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return from toronto
Sep. 1st, 2003 10:38 pmA lovely weekend with much to report. Many people called the convention a disaster, but that's not fair. To my mind a disaster is a big problem or set of cascading problems. There were problems to be sure but they were unrelated. I'd definitely call it more of a shambles instead.
Travelling there, it didn't occur to me that I'd need a pen to fill out customs paperwork. Who uses pens any more? How backward!
The headquarters hotel was a grand old railway hotel in the best 1920's tradition. Easily twice the size of the Boston Park Plaza, it was perfect for a large convention of this sort; all the parties could be near each other which made for a great party scene, and the nighttime functions didn't have to be split among hotels. Like the BPPH, the Central in Glasgow, the Huntington in Pasadena, and other hotels of that age, it was built with big rooms for the aristocracy and little ones with shared bath for the servants who traveled with them. Those rooms have long since been combined and converted, but on the way to the elevators from my room I passed by an old hallway bathroom, still in good shape with period tile, being used as a janitorial closet. Neat!
At the beginning of the masquerade they showed some film footage of the previous Torcon, 30 years ago. It included a shot of Isaac Asimov deploring the then-current trend towards more sex in science fiction because, as he put it, he was too old to learn how to write like that.
The other things I took notes on relate to particular panel topics; perhaps I'll write those up later, or maybe they'll just sit until the topics come up again.
Travelling there, it didn't occur to me that I'd need a pen to fill out customs paperwork. Who uses pens any more? How backward!
The headquarters hotel was a grand old railway hotel in the best 1920's tradition. Easily twice the size of the Boston Park Plaza, it was perfect for a large convention of this sort; all the parties could be near each other which made for a great party scene, and the nighttime functions didn't have to be split among hotels. Like the BPPH, the Central in Glasgow, the Huntington in Pasadena, and other hotels of that age, it was built with big rooms for the aristocracy and little ones with shared bath for the servants who traveled with them. Those rooms have long since been combined and converted, but on the way to the elevators from my room I passed by an old hallway bathroom, still in good shape with period tile, being used as a janitorial closet. Neat!
At the beginning of the masquerade they showed some film footage of the previous Torcon, 30 years ago. It included a shot of Isaac Asimov deploring the then-current trend towards more sex in science fiction because, as he put it, he was too old to learn how to write like that.
The other things I took notes on relate to particular panel topics; perhaps I'll write those up later, or maybe they'll just sit until the topics come up again.
