Halloween pics and OVFF highlights (part 4)

Only 19 kids came by on Halloween night! Still, I had fun putting up decorations. I hung up a string of Mars Attacks lights that I had bought at an Interfilk auction last year, some plastic bats, a sparkly Halloween theme banner, a "Happy Halloween" sign on our front door, hung dangly skeletons from the Japanese maple, spiders on our mailbox and the wall beside our front door, stuck a scared-looking cardboard guy in the grass beside the front walk, made ghosts out of white cardboard and white tissue paper then set up a floor fan to get the tissue paper moving.



My pumpkin carving knife broke a few minutes after I started using it and a regular knife was too tough for me to cut with (I didn't want to aggravate my old tendinitis) so I cheated and drew faces on the pumpkins instead.

To see impressive pumpkins, you should check out pumpkins by Joan S., Lissa A. and the Snyders.

Thanks to my friend John for helpfully pointing out a site that explains how to properly tie an Obi in only 28 steps!

But back to OVFF highlights...



Ice cream with Andrea, Jim, Allison and Jodi at the North Market in Columbus, OH. We went to Jeni's Fresh Ice Creams, where they let you have as many tastings as you want. YUM. My favourites: Salty Caramel, Thai Chili and Cocoa Zin Gelato (with zinfandel).

Seeing Diana Huey again! Diana dropped by the convention to say hi to people.

Irish music session in the hallway on Sunday.



Finding out that Andy and Jenny Eigel have opened up a coffeeshop in Cincinnati, OH! It's called Roxx Coffeehouse and Games and sounds like an incredibly cool place.

The Pegasus Banquet. Congrats to all the Pegasus Award winners:

Best Filk Song: Uplift by Andrew Eigel
Best Classic Filk Song: Archetype Cafe by Talis Kimberley
Best Performer: Vixy & Tony
Best Writer/Composer: Seanan McGuire
Best Tragedy Song: Black Davie's Ride by Cynthia McQuillin
Best Comedy Song: Close Your Eyes by Daniel Glasser



Photo by Walter

I don't go to events like the Pegasus Awards Banquet for the food (though the food this year was good!); I go for the people -- to pay respect to and celebrate the guests, nominees and winners, to hear the speeches, and to catch up on filk-related news. I also enjoyed chatting with filkers I don't normally get much of a chance to speak with, plus it's always fun to see people decked out in their finery. :-)

Thanks so much to Walter for being my date at this event!



Photo by Allison

The Sunday jam and the Sunday filk. I know I've mentioned these before, but I had SO much fun. One reason I usually try to stay until Monday at conventions is because everything always seems so much more laid-back on Sundays. Plus there's usually more opportunity to just hang out and chat with people because there is less structured programming.


Photo by Walter

Playing the concertina. I don't know the name of the fellow who was kind enough to let me try it but in case he's reading this: thank you!

Seanan McGuire with a chainsaw and monsters:



Hearing Lady Mondegreen again.

Hearing the Ropers do their Apology song. They're SO cute together. :-)

Mary Crowell's rendition of Alien Salad Abduction by Chris Conway.



Getting my copy of Pondside's new CD! Juliana had bought one of my paintings and asked for permission to use it as a cover image. I'm looking forward to listening to this CD; I love hearing this lady sing.

I mentioned the Sock Monster I made for Brooke and Sib in an earlier report. You can see Allison's photo of Brooke with her monster here; Brooke has named hers Zomg.



Hearing Vixy, Seanan and Tony perform -anything-.

Kidnapping Erin's camera when she wasn't looking so I could take photos like this one and this one and this one.

Chatting with Merav and Talis about sewing and the Halloween costume Talis was making.



Seeing Amy let loose during an instrumental in Wild Mercy's mini-concert. Wow. it's clear that Amy usually holds back when playing backup or playing with other musicians, either to purposely not outshine the singer or because she pays close attention to matching the type of music (probably both). I am SO going to nominate Amy for a Best Performer Pegasus every year until she wins. :-)

Going to Panera's (I think that was the name) with Andrea, Mary, Walter, Allison and Jodi. The place gave us a couple of freshly baked loaves of bread for free because they had accidentally made too many!



Seanan's description of people's "screensaver faces."

The con suite: perfect place for hanging out and meeting people, plus a lifesaver if you were hungry but didn't have the time for a full meal at a restaurant. I grabbed a peanut butter and jam sandwich here.

Brooke Lunderville's performance of "The Wreck of the Crash of the Easthill Mining Disaster," with highly entertaining sign props.

Mary Crowell's slippers:



In an earlier con report, I mentioned that Vixy, Jeff Bohnhoff and Maya Bohnhoff surprised me with a song about me to the tune of "Barracuda." Well, Walter has good photos of my reaction as did Michael. :-)

Many thanks to Debbie Gates for sending me a recording of "Debbie Ohi"! I had it posted on the FilkArchive, but Martin GK gently (and very correctly) reminded me that even though it's a parody, the original tune is copyrighted, so I pulled it off. Congrats to those few who managed to get it during the brief time it was online; next time you'll see it will likely be in the FilKONtario Interfilk auction.


Photo by Walter

Hearing the Three Weird Sisters do anything. Bill looks pretty good as a fourth Weird Sister, doesn't he?

And one of my favourite photos taken at the con: Brooke's photo of Mary Crowell and I battling it out while Bill Sutton calls out our match. Heh. :-D

Hanging out with Sib and the Bohnhoffs at the airport:



Running into my friends Helen and Dan at the airport in Toronto. They were in town for Cory Doctorow's wedding.



Okay, there are obviously WAY too many highlights and cool photos for me to post here. I'll be posting the occasional few in upcoming Blatherings, but considering the end of my official OVFF report.

Many thanks to the OVFF concom and guests for making this past weekend such an enjoyable event. Allison, Jodi and I had a fantastic time...you can read Allison's report and see some of her photos in her Livejournal.

Our next convention as a group: FilKONtario!

Comments

[Mary Crowell]

I love our caged filker-ninja match too! In fact I think we look quite convincing. :-)

[Jim]

Hey! Sorry we didn't get to chat at OVFF. I think the one time I saw you, you were talking with Allison, Jodi, Judith, and Dave, and I didn't want to interrupt.

[Juliana]

Thank you so much for your kind words Debbie. I had a completely different cover designed but when I saw that "Friendship Dance" I just knew it was MY CD.

I love the style of your work and think that the brokenhearted nightmare is probably my fav piece of your art. He is just so sweet and vulnerable.

Anyway -- I hope you enjoy my CD. I'm looking forward to singing with you ladies sometime soon. (FKO maybe) it was not to be at OVFF but I very much enjoyed the con and wouldn't have traded the experience.

[Amy]

Thank you! I... *blush* Well, I don't know what to say. Ooh, though I can say that picture is really neat. You have a knack for getting a photo that isn't my seemingly inescapable partially-comatose-on-stage look.

Also, you're right. I focus a lot when I'm playing along, try to match what I'm playing with and make it work, make it flow, be subtle. XD If I'd of had my druthers, Black Davie's Ride would have had eight, maybe sixteen bars of fiddle. But Wild Mercy drew up their song format and told me they wanted forty-eight bars, even though it was their only time on stage as Best Performer. They're awesome like that. For the record? So are y'all Urban Tapestry folks.