Club Jade

Author Aaron Allston talks about attending this year’s Origins gaming convention, where he’ll be Author Guest of Honor. Of his scheduled events, this one on Thursday may be of particular interest:

Star Wars In Novels. “New York Times bestselling authors Aaron Allston, Timothy Zahn, and Michael A. Stackpole talk about their Star Wars books and about their future fiction plans in the galaxy far, far away.” Aaron Allston, Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole

All Aaron’s panels are worth attending, but we can guarantee that we’ll will make an effort to be at that one! Origins takes place in Columbus, Ohio from May 30 to June 3 this year.

We have all gathered here in the suite for our Post-Con Depression Kick-Off Breakfast: bagels, cold pizza, cake, Doritos, stale popcorn and cookies. The breakfast of geeks, baby!

Before we start putting the suite back into place, we thought we’d post our collection of quotes for, well, our enjoyment. Regular blogging will return after we get home and sleep for a few days.

• “Acknowledge my existence!” – Fen to a cantankerous bathroom water sensor
• “When will people realize that you just shouldn’t put pictures of your junk on the internet?” – Elizabeth
• “Or you give it to a man who knows how to work your equipment.”
• “Luci is a House Elf.”
• “Enjoy your drink. We’ll pray for you.” – Luci, the Apprentice Bartender
• “I’m a little short to dress as Darth Vader.” – Helen
• “Hello, you’re looking down.” – Deet, supportive as always
• “I’m licking Obi-Wan. It is a good day.” – Beth
• “She’s Edward, not a man!” – Eliz
• “Now.. did they get the whipped cream for me?” – Rach
• “I like to go in there and just inhale, because it smells like books.” – Fen
• “You don’t want to listen to x-rated fix either, Mom?” – Carly
• “Well, that was a totally heterosexist clue!” – Carly
• Kelly: “What are we applauding?” Dan: “My squats.”
• “Urrr… I am not a clever pirate.” – VJ
• “Oh my gawd. Callista is Edward. Eww. That means Luke is Bella.” – Caitlin
• “Spores are comin’, man… woom-baya.” – Nancy
• “Woooooomb.” – Spontaneous chant throughout the room
• “So, who be the vendor of choice for blow-up salamanders?” – Tom
• “Yay! Fluffy boobs!” – Russ
• “He’s hot… not Gardulla the Hutt.” – J9
• “Peeing in a grass skirt is harder than it seems.” – Yav
• “Dunc has gotten into my soul. And that is scary.” – Beth
• Aaron: “Y’all are pretty deranged.” Dunc: “We learned it from watching you!”
• “PG actually counts by alphabetizing numbers.” – Dave
• “As much as I’d like a big red, star destroyer, but I’m probably  better off with a Jedi.” – PG

Regular blogging has been suspended until, oh, next week sometime. We may be tweeting, and there may be the occasional entry here, but no promises.

Folks continued their gaming and breaking of budgets on the con floor. The rest of us spent time talking social networking, gadgets to get on said social networks, and having Star Wars comic story time.

Our evening shindig was a murder mystery set in a newly opened Cloud City casino. (Along with our now-traditional Boba Fettucini dinner from Bordeaux Pizza. Yum!)

Most, if not all, of the characters were corrupt or just, plain nuts. And apparently we were all promiscuous, as well. Trying to untangle the affairs was quite difficult.

The Best Acting award went to Diane; although Willow, Rox’s service dog, stole the show as the accountant.

Mike S. covered for Dan as bartender; trying his hardest to memorise Mary’s Bar Guide as he went.

The next event for the evening was our annual auction to benefit Reading is Fundamental. We raised just over $900! In spite of the current economy, Club Jade members are to be applauded.

Afterwards was our usual silliness. Doug read an ode to the current Traviss trauma. Luci sang a filk to “Day-O” called “Sith Lord.”. “Sith lord come and me wanna go home.” And there was much laughter over Doug’s Robe Squadron outfit and Will Turner’s residence in Cindy’s cleavage; prompting Doug to say,”Now that’s a pirate’s chest.”

With the bar down to its last bottles, those leaving early started the hug fest as a preview of the Post-Con Depression Breakfast to kick off in just a little while.

Unless something of import happens during the PCD breakfast or the subsequent Dead Ewok gathering, this will be our last entry from JadeCon.

Please give us a day or two to get back to our usual coverage of all things amusing and interesting in sci-fi and fantasy. (Or just amusing to us.)

A fun day of mayhem, yesterday. Our first time with an actual fire! But I digress.

Our gamers headed out early for what ended up being an unsatisfying game, but it was still gaming, so it’s not all bad.

Back in the suite, we talked geek crafting, filking, veil dancing, and wine and cheese. We’re nothing if not a diverse group.

In the evening, a group of us went to the river to play Cloud City Chaos. First up was the Cloud Car Races. The paddle boat course was enough for everyone to work off all con food for the weekend. This was followed by the water gun fight disguised as reenacting the scene when Han tries to fire at Vader. Sean succeeded in getting the gun away. We ended up with an impossibly hard “rebuild the 3PO” game.

When we got back to the suite, we realized that Luci, who had said she was running to a store and would meet us, never made it back to the suite. We were devising a search grid when a check of her room found her there, wondering why Dunc was all worried.

So now the flames. We got dinner catered from Moe’s. One of the tissue papers covering the tortillas caught fire. We’re talking flames that went several feet up. Panic ensued until Sean, always our calming presence, realized it was burning on glass and tile and would burn out quickly. We were just thrilled it didn’t set off the sprinklers. That would have been an expensive bill!

The evening’s festivities included “Black Sabacc;” the Cloud City version of Blackjack. The Project Runway finale featured the strip teasing Jedi who came to strip for Tendra’s bachelorette party. (Amazingly embarrassing; even when they’re dolls.).

And there was supposed to be filking after that, but this reporter had to get to sleep to get up in time for the Indy Knights breakfast to raise funds towards Aaron Allston’s medical bills.

Maybe we can get the filkers to perform again tonight.

Greetings from downtown Indianapolis, home of JadeCon and, oh yeah, a little gathering called GenCon.

This is our annual gathering of Jaders, so please forgive the lack of real world news as we enjoy each others’ company. And if there are any entries that don’t make sense to you, they do to us. (Or, at least, they did when we posted them under the influence of a Young Obi-Wan.)

Yesterday was the arrival of most of the rest of the group. As usual, there were travel delays and bleary eyes, but much happiness at seeing each other again.

Many of us headed to the gaming tables and did well. Others shopped their wallets out in the dealer’s room. Still others of us headed to the Children’s Museum to see the King Tut exhibit. They also had a small Clone Wars exhibit with macquets and drawings. We got to see George’s infamous OK stamp, as well as the slightly less infamous “Plo kool” stamp of Dave Filoni. Of more excitement to most of us were the real-life costumes for Anakin, Mace, and Padme. Thankfully no small children were injured in the perusal of this exhibit.

Last night was Games Night. A lot of bursts of laughter. A few deep discussions. Then retirement to the suite for hang time.

The suite has this great clear glass ceiling, but this spiral staircase in the middle is destined to become the source of the first JadeCon injury, I’m sure.

Today begins the seminar schedule and, shocker, another party. Life is good.

We had seven talented teams: Which would you pick to be the overall winner? Head beneath the cut to vote for the teams in our poll, and post your favorite individual looks in the comments! (more…)

Okay, okay- it’s been a week and I know everyone (who wasn’t at JadeCon) is just dying to know who won Club Jade’s Project Runway!

The third challenge involved a mystery- the teams drew a planet to which their boyz were assigned a mission. The additional challenge was that the audience had to be able to guess what planet the boy was heading for.

The teams were then given a pile of fabric to choose from. The chaos reminded me of the footage shown for bridal gown sales. A few minutes later the teams had their fabrics (or in case of Team Bitca, their minimal materials) and the race was on.

Saturday night was our final runway show. A special thanks to Caitlin as our Heidi for wonderful hosting during all the events! The teams worked hard throughout the day to dress their boyz for the mission. The judges were amazed yet again with the level of determination and dedication to the competition!

I now proudly present the results for Project Runway: Challenge 3!

• Team My Master Made Me Do It won Best Movie Recreation for their Dagobah entry. There is a R2-D2 in Luke’s backpack recovered from the piñata the picnic. For someone who was forced into participating, Steph did a wonderful job!
• Team Have Gunn Will Travail won Most Innovative Use of Materials for their Tatooine entry. Yes, that is Yoda in a Slave Leia outfit. The bra was made from foil from the wine tasting earlier in the day.
• Team Sprockets won Best Workmanship for their Hoth entry! The level of detail was incredible and the judges were very impressed by the cloak. While the judges questioned the use of chaps on the frozen planet of Hoth, Team Sprockets explained that Mace was hot enough on his own. Point taken.
• Team Quilt won for Best Use of Plaid and a Special Award in Prop Construction for their Kamino entry! Judges were impressed with the Burberry-look raingear and especially the creation of the umbrella. Maybe if Obi-Wan had been so stylish and prepared the first time he met with Jango…
• Team Bitca won the Jessa’s Go-Go Dancer or the Victoria’s Not-So-Secret Award for their Coruscant entry. The judges appreciated their steadfastness to their minimalist aesthetic but did question if this design would cause additional problems for the mission. Interestingly, the audience guessed the correct planet at first sight. What does this say for the center of government in the GFFA?

Our final two teams tied for the win of Project Runway Challenge Three:

• Team We Did What? tied with their entry for a mission to the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk. The judges were impressed by the detail, the fringing, the bandolier, the layers, and how well it would work on Kashyyyk.
• Team Not Quitting Our Day Jobs also tied with their entry for a mission to Mustafar. The judges were impressed with their innovative use of fleece rubber ducky material to simulate flames, including the flame logo on the reverse side of the jacket. This Obi-Wan wouldn’t need the advantage of higher ground if he was wearing this exciting outfit!

The overall winner of Project Runway was…. Everyone!

Yes, the judges could not come to a decision as to which team should be declared the overall winner as they were just so impressed by all of the entries. Call it what you want, but this means they can all be included in a calendar, to be published in time for 2009.

Thank you to all the teams for participating and really making this such a great event. We look forward to the next season of Club Jade Project Runway!

[Editor's Note: Come back late Monday for a poll on which CJPR team is your favorite!]

This year we skipped the normal con folder and did up our schedule and program booklet in the form of a magazine. Now that con is over and we’ve all vacated the area, you too can peruse The Daily Supernova.

The product of the JadeCon Not-a-Committee Committee, the magazine contains timely articles (Luke Skywalker’s Secret Marriage! Jedi Praxeum Bake Sale! Newest Sith Lord Ascends, Has Picnic!) columns (Cooking Ewok With Chef Dave! Ask PG!) classifieds, horoscopes and even advertising! Don’t miss this – it’s your only chance to peruse the secrets of Club Jade without having to bribe someone or pay the suite fee!

Download The Daily Supernova as a PDF.

So about a dozen of us are hanging out in the secret lounge on the ground floor of the Hyatt, wasting time until we get hungry and/or need to print boarding passes. What better to do with our Post-Con Depression than to recap the highlights of the weekend? (more…)