Entries tagged with cons

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"Snow sliding off some wall-like precipice, / And voice of spirits passing through the night"

A few awesome things:

Trailer for Shake the Dust, a documentary about breakdancers from the slums of Uganda, Yemen, Cambodia, and Colombia. Seriously good moves on show. (via)

Congressman John Lewis cosplaying as himself at ComiCon. (via)

"Sea-Fever" by Arthur Guiterman, plus the Masefield poem it parodies.

---L.

Subject quote from "Night," George Gilfillan.

Entry tags:

cons,
origami

"Where shall we find her, how shall we sing to her, / Fold our hands round her knees and cling?"

I'm back from Origami USA 2014, three days of folding and more folding in New York. It was, indeed, interesting to see how that fandom is similar to and different form SF, anime, and comics fandoms. Because all participants are being in some measure artistic/creative, the line between creators and consumers is much more blurry. As symbol of this, the hospitality area was a large hall filled with tables, where everyone congregated when not in a session -- folding, socializing, networking, teaching each other models and techniques, all activities that also blur together.

A very strong ethos of sharing and teaching other. Passing it on. Yes, SF writers do this, but teaching is the fundamental interaction between folders. Also: many, many children. Roughly twice as many boys as girls, but the proportions were roughly the same for both pre-teens and teens. Adults, roughly equal men and women -- it was hard to judge exactly, as the non-participating guardians for younger children were overwhelmingly mothers rather than fathers.

Speaking of teaching, I attended formal sessions for learning six models, which I will share

( under a cut because many pictures )

Oh, but I do have to share this one photo from the exhibit hall: "witch girl" by Mitsugu Otani:

I think Studio Ghibli fans can supply names to that witch and that cat. And all of us, several superlative adjectives to the designer for folding this from a single (very large) square of paper.

---L.

Subject quote from "Atalanta in Calydon," Algernon Charles Swinburne.

Entry tags:

cons,
linkage

"if I could change your mind / I'd really like to break your heart / I'd really like to shout"

This weekend Nov 9-12 I'll be at TusCon 39, our local science fiction convention, where I'll again be leading a bad poetry round-robin reading -- this time it's Friday at 10-11 pm, a time that should make all participants suitably punchy. I'm also scheduled for:

Sat 5-6 pm - Giving the milk away for free - risk and benefits of posting projects on the internet
Sun 10-11 am - Critiquing Science Fiction, how to write a good critique or review

If you're in the area, do come -- it'll be a blast. Especially the bad poetry. We do this "Eye of Argon" style -- you read until you crack up, then pass it to the next person. And oh yes, there's plenty of bad stuff beyond McGonagall.

P.S. BTW, those downloads of backlist Met pubs I linked to? They're still adding titles -- they're up to 650-odd now.

---L.

Current Music: Later Auden, Edward Mendelson

Entry tags:

cons

WFC question

Since LJ often seems to have answers to life's little questions:

Does anyone know if a poetry reading has been organized @ World Fantasy this year? And if so, how to get in on the hot line-breaking action?

For that matter, is anyone here going that I don't already know about? Assuming you want to, yanno, meet or something like that.

---L.

Entry tags:

cons,
fiction

"The highway takes its toll / the green light flashes go / and it's Welcome to Ohio"

So next month, I'll be on a local con panel on what's hot in SF/F/H in 2009. To say I'm not hip to what's hot in adult SF is as much understatement as it is painfully outdated slang. Thankfully, though, AKICOLJ -- so I ask you, got any recommendations?

Parameter: must be science fiction or fantasy published in the States in 2009. And be hot.

I have a sense of what's up in YA, but feel free to rec those too. And, yes, Catching Fire is on the top of my list.

---L.

Entry tags:

cons,
origami

I don't have an origami icon. This is Not Good.

kate_nepveu asked for a pic of the griffin I folded during TusCon this weekend.* By the time I got back to the hotel lobby, it had vanished,** so as a substitute, here's a Chinese dragon by the same designer*** in a crappy, unprocessed cell-phone shot.

Almost as cute. Made from 15x15cm paper acquired from the pusher. I should have taken a picture of it facing the western-style dragon, but didn't think to.

* In my defense, they put a packet of origami paper outside the anime room. Like I was supposed to ignore it? Besides, the registration desk looked lovely, decked in fantasy creatures and connected cranes.

** Which is a pity, as it was way cute at 2" long.

*** John Montroll, from Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami.

---L.

Current Music: Locked Rooms, Laurie R. King

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Notes toward a panel that didn't happen

Of my NASFic panels, the one I prepared for the most had none of the intended audience -- it was part of the Young Adult track and no teens showed up (just the other panelist's friend and, after 40 minutes, Rich Horton) and we ended up talking around the subject for a while. So here's a slightly expanded transcription of my shorthand notes of advice for young poets.

Along Genre Lines: How Poetry Works in Writing

References:

How Does a Poem Mean?, John Ciardi (good beginner stuff)
A Poet's Guide to Poetry, Mary Kinzie (excellent)
Rhyme's Reason, John Hollander (wonderous)
All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing, Timothy Steele (sometimes misleading, but has some good bits)

The mechanics of poetry are tools for shaping how a reader responds to the poem. Every poem/fiction is a rhetorical act -- you have to convince the reader of what you're trying to convey. Authority (which is part of voice) is essential, and every break in your control damages that. Some mechanics:

Rhyme and other sound echoes (alliteration, assonance) create associations between the concepts.
Rhythm (meter) creates expectation -- which you can then break, to create emphasis.

Can use to give emphasize or undercut: for oversimplified ex, with an unreliable narrator, try breaking from regular meter at each lie.

Tricks-n-tips: Never stretch syntax (say something in a way you wouldn't in ordinary speech) to fit a rhyme scheme or meter. Or if you do, use it to make the first line of the rhyme, not the second. Sestinas are good form for a narrative poem on an obsessive topic. Villanelle - variation.

Form enforces concision -- if you master it, rather than let it master you.

Write, write, write. Even the failures teach. Read. Learn. Engage. Be convincing.

---L.

Current Music: A Choice of Kipling's Verse, ed. T.S. Eliot

Entry tags:

cons,
manga

My annotated NASfic schedule

My NASfic schedule:

Thu 2 Aug, 6:00pm (GC - Marquette A) - Figuring Out the Figurative: Elizabeth Barrette (M), Beth Meacham, Thomas Stratman, Laura LeHew, Larry Hammer
Fri 3 Aug, 9:00pm (GC - Marquette B) - (YA) Learn About the World of Manga: Larry Hammer, anyone I can draft
Sat 4 Aug, Noon (GC - Marquette B) - (YA) Poetry - Along Genre Lines: Larry Hammer, Laura LeHew

Annotations:

Thu - Beth, will you be there? My plane lands at 4:30 so there's a chance I'll be late.
Fri - The other panelist has dropped out. Anyone want to join me? Does anyone have any manga they want me to mention?
Sat - I confess I'm to blame for the title of this one. Now I have to figure out what I meant by that. And why it's a YA panel.

---L.

ETA: I'm now also on a non-YA panel on Manga, Fri 1 pm, thus completing the grid.