(no subject)

[darchildre]

I slept in! Till 7:30!

...yeah, I know.

There weren't any 8:30 panels I wanted to go to, particularly, so I ate a leisurely breakfast in my hotel room and messed around on my laptop for a while before heading over to the con. The first panel I went to was the Monsters! panel (because I am entirely predictable). It was pretty freeform, with a lot of rambling discussion on what is a monster and the evolution of the monster and what we think the next big monster phenomenon is going to be. Since that was a horror panel, I actually had occasional things to say, rather than just sitting in the back and listening. The panel description specifically mentioned a book - On Monsters by Stephen Asma - which I haven't read but totally want to now.

(An odd thing: the rise of the torture porn genre inevitably came up, because it's interesting, but everyone who said anything about it immediately disclaimed it: "Well, I'm definitely not a fan, but..." And I've done that too but hearing all that concentrated kneejerk response made me feel contrary, like I wanted to find some sort of defense of the genre, which I can't do at all because I've never seen a torture porn film. But we keep making them and maybe there's something there. Maybe I should watch Saw or something. Hmm.)

And then it was the lunch break and I went to the farmer's market in the square. Which was epic. Look, I live in a small town and we have a small town farmer's market. It's great but man, this one was huge. I bought cheese curds (because I am in Wisconsin) and the best lemon poppyseed cake I have ever eaten in my life and that was lunch.

After lunch, I went to the Post-Colonial Steampunk panel, which was fantastic and extremely thought-provoking. I'm digesting that, pretty much, and now I have new blogs to read.

Then I went to a Sci-Fi on TV panel, which I think was a mistake. I mean, parts of it were fun, but parts of it were very full of the kind of people who don't like certain shows and want to present their opinions on those shows as facts. I'm sure I've done that in the past but if you catch me doing it again, please stop me, because that is deeply irritating. I did a lot of knitting during that one. On the plus side, though, Seanan McGuire was one of the panelists and she is highly entertaining. (I should get around to reading her books one of these days...)

Next was Vids With Something to Say, which was really cool. I didn't go to the vidshow last night, but I look forward to watching it once the playlist gets posted and it was really cool getting to watch some of the vids and discuss them with people. I'm not terribly vid-literate, but I enjoy them a great deal and it's interesting to watch with people who are more literate because they notice things and then can explain them to me. 8)

Then dinner! I ventured forth to wander and find food and poke into shops. I did a bit of window-shopping but didn't buy anything and I got noodles at Noodles & Co. Which is pretty much a great idea because noodles! Of various and sundry kinds! All in one place! That's fabulous. I wish we had one where I live. I may go back tomorrow.

(Another odd thing, this time of the "Wow, I'm not in Washington" kind: I continue to be surprised by people smoking close to the entrances to buildings. Or restaurants and things with No Smoking signs because, y'know, I'm used that being the default.)

And now I am chilling in my hotel room because I am not a party person. This is really the perfect con structure for me - con stuff during the day and time to be quiet and decompress after dinner. Though, if I come again, I really will have to try harder to get a room in the con hotel.