Ohio Gozaimasu

[steepholm]

I'll be off to the ChLA in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday - stopping for a night en route to stay with Rebecca in Boston. Is anyone else here likely to be headed to that conference?

I know nothing of Ohio - nothing. This makes it difficult to get as excited about going there for the first time as the place no doubt deserves, but it's too late to become an ohioologist in the short time remaining, so I'll have to wing it. One thing, though: after getting ill the last time I was at an American con through all the sudden changes between extreme heat and brutal airconditioning, I will be packing plenty of layers.

My talk? Why, it will be on Madoka Magica, of course. Specifically: "Shoujo versus Seinen? Dual Address and Misdirection in Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011)". Right now I'm cutting like mad, because I have (naturally) far too much to say on the matter.

Comments

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

Have a good time! I don't know much about it either--one of my good friends is from Columbus, but she's in Cleveland now, and I've not picked much up by osmosis over the years. ;)

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Perhaps there's not much to osmote?

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

That could absolutely be the case.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

All I know about Columbus Ohio comes from the biographical note on the back of a Penguin edition of Thurber (probably My Life and Hard Times): "James Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio, where, so many awful things happened to him..."

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Hopefully some good things too!

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I take it you are not a Thurber fan? No doubt good things did happen to him during his youth in Columbus, but it wasn't his style to write about them. The awful things, however, were not particularly awful, and he made them entertaining.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I hope you enjoy your trip, and that your talk goes well.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ron-broxted.livejournal.com]

I was at the Greyhound station in Cleveland. Don't.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I won't, promise!

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Central Ohio. Rolling hills, farmland. You won't see much of that: you'll be in the middle of a large city, the kind with those regular square blocks that the American midwest is so fond of. Cleveland is (or was) the industrial powerhouse, Cincinnati the commercial and cultural capital, Columbus is ... the political capital. The Ohio Statehouse, as they call it, is right across the street from the conference hotel. It's the usual imitation Greek temple in style, though with something more resembling a submarine blockhouse on top than the usual dome. If the history interests you, it might be worth visiting ... two US Presidents had been Governor of Ohio, though not anybody a foreigner is likely to have heard of. I can't speak specifically to the food you're likely to get in Columbus; there's a good barbecue place but it's way out in the suburbs.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I am slated to venture from the Sheraton on at least one occasion, to go for a group lunch on fandom at... (name selected by lottery)... Manifesto. I may well duck into the Statehouse at the same time, never having seen one up close before.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Looking at the menu, I'd guess that - despite the specificity of "Tuscan" - the cuisine will be general Americanized Italian, rather different from what you'd get in Italy.

Though it could be good. When an establishment primarily boasts about its alcohol, that may not bode well for the food. But I can say there are a number of brewpubs out here where the food is quite good, so the rule is not necessarily so.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I shall report back! In general Italian is one of my favourite cuisines, so I'm happy to have drawn this straw.

[consonantia.livejournal.com]

Why, it will be on Madoka Magica, of course. Specifically: "Shoujo versus Seinen? Dual Address and Misdirection in Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011)".

eeeeeeee will there be a way for us here to access the content?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

If it goes down well I'll certainly be tempted to work it up into an article: at the moment it's hung together with spit and paperclips. However, you're welcome to see the accompanying Powerpoint, if you like. It has two video clips, which is a first for me!

[consonantia.livejournal.com]

Yes please!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I'll pm you.