Matthew S. Rotundo's Pixeltown

Out of bed early, despite the Tor party from the previous night.  My first programming item was at 9:00 am, and since I was up already, I decided to crash the Codexian breakfast.  I had originally thought I wouldn’t have time for it, but then I decided to give it a shot.  Livin’ on the edge, doncha know.

Time for more name dropping.  As I recall, I met the following folks at breakfast:  Larry Hodges, Pat Lundrigan, Sandra Tayler and husband Howard (creator of web comic Schlock Mercenary), Elaine Isaak (once again at the other end of a long table), Eric James Stone and his friend Heidi, Tony Pi, Tom Crosshill, and a few other folks I mentioned yesterday.  Apologies if I’m forgetting anyone.

Anyway, I bolted from breakfast and headed back to the Delta for my first programming item–a writing workshop.  Jody Lynn Nye and I were the two "pros"–although to be honest, she’s more deserving of the title than I.  And two of the participants were friends of mine with more than a little genre writing cred themselves:  Amy Sisson and Geoffrey Jacoby, graduates of Clarion and Odyssey, respectively.  It felt a little weird to be critting their stuff as a "pro," but they seemed cool with it, and the session went well.  And I made $5 (Canadian) in the bargain.  Turns out that Oz Drummond, workshop coordinator extraordinaire, wanted to reimburse us for the cost of making our own manuscript copies.  Works for me.

After the workshop, I headed to the Palais des congress (I just enjoy typing that) and ran into John Pitts.  We were both a bit peckish, and as I was slated for a panel scheduled to run from 12:30 to 3:00, I thought it might be a good idea to get some more consummables in me.  We went to a food court upstairs, where I had occasion to try a genuine Quebecois delicacy called poutine.  This, for the uninitiated, is a combination of french fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy.

If I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’.

But it was tasty, even if it was a heart attack waiting to happen.

My 12:30 panel wound up getting cancelled (hard to screen a movie and have a discussion about it when no one thinks to acquire the DVD) (!).  Then it was time for my interview for The People vs. George Lucas–my big break!  It was so surreal, standing in the colorful lobby of the Palais des congress–there, I did it again–answering Alexandre Phillipe’s questions, trying to be natural and witty and entertaining and insightful all at the same time.  I said at least one boneheaded thing, which I devoutly hope he edits out–and no, I’m not telling you what it was.  And I might have been good for one or two quotes.  We’ll see.  Even if nothing comes of it, I still enjoyed my star turn.

Up next on my busy slate was the Odyssey panel, wherein Odyssey grads get to flog the program.  I love doing this, as Odyssey was such a great experience for me.  And it was wonderful to see Jeanne Cavelos again, and to meet Ellen Denham and her husband Stephan.  The panel was sparsely attended, sad to say, but at least one person there seemed very interested.  We’ll see you there next year, right, Annie?

Then it was time for a quick run back to the hotel, and back to the Palais des congress for my final panel–an intro to the guitar, on the kids’ programming track.  I don’t mind telling you, this was the panel I was sweating the most.  The kids’ programming room was basically this giant open space littered with toys and craft projects, with amped-up children running hither and yon, as they are wont to do.  Even so, about four or five of them actually came over to listen to me demonstrate how a guitar works, and get a little hands-on involvement.  Holding their attention for more than five minutes at a time was a bit of a challenge, but it seemed to go over well.  At least I got some good use out of my guitar, which I had gone to the trouble of hauling across the continent just for this panel.

The days’ business done, it was party time.  First up was the Analog/Asimov’s party in the SFWA suite, where I nearly got frostbite from opening a can of frozen Heineken.  The parts that weren’t frozen came bubbling out in a cascade of icy foam, and . . . well, it wasn’t pretty.  I just had to stand there, holding the damned beer over a trash can as it did its best Old Faithful imitation–and Jee-zus was it cold.  Eric’s friend Heidi was good enough to fetch me a napkin or two.  She might very well have saved my fingers from amputation.  (Thanks, Heidi!)

Then, just as the party was getting into gear, hotel management came in and broke it up, informing everyone in no uncertain terms that since we weren’t on a party floor, we had to vacate.  Immediately.  Yikes.  I felt really bad for Sheila Williams, who had worked so hard putting everything together.

Needless to say, my night of partying had gotten off to an inauspicious start.  But all was not lost.  On the 28th floor, John Pitts and I eventually found the Tor.com party, where guests were taking turns playing Rock Band.  You know I couldn’t pass that up.  I took vocals on Jethro Tull’s "Aqualung."  Yep, nothing like a song about an old pervert to liven up a room.

Mission accomplished.  I eventually made it to bed.

In our next thrilling installment:  Maple syrup, stickin’ it to Da Man, and Hurricane Camille.  Stay tuned!

Slept in on Thursday.  It was the only day of the con for which I had no programming.  Ah, the luxury.

After paying way too much for breakfast at the Delta, I was off to the Palais des congres de Montreal (that’s Montreal Convention Center to you yanks) for registration, and to see what there was to see.  I ran into Paolo again, looking a bit worse for wear after the previous night’s festivities.  Appropriately badged and ribboned, I set out to get the lay of the land.

It was a day of numerous meetings, far too many to catalogue here.  If I tried listing them all, I’m certain I would leave someone out.  So here goes:  Rob Bland, John Joseph Adams, Karl and Stephanie Johanson from Neo-opsis, Mary Robinette Kowal, Sheila Williams, Lou Anders from Pyr Books, Jenny Rae Rappoport, Keffy Kehrli, David Levine, Laura Anne Gilman . . . oh, hell, you get the idea.  It’s WorldCon.

Eventually, I made my way to the dealers’ room, and the SFWA table.  After chatting for a bit there with fellow Codexian Colin Harvey, I decided that since I had nothing pressing to do, and since Jane Jewell still needed volunteers to man the table for a bit, I took a seat.  All about the generosity, me.

And I must have generated some good karma.  Eventually, Lawrence Schoen, Klingon Renaissance Man, showed up for his shift.  Shortly thereafter, a man I didn’t know approached the table and began chatting with Lawrence.  Turns out the guy was Alexandre Phillipe, director of the documentary Earthlings:  Ugly Bags of Mostly Water, among other films.  Well, Alexandre is working on a new project:  The People vs. George Lucas.  As soon as I heard that title, I said, "Now there’s a subject about which I can discourse at length."  To which Alexandre replied, "When are you available?"

Dude.  Seriously?  Seriously.  We set up an interview for the next day.

Volunteering.  I highly recommend it.

That night was the Tor Party, always an event not to be missed.  Nothing like cramming hundreds of people into a hotel suite, no doubt in violation of local fire codes, so they can spend the evening packed like sweaty sardines, trying to be heard over the din while keeping each other’s names straight.  Now that’s a party.

Seriously, it’s a good time, but not for the claustrophobic, shy, or faint of heart.  I ran into John Pitts there, and Jay Lake, and a raft of others.  I discussed the virtues of the conventional two-finger devil horns vs. the two-fingers-plus-thumb variation (aka the Gene Simmons version) with John Joseph Adams, puzzled over the utter lack of hops in Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale (seriously, Alexander Keith’s?), and observed with mingled wonder and amusement the seismic shift that occurred when Neil Gaiman and entourage brushed past me on their way upstairs.  You could almost hear a giant sucking sound as the Coolest Place On Earth To Be relocated.  I consider myself lucky not have suffered atmospheric decompression.

Stayed up a bit too late that night, considering I had a full full full day on Friday.  But you know.  It’s WorldCon.

Next Installment:  Panels!  Babysitting!  Poutine!