by Bruce BethkeReporting live from Dragon*Con, where the word of the day is "madhouse." I heard one estimate that there were 75,000 people here yesterday, and all of them apparently trying to use the same escalator in the Hyatt at the same time. Getting between the Hyatt and the Marriott, or getting from one floor to another inside the Marriott, is like—well, actually, I have nothing in my experience base to compare this to. Absolutely nothing. Even open festival "stampede" seating for a Who concert was nothing like this.
On the other hand, it's also largely a media and comic convention, seemingly striving to become Comic-Con East, so the writing- and publishing-related panels, when you can find them, are not overcrowded, and there's plenty of opportunity for face time with writers, editors, and publishers afterward. In fact, whenever we print-media people bump into each other, there's a brief moment of "My God! At last, someone I recognize!" before we resume our normal cool and professional demeanor. I've had a few good conversations with a few old friends and professional associates. Everyone seems somewhere between apprehensive and depressed over the current state of print publishing.
On the brighter side, once you get finished with those conversations and back out into the con, because of the media and comic emphasis, there is a wondrous abundance here of nubile young women wearing as close to nothing as is legally permissible. To say that some have costumes that are only painted on is not an exaggeration. I was going to post some of my snapshots this morning, but on further review, I'm going to have to think very carefully about what I choose to post and then crop even more carefully. I've seen nothing yet to compare to the legendary busty redhead in chain mail and nothing else (which was not apparent to the eye at the time, but instantly and overwhelming obvious when reviewing the flash photography later), but a lot of my photos are far more revealing than I'd realized they'd be.
On the brightest side, though, the number of overweight women stuffed into "Zena" BDS&M leather and towing around their little "Gabrielle" sidekicks is reduced to almost nothing. Maybe that fan fashion trend has finally, blessedly, run its course.
On the gripping hand, the word of the weekend is "steampunk." Steampunk steampunk steampunk! As best I can tell the only coherent message steampunk has to offer is that SF has finally run completely out of new ideas and is reduced to autophagy, but I'll have to cogitate upon this at greater length before I develop a fully formed opinion. In the meantime, it does present the fans who can't pull off the skintight spandex or painted-on costume look with the opportunity to create some really fascinating and weird outfits.
Finally, it was great to meet Henry, Arisia, M, Leatherwing, and BWWB face-to-face at last. We had a terrific time Friday night, reading and
The results of the judging will be posted later today, at some random time yet to be determined.
Posts
