And again...
Nov. 24th, 2003 09:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
olorielI know, you'll hate me. But after complaining and whining so much recently, I felt I should do something more constructive for a change. So here goes Ring*Con Day 2. If you don't care, don't read it. ;)
Around 8 am, every alarm clock in the room went off, so we were good and got up, even Katha and me who didn't get any breakfast, so we could've slept longer. We used the time to get Katha's dress in shape. After the others returned, everyone got into their costumes, and we were ready for another day of mayhem. Today, most of the people were dressed up - "some grim, some frail, some beautiful, some queer, each alien...", to quote the good old professor. After a visit at the DTG's, the Art Contest (again, I didn't dare to put my stuff there, but after having seen the exhibition, I suppose it would have been somewhere in the middle - lots of impressive stuff, but several not quite so impressive things either. But I admire the artists' courage at so openly showing their works - I'm such a coward...) where we voted for our favorites, the Games Workshop room with their really amazing models of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, and then we ended up in Gondolin, watching the two Weta artists turning a young girl step by step into an Orc with the original methods and props from the filming. Really awesome; but the poor girl had to sit still for three hours, and endure hundreds of photographs being taken. Against the end of this presentation, we heard loud drums and bagpipes from the hall... Schelmish were there! We arrived late so there was already quite a crowd around them, so you really couldn't go anywhere else. We didn't want to, anyway, so that was just fine. However, photographing was impossible unless one uses the Maritim Hotel's mirrored ceiling... Schelmish were great as ever, although their best was yet to come.
When they were tired, we had a short break in our room before getting into the queue for the autographs. That took the best part of two hours, mainly because of John Rhys-Davies, who had arrived and was really kind and friendly, chatting with everyone, but unfortunately thereby slowing the whole process down a lot. But at least we still got autographs, not like some other unlucky folks on the next day...
Another break, and the stage was prepared for the next panels. The first one was Lawrence Makoare's of which, unfortunately, I only remember that he explained about his Maori necklace that a friend had made for him. All the rest of his Q&A has been lost among all the other stuff going on. After him came Craig and Mark again. Of course, there were lots of stupid questions, like whether Craig had gained weight ("Yes! You're short and fat!") Craig got yet more birthday presents which left Mark sulking ("Because you're not only short and fat, you're old, too!"); however, when someone brought up a painting of Gil-galad and Haldir, both were quick to get themselves in the stances they'd been painted in. As for the rest - well, the usual chaos. Craig noted he could hide behind Mark because he was taller and even fatter... Most commemorable quotes: "I've become a whore" and "I'll do anything if you stop talking about the passport", respectively. Lots of fun, lots of chaos.
John Rhys-Davies' panel was completely different. That man is absolutely brilliant. Every question got him to the most fascinating topics - from Star Trek to Galileo Galilei, from Indiana Jones to the politics of Hollywood, from the Guardian to dancers and actors, and so on. He talked in his normal voice, in his Gimli voice, in his Treebeard voice. Goosebumps! He explained that he was a Tolkien convert, having been "a snob" in his youth so he didn't think fantasy could be literature, but even though he'd only gotten to like the books relatively recently, he was so well informed about Tolkien's life and the backgrounds of everything most "hadrcore fans" could learn a lot from him (*hint hint*). He knew so much and shared so much of it that the hour seemed much too short.
After some more music videos ("Hier ist ein Mensch..."), the Latham trailer and a trailer for the Middle-earth Olympics (Minas Tirith 3042) it was Costume Contest Time! It was much longer than last year, but also more sophisticated. Many of the participants had worked out all sort of performances, from the marriage between Galadriel and the Witchking of Angmar, Kick Ass Warrior Women from Gondor, Aditu as Gil-galad returning from the grave to complain about how Elrond had got all the reknown although it was HIS army, and HIS battle... when Elrond arrogantly replied, "But no one saw you", Mark (i.e., the Gil-galad cut from the movies) supported Gil-galad with a flag he'd just received, and when Elrond eventually put on a pair of sunglasses ("My business is with Neo tonight"), we were all practically laughing our asses off. Sorry about the inside jokes, once I get started I just ramble on. Like Bruce Hopkins. *cough* We had a dwarf woman playing the harp and an Entwife playing the flute. We had Sam and Frodo dragging a paper mache Gollum behind them and stealing his fish when they got sick of Lembas. Baumberta fell off the stage but thank Eru didn't get hurt and continued, Craig and Mark supporting her performance by playing Treebeard. The winners, however, were Orcs again, who, when an Ent (which indeed was the most impressive costume beside the Wolf Brothers' Sauron) caught them hewing wood in Fangorn, explained themselves - with Monty Python's lumberjack song. Everyone totally cracked up.
However, it really was a long contest, and I can't remember everything. Afterwards, the jury retired to make up all the award categories, while we were treated to the Fashion Show. Which seemed even longer, and in spite of the beautiful costumes, I really didn't need to know out of how many meters of which materials they had been made. Yawn.
The awards afterwards were hilarious again, though. Categories like "Best Flute Played by a Vegetable", "Best Stunt Entwife", "Lawrence Makoare Goosebumps Award", "Best that we didn't understand but you guys obviously loved Award", "Best Gil-galad as a herold to his herold reminding the herold that he was just the herold Award" and similar craziness made sure every participant got a price (someone even chose the skateboard). Although Mark had something to say about the Hobbits' fish, because it was a tropical saltwater fish and thus highly unrealistic for two reasons...
A funny short sketch about a travel agency in Bree concluded the official part except for the Middle-earth party in the hotel lobby. We'd missed out on the belly dancer and Eve and the breeze, but we came just in time for Schelmish and the end of 'Sic mea Fata'. Schelmish absolutely rocked our socks (or Hobbit feet), and we wouldn't let them stop until the last bit of air in the hotel hall was used and we were all soaked (think that Matrix Reloaded temple dance with medieval music instead of techno) and couldn't clap anymore. Of course, the poor band was even more exhausted than we were, but they seemed to be totally blown away by our enthusiasm, declared us the Best Audience of the Year, and gave lots of encores in spite of the late hour. But eventually, they couldn't go on, and after some fresh air and a short rest in the room (which, as always, was a problem because of the darned key cards that always just went dead when we needed them, so we had to wait while someone had them reloaded) we were in the lobby again, drinking and celebrating. Frodo and Conny danced into a glass cupboard, shattering the glass and upsetting the poor hotel folks who had to work late because of us... eventually we dared to enter the piano bar in spite of the horrid music there, where Wolvie and some others were talking to Nathaniel and Bruce, but some of us *cough*not me*cough* didn't want to stay, so we switched to our and later Rib's room instead. Ribitt's room was on the VIP floor, so we half hoped to meet some of the stars up there (sure enough,Rib had met Craig Parker on the lift on the very first day), and indeed we got there just in time to meet Bruce who'd given up and went to bed (it was around 6 am). The others later told us that just when we'd left, all the stars had come to the bar after having been evicted from their room for the noise they'd made partying. Lawrence got so drunk he overslept and missed the second day of autographs, causing quite some disappointment. Smea, Wolvie and the others, however, had enjoyed the party animals quite a lot. *cough*Should've stayed in the bar in spite of Kylie Minogue, Eru damn her, and the smoke*cough* But oh well. We envied Rib for his business room (with a fax), recited some poems and Reinhard Mey songs (no, we weren't drunk - once I'm tired or relaxed enough, I just start doing that sort of stuff, ok?) and then dragged ourselves back to room 325.
Final day will follow on Wednesday, or so (don't rely on it, though)...
So. In other news: Got into an icon-making frenzy after seing the Topps-cards even though the quality was not so really high. I do need a paid account. But I just can't talk my dad into letting me use his credit card. *sigh*
Interesting new pics among those cards, though. Looks like we will get Frodo in Cirith Ungol the way the book describes. I.e., naked.
Eru, listen at me. I sound like some stupid fangirl.
Next week... no, just shut up. No more complaints. Just go to bed, there, that's a good girl.
Around 8 am, every alarm clock in the room went off, so we were good and got up, even Katha and me who didn't get any breakfast, so we could've slept longer. We used the time to get Katha's dress in shape. After the others returned, everyone got into their costumes, and we were ready for another day of mayhem. Today, most of the people were dressed up - "some grim, some frail, some beautiful, some queer, each alien...", to quote the good old professor. After a visit at the DTG's, the Art Contest (again, I didn't dare to put my stuff there, but after having seen the exhibition, I suppose it would have been somewhere in the middle - lots of impressive stuff, but several not quite so impressive things either. But I admire the artists' courage at so openly showing their works - I'm such a coward...) where we voted for our favorites, the Games Workshop room with their really amazing models of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, and then we ended up in Gondolin, watching the two Weta artists turning a young girl step by step into an Orc with the original methods and props from the filming. Really awesome; but the poor girl had to sit still for three hours, and endure hundreds of photographs being taken. Against the end of this presentation, we heard loud drums and bagpipes from the hall... Schelmish were there! We arrived late so there was already quite a crowd around them, so you really couldn't go anywhere else. We didn't want to, anyway, so that was just fine. However, photographing was impossible unless one uses the Maritim Hotel's mirrored ceiling... Schelmish were great as ever, although their best was yet to come.
When they were tired, we had a short break in our room before getting into the queue for the autographs. That took the best part of two hours, mainly because of John Rhys-Davies, who had arrived and was really kind and friendly, chatting with everyone, but unfortunately thereby slowing the whole process down a lot. But at least we still got autographs, not like some other unlucky folks on the next day...
Another break, and the stage was prepared for the next panels. The first one was Lawrence Makoare's of which, unfortunately, I only remember that he explained about his Maori necklace that a friend had made for him. All the rest of his Q&A has been lost among all the other stuff going on. After him came Craig and Mark again. Of course, there were lots of stupid questions, like whether Craig had gained weight ("Yes! You're short and fat!") Craig got yet more birthday presents which left Mark sulking ("Because you're not only short and fat, you're old, too!"); however, when someone brought up a painting of Gil-galad and Haldir, both were quick to get themselves in the stances they'd been painted in. As for the rest - well, the usual chaos. Craig noted he could hide behind Mark because he was taller and even fatter... Most commemorable quotes: "I've become a whore" and "I'll do anything if you stop talking about the passport", respectively. Lots of fun, lots of chaos.
John Rhys-Davies' panel was completely different. That man is absolutely brilliant. Every question got him to the most fascinating topics - from Star Trek to Galileo Galilei, from Indiana Jones to the politics of Hollywood, from the Guardian to dancers and actors, and so on. He talked in his normal voice, in his Gimli voice, in his Treebeard voice. Goosebumps! He explained that he was a Tolkien convert, having been "a snob" in his youth so he didn't think fantasy could be literature, but even though he'd only gotten to like the books relatively recently, he was so well informed about Tolkien's life and the backgrounds of everything most "hadrcore fans" could learn a lot from him (*hint hint*). He knew so much and shared so much of it that the hour seemed much too short.
After some more music videos ("Hier ist ein Mensch..."), the Latham trailer and a trailer for the Middle-earth Olympics (Minas Tirith 3042) it was Costume Contest Time! It was much longer than last year, but also more sophisticated. Many of the participants had worked out all sort of performances, from the marriage between Galadriel and the Witchking of Angmar, Kick Ass Warrior Women from Gondor, Aditu as Gil-galad returning from the grave to complain about how Elrond had got all the reknown although it was HIS army, and HIS battle... when Elrond arrogantly replied, "But no one saw you", Mark (i.e., the Gil-galad cut from the movies) supported Gil-galad with a flag he'd just received, and when Elrond eventually put on a pair of sunglasses ("My business is with Neo tonight"), we were all practically laughing our asses off. Sorry about the inside jokes, once I get started I just ramble on. Like Bruce Hopkins. *cough* We had a dwarf woman playing the harp and an Entwife playing the flute. We had Sam and Frodo dragging a paper mache Gollum behind them and stealing his fish when they got sick of Lembas. Baumberta fell off the stage but thank Eru didn't get hurt and continued, Craig and Mark supporting her performance by playing Treebeard. The winners, however, were Orcs again, who, when an Ent (which indeed was the most impressive costume beside the Wolf Brothers' Sauron) caught them hewing wood in Fangorn, explained themselves - with Monty Python's lumberjack song. Everyone totally cracked up.
However, it really was a long contest, and I can't remember everything. Afterwards, the jury retired to make up all the award categories, while we were treated to the Fashion Show. Which seemed even longer, and in spite of the beautiful costumes, I really didn't need to know out of how many meters of which materials they had been made. Yawn.
The awards afterwards were hilarious again, though. Categories like "Best Flute Played by a Vegetable", "Best Stunt Entwife", "Lawrence Makoare Goosebumps Award", "Best that we didn't understand but you guys obviously loved Award", "Best Gil-galad as a herold to his herold reminding the herold that he was just the herold Award" and similar craziness made sure every participant got a price (someone even chose the skateboard). Although Mark had something to say about the Hobbits' fish, because it was a tropical saltwater fish and thus highly unrealistic for two reasons...
A funny short sketch about a travel agency in Bree concluded the official part except for the Middle-earth party in the hotel lobby. We'd missed out on the belly dancer and Eve and the breeze, but we came just in time for Schelmish and the end of 'Sic mea Fata'. Schelmish absolutely rocked our socks (or Hobbit feet), and we wouldn't let them stop until the last bit of air in the hotel hall was used and we were all soaked (think that Matrix Reloaded temple dance with medieval music instead of techno) and couldn't clap anymore. Of course, the poor band was even more exhausted than we were, but they seemed to be totally blown away by our enthusiasm, declared us the Best Audience of the Year, and gave lots of encores in spite of the late hour. But eventually, they couldn't go on, and after some fresh air and a short rest in the room (which, as always, was a problem because of the darned key cards that always just went dead when we needed them, so we had to wait while someone had them reloaded) we were in the lobby again, drinking and celebrating. Frodo and Conny danced into a glass cupboard, shattering the glass and upsetting the poor hotel folks who had to work late because of us... eventually we dared to enter the piano bar in spite of the horrid music there, where Wolvie and some others were talking to Nathaniel and Bruce, but some of us *cough*not me*cough* didn't want to stay, so we switched to our and later Rib's room instead. Ribitt's room was on the VIP floor, so we half hoped to meet some of the stars up there (sure enough,Rib had met Craig Parker on the lift on the very first day), and indeed we got there just in time to meet Bruce who'd given up and went to bed (it was around 6 am). The others later told us that just when we'd left, all the stars had come to the bar after having been evicted from their room for the noise they'd made partying. Lawrence got so drunk he overslept and missed the second day of autographs, causing quite some disappointment. Smea, Wolvie and the others, however, had enjoyed the party animals quite a lot. *cough*Should've stayed in the bar in spite of Kylie Minogue, Eru damn her, and the smoke*cough* But oh well. We envied Rib for his business room (with a fax), recited some poems and Reinhard Mey songs (no, we weren't drunk - once I'm tired or relaxed enough, I just start doing that sort of stuff, ok?) and then dragged ourselves back to room 325.
Final day will follow on Wednesday, or so (don't rely on it, though)...
So. In other news: Got into an icon-making frenzy after seing the Topps-cards even though the quality was not so really high. I do need a paid account. But I just can't talk my dad into letting me use his credit card. *sigh*
Interesting new pics among those cards, though. Looks like we will get Frodo in Cirith Ungol the way the book describes. I.e., naked.
Eru, listen at me. I sound like some stupid fangirl.
Next week... no, just shut up. No more complaints. Just go to bed, there, that's a good girl.
