VVC: Friday Morning and the Wayback Machine (Thing 2)

[flummery]

Friday Morning

So we woke up fairly early Friday morning. This is because both merryish and the_shoshanna are freaky morning people. But, whereas Shoshanna leaves you alone, and maybe takes a shower, Merry *specifically* packs a stuffed shark for cons so that she can BEAT YOU AWAKE WITH IT. Let this be a warning to those who might want to room with her at cons. This results in fights almost every morning, which usually don't end until Thing 1 screams "WHY DO I ROOM WITH YOU PEOPLE EVERY YEAR?"

We staggered down to breakfast, less Thing 1, and searched for food. I do think that the one thing that has gone downhill about the Con Hotel over the years is that when we first started there, they were just the SpringHill Suites, independently owned, or something. Breakfast included things like bacon, if I recall correctly, and there was a little setup so that you could pour your own waffles, and have 'em nice and hot and good. Since the Marriott took over, the only protein there is hard boiled eggs, (and I hate hard boiled eggs), and the waffles do not warm up even after you run them through the toaster. It's basically a carbohydrate breakfast, with toast and muffins and cereals, and I ended up having oatmeal every morning.

We wandered over to the Con Suite, which was a huge improvement over last year. They screwed us over last year, promising us the Comet Room, but then sticking us on the first floor, far away from the other events. This year, we nailed them down for the correct Con Suite, and it was nice, and kept clean by a hard working con suite staff, and full of amilyn's amazing baked goods. There were also Krispy Kreme donuts in there, and I nobly refrained from eating one.

I raided the Ophan vids table, and gleefully hid my new WOAD dvds back in my room.

Then, it was VJ training time. This consists mainly of astolat showing you the switchboard, and all the controls marked "DO NOT TOUCH" and emphasizing "do not TOUCH these," and then pointing out the volume controls, and the on/off switch, and the pause buttons, all of which you can touch.
That's about it.

And then I *think* we may have flown outside to find still more food, and discovered that the nice sub shop was history, so we hit Spuntino's for hotdogs instead, and ate them in about 2.3 minutes, and ran back for the first show, which was...



The Wayback Machine
tzikeh traditionally takes the first vidshow of the Con, and gets us started. In the previous two years, it was called The Retrospective, and was about 30% talk, 70% vids. I think there was some concern that it was becoming too repetitive, and that too many people had heard the history of vids before, so it was changed this year to be the Wayback Machine, and more like 10% percent talk, and 90% vids (older vids, that you just don't get to see any more, and how vidding has changed). I think this was a pity, as we had many new people this year, and really, tzikeh's impersonation of a flying erasehead should be mandatory. Still, it was a great show, and most of it was new to me.

As tzikeh pointed out, many of these vids were made when there were like, 2 fandoms, and maybe 8 vidders. Everyone knew the source, it was all vcrs, and the expectations were different.

I'm only going to mention the vids in each show that I can remember well enough to comment on, or, the ones I don't want to hold off on until I've seen them more than once)

Another Saturday Night by Chris Soto -- I'd never seen this one before, and it was a fun surprise. Basically Kirk desperate for a date. Can anyone tell me if Chris is male or female? It's so rare to see a male vidder name, but I can easily believe this was a rare, early, male vidder.

People Are Strange by CaliCrew -- A WKRP vid! I think this might be the first WKRP vid I've ever seen. I suspect it was much, much funnier for people who knew the show. I enjoyed basically every second of it. I *still* miss WKRP

Love This Cat by CaliCrew -- This was a Remington Steele vid, and much though I liked the show, this didn't do much for me, since it was basically a tribute to the character. By this, I don't mean a character study. Just sort of nice shots of Steele. Which there's definitely something to be said for... *g* but it didn't make that much of an impression on me.

Hotel California by Judy Chien -- I knew this one well, since I'd included it in the Narrative vidshow last year. It's a lovely, beautifully put together Prisoner vid. The only thing I can criticize about it is that the music at the end goes on forever without lyrics, and without much purpose, but I don't think it was possible to edit the way we do today back then, and the vidder was stuck with what she had.

Something to Talk About by Sandy and Christine -- Is there a fandom that hasn't been vidded to this song, yet? Still, this was probably one of the first, and I miss Wiseguy more than I'd realized. A lovely, fun vid. Plus, it has that scene from the cabin with the smooch.

Old and Wise by CaliCrew -- I'm wondering if this one is online anywhere. I suspect not, but... I can't recall enough detail about it, at present, and yet I remember being very impressed by it, and thinking it was one of the better Quantum Leap vids I've seen, and sweet, and that it captured that wistful "I miss that show, and this is *why*" feeling for me.

Patterns by Cybel Harper -- I've seen this one before, and in fact, it was one of the first vids I ever owned on tape. (A mish mash tape full of 3rd and 4th gen copies of vids that someone made for me years ago). It's a Mulder vid, full of clips that are well chosen for their lighting and color, and you've probably seen it at a con, whether you realize it or not. It still holds up well after all this time.



Next Up: the amazing Audio Rarities vidshow.

Comments

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

Can anyone tell me if Chris is male or female? It's so rare to see a male vidder name, but I can easily believe this was a rare, early, male vidder.

Chris was female, and sadly passed away a few years ago. She did many wonderful, wonderful ST vids and wrote beautifully, too. I'm planning to have her classic and much-loved vid "I Dreamed a Dream" remastered by next year.

[flummery.livejournal.com]

Ah, this is a pity. It is nice to know her work is being preserved.