Vividcon in brief. Uh, or not so brief.

[bironic]

A good weekend.

I saw some fantastic vids, danced with a T-rex at Club Vivid, met a baby, shared in a Shabbat dinner, hugged and was hugged, and caught up with several vidding friends and got to know others better. There was one rough patch, but with a little initiative and the company of friends & acquaintances, it soon passed.

My first time co-modding a vid show proved to be a positive experience thanks to the best partner, elipie, and the 20 or so people who came to see it despite it being scheduled right after lunch and opposite a Star Trek panel. We will post have posted the kinky playlist.

My three new vids went over well:

• jetpack_monkey and I found a larger-than-expected audience for our Boris Karloff body-snatching Auction vid, "To the Grave";


• my little Ferngully vid, "Sing," made a surprising number of people have feelings;


• and then Ann Leckie retweeted/reblogged/posted about the "Ancillary Justice" book trailer (!). ETA: Uh and then --> Metafilter --> Tor.com?! What is happening.

"Starships!" closed out Club Vivid before the traditional finale of "Can't Stop the Rock," and I can't articulate how it felt to witness a room full of fans singing along and dancing as it played, hands up to touch the sky.



Thursday Social

After waiting alone for about 20 minutes at the bus area at O'Hare, I thought this year would break the tradition of crossing paths with fellow con-goers at the airport; but then when the shuttle arrived, killabeez and destina appeared from the next set of doors over, and we chatted about current fandoms during the short ride. \o/

Similar thing happened in the hotel lobby, which was sparse where usually there are knots of reuniting fans. However, soon par_avion and anoel appeared, followed by bradcpu and/or milly with their round-faced, supremely chill infant, and morgandawn, and much catching-up ensued. jetpack_monkey passed through and I got my promised hug for our Auction vid experience. Yay hugs.

After a trip to the grocery store for weekend lunch ingredients in which I valiantly attempted yet failed not to melt in the high-90s soup that was Chicago on Thursday, I had a lovely dinner with morgandawn and xlorp in their hotel room. We talked about the MASHUP exhibit in Vancouver and vid archiving and evolving platforms and ways for vidding cons to stay afloat and all kinds of things.

Then it was time for registration and a welcome social, and I don't even remember all the people I talked to, except shati and thirdblindmouse and revolutionaryjo and kerithwyn and ghost_lingering and franzeska and jackiekjono and isweedan, whose face and screen name finally connected in my brain. Then I dropped by revolutionaryjo's Mystery Vid Party for a little while before retiring to my room for some televised Olympic swimming and sleep.



Friday Morning

The hotel staff was kind enough to make 10 copies of Francesca Coppa's vidding essay from the MASHUP exhibit book that I'd lugged in my carry-on, in case people wanted to take one after browsing the book in the con suite.

While I waited, to my delight I spotted rhaegal at a breakfast table and went over to say hi. We met about 10 years ago at some Harry Potter cons in England and Denmark and hadn't seen each other since then, except once at con.txt. I hadn't realized she would be attending vividcon for the first time this year. I was glad to have many chances to catch up with her during the weekend, talking Star Trek and 50th anniversary cons, vids and Vividcon culture, frustrations with The Name of the Wind and The Cursed Child, life happenings, etc.



Auction

The con staff made several changes to the schedule this year, including swapping the Club Vivid dance party and Premieres show (Fri<-->Sat) and moving the Auction show from the end of the con to the first panel slot. That meant we had a sizeable audience for Auction vids on Friday morning instead of a rapidly dwindling group as attendees headed to the airport and/or lost the brain capacity for panels and vid shows after three days of programming.

Selfishly, this worked out in my favor since I made an Auction vid. :) And it was a solid show! All six vids are worth watching, but my personal favorites were:

Byzantium by Franzeska for alatri – funny meta-vid about the old and new Man From U.N.C.L.E. series/movie

Children of the Revolution by ghost_lingering for sweetestdrain – striking portrait of Marjane in the Persepolis film adaptation

Spirits by elipie for thirdblindmouse – Gotham TV show as seen from the villains' points of view

When our Auction vid played, I was super pleased we got some giggles and then a big round of applause at the end. People laughed when Jetpack Monkey's name came on screen after the first sequence, because of course the black-and-white horror source was made for him. I was also chuffed to get a laugh at this one particular clip in the middle when Gray (Boris Karloff) stabs the bread loaf and MacFarlane just glares at him with the most irritated narrowed eyes.



No Source? No Problem

My favorite themed vid show of the weekend. Building on last year's Coming Soon to a Screen Near You show, revolutionaryjo pulled together a collection of vids for podcasts, books, fanfics, and other stories that don't have built-in visual source. Having just attempted a book trailer myself, I was keenly interested in other vidders' approaches and accomplishments. If you have access to the Vividcon streaming site or go to vividcon.info ETA: or jo's post, with notes and extended recs, it's absolutely worth watching the whole playlist; there's hardly a dud in the bunch. But, again, my own favorites:

The Name of the Wind trailer by jumboskittles (The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss) – Uh, so you may remember my opinion of these books, but that doesn't matter with regard to this trailer, which is great! It captures Kvothe in all his grandiosity while also choosing actors/actresses and fantasy settings that feel like his wandering-troupe childhood, the university, the dragon town, etc.

In Dreams by Heather Jensen/squidwithelbows (The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater) – Uses all original art, animated, to tell the story of the book(s). Not having read the Raven Cycle, a lot goes over my head, but I don't mind. This is just beautiful.

the marauders | darkness by fakescottishaccent (Harry Potter books) – A! Marauders! Movie! Trailer! For the first war against Voldemort! Some of the fancasting was spot-on; other characters I needed help identifying, and I lost the storyline after a while. No matter: I love seeing my favorite generation in the book series imagined on screen like this.

Carry Your Throne by Rhea314 (Captive Prince by CS Pacat) – Sexy, sexy, sexy. One day I'll try this story. Until then, perhaps those of you who have will enjoy this premiering vid.

Meanwhile, unfinishedidea's Welcome to Night Vale vid, Bloody Shirt, and zulu's Written by the Victors vid never get old.

My trailer premiered in this show. I got some very nice feedback afterwards from a few people who've read the Imperial Radch books, and of course the fact that Ann Leckie boosted the signal fills me with glee.



Panels

I went to (& enjoyed) a handful of panels throughout the con but didn't worry about taking extensive notes. Feel free to ask about anything you're interested in. They included Writing's on the Wall with milly, about reasons and ways to incorporate text into vids; What's That Noise? with ghost_lingering, about why and how to use non-musical audio, such as spoken-word performances and found sounds, building your own rhythms and thematic connections; and Let It Go with trelkez, about the reasons vid drafts lie dormant and the stages of acceptance for those that will never be finished.

I also made it to the second half of killabeez's two-hour Star Trek panel, which turned out to be largely a vid show where she had grouped vids from all five series + the movies into themes like "character studies," "ships" and "ensemble" and everyone shared their thoughts and feelings after each group screened. One of the Reboot vids, Keep Trekkin' by Reese, gave me an idea that I may or may not pursue.

There were a lot of runners-up that didn't get shown, and many vids I haven't seen yet—funny how, despite my >30-year passion for Star Trek, I'm not well versed in the fandom. Hopefully killa will post the playlist so you all can peruse it too.

Oh, and I almost forgot One-Hour Vid: an ambitious participatory panel led by astolat and killabeez in which they attempted to make a multifandom vid to Lady Gaga's "Telephone" using crowdsourced clips supplied ahead of time and ideas called out from the audience. By the end there were... about six clips down on the timeline, but plans are in the works to divvy up the song among volunteers and piece it together later. Regardless of whether that ever materializes, the session was entertaining to witness.



Friday evening

Last year, kass invited me to a small-group Shabbat dinner in her room, and it was a wonderful way to connect with fellow Jewish (and Jewish-adjacent :) ) vidders. This year, first-time attendee seekingferret overcame monumental travel snafus to host us (kass and me and thefourthvine, the_shoshanna and ghost_lingering), and it also proved lovely. Candles and bread and wine and dinner and conversation. A little oasis between panels and Premieres.



Premieres!

Mmph, the Premieres show was strong this year, and robust, with a total of 34 vids. Another one worth watching straight through if you have the opportunity. These are the ones I know I'll be returning to:

Hallo Spaceboy by gwyneth & Speranza (Captain America) – Wham. This is how you cut on and around a driving beat and sustain a song and story for minutes. I don't pay as much attention as others to character and plot details in the MCU, so I mostly enjoyed this on an experiential and technical level, although the basics I grasped of the Steve, Bucky and Steve/Bucky felt compelling, and I'm happy, especially on behalf of friends who are working to increase visibility of bisexual characters in the media and in fandom, that this portrait/interpretation exists. ("Do you like girls or boys?" He—they—don't choose.)

Hey, No Pressure by sisabet (Jessica Jones) – Aaaah, so good, so intense, such a brilliant distillation of the series so far. By splitting them up and spreading them out and intercutting them, this vid crystallized many of the show's metaphors for me that probably should have been obvious before—the cockroach, the crack in Trish's seemingly impregnable apartment. Plus, arguably the most cathartic neck-breaking I've seen in a vid.

You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son by astolat (Harry Potter) – I need to watch this a few more times to really grasp it, having gotten lost thinking it was about Harry at first rather than Draco. That said, it's clear this has things to say about the forces that shape Draco's life, his internal conflicts and his nemesis relationship with Harry, who is as much James' and Dumbledore's son (and not) as Draco is Lucius' and Voldemort's (and not). Love the title, too.

Bonus Harry Potter vid: Psychosocial Baby by bradcpu – Dare you not to laugh.

Our House by elipie (The Sims) – What a riot. Had the room in stitches.

Bonus humor vid: Tribute by echan (Eurovision) – Further proof that more people should vid to Tenacious D.

Satisfied by Jayne L. (Underground) – Spectacular. The story and the cutting rise to the level the song demands.

Aphrodisiac by hollywoodgrrl (Star Wars) – What a ride. While I could tell the vid was drawing parallels among (mainly) Rey, Kylo Ren, Luke, Anakin/Vader and Obi-Wan, I hadn't thought deeply enough about The Force Awakens to parse, having only seen the vid twice, what exactly it was saying. Is Rey Luke, or is Rey Luke's daughter? Is Rey-Kylo like Luke-Darth? Both? The In-depth Vid Review panel was very helpful for elucidating some of this, including delving into arguments about the Force as an addiction, the Dark side rising even in those supposedly on the side of Light, and Kylo trying to grab the Skywalker (or Kenobi) legacy except reaching for the wrong aspects of it.

BUT. I'm fascinated by the way the vid on another level addresses the original and the new movies (and the prequels) and their relationships to one another as works of art. The echoing moments and movements and themes say as much about JJ Abrams' homage to Lucas' shots as they do about the characters and plotlines themselves. "Sweetheart, where do you come from?" the song asks, and there is R2-D2 as BB8's predecessor, the '70s hologram of Leia evolving into the 2015 hologram of Luke's hideout, the two pairs of moons, etc. etc. And the video distortion effects & jumping reinforce and complicate the connections between and within the old and new canons.

Okay basically I want someone to write an essay about this vid so I can read it and understand everything going on here.

Bonus Star Wars vid: There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by ohvienna – Runs long for my taste and I had trouble hearing the lyrics, but what it does works, because it won the night's award for gut-punch ending.

Bonus hollywoodgrrl vid: this is my hand (Multi) – For some reason this year I didn't absorb the program blurbs ahead of time, so I missed the context that the vid is a self-portrait of the vidder and her work; while I still found it compelling, I'm sure it will make a lot more sense the next time(s) through.

Never Wake Me Up by Kitty/winterevanesce (Multi) – This vid gave me a lot of feelings. Like, a lot. This was my childhood—this was probably a lot of our childhoods—perhaps not some or all of the specific fandoms depicted, but the experience of discovering an entire fictional world and becoming absorbed in it, fantasizing about truly being pulled into it like the young protagonists—about exploration and adventures and flying and witnessing something larger than life.

Bonus vid with a highly entertaining set of vidder's notes: Radioactive by shati (Dragon Age: Inquisition) – I haven't played Dragon Age, which might actually have made the commentary even funnier?

And as icing on the cake of all these excellent vids, several people came up that night or during the rest of the weekend to tell me that they, or someone they were adjacent to, were moved by my Ferngully vid, which is several more people than I'd expected. To have produced a piece of creative work that made some people cry with the heroine's success—to combine song and selective storytelling to evoke deep emotion in viewers I don't know, and in vidders whose work I greatly admire—is a truly fulfilling experience.



Vid Review & In-Depth

These group discussions are always a favorite part of the con for me, especially when there's a critical mass of people who say a variety of smart, insightful, constructive things that illuminate what the premiering vids are doing (or trying to do) and why they work (or don't).

I didn't take many notes this year. Fortunately, serrico did. And here are some more by settiai.



Saturday Evening

Maybe it stemmed from having just watched communities of fan friends in the "Fandom Life" vid show, particularly jarrow's vid "Tik Tok," maybe it was blood sugar and the time of day, maybe it felt like the bulk of the con was over after Friday when Premieres and all my vids had shown, maybe I should have simply made plans ahead of time—but when the dinner break began on Saturday, I found myself feeling quite sad and lonely. As though the con around me were filled with groups of friends and I didn't belong to any of them, and while I love that you can sit down at any table at breakfast or in the con suite and be welcomed into people's conversations, dinner feels different, in that groups peel off to do their thing; and at that moment I didn't feel like wandering down to the hotel Outback to sit with a mostly random collection of people, suspecting that I'd fall into wallflower mode amidst the noise of the restaurant and exacerbate the low mood.

I thought about how I don't bring my own group to the con but instead have formed tentative friendships with individuals or pairs who themselves have groups that I am sometimes invited into, like Seah & Margie, who weren't able to make it this year, or the unique circumstances of my first time attending, in 2009, when thingswithwings and eruthros and livrelibre and chagrined and anatsuno and isagel all came and I got to be part of that group for a little while. And I thought about how although I have grown to feel very much a part of the vidding (and fic writing and wider fannish) community online, boosted this weekend in particular by positive comments on my vid posts on Twitter/Dreamwidth/AO3, that doesn't always correlate to how things shake out in person in a con setting.

Well, I've been friends online for a while with kass, if not as well as kass is friends with others at the con, and so in an effort to stop feeling sorry for myself (although needing to invite myself along didn't really help) (even while knowing the whole sudden-loneliness thing was stupid, having been "reserved" for other meals by a few people before the con) I asked if she and grammarwoman had dinner plans, and was readily invited to join them. So I went up to their room, where I got to meet kouredios at last, and we ordered delivery and talked and listened to vid songs while they got ready for Club Vivid, and slowly I started to feel better.

This isn't a criticism of anyone at the con or the way the con is run, nor a plea for sympathy. I just want to record how I felt at that moment and remind myself that (a) lows can happen, (b) they will pass, and (c) sometimes it takes a little initiative to avoid feeling left behind, through no ill will of others.

(Also, rhaegal, I'm sorry you got caught in part of my slump!)



Club Vivid

Then Club Vivid happened, and all was well with the world again. There was the Vividcon-winning sdwolfpup!T-rex, and grammarwoman as a perfect Ghostbuster, and bradcpu and milly as a couple from Legends of Tomorrow, and a contingent of spectacular Star Wars cosplayers, and jetpack_monkey as the guy from Mystery Science Theater with his little gumball machine-looking robot, and much glitter and blinky lights and corsetry and pajamas.

I danced for—could it have been an entire hour?—to energizing vids, until I was too thirsty and stiff/sore to keep going. Retired to the overflow room and had a great conversation with mediaopilus, whom I'd met when I lived in D.C. but not spent much time with. Danced a little bit more on and off but spent much of the rest of the time talking with people outside, notably jetpack_monkey and ro_mm_ck, who both had a lot of nice things to say and I hope I held up my ends of the conversations all right instead of standing there like a compliment sponge who takes a while to process things.

Having learned from my experience earlier in the evening, I asked jetpack_monkey if he had any free time on Sunday for less chaotic conversation or if he would be too busy with con comm duties, because I would like to get to know him better and talk space and monsters and robots and stuff, and lo, he was free after the con, so that provided something else to look forward to.

And then, and then there was that magical moment with "Starships!," and so many of you chimed in on Twitter afterwards that my heart was full.

tl;dr By the end of the night, my ego-stroking and confidence-building reserves had risen from depleted to overflowing.



Challenge

This year's theme was "Descent." We had some creative interpretations, from going down on women characters to spiraling into villainy to literally going to hell. Faves:

Jacob's Ladder by sweetestdrain (Batman franchise) – At first I was sad we didn't get three more minutes of this beauty, but on reflection we don't need it, because we already know what happens next. I just really like the repetition here, the return to this moment, these pearls, these deaths, both in Bruce's memory and in all these incarnations of Batman media.

Taiga by hollywoodgrrl (Interstellar) – Gorgeous. Continue to give me all the Interstellar vids. Will be watching again to ponder theme and choice of title. For now, I'm just sorry I didn't raise my hand for the mic during comments time to thank whomever was responsible for this piece of prettiness (there's a brief anonymity period) as I thought about doing, because then it was revealed that hollywoodgrrl had made it—of course, in retrospect—and now I'll just look like a creepily obsessed fan if I flail at her about it. :)

Lulu's Descent by lola (Diary of a Lost Girl [1929] & Prix de Beauté [1930] – Louise Brooks) – A reminder to those who don't watch enough movies from this era that they're much more modern in theme and style than we give them credit for.

Also, if any of you would find solace or at least sympathy in an unflinching portrait of depression and grief in vid form, watch Basket Case by kuwdora (three Kristen Wiig movies).



Sunday-Monday Social

Shared a thinky and delicious picnic-style lunch with lola in between panels as the con began to wind down. Not enough time, but something, at least.

In one of the best changes to the weekend schedule, the con suite remained open until 7 p.m. instead of shutting down right after the last panel around 5. That meant there was a space to gather and see who else hadn't already left for home, and to have a few lingering group conversations to soften what is usually a sudden conclusion to the con.

Somehow I'd gone the whole weekend without visiting the Outback, but that was remedied when the con suite finally closed and 11 of us wandered down to dinner. Ended up having some lively discussions in the lobby while we waited for a big enough table to open up, followed by more conversation in the restaurant, although we basically split in half at that point because we were put at two adjoining round tables. At the other table were, I think, anoel, jackiekjono, lola, isweedan and kerithwyn; at ours we had elipie, cherryice, thirdblindmouse, shati and jetpack_monkey.

At the winding-down con suite and dinner, it was really great to talk for an extended time with elipie, which we had never done before.

And when dinner was over, after a comedy of errors involving cherry's steak and about six plates of potatoes, another sharp-cutoff ending was avoided when thirdblindmouse and jetpack_monkey agreed to come up and chat and show vids-in-progress clips while I packed for the morning's flight home.

Which I shared with shati in the next seat over! We laughed over silly news items and fad diets and airplane TV and God knows what else the whole way back before splitting a cab to our respective apartments because the Boston weather was gross as usual.

To further taper off, now there are comments to respond to and book-trailer posts/tweets going around, so there hasn't been "con drop" yet. I would very much like to hold on to the high spirits and bolstered confidence the weekend (and last few days) provided for as long as possible. To remember all of this when work and/or life saps at my motivation or belief in my creative abilities.



Misc. Social

So many conversations with so many people over so few days. I made tick marks in the program book next to each attendee I interacted with and just counted 62. That is a lot for an introvert! It also means it would be clunky to name everybody, and possibly also obnoxious? More obnoxious than already detailed? I dunno. But I do want to remember sharing meals and con suite or Club Vivid conversations with people I didn't mention above: celli, serrico, tencel, heresluck, renenet, lunate8... And to mention that absences were missed: laurashapiro, futuransky, therienne, arduinna & mollyamory. And somehow I don't think I ever saw katie_m?

Anyway: ♥



Misc. Recs

after the day's work is done by stardust rain (MCU) – Nick Fury runs the show.

Supremacy by rhoboat (recent James Bond movies) – M., and Bond, and M.-and-Bond.

Anything For You by Willion (Furry fandom)

Star Work by grammarwoman (Star Wars)

I'll be back to add any recs from the, er, 8 vid shows I missed as I stream them, including Club Vivid now that it's possible to watch them with full attention, and to add links as premiering vids continue to be posted online.



THE END.



Other con reports: kass, seekingferret, anoel ...

State of Vidding from Morgan Dawn

Comments

[kouredios]

It was such a delight to meet you, and to watch all the love for the Ancillary Justice book trailer light up the SF-book side of fandom! OMG, amazing. <3

[jetpack_monkey]

I'm also a group floater. I don't really have a central core group with whom I do meals and stuff every year (with the exception of my Saturday lunch and those meals that need to be taken in concert with con stuff).

It generally means my lunches on Friday and Sunday are free, as are my Thursday and Sunday dinners. So if you want to make concrete plans for next year, I am game.

You were a great conversationalist, by the way. I look forward to talking to you every year and I'm honestly concerned I end up making an ass of myself. Yay social anxiety?

[zulu]

I love how everyone already knows you! "OH IT'S THE STARSHIPS VIDDER. Natch it's terrific." And they're right. :D

[jjhunter]

I feel you on the sudden-loneliness slump front. Stulti's away this week, and I've had to take proactive steps to avoid going mildly feral / self-pitying in the evenings in her absence. You're definitely right that a little initiative can go a long way - I invited a friend to go out with me to dinner tonight and had a wonderful time, and afterward felt not so much sheepish at not doing it sooner as exquisitely conscious of this week being yet enough iteration of 'lows can happen / they will pass'.

Thank you for sharing this gloriously in depth con report! I feel like I've been a gleeful vicarious ghost there, and I very much look forward to working my way through all the vids you rec.

[cathexys]

Wow, what an awesome recognition and compliment for an absolutely amazing vid!!!

(Also, thanks for the report! It's always great to read everyone's experiences and get some sense of the panels.)

[laurashapiro]

Thanks for writing all this up! I was truly sorry not to be there, to miss seeing you (and dancing to Starships with you!). But you've given me a great rec list and I can't wait to get started on it.

[serrico]

♥ back atcha. It was lovely to chat with you at the various times we chatted over the weekend. :)

And congratulations on the recognition for the book trailer! As I think I told you, I found it really well-put-together, and it really piqued my interest in the books. It doesn't surprise me that people who know the source are responding so well. (Yay!)

[elipie]

It was wonderful being able to spend time with you! I really enjoyed your company at dinner and had a blast VJing a vidshow with you. :)

I absolutely know that sudden feeling of sadness right in the middle of the con. I'm not sure what it is for me -- probably a mixture of exhaustion and dread that the con isn't going to last much longer. I think this year the schedule change fucked with my brain a little (thinking the con was almost over when it wasn't, then thinking the con was just beginning when it wasn't, then BOOM, DONE). I'm glad you were able to recover though and it sounds like you had a really good time!

Also I told you this already but I'm SO HAPPY FOR YOU about that Ancillary Justice trailer!! So exciting!

[anatsuno]

Such a great report, and I'm so happy you had a great con, despite the slump in the middle.

I have to say, meeting you that one year (though I think it was 2010?) remains a highlight of my sole VVC experience, which was great-but-fraught and during which I experienced many of the sentiments you describe here. I've always regretted - still do - not having more time with you and not getting to know you better, and I still harbor the hope that one day we'll be able to correct this! And in the meantime, every year when VVC comes around I am reminded of how great it was to sit with you a while (tho that is not the only moment in a year when I do). <3333

Also, I LOVE the two vids I watched of your three, To the Grave and the book trailer (though I haven't read the book), and I'm super stoked the latter is getting wider recognition :D :D :D

[seekingferret]

It was great meeting you! And I'm glad your AJ trailer is spreading, it's awesome! (I wish I'd gotten to the con in time to see it at its premiere.)

I also ate Saturday dinner alone, though I'm not entirely sure if that was because I was exhausted and needed alone time or if it's because I'm socially incompetent. It's also harder for me to do socializing involving meals because since I keep kosher I don't have your fallback option of glomming onto random people at the Outback.

[isweedan]

::wave wave wave:: Hiiii.

This is a FAB recap. A+++ recapping.

I will NEVER be over sdwolfpup's T. Rex costume.

[gwyn]

It was wonderful to see you again, and fantastic to hear that you enjoyed Spaceboy! I loved the auction vid you made, and I don't think I got a chance to tell you--it made me smile, and sometimes at VVC I feel like smiles are in short supply with the vid angst, so in a way it set a great tone for the rest of the con.

[franzeska]

That's really interesting about groups and feeling slightly estranged. I have never had a consistent group of roommates for any con I've attended, and this year that lack was more apparent than usual. I often room alone, but even having a random rooming situation of convenience feels lonely in a similar way plus the awkwardness of planning room parties around someone else. I swear VVC is the worst breeding ground for this kind of sentiment that I have ever seen. Other cons aren't half as bad. Is there some implicit idea that vidders all have these tight fanpair or vidding collective relationships, so we feel like we're falling short of some fictitious norm when we lack them? Weird.

I forgot you were in Boston. If I manage to drag myself out there to visit a college friend this year (which I keep meaning to do), we'll have to hang out.

[celli]

I enjoyed spending time with you so much!

[katie_m]

Very belatedly: I was there! But I didn't arrive until Friday afternoon and had spent the first part of the week at a work conference, so I wasn't the socialest person to ever social. Really we should get together sometime *here* - what's it been, like a year?