More to come. For now, some vids and then sleeeeep.

ETA: Part two here (panels).