WisCon 38: A Schedule, of Sorts

WisCon is this weekend! I am super-excited because Savitri is coming with me, and the Feminist Batwoman and her boyfriend will be there, and I’ll get to see lots of cool peeps from tumblr. Also I think someone I met through Ravelry, oddly enough. If you will also be at WisCon, hooray! Come find me! Here is my schedule so far as I know it, with the following handy-dandy coding:

• Places I will definitely be
• Places I will almost definitely be
• Places I would like to be
• there are lots of gaps in the schedule because I know better than to try to plan out where I’ll be for each and every timeslot. Suffice to say I will probably be at a lot of panels. And crashing hard in the con suite.

THURSDAY:

• I’d like to go to the readings but appear to have a school event at the same time. Because I teach astronomy.

FRIDAY:

• 2:30 – 3:00 Irresistible: X-philia, Shipping, and the Joys of Requited Love
• 3:00 – 3:45 The Women of Dr Who: Dr Who has 99 Problems and Stephen Moffat is All of Them
  Seeing as I know (or “know”) half of the panelists, I should really be there for the whole thing, but I NEED to hear the X-philes paper
• 4:00 – 5:30 Green Room
• 7:00 – 8:30 Opening Ceremonies
• 8:30 – 10:45 Green Room

SATURDAY:

• 1:00 – 2:15 Found Families in Speculative Fiction
  I should probably mention that I’m on this panel. So, you know, if you want to hear me blather about Tamora Pierce and my “sisters” and whatnot, this is the time and the place.
• 7:30 – 9:00 Tiptree Auction
• 9:00 – 10:15 The Case Against Steven Moffat
• 10:30 – 11:45 “Lift With Your Legs, Not With Your Back”
• After That: Haiku Earring Party
  

SUNDAY

• 4:00 – 5:15 Towards a Female Gaze
  My second panel of the con. This seems to be the timeslot with EVERYTHING in it but I think we’re going to have a really good discussion so if you can tear yourself away from everything else, come by!
• 7:30 – 8:30 Dessert Salon
• 8:30 – 9:45 Guest of Honor Speeches

MONDAY:

• 10:00 – 11:15 Tumblr Culture: Social Justice and Feels
• 2:30 – 3:45 Post-Mortem

YAY WISCON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope to see you there!

 

FO: PicoPika

Project Page: PicoPika
Pattern: Mini Pikachu by Josephine Ruff-Sloan
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Semolina, plus a few other scraps
Made for: EVERYTHING NEEDS MOAR CHUS

 

Lois & Clark & Consent: Romance and Rape Culture in Man of Steel

Disclaimer the first: Spoilers ahead! I really can’t discuss what I want to without discussing specific incidents and plot points, so consider this your warning.

Disclaimer the second: I am by no means an expert in the Superman canon, but most of what I’m going to discuss is not heavily canon-dependent. Also, fun fact: canon is not sacred, especially in comics. See this post by saathi1013 on tumblr for a more eloquent argument than I can draft; the last few paragraphs talk about canon in comics.

Probably the best superhero promo image EVER. Click for a tumblr discussion of why it’s so awesome.

I saw Man of Steel a few weeks ago, and some things have been percolating in my brain since. There’s the usual – Henry Cavill is hot, Zack Snyder is allergic to transitions, Hollywood fails at science, where are the Kryptonians of Color? – but what’s really been bugging me is Lois.

 

THP Supplemental: We’re Dune!

Ohhhhh, bad pun. I am my father’s daughter, after all.

I think the Hugo Project has been at this rest-stop long enough.

We read Dune.
We watched the 1984 film adaptation.
We read Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.
We watched Frank Herbert’s Dune and Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune.

I did actually make it through God-Emperor of Dune; in fact, I liked it more than I liked Messiah or Children, probably because the fact that Leto became (literally) monstrous made me more free to dislike him. Well, not more free – I’m free to like or dislike any characters I damn well want to. But it felt less like I was expected to pity him…so I was actually more likely to do so. If that makes sense.

 

THP Supplemental: Frank Herbert’s Dune and Children of Dune

Our explorations of Dune have stumbled into their second month as we continue exploring the various derivative works inspired by Frank Herbert’s 1966 novel. The Hugo Project is making an extended stop on Arrakis for the merry month of May as we explore 1966’s Dune and the works it inspired. This week it’s on to the miniseries Frank Herbert’s Dune and Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune, produced by the Sci Fi Channel in 2000 and 2003.

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WisCon Ho!

You may choose to interpret the title as an amusing paraphrase of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or you may chose to interpret it as a reference to the fact that I get all tingly thinking about a long weekend devoted to science fiction and social justice. Either option is equally valid.

Anyway, WisCon starts tomorrow! Technically, there was a reading at A Room of One’s Own tonight, but I’m feeling emo and sedentary so I didn’t go. The Opening Ceremonies aren’t until tomorrow, anyway (and I’m totally ducking out of work early to go knit at the Gathering and put in a volunteer shift).

Even more exciting…SAVITRI IS COMING TOO!! Probably not tomorrow, but she and I will geek together Saturday and Sunday. A lot. A helpful infographic, for those who don’t understand the amazingness that is WisCon:

Will I be conscious by the time Monday evening rolls around? Who cares!? I’M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my reward for surviving my first semester of grad school…even though I think I will have to duck in and out to do some directing at Ye Olde Theatrical Bedlam. Oh well. I am hiding from the world (read: school, work, other work, work-I-don’t-get-paid-for, family, housework) as much as humanly possible this weekend and it will be GLORIOUS.

Haven’t decided which panels I’m going to yet (and, let’s be honest, I’ll probably be making most of those decisions spur-of-the-moment) but I will be at the Gathering, the Opening Ceremonies, the Tiptree Auction, and the Genderfloomp! party. If you will be there too, let me know and we’ll arrange some super-secret signal to find each other.

Also, the awesome Space Girl/Space Babe fan video, set to the equally awesome “Space Girl” by The Imagined Village:

Things will no doubt be rather silent around here for the next little bit as I a) enjoy WisCon, b) recover from WisCon, and c) start dealing with Real Life again, but I’ll try to keep the posts coming. The Hugo Project will continue. The crafting will continue. And since I will be without C.D. aka the Feminist Batwoman this year (waahhhhhh!), I suppose I’ll actually have to do a proper con report…

 

THP Supplemental: Dune (1984)

Dune month continues here at STK! The Hugo Project is making an extended stop on Arrakis for the merry month of May as we explore 1966’s Dune and the works it inspired. A movie was made in 1984 (which is a really bad way to begin any story…). In the grand tradition of this disaster, I have watched the movie…with similar results. The rambling is a little more coherent, but the degree of fuckery is no smaller.

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Happy Geekster!

AKA Geeky Easter. Because really, with Mitu and me, could it be anything else? I mean, I’m a Pagan and she’s an Atheist…but we both loves us some crafty insanity. So we got chicken eggs and plastic eggs and dye and paint and beads, scrounged up some markers and candles and paper, put in the ’95 Pride & Prejudice and went to town.

 

FO: Sevens

Project Page: Sevens
Pattern: My design
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Fingering in Forest Heather, Agate Heather, Eggplant,
Sprinkle Heather, and Midnight Heather (yes, I was using up scraps)
Made for: Hibbsy for our Ranger Pick-Me-Up swap (I also sent her some gorgeous yarn from Three Irish Girls!)

 

Mijos

You know you love it.

Valentine’s Day has always been a rather ‘meh’ holiday for me. My family isn’t big on it (my father, the professor, once famously scheduled an evening exam on February 14th) and the one year I actually had an SO on Valentine’s day, we were on different continents. Timing, I excel at it.

Anyway. When I think of Valentine’s day, if I think of it at all, I tend to think of it as a day to recognize the people in my life that I love. Not the One Person I Love Above All Others With An All-Consuming Passion That Is Totally Healthy (Sarcasm), but the people who make my world a little warmer. The people who inspire fiercest emotions in me.

This year, and today, especially, after work, I am thinking about my students.