Oriental 21

 Greetings

I have come up with a new outfit for him...

Until next time

Adieu

Discworld Convention 2026 3

 Greetings

I was not planning to take an overly active part in any programme at the convention.

Nevertheless, I ended up taking part in two.

I have already told you how I took part in one item, playing 'Just A Minute.@

The second item was entirely due to some people finding out that I am a filker and, thus, can sing and that I have also sung Mozart, Gilbert & Sullivan and other operatic arias.

It transpired that, as the theme was Masquarade, one of the other attendees had written a libreto for a short comic opera. He had basically filked several classical composers- and some of the filks were in Italian.

The work was called "Le Conte De Gribeau" and the story seemed to be a sort of contest between Gribo and Count Cassanuda as to who was the greatest lover.

As this involved both dwarves and cats, I quickly decided not to examine this concept too closely...

He even painted and produced a poster to advertise the opera.

My bass baritone was the lowest pitch, so I was assigned the bass line in the chorus for three songs, as well as first voice in a duet.

My part was Sergeant Colon of the Ankhmorpork City Watch and the tune was Offenbach's 'The Bold Gendarrmes' with appropriately filked words.

I opted to wear my scarlet Guards tunic with the waist belt, but without epaulettes or medals. I wore the officer's sash crosswise over my left shoulder, to idicate my NCO rank and wore shorts, long socks and crocks.

It was decided that this was sufficiently silly.

We had two rehersals, one, mostly, for blocking entrances, exits etc and the second for singing. Neither was on the actual stage.

Despite this, the perforamnce went off without a hitch and were very well received by the audience.

I was particularly pleased with the duet, as I had practiced it only twice with the complete stranger I had been paired with. We even achieved a very pleasant harmony on the joint parts of the chorus.

I still find it something of a mystery that these things go so well with so little preparation.

But, a famous rabbit once said,...

That's Opera, Doc!

Until next ime

Adieu

Oriental 20

 Greetings

Now his shirt's all ripped...

Until next time

Adieu

Discworld Convention 2026 2

 Greetings

As I said in the first blog about this, the theme of the concvention was Masquarade.

As part of this, posters had been put up around the convention space. They were all riffs on actual operas, but with a Discworld spin and with some terrible puns.

it took me a moment to get the joke, due to the germanic script. Lohengrn turns into  Loan shark

Due to all Discworld dwarves having beards, dating is a a somewhat circumspect and and temtative process...

Another terrible pun. Cosi Fan Tuti becomes cosy fan heater

This one was my favourite, as it is an excellent re-rendering of the original poster...

It was nice to be at the con and not to be in the chaos costume room all the time. I could actually go to programme items and wander round the dealer's room more than a couple of times...

This did , however also lead to me being roped int.... invited to take part in two items. The first of thse was due to Teddy lertting slip that I'm a filker and, hence, can sing and have sung Gilbert and Sullivan. More on that later.

The other item was due to my liking for word-play.

One of the items on the programme was a game of "Just A Minute".

This followed the rules of the BBC Radio 4 game; A player is given a subject and must speak on it for a minute without deviating, hesitating or repeating anything except the words in the subject. The chair has discretion to allow the rpreating of small words, as long as speaker doesn't abuse the priviledge.

The other players can challenge for repetition, deviation or hesitation, or (if they choose) for a spurious reason that's funny. If the chair upholds the challenge they get a point and take over the subject. If the chair denys them the original palyer gets the point and has to carry on.

I had joined the audience for this item and it rapidly became apparent that there was a problem. The chair was present, but, unfortunately, all four planned players were unable to be there.

Consequently, the chair called for volunteers from the audience and, four foo.. volunteers duly took their places and played two rounds. This was very amusing, especially as one player was trying to game the system.

At this halfway point, the chair asked if anyone else wanted a go and three of the four immediately resigned. I  was then persuaded to have a go.

It is remarkably diffiicult, as you find yourself constantly trying to self-edit and simultaniously both carry on and think of alternative words. It was rather like my attempts to leave voicemail ,or answerphone messages. I find myself trying to remember what I have just said , while still trying to form coherent sentances.

It was challenging, but still quite fun. I was quite good a challenges, and even managed to challenge one player for repetition twice- for the same word.

I came third and must have done something right, as the chair later said that I should volunteer again.

I will tell you about the other programme item later.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Buck 13

 Greetings

This is something of a blast from the past...

It's amazing what one turns up when looking for something amongst old blogs.

This is a version of one of my pieces of computer art from 2024.

I drafted the blog, but then obviously forgot to post it...

So here it is now...

The Regency Buck as a blond...

Normal service will be restored with the  next blog...

Until next time

Adieu

Oriental 19

 Greetings

More fun with this lad...

Now, in ripped britches.

Until next time

Adieu

Discworld Con 2026 1

 Greetings

As I have mentioned (probably many times) before, Teddy and I used to run Chaos Costuming at many cons, including the Discworld con.

When we decided to retire from this onerous activilty, one of the last cons we did it at was a Discworld con. They were very grareful and not only gave us free ticket to the gala banquet , but floweres, chocolates and a bottle of champagne as well.

That( we thought) was that.

The Discword cons a bi-annual and the tickets sell iut very fast.

Just before they went live for the 2026 con, we were contacted and told, as an additional 'Thank You' we had been given free memberships.

So , as 'twould be churlish to refuse...

The con was being held at the Hinkley Island Hotel, which is well known to us crom many previous cons.

This did, however, did raise one complecation, as out=r Sat Noav has developed a quike and won't let us type the number '1'. As the postcode for the hotel included this forbidden number, we had to program it for nearby and partially rely on maps and memory to get there.

Somewhat surprisingly, this worked.

The theme of the con was Masquarade, so we just HAD to bring to bring costume.

here is the wizard outfit Teddy wore

The hat was covered in sparkly orange fabric which spread its joy of glitter everywhere it went- in the car, on the seats, on other people, thoughout the hotel....

As for me- on the first day I wore my blue velvet and gold lace georgian coat, which I have posted pictures of before.I wore it without a wig, but didn't get any pictures on this occasion.

I decided to call myself Count Casanarfwe (to tall for Casanunder, but to short for Casanova)

On the second day I wore uniform, Monsterous Regiment style.

This was my Steampunked Guards uniform worn with my Napoleonic officer's sash and LIght Company shako and, of course, some Steampunk medals I mounted up myself.

This outfit proved very popular and I let lots of people take pictures.

I will post more about the con later.

Until next time

Adieu