Fantasm 2K Review
The review is not one of my better ones, but what I lack in words makes up for immensely with the pics I (well Wes really) provided for you to look at. This means the download time is probably more than all my reviews combined, but it's well worth the wait :)
So I was off at Fantasm last weekend (March 16-19, 2000) and this time I brought a companion (Wes - and yes, it's platonic) that's almost as goofy as I am with better computer gadgets to play with (i.e. he brought his digital camera to take pics with and I was lazy and didn't take any pics). However, this time I was prepared to share the world of conventions with the public by bringing my brand spanking new lap top (birthday present - I paid half) to upload and chat and what have you along with 6 other cam personalities who were doing the same thing. Lone Feather even made us our own chat room.. So what happens? The phone lines died on us and we had no connection whatsoever and were royally screwed (not to mention I had some people write in that were concerned for my safety - thinking I was in jail, dead, or found Craig Kilborn and eloped). Not to worry, Wes took some great pics and I get to waste his bandwidth instead of mine on them.
We were planning to leave at 10am on Thursday morning, but in Wes time that means 11:15 and we need to stop for food, so generally we were out of McDonalds and supposedly 2.5 hours away from our final destination in Atlanta by noon. Wrong. Of course, we had to run into traffic on the way to Chattanooga. This wasn't just any traffic, though. After about fifteen minutes of staring idley at the back of an El Camino, I notice that people have switched off their engines and have gotten out of their cars. Then the social hour began. Everyone was out and about talking to nearby drivers. All that was missing was the alcohol - then maybe I wouldn't have minded so much. An hour later and much fuming, they get back in their cars and we are off to a shaky start. Of course I was looking for the wreck and spillage of bodies to blame this fiasco on (as someone better be dead for me to wait this long, and I better be able to view it), but to no avail, it was some sort of mysterious curse put on by the highway fairy for me to ponder while we go 20 miles an hour for absolutely nothing.
Anyway, we get to the hotel and check in and we get the most fabulous room complete with a dressing area for me to explode my costumes onto. If anyone has ever roomed with me, you know that after about a day there are costumes everywhere in disarray making it hard to entertain in our room. Steve took us all to this Greek/Lebanon restaurant to eat gyros and we brought my fav person - the Reverend Maynard - who has lots to talk about since my last seeing him at ExotiCon - mainly about his foul usage of free time if he had unlimited resources.
There weren't a lot of people when we got back (we missed the outing to The Chamber) so after a drink or two and hanging out while people set up in the dealer's room, I passed out for a few hours while Wes, unbeknownst to me, set up the cam so I could be viewed in all my glory passed out in all my clothes. Classy. I wake up around 4:30 am and walk downstairs to find eveyone. I meet Lily of Lily of the Alley and Belle Cam and before I went to crash out for the second time, made plans to shop with them the next day before the con started. (there is a moment for us on it if you read this in time).
After shopping, I was accosted by Mystrys and a pair of fuzzy dice. Roll the dice, get a prize. I rolled, but I didn't get a prize. In front of 50 people with all my shopping bags, Mystrys let loose her paddle on my ass, and after much embarassement and a sore butt, I was on my way upstairs to change for the evening's festivities. I had a fabulous latex gown sent to me by Latex Geisha and the reason for the shopping trip was for the accessories it needed - shoes and aqua blue hair. Wes and I got ready and had a drink and went downstairs. I ran into Jester Fred and his girlfriend Shelley and we fixed them a drink as well and settled in to watch who would be crowned Miss Fantasm 2000. I didn't enter this year as I don't do a very convincing sexy lady and end up giggling and making it into a joke, so I left it to the people who could get naked in front of others. I was shocked when I saw the last contestant. "Earl Marie" made his way out to the stage in a shopping cart that turned over. What was his occupation? he was MY stunt double. Mystrys and Vera had dressed him up in a white wig and a latex dress. We were almost identical in what we were wearing.. It was as if I had entered the contest without all the embarassing "show us your tits" comments flying at me. I was really proud at that moment and could not stop laughing at him. Had he won, I was going to run up on stage and claim that crown. After all, he isn't the real Dawn Marie - he's just the stunt double. The crown went to the ever popular Mad Zoe who had a kicking costume with black wings. I have more pics of the Miss Fantasm Pageant (or rather Wes does) at the bottom of the page.
Afterwards, I changed into another gown and sampled some of the drinks at the Con-Coction contest. Seven drinks were floating around to be voted upon. The most humorous being the "urine sample" which consisted of everclear and apple juice and came in a urine specimen jar. Brad Dude was the culprit of this one. The Bendovaho's won out in the end as the best drink with their ever popular Fire Water.
I also met some fabulous drag queens who thought I had the coolest outfits. Their names were Sasha and Anastasia and they were getting hit on more than I was! Later that night, while in the consuite eating rice crispie treats, Sasha came into the room and as I heard her voice I turned to greet her. I saw that she was now a he, and it kind of shocked me. Yes, I knew she was a man, but it kinda ruined the magic for me as I liked hanging out with her as a chick. After I told her why I was shocked, I never saw her without her makeup again. The two of them made me an honorary diva and personally invited me to go to the Boybutante Ball with them. Of course I am going, I had been to the last two and have a had a great time at each one.
Other notable things that evening was the body painting show. The girl looked fabulous in this artsy sort of mural thing going on. After she was covered in paint, you couldn't even tell she was naked. She drew quite a crowd and they plan to bring back that event next year. Since my webspace provide will kick my ass for showing blatant nudity, but it was a cool look for her, I have linked to the pics at wes's. pic1, pic2, pic3, pic4, pic5, pic6.
The next day was spent looking for Wes' camera (thanx Keith for holding on to that for us) and trying to hook up my camera downstairs in the dealer's room. Unfortunately, the phone lines were out of order and all the cam girls had to "fake" like we were doing the cam thing. Really we were just playing old atari games on Bear's computer and taking turns watching the tables while we went to different panels. Wes really liked the wrestling panel - they threw a very painful-to-watch exhibition where this man literally got anihilated by chairs and broken tables. I didn't get to see that one (it was my shift to watch the table) but I did get to see Sasha's and Anastasia's panel on drag queens. They showed us how to transform an ordinary man into a sparkling queenie. Wes has some pics of wrestling up as well. Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4, Pic 5, Pic 6, Pic 7, Pic 8, Pic 9, Pic 10, Pic 11, Pic 12.
Next up was the slave auction. Usually I enter this one, but this year I was a little afraid about the potential "show us your goods" factor and that I really didn't have the 2 hours to be a slave. Wes, Jester Fred, Shelley and I sat in the front to watch the debauchery up close. It started out tame enough until Wolf decided to show everyone how he can breathe through his ears and then it all went down hill from there. I had never seen so many boobies being flashed at a con before.
The crowning glory was the man that got up there and he decided to flash the girls that were bidding on him. I couldn't believe he actually threw his genitals out there for speculation. he was the first and only guy to do that, for as soon as he flashed the audience, the girls stopped bidding on him. When asked why, they replied "we've already seen it." and so the guy was sold to a colorful gay man in the front row. I'm sure it was a dream come true for the slave. Too funny.
They also auctioned off two places for the Caligula party. Queen Druicilla and King Caligula were good titles to have as if you are the highest bidder you get all kinds of goodies and party favors. Belle and Bear got those roles and Bear used his to the fullest hilt including wearing the toga all night the traditional style making everyone drink with him and exclaiming "It's good to be the king." Lily took the prize though as she was sold for 435 dollars. That's a lot of clams for two hours.
The adult cam girl panel was at 10pm and though I was asked to be on it, didn't feel like I was qualified. I really don't have an adult site, nor do I have a desire to have one or even act like I do on stage. I'm actually very proud of Cloei for moderating the panel. She was very nervous and though I also get extremely nervous at doing panels, it seems that people think if you are a cam girl, you are automatically good at speaking in front of large groups of people. This totally isn't true. It's easier for me to be in front of a one eyed cam that I don't have to converse with then in front of people that expect me to entertain them and talk.
Wes and I went to numerous parties hanging out with tons of people I hadn't seen since November and drinking like a fish. We went to the Jonestown party, the ExotiCon party, the Bendo-va-ho party, and then this other party that was full of food. Wes and I voted on the food party as anyone can have alcohol, but when you are serving up a jello shooter brain and cookies, you can't beat that with a stick.
I passed out around 5am but not before being rounded up by Brad Dude to do his Girls of Fantasm video. He was doing a documentary and was asking various questions to the girls. I think my favorite one was when he asked me to do a "When Harry Met Sally" orgasm. I was floored and replied absolutely not. When they told me that everyone else was doing it and why was I putting up such a fight, I told them that I had class and that's what would differentiate me from the rest of the gals. Yeah, I was being snooty, but I just didn't see what a faked orgasm had to with Fantasm. If anything, it's only giving away the gal's secret to prospective dates (sorry brad dude, had to throw that in).
The next day, I had the technical cam girl panel to do at 1pm and everything went off with out a hitch. I was nervous at first, but when you are surrounded by pals, I couldn't help but feel comfortable. I really thought with it being Sunday that no one was going to show, and at 12:55 there was just 2 people in there. Mystrys and I were just going to go in there, answer their particular questions and then leave by 1:10. I was very surprised by the turnout we had for that.
We left around 3 after the con in review and I was pleased to find that there would be more drag queens and the scavenger hunt that I was a fan item for would actually have more organization (no one ever got the fan item from me nor did I ever get to judge it - only one person showed at the end and won by default).
Here are some other photos that I didn't know where they would fit.
Pics of the Slave Auction
Pics of Miss Fantasm Pageant
What did I learn this weeked?
I learned that Wes as a co pilot is a fun ride, and that more cam girls need to come out to these things as I like the whole idea of cam and con together. I learned that all the preparation in the world to go camming will stop dead in it's tracks if I have no phone line and that if someone you are on shaky ground with is nice to you for no reason whatsoever, you should let them borrow your aqua wig.
Well, Fantasm rocked and I am certainly going next year and I hope all of you at least check out their website. The next trip I am taking will be in Akron, Ohio for Frightvision (March 31 - April 2, 2000). I have never been to Ohio before, but have been told it's not that a big a deal. However, Frightvision is full of scream queens whose B movies I have watched through my dateless teen years and I can't wait to meet some of them. I plan on camming it there for at least Saturday - god willing and if phone lines are active.