Some of you are already familiar with Mosquito, the fan film mockumentary created by Nathan Town and some Browncoat cohorts based on Firefly (especially since I've mentioned it here before). Besides being available online, it also made its way onto Dragon*ConTV, and DVD copies have been given to several of the actual series castmembers.

A couple of months ago, Mosquito: The Webcomic debuted, written by Town himself, featuring the continuing adventures of this 'verse...

...and I've just made a guest appearance in the current episode, "Ba-Dum-Bum." :)

Those involved in the Browncoat Saloon (browncoatsaloon) here in Winnipeg have shown up for a while in the current storyline, after being foreshadowed in the very first episode. (That's right, even this has continuity, which I appreciate.) Mine is the latest in a string of appearances including dontmentionlove in "Muddy Waters Saloon" (where my character was referenced, but not seen), xandersgirl in "Ain't It Always the Way," and casanovacoconut in "An Unfortunate Relapse."

Nathan seems to have gone for the full riverboat gambler effect where my visual translation is concerned, even though I wasn't sporting a 'stache the weekend the Browncoat Saloon made its debut. He also makes the obligatory Tom Selleck reference in the accompanying blog entry, but it reminds me more of Bret Maverick than anything else...

I'm happy to report that the grand opening of the Browncoat Saloon was a resounding success...

A lot of people at Keycon seemed really happy to see a Firefly-themed consuite in Winnipeg for the first time, if the constant traffic and questions like, "Is there a way to vote for this as best consuite?" are any indication. ;) All of the work put in by the crew I listed in my last post really paid off--the aesthetics of the suite totally came together as envisioned, with just the right mix of cultural influences and Browncoat-specific references.

Just a few days after the con ended, dontmentionlove posted the first pics straight from the Saloon on the LiveJournal community, for those who are interested in having a look. That's also where I'll most likely be posting my own photos, once I have things organised and connected enough around here to get those online. I do know that I was constantly getting shots throughout the weekend, and (unless I'm completely misinterpreting my camera's readout), I should have around two hundred pics to choose from.

The future of the Saloon remains to be seen. No matter what's decided, however, browncoatsaloon remains the best source for information, so keep checking back there for further developments.

There has already been some talk of putting the suite on again at Manitoba Comic Con this October, though we (or maybe just I) are (am?) somewhat more reluctant to remount it at next year's Keycon, because of...the person running the con then, who has a very negative (though well-deserved, some would say) reputation. (I'd rather not get more specific than that, lest the person in question find my post during a round of ego-surfing, but they have been the target of online bad-mouthing before, including elsewhere on LiveJournal.)

At any rate, when this first came up--and I had my doubts about even attending Keycon next year--I jokingly suggested that I should offer up some counterprogramming that weekend in my own apartment, which has already been described as "ginormous" and so (by this logic) could actually hold an entire convention inside. The joke kept recurring, and then something weird happened...the idea started sounding a little plausible.

Thus, the notion of NonCon 2008 was born. If there's a more elaborate way to avoid one person, I don't know what it is, but there are worse concepts out there. :} The New Place will be properly set up by then (though at the rate I'm going right now, you never know :P), I can definitely show videos here, I'm sure I could put together some panels and even a gaming room, if need be...and after all, I have the necessary equipment here to put a consuite together. ;)

Anyone interested in a supporting membership?

Although I haven't mentioned it lately, work on the browncoatsaloon has been proceeding...and it's yet another reason why I haven't been posting much.

Having said that, it's a very worthwhile reason. :)

Since the Browncoat Saloon is just about to make its debut here in Winnipeg, this seemed like the right time for some more details, even if I have to provide them in the middle of the night.

Many of the usual suspects have been involved with this project--chavvah and her Tamed Mechanic, casanovacoconut and dontmentionlove, imperfectmedium, and of course, xandersgirl, who originated the concept.

One of the more important steps we all took in making this happen was taking a weekend trip at the end of April to the area near Piney (a town in southeastern Manitoba) where imperfectmedium's parents live. Their home is not so much a log cabin as a log mansion, and they (thankfully) had all the materials and equipment we needed to build our set pieces. If you're curious, the LiveJournal community has a public post with pictures from that weekend...

Beyond that, the past few weeks have entailed a lot of shopping for necessary consuite items...plenty of thrifting, visits to Chinatown, and many a stop in seemingly random stores here and there to pick up this and that. It would probably seem disconnected to an outsider, but I have to say that the sum total of our efforts is an excellent mix of Eastern and Western elements that will serve the Saloon well.

I did insist on a couple of Eastern elements I hadn't originally anticipated. Rewatching Firefly left me with the impression that we should really have a Buddha statue for the Eastern/Companion half of the suite, so I managed to track down a relatively inexpensive one. Before that, though, my main shopping trip to Chinatown with xandersgirl and dontmentionlove led to my grabbing some spirit money...which seemed all the more appropriate as decor because it is made from Joss paper. ;)

(I am aware of the cultural overtones of spirit money, if anyone reading this is worried, and anyone reading this who isn't aware of them is encouraged to read up on the basics. I do plan to tell people not to take the money as a souvenir, since keeping it is generally associated with a death wish...)

I know that some of you who are in Winnipeg are already planning to go to Keycon...but if not, I would encourage you to check it out. Actually, I'd encourage you to check out the Browncoat Saloon, which necessitates going to the con, though the con itself often leaves much to be desired. :/

There'll be food, drinks, music (including a sing-along, complete with a book of lyrics :)), prizes to be won, games to be played (darts, poker, Red Dead Revolver, and more), screenings to be watched (Firefly and Serenity, as you'd expect, but also the fan-made documentary Done the Impossible and even the fan film Mosquito, thanks to its producers :)), fun to be had, and some of the prettiest Browncoats you'll ever meet. ;)

The LiveJournal community linked above is probably your best source for ongoing information about all this, but you can also keep checking out the Browncoat Saloon on MySpace...

This weekend will be the first appearance of the Saloon, but somehow, I get the feeling it won't be the last. ;)

On that note, I really need to get back to work...

As some of you know already (especially if you're involved as well :)), I'm currently involved in setting up a Firefly/Serenity-themed consuite at Keycon here in Winnipeg, and I thought I would enlist the help of any talented Browncoats who might be reading this...

If any of you have any advice to offer on how to successfully pull off this sort of suite at a con, feel free to join the browncoatsaloon community here on LiveJournal and/or the Browncoat Saloon on MySpace.

(I'm particularly looking in your direction, jenskijen, nonoluna, and sweetgrrl1972. ;))

The con is Victoria Day weekend (i.e. May 18-20 this year), so there is still some time to prepare, but it seemed best to get some assistance before things go down to the wire. A few of us also came across a rather disappointing Serenity suite at Valleycon in Fargo this past October, so I'd like to avoid the sort of underwhelming minimalism we saw there. :/

In particular, we're looking for help in replicating costumes from both the series and film (e.g. Inara's costumes from Serenity), so it would be great if someone could point us in the right direction(s) for more information on that.

There's a meeting for those of us already involved shortly, and I'll be posting the minutes from that in the community afterwards. That might give you more of an idea of what we're working on--and hopefully, it'll get you thinking, too. ;)

Thanks in advance...I appreciate any and all help you have to offer, and I know we can all make sure this goes off well. :)

On a side note, I head off to this meeting a little disappointed, as I discovered today that Joss Whedon won't be making Wonder Woman after all...