Visiting Kalevala Heritage from a North American Standpoint: Matias Bergora, Anna Dillman, Konsta Klemetti
-Focus was on an IP created by a Finnish company to bring the folklore of the Kalevala to world audiences, in particular their comic Iron Danger. It was interesting for a behind the scenes look at the comic making process between people in far away places. They also spoke briefly about a film on the same subject.
-An amusing question was from one audience member who asked how the group felt about appropriation of another culture when it was Finnish people who sought out the artists outside of their country to do the drawing. It was like he wasn't listening during the talk and wanted to be offended regardless.
Appeal of the Bland Protagonist: Caroline Stevermer, Robert Silverberg, Kari Sperring, Angus Watson
-Some very good points made by the panelists. Normal in their own world does not mean they are normal to us. If main charachter is bland the secondary characters must shine. Bland can be relatable but cannot remain so. Can use bland protagonist to bridge the gap tot eh fantastic as an observer. A character could seem bland but could be hiding the horrible/fantastic/insane.
NASA and the Future: Norma J Knotts
-Among other things, talked about and showed images of
-ES1 Orion manned spacecraft
-R5 Valkyrie Robot
-Chris Hatfield video explaining how to use the bathroom in space
-Commercial Crew Program to save NASA money
Remember Who Is Boss: Golem as a Jewish Joke with Rots and a Universal Admonition: Ellen Miriam Pederson
-The woman who gave this knows her subject matter but I was lost during most of the presentation. It was part of the academic track and my wife hit the nail on the head when she said it was like it was the middle of the term on a subject and we missed all the other classes before it. I agreed. With little introduction on the subject the presenter just bored right through as if we had known the previous classes. I never went to another academic track or long title panel the rest of the con. I did take some notes for story and plot ideas though so not a total waste of my time.
Darkness at the Heart of Original Folktales: Dalia Sherman, Linn, Anaea Lay, Michael R Underwood
-Some interesting points in this very good panel were:
-Folktales are sacred narratives where the thing that must not be done is introduced and the character does it with two outcomes; doom and/or maiming, reforms and corrects behavior
-Stories have been changed over the years as more transitions to adulthood are created to "protect" youth (childhood to adulthood changing to baby/toddler/child/preteen/teenager/young adult/adult)
-When folktales were sanitized it was because they wanted sanitation of their society
-They were used to prepare a people for necessary violence against another
Cool Wonder Woman and Shredder costume
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