| Dragon*Con 2008 mixed review |
[Sep. 2nd, 2008|01:34 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | dragoncon | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relaxed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Brobdingnagian Bards | ] |
Thursday night set the tone for this year's DragonCon as it started slowly. There were about half as many people in the green room for the guests this year as there was last year. I left early, despite the free booze just to wander around a bit. There were a handful of costumers and I ran into my first couple of Jokers of the con.
Friday, I made my way to the utter Hell that is the dealer's room. It was packed like a can full of smelly sardines. But, like always, there were some very cool items to be had. I bought 2 pairs of d20 earrings for some friends and a d4 necklace for myself. I also picked up the best swag of the con - a DVD from the Osaka Travel Bureau. Since I'll be in Osaka in about 3 weeks, this was a great find. That night, I went to the pro wrestling show. Now, I know some people don't like the fact that wrestling is at DragonCon, but it deserves to be there just as much as the Burlesque show and other such oddball panels. That being said, I had a blast. It was great fun yelling at the wrestlers and watching them put on a pretty darn good show. At one point, one of the guys put another's head through part of the wall - the largest section of wall in the ballroom in fact. Hotel security showed up not too much after that and they were not pleased. But, the fans went wild. *The next night, I saw that the hole had been patched up, but still not painted over. After wrestling, I wound up at the open filk. It was horrible and pretty much killed any hope I had at for decent open filk at DragonCon this year. Six more Jokers.
On Saturday, I went through the Walk of Fame and got to see what some of the TV and movie stars from the past look like now. It was interesting and fun. I also talked with Gail Kim of TNA and WWE fame about her contractual status and thanked her for all of her hard work. She's no longer under contract with TNA, but did not confirm her status with WWE. Yeah, I'm a bit of a wrestling mark. But, she was really nice and was genuinely happy that I wished her well. After that, I went to a TAPS panel and got great seats (3rd row back, center section) and then the Venture Brothers panel (4th row, center). Honestly, the Venture Brothers are the best thing on Adult Swim nowadays and this season has been particularly great. Later that evening, I caught the Danger Woman concert (always fun), the Brobdingnagian Bards (absolutely love them) and Paul & Storm. Seven more Jokers!
Sundays of DragonCon are always slow because things are winding down. I went to the charity auction for a while and then to the Stargate Don S Davis memorial and a bit of the Star Wars costume contest. That night, I played in a Call of Cthulhu game that was based on the Love Boat. It was absolutely hilarious! One of my friends went to the open filk after the game and said there were only 8 people in there. I had pretty much given up on it at that point anyway. But remarkably, I did see some people in Joker costumes!
By Monday morning, I had seen 20 Jokers, 8 Dr. Horribles and an endless supply of random anime characters. I had also been panhandled by 3 street thugs (4 if you count the guy representing the group of "radical artists"). In total, I gave them $0.00 because I have no soft spot for crackheads. After getting checked out of my hotel, I went with some friends to Fogo de Chao - a wonderful Brazilian steak house where you get a card that's red on one side and green on the other. When you flip it to green, a parade of guys with skewers of succulent meats come by your table and serve you. The food is outstanding and the service is remarkable.
All in all, I had a good time. The attendance was down about 20% or so and the addition of a fourth hotel spread out the remaining attendees enough that things were actually manageable this year (except, of course, in the dealer's room). I'm not so sure what the future of DragonCon will be like, but whatever it is, I'll be there. |
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| Funky Buttons |
[Sep. 1st, 2008|07:47 pm] |
I've been fooling around with my button maker. With special supplies, it's easy to make a magnet-back object instead of a pin-back object, so you can make pretty fridge magnets.
As nice as this is, it's not THAT exciting... but I've found a way to make either a pin-back button or a magnet-back button also have a good solid magnetic zone on the FRONT as well.
I'm not sure what to do with this new-to-me idea... but if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them. |
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| New foster puppy |
[Aug. 31st, 2008|08:45 pm] |
We did a transport today for the animal rescue, and wound up with a new foster puppy. Muffin is two pounds of cuddle... she's a mini-daschund beagle mix, and she has a hilarious sound.
Here's a link to another video of her; somehow I can't get Revver content to embed on JL.
We're also overnighting a cocker spaniel; she was so matted it was a crime. Fortunately we got a groomer to make a house call and clean her up. She is SO MUCH HAPPPIER. Poor thing was horribly matted, she could hardly walk. How can people treat their animals that way?
Update: pics of Buffy before and in the middle of her grooming. What a difference...
 
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[Aug. 29th, 2008|11:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pissed off | ] |
| [ | music |
| | thatcrazycajun | ] |
OK so I haven't posted in a while. I'm at the "open filk" at DragonCon right now. There were about 15 people in here and some douche staff member who declared that the filking wouldn't begin until someone came in with an instrument. About 5 or 6 people promptly left. There are currently 3 people left in here to sing. So...yeah. |
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| Books! |
[Aug. 29th, 2008|03:49 pm] |
From a conversation with Bruce Neiger, my picks on the best books I read (mostly this year) written last year:
Catherine Valente's Orphan's Tales duology (hands down the best)
Holly Black's Ironside (which was kinda a sequel to her Tithe and Valiant).
Derek Landry's _Skulduggery Pleasant_ -- kinda Potterish, but written for older readers (still YA, but older YA).
Delia Sherman's Changeling -- a modern changeling tries to solve a fairy challenge on the streets of NYC.
Nancy Springer's Dussie -- girl hits puberty. Girl's hair turns into snakes. Humor and character growth ensues.
Kate Thompson's New Policeman: Irish music, fairy, and time. What's not to like?
Garth Nix's Keys of the Kingdom. Ongoing series about an "ordinary" boy pulled into, more or less, a war in heaven; the "real world" is actually a science fiction alternative present. Really cool; up to book 5 (of 7) at this point.
And from the high faluting end of things:
Hopkinson's New Moon's Arms: A not entirely likable mother going through menopause starts having parts of her life back while also trying to deal with a Selkie orphan. She also has a few secrets in her past, some of which she has issues facing.
Theodora Goss's _In the Forest of Forgetting_ -- various short stories, some painful, some poignant. Some lovely stuff in there;best are the ones about the witchy Mary Poppins equivalent.
Honorable Mention goes, of course, to the conclusion of Harry Potter.
Some are YA, some are not, all are fantasy (I did read some SF too, of course, though nothing immediately pops out) |
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| Barbershop |
[Aug. 27th, 2008|04:47 am] |
It's been a long time since I did any serious singing, and it has been a big hole in my life. My church's choir doesn't really do it for me (differences with the director), and another local chorus has been too intense and serious for my taste.
Last week, I was struck with the idea to find a local barbershop group, and on Monday I went to a rehearsal. It seems like a fun group. It's been a long time since I've done barbershop, but it's like riding a bike I guess. I still have some reservations; I was easily the youngest person in the room, and they're a BUSY group, currently doing about two performances a month. With the holiday this coming Monday, I get two weeks between my 1st and 2nd rehearsals; perhaps too long to think about it, but the one song I have music for, I should have down pat by then ;-) but it will be a while before I know enough of the repitoire to participate in the performances... and I need to get performance attire.
As I said, it has been a long time, but it felt good to warm up with and sing in a group, even if I didn't know most of what they were singing, and I was a tenor stuck between two leads for half the time (eventually we shuffled around and got me with the other tenors). If I recall correctly, when I did this in college we were encouraged not to use a falsetto voice if possible, but this group seems to be OK with it. Good thing too, or I'd have to sing baritone until my voice stretches out again. I have to practice my breath control; I didn't realize THAT could fall so far out of shape! |
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