Are awesome! We are here and here. Yay, Pixelbarrel!! (And if you haven't seen the video of the Doctors' presentation, go check it out. It's like a case study of how to do a group presentation right, and is completely hilarious.)

Also, yay Google blog search, for it brought me to shing_ and her fabulous con report with many photos, including a couple fantastic ones from during the masquerade presentation, which made this icon possible.

It's a good thing I decided to look at the Polaris panel list this morning to see if there were any updates.

This way, I know before getting to the con that I appear to be moderating three of the six panels I'm on. *gulp* Dracula, vampire powers, and kids' costuming. I'm actually kind of jazzed about that last one, as I've been having lots of thoughts about how it should be run and now I don't have to worry about stepping on the moderator's toes.

The other two fall into the "I am a Great Big Geek, but someone will always be a bigger geek" category. Just because there's so much information out there, much of it of the serious scholarly variety. Then again, the fact that I fully expect the room to contain bigger (or at least more specialized) geeks may be a qualification for moderator in and of itself.

As I think I've mentioned, at least obliquely, I'm understudying the Widow in Shrew, because Kate is getting married one of the performance weekends, so the Widow is understudying Kate and it made sense to have me understudy her instead of trying to hire in another actor for a small role for one weekend.

So, as Murphy's Law would have it, I was asked last week to go to rehearsal tomorrow and Tuesday. And of course am heading for Toronto (or rather, the waystation known as my uncle's house in Detroit) Wednesday night. Ergo, today was packing day.

Costume stuff is as ready as it's going to get (it's not a proper costume unless the last details are finished at the hotel! *g*) and packed. Regular packing will take place Tuesday (since it's a telecommuting day) between work and rehearsal. Wasn't able to borrow the Hoffmann windup key, as I haven't had time for a voice lesson the last three or four weeks so I haven't seen Solange to ask for it. Is okay -- the last two clockdroid presentations went over fine without it -- but I was hoping.

Possibly will hit the hardware on lunch hour tomorrow to see if I can find anything that will read in a ballroom as a clockwork key, but not holding my breath. Got both wigs (red for Friday night's reception, blond for the masquerade) washed and set yesterday, thus avoiding a repeat of the last two clockdroid presentations, when the wig wasn't quite dry and there were a number of bobby pins involved in hiding the fact that the curls weren't quite doing what they were supposed to. (Note to self: pack hairspray.)

Also want to hit Hobby Lobby for a fan to go with the black-and-white ensemble for the vampire reception. Which looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself, despite having been thrown together in about four hours Friday night with highly safety-pin-intensive construction methods. ;-) How much do I love that bustle drapes look terribly impressive when in fact they are the easiest thing in the world to completely fudge?

Need to print flyers for thanatos_kalos' Who conference and label with LJ icon and username to put on my badge. Am thinking some combination of the above errands may get done in Detroit Thursday morning.

The rest of my Sunday evening? Is SO downtime...

My knowledge of kaiju and its fandom is, generously speaking, scanty. I've seen the original Godzilla and whichever movie has the teeny little sparkly twins, and probably bits and pieces of some others, many many many moons ago. I think I might be able to identify three monsters on sight.

So how, you may very well ask, did I end up on a panel at G-Fest yesterday afternoon?

Well, about twelve years ago, I answered an audition listing in the Columbus Dispatch, and wound up with my first on-camera experience in this little movie. When I say "little", I mean "these guys give 'guerrilla filmmaking' a whole new meaning." This being before a middle-class joe could pick up a digital camcorder at Best Buy without taking out a second mortgage, they shot entirely on VHS (no, they don't do that anymore!), in Austin's living room, his aunt's basement, and (thanks to a very tolerant management accustomed to hosting Marcon and Origins) various locations around the Hyatt Regency Columbus.

It was a lot of craziness, a lot of fun, and the end result -- obvious production-value issues aside -- was surprisingly not too bad. (I would also like to note that Austin is the one and only filmmaker I've ever worked for who came through promptly with both my copy and my contracted salary.) But until yesterday, I believed that nobody who wasn't involved in the production had ever seen it.

Bzzzzzzt! Turns out this weekend is the tenth anniversary of its first screening at G-Fest. And not only have people seen it, they liked it. A lot of that is because Austin is pretty well known in American kaiju fan circles for building really cool monsters. Also because he and Jeff have spent a lot of time and trial and error learning (and inventing a few of their own) lighting and how-to-use-found-objects tricks for making miniature sequences work. But also because there's just something about the way they do things that seems to capture the spirit of what people love about the genre. The con chair is very supportive of TG2WAC's endeavors, and plugs their stuff right in there with the real Japanese classics and the far-better-funded fan films.

So, on a very small scale, I got to be a movie star for an afternoon. I even had a couple kids ask me for autographs. And I'm in the Raki booklet! Even though it comes with a later movie (the only one the guys have available on DVD so far because it was their leap into digital) it has details on all four, and notes that I'm a "highly accomplished stage actress" -- hee! -- and that I "eagerly" contributed to the fight work. Which is quite accurate. Fun times, man.

I think I might actually head over for a full day next year. I'm kinda sorry to miss meeting the original man in the suit.

A moment of silence for Satine (the car, not the courtesan), towed off this afternoon and donated to the Greater Illinois chapter of the Alzheimer's Association in memory of my grandpa. Would have been more appropriate for her predecessor, which actually started out as his car, but this works.

In an attack of temporary sanity, I have determined that having the polonaise (out of the silk my mom gave me after she used something else for her dress for my wedding) made for the "Victorian Vampire Reception" at Polaris is Simply Not Going To Happen. I did manage to get it cut out, at least, so when I do have time to pay proper attention to the construction, I have a head start. Maybe I'll make a goal of finishing it before the year is out, and figure out something to wear it to.

My brain is therefore busily spinning an alternative plan to jury-rig something around my existing Victorian corset (which is white, so I'm thinking in a black-and-white direction). I should be able to make use of a few things that have been languishing in the Scary Fabric Stash awaiting a purpose. It would probably take me longer to comprehensibly describe what I have in mind than it will to actually put it together, so you'll just have to wait until there are pictures. *evil g*

Got my panel schedule for Polaris, and one of them starts at 6 p.m. Saturday. The masquerade is, of course, at 8 p.m. Saturday. Green room check-in (including polaroids, so yes, you have to check in in costume) is from 2-6:30.

Thankfully, I therefore have a couple options for not having to actually do the panel in 40 pounds of Very Space-Occupying Clothing. One is to email the masq director and ask if we can do a late green room check-in. The other is to check in early, change, do the panel, and change back. I'll probably go with the latter, as I try to avoid making Them What's In Charge deal with more crap than they already are.

Either way, very very glad the clockdroid doesn't involve hair or makeup. Yay mask and wig!

darkmagess? Remind me I need to make specific plans for food to happen, or I'll be VERY sorry by about 7:30...

Have succeeded in quest to make pink_blasphemy into an andpuff fan (she's just finished Blood Trail and is about to start into volume 2 of the omnibus edition). \o/

This means it's only fair that I give a shot to Twilight, which I've been assiduously avoiding (unless you count cleolinda's epicly hilarious summaries). I should know this universe for the vamp powers panel at Polaris anyway, right? I'm fully expecting my experience to go something like this, but am determined to find the sparkly Twinkie fun. Having come to the conclusion that I was just never That Teenage Girl (which is not to say that I was entirely mature and rational by any means; I just wasn't that particular flavor of irrational), I'm taking it as a challenge.

What the heck. I can deal with Cathy and Heathcliff (albeit while wanting to beat the pair of them, particularly the former, roundly about the head and shoulders with a rubber chicken). I can deal with this, right?

Also need to try to get Evernight read, so that I can plug claudiagray knowledgably. Probably the wisest course is to reserve it at the Library of Awesome (reason #937 to love living in Elgin). I looked for it at Target the other night and had no luck, although there were two or three other YA vampire series. For all the conventional wisdom (for the last, oh, decade or so) that editors aren't looking at new vampire novels, there are certainly enough of them being published!

There is, of course, also Much Sewing (and, er, still a rather forbidding chunk of sketching) To Do. Kate and Petruchio need costumes for promo photo shoot next Thursday, then I swing into full production to get the show ready to go by the 26th. Plus a couple things in mind for Polaris. It is a happy thing to be working in the nice cool basement...

Panels yay! I am slotted for the following:

( Big Damn Anti-Heroes )

( Dracula )

( How Did You Make That? )

( Lighty or Nighty? )

( Revamping Vampire Powers )

( Whedon's Witty Wordplay )

Oh, natmerc? This one's mostly for you. Y'know how you said you were mulling the notion of going to Polaris?

Per today's email newsletter, they've booked Ellen Muth as a guest. :: whistles innocently ::

Fango interview with Gina, complete with tantalizing hints of potential con appearances this summer.

Spill already, girlfriend! I gotta plan this stuff! %-}

So. For the first time in aaaaages, I think I might actually make it to an out-of-state con this summer. Possibly two. But not three. And I want to go to three. *sigh*

( The pros and cons of summer cons )

Just looking at the above, Doors Number One and Two seem to be carrying the most weight. If I have to bring it down to just one... I dunno. Other elements to consider: Shrew, as already mentioned. World of Faeries, for which I've been asked back as Unseelie Court, this time with no rehearsal commitment 'cause they know I know what I'm doing. Whatever might come up to audition for that I don't know about yet. And there's the rub that makes it tough to plan in general...

Thing What I Have Learned This Weekend: Going to a con with 18 hours' notice (up to and including participating and taking Best in Show in the masquerade) can in fact work out quite well.

If, of course, (a) said con is taking place forty minutes from one's house, (b) one remembers where one put away the nine zillion pieces of the already-existing costume one intends to present in the masquerade, (c) one actually manages to pack all said nine zillion pieces in one's car (despite forgetting one's camera), (d) one runs into old friends like jennetj and new friends like maiac who give one a bit of a focus for one's rather hyper and scattered brain, and (e) new friends like maiac are kind enough to volunteer their hotel rooms as changing space so one is not reduced to wrestling with pocket hoops in a very small public restroom. (Not enough gratitude in the world.)

It also helps to have friendly and entertaining guests like Tanya Huff; a dealer's room chock-full of tempting pretties (to which I did not succumb); a hotel full of smart, creative and free-spirited people to chat with or just watch go by; nifty and interesting panel topics; and a nearby Chipotle.

Definitely the ol' general interest con experience I've been missing, if a bit condensed into one day and lacking the late-night silly fun to be had when staying in the hotel.

And okay, a whole new crop of people oohing and ahhing over the clockdroid isn't bad for the ol' ego either. :-)

Every year since I moved here, I've told myself "I really must keep track of when this WindyCon is, because I haven't been to a nice general-interest con in ages, and that's the one that's close."

So how did I manage to miss that it's this weekend? And that Tanya Huff is the author GoH? *headdesk*heaaddesk*headdesk*

Oh, right. I think it has something to do with being a trifle busy the last several months. Too damn many lives at once...

I'm fairly certain I'm crazy enough to pop over there tomorrow and buy a one-day membership at the door. I might be crazy enough to do the masquerade, even though I haven't made any of my intended tweaks to the clockdroid costume, or steamed it, or done a CD with the ideal-length cut of the Doll Aria, or printed any references for judges who might not know the source, or set the wig because it's all wilted since last year... (Also, Barbara Wright is a crazy person. Running two masqs two weeks apart???)

Even with no notice, this really works out better for me than Chi TARDIS, which I'd already 90% decided not to do this year, what with the in-laws here for Thanksgiving, etc.

Blast it, if I'd just twigged to this a day or two sooner. Arg.

Because if I weren't one, I would say "damn the budget and the faerie fest rehearsal schedule" and go to Toronto for Polaris after all. Possibly whether or not it coincided with the Fringe Festival. At which there is always a smorgasbord of cool theatre to see, and at which I would dearly, dearly love to see this show. (ETA: And oh, my stars and garters, this show too. *splorfle* ~whimper~)

Con with major masquerade. Evening of theatre featuring people with swords. And me a time zone away. The Universe is taunting me, I swear. *pout*

Still seriously considering going to Polaris (The Con Formerly Known As TTrek, and that's going to take some getting used to after all these years!). Started out looking at trains, but like most destinations farther away than Ann Arbor, it would be nice but just take Way Too Long. [insert obligatory grumble re: Office of Doom PTO policy]

The last umpteen times I drove to Toronto were from Columbus, which was consistently almost exactly eight hours. I had it in my head that it would take WAY longer from here, but MapQuest seems to think it's only about an hour longer. Which, depending on when I hit 294, I will assume to be a bit optimistic, but still! I can do that!

I'll still check out flight possibilities, but it's probably the way to go anyway, what with the clockdroid costume, which, with all the various layers, fills about 2/3 of the Big Green Suitcase all by its lonesome. Heck, it did that for Chicago TARDIS when I carried the wig and the mask separately. (Bulkiest getup I have ever constructed, with plenty of margin. After wearing it for about an hour, I wanted to go back to the 18th century and shake people for being idiots who wore far, FAR too much clothing all at the same time.) When I say "Big", I mean so big it's invariably overweight if it's even close to full. You could smuggle a small adult human being in it.

Mind you, when it's come up overweight in the past, it didn't have a big swathe of real estate taken up by pocket hoops. So it might work anyway. Must ponder.

Just got an email newsletter from Polaris (The Con Formerly Known As Toronto Trek), announcing the latest additions to the guest list: Teryl Rothery and Tanya Huff.

Add that to the existing list and the urge to show off the clockdroid in a major masquerade, and this thing is looking more and more like a must...

( The Sylv and Sophie Show )

( The Voice of Doom and the Queen of Accents )

( I am the clockdroid, coo-coo-ca-choo )

Caught part of the "Mysterious Theatre 337" sporking of "Battlefield," which was pretty funny. (Albeit kind of an easy target. And after third comment about the size of Jean Marsh's nostrils, I kinda wanted to bop somebody. But most of it was right on target.)

Managed to render taraljc positively crestfallen by explaining that we can't go to Gally because we'll be on a ship somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean that weekend. Which makes me doubly sad after meeting Shaun Lyon, who seems a very cool guy whose con I'd certainly like to attend. Maybe for 2008.

All in all, fun con. So very very very going to stay in the hotel all weekend next year.

Since pretty much everyone I still have contact with in that fandom is on LJ. :-) I received the following request in my email this morning:

Hi there -- do you happen to have any video (or do you know anyone who does) of the Forever Knight "Dead of Winter II" fan convention of 1995? If so, I'd love to purchase a copy -- I met my husband at the convention.

I can't help her, and I don't really recall any camcorders floating about at the con. But it's been 11 years (!!!) and you never know. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Ron Glass is a lovely, lovely man.

Tricia Helfer makes me look downright squat.

Shoes do not need to have high heels to be an unwise choice for walking around on concrete aaaaaallll afternoon and most of the evening.

Pictures later.