Today is the opening ceremony at the NADWCon, or North American Discworld Con, in Baltimore, MD. Obviously Sir Terry Pratchett is the Guest of Honor, but a lot of other folks will be there as well, including another favorite satirical author of mine, Esther M. Friesner. I recommend haunting the media area, in case you might be able to see some footage of the new TV series The Watch, assuming they got the money to make it. Note this is supposed to be a full TV series, and not a miniseries like Hogfather, Going Postal, or The Color Of Magic. 13 hour long episodes!
It appears the luggage is eager and hungry to be loaded and prepared for the next expedition. Always a good sign when you are gearing up for a vacation in Discworld, or anywhere else where misplacing your luggage could be catastrophic. After all, it is difficult to lose anything which is determined to follow you around, no matter the obstacles. A friend of mine who has way more artistic talent than I do built this wonderful physical interpretation of one of Terry Pratchett’s best loved non-alive but most definitely animate creations.
Like all good filk artists Danielle Clarke took a tune that everyone knows and added some Sci-Fi/Fantasy lyrics, in this instance all about Terry Pratchett’s DiscWorld series. I find this appropriate because NADWCon, the North American Disc World Con, takes place July 5th through the 8th in Baltimore, MD. Unfortunately the audio quality of this recording leaves a bit to be desired, So I am posting the lyrics after the video so you can follow along.
We Didn’t Start the Turtle
By Danielle Clarke
(and Billy Joel)
Twoflower comes to stay, Rincewind runs away,
Homicidal luggage and Ankh-Morpork burns.
Zoon traders can’t lie, Esk learns magic on the sly,
Death takes an apprentice and Mort’s lifetimer turns.
Spelter and Carding plot, Half-brick in a sock,
Try to make a tortoise run, and the pharoahs raise the sun.
Change the play’s murder scene, Lancre’s got a new king,
Guards! Guards! dragons fight, Eric’s demonology.
We didn’t start the turtle,
It was always swimming since the Disc was spinning.
We didn’t start the turtle,
No, we didn’t write it but we idolise it.
Ancient Leshp is waterlogged, Gaspode the Wonder Dog
Snow globes, fields of corn, Fresh Start Club
Magic Kindom far away, Chelonian Mobilé
Mica, Beryl, Shale, Nanny’s bathtub
Crop circles, bees swarm, Edward’s rampage with a gonne
Dead Punch and Judy man, Imp y Celyn and the Band
Lord Hong’s clothes chest, Red Army, unrest
Joy of Snackes, Opera Ghost, Walter Plinge’s roses
We didn’t start the turtle,
It was always swimming since the Disc was spinning.
We didn’t start the turtle,
No, we didn’t write it but we idolise it.
Golem king, clay feet, arsenic candles, Cockbill Street
Hogfather, ho ho ho, blood on midwinter snow
Captain Jenkins, sea squall, Battlefield football
Bugarup Mardi-Gras, Rincewind the Archchancellor.
Carrot and Angua, Space Ape, Breccia
Lettice Earwig, gold cup, Granny messes minds up
Igor’s dog Scraps, Brother Oats’s holy axe,
Balls of rock in motion, Blobs in the oceans
We didn’t start the turtle,
It was always swimming since the Disc was spinning.
We didn’t start the turtle,
No, we didn’t write it but we idolise it.
Low King, Dr’zka, Sybil sings an opera
New Firm, William, and Dog Bites Man
Deja fu, Auditors, saga of the Silver Horde
Spider, rat pipe, Maurice gives an extra life
Magic symbols, special robes, Elves and wizards at the Globe,
Lilac, 25th of May, what else do I have to say?
We didn’t start the turtle,
It was always swimming since the Disc was spinning.
We didn’t start the turtle,
No, we didn’t write it but we idolise it.
Tiffany, Wee Free Men, Roland Chuffley’s back again,
Hiver at the Witch Trials, chocolate nougat missiles
War in Borogravia, Stanley’s acuphillia,
Giant chicken, Mister Shine, Reading “Where’s My Cow?” on time
Rescue Summer, Winter dies, Mister Bent with battle pies
Glenda’s kindness, Brazeneck, Nutt, Trev and Juliet
Goblin slaves on foreign shores, Leap knave, jump whore,
Geoffrey’s shed with poo galore, Still the fans all scream for more
We didn’t start the turtle,
It was always swimming since the Disc was spinning
We didn’t start the turtle,
But when we are gone, it will still swim on and on and on…
This video was labeled How to Avoid Being Branded a Convention Creeper, and while I think my own title of Con Creep Avoidance was more succinct it didn’t fully convey the concept. These are a few basic rules (and I mean REALLY basic, if you need to study these in detail you probably want to take along a friend who can help you spot when you get it wrong) to help you make it through a Con without getting embarrassed, attacked, or arrested.
You have to love anything called TeslaCon, and even more when it is a Steampunk gathering. It will be happening in Madison, WI, in November, and just might be a lot of fun. Don’t count on seeing everyone named in this video, it is from last year’s event; check the current web pages guest list for the new names.
Teslacon 2010 opener from Jon Sovey on Vimeo.
This weekend is Otakon, the by fans, for fans convention covering Manga, Anime, and all things Asian pop culture like. It takes place at the Baltimore Convention Center and the surrounding Baltimore Inner Harbor from July 29th through the 31st. Their schedule is huge, and for the last handful of years they have sold out the convention center, which is a lot of people. They generally try to hold back a block of tickets for same day walk up sales, but you have to be there awfully early in the morning to get them. One of the movies scheduled to be screened this year is Bunraku, currently on the film festival circuit and looking quite tasty, as you can tell from the trailer. The unscheduled Otakon event that got the most YouTube coverage last year had to be the fire drill, when 30,000 Otaku were all on the streets of Baltimore at once.