Rain Gryphon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rain_gryphon) wrote2004-06-30 03:31 am
rain_gryphon) wrote2004-06-30 03:31 am
Morphicon
Morphicon went surprisingly well. I hadn't really expected us to collapse into flaming wreckage as some obviously did, but neither did I really expect that everything would run with smooth perfection. That's what ended up happening, though. The staff's attendance estimates had varied from 60 to 100, and we ended up with 120. The only problems that we saw all weekend were minor - one loud party; two lost items, neither one that valuable; a cracked DVD in the movie room; and a drunken mundane woman running about the lobby Saturday night, who proved more a source of entertainment than anything.
I took Thursday off from work, and spent much of the day in last minute preparations. Thursday evening at 6:30 we all met at the hotel for the final planning session. A surprising numbers of attendees had already arrived, and the place was starting to look like a furry con, with art stuck on the hotel doors. That took me by surprise, for some reason. It hadn't seemed entirely real up until that point. I got to meet Max's friend Kinky Turtle, and a group of us ended up eating a late dinner at Skyline Chili around 9 or so, after the meeting.
Tiresta and Kittfoxx had originally planned to stay at the Atomic House of Cruft that night, but on further discussion we decided to go ahead and get our hotel room right away, since check-in time was 3:30, and we didn't want to take that time in the middle of the afternoon to do that. They stayed at the hotel, and I left some of my stuff in the room, and went home to sleep and get some final paperwork done. I left a case of caffeine-free Dr. Pepper at the front desk for Mark Merlino, who was arriving late.
Friday morning we assembled at the Clarion at 7:00. After seeing that the setup was properly begun, Max and I went shopping for some things that we needed for panels and the FVS. I was in and out of the hotel most of the morning, and helped to set up various things, and carry in Eric and Shou-Lung's stuff. I missed the Opening Ceremonies, as I was at the Giant Weasel buying out their entire stock of tape for my tail-making workshop.
The tail-making started off very slowly, and I was frankly worried for a bit. That was the only part of the weekend where I wondered if it was going to succeed. After about 15 minutes a crowd began to show, and we spent several hours making Lion and Snow Leopard tails for the people who wanted them. That was how I spent my early Friday afternoon.
It was obvious early on that we were getting a lot of walk-ins, far more than we'd expected. I also discovered that Max Blackrabbit, Cirrus Kitfox and Shawntae Howard had all three shown up in the Artists' Alley, which was quite the pleasant surprise.
Trickster's talk on gender and species identity drew quite a crowd, as did Merlino's discussion of the history of the furry fandom. I was gratified in both instances. These are the kinds of things that I think need to be emphasized more heavily, and that seem to be missing from the modern cons apart from Further Confusion.
By that time in the evening it was becoming apparent that we had a hit on our paws. The whole con was running smoothly, and it was giving off that weird, fun feeling that ConFurence used to in the old days.
We finished up Friday night with the Furry Variety Show, which was one of the best I've seen in many a long year. The con wrote all the material, so it was consistently-themed, and of high quality. They did perhaps need a bit longer to practice.
Saturday morning I was up and about at 7:00, prowling the halls to make sure nothing had gone wrong overnight. Nothing had. Saturday morning I did a fursuiting panel with Goofius Maximus and Kittfoxx, which seemed well-received. Merlino was coming in as we were finishing, and he seemed quite taken with my Otter head which I'd used for a demo. I was flattered. Later, after the fursuit parade, he took me outside and got some pictures of the suit. I now have official permission to try my hand at a Skiltaire suit, which I'm going to start on soon.
The day kerschlundled smoothly along and I took time to attend Merlino's panel about the Skiltaire, a species that I've long liked. I learned things that I didn't know before.
Saturday concluded with the Masquerade, won by Babs, and a Pet Auction and associated dance. The pet auction had some procedural weaknesses, but it was nice to see one again after all these years. The dance was made memorable by the Attack of the Drunken Mundane Woman. She seemed greatly enamoured of all the tails and such :)
Sunday passed quietly, with only a single programming track. Merlino got Trickster and myself to pose in his rented convertible for pictures with him and Sutekh. I missed Tiresta leaving, but she apparently had a good time.
On the whole, the general atmosphere of the con reminded me of CF6 or 7. Lots of fun, rather odd, and with a feeling that there were depths of meaning to some things that just weren't apparent on the surface. I'm obviously a biased observer, but it was one of the more entertaining cons that I've attended. I may start getting involved again - I was burned out there for a while.
"Is the Zebra turned on?"
"botherbotherbotherbother...."
"It's the Tentacle Monster!"
"Ringringring! Ringring! Ringring! Bananaphone!"
"Me think you pervert!"
I took Thursday off from work, and spent much of the day in last minute preparations. Thursday evening at 6:30 we all met at the hotel for the final planning session. A surprising numbers of attendees had already arrived, and the place was starting to look like a furry con, with art stuck on the hotel doors. That took me by surprise, for some reason. It hadn't seemed entirely real up until that point. I got to meet Max's friend Kinky Turtle, and a group of us ended up eating a late dinner at Skyline Chili around 9 or so, after the meeting.
Tiresta and Kittfoxx had originally planned to stay at the Atomic House of Cruft that night, but on further discussion we decided to go ahead and get our hotel room right away, since check-in time was 3:30, and we didn't want to take that time in the middle of the afternoon to do that. They stayed at the hotel, and I left some of my stuff in the room, and went home to sleep and get some final paperwork done. I left a case of caffeine-free Dr. Pepper at the front desk for Mark Merlino, who was arriving late.
Friday morning we assembled at the Clarion at 7:00. After seeing that the setup was properly begun, Max and I went shopping for some things that we needed for panels and the FVS. I was in and out of the hotel most of the morning, and helped to set up various things, and carry in Eric and Shou-Lung's stuff. I missed the Opening Ceremonies, as I was at the Giant Weasel buying out their entire stock of tape for my tail-making workshop.
The tail-making started off very slowly, and I was frankly worried for a bit. That was the only part of the weekend where I wondered if it was going to succeed. After about 15 minutes a crowd began to show, and we spent several hours making Lion and Snow Leopard tails for the people who wanted them. That was how I spent my early Friday afternoon.
It was obvious early on that we were getting a lot of walk-ins, far more than we'd expected. I also discovered that Max Blackrabbit, Cirrus Kitfox and Shawntae Howard had all three shown up in the Artists' Alley, which was quite the pleasant surprise.
Trickster's talk on gender and species identity drew quite a crowd, as did Merlino's discussion of the history of the furry fandom. I was gratified in both instances. These are the kinds of things that I think need to be emphasized more heavily, and that seem to be missing from the modern cons apart from Further Confusion.
By that time in the evening it was becoming apparent that we had a hit on our paws. The whole con was running smoothly, and it was giving off that weird, fun feeling that ConFurence used to in the old days.
We finished up Friday night with the Furry Variety Show, which was one of the best I've seen in many a long year. The con wrote all the material, so it was consistently-themed, and of high quality. They did perhaps need a bit longer to practice.
Saturday morning I was up and about at 7:00, prowling the halls to make sure nothing had gone wrong overnight. Nothing had. Saturday morning I did a fursuiting panel with Goofius Maximus and Kittfoxx, which seemed well-received. Merlino was coming in as we were finishing, and he seemed quite taken with my Otter head which I'd used for a demo. I was flattered. Later, after the fursuit parade, he took me outside and got some pictures of the suit. I now have official permission to try my hand at a Skiltaire suit, which I'm going to start on soon.
The day kerschlundled smoothly along and I took time to attend Merlino's panel about the Skiltaire, a species that I've long liked. I learned things that I didn't know before.
Saturday concluded with the Masquerade, won by Babs, and a Pet Auction and associated dance. The pet auction had some procedural weaknesses, but it was nice to see one again after all these years. The dance was made memorable by the Attack of the Drunken Mundane Woman. She seemed greatly enamoured of all the tails and such :)
Sunday passed quietly, with only a single programming track. Merlino got Trickster and myself to pose in his rented convertible for pictures with him and Sutekh. I missed Tiresta leaving, but she apparently had a good time.
On the whole, the general atmosphere of the con reminded me of CF6 or 7. Lots of fun, rather odd, and with a feeling that there were depths of meaning to some things that just weren't apparent on the surface. I'm obviously a biased observer, but it was one of the more entertaining cons that I've attended. I may start getting involved again - I was burned out there for a while.
"Is the Zebra turned on?"
"botherbotherbotherbother...."
"It's the Tentacle Monster!"
"Ringringring! Ringring! Ringring! Bananaphone!"
"Me think you pervert!"