But will there be sodomy?

At least, not at the party.

I suppose I'm not in the 20th Century any more.

By the way, Kathryn really is the one doing the work of putting this together. Me, I'll really be a gopher. Go for this! Go for that! And I'll be bringing some supplies in our minivan all the way from the heart of New Mexico.

As for having dinosaurs at the party... I still work on mainframe COBOL programs so I guess that makes me qualify. Kathryn had originally been thinking of renting dancing bears, but that was deemd too unsafe. What's that, Booboo?

As for the consensual kind...yes, that would be inappropriate for the party itself. Otherwise...well, all things are possible!

So I'd better start melting chocolate.

*why doesn't Firefox know this word? Did I spell it wrong? It looks right to me.

We're driving in from LA. We don't have a lot of space, but willing to bring things. What's needed?

Ranking it with most of humanity. As to the party, maybe.

Party, sure.

Yes, even with party noises. He slept through fireworks, after all.

One of which, to my everlasting annoyance, had no fewer than THREE fixes fail. I hate it when products don't work as advertised, particularly when they're $16 a can.

What Xopher isn't telling us is that the chocolate shell is really a cocoon...

1) How is there a Sci-Fi convention in Denver without me knowing about it? I live in the pan-handle of Nebraska - Denver is only a little over two hours away from me. I attended my first con (ever!) there earlier this year (Starfest) and I made a point of asking if there were any more cons coming up this year. Nobody knew nothing...

2) Why does the universe hate me? About a month ago, PZ Myers of Pharyngula fame had a meet and greet in Denver... about 8 hours after I flew out of Denver to go to New York for a week (business stuff). I probably passed him in the airport. And now? My one real vacation this year will be... that week! Of course! I'll be down in Las Vegas visiting family, leaving August 6th and getting back August 10th... Seriously, people. What have I done to deserve this?!

As long as it's nothing like the glowy monsters / bioweapons which came up a couple of times in Girl Genius.

Now I've REALLY got to get going, if I'm going to make the deployment schedule.

My wife would probably say that your plan won't work with me. She has this theory that all the calories I ingest go to another me in an alternate reality.

*mentally ups weight allocation for chocolates*

It'll have to be upped way up because I'm losing enough weight these days that I now need a belt to prevent my pants from succumbing to gravity's pull. (Do I hear cries of "I hate you!")

You have to understand something, Serge. My friend and ex is seriously underweight; during our entire relationship I was planning how I'd fatten him up. I probably won't be able to cook the asiago cream sauces at WorldCon, but I have other tricks up my sleeve!

I'd better increase my ungodly-hour visits to the gym to 7 times a week before the worldcon and after.

* Finish puppy-proofing the house and yard, and go get the puppies. These will be the first dogs we've had since our border collie died three years ago, so we're getting really excited about it.

Bruce, any preference?

I wish I could be there, i will be there in spirit! Between my unemployment and Margene's breast cancer treatments, there was no practical way to go.

TANJ.

Damn. Janet was so nice. I miss her like hell.

Many thanks to Kathryn, Serge, and sundry other lights for arranging the party. Good idea!

"Why-ay-are-enn-oh-tee"?

I live in Longmont and will gladly endorse the recommendation. They are most famous for their Sawtooth Ale, an excellent amber. The thought occurs to me that I could just pick some up on the way down to the bacchanalia.

Two sidenotes: The brewery is located right next to the major scenic bike path that runs through town making it a convenient pit stop. Also, as you travel around Denver you'll see a lot of bumper stickers with a round white circle displaying a red left hand - that's the symbol for the brewery.

B. Durbin (37): My last name is Buss.

My usual problem is that people take one look at it and pronounce it wrong, thinking that it's French. Then they make the inevitable joke. Then they say, "I guess you've heard that before."

There is a reason I changed my name when I got married. And that even though I kept my maiden name (as a second middle name, though the IRS insists it's part of my last name), I only use it for art and not as a hyphenated name.

It's been too long since I was in Denver for me to have a useful opinion on local beers. I'd go with your friend and Lance on this one.

Skål!

I like 'em a lot. But they're too cute to be really ferocious. Especially the K. Rex; you'd want to cuddle and pet him, and there he'd be, ripping your guts out. Not fair.

And thank you.

Alas, I am on the other side of the country with no travel funds at the moment. I am glad a section of the fluorosphere will be able to gather in one physical spot, though. Woohoo!

I'm not going to Denvention because I can't afford it, and because the last two Worldcons I went to completely exhausted me. I think even if I rented a scooter, they'd be too big for me. So you guys have fun and take notes!

But Montreal is on my list of beg, borrow, steal, hitchhike, hop freight trains, etc. to get to.

So... how might I take part in some aspect of the virtual presence?

a fluffy white bunny tear apart the Knights of the Round Table.

All for a lousy pepperoni pizza? Not even worth if for a long pork pizza.

Tabitha was hardly overjoyed at getting a bath, but didn't make trouble. And is now back to being a black-and-white cat.

Check the dealer's room. How many sides do you need? :-)

I could bring some decadent British chocolate.

I don't think things would be any different if people knew at a glance how to pronounce it correctly.

"Mannie, this little girl is Wyoming Knott and she came all the way from Plato to tell us how we're doing in New Hong Kong. Wasn't that sweet of her?"

She touched hands with me. "Call me Wye, Mannie -- but don't say 'Why not.' "

Many fans would take your name as a funny-once and assume that the joke was long-dead. But a painful minority are invertebrate punsters and figure that even if it wasn't a funny-always, everyone should get one use of it.

Huh. Scales in badly-clashing shades of green -- I can't imagine where one might find a fabric that looked at all like that. I've been keeping an eye open for bright-green-with-black-splotches plush with thoughts of making a Winslow-cultist penguin, but not having any luck with that. (I also don't have clear memories of the real appearance of Winslow's plush, and can't find a picture on-line. I've only been in the presence once, about twenty years ago.)

Well, I have the cherry cordials' shells made, the brandied cherries in, and the brandy-thinned fondant (with invertase) poured. Now it remains to be seen whether I thinned the fondant so much that I can't pour chocolate on top of it, in which case I have to start all over.

That would suck.

OTOH, I've realized that the party isn't until Friday, so the invertase has until then to work its magic. So I have a little time to fix screwups.

Jo 58: Would that be chocolate from decadent Britain?

Joel 59: I imperfectly keep the rule that if I can think of a joke about someone's name, they've heard it 258 times prior to age 10. Every now and then I come up with one they haven't heard before (you'd be amazed how many guys named Swanson have never been asked if their sign is Gemini or if their mother's name is Leda), but I always try very hard not to do it.

My last name is Hatton. As in "do you have your hat on? Heh heh! Get it? Get it?" As in "hey, be a man, Hatton? Ha ha!" Eesh. Bow-ring! I just stare at them blankly.

You can see why I don't want to be one of these idiots.

Seems to work just fine in today's "Bizarro"!

I could piece it together out of solid greens, but that's more work than I want to go to right now.

I've been keeping an eye open for bright-green-with-black-splotches plush

I found dull green with black splotches once, but no bright green. (And lately I've only been seeing the pattern with a dull blue background.)

Faren Miller (63): Good one!

Dave Bell @ 3: you haven't been going to the right parties (for a sufficiently elastic value of "right"). cf Discwave, or Phil Proctor(sp?)'s disappointed comment when he heard about a more successful version of same at another con.

Teancom@19: How is there a Sci-Fi convention in Denver without me knowing about it? Because
   1. Worldcons have become somewhat ingrown, or at least not moved with the times. Noreascon 4 had major publicity efforts, including Google ads, but the N4 chair also chairs the (academic) dept. of communications at Suffolk University; others have been less active.
   1a. There are also people who are actively suspicious of new methods, feeling that they'd pull in too many people who would change the feel of the Worldcon. I disagree -- I wouldn't like to see Worldcon become another Dragoncon, but it's already a 12-ring circus -- but I don't participate in the arguments any more. This may or may not have been a factor.
   1b. Worldcons are individual; they all require out-of-area people to operate, but may or may not take any governance hints from those people -- some have bad cases of NIHS. This means they'll have widely-varying ideas about how to publicize themselves.
   2. This specific concom appears to have been less effective than many. (I've heard a lot of flamage, not all of it from notorious flamers.)
   3. Were you looking? Did you know Denver also has an annual convention? Damfino how someone new would find out about either of them -- the recent thread on finding things on the web is based on people \looking/ for info instead of waiting to hear, and sometimes there's no spur to start a search.
   This is probably way TMI -- but you asked, and if you're interested there are ways to get info; the first listing from Googling '"science fiction" convention' gets a site headed by links to several major lists. (Even "sci-fi convention" gets a site; their description doesn't match my taste, but YMMV -- they do have a geographic search function, which the raw lists mentioned above lack.)

Xopher: considering you're the only person I've seen waving Indian clubs at a con, trying to fatten other people shows a certain lack of perspective.

Colorado Springs has an annual sci-fi convention in February, COSine.

Other annual cons in Denver include the anime convention Nan Desu Kan and gaming conventions Tacticon, GenghisCon and BenCon.

CHip 65: Xopher: considering you're the only person I've seen waving Indian clubs at a con, trying to fatten other people shows a certain lack of perspective.

Um...Indian clubs?

Maybe you're referring to my poi-spinning with those heavy (and yes, I hit myself with them...ow) lightsticks at the most recent NorEasCon? I was at my slimmest then. I've chubbed up, I'm afraid.

But even so...if poi-spinning is a good cardio exercise ur doin it rong. Doin it rite requires minute, precise movements, but not (unfortunately) great expenditures of muscular energy.

Still, trading the poi-spinning hobby for amateur chocolatiering does partially explain my weight gain.

*I betcha that makes me a butch bitch, huh?

This is a gross misrepresentation of Vodun/Voudou, of course, but a much more convenient name than 'people-note-connections board thingy'. :o)

That brings back memories of 2006's worldcon. It's quite difficult to get into contact with a fellow ML person when you don't know her family name. Luckily she finally spotted me, aided by her knowledge that I'd be dressed as a Victorian Time Traveller.

That's my mother. She'd usually refer to me as "The Resident Expert" or, occasionally, as "Stands With a Book."

She's still online, and a major hobby of hers is geocaching.

#65: I'm running gaming for worldcon...12 ring circus....hah...I'd give it at least 50. The thing is they aren't interested in bringing in the locals...it'll hurt eventually...aging population is not a good thing.

#66: Bencon is defunct. It's never coming back...there are efforts for a new benefit gaming convention in Denver though.

I'll be at gaming most of the time (in the party hotel)...but I'll have to try to get away for this.

They do a pretty good job— the main thing is that it's a fantasy convention, rather than F & SF. But the two years I went they had great children's programming, the art show was run by Bruce & Cheryl Sundquist (sp?), the same folks who are running the Denvention show and who run the MileHi show, and the panels were small and helpful. I mean, it's really nice when you can have an artist actually paint a small piece and have everybody see what she's doing.

*Technically, his nickname is simply "Evil"** but I find that "Evil Rob" promotes clarity.

**He got that from work.

Skype and a webcam--that's what I've used before to attend a transcontinental brunch, and it'll be the setup for Making Party.

Have you used video on Skype before*?

I do not know [note2self, check this] if my laptop or Skype can do a split-screen mode (output) for video. I/we might need another laptop at the party to have multiple eDoors to the party [note2self, ask].

If you have or can borrow an HD webcam, that makes it better for putting you up on the TV set. I think it'll still work if not.

(Could also possibly do a live stream of the party via the cellphone, but that wouldn't be interactive without IRC or similar = not likely on top of skype prep.)

-------------
* You might be able to test it with Abi. I'll email you when I've got mine set up.

Perhaps I will just open a chat window.

Even today.

is in lights, of course.

Lin@31 and Lance@41, I'll third the reccy for Left Hand, although I prefer the Milk Stout to the Sawtooth. TTDV.

For those what need it, my surname is "Langlinais."

I recall someone was going to have "Fluorosphere" buttons available, but can't remember what thread that was in. Anyone?

And on the odd/unfortunate name list is the Ex Chief of Staff here - Dr. Doolittle.

As for the contact information... You fool! Bwahahahahah!!!

And Dr. Foot is a DC-area podiatrist.

Only funny in German, alas, but in this town, there is a doctor of dentistry and oral surgery called Dr.Spangemacher - literally "(Dental) Braces-maker"

Well, I guess someone objected strenuously to that cartoon (I rather liked it myself), because it's been taken out of the archive menu. The page itself is still there, as I confirmed by manually creating the url, but if you go to the link you gave, which is the latest strip, and try to use the dated drop down menu, that date, July 27, isn't in the menu.

Some people are really sensitive.

If you mean the link I gave, I'm confused; I just tried it again, and it works fine.

For identification purposes (because nametags don't always do the trick), Serge added the photo from the front of my website to the Making Light & Faces gallery. With commentary. It's a shame I don't do cosplay.

Comes up image unavailable. Is it possible you are reloading from Cache? I've had that happen when I tried to check things which had been pulled.

A very appropriate commentary, and, in fact, I'd go so far as to... Hmm... Nicole, what are you planning to do with that nice battleax?

With the recent threads and comments on the joy of local brews, I think your thoughts are encouraging / to be encouraged.

Because I've got a few other plates to spin*, I haven't yet gone back over older threads to properly research the most obvious noshes and sloshes for the Party, but a good beer has to top the list. hmmmm.

Top 6 Drinks of Making Light:
1. a locally handcrafted brew, served in glasses chilled by the vacuum between the stars
2. gingered lemonade
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?

Top 5 Foods of Making Light:
1. Chocolate
2. Plums, from the icebox
3. Hot gingered shrimp and mammoth salad (unlikely to make on-site: I don't think standard rooms come with bbq pits)
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?

And while I'm not sure to what it would be appropriate, I'd think a schadenfreude pie could be relevant.

----------
* other projects to be put into motion / brought up to pressure. Making clients happy. Getting a non-street-legal artcar down from Portland. Finding a statistician. small things.

Unless it's some odd artifact of adblock (which I can't seem to disable for just that page; though it will for all of the Wash Post).

And TJ's has some very good prices, on some very good single malts.

But a gibson is more urbane.

I can live with that.

My preferred gins, also at Tj's run 20-25 USD.

My preferred whiskies... are more expensive.

But this is talking parties.

And, with the Gibson, we'd have to add onions, and vermouth.

All in all, I'd be more than happy (were I there) with either.

Wow, you are "Stands-with-a-book"? Smallish world.

I'm seeing it in Firefox 3.0.1. I tried clearing my caches and could still see it. Washingtonpost.com uses javascript, is that enabled on your browser?

Oh.

Yup.

Making Light drinks? Certainly various whiskies, whiskeys, whiskys, and uisgebaughs, or however one spells them. If served neat, though, they should probably be called disemvowelled.

(Sans eau, of course.)

Lies. It's all lies, I tell you.

You've got MileHiCon coming up in Denver at the end of October. I've been to one of those, and it was a fun con. When you get there, look for the freebie table and pick up flyers from other regional cons. Once you get hooked into the network, staying in it is easy -- but that first step requires some luck.

Skwid, #89: That would be me. The buttons will be available at the Starcat Designs table in the dealer room unless/until Kathryn or her designated representative picks them up from me, or I bring them to the party itself. (I still need to find out if we need to make more of them than I have left over from last year.)

Kathryn, #110: If I manage to drag my partner along, he'll be very happy if you can manage to have some decent-quality brewed iced tea (as in, buy it from the Asian or Indian grocery). He'll cope if you don't, but I thought I'd put the word in just in case. Me, I'll drink the gingered lemonade and be perfectly happy.

One thing I've learned from my Chocolate Decadence parties is that you really need some salty snacks if there's going to be a lot of chocolate. After a surprisingly short time, even the most dedicated chocolate-lovers get tired of undiluted sweetness.

I keep thinking about smoking some of the salmon that John caught earlier this month. But then I think about the truly unpleasant nastiness that could happen with luggage carrying fish (even well sealed cooked fish) and now am trying to come up with a better plan.

Mary Aileen @124,
No worries, we will have a splendid assortment of drinks*, with and without spenda. I might even bring the Cream Soda station: a splash of cream does very tasty things to a soda. Think root-beer float.

---------
* I'm not particularly knowledgeable in things related to ethanol** and bartending, and will be requesting volunteers.

** because, in part, I've never been able to taste essential nuances: the bottle of Laphroaig that's sitting in my pantry would be wasted on me. I prefer any distilled essences in my drinks to be related to foods I eat. Grapes or honey or rasberries, yes. I do not eat oak.

That makes me feel so much better.
Eep.

I'm less bald than the coordinators.

Hmm. I suppose I could try to bring it to Denvention...but I probably won't have enough space.

"Come to Hoboken and play my theremin" does not win any chat-up line contests. Really truly.

Linkmeister 147: How do you think I'm getting the chocolates there? Carried or checked, they'd be "confiscated" by some TSA goon for sure.

*Meaning the vertical antenna of the theremin of course. What else?

Her eyes widened, and she said, "I think I need to, uh, confiscate that." Then she called over to her colleague at the next table, something like "Hey Marge, this guy says he's got a, uh, chocolate peanut pie. We 'confiscate' that, don't you think?" Her manner made it pretty clear that she was joking.

I asked her if she'd settle for a copy of the recipe, which I had with me. She ran off to the office nearby to make copies for herself and her colleague.

These days... nah, it'd probably be considered a dangerous substance, not allowed on board.

Xopher, that was really fascinating stroking your pole.

Here's the trailer for the forthcoming Remake.

(People who have seen this seem to be about evenly split.)

I was hopeful about this film but given the description of the movie something tells me it's going to be more f@%?ing fearmongering from the Lefty Looney Toons in Hollyweird...

Because, as everyone knows, the original Day the Earth Stood Still wasn't left-wing at all.

("I'm impatient with YouTube comments. My people have learned to live without them.")

"I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason."

"Why doesn't the Government do something -- that's what I want to know."
"What can they do? They're only people -- just like us.
"People my foot! They're Democrats!"

People whose opinion I value thought it looked great.

Not having seen the movie, it's too early to actually have much of an opinion.

But yeah, the potential for Seriously Screwing Up A Good Movie certainly hovers over this project, and I too fear the worst.

Unneeded?
That pretty much sums it up.

Oh, the new version does look spectacular, but is that a good thing? You know, lots of sound and fury ultimatly signifying nothing? Heck, the original's idea of showing how powerful the aliens are was to show streets filled with paraqlyzed vehicles, and a comment that planes and hospitals were not affected.

What I'm afraid of the most though is that it's going to take the original's idea and betray it. Whatever that means.

I should run away from it like it carried the plague.

It does: the mind-rot. Stupid, stupid movie. Watch the Yule Log instead.

When they talk "dinosaurs and sodomy," I thought they meant FORCIBLE sodomy..

really? from what i remember, from the original viable paradise (?) anecdote the joke came from, the story with sodomy which "needed more dinosaurs" was a sensitive gay love story.

joel,

I had enough trouble explaining a pitchpipe to a TSA guy -- it had fallen to the bottom of my knapsack during my last filk con. I ended up telling him that it was kinda like a circular harmonica.

during one of my recent trips, my electric eraser got taken out of my carryon & interrogated. they seemed to buy my explanation of it, although maybe they thought it was a sex toy for people with very specific tastes. um. which i do not share.

Much as I enjoy having the Tree around as early as possible, Christmas in July seems a bit excessive for me. On the other hand, since my wife will be going thru knee-replacement surgery the week after the Election, there's nothing (nothing!) she'll be capable of to prevent me from putitng the Tree up before Turkey Day. Bwahahahah!

Er...because it would be hard to play his theremin otherwise. Why, what did you think I meant?

Do the kitties love the Tree? Meanwhile, we've had the same (fake) 9-foot tree for almost 15 years and, every recent Christmas, my wife says that we really need a new one and I say we should give it one more year. We'll go thru the routine this year, I'm sure, but I'm ready with the perfect argument: Agatha the Cat Genius. When she sees her first-ever Christmas Tree, she will assume that we set it up just for her to play with and climb up.

On the other hand, if reports can be believed, there is a thriving service to business based on chartering executive jets. It bypasses most of the hassles. You get comfort and peace on the flight. And you can often dodge the more awkward airports.

Clearly fandom needs something similar.

The requirements, I suggest, include the ability to support a prolonged dead dog party.

Given the location of worldcons, large flying boats are sub-optimal, and there would be similar difficulties with a nuclear ekranoplan.

What do people think of airships?

I do have mail. Checking all folders, not only do I have a total of many tens of billions of dollars on offer from friends worldwide, I already have the bank accounts in which to keep the money--solid, security conscientious banks. Good thing, because with the 100k limit on FDIC insurance I'm going to be opening accounts at a few hundred thousand more banks.

But I don't seem to have anything from you*. Could you resend?

-----------
* Although it's only been 40 minutes. I vaguely recall that in the last century emails could easily take that long. I wonder why or when my beliefs about email changed.

Does that mean you'll be renting a whole suite of suites for the party? And that we'll be served sweets? And sweet wine?

"Scotty! I need those cherry cordials now!"

Sucrose is C12H22O11. Invertase (my Annoying Candy Book's name for the enzyme more canonically called sucrase) catalyzes the hydrolysis (breakdown by water) of sucrose.

Glucose and fructose (the two sugars that make up a sucrose molecule) are different shapes of C6H10O5. Take two of those out of sucrose and that leaves an H2O.

Fructose and glucose are both more soluble in water than sucrose. In addition, a water molecule is freed for every sucrose so broken down. Hence the centers liquefy.

Sucrase is harmless, btw. In fact it might slightly aid the digestion of sucrose, since the body can't really use that sugar without breaking it down first.

That is very bizarre, and I will resend Right Now.

It will come from

me

at

nicolejleboeuf

dot com

...and it's been sent!

One of the maxims I picked up from The Mythical Man Month went something like: just because it takes one woman nine months to have a baby, doesn't mean we can get a baby in one month by assigning nine women to the task.

In other words, some things take as long as they take (fortunately for drama, the last 5 minutes should be sufficient).

Photo to aid in recognition.

(Gotta do some Mars homework before Thursday.)

My apologies for giving wrong information, and thanks to Joel for correcting me.

The insurmountable difficulty with cloning yourself to attend ALL the parties is that the alpha overwrites the others when re-combining. Sigh. And as for leaving a few going to do ongoing drudge work, well, we didn't want to do it in the first place, so why should they? NIMBY-analog with a vengeance.

Indeed.

Pretty soon, the original has people slapping him in bars. Everywhere he thinks is neat, he's already been. He's occupying every niche he wants to be in. I gather it took the player months of attention to sort it out... :)

Red flag! Red flag! When the GM says yes that easily, change your plans.

(Says the one whose GM let her have shapeshifting for free in an Amber campaign, for her character(s)* with multiple personality disorder.)

-----
* Depending on how you counted.

Two earlier threads regarding Worldcons.
Worldcongoing-- advice for your first worldcon by TNH. (for writers and everyone else, and a good reminder if you haven't gone for a while).

And...
How to throw a large room party at a science fiction convention, by TNH.

--------------------
* I generally don't buy peanuts, and we'll have the food packaging around whenever possible.

i.e. If there's a common party-food product where there's a good substitute, or if there's something that I can keep separate (the way I'd never put cilantro near any other food), happy to account for that.

Throwing it isn't the problem. The problem is finding a mitt big enough to catch it.

...damn.

That old "first Worldcon" thread just made me miss Mike Ford. A lot. Damn.

:(

Bright yellow "Fluorosphere" Buttons made by Lee (Thanks You!) will be at the Starcat Designs table--jewelry & knickknacks, next to Instant Attitudes--T-shirts and bumper stickers, in the Dealers' Room. The buttons have "Fluorosphere" and a lightbulb, and room to write your name.

We will have assortments of foods and drinks, from all 8 food groups, at the party.

If you'd like to bring foods or drinks--representing your hometown*, or a recent discovery, or your philosophy of life--please do.

(if it requires tools/supplies, let us know in comments or email--we might have them on our supply list already). See comment 196 if you have a food you'd like us to avoid.

-----------
* On an unrelated note to Canadians, did you know butter tarts are not sold in the US, neither fresh, nor in those suitcase-safe 12-packs
available at Loblaws?

"Now's the day to ask people a question about the party: what should I be asking you about the party?"

"What have I forgotten to ask you?"

I do know that the lists of the top 11 foods and drinks of Making Light could have more entries. Chocolate, plums...?
Local handcrafted beer, gingered lemonade,...?

I also should ask about that bottle of Laphroaig (gathering dust in the pantry) again.

- 4 large trash bags
- 2 Xmas minilight strands
- plastic forks & spoons (100 each)
- plastic knives (40 each)
- napkins
- paper towels
- paper cups
- straws for drinking

I've updated the signup thread accordingly.

Susan needs another person for her group costume set. I had to bow out, because there'll be prep that overlaps w/ it. Note that the party itself is designed to start afterish the Masquerade (I'll be getting real-time updates)-- everyone should go. Big theater too: everyone gets a good seat...
But the best seat is standing, on stage.

(link to her description/ comment will be below).

I am trying not to think about the catastrophic truffle core breach, or the innocents who lost their lives waste of time and chocolate that it represents.

Kathryn 205: Where is this link, now?

Now if I could only think of something local and good to bring to the party that wouldn't be a PITA to transport/store. I have 36 hours to come up with something...

Open thread 108 post #192 by Susan: May 16, 2008, 07:11 AM

Open thread 108 post #192 by Susan: May 16, 2008, 07:11 AM

I'm going to wear flat heels for the masquerade, unless the other person wrangling Sol is significantly taller than myself. Seems like a safer decision.

I will need about fifteen more people to go on stage with. Serge, foolish man, has already volunteered. Anyone else want to play? Most people would only need to wear black and stroll slowly across the stage carrying a sign.

Susan's email address can be extracted from her (view all by) in the usual fashion. I won't put it here, because I don't want to add to her spam load without her explicit permission.

It's probably just as well because, if you had found the perfect Ursa boots, I'd have had to find the perfect Zod boots.

Singles and Doubles Freestyle Rochambeau Competition

starting early, randomly occurring until late. Exact rulessuggestions for Doubles Freestyle to be discovered.

What is Freestyle Rochambeau?
It started with Rock, Paper, Scissors;
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock;
and then came the N=7, 9, 15 and 25 versions
Now the charts are up to RPS 101.

But Why Stop at 101? Who needs charts?

Ultimate Rochambeau--Freestyle Rochambeau-- is N by N.

There's at least 50,000 nouns in the English language, and many more noun phrases, concepts, verbs. If two things can be compared--and everything can--they're good.

Some examples, starting with Kirk, because he's one of those power-words that gets used early:

Kirk vs Daleks? Kirk wins everything, so easy: Kirk.

Kirk vs Pride? W.S.'s behavior didn't help him get into the latest Star Trek movies, so I'll go with Pride. Pride wins.

Knitting vs Voltage? Voltage.

Knitting vs Time? Knitting.

This could get overly wonderfully complex. Perhaps complex enough to require time rules.

(I'm lazy and am at a library computer)

One of the biggest events of a Worldcon is the Masquerade, and Susan has a group entry this year. The masquerade is a must-see, and what better way to see it than up close from behind* the curtain?

She needs three more volunteers, joining a crew that includes Serge, Tania, and many more.

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* and then in front, crossing to stage right, with ninjas guiding you and thousands of cheering folks in the audience.

Somehow, that just doesn't sound -- well, it's a masquerade, it can't be normal. Sadly, I will not be in attendance to find out exactly what that means. You'll just have to post it to YouTube as soon as possible, as Dave Bell suggested.

As civilized and drink-of-the-gods it is, I/we are leaning against having tea there. Many people, small room, warm-to-hot days: would there be much demand?

Help or advice request:
While I've read various guidelines, I don't have personal experience with Drinks at Worldcon parties, the traditions and rulez thereof. In parties at home we'll have sodas and lemonade, and guests bring other types of libations.

If you have thoughts on this, or are thinking about bringing drinks, could you email? We are thinking about offering some local handcrafted items.

(and I've not heard back about the bottle of Laphroaig I could bring. Could, or should?)

Serge, I'm trying. I've mentioned it to the attendees I know that aren't necessarily ML regulars. No takers as of yet.

If you wish, B.Y.O.BLibations to share, educate, or entertain.

We will have a tub, coolers, cups, ice, tongs, examples of locally handcrafted ales, fresh lemonade, ginger lemonade, sodas, real-true-cream-soda, etc. Plus Xopher's chocolates, and various other shiny and/or tasty things.
No liquid nitrogen, alas.

After 3pm or so Wednesday, Lee at the Starcat Designs table, next to Russ at Instant Attitudes, in the Dealers’ Room, should be one of the first Fluorosophers to have the room number.

New RSVPs always welcome at Serge's page.

[Susan has found two more volunteers for her group masquerade project, so the search is down to one]

The test uploading of Abi into the Nets worked. As for New RSVPs on my LiveJournal's special thread, I'm not sure how much internet access I'll have, so you might want to keep an eye on new messages there.

I know I can access my yahoo email via my phone, so anyone reading here who hasn't RSVPed and would like to (it helps with the planning),
* leave a note on Serge's LJ AND
* email a quick note to me.

The same goes for BYOB/Libations: email me if you'll be bringing food or drink (so we avoid shopping redundancy), or need prep space, extra equipment (which we might already have), etc.

See you today!

I haz a twitter feed: kathrynsun

Updates will go there, here, and elsewhere.

I'll be heading down tomorrow morning - looking forward to seeing/meeting folks!

I'm minding the cats, who are, at the moment, not minding me. Lucky me.

The Voodoo board will have room information* through Tim Walters--lookup his name, starting on Thursday afternoon.

Also look for the fluorosiphisors wearing their bright yellow buttons.

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* We (in the imperious sense) will be asking folks if they have RSVP'd at the door, as a polite way to keep crowds down. The room is good for chocolates and conversation, less so for a full party circuit crowd. (and the room is on the corridor between the elevators and several bid parties)

What sense can this make? Only one of us is using the damn thing at a time! (Smacks self for forgetting to bring router)

The kind man at the front desk waived the second charge for me as I spluttered on about how we already paid. Eventually it came out that we had two different laptops, at which point the light dawned. I am abusing his kindness in waiving the charge like mad, because eventually these 24 hours will wear out.

It's almost enough to make me pay for a tmobile daypass. Or to wander out in the rain and sit down at one of the 16th Street Mall chessboard tables for my free 2 hours on DenverMallFreeWiFi or whatever that dang SSID is that you can get from the window seat in the Pizza Hut but not from the tables across the room.

John is now attuned to your twitters, Kathryn. (My own cell phone has an unfortunate "get off my lawn!" attitude toward SMS.)

Common Grounds Coffee House is at 17th and Wazee. (Take the 16th Street Shuttle west two blocks past Market Street Station. Get off and walk one block North. We're talking about the corner that's one block from Olde Historique Union Station.) It has delicious coffee, perfectly good tea, breakfast pastries, croissant sandwiches, and a locally distributed delicacy called "Breggo". This is sort of like a breakfast calzone.

Also, free wi-fi.

This has been your Random Local Yummy Shop Plug. We now return you to your regular WorldCon Party Thread, already in progress.

Ohhh, we should have the ML after party at Sam's #3 Diner!!

Common Grounds Coffee House is at 17th and Wazee. (Take the 16th Street Shuttle west two blocks past Market Street Station. Get off and walk one block North. We're talking about the corner that's one block from Olde Historique Union Station.) It has delicious coffee, perfectly good tea, breakfast pastries, croissant sandwiches, and a locally distributed delicacy called "Breggo". This is sort of like a breakfast calzone.

Also, free wi-fi.

This has been your Random Local Yummy Shop Plug. We now return you to your regular WorldCon Party Thread, already in progress.

Am at Grand Hyatt awaiting Connie Willis's reading, having just enjoyed Carrie Vaughn's. SSID is apparently "AAO". Bubba Gump is across the street, looking like a tasty lunch option. Yes, chain; yes, hype-Cajun; yes, but.

Sam's is an awesome greasy diner. Best afte 10pm

On my iPhone - expect terseness

Most excellent. It's good to have wee-hour alternatives to room service. :-P

If I were there, it would be the first worldcon in about 7 years where I did not have other obligations and would be able to volunteer for SFWA stuff. And do other fun things, just for fun.

But if somebody could email me with useful details, and you guys can keep the party going long enough, anything might happen.

(Multi-player text-based Adventure-style game setting—a slightly-warped furry version of Wildcat Island. I don't think he built the submarine pen.)

I'm in Amsterdam, so it's worse for me than for you in Blighty. I have a very good coffee maker.

We're using Skype, which is (unfortunately) a 1:1 connection for video conferences. But if this works out, maybe we can do more con parties like this, and explore alternate, more flexible video conferencing solutions.

I'm not sure I have enough reliable bandwidth for video. I find YouTube is stuttering a lot, these days.

And I doubt I have the same ease of arranging a full coffee-and-breakfast service as you do.

I've just been checking, and zhochaka.dnsalias.org still seems to be working. So I could get Lakeside running. But it's probably too late to organise. And isn't there some sort of virtual fan lounge already?

To be honest, it's hard to work up the enthusiasm. People go the worldcons, but nobody seems to say anything about it afterwards. It looks like a fannish Fight Club. Or maybe a singularity. People post reports as they drive, or fly, across America, but nobody ever says they get there. The airliners queue on the infinite taxiways, time and space stretching as they get closer to that fannish event horizon.

Maybe the masquerade only takes place in a photographic studio hired by the editor of Locus? If the Moon landings can be faked, why not the Worldcon?

We're even having a Fluxx Tournament Saturday!

It's the lack of post-con reporting which bites.

I went to a worldcon. I pubbed my ish, dammit!

Young people today. Grump, grump, grump...

Just now seeing "Introductions: Hartwell on Dozois's Best of Asimov's Commentary, 1950 to 1965"

I'm going to be a no-show for the last day of my first Worldcon. A fan stepped on (and crushed) my big toe while I was sitting at a panel yesterday. It's so swollen and bruised today that I can't even put my sneakers on.

Kind of an ignominious end to my first SF con... :(

Sorry about the toe. You were a trooper as we walked around last night.

A few highlights, per request (and doubtless some head-desk omissions).

Gnash your teeth if you missed Xopher's chocolates, as they were
1) superb
2) various
3) plentiful

They were so fabulous that (almost) everyone was keeping an eagle eye on the folks who'd been to the trays right before them so they could dash back over as soon as those people had re-helped themselves.

Towards the end of the evening, I noticed someone had upended a little cream container over a fluted paper cup. I gently went to pick it up and found it was a white chocolate confection. Using having touched it as the excuse, I crammed it in my mouth. By this point my fingers were coated, so I headed to the sink in the food prep area, where Tim Walters had been dispensing Vintage Martinis and other wonderful drinks, and occasionally harmonizing with Xopher, whose arm I had to duck under.

Xopher then carried both sides of the conversation:
"If you'd asked, I'd have moved for you."
"Oh, you couldn't ask."
"You've got your mouth full of one of my ganaches."

No, I didn't show him.

Teresa brought her cure and vanquished scurvy.

Kathryn deserves an Internet for making this happen.

And I had a good conversation with Madeline F and howdied several other people. Good party.

Dave, #264: I'm working on my Worldcon report, which will be up on my LJ (userid starcat_jewel) in a day or two. Unfortunately, since I'm stuck in the dealer room all day, most of the event coverage will be of the parties!

abi, #274: Nice "meeting" you at last!

Lance, #281: Ouch! That sucks. (Quoth she who got kicked in the shin at a contradance once, hard enough to put an end to any thought of dancing for the rest of the night.) But it was nice meeting you, too.

Kathryn, you deserve a Hugo yourself for making this party happen! It was fabulous, and I really enjoyed getting to meet so many new people. (Being the button distributor also helped a lot during the incredibly slow opening days of the con; it meant that people kept coming by my table and talking to me, which in turn kept me from either falling asleep or running barking mad from boredom.) But if we do it again, please let's try to get a bigger room!

Lance, sorry about your toe. I hope it's gotten better now.

Carol, thank you! It's one of those cases where I see horrendous flaws in the work, and everyone else is going Nom Nom Nom. Next time they will be tasty AND PRETTY. Which only the ginger ones really managed this time.

Was that the piña colada ganache that you had in your mouth right then? The miniature pint glass shape in pale yellow?

...I wonder if I could make a ganache with Teresa's scurvy cure as the flavoring. Have to get some and experiment. If it's too acid the ganache won't set. But I think it's worth a try.

And hear, hear about Kathryn. *bows to Kathryn*

Mary Aileen: delightful to have met you, and thank you for saying nice things about my chocolates!

Lee, thank you! Yeah, I think the ginger ones are pretty much my best work. That's one recipe I worked out myself; for some others I got instructions from the annoying chocolate book, but that one really is my own invention. Next time I'll make more of those. Would have this time, but I ran out of fondant.

(Have you considered going into business as a chocolatier?)

As for becoming a professional...there are some things you do for love (of the doing and of the people you do them for) that money wouldn't be enough to pay for if you did them for a living. While I might do some for a charity fundraiser or something, I think I'll generally keep out of the money economy with these; that way, among other things, I can take a break for a while when the very sight of chocolate starts making me sick!

Also, I would truly, madly, deeply SUCK as a small-business owner!

Yes, I think it was piña colada. It was big enough that I really should have taken two bites. As a lot of the evening was spent helping out in the food/drink prep area, and that was where Tim was mixing his killer drinks, and as he frequently said, "here, take a sip - is this better than the last one?" and I had begun tasting Teresa's Scurvy Cure, things were happily fuzzy by then.

There I was, thinking you were glad to finally meet me.
Sniff...

Tim Walters! Your mixology was superb, as was your company. I'm really glad I finally got to try a martini with sweet vermouth and a Gibson. (For those following along at home, good gin, I can see how people could like it, although I still don't.)

Xopher! The chocolates were tasty as heck and the speakers for abi were a brilliant thing! I liked the ones with dark chocolate filling best. I hope someday we will meet again and I can try the ones with cherry insides.

abi! Thanks for hanging in there and joining us at some crazy early hour!

Lurkers from Seattle! Thanks for confirming that Patrick does in fact have looks reminiscent of Robert Downey Jr.

Mary Aileen, yes, it was fun to talk to you, and then accidentally end up hovering next to you the next day at the Bujold Miles reading. :)

Also thrilled to have gotten to chat with Serge and cynthia1960 and various others whose handles are on the tip of my mind but not quite shaking free (person with cat-related name who was trapped against wall, etc).

The fuzzy was the booze (and theobromine!), the happy was the people.

Want to do it all again next week?

Oh, yes he could/can/did.

Everyone else--glad to see you, had a great time, the picture of the Hamster Powered Disemvoweler came out reasonably well and I'll post it soon (like maybe tomorrow).

I was also a happy fancier of the various single malts. Yum. Happy glow.

+1 on the chocolates, especially the ginger variety.

I appreciate the bartending compliments, but must point out that the most popular drink by far was Kathryn and Carol's superb homemade lemonade.

Warning: if you let me control the alcohol and the music, I'll end up blasting 20-minute avant-prog epics...

Ursula @ 295: I request recipes of all the wonderful eatable and drinkable items being mentioned in the party reports!

Vintage Martini, or Tim's Loose Interpretation Thereof:

4 parts gin
1 part bianco vermouth
1 dash orange bitters

Shake with ice until well chilled. Garnish with lemon twist.

At the party I used Junipero gin (the San Francisco treat) and Martini & Rossi bianco vermouth. Bianco is sweeter than the "extra dry" vermouth used in modern martinis, but still straw-colored, and not quite as sweet as rosso. Three-to-one is also a good (and probably more historically accurate) ratio if you don't mind your martini being noticeably sweet.

Looks like the ginger ones were a universal favorite.

Kathryn suggested we have it, and she and Lance provided the recipes. We kept the ginger separate and optional, though ginger/lemon syrup could be used directly in the lemonade. I used a pressure cooker for the essence syrup for energy efficiency, and because it's August.

Making Light Party Lemonade

Lemonade: fresh-squeezed juice, good water, lemon syrup.

Wash the lemons and remove the zest with a microplane grater. Squeeze the juice and tuck it somewhere cold.

Put the zest and enough water (measure) to float the stuff easily in the cooker and bring to pressure for five minutes. Turn off heat. When the pressure has dropped*, open and add twice the volume of sugar. Stir to dissolve (this also cools the mixture). Strain, cool, chill.

* Move the pot to the sink without breaking the pressure seal and run cold water over it, if you're in a hurry.

For your first batch, measure and record your proportions. This compensates for how sweet or strong your lemons are.

Kathryn uses 1 gallon clear square bottles of Crystal Geyser. Have all components chilled. Pour about a third the water into another container. Add 2 1/2 cups juice to the main bottle. Add 2 cups syrup. Taste. Adjust. Fiddle with water/juice/syrup until the container is happy.

Do it again until you run out.

Ginger-Lemon Syrup

1 part packed lemon zest, microplaned
4 parts finely chopped fresh ginger root
6 parts water
6 parts sugar

Prep the lemons as for lemonade. As the ginger gets strained out, I only sliced it in 3/8 - 1/2" rounds and chopped it fairly fine in a food processor. Put the ginger and zest in the pressure cooker and proceed as for the lemon syrup. After it has cooled, add the lemon juice (unless it went into the lemonade).

Put a dollop or so of the ginger/lemon syrup in your glass and fill with lemonade.

Garden-variety, though - no point in burying exquisite fine stuff in it.

(Sipping some of same, right now).

My, that's nice.

It was a pleasure to chat with you. I do expect to hear a report of Steampunk Amber gaming one of these days...