ConCarolinas: all that and a bag of tribbles

[eldritchhobbit]

ConCarolinas was a wonderful experience! The panels were well attended and thought provoking, the main programming was entertaining and enjoyable, and the entire event was incredibly well planned and organized. I highly recommend this con.

I was particularly pleased and gratified by the response to those discussions in which I was featured as a guest, and thrilled at the chance to trade thoughts on "the best books you've never heard of" with Author Guest of Honor Mike Resnick (and hear his opinion on why the works of Bradbury and Heinlein will outlive those of Clarke and Asimov). As usual, I brought home more new books than I'd planned, and I am completely unrepentant about it. I also had the opportunity to chat with futurist Stephen Euin Cobb, a conversation that may end up on his podcast The Future and You one of these days. I heard some tantalizing scoops about the upcoming Star Trek film and "reimagining" of The Highlander, and I gained some terrific insights from Mike Pederson of Nth Degree, Stephen Euin Cobb, and Gray Rineheart about technological trends of the past and future. The con provided all the brain food I hoped for and more.

By far, the very best part of the con was spending time with the wonderful estellye and meeting and getting to know a shiny new friend, the terrific hinluin. Good times indeed!


In other, far less happy news, I must offer moments of silence for the passing of two legends:

* Bo Diddley, R.I.P.

* Robert H. Justman, R.I.P.


"Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley have you heard?
My pretty baby says she wants a bird..."
"Bo Diddley," Buddy Holly

Comments

[mackiedockie.livejournal.com]

*A long moment of silence*

I was fortunate to hear Bo Diddley live in concert in a blues bar up here some years ago. Bo will be missed on this plane, but his music is immortal.

Robert Justman...wow. He and the Great Bird were practically the progenitors of modern media SF fandom. There are too few storytellers with their depth of vision and magnitude of ambition to break new ground.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Seeing Bo Diddley live must have been amazing. I just can't imagine. You're so right; his music is immortal.

Robert Justman...wow. He and the Great Bird were practically the progenitors of modern media SF fandom. There are too few storytellers with their depth of vision and magnitude of ambition to break new ground.

Oh, well said indeed!
*silence*

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

I brought home more new books than I'd planned, and I am completely unrepentant about it.

In logging my post-con booty I realized that I somehow crossed the 2000 mark in my LibraryThing - Which makes me feel a little uneasy... But then I shake it off and yeah... Unrepentant. :-)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Unrepentant. :-)

*high fives*
Friends don't let friends regret book purchases. ;P

[maidoforange.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish I could've gone! The reimagining of "Highlander" definitely interests me. I really liked the first movie and the TV show. The other movies, not so much.

Anyway, I sure wish I could be there with you, Estellye, and Hin.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

It would've been so much fun to have you there, too! Maybe next year?

I won a fantastic Highlander poster (from the original movie) at the charity auction supporting the NC Rescue Dog organization. It's all black-and-grey on white, and simply stunning, showing Connor standing still in the midst of a battle, looking up at the sky (or at the Kurgan), with others fighting all around him. It took my breath away. I'm with you; the first movie and the TV show are my favorites.