MFF 2009: Day Three - Pyat and the March of the Furries

[pyat]

This image is not technically from Day Three, but I like it, so here it is. sassy_fae with some dealer's room swag.

Saturday dawned bright and clear, and came with the realization that sassy_fae and I had not yet breakfasted at an obscure local eatery we'd discovered last year. I believe it's called the "IHOP," which is short for, "I Hate Other Pancakes." I doubt you've heard of it.




We ran into a Lynxish friend on the elevator and brought him along. However, the food was rather disappointing this year. My breakfast was the sort of bacon and egg special one could get for a lot cheaper at a much quieter greasy spoon, and Jenn's strawberry shortcake pancakes were a letdown.


Following this, we dropped into the local Target, because, as with every con I attend, I forgot to bring something. This year, I was short one pair of underwear and socks. Sigh. Browsing Target forcibly reminded us that we were in the U.S.A. Religious nutcrackers right next to ones made up in desert camo...


... not one but TWO Glenn Beck books at the top of the bestseller rack. You know, most people in Canada don't know who he is.


We got back to the hotel around noon. I admit I like how the landscape around the hotel is transformed during the con, with roving gangs of fursuiters terrorizing (or confusing, anyway) innocent folk.


Around 1 PM I reported to halfelf's booth to give him a lunch break.


This was a good idea on my part, since it meant the various people looking for me where able to find me.


Including warphammer!


And katepufftail! rikoshi also stopped by, and I had the longest in-person chat I've had with him since Anthrocon 2004.


halfelf, in addition to monocles, sells blinking, flashing, strobing Shiny Things. He did mad good sales, and his display kept enrapturing passing furries.


The booth was also an excellent spot to watch the annual fursuit parade, which gets longer and longer every year. It's like watching a flock of passenger pigeons fly past. Just when you think there can't be any more, another 100 fursuiters file into the room.


I confess that the tradition has grown on me. I used to sit and wait for them all to file past with a sense of faint irritation.


Now I take photos and am impressed by some of the more elaborate costumes.


That rumpled bunny fursuiter, BTW, is Rapid T. Rapid, who has a TV show in NYC. Very old school.


After the parade, the local chapter of Dr. Steel's Toy Soldiers when recruiter. brunovonboots wept bitter tears of insane jealousy.


I then hooked up with fantasy artist dhstein and her husband Dave, and interviewed them for a Very Special Upcoming Episode of Pyat's Fortress. Thank you very much to Dave and Diana for helping out with this project!


I went and visited the animal rescue folks, who'd brought out the feathered friends. This is a one-eyed owl!


This is NOT a one-eyed owl!


There was a bit of excitement/anxiety when someone in the artist's alley had a seizure or stroke of some kind, but the con staff were unflappable and quickly cleared a path for EMT crews.


Oh! And there were Nazifurs or some kind. Or possibly they were cosplaying as Glenn Beck's idea of Canadians?


I took a quick jaunt to the con suite for cookies and caffeine, then retired to the room to watch an episode of MST3K that commanderteddog had lent me. This particular episode (The Rebel Set) featured a lot of Chicago jokes, which was fun.


sassy_fae and I rendevouzed for supper with katepufftail (Matt). We decided on Mexican, at a restaurant far to the north in Cook Country. Naturally, we walked. It was clear, cool night. Very pleasant.


The food was good, too!


sassy_fae isn't crooked. YOU ARE.


Matt and his jaunty hat.


I should explain this image! Matt is from Madison, Wisconsin. As we walked under a bridge, we spotted this sign, and I said, "Oh, Matt, so THAT's how you got here." He wiped away a fake tear and picked up his sign.

(No, it is not really his sign. And I assume/hope the person who made it didn't need it anymore.)

Following supper, we watched Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Man, that movie is... inexplicable. Some good Beatles covers, though. Watching the last ten minutes of The Apple was a relief.


sassy_fae and I meandered about the con for a little while. We ran into the white-cat-lady, who happily posed for a photograph. Ahem. Meow.


I got attacked by a kinkajou.


We poked into the furry rave, but I was too lame or cool to dance.


The crowd was smaller than last year, but I assume it got busier later that night.


We made one final trip to the con suite, where sassy_fae befriended a Great Dane.

And that was day three, our final full day of furry! I headed to bed while Jenn watched American television. More later!

Comments

[anidada.livejournal.com]

EEE, harlequin dane! Such pretty beasties. And freakin' huge.

Those nutcrackers are disturbing, man. Like, moreso than regular ones. o_O

I'd ask who Glenn Beck is, but somehow I don't think I wanna know. :P

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna tell ya anyway! He's a FOX news personality that makes Rush Limbaugh look like a cuddly ol' left-wing bear.

http://www.artsjournal.com/man/2009/09/glenn_beck_debuts_as_fox_news.html relates his recent rant about all the subversive and fascist elements in NYC architecture from the 1920s and 30s.

[relee.livejournal.com]

I went to an American Breakfast Buffet when I was in Tennesee and it was probably the most decadent breakfast I've ever had. They had everything, as much as you want, and it was splendid. I like a greasy spoon breakfast, but the place I went was just too awesome. I forget the name. I don't think I've ever been to an IHOP.


The soldier nutcrackers are interesting. It's easy to forget that traditional nutcrackers wear old british military uniforms. I'm not sure if they're dress uniforms or if they actually wore that in combat though. I remember reading or watching a documentary that said they used to wear brightly coloured uniforms during the early days of rifle warfare because they hadn't invented smokeless powder yet, and shortly after a battle began you could barely see anything, so you needed to know what colour your guys were so you didn't shoot them, and you needed to know what colour the enemy were so you could shoot them. It's sort of like how fish that live so deep underwater that hardly any light hits them are super brightly coloured; if they weren't, you couldn't see any colour at all, so it works as camoflague.


Nazifurs or Furzis are the new thing. Ever since babyfurs became normal and accepted, 'those people' needed something new to hate, so they targeted the Furzis, saying that they are interested in more than just the uniforms. I dunno about all that, though I'll say that there have been much better uniforms over the span of history than the Nazi uniforms, but you don't see a lot of people celebrating how awesome they were in the scale of the Nazi uniform people. ^.^;;

Anyways yeah, Furzis are the new target, and because of that more people are noticing them and thinking 'oh hey that seems fun' and they join in, making them a larger group, like what happened with the babyfurs. I'm kind of scared to imagine the Furzis becoming normal and acceptable and something even more horrifying becoming the new hate target. ^.^;;


That mexican food looks really good! I want to eat something good now. ^.^;;


Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is my Dad's favorite movie, he told me before. He used to work part time as a projectionist at the old theater, and he would watch most of the movies once or twice, and then get tired of them and watch a mini-tv in the projectionist's booth. But, he watched Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band every time it was shown, and because it was so terribly unpopular, he often went out into the theater to watch it from one of the seats alone instead of staying in the booth.

His second favorite movie, near as I can tell, is the Rocky Horror Picture Show. As a bizzare tidbit, while he was living in England he was having a meal across the street from the first showing of the Rocky Horror Show, back when it was a stage performance and not a film. He tells a lot of stories. I tell other people's stories.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I once went to a buffet in Atlanta. There were six kinds of meat, three kinds of eggs, oatmeal, and grits. Thank goodness I wasn't a vegetarian!

That is a very cool story from your dad! I had a university professor who attended the first performance of the Rocky Horror stage show, as a theatre reviewer. He turned to his friend and said, "Bernie, it'll never last!"

[relee.livejournal.com]

The one I went to had bacon, eggs, oatmeal, cereal, grits, pancakes, peach slices, and a few other things I don't remember too well because pancakes and peach slices are good enough for me. <3

My Dad is full of interesting stories, though I think he embelishes sometimes. Other times I think he makes shit up, but I'm pretty sure he was honest about the Rocky Horror Show thing.

[paka.livejournal.com]

1) Big government my ass. Take a look at the right wing in America, and you'll find they're only against "big government" when it means "regulating industry standards" or "providing education" or "providing healthcare." As long as big government means a gigantic defense budget and a huge amount of top-heavy government itself - compare how much Homeland Security has done to protect America, to how much the (underfunded, bullied) EPA or FDA have done in the same timeframe. I can fume about this stuff for half of forever. My opinion of my fellow citizens is low at the best of times, and lately has recovered from "dismal" to "poor."

2) The military nutcrackers are eh, but the idea of a Mother and Child nutcracker just strikes me as kinda... I dunno. Really tasteless. And I'm not even Christian!

3) I used to have the same response to the fursuit parade. I think it's an age thing; the first few times, it's annoying to have to stop and wait for a whole batch of people doing something that's not your thing, wander by. After a while, it's just cool, the energy that people are bringing into this part of the fandom that isn't really your thing - sort of getting to see enthusiasm and diversity just for itself, plus costumes are neat.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

1. I think Beck is something of a sideshow, at least, just some fuming crazy they put on for ratings. But we all know that, in time, the crazies become the public face of a political movement...

2. The juxatposition sort of tweaks me. That, and the fact that you can crack nuts with Mary's bosom. And, PS, the baby Jesus is shaped like a little egg.

3. Yes! It took me a long time to "get over myself" and realize that enthusiasm is a lot more fun than being too cool for school. Now I wish I'd been brave to get to cons in the early 90s, instead of waiting till the 2000s.

[paka.livejournal.com]

Beck is... mmm.

What you said. The thing is, democracy is always a compromise. When a country is dragged towards one side or the other, where that compromise lies is also dragged along with it. You see this in Canada or the Netherlands, where the most devoutly religious conservative usually thinks socialized medicine is a good idea. But in the USA, dialogue has been dragged so far right that any compromise is somewhere to the right of center.

It bothers me that right wing lunatics (like Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter, and so many others) can spew toxins the likes of which no liberal would want to - or could - say. How many countries do you know where public dialogue includes people who actively talk about how political adversaries are traitors, morons, how many countries do you know where people talk about praying for the death of their country's leader? How many countries do you know where people openly compare their country's leadership to the Nazis for suggesting that we broaden access to the health care system?

And what irks me is that there's always this incessant flow of book deals and speaking deals for right wingers. People are making out like gangbusters on the same sort of sentiments that decent conservatives as well as decent liberals would, in theory, dismiss as rabble rousing and intentionally trying to sabotage the peace and goodwill of our communities. There seems to be no end in sight; there's always a reward in this country for behaving badly, at least if you're on the "right" side.

[archai.livejournal.com]

Did they eventually let them turn the lights all the way out for the dance this year?

[archai.livejournal.com]

Oh, also. Don't buy too much into the American image hype. If R. Murdoch didn't own or control such a ridiculous share of the printed media market in the US, Beck's book would never have made it onto that shelf. A majority of Americans right now, by the numbers, should be wondering why Beck wrote a book on how to argue with people like him.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I agree that he's a sort of circus sideshow to grab ratings, but I also think putting anything into print with a glossy cover grants it legitimacy in the mind of many people.

[archai.livejournal.com]

True, but that would seem to be the whole point of Rupert Murdoch's media empire: wild-eyed right-wing thinking, in print, with glossy covers (be they hardback slipcovers or magazines). Fox News was actually a fairly recent acquisition; the muscles being flexed to get Beck's book out are actually by far the older ones.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I think so. It was pretty darn dark, anyway.

[seritaph.livejournal.com]

Ah, Sgt. Pepper's action. I think I have the soundtrack around here somewhere.

IHOP failed, and for that I apologize. The sad thing is that you were in Kenosha at one point, which put you fairly close to Somers. In that land lies the fabled "Bob's Diner," which bows to no man, woman, or ugly pack donkey when it comes to making breakfasts that challenge even the gods to finish.

Glenn Beck is relatively unknown there? I'm moving. Now.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Perhaps next year we shall include that in the Cheese Castle jaunt!

IHOP has been fairly spotty for me. I've had excellent food and service a couple of times, and overpriced and mediocre food on other visits.

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

Since next year's theme is Chicago Blues, we'll be able to look at the NaziFurs and quote:

"Illinois Nazis. I hate Illinois Nazis."

Speaking of Nazis, I disavow any knowledge of Glen Beck. He's a frootloop that makes Limbaugh look sane.

[kfops.livejournal.com]

Perfect!

[pyat.livejournal.com]

That is precisely what I shall do!

And, despite any political disagreements we might have had, I've never thought you would go along with someone like Beck. He's hardcore crazy, and badly-informed too!

[summerfields.livejournal.com]

IHOP has quickly fallen to the bottom of my list of preferred pancake chains. (here we have "KHOP" Ken's House of Pancakes...at IHOP they gave me rotten milk)

Are those taquitos or flautas?
My favourites!

[pyat.livejournal.com]

They are flautas! Shredded beef ones. They were awesome.

[katepufftail.livejournal.com]

I'm sadly remiss, in not having said so sooner, but, t'was a pleasure to finally say 'hullo'! Thanks again for putting up with me, and, an enjoyable evening, and for the movie too, I guess. :)

I should say that the pedant in me wants to say point out that I'm not from Madison, but simply live there, while the pragmatical me wants to push the pedant down, saying that it doesn't matter. Truly a battle for the ages!