Weekend update
Jun. 28th, 2004 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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rickthefightguy is well and truly married. Huzzah!
Travel was largely uneventful. I fly rarely enough that I still get a kick out of looking out the window. Especially during take-off and landings, when scale is changing so rapidly. On the trip out, I saw an island off Boston that had the outlines of an 18th century star-fortress still clearly visible. Neat!
Airports, on the other hand, not so fun. The food court at logan had three or four different food places offering sandwiches. But for some reason, they all had the *same* sandwiches! Most peculiar. Saw something I'd never seen before: a Staples vending machine. Didn't have time to look at it closely, but it seemed to be full of "office supplies that you forgot but desperately need for that business meeting you're flying to".
Was picked up at O'Hare byjamey1138, and his girlfriend. She asked what I did for a living, and we ended up geeking about game design for most of the trip. Also, I noticed a cool CD in the car, that I will no doubt have to get a copy of myself, eventually: Raymond Scott - Reckless Nights & Turkish Twilights. He was a jazz musician of the late 30's, best known today because of the extensive "sampling" of his music in classic Warner Brothers cartoons. I was somewhat disappointed in "The Carl Stalling Project", which featured actual cartoon soundtracks, because when separated from their visual/story context, they didn't work so well as plain music. But the source material by Scott doesn't have that problem. Good stuff.
Hooked up with Rick at his hotel, where he and his friends were watching the last half hour or so of The Enemy Below. I knew of this movie as the source material for the classic Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror", but the film is *much* better. Should be of great appeal to war gamers, as it depicts two *extremely* skilled tacticians in a masterful fight to the finish. If not for the dramatic demand that the Germans (note - *not* Nazis) have to lose, the battle really looks like it could have go either way, right up till the end. After the movie, some more friends brought out an X-Box, for a few rounds of Halo before getting ready :-)
Got a ride over to the site early, with one of the folks who was helping set up, so I got to spend a good while poking about and exploring. The wedding was held in the Rialto Theatre in Joliet, which is a prime example of "huge 1920's theater palace". Huge double-dome ceilings, marble pillars, sweeping staircases, mirrors, chandeliers, statuary, bas relief allegorical figures, and gilt, gilt, gilt. Mara put it very pithily: "The designers of this place thought that Versailles was a good start, but too sedate." Apparently, Carin was trying to resist the allure of the venue, when Rick realized that he had actually performed there once, so it was clearly Meant To Be.
[While poking around, I found were clearly some antique brass control panels. What was less clear was what, exactly, they were meant to control. The upper one had: one large green light; 4 sets of two rows of lights each numbered from 0-9; six large buttons on the bottom (mostly beneath the 4 sets of lights, but with two "extras"). The lower one looked sort of like a set of apartment building buzzers. Two small rown of buttons, with spaces toinsert labels next to them. At the upper right of that panel was a level, whichjducouer pointed out was, from its shape, probably meant to have a tasselled pull attached to it. We came up with some theories of the intended function(s), but nothing terrily convincing.]
There was some good shtick of "wedding as performance". The marquee of the theater said "One Night Only - The Wedding of Carin and Richard!" They had someone manning the box office, handing out tickets (which had seating arrangements on them), and there were programs, in the style of Playbill.
The ceremony itself was quite sweet, if rather traditional for my tastes. I got to take part in it, in pretty much exactly the right quantity, which was excellent. I got to get up and do a short reading, but didn't have to put up with all the hoo-hah associated with being a formal member of the wedding party :-) The piece was:herooftheage said, "I can't believe he screwed up the violence part!"
Rick and Carin were both gorgeous, calm, and radiantly happy throughout. Marriage looks good on them :)
The reception afterwards was fun. I was at the "geek table" withjducouer. new_man and mermaidlady were at the "sharp-dressed table", quite appropriately; mermaidlady looked even more glamorous than she is usually wont to do for such affairs. hungrytiger, isisofcool and their little one were relegated to the "parents with infants" table, whch was, I suppose, a blessing for the rest of the hall. The toasts were good, if perhaps protracted. There was a bit of warfare between the "people who like to clink the glasses to make the bride and groom kiss", and the wedding party, which appeared opposed to such shenanigans. So the deal was, every time the classes-clinkers started up, yet another member of the wedding party would get up to make a pre-emptive toast. It got pretty silly by the end.
During the dancing, much of "the Boston crowd" hung out and talked LARP. Newest silly idea: LARP based on the songs of Queen. At one point, Abby and Justin were discussing the different ways in which players interact with props, and the various ways that "real" props get interpreted by players. I commented that I must have been hanging out withkestrell too much, as that sounded like a really good topic for a semiotics paper :-)
I didn't take an early opportunty for a ride back to the hotel from Vis and Mara, and hence ended up staying until I was pretty dead on my feet. But I eventually got a ride back from Justin, and passed out. Mostly. Fie upon thin hotel walls. Next morning, Justin also gave me a lift back to O'Hare. En route, we mostly talked about classic SF (during the trip, I had finished re-reading the novels that are up for the 1953 retro-Hugos, more about that anon).
Got home, still pretty dead on my feet, and collapsed on the sofa.43duckies was visiting kestrell, and they regaled me with many stories from Buttery Birthday. Then came the obligatory showing of the Buffy Musical. Good thing I picked up that disc-cleaning device; given how often that disc is being popped in and out of the machine, I expect scratches before much longer... After she left, I played DC2 for a few hours, then had some dinner, some sweetie-cuddle-time, then passed out. Woke feeling rested. That brings us pretty much up to date!
rickthefightguy is well and truly married. Huzzah!Travel was largely uneventful. I fly rarely enough that I still get a kick out of looking out the window. Especially during take-off and landings, when scale is changing so rapidly. On the trip out, I saw an island off Boston that had the outlines of an 18th century star-fortress still clearly visible. Neat!
Airports, on the other hand, not so fun. The food court at logan had three or four different food places offering sandwiches. But for some reason, they all had the *same* sandwiches! Most peculiar. Saw something I'd never seen before: a Staples vending machine. Didn't have time to look at it closely, but it seemed to be full of "office supplies that you forgot but desperately need for that business meeting you're flying to".
Was picked up at O'Hare by
jamey1138, and his girlfriend. She asked what I did for a living, and we ended up geeking about game design for most of the trip. Also, I noticed a cool CD in the car, that I will no doubt have to get a copy of myself, eventually: Raymond Scott - Reckless Nights & Turkish Twilights. He was a jazz musician of the late 30's, best known today because of the extensive "sampling" of his music in classic Warner Brothers cartoons. I was somewhat disappointed in "The Carl Stalling Project", which featured actual cartoon soundtracks, because when separated from their visual/story context, they didn't work so well as plain music. But the source material by Scott doesn't have that problem. Good stuff.Hooked up with Rick at his hotel, where he and his friends were watching the last half hour or so of The Enemy Below. I knew of this movie as the source material for the classic Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror", but the film is *much* better. Should be of great appeal to war gamers, as it depicts two *extremely* skilled tacticians in a masterful fight to the finish. If not for the dramatic demand that the Germans (note - *not* Nazis) have to lose, the battle really looks like it could have go either way, right up till the end. After the movie, some more friends brought out an X-Box, for a few rounds of Halo before getting ready :-)
Got a ride over to the site early, with one of the folks who was helping set up, so I got to spend a good while poking about and exploring. The wedding was held in the Rialto Theatre in Joliet, which is a prime example of "huge 1920's theater palace". Huge double-dome ceilings, marble pillars, sweeping staircases, mirrors, chandeliers, statuary, bas relief allegorical figures, and gilt, gilt, gilt. Mara put it very pithily: "The designers of this place thought that Versailles was a good start, but too sedate." Apparently, Carin was trying to resist the allure of the venue, when Rick realized that he had actually performed there once, so it was clearly Meant To Be.
[While poking around, I found were clearly some antique brass control panels. What was less clear was what, exactly, they were meant to control. The upper one had: one large green light; 4 sets of two rows of lights each numbered from 0-9; six large buttons on the bottom (mostly beneath the 4 sets of lights, but with two "extras"). The lower one looked sort of like a set of apartment building buzzers. Two small rown of buttons, with spaces toinsert labels next to them. At the upper right of that panel was a level, which
jducouer pointed out was, from its shape, probably meant to have a tasselled pull attached to it. We came up with some theories of the intended function(s), but nothing terrily convincing.]There was some good shtick of "wedding as performance". The marquee of the theater said "One Night Only - The Wedding of Carin and Richard!" They had someone manning the box office, handing out tickets (which had seating arrangements on them), and there were programs, in the style of Playbill.
The ceremony itself was quite sweet, if rather traditional for my tastes. I got to take part in it, in pretty much exactly the right quantity, which was excellent. I got to get up and do a short reading, but didn't have to put up with all the hoo-hah associated with being a formal member of the wedding party :-) The piece was:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophesy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. And now abideth faith, hope, and love these three, but the greatest of these is love.Several people came up to me afterwards and complimented me on the performance, so some nice egoboo there. Rick got a laugh out of the whole hall with a perfectly-timed look a few seconds after the "speak now or forever hold your peace" bit produced no response :-) The "breaking of the glass" took a couple tries, and scattered some shards, despite Rick having practiced with a spare glass before hand. As
herooftheage said, "I can't believe he screwed up the violence part!"Rick and Carin were both gorgeous, calm, and radiantly happy throughout. Marriage looks good on them :)
The reception afterwards was fun. I was at the "geek table" with
jducouer. new_man and mermaidlady were at the "sharp-dressed table", quite appropriately; mermaidlady looked even more glamorous than she is usually wont to do for such affairs. hungrytiger, isisofcool and their little one were relegated to the "parents with infants" table, whch was, I suppose, a blessing for the rest of the hall. The toasts were good, if perhaps protracted. There was a bit of warfare between the "people who like to clink the glasses to make the bride and groom kiss", and the wedding party, which appeared opposed to such shenanigans. So the deal was, every time the classes-clinkers started up, yet another member of the wedding party would get up to make a pre-emptive toast. It got pretty silly by the end.During the dancing, much of "the Boston crowd" hung out and talked LARP. Newest silly idea: LARP based on the songs of Queen. At one point, Abby and Justin were discussing the different ways in which players interact with props, and the various ways that "real" props get interpreted by players. I commented that I must have been hanging out with
kestrell too much, as that sounded like a really good topic for a semiotics paper :-)I didn't take an early opportunty for a ride back to the hotel from Vis and Mara, and hence ended up staying until I was pretty dead on my feet. But I eventually got a ride back from Justin, and passed out. Mostly. Fie upon thin hotel walls. Next morning, Justin also gave me a lift back to O'Hare. En route, we mostly talked about classic SF (during the trip, I had finished re-reading the novels that are up for the 1953 retro-Hugos, more about that anon).
Got home, still pretty dead on my feet, and collapsed on the sofa.
43duckies was visiting kestrell, and they regaled me with many stories from Buttery Birthday. Then came the obligatory showing of the Buffy Musical. Good thing I picked up that disc-cleaning device; given how often that disc is being popped in and out of the machine, I expect scratches before much longer... After she left, I played DC2 for a few hours, then had some dinner, some sweetie-cuddle-time, then passed out. Woke feeling rested. That brings us pretty much up to date!