Just a quick progress report to bring things up to speed.
Panels. It’s time to begin submitting your suggestions for panels. This is where the convention really begins to take shape, and it’s your opportunity to have it reflect your current interests. Look around at the topics that you’ve been discussing in groups or on LJ, wanting to discuss, or the unanswered (fannish) questions that have been preying on your mind.
The things to include with your suggestions are:
- Category: general, fandom-specific, tech/workshop
- Title. Note: Catchy titles get more votes. Panels with more votes are more likely to make the final cut.
- Description. Two or three sentences about the panel.
- Your badge name.
You can submit them any of the following ways:
- Respond to this post on the Escapade page
- Comment to this post on LJ
- Email to info@escapadecon.net with Panel Suggestion in the subject line.
Deadline for panel suggestions is January 23.
Once we’ve collected the panel suggestions, we’ll conduct online voting for the most popular panels, and begin creating the Escapade schedule.
Hotel Update.We’ve heard from some people that they’ve had trouble getting the rooms they want at the hotel at the convention rate ($125/night). I just spoke with our hotel representative today, and they have made more double rooms available at this rate. If you already booked your room and did not get the convention rate, please call the hotel. They should be able to accommodate you. Those of you who have not yet reserved your room, please do so as soon as possible, as the hotel is expected to fill up well before the convention weekend. We want to make sure you have a place to stay.
Escapade Scholarship. Each year we are delighted to offer a scholarship to someone who’s never attended Escapade before. We love to have new faces (and voices) at the convention. If you know someone who’s active in fandom (in the past we’ve had writers, vidders, artists, and essayists) that you think would be an asset to our community, let us know! Also, we gratefully accept contributions from the membership to help defray the cost of bringing this person to the convention. If you’d like to make a contribution to the scholarship fund, we’ll be adding a link to the Charity page on the Escapade site.
(Yes, late. But hey, meta doesn’t sleep!)
Category: General (Meta)
Slashability
What is it that makes a series/movie/book or RP pairing slashable? Is slashability different than ficcability? Or from shippiness? (Yes, we’re making up words here left and … left 🙂 What drives slashers more — characters or universe? What about a show with actors from favorite previous shows or one with brand new boyz with on-screen chemistry? And then there’s the difference between oblivious writers, and a very-transparent “fourth wall” with inside nods to the fans (and sometimes more obvious ones!) Finally, is there any way for fans to affect the slash-worthiness of a particular canon?
The thrill is gone — are slashy shows a thing of the past century?
In the age of TMI and everything on the table, with Brokeback Mountain almost a cliche already, what happens to the intense friendships spiced up by repressed angst? It seems like we’re forced into digging up deeper taboos to get any grist for the slash mill out of tv for a while now…
(fandom specific: Stargate Atlantis)
The Women of Atlantis.
SGA has some major women characters. What do we like about the way these women are written and portrayed? What makes us wince? Teyla’s pregnancy, Keller’s struggles to fit in, Sam’s transition to expedition leader, the fate of Weir–what do you think these about how these issues are being woven into the show’s narrative?
(fandom specific: Stargate Atlantis)
Hey, Let’s Build A ‘Ship!
We looove John and Rodney, and we love building a group narrative. So let’s pick some key episodes from each season and talk about the onscreen moments that are the most significant when we talk about our own personal arcs of the John/Rodney relationship. We probably won’t come to a single consensus in one hour, but I’ll bet we have a hell of a lot of fun.
How about another
Wayback Machine
At the start of the con, we’ll look over a list of some of the great panels from Escapade 1998. What were the hot topics 10 years ago? We’ll pick one, get a couple of volunteer moderators for it, and see how the conversation might be different this time around.
Or, on a related note:
What we want to talk about NOW
At the start of the con, we’ll brainstorm up a couple of topics that feel like hot issues in fandom today that aren’t anywhere on the con schedule. We’ll pick one, get a couple of volunteer moderators for it, and have an off-the-cuff panel about something that’s so up-to-the-moment we didn’t even manage to put it on the schedule in advance!
Fandom-specific
“Whither Potter Fandom?”
Well, Book 7 came out and we survived. Then JK gave “supplementary” details in interviews and we survived. (Easier if you were going la-la-la-la-la-I-can’t-hear-you, of course 🙂 But how are we really doing? What parts of Potter fandom are going to live on, and what parts will wither away? And why (or why not) will the zillions of new slash fans who came in via Potter stick around?
TreeWishes
Tech/Workshop
How to find and use free stuff on the web. All kinds of free webapps are available for fic, art, icons, communication, and all sort of other fannish stuff. Come share favorite sites — we can bookmark everything we talk about on del.icio.us in real time!
Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons: the gender politics of Friday Night Lights
(fandom-specific: FNL)
FNL offers us a pretty amazing window into the inner lives of the men and women (and girls and boys) of Dillon, Texas. What are the show’s messages about masculinity and femininity, and where do they (and don’t they) resonate for us? Does Jason’s broken body “queer” him? Who are Tim’s father figures (and, for that matter, who are Smash’s and Matt’s) now that his father is gone? What can we learn from Tyra’s relationship with her mother, or Julie’s relationship with hers? Is Coach Taylor the man we’d all like to be, the man we’d like to marry, the father we wish we’d had? What does it mean to be a “real woman” in Dillon, and what does it mean to be a “real man”?
Stargate Atlantis: crack!fic, AUs, and characterization, oh my!
(fandom-specific: SGA)
Space vampires, time travel, alternate universes, nanite robot replicant versions of our main characters, sentient giant whales, and exploding tumors: these are the realities of canon in the Pegasus Galaxy. Does having a fast-and-loose SF-style ‘verse explain the prevalence of crack!fic in SGA fandom? Do the show’s wacky plot twists encourage us to boldly go further out than other fandoms have gone before? And what happens when we go AU: why are John, Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla so recognizable even when they’re planted in Harlequin romance, NASCAR, a symphony orchestra, or a diner in Maine? How far can we bend them, and their canon, before they break?
(badge name: kassrachel)
Category: tech/workshop
Title: Photoshop 101
Description: Want to use a graphics program, but have no idea how to get started? This panel will teach you enough to be dangerous. Learn about layers, blending modes, brushes and other basics. Most of the concepts will work with other programs, like PSP and GIMP, but some translation might be required.
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I did something similar to this at ConStrict, and it went over pretty well. I’d also love it if someone more experienced than I would do an advanced Photoshop workshop–I’d totally be there.
Category: General
Title: He’s not Heavy, He’s my Brother
A look at brotherly love in TV and Film. Boondock Saints, Prison Break, Oz, Oceans 11-12-13, Friday Night Lights, and Supernatural all feature memorable brothers. What makes a “good” brother pairing? And why do go to the very special hell with some of them but not others?
Category: Tech
Title: Going Analog
At the end of the day, there’s just something about putting pen to paper. But there’s more to it than just that: Who makes the best pens? What nifty notebooks are out there? Where can I get the good paper? What’s this “circa” stuff? What’s a hipster PDA and how do I hack it? Let’s gather and share tips, tricks, and finds?
I have a panel suggestion!
Category: general
Title: You got meta in my squee!
Description: There’s a lot of discussion *about* fandom, analyzing who we are and why we do things. But is that taking the pure joyous fun out of it?
I’d love to do a panel on How to Research for Your Fic. I’m a professional researcher (I’ve done research for historical and contemporary documentaries), and I would love to give people the tools they can use to get that one neat little fact that will make their story that much more realistic.
Torchwood: Fantastic In Every Way?
Fans know that Torchwood has no shortage of pretty, hot and gay, but is there any there there? What can we say about Torchwood’s thematically, both on its own and in relation to Doctor Who?
Torchwood: The Long, Strange Trip of Captain Jack (The Sequel)
Last year, we looked at what we knew and thought we knew about Captain Jack’s confusing and nonlinear life. How has that changed and developed this year in light of new episodes of Torchwood and his reappearance on Doctor Who? What more can we say about his character, and where were we right and wrong?