altariel | Tolkien 2005

There were so many wonderful things about Tolkien 2005 that it's hard to pick some out. Here are some highlights, in no particular order.

Driving down with edge_of_ruin and the_wild_iris and sharing well-considered opinions on Harrison Ford

Meeting tyellas, ithilwen, and rcfinch

The astonishing Reduced Silmarillion Company, who were side-splittingly funny for 45 minutes in a room that increasingly felt like a Balrog was about to turn up

Being asked by a young Spanish gentleman where he could find the night life, since English girls "are easy"

Having a good laugh with some friends about the summary of a paper on sexploitation films and slash, and then having someone lean over and say, "Hi, I think you're talking about my paper..."

Seeing at least 150 people turn up for that paper, despite it having a post-watershed slot of 10pm

The grassroots slash-writers movement formed by dr_porn and tyellas after a frustrating panel on fandom

The costume extravanganza, which started on time and ended on time, and so must be unique in the history of conventions, and which served up oven-ready Elwing

Nailing the best television on campus to watch the Big Brother final with edge_of_ruin

The lovely Aiglos people from Poland and their beautiful zine

The Dealers' Room, an Aladdin's cave of Tolkienalia, all of which I managed to resist

Excellent talks on: Tolkien, Adorno, Said and "late style"; male friendship in LotR; the LotR international audience project

The hugely competent chief steward Montserrat (16 years old)

Seeing Kasiopea after Alan Lee had bought one of her prints and told her how much he liked her art

Never entirely working out the layout of the building we were using ("Just keep turning right," edge_of_ruin sensibly advised, would that I had listened)

tyellas's superb Arts and Crafts's presentation, in which technical problems were handled smoothly and confidently

Meeting Anke Eissmann, and getting to see - amongst others - the picture in this icon

The beautiful beadwork Ent in the art show

ithilwen's daily gift of blueberries, wisely making sure we received at least some vitamins

The Cambridge Tolkien Society's dramatization of parts of the BBC radio adaptation, which moved me to tears at one point (Theoden's death scene) and to laughter at another (the early arrival of the Rohirrim - oops with the sound effects!)

Getting in the wrong lift late at night with edge_of_ruin, going down to the basement, and suddenly finding ourselves in a teen horror movie

rcfinch's thought-provoking presentation on themes of mortality and immortality in Tolkien and de Beauvoir

The auction, where a madness took me and I came away with an original Anke Eissmann (her, er, scribblings from the Pictionary round in the convention quiz)

The amazing hand-drawn family tree pinned up outside the Dealers' Room, showing the mortal and immortal descent of Eldarion, and how many Kings of the Mark you get for each generation of Chieftains of the Dunedain

Bouncing up and down in frustration so much in a panel on Tolkien and Pullman that edge_of_ruin had to sedate me

Going to the Old Forest with edge_of_ruin, merrymaia and the_wild_iris

Most stupid thing done by me not including the auction: failing to realize that when nickeyb said she was going to listen to a talk by "Priscilla", she meant Priscilla Tolkien... (*mourns*)

At least some readers of this journal might like to drop by

dr_porn's journal. From his bio: "a film studies lecturer at De Montfort University, Leicester, England... researching Tolkien, Tolkien sexploitation films and Tolkien slash fiction. I'll be running a day school on slash at my university early next year, so get in touch if that interests you."