Vakkotaur

I've made MFF for the last few years. This year I'm not sure I will. It's not that I don't want to go. I would like to go. It's that being able to afford it is in question. The expense of the entry fee is not a big deal, but time off for travel (money not being made), motorfuel, hotel costs (that's the big one), food costs, and yes the incidentals of Artist's Alley and the Dealer's Den (or whatever name those things are given) all add up to probably too much. And that doesn't include ACME supplies.

I'm not counting it out completely, just yet. We do have a room reserved at the main hotel since if I/we do go, I want to be in the main hotel for the ease of fursuiting issues. But if you were expecting me and Orvan to be there, don't count on it. I'd like to have other news, but given the state of the economy and its unlikelihood of changing for the better anytime soon, this is the news I have.

I don't have much hope for making RCFM at the moment, either, alas. I hope to somehow manage to make Penguicon.

That said, there is always the slim chance of things working out. Thus the following poll. I will not make any promises since if I make no promises then there are no promises to break.

( Advise ACME )

The ACME Delivery gallery for
MFF 2008 is finally up. The ACME Delivery Products page has also been updated. If you are in any of the photos (or suspect you might be in a photo I didn't use on the ACME site) and want the unedited original(s) of those, let me know and I can get them to you.

( The deliveries. )

The first ACME Deliveries of a few years ago were fairly minor things. Hopefully memorable and amusing to the recipient and hopefully anyone else around would get a chuckle or smile out of it. Most ACME Deliveries are like that. But a few stand out.

* At Penguicon 5 Orvan didn't find security guy Bruce Schneier and so Matt Arnold wound up with the security guy's keys at Closing Ceremonies.

* At MFF 2007 Uncle Kage got ACME wine, some of it from Iowa and bottled in a screw-top plastic bottle.

* At Penguicon 6 Jer Lance received a physically real F-bomb. (And I got a cookie!)

And at MFF 2008 2 the Ranting Gryphon... well, for those not familiar with the story, perhaps it's best to fill in some details first. Earlier this year 2 was at an event in London and not everything went right, to put it mildly. Somewhere along the line, he was drugged. The consensus of the emergency workers who dealt with him was that it was most likely some sort of date rape drug. 2 posted about this incident a few times: here, here and here.

If you haven't read that last link, please go at least skim it. Seeing that 2 was taking it so well, a delivery idea occurred to me. But even though 2 was taking it well and all, I wasn't sure of things. I sent a message to Uncle Kage about it and got a reply that didn't say anything about the delivery contents, just to be mighty careful not to mess up 2's show timing with an interruption. I had hoped to do the delivery just before or just after his show, but I thought it over some more.

And then I did something I hadn't done before: I informed the recipient of ACME's plans and asked if it was something that should best be done at a specific time or if it should be forgotten. I was expecting to be told to do the delivery right before or right after 2's show. I was half expecting to be told to forget it. I was not expecting the reply I got, which was to change the contents, "going all the way" - and then deliver it in the middle of the show.

If you were there, you saw the gag and all the stuff that 2 and another did around the delivery to make it much funnier than a simple delivery ox could have done. If you were not there, the delivery happened during a specific segment that was cleared for the delivery, 2 signed for the parcel and took it and then left it alone for a while. As Orvan walked off, his job finished, 2 made some remarks about the ox and then went on with the segment.

At the end of that segment a character appeared on stage and worked around the parcel, eventually indicating that it was from him and 2 should open it. When he did, he eventually revealed a 2 Liter bottle with a big yellow label that read "DATE RAPE DRUG." From what I recall the audience reaction was a fraction of second of a weird silence or worried reaction of the "My God, he didn't..." or "The hell?" followed immediately by at least chuckling as the "hey, it's a joke" thought processed. I don't have any of the photos Jay took at MFF ready yet, but nikolai_miko posted this one to flickr.

There was a bit more to it that I didn't see, but did hear, and then 2 started talking about his London experience. And drinking from the bottle (which of course had only water in it). I was later told that 2 drank most of the bottle through the rest of his show.

Let me update my list:

* At MFF 2008, 2 the Ranting Gryphon got a big bottle labeled DATE RAPE DRUG.

As you read above, it was all coordinated and from what I could tell went off very well. While I hope every delivery is memorable to the recipient, I think this one is the one that stands out for me and probably many others. I really must thank 2_gryphon for not only going along with the delivery, but also making it so much more than I had hoped for. I was also way too amused by seeing that bottle sitting in the fridge for a few days before MFF. As for the original delivery idea, I'm not saying what it was for a good reason. I think it might still get used for someone else. Mwahahaha!

I suppose I ought to ask, "Did anyone get video of all of it?" But there's only a segment or so that I'm really interested in, and would like to put up om the ACME Delivery site assuming permission was obtained from various parties.

I've been preparing for MFF for a while. I will be there. Orvan will be there, doing stuff for ACME again. I still have a bit more to do, but I have a couple days yet and expect we (Jay & I) will be leaving for MFF early Thursday and arrive that afternoon, possibly even with a bit of daylight left. After that, plans (that don't involve ACME) aren't very specific.

Anything anyone thinks I ought to be aware of?

Ever see what happened with that Crave Case? In case you missed it, start here. Saying Stego seemed to enjoy the delivery seems something of an understatement. I've been told he actually packed all the mallow-burgers and mallow-fries and took them home with him. That unnerves me some.

I had one more mallow-burger left than originally fit into the Crave Case. After MFF, jmaynard and I gave it a try. We each took half... and each ate less than a quarter of it before tossing the remainder.

This isn't so much about MFF but my dealing with things. I had a generally good time, but I felt like I was missing a few things or at least didn't have as much time to just do whatever. The same is true for Orvan. No, it's more true for Orvan. With three candy runs and sixteen deliveries that didn't all go to easily-found folks Orvan spent most of his time "working" or trying to. This seemed odd as Orvan seemed to do better at Penguicon and LibertyCon than at MFF.

Part of that might be that it was generally easier to find folks at Penguicon and LibertyCon, or it was more likely to have a guide. Also, at LibertyCon I didn't feel like I was missing anything. I probably did miss some great panels, but it didn't feel like it to me. I think I need to limit the amount of deliveries Orvan does at any given event, or perhaps make sure that he has guides to the folks he does deliveries to. At least a couple of the Saturday deliveries were a real pain to handle solo since I didn't know the recipient enough to spot as Orvan - and Jay didn't know them either so if he had been around it wouldn't have helped. I don't want to limit too much, and I certainly don't want to turn away anyone if they have an item they want Orvan to deliver under the ACME name. That's why I have some extra bags and boxes and packing material: I can do some ACME prep at a con if need be. But I also would like to have time, at furry cons anyway, to be in suit and "off the clock." So I will continue to try to get things done before Sunday. I thought that that arrangement worked out well at RCFM. There was still a Sunday delivery or two, but things were arranged well.

Another thing is that I have to limit the amount of candy if I do that bit. Whether it's "EAT CANDY NOT CATTLE" for a furry con or "COURTESY OF ACME" for a non-furry con (so as not to be mistaken for an actual protester) the shtick really only needs to happen once per convention. Having just a little extra might be a good idea, as I do occasionally get asked about it by someone who missed it, but that doesn't need to be very much.

I have to be careful as this MFF was starting to lurch into the realm of AnthroCon Disease: Too much time spent looking for people. It says something that the time I spent gophering was actually a somewhat relaxing down-time. Oh, I was active and all, but it was break from other things. At least I can regulate what all Orvan has to do. Or maybe in 2009, depending on how 2008 goes (including how well MFF debugs its security) it'll be time to swap out MFF for some other, smaller convention. Unfortunately they all seem to be more distant and even less conveniently timed.

On the good side, expanding beyond the folks I know does seem to work. It means anybody might get a delivery, not just people I know or who know me (or Orvan). ACME's reputation seems to be improving, too. Orvan still gets asked, "Will it blow up?" but at least a couple people looked at the signature sheets and expressed disappointment, rather than relief, that they weren't getting an ACME delivery. I do need more co-conspirators, however. There will likely be a post or poll about that sometime soon.

Posing for artists, that is. I had expressed interest in posing in fursuit for a figure drawing panel and film2edit suggested I do that at the Sunday session. This is something that I just plain missed at RCFM this year and finally got to do. I was running a bit late or very nearly so, but it seems I (or Orvan) got there just as things were about to start.

Again there were multiple models and we could switch between posing and relaxing a bit. A couple fans helped. Even with the fans available things could get hot as there wasn't all that much movement. Between the heat buildup and some of the oddness of some of the "action" poses (one was Orvan charging someone, though that someone had him by the horns) the result was that I found it much more difficult than the event the night before. Even so, I'd still do it again. I would, however, not be offended or disappointed if I found out that I wasn't needed for such a thing due to others fulfilling the need. At least if I knew beforehand. If I got in suit just for that and then was turned away, that might irk me a bit. I doubt anyone would be turned away, though.

I know there were photos taken of the various poses, but I have no idea who took them or where they might be. I want to see them myself.

After about a week away from home, jmaynard and I are back. We went to MFF and all that that included (okkay, not all, we couldn't be everywhere there), visited with altivo afterward, went to the EAA museum in Oshkosh, spent Thanksgiving with my folks and had a bit of Christmas early as well, and then came home.

I'll have more to post about various things, but right now I'm recovering and catching up on things. While the car is unloaded, I haven't even really started unpacking yet.

Generally when I've gone to a furcon that kinkyturtle has also attended, I find myself looking at his cartoon diary of the event and feeling just a bit down at one point or another, due to an "Aww, I missed that." feeling about something. But that was not the case with Midwest FurFest 2006. When I looked at KT's cartoon diary of that, even though I had missed many of the things he drew, my reaction was not "Aww, I missed that." but rather, "Hey, my MFF was more fun than that!" I credit fursuitting for this change. While Orvan had only three ACME deliveries, there was also the candy shtick, and just plain wandering around and letting things happen - or instigating some. As Orvan, I am no longer merely an observer, but a participant. For me, it made a difference.

That switch changes things. Before, I was just looking and watching. I was pretty much strictly audience. And there's nothing wrong with being audience. After all, no audience, no show. Whether that "show" is written story, image artwork, puppetry, fursuit performance, or something else. It's also not just the obvious performers or artists who are participant. The folks keeping things running might not be seen much, but their absence would be felt. Someone has to do stage direction and make sure the curtain moves the right way at the right times, as just one simple and fairly obvious example.

When I was looking at some HR Pufnstuf I looked around at some other old kids shows and I started to wonder if all that planted a seed, or perhaps fertilized the ground, for a later interest in fursuitting. Most of the characters were, while live actors, full costumed characters. And even though there was a problem, as there must be a for even a simple plot, there was a general sense of fun and nothing was truly serious. Perhaps the lack of "production values" helped there - how bad can things really be when it's all so obviously fake?

I noticed this most when I watched the Mechanical Boy segment on youtube. While H.R. has lines before and after the tune, during the song itself he's silent, but not just watching. He's reacting about as much as possible to Jimmy and his singing explanation of things.

One thing I've been wondering about how others "act" in suit is if they get into the emotion being portrayed to the point that under the fursuit head, they have the facial expression for the emotion. I do. I know nobody can see it, but when Orvan is happy, I'm grinning and when Orvan is annoyed or upset, my unseen facial expression matches - though it might be strangely mixed with a grin as I am having that much fun. I expect not everyone gets that far "into" things and might be working with more detachment, not so much being the character as controlling the character like a giant walk-in puppet. And I mean no offense to any puppeteers who might get as involved in their character(s) and the character's emotions.

That nobody can see my face, or any of my skin, is a tremendous advantage to me. Sometimes when I'm physically active, or in some situation though I don't feel embarrassed at all, I will appear to blush. I can't control this, and it is bothersome. It causes people to assume that I am embarrassed when I'm not, or to figure that I am over-exerting myself when that is also not the case. It fouls up the message, as my body jams the signal my mind is trying to transmit. Being fully covered eliminates this nuisance and lets me do things as I intend, without sending misleading signals I can't really control and do not wish to send.

This sort of thing, annoyingly, is also probably why some people seem to be "creeped out" by fursuits and other costumes (clowns and mimes in full makeup, for instance) as these folks seem to believe that denying such unintended signals is less rather than more honest. They don't seem to be listening so much as watching and going, "Ah, you say that, but I know what you're really thinking." If the purpose is to be truly deceitful, then I might agree. But some people can show their faces with no covering at all and be quite deceitful indeed. If you don't believe that, go car shopping for a while. I wonder if folks who are creeped out by being obviously denied that signal are more likely to be taken in by pathological liars, as the signals they so depend on are conditioned to transmit false information. I suspect that that is the case. It might explain a bit of why some people I consider to be otherwise fairly intelligent seem to be taken in by what I consider to be blatantly obvious falsehoods.

Orvan's face might be frozen in a rather happy expression, but body language, actions, and gestures can make it plain when he isn't thrilled about things. I recall my first MFF when a happy-faced raccoon managed to look very upset and angry in reaction to something. I figure anyone in full makeup or fursuit is performing (maybe not acting, but certainly performing) and thus the traditional facial signals are not really important. It's obviously performance, opposed to the pathological liar's non-obvious performance, so the "honest face" thing doesn't really apply, even if it were true.

Midwest FurFest is approaching and ACME needs your help. Nothing big, you won't be asked to mix up stuff that might go boom or anything like that. What is needed are suggestions for parcel recipients and what those recipients should receive in said parcels.

Orvan will be delivering for ACME again at MFF.

There are ( a few guidelines. )

All followups to this post will be screened, just in case some potential recipient might be reading. I'd like it to be a surprise if at all possible.

I certainly don't know everyone, so idea for folks I don't know (or maybe even not know of) would be good. ACME customers are a diverse group, right?

Generic ideas (e.g. "Chew toys for canines.") are certainly useful and I do not want to discourage those. But the main interest is to try to get things specific to a person.

So... What do you advise ACME to do?