LeakyCon Day 6: These Days of Summer

I knew the final day of LeakyCon would be emotional for me, and I was right.

None of us wanted to wake up that morning, and it felt odd now that Catherine was gone. I hadn't even stirred when she left because of the severe exhaustion, and I felt bad that I hadn't said goodbye except for a quick “bye” as I drifted off to sleep the night before.

We each ran around doing ten different things while Brae checked us out and checked the luggage so we could go to the closing feast that we were already an hour into, and we all got in line for the water taxi. My “Suffering from Post-Potter Depression” shirt attracted a few sad smiles and comments as people stopped me for pictures.

After my idea for the flash mob was shot down by the LeakyCon staff, I wanted more than anything to start everyone singing “These Days of Summer” after the feast was over and start a mini flash mob that way because I couldn't get in trouble if I was leaving anyway, right? Lol! Luckily, I didn't have to because after we'd all eaten, Starkid got on stage and sang it for me while I sobbed at my table. Then, they finished with a special version of “Get Back to Hogwarts” that turned into “Get Back to LeakyCon” which made me start crying all over again.

Note the exhaustion that had completely taken over here.

We went back to our hotel to get our bags and call a cab to the airport, but in line for the water taxi to PB, we ran into one of my subscribers on youtube that had told me she was going. So, I chatted for a while, and she was pretty darn awesome. We'd also met a few of our readers during the con that were equally awesome. I mean, in what other situation can someone come up to you, tap you on the shoulder and declare that they stalk you online without it being super creepy and leading to the police being called and paranoia?

Since our roommates' flight was about fifteen minutes before ours and we were only two gates apart, we ate an early lunch with them at the airport after buying a few things in the Universal store. I, miraculously, didn't cry when we hugged them goodbye. I don't know if there were tears left by that point, honestly.

Then it was back to Cincinnati with me carrying my new hippogriff for emotional support (and because it wouldn't fit into my luggage). A little boy on the tram in Cincinnati pointed at it and said, “Look, Mommy, a parrot!” I cracked up for a while. Brae looked confused, and after they left, he looked at me and said, “He is an American, maybe he doesn't know that parrots don't have four legs.” I said that I had been hugging the hippogriff, so the back legs were hidden, but even with the poor American educational system, he should know what an eagle looks like...again, being an American or at least that parrots are, I don't know, colorful.

Overall, LeakyCon was even more amazing than Infinitus was! It makes me sad to think this was our last HP conference ever since we plan to do much more in our religious community in terms of travel and attending events over the next year or so. Given scheduling conflicts and monetary issues, we would not be able to do that and another HP con. It was an excellent farewell for that part of the fandom for us, and we walked away with some totally awesome friends!

LeakyCon Day 5: The Truth About Lemon Meringue Pie

Though true exhaustion was setting in by this point, we got up pretty early on Saturday so that we'd all have time to get ready, even though I wasn't wearing a costume during the day. My Fleur costume had kind of bitten the dust the day before. Due to the poor sewing, almost every button had fallen off; in addition to the cracked shoes, it simply didn't look like something Fleur would wear anymore. So, I ditched it in favor of the “I'm tired. Can't we just be Death Eaters?” shirt in honor of the Starkid keynote that day. I had brought it with the idea that I'd get all the Starkids to sign it, but I decided I didn't want to wait in line to do that.

Two of our roommates decided to have Brae draw homemade Dark Marks on their arms, just like Malfoy's, which was hilariously awesome, especially in addition to their space helmets that made me wonder if they were going to Pigfarts or if they were hoping to be Starship Rangers. Either way, they were ready. Though, now that I think of it, Starship Rangers could totally go to Pigfarts and hang out with Rumbleroar.

Starkid was labeled as a keynote in the programming guide, but it turned into more of a concert, which was not a problem at all for me! They did end up doing a Q&A at the end when most of our throats were sore after screaming the songs at the top of our voice. My favorite moment was when a girl on the other side of the room asked Joey Richter to the ball that night, and he expressed his sorrow that he couldn't take her...because he already had a date...Evanna Lynch! How freakin' adorable is that? Someone also asked Darren Criss if there was ever going to be a Starkid reference on Glee. He said he was kind of their puppet at the moment, but he hoped there might be one. Personally, I feel with the pull that Chris Colfer has with the producers, he could make it happen, especially since he's a major HP fan to and, I think, likes Starkid. I mean, we're just wanting a little reference, like them watching it in the background of a scene or something.

Then there was about an hour or so to wait until the actors' keynote, so Catherine and I took turns getting wraps from the snack bar while the other saved our seats in the front row. She decided to get a picture with the Starkids, but I opted against it because I'd prefer a picture with just me and them or me and a small group of people I knew. Since they were rushing through the photo sessions, every group had about thirty people in it, so it wasn't my thing.

The actors' keynote started out with the kids and it eventually turned competitive when Melissa asked them who was the biggest HP fan. There were a few trivia questions, and it was decided that they'd need to get Evanna out there to really determine who the biggest HP fan was. So, it had to wait. One of my favorite moments from the kids, though, was when they were each asked what their boggart would be. One of the boys said his would be lemon meringue pie. It was kind of skipped over while the audience looked at each other, laughing questioningly. Then, Melissa returned to it, asking why. He said it was just too sweet. Melissa responded with “Yes, it's so sweet it's scary”, and it was dropped, leaving several people confused. Another moment that bears mentioning refers to a previous post in this blog. I doubt many of you remember that Brae dared one of you to ask me at LeakyCon to do my Barty Crouch Sr. impression, well it was in reference to the Chinese Fireball quote when he makes his odd little “Ooo!” noise in GoF. When asked what his favorite part of the Wizarding World of HP was, one of the boys said the Chinese Fireball to which the majority of the audience replied “Oooo!”. It was AMAZING!

Then the older actors came out and talked for a bit, answering a few awkward questions about crushes among the cast and discussing the Luna/Dumbledore ship some more from the day before.

(Note the awesome lightning bolt dress Evanna claimed she bought years ago but had never worn and thought we'd appreciate!)

After the Evanna, Scarlet, and Chris had talked for a while, the kids were brought back to determine who was the biggest HP fan. Audience members asked some really freakin' hard questions (and coming from the girl who wrote the questions for our LeakyCon contest, that's kind of saying something), some of which weren't fair at all like “How many pages are there in the American edition of OotP?” It only took a moment for someone to shout out “They're all British!”

We met up with Jordan, Ashley, and Brae after the actors' keynote and decided to go back to the room since there wasn't really anything we wanted to do after that (the only other workshop we wanted to go to wasn't for an hour, so we decided to skip it). Brae and Catherine wanted to take naps while Jordan and Ashley went to pool. I decided to start packing since we wouldn't want to do it in the morning or after the ball that night. They came back from the pool and started packing as well which turned into awesomeness when someone shouted out “My time turner is in my underwear” which I immediately added to the list of quotes one would only hear at an HP conference (or would only make sense/be acceptable at an the HP conference).

Around the time I was putting on my makeup, I heard a downpour outside signaling the random hurricane that descended upon us. We called the front desk to find out that the water taxis weren't running and the next shuttle to Royal Pacific wouldn't be for about half an hour. Since we were all ready and didn't want to be any later to the ball than we already were, we called a cab which turned out to be about $10. While we were waiting for it outside of Portofino Bay, however, we all had heart attacks when lightning struck right by our hotel. So, that was...erm...exciting. Apparently part of the hotel lost AC and the phones weren't working in the area after that.

We ran into Lauren Fairweather and JFF in the elevator, and I was complimented several times on my hat, which made me especially happy since I'd designed it myself. Then, we'd arrived at the ball, and it was time to do some partying! I met a few people that night, including the Black Sisters and the famous Lucius Malfoy (minus Draco who apparently decided to be Michael Jackson for some reason...?)

There was also a hilarious sign in the bathroom saying one of the toilets was out of order. Someone got a picture of it, but it hasn't been posted online yet, so I can't show you, but it had writing under it that said the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, enemies of the heir beware!

In my Infinitus posts, I mentioned the awesomeness that was “Don't Stop Believing”. Apparently someone thought we should try to recreate it which kind of failed. Since the LeakyCon staff had made a video dancing to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” before the con, they decided it would be awesome to play that, which was kind of a highlight of the ball...the first time. The second time, it was pretty dumb so we left soon after that to beat the rush to get a water taxi back (the mysterious hurricane had disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared).

On our way off the water taxi at PB, we heard the weirdest remarks. Ok, so you've gathered a group of nerds in one place for a week who like to dress up and generally draw attention to themselves, we'd heard some odd comments throughout the week, but this one was even more hilarious because we were just in ball attire. I mean, my “costume” could have been worn by anyone (minus the witch hat) and only one other person with us was wearing a witch hat; the rest were in normal dress. So, when we got off the boat and we heard “I guess these people all work at the Wizarding World of HP”, it was hilarious. I didn't hear that when I dressed as Fleur or Luna (though when I wore my Slytherin uniform, someone did think I worked at WWoHP), and we were obviously staying at the Portofino Bay Hotel! Why would we work at WwoHP and stay at a Universal hotel? They must pay great at the park! When you add to that the fact that there were about 3400 people at LeakyCon, Universal must have just gone on a huge hiring binge! Immediately, it turned into us creating a new series that was kind of like a mash-up of Wizards of Waverly Place and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

I don't think we stopped laughing from that moment until we went to bed that night. Hilarious things (or things that would be hilarious if you too were sleep deprived and surrounded by other HP nerds that get the humor in these situations) kept happening. For example, we started our planning of a gay club called Dumbledore's Office including planning out what the go-go dancers on Dumbledore's desk would be wearing. Then, we were playing with the Keurig in our room which makes a horrible hissing noise that sounds like parselmouth. It was silent when we heard this, and we all had heart attacks! I decided, before anyone told me what the noise was, that there was a basilisk in our room and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in our bathroom. This went on for about twenty minutes before we switched topics back to another running joke that I've failed to mention previously. Originally we were discussing felix felicis, and my roommate couldn't remember the name of the potion. The exchange when like this:

Ashley: What's that potion called? Felix (insert word that begins with “f” which describes a certain type of favor that we're not sure we can put in our blog without a mature rating)?
Me: ...That's a certain type of luck one might have, but I think it's “felicis”.

Then, we ordered room service because we were all pretty hungry, and finally went to bed because Catherine was leaving to go home in about three hours.

Look for our post on the last day of LeakyCon!

Starkid

Right after Mugglenet posted about a fan-made musical parody, I was all over it. I remember cracking up so hard during the first song that I had to keep pausing the clip so I didn't miss anything. And I remember falling in love with Draco right away, even before the floor scene in the Great Hall.

As I neared the end of act one, I knew I had to tell Brae about it. Luckily he was spending a lot of time at my apartment in those days, so he was already planning on coming over after work. I started the musical over again that night so he could watch it with me and we could watch all of act two together. We stayed up pretty much all night devouring the awesomeness that is A Very Potter Musical, before it was censored (so we got to witness the greats like “Ron, can you please take your wand out of your pocket? It's jabbing my back”, “Hermione, why did you bring those pillows with you”, "Hermione, you keep your legs open, and I'll keep my eyes open", and various other hilarious and not so appropriate moments that mysteriously disappeared over the first few days of skyrocketing fame.

We even introduced several of our friends to AVPM at our Potter party later that year. Most of them seemed to enjoy it since hardly anyone was talking and there was a lot of “shushing” whenever someone dared open their mouth which led to a lot of us gathering in another room around the “Cornelius Fudge Brownies”, butterbeer, licorice wands, Bertie Bott's, and various other snacks so as not to disturb the other guests during their first, beautiful, AVPM experience.

As I said, last year at Infinitus, there was an...experience? Incident? That we still joke about. When we were walking back from Night of a Thousand Wizards, a bunch of Starkids were in front of us. Joey Richter's hat fell off, I stepped on it accidentally, and Brae picked it up to give back to him. After a quick “thanks”, we all went about our merry ways. When we got back to our hall, though, we were joking around by trying to pretend to be all fangirl-tastic about the whole thing. I remember squealing “OMG! I stepped on Joey Richter's hat! Do you know what that means? My foot...has touched...his head!” Sadly, some people thought we were serious...which made it even more hilarious to us.

There was also an ill-fated attempt to put together a Scarf of Sexual Preference before the DH1 premiere a while ago. We ran around Wal-Mart in our robes right before going to the theatre to find appropriate felt, but we were unsuccessful. We just found some rainbow felt and cut it like a scarf. No one got it, not even those that were standing around quoting the musical, so I took it off quickly and stowed it in my purse because I was burning up anyway. We might be making a better attempt before LeakyCon, though!

The single best Starkid moment, though was seeing AVPS at Infinitus last year. Not only could I have reached out and ran my hands through Darren Criss's supermegafoxyawesomehot curls before he chopped them off for Glee, there was a spontaneous outbreak of singing during the reprise of "Back to Hogwarts" during the finale. I think I cried a bit when it was over, just because it was such an awesome experience.

Fan Creations

There are oh-so-many creations out there dreamed up by avid fans of the series that it was difficult for me to create a semi-coherent post on my favorite forms of expression of HP-love and my favorite examples of said expressions.

I've discussed fan fiction a bit in the past. While I do love me some fan fiction, I prefer older fics or future fics because, generally, the canon is left pretty much intact. Marauder's, trio era, and new generation fics bother me most often because they aren't even remotely close the story. There are a few shining examples of fics that follow the story closely and add their own spin on events we didn't actually see or weren't fully let in on in the books. However, I do not want to read about pairings that aren't remotely possible (i.e. Harry/basilisk, Dumbledore/Harry, etc.). I will stand for some more whimsical pairings/events that still have some basis in the stories (i.e. a story where Luna and Ginny date for a bit before going their respective ways is ok in my book because we know a lot about Ginny or Luna when they're not with Harry). That said, I don't read or write much fan fiction anymore.

Not being the least bit talented in the visual arts, I do have great respect for fan artists, and I've seen some EXCELLENT examples of it. The most memorable of these were probably in the gallery at Infinitus, but I do remember a few pieces that stopped me in my tracks when I stumbled across them online.

Fan films are another matter. (I shall devote an entire post to Starkid, so don't really look for that here.) Being an actress and a sometimes director, I have high expectations when you mix my favorite art form with HP. I've actually wanted to make fan film for a few years, but I didn't think I could put it together and be impressed with it at all. That didn't always deter some fans, though. I don't want to be mean and call out anyone who put hard work into a fan film, so I'll leave it at the fact that I watch several of them, but I have yet to find a single one that is impressive at all (unless we're talking about impressively hilarious...for a drama).

But what about other writing? I've discussed role play in another post, so I guess that only leaves the books about the fandom. I have Erin Payne's The Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Harry Potter Fandom on my Amazon wish list, and I hope to get to read it soon. I have, however, read all of Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli, and I loved it, though I did find myself with an aching desire to be able to go back in time and relive the height of the fandom and become more involved in the real life fandom in addition to the online fandom. I also cannot wait for Dear Mr. Potter, and I'm counting the days until we receive our pre-ordered copy!

There's so many amazing fan creations out there that I cannot even begin a list of my favorites! It's also been a long time since I've really read most pieces of fan fiction, examined most pieces of fan art, and been that involved in seeking out these fabulous reminders of how much HP means to its fans that I feel like reliving my original reactions would be impossible or seem fake. The last thing I want to do is provide a cheap personal narrative for you guys to read.

The important thing is that these creations are there as a testament to the series, to the fandom. Some we'll look back on and laugh, some we'll look back on and cry. Some will instantly transport us to our favorite moments in the books or fandom. And some may be forgotten, but the purpose behind their creation will not.