Escapade/Escapade 2015

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Escapade 2015

Escapade 25 took place March 6-8, 2015 near the Los Angeles, CA airport.

Programming

Program Book (PDF)

Friday::

10:00am – 11:00am: Good morning, sunshine! Continental breakfast in the main panel room. Drop in, gather early for the Welcome to Escapade panel, collect coffee and tea, fruit and danish, and get your good seat for the panel. (Consider this a free-form, pre-panel/ intro/ chat/ mixer run by whoever gets there first.)

11:00am – 12:00pm: Welcome to Escapade. Every year, the best way to help start the convention is with the Welcome to Escapade panel. If you’re new, you’ll meet people. If you’ve been around for a while, you know you need to be there to help select the wildcard/wayback panels and Have Your Voice Heard. Also, we have snacks! Mod(s): Megan Kent, Charlotte C. Hill

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Tumblr 101: Finding Fandom in the Void. Why tumblr? Here’s what you can do fannishly on tumblr, the fun and interesting culture fostered there and a basic How To to get you started. Mod(s): Michelle, Calysta Rose

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Selling the Soul of Your Firstborn: Corporate encroachment on fandom – Kindle Worlds, licensed fanclubs, etc. More and more, The Powers That Be are deciding that fanac is okay if it makes them money, as long as it works within their ideas of what’s proper. Discuss what’s going on, what parts are tolerable or even beneficial, and what fans can do about the parts they find problematic. Mod(s): Elf

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Trek: Movie #3 — What’s next? You know you loved (or sometimes hated) the first two movies, and you’re just dying for the third. What do you think is next? Will it be another save-the-Earth/planet story? Will they steal a storyline from TOS? Will they go all original on us? What do you want to see? Let’s talk! Mod(s): Saklani, Jinx37Kat, Kris -KrisserCI5

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Poly is the New Slash. Do you roll your eyes at love triangles, because the obvious solution is right there? Are ship wars irrelevant, because in your headcanon the entire team/group/division is one big partner-sharing family? Is the fic trend toward OT3/multiple partners a reflection of character demographics, or is there more involved? Let’s talk about the growth of poly fic as a genre and why the dynamics involved can be so satisfying. Mod(s): kerithwyn, Raine Wynd

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Before The Kiss: Friendship in the MCU. The Marvel cinematic universe is rich with romantic possibilities, but the bedrock is the friendships of extraordinary individuals. They variously struggle with trust, trauma, fears about their own powers, and often a kind of learned or self-imposed isolation, and yet they’ve forged bonds with one another that are strong and complex. How do these friendships inform the way we fans see them? Mod(s): Aral, sinead

3:00pm – 4:00pm: Writing & Editing: The Law & Order of the Long Story. In the world of fiction writing, there are two separate yet equally important processes: the words, which tell the story, and editing, which shapes the story into something readable. There are ways to keep the words flowing, and ways to keep the words on track. These are their stories. Mod(s): Denise Raymond

3:00pm – 4:00pm: Fans, Journalism, and the Professionalization of Meta. Fandom has long debated fanfic writers going pro and acafans building careers analyzing fandom. Fandom’s increased internet visibility through news sites like The Daily Dot create new opportunities to professionalize fannish meta. Like the internet before it, THIS IS HAPPENING. How can we work with these changing events to promote our interests, our goals, and our communities? How can find, and be a resource for, those people who are “playing for our team”? Mod(s): Calysta Rose, Megan Kent

3:00pm – 4:00pm: Pros: Maim, Spindle or Mutilate, or, How Many Ways Can We Hurt the Lads We Love. The physical injuries are numerous, as well as the psychological. . . . why is this such a strong component in the fic works and the show canon? Which poses the biggest threat to blissful times between the sheets? Mod(s): Snow, Kris -KrisserCI5

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Best of Festivids. From the slashy to the merely sublime, what tickled our fancy in this year’s Festivids? Mod(s): Nate, elipie

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Tab A into Slot B: Keeping it Real-ish. Writing sex scenes can be tough. Unless you have a couple gay exhibitionist friends or personal experience, most of us are fuzzy on the details. This frank discussion will include the Gay Kama Sutra, visual aids and showing gay porn. Research Is Fun! Mod(s): bren/glacis, Elf

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Almost Human-Almost Good. So close and yet so far. How did it scratch the id just right and how did it fail us? What would we like to see in fic? Mod(s): Killa, Charlotte C. Hill

5:00pm – 6:00pm: Calibre – Plugins for fandom. Learn how to download and install fanfiction plugins to enhance your fandom experience with Calibre. Use “Fanfiction Downloader” to download stories from A03, FF.net, and other archives. Want your own fandom covers? Generate Covers plugin will automatically add fandom covers to your downloads. Want to know the word count, warnings, relationships, reviews, and kudos a story has? If the answer is yes, custom columns can show you this information. Mod(s): Sharon (Amalthia)

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Fandompause: What is a fan without a fandom?: For some of us, it’s been months. For others, years. We identify as slash fans, but we have no current fandom obsessions to excite us and share with our friends. Do we have to turn in our fan credentials at some point? Is the next big fandom (still) just around the corner? Mod(s): Denise Raymond, Megan Kent

4:00pm – 5:00pm: The Sweet Smell of Slash: Homoeroticism in Hollywood’s Golden Age. The past is a foreign country: they do subtext differently there! How in Hays’ name did so much subtextual manlove get onto cinema screens of the 40s and 50s? Are we running mad with the slash goggles, or is there something pretty god damn gay about The Sweet Smell of Success and other film classics? Come rec your favorites and discuss epic subtext from Hollywood’s past. Mod(s): Kadymae DevilC, Dorinda

8:00pm – 11:00pm: Opening Night: Escapade Gala Event/Dance Party. After panels are over, stroll down the red carpet to Opening Night, Escapade’s dance party. Come dance to a playlist of classic fanvids or sit back and watch, cocktail in hand. Come in your festive best or your jeans, in cosplay or just as yourself. We’ll be chatting and drinking and dancing the night away.

Saturday::

10:00am – 11:00am: Mainstreaming Slash. Is going mainstream and achieving respectability changing who, what, and how we slash? Have tropes, memes, bingoes, etc. become a veil to hide behind, from the Creators wandering around in our fandoms? How does what we do influence the canon? Some creators run from it, “straightening up” their leads. Some cater to us, providing loving looks and overlong hugs. Can we encourage what we want, and discourage what we don’t? Mod(s): Aral, Charlotte C. Hill

10:00am – 11:00am: The Perfect Slash Vid. What makes the perfect slash vid? Is it the song choice? The point of view? The abs? (Okay, you got me: it’s the abs.) Mod(s): Killa

10:00am – 11:00am: Comics on the small screen. From Arrow to Agents of Shield here’s been an explosion of comics based TV shows in the past 2 years, and now Netflix is throwing its hat in the ring in a big way. What’s working? What isn’t? How are they different (and better) from past comics based shows? What are we hoping to see next? Mod(s): Kadymae DevilC, tartysuz

11:00am – 12:00pm: ‘We need some… stuff…’ Stuff! We know what they are talking about: lube! But do we know what we are talking about? Do we want to know more? Come along and get your hands… er… wet, as we investigate the different alternatives available and what our protagonists might think of them (if they were even available for them). Complete with what happens when you mix and match, and dubious speculation on historical alternatives. Anecdotal personal experience greatly encouraged. Samples welcomed. Tissues provided. Mod(s): Mead

11:00am – 12:00pm: UnSlashable. Sure if you can think about a pairing, someone has put them together. But there are some people that are rather ‘unslashable’. We will discuss what makes a person/character unslashable or at least more difficult to pair up. Mod(s): Anneke, Saklani

11:00am – 12:00pm: Lost Girl-The Best Fanfic Ever Filmed. Still loving it, or has Lost Girl lost you? Mod(s): Killa, kerithwyn

11:00am – 12:00pm: Art Show Gallery Crawl. Join us for a group stroll through the Art Show to talk about the art on display. Critique and squee equally welcome! Mod(s): Naked Bee

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Fanlore. Come learn how to use Fanlore, whether for researching that zine you’d like to buy, setting the record straight about that aged kerfuffle, or poking around in unfamiliar corners of fandom. Mod(s): Elf, Franzeska

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Real Kink. How do real BDSM and kinky practices interact with our canons, our fandoms, and our fanworks? Mod(s): Krytella

12:00pm – 1:00pm: The Many Incarnation of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most (and least) favorite detective and doctor have been represented and reinterpreted in many different ways over the last century and change. Discussion of the various versions of Holmes and Watson in books, movies, tv shows, and comics. Mod(s): Kat Killalla, Dorinda, Christy

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say. “I don’t usually like X, but.” We’ve all gotten them: the backhanded compliment—and we’ve probably all given them, too—in a comment, a rec, or an in-person comment. We have good intentions! And the last thing we want to do is discourage anyone from giving feedback. But is it really a compliment? Why do we feel the need to couch our comments that way? More importantly, is there a better way we could express what we’re really trying to say? Let’s discuss our real motivations for leaving feedback and making recs, and ideas about how to express ourselves clearly. Mod(s): Megan Kent

1:00pm – 2:00pm: From Tubbs to Rhodey. Is it unexamined racism in fans/the source material or other canon-based reasons that characters of color are shipped less? Or are they shipped all the time but just not where we’re looking? Share your faves with the group and lets discuss how to get more fic (or find it) for them. Mod(s): Calysta Rose, Saklani

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Librarians-File Under H for History. General discussion and squee about the new show, The Librarians. Mod(s): Denise Raymond, Kat Killalla, devo, delibby

2:00pm – 3:00pm: So You Wanna Be A Vidder. Bring your laptop or at least a pen and paper and find out how to get started in vidding. Mod(s): Anneke, Franzeska

2:00pm – 3:00pm: The Slash Gaze. The “female gaze” has gotten play lately in entertainment media–as if it’s a novel concept. Where does slash fit into the picture? If we’re so fringe, why do shows keep teasing us with hints of what we want? Do they know that queer subtext makes text richer, or are they queer-baiting? Do we want slash in our canon? Mod(s): Charlotte C. Hill

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Hockey or porn? We have both. This is one fandomnot lacking in glorious, exciting storylines. And if you have a taste for RPF, we promise NOT to whistle a penalty for slashing, because we already committed it ourselves. If you’re a curious rookie, come in for an intro. If you’re a veteran, join us to dig into the fandom side, from fic to Tumblr recs. Mod(s): M’lyn

3:00pm – 4:00pm: Pegging Our Boys – An Enthusiastic Instructional. Or How To Fuck A Straight Boy With Your Own Cock. A lot of straight men like getting fucked by their ladies. Here we will discuss how to discuss butt sex with straight boys, fondle dildos, try on harnesses and get meta on Pegging as a slash friendly genre. Mod(s): fashes ilia

3:00pm – 4:00pm: An Extra Hour in the Ballpit. From Ultimate Fantasy to DashCon, let’s discuss con disasters and how an event can go wrong. Are fans today failing to learn from the mistakes of cons of yore? You all get an extra 50 minutes in the ball pit! (Hey, we need a passing period before the next panel.) Mod(s): Snow, megan kent, Marnie Strom

3:00pm – 4:00pm: Ur Doin It Wrong: Teen Wolf As Case Study in Fannish Engagement. Now that they value us as a market, TPTB are scrambling to figure out what to do with us. They are increasingly likely to engage with fandom directly, and some are more successful than others! Teen Wolf broke ground with its level of fannish engagement, but it’s strategies have been clumsy and incoherent at best and offensive at worst. It’s a case study in doing it wrong! What can we learn from TW fandom’s experience? Mod(s): Aral

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Tumblr 102: Into Darkness. You’re here, now what? Here we talk about etiquette and xkit and making the most of your fannish tumblr experience. Mod(s): Michelle, Calysta Rose

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Fifty Shades of Fandom: Fifty Shades of Grey has become the representation of fan fiction in mainstream culture. It’s bad fan fiction, and it’s being used to ridicule women while making millions off women readers and viewers. Can we connect with these women: proto-fans who would love to read, and maybe write, great fan fiction if they found it? Can we use the FSoG phenomenon to expand our community? Does keeping our doors closed and our mouths shut perpetuate both monetization of our fan culture and misogynist scorn? Mod(s): Rachael Sabotini

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Highlander: Mind, Myth, and Magick. From Cassandra’s Voice to Darius’s visions, from the dream projections of Garrick’s insanity to the healing power of a heyoka, from the Four Horsemen to Ahriman to the prophecy of a child born on the winter solstice, Highlander is full of more myths and magic than just Immortality. The show never tried to explain the rules of the Immortal world, leaving the playing field wide open. What questions beg answers? What territory lies unexplored? Mod(s): Killa, devo, Melina

5:00pm – 6:00pm: Wildcard Panel: SOMETHING happens between the closing of panel ballots and the first day of Escapade. We set aside this hour to talk about the biggest “something”. Bring your hot topic to the Welcome to Escapade Panel.

5:00pm – 6:00pm: OTW Today? What’s the current state of OTW and its projects? AO3 still growing? As a reflection of fandom issues, what are OTW’s current priorities, successes and ‘still needs work’ problems? Plans for the future? Mod(s): Elf

5:00pm – 6:00pm: Agent Carter: A Woman’s Place Is… Agent Carter rewrote the rules, again, for a lead female heroine and the supporting characters. Let’s talk about what went right, what needs improvement, the future of the show and its effect on the MCU as a whole. Mod(s): Denise Raymond, Raine Wynd

8:00pm – 10:00pm: Escapade Songvid Show. Featuring new and nearly new vids from a variety of fandoms, the Escapade vid show is not to be missed. Choose your viewing environment: on the big screen in California C (quiet and attentive atmosphere), or the Vid Show Annex in California B (where conversation and commentary are welcome).

10:00pm – 12:00pm: The After Party. For those night owls among us, a post-vidshow pajama party on Saturday night. Come hang out in the con suite until the wee hours. We’ll be reading more bedtime stories (the more terrible and inappropriate, the better), watching more vids, and just chilling and talking. Mod(s): Franzeska

Sunday:

9:30am – 11:00am: Escapade Art & Charity Auction. I’s fun, exciting, and sexy (and that’s before the artwork)! This is your last chance to take home a lovely bit of crafts or artwork, win those prizes, and support artists, our charity, and the con.

10:30am – 12:00pm: Vid Review: Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show. Mod(s): Killa, lizbetann

11:00am – 12:00pm: Wayback Machine. One of two “wildcard” panels that we select as a group at the Escapade Welcome Panel, the Wayback Machine pulls from Escapades Past–usually, 10 years past. This year, we’re going all the way back to Year One… but since we only ran one track of panels in Year One, we’re adding years two and three.

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Face value. Are we fans surrendering instead of owning our fandoms–taking what we’re given at face value? Do we give TPTB too much power? Do we no longer challenge what we see on the screen? Mod(s): Aral, Denise Raymond

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Sleepy Hollow - Apocalypse averted… What’s next? Now that Moloc is dead and Purgatory is leaking, where do our intrepid witnesses go from here? Will Katrina go dark? What_x000B_is UP with Frank? Will Henry become a vigilante? Questions, questions, questions! Let’s talk! Mod(s): bren/glacis

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Small Fandom Dating Game. Our fangirl will go home with one lucky fandom today. Will it be yours? Come play the hippest, grooviest, most swingingest game show around! Mod(s): Denise Raymond

1:00pm – 2:00pm: WTF is wrong with you people! For all the fantastic, slashy shows that should have had fandoms and didn’t. Burn Notice is the prime example, but there are many more. Come ready to argue for your favorite “could have been” fandoms. Mod(s): Charlotte C. Hill, Commodore Marie, Barbana

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Pairs of Interest; Slash in Primetime. Finch/Reese, Root/Shaw, Elias/Anthony, how many slash pairs can this show make canonical? (How about The Machine/Samaritan?) Is this possibly the most slash friendly show on network TV? Let’s discuss how PoI manages, or doesn’t, to pull its characters into deeply homoerotic relationships while still serving its complicated plot. Was Root/Shaw a real relationship? Just how far did Elias and Anthony’s relationship go? Will we ever see Finch and Reese alone together again, and happy?? Mod(s): Kat Killalla, KathyM

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Escapade Review. The last official panel of the weekend, this is your chance to talk about what what worked, what didn’t, and what you might like to have different next year. Never run by a con chair (but always attended by both), the Escapade Review seeks to capture the essence of the weekend to carry forward into years to come–and to quarantine any problems that arose, so we can leave them behind. It can be very funny. It can be very heartwarming. It always helps you, the attendee, since you’re the designer of this con. Mod(s): Katharine

4:00pm – 7:00pm: Dead Dog Party. Programming may be over, you–and we–have leftover snacks, time before we must leave the hotel, and no desire for the convention to end. Drop by to pick up your copy of the songvid DVD, register for next year’s convention, fill out a comment form, and hang out ‘til your plane or ride leaves.

Vid Show Playlist

First Half

Let the Day Begin Highlander Killa 3:20
Gone Tech Almost Human blithesea 2:41
Honey and the Moon Soccer RPF Anoel 02:33
Wake Me Up Sinbad Jill, Kathy, Kay 03:21
The Hanging Tree Harry Potter Anneke of Baka Deshi Productions 3:55
Resolution Road Spy Game Destina 03:25
Sorrow Captain America gwyneth 3:24
My Own Worst Enemy Buffy the Vampire Slayer bradcpu 02:50
Home MCU Holdt 3:03
Black Widow Practical Magic kiki_miserychic 03:34
Dynamite Brooklyn Nine-Nine elipie 03:21

Part Two

I Will Never Let You Down Jump Street films Trelkez 03:24
Straight Up Jeeves & Wooster Naked Bee 02:43
A Thousand Miles Captain America rhoboat 03:07
Moons of Jupiter Stargate Atlantis esteefee 02:25
All You Need Is Kill Edge of Tomorrow Starlady 4:03
You Are the Best Thing Veritas: The Quest Franzeska 3:50
Sugar The Good Wife Anoel 02:29
Bad Reputation Avengers/MCU wyomingnot 02:53
We Exist In the Flesh violace 04:06
F**k Him He's a DJ multi kuwdora 3:45
Milkshake & Honey Orphan Black fray-adjacent 02:55
Centuries The Flash Milly 3:49

Vid Show Reviews

Dance Party Playlist

To celebrate Escapade 25, the dance party was a retrospective of slash fandom. The first half was a history of big media fandoms more or less in order. The second half moved on to covering more recent fandoms and also other types of fandoms, ships, and characters that some fans had moved on to.

First Half

I Ship It by Not Literally Productions - meta
Fashion is Danger by valoise - Star Trek: TOS
Wiggle by T.M. - Starsky & Hutch
S&M by tbm - The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
I Want You by Ancasta - The Professionals
Holding Out for a Hero by Mary Van Deusen - Blake's 7
Jack U Off by Franzeska - Miami Vice
Only the Good Die Young by Killa & MCK - Wiseguy
Time Warp by Kandy Fong - Quantum Leap
So Damn Hot by DK Williams - From Eroica with Love
Tainted Love by Katharine Scarritt & Pam Rose - The X-Files
I'm Not a Virgin Anymore by Luminosity - Highlander
Jive Talkin' by Zeneyepirate - The Sentinel
(Don't You Mess Around With) My Little Sister by c'est what - due South
Ouch! by Jill, Kathy & Kay - Stargate: SG1
Everywhere by Fray-Adjacent - Xena: Warrior Princess
Intergalactic Friends by Dragonchic - Smallville
Gettin' Jiggy With It by Elena - Lord of the Rings
Different Kind of Love Song by Giandujakiss - Multifandom

Second Half

End of the World as We Know It by Luminosity - Buffy
Flash Dance by gwyneth - La Femme Nikita
In the Bullpen by genusshrike - MCU: Natasha
Imma Be by talitha78 - Leverage
Alright With Me by Josette Arnauld - White Collar
Soccer Practice by bironic - Stargate Atlantis
Chick Flick Moments by stir_of_echoes - Supernatural
Bad Kid by jmtorres - The Losers
Blow by jetpackmonkey - The Prisoner
Brothers by Sam Hawkeye - The Musketeers
i gotta know by salvamisandwich - Hockey RPF
Murder on the Dancefloor by astolat - Sherlock
In The Dark by bradcpu - Sleepy Hollow
Shot for the Pain by Franzeska - Penny Dreadful
Do It Again by LightNeverFades - Inception
Wild One by Sisabet - Channing Tatum
H+W=BFFL by swankycat - Hannibal
Freedom Ride by sallysparrow017 - MCU: Steve/everyone
Hot In Herre by sweetestdrain - Cabaret
Va Va Voom by obsessive24 - Merlin
Get Lucky by such_heights - Singin' in the Rain
Movidito Movidito by sole_sakuma - Multi

Con Reports and Panel Notes

Convention Reports

msmoat Thursday, ^{Archived version}; Friday, ^{Archived version}; Saturday, ^{Archived version}; Sunday, ^{Archived version}

Escapade on Twitter

"My favorite thing about #escapadecon is that it's full of people who've been into slash since before I was born."
"The party was completely awesome! I actually danced! #escapadecon"
"@escapadecon Posting panel notes is a lively way to include those wishing they were there but unable to attend - <3"
"Out of context quote of #escapadecon: "I had to leave bacon behind..."
"Had a good time yesterday just absorbing the fannish atmosphere at #escapadecon."
"@escapadecon really happy we attended this year! Signed up for next year!"