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Right. So. dinner with the Stargate guests for Armageddon.
But first off:
the bad
There were some logistical difficulties with the layout of the room. For starters, they were long tables, not round ones. And the guests were assigned a position in the centre, from which they could talk to people across them and beside them, but not to people on the far ends of the table. And the organisers had the seats on either side of the guest reserved for certain fans, who were seated there.
The second issue was one specific to my table. Initially, the organiser told us that we needed to leave three seats in the centre free on each side of the table. Then she eliminated one side - and people promptly moved in. It is, inevitably, the most dour and unconversational who take up the positions directly opposite: I don't think the three people seated opposite the guest asked a spontaneous question all night. So, yes, somewhat grumpy about the fact that it could have been better organised.
the guests
We started with Torri, who was friendly and chatty and delightful and thought nothing of leaning across the table to talk and answer questions. The topics ranged widely, from jewellery (I was curious about the ring on her finger - a green beaded thing that looked like it might be carved jade from my end of the table. I was riiiiight down the end of the long table, on the same side, so to see the guest, I had to lean halfway out over my plate) to appearances and ages and, oh, a bunch of other stuff.
I chatted with people up my end of the table - some faces that I knew and recognised from the day, all of whom seemed perfectly happy to converse about everything from fandom to interests and food and personal lives. Caesarian sections came up at one stage. Don't ask me why, they just did!
Main course was Michael, who moved one seat further up to sit next to a rather quiet woman who was a huge fan of his. I was sitting beside a woman who was friends with the quiet fan, and she's always at these conventions and always manages to worm her way in beside the guest. There's no harm in her, but she always wants to be the person next to the guest.
Michael started off with general conversation to the table, but by the time dinner was served was mostly speaking to the other end. He was closer that end, so it made sense.
While he was at our table, he talked about Chris Judge's idea of "a full glass of scotch" (all the way up to the rim), working on a movie in Hobart, Tasmania (apparently the producers picked Hobart because they figured no-one ever came to Hobart and they could leverage the curiosity and 'desire-to-work-with-people-from-"hollywood"' to get themselves freebies), Lexa (who apparently has strep throat), being grumpy while working 16-hour days on a regular TV show (apparently you don't realise what a bad-tempered asshole you are until you stop working those kinds of days: "honey, it's the weekend, let's go to the park!" "What? are you mad? No!"), and working with...I think it was David Blue from Stargate Universe...and the difference between playing a geek on TV and being a geek! (David Blue both plays a geek and is a geek. Shanks just plays the geek on TV.)
By the time dessert came, I, um, hijacked Ben Browder. Sort of. The woman next to me - the one who usually worms her way in next to the guest - had gone up to sit with her quiet friend while Michael was there, so I moved up, and the woman who'd been sitting on the other side of her was gone and so....I just shanghaied Ben and his minder as they came around.
What? We wanted to talk with the guests, too!
Anyway, Ben was a good sport about it. And a fascinating conversationalist. Someone I'd like to get for a good talk about the US and perception and a non-NorthEast/SouthWest perspective of USian politics.
He spoke about Farscape and how the Australian TV networks screwed it over because they had no investment in the show, but only wanted it to fill their Australian content quotas. He talked about the incredible talent in Australia and how it was a pity Australia didn't have the market. There were questions about filming in Australia, where he'd lived, and the last time he'd been in Australia for a con and how disappointed he was that nobody took him to Coogee...or, really, any beach location. He's an Eastern Suburbs boy when in Sydney - apparently it's his old stomping ground.
Talk turned to accents. His daughter has an English accent. His accent turns a little Australian when he comes to Australia - the way he said some things just sounded Australian. I mentioned his background - coming from the south, and the positive portrayal of people from the deep south, and how one of my friends was so pleased to find someone with her "home accent" who wasn't portrayed as a hick, a racist, or an idiot, but a good guy. It got into a discussion of the US military and how the people who go into it are lower-class, "flyover state" kids, many of whom are not likely to get at an ivy league uni education. That the kind of background Jack O'Neill and Cameron Mitchell come from is not likely to be moneyed, upper-class, and tertiary educated - John Sheppard's wealthy background is an exception to the rule. (The same friend who spoke about positive Southern portrayals pointed out that 'Patrick' is a working class name; 'John' and 'Dave' are the names you give your kids when you're rising in the world and you want them to be respected and respectable.)
We skimmed politics - red states, blue states, governments and civic trust - and then dessert came and we banished Ben up to the other end of the table to talk to the people there. But I enjoyed the conversation (and remember much more of it than the conversation with Torri) I may want to speak with the guest, but I'm not going to be a complete hog all night when other people have also paid money and are waiting to speak with them. IMO, that's just rude.
There was a second conversation with Torri, but that's going to have to wait for later. I've got to go help out at a booth for a bit.
But first off:
the bad
There were some logistical difficulties with the layout of the room. For starters, they were long tables, not round ones. And the guests were assigned a position in the centre, from which they could talk to people across them and beside them, but not to people on the far ends of the table. And the organisers had the seats on either side of the guest reserved for certain fans, who were seated there.
The second issue was one specific to my table. Initially, the organiser told us that we needed to leave three seats in the centre free on each side of the table. Then she eliminated one side - and people promptly moved in. It is, inevitably, the most dour and unconversational who take up the positions directly opposite: I don't think the three people seated opposite the guest asked a spontaneous question all night. So, yes, somewhat grumpy about the fact that it could have been better organised.
the guests
We started with Torri, who was friendly and chatty and delightful and thought nothing of leaning across the table to talk and answer questions. The topics ranged widely, from jewellery (I was curious about the ring on her finger - a green beaded thing that looked like it might be carved jade from my end of the table. I was riiiiight down the end of the long table, on the same side, so to see the guest, I had to lean halfway out over my plate) to appearances and ages and, oh, a bunch of other stuff.
I chatted with people up my end of the table - some faces that I knew and recognised from the day, all of whom seemed perfectly happy to converse about everything from fandom to interests and food and personal lives. Caesarian sections came up at one stage. Don't ask me why, they just did!
Main course was Michael, who moved one seat further up to sit next to a rather quiet woman who was a huge fan of his. I was sitting beside a woman who was friends with the quiet fan, and she's always at these conventions and always manages to worm her way in beside the guest. There's no harm in her, but she always wants to be the person next to the guest.
Michael started off with general conversation to the table, but by the time dinner was served was mostly speaking to the other end. He was closer that end, so it made sense.
While he was at our table, he talked about Chris Judge's idea of "a full glass of scotch" (all the way up to the rim), working on a movie in Hobart, Tasmania (apparently the producers picked Hobart because they figured no-one ever came to Hobart and they could leverage the curiosity and 'desire-to-work-with-people-from-"hollywood"' to get themselves freebies), Lexa (who apparently has strep throat), being grumpy while working 16-hour days on a regular TV show (apparently you don't realise what a bad-tempered asshole you are until you stop working those kinds of days: "honey, it's the weekend, let's go to the park!" "What? are you mad? No!"), and working with...I think it was David Blue from Stargate Universe...and the difference between playing a geek on TV and being a geek! (David Blue both plays a geek and is a geek. Shanks just plays the geek on TV.)
By the time dessert came, I, um, hijacked Ben Browder. Sort of. The woman next to me - the one who usually worms her way in next to the guest - had gone up to sit with her quiet friend while Michael was there, so I moved up, and the woman who'd been sitting on the other side of her was gone and so....I just shanghaied Ben and his minder as they came around.
What? We wanted to talk with the guests, too!
Anyway, Ben was a good sport about it. And a fascinating conversationalist. Someone I'd like to get for a good talk about the US and perception and a non-NorthEast/SouthWest perspective of USian politics.
He spoke about Farscape and how the Australian TV networks screwed it over because they had no investment in the show, but only wanted it to fill their Australian content quotas. He talked about the incredible talent in Australia and how it was a pity Australia didn't have the market. There were questions about filming in Australia, where he'd lived, and the last time he'd been in Australia for a con and how disappointed he was that nobody took him to Coogee...or, really, any beach location. He's an Eastern Suburbs boy when in Sydney - apparently it's his old stomping ground.
Talk turned to accents. His daughter has an English accent. His accent turns a little Australian when he comes to Australia - the way he said some things just sounded Australian. I mentioned his background - coming from the south, and the positive portrayal of people from the deep south, and how one of my friends was so pleased to find someone with her "home accent" who wasn't portrayed as a hick, a racist, or an idiot, but a good guy. It got into a discussion of the US military and how the people who go into it are lower-class, "flyover state" kids, many of whom are not likely to get at an ivy league uni education. That the kind of background Jack O'Neill and Cameron Mitchell come from is not likely to be moneyed, upper-class, and tertiary educated - John Sheppard's wealthy background is an exception to the rule. (The same friend who spoke about positive Southern portrayals pointed out that 'Patrick' is a working class name; 'John' and 'Dave' are the names you give your kids when you're rising in the world and you want them to be respected and respectable.)
We skimmed politics - red states, blue states, governments and civic trust - and then dessert came and we banished Ben up to the other end of the table to talk to the people there. But I enjoyed the conversation (and remember much more of it than the conversation with Torri) I may want to speak with the guest, but I'm not going to be a complete hog all night when other people have also paid money and are waiting to speak with them. IMO, that's just rude.
There was a second conversation with Torri, but that's going to have to wait for later. I've got to go help out at a booth for a bit.
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