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This ANZAC weekend was the local scifi con, Swancon. And like so many recent cons, it was online.

This was an interesting experience! I was unfortunately very sleepy this weekend so wasn't up for a bunch of content I'd been looking forward to, but participated in couple of Youtube chats via Watch2gether, which were super fun. I also submitted to and checked out the online art gallery, which was a cute virtual space you could wander around.

There were also video chats, online board games, etc. There's been a bunch of discord conversations leading up to Swancon, too, and the possibility of a bookclub etc following the con.

The first thing we watched on Youtube was the Australian production of the Phantom of the Opera Sequel musical, Love Never Dies. It was very entertainingly bad, and we all ended up shipping Meg/Christine and Phantom/Raoul more than any of the canon ships.
( In which I drag Andrew Lloyd Webber for his terrible filk )

Thought I should mention it while I remember. (Also I just gave my self a minor burn and need a distraction, sorry if this is a bit badly worded as a result)

There's no big reason, mainly I've been finding it more of a strain on my health so we wanted to try not going and see if we regretted it. If I feel unexpectedly energetic I might take the train down for Saturday but I wouldn't count on it.

Hope you all have fun without us!

Sorry to the many people I did not speak to/was vague at, I was EXTRA SPECIALLY sleepy this weekend, on the plus side all the resting I had to do means I don't actually feel that bad now.

Between all the resting I still had a pretty good time! The Metro's accessibility issues weren't as bad as I thought they'd be, and having Cam to drive me around meant the lack of nearby restaurants wasn't too big of an issue for me personally. Didn't make many panels but the ones I went to were fun, and next years con looks pretty promising. The only guest I really talked to was Joyce Chng/jolantru but she was very nice and had interesting things to say.

I wore a they/them pronoun sticker and mentioned my genderfluidness when it was relevant, and got no negative pushback whatsoever. I think partly because a sticker on the bottom of a lanyard on a wheelchair using short person with boobs is not going to be noticed by most people, but I'm still counting it as a win.

I didn't take a lot of notes but what I have is under the cut. The con used the Grenadine event management system for the first time, it worked pretty well from my end and is reminding me of what I did.
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Feeling motivated but sore, so, a post about various minor things.

First: SOON got (positively) reviewed by PC Power Play Australia!! It got ONE WHOLE EXTRA SALE (which was loic, seeing my post about it on Facebook but shh)

Second: yesterday I went to the Maylands festival and it was super fun, I had fancy meat from the gourmet butcher and fancy toasted marshmallows, and a baby goat at the petting zoo fell asleep in my lap omg it was SO CUTE. At first it was all "wtf who are you" but then it decided I was a friend and then it slowly calmed down and went to sleep. It was all brown with a cute little black nose and floppy ears. Having animals at petting zoos sit happily in my lap is an unexpected upside of the wheelchair. I smsed Cam (who was asleep when I left) that there were some nice looking fancy hotdogs (his weakness :D) so he came down and we had fun walking around together. The accessibility was unnecessarily poor, though, they blocked curb cuts and footpaths in a few places meaning I had to take complex detours a few times to get to things an able bodied person could just step to.

Third...uh...I had a weird pain in my side again? But then it went away? FUN TIMES.

Oh wait! Yeah! I went to the Swancon programming meeting, it was pretty good but I was the only non committee member there so am very glad I came to add a different POV. They want more diverse POVs so contact them with ideas for panels! Especially book/writing/academic/social justicey/cutting edge fandom stuff, since their strengths seem to be more older anime/tv/movie fandoms and fun interactive stuff. I took some notes I'll try and write up when less sleepy.

So that was fun! And I am predictably tired, it has taken a few days of napping and playing Stardew Valley before I felt up to poking at the notes I took. I managed to achieve all my goals: my panels went well, talked to friends, met new people, attended other people's fun panels, saw some cool costumes, spoke to some of the guests.

The notes all blur together, so I'm going to start from the beginning and see what structure emerges.

( Speak for 3 minutes about local fannish events, Authors Like Lois McMaster Bujold )

First, my Dragon Age Inquisitor cosplay.

Second, some random recs:
the movie Joint Security Area
Safety Not Guaranteed
What if my Baby Is A Squib Subtle, dark, Harry Potter fanfic that pokes at the squib=disability thing
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lianne Hearn (next year's guest)
Husbands (by Jane Espenson, ditto, omg)

Third, panel notes:

Has Science Fiction Changed Society?
The general consensus was that it reflects existing changes and can inspire/help individuals, but is rarely on the forefront of any change. It's really bad at predicting the future so not much good at preparing for or inspiring it. I might write up the rest of my notes but while I enjoyed the panel none of it seems worth the effort.

John Scalzi Guest of Honour Speech
The meaning of life is unverifiable.

Poison Elves
I went to this by accident but have always been vaguely curious after seeing the comics in shops, and was amused to discover the hero's name is Lusipher. I wonder if there's a Saetan too.

Science in Speculative Fiction
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I staretd making on as a 10 minute thing and it blew up on me :) Looking for anything from "let me do most of the talking/planning but offer the odd alternative POV" to having the talk be as much yours as mine, I have maybe 30 minutes of slides plus some vids but am flexible.

(The other panel I decided on was Hanako Games, which fits into 10 minutes nicely)

POWERFUL ART

Finished my coursera course and moved house! Here's the stuff I made in the process.


Powerful Art
( Tangled, The Hobbit, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Babylon 5, Dragon Age 2, Stargate Atlantis, Blake's Seven, Homestuck, Mass Effect/Almost Human, Pacific Rim/Neon Genesis Evangelion, Reliquary, The Elements, Art History course )