Worldcon Helsinki
Aug. 14th, 2017 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyornI'm trying not to make this the Post That Ate The World.
(Note: I'm referring to the program items as I have them in my notes. Which is the keywords that made sense to me, not necessarily the title.)
Getting there
I flew in from Berlin, because that's only a 90 minute flight, no changing planes, cheap, and Tegel is a nice little airport. Also, I have family in Berlin, who I hadn't visited for ages. So I took the train on Sunday, we spent a nice full day sightseeing in the city, talked some, on Tuesday morning they drove me to the airport, and the flight was, as flights go, not too bad. Got into the city OK, had a crisis about the hostel, because they had sent the room code by mail, and I needed to get *into* the hostel to get wifi, and the code to get into the hostel. It got resolved.
The rest of Tuesday
Helsinki was sunny, warm, and bustling. I walked around the city and the harbour for about two hours, before I met K___, F___ and some friends to eat at a Viking-themed restaurant. The food was good, but service was very, very slow, I was tired, and my contact lenses tried to kill me. Because of the slow service there was no chance for dessert anyway, so I paid after I finished eating, and hurried back to my hostel in contact-lens induced tears. And that's why I was wearing my glasses on Worldcon and everything is a bit foggy.
Wednesday
I got up early, had breakfast (coffee and a cinnamon bun) in a nearby market hall and was at Messukeskus a minute or two before it opened.
There was a queue. It wasn't the last one. Nor the biggest. On that first day, there were 4759 visitors, and many people could not get to the program items they wanted to, because of overcrowding. The organizers reacted quickly. From Thursday on, there were only limited contingents of day passes, and they got more (and larger) rooms, and more programming ASAP.
I adapted quickly and actually caught most of what I planned to. Best was "Burlesque Tips for Cosplayers", which was a short coaching in how to appear, for example, on the stage for the Masquerade without looking like one was in the wrong movie. I already know some things about that, but it helped to have a bit of practise in a supportive environment. Second best was "Mimesis and Diegesis" in the academic track. I feel that "estrangement" (both as Ent- and as Verfremdung) is a topic I run in again and again in different context, and the talks gave me a hint how to connect that to a body of existing work. (Points subtracted for the final talk, which I could make neither heads not tails of).
I the evening I went for the filk session and felt very out of practise.
Thursday
To make up for a good Wednesday, most of what I listened to on Thursday was kind of disappointing. I had signed up for a critique workshop, and somehow I did not even receive the info that there *was* a story to be read beforehand (I had been wondering), much less, what it was or how to get it. I was seriously miffed and stormed out without a word. I also walked out of "Bland Protagonists", as I discovered that I had already considered this in every way that benefitted me.
Good were "Bootstrapping a Nation" (I do a lot of that in my fic), followed by talking about Tanith Lee, which was good for the soul.
I got back to the hostel kind of early, there was still some daylight left in the sky. (But then, Finland in Summer. It was a bit before 10 p.m.)
I think that that was the evening with the thunderstorm, but as I had missed the storm completely, I am not sure. Might have been Friday. I need to check.
Friday
On Friday I overslept, kind of, but still made it on-site before 10.
There were a bunch of interesting topics, although I few I could not get into "Where Cat is, is Civilisation" was in one of the largest available halls, and it was full when I arrived 5 minutes before 7 p.m. -- despite the Hugo Ceremony starting at 7:30, and the queue for the Hugo Ceremony looking like the Midgard serpent. So I had dinner instead, which was actually very good (and I was extremely hungry.)
I skipped the Hugo ceremony, because it's long and I did not find myself particularly emotionally involved.
Best of the day was unexpected, "Super-massive black holes" from the science track. Lots of things I did not know, presented well and in an entertaining way.
Filking again in the evening, singing one of my old songs and feeling that it was very below par. Not that it was worse than many others, but it was not good enough. A group of Finns sang about the Witchking of Angmar in Finnish, that was great. (I don't speak *any* Finnish. But hearing the names popping up in a language so foreign and so pretty, plus a funny melody... just great.)
On the way back I got rained on.
Saturday
I missed "Countering Surveillance" and my alternative Program in case the former was full, the B5-Fanmeet, because I was starving and had to pause for food.
Best of the day was "Space Radiation (and how to deal with it)" -- reminded me of work in the best possible way. Second best was "Medieval Religion" in the academic track, though (or because) I felt that there was a big problem with the approach. Note to self: Panels are the least interesting form for me.
I went to the Masquerade halftime show, to hear Sassafrass sing songs from the Edda. Loved it.
No filk that evening, because I felt a bit under the weather.
Sunday
I took it a bit more slowly on Sunday. Although I was far less exhausted mentally than I'd been at LonCon in 2014, my brain signalled "disk full". So, two more academic track items, ("Society and Subversion" -- yeah, Borribles!) and "Going beyond in comics", and a Kaffeeklatsch, and then I seem to have lost an hour. I was at the closing ceremony, though.
Also had a nice talk with a guy over lunch, for no particular reason at all except that there were no free tables when he was looking for one, and I had a table to myself.
The Rest of Sunday
I felt unfinished and disoriented when I left the Messukeskus. Wondered whether I should go to San Jose's "Dead Dog Party", but I found (again) that the only thing I like about parties is food, and I had already eaten. I tried to text K___ if we wanted to so something in the evening, but I sent the text to the wrong name by accident. (Got a confused reply from home around 11 p.m.) So I made tea and caught up on my reading.
And that's it, so far.
I am sure that I mixed up *something* in this summary.
(Note: I'm referring to the program items as I have them in my notes. Which is the keywords that made sense to me, not necessarily the title.)
Getting there
I flew in from Berlin, because that's only a 90 minute flight, no changing planes, cheap, and Tegel is a nice little airport. Also, I have family in Berlin, who I hadn't visited for ages. So I took the train on Sunday, we spent a nice full day sightseeing in the city, talked some, on Tuesday morning they drove me to the airport, and the flight was, as flights go, not too bad. Got into the city OK, had a crisis about the hostel, because they had sent the room code by mail, and I needed to get *into* the hostel to get wifi, and the code to get into the hostel. It got resolved.
The rest of Tuesday
Helsinki was sunny, warm, and bustling. I walked around the city and the harbour for about two hours, before I met K___, F___ and some friends to eat at a Viking-themed restaurant. The food was good, but service was very, very slow, I was tired, and my contact lenses tried to kill me. Because of the slow service there was no chance for dessert anyway, so I paid after I finished eating, and hurried back to my hostel in contact-lens induced tears. And that's why I was wearing my glasses on Worldcon and everything is a bit foggy.
Wednesday
I got up early, had breakfast (coffee and a cinnamon bun) in a nearby market hall and was at Messukeskus a minute or two before it opened.
There was a queue. It wasn't the last one. Nor the biggest. On that first day, there were 4759 visitors, and many people could not get to the program items they wanted to, because of overcrowding. The organizers reacted quickly. From Thursday on, there were only limited contingents of day passes, and they got more (and larger) rooms, and more programming ASAP.
I adapted quickly and actually caught most of what I planned to. Best was "Burlesque Tips for Cosplayers", which was a short coaching in how to appear, for example, on the stage for the Masquerade without looking like one was in the wrong movie. I already know some things about that, but it helped to have a bit of practise in a supportive environment. Second best was "Mimesis and Diegesis" in the academic track. I feel that "estrangement" (both as Ent- and as Verfremdung) is a topic I run in again and again in different context, and the talks gave me a hint how to connect that to a body of existing work. (Points subtracted for the final talk, which I could make neither heads not tails of).
I the evening I went for the filk session and felt very out of practise.
Thursday
To make up for a good Wednesday, most of what I listened to on Thursday was kind of disappointing. I had signed up for a critique workshop, and somehow I did not even receive the info that there *was* a story to be read beforehand (I had been wondering), much less, what it was or how to get it. I was seriously miffed and stormed out without a word. I also walked out of "Bland Protagonists", as I discovered that I had already considered this in every way that benefitted me.
Good were "Bootstrapping a Nation" (I do a lot of that in my fic), followed by talking about Tanith Lee, which was good for the soul.
I got back to the hostel kind of early, there was still some daylight left in the sky. (But then, Finland in Summer. It was a bit before 10 p.m.)
I think that that was the evening with the thunderstorm, but as I had missed the storm completely, I am not sure. Might have been Friday. I need to check.
Friday
On Friday I overslept, kind of, but still made it on-site before 10.
There were a bunch of interesting topics, although I few I could not get into "Where Cat is, is Civilisation" was in one of the largest available halls, and it was full when I arrived 5 minutes before 7 p.m. -- despite the Hugo Ceremony starting at 7:30, and the queue for the Hugo Ceremony looking like the Midgard serpent. So I had dinner instead, which was actually very good (and I was extremely hungry.)
I skipped the Hugo ceremony, because it's long and I did not find myself particularly emotionally involved.
Best of the day was unexpected, "Super-massive black holes" from the science track. Lots of things I did not know, presented well and in an entertaining way.
Filking again in the evening, singing one of my old songs and feeling that it was very below par. Not that it was worse than many others, but it was not good enough. A group of Finns sang about the Witchking of Angmar in Finnish, that was great. (I don't speak *any* Finnish. But hearing the names popping up in a language so foreign and so pretty, plus a funny melody... just great.)
On the way back I got rained on.
Saturday
I missed "Countering Surveillance" and my alternative Program in case the former was full, the B5-Fanmeet, because I was starving and had to pause for food.
Best of the day was "Space Radiation (and how to deal with it)" -- reminded me of work in the best possible way. Second best was "Medieval Religion" in the academic track, though (or because) I felt that there was a big problem with the approach. Note to self: Panels are the least interesting form for me.
I went to the Masquerade halftime show, to hear Sassafrass sing songs from the Edda. Loved it.
No filk that evening, because I felt a bit under the weather.
Sunday
I took it a bit more slowly on Sunday. Although I was far less exhausted mentally than I'd been at LonCon in 2014, my brain signalled "disk full". So, two more academic track items, ("Society and Subversion" -- yeah, Borribles!) and "Going beyond in comics", and a Kaffeeklatsch, and then I seem to have lost an hour. I was at the closing ceremony, though.
Also had a nice talk with a guy over lunch, for no particular reason at all except that there were no free tables when he was looking for one, and I had a table to myself.
The Rest of Sunday
I felt unfinished and disoriented when I left the Messukeskus. Wondered whether I should go to San Jose's "Dead Dog Party", but I found (again) that the only thing I like about parties is food, and I had already eaten. I tried to text K___ if we wanted to so something in the evening, but I sent the text to the wrong name by accident. (Got a confused reply from home around 11 p.m.) So I made tea and caught up on my reading.
And that's it, so far.
I am sure that I mixed up *something* in this summary.
