From: Annie (annie@geekbabe.com)
Date: Wed Jul 02 2003 - 07:51:50 CDT
In this mailing:
Org List
This mailing
High Tea, Pahrump, Sunday, and Kenny
Take a letter, Maria
Tea, shopping, parties, etc.
Boardwalk
HW suite and such
Scheduling
Lightening Photos and Other Misc Notes
Church
Tea, tipping, taking names
Administrivia
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Org List:
This is the DLV 2004 Organizational Mailing List (dlvorg@geekbabe.com)
Replies to this message will be forwarded to the DLVORG list and not
the DLV-Announce or DLV-Discuss list.
Ongoing activity database of proposed and scheduled activities on line:
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/org04arc/acts.html
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This mailing:
Another rather long mailings with lots of items.
One recurring item is that people want to see High Tea remain on the
schedule, which quite possibly means we will have to extend DLV one day
either way from the 6 day plan to do so.
Before we extend, we need to know that we have the volunteer commitment
to fill the time with quality activities.
We've had a lot of comments in favor of extending by one day, but not
many (other than those already volunteering for multiple activities) who
have stepped forward to allow this to happen.
For those of you who want to go on record for volunteering to coordinate
activities, but don't yet know exactly what activity, just send in a
brief "I volunteer to coordinate one nontrivial activity" note to let
us know your intent is there. Thanks.
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High Tea, Pahrump, Sunday, and Kenny:
Leah writes:
>Bad news about the Tea at the Mirage..... it was recently cancelled.
Thanks for the update. High Tea fans, this possibly means that if High
Tea is on the schedule it has to be Sunday, either as an "official"
activity on an extended DLV schedule, or as an optional activity for
those coming early or staying over.
We need some input here, both from HT fans and everybody ...
High Tea fans: What do you want to see? An extension to DLV to allow this
to be on the slate or an optional and unofficial activity in addition?
Everybody: Do we have enough volunteer commitment to handle nontrivial
activities for a 7-day DLV?
We need some input and discussion on those two items, please.
>Regarding Pahrump, I recall that a TS woman was either elected mayor or
>to the city council or something about 10 years ago. After the
>election she somehow got outted and was deposed by the City Council ...
>I believe the discrimination case comes up soon in Superior Court if it
>hasn't already.
>... so I really don't think Pahrump should be considered as a side trip
>for Diva.
This would not be a side trip per se. Pahrump would just be a place to
stop and have brunch on the way to Rhyolite.
However, we're getting some fairly strong negative signals about Pahrump
from some long-time residents of the area.
I really don't know what to think here. I've been through Pahrump, and I
would say it's much more cosmopolitan that Alamo (where we stopped at
the convenience store on the way to A51) but I have never spent any time
there.
We did, however, have some people on the A51 trip who were uneasy going
into the Alamo convenience store, and we also had a few who did the A51
thing in boymode as well.
>As for Sunday, a few suggestions might be any matinee show at the
>casinos, Star Trek thingy at the Hilton, or Fremont St. experience.
>Even though it's daytime there are a bunch of street vendors there now
>and usually they have some concerts going etc.
>Also, Neonopolis is down there if it is still active.
Last I heard on the newsfroup, Neonopolis is a ghost town and they are
now planning to rent out what were to be shops as offices just to get
the cash flow going. Last few times I've been downtown, there were good
crowds in the main part of FSE, but there was nothing in Neonopolis to
draw the people in there.
>Keep in mind that the new high scale outlet mall should be open by then
>so maybe some shopping there might work for the afternoon and then to
>Flex in the evening.
I know our people will be checking out this mall. Personally I'm going
to make it a priority. :) Yes, a shopping excursion there will most
likely be a good thing to have on the schedule some afternoon.
>I have never been one to deliver bad news like the High Tea closing
>without following it up with something to brighten the day and that is
>that Kenny Kerr says he has found a showroom for his act and will be
>back onstage soon. <g>
>When I find out the details I'll pass it along.
Thanks, Leah. Please let us know, as it's been a few years now since
we've had our Kenny fix. I just hope Kenny's new show will be on the
strip, and similar to the long-running show that Kenny and the gang
had for so many years.
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Take a letter, Maria:
Kate writes:
>I would like to suggest a Secretaries night out for those who like the
>secretary look ie:- business suit or appropriate summer office wear
>etc'
>Perhaps supper and then drinks Sometime midweek obviously and maybe at
>The Starlight Lounge or similar.
I'm assuming you mean Spotlight Lounge. (Starlight Lounge is the casino
show bar at the Stardust.) Anybody know if Spotlight has food service?
>Yes I will coordinate it and anyone else who would like to co-sponsor
>would be an asset too.
Ok, it's on the list. Thanks, Kate.
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Tea, shopping, parties, etc.:
Mindy writes:
>wow lots to respond to..
Uh-huh. More to come too! :)
>regarding the tea.. though a few people liked the idea of having the
>tea at our home it appears that doing it at a nice venue carries the
>day.. diane will investigate the several teas in town and check as to
>arrangements.. so tea on sunday at a "tea room"
High tea fans, as noted elsewhere, your feedback is needed.
>regarding the shopping.. i have been contacted by several of the stores
>at the outlet mall south of the strip and they would like to provide us
>with a welcome package of discounts, mall bucks ect.. these could be
>handed out with the name tags and would be valid the entire week..
If you could do this, I'm sure the check-in people would not mind
passing this out, and our people would certainly appreciate any special
deals ... they would see that as a sign that we are indeed welcome at
their place.
>they would love to have us for a group shopping day but this is not a
>requirement of them providing us with the mall package. i guess the
>shopping at the outlet mall was a little low this year and they wanted
>to know what they could do to get our business back again.
I don't think they lost our business at all. I was there last year and I
know others were as well. We only had one organized shopping trip this
year, and that was to Primm Valley, but I know many of our people hit
Belz this year. (Or maybe our people blended so well the mall management
didn't notice. :)
I do think they may feel a bit of a crunch when the new mall near
downtown opens up later this year, however.
But anyway, it's good to know our business is wanted.
. . . . .
>regarding tipping.. as a local in the "biz" i could write up a complete
>but short tipping guide re las vegas.. just let me know.
We had a tipping thing in the LFM, but that was dropped a few years back
to keep the LFM down to a manageable size.
What I do think might be in order is a brief note about the etiquette
for tipping at the drag shows. That was where I heard the only concerns
about tipping, or lack of same. I think for the most part our people are
good about applying grease where it's appropriate.
. . . . .
>regarding the party at our home.. i would like to remind you that the
>intent of this party was to be a low cost option to the show limo night
>and is not intended to replace or draw away people from those
>activities. because it is at a private home the dress code would be
>considerably relaxed but not without restictions. we have to have some
>limits..
We don't have to make any decisions now, but I do think we should be
talking about the issue of a slut/fetish/costume thing and also as you
say, a low-cost alternative to the show/limo.
I think there's a need for a low-cost second-track item against the
show/limo track, as the show/limo can be a good chunk of $$$$.
I also think there's a need for some kind of an activity where those
who want to wear something more exotic can do so.
I don't, however, think those two should be one and the same.
If you do host a "slut/fetish/costume" thing opposite the show/limo,
I definitely see it drawing a considerable number of people away from
the show/limo.
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Boardwalk:
Mindy writes:
>on subject not addressed.. the boardwalk is interested in mending
>fences and wants to make some offers of special room rates.. deals for
>use of a banquet room or a hospitality suite and advance set up of
>players cards..
I'm sure you know my feelings on banquet rooms and hospitality suites,
but if they are throw-ins I can see us taking advantage of them.
>denise wants me to get back with her with any feedback from the group
>as to what they might be interested in.
Ok, if the group here agrees, we can post a request for feedback in the
next general mailing, which will come out at the end of this month.
We can then summarize here and Mindy can forward the results to
Boardwalk.
I can also review the Boardwalk comments that have already come in.
Comments, ladies? (gentlemen?)
For my own comments, speaking very freely, and you can pass all of this
on to the Boardwalk people ...
The primary reason I didn't consider staying there in 2002 was that they
were very reluctant to offer us some black-and-white competitive room
rates. As a former boss of mine used to say, over and over and over ...
"The bottom line is the bottom line", and room rates is one thing that
will drive our people toward (or away from) a property.
I'm sure both the Sahara and the San Remo will be available to our
people for $40-ish weekdays, possibly lower if Monique has good results
from her talk with the San Remo people this month, so that is the
ballpark they have to be playing in if they want to attract our people.
Not to bring up a sore subject again, but I think they still owe one of
our people a written apology for what happened at their property at DLV
2002. (I just double-checked, she has not heard anything from them.)
That incident was very embarrassing and totally ruined one person's
vacation.
I think that if they are sincere about "mending fences", an apology (and
perhaps some renumeration) would be a good place to start.
>for those not informed the boardwalk now has a 24/7 bathroom policy in
>effect and i have the names of people to contact at anytime should any
>boardwalk staff treat any tg's in a manner other then total respect.
Could you please confirm what the restroom policy now is? I want to
update the vendor page if it's changed. Is it still that t*'s are to
use the upstairs restroom, or is full use of all facilities with no
restrictions?
>even with the small turnout 3 years ago denise managed to track some
>of the play and the managment of the boardwalk realizes we have dollers
>which we spend freely.. i am most impressed with the fact that the tg
>policy is not limited to the dates of diva but now in effect 365 days a
>year..
The final decision on our suggested hotels will, of course, be up to this
group to decide. However, if Boardwalk comes up with some hard rates that
are competitive and a "full access" policy, I'm sure that will persuade
many people here to vote "yes" in the Boardwalk column in November.
Side note to Monique: It probably would not hurt to mention in your talk
with the San Remo folks that "another property in the same area" is also
actively courting our business. :)
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HW suite and such:
Bev writes:
>It appears things are going well with the planning of dlv04.
Uh-huh, so far so good. :)
>I talked with Leona and She is interested in setting up a room for
>dlv004.
That sounds fine. I'm sure they will do a good business. Only complaint
I heard about HW this year is that they were only open for business 2
days out of the DLV period.
>What I meant by confort zone was a place to sit and have coffee in the
>morning and chat with other Ladies.
Yes, and I hope you understand the concern about having places that are
just a bit "too comfortable" around.
>I also learned a lot of woman like etiquette there. I also found out
>the difference between daytime makeup and night time makeup and went out
>during the day (something I thought I would never do) and went back and
>had a touch up for night time and went out again.
>the classes on sitting, eating, etc infemm were also good and there was
>an Asian lady who actually had taken over the class and was tremendous
>and we who attended learned a lot.
>I would try to have this lady help next year giving a class and have a
>coordinated schedule for classes, makeovers, touch ups, wigs,and other
>classes that we agree on. I would help with the coffee and Danish and
>setting up schedules with Leona and staff.
>Will be going to Vegas in Aug and Oct and will meet with Leona and
>start the ball rolling if you all agree on this idea....
>A lot of people came up to have odds and ends done and they were back
>logged.
What I might suggest is that if she will be in town for a longer period,
that the Open House be one day, and the classes be done another day,
with some time also set aside for appointments and drop-ins.
>If any other Ladies need my assistance on their projects IM
>willing to help them as another warm body... lol Its something I saw
>that needed better coordination and help....
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Scheduling:
Diane writes:
>I will be out of state for a number of weeks, so I thought I would get
>my vote in for which time period I preferred:
Your vote has been tabulated and will be held for the call for votes.
>I go along with the comment of having a gentle wind down day on Sunday
>to include the church service and High Tea (if it is not avialable
>during the week).
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Lightening Photos and Other Misc Notes:
Tina writes:
>>>I have been somewhat dissappointed with alot of the pictures. They are
>>>very dark and out of focus. This is probably due to the lack of
>>>sufficient flash power. Someone with better equipment, at least for
[bobbitt]
>Did you know that there are still pictures coming into Annie's staging
>area at http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/dlv2003/staging.html. I found 2
>new galleries there just tonight that I didn't see last month.
Actually, photos were still coming in up to about a week ago. Much
better late than never, and some who do use film don't get them
processed (and scanned) for several weeks.
I had hoped to have the final DLV 2003 pages in place by July 4 (may the
4th. be with you) but it looks like a couple of the ones I've planned
may be a bit later. Several of the semi-finished pages are already in
place now.
>Well, you're quite right about the problems with shooting in low light
>with the quality of lenses used on many digital cameras. Add to that
>the mirrored walls, reflective floor and neon lighting in most clubs
>such as Goodtimes and you have photo hell.
>The uneven stage lighting at SGOM was even worse, ranging from near
>darkness to extremely bright, all in one shot. That's why I dragged my
>35 mm and digi and video cam to a few events, shooting both film and
>digital on Friday night at GT, for instance.
(Note: These URLs will remain static for at least another week, but they
will be removed shortly as this is a temporary staging area and occupies
quite a bit of server space.)
>I perceive you can see the improvement of:
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/dlv0313/004_1.jpg
>(shot with my 35 mm and a large flash) over
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/dlv0311/poseddlvgroup.jpg
>(shot with my digital and its built-in flash).
>Film still has the edge over digital and you can always have it
>transferred to photo CD during initial processing to avoid scanning it
>later.
>Still, wide angle group shots like this aren't going to be much more
>than pinheads on stick figures unless you open a software photo viewer
>and zoom and pan. Better yet, dump the 72 dpi display capabilities of
>the typical computer screen, get the uncompressed originals and print
>them on a high quality photo printer at x000 by x000 dpi to see some
>real improvement.
>Of course, lugging that much equipment around meant that I ended up
>with a few unusual fashion accessories, see:
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/dlv0301/dr0_16.jpg
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/dlv0305/dr5_19.jpg
http://www.geekbabe.com/annie/dlv0313/m10.jpg
>as did Monique and all the other wonderful girls who shot pictures this
>year (our best yet, in terms of both quality and quantity, all free for
>download of course).
>So, I can definitely say that I have no plans to bring my laptop from
>my hotel and to lug it around with a spindle of 100 RW-CDs just to burn
>pix on the spot for girls. Now, if you want to volunteer.... :-)
>Did you know that every year we're asked to send in our photos in their
>original state (see Annie's 5/4/03 mailing to the general DLV list):
>>Please send your files in as close to the original form as possible.
>>We will crop, correct, normalize, and thumbnail as needed.
>It takes a lot of work for Annie to just do that much organization.
Actually, the hardest part is deciding which of the hundreds of
submitted shots (864 so far this year after vetoes and dupe elimination)
to use on the final page, more specifically which ones to NOT use to
keep the pages to a manageable size. I'll often spend several minutes
studying 2/3 similar but different images to decide which one goes on
the final page.
>Annie often applies JPEG compression (or something similar) to most
>photos to reduce their download size, but this seldom results in a very
>noticeable loss of clarity when viewed at the low-res of computer
>monitors.
Actually I don't reduce the .jpg quality factor. Scaling the large
images results in the most effective reduction of image size.
For most of the directories (not the large group shots) what I do is run
a batch that pushes the images thru a script (calling the various netpbm
utilities) that scales the largest ones to something more web-friendly
and generates scaled thumbnails.
>What she definitely doesn't do to the several hundred photos that come
>in each year is to individually load them into Photoshop and adjust
>their brightness level and contrast.
Actually the script is smart enough to (often) detect if one is overly
dark and it will pipe those thru a utility that will scale the levels to
approximately what Photoshop would do with the "auto level" command.
Usually this results in an improvement, sometimes one has to be manually
overridden to skip this step.
This doesn't come close to a good work-over with Photoshop or Gimp, but
it does make an otherwise bad photo usable in many cases.
>You can do the same thing
>yourself with the $50 Adobe Photo Elements version with any picture you
>want to download and make improvements to and then submit again to sit
>along side the original.
If you want a low-cost photo editor, I would suggest The Gimp (Gnu Image
Manipulation Program). It's at:
It's freely available and open-source. Although it was developed on Unix
systems (X-Windows) there is a peecee version too. Some people call The
Gimp "a Photoshop clone", but some Gimp fans refer to it as "what
Photoshop wants to be when it grows up." :) It does have most of the
filters and widgets of Photoshop, plus geeks can easily add their own.
>You can usually get major improvements in brightness and contrast.
>I've done that in years past with some pix that I've appeared in. It
>takes about 20-30 minutes per pic to get it looking really good, if you
>also apply the various filters (noise reduction, etc). So, I would
>guesstimate that somewhere between 300 to 400 hours should take care of
>all of the 2003 pix. Let us know when they're ready (personally, I'm
>still transferring 2003 video). After that, we'll put the galley
>slaves to work on the previous 7 years of pix... :-) :-)
>I can't wait for some of these new girls that are volunteering to come
>in for 2004 and do digital portraits (even if they don't yet have any
>online pix to see).
>Will they show up the whole week to also take candid shots? Who knows?
>After all, no one knew any of the rest of us the first years we each
>showed up with cameras either.
>Most of us just do it for fun and to try to make sure that no girl goes
>home without at least one picture of herself from DLV week, preferably
>an individual or small group shot. (For some, it's the only pix they
>might have if they can't/won't dress at home.)
>Each year it's gotten to be more of a chore as DLV has grown and the
>complaint level has risen in general and particularly as the group
>shots have expanded to the point that they barely fit even when using a
>relatively wide-angle 28 mm lens (next stop is the fish-eye).
I thought we did a fairly good job getting them in, posed, shot, and out
this year at Goodtimes. Most everybody cooperated, at least from what I
saw.
>But if you ask someone to move into the light or to make a tighter
>group, its like talking to a fence post. Plus you often get the
>benefit of an earful from their SO.
I did have to get assertive a couple times to keep non-posers clear of
the area. I think keeping people out of the photo area helps a bit to
speed things up.
Our people certainly do appear to not like being interrupted from
socializing to pose for those, but the large group shots are the most
frequently downloaded of all the DLV pics, so I know that many who bitch
about posing like the finished product. :)
>Personally, I'm looking forward to leaving my photography junk at home
>in 2004 and using my carry-on bag for makeup.
I hear you there. A few years I've brought the "real camera" for such
things as RHPS (flash on That Damn Camera does not illuminate the
theater very well) and the Pride Parade (TDC flash does not carry well
at night) and you can see, for example, that the 2001 RHPS shots are far
better than the other years. It is a pain to juggle a grenade launcher,
though, so I usually just use the purse-size film camera which is a good
compromise.
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Church:
Densie writes:
>I have an idea for the church service. As I am an ordained minister
>now, I could do it. A church building is not necessary...God has given
>us His word that whenever two or more gather in His name, He will be
>there. Baptisms in Lake Mead would be cool too...if anyone is
>interested, let me know and I'll order the baptismal certificates.
>How about a DLV wedding? Unfortunately, I can't do weddings in NV
>because of some specialized laws they have, but we could take a trip
>across the border into AZ if anyone wants to get married.
Seriously, we've had proposals do do like a mock wedding photo shoot
type of thing, but it's never made it to the schedule.
They will be doing something like this on the T-Girl Road Party, from
what I understand. (See notice in general mailing.)
>Christian Mother Superior Densie
>Ordained Friday, June 13th, 2003
>Universal Life Church
Friday the 13th, huh? :)
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Tea, tipping, taking names:
Monique writes:
>>>As far as being a volunteer for other activities... I'd love to help at
>>>registration, name tags or "High Tea" if an extra hand is needed.
>>Monique is the one who handles the check-in. If she's listening in and
>>needs an extra hand ...
>I'd like to thank Jennifer for volunteering to assist with
>registration.
>We're covered for DLV04 registration, name taking, etc., with once
>again Tootsye & Jenna helping me out. However, should one of us not be
>able to fulfill our duties, I'd like to draft you as 1st alternate.
>Kinda sounds like a Ms. America pageant, LOL :)
. . . . .
>The High Tea, IMO, should stay on the DLV04 calander. High Tea is a
>VERY CLASSY event and I have to agree with Tootsye.
. . . . .
>>>Getting back to tipping..... I would like to propose this year that we
>>>make mention that tipping at drag shows is a Good Thing, especially
>>We used to have a tipping section in the LFM until a couple years ago,
>>but that was sacrificed, along with various other things, to keep the
>>volume of it down. We could put it, or a rewritten version back in.
>>The original did not include anything on drag shows.
>I think this should go into the LFM and verbally remind our sisters
>that tipping is a "Good Thing".
Let's revisit this topic before the LFM goes to press. If there will be
room and if we will be attending such a thing as DD&D or even a bar
show, yes we may want to re-include an abridged version of the tipping
notes again.
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Administrivia:
This is the Diva Las Vegas 2004 organizational list.
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