On Swancon panels and panellists

[stephbg]

I've been observing the various programming discussions going on in LJ land with great interest. I came late to panel life, and AFAICR I've only done these five:

Alien Landscapes (bizarro plants and planting schemes)

101 Uses For A Dead (Or Possibly Live) Squid (in which drhoz did the science and I did the puppetry and fictional squid-based tech)

Murder By Death (murder fiction/genre crossovers)

Feminist Military SF (with Elizabeth Moon - swoon!)

Can You Reprogram Your Body Image? (neuropsychology)

I thought there were more, but I love doing panels and look forward to providing some statistical gender balance if that's what is desired in the future. However, I acknowledge that I am not exactly universally popular *waves* and have some bad habits such as talking over fellow panellists. The latter is primarily because I can't see them and thus miss body language cues, so given the opportunity I shall seat myself with more care in the future.

I also like thinking up panel titles, some of which have actual ideas behind them, but others are just a craving for biology or physics and things that would attract me into a darkened room full of nervously giggling fen. Some of them (and I may add explanatory notes later) are the kind of literary/plot device analysis panels I enjoy sinking my overly analytical brain into.

What Do Your Pets Say About You?

Culture Versus Culture: What A Good Plague Can Do For Your Overcrowding Problem

Is That A Sentient Cluster Of Puppies In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me?

Zero-Gee Tolerance: What Happens To The Human Body In Space

Boy meets Girl.
Girl dies in a hail of bullets.
Girl resleeved in cheap male body.
Girl hooks up with Boy's sister.
Boy becomes carrot farmer.

A Physicist's Guide To The Afterlife: What Does Science Have To Say About Heaven And Hell?

DNA And Back: Mutant Genes With Solar Flares

Hive Mind Aliens Attack: We Are All Individuals!

Co-Authorship: Oh Really?

Three Dimensional Road Rage: Traffic Control With Flying Cars

Buy My Stuff: Niche Marketing To The Geek Demographic

So Where'd You Get Yours?: Tattoo And Body Mod Anecdote Swap

Say What? How Do You Pronounce That?
Genre fic is full of wacky names and pseudo language fragments. Do the writers ever say them aloud? Probably not. Join the group to reach a consensus on d'Xough*lahaq (bless you) and friends.

--
Any kneejerk reactions to these?

Comments

[fe2h2o.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to add that you're _great_ value on panels (I speak as one who was on Alien Landscapes with you:-) )

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

*grin* thanks. It was your idea though.

Mmmmmm. *fond memories of struggles to pronounce latin plant names*

Hey, that gives me an idea...

[maharetr.livejournal.com]

Any kneejerk reactions to these?
Oh, yes. Many of them very positive. :)

I'd totally attend the: plague panel, zero gravity, hive mind and the tattoo one. Hell, if there's a way to have a tattoo panel (that's also even vaguely relevant to spec fiction etc) I'd be all over it. *grin*

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

No problem at all with the spec fiction content for tattoo panels. I used to collect tattoo magazines and one of them had fabulous essays about themed photo galleries - faerie lore, dragons, cyber punk, myths, legends etc. Some fans tattoo themselves with favourite characters, some tattoo themselves with the same tatts as the characters.

There have been bodmod panels before but I've not been able to go, so I'm not sure what's already been done.

[krjalk.livejournal.com]

For me, if the design isn't older than Jesus I'm not interested. I could go on and on about the Scythians. Ah, those wacky body-modifying, pot smoking, human-skull-goblet making funsters...

Can you tell I really, really wish this was a real panel? There's more than enough material there. It might even (gasp) convince me to actually attend Swancon for the first time in a decade...

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

It even works on a "first contact" basis. "Oh look dear, the charming natives have pretty pictures all over them. Hello chaps! Lovely day for AAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!"

[agoodliedown.livejournal.com]

In January, I had published a bodymod cyberpunk novella set in Sydney. For which I got my first significant non-medical body mod as research. That's genre.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

Sounds like panel volunteerism to me :-)

[agoodliedown.livejournal.com]

Stupid Lengths That Genre Writers Go To For Research, a panel exploring realism in speculative fiction, zero G nausea and the dreadful truth about living solely on protein bars.

I've seen Sean McMullan's version of this panel, where he talks about hiking across the desert in full armour, living on carrots. Makes my piercing look insignificant.

[buoy-wonder.livejournal.com]

There *is* already plans to have one from kae_dash. He will get one live if he has his way.

[krjalk.livejournal.com]

I would also have heaps to say on the Physicists and the Afterlife panel. Have you ever read any Tipler? Barking mad, but intriguing.

Dammit! Now you've got me wanting to pontificate on esoterica in front of an audience. Maybe I will put my hand up for something next year.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

Excellent. You were always very good with barking mad. How about the sentient puppies panel?

[krjalk.livejournal.com]

We've got a new puppy at the moment. I should probably get around to posting a cutesy-poo photo or two. He's very smart, just don't ask him to direct a light opera or anything like that.

[black-samvara.livejournal.com]

Is a ridiculous level of love a knee-jerk reaction?

Can I swipe them all?

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

yes and yes :-)

[sassamifrass.livejournal.com]

Those panels all sound like fun :-)