Sunday Evening at DragonCon
Right, getting back to business here...
After visiting the congenial Mr. Beagle, our group of intrepid costumers (especially intrepid in the case of zudaru--we never did get around to weighing that costume, but it's probably about as heavy as the Elizerator--trooped upstairs for the YA Literature track's costume contest judging. This was the most efficiently run costume contest I've ever been in. The judging was slated to start at 5:30, with the winners being announced at the Yule Ball, starting at 8:30. I had fully expected to be stuck in the track room all evening, and have to send Aaron out for food for all of us, but I swear, we were in and out by 6:15. It didn't hurt that we showed up early--we were #15 out of about 35 entries--but I've been in Masquerades that only *had* 15 entries that didn't go this smoothly. It helped that there was no catwalk portion, which somewhat disappointed me, but I think suited my more retiring costume companions.
So it turned out we had plenty of time to go to the food court for dinner, where I successfully ate sushi without getting soy sauce on my gown or wig! If I had known we'd have so much time, I might have made an effort to participate in the attempt to break the world record for the most people dancing to the "Thriller" song, which was held in the same space as the Yule ball. I'm sad I didn't get to do that--though I'm not any kind of Michael Jackson fan, Thriller was unique, and, even more unique, you should click here to see the video of 903 costumed geeks dancing to it! (There's talk of doing it again next year and trying for even more dancers, so that may be on my agenda.)
So 8:30 comes along and we meet back up at the Sheraton, but find out that they have postponed the event til 9, because--imagine--the Thriller dance thing went long. So we spent some time hanging out in a lounge watching DCTV and occasionally having our pictures taken. Eventually, they let us into the room, where we more or less endured the insanely loud music, waiting for the contest winner announcements. Our agenda for the evening was mainly to wander around and be photographed a lot, so this was as good a place to do it as any, but man, LOUD.
At one point they put on "Thriller," and the people who'd been involved in the record-breaking attempt got up and did the dance, which was a sight to see. A bit later, they played "In the Mood," which made me want to swing dance, but it was hard to tell if anyone else on the dance floor knew what they were doing. I've become such a dance snob.
It got even louder when they started playing the entries to the Twilight vidding contest, esp because the treble was up too high, so it was loud *and* screechy. This, combined with an "either you love it or you hate it" general feeling about Twilight (it's written for, and seemingly by, 14-year-old girls), resulted in a mass exodus from the room until the screeching subsided. About that time I noticed a schedule posted at the door, noting that the costume announcements would be made at 10:30. I wish I'd seen it sooner, so we'd known what to wait for!
But it was worth the wait, and even putting up w/ the screeching, bc after all that, we took best in show! I was fairly confident we'd take some sort of prize--the judges had been obviously impressed when I was talking to them about the costume construction--but this was really exciting. We received a stack of books, a gift card for Barnes and Noble, and a tremendously heavy wrought iron Halloween decoration, with a witch and a cauldron. (Somewhere I have the card of the artist who donated it.)
We left shortly after that, though I rather regret it now, after reading jackwabbit's account of the limbo contest and the shredding in effigy of Edward from Twilight. :) But we had places to go and things to see...
Well, Aaron and I did. I think everyone else sacked out in their room. I put on the Unseelie Faerie costume--well, part of it, the farthingale wasn't lighting up--and went back out on the town. This costume took me into the ARC Attack performance at the Mad Scientists' Ball, with the amazing Singing Tesla Coils! These really were amazing, shooting shafts of lighting across the room. I could have watched them all night, but a bit after we got there, the operators took a break. I spent some time with Aaron at the Faith and the Muse concert, but eventually decided I was ready for bed.
A note on the Unseelie Faerie: I'm thinking it's time for version 2.0; I've had that costume since 2004, and it's starting to get a bit worn. I think I'm going to re-order the power inverters from the company that provided me with the EL panel for Lady Amalthea's hood ornament--they're much better constructed and seem less likely to short out, as the current ones are wont to do. The wings are starting to come loose and need some shoring up, and the less said about the fit of the brassiere, the better. While Aaron likes me falling out of my costumes, and I am loath to give up the fabled Metaphysical Bra of song and story, I think it may be time.
Thus ended Sunday.