Just A Simple DragonCon Journal
A quick recap of
the 2012 whirlwind Dragon Con event for me. Those few who know of my
Dragon Con trips the past few years realize I never stay for the full
weekend. It would be fun for sure, but the crowds, the cost, and the
start of college football season are all just too much for me to commit
full tilt. So, I try and pack a lot into a couple of days. This year
proved no different.
Arriving on THURS afternoon, I had time to pick up my badge and plan out my MARTA riding plans for FRI since I had no desire to do battle with downtown ATL traffic either in the morning or evening hours. So FRI I arrived in plenty of time to get my first photo session picture, with the radiant, talented, and Geek goddess Felicia Day of The Guild and Eureka fame. Thankfully I got to be her last fan of the shoot, so I had time to at least say "hi" and welcome her back to Atlanta again. She really does have a great smile, personality and the best understanding and love of SciFi fandom of ANY female (famous or no) probably in the world. Deep down, she is a fan just like the rest of us too.
Next up, a good Stargate panel featuring Peter Kelamis (SGU Dr. Brody), Conner Trinneer (SGA and Enterprise), Joe Flanigan (SGA) and Robert Picardo (SG1, SGA, Star Trek: Voyager, and China Beach and Wonder Years for those real old timers). They proved an entertaining and engaging group. Turns out Peter Kelamis can do an absolutely stunningly great impression of actor Robert Carlyle (SGU and Once Upon A Time-Rumplestilskin). I mean, down to the inflection level perfect. Apparently Conner is not a big fan of the SciFi genre, and Joe gave him a good bit of advice for his future SciFi convention appearances: act like you love it. :-) True.... They spoke of some favorite moments, episodes, career moments, and the like. Conner
Later FRI, I finally got the chance to enter the autograph area and spend some time meeting some of my favorites who came this year. First up, in my heart, and in my SciFi bucket list quest for 2012, Katee Sackhoff. I gave Katee some of my pics taken over the years of the Valley of Fire (just north of Vegas). I suggested it as a place she might like riding her motorcycle. She seemed to enjoy them, but then again, she is such a good actress, she could have been dumping them in a trashcan and I would have never known.
I had to get a Katee autograph for Sam as well, since he also loves Battlestar and that was our first real Dad-Son show. Sadly, there were other people wanting to meet Katee, so I had to move on. Sniff Sniff! Next target, Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine). Michael was friendly for sure, just not as engaging or outgoing I thought he might be. It's cool. Worf remains one of my favorite characters from all of Trek lore.
Then off to get Felicia's autograph too. The Geek Goddess was there with her entire Guild cast and you can imagine how awkward it was to be getting only her autograph and not the rest. Sandeep, who plays Zaboo on the show, gave me tons of grief, "Oh, we're not good enough for you huh?" and "Oh, we are good enough, just not worth $10?" He was the right kind of playful and sarcastic. I almost went back to get his autograph just for him being such a sport. But alas, my budget is my budget.
So, Conner Trineer would be my final autograph and photo op person of the day. Conner had told the crowd in the Stargate panel about his childhood and mentioned he had played college football. So, naturally, you know where I engaged him in conversation. He apparently was quite the athlete in high school and played some strong safety and cornerback in college. Those are not positions for the less athletically gifted. Corner is especially tough to play. So, he obviously must have quite the skills. He proved to be very nice, and despite not being a SciFi genre fan, gave everyone his time and attention.
Next on to another Stargate panel, this one featuring Garry Chalk, Tony Amendola and Cliff Simon. None were regulars on the show, but all were recurring characters. Garry is good at accents, impressions and even singing. He has a long history of voice acting as well, GI Joe, Transformers, Sonic the Hedgehog were some of the shows to which he has lent his voice. Tony's character on Stargate SG-1 which had followed an Eisenhower arc (warrior and leader early, statesman later) is now appearing on Once Upon A Time as a recurring character (Geppetto). Cliff shared how he had gotten his start in show business as a dancer in South Africa and later shifted into acting as he realized dancers have very short career windows. Cliff was even able to do the Gu'ald voice for us, but I am sure he had help from the DC crew to pull it off. They mainly shared some behind the scenes views and takes on the show and the acting business as non-regulars on a show.
Now, feeling exhausted and spent, I called it a day. One day I will learn to simply take more Advil and some 5-Hour Energy to FRI. Given the God-awful SAT crowds to come, I should have stayed.
Saturday I lived in fear of the parade. I knew parking would be nuts, and the crowds insane. So I got downtown at 7:30. Way too early! Alas, I had a nice long time to eat, read and plan for the crowds. For once, I skipped the parade. It would have meant missing out on the early panels, or getting a terrible seat, so I decided to just rely on other people's photos.
My panel discussion today: Eureka. Since the show just finished its five season run this spring, they had a good crowd (filled to the balconies) and a great panel of 6 members of the show. Colin proved to be a true cutup in person and you can tell his personality really seemed to show through his Carter character. They discussed how they had hoped for a sixth season, but SciFi in their infinite wisdom (or should I say, non-existent wisdom or infinite stupidity) decided to pull the plug early. Alas, they didn't rule out the idea of a movie one day.
Once this session wrapped up, I had to do battle with the biggest enemy of all Dragon Con attendees on SAT, the crowds. This year they were even worse than I had thought possible. It took nearly 30 minutes to get from where the Eureka panel had been to the photo area where my much anticipated Katee Sackhoff photo was to be taken. My friend and co-worker Jeff could not even get from the hotel next door over to us in time to schedule his for SAT. Katee arrived early and my goodness, she can render a room full of men into slack-jawed drooling simps just by walking through. For some BSG fans it is Grace Park, for others it is Tricia Helfer. Sorry guys, for me it is all Katee. Heck, loook at my photo with her. For that moment, I would have shielded her like the Secret Service does the President. :-) She proved a great sport in talking and exchanging hellos with all the fans there for their photo op. And trust me, some of those fans it would be very hard to remain either silent or calm. I simply said hello, thanked her for coming to DC and told her I had wished her friend Denny had been there to do the photos since I am a follower of his work online. He does many portraits and has a gift for getting truly great shots.
After having to force myself to leave the Katee area, I ventured back to the autograph room and luck was with me. I happened to get jammed into the crowded conga line right behind Debrah Farentino and Jamie Paglia from Eureka. Since one rarely gets such an opportunity, I thanked them for their work, thanked them for doing a witty, fun and family oriented show with some great stories and characters. Once we got to the autograph room, I did enjoy getting a signed copy of the finale script from Jamie and a photo with the two of them. Sadly, the pocket camera doesn't do a great job in low light, but at least I have it as a memory. Debrah having played a villain on the show, I knew she must have been one of the nicest people, the villains always are in real life.
Then I had only one stop remaining: Colin Ferguson from Eureka. A very gifted actor who can do humor well, and honestly, my acting idol if I were to ever want to get into show business. I explained to him how much I thought he was the luckiest man in Hollywood (and Vancouver) since he got to make out with Jaime Ray Newman, Erica Cerra, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and have Olivia D'Abo play his ex-wife. Wow! And his girlfriend at the DC booth with him, also beautiful. How in the world does he do that? I told him how lucky he is, and how great he had been in the role of Carter over the years. He had also done a lot of work with Denny and I told him how much I enjoyed seeing all that work as well, since he can do comedy on TV so effortlessly, and then move into serious mode for the photos. He really is very talented and I hope he is able to find another great avenue to stay in the mainstream.
While I had hopes for trying to see more panels (Once Upon A Time being one of them) and more costumes, the crowds downtown had simply grown to ludicrous proportions. You had Auburn and Clemson folks in town the for game in a few hours, all the locals coming to the Con, the Black Gay Pride attendees who were also congregating downtown. So, as 5:00 approached I simply bid farewell to the 2012 DC for me. I had managed to get all the autographs I came for, seen most of the folks I wanted to see (I did forget about a few as always and kick myself for it later). Of course, since traffic was beyond hopeless as well, it took another 90 minutes before I had made it back to the hotel. It was simply time to get into football mode.
I have been asked often, why do you go? It is a combination of things really, but I think for me it comes down to a few things. One, experiencing things in person. When we visited Europe, I marveled at the sites, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, etc. But seeing them in person, with my own eyes, and getting to touch them, walk in/on them, that really is what really brought the entire experience into my soul. So, for someone who is such a huge fan of Science Fiction as a genre, as an avenue for exploring parts of the human condition outside of the current culture, it is without equal to me. And many of these actors, writers, and even fans who attend DC are a part of that world. They help tell the stories. I enjoyed hearing as much from the writers as I do the actors. All of them have ideas into how to tell stories well, and it is always interesting to hear their thoughts.
Secondly, I love reminding myself that actors, even famous ones, are just regular people too. Do you know what the Pope, the President, Harrison Ford, Kate Beckinsale, the cast and creators of Eureka, those who worked on Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica all have in common? We all have to sleep, eat, pee, poop, get dressed, and go to work. They may be more famous than most of us, but they are still people who have the same kind of issues we all have. It is always good to keep that in mind. With actors it is always neat to see how they are in real life; are they witty or a bit surly? Are they short or tall? Do they seem to put on airs, or do they seem to just genuinely enjoy just being around regular folks?
Now about the bodily functions thing. Those who really know my DragonCon stories know every year we seem to end up with a silly bathroom story. Several years ago I found myself at a urinal next to John DeLancie who played "Q" on Star Trek: The Next Generation. My co-worker Jeff saw Chewbacca standing to his right in one restroom visit, not someone in costume but Peter Mayhew the actor who played Chewy. Last year, Sam and I realized Will Wheaton had joined our row of urinals after lunch. (I know, I know, this is so ... not normal). This year, when nature called on Saturday afternoon, I walked into the mens room to find Adam West (Batman from TV) and Lou Ferrigno (Hulk from TV) talking at the sinks. So, I had Batman and the Hulk protecting this bathroom from evil! :-) Like I said, it is a funny reminder, they are regular people too.
So, I am going to retire from attending DC for awhile now. I have only Patrick Stewart left of my list of people I really want to meet from the SciFi world still. But I have very much enjoyed getting to shake hands, take a quick pic with, and talk to many of these people who have helped make some great shows over the years. It is the same as getting to meet Steve Carlton (the great left-handed pitcher from my beloved Phillies in the 70s and 80s), or watching Sam meet his baseball idol Evan Longoria in person a few years ago, and getting a bat signed. It is one of life's simple moments, and yet, it can mean so much more.
Arriving on THURS afternoon, I had time to pick up my badge and plan out my MARTA riding plans for FRI since I had no desire to do battle with downtown ATL traffic either in the morning or evening hours. So FRI I arrived in plenty of time to get my first photo session picture, with the radiant, talented, and Geek goddess Felicia Day of The Guild and Eureka fame. Thankfully I got to be her last fan of the shoot, so I had time to at least say "hi" and welcome her back to Atlanta again. She really does have a great smile, personality and the best understanding and love of SciFi fandom of ANY female (famous or no) probably in the world. Deep down, she is a fan just like the rest of us too.
Next up, a good Stargate panel featuring Peter Kelamis (SGU Dr. Brody), Conner Trinneer (SGA and Enterprise), Joe Flanigan (SGA) and Robert Picardo (SG1, SGA, Star Trek: Voyager, and China Beach and Wonder Years for those real old timers). They proved an entertaining and engaging group. Turns out Peter Kelamis can do an absolutely stunningly great impression of actor Robert Carlyle (SGU and Once Upon A Time-Rumplestilskin). I mean, down to the inflection level perfect. Apparently Conner is not a big fan of the SciFi genre, and Joe gave him a good bit of advice for his future SciFi convention appearances: act like you love it. :-) True.... They spoke of some favorite moments, episodes, career moments, and the like. Conner
Later FRI, I finally got the chance to enter the autograph area and spend some time meeting some of my favorites who came this year. First up, in my heart, and in my SciFi bucket list quest for 2012, Katee Sackhoff. I gave Katee some of my pics taken over the years of the Valley of Fire (just north of Vegas). I suggested it as a place she might like riding her motorcycle. She seemed to enjoy them, but then again, she is such a good actress, she could have been dumping them in a trashcan and I would have never known.
I had to get a Katee autograph for Sam as well, since he also loves Battlestar and that was our first real Dad-Son show. Sadly, there were other people wanting to meet Katee, so I had to move on. Sniff Sniff! Next target, Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine). Michael was friendly for sure, just not as engaging or outgoing I thought he might be. It's cool. Worf remains one of my favorite characters from all of Trek lore.
Then off to get Felicia's autograph too. The Geek Goddess was there with her entire Guild cast and you can imagine how awkward it was to be getting only her autograph and not the rest. Sandeep, who plays Zaboo on the show, gave me tons of grief, "Oh, we're not good enough for you huh?" and "Oh, we are good enough, just not worth $10?" He was the right kind of playful and sarcastic. I almost went back to get his autograph just for him being such a sport. But alas, my budget is my budget.
So, Conner Trineer would be my final autograph and photo op person of the day. Conner had told the crowd in the Stargate panel about his childhood and mentioned he had played college football. So, naturally, you know where I engaged him in conversation. He apparently was quite the athlete in high school and played some strong safety and cornerback in college. Those are not positions for the less athletically gifted. Corner is especially tough to play. So, he obviously must have quite the skills. He proved to be very nice, and despite not being a SciFi genre fan, gave everyone his time and attention.
Next on to another Stargate panel, this one featuring Garry Chalk, Tony Amendola and Cliff Simon. None were regulars on the show, but all were recurring characters. Garry is good at accents, impressions and even singing. He has a long history of voice acting as well, GI Joe, Transformers, Sonic the Hedgehog were some of the shows to which he has lent his voice. Tony's character on Stargate SG-1 which had followed an Eisenhower arc (warrior and leader early, statesman later) is now appearing on Once Upon A Time as a recurring character (Geppetto). Cliff shared how he had gotten his start in show business as a dancer in South Africa and later shifted into acting as he realized dancers have very short career windows. Cliff was even able to do the Gu'ald voice for us, but I am sure he had help from the DC crew to pull it off. They mainly shared some behind the scenes views and takes on the show and the acting business as non-regulars on a show.
Now, feeling exhausted and spent, I called it a day. One day I will learn to simply take more Advil and some 5-Hour Energy to FRI. Given the God-awful SAT crowds to come, I should have stayed.
Saturday I lived in fear of the parade. I knew parking would be nuts, and the crowds insane. So I got downtown at 7:30. Way too early! Alas, I had a nice long time to eat, read and plan for the crowds. For once, I skipped the parade. It would have meant missing out on the early panels, or getting a terrible seat, so I decided to just rely on other people's photos.
My panel discussion today: Eureka. Since the show just finished its five season run this spring, they had a good crowd (filled to the balconies) and a great panel of 6 members of the show. Colin proved to be a true cutup in person and you can tell his personality really seemed to show through his Carter character. They discussed how they had hoped for a sixth season, but SciFi in their infinite wisdom (or should I say, non-existent wisdom or infinite stupidity) decided to pull the plug early. Alas, they didn't rule out the idea of a movie one day.
Once this session wrapped up, I had to do battle with the biggest enemy of all Dragon Con attendees on SAT, the crowds. This year they were even worse than I had thought possible. It took nearly 30 minutes to get from where the Eureka panel had been to the photo area where my much anticipated Katee Sackhoff photo was to be taken. My friend and co-worker Jeff could not even get from the hotel next door over to us in time to schedule his for SAT. Katee arrived early and my goodness, she can render a room full of men into slack-jawed drooling simps just by walking through. For some BSG fans it is Grace Park, for others it is Tricia Helfer. Sorry guys, for me it is all Katee. Heck, loook at my photo with her. For that moment, I would have shielded her like the Secret Service does the President. :-) She proved a great sport in talking and exchanging hellos with all the fans there for their photo op. And trust me, some of those fans it would be very hard to remain either silent or calm. I simply said hello, thanked her for coming to DC and told her I had wished her friend Denny had been there to do the photos since I am a follower of his work online. He does many portraits and has a gift for getting truly great shots.
After having to force myself to leave the Katee area, I ventured back to the autograph room and luck was with me. I happened to get jammed into the crowded conga line right behind Debrah Farentino and Jamie Paglia from Eureka. Since one rarely gets such an opportunity, I thanked them for their work, thanked them for doing a witty, fun and family oriented show with some great stories and characters. Once we got to the autograph room, I did enjoy getting a signed copy of the finale script from Jamie and a photo with the two of them. Sadly, the pocket camera doesn't do a great job in low light, but at least I have it as a memory. Debrah having played a villain on the show, I knew she must have been one of the nicest people, the villains always are in real life.
Then I had only one stop remaining: Colin Ferguson from Eureka. A very gifted actor who can do humor well, and honestly, my acting idol if I were to ever want to get into show business. I explained to him how much I thought he was the luckiest man in Hollywood (and Vancouver) since he got to make out with Jaime Ray Newman, Erica Cerra, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and have Olivia D'Abo play his ex-wife. Wow! And his girlfriend at the DC booth with him, also beautiful. How in the world does he do that? I told him how lucky he is, and how great he had been in the role of Carter over the years. He had also done a lot of work with Denny and I told him how much I enjoyed seeing all that work as well, since he can do comedy on TV so effortlessly, and then move into serious mode for the photos. He really is very talented and I hope he is able to find another great avenue to stay in the mainstream.
While I had hopes for trying to see more panels (Once Upon A Time being one of them) and more costumes, the crowds downtown had simply grown to ludicrous proportions. You had Auburn and Clemson folks in town the for game in a few hours, all the locals coming to the Con, the Black Gay Pride attendees who were also congregating downtown. So, as 5:00 approached I simply bid farewell to the 2012 DC for me. I had managed to get all the autographs I came for, seen most of the folks I wanted to see (I did forget about a few as always and kick myself for it later). Of course, since traffic was beyond hopeless as well, it took another 90 minutes before I had made it back to the hotel. It was simply time to get into football mode.
I have been asked often, why do you go? It is a combination of things really, but I think for me it comes down to a few things. One, experiencing things in person. When we visited Europe, I marveled at the sites, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, etc. But seeing them in person, with my own eyes, and getting to touch them, walk in/on them, that really is what really brought the entire experience into my soul. So, for someone who is such a huge fan of Science Fiction as a genre, as an avenue for exploring parts of the human condition outside of the current culture, it is without equal to me. And many of these actors, writers, and even fans who attend DC are a part of that world. They help tell the stories. I enjoyed hearing as much from the writers as I do the actors. All of them have ideas into how to tell stories well, and it is always interesting to hear their thoughts.
Secondly, I love reminding myself that actors, even famous ones, are just regular people too. Do you know what the Pope, the President, Harrison Ford, Kate Beckinsale, the cast and creators of Eureka, those who worked on Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica all have in common? We all have to sleep, eat, pee, poop, get dressed, and go to work. They may be more famous than most of us, but they are still people who have the same kind of issues we all have. It is always good to keep that in mind. With actors it is always neat to see how they are in real life; are they witty or a bit surly? Are they short or tall? Do they seem to put on airs, or do they seem to just genuinely enjoy just being around regular folks?
Now about the bodily functions thing. Those who really know my DragonCon stories know every year we seem to end up with a silly bathroom story. Several years ago I found myself at a urinal next to John DeLancie who played "Q" on Star Trek: The Next Generation. My co-worker Jeff saw Chewbacca standing to his right in one restroom visit, not someone in costume but Peter Mayhew the actor who played Chewy. Last year, Sam and I realized Will Wheaton had joined our row of urinals after lunch. (I know, I know, this is so ... not normal). This year, when nature called on Saturday afternoon, I walked into the mens room to find Adam West (Batman from TV) and Lou Ferrigno (Hulk from TV) talking at the sinks. So, I had Batman and the Hulk protecting this bathroom from evil! :-) Like I said, it is a funny reminder, they are regular people too.
So, I am going to retire from attending DC for awhile now. I have only Patrick Stewart left of my list of people I really want to meet from the SciFi world still. But I have very much enjoyed getting to shake hands, take a quick pic with, and talk to many of these people who have helped make some great shows over the years. It is the same as getting to meet Steve Carlton (the great left-handed pitcher from my beloved Phillies in the 70s and 80s), or watching Sam meet his baseball idol Evan Longoria in person a few years ago, and getting a bat signed. It is one of life's simple moments, and yet, it can mean so much more.
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