Dariacon Michigan -- Jan. 21, 2002
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Dariacon Michigan 2002 -- A Report
Our most gracious hosts: Mr. and Mrs. Devilkitty Attendees: girlgenius (a.k.a Katie Cook) and boyfriend Dave Martin J. Pollard sam shoebleu John Takis um via telephone: Mike Yamilowski Tried hard, couldn't make it: Diane Long Generosity, kindness and good humor -- is this what "Daria Fan" conjures up for you? Well, it should. All was in evidence this evening at Dariacon Michigan 2002 -- the event that gave me great hope for this fandom. It takes bravery (and it's flipside?) to invite seven people you know as sometimes witty, sometimes crabby names on a message board over to your house to watch TV, but the Devilkitty's pulled it off with aplomb. All that was necessary for the guest to feel welcome and have a good time was there -- a HUGE big screen with a professional sound system, DSL access to the fandom worldwide via The Paperpusher's Site and #Daria+, comfy chairs in a very plesant apartment, and help with the microwave and stove. Thank you, thank you, thank you both. I felt very much at home. Except that I don't eat as well at home as we did this evening. All the "themed" food was in evidence: Pizza (delicous deep dish that gave me hope for the form in this state), lasanga (home made and extra spicy like I like it, courtesy of sam's kitchen -- he not only cooks up the tasty DMB files, he cooks! Ladies...), cheese fries, gummi bears, and even cookie dough. Not to mention veggies, for those who insist on eating healthy, chips, popcorn, and home made cookies by girlgenius. More food than we could possibly get to in one evening -- very cool. Conversation forged quickly past that momentary "I know you, but I don't know you" weirdness and got straight to the heart of the matter -- Daria fandom, in its myriad forms, its depth of participation, various time spent in the loop. Fanfics were discussed, remembered, fanart appreciated. Current projects and various boards and chats were analyzed and discussed. If your ears were burning, there was probably a good reason. Geek talk held sway near the computer, "the show" and how we relate to it by the couches. And Mike Yamiolkoski was our special mystery guest, phoning in his greetings while we gazed upon his special-delivery "glamour shot." Lookin' good, Mike! Good to talk with you. And Dave's presence proved that we can have a "normal" among us and not have him run screaming at our overweening geekiness. We watched "Boxing Daria" -- John hadn't seen it, and it made sense, in the scheme of things -- along with the CBS interview, a really pleasant extra to see again -- I guess the Viacom Hydra has its uses. Even the DVD first -- note, I said "first" -- came out for a spin. And that generosity I mentioned extended well beyond the food. Shoebleu was so kind to give me (carless) and sam (more than an hour away from Ann Arbor, with 40 minutes more to go) a lift. Martin J. Pollard did not pass out nonexistant copies of the computer game. Devilkitty put his skillz to work making instant, comemerative .mp3s. John T hooked me up with a CD of music from Cowboy Bebop -- domo arigato! And girlgenius offered the drafting of more of her wonderful fanart for various fics. Not only that -- I am the proud owner of a hand-crafted bottle of La familia devilkitty's own-brand chili powder! Sweet. Oh, yeah, and we watched the Daria movie. You should have been there when the Sick, Sad World bit came on -- you never heard such hoots and hollers of recognition. Touché. :-) And it didn't suck -- far from it. The deft touch was there, and no one voiced any disappointments at all. Well, not many. On a night like this, who picks nits? The trip down memory lane after the curtain fell on IICY was bittersweet -- we knew that, in all probability, this was the last time we'd see these scenes on MTV. And they managed to take the time to say "Thanks," not to us alone, certainly, but to everyone who ever got into watching Daria. No, thank you. Eventually, the post-show euphoria evened out enough for us to sit down and riff on lines, imitations...and the most amazing thing happened. Poetry. Devilkitty and John Takis recited poetry. From memory. Most extraordinary. And soon, you can experience it vicariously, through not only static images -- many cameras working -- but video. Oh, my stars. There's random, unconfirmed bits and pieces of data that give one hope for the future of Daria. Glenn might do this -- Paramount might be persuaded to do that. In the room where I saw IICY, I found hope for the future of Daria fandom. What I suspected was confirmed -- when we get in a room together, all that petty crap goes out the window. (Well, enough of it to matter a lot.) Goodhearted people, all pointed in the same general direction, respect a strong series a whole lot and do their bit, one way or another, to contribute to the fandom. There's talk of public Daria screenings (no, don't frigging sue us, okay?), tape trading, fic and art indexing and sorting...hell, why not "real" conventions? Any of us is at least as obsessive as any Star Trek fan, and willing to work at least as hard as those red-shirts for a show we believe in. We can do it. I have hope. I met a lot of cool people tonight. Thanks, you guys. -- um |
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