it's just our leaders in disguise
[me & Adam are 
recumbent]
[and listening to "Exo-Politics" by Muse]
Funny thing: if you eat nothing but chocolate for a day, you lose weight. Don't ask me why.
So. Saturday Noon - Time for Stephen's Masterclass (Of course we'd already spent a bit of time with him at the Guild meeting in the morning *g*).
Stephen, amongst other things, adapts the Discworld novels for the stage (and, as said before, is Vetinari).
Here he explained what this takes - and how you cope with, say, having to play a scene with a giant firebreathing dragon on a small stage with no budget to speak of.
These four people were kind enough to act the scene from "Guards! Guards!", where Vimes, Colon, Nobby, and Carrot see the dragon for the first time. Well, point is - in a small theatre, of course you don't have a dragon at hand. And even then, you wouldn't have the space. But - since Stephen is The Master and a genius - you don't need one. "Jaws" is only then really frightening when you don't see the shark, right? So, what you do is this: some people get whistles to do the "Jaws" score when the dragon is approaching. Other people get umbrellas to open and close rapidly - sounds like the flapping of wings. Two people get refresher sprays - combined with red light from the techs, that looks like breaths of fire. Now, position those people cleverly (behind/over the audience) and you've got a great show :) Stephen claims that this is even better than the "real" thing - the audience doesn't expect it, so it gets a real scare.
The funniest part was when he handed Pats, Nathalie & me (okay, and two others, but they don't count) little whistles so we could do the "Jaws" thing (you know, do do... do do... dododoDODODODO). The moment we should have started humming, we all looked at each other and burst out laughing. And Stephen just grins at us and says "Ah yes. The magic of the stage!" *LOL* *hearts Stephen*
Oh, and Pats got some more quality time with him at a Kaffee Klatch ;) You Go, Girl!
Later that day we went to a lecture given by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, who have written the fantastic "Science Of Discworld" books (recommended to everyone who's even remotely interested in history and/or science - very well explained history of evolution, and funny as hell).
It's a bitch these pics are so dark :( Anyways, love those two, they are adorable - as anyone who can really explain such stuff to me with Gary Larson artwork ;) Got their autograph, too!
Later we went to "Traditional Storytelling", which was bloody well fantastic. Especially Graham Higgins is a master. When he tells a story, everyone is absolutely mesmerized. That was one of my favourite bits. I wish I was a good story teller *sigh*
After that it was Maskerade time - sadly I don't have any pictures of that, you weren't allowed to, because it might have confused the contestants. In the Maskerade, fans dress up as character from or inspired by Terry's works. Each contestant has the stage for about two minutes and can do a real little show. Some where rather boring, others were fantastic (a CD-Monster dancing to "One Night In Morpork" was my favourite). And after that it was Hedgehog Party time!
Look! Pats, Pre, and Nathalie :)
Oh, one of my favourite parts: when we were having drinks at Biers (all rooms had been renamed after places on the Dysk - the restaurant, for instance, was Harga's House of Ribs), MEG (the chairwoman of the the Con, extremely funny lady) came up to me.
"Excuse me, but my husband is wondering why such a cute girl has orange paper sticking out of her dress."
*GGG* And the whole of her table was staring at us. I explained then - the orange paper were post-it notes. I was in a dress without pockets, so I had to put my Assassin's stuff somewhere, and I figured my bra was the safest place. Way to get noticed by the committee *lol*
And that was the Saturday...
recumbent]
[and listening to "Exo-Politics" by Muse]
Funny thing: if you eat nothing but chocolate for a day, you lose weight. Don't ask me why.
So. Saturday Noon - Time for Stephen's Masterclass (Of course we'd already spent a bit of time with him at the Guild meeting in the morning *g*).
Stephen, amongst other things, adapts the Discworld novels for the stage (and, as said before, is Vetinari).
Here he explained what this takes - and how you cope with, say, having to play a scene with a giant firebreathing dragon on a small stage with no budget to speak of.
These four people were kind enough to act the scene from "Guards! Guards!", where Vimes, Colon, Nobby, and Carrot see the dragon for the first time. Well, point is - in a small theatre, of course you don't have a dragon at hand. And even then, you wouldn't have the space. But - since Stephen is The Master and a genius - you don't need one. "Jaws" is only then really frightening when you don't see the shark, right? So, what you do is this: some people get whistles to do the "Jaws" score when the dragon is approaching. Other people get umbrellas to open and close rapidly - sounds like the flapping of wings. Two people get refresher sprays - combined with red light from the techs, that looks like breaths of fire. Now, position those people cleverly (behind/over the audience) and you've got a great show :) Stephen claims that this is even better than the "real" thing - the audience doesn't expect it, so it gets a real scare.
The funniest part was when he handed Pats, Nathalie & me (okay, and two others, but they don't count) little whistles so we could do the "Jaws" thing (you know, do do... do do... dododoDODODODO). The moment we should have started humming, we all looked at each other and burst out laughing. And Stephen just grins at us and says "Ah yes. The magic of the stage!" *LOL* *hearts Stephen*
Oh, and Pats got some more quality time with him at a Kaffee Klatch ;) You Go, Girl!
Later that day we went to a lecture given by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, who have written the fantastic "Science Of Discworld" books (recommended to everyone who's even remotely interested in history and/or science - very well explained history of evolution, and funny as hell).
It's a bitch these pics are so dark :( Anyways, love those two, they are adorable - as anyone who can really explain such stuff to me with Gary Larson artwork ;) Got their autograph, too!
Later we went to "Traditional Storytelling", which was bloody well fantastic. Especially Graham Higgins is a master. When he tells a story, everyone is absolutely mesmerized. That was one of my favourite bits. I wish I was a good story teller *sigh*
After that it was Maskerade time - sadly I don't have any pictures of that, you weren't allowed to, because it might have confused the contestants. In the Maskerade, fans dress up as character from or inspired by Terry's works. Each contestant has the stage for about two minutes and can do a real little show. Some where rather boring, others were fantastic (a CD-Monster dancing to "One Night In Morpork" was my favourite). And after that it was Hedgehog Party time!
Look! Pats, Pre, and Nathalie :)
Oh, one of my favourite parts: when we were having drinks at Biers (all rooms had been renamed after places on the Dysk - the restaurant, for instance, was Harga's House of Ribs), MEG (the chairwoman of the the Con, extremely funny lady) came up to me.
"Excuse me, but my husband is wondering why such a cute girl has orange paper sticking out of her dress."
*GGG* And the whole of her table was staring at us. I explained then - the orange paper were post-it notes. I was in a dress without pockets, so I had to put my Assassin's stuff somewhere, and I figured my bra was the safest place. Way to get noticed by the committee *lol*
And that was the Saturday...