"Lou Leghorn's trip to Taurmania... The Sequel"
Extra links can be found at...
Vakkos Taurmania!-II page;
The Kinky Turtles' Taurmania!-II Diary
Thursday, August 17,2000
I had intended to leave home around 9:00am to begin my trip to Fairmont, Minnesota, to attend TaurMania!-II. However, since this was trash pick-up day, I decided to wait so that I could put my trashcan away instead of leaving it out for a week. Any other time, they would have been here by nine, but not today, of course. Finally, they arrived at ten, and I was able to begin my journey.
I took my usual route from Indianapolis heading west, and had travelled about 45 minutes before I realized that I didn't really want the usual route. After checking a map, I decided to continue driving to Paris... Illinois. From that point, I was able to eventually get back to my intended route, and get to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, only 2 hours late.
Friday, August 18, 2000
The trip resumes...
I continued my trip at 9am, taking detours and alternate routes as necessary or desired. I arrived at the Stable about 1:30, where Vakko was standing outside wondering if anyone was going to show up. We went inside where Vakko gave me a couple of "evil gifts", consisting of a t-shirt, and a "Three-piece Chicken Dinner. (Contents of dinner.) Masem arrived about an hour later, and we waited for the others to show up... and waited. Sheila called Vakko to let him know that her original flight had been cancelled, and then the second flight had mechanical problems. KT and Mr. Fu were also running late, and we had no way of contacting Jeff H. Bear, who was going to give Sheila a ride from the airport. At about 3pm, I went to the Highland Court to check in and check the airline web sites to see if flights were delayed or cancelled, since Vakko needed the phone line available. When I got there, KT and Fu were already checking in.
We got our rooms and went back to the stable, to meet up with Vakko and Masem. A brief time was spent taking pictures of each other. Instead of going to Ja-Tee's to eat, as originally planned, Vakko and Fu went to bring back while the rest of us waited for possible phone calls from Jeff or Sheila. After we ate, Fu asked about Jon and Startoons. From that point, the conversation went from A! animators to animation companies to bad animation companies to bad cartoons of the past to terrible cartoons to... well, you get the idea. We also watched some Cartoon Network cartoons, including a new "PowerPuff Girls" toon (that we came in late on), and "Sheep in the City". Jon and Vince McClenahan showed up for a few minutes to say "hi" and get some information about Saturday's plans before going out to get their rooms. We continued to watch CN for a while longer when Jeff H. Bear finally got there around 10:30 pm. We all said a quick "hello" and gave him info for Saturday before he went to get his room and some sleep. Sheila called to let us know that she *finally* got to Minneapolis airport and was on her way. We then watched one more videotape that Michael Mink had sent to Vakko before deciding that we really should all get some sleep.
Saturday, August 19, 2000
We met at the Stable at 6:45 am to begin our trip to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Vakko and Sheila were in appropriate dress for the occasion. KT, Jeff, and Mr. Fu rode with me, Sheila and Masem rode with Vakko, and Jon and Vince rode together. Two hours later, we finally arrived at the festival. We met several costumed characters on the way to the gate. Once inside, we met Vakko's father, and his mother and sister. Jeff Bear posed with a wooden bear, Mr.Fu tried his luck at climbing Jacob's Ladder, without success, and a bagpipe player stopped by to perform while we waited for Sheila to buy a hat to complete the costume. We started to roam, and decided to watch a show presented by "The Tortuga Twins", (all *three* of them). Using members from the audience, they presented Robin Hood". There was a booth where up to 12 people could play a game of chess against the two attendants as they go from player to player. Jon gave the attendant a run for his money before finally losing.
Vakko found a Unicorn and immediately introduced himself. We watched some Jousting (#1, #2, #3), Fu tried his hand at archery (#1, #2, #3), and KT went through a maze that exited onto a slide, which wound up being the most difficult part. Before leaving, we stopped to watch a blacksmith at work, and he also demonstrated the basics of bucket making. Outside, we signed the Guest Book (in character, of course.)
After one last look back at the entrance, we headed for the parking lot to find our cars. In the parking lot, Fu practiced playing tunes on the ocarina that he had bought. On the way back though, sleep seemed to be the preferred activity.
We went to the Pioneer restaurant in Blue Earth for dinner. During the meal, Jon talked about the work that Startoons had done on "Tiny Toon Adventures", "Animaniacs", "Pinky and the Brain" and "Histeria!", and some of the work done by other studios (good and bad). He wished that they could have done more Minerva features, and when he mentioned "Moon Over Minerva" (done by another studio), he was surprised to learn about the editing done to remove her cleavage. He also explained some of the reasons for the reshoot of "Macadamia Nut", and some of the inside jokes and "cameos" that they are able to slip into the cartoons. After dinner, we went back to the Stable and watched a couple of videos that Jon had brought with him. The first one was a demo video of Startoon's products, and the next was some short clips from Animaniacs. The subject of the tufts of fur on the sides of Dot's head was brought up, and Jon started to draw Dot's head to demonstrate how the Warner Brothers legal department required it to be drawn. We watched a few more videos, and Jon drew a special picture of Minerva for us. It was getting close to 10pm, and Jon decided that it about time to go.
(Most of the gang...) l-r Vakko, KT, Masem, Sheila, Jeff, Jon, and...Mr. Fu in the background to the left.
Mr. Fu's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, but we decided to celebrate it anyway. Jeff had brought some mead with him, and Sheila opened a bottle for us to sample. We watched more videos and talked until about midnight, and decided that it was time for all of us to snaf.
Sunday, August 20, 2000
Masem, Jeff, KT, Fu and I met Sheila and Vakko at the stable around 10 am. Vakko gave Jeff his "evil gift", and considering the outfit, we wondered about the age recommendation on the tag. (Closeup of the "gift") KT had also brought along a "large trout" which he used on Masem, and demonstrated several other ways to use it. (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8) For lunch, we went to the China restaurant, which is about a mile east of the Stable. Soon, it was time for Masem to begin his drive back to Chicago, so we said our goodbyes, and he was on his way. Vakko brought out some of the different candy samples that Phar had sent to him after his visit in July. He had also sent some Vegemite and Nutella (Phar has since informed me that he did not send the Nutella, but that Vakko had gotten it) from Austrailia. Fu tried some Vegemite, and was unsure if he should endorse this product. We watched some more videos, including an episode of "Red Dwarf", some clips of "2 Hapless Losers", a show that Fu starred in on the UCSD campus tv station, and the Animaniacs episode, "Hooray for NortHollywood". For dinner, we walked to Jakes Pizza a few blocks away, and got a private room upstairs. As usual, some of the conversation centered around cartoons, and what some of the gags were based on. One Marx Brothers movie that was mentioned as an influence was "Duck Soup". A couple of us had never seen it, so when we returned to the Stable, Vakko played his tape of it. After awhile, I mentioned that we had hardly been online almost the entire time that we had been there, and that no "Evil Calls" (tm)(c) had been made. Vakko got on the channel long enough to get a couple of people to call. The first call was to Michael Mink. He asked if we enjoyed the tapes that he had sent, and Vakko told him of Masem's reactions to some of the war cartoons. Vakko also asked me to take a picture of the "cheese bomb", and also asked for the URL for this page. We all got a chance to talk to him, and then we called Timmo Warner up in Nova Scotia, Canada. While the calls were going on, Vakko decided to pose Jeff's bear on one of his pony plush. After the calls were done, we all went to the #cafe on IRC and chatted for a while. Fu got a chance to try Vakko's whip outside, and took charge of it and a camel crop (another gift from Phar to Vakko). Finally, several of us started to lose our connections, which was probably a good thing as some of us needed to get some sleep to begin the trip back home the next morning.
Monday, August 21, 2000
I got up around 7am and uploaed this page and the pictures. When that was finally done, I decided to go to #warnercafe and see who might be therethat early. That turned out to be Taper and Masem, but they were AFK at the time. I started to take some of my stuff out to the car, and I noticed that "ircguest" had logged into the 'cafe. I didn't pay too much attention to that, and continued packing. When I got back, I noticed that "ircguest" had changed her name to none other than our own Chilly, and that she was online from, of all places, *her cash register terminal* at work. She asked how the mania was and who was still there and stuff, but had to pause once in a while to ring up an order for a customer. I told her that we were heading back to the Stable, and would be back online there in a while. I checked out, Fu moved to a single for his extra night, and we said "hi" to Jeff and KT and wer on our way.
We got back to the Stable just after KT, and saw that Vakko was already online. Everyone was surprised that Chilly was able to get on from her register. Sheila was saying "I can understand a register terminal being connected to an intRAnet, but to the intERnet??" Abour 9:30am, we decided to go to Burger King and get some breakfast. They had some signs on the wall bragging about their "fast service", but I think that was about the longest I ever had to wait at a BK, considering there was only ONE person in line ahead of us. We finally got our food, and talked about the past weekend while we ate. We went back to the stable, and Jeff said that he needed to be on his way. Before he left, we drank a toast with a very sweet beverage called "Lemon Meringue" (I think). After the toast, Jeff said his goodbyes, and was on his way back to St. Louis. After Jeff left, I decided that I should be going also. I said goodbye and began my journey back to Indianapolis.
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ltorrance@worldnet.att.net
Last update 8/25/00. This page and all contents copyright 2000 by Larry L. Torrance.