Norwescon 32 Wrapup

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It took roughly a week to get here, but really, I don’t figure that’s too bad, given my usual photowhoreish ways. Trust me, if I’d been employed (i can haz job now, plz? kthkxbye) it would have taken a lot longer than a week.

Still and all, just a few minutes ago, the last of my shots from Norwescon made it up to Flickr. There are three sets, one each for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and, of course, there are many more pictures from other attendees in the Norwescon Flickr group.

Thursday

Weapon Policy, Norwescon 32

Thursday was a nice, low-key start. I hadn’t actually figured on going at all on Thursday this year, but seeing as how I have a lot more free time than usual right now, I figured I might as well swing by. I dropped Prairie off at work in the morning so I could have the car, and headed over to the hotel about noon. Thursday definitely feels like the “slow day” of the ‘con, and I didn’t end up taking very many pictures. Mostly just wandered around, checked things out, poked my head into a panel or two, and that was it. Five o’clock rolled around and I bailed out to go get Prairie from work and head home.

Friday

Group Shot, Steampunk Fashion Show, Norwescon 32

Friday I arrived just in time for my one planned ‘event’ of the day, the Steampunk Fashion Show, hosted by the devious minds behind the upcoming Steamcon. Lots of great outfits! Unfortunately, I felt like I was struggling a bit with the photos, as the lighting in the ballroom was horrid. I still managed to at least get decent shots of nearly everyone who made it onstage, so it’s not a failure at all…I’m just my own harshest critic, as always.

After the fashion show it was back to wandering, grabbing a few shots of hall costumes, and sitting in on a couple of panels. I jokingly tweeted that the “What is Goth?” panel turned into “Hey, we’re not at the clubs and can hear each other without yelling!”…which wasn’t entirely untrue, as there was much amusement that nearly everyone in the room already knew each other to some degree from the scene. We did manage to turn it into more of a discussion about how people found the goth scene, how it’s changed over the years, and where it may be going as the ‘elder goths’ give way to a new generation.

Seven o’clock was my self-imposed curfew that night, so out the door I went to rest at home and ensure that I’d have as much energy as possible for the next day.

Saturday

Jack and Lilly, Norwescon 32

This was the big day: rolling in around noon, rolling out whenever I was exhausted and had to disappear before I fell over. No panels for me today, Saturday is all about the costumes — and as always, such incredible costumes!

Featured above is one of my three favorites from this year. I’ve long blamed thanked Ridley Scott’s 1985 fantasy movie Legend, and specifically the scene where Darkness tempts Lilly with food, dance, and that incredible dress, for being one of my first proto-goth influences. I have absolutely no compunctions at admitting that as soon as I saw Jack and Lilly wandering around, I got a total con-crush on her!

My other two favorite outfits: Firefly/Senrenity’s Wash, impaled on the ship support beam and sporting a “Screw You, Whedon” sign; and the bounty hunter sporting Jar-Jar Binks’ head on a pike.

Screw You, Whedon, Norwescon 32 Jar Jar Hunter, Norwescon 32

Since I’ve been running the @norwescon Twitter account, at the suggestion of @empsfm, I’d kinda-sorta-not-very-competently organized a joint ‘tweetup’ for @norwescon, @empsfm, and @seattlegeekly. Since I hadn’t even thought ahead enough to have some sort of sign announcing our presence, a few people couldn’t find us, and it ended up being kind of sparsely attended, but I still had a good time chatting with Shannon and Matt from Seattle Geekly, @ghouligan (Barry), and @jacinda. Sorry to anyone who missed us, I’ll do better at this whole “organizing” thing next year!

After the tweetup and another few hours of hall costume hunting, it came time to stake out my spot for the post-Masquerade photo area. There’s always a limited amount of space and a lot of people who want to take pictures, so I’ve found that it’s best to start hovering in the lobby area around 6pm-ish. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the t-shirt vendor started packing up and the official photography team started setting things up. My (not-so-)nefarious plan worked, and I was able to get a choice spot just left of the centerline behind the official photographers’ line of chairs.

And there I stood for the next three hours, as costume after costume paraded in front of us. So much great work on them all, from the hall costumes that were shanghai’d into posing to the Masquerade entrants posing for us after their time on stage. Of course, three hours is a long time to stand in one place and hold a camera up, so once the final Masquerade costume made it through, I stumbled away to sit and recover for a bit.

After some time to regain feeling in my arm, I started wandering, and spent some time running around with artvixn, helix90, and their friend Nell, who were on a quest to visit some of the hall parties. We made a swing through the Merchants of Deva party, then they all went off to find a rumored scotch tasting while I went down to the Saturday Night Hoedown, as I knew I had to drive home in a bit (oh, and I’m a total wuss drinker) and didn’t have much interest in the scotch.

The Hoedown kicked off (a little late, but I believe that’s par for the course), the floor filled pretty quickly, and I spent a good hour or so making laps around the outside of the dance floor with my camera. It wasn’t terribly long, though, before I really started to realize just how tired I was, and decided it was time to head home. Not long after midnight, then, I packed up, took one last look at the revelers, and bade another Norwescon goodnight.

CSI Gets Geeky

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I don’t often talk much about my TV watching — in some small part because after spending something over a decade as as anti-TV zealot, I’m in some ways still coming to terms with actually finding some TV worth gritting my teeth through the commercials — but one of the shows that Prairie’s managed to get me into is CSI, and last night’s episode, “A Space Oddity,” was so worth it.

I was pretty sure that I’d be getting a few laughs out of the episode from the previews, which made it clear that the murder of the week was going to be at a Star Trek convention. I didn’t expect just how entertained I ended up being, though. The writers obviously knew their stuff (not surprising, as it turns out the episode was written by David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, two former writers for Battlestar Galactica, and directed by fellow BSG alumnus Michael Nankin), and the show was crammed with funny and knowing tributes to fandom — specifically, Star Trek and BSG.

Hodges surrounded by Astro Quest fen

The show opens with Hodges running around Whatifitcon, a Star Trek Astro Quest convention, surrounded by various alien-costumed fen. Soon he runs into fellow CSI labrat Wendy, all dressed up in an AQ uniform. They don’t have long to bond over their shared love of “the greatest science-fiction show ever” before there’s a commotion nearby — a murder (imagine that)! Hodges calls in to CSI headquarters to let them know that, yes…”He’s dead, Jim.”

The victim turns out to be Jonathan Danson, a producer who’d been working on a modern “reimagining” of the classic Astro Quest show. The night before, he’d shown off the first glimpses of Astro Quest: Redux, and the response was…well, it was pretty much what happened when Ron Moore first started showing off his “reimagined” version of the classic Battlestar Galactica. In short, the fans were not impressed.

And here was where an already enjoyably silly episode really took off for me. I’d already been grinning from the various Star Trek gags, then even more when it became obvious that they were riffing off the recent BSG reworking. But then, as the camera pans across the shocked and horrified fans…

BSG's Grace Park isn't a fan of the new Astro Quest

…waitasec, that was Grace Park — Sharon Valerii/Boomer/Athena/and lots of other cylons in BSG! But after just a quick glimpse of her, just long enough for me to register the cameo, another offended fan jumps out of his chair, yelling “You SUCK!” at Danson.

BSG creator Ron Moore _really_ isn't a fan!

And, of course, that’s none other than Ron Moore himself, responsible for “reimagining” BSG. And the cameos don’t stop there, as an academic researching the cultural impact of the Astro Quest television show is played by none other than Kate Vernon, BSG’s Ellen Tigh.

The episode goes on from there, with Hodges and Wendy dancing around their newfound connection, complete with fantasy scenarios giving nods to ST:TOS episodes “The Menagerie” and “The Gamesters of Triskelion”, über-geeks a little too involved in the AQ world living with their mother in a room entirely remodeled to match the AQ set, and so on.

The one criticism I might have with the episode would be that it falls victim to the same trap that so many other shows do when involving the geek community, in that they rely so heavily on comedy at the expense of the fringe members of fandom (the geeks in their remodeled room in mom’s house, for example). However, given that they also spent time letting Vernon’s academic and the bartender espouse some of the less cringeworthy sides of science-fiction shows and fandom, and “outed” two regular cast members as fans (and it wasn’t even the less socially adept character who got all dressed up in costume for the convention), I’m willing to cut them some slack.

Bottom line: great episode, and worth watching (you can even see the whole episode online at CBS’s CSI site) if you’re a fan of CSI, Trek, BSG, or any combination of the above.

Hello Fellow Utilikiltarians!

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The sketch that Shari did of me in one of my Utilikilts was just featured in this month’s anti-catalogue newsletter!

Here’s the relevant excerpt, off of page four, which also shows off some sketches done of fellow kilted photographer Joe Hunt, a.k.a. Photognome:

Next up, we have a certain Mr. Michael Hanscom, a ponytailed (but maybe not for long!) Seattle resident with a penchant for Star Trek. Michael’s most recent contact with us included an idea for a custom Utilikilt* (one which unfortunately, due to a number of reasons, didn’t get off the ground). After chatting for a bit back and forth, he shared the following sketch that he commissioned of himself (Artwork by Shari Chankhamma.)

(Sketch redacted because, well, it is plastered all over this website…)

His only requirement for the sketch was that he be wearing his Utilikilt*. What a fabulous piece of art!

Michael was in attendance at the recent Norwescon here in Seattle, and you can see his pictures and read more about his adventures here.

Nice! I’d originally dropped Jenneviere a line via Facebook to let her know about the sketch, and we ended up having a nice little chat. Apparently she’s been keeping tabs on me since then, as evidenced by the mentions of Norwescon (of which I’m still processing photographs from, but you can see what’s up so far in a few sets in my Cons and Conventions collection) and the soon-to-be-disappearing ponytail. ;)

If there’s anyone stopping by thanks to the mention in the Anti-Catalogue…howdy! Some of you local to the Seattle area may have seen me around from time to time, and if you’re hosting photographs on Flickr, you may have had me bug you to contribute photos to the Utilikilts fans Flickr group, which I’ve been moderating for a couple years now.

Good to (virtually) “meet” all of you, and thanks to Jenneviere and the rest of the crew at Utilikilts for the kind mention and the awesome clothing!

Links for April 8th through April 15th

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Sometime between April 8th and April 15th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

  • Roger Ebert: Parrot asks, "What’d the frozen turkey want?": "For many laymen, a joke is a heavenly gift allowing them to monopolize your attention although they lack all ability as an entertainer. You can tell this because they start off grinning and grin the whole way through. They're so pleased with themselves. Their grins are telling you they're funny and their joke is funny. The expert knows not to betray the slightest emotion. The expert is reciting a fact. There is nothing to be done about it. The fact insists on a world that is different than you thought. The fact is surprising and ironic. It is also surprising–you mustn't see it coming. That's why the teller should not grin. His face shouldn't tell you it's coming."
  • Philnelson’s Diggbarred: "This is a WordPress plugin version of John Gruber's DiggBar blocking code, with some options for the user. With Diggbarred, the user can customize both the message displayed and the styling of the DIV element that contains the message."
  • Jam Out With Your Clam Out: "So picture it boys. Your hands are clammy with sweat as you approach the door. Before ringing the bell (Get it? Ring the bell? Gawd, I'm funny.) you wipe those sweaty palms down the legs of your pants. Your date's dad comes to the door, shotgun in hand and asks you a million questions, none of which you hear because over dad's shoulder you see her coming down the stairs. A smile crosses your face because you know tonight's The Night: you got That Feeling as soon as you saw her in this:"
  • Uncomfortable Plot Summaries: Falling at various points on the Funny-Uncomfortable scale: "ALIENS: An unplanned pregnancy leads to complications." "BATMAN: Wealthy man assaults the mentally ill." "CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Deranged pedophile big-business industrialist tortures and mutilates young children." "DOCTOR WHO: Elderly man serially abducts young women." "HARRY POTTER: Celebrity Jock thinks rules don’t apply to him, is right." "LORD OF THE RINGS: Midget destroys stolen property." "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Woman with gold-digging mother nags wealthy man into marriage." "SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS: Layabout stepdaughter shacks up with seven miners." "THE GOONIES: Physically abused, retarded man finds love with overweight preteen." "TWILIGHT: Girl gives up college for stalker."
  • How to Block the DiggBar: "…shortly after it was announced, I wrote code to block [the DiggBar] from Daring Fireball. If you attempt to view most pages on DF through the DiggBar, you'll be greeted with a special message just for Digg instead of the regular content of the page. Digg sends a tremendous amount of traffic to sites that make it to the top of their front page, but it's the worst kind of traffic: mindless, borderline illiterates. Good riddance, really."
  • Truly Groundbreaking Marketing Research: Understanding Twitter.: "Twitter seems to be, first and foremost, an online haven where teenagers making drugs can telegraph secret code words to arrange gang fights and orgies."
  • Penmachine: Yes, Master: "…it's true that these new Beatles CDs (and, with luck, eventually iTunes tracks) will be new digital re-masters, but they won't be the first ones. If you already have a complete collection of Beatles CDs from those 1987 digital re-masters, these new ones will probably sound different, maybe better. But they could sound worse."
  • Now on YouTube: First Moving Image Ever Made: "In the latest effort to bridge the disconnect between the government and new media, the Library of Congress officially launched its YouTube channel Tuesday. The debut includes 70 historical videos from its vast collection, such as the first ever moving image (a man sneezing), 100-year-old films from the Thomas Edison studio and industrial films from Westinghouse factories."

Who’s Defining ‘X-Rated’ Here?

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A report I saw from the AP this morning, presented nearly in full because it’s so short…

Lil’ Kim nearly had a big wardrobe malfunction on “Dancing With the Stars.”

This week’s front-runner on the ABC dance competition had some trouble with her top at the end of a jive with partner Derek Hough on Monday night. Host Tom Bergeron provided cover while the rapper adjusted as she and Hough approached the judges table.

Lil’ Kim told KABC-TV after the show: “I don’t know why this happens a lot of the time, but … the girls were tryin’ to come out.”

The nearly X-rated moment was edited out by the time the show was rebroadcast on the West Coast….

“Nearly X-rated?” For an almost wardrobe malfunction? Sorry, AP, but there’s more than a little bit of hyperbole there. Almost having a bit of accidental boobage is PG, maybe PG-13 if her top actually had fallen off (and even that used to be a good solid PG). “Nearly X-rated” would be something very, very different. Quit sensationalizing and just report.

This Will Disappoint Mom…

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…but it looks like my days of sporting long, flowing locks of beautiful curls may be pretty severely numbered.

There are two reasons for this:

Firstly, one of the jobs I’m working my way through the application process for is in a more conservative atmosphere, and there’s a strong chance that I’ll have a better possibility without long hair.

Secondly — and in some ways, even more importantly — when Prairie was braiding my hair in the morning on Saturday before I headed off to Norwescon, she paused for a moment. “Hmmm…your hair is getting pretty thin up here, isn’t it?”

We’ve had a long-standing understanding that while we both like the long hair, I wouldn’t be able to pull it off forever. With the ever-receding hairline that Hanscom men are blessed with (and there’s no irony in that choice of words: I’ve always been glad we get the front-to-back hair loss instead of the “bald spot” of male pattern baldness), there comes a time when long hair just doesn’t work. Back on my 30th birthday, when I started growing my hair out again, I made Prairie agree to be sure to tell me when I started getting in real danger of sporting a ‘skullet,’ the hairstyle choice of skeezy creeps everywhere.

It looks like that time may have come.

I’m not quite in to full-on “DANGER skullet” territory, but I’m close, and with the added impetus of putting employment before vanity, it’s probably only a matter of days or weeks (at the outside) before the curls go away.

Sorry, mom!

Norwescon 32: My (Preliminary) Schedule

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While I’m not at all happy to be unemployed, I have to admit that it does make some things pretty convenient. I’m making a decent houseboy, dealing with the dishes and housecleaning, which Prairie appreciates. Since Prairie and I are both here in the mornings, we’ve been really enjoying having nice leisurely breakfasts together. And this weekend, it means that for the first time, I’ll be hitting three days of Norwescon, adding a few hours today (Thursday) to my usual Friday/Saturday run.

My basic plan:

  • Thursday: drive in, arrive sometime around noonish, leave around 5:30 to pick Prairie up from work.
  • Friday: bus in, arrive sometime around noonish, leave and bus home sometime in the evening (probably sometime between 6-8pm or so).
  • Saturday: drive in, arrive sometime around noonish, stay until I get exhausted. This counts as my “going out” night for the month.

I’ve gone through the Norwescon programming grid and identified the panels that I’m most interested in possibly checking out. What follows is a rough idea of where I might be over the next few days, though for most of these, there’s no way I can guarantee exactly where I’ll be at any given moment. Since a lot of the fun I have is grabbing photos and socializing, there’s a lot of mutability in my schedule.

Click through to see where I may (or may not) end up over the next few days…

Read more

DIY Bicycle Camera Mount

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Yes, there are already a ton of posts on the ‘net telling people how to do this, and I’m indebted to them all, as I read most of them when planning out my approach. Still — this is how I did it, so I’m going to add to the chatter. :)

Parts

(I really don’t know the technical names for any of these, I’m reading off the Home Depot receipt, so my apologies if I’ve flubbed a part name here and there.)

  • 1 basic reflector. I’d recommend one with two distinct screw placements, one for the actual bike mount, and one for adjusting the reflector (this makes sure you don’t have one assembly doing two jobs in the final mount). Reflectors may be easy to come by at your local bike shop, Cycle Therapy in Kent gave me two (well, a bag full, but I only took two) completely free of charge!
  • Drill and 1/4″ drill bit.
  • 1 1/4″ X 2″ coarse (20 thread count) bolt.
  • 2 small 1/4″ cut washers.
  • 1 1/4″ hex nut.
  • 1 large 1/4″ fender washer.
  • 2 large 1/4″ rubber washers.
  • 1 1/4″ wing nut.
  • 1 1/4″ acorn nut.

Assembly

  • Remove the reflector from the mount.
  • Drill out the open screw hole to a 1/4″ diameter.
  • Thread the bolt through, then secure it with one small washer and the hex nut.
  • The rest of the pieces attach in this order: wing nut, small washer, large rubber washer, large fender washer, large rubber washer, acorn nut.
  • Attach the mount to the bike.
  • Remove the acorn nut (put it in a pocket so you don’t lose it!) and attach your camera.
  • Use the wingnut to tighten the washer platform assembly snug against the bottom of the camera.
  • Go riding!

Photos

Camera Mount Step 1 Camera Mount Step 2
Camera Mount Step 3 Camera Mount Step 4
Camera Mount Step 5 Camera Mount Step 6
Camera Mount Step 7 Camera Mount on the Bike (rear)
Camera Mount on the Bike (front)

Results

And that’s it. Works pretty well, too — here’s the result of my first ride with the mount, just a short jaunt out and back along a section of the Green River Trail:

Links for April 6th through April 7th

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Sometime between April 6th and April 7th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

  • A Pirate’s Code of Conduct for BitTorrent: All of this is good, but Article Two is key, in my opinion, and why I have no issues with downloading TV shows, but have no urge to download films: "TV is to be downloaded, movies are to be attended when a man returns to shore. If ye aren't a Neilsen family, what you watch doesn't matter for ratings anyway. Since advertisers pay by rating, it's a theft-less crime. Movies, on the other hand, do see profits of gold and jewels. So support independent/foreign film in the theaters, and save the action flicks with high production values and many beautiful explosions for the big screen, too."
  • How I Learned to Stop Being a Bitch and Love the Con: "Every year in early April a warm and happy buzzing grows in me not entirely unlike what a kid feels just before Christmas. The reason? Norwescon. I love it. I always have a great time." Nice post on Tor's website featuring photographs by yours truly!
  • Bill Would End Civil Marriage, Create Domestic Partnerships: "Advocates for same-sex marriage plan to introduce legislation in the Maryland General Assembly today that would abolish civil marriage ceremonies now confined to heterosexual unions in the state and replace them with domestic partnerships for all couples. Under their proposal, all couples — straight or gay — would be on equal footing with secular unions. Religious marriage in churches, synagogues and mosques would be unaffected, as would existing civil marriages. The word 'marriage' would be replaced with 'valid domestic partnership' in the state's family law code. 'If people want to maintain a religious test for marriage, let's turn it into a religious institution,' said Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), the bill's Senate sponsor." Damn skippy. I'm all for this sort of thing.
  • Giant ‘Hand’ Reaches Across Space: "In a new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, high-energy X-rays emanating from the nebula around PSR B1509-58 have been colored blue to reveal a structure resembling a hand reaching for some eternal red cosmic light." Actually, I'm pretty sure the website goofed up and used the wrong picture. This looks like the right one to me!
  • Alaska’s Mount Redoubt – the Big Picture: "Beginning March 22nd, 2009, Alaska's Mount Redoubt, began a series of volcanic eruptions, and continues to be active to this date. Ash clouds produced by Redoubt have pushed 65,000 feet into the sky, disrupting air traffic, drifting across Cook Inlet, and depositing layers of gritty ash on populated areas of the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage, about 180 km (110 miles) to the northeast. Mount Redoubt has erupted at least five times since 1900, with the most recent event taking place in 1989. "

Ritz Cameras Closing 11 Washington Stores

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My former employer, Ritz Cameras, has just announced that they’re closing more than 300 stores across the country. Of those, eleven are based here in Washington. I’d actually heard a little bit about this through a former coworker whose store is one of the eleven, but I had no idea it was going to be this widespread.

The one bittersweet side effect to this for local photogeeks is that all these stores need to liquidate their inventory, so starting tomorrow, there may be some pretty good deals available if you happen to be close to a store that’s being shuttered. If I wasn’t unemployed right now, you can bet I’d be keeping a close eye on the sales…unfortunately, I don’t exactly have a lot of expendable cash at the moment.

Retail inventory valued at more than $50 million will be liquidated at the stores that are being closed. Store closing sales offering substantial discounts on all inventory at those locations will begin on Saturday, April 4, and are expected to continue until everything is sold to the bare walls.

Daniel Platt, senior vice president, capital markets, for Great American Group, said, “Long-time Ritz Camera customers as well as those with any interest in cameras, photography and video-related products will find a tremendous selection of quality, brand-name merchandise at greatly reduced prices. Shoppers looking for distinctive and unique gifts will find these sales particularly appealing, as well.”

Among the thousands of products that will be available at reduced prices are digital cameras and accessories, digital SLR compact cameras, digital frames, binoculars, camcorders and video accessories, and other popular electronic items.

Taken from this list, here are the eleven Washington state stores that will be closing their doors (looks like my store in the Northgate Mall was spared, but that’s small comfort):

  • Ritz Camera / Kits Cameras Columbia Center 6607 W Canal Dr Kennewick WA 99336-0000
  • Ritz Camera / Kits Cameras #72 Bellevue Square 266 Bellevue Sq Bellevue WA 98004-0000
  • Ritz Camera / Kits Cameras #77 Bellis Fair Mall 1 Bellis Fair Pkwy Ste 126 Bellingham WA 98226-0000
  • Kits Cameras Westfield Southcenter 172 Southcenter Mall Tukwila WA 98188-0000
  • Ritz Camera / Kits Cameras #14 Pavilions Centre 31507 Pacific Hwy South Federal Way WA 98003-0000
  • Kits Cameras One Hour Photo Westlake Center 400 Pine St #300 Seattle WA 98101-0000
  • Ritz Camera / Kits Cameras Downtown Woodinville 13804 Ne 175Th St #104 Woodinville WA 98072-0000
  • Ritz Camera / Kits Cameras #18 Everett Retail Center 910 Se Everett Mall Way #101 Everett WA 98208-0000
  • Kits Camera 1 Hour Photo Olympic Village 5500 Olympic Dr Nw Ste A107 Gig Harbor WA 98335-0000
  • Kits Camera 1 Hour Photo Kirkland Park Place 336 Park Place Kirkland WA 98033-0000
  • Kits Cameras Mill Creek Town Center 15407 Main St Ste 101 Mill Creek WA 98012-0000

This just hurts to see. Say what you will about the Ritz/Kits family — and I know they’ve got their fare share of detractors as well as fans — there’s a lot of good, knowledgeable, passionate photographers employed in those stores, and this has got to be affecting them in very uncomfortable ways. Best of luck to all of you.