No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on August 12, 2012

DragonCon is a very large convention. I use to say that unlike San Diego Comic Con, it takes place in several places but that kinda bit the dust this year when SDCC spilled out into the hotels and store fronts outside the convention center. However DragonCon navigation can be rather daunting.

There are a few things you can do before the convention to get ready. One thing that new technology has made it a little easier to find what you want to see. DragonCon has an Ap for that. I used the first version last year and downloaded the new version this year. It was the fastest way to find where I needed to be when and where other people and things were when I needed to find them. I haven’t played much with the new version but I can tell you between that and the convention map, I was not lost at all.

Go through the schedule and figure out what you want to see. Yes, there will be several things in several places that you want to see at the same time. I will say that giving a half hour between panels does make it possible to get from one hotel to another and see things. There will be lines for the more popular panels just like San Diego however at DragonCon (or as of last year) they cleared the room and let the next group of people in for the panel so if you are in that line (and they do count), you can get into the panel unless you are behind the person holding the end of the line sign.

Comfortable shoes that can navigate uneven pavement or various forms of floor are a must.

The hotels do put out water stations but bringing a bottle to fill is a really good idea. That way you can sip while you barrel around the convention.

Walked the dealers room AND the exhibit hall for things you might want to buy. I have found things at as much as a 10 dollar difference (Rare Dalek) between them depending where the booth is situated and what the dealers think they can get for it. If there is a one of a kind hand made thingy, then consider this, what will happen if you don’t get it? You might want to look around and see what else you can’t live with before buying. There is a lot of stuff to look at.

Speaking of Looking at Original Stuff and buying it. Don’t forget about the Art Show. It is in the Grand Hall West of the Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel and the Comic and Pop Artists alley is going to be in Grand Hall East like last year. Peter will be set up in Grand Hall East and that’s a good place to look for me unless I am on panels or walking to a panel.

One of the first things to do is look at the maps that you are given in your packet and are on the application. Figure out where things are situated can help a lot. Also it can be tricky since the tunnels to the other hotels can be on one of two to three floors depending on the hotel. Give yourself that whole half hour to make it between buildings because traffic can be fierce.

My schedule is pretty much set at this point. I am waiting to hear about one or two other things and then I will post. You will see me at the Puppetry Track the most this year.

So plan your strategy but allow for change. Also make sure to give yourself some downtime in there somewhere. DragonCon can be overwhelming at times even for the veterans of the convention.

I am grateful that I have gone to DragonCon as many times as I have.

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Posted By Kathleen David on August 8, 2012

I am a day off. I woke up thinking this was Tuesday but I know it is Wednesday because I have class today. Convention time is not normal time and it can take a day or so to get back to the norm.

I finally think I have my puppet slam piece in hand. Now I need to review the puppets that I have. Figure out which I need to make or in this case remake or repair. And that will be done.

Right now I am at the gathering stage of my process. I am making sure I have the things I need to complete my projects. Or at least to get them much further along. Today is going to be “find those things I know I have in my storage area”. I also need to clear out some stuff and move a lot of stuff around for the next day or so. This will allow me to get everything I need where I need it. It got a little more complicated because I have the puppets put somewhere and I don’t think they are even all together any more. Well one problem at a time.

Next is to start at the top of the list and work my way through as efficiently and I can with minimal mess. I am going to be cleaning as I go so once one project is done, I can pull forward the materials for the second one and go from there. I also need to find my box of puppet wigs and see what I need to get. I also need to restock my eyeball box.

It is 22 days to DragonCon so this blog is probably going to get a little quiet or going to be a lot about building and making things. So I declare the rest of this month, Crafty Month!

I am grateful that I have figure out what I am doing for the puppet slam.

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Tags: Art, art work, crafty tuesday

Posted By Kathleen David on August 7, 2012

Well, it will be a report of my Shoreleave experience which was pretty good.

As long time readers know, I have been going to Shoreleave with Peter since he and I got together which is about 15 years now. This Shoreleave was also the 20th Mystery Trekkie Theater. They haven’t done it 20 years in a row but this was the 20th time they took an episode and ran it through.

Shoreleave is very much a family convention both actual and extended family. Caroline has been going to it since she was 7 months old so this was her 10th Shoreleave. So we know the ins and outs of the hotel and the convention.

Caroline was old enough this year to be able to wander the convention by herself. As a bonus she got to bring her friend R with her so they got a four day play date with each other and the other kids that they know at the convention. This was also R’s first convention ever. They had a blast. They made tribbles and other crafty projects (Thanks to Eta and all her minons and helpers). They went to a Boogie Knights concert. They attended the Masquerade which was the first time Caroline has not participated since she was almost 2. They looked around the dealers room. They went swimming. It was a pretty jam packed convention for both of them.

I had panels on various topics, which touched on my many skill sets. I talked about publishing and how it works. I talked about genre fiction. I talked about Sherlock and, tangentially, Elementary. I talked about book banned. I talked about how to create a funny skit for a Masquerade. I was a workmanship judge. I signed stuff for people. I found it funny that people had stuff I had written that they wanted me to sign. Still get a kick out of that one. I talked about Ray Bradbury. I talked to all kinds of people some of which I only see at Shoreleave and others I see a little more often.

The hotel has recently (yet again) changed hands and with that came some new things to deal with and some change that also needed to be dealt with. The staff was pretty much the same. The new hires fit right now and got into the spirit of things. They were friendly and courteous as ever and willing to go the extra step to make things right.

Anything that didn’t sit well with me had nothing to do with them but some management changes that really didn’t sit well until you figured out how to do what you use to do within the new systems. For one thing there is a café that has been there and always good for a quick lunch or grabbing something for breakfast on the run. Now it is mostly machines to get food or drink. There was fast breakfast but only on Saturday and Sunday. They no longer have the sit down restaurant but a buffet style breakfast and dinner and, for the convention, lunch. The bar had a decent sit down menu but once everyone figured that out, the bar was pretty much packed out. Trying to get something to eat was a bit of a challenge but we did it between the hotel, the food that we brought, and the local eateries.

Being a workmanship judge was fine. Shoreleave participants do bring it and make it quite a challenge to figure out who is best in the group. We saw a lot of new people and learned about some new materials and tools and a few tricks that I am going to use in the future. A very clever group of people. I also had the good fortune of sitting in on the judging of the contest. Jeanette, my fellow judge, and I were able to clear up some things for the other judges since we saw things up close.

The media guests were quite nice. This was a good lot for the fans. It was a range of people who did all kinds of interesting things in their lives. For me two stand out, or rather I interacted with them more than the others. Years ago Peter wrote a couple of films for Full Moon called Oblivion and Oblivion 2:Backlash. In these films is a wonderful actress named Musetta Vander who Peter hasn’t seen since they wrapped shooting on those films. Peter and Musetta met back up at Shoreleave. We had a lovely breakfast with her and talked about all kinds of things under the sun including Head Cases which had a character that Peter wrote with Musetta’s voice in his head. She is a delightful person. Also there was Jane Wieldin of the Go-gos and a lot of other things that run the gambit. She is a true renaissance person with lots of different creative skills that allow her to do a whole bunch of different things. She was a sweetheart and it was fun to talk to her about a number of topics including puppetry.

Mystery Trekkie went over well. They did the Star Trek pilot entitled The Cage or better know to many as the Menagerie. There is only one version available anymore because the entire color version has been lost so it is combination of the black and white and color version. Bob, Mike and Peter had a great time with it, as did the audience. Caroline performed her role in the opening sketch perfectly.

After that, I got to break bread with the Greenbergers which is always pleasant. We caught up on things and had a great time.

The drive home was fine over all. We got early warning that Staten Island was a no-go so we took a more circuitous route but got home before we would have if we had gone across Staten Island and had then to deal with the belt. We also took a gamble on the George Washington Bridge that worked out perfected an probably saved us about half an hour of bumper to bumper traffic. Thank you NYC DOT for such clear signage that allowed us to use another route to get back to 95 and get around the jam.

Now it is 23 days to DragonCon which means I have 20 days to pull of a miracle. Off to start gathering the components for that.

I am grateful that Caroline and R had such a good time at the convention.

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Posted By Kathleen David on August 4, 2012

The city of Tampa is trying to ban political puppets during the Republican convention. They are doing this by banning the following items from the convention zone, string, sticks and masks.

Well that’s that for FedEx UPS and the USPS, they must hand over all their string to safeguard the delegates.

And no sticks in the convention zone, which, if I am reading this correctly, means no sticks or stick like objects in the convention hall or those people will be in violation of the ordinance and will probably be arrested for possession of those dangerous objects.

Oh and those streamers and balloons that they drop? Well they use string/rope to do so. I guess the celebration will be muted a bit.

This just seems so ludicrous to me on so many levels.

The reasons are even jaw dropping. Apparently the “concern” is that puppet heads can conceal things like weapons and “fecal matter”.

Now, if one has a carry permit, one may have one’s gun(s) in the convention zone without fear of arrest. Which just jumps the absurdity to another level of WTF.

If I see pictures of things that show sticks and string in side the convention center, I am sending it to the Tampa Police so that they can enforce the ordinance because this in no way could be only one way could it?

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a proud puppeteer and wiggle dolls for fun and profit.

My challenge to the puppeteers down in Tampa is to build puppets that don’t violate the ordinance and bring ‘em on down.

So Power to the Puppets!

I am grateful that I know people already thinking their way around the rules as set by Tampa.

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Posted By Kathleen David on August 2, 2012

I think that is the longest (except when without Internet) I have not put an entry in my web log.

And honestly I can’t really give you a good reason why. I have had topics come and go in my head. I have been reading about things I wanted to comment on. I just couldn’t get the time together with the computer to do so.

I made some decisions about Shoreleave and DragonCon that I now have to make peace with. We will be at both and I am looking forward to seeing people and geeking out with the best of them.

It is less than 30 days to DragonCon and, honestly, I have next to nothing done for the art show other than a few some details sorted out. Thus I have nothing for the Shoreleave Art Show to show this year. Considering I started this sorting back in January, I am not very happy with myself right now.

I am trying to get my “mojo” back in working order since it seems to be stalled out. My creative brain has gone to sleep and that has made it hard to do things. Not feeling particularly creative is a new feeling for me and I don’t like it very much. Or may be my brain is being more creative than my hands which seem also to be stalled out. I am getting things done ONLY when the deadline is looming and that’s not where I want to be right now.

I got my DragonCon schedule for this year. I have approved the schedule and pretty much know where I am going to be when. I am not overloaded but I will say that if you want to find me, it is going to be mostly with the Puppetry Track, which is what I requested.

So to sum up, not feeling my best and not doing my best which annoys the heck out of me.

I keep telling myself that I am a creative person but right now I’m not as confident in it as I have been.

Today is all about getting ready for Shoreleave. I will start with the first things and work my way to the next thing until it is time to leave tomorrow.

I am grateful for those creative things that I have been able to do.

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