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A belated post on Potlatch
Mar. 21st, 2007 09:44 amThe upshot is we had a great time. Here's a quick con report. I'm too lazy to put in lj user tags for everyone, sorry.
We had excellent lunch and dinner expeditions. Friday evening we went to a yummy Lebanese restaurant with Marci, Marilyn, Cliff, and Eleanor. Saturday lunch was at a brew pub (Broadway Grill) that the restaurant guide rated 'Forget it', but all of us, John, Eileen, and Jonelle (a new person, writer workshop attendee), thought was great. Good thing we didn't look at the guide until afterwards. Plus it was right across the street from a beautiful old-fashioned bakery -- I wanted one of everything but settled for a dozen cookies and cherry pie, donated to the Tiptree bakesale because the organizer of that event had bailed at the last minute, so the only contribution was Debbie C's. extremely delicious homemade caramels. Saturday evening we had dinner with Kate & Glenn at a pleasant though slightly odd Thai restaurant (the dishes all seemed to be slightly sweetened -- Lise would have hated it). Sunday, of course, was the brunch which was one of the best hotel banquet brunches I've had. The quiche was particularly nice.
Lucy's cocktail hat hour was a smashing success. I look forward to seeing more pictures. The panels that I attended all had interesting bits, though none of them were the kind that kept me thinking and talking about it for the rest of the con. Still, one can't expect that kind of compelling panel every time. The consuite was a bit cramped, as they almost always are, but a fair number of people managed to hang out there. I don't know where everyone else was. The munchies weren't at the gourmet level I've come to expect for a Potlatch (except for Debbie C's exquisite home-smoked salmon and the very nice cheese the consuite host brought out to go with the wine Saturday night), but I think the fellow is more used to feeding the masses at Orycon (e.g., stacks of ramen noodle cups on the table, really nasty faux cream cheese for the breakfast bagels) and wasn't given sufficient direction in making the Potlatch consuite less utilitarian.
I looked at many books, but failed to buy any. My goodie bag included The Chains that Bind You, a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Bear, and I loved most of them. I was highly amused by the clever slash story she included, especially since I was a die-hard fan of the show in question in my teens. I don't know what someone who didn't know the show would make of the story. It's possible the story could be enjoyed on its own merits, but hmm, no, I think it pretty clearly telegraphs that 'you should recognize this' and if you don't, you'd probably be frustrated or annoyed. Ah well, I recognized it and I enjoyed it.
Even with all that socializing, there were still lots of people that I didn't get a chance to talk to. A fun little convention.
We had excellent lunch and dinner expeditions. Friday evening we went to a yummy Lebanese restaurant with Marci, Marilyn, Cliff, and Eleanor. Saturday lunch was at a brew pub (Broadway Grill) that the restaurant guide rated 'Forget it', but all of us, John, Eileen, and Jonelle (a new person, writer workshop attendee), thought was great. Good thing we didn't look at the guide until afterwards. Plus it was right across the street from a beautiful old-fashioned bakery -- I wanted one of everything but settled for a dozen cookies and cherry pie, donated to the Tiptree bakesale because the organizer of that event had bailed at the last minute, so the only contribution was Debbie C's. extremely delicious homemade caramels. Saturday evening we had dinner with Kate & Glenn at a pleasant though slightly odd Thai restaurant (the dishes all seemed to be slightly sweetened -- Lise would have hated it). Sunday, of course, was the brunch which was one of the best hotel banquet brunches I've had. The quiche was particularly nice.
Lucy's cocktail hat hour was a smashing success. I look forward to seeing more pictures. The panels that I attended all had interesting bits, though none of them were the kind that kept me thinking and talking about it for the rest of the con. Still, one can't expect that kind of compelling panel every time. The consuite was a bit cramped, as they almost always are, but a fair number of people managed to hang out there. I don't know where everyone else was. The munchies weren't at the gourmet level I've come to expect for a Potlatch (except for Debbie C's exquisite home-smoked salmon and the very nice cheese the consuite host brought out to go with the wine Saturday night), but I think the fellow is more used to feeding the masses at Orycon (e.g., stacks of ramen noodle cups on the table, really nasty faux cream cheese for the breakfast bagels) and wasn't given sufficient direction in making the Potlatch consuite less utilitarian.
I looked at many books, but failed to buy any. My goodie bag included The Chains that Bind You, a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Bear, and I loved most of them. I was highly amused by the clever slash story she included, especially since I was a die-hard fan of the show in question in my teens. I don't know what someone who didn't know the show would make of the story. It's possible the story could be enjoyed on its own merits, but hmm, no, I think it pretty clearly telegraphs that 'you should recognize this' and if you don't, you'd probably be frustrated or annoyed. Ah well, I recognized it and I enjoyed it.
Even with all that socializing, there were still lots of people that I didn't get a chance to talk to. A fun little convention.
