Tiki Bar TV: Lala Showers

Getting ready for a Tiki night on short notice, I found this little gem from Dr. Tiki, of Tiki Bar TV.

I present: Lala Showers.

Tiki Bar TV: The Roman

New (to me) Tiki Bar TV!

Dragon*Con 2007 Trip report 1

Here is my the first of my "obligatory post-convention summary reports" for Dragon*Con 2007.

The plan from last year worked so well we reenacted it for this trip. Arrive on the Wednesday before, see some sights in Atlanta on Thursday, enjoy the convention till its ending on Monday, decompress, and fly out on Tuesday. It really is the perfect way to enjoy this event. You get an easy check-in, while on Thursday the Horde moves in. While the bulk of con goers teem and trolley out on Monday, you can watch and order another drink in the bar. Sure it means a few more nights in a nice hotel and a few more days away from work, but I'm willing to make those kind of sacrifices.

During the check-in process at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, The Phelps Twins were checking-in next to us. A more outgoing member of our entourage invited them to dinner with us at Trader Vic's. They politely declined, and we politely went on without them. Good thing I saw them at this point in the trip, because I wouldn't see them during the convention. More on that later.

The Tiki Girls

Trader Vic's was as fun as it was last time. I petitioned the Head Chef, Maitre'd and the waiter to seriously suggest to management to open a location in Calgary. There are four Trader Vic's in the Islamic United Arab Emirates, but none in Canada. Does that sound right to you? Dinner was fantastic, drinks copious, and the Bunnies flew fast and frantic.

The next day brought a return to the Georgia Aquarium. It is a great spot to leisurely spend the day out from under the sweltering Atlanta heat. Many of our party had not been before, and those that had got to re-live all the best bits with fresh eyes.

The Group watches the Beluga, and the Beluga watches right back

Returning to the hotel complex, we got our convention passes with little ruckus, but there were about ten times more people in the queue than last time. Still a well handled process, but this was to be a taste things to come.

Dinner this second night was also at Trader Vic's. We met up with several convention buddies and LJ friends. We had to continue calling over more chairs and tables to make room for a group that I think topped out at fourteen. The restaurant was rather full this time, rife with sci-fi fans so eager for the convention to start they already began donning the ceremonial emblems of fandom. A hot rockabilly band was playing, and had there been room to dance, I would have done so with gusto.

A relatively early night on Thursday, because big things awaited on Friday, and you will have to wait another day for the next instalment of my report.

My Flickr photos from events prior to the Convention can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drhaggis/tags/atlanta2007precon/

Previously on Slashboing:

• Dragoncon 2006 - Wednesday
• Dragoncon 2006 - Thursday

Retro Party

Tiny Telephone Girl
Originally uploaded by Stewf.

I'm off for a few days. I will post more later.

Mondo Lounge Atomic Frolic in Las Vegas

While on the prowl for Atomic Tiki drinks and cinema for laughingmagpie's annual luau, I found that there is an honest to goodness Tiki/Lounge convention in Las Vegas the weekend of January 26-28 2007.

"Mondo Lounge Atomic Frolic is the Ultimate Retro Party and Conference. The event is themed around the lifestyle and culture of America from 1957 to 1963 & will bring together fans of Retro Fashion, Tiki, Exotica Music, Car Culture, Bachelor Pad Living, Pin-Ups, Swing Scene, Vintage Las Vegas Rat Pack era"

I will be unable to attend this event with only two week's notice. I think some of us MUST go down next year, should the event be repeated. There is a Friday night pyjama party, Bongo jam session and a Fez contest. Hold me down!

The vintage fashion, Tiki and lounge trade show would also be full of one-of-a-kind finds. A tour of vintage Las Vegas? A Burlesque show? A Miss Mondo Atomic contest?

I'm a little dizzy with the thought of it all. I need a Manhattan, a well tamped pipe and a good sitdown.

Johnny Johnny makes Lunch

The Sunday Flickr Favourites team delivers this picture from the photostream of Gio Corsi, the gentleman who portrayed "Mr. Ambassador" in the smash video podcast, "Tiki Bar Tv."


sandwich_wide
Originally uploaded by CORSIWORLD.

As he is close friends of the creators of the podcast, he has many candid shots of them. Here is Kevin Gamble, better known in my circles as "Johnny Johnny" the cocktologist of the tiki bar, serving up a smoked meat sandwich for lunch.

Drinkbot: Life imitates art

First of all, I would like to apologize to those who read Slashboing via an RSS feed via Livejournal or other such reader. During my resent switch over to the Blogger Beta system, I inadvertently re-published some of my DragonCon entries from September. It is a little early in Slashboing's life to be running a "best-of" series.

To complete the circle on the earlier post about robot-bartenders, I present the spiritual antecedent to the Motoman; The Tiki Bar Tv episode: Drinkbot!

Here we learn why robot-bartenders will never be able to replace human cocktologists. [Link]

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

Technorati Tags:
DragonCon2006, Rebel Legion, The Prisoner, Firefly, Serenity, Shindig

DragonCon 2006: Wednesday T-minus 2 sleeps

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.

In 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.






Technorati Tags:
DragonCon2006, Dragoncon, convention report, Tradver vic's, Tiki Bar, Tiki

Faux Soviet Meme #2

The second installment of "Not real but fake Soviet type stuff on the web" is from our friends at Tiki Bar TV. Episode 9 of their popular video podcast or "vodcast" reminds us that Russian men in fezs can not be trusted.

The redesigned Tiki bar site is great, and the embedded links makes sharing fun!



Tags:Soviet CCCP memes Tiki TikiBarTV