Last year also saw the advent of a visual entertainment component to coincide with the audio entertainment...meaning that I brought in my shabby-chic PC and ran the music through Winamp and used possibly the best visualization program available...R4.  All in all, 2004 was light years ahead of any previous Xmas Kegger.  We were all stumped for new and better ideas.  I toyed around with a "Shot Heard Round The World" idea, but although it sounded funny there really wasn't any substance to it.  I came up with a logo, but the theme wasn't practical enough to extend to something on the shot luge:

    

     Then, in early December, Ken and I developed the idea to cover the unsightly shelves along the back wall of the garage (seen in the 2004 picture above). We'd use sheets of black fabric and paint black light-reactive snowflakes on them.  As for the luge itself, the best idea we had was to just have a four lane highway with Matchbox cars on it.  Later that week, I thought some more about it.  I thought the street and cars were good, but it needed something more.  What if something was on the street, throwing cars around?  What if it was King Kong!!!!  My boss Bryan and I talked it out and the theme for the luge was finalized.  We would have a two lane street lined with buildings and an Empire State building at the top.  Kong would be hanging on the top and green army men would be deployed to fight the threat.  A Godzilla was considered, but I decided that he would put it just over the line into overkill.

     I felt confident that I could pull this off.  I made numerous visits to a few different craft stores the week before the party, gathering the materials I needed to make this great idea a reality.  I bought some of those green floral styrofoam bricks for the buildings, some stone fleck spray paint, some bamboo skewers for anchors, and a wooden dowel to hold the Empire State together.  The most expensive item was probably Kong himself.  He was $13 and came with some stupid looking dino-fish-thing that he would hold in a headlock and punch repeatedly.

     I started by getting some reference pictures from the Empire State's official website and carved out two of the bricks to resemble the famous skyscraper.  I then got to spray painting!

    

     Evidently, one can of spray paint couldn't finish all of the buildings...I had to lay it on thicker than expected since the styrofoam would absorb a lot of paint. For the backdrop snowflakes, I first tried to make my own black light-reactive paint.  A website I found said that I could mix any kind of fabric whitener into paint or lacquer and it would shine brightly.  The powdered whitener glowed very nicely but wouldn't mix well with the white paint or lacquer I had on hand.  I was able to get a solution that only glowed slightly.  Experiments with other laundry detergents were also unsuccessful.  Clorox 2 is incredibly bright, but is too easily diluted.  I eventually found a variety of black light paints at Spencer's for $10.  For the black backdrops, we found a few sets of black curtains at the curtain outlet.  They were almost enough to cover the back wall of the garage, but not quite.  I made another trip to Jo-Ann to get the rest of the fabric.  In case you're wondering, it's three yards of black cotton broadcloth.  I somehow managed to retain some semblance of masculinity when two separate girls at two separate craft stores complimented me on my awesome Mega Man T-shirt.  Back at home, we cut out some stencils and painted a few test snowflakes. 

 

    

    The night before the party, I enlisted the help of my wife Jenn (DJSassyToes) and Jack (Shad Genki).  We brought everything we needed into my nasty basement and got to work.  I set myself to the meticulous task of painting windows on the buildings as they continued painting snowflakes.

 

 

     As you can see, only the utmost care went into the craftsmanship of these replicas.  I wanted to faithfully represent the architecture of 1920's New York, and I think it shows. Jenn and Jack also did a very good job on the snowflakes.

 

   

    Our attention to detail was so great that the concentration could be felt as a physical force in the room.  Jenn eventually had to leave the basement, ostensibly to "fold clothes" or something, but I knew it was the crushing weight of our arts & crafts prowess that made it impossible for her to stay.

 

 

    When the curtains were completed, Jack joined me in putting the finishing touches on the buildings.  Our joy could barely be contained.  We were brimming over with the ecstasy that only rewarding, meaningful work can bring.

 

 

     I screwed a door stopper to the end of the central dowel to simulate the observation tower at the top of the Empire State building. My masterpiece was complete.

 

 

     In the end, we had a reasonable facsimile of the Empire State and six smaller buildings, not to mention great looking blue and purple snowflakes on the black backdrop!  The preliminary preparations were over.  The next day would be party day and it would bring it's own set of creative obstacles and various logistical tasks.