Worldcon, KPop Demon Hunters, and Labubus

 Worldcon Panels!

I get to be part of four (4) Worldcon panels this year – two on Thursday afternoon, two on Friday afternoon:

A Long Time Ago: Oral Traditions 

Neurodiverse Approaches to the Art of Stories 

Geek Out About: K-Pop Demon Hunters 

Fandom Needs Its Brains: How do we Keep Them Healthy?

A Long Time Ago: Oral Traditions

I was born and raised around Polynesian people, who had no writing but did have an incredibly rich oral tradition, and ways of training their memories to store long recitations. In the Western world we have a tradition of building memory palaces, imaginary buildings in which we organize our thoughts. Text held sway for a long time but these days a lot of people are moving to a more spoken way of life, which is likely to lead to different ways of seeing the world. 

Neurodiverse Approaches to the Art of Stories

I’ve known lots of folks with interesting brains throughout my life, I’ve done some sensitivity reading, notably for File 770, on the subject of neurodivergence, and I’ve written quite a few neurodivergent characters – including an entire island of clones that are somewhere in the autistic spectrum. The only neurodivergence I’ve been actually diagnosed with is giftedness, and since I have the “compulsive reader of everything” variant I’ve managed to learn quite a bit about the latest findings with regard to neurodivergence. However, as a fandom tourist, I’ve noticed quite a few intellectual properties that seem especially beloved by the ND crowd. What is it about a story that makes it appeal to neurodivergent fans? 

Geek Out About: K-Pop Demon Hunters 

All four of my panels sort of tie together, since I spent most of last year watching KDH on repeat (like many neurodivergent fans have reported doing). KDH became a monster hit from fan word-of-mouth, despite Hollywood’s best efforts to get us to watch Zootopia Meets Chinatown or whatever. Is it the greatest film ever? Some feel so. 

Fandom Needs Its Brains: How do we Keep Them Healthy?

Currently I have a smart job doing brain stuff that I can’t talk about. Before that I was the Director of Technology for a prominent trial lawyer firm in San Francisco. I undergo a barrage of cybersecuirity and other e-streetwiseness training on a regular basis, and we are entering a brave new world featuring intricate mechanical bullshit artists. Everyone is going to need their brain cells functional and dust-free, so let’s all circle up and talk about our mental hygiene. Mine has lots of strategy games, some quirky video avoidance, and large doses of music. 

Disneyland (woohoo)

Going to Disneyland Sunday and Monday, unless some panel is good enough to lure me out of my fannish daze. The Haunted Mansion Labubus (see photo) will be accompanying me during at least some of that time, and I will have more festively-attired Labubus for display. 

Because Labubus are kind of my thing now. I post them on Instagram at @Lani.Monsters. I like to dress them in copies of album cover outfits and take them to concerts, and put them in fotonovelas. The unlikely combo of GLP-1 rewiring my brain and the realization I no longer have pets so I can do my miniature fashion design uninterrupted has resulted in my acquisition of an impressive Labubu collection. I've been making displays for them, like the Dive Bar. Keeps me out of trouble. 

I changed my mind about the legal stuff panels. I do not discuss those sorts of things, period, but I am up to page 120 in my courtroom drama, which is turning out to be pretty good. Maybe I’ll try LitRPG next but for now I’m having lots of fun writing about battling lawyers – and there’s even a K-Pop star involved (he rented the house where a fan was tragically electrocuted, leading to a wrongful death lawsuit). I’ve got this old hippie trial lawyer who is kind of like Barry Melton and kind of like Arnold Laub, and a noob trial lawyer who stumbled into this WD action, facing off against colorful defendants in realtime San Francisco (with no space aliens, AIs or robots involved). 

Foolish Mortalbubus

Dive Bar