And the Rest of Saturday
The parade ended on the basement level of the Marriott, which was perfect for me to run and find my wig lady. Cathy of God Save the Queen Fashions saved my bacon--the wig I'd originally ordered on eBay got lost in the mail, and she was able to special order one for me in time for the con. The bacon-saving came at a price, of course--I think I spent more on that blasted wig (and the lost one besides) than I did on the whole rest of the costume. :P
I also went by Peter Beagle's table and introduced myself as the person who'd emailed him about having Last Unicorn costumes to show him. He was quite anxious to see them, and I confirmed that he'd be at his table Sunday evening.
Then it was time to slip into something less comfortable. Back in the hotel room, Aaron helped me through the 97 steps involved in becoming the Elizerator. Shift, kirtle, bumroll, farthingale, (none of those latter three are recognized by my spellchecker, btw), makeup, hair, partlet, bodice, sleeves, jewelry, attifet, veil...I realized I'd forgotten to put on my shoes, and had to get Aaron to do this for me, since I couldn't reach them over all the gear!
I had planned on hitting the corset panel (which I plan on *every year* and somehow never get to), but ironically, it took so long getting me into the Lizgown that I ended up missing it. Instead, we simply took a walk, with the sole purpose of being seen and photographed. Aaron broke trail for me and held my purse while I posed for pictures, and my ego was amply fed. We tried to go hear Abney Park's acoustic set on the concourse of the Hyatt, but it was mobbed, and since I was unfairly taking up enough space for three people (and was exhausted), I decided to exercise the better part of valor and not stick around.
The 4-5 pm slot had had me in agonies of indecision ever since the program came out. An hour with Diana Gabaldon, talking about her wonderful Scottish time travel romances? "Buffy Frame by Frame" with the artist and writers of the Buffy Season 8 comics? Or Stephen's evil genius panel, with demonstrations of maaad SCIENCE? Oh, the agony!
On the logic that I was already in the right hotel for it, I opted for Diana Gabaldon--but like Jaqueline Carey a few years ago, they had underestimated her popularity and put her in a teeny tiny room, so when I got there, it was full up and there were people peeping around the door to listen. This was probably my biggest disappointment of the con--I'd really hoped to hear her talk about her books, and her other panel was opposite my Bujold translation panel on Sunday. :(
But, hey, I had options, right? So I went over to the Marriott and tried out the Buffy panel. The panel title had led me to believe that we would be looking at actual frames of the Buffy comics, and the artist and writers would talk about the artwork, the writing, the production process, etc. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have much prepared to say, and opened it up mostly to audience questions, which meant it rapidly devolved into "what's your favorite plot thread" and "who's your favorite 'ship?" Bleah. I could get that on LJ.
The paragraphs above describe a very common pattern at Dragoncon--you walk around for what seems like miles, and end up doing nothing. The first thing you try is full, the second one turns out to be lame, and the third thing is over by the time you get there. In this case, Stephen's panel was all the way over in the Hilton, and I knew I'd never make it in time to see much of his talk, so at this point I gave up and went back to the room to divest myself of the 12 lbs of costuming and make dinner plans.
Whew!
I also went by Peter Beagle's table and introduced myself as the person who'd emailed him about having Last Unicorn costumes to show him. He was quite anxious to see them, and I confirmed that he'd be at his table Sunday evening.
Then it was time to slip into something less comfortable. Back in the hotel room, Aaron helped me through the 97 steps involved in becoming the Elizerator. Shift, kirtle, bumroll, farthingale, (none of those latter three are recognized by my spellchecker, btw), makeup, hair, partlet, bodice, sleeves, jewelry, attifet, veil...I realized I'd forgotten to put on my shoes, and had to get Aaron to do this for me, since I couldn't reach them over all the gear!
I had planned on hitting the corset panel (which I plan on *every year* and somehow never get to), but ironically, it took so long getting me into the Lizgown that I ended up missing it. Instead, we simply took a walk, with the sole purpose of being seen and photographed. Aaron broke trail for me and held my purse while I posed for pictures, and my ego was amply fed. We tried to go hear Abney Park's acoustic set on the concourse of the Hyatt, but it was mobbed, and since I was unfairly taking up enough space for three people (and was exhausted), I decided to exercise the better part of valor and not stick around.
The 4-5 pm slot had had me in agonies of indecision ever since the program came out. An hour with Diana Gabaldon, talking about her wonderful Scottish time travel romances? "Buffy Frame by Frame" with the artist and writers of the Buffy Season 8 comics? Or Stephen's evil genius panel, with demonstrations of maaad SCIENCE? Oh, the agony!
On the logic that I was already in the right hotel for it, I opted for Diana Gabaldon--but like Jaqueline Carey a few years ago, they had underestimated her popularity and put her in a teeny tiny room, so when I got there, it was full up and there were people peeping around the door to listen. This was probably my biggest disappointment of the con--I'd really hoped to hear her talk about her books, and her other panel was opposite my Bujold translation panel on Sunday. :(
But, hey, I had options, right? So I went over to the Marriott and tried out the Buffy panel. The panel title had led me to believe that we would be looking at actual frames of the Buffy comics, and the artist and writers would talk about the artwork, the writing, the production process, etc. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have much prepared to say, and opened it up mostly to audience questions, which meant it rapidly devolved into "what's your favorite plot thread" and "who's your favorite 'ship?" Bleah. I could get that on LJ.
The paragraphs above describe a very common pattern at Dragoncon--you walk around for what seems like miles, and end up doing nothing. The first thing you try is full, the second one turns out to be lame, and the third thing is over by the time you get there. In this case, Stephen's panel was all the way over in the Hilton, and I knew I'd never make it in time to see much of his talk, so at this point I gave up and went back to the room to divest myself of the 12 lbs of costuming and make dinner plans.
Whew!