Wölfischhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/2011-02-01T23:51:00+00:00Jörg's BlogCalifornia Vacation 2011 - Day 8 - 11: Further Confusion2011-02-01T23:51:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/california-vacation-2011-day-8-11-further-confusion<p>The year's Further Confusion was a pleasant surprise after last year. Granted, I didn't expect anything at all this time — too many regulars were not able to attend, mostly those who were important contributors to FC's unique atmosphere. They were dearly missed, indeed. I heard several voices blaming the Fairmont for lack of atmosphere, but it's the guests that make a convention, not the hotel. In fact I only had few issues with the hotel, mostly with the slow bar service, which on Sunday ignored us completely. The majority of the hotel staff was very lovely, at least to us. But even with many of our friends missing, something was back: the FC spirit. A bit weak, but definitely there.</p><p>Thanks to FC being on the MLK weekend, the ice rink between the hotel and the museum was a great attraction for fursuiters. Alas, near impossible to photograph as the rink was quite elevated from the floor with a high fence.</p><p><img height="247" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/rt2011-skater.jpg" width="340"/></p><p>The stage shows were entertaining again, even though doing the robot at dance contests is getting old after the third act in row. The ad-lib segment between the masquerade and the results of the jury was probably too long again and too childish, but the masquerade had some very nice costumes on stage again. While FC:Unleashed was a bit short, I liked the acts (and for once agreed to the jury decision). Reciting, no: acting beatnik poetry on the stage of a fantasy convention is certainly original, watching such a perfect performance totally unexpected.</p><p>Even the fursuit destruction derby, excuse me: the Critterlympics were funny as hell, mainly due to several participants trying to sabotage the event.</p><p>The SIGs were mostly uninteresting to me, except <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/spottacus/">spottacus</a>' serval presentation. He brought some really nice cats, like this handsome serval:</p><p><img height="280" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/rt2011-serval.jpg" width="279"/></p><p>Many thanks to the Sainte Claire hotel for providing the conference room!</p><p>And of course there was a lot of fursuit action in and around the hotel, and some great interaction with the locals.</p><p><img height="230" src="http://img.woelfisch.de/rt2011-cheerleaders.jpg" width="340"/></p><p>I missed nearly all dances as I was too tired at the end of the days. The dead dog party was quite nice at the beginning, but after a while DJs who never look up from their CD decks took over, playing rather unbearable music. The fursuiters fled to the hotel lobby, and we were having a lot of fun there instead.</p>MMC 20082008-05-12T19:46:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/mmc-2008<p>I guess this wraps it up best: Great weather, great chat, great food, great convention.</p><p>Seriously. It was the most relaxing and harmonic Mephit Mini Con since it moved from Seeheim to the larger venues. I totally lost track of time. How long was I away? One week? Two? Oh, just a couple of days... I'd like to thank the MMC staff for the extraordinary weekend and especially Cin for the whisky. Great stuff, pal!</p><p>And by the way...<br/><img height="196" src="http://yaina.de/~jreuter/lj/mmcgrrls.jpg" width="380"/><br/>Who said there are no women in the furry fandom?</p>Credit where credit is due2007-09-24T19:35:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/credit-where-credit-is-due<p>After several months I saw the <a href="http://www.pawpet.tv/">Funday Pawpet Show</a> again. Folks, you really are the masters of pawpet improv!</p><p>Just for the records, though: we at <a href="http://www.eurofurence.org">Eurofurence</a> borrowed the idea of the silhouette dancers on the video walls from <a href="http://www.furtherconfusion.org/">Further Confusion</a>. FC also has had a hotel TV channel for several years now, we just had ours on the first channel (and a very cool on-air design by <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a>.) Likewise, we took several other ideas from <a href="http://www.anthrocon.org">Anthrocon</a>. Many thanks to both conventions for all the cool ideas!</p><p>Wanna know a secret? All those ideas aren't the reason why EF 13 was such roaring success. It were our guests who were determined to have a good time — and actually made it <em>the</em> party of the year.</p>2 the Ranting Gryphon featured by German newspaper2007-09-20T18:15:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/lj-user2-gryphon-featured-by-german-newspaper<p>As <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/skunki/">skunki</a>'s friends list and mine are slightly disjunctive and to spread the word, here it is again: <a href="http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,ra4m5/kultur/artikel/927/133677/">the link to the article at sueddeutsche.de about 2 the Ranting Gryphon</a> (German language.) <a href="http://www.sueddeutsche.de/">Sueddeutsche.de</a> is the online edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany's most renowned daily newspapers.The author praises 2's style to be comparable with Woody Allen's and David Byrne's. The live recording was filmed at <a href="http://www.eurofurence.org">Eurofurence 12</a>, by the way.</p>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong> <a href="http://bigbluefox.livejournal.com/182242.html">English translation</a> by <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a>.</p>
<p>(<a href="http://skunki.livejournal.com/40486.html">via</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vla">vla</a>)</p>An attempt at an EF13 con report...2007-09-11T14:40:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/an-attempt-at-an-ef13-con-report<p>This year was already a great convention year. Starting with a very good Further Confusion in January, continued by the small Herbstcon Sproing! (Herbstcon Spring Edition) meeting, followed by a very relaxing Mephit Mini Con and my first Anthrocon. The latter was unique, due to being able to build a bridge between the business atmosphere of most large fantasy conventions and the laid-back atmosphere of a furry convention. It was really, really hard to top all these excellent moments I had so far. </p><p>Eurofurence did. It was lots of work for me, being involved in two stage events, having two SIGs and doing press relations. I spent most of the time at con ops, but every time I walked into the foyer I was captured by the busy but very relaxed atmosphere. All staff worked hard to provide the best conditions for our attendees, but it was them, the attendees, who made this convention so special and warm.</p><p>I arrived on Tuesday afternoon, with lots of the decoration already setup. The stage was almost ready, except for wiring the lights and the directors' desk. I tried to help here and there, but ended up at the bar during the Fauna Project rehearsals. Several fursuiters had already arrived and were entertaining the normal (non-attendee) guests of the hotel which were still present. It is always fun to observe how quickly children accept these characters, and how differently adults react.</p><p>On Wednesday, we mainly prepared ourselves for the pawpet show rehearsal. Some props had to be finished or fixed and we applied the hangers for the backdrop panels. Right after me in the queue for registration was Goldie LeSuere of Anshe Chung Studios, who's a very nice guy to chat with. The rehearsal of the pawpet show was okay, only very few timing issues left. Went to bed at 5:30 in the morning...</p><p>...and got up at 10:00 AM on Thursday. For some reason I couldn't sleep properly during the convention. Only few people joined my CAcert BoF, but that was okay. Afterwards, I lead the lady who's doing public relations for the hotel around and talked to her for about two hours. She was very interested and will write a nice article for the hotel newspaper. The highlight of the day was the concert of Fauna Project with special guest Alexander James "if you've seen this guy before you might be right" Adams. So far the concert of the year. I cannot describe how the band rocks. The performance was really great and I'd really like to see the guys perform more often. Alec was playing and singing some of his own songs as well as accompany the others during the Fauna songs. And how could I ever forget the pirate song and Lori's guest appearance? Excellent musicians, great band, I want a CD!</p><p>I skipped the furdance afterwards, as the dance floor was too crowded and had a couple of beers and some excellent conversations at the bar that night, sitting there with Alec and the band. Went to bed at half past three...</p><p>...and got up at 8:40 on Friday morning, jumping into the shower in panic, putting my clothes, collected my press material as the local press was coming at 9:30. We sat down in the small lounge near the entrance of the hotel for a round table talk. It went very well, though it is a bit tricky to handle three reporters and two photographers at the same time. Luckily, I had some support. First, Alec showed up and told them how great the convention and how creative everyone is. Then, Uncle Kage who explained that while he's running the largest furry convention, Eurofurence was the best. And finally Lance Ikegawa, this year's guest of honour, who brought some fursuit heads. One of the reporters even tried one on. The result were three very favourable articles in two regional newspapers. I want to thank Alec, Kage and Lance for the help, they made it much easier to bring across what furry and Eurofurence is about.</p><p>Later that day I held the "Furries in the Press" SIG, which was again very well received. And at night, of course, I watched Uncle Kage's Story Hour and 2 the Ranting Gryphon on stage. Hilarious as ever, those two are the masters of comedy. The 2 vs. Kage improv was again quite silly and become quite surreal after a while thanks to a gift basket full of strange props and pawpet support from YappyFox and, who else was it? Herbie? I don't remember... Anyway, the Funday Pawpet Show guys are the masters of pawpet improv, there is no doubt about it.</p><p>After the show, I went to the bar and finally met The Utlah outside the costume. He has a very cute weasel fursuit now and performs very well. A very nice chap to chat with. Went to bed at 4:00 AM...</p><p>...and got up at 11:00 on Saturday, after sleeping quite badly. Alec's solo concert was really great. It takes a while to get used to his voice which is four notes down from Heather's, but especially the new songs work perfectly that way. What a great musician and what great songs he writes!</p><p>Afterwards, Zefiro and I were helping Mystifur for the costume show, named "Stage Fever" this year. Quite some fun, but harder work than it seems. Directly afterwards we started setting up our pawpet show. It went very smoothly, we made our audience laugh and cry and got an overwhelming amount of applause. Four script writing events for Cheetah and Eisfuchs, three weekends of rehearsals for the whole team, countless hours of prop and stage building, and every single second worth it. It is really a great feeling to stand on the stage at the curtain call and see all those happy faces. And I'd really like to thank everyone for their praise, but also for constructive criticism. And of course our team, it is a great honour for me to be part of such a great crew.</p><p>After the show I tried to attend the Big Blue Dance, however the stage was too crowded. So I ended up at the bar, again, had some pleasant conversations and what to bed at 5:00 AM...</p><p>...and got up at 10:00 AM again on Sunday. We broke down the stage and cleaned up everything and I packed most of my car. And then we drove down to the Crazy Horse steak house and ate all the meat they had left... They ran out of filet beef the day before already, but we finished off the rest that day. We should warn them ahead next year, as their food is really good. But then again, we did warn them ahead this year already, but they didn't believe us... ;-) Also, we managed to drink all beverages of the hotel bar — twice. A big thank you to the bar crew, they did a tremendous job and I don't want to know how much overtime they worked just for us.</p><p>Finally, we drove back to the hotel and had the dead dog party. A very, very cool party. The fursuiters discovered the bowling alley, and Fluke as Vincent danced through the night. What a sight! I went to bed at 4:30...</p><p>...to get up at 9:30 AM in the morning. I packed the rest of my stuff, said goodbye to everyone still there and drove back to Nürnberg. Terribly tired, but happy. What a week! Many thanks to the whole team and our guests for such a great convention!</p>Back from Eurofurence2007-09-10T14:08:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/back-from-eurofurence<p>Best party ever. We drank up the hotel bar. Twice. We ate up the steak house. Completely. Not a single piece of meat left. Lots of work, excellent atmosphere, great hotel, superb hotel staff. Loved the Fauna Project concert, loved the Alec concert, the pawpet show was a roaring success, great press coverage, cool dead dog party. More later, need some sleep.</p>Back from Eurofurence2007-09-10T14:08:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/back-from-eurofurence<p>Best party ever. We drank up the hotel bar. Twice. We ate up the steak house. Completely. Not a single piece of meat left. Lots of work, excellent atmosphere, great hotel, superb hotel staff. Loved the Fauna Project concert, loved the Alec concert, the pawpet show was a roaring success, great press coverage, cool dead dog party. More later, need some sleep.</p>Packing for Eurofurence2007-09-02T16:35:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/packing-for-eurofurence<p>And all I can think about is OMG, what have I got myself into again?! I don't have that much to do this year, and still the car will be full. I need a larger car.</p>Second Pawpet Rehearsal2007-07-23T15:23:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/second-pawpet-rehearsal<p>On the weekend, we had the second pawpet rehearsal. It was quite productive. With most of the important props and sound effects being ready we were able to fine-tune the timing and all the gags should work as intended. I'm already looking forward to the premiere, but we'll have another rehearsal weekend before that, and the dress rehearsal on Eurofurence of course.</p>Anthrocon Wrapup2007-07-10T13:30:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/anthrocon-wrapup<p>I really had a blast at Anthrocon, even though everything is quite blurry. I don't know why, probably sensory overflow... The only alcoholic drink I had was at Banshee and Fluke's room party where I couldn't deny the glass of Jägerbomb offered... Otherwise, lots of fun with fursuits, talking to a couple of folks I haven't met for quite a while, buying stuff, observing the TV team, playing with <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a>'s video camera while he was in suit (damn, that thing is heavy and I certainly need to learn quite a lot about semi-pro videotaping before anything bearable comes out of my attempts to work with that cam), and quite a lot of other things going on I don't even remember. Wow.</p>First Pawpet Rehearsal2007-06-18T20:36:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/first-pawpet-rehearsal<p>Last weekend we went to our first rehearsal of this year's pawpet show. It's always amazing how many people and pieces of luggage can fit into my VW Golf. My travel companians were Reesa, Eisfuchs, FinFarenath and <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/lynard_/">lynard_</a>), plus a large amount of Folkmanis puppets and Eisfuchs' keyboard. The rehearsal went surprisingly well, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/cheetah_spotty/">cheetah_spotty</a> and Eisfuchs have outdone themselves again with the story. This year's show will rely more on storytelling and less on effects — don't worry, there will still be plenty of those as well, of course. And lots of comedy. I'm afraid I cannot tell more about it for now. All I can say is: come to Eurofurence 13 and watch the show!</p>MMC 20072007-05-20T18:49:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/mmc-2007<p>I'm back from Mephit Minicon 10 at the Freusburg and I had a blast. Excellent weather (except for some rain on Saturday morning), good food, a very friendly youth hostel staff, good organization. What I liked best was the MMC Café -- excellent idea, folks! -- and of course the Big Blue Dance. I went to bed at 4 AM though I would have loved to dance some more, however my knees told me that it wouldn't be a good idea... Before the dance <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/cheetah_spotty/">cheetah_spotty</a> and Eisfuchs were the auctioning off some pieces from the art show. Hilarious!</p><p>Unfortuantely H'lven, the founder and former chairman of MMC, couldn't come, and he was missed by quite a lot of us. Hopefully he can join the convention again next year.</p><p>Oh, BTW, could the folks from the youth hostel please adjust the motion detectors for the lights in the restrooms to some reasonable amount of time? I don't like s(h)itting in the dark...</p>Remains of Further Confusion and back home.2007-01-25T16:41:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/remains-of-further-confusion-and-back-home<p>What else happened on FC? I watched the Critterlympics (or, Fursuit Destruction Derby, as I like to call it), attended the fursuit head construction SIG, watched the masquerade, missed the Sub-Level 03 concert due to exhaustion, bought some more t-shirts, got two pictures by <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tanidareal/">tanidareal</a> from the art show, watched the fursuit parade, bought a book and two magnets, went to FNL, and finally drank a cocktail and a glass of wine at the bar with Tani, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a>, Jaryic, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/lynard_/">lynard_</a>, Kayjay and Kacy and her gang.</p>
<p>The masquerade was a mess, technically. While it is a good idea to collect the songs in advance and burn them onto a CD, they missed to test whether the CD actually works in the player. Additionally, always write them at a maximum speed of 4x and use high quality media. Yes, we at Eurofurence learned it the hard way, too. The suits were excellent this year and every winner certainly deserved their price. This is definately an improvement compared to the previous two years.</p>
<p>FNL itself was very entertaining and well-prepared. The pause between the acts probably was a bit too long sometimes, but I know how complex it is to run such a show. The hecklers were rather annoying, though. Folks, it is getting old. The stage ninjas were extremely well organized and quite a show by themselves. Room for improvement: one should switch to a different video source before ejecting a DVD. About the skits: I liked the Blue Fox Group best, it was original, well choreographed and excellently performed. Followed by the soda and mentos skit, which is somewhat an old gag, but very well played. Even though I'm not really a fan of parody skits, I also liked the Dead Bones skit quite a lot. What I didn't like at all was how admission was organized. First of all, the show started one hour late. Secondly, we were still standing in the upper lobby at the sweet dessert social event (or whatever it was called), while some people where queuing at the door, others just sitting around. Eventually, without any notice, it turned into a long queue down the stairs, into the lower lobby. It never happened before in the previous years (apart from a short queue at the door, it was informal admission), and shortly before admission, after waiting for almost one hour already, some lady from security demanded in a rather unfriendly tone, that we would have to get in line at the end of the queue. That was when I went ballistic (sorry, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/aeto/">aeto</a>, for being the victim of my temper, you had the bad luck of being the only staffer around), because this is one of the few things that piss me off seriously: changing rules in last minute for no reason and forcing them down my throat.</p>
<p>I did not queue at the end of the line, but squeezed myself in. Not my style, but I also do not let me being messed about. Which was even more insulting: when admission finally started, half of the folks waiting for so long didn't even come in, which left the ballroom half empty (and I hear, several people quite angry about how the situation was handled.) This spoiled the evening to a great degree for me.</p>
<p>While I'm at it: security wise, it is a very bad idea to let people queue on a stairway, especially if the stairway is part of the emergency exit. Another exit was (at least visually) blocked by the separators for the headless lounge, leaving just one accessible emergency exit at the upper lobby. Which is not enough, as there were more than 200 people at times. Staff told me that nobody expected such a large audience, but then again: you really need to take this into account when planning the event. And let security take action on that, instead of yelling at the audience.</p>
<p>The flight back home on Monday was delayed by two hours. I had some issue with an unfriendly lady at check in. One case was three kilogram too heavy, the other was ten kilo below the limit. While on other airports the personnel usually does not care much about it, especially when both cases are as tightly packed as mine, this lady demanded to distribute the weight. So I quickly moved some stuff into the smaller case, which took about five minutes, as it was extremely tricky to close the zipper. Eventually, she asked me in a very unfriendly voice to move on and check-in the case later as it was taking too long. For what reason?! There were about 10 parties in the queue, four other open counters, check-in for this flight only, which was delayed by two hours. I never had experienced this kind of arrogant behaviour with Lufthansa before, usually their staff is very friendly and competent, but I guess the check-in crew is employed by the airport, and I already heard several similar complaints from others about SFO.</p>
<p>And what the hell happened at FRAPORT? I've never been treated that politely, fast and competent there like this year, as well as on departure and arrival. They used to be the most ignorant and slow staff I've ever experienced on an airport, but this time: perfect service! Apparently, they finally have recognized that passengers are guests and customers, not <em>Beförderungsfälle</em>. If they keep this up, I'll love to fly from Frankfurt again! This really made my day!</p>
<p>Everyone except <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/f_u_r_v_a_n/">f_u_r_v_a_n</a> and <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tioh/">tioh</a> is safely back home now, the two are flying back tomorrow. No further problems with my baggage as well, most of my clothes are washed, I'm slowly stowing away the other stuff. I lost a package AAA accumulators and a keyring (without keys, thank god), in return I found sunglasses and a spoon which aren't mine...</p>
<p>Now I'm back at work. It was a great holiday and I had a lot of fun. And I can't wait to return to California.</p>San Francisco and a bit of Further Confusion2007-01-20T18:30:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/san-francisco-and-a-bit-of-further-confusion<p>I'm late again with the journal, but this time due to too much to do than the (not perfect, but usable) Internet connectivity here at the convention hotel.</p>
<p>On the first night in San Francisco we went to Fisherman's Wharf and had dinner at Johnny Rocket's. The next morning we went to Pier 39 and bought pawpets at Puppets on the Pier, some t-shirts and a few magnets. The sea lions were mostly fishing, only a dozen of them dozing on the pier. Next, we went to china town, where <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tioh/">tioh</a> bought a tai-chi sword, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/f_u_r_v_a_n/">f_u_r_v_a_n</a> some gadgets for the dance at Further Confusion and I some Loony Tunes action figures. At night, we had dinner at the Sausage Factory, a nice Italian restaurant on Castro Street. Unfortunately, the Luna Piena has closed for renovation -- I hope not for good. While the Sausage Factory is very nice, the Luna was just excellent. On Tuesday, we were doing some fursuit photo shoots at the Golden Gate bridge, until the police asked us to move on for security reasons. I have to mention, though, that they remained very friendly all the time. Given the current paranoia in the US, I'm amazed how professional they handled it. Afterwards, we went to the San Francisco zoo. Unfortunately, most animals were not in the enclosures as it was quite cold this week, and I was about to write off my investment of $10 entry fee. But we had the luck to meet a keeper of the snowleopards who showed us a very cute and fluffy tomcat with the habit of taking his tail into the mouth. Which resulted in lots of incredibly sweet photos, I still have to sort mine... That night we had a quite expensive dinner at the Hardrock Cafe, but it definately was worth the money. The food was excellent.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, we checked out, drove to San Jose and went shopping (again.) The Great Mall was a disappointment, about on third of the shops being temporary. Fry's on Thursday was much better. Is it just me, or have DVD prices skyrocket the last year in the US? You won't get anything below $10 and even almost all old movies go for at least $20 now... In the evening, we checked in to Further Confusion.</p>
<p>Further Confusion is quite nice so far, many new costumes, lots of people, a busy dealer's room, though I have seen better art shows before. Yesterday, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a> was one of the DJs at the dance, which was a big success (the guy before him was also quite good, but the one afterwards started with hard techno, which drove away the fursuiters.) Let's see what happens today.</p>Herbstcon...2006-10-31T17:34:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/herbstcon<p><a href="http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Herbstcon">Herbstcon</a> was a blast! After arriving in a rather pissed-off mood (my navigation system losing orientation in Aschaffenburg was one of the more entertaining experiences) I got into party spirit quite quickly. This furmeet sure has the right amount and mix of people. Not only that, the food was excellent, thanks to <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/kralle_lion/">kralle_lion</a>, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/nachtfuchs/">nachtfuchs</a>, Jaryic, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tanidareal/">tanidareal</a>, AmurUssuri and the rest of the breakfast crew -- and <a href="http://www.pepperworld.com/vampire.htm">Vicious Vampire</a>. Somehow my trousers didn't fit anymore on Sunday...</p><p>Apart from food and wine, relaxed chatting with friends, the bonfire, hand-made music by Eisfuchs, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/fairlight_/">fairlight_</a> and Jaryic and successful route planning for the roadtrip made my weekend. Many thanks to <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/somewolf/">somewolf</a>, kovu and Kayjay for organizing this excellent furmeet!</p>Sorry, <a href="http://www.garlandjeffreys.com/">Garland...</a>2006-08-28T15:25:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/sorry-a-hrefhttpwwwgarlandjeffreyscomgarlanda<p>but the title "best concert of the year" now belongs to <a href="http://www.heatherlands.com">Heather Alexander</a>. Wow, that woman rocks the castle! Literally.</p><p>Apart from that I haven't seen much of Eurofurence as we were busy with the pawpet show almost all the time. I'm sure <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/cheetah_spotty/">cheetah_spotty</a> will write more about the reasons. But even though the dress rehearsal after all these delays was a great disaster, the performance went very smooth with only few minor timing issues. The technical highlight was Lionel played by animatronic while moving over some "telephone wires" which were tensed over the heads of the audience. The kitchen scene got the most laughs, though. The United States of Household Appliances vs Fruitistan. Highly politically incorrect, but it had to be done. The most funniest moment for us behind the stage however was <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/gramma-kage/">gramma-kage</a> shouting "the butler is the murderer!" in the secret office scene. I won't tell here if she was right or not, for those who missed the performance and waiting for the DVD. :-)</p><p><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/unclekage/">unclekage</a>'s parents are really nice folks, by the way. They were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at Eurofurence, which is a great honour for us. The most touching moment of the convention was after the concert (I think). We asked them to come down to the dance floor, meanwhile people with candles in their hands assembled around the dance floor and the lights went out. The two then dance their wedding waltz, closely embraced. It was without a doubt one of the most emotional moments I've ever been allowed to witness.</p><p>This year's guest of honour was <a href="http://www.darknatasha.com/">Dark Natasha</a>. Even though a bit shy (maybe due to the jet lag), she's a very lovely lady and much fun to chat with. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for her) I wasn't very chatty myself as my mind was either on the show or blanked by tiredness. Anyway, I think she was quite impressed by the convention and the atmosphere.</p><p>I don't think I have to say much about Uncle Kage's story hour and <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/2_gryphon/">2_gryphon</a>'s act. It was hilarious as always and I loved so hard my belly hurt. I'd really love to see them next year again. Eurofurence would be much less entertaining (or should I say "boring") without them.</p><p>We even had some media coverage this year, the online edition of the regional newspaper wrote <a href="http://www.nordbayern.de/artikel.asp?art=538869&kat=264">a report about Eurofurence</a>. Many thanks to <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/dark-natasha/">dark-natasha</a>, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/f_u_r_v_a_n/">f_u_r_v_a_n</a>, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tioh/">tioh</a> and everyone else involved for the support!</p><p>What I really missed this year was chatting with friends. I simply didn't have enough time. I wasn't able to talk to <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/utlah74/">utlah74</a> for example, which I regret very much. Or many of the newcomers. Working for the pawpet crew means that you don't have time for anything but the show. Yet, I don't regret it at all. I've never before seen a crowd going this wild as after the curtain call. That was ten minutes of the most enthusiastic standing ovation I've ever seen. Wow. Just wow.</p>Fur Camp2006-07-23T17:32:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/fur-camp<p>The location: a campground in Autenhausen near Coburg. My rig: a tent, a crate of beer, a crate of lemonade, a crate of water, sunscreen, "Off! Deep Woods" repellent (the stuff actually works in Germany, at least it keeps off horseflies.) The guests: about 30 furries from all over Germany. The hosts: <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/eosfoxx/">eosfoxx</a> and madCat. The mood: perfect. The pool: excellent. The landlord: Siggi. The weather: too hot, one thunderstorm. The sunburn: itching. The BBQ: great. The pizza service: poor. The weekend: perfect.</p>MMC 20062006-05-07T14:25:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/mmc-2006<p>I spent the last couple of days at <a href="http://mmc.furcon.de">Mephit Mini Con</a> at the Freusburg near Siegen. We've been there before with Eurofurence a couple of years ago and the castle is still as good as I remembered it. For MMC, it was a huge leap in quality. Tasty food, competent and friendly youth hostel staff, neat rooms and excellent technical infrastructure. What a difference to the previous location at the Loreley!</p><p>Consequently, the atmosphere was very relaxed and the mix of "greymuzzles" and newcomers actually worked very well. Many new fursuits and several photo sessions, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/cheetah_spotty/">cheetah_spotty</a> preaching the fire emergency plan, the ice car, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/brogon/">brogon</a>'s birthday pie, a great dance with <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a> as the DJ (of course), Whisky tasting with <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/nobswolf/">nobswolf</a> and <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/lynard_/">lynard_</a> and excellent wheather. In other words: I had a great time!</p>California, here I am!2006-01-21T03:38:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/california-here-i-am<p>Behind the cut there's a round-up of the first week of my vacation...</p>
<p><em>Edit 2006-02-07:</em> added the missing days of the convention.</p>
<h2>Sunday, January 15: Excuse, me sir?!</h2>
<p><br/>After spending the night in Frankfurt (and already having checked in our baggage on Saturday), we took the train to the airport and boarded on time. The flight with an Airbus 340 would have been very nice, if it wasn't for that big African asshole (sorry) behind me who left his place every 30 minutes and rammed the head-rest of my seat onto my shoulders every time. But I've really had enough when he started you use my head as a rest for getting up. After strongly protesting against his obnoxious behaviour he avoided touching me. Instead he was now coughing his lungs up. I'm just glad that his pneumonia was apparently caused by a cold (which I caught) and noth2>Friday, something worse...</p>
<p>I have no idea why the Lufthansa booking system routed us via Portland, but that's where we got through immigration (and the officer was interviewing me for five minutes <em>again</em>, what is it that makes me suspecious?) and customs. We had enough time to catch our connection, and landed without any further problems in San Francisco after a short while. We waited for <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a> who traveled from Düsseldorf via London to San Francisco and arrived an hour later and were picked up by <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/f_u_r_v_a_n/">f_u_r_v_a_n</a> and <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tioh/">tioh</a>. After checking in at the hotel we went to Lorie's Diner at Ghiradelli Place and had our first burger on this trip.</p>
<h2>Monday, January 16: Fisherman's Wharf</h2>
<p>We started with the usual tourist program: visiting Fisherman's Wharf. I bought some Folkmanis puppets at Pier 39 and we had, of course, lunch at In-n-Out-Burger. In the afternoon, we drove the cable car lines up and down, walked up Lombard St, bought some stuff at Border Books, got wet to the bones in the rain.</p>
<h2>Tuesday, January 17: Golden Gate Bridge</h2>
<p>As the weather on Tuesday morning was perfect, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/f_u_r_v_a_n/">f_u_r_v_a_n</a> and <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tioh/">tioh</a> drove with us to the Golden Gate Bridge and put on their fursuits. <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a>, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/lynard_/">lynard_</a>, Kayjay and I were shooting literally thousands of photos of them (digital cameras rule.) I'll put up mine at my online photo gallery as soon as I've sorted them. Afterwards, we visited Chinatown in the rain.</p>
<h2>Wednesday, January 18: Alcatraz</h2>
<p><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/f_u_r_v_a_n/">f_u_r_v_a_n</a>, Kayjay, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/lynard_/">lynard_</a>, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tioh/">tioh</a> and I visited Alcatraz on Wednesday. It was my second time on that island and the prison building still scares me. However, the surround nature, or to be exact: nature reclaiming large parts of the island, is extremely interesting as well. Plus, you've got a perfect view on the San Francisco skyline as well as on the Golden Gate brige and the Bay brigde.</p>
<p>Afterwards, we visited the cable car museum, took the California line cable car to market street and walked up the street. Finally, we drove to Castro Street with the tram line F and had the traditional dinner at the Cafe Luna Plena.</p>
<h2>Thursday, January 19: Driving to San Jose</h2>
<p>Not much happened at this day, at least for me. We fetched our rental car, checked out of the hotel, drove down to San Jose, checked in to the <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/furcon/">furcon</a> hotel, drove to Fry's and Safeway (almost got lost on the way to the latter), registered at the convention and met a lot of furries I usually only read about.</p>
<p><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a> got his fursuit and went down to the lobby with it right away. The result: about 150 photos on my camera alone...</p>
<h2>January 20: Convention, Day Two</h2>
<p>I went to a couple of SIGs and took a look at the fur dance. <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a> was be the DJ of the second half of the dance and it was, as usual, very entertaining. I got a chance to chat with Steve Plunket, one of the Pawpet West puppeteers -- and not only that: he is the one who brought puppeteering to the Furry Fandom. We met him after his SIG about animatronic puppeteering. It is simply amazing what can be done with a couple of off-the-shelf components and a skilled puppeteer.</p>
<h2>Saturday, January 21: Convention, Day Three</h2>
<p>With the help of <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a> (or rather: he dragged me to her table) I talked <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/xianjaguar/">xianjaguar</a> into doing a badge for me even though she was already overworked and not feeling well. I feel still a bit guilty for this, as I usually try avoid anything that could put pressure on an artist, especially if the artist is such a sweet person as XianJaguar.</p>
<p>Critterlympics was fun -- for an observer, but again too dangerous for the participating fursuiters. The quality of the masquerade however has improved significantly over last year's. I tried to attend the dance that evening, but it was too loud even with ear plugs and the music was horrible.</p>
<h2>Sunday, January 22: Convention, Day Four</h2>
<p>Chatted with <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/krag_carbine/">krag_carbine</a>, who's looking for WW II photographs. (<a href="http://users.livejournal.com/doco/">doco</a>, if you are reading this: do you have any idea where to find these?) Afterwards I picked up the badge. <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/xianjaguar/">xianjaguar</a> is a really an amazing artist. The style is different from what she usually draws, but still recognizable as hers and most important: I recognize myself in that picture, even though I've never envisioned myself (as a wolf) that way. Amazing!</p>
<p>I also bought some art from the art show. Two pieces by Eric Elliott (one coloured pencil drawing, one print), a painting by <br/>Heather Bruton and a limited print by Dark Natasha. I met <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/shockwave77598/">shockwave77598</a> in the queue waiting for the art show sales pickup later and chatted about puppeteering.</p>
<p>While waiting for the Furry Night Live show to begin, we met TeddyRuxpin, a truely great puppeteer. BTW, he is the person who infected Fairlight with the puppeteering virus - without him there wouldn't be a Eurofurence pawpet show. FNL was very entertaining. Sure, some acts didn't really work, but contrary to last year's variety show it was quality entertaining. The raffle afterwards, however, was quite boring. I didn't even attempt to go to the dance, and according to those who did it wasn't a great loss.</p>
<h2>Monday, January 23: Convention, End</h2>
<p>We checked out around noon and went to Dublin to pick up the RV. <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a> had to leave that day anyway, thus he took the rental car to get to the airport. The rest of us, <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/lynard_/">lynard_</a>, Kayjay and I, loaded the RV, went shopping, had a burger for dinner at In-n-out's and drove to Santa Cruz for the first night in the RV.</p>
<p>What happens next? Will the three get along? What will go wrong? Tune in again for the second part of the report, after a short break!</p>Late new year update2006-01-04T22:59:00+00:00o'wolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/author/owolfhttps://woelfisch.de/blog/late-new-year-update<p>So, what had happened the last two weeks?</p><p>I spent Christmas with my parents and sister, very cosy and relaxed as always. We went to church, admired the Christmas tree and had raclette on Christmas eve. On the 27th we went to Osnabrück by train, among other things shopping for a birthday present for me. Got a camera bag and a flash from my parents and a fruit fly trap from my sister for birthday. New Year's Eve was party time at <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/nachtfuchs/">nachtfuchs</a> and Jaryic. Again, excellent food and drinks (Nighty's Spooge Special is dangerous, and the Jägerinha was more Jägermeister than anything else *g*) and a very entertaining party. Oh, and we almost succeeded in blasting the Kettig reservoir bridge this time :-) Hit the mattress (yay for the self-inflating Wolfmat Oversize) at half past six -- in the morning, of course, and already woke up at half past eleven, the same morning unfortunately. Fortunately, I stopped drinking early enough to be sober again at that point. After a one hour walk through Kettwig I packed my things and departed to Nuremberg where I arrived safely at six PM.</p><p>Currently I'm (already) packing for the Further Confusion trip with <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/bigbluefox/">bigbluefox</a>, Kayjay and <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/lynard_/">lynard_</a>. We'll also meet <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/furvan/">furvan</a> and <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/tioh/">tioh</a> who have a slightly different time frame. <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/lynard_/">lynard_</a>, Kayjay and I will also go on an RV trip through CA, AZ, NV and UT after the convention for two weeks. I'm really excited this year, the current bad weather in California and Utah is only a slight concern, though. It's more that I booked all but two reservations, thus I'm the one responsible for everything working out as planned...</p><p>Oh, by the way:</p><p><table align="center" style="border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; color: black" width="300"><br/> <tr><td align="center"><p style="text-align: center">In the year 2006 I resolve to:<br/><br> Figuring out why I really need<br/>7 e-mail addresses.</br></p><br/> <p style="text-align: right; color black;"><br/> <a href="http://resolution.geek-foo.net" style="color: red;">Get your resolution here</a></p><br/> </td></tr><br/></table></p>