what I did on my Escapade vacation
Mar. 2nd, 2005 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hafitalI actually wrote a long, very witty, start to a con report yesterday, but then it went poof, and so this one is going to be a lot less witty. And this just after I told ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elynross I prefer the website interface over a client... oops. *g*
The Social:
First there was Pre-Escapade withmelina123, killabeez, and elynross, which was lovely and mellow and there was a lot of tv watching and movie watching and cuddling with the kitties. Eventually it stopped raining and we got to go to the Zoo where a I got to see a tiger pee. Very exciting. And then Thursday came and we all packed into Melina's car and headed off to Ventura.
This year I was feeling a little removed from fandom and I didn't really know why I was bothering to go to Escapade. I quickly remembered, however, as soon as the hugs started coming. *g* So many wonderful, amazing women who I hardly ever get to see! I had a great time this year and although I normally don't find Escapade that stressful, this one was definitely the most relaxed I've ever had.
Thursday night was the Hunt for the Mexican Restaurant which was eventually found and then there was yummy food. The one thing I remember the most about that dinner was thattzikeh had a frozen margarita that was bigger than her head. Seriously, you could have drowned in this margarita.
After dinner there was a party inmacgeorge1 and maygra and junoesk's room. I'm afraid I don't remember that much of this evening, and sadly that's just bad memory, not because of any large quantities of alcohol. I do remember that was the night I met teresa_coffman whose stories I've always admired and thus I got to pester her all weekend about PotC and Johnny Depp and Highlander. Perfect! *g* At one point in the evening sherrold finally arrived after her adventures and we were blessed with her laughter.
Friday I went to a few panels. There was dinner somewhere. Oh and I went to the super heated hotel pool with Melina, Killa, MacG, Cinel,a_mews, and a few others whose names I never got because you don't normally wear name tags with a bathing suit. I think that was the night a bunch of us watched the Highlander episode Till Death in my room, where I once again attempted to puzzle out the Slave boy deleted scene (where the hell are they? Was Methos the Senator or the slave boy? For the love of Mike, what's in the black box??)
Saturday I did go to a couple more panels. I was sort of light on the panels this year, and that suited me just fine. Saturday was sushi night and that was a lot of fun. I got to catch up withmmmchelle and kadymae who are two of my favorite people. Then there was the vid show, which was uneven but the good vids were very very good. I'll talk more about the vid show later.
After the vid show a bunch of us went down to the bar and had a few drinks and chatted about the vid show and other things. I seem to recall we were all very giddy that night and I had a large glass of wine which helped the giddiness a long. The two things I remember the best are a) that we had a very cool (and cute) waiter whom we almost all ended up married to at one point and b) I told practically my entire family history torosawestphalen because I tend to become a chatterbox when tipsy.
Sunday I started to get very tired. I went to a few more panels. I had planned on leaving Sunday night but decided to stay through to Monday because it's tough saying good-bye, I tell ya. There was dinner at the steak house across the street. And then we all went back to MacG's room (which had become my room because MacG and Cinel were kind enough to let me stay with them that last night.) We watched vids and then more vids, and then even more vids. We laughed, we cried.
Sunday there were many good-bye and it was sad. I nearly did a bad thing by forgetting to call work to tell them I wasn't coming in, but it all worked out fine (after I jumped up suddenly at breakfast and rushed out of the hotel to make a quick phone call. oops) Killa let me tag a long with her and we went to a mutual friends house and talked Star Trek there and had lunch. Then Killa took me home and I got to show her my new place, which was nice 'cause I didn't think that was going to happen. We had coffee at a nearby cafe and talked some more and it was lovely but then it was time to say good-bye and it was sad again.
It was a great weekend, really. Full of fun and laughter and smart women oogling cute men and lots and lots of silliness, which is just how I like it. :)
I was sad I didn't get to hang out more withmimesere and latxcvi and other Piratey people. I missed out entirely on the Jack Davenport Fest 2005 and I'm going to have to make up for that somehow. Do some sort of penance, like mainlining Coupling or something. I have been told I must watch Macbeth Beyond the Thunderdome, and seriously, with a title like that, how can I refuse? heh. I was looking forward to some JackDav canoodling, I really was. Next year I need to time turner like Hermione. *g*
The Panels:
Okay, I forgot my con program at home and the Escapade website confuses me, so we're relying on my very fuzzy memory for this.
I tend to go mostly to fandom specific panels, but I did go to two or three meta panels this year and they were all very interesting: Fandom Loyalty, I was so much older then, I am younger now, and the Escapade deaddog panel. Luckilykassrachel is much better panel commenter than I am. I direct you to her con report. I did enjoy them, tho, especially the Fandom Loyalty panel which did make me think about my own issues regarding fandom and friends and even RL stuff and how scary and annoying change can be.
The two Highlander panels were a lot of fun. The first one, the exact name of which escapes me but it had to do with possible AUs in the HL universe, was cool because we just really spent the whole time throwing out ideas and possible avenues and fandom crossovers, etc etc. MacG has her notes up here.
The second HL panel was called something like Methos Methos Methos, What's with all the Methos love? I was a bit wary of going at first because I was worried the topic would back lash and be too negative and/or make me feel like I needed to defend Duncan somehow, but it was actually a lot of fun and I learned stuff about why I love Duncan and Methos and Highlander in general. I mostly stayed quiet during this panel, and that's because, while I totally understand loving and being attracted to Methos because I love and am attracted to Methos, most people's approach to Highlander via Methos completely and totally mystifies me. This has more to do, I've discovered, with the reasons I watch a TV show, and less with whether or not I like/love/dislike/hate any given character. So, normally, I just sit in baffled silence when people talk about either not liking Duncan or not being interested in Highlander at all until Methos showed up. It makes me automatically defensive, actually, and not just in HL. But the panel didn't make me do that, probably because the room was full of Duncansluts *g* and was moderated byadonnchaid and devohoneybee, which was nice, because then I got to hear and listen and feel the Methos love without having to run away.
I also went to the Star Trek: TOS panel, and like any and all talk about Star Trek, filled me with nostalgia and a sort of soft longing for my old fandom. I love the Star Trek universe so much, I really do. And I love K/S a lot. I still feel very unfinished there, and one day maybe I can wander back.
Um, what else, what else. Oh, I went to the Jeremiah panel, mostly because I do have a HL story idea that needs an apocalyptic world setting and I'm sort of shopping around for one. *g* Actually, I'm not sure Jeremiah's going to work for what I had in mind, but the panel was really interesting and we touched on the very complex symbolism and story telling that was going on in that show. And it made Killa happy, which is what really matters.
I went to the PotC panel, which I had mixed feelings about. The panel itself focused on the inherent queerness in the Pirates of the Caribbean and we went through several of the queer pairings in the film, from Murtogg/Mullroy and Pintel/Ragetti (and dude, you all should see Mackenzie Crook in the BBC's The Office. He's *awesome*), to Jack/Will and Jack/Norrington. What I loved about the discussion actually, was we examined the parallels between characters in the immediate foursome of Jack, Norrington, Will, and Elizabeth. Jack and Elizabeth parallel each other and Norrington and Will parallel each other, which is why they're all drawn to each other so wonderfully. *g* I was feeling a bit out of sorts, or I would have made a case for Jack/Elizabeth being a pretty queer pairing in and of itself, and also Will/Norrington. My ambivalence about the panel comes from feeling like my thoughts and understanding of these characters were out of step with the rest of the room, which is fine. I should be used to that by now.
Last but not least, I went to the Wiseguy panel which was just really really nice. We talked about who Vinnie would end up with, if he ended up with anyone at all. The general consensus was that Sonny (*SOB*), although we all love him, wouldn't really be the healthiest choice *g*. Roger LaCocco would be too cagey for a long term relationship, but we could see him doing an on again off again thing. (sigh. I love Roger). And then there's Frank. :) Frank and Vinnie could easily be together forever. I can't go to the slash place with Frank, but I do think that Vinnie would be lost without him, and vis versa. And then we all just watched Wiseguy vids and continually expressed our love of this show. *g* Fun!
The Vid Show:
Once again, I didn't bring a list of the vids shown at Escapade with me to work, so I'm going off of memory here. I'm only going to touch on a few vids.
Straight Up: Potc,smutcutter. Okay, after I got over the shock of Paula Abdul and Pirates together, I was able to laugh and enjoy the vid. *g* I think this vid works a tad better for the general audience than with someone who's all romantically involved with both the pairing and the movie, but it was a lot of fun, and wasn't meant to be taken seriously. And it was lovely to see Jack and James up on the big screen. They've very yummy. *g*
Orinoco Flow: MultiFandom, Gayle and Tashery. Words cannot express how much I love this vid. I was lucky enough to see the original incarnation at the first VividCon a few years ago, but this new Orinoco Flow 2.0 was just so beautiful and evocative and expressive. And it reminded me how much I love Data. *g*
When I go: LotR,melina123. Go to Melina's journal and find out how to download this vid. You won't be sorry. Easily the best LotR's vid I've ever seen. It made me want to watch the movies again, which is no small feat, let me tell you. This vid was the darling of the Vid Show, I think. I know it made a lot of people cry.
Karaoke Soul: I-Man,lithium_doll. This was one of two I-Man vids in the show. I don't know I-Man well at all, but I loved this vid. The repetition worked for me, although I know it didn't work as well for others.
Weeping Willow: I-Man,sisabet. This was the second I-Man vid. What I liked about this one was that I could tell there was a lot of stuff going on in this vid, some of which I could grasp, a lot of which I could just admire. This was above my reading level in I-Man, but still really enjoyable.
Cain: Sleepy Hollow, Smutcutter. Yay, a cool and slightly disturbing Sleepy Hollow vid. :) I never thought this film was very good, but it is very visually compelling and, like all Tim Burton's films, slightly off in a good way. *g* I don't have anything very interesting to say about the vid itself other than I liked it a lot and it creeped me out a bit. heh.
I also really liked the Hercules vid and the Dead and Alive 2 vid, and a few others that aren't immediately coming to mind because I have swiss cheese brain.
I would also like to thankkillabeez for the experience of collaborating on our vid Say, which also premiered at Escapade this weekend. The vid can be found on her website, but she linked to it in her LJ. *hugskillatight*
Making this vid was tough, but well worth it, and if you ever wonder how I feel about D/M, then watch this vid and you'll know.
Okay, that was a lot longer than I had planned... eep. must work now.
elynross I prefer the website interface over a client... oops. *g*The Social:
First there was Pre-Escapade with
melina123, killabeez, and elynross, which was lovely and mellow and there was a lot of tv watching and movie watching and cuddling with the kitties. Eventually it stopped raining and we got to go to the Zoo where a I got to see a tiger pee. Very exciting. And then Thursday came and we all packed into Melina's car and headed off to Ventura. This year I was feeling a little removed from fandom and I didn't really know why I was bothering to go to Escapade. I quickly remembered, however, as soon as the hugs started coming. *g* So many wonderful, amazing women who I hardly ever get to see! I had a great time this year and although I normally don't find Escapade that stressful, this one was definitely the most relaxed I've ever had.
Thursday night was the Hunt for the Mexican Restaurant which was eventually found and then there was yummy food. The one thing I remember the most about that dinner was that
tzikeh had a frozen margarita that was bigger than her head. Seriously, you could have drowned in this margarita. After dinner there was a party in
macgeorge1 and maygra and junoesk's room. I'm afraid I don't remember that much of this evening, and sadly that's just bad memory, not because of any large quantities of alcohol. I do remember that was the night I met teresa_coffman whose stories I've always admired and thus I got to pester her all weekend about PotC and Johnny Depp and Highlander. Perfect! *g* At one point in the evening sherrold finally arrived after her adventures and we were blessed with her laughter. Friday I went to a few panels. There was dinner somewhere. Oh and I went to the super heated hotel pool with Melina, Killa, MacG, Cinel,
a_mews, and a few others whose names I never got because you don't normally wear name tags with a bathing suit. I think that was the night a bunch of us watched the Highlander episode Till Death in my room, where I once again attempted to puzzle out the Slave boy deleted scene (where the hell are they? Was Methos the Senator or the slave boy? For the love of Mike, what's in the black box??)Saturday I did go to a couple more panels. I was sort of light on the panels this year, and that suited me just fine. Saturday was sushi night and that was a lot of fun. I got to catch up with
mmmchelle and kadymae who are two of my favorite people. Then there was the vid show, which was uneven but the good vids were very very good. I'll talk more about the vid show later. After the vid show a bunch of us went down to the bar and had a few drinks and chatted about the vid show and other things. I seem to recall we were all very giddy that night and I had a large glass of wine which helped the giddiness a long. The two things I remember the best are a) that we had a very cool (and cute) waiter whom we almost all ended up married to at one point and b) I told practically my entire family history to
rosawestphalen because I tend to become a chatterbox when tipsy.Sunday I started to get very tired. I went to a few more panels. I had planned on leaving Sunday night but decided to stay through to Monday because it's tough saying good-bye, I tell ya. There was dinner at the steak house across the street. And then we all went back to MacG's room (which had become my room because MacG and Cinel were kind enough to let me stay with them that last night.) We watched vids and then more vids, and then even more vids. We laughed, we cried.
Sunday there were many good-bye and it was sad. I nearly did a bad thing by forgetting to call work to tell them I wasn't coming in, but it all worked out fine (after I jumped up suddenly at breakfast and rushed out of the hotel to make a quick phone call. oops) Killa let me tag a long with her and we went to a mutual friends house and talked Star Trek there and had lunch. Then Killa took me home and I got to show her my new place, which was nice 'cause I didn't think that was going to happen. We had coffee at a nearby cafe and talked some more and it was lovely but then it was time to say good-bye and it was sad again.
It was a great weekend, really. Full of fun and laughter and smart women oogling cute men and lots and lots of silliness, which is just how I like it. :)
I was sad I didn't get to hang out more with
mimesere and latxcvi and other Piratey people. I missed out entirely on the Jack Davenport Fest 2005 and I'm going to have to make up for that somehow. Do some sort of penance, like mainlining Coupling or something. I have been told I must watch Macbeth Beyond the Thunderdome, and seriously, with a title like that, how can I refuse? heh. I was looking forward to some JackDav canoodling, I really was. Next year I need to time turner like Hermione. *g* The Panels:
Okay, I forgot my con program at home and the Escapade website confuses me, so we're relying on my very fuzzy memory for this.
I tend to go mostly to fandom specific panels, but I did go to two or three meta panels this year and they were all very interesting: Fandom Loyalty, I was so much older then, I am younger now, and the Escapade deaddog panel. Luckily
kassrachel is much better panel commenter than I am. I direct you to her con report. I did enjoy them, tho, especially the Fandom Loyalty panel which did make me think about my own issues regarding fandom and friends and even RL stuff and how scary and annoying change can be. The two Highlander panels were a lot of fun. The first one, the exact name of which escapes me but it had to do with possible AUs in the HL universe, was cool because we just really spent the whole time throwing out ideas and possible avenues and fandom crossovers, etc etc. MacG has her notes up here.
The second HL panel was called something like Methos Methos Methos, What's with all the Methos love? I was a bit wary of going at first because I was worried the topic would back lash and be too negative and/or make me feel like I needed to defend Duncan somehow, but it was actually a lot of fun and I learned stuff about why I love Duncan and Methos and Highlander in general. I mostly stayed quiet during this panel, and that's because, while I totally understand loving and being attracted to Methos because I love and am attracted to Methos, most people's approach to Highlander via Methos completely and totally mystifies me. This has more to do, I've discovered, with the reasons I watch a TV show, and less with whether or not I like/love/dislike/hate any given character. So, normally, I just sit in baffled silence when people talk about either not liking Duncan or not being interested in Highlander at all until Methos showed up. It makes me automatically defensive, actually, and not just in HL. But the panel didn't make me do that, probably because the room was full of Duncansluts *g* and was moderated by
adonnchaid and devohoneybee, which was nice, because then I got to hear and listen and feel the Methos love without having to run away. I also went to the Star Trek: TOS panel, and like any and all talk about Star Trek, filled me with nostalgia and a sort of soft longing for my old fandom. I love the Star Trek universe so much, I really do. And I love K/S a lot. I still feel very unfinished there, and one day maybe I can wander back.
Um, what else, what else. Oh, I went to the Jeremiah panel, mostly because I do have a HL story idea that needs an apocalyptic world setting and I'm sort of shopping around for one. *g* Actually, I'm not sure Jeremiah's going to work for what I had in mind, but the panel was really interesting and we touched on the very complex symbolism and story telling that was going on in that show. And it made Killa happy, which is what really matters.
I went to the PotC panel, which I had mixed feelings about. The panel itself focused on the inherent queerness in the Pirates of the Caribbean and we went through several of the queer pairings in the film, from Murtogg/Mullroy and Pintel/Ragetti (and dude, you all should see Mackenzie Crook in the BBC's The Office. He's *awesome*), to Jack/Will and Jack/Norrington. What I loved about the discussion actually, was we examined the parallels between characters in the immediate foursome of Jack, Norrington, Will, and Elizabeth. Jack and Elizabeth parallel each other and Norrington and Will parallel each other, which is why they're all drawn to each other so wonderfully. *g* I was feeling a bit out of sorts, or I would have made a case for Jack/Elizabeth being a pretty queer pairing in and of itself, and also Will/Norrington. My ambivalence about the panel comes from feeling like my thoughts and understanding of these characters were out of step with the rest of the room, which is fine. I should be used to that by now.
Last but not least, I went to the Wiseguy panel which was just really really nice. We talked about who Vinnie would end up with, if he ended up with anyone at all. The general consensus was that Sonny (*SOB*), although we all love him, wouldn't really be the healthiest choice *g*. Roger LaCocco would be too cagey for a long term relationship, but we could see him doing an on again off again thing. (sigh. I love Roger). And then there's Frank. :) Frank and Vinnie could easily be together forever. I can't go to the slash place with Frank, but I do think that Vinnie would be lost without him, and vis versa. And then we all just watched Wiseguy vids and continually expressed our love of this show. *g* Fun!
The Vid Show:
Once again, I didn't bring a list of the vids shown at Escapade with me to work, so I'm going off of memory here. I'm only going to touch on a few vids.
Straight Up: Potc,
smutcutter. Okay, after I got over the shock of Paula Abdul and Pirates together, I was able to laugh and enjoy the vid. *g* I think this vid works a tad better for the general audience than with someone who's all romantically involved with both the pairing and the movie, but it was a lot of fun, and wasn't meant to be taken seriously. And it was lovely to see Jack and James up on the big screen. They've very yummy. *g*Orinoco Flow: MultiFandom, Gayle and Tashery. Words cannot express how much I love this vid. I was lucky enough to see the original incarnation at the first VividCon a few years ago, but this new Orinoco Flow 2.0 was just so beautiful and evocative and expressive. And it reminded me how much I love Data. *g*
When I go: LotR,
melina123. Go to Melina's journal and find out how to download this vid. You won't be sorry. Easily the best LotR's vid I've ever seen. It made me want to watch the movies again, which is no small feat, let me tell you. This vid was the darling of the Vid Show, I think. I know it made a lot of people cry.Karaoke Soul: I-Man,
lithium_doll. This was one of two I-Man vids in the show. I don't know I-Man well at all, but I loved this vid. The repetition worked for me, although I know it didn't work as well for others. Weeping Willow: I-Man,
sisabet. This was the second I-Man vid. What I liked about this one was that I could tell there was a lot of stuff going on in this vid, some of which I could grasp, a lot of which I could just admire. This was above my reading level in I-Man, but still really enjoyable. Cain: Sleepy Hollow, Smutcutter. Yay, a cool and slightly disturbing Sleepy Hollow vid. :) I never thought this film was very good, but it is very visually compelling and, like all Tim Burton's films, slightly off in a good way. *g* I don't have anything very interesting to say about the vid itself other than I liked it a lot and it creeped me out a bit. heh.
I also really liked the Hercules vid and the Dead and Alive 2 vid, and a few others that aren't immediately coming to mind because I have swiss cheese brain.
I would also like to thank
killabeez for the experience of collaborating on our vid Say, which also premiered at Escapade this weekend. The vid can be found on her website, but she linked to it in her LJ. *hugskillatight* Making this vid was tough, but well worth it, and if you ever wonder how I feel about D/M, then watch this vid and you'll know.
Okay, that was a lot longer than I had planned... eep. must work now.
