Slayage Conference Starts Next Week at Henderson State U, Arkadelphia, Arkansas - General

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May 30 2008

Slayage Conference Starts Next Week at Henderson State U, Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Beginning a week from today, the Conference features over 40 sessions of Whedon discussion--including 4 keynotes, one of whom will be Whedon's professor Jeanine Basinger (yay!).

Anyone who is interested is welcome to come (though there is a charge to pay for expenses such as speakers' travel costs). The discussions after the paper presentations are always fun, and this only happens every two years. People should contact HSU prof Kevin Durand for shuttle info; see Slayage for more details.

rhonda_w | General | 22:42 CET | 21 comments total | tags: sc3, slayage conference

The program, as ever, looks fascinating. Catching my professional eye is this:

Sharon Sutherland (U of British Columbia Faculty of Law) and Sarah Swan (Harper Grey LLP)—“Sometimes you have to . . . compromise: Lilah as Lawyer”

From some of our discussions here, members might find this pretty relevant:

Leigh Clemons (Louisiana State U)—“The Liminal Season Eight: Genre Change and Its Impact on Character/Story in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight"

And then there's this provocatively-titled session:

David Lavery (MTSU)—“The Real Hell Dimension: Joss Whedon’s Film Career”

Hope some of us can go and report back.

(ETA: My oops that I didn't delete for self-linkage - got a bit carried away in the material I guess.)

[ edited by SoddingNancyTribe on 2008-05-31 09:17 ]

SoddingNancyTribe | May 30, 23:18 CET

Mrs. Haunt and I will be there with bells on. Well, not literal bells, but you get the idea. We've already mapped out our assault (in theory at least), which amazingly enough manages to avoid all but one or two conflicts. But pretty much any Angel-centric paper whens out when there's a question about what we're going to sit in on.

Look forward to seeing some of you there.

Haunt | May 30, 23:27 CET

So depressed I can't go! I hope all of you who attend have a great time and come back with new knowledge and musings to share...

BandofBuggered | May 31, 00:04 CET

Self link. We'll let it slip this time.

Please ask before posting if you aren't sure. It's a simple rule, really. If you are in any way involved (creating, presenting, organising, building, etc) in the material you link to, you cannot post it.

Caroline | May 31, 01:40 CET

I'm assuming rhonda_w is Rhonda Wilcox. Caroline, please read her book. She should get a purpleness here, IMO.

dreamlogic | May 31, 07:24 CET

She is, dreamlogic, and whether we've read her book or not, only Joss gets away with self-linking around here. In any case, welcome aboard, Dr. W :)

“The Liminal Season Eight: Genre Change and Its Impact on Character/Story in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight"

It may be too early in the morning for my brain to be working, but is this suggesting the move to comics is a genre change rather than a change of delivery medium? I suppose the argument could be made that its both given the bar raising as far as magickal goings on and such. Not sure that I'd start from that position, but should be interesting.

zeitgeist | May 31, 08:57 CET

I've read a couple of Jeanine Basinger's books. Insightful stuff. I thought she dealt only in film,though. If so, it's cool she's making an exception in Joss's case.

shambleau | May 31, 09:52 CET

This whole thing just baffles me. I grew up right outside of Arkadelphia, Arkansas. I just can't believe that there are Buffy fans in Arkansas. Let alone really kick ass, smart Buffy fans in Arkansas! It has gotten some really great coverage in the papers too. My mom sent me a huge article. It's weird. Now my mom seems somewhat interested in my fandom because of this (she's always rolled her eyes at me). Well, my hats off to the organizers and presenters! Kudos on bringing Buffy to my home state!!

Harmalicious | May 31, 09:53 CET

I'll risk having my wrist slapped (again) by expressing my shock at the notion of Rhonda Wilcox, co-creator with David Lavery of the entire Slayage phenomenon not getting some kind of purpleness. I find that funny... in a really sad and depressing way. That seems almost as weird to me as saying that Jane Espenson or BKV or even Brian Lynch shouldn't get purpled.

But what the hell do I know? I'm a mouthy rebel without a clue. ;)

Rhonda, I look forward to talking with you again this year.

Haunt | May 31, 12:26 CET

Haunt - admit it, the slapping turns you on ;).

zeitgeist | May 31, 13:40 CET

Posters are reminded that VIP status is given to those who work with Joss. If people want to discuss this, please email us about it as per our rules.

Also Arkadelphia is probably the best name ever for an American town.

Simon | May 31, 13:54 CET

You got me there, zeitgeist. And Simon, I'm not quite sure I believe it's a real city till I actually set foot there. Very cool name indeed. :)

Haunt | May 31, 18:38 CET

Oh, it's a real place Haunt. In my days we called Henderson State University Benton High, grade 13 because so many Benton (my home town) grads went there. I've been to many, many college parties at HSU. Some I remember and some I do not :) Haunt, just make sure you steer clear of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia...yikes is all I'm saying. If you have any time to do some hiking and or visit one of the many lakes you should do so. It is absolutely beautiful. Have an awesome time!!

Harmalicious | May 31, 19:14 CET

Oh don't worry. I'll never set foot near anything with "Baptist" in the name.

And Simon, does that mean if I could ever convince my friend Andy Owens to set foot on the ol' interwebs that HE would get VIP status? That might actually make him think it's not such a bad place after all. ;)

Haunt | May 31, 19:35 CET

I'm really excited about going, and I look forward to meeting the Haunts. I'll also be visiting an editor in Little Rock, one of the smartest people I know, who's a Whedon fan, too.

Many years ago, I worked at the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record. (I also worked for the Arkansas Democrat.) It will be fun to stay just down the road in Malvern. There's plenty to see in the area. Hot Springs, with its historic district and mountain scenery, is just half an hour from Arkadelphia. L.R. is an hour north, and it's become quite charming.

Suzie | May 31, 22:12 CET

Hi, Rhonda W. here--a bit embarrassed about beginning with a faux pas. But thanks for the welcome anyway. And I thought I should note that there seems to be some kind of cosmic karmaliciousness going on, because the Slayage site is now down--why, I haven't a clue. Ouchy poetic justice...But the conference of course will go on, with contributions from many many people, including Haunty ones.

rhonda_w | June 01, 16:51 CET

lol I'll be more than happy to contribute... it just won't be a paper. Not this year at least. :)

Haunt | June 01, 19:52 CET

From doing a little bit of investigating it looks like it may be being hosted by The Planet. The Planet had an explosion in their power room earlier, causing their main datacenter to go offline.

zeitgeist | June 01, 21:12 CET

Harmalicious expressed surprise at the existence of Whedon fans in Arkansas. Don't we know by know that we're EVERYWHERE? :-) And anyway, it doesn't seem to matter much where the conference is--people are coming from as far away as Australia to present papers and be part of the conversation.

Two years ago, at SC2, the conference was in Barnesville, GA--where is that, you may well ask? South of Atlanta. In a dry county. We still had a fabulous time. I expect much the same in Arkadelphia.

Maeve | June 02, 08:46 CET

You know, if I wasn't broke I still lived in Arkansas (I worked as a sports writer for the Baxter Bulletin for nine months), I probably would have gone to this, but alas, I'm broke and back home with my parents. So Slayage Conference for me. That makes me sad in a depressed way.

Also, I felt like I was the only Whedon fan in Mountain Home. There isn't a North Central Arkansas Browncoat Yahoo! group when I was there.

crazygolfa | June 02, 09:51 CET

*drools*
i have ALWAYS wanted to go to one of these...but i am poor grad student with very little transportation and financial resources, argh...perhaps someday when i write the "great american novel" or some such thing, i can go to a Buffy conference and die happy lol.

buffyfanatic18 | June 02, 14:45 CET

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