WorldCon 2020

Total about face

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I’m back after a week-plus of silence – all my free time has been spent working or watching WorldCon panels – and I just re-read my last post where I got all excited about Robert Silverberg, and MAN do I have different opinions about that now.  After the Hugo Awards ceremony.  After the Hugo Awards ceremony that wouldn’t end.  After the Hugo Awards ceremony that wouldn’t end because two super-famous, super-old, super-white, and super-out-of-touch men wouldn’t stop talking about the past. It was mostly GRRM, but Silberberg’s segment was just as bad.  They mispronounced finalists’ names repeatedly and spent SO MUCH TIME talking about Campbell without ONCE acknowledging that the name of the award was changed to the Astounding Award, let alone WHY it was changed.  It felt deliberate, which, if it was, is super insulting.  If it wasn’t deliberate, then the nicest things you can say about them are that they’re hopelessly out of touch and possibly senile.  I’m not going to get into it much more than that (there are many people who did so online, and they go into much more detail), but I would like to take back my squee.  It left a bad taste in my mouth.

I need more nerd friends

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Specifically, I need more SFF book nerd friends.  I have Erik (THANK YOU, ERIK, AND WE NEED TO TALK BOOKS MORE), but I need more.  This WorldCon thing is hammering it home for me.  Tonight, for example, I’m watching a panel about Modern SF Criticism, and Robert Silverberg, who is not a panelist, submitted a question and comment, and GUYS.  Robert Silverberg is watching the same panel I’m watching.  If this weren’t virtual, we would be in the same room.  ROBERT SILVERBERG.

I have no one to squee with.

I mean, the people I would squee with are at this convention (virtually), so I have a goal to find/start a book club.  That I don’t have time for.

All the things are happening at once

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Guys, I am overworked lately and super-tired, but I am still here.  WorldCon programming started today, so in addition to taking care of Jack and working, I am MAKING time to join big ol’ SFF nerdfest panels and such.  It’s 100% virtual, and THANK ALL THE THINGS they’re recording each session, because they’re running on New Zealand time, which is 16 hours ahead of EDT.  For instance, there’s a reading I’d like to see that starts at 10:30 tonight, and there’s another panel I’m interested in that starts at 1am.  I’m going to nope right on out of those, but I’m counting on getting the recordings later.

Anyway, I’m done working, I’m done watching the two panels tonight that were on at times only slightly inconvenient for me, and I’m going to bed.

(I am so super excited about this convention.  YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!)