![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hmpfIt's been almost two weeks since I returned from the fifth semi-annual meeting of the farscaped mailing list (farscaped@yahoogroups.de) and I would have written my report earlier if Real Life had allowed me some time to breathe. But I'm not here to whine – I'm here to tell you about a weekend of fannish fun and relentless scaping!
The most important fact first: after two years and five meetings, our German mini-con now finally has a name. We voted on it on Sunday, before we had to return to our respective Real Lives, and chose the very appropriate 'To Be Frelling CON-tinued' as the name for past and future events. (Though maybe, in light of the weekend's diet – chocolate, potato chips etc. - we should have chosen 'Eat Fatty Foods Con'...) Therefore, this is a report on 'To Be Frelling CON-tinued 5', and we'll reconvene in September for TBFC 6.
Well, what can I say, really, except 'It was fun!' We were 38 this time, with a huge contingent from the www.sf-community.de boards this time, thus once again breaking our record (29 scapers attended TBFC 4 in September 2002). We even had Scorpius there! Scorpius is called Bettina in Real Life, but she looked pretty frelling convincing – especially when she was harrassing hotel guests in the parking lot, hehe...
A good part of the attendees were veterans of former meetings and the atmosphere was – as usual – not unlike that of a family reunion. The best kind of family reunion, that is. Not one of those where you try to be nice to people who hate your guts, but the kind where you're meeting people you may not see very often but nevertheless feel a connection with. The location was the same as for last year's March meeting – Mark let us use the conference room and several rooms of 'his' hotel again, and we had the enormous pleasure of wreaking havoc ;-) in a four star hotel. I can tell you that there are few things on this Earth that are more amusing than the looks of businesspeople if they see scapers in pajamas (or, better yet, in a Scorpius costume!) walking past the conference room window.
I'll try and give a more or less coherent report now.
We arrived on Friday – the last batch of scapers arrived around midnight. Unlike at previous meetings, this time we only started watching when everyone had arrived, that is, after midnight. We spent the hours up to midnight talking and getting to know each other (there were at least ten people this time who had never taken part in our semi-annual Farscape 'orgies' before!), and Mark allowed us to loot the buffet after the 'normal' guests were done. We watched Unrealized Reality, Kansas, and Terra Firma the first evening. After Terra Firma a large part of the attendees went to bed while the rest settled down on their makeshift beds on the conference room floor and continued with some older eps until even the last scaper dozed off...
I should mention the air-beds. Air-beds are an essential part of every To Be Frelling CON-tinued. They work wonders in converting sober conference rooms into a scapers' paradise... I can really recommend the experience. *g*
After a very short night we woke up to discover that a *real conference was going on in the conference room next to ours, and we got to shock the businesspeople there by walking past their windows in our nightclothes (you had to walk across a balcony past the windows to get to the bathroom). We had breakfast together in yet another converted conference room on the ground floor, and then started watching in earnest.... *g*
I think we watched the rest of season four through A Constellation of Doubt. Then, dinner. Pasta, as usual. (Though not spaghetti this time.) And after dinner the rest... including 4.22. For some among us it was the first time they saw the season finale... Well, by the time we had reached the fateful 'To Be Continued' it was near midnight again, and since we had permission to use the hotel pool after the 'normal' guests had gone to bed many of us decided to vent their frustration in a game of water ball. The rest of us, including me, passed the time watching some 'classics' like Crackers Don't Matter (and, in some cases, including me, dozed off.) When the rest of the group returned (minus those who had decided to go to bed – yes, we *did* have *some 'real' beds!) we watched some more, and gently slipped into sleep and Farscape dreams....
The next day, after breakfast, we mostly talked, and watched fanvids, and had a prolonged brainstorming and voting session to find a name for our little 'convention'... All in all, it was a very relaxed meeting this time (though maybe I was especially relaxed this time because last time I'd been among the organisers and found it somewhat difficult to relax), and it was great seeing so many newbies!
Everyone who wants to participate in the next German Farscape extravaganza should join this mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/farscaped
and visit this forum: http://www.sf-community.de
To see an amazing number of images of this amazing event, go here: http://events.altpeter.de/farscape5
German scapers, please also head here: http://fstreffen.allabouthmpf.com/regional.htm
The most important fact first: after two years and five meetings, our German mini-con now finally has a name. We voted on it on Sunday, before we had to return to our respective Real Lives, and chose the very appropriate 'To Be Frelling CON-tinued' as the name for past and future events. (Though maybe, in light of the weekend's diet – chocolate, potato chips etc. - we should have chosen 'Eat Fatty Foods Con'...) Therefore, this is a report on 'To Be Frelling CON-tinued 5', and we'll reconvene in September for TBFC 6.
Well, what can I say, really, except 'It was fun!' We were 38 this time, with a huge contingent from the www.sf-community.de boards this time, thus once again breaking our record (29 scapers attended TBFC 4 in September 2002). We even had Scorpius there! Scorpius is called Bettina in Real Life, but she looked pretty frelling convincing – especially when she was harrassing hotel guests in the parking lot, hehe...
A good part of the attendees were veterans of former meetings and the atmosphere was – as usual – not unlike that of a family reunion. The best kind of family reunion, that is. Not one of those where you try to be nice to people who hate your guts, but the kind where you're meeting people you may not see very often but nevertheless feel a connection with. The location was the same as for last year's March meeting – Mark let us use the conference room and several rooms of 'his' hotel again, and we had the enormous pleasure of wreaking havoc ;-) in a four star hotel. I can tell you that there are few things on this Earth that are more amusing than the looks of businesspeople if they see scapers in pajamas (or, better yet, in a Scorpius costume!) walking past the conference room window.
I'll try and give a more or less coherent report now.
We arrived on Friday – the last batch of scapers arrived around midnight. Unlike at previous meetings, this time we only started watching when everyone had arrived, that is, after midnight. We spent the hours up to midnight talking and getting to know each other (there were at least ten people this time who had never taken part in our semi-annual Farscape 'orgies' before!), and Mark allowed us to loot the buffet after the 'normal' guests were done. We watched Unrealized Reality, Kansas, and Terra Firma the first evening. After Terra Firma a large part of the attendees went to bed while the rest settled down on their makeshift beds on the conference room floor and continued with some older eps until even the last scaper dozed off...
I should mention the air-beds. Air-beds are an essential part of every To Be Frelling CON-tinued. They work wonders in converting sober conference rooms into a scapers' paradise... I can really recommend the experience. *g*
After a very short night we woke up to discover that a *real conference was going on in the conference room next to ours, and we got to shock the businesspeople there by walking past their windows in our nightclothes (you had to walk across a balcony past the windows to get to the bathroom). We had breakfast together in yet another converted conference room on the ground floor, and then started watching in earnest.... *g*
I think we watched the rest of season four through A Constellation of Doubt. Then, dinner. Pasta, as usual. (Though not spaghetti this time.) And after dinner the rest... including 4.22. For some among us it was the first time they saw the season finale... Well, by the time we had reached the fateful 'To Be Continued' it was near midnight again, and since we had permission to use the hotel pool after the 'normal' guests had gone to bed many of us decided to vent their frustration in a game of water ball. The rest of us, including me, passed the time watching some 'classics' like Crackers Don't Matter (and, in some cases, including me, dozed off.) When the rest of the group returned (minus those who had decided to go to bed – yes, we *did* have *some 'real' beds!) we watched some more, and gently slipped into sleep and Farscape dreams....
The next day, after breakfast, we mostly talked, and watched fanvids, and had a prolonged brainstorming and voting session to find a name for our little 'convention'... All in all, it was a very relaxed meeting this time (though maybe I was especially relaxed this time because last time I'd been among the organisers and found it somewhat difficult to relax), and it was great seeing so many newbies!
Everyone who wants to participate in the next German Farscape extravaganza should join this mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/farscaped
and visit this forum: http://www.sf-community.de
To see an amazing number of images of this amazing event, go here: http://events.altpeter.de/farscape5
German scapers, please also head here: http://fstreffen.allabouthmpf.com/regional.htm
