I long for wide ocean with a broken heart

[sovay]

I have much less Arisia this year than normally, which is fine because this year's Arisia is virtual and I think just getting to my panels will push the limits of the technical capabilities around here. Silver lining, much less waiting around for the MBTA?

Movie Novelizations
Saturday 1 pm, Zoom Room 4
Jeffrey A Carver (m), Lee C. Hillman (Gwendolyn Grace), Timothy Luz, Sonya Taaffe, H. M. White, Stephen R. Wilk

What do movie novelizations add to the stories they are adapting? Does the move from screen to page add to the story or transform it, or is it a simple repetition?

The Monomyth Myth: Non-Western Narratives
Saturday 2:30 pm, Zoom Room 1
W. B.J. Williams (m), Greg R. Fishbone, Andrea Hairston, Vandana Singh, Sonya Taaffe, Jessica Waters

Current Western academic ideas about "universal" tropes and storylines just aren't all that universal when you expand literature to encompass the whole world. Let's talk about stories in their wonderful variety and put the idea of Campbell's hero's journey to rest.

Traditional Ballad Bingo
Saturday 5:30 pm, Zoom Room 4
Angela Kessler (m), Greer Gilman, Jeremy H. Kessler, Dan "Grim" Marsh, Sonya Taaffe

Join the fun as attendees (that's you!) take turns performing traditional ballads for the assemblage. Listen carefully to mark your Ballad Bingo cards when you detect such classic tropes as drowning, pregnancy out of wedlock, or murder of a loved one. Compete for "valuable" prizes already in your house! Bingo cards will be provided . . . somehow. Ballads from any tradition are welcome here. (themed participatory song circle)

Selections from the Ig Nobel Awards
Saturday 6 pm, Zoom Room 6
Marc Abrahams et al.

Brief dramatic readings from real research studies and patents that make people LAUGH, then THINK. Each study or patent has won an Ig Nobel Prize or is in the spirit of that prize.

[As I have not the ability to bilocate, I will be reading dramatically for the second half of this panel, as usual something I have no idea about until it is presented to me in all its improbability.]

Chantey Sing
Sunday 2:30 pm, Zoom Room 2
Jeremy H. Kessler (m), Naomi Hinchen, Sonya Taaffe

Come sing (or just listen, but we hope you'll sing) songs of sailing in all forms, with an emphasis on work songs from the age of sail. Fun for all!

Sunday Afternoon Readings
Sunday 4 pm, Zoom Room 4
Laurence Raphael Brothers, Gillian Daniels, Ruthanna Emrys, Sonya Taaffe

Join some of Arisia’s wonderful authors, while they read from their own work.

Leadership in Fantasy and Science Fiction
Monday 1 pm, Zoom Room 1
E. C. Ambrose (m), Sam Schreiber, Meredith Schwartz, Ian Randal Strock, Sonya Taaffe, W. B.J. Williams

At the beginning of The Two Towers, Aragorn compares himself unfavorably with Gandalf, whose fall in Moria left him in charge of the Fellowship, only to make choices that turn out badly. Hierarchal settings—whether in military SF or fantasy set in a feudal society—come equipped with a chain of command, but what does leadership mean in groups that strive to follow egalitarian ideals? Is the concept of leadership relevant for today's real-world problems, let alone an imagined future society?

So that's this weekend. Who can I expect to see, er, there?

Comments

[sara]

Well, I registered, but if the weather's good I can't guarantee I won't go outside.

[sovay]

Well, I registered, but if the weather's good I can't guarantee I won't go outside.

Legit!

[minoanmiss]

TIL that my short list of human universals is even shorter. *makes a note to read up about the deaccessioning of the so-called Monomyth*

[sovay]

TIL that my short list of human universals is even shorter.

Campbell's monomyth doesn't even work for a lot of Western (or claimed into the Western canon) myths! Folklorists/anthropologists/people in the traditions he assimilated have been arguing with him since The Hero with a Thousand Faces was published in 1949. But it has an enormous foothold in pop culture and therefore we still need to have panels about how the idea of the one universally relatable (very male, very New Age-y) story sounds great in a bar at two a.m.

[thisbluespirit]

Good luck with it!

[sovay]

Good luck with it!

Thank you!

[troisoiseaux]

Ooh, Ballad Bingo! Have fun with all these panels!!

(Not a ballad, but a shanty— have you seen the virtual collaboration of Wellerman that's apparently become a new trend on tiktok?)

ETA: wow, I completely failed to scroll down all the way and missed the part where there's a Chantey Sing as well!

[sovay]

Ooh, Ballad Bingo! Have fun with all these panels!!

Thank you!

(Not a ballad, but a shanty— have you seen the virtual collaboration of Wellerman that's apparently become a new trend on tiktok?)

selkie informed me of its existence, yes!

ETA: wow, I completely failed to scroll down all the way and missed the part where there's a Chantey Sing as well!

I like chanteys a lot.

[oracne]

I only have two panels and I feel that is MORE than enough. Three would have been my absolute max. One of them is pandemic comfort reading, about which we all should have a lot to say, and the other is about comics in 1986, which features 2 Kevins, 2 Dans, and me.

[sovay]

I only have two panels and I feel that is MORE than enough. Three would have been my absolute max.

Understandable. I am hoping that the need not to run around physically will make up for the Zoom fatigue.

One of them is pandemic comfort reading, about which we all should have a lot to say, and the other is about comics in 1986, which features 2 Kevins, 2 Dans, and me.

That's delightful.

[selkie]

Gentlethem, how did you manage to back-to-back yourself at a virtual con? Do you just need danger in your life? I could dispatch a box of scorpions in lieu of the MBTA timetable, but it's a little late.

(The scorpions aren't venomous, but one of them has a Ph.D. in sentient police robotics from MIT, and one is a Republican.)

Edit: I have registered, even though I will miss the chantey sing, and I just learned two new capstan songs over the past month. This is the problem with cons over Child Birthday Weekend.

[sovay]

Gentlethem, how did you manage to back-to-back yourself at a virtual con?

Primarily, I received the schedule! It isn't like I picked it out of a grid!

(The scorpions aren't venomous, but one of them has a Ph.D. in sentient police robotics from MIT, and one is a Republican.)

Lovely offer, but I think I'm good. Thanks.

Edit: I have registered, even though I will miss the chantey sing, and I just learned two new capstan songs over the past month.

Which ones?

This is the problem with cons over Child Birthday Weekend.

Oh, hell. Does your child have some tele-component to their birthday that I am going to miss?

[selkie]

Which ones?

Boney Went to Waterloo and South Australia.

Does your child have some tele-component to their birthday that I am going to miss?

a) NO FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK NO
b) If they had elected to go down that way, you'd have been notified and we'd all go down together.

[sovay]

Boney Went to Waterloo

Jean François!

South Australia

That sort of technically the first chantey I ever learned, since it shares so much DNA with "Cape Cod Girls."

b) If they had elected to go down that way, you'd have been notified and we'd all go down together.

Whew!

[selkie]

I learned Boney Went to Waterloo specifically so the sailor could be horrified at how the troop-shipped soldier had transmuted it, and then I killed that darling, but I will find somewhere for them to mention that their previous retirement plan was to become a chanteyman and just watch the capstan turning.

[sovay]

but I will find somewhere for them to mention that their previous retirement plan was to become a chanteyman and just watch the capstan turning.

Aw.

[selkie]

A) Aw that’s adorable as a retirement option or
B) Aw I deleted “You can’t just make it a ballad, people would trip over their feet,that’s not how the song works dammit”

[sovay]

A) Aw that’s adorable as a retirement option or
B) Aw I deleted “You can’t just make it a ballad, people would trip over their feet, that’s not how the song works dammit”

I meant (a), but I'm pretty sure you should put (b) back in.

[cyphomandra]

Jean François!</i Oh man. We sung Boney Was a Warrior when I was living in England for a year as a seven year old, and it’s hung around in the back of my head along with things like Men of Harlech and The Ash Grove, and I’ve only realised just now that the chorus is not, as my seven year old self thought, John France Waaah...

[selkie]

A warrior, a terrier!

I find it delightful that one can access the same shanty/chantey under three different names and at least five lyrical variants, including one where a city in Russia is called Mossycow as opposed to just sustaining the first syllable, because SAILORS.

[sovay]

including one where a city in Russia is called Mossycow as opposed to just sustaining the first syllable, because SAILORS.

This happens all the time in the folk tradition! There's scansion to consider, and mondegreens, and the superpower of the English language to play telephone with any set of phonemes it doesn't recognize, and the next thing you know you're trying to figure out if "Hilo" is really the Hawaiian city or what happened when a Bow Bells accent hit the the port of Ilo in Peru or could it have been a mutation of "Hello" or maybe it was originally "Haul-o" and how did Marengo get into a cotton-screwing work song anyway.

[selkie]

That last one is also General Taylor!

Marengo is just awesome. I mean, if your human boss was an emperor and you were a darling of the horse world, you would get everywhere a media-savvy horse darling could get, too. Including petty human vocalizations.

(I have noticed many of these songs are not accommodating of an AFAB person's right to bodily autonomy, had you noticed?)

[sovay]

Marengo is just awesome. I mean, if your human boss was an emperor and you were a darling of the horse world, you would get everywhere a media-savvy horse darling could get, too. Including petty human vocalizations.

This is a cogent point, I just think it's hilarious. [edit] I realize it also suggests the song is old enough that your sailor might know it.

(I have noticed many of these songs are not accommodating of an AFAB person's right to bodily autonomy, had you noticed?)

One likes to think that Sally and her sisters were equally into the narrator, but yes, there is a lot of dude in this tradition.

[isis]

Aw, a chantey sing! My favorite type of music.

[sovay]

Aw, a chantey sing! My favorite type of music.

One of mine, too. I am frustrated that I am going into this convention in not the best of health for singing, because why should anything about this year actually work as desired, but I am still looking forward.

(I forgot to mention how much I like your icon.)

[dramaticirony]

Very excited to see that you'll be at virtual Arisia!

I still have some concerns about the con, but the virtual format mitigates most of the potential harm, so I'm pitching in. I'll be moderating the gamemaster meetup at the start of the con, running three different sci fi game adventures, and moderating a panel Sunday called The Play Is The Thing: Low Mechanic RPGs.

The Boston Festival of Indie Games is also doing a virtual convention this Saturday (with an interesting twist, you have a old school video game sprite that moves around the map of the convention, and as you get near someone else's sprite, a little video chat opens up). So I'll have a showcase booth there, too.

A lot on my plate, but I'll be sure figure out how to catch a couple of your panels/reading/etc, which sound very intriguing.

[sovay]

Very excited to see that you'll be at virtual Arisia!

Likewise! I hope your program items go well. The virtual rendering of the Boston Festival of Indie Games sounds fun.

A lot on my plate, but I'll be sure figure out how to catch a couple of your panels/reading/etc, which sound very intriguing.

Thank you. I'm looking forward.

[jesse_the_k]

The Leadership panel sounds brilliant! I wish I could just pay Arisia $some to be able to watch that sometime later.

[sovay]

The Leadership panel sounds brilliant! I wish I could just pay Arisia $some to be able to watch that sometime later.

I'll try to report back on how it goes! I don't believe any of the panels are being recorded this year.

[asakiyume]

I had forgotten about cons and the possibility for doing them virtually—I’d love to hear you all talk about leadership (and sing chanteys and ballads) but it depends on whether my computer is back online (I’m typing this on my phone...) and how work looks...

[sovay]

I had forgotten about cons and the possibility for doing them virtually—I’d love to hear you all talk about leadership (and sing chanteys and ballads) but it depends on whether my computer is back online (I’m typing this on my phone...) and how work looks...

Understood. I didn't realize your computer was out of commission; I thought you were just scarce on social media for the usual life reasons.

[asakiyume]

I thought you were just scarce on social media for the usual life reasons. --there is that, too, but this time there was the added layer of no computer. But now I'm up again! **So** much more comfortable to be using a keyboard, let me say!

So now I can more easily look around online for stuff about Arisia...

[selkie]

You can Zoom from a phone and it seems many of these are on Zoom!

[sovay]

You can Zoom from a phone and it seems many of these are on Zoom!

As I understand it, all panels will be held on Zoom, all discussion or hanging-out will be on Discord.

[asakiyume]

I have my computer back! I will look into timing, etc.

[imagine_that]

We have all registered. Completely depends on how well Fast Track holds attention (and how much help the kiddos will need) as to what I manage to attend!

[sovay]

We have all registered. Completely depends on how well Fast Track holds attention (and how much help the kiddos will need) as to what I manage to attend!

I hope to communicate with you somehow in the process and if not, have a good con!

[gwynnega]

I didn't get it together to be on programming, but I just registered. Now I can feel jetlagged without even leaving town!

[sovay]

Now I can feel jetlagged without even leaving town!

Mazel tov?