Friday, 20 December 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
Some of you have requested a Yule Ball. We’re not sure that busy, increasingly overworked MBers have enough time or energy to carry one off this year. But Piggy has been relaxing at the still-open 2009 MA holiday party. We’ll move his post onto this thread to set the stage for some quiet times while the bleak Nordic weather lowers outside.
The decorations are up, the tables are sagging under the weight of the snacks, the music is playing, and the costumed guests are starting to arrive. What surprises lie in store this year?
Repaired, repainted, reinforced, and ready for Paker!
Continued, after a considerable lapse, from the 2011 Game Room thread.
For those taking a break from the festivities.
For a quick return to the main ball, click here.
Welcome to the mid-semester madness — Muse Academy at its most Hogwartsian. Please remember to observe the Academy’s rules of decorum and the standard laws of physics. Beyond that, anything goes!
The seasonally decorated rooftop garden is also open to anyone needing a change of scenery or a breath of fresh air.
Muse Academy (as everyone knows) loves parties, and the Halloween Ball always provides a much-needed mid-semester break. So, what’s in the lineup for this year?
(To jog your memory, here’s what happened at the 2011 ball and on its planning thread.)
Off with your coats!
Muse Academy’s spring formal is now in progress!
Details can be found on the planning thread. Here’s how Cerulean Pyros summarizes them:
Entry hall: furniture attached sidelong to the walls and ceiling and floor, to look like the rabbit-hole turned on its side.
Ballroom: Indoor garden; large mushroom-shaped seats; chess; lion and unicorn archway to roof; tea party; holograms.
Rooftop: Tent, to turn it into an interior; croquet; clever and complicated mirror maze, as described extensively above.
Dancing will be: Lobster quadrille, and an assortment of interesting music. Food extant according to guests’ imaginations. Attire to be formal, comfortable, stylish, and individual. Interactions not relegated to fellow MBers, due to the infinite range of Mysterious Strangers who attend the ball.
The rest is up to you.
An adjunct to the May Ball, this year’s rooftop garden features a tent, to turn it into an interior; croquet; and a clever and complicated mirror maze full of optical illusions, all described extensively on the planning thread.
It is warm and well lighted inside the tent; outside, for those who need it, there are cool fresh air and moonlight.
Amid all the talk of IRL proms, don’t forget that the Academy’s spring formal is coming up soon and needs planning, too. It’s the high point of the academic year, so let’s make it a good one.
For inspiration, you might want to consult the proceedings of May Balls held in 2011, 2010, 2009, and
2008.
As it is New Year’s Eve, you may now begin claiming your presents on the Holiday Party Gift Tree thread.
Date: December 31, 2011
Categories: Fan Page / MuseBlog business, Muse Academy
Comments Off on Attention, MBers Attending the Muse Academy Holiday Party!
An ancient and revered MA/MB tradition. (You can see how it worked last year.)
Yikes! Where has the time gone? We’d better start planning this right away!
As always, Muse Academy events and students must adhere to physical laws and contemporary technology. No antigravity, perpetual motion, or magic spells, please! (Wungs, however, are not only permitted but obligatory.)
Here’s last year’s ball for reference.
We’re still not 100% sure what Shadowkat has in mind for this thread, but let’s give it a whirl.
An adjunct to the May Ball, the rooftop garden features a Victorian gazebo in which small bands play light music. To start with, an ensemble is playing overtures from Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Faintly in the background, near the Academy’s music wing, a student chamber-music quartet can be heard tuning up and practicing difficult passages from its own intended program.
The weather is perfect: bright and cool and crisp under a pale, cirrus-clouded sky.
The foremost event of the Muse Academy academic year is underway.
As discussed on the planning thread, the theme in the ballroom is “Victorian ruins” — aptly enough, as wealthy Victorians were fond of ancient ruins, had plenty of them on their own island, loved to travel to see others in Greece and Rome, and often built fake ruins (known as “follies”) to enjoy. The ballroom is festooned with simulacra of ivy-twined crumbling Corinthian columns, collapsed Norman chapels, and, in the center, a bubbling fountain flanked by two Grecian urns.
Dress is formal. (If you don’t know what that means, look it up.) This being Muse Academy, all the clothes fit perfectly and look wonderful. Hats resembling those recently seen at the Royal Wedding are much in evidence.
Music, at least to begin with, consists of ballroom and/or classical works composed before or during the reign of Queen Victoria, with emphasis on lush romanticism.
For fresh air and a break from the dancing and mingling, there is, as always, a rooftop garden.
The rest is up to you.
The spring formal at Muse Academy brings a touch of class to the school and much-needed relief from end-of-term pressures.
To see how it went last year, consult the 2010 planning thread and the https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=6873″>2010 ball.
Let’s light this candle!
Summary from the Planning Thread for easy reference:
Who: Any MuseBloggers who wish to attend. If you wish to assume the persona of a technician, astronaut, or spy or just create some sort of backstory for yourself, you’re welcome, but it’s not mandatory.
When: March 21st to April 17th, 2011.
Where: On the Yuri’s Night thread. Aboard Space Station Odyssey.
Food:
-In general: Foods that use scientific equipment for cooking, like an aspirator, gelatin… freeze-dried “astronaut†foods. (Not that we don’t have gravity, it’s just traditional.)
-Appetizers:
Fruit, Steamed dough (little soft bread things, Chinese), bread, soup, bruschetta.-Entrees:
Pasta, Salmon/crab/veggie/whatever else puffs (little dough balls with stuffing, kind of like dumplings), puffin puffs sushi…-Desserts:
Cookies, flavored ice, gelato, astronaut ice cream, chocolate fountain…-Drinks:
Made by a machine featuring lots of chemical equipment and tubing.-Miscellany:
Food and drinks served by robots. All catering courtesy of Piggy’s Happy Bottom Riding Club. (AKA the Hare and Hedgepig)Décor: 2001: A Space Odyssey is the general reference. 2011 as seen by 1961.
– The Ballroom: A large ballroom entered through sliding doors in the Star Trek fashion. Models and framed photographs showing the highlights of spaceflight and SF in the past 50 years decorate the room. (Yes, lots of gorgeous Hubble shots) We are aboard a rotating space station, and large floor-to-ceiling “windows†will show the rest of the station, the Earth below, the moon and stars, and every now and then, shuttles and cargo ships flying up to dock with the station. Periodically, there will be announcements over a PA system to announce the “dockingsâ€.
– The Rooftop Garden/The Pleasure Dome: Like the regular rooftop garden, only beneath an immense geodesic dome through which outer space can be seen. There are ornamental plantings, fountains containing statues of the planets, and models of rockets at various fractions of their actual size to stroll amongst. Telescopes are set up to allow guests to view various celestial objects they may find interesting- all are computer controlled, just punch in what you want to see and the scope will orient itself.
Music: A live band, playing a mix of 60s classics, New Age electronica, and any other favorites requested. Any MBer who wishes to drop in and play with the band may. Some specific music featured will include Holst’s The Planets and the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Dress: Futuristic formal. Black suits and ties, glow-in-the-dark dresses, neatly pressed jumpsuits, shirtsleeves with pocket protectors and skinny ties, Starfleet dress uniform, and the like. Go for a 60s feel, but nothing too hippie.
The goings-on: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering spaceflight, and the completion of Space Station Odyssey, various distinguished employees from the space agencies of the world have been invited to enjoy a civilized evening of dancing, music, intelligent conversation, and Earthwatching. (Binoculars provided at windows by wungs.) But keep on your toes, as befits the anniversary of such a prominent Cold War event, espionage and intrigue are in the air…
Rumor has it that a new Paker game is forming.
To see how the last one turned out, check the previous Game Room thread.