Gaylaxicon Day 3

[lance_sibley]

Another low-key day at the con today. I had intended to be up by 10 so that I could go to the Network Forum panel, but slept through the alarm and didn't get up until about 11:30. When I got downstairs, I realized that there was no official programming taking place (this con has scheduled meal breaks) and so I went with a group to the Pancake House nearby, where I had Waffles Benedict. qvamp was complaining afterwards of not feeling well, and yes, this place used a lot of oil in their cooking. I was fine until about 3, when my stomach started complaining as well, but it was nothing serious.

At 4, I went to a panel called "Reader/Viewer Bias", where we talked about whether readers impose their own values or beliefs on the books they read. It was interesting - C.S. Friedman talked about some of the fan art people have sent her depicting her main character as a blond, muscular, Nordic god, when in her books, she explicitly describes him - and he's not even white, much less Nordic. Tristan Alexander, who is an artist, was also on the panel and he talked about the prejudices people have about his art, since he primarily draws male nudes, many of which appear to be very young. He doesn't view them as erotic at all, but others do and give him a hard time about his subject matter. I talked to him for a few minutes after the panel and ended up buying a couple of greeting cards from him in the Dealers' Room. He'd mentioned that he does commissions, as well, and as I have something in mind that seems to mesh with his style of art, I got his contact information.

I found myself going out again for dinner, this time to a Mongolian Grill. I had wanted to be back in time for the movie night at 7, but didn't get back until about 7:30, when I discovered (much to my dismay) that Dr. Horrible had been first on the program. (I had expected it to be saved for later.) So I only got to see the third part. :( I do have to say, though, that Nathan Fillion is a much better singer than I expected him to be. Now I have to watch the whole thing.

Following Dr. Horrible we saw the Star Trek Phase II episode "Blood And Fire". Not all of the effects were finished yet, and some of the sound still needs to be cleaned up, but oh my god, what a powerful story. The actor who plays Peter Kirk almost had me in tears. (I'll have to remember to tell him next time I see him - only one of the Hidden Frontier/New Voyages/Phase II people is here this year, as they're currently filming a new episode in upstate New York. IIRC, Bobby was at last year's Gaylaxicon in Atlanta (and possibly at one or two before that - I'm not certain which con we first met at - and Carlos usually comes, as does J.T., but not this year. Come to think of it, I'm mildly surprised that Dennis Bailey isn't here, since he's a writer for them and he even lives here in Washington.)

After "Blood And Fire", we saw a very strange experimental film called Praxis. About all I can say about that was that the lead actor was hot, but the way the story was told was difficult to follow (all of the scenes are out of chronological order, scenes are repeated, and what dialogue there was was very minimalist). Going ten minutes with nothing but symbolic shots was fine for Kubrick, but this film was only good for nearly putting me to sleep. (That being said, once the movie was over I understood what it was all about, but getting there was painful.)

The last film I stayed for was a short about gay werewolves. It seemed to be a Canadian production - there was one shot taken in front of the sign for the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, and two of the characters were referred to as "good Alberta boys", but overall it was pretty laughable. Even qvamp, who supplied it, seemed to think it was a pretty pathetic movie (but he did say it was the "best gay werewolf movie out there". Considering that it's probably the only gay werewolf movie out there, that's not surprising...

I spent the rest of this evening hanging out in the con suite. At one point I thought I heard my name being mentioned across the room, and troystar said "there's someone over there who's asking who you are." I didn't see anyone over there whom I didn't know, though, except for Geoff Ryman, the author Guest of Honour... and it turned out he was the one asking about me. It seems he has relatives in Montreal and he'd like an excuse to visit them, so we talked for a few minutes and he gave me his email address.

I don't know exactly what my schedule is going to be for tomorrow - I may try to stay right until Closing Ceremonies, as my flight leaves just before 6. Since Closing Ceremonies are at 1, I may even be able to stay for some of the Dead Dog party, assuming there is one.

Comments

[minotaurs.livejournal.com]

Well, aside from how all werewolf movies could be considered gay werewolf movies, there's the excellent Wolves of Kromer, which is pretty explicitly gay.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I think that was shown a couple of years ago - it rings a bell, and I think I liked it.

Perhaps qvamp was referring to new gay werewolf movies only, or perhaps he's not familiar with that one (though I highly doubt that - he seems to be quite the horror aficionado).

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I would think Saki's "Gabriel-Ernest" might be considered a subtextually-gay short story.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Has it been made into a film? Because I was specifically talking about the films that were shown during the movie night on Sunday.

But I'll have to see if I can track down a copy of the story.

[esprix.livejournal.com]

Tristan. heh.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I detect a story waiting to be told. :)