Steampunk World's Fair 2011

Wife and I went to the Steampunk World's Fair this past Friday, since she's doing a steampunk-themed Halloween party at work this year, and was looking for props and ideas for props.

The major activity of a steampunk convention is dressing up in costume and buying items to build your next costume. This is more interesting than it sounds, since the idea is to make a cooler costume than the next guy and the next guy is, in fact, very creative.

Music is a surprisingly large part of the festivities, though there doesn't seem to be any consensus on what steampunk music should be. That might actually be a Good Thing, since there was so much variety in the music. Quality was mixed, to be honest, from a trio called Not Waving But Drowning that was good, to a guy who shall remain nameless who was so bad that we left after a song and a half. He just couldn't seem to stay on key, and the songs themselves were absolutely bland. To be fair about his singing, I suspect he was having a problem hearing himself through the sound system.

We spent an hour in a seminar on "statuing", which is basically standing still for a long time wearing a costume that will allow you to be mistaken for a statue. I seriously doubt I could do it, personally. The women presenting this got into some really gritty aspects of busking as a statue, including the difficulties of removing all of your make-up, dealing with difficult people, and what sort of clothing plausibly works for a statue.

I would've liked to have attended the Mad Tea Party, but with luck they'll have another next year. We do plan to go again next year, probably for more than one day.