Saturday, September 30, 2006

Quick Links

The link ninja strikes, leaving several interesting links behind like a handful of scattered makibishi.
Zounds!

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Friday, September 29, 2006

Reason #327 I want to go to New York

They're Not Going to Be One-Upped on the Surrealism

Guy #1: You know that Anton Webern's Quartet for the End of Time was performed in a concentration camp? Crazy.

Guy #2: Yeah. He died real weird. I forget how. I think the Nazis shot him.

Total stranger: Actually he was shot by Allied soldiers. He was breaking curfew smoking a cigarette, and they mistook him for his brother-in-law, who was an alleged Nazi spy.

Guy #1: Oh, I see. Thanks.

Total stranger: Any other questions? I just ride this train all day waiting to answer questions on twentieth-century music composition. The next car has an expert on Chekhov, and the conductor studies philosophy.

Guy #1: So anyway, Slavic girls are pretty hot.
Guy #2: Yeah, for real.

--7 train

via Overheard in New York, Sep 26, 2006

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Thursday, September 28, 2006

Firefly spaceship rendered in Lego

Many readers may have noticed that I'm a big fan of Firefly/Serenity. And those people are likely to already be aware of Chris Doyle of Reasonablyclever.com with his rendition of Serenity in Lego. It is a shining example of what a talented fan can create.

More recently he has created a mini "snack" sized rendition of the Firefly class transport, and the decorated variation that is seen in the Serenity film. The amount of detail he can include with so few parts is wonderful. I would love Fox/Universal to realize the potential of the Firefly license, as I would pay to have these kits for my very own.

Chris is also the brains behind the Lego "mini-mizer" where you can create yourself in Lego. I have made a very nice likeness of myself as a Jedi. You can try it out here: [Link]

Ship image from "Reasonablyclever.com," used with permission.

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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

365 Days Project

Day 1I have recently joined the "365 Days" group on flickr. The idea is to take one new self portrait every day for a whole year, and post it to the group.

I hope to learn something about myself over the year and expose some deeper truths. Namely how many haircuts I get and how many times I wear a particular shirt. While out and about, I tend to take pictures of the thing I'm looking at, not of me standing in front of said thing. Since I really don't take a lot of pictures with myself in them, this may be a bit of a challenge.

This will make for boring and repetitive Slashboing posts, so if you want to follow my progress you can see them all here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drhaggis/tags/365days/

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

John Hodgman Hobo Project

While compiling the complete world knowledge into "The Areas of My Expertise," John Hodgman was sure to include many important matters, including matters historical, matters literary, matters cryptozoological, Food, Drink, & Cheese (a Kind of Food); Squirrels & Lobsters & Eels.

He was also sure to include Hobo Matters in the form of 700 hobo names. While documenting Hobos and their unfathomable hobo code. Mr Hodgman began traking the "H in sunrays" symbol which means that "Hoboes are going to rise up and take over the United States Government." To aid in tracking this phenomenom he started a Flickr group. I submitted one of my findings and was fortunate enough to gain the approval of Mr. Hodgman himself and appear on his blog here: "Good evening"

The Areas of My Expertise is on my reading list now, but depending on the choices of my Book Club, it may take a little time to get to. For completeness I include a short promotional video for The Areas of My Expertise featuring Hodgman's bard, Jonathan Coulton.


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Monday, September 25, 2006

Hello LiveJournal

Some kind (and paying) user elmofromok of LiveJournal saw fit to create a syndicated feed of Slashboing.

It now can be added to your Friends list to be read along with your other feeds here:
http://syndicated.livejournal.com/slashboing/

Thanks mystery reader! Chad!

I do have a LiveJournal account created solely so I can comment on some of my friends posts. If you would like to "friend" me I am Drhaggis.

Enough metablogging. On with the real posts!

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Sunday, September 24, 2006

Calgary Browncoat Shindig: September 30th

To alert all Firefly/Serenity fans in Calgary looking for a Browncoat community, I bounce this wave from the Canadian Browncoat Yahoo Group.

-Transmission is as follows:

We will be meeting at Tony Roma's on Sept 30 at 18:45 hrs (6:45 pm )

6712 Macleod Trail Se
(Map of Location)
Calgary, AB

We have the party room starting at 6:45 pm

I think this is going to be a good evening and I am looking forward to meeting my fellow Calgary Browncoats

-End Transmission

Can't Stop the Signal

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Saturday, September 23, 2006

DragonCon 2006: Last Day Monday

Monday is a little more sedate at DragonCon. Even though programming runs until 5:00, many people spend the morning checking out of the hotel to save on an extra night.

We spent the previous night shaking our groove things at the Drum Circle after the Yule Ball so we slept in a little. The drum circle made veritate and Lexial want to take up bellydancing again, and made defender75 and I want to hit the Gym. We are coming back to D*Con as bronzed gods.

I honestly don't remember much of Monday. I don't think I wore a costume beyond my geek patch shirt. I had a nice little lunch then off to some panels.

First up was "Unsolved Codes" hosted by Elonka Dunin, a noted cryptographer. First she debunked the Da Vinci Code as the load fiction that it is. Then she gave a brief review of her work with Kryptos, the Code challenge sculpture on the CIA grounds. She is the leading expert on Kryptos and is very passionate about the work, the artist and its eventual solution.

She also reviewed some of the world's famous unsolved codes, including the Voynich Manuscript. I was a little disappointed to find out that she thinks the work is a hoax, as it has intrigued me for several years. I will save a detailed explanation of the Voynich Manuscript for another post, but I will include a sample page to show why it is so compelling.

The next panel up was "The Wikipedia Effect" which I was quite excited for as I am a strong supporter of Wikipedia, but the presentation was directed towards convincing neophytes of the value of the project, and not to long time contributors. I left this panel early.
  • Panel Count Monday: Two
  • Total Panel Count: Seven, a record?
We hit the dealers room for some last minute deals as things were shutting down. I wore my "Down with Pants, Up with Kilts" shirt and got a few compliments on it. Mark Goddard (Major Don West from Lost in Space) told me it was a good shirt, and asked about all the Kilts worn at the convention. "Is there a show on now where some guy wears a kilt?" He asked, thinking the Utilikit was an homage. I informed him that, "No, the are just fun to wear."

And then the event was done. Not with a bang but with a *sigh, that was fun lets do it all again soon*.

Our whole squad got together for the first time Monday in preparation for dinner. Individual schedules kept us in smaller "fireteams" through the weekend so it was nice to see everyone all at once.

(missing from this picture is iRob/iJenn as they had to leave early for home)

We all want to go back again sometime, though for me it may be an every-other-year thing to save money. I will eventually post some conclusions I came to during my trip, but that will have to wait.

Yours in Fandom
Drhaggis.

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Friday, September 22, 2006

DragonCon 2006: Sunday Reloaded

A small correction to yesterday's post. After the dealers room but before the Harry Potter Yule Ball, I slipped into my "Captain Proton" costume and had drinks with the Jew Man Group and the Atomic Girls. They were all Blue. I was not. The only Blue costume I would like to do is Smax from Alan Moore's Top Ten series. I fear that I don't have the build to be an eight foot tall strong man.

But speaking of Alan Moore, I did manage to make it to the panel about his works Sunday before the Dance. The discussion was great, with David Lloyd on the panel. He was the artist and co-creator of the V for Vendetta comic series. He was on record as really liking the film, and realizing that the The Wachowski brothers were fans and handled the material with respect. Also on the panel was PVCDiva who added quite a bit of colour and substance to the discussion. ( She said she really doesn't 'do' characters" so she just wore her usual street clothes. Being a "freako goth," her street clothes included purple bustles.)

It was as this point that I went to change into Death Eaters for the Harry Potter Yule Ball.

While in line for the dance, we were recruited to participate in the little sketch before the bands came out. We were to form up behind the Slytherin and "Oooohh" when it was most evil to do so. It was quite the time. The costumes were fantastic: Four (4) spot on Minerva McGonagalls, Snapes of all temperaments, and a brace of Gilderoy Lockharts.

As Death Eaters, we had dark mark temp tattoos which I handed out to all Slytherin who would take one. A couple of people already had Dark Mark tattoos. That is commitment. I dress as a Death Eater because it is fun, but my heart is with Ravenclaw. To put such an evil symbol on one's arm where people can see it is a bit too far for my tastes.

Pictured here is "Ron in his dress robes" looking suitably disappointed. The person in question was rather happy during the event and only moped in-character for photos.

Of note, the Yule Ball lasted about 4 hours, ending at about 12:30, and everyone had a good time. The similar "theme room" parties at Con-version in Calgary ended at 1:00, and everyone bitched about it ending too soon. Think about that for a while.

Panels attended Sunday: One
Panel Total at the end of Sunday: Five
Milking a one week trip into a month of blog entries: Priceless

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Thursday, September 21, 2006

DragonCon 2006: Sunday con't

The next installment of"Tales from my first DragonCon" begins......wait for it...Now!

After the big meet n' greet that is the Walk of Fame, (see yesterday's post) we moved on to the adjacent dealer's room. I have been at DraconCon for 2 and a half days at this point and I have yet to really see the swag.

At some point on Saturday (the details get fuzzy ) StacyD took me on a little recce through one of the dealer's rooms in the Marriott to pick up a resin replica of the pistol used by Jayne from Firefly. Not "Vera", but the US Civil War era LeMat style revolver Jayne carried in the series. It is a resin cast that I am sanding and prepping for paint. Pictured right, is another fan's finished version of the same prop. I love it big-time, but by the time Sunday noon rolls around, I have yet to really hit the dealer's room proper.

We looked and ogled and fondled through all three (3) huge ballrooms of dealers, exhibitors and artists. We bought mostly smaller things, like patches and keychains as our suitcases were full of costumes. We bought a couple of Geek Shirts each. You know a seller really knows his market when size XXL is right up on top of the t-shirt pile. I got my Kit Fisto Burger King SD figure, coming one step closer to finishing the Fisto collection. I found a booth that had some machined saber parts, but nothing I really needed.

The big find in my hunt was the replica Silent Bob Trenchcoat from Abbyshot. This helps me complete one of the few costumes that really suits my build. A big guy with a beard/goatee with a coat? I totally have that covered.

My former Silent Bob coat, a cromulent black trench coat is fair game. Can it be turned into a Pirate coat? Contact me if you have some costuming suggestions

We never did make it to the art show proper. I walked quickly trough the art show on Friday on the way to help veritate with her wings, grabbing business cards of the cooler booths, but I don't count that as really "seeing the art show".

With our happy collection of swag, we went back to the hotel room to change into Death Eaters for the Harry Potter Yule Ball.

But that is another story, for another day.

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

DragonCon 2006: Sunday morning

As time passes I'm having to really stretch my memory to piece together the days events at DragonCon. I guess that's why people blog.

Sunday presented me with a choice. There was going to be a series of big-name-guest panels in the Hyatt Centennial Ballroom, meaning if I got into one, I could ride from 10:00 through till 3:00. Or I could hit the Walk of Fame in the Hilton, and "convention meet" all the guests that were not in the panels. I chose the latter and it turned out great.

We got to the Walk of Fame lineup at around quarter to ten in the morning. Or more accurately the "Alan Tudyk and Summer Glau" line. To get in to see the dozens of other guests, one could walk right in when the doors opened. For two less-well known actors from a three year old canceled series ( that's Firefly for those who don't know) it was a good thing. We waited, we chatted with the other Browncoats in line, and thought about what we were going to say.

When we met Alan we Fanboy-Gushed all over him. My god did we ever! We told him how he's the best thing of anything he's in. We told him about our license plate cover. We got an autograph, and a picture with him (forthcoming). Then we met Summer. We were a little more sedate with her. She is as pretty in real life as she is on screen, and very sweet. We got their booking contact information so we could perhaps bring them to Calgary. Their booking agent is Erin Gray, (Buck Rogers,Silver Spoons) how odd is that?


Then off around the loop. Looking for Ray Park we met Rena Owen, the voice of Taun We, one of the Cloners from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. She was very sweet too and more than willing to talk with us about Star Wars. Next up was Orli Shoshan, who was Shaak Ti in Star Wars. She told us about filming both of her death scenes for Revenge of the Sith, neither making it into the final film. We asked her which way she preferred to go out, and she said by General Grevious. "In the back?" I asked, "Both were in the back" she replied. Good to know. We quizzed her about her makeup and prosthetics. It was very elaborate to say the least.

But there is more! On to the Mythbuster build team. I told Tory and Grant that they had the best jobs ever. I told Grant that he has made being an Electrical engineer cool again. veritate told Kari Byron how pretty she was, so I wouldn't have to.

There were way more people there than I could afford to get autographs from so we ended up just saying hello to many of the remaining guests.
We talked politics with Billy West (Futurama), and told him that if he ever gets fed up he can move to Canada and we'd put a cot out for him. I got to tell Anthony Daniels (C3PO) "Don't get technical with me" for personal fanboy reasons. I shook Kiran Shah's tiny hand and Mike "Virgil" Jones's huge hand.

Liquid assets exhausted, and hands full of autographs, we moved over to the dealers room(s).

But that, is another story.

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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Talk Like A Pirate

In honour of "International Talk like a Pirate day" on September 19th, all pirates and wenches in Calgary are invited to gather at 7:00 at the following tavern:

Atlantic Trap & Gill Pub
3828 Macleod Trail S

Pirate dress, attire, and attitude is strongly encouraged.

Until then, keep to the code.

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Thursday, September 14, 2006

But first, more Pirates

September 19th is "International Talk like a Pirate Day" so start getting in the mood for Pirates again.

Snagged from elmofromok, is the short cartoon "Pyrats." It is made by French animation school students for the Annecy 2006 international animation festival.

They used primarily traditional 2D animation with some Flash thingamawatchits too.



To view a larger version, complete with download options, visit the Official Site.
Add this to the 1001 reasons why Pirates are better than, say..oh..I don't know. Cowboys.
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

DragonCon 2006: Saturday Post Parade


After the Saturday parade at DragonCon, I mustered with the Rebel Legion for the big group photo. [I will edit and post a pick once I find one].

After the photo shoot I changed out of my Jedi costume and into my "Prisoner" costume from the BBC series "The Prisoner". I am number 17. What number are you?

There was a "Breakfast in the Village" panel after the parade that I had intended on attending, but the Rebel photo shoot trounced over that.

Finally a late brunch with veritate, StacyD, Lexial, and others. I cut this list short because honestly, I can't remember who else was there. [I will edit this if anyone supplies me with additional brunching participants]. Then off to the dealers room!

But wait. Must Pause. All that parading and standing around in the hot and humid Georgia day made me tired and chaffed. I skipped the dealers room and went back to the room for a little DragonCon Tv and sleep. This was the only down time I really had over the weekend. In doing so I missed a fine collection of panels including George Takei and the Mythbusters.

Once awoken later in the day I changed into my Jayne outfit and headed back to Trader Vic's for dinner and drinks in preparation for the Firefly Shindig. We split a Scorpion bowl between four of us and I had a flaming drink in a Skull Mug.

There were hundreds of Browncoats in line for the Shindig. We sang "Hero of Canton" and the "You can't take the sky from me" while we waited to get in. This was quite the Shindig. A costume contest, two live bands and geese juggling. My hand to God, plush stuffed geese.

And the Costumes! One guy was dressed as Serenity, the ship. There were blue-handed agents, all River incarnations, and Browncoats complete with helmets and red vests. Don't get me started on the Cunning hats. For something that is worn in one episode, that didn't even air, it really became a symbol for the fans.

I think the short run of the series is responsible for the devotion of the fan base. By associating ourselves with the Browncoats, with the "right" but losing side, we feel noble in our efforts to promote the franchise. Had the show ran 6 seasons, would there have been such a following? I think there were more Browncoats at Dragoncon then Jedi. It makes me wonder how many local fans there truly are, and if we should throw a Shindig here in Calgary.


Panels attended: Zero
Number of Cunning Hats: Countless
Meeting one's long lost sister Jayne: Priceless

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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Dragoncon 2006: Saturday Parade

Onward in my recounting of my first trip to DragonCon.

Saturday is Parade Day, so we got up early, got our Jedi robes on and mustered with the Rohirrim, and Orcs, and Pirates, and Zombie Hunters, and Ghostbusters and other Jedi.

It was great to see so many various costumed groups all in one place. Denise Crosby sat in her parade convertible and chatted with us while she filmed with her handy cam. Half the park was Star Wars characters while the other half was everybody else. We went last so we got to cheer on each group as they passed. I don't think the Star Trek group took us seriously. Where is it written that you can only like one fictional universe?



Troopers!

Seeing so many 501st troopers in one spot is quite the sight. Local groups are such a mix of troops, Scouts, Tie pilots, Sand people, Sith Lords and Mandalorians that we miss out on the true intent of the group. A long white line of armor.

Jedi

Walking down the middle of the road in full Jedi attire to thousands of cheering people is an experience that can not be diminished. However looking through all the online photos of the parade, I must come to the conclusion that although my costume is screen accurate, it is very boring. There are very few shots of me in an otherwise seamless photographic capture of the parade. Walking in front of the Cardboard Troopers did not help.

Cardboard box Troopers!


Four guys in intentionally makeshift Cardboard Box Stormtroopers stole the show. They reminded us all that costuming is supposed to be fun. We all get so into the fine details of a costume that we lose sight of the big picture. Are the lenses of the helmet curved or flat? Is that the right shade of blue? Do Jedi wear glasses? Slowly forgetting the simple joy of putting a cardboard box on your head and talking like a robot.

All photos ganked from Mr. Beleth from Flickr using the BlogThis feature. Thanks Mr Beleth!

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Monday, September 11, 2006

DragonCon 2006: Friday

Now, Dear readers, I recount my first real day at DragonCon.

I hit the ground running on Friday and made my way to the Mythbusters Panel...which...was...cancelled. Poo.
Then after two quick photos, my workhorse of a camera (a 6 year old HP618) decides not to turn on again for the rest of the weekend. I bought a suitably sized memory card for this occasion and I get two convention photos. Double Poo.

Anthony Daniels at DragonCon
Anthony Daniels,
originally uploaded by Eloketh.

So off to "Illustrating in the Star Wars Universe" backed with "C3PO: Anthony Daniels." Both were great! We got to see some never-before-seen art from Lego Star Wars II, and got some insight into the Episode III art development process. The process can be summed up in with the understanding that Lucas changes his mind constantly with little regard to the deadline. Anthony was a hoot, and a clear showman.



2006-09-01-0044
2006-09-01-0044,
originally uploaded by Varjohaltia.

No time to linger, off to "An hour with Ellen Muth." The charming young star of "Dead Like Me" was beautiful and witty. We learned that Dead Like Me was cancelled on the whim of the new Showtime president.

I note that none of these panels seemed to have an official moderator or person to make introductions. Con-version had moderators and introductions for its guests. I'm just saying.

Back to the room to help veritate into her Soup Faerie costume, then off to the "Writing and Fighting" panel with John Clements. His work with ARMA became essential reading for our lightsaber class, so it was interesting to get a better understanding of his view on sword combat. No time to linger after, because I was off to the costume contest where we met up with iRob and iJenn to cheer on Laughing Magpie and the Londo Mollari clan. Laughing Magpie won a major workmanship for the Londo Costume so, w00ts all around.

If all of this sounds wizzbang, it was. But wait, there's more!

colonialday 032
colonialday 032,
originally uploaded by elmofromok.
After all this we went to the Battlestar Galactica Colonial Day Party where we danced and drank with Helo (Tahmoh Penikett) , Chief Galen Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) and Gaius Baltar (James Callis). More costume awards for Londo and Calgary's vintage Viper pilot.

I think we turned in after the party.

For those keeping score at home, that's 4 panels attended on the first day. I think it may be a group record.

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Sunday, September 10, 2006

Road trip inside joke

Here is a quick digression from the day-by-day account of my trip to DragonCon 2006 for some background information. In the recent Strong Bad Email "road trip" the following is postulated:
"every good road trip needs a good inside joke that only the people that went on the road trip will get"
This trip followed the rule to the letter. During our expedition to the Georgia Aquarium (see previous post) there were plenty of signs around the touch pools indicating that the proper method of touching the creatures was gently, with two fingers.

DSCF0177.JPG
DSCF0177.JPG,
originally uploaded by c2jupin.
This was risque enough for our juvenile minds to elicit off-colour jokes for the whole weekend. It also inspired me to create a shirt, available now at the Slashboing Store.






Bask in its aquarium humour! Bask I say! Half the fun is explaining the reference to others!

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DragonCon 2006: Thursday Evening

After returning from the Georgia Aquarium (see previous post) we went and picked up our DragonCon memberships. It took about twenty minutes from door to pass, which is pretty good. If we had come in Friday it may have taken much longer as evidenced by this YouTube video:



They spelled my handle wrong on my pass, instead of DRHAGGIS it read ORHAGGIS, but I sharpied it into shape. After collecting our passes we met up with StacyD and Nichole, and their crew. We decided to split up for dinner so Sith@heart, Beer@heart, LaughingMagpie, Mr Smith and I went out for Gladys Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken and Waffles. You read that right: chicken & waffles. These are foods us Canadians only see on television. veritate and I had a list of foods we had to have whilst in the South, including Grits, Pecan Pie, Iced Tea, Georgia Peaches and "Chicken & Waffles". It is an odd combination, all midrange, with few highs and lows. The hot sauce that goes with the chicken is an odd pairing with the waffle sauce.

After dinner we regrouped and made our way to the Marriott pool. There we met Chad and Elizabeth, whom we would catch up with several times through the convention. Yay convention friends!
Lizzi as Rogue


Chad and the Chief

Lizzi as Rogue
Lizzi as Rogue,


.
both pictures originally uploaded by Chad Henderson.


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Saturday, September 09, 2006

DragonCon 2006: Thursday at the Aquarium

The day after the expedition to Trader Vic's was a free day before theDragonCon started. I had thoughts of going to Little Five Points, or any number of the sights in Atlanta.

It was suggested that we hit the Georgia Aquarium. Cool, I thought. We can look at some fish for an hour, then head out and see something else.

A trip to the Georgia Aquarium is a full day event. I knew that the place was huge when I saw the crowd control barriers were set up to handle hundreds of attendees. The group got there early enough not to wait in line, but I'm sure that once school groups and bus tours start showing up the place gets full fast.

StingRay with two fingers
Touching a Stingray,
originally uploaded by Dave and Kara.

First stop was the "Georgia Explorer" area with touch pools filled with rays and small sharks. We laughed, we cried, we touched with two fingers. Did I think to take a picture? No. So here is one snagged from Flickr by Dave and Kara

We touched Horseshoe Crabs, which as it turns out are not crabs at all but are more closely related to spiders and scorpions. We poked at some shrimp, which did not like being touched, even with only two fingers.

A nice sea turtle did laps past the glass for us, and we all looked longingly at the "children only" tube-based playground that used a fibreglass whale as an exit.

Sea Turtle We moved on to the "River Scout" exhibit where the small clawed otters stole the show. We could have sat there for the rest of the day and watched them swim around and play and fight and eat.

Onward to the "Coldwater Quest" exhibit we went. Past large Sea Otters and Sea Lions. Past playful African penguins. We stood in awe of the Beluga Whales for a long time. We got roused with the promise of lunch at the cafeteria with gourmet quality lunch and desert items.

Jelly Fish in Blue Off to the "Tropical Diver" exhibit where the blue light on the Lagoon jellies made for spectacular photos and an eerie calm. We watched the Yellow-Headed Jawfish make tunnels by scooping rocks with its mouth.

Saving the biggest for last we moved on to the "Ocean Voyager" portion of the aquarium where the Whale Sharks were kept. As you travel around the tank you catch glimpses of the big sharks. Standing in the tunnel you watch as the stingrays pass over and the huge whale sharks cut the light.

Finally you come to the theatre at the end of the exhibit gaze on the and 23 foot tall, 61 foot wide acrylic viewing window. The flocks of rays fly past and then turn suddenly up, grazing the window surface, feeding. The Whale Sharks float by with a set of smaller fish safely riding the wake in front of the shark's snout.

My jaw was sore from holding it agape.

Whale shark and friends
Whale shark and friends,
originally uploaded by Michael F.



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Thursday, September 07, 2006

DragonCon 2006: Wednesday T-minus 2 sleeps

Trader Vics Sign
We arrived in Atlanta on the Wednesday before the Convention started. This gave us a chance to acclimatize, unpack and get settled in before the swarm of fans arrived.

First night there called for a celebration at Trader Vic's, a chain of Polynesian-themed restaurants. The group loves all things Tiki, due in part to Tiki Bar TV, so we donned leopard print fezzes and Hawaiian shirts and put flowers in our hair to make it a night to remember.

First, a round of Mai Tais invented by Trader Vic himself to tide us over while we planned our second and round of drinks. The restaurant serves food too, so we ordered a round of that as well.

We couldn't decide between the Scorpion and Kava communal bowl drinks, so round two was suum cuique.

Bananas FosterIn lieu of a third round of drinks we opted for desert, and as most of the deserts have alcohol in them we were sitting pretty. The Rum Ice-cream was good, and the Bananas Foster show was fun to watch.

We stumbled back to our hotel just missing the torrential downpour that was Hurricane Ernesto.

Could the weekend get better? You better believe it could.






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Wednesday, September 06, 2006

DragonCon 2006: First of many reports

I'm back from DragonCon. I'm still mentaly processing the event. More detailed reports will follow. Here are some highlights:

The Good:
Meeting:

- Seeing some of the most amazing costumes ever
- Seeing panels with Anthony Daniels, Amy Pronovost, Ellen Muth, and Elonka Dunin (separate panels, not all the same one)
- Tiki Dinner at Trader Vics
- Countless dealer room finds in including a resin replica of Jayne's LeMat Revolver from Firefly.
- Marching with my Jedi Brothers and Sisters in the DragonCon Parade
- Drinking with the cast of BSG at the Colonial Day Party
- Participating in the sketch at the Hogwarts Yule Ball
- Standing in line with HUNDREDS of Browncoats for the Shindig
- Shaking it in the drum circle

The Bad:
- My camera decided to stop working on the first day of the convention after 2 pictures.
- Coming to the conclusion that I will probably be only able to attend this con every other year due to financial reasons

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