Conventional Wisdom

February 4, 2015 7:24 AM

Lincolns, Taxidermists, Ventriloquists, Bronies, Reenactors, Clowns, Santas, Furries, Merfolk - Photography by Arthur Drooker
posted by fearfulsymmetry (27 comments total)

Cookie Ramirez, known as the Harlem Mermaid, married her mertender, Ralph de Jesus, in the pool at the nearby Embassy Suites Hotel.

LOVE REALLY DOES EXIST *tears*
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:33 AM on February 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

also, the mermaids and mermen are way more fashionable than the taxidermists.
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:34 AM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

wanted: anon blog run by someone who manages a hotel that is frequented by a large variety of convention goers.
posted by Theta States at 7:44 AM on February 4, 2015 [10 favorites]

Like, who parties harder? Taxidermists or clowns?
Do merfolk reserve all of the pool space to the chagrin of other guests?
posted by Theta States at 7:51 AM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

Built To Spill: Conventional Wisdom (YouTube)
posted by freecellwizard at 7:54 AM on February 4, 2015

The merpeople outfits are lovely, it would be neat to see them in person.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:00 AM on February 4, 2015

I haven't been a kid for a long time but I believe in this guy so much right now.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:26 AM on February 4, 2015 [4 favorites]

I have spent a lot of my life in a lot of hotels, and the rowdiest convention I've ever ever shared a hotel with was supermarket butchers. That was not a good week to have a room with an adjoining suite door to another guest room that noises and smells could pass under.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 8:36 AM on February 4, 2015 [3 favorites]

An "alley" of clowns.

What is the collective noun for a group of the others? (I couldn't find any with a quick search)

Neologists: chime in!
posted by CrowGoat at 8:50 AM on February 4, 2015

The page on furries is a mix of confusing and accurate.

First, “A furry is a fan of walking, talking animals; the idea of making animals more like humans, or making humans more like animals,”

That's a lovely succinct summation of the fandom, so elegant that my jaw dropped.
posted by hippybear at 9:01 AM on February 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Surely a wave of merfolk.

A revision of Lincolns
A preserve of Taxidermists
A horror of Ventriloquists
A yard of Reenactors
A jingle of Santas
A fly of Furries

and, since I won't touch Bronies, having no real acquaintance,

a makeup of neologists!
posted by IAmBroom at 9:02 AM on February 4, 2015 [4 favorites]

Also: on New Year's Eve, home injured but bored, I decided to walk my dog downtown. Amongst the First-Night celebrants was a furry, being escorted by friends away from Where It's All Happening.

Dexter ignored the furry until he passed and Dex caught a glimpse of his tail, at which point Dex whipped around like he'd just had his world upended, and refused to go any further - trying to convince me we should go meet the furry.

I decided an excitedly barking knee-high dog would not make that gentleman comfortable, and demurred.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:06 AM on February 4, 2015 [4 favorites]

Bronies it's herd, I've read it used on fan pages, as in the "State of the Herd report."
posted by JHarris at 9:06 AM on February 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Surely a friendship of Bronies?
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:06 AM on February 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Analogous to horses or ponies:

A band of Bronies, or
A herd of Bronies.

I prefer the first for the alliteration. That and, "we few, we happy few, we band of Bronies..."
posted by explosion at 9:07 AM on February 4, 2015 [5 favorites]

Not so surely, then.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:08 AM on February 4, 2015 [3 favorites]

And my favorite of all of them is the Lincolns. You can all expect my 29-page obsessive post on the Abraham Lincoln fandom around this time next year.
posted by JHarris at 9:09 AM on February 4, 2015 [3 favorites]

I love it so much when people take their nerdy hobbies to this length. See also: Monster Camp and Living with the Tudors (documentaries about super intense LARPing).
posted by torisaur at 9:27 AM on February 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

I missed Fetishists (NSFW) - It wasn't linked from the article I got the original links from nor from the photographer's project page
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:34 AM on February 4, 2015

A few months ago, a friend was talking about the mermaid fandom a little. He's been hanging around the furry scene for many years, often as one of the artists sitting behind a table doing custom commissions of peoples' fursonæ. He wondered if a trip to a mercon could be funded by getting a table and introducing the merfolk to the concept of "con badges", which are basically small commissions that are laminated and given a clip to hang on whatever, so you can identify yourself as Your Fursona(e) without the hassle of wearing a heavy suit.

Reading that brief article on merfolk, I find myself thinking much the same thought. I also totally want to encourage merfolk to visit furry cons; it would be beyond rad to have a few of them swimming around the pool along with the seven foot high inflatable pool toys. They would totally be the envy of everyone with a shark fursona. (Sharks are kind of the It Species right now.) Or maybe just persuade a furry con to share a hotel with a mercon, merge dealers rooms, and see what happens.

I mean there is a photo of a person in a giant shrimp mer-tail! That is the best thing ever!
posted by egypturnash at 9:57 AM on February 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

There's a moment in Velvet Goldmine when Christian Bale first sees the David Bowie character on television and fantasizes about leaping to his feet, pointing at the television, and shouting "That's ME, dad!"

I always flip through these images terrified that I might have that moment. I have been a merman and never known it until the first time I see them, and, honestly, they are glorious, but I'm not ready for that sort of life change just now or that level of commitment. Thankfully, as much as I liked these images, none of them pierced my heart and made me realize that I had been this thing all along and just didn't know it.

Ultimately, I think I already know. I'm a wren boy. Every Christmas I want to dress as a wren boy. One day I will give in.
posted by maxsparber at 10:54 AM on February 4, 2015 [3 favorites]

I'd love to try the merfolk thing. But I'd love to not be pasty, fat and self-conscious either.

If I had a private place to swim I still might be tempted to try on a tail.
posted by Foosnark at 11:45 AM on February 4, 2015

A continent of Lincolns
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:02 PM on February 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Abraham Lincoln's appearance is so iconic. Want to dress up as him? Tall, stovepipe hat, sideburns and beard: bam, Lincoln.

There's an alternate universe out there somewhere where Lincoln cosplay became a big thing, young boys play emancipator in schoolyards and young girls scribble "ME + ABE ♥♥♥" in notebooks. (And there's another universe where these imagined gender roles are reversed, and yet another where both feel safe to do either. And there's further one where Abraham Lincoln was a pastel purple unicorn who learns the Power of Friendship.)

A continent of Lincolns

A lincoln of continentals.
posted by JHarris at 3:47 PM on February 4, 2015

I wonder if the Lincolns listened to that hit song by Electric 6 at their after-party?
posted by ovvl at 4:02 PM on February 4, 2015

A clop of bronies.
posted by Theta States at 11:36 AM on February 5, 2015

Conventional Wisdom now has it's own site, and a forthcoming book.
posted by Theta States at 4:30 AM on February 10, 2015 [1 favorite]