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.)
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.)
Hmmm, so what sort of theme shall we have this year? Magician’s theater after-hours, with velvet curtains, seance cabinets, crystal balls, spotlights, disappearing closets and the like?
Wow, I haven’t had a first post in years!
KaiYves- I think that sounds delightful. Could it have secret passages too, or is that not quite what you’re going for?
Of course, how else could we do disappearing acts?
…
Kai, I like the magician idea! We could have the buffet set up to appear levitated. (We have to follow the rules of physics, right?)
Prussia=Awesome, this is your first Muse Academy ball, yes? Basically, we plan a Halloween ball, and then have a two-week-long period of role-playing dancing and merriment. The Halloween Ball is a masquerade, which means that we dress in a costume, change our names, and disguise our avatars. We reveal our usual blog identities at the end.
Yes, no not-yet-invented technologies or violations of physical law are allowed, but illusions are fine.
Luckily, magicians are very good at creating the illusion of breaking the laws of physics.
Of course, a well-thought-out plan for the party will describe how the illusory effect is achieved.
It’s amazing what you can do with clear plastic supports. It they’re still visible, you can always fall back on the old fog machine under the table trick.
You could maybe hang it up, versus setting it on something.. A clear, strong rope would do.
What if someone hit the ropes with their hand when reaching for food?
I was thinking of that,
But what if someone kicked underneath the “floating” table?
That’s a good point. I think we could put the supports far enough away from the edges to prevent that yet still have them in position to support the weight of the table…
I’ve been puzzling over mapping our partying needs onto a theatre layout, and I think this is what works best:
Place for the band to play: Orchestra pit or raised place onstage.
General dancing and partying: Onstage and backstage, in the area between the seats and the stage, and the aisles.
Banquet table: Onstage.
Rooftop garden: This is hard. I guess the roof of the theater? With tall evergreens in planters on the roof edges, blotting out the sight of the surrounding city except for a few twinkling lights seen briefly as the wind causes the branches to move?
City? Which campus is this?
Just idle brainstorming, imitating a city in the country would be silly, we all value MA’s peace and quiet. I was just trying to imagine what rooftop a literal theatre would have…
The ordinary rooftop garden at MA can work fine decorated in a “magic” theme, we could have “jumping” laminar flow fountains like at EPCOT, where one splash of water appears to magically jump between pools…
Oh, the city lights were part of the effect. I see! I hadn’t thought of that.
I was thinking we could decorate the rooftop garden with crazy orchids and the like, maybe Old Tyme magician’s implements?
SFTDP, but if this was in the country, you could hang lightx from trees, to look like the city.
I think that layout sounds great (give or take the city part, of course). It’s straight out of the what the drama department at my school in does when not performing or rehearsing. (Well, minus the banquet table, but in real-life schools you can’t have anything.)
I think the band should play in the orchestra pit, as the stage is likely to get a bit crowded.
Advance warning : I intend to install a geodesic gazebo on the roof top, equipped with fountain heads. Make of it what you will.
Sounds brill.
3.1.1-Ohhh I love those fountains. Let’s have them for sure.
And perhaps fishtanks filled with colorful fish inside?
Should there be a maze this year? I feel like a large one filled with trapdoors, cobwebs, secret passages, and mirrors could suit the theme quite well. Unless that’s too similar with what we did in May. (Also, I’m not entirely sure where we would put it.)
Maybe the “maze” is multi-floor? Like, there are actually various secret rooms and staircases that lead from the stage to the rooftop, but the question is how many dead ends and prop rooms you go through along the way… After all, in a magician’s theater, there are many places for something to disappear to…
Good idea! Perhaps there’s a basement, too.
There’s probably a prop room right under the stage for quick exits and appearances. (Like in Detective Barbie! Which, although I haven’t played it in over a decade, was a fun game.)
i have an idea, it may be a costume party! or if someone already mentioned that i will feel like a nut.
GAAH! IT’S HALLOWEEN! OF COURSE WE WEAR COSTUMES!
maybe i could go as myself, me being a winged cat no one will notice!
i have a decor idea! maybe we could have pictures of all the muser’s profiles on the wall! and the most honored will have the prettiest frames.
and … and the administrators will have a special place above the thrones were they will sit and administrate the goings on in the place!
and a terace where all the attendants will look out over a beutifull forest where my WaterClan resides and the moon will shimmer over the glittering river.
as entertainment i could summon water out of the freshest ponds into the cups and glasses. maybe i could also make it rain a little to add to the prettyness!
so? w’dya think?
The Halloween Ball is always a masquerade, so yes, we do always wear costumes.
I don’t think the GAPAs would want to encourage favoritism by declaring any of us “the most honored”– all Musers are equal.
Giving the GAPAs a special place to sit if they want to would be appropriate, unless of course they’d rather be down on the dance floor mingling with us.
Looking out over a forest and river would be good for the rooftop garden, maybe through a gap in the trees at the rooftop edges. We’re not allowed to break the laws of physics at these balls, so actually summoning water or controlling the weather is out, but pretending to do so as part of a magic act would be perfectly okay.
okay then. may we start baking the treats though?
decide what to eat. that’s always fun!
Food is always important. May I suggest multiple types of pie?
hmm…
Blackberry probably. you know, for the darkness of halloween!
Raspberry too. maybe it could be dyed green
and Apple of course! who doesn’t like apple pie? well… it’s MY favorite i don’t know if anyone else doesn’t like it but.
Pumpkin is probably a necessity as well, considering the nature of the occasion.
I was thinking strawberry rhubarb, french silk/ chocolate satin ( french silk, but with a OREO CRUST!!!), and pecan. Actually, a lot of pies.Or even meatpies!
never heard of those flavors.
and Ambystoma has a good idea too! pumpkin pie would be nice.
DECOR IDEA: pumpkins. with all the muses’ faces (Or bodies) carved or taped onto them!
Regarding the scenery around the rooftop garden, what if, as part of a magic act, the decorations could change to take you from the wilderness to the city and vice versa?
not all of us appreciates the beauty of the city as you do
Not all of us appreciate the beauty of the country, too. Personally, I like the idea. And both are pretty.
I think that sounds excellent.
How od you change your gravatar for the ball?
You change the e-mail under your name.
Go to your gravatar account and add another picture; whatever you want! Then change the active picture to that one and you’re set.
Wait, you’ve totally changed your gravatar before, haven’t you. Didn’t it used to be a picture of Prussia?
For the ball you’ll also need to change your blogname to keep utter secrecy.
Actually just realized that your avatar changes everywhere… I’m pretty slow at four in the morning.
Anyway, yeah, you’ll probably need a different email address and gravatar account. Although you could just trust people not to look anywhere but the party thread… Hm.
So when are we going to start our party?
Yikes, good question. We usually start on the 13th. Hm, is all the planning finished and everything in order?
I think we are ready!
(It actually might not be a bad thing for the ball to be shorter, since activity has had a tendency to dwindle quickly in the past couple of years.)