Phenom pt.2
21/7/07 14:30![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madrobinsSG went off to the mall at about 7:30, kindly driven by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
klages, in her full Bellatrix LeStrange finery. Isn't she terrifying? I followed closer to 10pm (since I knew I'd be standing around for a solid two hours at least). They were in the midst of a trivia contest when I arrived, with SG in the middle of the scrum answering everything and being teased by her chum Rick for being such a geek. The Stonestown Mall, which is a vast upscale palace of commerce, was chock full of people, many Hermiones and Harrys, fewer of the secondary characters (although I was pleased to see a Quirell, a Trelawny, and a couple of Bellatrixes...or is that Bellatrice? aside from my own). Many tiny little kids in Gryffindor scarves and wizard robes, and one woman with a really killer sorting hat, home made, of about $100 worth of glove-quality suede (okay, so I used to do theatrical costuming, and I asked. There's more than one way to skin a geek). Several of the mall stores had stands--oddly, the Soup Chef was handing out free samples of soup (what this has to do with wizardry I don't know, but their organic split pea was very nice).
After a break for ice cream at the overpriced Haagen-Dasz store, we went back for a Snape: Evil or Good debate. SG came down solidly in the Snape-will-be-redeemed camp (she's reading the book now, and will find out if her faith will be rewarded). I sat down for a while and read Territory, which is really really good (people kept peering at it and asking; when I told them "gunfight at the O.K. corral they looked confused. When I said "with magic" they perked right up). And then they had the costume contest. First kids 0-13 (there was the tiniest Hermione Granger imaginable, barely able to make it up the stairs on her own. When they got to the over-13 group, SG went up on stage, flourished evilly, and stalked off. Then I minced up, ordered everyone to stay for detention, and minced back down again. I should note that the shoes I wore were the shoes I was married in, and I haven't worn anything with even so modest a heel in years. Owwww.) I didn't win the contest--Mad Eye Moody did, but I was a runner up, and got a nifty Slytherin magnet for the fridge.
Here's Mad Eye, Rita Skeeter, and the Weasleys. Mad Eye, who had a great sense of drama, flourished around a lot, and was the hands-down crowd favorite. I liked Rita Skeeter, too--she's not as polished as Miranda Richardson was in the fourth film, but she has that blowsy blonde thing going on.
And I (the horrifyingly pink one on the right) was hissed and booed by everyone. A lesson I learned in my stage-combat days? It's fun to be the villain. You can't see it very clearly, but I have a rosette on my cardigan made of pink gauze ribbon and the ugliest cat button I could find at the notions store. The skirt and cardigan were bought at Goodwill and dyed their horrid color.
Here you can see me threatening Miss LeStrange with detention if she doesn't stop smirking. Note the orange wristband which will permit me to pick up my copy of The Tome. Note also my complete lack of vanity in allowing this photo to be viewed, as I look like a cross between Margaret DuMont and a chicken.
Finally, at 11:45, those of us with orange wristbands were told to line up against the wall. I figure that must have been about 300 people. They marched us from the mall to the bookstore (around the corner, but with no in-mall access) and lined us up against the same wall where, only 15 hours earlier, I had waited that morning. I left SG and Rick in the mall and did the waiting myself, and bonded with all the other waiters. At midnight, when they started selling the book, the line moved in fits and starts forward (there are two entrances to the store, so they had two lines, a fact I only understood once I was inside). Every now and then a Borders employee would come by with trays of slices of giant cookie--both the keep up goodwill and bloodsugar, I imagine. SG kept calling me like a kid in the backseat on a road trip: Are You There Yet? Finally, at 1:02am, I emerged with the book and giveaway poster in hand.
Then, of course, we had to wait another hour and a half for Rick to get his copy, since we were his ride. SG read two chapters in the car on the way home, and fell into bed. I read five chapters this morning before she got up. We have participated to the fullest in a worldwide cultural phenomenon, and boy are my wings tired.
klages, in her full Bellatrix LeStrange finery. Isn't she terrifying? I followed closer to 10pm (since I knew I'd be standing around for a solid two hours at least). They were in the midst of a trivia contest when I arrived, with SG in the middle of the scrum answering everything and being teased by her chum Rick for being such a geek. The Stonestown Mall, which is a vast upscale palace of commerce, was chock full of people, many Hermiones and Harrys, fewer of the secondary characters (although I was pleased to see a Quirell, a Trelawny, and a couple of Bellatrixes...or is that Bellatrice? aside from my own). Many tiny little kids in Gryffindor scarves and wizard robes, and one woman with a really killer sorting hat, home made, of about $100 worth of glove-quality suede (okay, so I used to do theatrical costuming, and I asked. There's more than one way to skin a geek). Several of the mall stores had stands--oddly, the Soup Chef was handing out free samples of soup (what this has to do with wizardry I don't know, but their organic split pea was very nice).After a break for ice cream at the overpriced Haagen-Dasz store, we went back for a Snape: Evil or Good debate. SG came down solidly in the Snape-will-be-redeemed camp (she's reading the book now, and will find out if her faith will be rewarded). I sat down for a while and read Territory, which is really really good (people kept peering at it and asking; when I told them "gunfight at the O.K. corral they looked confused. When I said "with magic" they perked right up). And then they had the costume contest. First kids 0-13 (there was the tiniest Hermione Granger imaginable, barely able to make it up the stairs on her own. When they got to the over-13 group, SG went up on stage, flourished evilly, and stalked off. Then I minced up, ordered everyone to stay for detention, and minced back down again. I should note that the shoes I wore were the shoes I was married in, and I haven't worn anything with even so modest a heel in years. Owwww.) I didn't win the contest--Mad Eye Moody did, but I was a runner up, and got a nifty Slytherin magnet for the fridge.
Here's Mad Eye, Rita Skeeter, and the Weasleys. Mad Eye, who had a great sense of drama, flourished around a lot, and was the hands-down crowd favorite. I liked Rita Skeeter, too--she's not as polished as Miranda Richardson was in the fourth film, but she has that blowsy blonde thing going on.
Here you can see me threatening Miss LeStrange with detention if she doesn't stop smirking. Note the orange wristband which will permit me to pick up my copy of The Tome. Note also my complete lack of vanity in allowing this photo to be viewed, as I look like a cross between Margaret DuMont and a chicken.
Finally, at 11:45, those of us with orange wristbands were told to line up against the wall. I figure that must have been about 300 people. They marched us from the mall to the bookstore (around the corner, but with no in-mall access) and lined us up against the same wall where, only 15 hours earlier, I had waited that morning. I left SG and Rick in the mall and did the waiting myself, and bonded with all the other waiters. At midnight, when they started selling the book, the line moved in fits and starts forward (there are two entrances to the store, so they had two lines, a fact I only understood once I was inside). Every now and then a Borders employee would come by with trays of slices of giant cookie--both the keep up goodwill and bloodsugar, I imagine. SG kept calling me like a kid in the backseat on a road trip: Are You There Yet? Finally, at 1:02am, I emerged with the book and giveaway poster in hand.
Then, of course, we had to wait another hour and a half for Rick to get his copy, since we were his ride. SG read two chapters in the car on the way home, and fell into bed. I read five chapters this morning before she got up. We have participated to the fullest in a worldwide cultural phenomenon, and boy are my wings tired.