Zebra Con/2003

Zebra Con 16 (2003)

Sample art that won awards: 2003 Zebra Con 16 - Bluespirit for My Place, Art Show Winner (Miscellaneous category)^[1]
The convention website is archived here: 2003 - ZebraCon 16^[2]
Total number of people attending: 291
No-shows & last-minute cancellations: 25
Number of costumes worn by Karen: 7
Number of times ConCom had to answer a question for which the answer could have been found in the Program Book: 476
Amount raised in the Charity Auction for the con: $900
Amount raised for The Nature Conservancy: $1000
Most expensive piece of art at the Art Auction: Suzan Lovett's "Timeless" #1 ($3000)
Watching Suzan Lovett's face during the auction: priceless
Amount of alcohol consumed by ConCom during the weekend: um...none of your business
New entertainment invented by Jean on Sunday night: Hobbit-flinging
Number of days until ROTK: 48 (Source: annual Huggy Award pages)

Vid Show

Playlists and vid show reviews from the 1990s and 2000s are being collected at ZebraCon/Vid Show.

Convention Reports

So, I've come back from Z-con with a ridiculously large amount of fridge magnets, courtesy of the favourable exchange rate at present. I kept on thinking to myself 'bargain, bargain' at the prices. And then I thought of the price that British industry is paying at lack of competitive exports (penalty of growing up with a father whose business was exporting goods all over the world). But yes, the magnets are very pretty. Still, I can't help wondering what my cleaner thought of them when she came round to do the weekly clean today. *g*
The largest contingent are Due South, but I have rather a lot of Smallville, plus a lovely couple of Jack 'n Will. Then there are the Firefly magnets (all of them featuring Cap'n Mal, funnily enough...), plus one of Josh Lyman (love that Josh). They go nicely with my existing Bodie 'n Doyle and Duncan 'n Methos magnets. Gosh, I love pretty men. 'Cos I'm that shallow.
I only picked up a couple of zines at Z-con, both Pros. I enjoyed them both, although I couldn't help wishing that the [Rosemary C] zine had used the services of a Brit-editor. All the gottens kept on throwing me out of the rhythm of the story - there's no way Bodie or Doyle would say 'gotten'. Other than the Americanisms, though, it was a good read, especially considering that I'm not a huge h/c fan and the zine was h/c based. It also has a lovely Lovett cover. And no, I wasn't there when the Lovett picture at the auction sold for $3,000 (was sick in bed in the hotel room at the time), but I heard about it.
The fact that any fannish item sold for that much money highlighted the difference between an American and British con for me. I can't imagine any item of that nature ever selling for that type of money at a British con. I remember being gobsmacked at reading how much items auctioned off for charity at US Highlander cons raised compared to the prices that similar items fetched at UK cons. Wonder why that is - something to do with the 'good value for money' ethos that (used to be) drummed into the head of every British person I knew, I wonder.
As for the con itself, I don't propose to do a full con report as other people have already done it and very well too.
As I've already written, the best thing for me was meeting old friends and making new ones. It was great to have the 'London posse' TM: uschickens (almost) back together again. Much laughter and joy. And to see the lovely smaragdgrun (whose costume on Saturday kicked arse!) again. Am trying to persuade her that the next Connotations con lies in her future... Smara's companion in crime justacat who was my other room-mate also looked fabulous in her matching Gothic costume. Was sincerely a pleasure to meet her.
Also, so many other people who I'd heard so much about, especially those courtesy of thermidor. Forgive me if I don't list everyone, suffice it to say that there were so many great people and I hope to meet them all again at some point (not to mention keep in touch through LJ).
I didn't attend many panels, but of those I went to the winner was the dS panel, with the HP one the runner-up. All featured lively discussion and lots of laughs. Much fun.
The fact that I was suffering from the dreaded lurgy meant I didn't enjoy the do on Saturday night as much as I would otherwise have done. Alas, I missed the play. But not the costumes. Gosh, there was some glamour on display. Also some costumes that were deeply, deeply scary (Lana!).
All told, despite the illness I had a ridiculously good time. And then there was Chicago...^[3]