Nimbus Friday and Saturday

[quidditchgrrl]

At this point, things are flitting together and apart as far as chronology goes.

Forums. Friday I went to "Once Upon a Time-Turner: A History of the HP Fandom", which was given by three young gals who've been with the Potterverse from it's beginnings. It was interesting, but they tended to be a bit biased in their interpretations of what they considered 'good' fanfiction and what they obviously considered beneath them. But all in all, very enjoyable to someone who didn't come into the fandom until late 2001 and doesn't visit SQ or FA very often.

The next was "The Importance of Being Ron", which was such a great affirmation of Ron Weasley's character and what his possible role is for the final action of the series. It was great to be in a forum where Harry wasn't the focus of idolatry. Ron is most certainly hero material as well.

My favorite forum was "Censorship, Book Banning and the First Amendment". Judith Krug, the director of the ALA talked about the recent Supreme Court ruling on the use of filters in public libraries. praetorianguard began with a summary of exactly what the first amendment covers on the issue of censorship and an overview of the book-banning case in Arkansas. Ms. Krug was excellent, very much an advocate for free expression and the right of access to information for all people, not just those who are able to have a computer at home. She hit on the points Amy made in her introduction and explained exactly why the ICSA (I think that's it, the Internet Child Safety Act) will not work in regards to the First Amendment and as a practical application. Tireless advocate she is; it showed during her entire presentation. I was sorry not to have bought a ticket to her keynote luncheon, but I was glad to hear her speak for half an hour.

Super-elf Renee, chickadilly and I ate lunch at Gulliver's, and sat with a couple from Alabama who were very new to the fandom (I think they registered at the door and were drving back and forth to Orlando every day). They spent most of lunch like o.0 - they'd never read fanfic before, and hadn't been to many of the major sites. They did stick around after that, so we didn't manage to scare them away. Much was discussed - we sort of took them to the outer reaches of the fandom - and I found out quite a few things that I didn't know before since I don't do many forums. Nice to know all the same.

Post-lunch, chickadilly and I headed over to "Don't Tell the Grownups: Subversion in HP Text and Fandom" which was generally a poke at HP-verse subverting the dominant paradigm. This was the first time I met up with CG (and I missed fandom squares! *pouts*), who blessedly left to try to get a spot for the slash forum.

Slash panel. What to say? It was great, very well organized and touched on the many issues involving slash fanfiction as it relates to HP and RL. I do have to agree with Bridget's assessment on why she reads slash - for the sex! I'm very iffy on the slash debate, so I generally keep my mouth shut and will do so now. msscribe made a great comment about the fact that just because females tend to like slash, it doesn't have to be indicative of some feminist social statement. True for the most part. I'm all about the hot boy!sex, myself. :-)

Draco panel. I was a bit disappointed in the panel here, as I think the general notion is that it's possible for Draco to be redeemed, but he's not going to drop his Slytherin tendencies and declare his grand and t00by love for Gryffindors and the light side. It was a little disingenuous, not through any fault of the panel, just the subject matter didn't merit an official panel to my way of thinking.

After that, I headed back to my hotel to sleep a little and dress back for the FA birthday bash. Caught the unofficial slash panel about halfway through, which was a great amalgamation of SS/HP, SS/DM, and DM/HP (the three I was there for) and why the ships work for the shippers. Very well done. Unfortunately, a vendor happened to overhear some of the panel (why he couldn't close the door or move away from the area I don't know, it certainly wasn't a loud or bawdy affair) and left in a huff. *shrug* What about the term 'Harry Potter for Grownups' is unclear here?

I never got the chance to introduce myself to shakespearessis, dang it. *frowns*

The skies opened up just as the FA party began, so I sat around until the rain let up a little talking to nefeleo and her pals for a bit. Finally ran over to the Dolphin, got my glitter from queerasjohn and danced to nmalfoy's awesome tunes. I did end up feeling a bit oogy from the mix of beer, Mischief Makers, and water after a bit though, and sat out front with slytherincess and tall_man, who I believe was a little miffed at the 'gay, married, or priest' question I posed to him when I introduced myself. Sorry, tall_man, no offense meant! megd and I spotted some younger girls dressed as sort of a terrible mix of Christina Aguliera, Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne. Upon our inquiries as to 'WTF?', they showed us their wands - they were masquerading as muggles! Definitely the outfit one would pick if they observed MTV or perused a Seventeen magazine looking to blend into the muggle world. Much fun was had, cute pics to be posted soon.

Saturday started off pretty much the same as Friday. I slept in a bit later, and got there in time to be told that only a hundred people were going to be let into the het shippers debate, since there was a lack of space. It finally was moved to another, larger room and commenced. More on this later, in my bitch and snark post.

chickadilly, redblaze and I wanted to go to "Keeping it in the Family: The Weasleys, the Malfoys and Canon and its Dis(mal) Contents", but alas it was full. We went onto the Disney Boardwalk and had a late breakfast, talked about Checkmated and the nature of het shipping.

Ari Rapkin's presentation was very funny and informative - CGIs have come a long way from claymation. Was avidly fangirled at my table, which was so nice! I hope to see you posting in the HP fandom soon, Andarta! After lunch, I sat in on pegkerr's "The Seven Deadly Sins/Seven Heavenly Virtues: Moral Development in HP" session; very interesting, but I was tired after my high-carb breakfast/lunch.

I can't believe that I missed Fandom Squares! *headdesk* 'Tis my own fault. *cries*

Tried to figure out if the Pumpkin Pie crowd was going to Pleasure Island, and after much confusion and some chaos, I headed out there alone, to take in the sites and look around. Met up with smilie117, earthquake1906 and zorb at Mannequins, where I danced a little bit. Left my bag in littletort and slytherincess's room; decided to go home without it. I couldn't hold out for Slash!Nimbus to calm down and had blisters on my feet from walking in heels, and went back to my hotel.

Will update for Sunday here soon and do a bitch, snark and moan post.