Bit of Ivory

I decided I need to do a day-by-day recap of Nimbus. Thursday I already did pretty thoroughly, so I’ll go straight to Friday.

Friday started earlier than I would have liked. I think I got to bed at midnight, but because I was still on Utah time, it was only 10:00 for me (which as anyone who has ever IMed me knows, is ridiculously early for me to go to bed), so it took me much longer than that to get to sleep. The alarm went off at 6:00, and after hitting the snooze button about 4 times, I finally got up at 6:30, and managed to make it down to breakfast at 8:00 with the other SQers. We signed the FA birthday card, and took some pictures, and then headed off to the “Once Upon a Time Turner” panel, which was a history of the fandom. It would probably more accurately be called “a Highly Biased and Selective History of the Fandom”. It was really more of a history of Fiction Alley, with SQ thrown in as an afterthought, and GT not mentioned at all. I don’t think the panelists deliberately meant to exclude us– they gave a history of the fandom as they experienced it. If I had done the panel, I would have contacted all the different sites and asked them for a history of their site, but the panelists were young (they had been around from the beginning, but they were 12 or 13 at that time, so they’re actually younger than I am), and probably haven’t really thought much about how such things should be done. Anyway, after hearing how surprised people were that there were lots of Ron fans who wanted to “Bask in the Orange Glow” of SQ, I went to “The Importance of Being Ron,” a wonderful panel with the great Angua on it. Very entertaining and thought-provoking (and very well attended ). I only wish they had more than 50 minutes.

After that I went to “Fanwords: The Evolution of Fandom Vernacular in the Harry Potter Fandom” which was again sorely lacking in any information on SQ. The presenter was one of the same girls who did the fandom history panel, and while she was very knowledgable about “plebe” and where the Characteristic!Character convention came from, she again didn’t bother to find out if specific sites have specific slang. I was very helpful about SQ’s slang, which really isn’t slang per se as it is spelling. They were all mystified by the filter, which I thought was quite straightforward, and I’m not sure they got that the letter K doesn’t really exist as SQ. It’s a good thing I didn’t mention 87. It was still an interesting presentation, as was the one right after it, which was a more academic look at fandom lingo and how much it spreads or doesn’t spread across fandoms. The next hour didn’t offer any choices that I was particularly interested in, so I hung out at the exhibitor’s hall (called Compulsive Alley) and looked in the gameroom before going to the Keynote luncheon.

Judith Krug of the American Library Association was the speaker, and her topic was censorship. It was a very good speech, and I highly enjoyed it. The lunch wasn’t all that great, though– a butternut squash soup, a very weird salad, coffee or tea (neither of which I drink) and a cookie. Not worth the $26 I paid for it.

All of the presenations right after lunch were about social issues, which I’ve had more than enough of, so I didn’t go to either of them, instead hanging out with Sweeney and other SQers, making plans to go see Pirates of the Caribbean that night at Downtown Disney after we’d dropped off the birthday card for FA. I did go to Ebony Thomas’s panel entitled “Imperial Harry: Race, J.K. Rowling and the Post-Colonial Context,” even though it was about a social issue, because my Senior Course in the English major was about Empire and the English Novel, and I was interested in seeing what Ebony had to say. I also avoided the Slash panel, which was an added benefit. I’m really glad I went, because it turned out to be one of the best presentations I went to. I also stayed for the presenation right after, which was about house-elves mainly, which was also very interesting. Together they comprised the most thought-provoking hour I spent at Nimbus. I didn’t agree with everything that was said, but it was still extremely interesting, and Ebony and I found a bond that I never would have suspected existed.

I poked my head into the “Can Draco Malfoy be Redeemed” panel, but it was really, really full, and I didn’t feel like standing for an hour to listen to people being wrong. I did get a glimpse at the eminent Cassie Claire, who looked a lot different than I imagined her. Other than that, I couldn’t have told that she was even at the conference. I didn’t see her again. I also didn’t want to stay for the whole thing, because the panel on “Cloaks and Cauldrons: An Anti-Sterotypical Analysis of Wizarding Fashion” started about halfway through the Draco panel. It was basically a discussion about the costuming in the movies, and was very fun. The presenter, Mary McGrow, asked us to say what our favorite costumes were, and I raised my hand and mentioned Snape. At my “Anything Alan Rickman wears is good” comment, Mary literally fell on the floor. I couldn’t hear, but someone said something about her muttering “Alan Rickman in nothing.” I was rather happy to have gotten such a reaction.

It was tough to decide on what to attend during the last hour, but no one should be surprised when I tell you that I decided on “When Harry Met Jane: The Legacy of Austen in Rowling’s Harry Potter.” It was very, very good. Lots of connections that I had already seen, and lots and lots that I never thought of. A close second to the Postcolonial paper. I hope it’s published in hte proceedings, ’cause I would definitely like to read it again.

After the Austen presentation was over, there was really nothing for us to do until the FA birthday party started at 9. I ended up hanging out with various SQers, working on evidence and my opening statement with Angua for the debate the next day, and finally walking down to the Boardwalk with Antar Uriel and Sweeney to get some food, and waiting for to show up. I finally managed to get a hold of Mellie on her cell phone, and found out that she had already arrived while I was out getting food, and was already over at the Dolphin, which is the sister hotel to the Swan and was where the FA birthday party was being held. All of us SQers gathered at 9 and made our way over to the party to present the birthday card to the FA admins, who accepted it graciously. Before we did the official presentation, though, I finally got to meet Mellie, who is one of the very first people I met in the fandom and is just as cool in person as she is online. The FA mods put the card up on the DJ stand, and I would have liked to stay longer, but we had to skedaddle to make the movie.

When we got outside it was pouring. Absoloutely pouring, and we got completely soaked. After changing our clothes (and convincing two of my roommates to come along), Sweeney, Angua, Antar and I, along with Tracey and Laurel, hopped on a bus over to Downtown Disney and the AMC 24 theatres.

Unfortunately, we missed the showing we wanted to see, which was at 10:20, but we were pretty much right on time for an 11:00 one, so we went to that instead. We didn’t get home till after 2, but it was definitely worth it. One of the highlights of the convention. Sweeney hadn’t seen it yet, and Angua is such an Orlando Bloom fangirl, it was just a blast. Angua ended up watching Johnny Depp more than Orlando this time around, though. I can’t really blame her, as he’s much closer to her age than Sexy Pirate Boy. It was still all about Orlando for me, though.

When we got back to the hotel I found Mellie sitting outside our hotel room. She didn’t have a key. By the time we got everyone in, and the cot sent up and set up, it was 3:00. And I hadn’t finished my opening statement.

So ends Friday. I’ll write up Saturday later.