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dime_novel_heroIf it was just myself, I would get up at 5am, like I normally do for work, and get going by 6. Euphorbia, on the other hand, is always much more leisurely and is satisfied with arriving just when the convention programming is getting under way mid afternoon so she would have preferred to leave at 10. I thought 8am was a reasonable compromise.
We got going at around 9.
Four and a half hours from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati.
The League of Cincinnati Steampunks had a working Edison Wax Dictaphone at the front desk playing 100 year old music cylinders. Very cool.
When I was stopped by security who wanted to check my Softair Peacemaker, several small pieces fell to the floor as I was pulling it from its holster. I picked up the pieces that fell there but one piece, the cylinder pin lock nut, was not to be found. To explain; there is a large pin that holds the revolver cylinder to the frame. There is a small spring loaded locking pin that holds the cylinder pin in place. In my case, the locking nut that holds the spring and the screw together is gone. Probably lost long before the gun was pulled from the holster.
The bad thing about it is that the softair gun is from Japan and a discontinued model so the likelihood of finding a replacement part from the manufacturer is low and the shipping costs would be high. On the other hand, the replica is licensed by Colt and is a fairly accurate replica so I should be able to find a replacement part suitable for an actual firearm that will fit the replica. Cylinder pin lock nuts are to be found online for under $6. I’ll go by a gun shop this week and see if they have one and if it fits the threads on the lock screw. If not, I may need to spend another $6 for that part.
Last year, after Pandoracon, I went out to the Old West Festival. This next year I would do something similar except that they have moved Pandoracon to the second weekend of October so that the two events don’t overlap. This was done intentionally because there are people who work Old West Fest who also want to participate in Pandoracon. Old West Fest has a steampunk theme weekend three weeks earlier so, given I can’t combine them, I’ll probably be making a special trip.
Old west Fest had a table set up promoting their event and I talked to some of the people there saying that I was interested in participating a bit were it not for my living hundreds of miles away.
“You could be part of the traveling staff but you would need to be a SASS member”
“I already am.”
Email addresses were exchanged so I may be “working” that weekend. Based on my previous conversations with staff, the festival hasn’t turned a profit yet so at best I might be comped the price of admission but that was never the important part for me. I’ll be able to walk around, showing off and maybe getting involved in gunfights.
I’ll need to get in touch with some other people in the area to see if someone can put me up for the night or if other steampunks are traveling to the theme weekend to coordinate a hotel with them, either sharing a room or at least being in the same hotel to hang out.
Our room was on the ground floor so it was nice not having to take the elevators anywhere but it was also the “party hall” which meant that it was crowded and noisy up until 2 or 3 in the morning. They were also carding once the real parties got underway but I had returned to the room before that. It would have been a pain to prove my age to return to my own room. Especially since I don’t drink.
It was not a good night’s sleep.
I was lying in bed thinking when I suddenly had a stark realization. I got up and checked the closet and realized that I had forgotten my dress pants. I remembered seeing them in the cabinet but not pulling them out because I thought they were a different pair of pants and that the ones I wanted were already in the garment back.
And in packing the car I didn’t double check my list.
This meant that I wasn’t going to be able to wear half of the things I intended to wear. Vest and frock coat. Tailcoat.
Poop.
Saturday
The first program I attended was “The mustache makes the man,” a primer on mustache care and grooming. I typically use a hair spray to groom my mustache and beard but have been looking to experiment and practice to get just the right look. I have toyed with wax but haven’t been pleased. I may have to spend several days working out whether that is due to inexperience or not. A hair product called Göt 2b Glued was recommended as it is the stuff often used by those with epic mohawks. Again, I may need to pick some up and spend a few days testing it.
I think I may end up relying on the hair spray because the other products tend to lean towards the “thin pointy mustache” style and I want mine to have a little more body.
I was unable to participate in the mustache competition immediately following the mustache care presentation because my Century of the Beard presentation was scheduled at the same time. I also think that had an effect on attendance as the room started out fairly empty but filled up later on.
The presentation, even though I trimmed it down (no, I didn’t intend that pun), was still rushed at the end as I ran out of time. I will need to chop out another 30 pictures or so. Only the very best beards will be included. I think I’m on the schedule next month at the Steampunk World's Fair and then the Up In The Aether convention. For those I’ll need to work on my Airships technology presentation as well.
Steampunk Santa insisted that I sign up at the National Beard Registry.
The Airship Archon put out an online call for panelists to sit on their Steampunk 101 panel and I volunteered. I would like more of an opportunity to sit on traditional panels and expand beyond the lecturer role I have been filling.
“I am an endless barrel of exposition!”
I think it could have gone better, especially for such an introductory panel. Are we there to talk about steampunk amongst ourselves or to teach newbies about steampunk? One or the other calls for a different thread of questions.
Sarah Hans was acting as the moderator but she seemed to take that role because no one else stepped forward. Having been dealing with cons for a quarter century I think that the moderator should be chosen before con by the concom so that they can prepare the thread and questions they want to cover. Otherwise, the panel can have a tendency to wander, one or another panelist might dominate the panel and, in the end, the panel may not deliver on the topic
I think that the next time I am able to get on a panel that I will prepare as if I were going to be the moderator. That way I can step forward if no one else does. This would not be staged as some sort of coup but I think a moderator should moderate and if no one else is prepared to take the panel in a given direction then I will.
I have been on the lookout for a vest that best matched my Fez-O-Rama Clockwork Fez. I found a cream/brown double breasted vest online that was on par with the brown corduroy vest I had previously. Then I found a single breasted paisley vest that wasn’t bad but still didn’t quite match. Time Traveller Outfitters had a soft brown double breasted vest that matched the colors of the clockwork embroidery and tassel better than any of them so, for $95, I have yet another vest.
Even though it is made from a more casual soft brown material (which matches the casualness of wearing a fez), it has a low V-cut (before the mid 1880s when the U-cut became more popular) more suitable for high formal evening wear. It shows much more of the shirt than any of my other vests and seems to call out for a tuxedo shirt and perhaps a bow tie.
I’ve just done an inventory in my head and have nine vests.
Thinking about clothes, fashion, wondering just how bad my real fashion sense actually is and my experience at a fine suit retailer and the clerk no knowing anything about garment brushes, I visited the Black Tie Guide website to get the authoritative word on the subject.
My fashion isn’t completely awful. While I have a black coat, vest and pants, which I am told not to wear all together because all black it makes the skin look pasty, I typically wear a colored vest. I also don’t wear tails before the evening band the vest I typically wear with it is just a fraction too long. Although wearing a fez with tails would probably send the website author into apoplectic fits, I don’t care. “Fezzes are cool.”
I should probably get something other than the frock coat. A nice cut-away coat, I think. And I should probably get another pair of dress pants. Something other than black. I recall that I had intended to do that at one point when Gentleman’s Emporium had them on sale but they had sold out of my size.
Actually, I should probably buy a contemporary suit and some modern dress shirts since I don’t have anything suitable for going to a job interview in this century.
I admit that I am over thinking all of this.
Went to dinner with local friends at the Japanese restaurant up the street. The service was slow and mediocre but much of that may have been attributed to the arrival of the entire contingent of the Airship Archon about an hour earlier. The staff was not prepared for the rush.
After TeslaCon won a metric buttload of awards from the Steampunk Chronicle’s Reader’s Choice Awards, Lord Bobbins hosted a tea in his executive suite. There I got a chance to follow up with him concerning the Civil War narrative I had written.
I had been worried that it wasn’t proceeding from the text that I had written through the next stages where he wound be adding photomanipulated images and finally to actual book form. He is, in fact, proceeding with that. He gave the text to one person for editing and she responded that she couldn’t tell the difference between the history and the fiction. That really boosted my ego because that was much of my intention. On the other hand, the person is not from the US and so is not as familiar with Civil War history as a local might be. Another editor responded from the opposite end of the spectrum, commenting that many of the things were not historically accurate and had to be reminded that this is SCIENCE FICTION and that’s the whole point. Edit for grammar, punctuation and internal consistency because this is only pretending to be actual history.
Lord Bobbins wants this to be a coffee table book with sizable illustrations. Personally, I will be supremely pleased if it has an ISBN number because then I could say that I am a published author.
Sunday
I learned good things about the Antique Emporium in Beaver Falls. I will need to make a trip up there soon.
The hotel had some issues. The tub drain was clogged. When the neighbor took a shower it backed up into our tub (and perhaps vice versa). The hot water disappeared very quickly in the morning. None of the key cards worked when we checked in so they needed to be reprogrammed. Service in the restaurant was slow. We heard one attendee complain that it took an hour and a half to get a salad. The breakfast buffet was eggs, sausage, bacon, fruits, dry cereal and breads. No pancakes. No waffles. No French toast. No omelets. Pretty sparse for $10. On Sunday we drove one exit away to a nice place and got much better service and massive selection for pretty much the same price.
The symposium won't be there next year. They will be returning to The Atrium which, while it had its own issues last year, has new management and a remodel so hopefully it will work out better.
We got going at around 9.
Four and a half hours from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati.
The League of Cincinnati Steampunks had a working Edison Wax Dictaphone at the front desk playing 100 year old music cylinders. Very cool.
When I was stopped by security who wanted to check my Softair Peacemaker, several small pieces fell to the floor as I was pulling it from its holster. I picked up the pieces that fell there but one piece, the cylinder pin lock nut, was not to be found. To explain; there is a large pin that holds the revolver cylinder to the frame. There is a small spring loaded locking pin that holds the cylinder pin in place. In my case, the locking nut that holds the spring and the screw together is gone. Probably lost long before the gun was pulled from the holster.
The bad thing about it is that the softair gun is from Japan and a discontinued model so the likelihood of finding a replacement part from the manufacturer is low and the shipping costs would be high. On the other hand, the replica is licensed by Colt and is a fairly accurate replica so I should be able to find a replacement part suitable for an actual firearm that will fit the replica. Cylinder pin lock nuts are to be found online for under $6. I’ll go by a gun shop this week and see if they have one and if it fits the threads on the lock screw. If not, I may need to spend another $6 for that part.
Last year, after Pandoracon, I went out to the Old West Festival. This next year I would do something similar except that they have moved Pandoracon to the second weekend of October so that the two events don’t overlap. This was done intentionally because there are people who work Old West Fest who also want to participate in Pandoracon. Old West Fest has a steampunk theme weekend three weeks earlier so, given I can’t combine them, I’ll probably be making a special trip.
Old west Fest had a table set up promoting their event and I talked to some of the people there saying that I was interested in participating a bit were it not for my living hundreds of miles away.
“You could be part of the traveling staff but you would need to be a SASS member”
“I already am.”
Email addresses were exchanged so I may be “working” that weekend. Based on my previous conversations with staff, the festival hasn’t turned a profit yet so at best I might be comped the price of admission but that was never the important part for me. I’ll be able to walk around, showing off and maybe getting involved in gunfights.
I’ll need to get in touch with some other people in the area to see if someone can put me up for the night or if other steampunks are traveling to the theme weekend to coordinate a hotel with them, either sharing a room or at least being in the same hotel to hang out.
Our room was on the ground floor so it was nice not having to take the elevators anywhere but it was also the “party hall” which meant that it was crowded and noisy up until 2 or 3 in the morning. They were also carding once the real parties got underway but I had returned to the room before that. It would have been a pain to prove my age to return to my own room. Especially since I don’t drink.
It was not a good night’s sleep.
I was lying in bed thinking when I suddenly had a stark realization. I got up and checked the closet and realized that I had forgotten my dress pants. I remembered seeing them in the cabinet but not pulling them out because I thought they were a different pair of pants and that the ones I wanted were already in the garment back.
And in packing the car I didn’t double check my list.
This meant that I wasn’t going to be able to wear half of the things I intended to wear. Vest and frock coat. Tailcoat.
Poop.
Saturday
The first program I attended was “The mustache makes the man,” a primer on mustache care and grooming. I typically use a hair spray to groom my mustache and beard but have been looking to experiment and practice to get just the right look. I have toyed with wax but haven’t been pleased. I may have to spend several days working out whether that is due to inexperience or not. A hair product called Göt 2b Glued was recommended as it is the stuff often used by those with epic mohawks. Again, I may need to pick some up and spend a few days testing it.
I think I may end up relying on the hair spray because the other products tend to lean towards the “thin pointy mustache” style and I want mine to have a little more body.
I was unable to participate in the mustache competition immediately following the mustache care presentation because my Century of the Beard presentation was scheduled at the same time. I also think that had an effect on attendance as the room started out fairly empty but filled up later on.
The presentation, even though I trimmed it down (no, I didn’t intend that pun), was still rushed at the end as I ran out of time. I will need to chop out another 30 pictures or so. Only the very best beards will be included. I think I’m on the schedule next month at the Steampunk World's Fair and then the Up In The Aether convention. For those I’ll need to work on my Airships technology presentation as well.
Steampunk Santa insisted that I sign up at the National Beard Registry.
The Airship Archon put out an online call for panelists to sit on their Steampunk 101 panel and I volunteered. I would like more of an opportunity to sit on traditional panels and expand beyond the lecturer role I have been filling.“I am an endless barrel of exposition!”
I think it could have gone better, especially for such an introductory panel. Are we there to talk about steampunk amongst ourselves or to teach newbies about steampunk? One or the other calls for a different thread of questions.
Sarah Hans was acting as the moderator but she seemed to take that role because no one else stepped forward. Having been dealing with cons for a quarter century I think that the moderator should be chosen before con by the concom so that they can prepare the thread and questions they want to cover. Otherwise, the panel can have a tendency to wander, one or another panelist might dominate the panel and, in the end, the panel may not deliver on the topic
I think that the next time I am able to get on a panel that I will prepare as if I were going to be the moderator. That way I can step forward if no one else does. This would not be staged as some sort of coup but I think a moderator should moderate and if no one else is prepared to take the panel in a given direction then I will.
I have been on the lookout for a vest that best matched my Fez-O-Rama Clockwork Fez. I found a cream/brown double breasted vest online that was on par with the brown corduroy vest I had previously. Then I found a single breasted paisley vest that wasn’t bad but still didn’t quite match. Time Traveller Outfitters had a soft brown double breasted vest that matched the colors of the clockwork embroidery and tassel better than any of them so, for $95, I have yet another vest.
Even though it is made from a more casual soft brown material (which matches the casualness of wearing a fez), it has a low V-cut (before the mid 1880s when the U-cut became more popular) more suitable for high formal evening wear. It shows much more of the shirt than any of my other vests and seems to call out for a tuxedo shirt and perhaps a bow tie.I’ve just done an inventory in my head and have nine vests.
Thinking about clothes, fashion, wondering just how bad my real fashion sense actually is and my experience at a fine suit retailer and the clerk no knowing anything about garment brushes, I visited the Black Tie Guide website to get the authoritative word on the subject.
My fashion isn’t completely awful. While I have a black coat, vest and pants, which I am told not to wear all together because all black it makes the skin look pasty, I typically wear a colored vest. I also don’t wear tails before the evening band the vest I typically wear with it is just a fraction too long. Although wearing a fez with tails would probably send the website author into apoplectic fits, I don’t care. “Fezzes are cool.”
I should probably get something other than the frock coat. A nice cut-away coat, I think. And I should probably get another pair of dress pants. Something other than black. I recall that I had intended to do that at one point when Gentleman’s Emporium had them on sale but they had sold out of my size.
Actually, I should probably buy a contemporary suit and some modern dress shirts since I don’t have anything suitable for going to a job interview in this century.
I admit that I am over thinking all of this.
Went to dinner with local friends at the Japanese restaurant up the street. The service was slow and mediocre but much of that may have been attributed to the arrival of the entire contingent of the Airship Archon about an hour earlier. The staff was not prepared for the rush.
After TeslaCon won a metric buttload of awards from the Steampunk Chronicle’s Reader’s Choice Awards, Lord Bobbins hosted a tea in his executive suite. There I got a chance to follow up with him concerning the Civil War narrative I had written.
I had been worried that it wasn’t proceeding from the text that I had written through the next stages where he wound be adding photomanipulated images and finally to actual book form. He is, in fact, proceeding with that. He gave the text to one person for editing and she responded that she couldn’t tell the difference between the history and the fiction. That really boosted my ego because that was much of my intention. On the other hand, the person is not from the US and so is not as familiar with Civil War history as a local might be. Another editor responded from the opposite end of the spectrum, commenting that many of the things were not historically accurate and had to be reminded that this is SCIENCE FICTION and that’s the whole point. Edit for grammar, punctuation and internal consistency because this is only pretending to be actual history.
Lord Bobbins wants this to be a coffee table book with sizable illustrations. Personally, I will be supremely pleased if it has an ISBN number because then I could say that I am a published author.
Sunday
I learned good things about the Antique Emporium in Beaver Falls. I will need to make a trip up there soon.
The hotel had some issues. The tub drain was clogged. When the neighbor took a shower it backed up into our tub (and perhaps vice versa). The hot water disappeared very quickly in the morning. None of the key cards worked when we checked in so they needed to be reprogrammed. Service in the restaurant was slow. We heard one attendee complain that it took an hour and a half to get a salad. The breakfast buffet was eggs, sausage, bacon, fruits, dry cereal and breads. No pancakes. No waffles. No French toast. No omelets. Pretty sparse for $10. On Sunday we drove one exit away to a nice place and got much better service and massive selection for pretty much the same price.
The symposium won't be there next year. They will be returning to The Atrium which, while it had its own issues last year, has new management and a remodel so hopefully it will work out better.
