evile

I have no coherent time-line for the wonder and beauty and fun that was the Showdown at Unobtainium (hey, we were in a town full of unstable time-bending ore, OK?) so, instead, I give you

The ABCs of Unobtainium:

A: Actors, Airship & Artists First of all, the town itself was a work of Art, with carefully-fashioned wooden facades and fencing for many structures, various props and odds and ends carefully placed about, lending atmosphere. Each and every vendor at the event had all hand-crafted, one of a kind, awesome stuff.

There was an Airship on site; the way it lit up at night looked like something straight out of a Cirque du Soleil production. It was a wonderful moving piece of art and many very lucky folks got to enjoy a ride around the site in the airship. They also had a shoot-out between the crew of the airship and the SteamPinkertons.

When the event was announced in July, the call went out for actors, and many folks stepped up and put in a lot of hours getting into character, practicing improv bits, practicing the showdown combat scene, and getting ready to show our visitors a good time. We had a mix of historical characters--Edison, Tesla, George Westinghouse, Calamity Jane, Lilly Langtry--and characters created by the actors for the event. Everyone did an amazing job of bringing their character to life and keeping in character throughout two days of festival.

B: Bartenders, Builders & Burlesque Shiner's Saloon, Tenyson absinthe, and others provided top notch beverages. The bartending team kept themselves cheerful and high energy from opening to closing. Everyone who came in to the bar was immediately swept into the spirit of the Wierd West! From a cow field in the middle of nowhere, a town was built; the Unobtainium volunteer builder team spent months building facades, furniture (the bar itelf was a thing of beauty), seating, you-name-it. And for the folks who were able to stay up late enough Saturday night, there was Ruby Joule, a wonderfully talented, beautiful, and fun burlesque dancer. Ooh la-la!

C: Crafters & Costumes Everyone from the build team to the vendors & guest lecturers, robot-builders and everyone visiting the town for the day or the weekend was fantasically creative. There were very few people who came to Unobtainium in "street clothes"....most visitors were in fantastic garb with many individual flourishes. We had military-style steampunks, Weird West steampunks, renfaire steampunks, Explorer steampunks in pith helmets, Steam Pirates, Officers, Gentlemen, Gunfighters, Soiled doves & dollymops, gypsies and at least one automaton (me!). I think my eyes hurt from seeing so many beautiful and interesting people and costumes!

D: DJ. In between live music, science demonstrations & debates by Tesla and Edison, and Doc Ravencraft's talks on supernatural phenomenon, we had Dr. Strangevibe, whose musical archives were a thing of wonder, as was his skill at mixing and matching the tunes. There were wonderfully etherial, strange songs, there were more "earthy" tunes, and all of them contributed greatly to making the atmosphere of this temporally-challenged town sliding into madness.

E: Edison. Daniel Benes, the actor who played Mr. Edison, though he portrayed Edison as the arrogant man of business and science, was actually in reality a very nice, thoughtful, and funny person. In his personal life, he is a musician and sound engineer who also builds scientific gadgets for fun. One of the most enthralling pieces of art at the event was a mine shaft he constructed using hardware store goodies, with eerie lights and smoke and scary warning sign to avoid the mine shaft due to raw Unobtainium vapors. It looked amazing. He also built a board with a small steam engine which he used to power various light bulbs in order to demonstrate his electrical inventions. We were all absolutely *stunned* when, after all was said and done and we were packing it in Sunday night, when he confessed that he'd felt completely over-his-head, and had seriously contemplated quitting early on! He never showed it! I was also terribly amused when he broke into an absolutely adorably silly little dance at the end of the day Sunday. I hope someone got it on video.

F: Friends & food. FRIENDS! Wow, it was great to see so many friends at this event. We had friends vending, friends on cast, and more friends came out as patrons to shop, eat, drink, listen to music, see art, check out the gadgets and media displays, and have a good time. It was wonderful to see y'all and I hope you had the best time!

The Brou-ha-ha, one of my favorite food vendors from Sherwood forest faire, were selling assorted strange and yummy things, including 'hell spawn on a stick' and 'sea pig'. I hope to replicate the sea pig soon. The chef catering the VIP area was also fantastic; After a long day at the Ticket booth, I was absolutely starving and grateful for my VIP pass. I enjoyed nibbles of prosciutto-wrapped melon, basil, tomato, and mozzarella drizzled in olive oil, thai coconut soup, and bite sized cheesecake bits.

G: Gadgets, Gamers & Gunfighters! ATX Hackerspace was there, there was a Maker Mad Science Lab & the Edge of Imagination station, all demonstrating media, computers, blinky lights, and science. There was a funky spin-art machine, gadgets that would tell your fortune or diagnose your wierdness (I'm hebephrenic!) and all sorts of fun. Ubergoober & Cracked Monocle were on hand with Steampunk LARP goodness. I was sadly working the ticket booth when it happened, but apparently there was a grand shoot-out between the Steampinkertons and the crew of the airship, in an attempt on Mr. Edison's life. Thax, as the Town Drunk, was unfortunately killed. Twice. and brought back to life by the Mysterious Stranger, Mr. Satan. Oops, I meant Seatan, of course.


H: Hell. and HOT. A strange twist on the story of Unobtainium, apparently the miners dug very deep, indeed, in their pursuit of the valuable and crazy-making Unobtainium ore. Weather wise, it was quite warm both days, especially for mid-November. Many volunteers and cast got sunburn, and I know of at least one heatstroke. But everyone soldiered on like champs.

I: Ice Cream, Ever made Ice Cream with Liquid Nitrogen? Heh, me neither. But the Maker/Hacker/Mad scientists sure did. It was great fun, nevermind that the entire apparatus was then covered in bees shortly after they completed this amazing demonstration of scientific fun!

J: Martha Jane Canary. That's be Calamity Jane to me and you, folks. Sue, the actress playing Calamity Jane, is one of the loveliest, kindest, most genteel ladies in the steampunk scene. She's known for going to cons and doing presentations on how to put together steampunk outfits from goodies you may have stashed in your closet, or find at vintage stores, with just a bit of alteration and perhaps one or two well-chosen accessories. She was on task and in-character from day one, in all her salty glory. Amazing!

K: Kiki Jezebel. I am sad to say that the actoress playing this role was rudely denied leave from work at the last minute; she was a hoot and a half at rehearsals and I hope she will reprise the role at some future steampunk shindig.

L: Laminates! The ticket gate crew had fun and headaches sorting through the dozens, or possibly hundreds, of laminated name tags for VIP, Artist, Vendor, Cast and Crew of Unobtainium. They were meticulously crafted, printed, laminated, sorted and organized by Sam Tyler, and after being in the grubby paws of the front gate volunteer team, all organization had fled and we were just fumbling through. It was a valiant attempt and the laminates all looked fantastic. I'm keeping mine forever :)

M: Makers & Music! I mentioned the gadgets brought by hackerspace, mad scientists, and media presentations already. As far as music goes, there wasn't a bad band in the bunch; Erika Maasen is very talented at playing various stringed instruments and has a fantastic voice; she re interprets many 'alternative rock' songs from the 90's into her very own interesting covers. She was quite beautiful, as well. Saturday we saw and heard Ms. Maasen, Temple of Ape's Theremin-carnival, Shakey Graves, Darwin Prophet & the Chronus Mirror, and the perennial Texas Steampunk scene headliners Marquis of Vaudeville brought the house down. Sunday, many of the same artists played again, plus Barebones Orchestra rocked the hung-over house! Amazing, amazing, amazing. Idea for next time: these artists really need a dedicated CD table set up all weekend, so people can take all that great music home!

N: Nitrogen! Again with the fun and messy science! The makers and hackers not only made ice cream but also demonstrated fruit-shattering tricks with liquid nitrogen :)

O: Ozzy & Oktober Love Not THAT Ozzy. Unobtainium's Ozzy was portraying Herr Doktor Einstein, a renowned expert on hysteria. He has worked as an improv actor at renfaire, he really added a lot to rehearsals and between him and the bartender, did some of the damn funniest improv I've ever seen in my life. Being that he was an expert on treating hysteria, I don't know about that other "O" tho I could be curious. ;)

Oktober Love was our very own steamgypsy; and a lovely one she made, too. Trekking up from San Marcos for actor rehearsals week after week, she was also an absolute ROCK at the front gate, helping with tickets and traffic, and then whisking off to help with bartending in the VIP area. What a lovely, multitalented, creative, and dedicated Unobtainizen.

P: Presentations! We had everything from soldering to arduinos to costuming to westernpunk to psychic phenomena. If you wanted to glue a gear on something and play in the alternate costume reality or actually make your gears go, there was someone there who could tell you how to do it. Art, science, DIY, you name it.

Q: The Queens of the event, the organizers heart and soul of the event: Sam Tyler, Maggie Duval and Lisa Ralston Turner. This whole thing came about from their dreams and ideas, and the people who believed in it enough to make it real. I know it was a stressful thing to plan and organize, and I know that in the aftermath of the event, they are exhausted and crispy around the edges, but I hope that when the smoke clears and the counting's done, the enthusiasm of the builders, makers, vendors, volunteers, and paying patrons will motivate them to let it happen again.

R: The Robot Group. These are the folks who brought the crazy spin-art machine for everyone to play with. Very nice folks, lots of fun, and very patient with science noobs. http://wiki.therobotgroup.org/wiki/Main_Page

S: Science! Have I mentioned the science? Robots, blinky lights, tubes and wires, dry ice, liquid nitrogen, Tesla Coils...this was hands-on learning at its finest and most fun.

T: TESLA! Portrayed by Edwin Wise, a real-life mad scientist, improv artist, locally famous gore-maker, avid past participant in Scare for a Cure and dedicated ladies' man. A true renaissance gentleman. He and Daniel took joy in bringing science goodies to actor rehearsals. He brought his small Tesla Coil and we fired it up in the back yard; the following week, Daniel brought a Van de Graaf generator. The two scientists worked and played very well together, and it was almost a shame that Tesla won the Showdown, because they were both just awesome.

U: Unobtainium. More than a few tents in a cow pasture in the middle of Nowhere, TX, this was a community of people who came together to make something happen. Everyone who visited added their own energy to the whole. It was an amazing, amazing event. Not a place, a feeling, a brief step out of time into a world we made real. I want to do it again!

V: is for VIP! The VIP area was flowing with complimentary drinks and the most tasty bites of yummy things. Thai coconut soup, figs, tiny cheesecake bites, melon wrapped in prosciutto, I could go on and on. I hear there was a VIP supper as well, but I completely missed it. boo to that. Unstable chronological elements in play, what can ya do? There was lovely beer from our local Independence brewery and absinthe purveyors Tenneyson were on hand dishing out the Sazeracs as well.

W: Wind. There was a cold front trying to blow in all weekend, which didn't arrive til Sunday night. We had tickets and envelopes blowing around at the Ticket booth, until Holly found us a lot of rocks. The stage was a little wild at times, too. Apparently just being a few more feet above the ground raised the wind gusts even more. We all coped as we could, and at least the wind kept things a little cooler than they might have been otherwise.

X: X rated OK, I've got nothing for this, except I heard there was nudity out in the camping area.

Y: Yearly! This was the first, and from the sounds of it, the ONLY Showdown at Unobtainium event that will ever be. I would love to see this become an annual festival, featuring quasi-historical characters portraying history as it should have been, science and art pointing the way to the future as we'd like it to be.

Z: Zeitgeist I had to hunt for a Z word, and I think I found the perfect one: the spirit, attitude, or general outlook of a specific time or period. Pretty much sums it up. Art, science, do-it-yourself-ness, re-purpose, re-cyle, community spirit, and fantastic costumes. The spirit of Unobtainium, a moment in time, more precious for having been short and intense, and leaving us all wanting more Art, Science, and Beauty in our daily lives.

Natural Magic Open House( Read more... )

&/or

Midsummer in Motion( Read more... )

OK, I got me an idear. Based on the Free Hugs movement.

Signage: "It's going to be OK," "Love not fear" and "Hugs are still free" and things like that. (As tempting as "Jump, Fuckers" may be...that's not what I wanna do here.)

People: Clean, friendly, un-creepy. Lots and lots and LOTS of people.

Where: I think out front of the Capital, but I dont wanna get arrested, so I'm up for suggestions. Campus?

When: Dunno. Ideas? Maybe the first day of early voting, and give out info about early voting as a sideline?

 

Yesterday was good. I got up as early as I would have for Yoga,
because my aunt invited me to go up to their land with them on
Saturday when I cancelled my hiking plans due to the forecast for
rain and ick all day.

We drove up to the land, my uncle & aunt & mom & me, stopping in
Llano along the way to see the bald eagle nest. Apparently there had
been a news story on the eagles while Mom was in Houston and she
wanted to see them. It was misty and cool, but we did see one eagle
sitting on the nest. Then we drove into Llano for a restroom break
and a snack at Dairy Queen, and when we passed by again, there was
another eagle sitting on a tree near the nest. It was very cool to
see.

Then we went out to the land & my aunt put out more stuff near their
automatic feeder, and my uncle and I planted some trees, and then we
went to lunch in Marble Falls at the Blue Bonnet. It was yummy. They
have pies with about half a foot of meringue on top. So of course I
had to have a piece of lemon meringue for dessert.

Despite the icky weather, I actually didn't mind being outside (I
usually don't like to be outside when it's raining and cold--my
glasses get icky and I can't see and hate stepping in mud)

We got home around 6, and I stopped by the PO box and then went to
Walgreens and got one of those black 'do rags' and some fake
fingernails with white tips and silver flowers on them.

Then I went home & started getting ready for The Dark Goddess Ball.

I did the tribal makeup with the spirit-gummed gems over my eyebrows,
and did a turban with my new scarf, pinning and draping jewels and
whatnot around the top after it was wrapped & tied.

I got there right at 9, and walked arond for about an hour, kind of
feeling bored and abandoned. I figured at least onyxlynxx would be
there, with her passion for being early, but no. Bonnie Cullum said I
looked Gorgeous, but I didn't join the costume contest. There was a
tent by the door where you could buy wishing coins and sign up for
photographs with your favorite goddess and tarot readings. The box
office desk was called 'the crossroads' and that's where you voted
for the costume contest, and could sign up for photos and tarot
readings there, too. The stage in the yard was set up with a 3 tiered
altar with lots of shells and candles on it, there was a fire ring
with chairs around, and then the little storage building or whatever
off to the right of the altar was where the tarot readings were being
done. In the theatre, the bar area was for drinking & socializing,
there was a small stage where people were playing, and off near the
back was a throne with photo reflectors/umbrella thingies for the
photos with the goddess. The theatre space was painted with a big
shell on the floor, there were lights and bubbles, and a DJ, and
around the edges were all the items for the silent auction. I ended
up bidding on a $60 Vivo gift certificate (I think my bid was $25)
and also on a tasting and food pairing for 12 at Texas Hills
Vineyard, value $250. I bid $65. That would be awesome to win!

Nikiyoy  finally showed up, in a black corset and black skirt and her
clear high heels, with a coin necklace & handflower, and a little
blue and green beaded headpiece with little snakes in her hair. A
while later, onyxlynxx, Maggiemaepisces, and onyxlynxx's friend Belinda(beli) got there.
It was great to see everyone.

The fire dancing was cool.

I hate to say it, because the rest of the night was so wonderful, and
it was so great to people-watch, but here is the highlight of my
evening. I was going with Niki into the theatre to look at silent
auction stuff, and there, standing in the bubbles falling near the
doorway, was AARON M--my 8th-11th grade crush!!! I
said "Aaron?" and he turned and looked at me without a bit of
recognition. I said "We went to high school together. I had a giant
crush on you from 8th to 11th grade"...the lady he was with was so
amused and entertained by this. He asked if we'd had any classes
together but I couldn't remember anything other than drama in 8th
grade. He tried to remember me, but I could tell he didn't. That's
OK. We talked in short intervals during the rest of the night, and he
told me I looked amazing, that the state job had obviously not
destroyed my soul if I could still come up with an outfit like the
one I was wearing, and finally as Niki and I were leaving to see
Damond at his hotel room, that if I'd looked anything in HS like I
looked now, that he was damn sorry he missed me. WOW.

His life: he got married about a year ago (to the beautiful woman
whom I eventually recognized as an actress in several Vortex
performances), he used to work in the dental profession but got sick
of it, had a motorcycle wreck and was recently back to being able to
walk without a cane (WOW!!), and that he is thinking about getting
back to school & becoming a pharmacist.

Too cool. :)

Niki and I went to Damond's room where he had 2 friends (one with
kid) visiting, watching cartoons on his laptop. After they left, we
went to the hot tub and sat and visited until somethingl ike 3 a.m.,
then Niki drove me back to my car.

It was a great great evening. Goddess, Universe, thank you so much.

 

I've been reading contentlove's LJ. She's been in a couple of the
dark goddess shows at the vortex, and I've seen her at the OTO temple
as well, she's pretty awesome. I've met her in person once, too.
Thomasrhymer took me to a party after one of the OTO shows. I
don't really like her as a person, she's very overpowering &
quite 'yankee'. but as a performer and an avatar of the goddess, yes
yes yes. And her LJ is amazing.

One of the people who saw the show wrote about it in her LJ, was
dividing up the goddess actions into masculine/feminine, bla bla, and
said something about procreation being womanly or something,

contentlove commented:

I would seriously disagree with the idea that by dropping maternity,
a woman/goddess or energy in general reverts to masculinity as a
default. Maternity is but one aspect of the womanhood. A woman who
doesn't reproduce because she can't, won't, or simply doesn't want to
is not, imo, unfeminine. She should be cause for us to redefine our
sense of what the word "feminine" really means in practice.

how much does that RAWK!?!?

 

Saturday, I got to work on my faire favors: index
cards with pins in them, all with stickers & candy &
"Happy Birthday E!" all over them. People wear them
like corsages--this was a big trend in Middle school,
where the girls couldn't afford flower corsages for
their b-days.

Saturday afternoon, I went with L & B to see
their new property--15 acres near Marble Falls, TX,
very nice. Lots of big trees, deer & stuff. Then we
went to Boerne & saw my cousin B's play: he was
Petruchio in "Taming of the Shrew". I don't really
like that play, but B did an excellent job. The
other kids, too. They actually understood what they
were saying, which was cool. I hate to see kids doing
Shakespeare and just doing the lines in a monotone
because they dont' understand Elizabethan English.
After the play, we went to an eminently mediocre
mexican food place and by the end of the evening, B
& I had plans to go to Faire together this weekend,
and his little friend Quentin invited himself along. I
made fun of Quentin quite a bit, it was fun. He was
all 'alterna-kid' and I tooled on him for his eyebrow
peircing & his doggie choke-chain he was wearing & his
whole 'teen angst aura' thang....it was a hoot.

Sunday was more work on faire favors--they're DONE
THANK GOD! and then the gym. I popped by Dreckmore's
event, took pictures of the horses & their feet &
flanks & stuff. Mirage's hooves are so bad. UB
says she's 3 farrier visits behind on her hoof
maintenance. I was only there for an hour and a half,
and in that time I saw Mirage chip a big piece out of
her front right hoof. Apparently if they don't get
trimmed frequently, they can end up splitting right up
to the quick. Imagine that happening to your nail, and
then imagine that your fingernail covers your whole
hand or foot, and that is the kind of pain and misery
UB is setting her horse up for by not taking care of
her feet. I was so disgusted. And she was talking
about what to do with her first paycheck from the
security guard gig--call the farrier or go to
Scarborough? Gee...what a decision. Take care of an
animal who depends on you totally for her health &
well-being OR selfishly indulge your whims? Hm.

I know she'll probably end up going to Scarby, so I
attempted to discuss caravaning, carpooling, etc, but
she kept interrupting with stories that were either
about the time she went to scarby umpty-ump years ago,
OR completely unrelated to scarby at all...so
eventually I gave up. If she goes, she goes, if I see
her, I see her. I am not going to waste any more time
trying to get in a word edgewise with that nutter.

OH! Other news: Sunshine might end up coming with us
to faire on Saturday, too. Me, Sweetie, and 3 teenage boys
in my car. woo! Oh, yeah, and maybe my friend
Stephanie. Hmm...wonder how that's gonna work??

Anyhoo...that was my weekend. We're due for a cold
front Tuesday evening. Hopefully that will keep things
cool for my bday at Scarby :)

XO!

=E