Glasgow WorldCON (Day 2)
Aug. 9th, 2024 06:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse I had no paneling today, so I just attended panels and such.
The first panel I watched live in RingCentral was "Faeries in Fantasy Literature," with Amal El-Mohtar (mod), Frances Hardinge, Holly Black, Jo Walton, Terri Windling. A vey star-studded panel, though I didn't know that when I jumped in (the Glasgow folks are really expecting online members to mainly use their member portal, I think. That seems to be where all the pertinent information is, and they don't repeat it elsewhere.) At any rate, it was an interesting panel. I have perhaps never confessed this here, but I've long had an intellectual crush on Frances Hardinge ever since I read Cuckoo Nest and The Lie Tree, the later of which is my favorite. She did not disappoint by explaining that one of the reasons she writes about changelings is because for whatever reason she had a childhood anxiety around doppelgangers and copies. She then proceeded to recount an amazing dream in which she was in her house, playing with her sister, when the phone rings. Naturally, she got up to answer it, and when she did she discovered it was her sister on the line, saying, "Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!" And of course, she would wake up then wondering, if that was her sister, who had she been playing with all this time???
TERRIFYING.
And, of course, told much better by her.
It sort of stopped the panelists for a while, because everyone was sort of processing the images she's brought up.
After that panel ended, I cast around for stuff to do. I tried out connecting to the RingCentral hangout rooms, but no one was ever in them. My schedule reminded me that I had wanted to maybe watch, "Watching, Playing, Performing TTRPG Play." I really thought this one would be right up my alley, but it wasn't. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with the topic or the panelists, but I just wasn't feeling it.
So, I went back to those hangout rooms at RingCentral. I tried popping into one and sitting around, hoping that the (1) under Books might bring people in, but it did not. So, I left and went over to the WorldCON Discord and on the meet-up channel just said, "Does anyone want to virtually hangout with me in RingCentral's Book channel?" And An Gry from my Food in Anime panel right away showed up to say. "Oh! Pick me!" so I quick hopped back in and we chatted for a good half an hour about her life in Bangkok, Pacific Rim fandom and fanfic, and other rambling bits of each other's lives. After a while, C. L. Polk also joined us for a bit, but before we could get too much into it with C.L., Mason came down stairs and I realized it was noon and I hadn't eaten anything at ALL yet. So, I begged off to go make lunch.
After lunch, I had much worse luck. I hopped into "Gods and Faith in Fantasy (Online)." There seemed to be some technical difficulties with it, however, because only two of the four panelists showed up. I'm not sure if people are having trouble processing the time differences or if there's something wonky about Steamyard. I mean, I suppose it could be both? I am deeply concerned that people are having issues with Steamyard because three out of my five panels are fully online, on Steamyard, including the one I'm somewhat nervous about moderating. I guess we'll see how it all works out! It certainly didn't seem all that difficult to me when I went to the training, but maybe not everyone managed to make it to a training session? C.L. Polk said that if she had any advice about Steamyard, it was that you need to be very careful logging in, because once you choose your options, you can't un-choose them. Which is good advice! The written instructions do suggest that you test all of your equipment before accepting the invitation and that was NOT mentioned in the training, so perhaps this is part of the problem.
Anyway, the content of the panel was a bit weird since it wasn't entirely clear if the two panelist could hear each other, either? I was interested in listening to Sonia Salaiman because she writes fiction based on Palestinian folklore, which I know absolutely nothing about. She only told a couple of stories, however. I did learn that in certain folktales in Palestine, jinni are ifrits who were banished by Eve from the Garden of Eden, but prayed for by Adam, and so they aren't fully only spiritual beings, but more like an underground magical race. I was, like, dang, yes this urban fantasy basically writes itself, doesn't it?
That was pretty much my day? I poked around at a few other things, but nothing excited me, and I checked through the Discord for other meet-up possibilities, but nothing much materialized.
Still, it felt like a day at the con, you know? I'm always glad when there are some spontaneous and personal interactions that happen in online spaces, because that really ads to the feeling of really being at a convention.
The first panel I watched live in RingCentral was "Faeries in Fantasy Literature," with Amal El-Mohtar (mod), Frances Hardinge, Holly Black, Jo Walton, Terri Windling. A vey star-studded panel, though I didn't know that when I jumped in (the Glasgow folks are really expecting online members to mainly use their member portal, I think. That seems to be where all the pertinent information is, and they don't repeat it elsewhere.) At any rate, it was an interesting panel. I have perhaps never confessed this here, but I've long had an intellectual crush on Frances Hardinge ever since I read Cuckoo Nest and The Lie Tree, the later of which is my favorite. She did not disappoint by explaining that one of the reasons she writes about changelings is because for whatever reason she had a childhood anxiety around doppelgangers and copies. She then proceeded to recount an amazing dream in which she was in her house, playing with her sister, when the phone rings. Naturally, she got up to answer it, and when she did she discovered it was her sister on the line, saying, "Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!" And of course, she would wake up then wondering, if that was her sister, who had she been playing with all this time???
TERRIFYING.
And, of course, told much better by her.
It sort of stopped the panelists for a while, because everyone was sort of processing the images she's brought up.
After that panel ended, I cast around for stuff to do. I tried out connecting to the RingCentral hangout rooms, but no one was ever in them. My schedule reminded me that I had wanted to maybe watch, "Watching, Playing, Performing TTRPG Play." I really thought this one would be right up my alley, but it wasn't. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with the topic or the panelists, but I just wasn't feeling it.
So, I went back to those hangout rooms at RingCentral. I tried popping into one and sitting around, hoping that the (1) under Books might bring people in, but it did not. So, I left and went over to the WorldCON Discord and on the meet-up channel just said, "Does anyone want to virtually hangout with me in RingCentral's Book channel?" And An Gry from my Food in Anime panel right away showed up to say. "Oh! Pick me!" so I quick hopped back in and we chatted for a good half an hour about her life in Bangkok, Pacific Rim fandom and fanfic, and other rambling bits of each other's lives. After a while, C. L. Polk also joined us for a bit, but before we could get too much into it with C.L., Mason came down stairs and I realized it was noon and I hadn't eaten anything at ALL yet. So, I begged off to go make lunch.
After lunch, I had much worse luck. I hopped into "Gods and Faith in Fantasy (Online)." There seemed to be some technical difficulties with it, however, because only two of the four panelists showed up. I'm not sure if people are having trouble processing the time differences or if there's something wonky about Steamyard. I mean, I suppose it could be both? I am deeply concerned that people are having issues with Steamyard because three out of my five panels are fully online, on Steamyard, including the one I'm somewhat nervous about moderating. I guess we'll see how it all works out! It certainly didn't seem all that difficult to me when I went to the training, but maybe not everyone managed to make it to a training session? C.L. Polk said that if she had any advice about Steamyard, it was that you need to be very careful logging in, because once you choose your options, you can't un-choose them. Which is good advice! The written instructions do suggest that you test all of your equipment before accepting the invitation and that was NOT mentioned in the training, so perhaps this is part of the problem.
Anyway, the content of the panel was a bit weird since it wasn't entirely clear if the two panelist could hear each other, either? I was interested in listening to Sonia Salaiman because she writes fiction based on Palestinian folklore, which I know absolutely nothing about. She only told a couple of stories, however. I did learn that in certain folktales in Palestine, jinni are ifrits who were banished by Eve from the Garden of Eden, but prayed for by Adam, and so they aren't fully only spiritual beings, but more like an underground magical race. I was, like, dang, yes this urban fantasy basically writes itself, doesn't it?
That was pretty much my day? I poked around at a few other things, but nothing excited me, and I checked through the Discord for other meet-up possibilities, but nothing much materialized.
Still, it felt like a day at the con, you know? I'm always glad when there are some spontaneous and personal interactions that happen in online spaces, because that really ads to the feeling of really being at a convention.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-10 11:59 am (UTC)I did learn that in certain folktales in Palestine, jinni are ifrits who were banished by Eve from the Garden of Eden, but prayed for by Adam, and so they aren't fully only spiritual beings, but more like an underground magical race. I was, like, dang, yes this urban fantasy basically writes itself, doesn't it?
A guy in my writers group is writing a jinn story and it slaps so hard.