Hi folks!

Okay... after a semi-long delay (hehe... been a tad obsessed
with the zines I bought, plus I had some catching up at work
to do), here's my recap of Escapade.  WARNING:  it's NOT brief,
so you will probably be sorry you asked.

Thursday: Went to pick Pam/Data up in the morning (have I mentioned
lately how happy I am that she lives so close?!  Love ya, chica!).
Decided to keep the top up because -- despite the seemingly warm
temperatures -- the wind chill on the freeway gets kinda nippy.
Plus it's *way* easier to chatter that way  ;->  Part way there
Mary gave us a call on the cell; we gave her an ETA and she headed
over to the hotel.  Just after noon, we arrived at the Santa Barbara
Hilton.  It's a pretty nice hotel, actually.  It's kind of a shame
this was it's last Escapade because of the size issues (i.e., 1/3
of the panels had to be held in a tent, which was both cold and
noisy).  We hooked up with Mary (YAHOO!!), settled in a tad 
(including putting up pictures on the window), then headed out to
explore the nearby shopping center.  As luck would have it, sushi
(good AND affordable) was readily available... and as an added
bonus, they even had women's curling on!  A couple of quick stops
at Trader Joes and Albertsons and we were prepped with snacks.
When we got back, Dina had arrived (more YAHOO!) so we did more
settling in and discussed the pimping plans.  We watched a bit of
CSI (rerun  :-<), then headed over to the Consuite to check in
and check things out.  I ran into some of my old Jedi and/or Glitter
friends, so that was cool.  Damned if I know what happened the
rest of the evening (no, I wasn't drinking.  In fact, all I had
all weekend was a bottle of Smirnoff's Ice during the Saturday
night porn and a weak Wallbanger during the Sunday afternoon party.
Oh, and half of a margarita on Friday night.  Damn -- they make
those strong!), but we ended up crashing fairly early.

Friday: The official start of the con, including the 10am Oz panel
that I was co-leading (with someone I didn't know -- eep!).  After
donning appropriate apparel (Chris Keller: he's just terribly
misunderstood), I went in search of caffeine, did a little meditation
by the pool, then rounding up the roomies to watch my back (I'd
heard lots of rumors about how Oz is treated at Escapade).  The
panel was... interesting, I suppose.  I guess I should've actually
*prepared* something, but considering my co-lead wouldn't even
respond to my emails... heh -- you'd think that would've told me
something, huh?  Other than my roomies, there seemed to be two main
types of Oz-opinions at this con: (1) Eww, it's too violent and why
would you want to watch that (this from people who write rape into
fandoms like Due South!!) and (2) It's dark, evil and hot and why
the hell do you 'fluffy bunnies' write happy AUs and/or slash anyone
other than Beecher and Keller.  I nearly made one rather vocal woman
fall out of her chair by mentioning Sean/Tim  ;->   She ended up 
finding us at lunch and apologizing for offending us by making the
'fluffy bunny' comments.  Hehe.  Offended?  Hell, I couldn't even
look at my Sisterhood Sibs for fear of cracking up while people
were going off on that.  If the EmCity breakup didn't get me to
stop writing, a con panel sure as hell isn't going to.

So... after Oz, we headed over to a panel on "Why fandom would be
great if it weren't for the fans".  It was kind of annoying (mostly 
old timers bitching about how us newbies and the Internet have 
'ruined everything'), but I could honestly see there point re: people
who come tromping into groups and don't take the time to (1) get the
lay of the land and (2) read about/watch the frigging show before
posting.

After lunch, it was time for pimping, so I dropped off the pictures,
handouts and t-shirts with Dina and Mary (who were kind enough to 
cover the first hour) and then Pam and I headed over to a Sentinel
panel hosted by Jencat, who rocks, BTW.  Lots of laughs... mostly 
re: the CavemanJim / FeminineBlair fics.  Did some philosophizing
re: gender and orientation and all that as well.

While Dina headed off to a 'techie' panel (re: running an archive,
which -- IMO -- she should *teach*, cuz C5 rocks), Pam, Mary and
I handled the pimping table, including showing Dina's clip tape
and... NEW VID!  Yum  ;->  People were quite amused by our reactions,
but between those and the visuals onscreen, quite a few folks were
intrigued.

I headed off to my old hunting grounds (Phantom Menace -- my first
slash couple) while Mary and Pam took in the Photoshop panel,
then we regrouped for the "Fannish Year in Review".  Smallville
and LOTR seem to be *the* hottest new prospects, although there
are still quite a few 'older' fandoms still holding their own.
One thing I personally find worrisome (for the legal implications)
is the growth of RPS, but... eh, to each their own, I suppose.

After dinner, we dropped by Dina's Oz Songvids/Clips hour (and
provided the other folks with even more amusement via our reactions,
but I think we were all used to that by then  ;->), then headed
over to the Friday Vid Show.  Wow.  To all you vidders out there...
DAMN!!!  These things are (for the most part) bloody incredible.
And great pimping tools.  Everything from angst to sap to comedy,
and lots of hot guys, of course.  One surprising things, considering
that Escapade is a slash con -- there was a good number of het vids.
Go figure.  One other note re: vids -- we need more RayK Due South!
Okay, two notes -- we need more Oz!  Dina, you are a vid goddess,
no doubt.

After the vids, we hung out in the Consuite for a bit, grabbed
some free drinks, chatted with folks, checked out the zine library
(over the course of the weekend, I managed to skim most of a 
very good Sentinel zine called 'Families', not realizing until
too late that it was gen. Sigh).  When they closed at midnight,
we headed back to the room and crashed not long after, although
I'm willing to bet Dina and I got more sleep than Pam and Mary.
Hey, cut me a break - I'm old.  And Dina was running on Florida
time.

Saturday: Ah, another day, another controversial 10am panel in
the tent -- "Due South: Swinging Both Rays".  Once again donning
appropriate apparel (Mary's 'Kowalski' gear is too cool for words
- no question there which Ray *she* prefers  ;->.  Oh, and, honest,
I owned that vest *long* before I heard of Blair), we headed out
and found a shockingly civilized group.  I'm still not buying the
Vecchio thing, personally... not even in the songvids, but... I'm
*decided* biased where CKR is concerned.  

Then it was on to one of my favs, the BDSM panel.  Lots of good
tips, plenty of toys to check out, and it gives me a chance to
see Ruth again -- good all around.  Well, except for those weird
bunnies that had my BlairMuse bouncing and my JimMuse looking
nervous  ;->.  

After that I went to an Invisible Man panel while Mary and Pam
went over the "20 Pairing You'd Like to See" panel to pimp Nick
and Greg (CSI).  I'm not sure if they mentioned any Oz pairings
-- gals?  Did Tim and Sean get a mention?  

I bailed on the panel thing for a bit at that point.  It was
getting decidedly chilly and I hadn't packed anything warm, so
I took the opportunity to head over to the mall to pick up a
very nice quilted flannel (yeah, yeah... so it looks like one
of Blair's... sue me!) and some lunch.  Got back in time to see the
end of the Smallville panel.  Hehe... like *that* pairing is a hard
sell... NOT!  I haven't been watching it because it's up against
24, but if I'd had any idea Lex looks at Clark like that all the
time... woohoo!  Once again, I fell prey to the evil songvids  ;->

Then it was time for another perennial favorite, "Gay Boys Tells
All", a Q&A session with the unflappable Minotaur.  Unfortunately,
this year most of the questions were pretty eh, so -- in hindsight
-- I kinda wish I'd gone to the LOTR panel instead.  

After that we went to an improptu session re: Garett Maggart's new
movie, Demon Under Glass.  Turns out that two of the folks at the
con worked on the movie and were willing to share behind-the-scenes
stories with those of us who were interested.  Since I was totally
hooked on Project Greenlight, hearing about the making of another
independent film was a 'good thing' for me... and hearing a bit
o'gossip re: Garett certainly didn't hurt.  Well, except for when
I slipped off the chair when they mentioned the pierced nipples.
Mmmm.  But Pam caught me (thank you kindly!), so it wasn't as
bad as it could've been.  Or was that when they mentioned him
playing a guitar with his shirt off?  Could've been either, really.

Since I promised to help pimp it, here's a couple of useful URLs:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Demonunderglass/
http://dugfanclub.com

It's a vamp flick, so if that (or Garett Maggart or Jason Carter)
appeals, you might want to check it out.  They're shopping it around
right now... it might end up a TV Movie on Sci-Fi channel.

After that we went back to the room, grabbed some pizza, then
headed back over to the main hotel for the Saturday Vid Show.
Another amazing selection.  It's a damn shame not all of the
vids end up on the videotape!!  Oh -- and I got one of my big
'happies' of the weekend in the Consuite that evening... I had
my new flannel on and my hair back in a ponytail and someone
mentioned that I looked like Blair.  Damn well made my night.
Yes... I am a complete dork.  Of course, Mary didn't look too
unhappy about me calling her 'Ray' all weekend either  ;->

Then it was time to pick a post-vid party.  We'd heard about
several, but finally decided on the porn.  Pam stayed back at
the room (poor dear had a nasty cold going by then!) while
Dina, Mary and I got to check out both some yucky American stuff
(wtf do they leave their socks on???) and a rather nice tape
from Bel Ami (http://thebestofmen.com/belami.htm).  I believe
the one we saw was called "Teamplay" -- it was about a swim team.
About the time we started paying more attention to the couch than
the two-couple synchronized sex (hey -- they're swimmers  ;->),
we decided to head back to our room.  Sadly, we didn't find out
until the next morning that there had been a Callum Keith Renney
party going on that night as well.  Sigh.  But -- we did get to
watch "Variety" (Oz 5.6) together, so that part was coolness!

Sunday:  Let's see.  Well, the outdoor breakfast buffet was a
tad delayed thanks to a rainstorm, but eventually we all got
plates and headed inside to eat and wait for the art auction.
We bailed when it started and headed back to the dealer's room
(for the third? fourth? time) to do some last minute shopping.
Which is when I ended up with my BlairWolf because I just couldn't
stop petting him.  See?  Dork.

We stopped by the vid review for a bit -- made me even more
impressed by the talent and dedication of the vidders, hearing
about how they put these together and how many hours it takes!
-- then dropped by the last couple of panels:  "Why we slash
the couples we slash" and "Seeing that slash-me moment", which
pretty much turned into "who is your latest couple and why".
Although I strongly preferred the latter to the former, they
were both fun.  

Then... sigh... it was all over.  Dina had to catch a flight that 
evening, so she caught a nap in the room while her noisy roomies 
went to the Dead Dog Party, hooked up with a couple of like-minded
slashers, then proceeded to terrorize the local Outback Steakhouse
for the next few hours.  Unfortunately, time got away from us and
we didn't get a chance to say 'bye' to Dina  :-<.

Sunday evening we watched songvids (thanks to our new buds), 
then headed back to our room in time for Oz, accompanied by one
of the gals from dinner.  Hehe.  I think she was quite amused
watching us watch Oz.  Nothing quite like sharing a new ep with
Sibs!!  LOVED finally seeing more of Sean... and the Keller moments
were, as always, greatly appreciated.  Interested Said/Toby/Vern
scenes as well.

Anyway... Monday morning eventually rolled around and none of us
wanted to deal with the sad reality of Mary flying home  :-<.
We stalled at the coffee shop as long as we could, then relectantly
put her on the shuttle to the airport.  *sniffle*  A few minutes
later, Pam and I were once again on the road... headed home with
new goodies and a whole bunch of wonderful memories.

And on that sappy note... I'll finally end this epic.

*Hugs*
Star