More Cancan Leeloo!

I found some more pics of me and the rest of us Cancan girls from the Lux After Dark halftime show of the 2006 WorldCon Costume Masquerade.

The following pics were on a website with Danny Low‘s photography of all the costumes. Thanks a million, Danny!!!!

This was definitely an experience I will never, ever forget. First, just being in the room with so much talent. I learned a lot about sewing and costuming throughout the whole adventure.

Gotta have a shot of the girls with the legs, of course. We’re wearing cancan dresses for goodness sake! It’s virtually impossible to resist holding them up.

This was the final tableau of our big dance number recreated backstage for the photographers. You can’t really see, but yeah, I stretched out so much that I could sit with my chin on my hands, elbows on the floor between my outstretched legs. This took months. Granted, I was pretty heavily into yoga by this time, so it was an extension of something I was already working toward. However, yoga is not done in a corset, but Cancan dancing is and it was a whole new ballgame to get that flexible despite my innards being compressed.

Once again, yes, I know I look nothing like Mila Jovovich and this pic is proof! But I did have a wonderful time and I did keep my costume. Leeloo will be returning someday. I don’t know if she’ll be doing another Cancan, but she’ll definitely cruise through a few conventions over the years. So much time and effort went into that costume, I’d hate to let it languish in my closet.

Can’t get enough of Cancan Leeloo?

The other day, my husband asked if I’d posted any pics about my adventures doing the Cancan while dressed as Leeloo from the Fifth Element…which turned into an internet expedition to see if anyone had posted other since last I looked. We’d had a camera meltdown and couldn’t take pictures of our own, so we’re depending on the great ‘net to provide what would’ve been otherwise lost to us.

I’d already posted some pics from Hazel (here and here). But I’ve found more since then.

For the record, yes, I know I look nothing like Mila Jovovich. She’s awesome. I, however, am not so much. I might someday get to be as awesome as she is, but I was certainly not while at WorldCon 2006 dancing the Cancan in an outfit I’d built which had been inspired by the one she’d worn in The Fifth Element. I’m not a dancer and likely never will be. But there was still much awesomeness in the experience I had. If nothing else, it serves well as a conversation piece.

Now for a new pic…

I found this one posted on Flickr by dragondawn. I don’t know you, but I thank you!

While wearing a cancan dress, I just had this strange compulsion to flip it up. I dunno why. It’s just one of those things, I guess. It’s a dress that’s made to be held up, so why not? Life’s too short not to live a little…

A little more Leeloo

I gotta limber up again for these last couple pics… Let me put my corset on, too…

Special thanks to Lawrence M. Green for taking this pic of my stretching out. He was always at rehearsals helping out with whatever we needed and I truly appreciate all his hard work.

Okay, now to WorldCon, waiting to head over to the Masquerade. Chaz (aka Hazel) shot the following pics, too. I swear if he hadn’t been there, I might not have had any documentation of me in my costume. Thanks, Chaz! 🙂

Jason was nice enough to go with me…

I was kind of nervous, and by this point very tired. The nervousness was more like an old friend to me, though. Back when I did a lot of theatre, even though I was running the light board, or sound board, or pulling the grand curtain, or running a followspot, or being ‘the person who clipped in Judas before he hung himself in Act II’, I always got a twinge of nervous energy. When the audience was ready to be entertained and it was my job to support the entertainers, there was a certain thrill in that. And this time, I was actually an entertainer!

My number one goal–one that’d measure the amount of success I had on stage–was to not fall off the stage. It’s no secret that I can’t dance, so as long as I just did the best I could and most of all, had fun, I’d be fine so long as I didn’t fall off the stage. It was a pretty good drop and I didn’t want to get hurt. In all honesty, I have no idea if I did the routine correctly. The darn wig killed my peripheral vision, so I have no clue how I did. But even if I screwed up, I did it with gusto. I did it like I meant it and I had fun while doing it. And no, I did not fall off the stage. Therefore, in my own mind, I was a huge success!

And there’s just this funny thing about cancan dancing…and wearing a cancan dress. It made me do something I would never do in my regular life. I always had this strange compulsion to hike up my skirt! Even before going on stage to dance, I must’ve flashed the entire audience. Guys took pictures and I proudly held up my skirt. I dunno what came over me. While wearing a cancan skirt, all I wanted to do was hold it up. That, in itself, was a little adventurous experience for me…

There you have it. I…as Leeloo from the Fifth Element…danced the cancan at Worldcon 2006.

Up next… I…as the non-skirt-holding-up car chick I really am…remove an intake manifold in about twenty minutes just to prove I can do it. Although putting it back on took a little longer…

I came home very ill

In fact, I don’t fully recall any head colds in my recent history which were this evil.

I do recall one back in ’94 or ’95 when I was the technical director of a high school production of the Sound of Music…or was it South Pacific when I was so ill? Either way, I completely lost my voice and was having to whisper-holler from the back of the gym. See, if I’d taken a day off, the show wouldn’t’ve gone on very well. The show always goes on, but I owed the kids a damn good show and that was what they put together my illness notwithstanding.

But ten years later? Well, let’s just say I’m taking those days off that I missed back then and I’m not entirely convinced that I ‘missed’ much those years ago. I’ve watched the entire 6th season of Highlander in the last two days. What I wouldn’t give to be able to read a book without my eyes getting all bleary. Another day or so and I’ll be writing again. I have so much to say, too!

RT was AWESOME! I missed Jen a lot, but I also made a lot of new friends. I’ve got tons to write about there. One of my new, well…newer, friends Kathy Love is a finalist for the Prism awards. I can’t wait until RWA National to see how it all turns out.

Also, today, I discovered that my hubby, Jason Stoddard is a finalist for the Theodore Sturgeon award. I love my man. Yeah, the same guy with the “I think. I can.” shirt on in some of the engine swap pics is a finalist. That’s awesome. Life is good.

Off to RT!

It’s do or die now.

The wardrobe has been carefully chosen and packed.

The shoes are to die for.

I think I’m ready.

I think.

No. I know I am. ‘Cause if my bags are packed, I’m totally there!!!!!!!!!!

See ya’ll upon my return! I have sooooo much posting to do.

LaLaCon 2006

This past weekend was a blast! My hubby, Jason Stoddard, was the Writer Guest of Honor at LalaCon 2006 and I got to sit in on a couple of panels with him.

This con is a very relaxed, fun one that I’ve done for two years in a row now and absolutely love it. Of my favorite moments, one of the best was discussing the future of writing with Jason, John DeChancie, George Van Wagner and Larry Niven. Had this been more of a writing conference, that would’ve made for a fantastic panel discussion with all of us having different ideas. Very fascinating stuff.

Here’s a shot of the panel I did with Jason. Special thanks to fellow Fictionado George Van Wagner for snapping this pic!

We’re seated at the head of the hall where all LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) meetings are held. Jason was probably talking about his short stories or the novel he just finished. Me, however, I’m listening intently, trying to think up another question to ask, but failing miserably. This con is so relaxing, it relaxed all the good questions out of my brain!

Okay, I can’t resist… I need to point out and explain a few things in the shot. Starting with the buttons on my shoulders. One’s the con nametag. The other is my geeky scrolling LED badge that I tried out for the first time this weekend. Definitely a worthwhile purchase. It’ll get loads of use at the Romantic Times Booklover Convention in a few weeks.

Also of odd note, the way I’m sitting… I had no idea that yoga has permeated into my regular habits. Also, of note are my shoes. Outside the panel, I was engaged in a conversation about them. They are real Victorian shoes and are super duper narrow and pointy. They might not be quite 1800s, but darn close to it. They aren’t copies, they’re the real deal. I can’t believe they’re in such great shape for their age, either. I love them to pieces, but can only wear them once or twice a year for fear of damaging them.

I’ll be getting to my bits of England soon. There are so many pics, I might just have to choose random shots from all of my trips there.

In other news not quite suitable to announce on my website because it isn’t really worth shouting about just yet, my new novel, _Otherness:Rift_, has a cover even though it won’t be coming out until this Fall. I’m so excited! I’ll share the artwork as soon as it’s officially finished.