Dragon*Con 2005 report, pt. 3
Saturday, 9/3
It’s been over a week, so lots of stuff about the con are fading. But I still remember a bunch, like the Lisa Hayes costumer in the elevator in a nice SDF-Macross dress uniform (original TV series). I think she was pleased someone recognized it. There were 3 or 4 uniforms from the old V miniseries, and even a large group of Stonecutters from the Simpsons. While Neos and Trinities and Agents weren’t hard to find, I was pleased to see a well-done Morpheus who looked the part.
The only panel I managed to attend all day was a panel on casting makeup appliances from liquid latex. It was very informative, and there’s no doubt that it makes a lot more sense to buy unless you absolutely need a custom piece. Sadly, the first thing one needs for the process is some sculpting ability, which I’m short on; I took it better, though, than the one fan who got very angry that the panel wasn’t going to teach her to sculpt.
I was pleasantly surprised by one attribute of the con. Crowded it was, and rhaps‘ head probably would have gone all ‘splody by mid-Friday. But it wasn’t the packed mosh pit I’d expected – I rarely had much trouble getting to where I needed to go, and never felt dangerously short on elbow room or oxygen.
When dinner rolled around, we tried to eat at a nearby Steak and Ale, but it was a 90 minute wait, so we ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta (my first time in a Hard Rock!) instead. Still lots of congoers there, and some even in costume. I felt sorry for the half-dressed catgirl in a tearful argument with two males outside another restaurant on the way back.
When I got back to the con, I hooked up with a hot gamer chick, headed up to her room, and slept with her. (Translation: Rain’s roommate let her know she’d be out all night, so I got to cuddle my sweetie for the first time all weekend. Too bad sleep was all we could manage *smirk*)
That garment is not available at your security clearance.
Card Night was at our place last night, instead of at team_kitty‘s place. This had the advantage that we didn’t have to fight yups for use of the clubhouse at Kitten’s apartment complex, plus shorter drives for some people – with gas prices the way they are, this means something. (I’m not sure I could afford to make Rising Star this year if it weren’t for the fact that I miss everyone there so badly!)
We played my new copy of the Paranoia Mandatory Bonus Fun Card Game last night – with 8 players and a new game, it ran very long. The Computer killed off three of each Troubleshooter’s clones in mid-game because of the traitorous amount of time the missions were taking 😉 But the game itself was great… there was much cheerful backstabbing, though the players took a while to understand that it was body count that would eventually win the game. It had that perfect Paranoia feel, though, and I think I might have more people interested in a few sessions of the RPG.
I’m running out of time to assemble my EmCee costume for Rising Star this year. It would help if a) my bank account was healthier, and b) if I actually had a final idea picked out. I’d love to have this Halo Master Chief armor I saw at Dragon*Con… it vaguely fits into the con’s ‘mecha’ theme… but neither of the websites that feature it are actually selling copies at the moment, and it would probably be hard to hear me through the helmet.
Speaking of the con, I will probably finish the report today. Probably.
Dragon*Con 2005 report, pt. 2
Friday, 9/2
It was kinda weird to wake up at a Con hotel before the Con’s started. Despite an attempt to mark the interesting early-morning panels in the 100-some-page program booklet, I got a slow start on Friday, and blew them off. Instead, I wandered over to the Marriott to see if the dealers’ room had opened.
Accidentally, I sat down to rest exactly where the WizKids envoys were meeting. One knew me, and the others reacted well when I dropped raininva‘s name. As a freshly-renewed Envoy myself, I was offered the opportunity to help out, but declined, as I needed a “vacation” con over a “working” one.
The Exhibitors’ Hall held larger dealers, such as game companies and prop dealers, and the Dealers’ room had the smaller stores and such. There was plenty in both I’d have bought with an unlimited budget; several times during the weekend, I had to ask myself, “If you take that gaming book home, will you ever actually use it?”
I wandered back into the lobby, and started to feel a real case of costume envy. There were so many incredible outfits there; I really wish I’d had time to pack more of my stuff. Not that much of it would be competition, but it might have been fun to show off anyway. I won’t bother trying to list everything I saw, as that would be boring. It started to get a little depressing, honestly – I could have worn anything I own and not looked out-of-place – and there I stood in jeans and t-shirt. I felt like an arch-conservative.
I went back upstairs for a badly needed nap, as the laps of the hotels in the warmth of Atlanta (and 30,000 fans) were beginning to get to me. Rain called to let me know she was on the final leg of her flight in, so I wandered down to the Food Court joining the Hyatt and Marriott: a tunnel leads to the local metro station, where she’d have been coming in. I misremembered her arrival time, though, and her plane was delayed and the flight’s luggage held up, resulting in me spending about 2.5 – 3 hours in that food court. I saw lots more great costumes, though, and recognized the trademark t-shirt and flame-boots of Jennie Breeden, author and artist of webcomic The Devil’s Panties. She needed directions to the Hyatt, and I talked briefly to her while taking her there. Very nice lady. I’m sure she thinks I was a borderline stalker.
Rain finally made it to the Con, and we went to the WizKids Envoy Appreciation dinner. Good food, and we learned to play WizKids’ first CCG, High Stakes Drifter. As well, Rain got to see something very very very cool at the Dinner which readers of her journal should get to hear about soon.
Tired. Slightly overheated. Rain went to the room WizKids had arranged for her, and I headed back up to mine. Fell into bed and blanked out.
Dragon*Con 2005 report, pt. 1
Thursday, 9/1
I couldn’t sleep Wednesday night – a combination of a wired state and generally poor sleep lately anyway. I had to get up quite early to get cleaned up, tuck last-minute stuff in the suitcase, and make a trip to the bank. I finally got to meet thatwhichisgene – a very intelligent, charming fellow, even if we don’t agree on Shadowrun and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Gene made good time driving down, and we arrived less than 9 hours out from Norfolk – without speeding! Gas was as high as $7.00 a gallon in Atlanta, so after determining that the rented station wagon’s tank was good for about 400 miles, we made sure to gas up about 150 miles out where the prices were more reasonable.
On Thursday evening, the Dragon*Con registration lines are non-existent – I strongly recommend getting one’s badge this early. Hall costuming was already starting, though the Con was not to begin until 9:00 the next day. I found David Allen (once of Starfleet, now of Plan Nine Publishing) outside the registration hotel, and chatted for a few minutes before returning to the hotel where I was staying.
Dragon*Con 2005 consisted of three hotels – the Hyatt, home of filking, gaming and half the panels; the Marriott, home of two dealers rooms, the art show, an artists’ walk, and more panels; and registration, buried in the Atlanta Hilton. I stayed in the Hyatt. It wasn’t as crowded as the horror stories would have had me fear, but the five elevators where always unusably queued. Luckily, our fifth-floor room was easy to walk up and down to and from. (Room 523 – a nice Discordian number.) During the con weekend itself, every room in the Hyatt was occupied by con-goers: one wasn’t allowed in the hotel without a Con badge. The street between the Hyatt and the Marriott was blocked off for Con traffic. I began to get the idea that this was a big con.
It was late. I was pooped. I went to bed.
Reviews and a design challenge
Quick review of the Hitchhiker’s Guide movie:
You should probably go see it if you like any of the other versions, or you like SF comedy. Sure, they took a lot of stuff out. (Cutting 3 hours of radio play down to 90 minutes will do that.) Sure, they changed a lot of stuff. (This was a practice Douglas Adams himself was quite fond of.) But if you go with an open mind and don’t insist on a copy of one of the other Hitchhiker’s media, you ought to have a good time.
Quick review of last Friday’s Enterprise:
Plot? Who cares? Space battle scenes with a certain class of starship… *happy sigh* (There’s some other eye candy too, for het-male or compatible formats.)
In all seriousness… I wonder how a 21st-century costume designer would design a believable futuristic military uniform that would provide eye candy for het-females and compatible? Bill Theiss tried showing some leg in the men’s “skant” uniforms for TNG, and the design died a quick, ignoble death. It’s an interesting question.
Technicon 2005
I’ve always liked Niven’s Laws. I don’t slavishly agree with them, but they are an excellent source of topics to ponder.
This leads to the fact that I’ve just deleted a lengthy rant about SF/fantasy fans who, despite entreaties from their favorite authors that they start thinking for themselves, are still want to be told what to think and what to believe. The only thing we humans got that the rest of the animal kindgom didn’t is a more complex brain. It’s way past time that we as a race consider trying out some of its higher gears, just to see what happens, you know?
Ok, wow, Technicon report, cool.
Marscon and stuff
Got back from Marscon Sunday. It was an interesting weekend – all the rooms were taken over by a military group preparing for special training, so all the attendees had to drive back and forth to their hotels. Put a damper on things, that’s for sure. I wish I’d remembered that there would be a Rocky Horror show on Saturday night – maybe they’ll do it again next year.
Caught up with kittykatya, impink, tzel, Tom & Donna, Jesse, Suzanne, Dave & Jodi, Dwight, Helen, and a bunch of other folk. I got some cheap Discworld paperbacks, and another Steve Jackson card game; for $1, I also bought a memory – the two books of the 1978 D&D Basic set (4th or 5th printing). We also got some Deadlands modules, and raininva won an auction for a signed uncut sheet of WARS: Nowhere to Hide!
Screen-capture trivia: the men’s miniskirt Starfleet uniform from the early Season One episodes of TNG. Strange that this didn’t catch on. I mean, can’t you just see Worf running around in it?
There was something else on my mind, but it’s gone now.
Continuing the saga of the books I’ve read this year – just finished a re-read of Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy. I have to give Asimov credit for, in the space of a few short stories, giving me the feel of observing the fall of a Galactic Empire.
Chilling out and hanging around
Happy belated birthday to southernsinger!
Almost done with the project that’s been breaking my back for the last month; a small measure of my sanity should return when it’s finally done. It’s not helping that the server room has moved to my floor, so everyone’s office is chilly all day. I may have some good story news in the next several days (hope hope).
I’m finally catching up on my Enterprise episodes. I’ve now seen the first three of the season, and I’ve been satisfied with them – nothing yet to go in my “favorite Trek episodes ever” file, but I’ve had fun and haven’t felt insulted. The mention that the NX-01 class was designed by “Captain Jeffries” was a nice nod. I’m going to try the first non-pilot Battlestar Galactica episode this week – I’ve heard that the individual episodes are much more appealing to my kind of fan than the pilot was, so I’m crossing my fingers.
Oh, yeah, Lloyd Eldred has made it into one of Decipher’s card games. (This is a old VTSFFC Halloween in-joke.)
Fandom ought to equal tolerance
Even though vt_komainu has already posted a link to this guy’s entry, I want to quote this paragraph from Lay Off the Furries, OK?
“Fursuiters aren’t hurting anyone. […] They’re role playing. I remember when more SF fans did this, and I miss it terribly. You know, maybe the fursuiters wouldn’t be so remarkable if there were more space pirates, jedis, elves, ninjas, wizards, androids, zombies, Vulcans, barbarians, Klingons, starship pilots, and bounty hunters running around, like we used to have in the old days. When I first attended my first science fiction convention over 20 years ago, it was explained to us newcomers that we didn’t have to create a fannish persona to attend. But we did have to do so if we were going to ever be accepted as one of the cool kids. Then fannish persona and consistent hall costuming declined precipitously, and now only the fursuiters and the anime cosplayers still do it. Well you know what? That doesn’t mean that they’re sick and weird. It means that the rest of us suck.”
Hear, hear!
