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World Steam Expo: Convention Review
4 June 2011 10:18 pmIn advance of going to the World Steam Expo, I sent emails through the Steampunk Empire, on Facebook and directly to staff via email saying that I had a presentation on the Mystery Airships of 1897 that I would like an opportunity to present. Last year I tried the same thing with a War of the Worlds presentation and got a reply too late to have it ready. This year I received no response whatsoever.
Also, at last year's Expo there was a Victorian bathing suit contest and this year we tried to come up with something by adapting a scrubs pattern. We started that too late to have it done in time for the con, so that opportunity was lost as well.
A not-so-missed opportunity was that I was looking for a roommate for the weekend. I was lucky enough to find someone to share the room for two nights last year and was trying to save costs again this year. Thankfully, Facebook was able to turn up Stephanie who was working the gaming room and was to be house in a room with a dozen others. She didn't want to be that crowded and wanted the second bed for two nights. That would save me $100, which made me happy.
Friday
When going to conventions and on other trips, I much prefer leaving early. Since I was traveling alone to the Expo I could leave when I wanted and did so at 6:00, arriving in Dearborn at 11am. This allowed me to get checked in, unload the car, and pick up my convention badge.
At the registration desk I ran into Lord Bobbins, the guy who runs TeslaCon. This year's con sounds like it's going to be terrific as he let me in on some of the pre-production secrets. Really, I'm glad that I registered as soon as I could. He very graciously allowed me to do my War of the Worlds presentation and will likely schedule my Mystery Airships presentation for this year. I'll need to send him a copy of my script so he knows the content. And since there is a bunch of general airship history contained in that presentation, I'm thinking of building a more general airship history presentation. More on that later.
Also at registration spoke with Arthur Geissler, the guy who runs the Expo. I wasn't wearing my gogglse and he commented that this was the first time he had ever seen my eyes.
I went shopping for some ships and stuff for movie night I was going to host on Saturday night. My original intention was to have people bring their own snacks because this wasn't really a room party but I figured I could afford a few bags of chips and having those available might boost attendance. I also looked for an audio extension cable because I had forgotten to pack one and felt I needed to move the speakers further away from the projector and PC.
Once I got back I changed into my Union Airship Cavalryman uniform and started with the mingling.
I was approached by someone who recognized me from online. He had not been able to get his hotel room for three nights and had seen my online posting looking for roommates. I gave him my room information so he could leave a note when he figured out whether he was going to need the room. If so, that would save me half my hotel costs for the weekend. Still happy.
At some point I lost a button off my union vest. Not surprising because I have to weak my belt over the vest, explaining in part why officers wore sashes during the Civil War. I have a sash but it's slippery and the belt doesn't stay on top of it very well. I may have to work on that. In any case, I was able to find the button by tracing my steps back through the halls and panel rooms.
The hotel has internet service available for $10 a day. I know I mention this regularly but I find that the betters/larger hotels like to charge for internet because they have more business people who need the access for their work and so will simply pay the surcharge. Interesting that smaller hotels can have free internet access. And the hotel that I was at the previous week for the Steampunk Wold's Fair had free breakfasts as well. The Hyatt can't even get the room temperatures below 69 degrees, an important thing for those of us wearing wool.
Saturday
Abney Park's Saturday concert was at 11:30 and started pretty much on time. It was an acoustic set and I liked it better than the fully amped versions on their CDs.
There was a neat gear clock in the dealer's room. If I had internet connectivity at the hotel I would have looked it up to see if it was worth the $53 dollars they were asking for it. Given its plastic construction, I suspected not. On returning home I did look it up and found it on Amazon for $31.59 and a further search was able to find it for as low as $23. Convention markup.
Several conversations turned, as one might expect at a steampunk convention, to airships. And since I know a think or two about them eventually the conversation turned to the Mystery Airships of 1897. No one had ever heard of them and I spent much of my weekend giving an abbreviated form of my presentation, always to positive response. I believe it was Kapitain von Grelle who said that if I didn't get any response about trying to get on next year's program to contact her. I was also encouraged to attend AnacroCon and was told they would put me on the program.
Atlanta would be a 12 hour drive for me, so probably not. Nice to be invited, though.
In fact, I had a lot more of that all weekend. A lot of people remembered me from previous events and the Expo last year.
With movie time approaching, I set up the screen and projector. At first, I put the screen in the corner but that would mean projecting across one of the beds. Since I figured people would be sitting on the beds I moved the projector to the foot of the beds in front of the TV. The projector was on top of a small table that I set on top of the nightstand between the beds. This precarious position allowed the projector line to be between the beds. I could also sit in a chair there below the projection line. The speaker cords allowed me to place the speakers at the foot of the bed, which was good enough sound that I didn't need the audio extension cable.
It was when putting out the chips and such that I realized that the cups and paper plates I had bought the day before had apparently been left in the bag turnstile at Target. Paid for but never leaving the store.
Crap.
Finding cups was easy enough as there were several con spaces with water and cups but plates were a little more difficult. I went to the hotel bar and asked if they had any and came away with a few foam plates. It would have to do.
When the 8:30 time slot for the movie arrived, no one was there. About 10 minutes later someone did show up and I continued playing a zeppelin documentary to fill space. I waited until 9pm to start the feature film "The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele blanc-sec." It was a few minutes into it that a few more people showed up. Eventually I had 8 guests in all.
No one ever opened the chips I had bought.
Just as the movie was nearing it's end , my roommate Stephanie showed up saying that she really need to get some sleep. I said that the movie was on it's final scene and if she was willing to wait a few minutes the credits would be rolling and the room would clear out. She had pretty much already committed to staying with friends, perhaps splitting that room more ways and saving more money, ditching me. She came back an hour later to collect all her stuff and pay me for the one night.
Sunday
At the Victorian etiquette panel, the International Anti-Piracy Squadron went over all the doffing one's hat, dance and dinner norms. One thing, though. They indicated that the man is always to have the woman on his right arm because the left arm is the "whore side." This was somewhat at odds with the rules as presented by Mark Donnelly at the World's Fair the week before. There he said that one's wife goes on the left and other female acquaintances go on the right. And, in all cases when walking on the sidewalk, the woman goes on the inside arm, left or right, so that the man might protect her from being splashed by passing carriages. Considering that Mark was formally trained in etiquette in preparation for dealing with the British royal court, I would tend to give his advice added weight.
I lost a button from the sleeve of my infantry tunic. Not surprising since I had sewn the buttons on that shirt myself and did the expected mediocre job. At least this time I didn't need to go searching all over the hotel looking for it as I had seen it drop at my feet. Also, as the buttons were obtained at Jo Ann Fabrics, if it had been lost it would have been easier to replace than the replica Union army buttons of my airship cav vest.
I also attended the IAPS panels on flirting, gentleman's fashion and corsetry. I missed von Grelle's presentation on the bustle but I had seen that last year, part of the reason I made a point of attending more IAPS panel's this year. Including the zeppelin panel.
When the panel started, Graf von Ziger introduced me, siting in the audience, as an airship expert and he allowed me to answer several questions and called on me once or twice to elaborate on some point. After the panel I stood around for another 20 minute session of talking to someone about the airship flap. When von Ziger came back came back to set up for the next panel, the person I was talking to (who's name I have unfortunately forgotten) said that I was great and von Ziger sincerely agreed, also offering to make sure that I was on programming next year if I wanted to be.
I have arrived. It is something I have been wanting to do, to be someone that gets asked to be on panels rather than sending email after email just short of begging to be on programming. As a con webmaster, I've seen those emails and I am embarrassed to be sending them myself. People know who I am and are genuinely interested in what I have to say. So much so that they are extending invitations.
Which made the next part so satisfying.
Last year at Ohayocon, I had an artist do a chibi drawing of my steampunk persona. Kapitain von Grell posted online that she liked it a lot. So, the next time I was at Ohayocon and having the same artist do another drawing of me in a different costume, it struck me that I should just make a gift of art. I commissioned the artist to do some chibi drawing of von Grelle, von Ziger and von Rabe (that's a lot of vons) and had spent the weekend repeatedly dropping by the IAPS room hoping to have them all together at one time so I could present them with their gifts.
On Sunday evening I was finally successful. von Grell though the illustration of herself was "adorable" which I could imagine being the first an only time that the captain being described of in that way.
Return to my room to change into my evening formalwear there was a note left under my door and the guy who might have needed a room for Sunday night was able to extend his stay at his own hotel, leaving me to foot the entire bill for that room night. So, for the weekend I had only saved $50 for having a roommate for one night. I need to make better plans for getting someone to come with me next year.
"Fezzes are cool."
Only after about the third person saying this to me did I realize that they were not merely commenting on my fez but that they were quoting from Doctor Who. I had heard that the 11th doctor liked fezzes and the Matt Smith had petitioned to have the fez made an signature part of his costume, much like Tom Baker's scarf or Peter Davison's celery stock on his lapel.
Apparently his request was not granted.
I look much better in a fez.
I wanted to attend von Ziger's panel on the realities of airship combat but it was the same time as the Sunday Driver concert and I really wanted to see that. It turned out that I might have been able to attend the panel, or at least the bulk of it, because they were having sound check issues and delayed the concert a good half hour.
I also wanted to see the Abney Park concert. That was similarly delayed.
I had been proud of the tailcoat that I got at the worlds fair for $100. While standing in line for Abney Park I into someone who had found one on ebay for $18. Convention markup.
After standing in line for half an hour I decided that there was plenty of space in the room where the concert was going on so that I didn't have to stand waiting to get a seat. I would be satisfied with sitting in the back so, in the meantime, I could sit somewhere else rather than standing. My knees are getting to old for that shit. I ended up sitting on the lobby steps, again talking about mystery airships.
When the line started moving, I didn't bother getting up. The conversation was more interesting to me than the concert. I was invited to join a few of the guys for dinner and since I had spent the weekend living on Pop Tarts and Spaghetti'Os I figured at least one square meal was in order.
As we were leaving the hotel, another hotel guest unaffiliated with steampunk, asked what was going on. Explanations of that sort was another thing that I had been doing all weekend so I jumped and explained that this was a steampunk convention, a celebration of victorian science fiction, both in period and modern. And just as Star Wars conventions will have people dressed up as Jedi and stormtroopers, a steampunk conventions will have men in top hats and waistcoats and women with bustles and corsets. But, because it is science fiction, costumes are worn with a twist. Goggles, jetpacks and corsets on the outside.
Dinner had more conversation, starting with mystery airships because they had come in on the middle of that conversation while I was sitting on the stairs. We also talked about convention experience.
I have been going to science fiction conventions for almost as long as these guys have been alive.
I want to IAPS party but actually spent most of the time out in the hall. Inside there was raucous partying, dirty jokes and dramatic readings from Victorian erotica and, while entertaining, not quite my thing. What was worse was that the hotel air conditioning simply could not handle the number of people in the room. If it can't get the temperature in my room with one person inside down below 69 degrees there is no way that a room wall to wall with people will be anything shot of combustible.
When I finally returned to my room, the tassel pulled off of my fez. Easy enough to fix but the third wardrobe malfunction for the weekend.
I hate waking up screaming. The fire alarm went off in my wing of the hotel at 4:30 in the morning. Most people ignored it. Since I was already awake, I figured I might just as well wait it out in the hall. It turns out that the alarm in the hallway isn't as ear piercing as the alarms in the rooms (for obvious reasons).
Monday
My plan for Monday was to go to the Ford Museum and Greenfield village to obtain a tintype photograph. I wanted to get there early, not knowing what sort of schedule there might be for the studio. The program said that the IAPS was going to gather and go over there at 10am but, having talked to people at the party the night before, I knew that they were not going to be able to get up that early. They had a reservation for 1pm and I didn't expect to see them there until then.
Since there was also a Civil War event going on at the village I had thought wearing my Airship Cav uniform would be appropriate but I also knew it was going to be hot. Wearing that wool was going to be miserable. Besides, I had lost a button and wasn't sure I was going to be able to go in with saber and pistol. I settled for my regular waistcoat ensemble.
Except that I was running late, again, sitting in the lobby talking to someone.I arrived there at about 11 and it was already hot. Also, all the time slots had been filled at the tintype studio. The photographer said I could come back later and perhaps someone would cancel and I said that I was from Pittsburgh and it was either today or next year so, if he didn't mind, I would wait rather than wandering around and perhaps missing out on the opportunity.
Within about half an hour he said that he would be able to squeeze me in since I was already dressed and he didn't need to factor in that prep time.
Once the photograph was taken, it took only moments to develop but would take an hour or so to dry and be coated so that it didn't fall off the metal plate. I took that opportunity to go back to the car and change into shorts and a t-shirt.
Much better.
I wandered about the village for a while but then went back to the studio as 1pm approached so I could be in on the IAPS photoshoot. As nearly expected, they arrived late and took a while to get set up.
While waiting, one of the crew commented that I had eyes. Again, at cons I am typically "in costume" with my dark glasses all weekend.
The first photograph doesn't go quite as planned. The exposure was too long and the image was a bit washed out. I took a photograph of the photograph and on my camera it didn't look as bad, which meant that a little bit of photoshop could clean that up.
Nevertheless, they set up for a second photograph. This one went even worse. One of the crew hadn't been eating well or drinking enough fluids and had spent a long time standing in the hot sun so at about midway through the 40 second exposure he locked his knees and passed out.
Dramatic. Frightening. But ultimately he was going to be ok. The picture was interesting. The exposure was perfect except that he wasn't there for enough of it and appears as a ghost.
Next year I will call ahead to set up an appointment. The IAPS is hoping that they can get the photographer to set up for a day at the hotel or perhaps schedule congoers in advance. Even at $30 a piece for tintype photographs, I have no doubt that he will fill his docket. As for myself, I will be calling ahead to make sure I have an appointment. And if it is anywhere near as hot I will take my costume in a bag and change there for the photograph.
After that, my photograph was ready and I took it with me to see more of the village and the Civil War encampment. But because the photo was on a piece of metal and I had to carry it carefully as it could not be put in a bag, the sun made it hot. I didn't walk around as much as I would have otherwise so the photograph diodn't burn my fingers, ending up over at the indoor (and air conditioned) Ford Museum.
It was all "Ford was a genius!" "Edison was a genius!" "The Wright Brothers were geniuses!" Really, It pretty much said that on a display right when you entered the museum. Sorry, I know too much about the four of them to think they were geniuses. Ford was a smart guy but his assembly line idea had been done by someone else first. Edison was a smart guy but his "Invention Factory" relied upon the smarts of a team of engineers rather than his own inspiration. And the Wright Brothers? Smart guys, yes, but I know enough about the history of aviation to know that a lot of other guys were working on aeroplanes, it's just that they had the photographic proof to take the credit.
After that, it was the 5 hour drive home.
Next year I will be on programming, one way or another. If I'm not doing my mystery airship presentation, I'll be on airship or other panels, sharing the stage with the IAPS.
Also, at last year's Expo there was a Victorian bathing suit contest and this year we tried to come up with something by adapting a scrubs pattern. We started that too late to have it done in time for the con, so that opportunity was lost as well.
A not-so-missed opportunity was that I was looking for a roommate for the weekend. I was lucky enough to find someone to share the room for two nights last year and was trying to save costs again this year. Thankfully, Facebook was able to turn up Stephanie who was working the gaming room and was to be house in a room with a dozen others. She didn't want to be that crowded and wanted the second bed for two nights. That would save me $100, which made me happy.
Friday
When going to conventions and on other trips, I much prefer leaving early. Since I was traveling alone to the Expo I could leave when I wanted and did so at 6:00, arriving in Dearborn at 11am. This allowed me to get checked in, unload the car, and pick up my convention badge.
At the registration desk I ran into Lord Bobbins, the guy who runs TeslaCon. This year's con sounds like it's going to be terrific as he let me in on some of the pre-production secrets. Really, I'm glad that I registered as soon as I could. He very graciously allowed me to do my War of the Worlds presentation and will likely schedule my Mystery Airships presentation for this year. I'll need to send him a copy of my script so he knows the content. And since there is a bunch of general airship history contained in that presentation, I'm thinking of building a more general airship history presentation. More on that later.
Also at registration spoke with Arthur Geissler, the guy who runs the Expo. I wasn't wearing my gogglse and he commented that this was the first time he had ever seen my eyes.
I went shopping for some ships and stuff for movie night I was going to host on Saturday night. My original intention was to have people bring their own snacks because this wasn't really a room party but I figured I could afford a few bags of chips and having those available might boost attendance. I also looked for an audio extension cable because I had forgotten to pack one and felt I needed to move the speakers further away from the projector and PC.
Once I got back I changed into my Union Airship Cavalryman uniform and started with the mingling.
I was approached by someone who recognized me from online. He had not been able to get his hotel room for three nights and had seen my online posting looking for roommates. I gave him my room information so he could leave a note when he figured out whether he was going to need the room. If so, that would save me half my hotel costs for the weekend. Still happy.
At some point I lost a button off my union vest. Not surprising because I have to weak my belt over the vest, explaining in part why officers wore sashes during the Civil War. I have a sash but it's slippery and the belt doesn't stay on top of it very well. I may have to work on that. In any case, I was able to find the button by tracing my steps back through the halls and panel rooms.
The hotel has internet service available for $10 a day. I know I mention this regularly but I find that the betters/larger hotels like to charge for internet because they have more business people who need the access for their work and so will simply pay the surcharge. Interesting that smaller hotels can have free internet access. And the hotel that I was at the previous week for the Steampunk Wold's Fair had free breakfasts as well. The Hyatt can't even get the room temperatures below 69 degrees, an important thing for those of us wearing wool.
Saturday
Abney Park's Saturday concert was at 11:30 and started pretty much on time. It was an acoustic set and I liked it better than the fully amped versions on their CDs.
There was a neat gear clock in the dealer's room. If I had internet connectivity at the hotel I would have looked it up to see if it was worth the $53 dollars they were asking for it. Given its plastic construction, I suspected not. On returning home I did look it up and found it on Amazon for $31.59 and a further search was able to find it for as low as $23. Convention markup.
Several conversations turned, as one might expect at a steampunk convention, to airships. And since I know a think or two about them eventually the conversation turned to the Mystery Airships of 1897. No one had ever heard of them and I spent much of my weekend giving an abbreviated form of my presentation, always to positive response. I believe it was Kapitain von Grelle who said that if I didn't get any response about trying to get on next year's program to contact her. I was also encouraged to attend AnacroCon and was told they would put me on the program.
Atlanta would be a 12 hour drive for me, so probably not. Nice to be invited, though.
In fact, I had a lot more of that all weekend. A lot of people remembered me from previous events and the Expo last year.
With movie time approaching, I set up the screen and projector. At first, I put the screen in the corner but that would mean projecting across one of the beds. Since I figured people would be sitting on the beds I moved the projector to the foot of the beds in front of the TV. The projector was on top of a small table that I set on top of the nightstand between the beds. This precarious position allowed the projector line to be between the beds. I could also sit in a chair there below the projection line. The speaker cords allowed me to place the speakers at the foot of the bed, which was good enough sound that I didn't need the audio extension cable.
It was when putting out the chips and such that I realized that the cups and paper plates I had bought the day before had apparently been left in the bag turnstile at Target. Paid for but never leaving the store.
Crap.
Finding cups was easy enough as there were several con spaces with water and cups but plates were a little more difficult. I went to the hotel bar and asked if they had any and came away with a few foam plates. It would have to do.
When the 8:30 time slot for the movie arrived, no one was there. About 10 minutes later someone did show up and I continued playing a zeppelin documentary to fill space. I waited until 9pm to start the feature film "The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele blanc-sec." It was a few minutes into it that a few more people showed up. Eventually I had 8 guests in all.
No one ever opened the chips I had bought.
Just as the movie was nearing it's end , my roommate Stephanie showed up saying that she really need to get some sleep. I said that the movie was on it's final scene and if she was willing to wait a few minutes the credits would be rolling and the room would clear out. She had pretty much already committed to staying with friends, perhaps splitting that room more ways and saving more money, ditching me. She came back an hour later to collect all her stuff and pay me for the one night.
Sunday
At the Victorian etiquette panel, the International Anti-Piracy Squadron went over all the doffing one's hat, dance and dinner norms. One thing, though. They indicated that the man is always to have the woman on his right arm because the left arm is the "whore side." This was somewhat at odds with the rules as presented by Mark Donnelly at the World's Fair the week before. There he said that one's wife goes on the left and other female acquaintances go on the right. And, in all cases when walking on the sidewalk, the woman goes on the inside arm, left or right, so that the man might protect her from being splashed by passing carriages. Considering that Mark was formally trained in etiquette in preparation for dealing with the British royal court, I would tend to give his advice added weight.
I lost a button from the sleeve of my infantry tunic. Not surprising since I had sewn the buttons on that shirt myself and did the expected mediocre job. At least this time I didn't need to go searching all over the hotel looking for it as I had seen it drop at my feet. Also, as the buttons were obtained at Jo Ann Fabrics, if it had been lost it would have been easier to replace than the replica Union army buttons of my airship cav vest.
I also attended the IAPS panels on flirting, gentleman's fashion and corsetry. I missed von Grelle's presentation on the bustle but I had seen that last year, part of the reason I made a point of attending more IAPS panel's this year. Including the zeppelin panel.
When the panel started, Graf von Ziger introduced me, siting in the audience, as an airship expert and he allowed me to answer several questions and called on me once or twice to elaborate on some point. After the panel I stood around for another 20 minute session of talking to someone about the airship flap. When von Ziger came back came back to set up for the next panel, the person I was talking to (who's name I have unfortunately forgotten) said that I was great and von Ziger sincerely agreed, also offering to make sure that I was on programming next year if I wanted to be.
I have arrived. It is something I have been wanting to do, to be someone that gets asked to be on panels rather than sending email after email just short of begging to be on programming. As a con webmaster, I've seen those emails and I am embarrassed to be sending them myself. People know who I am and are genuinely interested in what I have to say. So much so that they are extending invitations.
Which made the next part so satisfying.
Last year at Ohayocon, I had an artist do a chibi drawing of my steampunk persona. Kapitain von Grell posted online that she liked it a lot. So, the next time I was at Ohayocon and having the same artist do another drawing of me in a different costume, it struck me that I should just make a gift of art. I commissioned the artist to do some chibi drawing of von Grelle, von Ziger and von Rabe (that's a lot of vons) and had spent the weekend repeatedly dropping by the IAPS room hoping to have them all together at one time so I could present them with their gifts.On Sunday evening I was finally successful. von Grell though the illustration of herself was "adorable" which I could imagine being the first an only time that the captain being described of in that way.
Return to my room to change into my evening formalwear there was a note left under my door and the guy who might have needed a room for Sunday night was able to extend his stay at his own hotel, leaving me to foot the entire bill for that room night. So, for the weekend I had only saved $50 for having a roommate for one night. I need to make better plans for getting someone to come with me next year.
"Fezzes are cool."
Only after about the third person saying this to me did I realize that they were not merely commenting on my fez but that they were quoting from Doctor Who. I had heard that the 11th doctor liked fezzes and the Matt Smith had petitioned to have the fez made an signature part of his costume, much like Tom Baker's scarf or Peter Davison's celery stock on his lapel.
Apparently his request was not granted.
I look much better in a fez.
I wanted to attend von Ziger's panel on the realities of airship combat but it was the same time as the Sunday Driver concert and I really wanted to see that. It turned out that I might have been able to attend the panel, or at least the bulk of it, because they were having sound check issues and delayed the concert a good half hour.
I also wanted to see the Abney Park concert. That was similarly delayed.
I had been proud of the tailcoat that I got at the worlds fair for $100. While standing in line for Abney Park I into someone who had found one on ebay for $18. Convention markup.
After standing in line for half an hour I decided that there was plenty of space in the room where the concert was going on so that I didn't have to stand waiting to get a seat. I would be satisfied with sitting in the back so, in the meantime, I could sit somewhere else rather than standing. My knees are getting to old for that shit. I ended up sitting on the lobby steps, again talking about mystery airships.
When the line started moving, I didn't bother getting up. The conversation was more interesting to me than the concert. I was invited to join a few of the guys for dinner and since I had spent the weekend living on Pop Tarts and Spaghetti'Os I figured at least one square meal was in order.
As we were leaving the hotel, another hotel guest unaffiliated with steampunk, asked what was going on. Explanations of that sort was another thing that I had been doing all weekend so I jumped and explained that this was a steampunk convention, a celebration of victorian science fiction, both in period and modern. And just as Star Wars conventions will have people dressed up as Jedi and stormtroopers, a steampunk conventions will have men in top hats and waistcoats and women with bustles and corsets. But, because it is science fiction, costumes are worn with a twist. Goggles, jetpacks and corsets on the outside.
Dinner had more conversation, starting with mystery airships because they had come in on the middle of that conversation while I was sitting on the stairs. We also talked about convention experience.
I have been going to science fiction conventions for almost as long as these guys have been alive.
I want to IAPS party but actually spent most of the time out in the hall. Inside there was raucous partying, dirty jokes and dramatic readings from Victorian erotica and, while entertaining, not quite my thing. What was worse was that the hotel air conditioning simply could not handle the number of people in the room. If it can't get the temperature in my room with one person inside down below 69 degrees there is no way that a room wall to wall with people will be anything shot of combustible.
When I finally returned to my room, the tassel pulled off of my fez. Easy enough to fix but the third wardrobe malfunction for the weekend.
I hate waking up screaming. The fire alarm went off in my wing of the hotel at 4:30 in the morning. Most people ignored it. Since I was already awake, I figured I might just as well wait it out in the hall. It turns out that the alarm in the hallway isn't as ear piercing as the alarms in the rooms (for obvious reasons).
Monday
My plan for Monday was to go to the Ford Museum and Greenfield village to obtain a tintype photograph. I wanted to get there early, not knowing what sort of schedule there might be for the studio. The program said that the IAPS was going to gather and go over there at 10am but, having talked to people at the party the night before, I knew that they were not going to be able to get up that early. They had a reservation for 1pm and I didn't expect to see them there until then.
Since there was also a Civil War event going on at the village I had thought wearing my Airship Cav uniform would be appropriate but I also knew it was going to be hot. Wearing that wool was going to be miserable. Besides, I had lost a button and wasn't sure I was going to be able to go in with saber and pistol. I settled for my regular waistcoat ensemble.
Except that I was running late, again, sitting in the lobby talking to someone.I arrived there at about 11 and it was already hot. Also, all the time slots had been filled at the tintype studio. The photographer said I could come back later and perhaps someone would cancel and I said that I was from Pittsburgh and it was either today or next year so, if he didn't mind, I would wait rather than wandering around and perhaps missing out on the opportunity.
Within about half an hour he said that he would be able to squeeze me in since I was already dressed and he didn't need to factor in that prep time. Once the photograph was taken, it took only moments to develop but would take an hour or so to dry and be coated so that it didn't fall off the metal plate. I took that opportunity to go back to the car and change into shorts and a t-shirt.
Much better.
I wandered about the village for a while but then went back to the studio as 1pm approached so I could be in on the IAPS photoshoot. As nearly expected, they arrived late and took a while to get set up.
While waiting, one of the crew commented that I had eyes. Again, at cons I am typically "in costume" with my dark glasses all weekend.
The first photograph doesn't go quite as planned. The exposure was too long and the image was a bit washed out. I took a photograph of the photograph and on my camera it didn't look as bad, which meant that a little bit of photoshop could clean that up.
Nevertheless, they set up for a second photograph. This one went even worse. One of the crew hadn't been eating well or drinking enough fluids and had spent a long time standing in the hot sun so at about midway through the 40 second exposure he locked his knees and passed out.
Dramatic. Frightening. But ultimately he was going to be ok. The picture was interesting. The exposure was perfect except that he wasn't there for enough of it and appears as a ghost.
Next year I will call ahead to set up an appointment. The IAPS is hoping that they can get the photographer to set up for a day at the hotel or perhaps schedule congoers in advance. Even at $30 a piece for tintype photographs, I have no doubt that he will fill his docket. As for myself, I will be calling ahead to make sure I have an appointment. And if it is anywhere near as hot I will take my costume in a bag and change there for the photograph.
After that, my photograph was ready and I took it with me to see more of the village and the Civil War encampment. But because the photo was on a piece of metal and I had to carry it carefully as it could not be put in a bag, the sun made it hot. I didn't walk around as much as I would have otherwise so the photograph diodn't burn my fingers, ending up over at the indoor (and air conditioned) Ford Museum.
It was all "Ford was a genius!" "Edison was a genius!" "The Wright Brothers were geniuses!" Really, It pretty much said that on a display right when you entered the museum. Sorry, I know too much about the four of them to think they were geniuses. Ford was a smart guy but his assembly line idea had been done by someone else first. Edison was a smart guy but his "Invention Factory" relied upon the smarts of a team of engineers rather than his own inspiration. And the Wright Brothers? Smart guys, yes, but I know enough about the history of aviation to know that a lot of other guys were working on aeroplanes, it's just that they had the photographic proof to take the credit.
After that, it was the 5 hour drive home.
Next year I will be on programming, one way or another. If I'm not doing my mystery airship presentation, I'll be on airship or other panels, sharing the stage with the IAPS.
