Throw her away and get a new one

[austin_dern]

Saturday's big evening performance is the Spectacle of Doom, a variety show done with whatever performers make it to the show that weekend. This time around the show started pretty near on-time, which is always remarkable. It also moved from performance to performance without much of the awkward pause and sense of ``we forgot who's on next'' that inspire nervous giggling in the audience. But it still had that homemade quality, including at least one sketch in which they apparently couldn't figure what sketch punchline they wanted so included them all, with the result that it wasn't clear when the thing was over or what the big laugh was supposed to be. It was also surprisingly short, perhaps 40 minutes or so, in part I suppose because they lacked the puppet track for reasons I have no knowledge of and no willingness to speculate about. I did notice the emcee mention that they're always looking for performers and writers and I wonder if I can get myself into trouble that way.

There was a dance that night too, in the same room as before, and we popped in for a while. This was again a small group, although it was livened up by one of the con's attendees, apparently a professional impersonator, doing rather good Michael Jackson moves. (He also was dancing in the hallway, near the con suite, while bunny_hugger walked around with her guitar.) And someone earned a quick dose of ire from bunny_hugger when the DJ started playing ``Domo Arigato, Mister Roboto'' --- the long cut, the one that takes about as long as the 80s --- and the kid grumbled about their playing such old music, as in, ``what is this, the 40s?'' Fighting words, especially with a simulated Michael Jackson around.

Besides the dance was also a room party, in the suite, room 269/267, and that suggested the feel of the Frozen Oasis party although, by being in a much smaller space, managed to push everyone to the point where body heat threatened to set the drinks on fire. The drinks were kept in the bathtub full of ice, and the bathroom's toilet was roped off with a warning that using it, in the circumstances, would be gross. But while it was packed, and I wasn't willing to risk anything more adventurous than a Mike's Hard Lemonade, we did get to see several people, including one of bunny_hugger's old devilbunny friends and one of our spindizzy_muck friends before we realized the hour was getting on. We'd have happily stayed longer but we had that most dread of things, an early-morning con panel.

Trivia: When William Gibbs McAdoo's Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (ancestor to the PATH trains) began passenger service in 1908, he hired women to staff the ticket windows, and paid them wages equal to male employee's. Source: Railroads of New Jersey: Fragments of the Past in the Garden State Landscape, Lorett Treese.

Currently Reading: The Science Fiction hall Of Fame Volume III, Editors Arthur C Clarke, George W Proctor. Nebula-award winning short story, novelette, and novella for 1966 to 1969, and my realization that I've tried reading Jack Vance's ``The Last Castle'' enough, I don't need to try reading it again, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to miss something I like by skipping it again. Also, ``Dragonrider'' in novella form is like 800 pages long, which I forgot.

Comments

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

Minor correction -- it was the Safety Dance that caused the "Isn't this from the 1940s? My MOTHER listens to this" remarks that made me threaten to start punching.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

You're right. It was the Safety Dance, which it turns out is a lot longer song than the endless loop in my memory says it should be (for what that's worth).

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

It probably has a long version and a short (radio edit) version, like a lot of dance hits of that era.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Likely enough. I remember our talking about how odd it was to hear the long version.