Saturday, September 1, 2012

WorldCon/Chicon '12 Day 2: Orbital Mechanics Don't Apply

Started out the day meeting some friends in the lounge for some breakfast. The cuts of meat they put out are phenomenal. Then my first seminar of the day was an interview w/ George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame. Here's the line to get in:
I (ab)used my press creds. to get seats in the 2nd row. It was sitting/standing room only.


Some highlights from the interview.  Most of the changes fans of the series have seen between the TV series and the books have been money based.  Examples were removing the chain, bridge of boats and the 3 whores (trebuchets) from the Battle of Blackwater episode. Apparently Martin also has not so much influence on the show which is another big reason for the changes. On a question as to how he sucks in so many people... His reply (tongue in cheek)  "Sheer Brilliance"  and he openly admits that making us enjoy a character and then crippling or killing them is to mess w/ our heads.  Why?  Because he hates predictability and it's hard to make things unpredictable w/ today's audience. The example he gave was the new Twilight Zone.  People were figuring out the plots early on no matter how much they tried to give a surprise ending. As to the stories themselves, he calls himself a 'Gardener'.  He knows the basic plots and major events but the specifics and details come up while he's writing. His favorite characters to write about?  Tyrion and Arya.

(Update:  Podcast here.  Huffpo article here. My question is at the 1:05:00 mark)

I got to ask a question and got what I consider to be the sarcastic answer of the day.  I asked just how unstable is the orbit of the GOT world.  The reply.... "It's FANTASY.... Orbital Mechanics do not apply...  The moon is made of green cheese."  The side answer by Maureen Ryan of Huffpo was "The seasons are as long or short as George wants them to be."  That made my day.

I hit the huckser's room to do a little shopping and ran into an old friend. We chatted for a few hours then I started wandering again.  Picked up another t-shirt, some old AD&D modules and the complete Uncle Remus anthology.



Fire team of 'Colonial Marines' from Aliens (I also saw these guys dressed up as Jedi's, Imperial Snowtroopers and several other characters but wasn't able to get photos):

The gaming room:

Heading out for some food then likely some get togethers this evening.

Got served drinks by Ming the Merciless:

And I got to hang out w/ GRRM at the fan club group:
While at the fan club party, I bought a few raffle tickets.  10 for $1 ea,  Figured what the hell, it gave me an excuse to hang around.  I won THREE times.  A GOT board game and expansion signed by GRRM, I gave back the 2nd win to not be a jerk then gave the rest of my tickets to my sister and then SHE won w/ one of my tickets, picking up a 4 pack of the GOT card game.
This was a fun evening.

WorldCon/ChiCon '12 Day 1

WorldCon/ChiCon '12 Day 3: Con Crud Apocalypse

WorldCon/Chicon '12 Day 4: The Pile of Hamsters Disperses

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2 comments:

David Lawson said...

What are you playing?

Phssthpok said...

Several years back I had the joy of attending a book signing w/ GRRM, and I can hear his response to your question EXACTLY the way he would have said it, in my head.

I remember another attendee asked him a question (I forget the bulk of it) that ended something like:

"blah blah blah, ...since (character X) is the strongest magic user in the series?"

And he simply replied (with raised eyebrows) "Oh, is (s)he??...(thoughtful look)...Huh." then simply took the next question....