Orycon II
When the gateway from Faerie reopened into our world, it happened on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, in Los Angeles, three feet from a West Hollywood swimming pool.
-- Mark Bourne, "Like No Business I Know"
Saturday, November 13, 1999
One year ago: Orycon I
Two years ago: Dance Marathon
Jack got in so late last night, so I got up very quietly this morning so as to let him sleep. (He told me later that he did crack open an eyelid when I was brushing my teeth -- a disadvantage of the common motel practice of having the sink not be in the bathroom!) I scrabbled around in the dark to find my breakfast token, then went down and ate.
I walked over to the convention hotel and checked email in the Internet cafe (tell me again, why is it called that? there's no coffee in evidence). The first program item I went to was "Uppity Women in SF and Are They Getting Trite?" chosen because Nicola Griffith (Author Guest of Honor) was on the panel. The discussion here was fairly interesting, and I got a chance to make a comment (one of my convention goals). When a panelist was talking about mid-list novels in the seventies and eighties that had a distressing tendency to have heroines who were "spunky" and "fiesty," I asked if those books hadn't been formulaic in most other respects, also? It wasn't the way the women had been depicted that made the books banal. The panelist admitted that this was so.
Next: "Economic Implications of Immortality." I chose this partly because it seemed like an interesting topic, and partly because it was now noon, and this seemed as though it would be the panel Jack would choose, if he was awake. Forrest Bishop, an acquaintance of Jack's, was on the panel, along with John Cramer, Charles Sheffield and others. They did a good job of actually staying on the topic! What if immortality (or just long life with good health) is only available for the few? What if it's widely available, and cheap? We'd need radical population control. No one would want to be doing risky activities. How would young folks get jobs, if no one ever retires? Forced sabbaticals? Who does the scut work? Robots? A super-long lifespan makes generation ships possible.
The readings at Orycon are in half-hour slots, in the small "Nestucca" room. Mark Bourne was reading a story (but I missed the beginning of it) about Superman, but seen from the outside. Is he heroic stopping a bank robbery or catching a plunging bus, when he's invulnerable and not risking anything? We didn't get to hear the end of the story (out of time) but I liked what I heard.
* * * * * * * *
I wanted to check on Jack, so I started walking back to our hotel. He came out to the parking lot just as I was crossing it, reminding me strongly of me meeting him in the same way at the same spot a year ago, but with a twelve hour time difference! He had slept late, then got caught by a Learning Channel show about quantum physics. We grabbed some food at Taco Bell (I never know what to order there) and ate it while walking back to the con. The weather was preternatually warm and humid.
We went to "Nanos vs. Biotech" which was OK. Jack said to me that he kept going to panels on this topic, hoping that they'll talk about something he doesn't already know. Not likely, I think, since he's on some lists where any new developments would be mentioned.
* * * * * * * *
Jack had a goal for the weekend that wasn't con-related: see "Perfect Blue." This is an anime that had already finished its run in Seattle, but was still running in Portland. We hunted up a local newspaper and searched the listings. One theater: the Hollywood. One showtime that worked for us. We got directions from some locals. We searched for the Bellingham buddies who had also expressed interest, but we couldn't find them. We were off!
The theater wasn't too far away. We had a few minutes to kill before the showtime, so we walked around the Hollywood district. The theater is a beautiful, ornate old building, but the interior is now bare after all these years.
The movie was very impressive! It's a psychological thriller, not for kids. (See these IMDB comments for more, with only a few spoilers.) They did a good job with a limited animation style. Apparently you can show pubic hair in Japan, if it's drawn, but not if it's photographed.
Before entering the theater, I'd been thrilled to see a sign: "Tuesday Morning." We went back after the movie was over. This is a discount gift-y, housewares sort of store that I used to shop at a dozen years ago. back in Virginia. They have a very clever marketing scheme: they are only open at certain times of the year, so when you get the flyer in the mail, you make a real effort to go!
The location was very odd: in the basement of a commercial block. We walked down the stairs, and through a maze of empty spaces. I was wondering if it was even still in business! But we found it -- five minutes before they closed for the evening. I cruised around but didn't find anything I needed to buy in that time-frame. Ah, well, it'll be there the next time I'm in Portland. Odd that they have no Washington state locations yet.
At a video/comic/gaming store on the same block, Jack continued the spending spree he'd started in the con dealers room yesterday. He was thrilled with some rare anime that he had heard of but not seen yet, and some issues of a comic series that's hard to find. The clerk (owner?) was very knowledgeable!
* * * * * * * *
We made it back to the convention in time for Charles Sheffield talking about his new book, Borderlands of Science. He was very clever with this; he called for a volunteer from the audience, had him read from randomly selected pages, then would expound on the few sentences read. It's an interesting book! What areas of science are ripe for science fiction to explore?
Another dinner in the hotel's coffee garden (the buffet was a good value!) then I wanted to go back to our room and change my attire before the evening really got underway. I'd brought a light-weight knit top with darkly irridescent beading, and I wanted to wear it!
We got back in time for "Whose Line is it, Anyway?" I took pictures and handed the disk off to David Levine (see the images here). It was a funny show! But somehow it ended without David and Ellen Klages wrestling on the floor, which was a tradition in previous years.
The latter part of the evening was devoted to visiting various parties and the fan lounge. I particularly remember the Foolscap party. (I think we'll have to buy memberships for next year, although if it's during the film festival my attendance might be limited.) I'd intended to get to sleep earlier, but it was about two in the morning when we walked through the parking lot, dropping Lucy off at "the other hotel" and continuing on to the Oxford Suites.
| 
