We tore up the walls

[austin_dern]

Saturday afternoon had the fursuit parade, so bunny_hugger got her head and tail and Michigan State shirt, and disappeared into the mass of people gathered in the staging area. I had no idea where if anywhere the parade route was to be but supposed this hallway with all the people crowding it was a good candidate. I got ready near a turn in the hallway, so I'd probably have a good view of people coming and going, and learned the parade actually doubled back so I'd get them coming and going two times over. Also I got to stand beside someone who knew what a coati was, though it turned out we didn't have much to talk about past that.

I always try taking photographs of the fursuit parade, and realized after a couple that they always come out about the same: slightly blurry, muddy things because I don't have the flash on, or bright enough but too few because I take flash pictures. And I have a new camera now, so, why not try taking a movie instead? After the first few people walking past I did that, and came out with a roughly 13-minute parade, with bunny_hugger near the end. This worked pretty well, though --- after the parade I was able to show it to her --- and if nothing else it was different.

As usual bunny_hugger was hosting two panels, one for Bunnies and one for Letterboxing. This time around they gave her a choice hour --- 3 pm for the Bunnies, 4 pm for Letterboxing --- but balanced this generosity by setting it a mysterious location, ``21-1-11 Private Dining Room''. What this meant, deciphered, was the hotel's bar-and-restaurant, which bears the surely meaningful to someone name of ``21-1-11'', and the private dining room in there. At least, that's what we think it meant. Most people coming to the Bunnies panel seemed to agree.

The restaurant staff wasn't quite so sure, though. They had some questions about who we were and whether we knew the room was reserved for the con, but once they were certain that we were with the con, and we didn't need anything --- they were maybe worried they were supposed to be providing food or drinks, and they did bring water --- they relaxed. The dining room wasn't marked explicitly as such, and didn't have a schedule of events outside it, although I'm not sure where they could have marked things. I spent the first couple minutes walking around the restaurant looking for people who seemed to be lost and we roped a couple of people into the Bunnies panel this way.

Although the Bunnies panel didn't attract anyone with actual rabbits to show this time it still got a nice crowd that got chatting about what's neat regarding bunnies and their pop culture presentation and why aren't there more in furry fandom anyway? And in the trivia-quiz portion bunny_hugger was able to give a plush rabbit away to a person who came costumed as Pinkie Pie, so, that's a lot of cute too. I don't recall there being any shocking revelations like learning someone had never heard of Watership Down either.

Letterboxing got a much smaller crowd, unfortunately: just the one guy, a Geocacher who saw the description and thought it sounded like a curious twist on his own hobby. But he was an interested audience and seemed to be really intrigued by the differences between Letterboxing and Geocaching, and particularly interested in the hand-carved stamps which are so important to the Letterboxing hobby. The small attendance made a bit of a mockery of some Friday morning frustration as bunny_hugger tried to get enough photocopies of her Intro To Letterboxing notes made up, but, if it did get someone into the hobby or talking about it amiably then we can't be sad about that.

Trivia: In 1830 Vincennes (built in 1836) became the first United States naval vessel to circumnavigate the globe. It made a second such voyage in 1836. Source: Sea of Glory: The Epic South Seas Expedition, Nathaniel Philbrick.

Currently Reading: The Bicentennial History of Ingham County, Michigan, Ford Stevens Ceasar.

Comments

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

and we roped a couple of people into the Bunnies panel this way

Suddenly, bunnies! A cunning and adorable ploy indeed. A minor pity about the lack of buns present - easy to see that would rather cap the panel perfectly.

Will you be uploading the fursuit footage to Vimeo or suchlike? Feel free to engage in editing if necessary, and stabilisation.

Have we seen bunny_hugger's 'suit? Doesn't seem to be ringing any bells in the dusty recesses of my long-term memory, but that's hardly proof of more than we have likely had two hands and two feet since at least a week ago.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I haven't got a Vimeo or YouTube or other account and I'm not sure I make enough videos to make such worthwhile. I do have some friends with accounts and might loan it to them if they like.

I don't know if bunny_hugger's uploaded pictures of her in suit, actually. I obviously have more such pictures, but I don't load very many to Livejournal. I'll check and maybe put some pictures of her in costume up when I do get around to photos for this con.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

You need to get on a photo sharing site! I hardly get to see your photos myself.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do. I'll get to it, I promise.