#CVG2014

I don't have a smart phone, so I can't live tweet everything as it goes down at CONvergence, but I thought I would post today's schedule:

FRIDAY

12:30pm – 1:30pm
Atrium 6
Marvel Film Roundup
Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier have been out, and Agents of SHIELD, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Defenders, and Ant Man are on the horizon. How do they all compare? What do you want to see next? Panelists: Lyda Morehouse, Allyson Cygan, Shaun Duke, John Seavey,


5:00pm – 6:00pm
Atrium 7
Cyberpunk 101
Discuss the cyberpunk genre in books, film, and games; from Neuromancer and Snow Crash to Deus Ex and The Matrix. Panelists: Elizabeth Bear, Lyda Morehouse, Spencer Kennedy, Christoforo Pasquarette

If you were to use the nice app that shows you my schedule, however, you'd see me signed-up (?) or otherwise listed on "Ask a Librarian" and "10 Must-See Anime Movies." I'm not officially listed in the program as on those, however, so I'm not sure why they're showing up in my schedule. After last night I'm just has happy not to be on a panel with anime experts, but I'm kind of bummed not to be on the librarian panel. I'm NOT a librarian, but I work at a library and I thought it would be nice to let some interested parties know that you don't have to have a library degree to work with books.

So, about yesterday, let's see... parking was its usual nightmare. I did manage to get a spot in the old Sofiteil lot (it's now a Radisson, maybe?) At any rate, I booked it from there to my first panel about young adult novels and the dystopia genre. I tried to get a moderator rustled up from the people who were there, and I would have taken point myself, but for my voice. But, ultimately, the last person to walk in was the one we "volunteered." She did a fine job, though there was at least one panelist who maybe got three words in. If I'd learned the blue-haired young panelist's name earlier (Kethry), I would have jumped in (like I do) not just for myself, but to ask her opinion as well. Probably my favorite moment of that panel, however, was when a woman in the audience posed a fascinating sort of question comment about how it seems that a lot of the "revolutions" that happen in many of the current dystopia novels actually seem subversively conservative or reactionary. I had one of those "mind = blown" moments, but without my voice I couldn't catch hold of that thread and really explore it. Ultimately, I think the panel was good, but it was one of those that could have been better.

I ended up not going to the panel "Female Superhero Films: Why Can't We Have One?" because I wasn't listed in the actual program. I have plenty of panels otherwise, so it seemed wisest to stay off it. I mean, as you see above, I have a bunch other panels that seemed to have mysteriously attached themselves to my schedule. I'm going to treat that as some kind of glitch, especially since none of these "extra" panels are printed on the back of my badge, which comes directly from the programming/green room.

So, since I had no panel to scurry off to after the YA one, I hung out with my friend seanmmurphy . We connected up with matociquala and Sigrid Ellis at the bar. Once we were there we ran into haddayr and Adam Stemple (with his kids in tow)... so that was sort of a classic con moment. I bonded with Sigrid because she'd just had throat surgery, so neither one of us could talk much. Later in the hall I ran into naomikritzer and jiawen .

My final panel was "Into to Anime" but everyone there at the panel already knew a lot about anime. As I later told jiawen , it wasn't so much as an introduction as a 'hook-up.' But, I think there are only three anime panels in the whole con, so all the fans are going to all of them.

Anyway, today I'm going with Mason, who is dressed as kid Luffy. He looks adorable. I'm going to take a picture to post tomorrow. Okay, I have to run get dressed.