Julie Zetterberg Sardo

nebula5@nebula5.org — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:11:21 GMT

In 2009, nebula5 resolves to...

Start a norwescon fund.
Stop costuming with operafantomet.
Learn to play the seafair.
Drink four glasses of orycon every day.
Cut down to ten star wars a day.
Pay for my snopes on time.

Seattle in 2011 Bid

nebula5@nebula5.org — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:17:33 GMT

Even though I pre-supported the Reno bid, I'm very sorry to hear that the Seattle committee had to pull out of bidding for the 2011 Worldcon. We would have been happy to attend a Worldcon in either city; obviously Seattle would have been much more convenient, and probably cheaper (at least as far as travel costs) for us. Still, from what I knew I believed that the Reno group would be the better choice, and I'm sorry they aren't able to win the bid fair and square on an even playing field. It's particularly annoying since the last time Seattle tried to get a Worldcon, the same thing (loss of their primary venue) knocked them out almost at the finish line as well.

Oh, well. Best of luck to both committees, and now on to (presumably) Reno.

Venice - Carnevale, just a few weeks away!

nebula5@nebula5.org — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:21:01 GMT

Life has been very interesting lately. I won't go into details other than that I am now completely unemployed, and I can't seriously start looking for work until we return from Venice (although if you know of something, let me know). And since I hadn't posted for a while, I thought I'd start providing some progress reports.

I had hoped to make myself something new to wear, even bought the fabric to make something fairly simple, but I don't think that's going to happen. Fortunately, I have in my wardrobe two outfits that just needed some tweaking, so I'm working on those.

First is the 'harlequin' dress that's on my homepage. I originally made it for a Somewhere In Time, Unlimited event with a Carnival in Venice theme; don't recall the year but it was probably about twelve years ago. The dress was made from serged-together diamonds cut mostly from scraps and remnants, many of those from the Map Dress that's in The Costume-Maker's Art. I haven't worn it that many times, and it's still in good shape although I need to re-block the hat, make a new mask, and find a new wig. And there are other changes to be made, described below.

The other is the dress I wore in our Carnevale on Mars presentation at Millennium Philcon in 2001. I'm second from the left, and yes, that bodice was based on the harlequin one. I need to find a different wig and make a new headdress. The original, seen in one of my alternate avatar photos, was duct-taped together at the last minute. I may add some additional trim to the bodice and skirt. I also need to open some pocket slits on the skirt; I've already made a set of pockets.

The second dress was made to fit over a large oval hoop skirt; the first over a smaller set of panniers. I tried the large dress on over the small hoops, and it looked very sad and limp - it really needs the larger hoop. So, in order to avoid packing two sets of hoops, I'm re-making the skirt of the harlequin dress so it will fit over the larger hoop! I had saved all the leftover diamonds I had cut, and bought some additional fabric to match some of the other colors. I've serged nearly enough together to do the remodel so that should be finished this week.

I've also made a fur muff with pockets inside, and plan to make a short reversible water-repellent cape.

Greg will also be packing two outfits. The first one is his Eric of Amber costume from the Trumps of Amber presentation we were part of at Torcon. We're going to shorten the cape so it doesn't drag, and make a hat (we're thinking something "Q-like" with a high cap and a drape, but we're still working on it. He won't have the sword, wig or beard/mustache this time, but he will have a mask, one of the real Venetian ones I got for the Carnevale on Mars group, but with a new paint job. I've been gessoing and sanding it all week so I think it's ready to paint.

He's also going to have a new 18th century outfit, modest but elegant, made up from the Simplicity "Captain Jack Sparrow" pattern, with the pants and vest in brown wool and the jacket in a burgundy/rose/brown narrow striped wool. I'm using my embroidery machine to embellish the vest and jacket. The vest is done except for hand work, and I've fitted a muslin for the jacket so that's ready to get underway. I bought him a brown tricorn hat for our anniversary last month, and a pretty burgundy/rose ostrich plume.

And, since we just got a new camera a couple of days ago, so when I learn how to use it I'll try to take and post some progress photos. We'll certainly be taking plenty when we get to Italy!

And now, back to sewing.

Bayberry Candles at Christmas

nebula5@nebula5.org — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:17:22 GMT

To me, bayberry is one of the fragrances that brings back Christmas memories. One of our old family traditions was the burning of bayberry taper candles on Christmas eve. We always had a pair of them in candle holders on the mantle or dining room table during the holidays.

My mom used to try to light them late enough on Christmas eve so that they would burn straight through until Christmas, but early enough so that she/we didn't have to stay up too long after midnight to make sure they burned all the way down safely (sometime she'd put them in the kitchen sink, away from any other combustibles, and let them burn out overnight). And they had to burn to the socket -- "A bayberry candle, burned to the socket, puts luck in the home, food in the larder, and gold in the pocket" -- according to an "old New England legend." Not sure why my family of (mostly) Minnesota Swedes would believe an old New England legend...

Anyway, even in my youth I remember it was sometimes hard for us to find real bayberry tapers, but when we did we'd stock up enough to last for a couple Christmases, just in case. And the tapers had to be made from real bayberry wax, not bayberry-scented, although in a pinch those would do. I remember one Christmas my dad got in trouble for coming home with some "holly berry" tapers, which were the closest he could find in any store.

And we always had lots of bayberry-scented votive candles in little clear and red glass holders, set on window ledges and tabletops. These weren't usually made from real bayberry wax, but the scent was still wonderful, even when they weren't lit.

I've tried to continue the tradition each Christmas. It is still difficult to find real bayberry tapers, even with the Internet; I never see them in stores (and I look, year-round). And some of the on-line places that sell them are sold out very early in the season. They're more expensive than other tapers, and always have been, but I'm willing to pay a premium. A few years ago, I bought enough to last us for a few years; I've also switched to burning only one taper each year. As long as I plan ahead and buy early I think we'll be able to maintain that tradition. I've also considered buying the wax, which is available on-line, and learning to dip my own tapers, but that's a future project.

But the other issue is bayberry-scented votives or pillar candles. I used to see them every Christmas; now they're nearly impossible to find. Yes, I can find them on-line, but rarely do I see them in any stores. I have found dark green ones in "evergreen" or "holiday wreath" or "mistletoe" scent (mistletoe has a scent?) but even those are harder to find, even during the holidays. More commonly I see sage green candles that look like bayberry but are "melon" or "sea mist" or "cucumber" scented. Ew.

So my (rhetorical) question is: what's happened to bayberry? Has it gone out of fashion? Do candle makers not want to provide a supply if they think there's little demand? I say "BRING BACK BAYBERRY!"

Yma Sumac, Rest in Peace

nebula5@nebula5.org — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:35:56 GMT

I just learned that Peruvian singer Yma Sumac has died. My parents had a copy of her album (literally, an "album" of 45s in a box) "Voice of the Xtabay" and I grew up loving her astounding voice, not to mention some of her fantastic "Inca Princess" costumes. I used one of her recordings as music for my presentation "The Explorer's Surprise" in the masquerade at Norwescon's Alternacon in 1987. I've occasionally used Xtabay as a pseudonym or online handle.

She had an amazing life and career, though the precise details of both may be in dispute. Here's an obituary.

Meme lifted at random from elsewhere

nebula5@nebula5.org — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:43:06 GMT

Go to YouTube, search for the year of your birth, and then post a video from that year.

Mine: Television - It's Ready for You

Surely We're Not the Only Ones!

nebula5@nebula5.org — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:04:14 GMT

On Sunday, Greg and I were running around working on cleaning out his dad's apartment at the assisted living home (Joe Sardo passed away on May 17). We had a few other errands to do that day, but cut a couple of them short in order to make it home on time to watch the NASA channel's coverage of the Phoenix landing.

Mind you, the coverage itself isn't what you'd call 'sexy' - mostly it alternated between static shots of the JPL control room and animations of what the lander was doing at that moment, with little if any commentary. But we found it riveting and watched all the way through, and cheered along when they received good progress reports.

Since then, after a few conversations and emails, it seems that very few people I interact with on a regular basis were even remotely interested in or aware of the Phoenix landing. I can understand/accept that not everyone has access to the NASA channel, and that many people had other things going on at that time. But I'm amazed at the indifference I pick up on from my cow-orkers and casual acquaintances.

We can't be the only people we know who think Space Exploration is Way Cool!

Plus, I think the mission logo is beautiful and I must have an embroidered patch...

Name Name Bo-Bame, Bo-Nanna Fanna Fo-Fame...

nebula5@nebula5.org — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:34:59 GMT

Haiku² for nebula5
love your nickname name your middle name your middle name your first name your
@

Created by Grahame

...So I Got Carried Away...

nebula5@nebula5.org — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:08:12 GMT

A few days ago bovil posted a meme that I couldn't resist trying:

The rules:

1. Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. Then go to: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. And lastly, go to: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Then you go and make it.

My result:

And then, I found I couldn't stop. I shared the meme on the snopes message board, and the creative people there came up with some magnificent and inspiring results. So I had to do more. And more.

I finally decided to upload all of mine to my Gallery.

It helps that the random photos from flickr are nearly all stunning; it was a challenge sometimes coming up with a way to connect them (or not) to the album title and/or group. I enjoy doing graphics work, and have few opportunities to do so, in 'real' or 'personal' life. Despite the fact that I am using a very old version of Paint Shop Pro to do the work (or in the case of one, MS Publisher and MS Paint), I think some of them came out quite nice.

But I gotta stop! I have more important things to do!

Superhero Team Quiz

nebula5@nebula5.org — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:56:13 GMT

Superhero Team Quiz

LiveJournal Username

Your Primary Super Power

Cape?

Identitiy

Origin

Location of Head Quarters

Primary Costume/Uniform Colors

Why are you a Superhero?

Your Superheroic Codename

The veteran grim member of the team

corwynofamber

The sexist and crass but annoyingly effective one

johno

The bright-eyed novice or sidekick

kateyule

The teammate that will eventually go evil or insan

corwynofamber

The inept yet determined/reoccurring supervillain

dogwelder

The sinister Arch-Villain and team's greatest foe

davidlevine

The perky civilian that keeps getting kidnapped

lokheed

How often does your team actually 'save the day'?

94%

This Fun Quiz created by Shannon at BlogQuiz.Net

Weight Loss Tips at WeightLossTips.TV

NIMFY!

nebula5@nebula5.org — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:42:54 GMT

Last night about 3:40 am, Greg and I were both awakened by a rapid series of what sounded like knocks. I also heard the sound of a car driving by the house. Neither of us could recognize the cause, or even the direction where the knocking sound came from. Greg got up and did a quick tour of the upstairs and didn't see anything amiss so came back to bed.

I knew I wouldn't be getting back to sleep anytime soon, so I decided to grab a blanket and head out to the living room to watch TV and unwind. I saw the reflection of emergency lights on our street. I looked out and a few houses down I saw two sheriff's cars parked on either side of our street, and a third one blocking the street. Two officers were walking around with flashlights and marking objects on the street.

(The street isn't really curved.)

I opened the living room window (the same one I leaned out to take this series of pictures one snowy morning nearly a year ago), and tried to hear what they were saying. They stopped the car of the woman who delivers the paper just in front of the brick house on the corner (far left in the photo) and asked her not to drive any further, so she walked up our driveway and I spoke with her for a while, but we could only speculate what was going on. She had seen the sheriff's car speeding our way a short while earlier while on her route.

Then our neighbor from the yellow house directly across the street came out and spoke with the officers, and I heard them confirm what I had suspected: the knocking sounds we heard were shots being fired at a house on our street. In the photo above, it's the two-tone one to the right of the yellow house, behind the telephone pole.

We don't really know any of the neighbors on the street, except for the woman in the house next door who was living there when my parents bought this house back in 1971. So I don't know the people who were shot at, or any possible reason why they were targeted. Fortunately I didn't see any signs that anyone was hurt - no ambulances - so it may not even make the news. It's possible we'll never know more than what we heard and saw (I'm not going to knock on their door and ask!), but I just hope this is the end of it.

Anyway, I think I'm glad our bedroom is in the back of the house.

(Post edited because I had originally fingered the wrong house. Driving to work I noticed bullet holes in the front window of the correct house, which pretty much leaves no doubt. And we have observed that there appear to be one or more 'urban youts' that live in that particular house.)

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

nebula5@nebula5.org — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:01:35 GMT

Snitched from trdsf, who got it from someone else, who got it from someone else...

Use Google image search to search for following things and post 1 picture you find on the first page:

The age you will be on your next birthday
A place you'd like to travel
Your favorite place
Your favorite object
Your favorite food
Your favorite animal
Your favorite color
The town/city in which you live
The name of a past pet
The first name of a past love
Your nickname/screen name
Your first name
Your middle name
Your last name
A bad habit of yours
Your first job
Your grandmother’s name
Your major in college

The age you will be on your next birthday
A place you'd like to travel
Your favorite place
Your favorite object
Your favorite food
Your favorite animal
Your favorite color
The town/city in which you live
The name of a past pet
The first name of a past love
Your nickname/screen name
Your first name
Your middle name
Your last name
A bad habit of yours
Your first job
Your grandmother’s name

or
Your major in college

SAS Advent Calendar

nebula5@nebula5.org — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:33:44 GMT

Every December for several years, Scandinavian Air (SAS) has had an "Advent Calendar" promotion. On their website, each day you could 'open a door' to find a destination. And on that day, you could book a trip to that destination at a bargain price. On the 24th of December, all the 'doors' were open and you could book a bargain trip to any of the chosen destinations.

There were restrictions, of course; they were trying to fill their planes during the off-season. Greg and I used it to book our trip to Sweden in February 2003. I enjoyed looking every year, and even though the 'bargain' prices kept going up, it was fun to think: should we take a trip to Helsinki in January? Or Milan in February? It was also fun to read the notes about each destination, and the calendar was well-designed and entertaining.

Well, it appears as though they're not doing it this year. Nuts.

Thud.

nebula5@nebula5.org — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:59:21 GMT

Young Frankenstein opened on Broadway last night. Reviews were mixed, but seem to be mostly negative. It sounds as though any changes they made since the Seattle run did not improve the show. I suspect there are enough people who still want to see this show that the reviews won't hurt it too badly. Still. Shame. I will definitely get the cast album when it is released, and I'll wear my "Abby Normal" shirt with pride.

nebula5@nebula5.org — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:55:51 GMT

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in with? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

You are a light and humorous person. No one can help but to smile to your wit. Now if only the improbability

drive would stop turning you into weird stuff.

Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

69%

Moya (Farscape)

63%

Serenity (Firefly)

63%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

56%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

56%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

56%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

50%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

50%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

44%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

44%

SG-1 (Stargate)

38%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

25%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

13%

Avast! Today be International "Talk Like a Pirate Day"

nebula5@nebula5.org — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:11:22 GMT

If ye wants t'talk like a pirate, ye must practice until perfect:

I.

A.

O.

T.

S.

Vegas, Baby!

nebula5@nebula5.org — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:45:10 GMT

In a couple of hours we're heading to Las Vegas for a very brief vacation. Greg is turning 50(!) next week and we wanted to do something to celebrate. We originally wanted to go to Orlando but we weren't sure it would be feasible, given vacation time and finances. Then Alaska Airlines had an offer for a mid-week two-night vacation at the Stratosphere. The total cost for hotel and airfare for both of us, including taxes, came to $509.76. How could we resist? Unfortunately, Greg was unable to get any days actually near his birthday off, so we're going a week early.

This will be my first trip to Vegas, though we've talked about going for ages; Greg used to go with his parents but it's been a few years. Tonight we have tickets to see the 'Reader's Digest Condensed Version' of Phantom of the Opera (warning: site with music). I also bought tickets to Star Trek: the Experience, which is where we'll probably go tomorrow afternoon. And another must-see is the Fremont Street Experience.

Other than that, we're going to play it by ear. On the 'possible' list are the Atomic Testing Museum or the Liberace Museum. But we may just relax, hang out and see the sights of the Strip (probably do a little gambling), since this trip is so short. We fly back home on Thursday, Greg has to be at work Friday morning.

Penny for my thoughts...

nebula5@nebula5.org — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 20:10:18 GMT

We decided to go see Young Frankenstein yesterday. We knew we wanted to go, just kept putting off buying tickets. I was able to get two seats in the back, main floor, for the matinee. We had a pretty good view, though the balcony above us blocked a little.

We (along with most of the audience) had a fantastic time. It was hilariously funny, and some of the songs are quite hummable. I don't know if they'll tweak it any more before heading to Broadway; some of the production numbers seemed to me to go on a little too long, and there were one or two songs and scenes that could easily be cut or shortened without too much effort. And I'm not sure why, after remaining fairly true to the plot of the movie, they added some extraneous material in the final scenes; if they asked my advice I'd tell them to go back to the source.

The cast is fantastic. Some of them seemed to be channeling their movie counterparts, while adding their own touches to the characters. Roger Bart isn't quite as frenetic as Gene Wilder, but who could be? Christopher Fitzgerald was the perfect Igor; at times I felt he was the reincarnation of Marty Feldman. The part of Elizabeth has been expanded - not entirely successfully - but she's marvelously played by the fabulous Megan Mullally, who mugged most appropriately and got a big round of applause every time she appeared. She also gets to sing what I think is the funniest song in the show, "Deep Love". Andrea Martin's Frau Blücher (neiggghhhhhhh!!!) is a cross between Cloris Leachman and Pirini Scleroso; and that's a good thing. Inspector Kemp is played by Fred Applegate, who also plays the blind hermit; his Kemp is strangely bland, but the hermit is spot-on. Sutton Foster's portrayal of Inga doesn't have the spacy ditzyness of Teri Garr, but she's very funny, especially in her big number "Roll in the Hay" (which is my current earworm). Shuler Hensley as the Monster doesn't project as much 'monsterness' as I'd like, but he's fine, particularly in the "Puttin' on the Ritz" production number.

The costumes by William Ivey Long are fine, but not great. I thought the villagers' costumes were too elaborate (though pretty), and the ancestors' costumes were unimaginative. But Elizabeth gets some drop-dead gowns, and Frau Blücher's (neiggghhhhhhh!!!) outfits are perfectly lovely and appropriate.

Anyway, we liked it, and I can't wait for the cast album. If you can, go see it while it's in Seattle. I hope they do well on Broadway.

ETA: corwynofamber and Vicki went to the Saturday evening performance.

We'll All Be Killed!

nebula5@nebula5.org — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:44:58 GMT

For many years I've used "Tootsie Plunkette" as one of my online names. Occasionally someone will recognize the source, but every now and then I am asked to explain.

Finally, someone has posted some videos to YouTube, and threatens to post more.

See also:
More episodes here
Tush
Bill Tush

nebula5@nebula5.org — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:42:41 GMT

So, nebula5, your LiveJournal reveals...

You are... 0% unique and 7% herdlike
(partly because you, like everyone else, enjoy cheese).
When it comes to friends you are lonely. In terms of the way you relate to people, you are keen to please.

Your writing style (based on a recent public entry) is intellectual.

Your overall weirdness is: 46

(The average level of weirdness is: 27.
You are weirder than 87% of other LJers.)

Find out what your weirdness level is!

It all started with a haircut... Part 3

nebula5@nebula5.org — Wed, 23 May 2007 14:03:49 GMT

The saga of our LACon IV masquerade presentation, continued from August...
-----

Titanic Battle for World Supremacy!
We needed a human skeleton. The easy way would have been to just go on eBay and buy a plastic medical school skeleton – that’s what they did for the movie. However, it would have been 1)more money than I wanted to spend, 2)heavy and unwieldy to transport and use in the presentation, and 3)unacceptable for me as a "Master Costumer" to use a purchased skeleton.

For a while I considered making a cloth soft-sculpture skeleton. After some deep thinking, I realized that would require a lot more work than I wanted to tackle in the amount of time I had. Someone mentioned they had seen a cardboard skeleton kit; it sounded intriguing. I did some scouting around on the Internet, and ordered one. It was pretty cool! It was a package of multiple large cardboard sheets with the numbered 'bones' printed and perforated for (somewhat) easy punch-out, a package of small brass paper fasteners and other hardware, and a large book of instructions, all wordless diagrams.

I thought at first I'd punch out the bones and trace them onto Pellon and hand stitch it together, but once again this looked like way too much work. So I just followed the instructions and built the danged thing – not terribly difficult, but time-consuming, with a lot of fussy fiddly work. But eventually I got it done, and it looked pretty realistic for a bunch of cardboard pieces stuck together with paper fasteners. It was designed so that the joints were articulated just like a human skeleton, so it was going to work great for our presentation.

I modified the top of the skull with a cone-shaped piece of cardboard cut from the scraps of the kit, to emulate the lump of clay used on the original 'Skelly' to disguise the bolt on his head holding him together. The cardboard from the kit was a dark ecru, so I took him outside and gave him a few light coats of cream spray paint, and some spray-on webbing to give a hint of some texture to the bones beyond the smooth cardboard surface. I painted the insides of his nose and eye sockets black and added some details to his teeth so they looked more like the original.

I had an old unpainted wooden chair that looked sort of like the one Skelly sits in when he commands the aliens to dance. The cat had long ago shredded the original seat (I think it was covered in raffia), so I stripped that off and covered the seat frame with foam and some black fabric with dancing skeletons, just for fun. I painted the chair with a light wash of blue-green paint to make it look more like the original.

I considered all sorts of ways to get this inanimate cardboard skeleton to move around the stage. One day, I was watching the film credits and noticed a credit for "Skeletal Manipulation Crew." I decided it would be true to the spirit of our source to have a (very) visible crew moving him around. So I recruited Vicki Glover and Kathy Sanders to be our crew. I bought some bright yellow t-shirts and some iron-on lettering which I used to spell "Skeletal Manipulation Crew" on the front of each, and asked Vicki and Kathy to look like a bored unmotivated movie crew.

I strung a shiny silver ribbon from the top of Skelly's skull to the end of a dowel, which Vicki used to maneuver him around the stage. Kathy assisted by putting his skeletal hands in the Mutant’s when it came time for them to do battle, and she brought forth his chair for the climactic moments.

Skelly didn't want to sit upright in the chair without sliding off, so I made a small hook out of coat-hanger wire and stuck it up his spine (ouch)! The hook slipped over the top rung of the chair back and he would stay put like he was sitting there. However, as it turned out, during rehearsals Don found it was just as easy for him to grasp Skelly by the upper spine as the Skeletal Manipulation Crew put him in the chair, so we didn’t really use the hook during the presentation.

Next: A Mutant – that Kills for Kicks!

SAS Advent Calendar

nebula5@nebula5.org — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:11:07 GMT

It's that time of year again - the Scandinavian Air Advent Calendar has started - http://christmas.campaign.scandinavian.net/us/

Each day a new destination is revealed. During that day, you can book a bargain flight to that destination (winter travel dates), or wait to see what the next day's destination will be. Or you can wait until December 24, when all destinations will be available to book, if there are still seats available.

A few years ago, we used this offer to go to Stockholm. Unforatunately, with all the additional taxes and fees, today's offer of $199 per person RT from Seattle to Oslo (and most destinations are the same price) would end up totalling $987.42 for two people, which is probably a great deal, but unfortunately beyond our budget right now.

And make it Pirate Legos, please.

nebula5@nebula5.org — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 05:36:21 GMT

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

This year I've been busy!

In January I turned bovil in for running naked in the mall (3 points). In July davidlevine and I robbed a bank (-50 points). In October I had a shoot-out with rival gang lords on the 5 near LA (-76 points). In August I gave kajagoogoo a kidney (1000 points). In November I gave kproche a life-saving blood transfusion (50 points).

Overall, I've been nice (927 points). For Christmas I deserve a Lego set!

Sincerely,
nebula5

It all started with a haircut... Part 2

nebula5@nebula5.org — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 04:33:46 GMT

Plan 2 from Cadavra:
After the norwescon masquerade, I mentioned to some of our friends the plan that had been growing in my mind for the last few weeks of the work on our presentation: to do an expanded version including more characters from The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra at the laconiv masquerade in late August. Greg and I would repeat the roles of Kro-bar and Lattis. I asked Nels Satterlund if he wanted to be Dr. Paul Armstrong; he gulped hard and agreed. And Lynn Kingsley leaped at the chance to wear Betty Armstrong’s pink dress and white sweater.

When the first people I approached to be Dr. Roger Fleming and the Mutant decided they were not going to Worldcon, I recruited corwynofamber to be Roger, and he roped in Michael Citrak to be the Mutant. That just left Animala among the major characters to cast. After a few tries I was able to interest Qeldas Pickett in the part. She was unfamiliar with the movie but intrigued by my description of Animala.

Now, to make the rest of the costumes. And yes, though most of the movie costumes were purchased in thrift stores and on eBay, or (I suspect) pulled from the actors' own closets, for the Worldcon masquerade a Master group does not wear unmodified purchased items; we made all the garments, with the exception of Betty's white sweater.

Peg Satterlund, Nels' wife, was willing to make his costume, a white shirt and tan slacks. Lynn said she could make Betty's dress. Qeldas wasn't used to sewing stretch fabrics, so asked me to make Animala's catsuit. I also needed to make Rogers's flannel shirt, jacket, and slacks, new pants for Greg and myself (the originals being uncomfortably... snug), and the Mutant. Oh, and I needed to come up with a Skeleton.

Betty Armstrong wears a vintage pink gingham sleeveless dirndl dress. We could see from repeated viewings of the movie and blooper reel, as well as publicity stills, that there were white tufts and some sort of dots embroidered on the gingham. We just couldn't figure out what the dots were. So I returned to the Yahoo message board, and asked if anyone could help. I got a quick response from Robert Deveau, who played "The Farmer" in the film and also was the semi-official photographer. His first response was that the dots were just that – green dots – but when I pressed him, he very kindly emailed me two previously unreleased photos of Betty that clearly showed the dots were small flowers in yellow, pink, and blue, with green leaves. Eureka! I digitized a small flower with compound leaves, and a motif that could be turned into a tuft with a few snips, and set out to embroider them on Lynn's fabric with my little embroidery machine; I forget the final count, but I believe there were about 120 flowers and twice as many white tufts. When done, I returned the fabric to Lynn to make her dress. She combined a contemporary bodice pattern with the skirt from one of my vintage '50's patterns to get the proper look. I had a strawberry blonde wig I'd used for a presentation some years ago. After some shortening and styling, it was close enough to Betty's hairstyle.

Evil Dr. Roger Fleming wears a plaid flannel shirt. After repeated viewings I was able to map out the plaid pattern and colors. Unfortunately, I was unable to find an exact match for that fabric, but I found a very similar vintage flannel on eBay. It was just enough to make his shirt. None of the mainstream pattern companies currently have a bomber jacket pattern like the one Roger wears, so I had to search online and found what I wanted from MacPhee workshop. The pants fabric was also surprisingly hard to find, but at nearly the last minute I found a nice grey pantsweight fabric. I ran the jacket and shirt through a couple of washings to give them a slightly aged look; didn’t have time to do that with the pants, unfortunately.

For Animala's catsuit I found a two-way stretch black velour, and used a Kwik-Sew pattern I had on hand. Qeldas sent me her measurements and I altered the pattern to approximate her size, made the suit and sent it to her in California for a fitting. Her booties were made from a vintage slipper pattern I had in my collection. I made them from black fake fur, and lined them in a black cotton with white paw prints, too appropriate not to use! Qeldas reported that the suit was a bit loose, and long in the back causing the zipper to ripple. She took out the zipper, and pinned everything to fit, then sent it back to me. It was a challenge making the back shorter, since the front and back are cut as one piece, but I slashed the sides at the underarm, cut the upper back a little shorter, and eased the front to the back. I took all the seams in a half inch or so. This time it fit. Qeldas found some stretchy black gloves and glued acrylic nails to the tips. I bought a "Surfer Dude" wig which was styled and sprayed into Animala's style.

Meanwhile, also in California, Nels and Peg were working on Dr. Paul's stuff. Nels found an eBay auction with two Voltmeters, one nearly identical to the one used to make the original Atmosphereum finder. He acquired them, and attached an old microphone, same as the original. He also made some Atmosphereum (a sea sponge painted silver). Peg's plan was to make the shirt from white sheet material, and to re-make a large pair of pleated-front pants purchased from (I think) Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, neither plan worked to her satisfaction, so at the last minute she remade both the shirt and pants with new fabric.

Next: Titanic Battle for World Supremacy!

It all started with a haircut…

nebula5@nebula5.org — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:15:39 GMT

I told Erik Prill I'd write up something about our Worldcon Masquerade entry for the BRCG newsletter. I'm going to post it here first, however, probably in several installments.

Unlike some people, I'm unwilling to discuss the details of my costume-making adventures before any masquerade. But now that it's over, I'm spilling the beans...

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The Beginning:
Sometime back in February, I went to my usual hairdresser. I usually let her have free reign to do what she wants with my hair, and this time she gave me a very nice short wedge style cut. The next day, I happened to wear a black turtleneck to work. I glanced at a mirror on a bathroom break, and blurted out, "Rowr."

If you have seen The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, you know "rowr" is what Animala, the exotic cat-like siren who is 'made from forest animals' says. So I came up with the vaguely impractical thought of making myself an Animala costume (a slinky skintight black velour turtleneck catsuit) for Norwescon.

In doing a little Internet research, I stumbled upon the Yahoo Lost Skeleton of Cadavra message board, and signed up as a member. I soon discovered that several people associated with the movie are also members of the board and post occasionally. Among them was Cortney Skinner, who made the Mutant suit and the aliens' device, the Transmutatron. He had posted a parts list, pictures, and complete instructions on how to make a Transmutatron. I knew instantly that I had to make one for myself.

norwescon was coming up, and I started shopping hardware stores for parts. It occurred to me that I might want to make a costume to go with the Transmutatron. So along with hardware shopping I started work on making re-creations of the aliens' costumes for Greg and myself - silver satin jumpsuits trimmed with blue/silver leather embossed in a reptile pattern.

Partway through this process, I realized that the Transmutatron might be construed as a weapon (it isn't) and would need to be peace-bonded if we used it as part of a hall costume. So I decided this would be a stage presentation. But these two rather simple costumes and a Transmutatron wouldn't make for a very impressive presentation, so I decided to build the aliens' rocket.

So now I was also shopping for wood, hardware, and a 'skin' for a rocket (1" x 2" wood pieces, metal l-brackets, hinges, and screws, and silver 'Corobuff' - a sort of one-sided corrugated cardboard). Somehow I managed to get everything done in time for the Norwescon masquerade. With the help of corwynofamber, we recorded the audio of a scene between the two aliens (Lattis and Kro-bar). Greg and I lip-synched the dialog in front of our 8'4" tall, 12' wide rocket. We were gratified to get an enthusiastic response from the audience, and an award from the judges.

Next: Plan 2 from Cadavra