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Well, after a lovely weekend at MediaWest, I am, in the words of Blake's 7, down and safe.

If I don't do a post-con report now, the chances of my ever having the time or energy to do one will rapidly diminish, so here are some of the highlights...

After many pre-con hotel and airline disasters,

st_crispins and I managed to perfectly time our rendezvous at the Detroit Airport. She hit the curb at the pick up area just as I drove up. I like to think we used up all our bad karma in the flurry of screwed up hotel reservations and cancelled flights that preceded the con.

The traditional Thursday night U.N.C.L.E. dinner was held at the Ponderosa, though with numbers sadly depleted from previous years. We used to be able to fill the back room with the many cousins who made the MW pilgrimmage. This year, family obligations and personal crises meant many of the usual crew couldn't make it and we managed only to fill a single, if large, table. Those who couldn't attend were definitely missed. But it was nice to see those in attendance,

st_crispins, Sue S., Brenda D. and company.

In general, this MW was much more sparsely attended than even the last one I made it to, two years ago. There were fewer dealers, fewer door decorations, fewer hall dealers. I felt like I was witnessing the beginning of the end of an event that has been an important part of my life since 1995 when I attended my first one. (I've only missed two years since then, 1996 and last year.) I'm hoping I'm wrong and that the usual U.N.C.L.E. crew will return next year.

But enough of the melancholy. There was plenty of fabulousness to be had. For me, MW has always been about seeing friends and meeting new people. As wonderful as it is to correspond with people online, nothing beats hanging out with them in person, talking your favourite fandoms, chatting about new shows or movies or music and just generally having a relaxed time. There was plenty of that going on.

I was lucky enough to share a room with

st_crispins, and though I didn't see her too much during the day, it was great to be able to talk film and actors and academic politics in the evenings with her.

I spent a great deal of the con with

faramir_boromir, who'd only just flown in from England and was still on UK time. Which was okay, since that synced up well with the Rosalind time I seem to be permanently on. (Need to be up at 7 a.m. without an alarm? Live with a small child and you'll never have a problem with that again.) We got to talk Pros and theatre and music and share news of our sweeties and generally have a fab time.

faramir_boromir and I got to spend some time with

artconserv at her dealer's table, and while we did talk fandom, we also got

artconserv to talk about her art conservation work, and she and f_b shared archive stories. Lest we get totally away from fandom, I picked up this print of

artconserv's painting of Bodie in fencing gear. And more excitingly, the original oil of a portrait of Doyle that she hasn't posted online yet, but trust me, it's lovely. (Now I've just got to figure out how to re-arrange the art in my office space so I can hang it.)

I also was happy to be able to spend time with Kath Moonshine and Glow, who apart from being zine publishers, writers and the masterminds behind the Eastern Media Con, are just wonderfully nice people who are always welcoming to this Canadian.

I sat on three panels, one on why police/crime fighting shows draw fandoms, one on Pros and why it's experiencing something of a resurgence online, and one on U.N.C.L.E. and the DVDs. It will come as no surprise to those on the flist that I had the best time on the Pros panel, where f_b,

sc_fossil, Elessar and I talked about things like the various Pros LJ comms, the TV Lounge boards, and the continued pull that Pros has on our hearts. (I'd just like to do a shout out to

towerbridge2006, who it was lovely to talk with after the panel and then at various times throughout the con.) Though I didn't have much to contribute to the U.N.C.L.E. panel, it was fun to hear

st_crispins talk about the stuff that went on behind the scenes to get the UNCLE DVDs out.

The vid shows were, like the con itself, a bit sparse this year, just 1 1/2 hours of gen and a mere 30 minutes of slash. I kept missing the gen show, but did manage to catch the slash show. Twice! (I was showing two of my Pros vids, Love's Not a Competition and Believe, and couldn't resist seeing a) how they look on the big screen and b) how they went over with the audience. Let's just say I am satisfied on both counts. *g*) Stampede Productions, who usually do gen vids, produced two of the most charming vids in the slash show: a Willow/Tara Buffy vid to Lovin' Spoonful's Do You Believe in Magic and a Starsky & Hutch vid to Michael Buble's Everything. They both put a smile on my face.

The final morning of a con is always bittersweet, what with all the running around and trying to say goodbye to all the people you won't see for at least another year, and today was no exception. There are always too many people to see and not nearly enough time to see all of them sufficiently.

I dropped

st_crispins safely at the Detroit airport and continued on to Toronto with

stormheller, with whom I didn't get to spend nearly enough time during the con.

Hope you all made it home safely and I hope to see you all (

obelix!

graculus!

thefannishwaldo!

mrlnpndrgn! Not to mention all the people I know I've forgotten) next year.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sarren.livejournal.com

I am so, so jealous. No, really.

How many people would count as "sparsely attended"?

Also, by the time Rosalind turns six you'll have her trained to play quietly in her room til you wake up. *looks shifty* What?

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