Slayage... Is Coming...

And no, I'm not talking about the inevitable death toll that looms on Lost (waaaah... oh PLEASE Darlton, SPARE THEM!) No, I'm talking about SC4, the upcoming Slayage academic conference on the Whedonverses (remember long ago when it was just about Buffy? No more...)! I haven't been this excited since, well, the last Slayage!

This is where academics from around the world descend on the historic town of St. Augustine, Florida, to talk about all things Whedon for three days. Can you even imagine anything more glorious? No. You can't. We've been discussing on this blog the possibility of doing a Buffy rewatch (or, in the case of the unanointed, a Buffy first-watch) with all of us discussing the show as we go, probably starting at some point in August, and if we do that, it would be a great boon for your analytical skills to attend this conference first.

The keynotes will be Janet ("Steve") Halfyard, author of Music, Sound, and Silence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, delivering a paper entitled "Listening to Buffy: Music, Memory, Meaning, and Moping"; Lorna Jowett, author of Sex and the Slayer, on "Stuffing a Rabbit in It: Character, Narrative, and Time in the Whedonverses"; and Dale Koontz, author of Faith and Choice in the Works of Joss Whedon, whose paper is entitled, "Twelve Steps Forward, One Step Back: Redemption Through Recovery in the Works of Joss Whedon."

The draft of the program of presenters is now available here, and you'll see the wide array of topics and papers, some of which look absolutely divine.

But of course, what you'll REALLY be there to see is the banquet talk, which is where the name of the conference becomes a literal one. Oh yes, folks, for one night only, you can see a steel cage death match between Nikki "The Slayer" Stafford and Matthew "Silly, Silly British Man" Pateman!! In this corner, standing at 5'6" and boasting a black belt in AWESOMENESS, it's the author of Bite Me!! And in this corner, standing at 6'4" (wait, what?) and specializing in tea drinking and Man U hating, it's the author of The Aesthetics of Culture in Buffy the Vampire Slayer!!

We all know who's gonna win this one.

OK, maybe it won't quite be a steel cage death match. Possibly more like poking each other annoyingly. Or a re-enactment of the Harmony/Xander slap fight. But, you know, I think there will be roast beef. So... yay?

There's still time to register to come and listen. Seriously, this conference is SO much fun, I can't recommend it enough. Hope to see some of you there!