Pictures and Fun Stuff From the Night Before "Classes Begin"

To answer your questions Felicity ... a lot. I snapped this during the welcoming banquet this evening (I was at the far end from the head table, but I was midway widthwise, which went probably 3 to 4 tables in either direction from me). I was at the opening banquet in the Great Hall because I have a blue dot on my badge - the people with orange dots had to eat in another dining room and they will get to have the farewell feast in the Great Hall, whereas I won't. ... To quote the Hitchhiker' Guide "It's big". One of the lady's sitting next to me was from Le Moyne College, "the Jesuit College of Central New York" and says she knew the current President of Fordham while he was at Le Moyne. This is in the vendors area, I'll have to take some mor pics tomorrow of some of the stuff they have for sale: Sets of robes, some pretty fancy wands and jewelry (oh yeah ... and that isn't a statue of Dobby ... that's really him - he made a guest appearance ... I've got some nasty welts to show for a wise-crak I made about Harry :) ) Just a taste of some of the costumes I snapped really quickly. Some of these people are pretty thorough. I'll try to get more better pics tomorrow ... there was a couple showed up as beaters, had the whole 9 yards, great costumes This is Vegas from the air (with a little delayed exposure and some turbulence.) NEWS 1. Okay, My (tentative) schedule for tomorrow: - Not Just Good and Evil: Moral Alingment in Harry Potter - Love Potion # 9: Vice, Volition and Voldemort - A Study in Evil: Voldemort, the Malignant Narcissist - I Solemnly Swear I am up to no Good: The Trickster archetype in HP and Beyond - Harry Potter and the Sacntuary of Everyday Life: JK Rowling's Complex treatment of the Trope of Normalcy 2. Rock and Roll: I was pretty impressed with the concert tonight. I figured it was going to be not the type of thing you can judge like other shows where you go to see a band and say that they were good, or not so good, etc. I was expecting it to be "actish," which of course it was because it is a big Potterfest; and I was expecting it to be "conferency," (rather than concertish) which it was - no real stage lighting, not a really big PA system - Draco and the Malfoys was basically 2 guys on guitars with a taped drum trak and the one "Draco" then played drums as Ron Weasely for the 4th year Hary and the 7th year Harry, who comprised Harry and the Potters (young Harry played keys and once a sax and old Harry played guitar). For all that though, and the fact that all the songs were stuff from the books ... it was very interesting, fun ... and professional. the act was good ... they played the characters up well, and they played and sang really professionally ... although in the "pumped up rock" genre that has different tones than in other forms of music performance (I really like the rock myself)... what I mean is they were tight. Even with the taped stuff, they had it down well. The stuff was witty. The Draco's did more Goth/Grunge type stuff, but pretty clean soundwise, not super-muddy arrangements. And the Potters did more of your Weezer-type popped up punk. Younger Harry had a pretty good semi-hyper-active version of Dan Radcliffe talking about how important themes like love and frienship, and Rock, would stick it to "the man," Voldy. The wit had some to do historical sense too. At one point the 2 potters and the Weasley all stood up and were doing the Pete Townsend Windmill but it was to a tape-track so it was basically the "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" motion, which I found hilarious. And The Draco's did a cool version of "99 Red/Luft Balloons" ... but only it was "99 Death Eaters" (with tones of both the Nena original and the live punk version t the band 7 Seconds did ... personally I always really liked the German version by Neena because she puts some personality into it that isn't there in the Enlish version ... you can tell German is her native tongue.) ... my point is, it all sounds campy on paper but these guys pulled the act off as a pretty decent rock concert, despite no stage lighting other than the house lights in the room and a smaller PA system and using taped drum tracks on some songs, etc. -- it was credible as a rock show as far as sound and performance. I was impressed and it was fun and witty ... All the costumed people were having a blast dancing too I'll be posting tomorrow from the convention on the various talks.