Schierer Space

This link to Dragon*Con TV goes out to my sister.

We knew all along.

Yes, how could I not mention my 15 minutes of fame at Dragon*Con wearing a big fuzzy plush alien costume. So I recently searched to see if anybody had posted anything more about the yip-yip costume at Dragon*Con.

I’m glad I did because I found two videos. It’s very surreal watching a video of yourself, when it’s not yourself, from a perspective other than the one you remember.

• One of me walking around the halls…
  
• One with most of the skit I did…
  

As I mentioned previously, I was welcomed into one of the many back-rooms of Dragon*Con by the very friendly Daily Dragon staff.

Thanks to Director/Editor Eugie Foster (pictured), Assistant Director Paul J.
Iutzi (who shot the pic) and all of the other excited folks I met that night.

Of the 400 something pictures I took this weekend, I’ve uploaded over 100 of them into the Dragon*Con 2008 gallery. There are sub-albums for each day Friday through Sunday, with the majority of the pictures on Saturday because of the parade.

Here are my top 10 in no particular order, except for this first picture, which I think is the best I took all weekend.

The subject is wearing a fantastic costume and is well posed and balanced in the shot. I didn’t get her name, but thanks for being so cooperative. I like the steam-punk look, I could definitely have some fun with that, but I’m not sure how I would distinguish myself amongst the crowd.

Our website has experienced a truly ridiculous spike in traffic in the last day or so in no small part due to the traffic the yip-yip costume has generated throughout the inter-tubes. So to thank all the good citizens of the net, here is a set of shout-outs to the folks putting us on the map.

The top five hits on Google for “Dragoncon yip yip” are all directly attributable to K’s mindbogglingly amazing costume creation.

#1: Special credit to the Bad Astronomer for being as HAWSOME as it comes with this posting.
#2: PASTE Magazine Atlanta: 20 Things I learned at DragonCon (a rather amusing read from a D*C NooB).
#3: Dragoncon: The Something Awful Forums. Special credit to AstroZamboni, the writer of this comment:

By all that is good and holy in the world, [the costume] must not be mocked. This is awesomeness in its purest form made tangible, boiled down into a thick syrupy reduction and cooled and congealed into machine guns that fire laser powered rockets. It is like looking at the face of god himself.

And before I forget: AstroZamboni would make a great name for a rock band.
#4: The Bad Astronomer’s Dragon*Con Flickr set. Lesson: Tag your images to generate more traffic!
#5: Once Upon A Geek’s DragonCon posting (The yip-yip apparently ranks with IronMan and a rather scantily clad super-girl)

This very blog comes in #7.

Don’t worry, I’ll come down from this high sooner or later… maybe when the bandwidth bill comes in.

Oh the first set of images are currently uploading… this should be the pics from Friday and Saturday. Sunday will follow in the next day or so.

Some You Tube video of the kid’s awesome Transformer costume:

He obviously practiced, because by Masquerade he did the transform almost instantly.

Another angle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGhDgtBe1lo

I’ve started to collect links in this ultimate narcissistic use of the personal blog. Yes, links to pictures of ME.

• Flickr Image (Thanks Bill.)
• Flickr Video (Video of yip-yip as fire hazard.)
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image
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• You-Tube video of Master’s level winning act and awards presentation (I’m on stage in the background and got to hang with these ladies after the show… )
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image(Same person as 1st video)
• Flickr Image(Same person as 1st video)
• Flickr Image(With Bad Astronomer‘s New Book: Death from the Skies)
• Flickr Image(Official Dragon*Con Hallway Costume Contest Entry)
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image
• Flickr Image

Sigh.

Dragon*Con is over, but I’m definitely in withdrawal. The real world seems so grey after my weekend in Oz. We barely had a chance to visit with friends and there are always way too many things to do.
For me, this was quite possibly the most surreal whirlwind weekend I’ve ever experienced. Although K & I hoped that people would enjoy the costume, we had absolutely no idea the stir it would cause. I certainly had no idea the way people would react to the character or the attention it would attract.
On Friday, after we got settled in and scattered to various panels and events, I came back to the hotel room in the late afternoon and assembled the costume (pink fuzz EVERYWHERE). With none of our friends around I put on the costume and headed out (none of them had seen it).
I walked out of the elevator and into the Hilton lobby, and almost immediately had formed a camera circle. Woah. This is going pretty well, but it’s because it’s early in the Con, and not so many people are dressed up… right? (more…)