Whimventure Day 2

It’s a Con Day

Note: I tried to send this out with a video of a Tesseract and it seemed to confuse things. Here’s the non-video version. Still learning the nature of the Substack iOS app.

Today was all about LAcon V aka WorldCon.  I took the entire day to attend sessions to immerse myself in whatever.

Draw a Dragon with Tim Kirk: Adults’ Workshop

From the Program: “Ready to bring a dragon to life? Join Guest of Honor and Disney artist Tim Kirk to learn how. Learn tips, techniques, and creative secrets from a master illustrator as you create your own legendary creature. (This workshop is for adults.)”

So… drawing a dragon🤔 I tend to go to some sessions to see how other people do things, especially professionals. This was a session that had limited space so the day before you had to sign up online to be put into a lottery. An hour or so after the sign up closed they alerted people of their status via email. Being paranoid/anxious I made sure I had done this early in the day.  After getting confirmation I arrived early and got to watch people who hadn’t read the description or instructions find out that there was a waiting list.  I felt bad, but after the non compliant rule benders at the Freebie Table the previous day I decided to stay quiet.  If allowed, these people would camp out taking spots from people who had read and done what they were supposed to. Yes, I’m lawful good(ish).

Drawing in another person’s style can be interesting. Yes, I stuck to non photo blue pencils then pencil over the top if I had time.

Autographing: John Scalzi

I began reading Scalzi with Redshirts and stuck with his more humorous works until I had run out.  I then delved into Old Man’s War and found, while different, a series I really enjoyed. I follow Scalzi in social media and was fanboy shy when I met him, but look forward to his next book.

Cecil with John Scalzi. I’m finding I don’t do photos of Cecil with celebrities as much as I once did.

1966 Time Capsule: What Made Star Trek Ahead of its Time?

From the Program: “Travel back to 1966 to explore why Star Trek felt boldly futuristic from day one. How did its optimism, diverse cast, and social questions challenge television norms of the time? Which creative and cultural choices helped it speak not only to its moment, but to decades beyond it?”

With this being the 60th anniversary of Star Trek and Star Trek being the grandfather of all big fandoms in the U.S. I wanted to hear what the panelist had to say.  Due to the book signing I came in late.

By the time I arrived they were talking about the social and cultural changes.  One was the mini skirt.  While in our current society we think of it as sexist in the 60’s it was actually rebellious.  One audience member recalled how school dress codes made girls get on their knees to prove their skirts were the proper length. The morals of the time that Star Trek tried to get around that nowadays we chuckle over.  Star Trek was “woke” at the time and still tries to push those boundaries.

Barbara Hambly: A Life in Fantasy, Mystery, and History

From the Program: “Join Christine Valada for a special conversation with her friend and colleague of more than 30 years: our wonderful Guest of Honor, Barbara Hambly. A master of fantasy, mystery, horror, and historical fiction, Hambly has delighted readers for decades with her richly imagined worlds and unforgettable characters. Together, they’ll explore her writing journey, creative inspirations, publishing experiences, and memories from a remarkable career in speculative fiction.”

I think I started reading Barbara Hambly when I picked up Those Who Hunt the Night.  A detective story with vampires. As I am finding in my advanced (but not too advanced) age - I don’t know everything and was pleased to learn about all of the other series she had written along with her personal history.  As the description suggests this was just two friends sitting on stage reminiscing, with a hundred or so people listening in. I highly recommend reading her stuff and will be checking my library for titles to fill the Dungeon Crawler Carl void.

Autographing: Larry Niven

Second run at autographing I had brought an old copy of Niven & Barnes seminal work - Dream Park the story of solving a murder mystery in the middle of a LARP.  This book is a fall back for me.  If I need to escape- this is one of a handful of books I pick up. I can start reading it from anywhere and will usually read it to the end in one sitting. Like many series, I feel this first book is the best- your mileage may differ. Like many of my favorites I loaned my hardcover copy to someone and never saw it again.

Can We Still Build Star Trek’s Utopian Society?

From the Program: “Though advances in technology have brought us closer than ever to the kind of future envisioned in the Star Trek franchise, soaring economic inequality, climate change, illegal wars, ideological extremism and polarization makes that future feel further and further away every day. Panelists will discuss how we might still be able to get to a society like Star Trek’s from here.”

Lots of optimism in the panel.  Should we plan for changes in 2045? Maybe 2050?

Do our elected officials have the political will? (Duh, no) Can everyone’s needs be met? I found it interesting that the hedge fund expert on the panel felt taxing the wealthy wasn’t a good solution.  That said, most panelists seem to believe we have the solutions, it just means making some politically difficult decisions. Star Trek comes from a united Earth- heck, Europe can’t even stay together.  It takes one political snake oil salesman to trash decades of work.  Fortunately it will take a decade or so to clean up the current mess, longer, if you consider how many things keep happening.

We need to “Plant the seeds for a tree that we will never enjoy the shade.” I think many in society are too Ferengi to even consider this.

Can we do it before a hard reset? In Trek it was a decimating war or two that finally led to utopia.

One suggestion was to create a single united government in the western hemisphere-US, Canada, Mexico… drop the names and national identities. Patriotism, xenophobia, and the current isolationist policies are a roadblock. Think the EU and Brexit. If we did, would it last?

There was a brief mention of how we were able to unite (kinda) during COVID do we have the resiliency to do it again? I have to remind myself I’m in California and many of these people didn’t get the societal pushback from living in a deeply red state.

The end was a call to action to vote to become politically active.  To dream the big dream… personally, I’d like to think it’s possible, but then I read the headlines.🙄

D&D Actual Play at LAcon V!

From the Program: “Do you like Critical Role or Dimension 20? Are you into D&D? Are you interested in tabletop roleplaying games? Join us for a live D&D adventure with author and long-time Dungeon Master Gregory A. Wilson. He will lead a band of intrepid explorers into the depths of a thrilling and dangerous adventure, interacting with the audience as they go!”

I decided to attend this for two reasons- first I had said in my Gen Con post I wanted to see a live play through of an adventure. Now I have.  I wanted to compare my running a game with someone who does it in a more professional setting.  You see many people listen or watch people playing an RPG and figure that all games are like that.  They don’t take into account the players all have acting or improv experience.  Then they complain when things aren’t like what they expected.  The problem is not always that your DM doesn’t do voices. It might have something to do with the players.

Secondly it ended the same time that an event Sue had mentioned started.

In tonight’s game I found it interesting the number of players saying they were fairly new at playing D&D “proper.” Teenagers from Outer Space sounds interesting, something I may have to research.

I do apologize to everyone, the person who came up and started a conversation with me?  I didn’t know them.  I tried to politely ignore them so I could actually keep following what was going on with the game. I was just trying to be nice by not saying “Leave.”  Nice guy, just took a while to take the hint.  Any other time? Sure, let’s chat. In the middle of a session? Not cool.

DJ Scalzi Discotheque

I’m a socially awkward introvert who avoids events like this (no matter how awesome the DJ is) like the plague.  My wife tells me about it with a hint I should attend? “As you wish” is my reply. Cecil had a good time, I cosplayed a wallflower in an extroverts jean jacket.

Cecil doing “the Monkey” to whatever Maestro Scalzi has chosen.

Cecil enjoys an “Obi Wan” Old Fashioned before hitting the dance floor