(no subject)
Went to Dragon*Con this past weekend, after having missed out on the fun last year, and I had a pretty good time all things considered. Didn't get to everything which interested me, but saw plenty enough.
akiko, of course, had a pretty rough time of it with her recurring mystery illness and missed out on at least half the con, including her reading, which was the one major downer of the weekend. Thankfully she felt better by Sunday.
I went to a few tabletop gaming panels, including two with Jason Buhlman, lead designer for Paizo's Pathfinder RPG (I now have an autographed copy of the core rulebook, which is kinda exciting). He talked on one panel about how the Pathfinder RPG came about (which I kinda knew already) and what was in the pipeline (which sounds pretty cool). On another panel he and an indie game developer talked more about the industry. I also went to another panel hosted by a designer (whose name I didn't catch) talking about dungeon design tips. Much of that was common sense, but I managed to jot down a few notes worth taking.
Also got to attend Brandon Sanderson's "Towers of Midnight" panel, in which he read a couple excerpts from the forthcoming 13th volume of the Wheel of Time! The excerpt featuring Lan was particularly satisfying. And it was reassuring to learn that even he didn't know how everything was pronounced. He was also kind enough to sign books while walking to his next event for the few of us he couldn't get to before his publicist prodded him onward. Nice guy.
The other author panel I enjoyed was Elizabeth Moon's. I sat down in the front of a small room about 20 minutes early, only to look back and see her sitting near the back of the room just having a conversation with someone in attendance. Eventually she moved up to the front and answered questions, talking about her work and her life. Very casual and very cool. Definitely need to read some more of her stuff.
Briefly wandered into the comics artist alley, where I saw Mike Mignola, who was there at a table with his wife and daughter (who was 10 - 12 years old or so and sporting an "I <3 Yaoi" button). Also browsed around the art show for a while, randomly bumped into a coworker, and picked up some nice prints, including a few by Todd Lockwood. I stood there with items-to-purchase in hand and waited for him to finish the dragon head he was sketching. It was mesmerizing to watch, and I didn't want to interrupt him.
Hit up the Walk of Fame a few times to see some celebrities and get some autographs. I had to ask Avery Brooks when I met him about his time spent teaching at Case Western Reserve University (my alma mater) - turns out he taught for a couple years back in the late 1960s as part of the Upward Bound program.
Beyond the Walk of Fame, I didn't actually go to any of the panels featuring actors/actresses, but I saw several of them around the con, which is slightly surreal and certainly caught me off guard:
- Hanging out with a few friends in Hilton lobby bar on Saturday night, I looked over at one point and noticed Avery Brooks down a ways, just hanging out. I'm also pretty sure that was Aubrey de Grey I saw sitting down at the end with laptop. After a while Avery left, and a few minutes later I look over to see that - six feet from me and within touching distance of a friend - was none other than Jewel Staite. A friend happened to call me while I was there and, when I told her that Jewel was nearby in the bar, she responded with "*gasp* Buy her a drink!" I opted not to do so, on my belief that it would just creep her out or something. But when I went to get her autograph the next day and related the story to her she said, "Well, I woulda drank it!". Lesson learned.
- A few of us were standing around Sunday night on a walkway in the Marriot, checking out the crowds of people. shinshan was standing around, dressed in her awesome Alphonse Mucha costume, when a man walked past and told her, "You look amazing". It took me a moment to process it after he had walked away, but I turned to her to let her know, "Holy crap! That was Phil LaMarr!". Then I had trouble trying to explain what he's been in, because he's been in almost everything.
- Monday morning, walking to the FedEx store inside the hotel, passed Saul Rubinek, who was wearing sunglasses and pulling his luggage.
- At the FedEx store itself, as my poster prints were finally being boxed up I looked over to notice Erica Cerra filling out a shipping form.
Also made it out to the Trader Vic's in the Hilton, where I had an Original Mai Tai, tried a Singapore Sling, and shared a Rum Keg with three other people.
Other than all that, mostly just wandered about, checking out the dealer booths and all of the costumes on display, many of which were impressive in all sorts of ways: some for the creativity, some for their craftsmanship, and some for, uh, other reasons.
Overall, pretty good time. Looking forward to going again next year.
akiko, of course, had a pretty rough time of it with her recurring mystery illness and missed out on at least half the con, including her reading, which was the one major downer of the weekend. Thankfully she felt better by Sunday.
I went to a few tabletop gaming panels, including two with Jason Buhlman, lead designer for Paizo's Pathfinder RPG (I now have an autographed copy of the core rulebook, which is kinda exciting). He talked on one panel about how the Pathfinder RPG came about (which I kinda knew already) and what was in the pipeline (which sounds pretty cool). On another panel he and an indie game developer talked more about the industry. I also went to another panel hosted by a designer (whose name I didn't catch) talking about dungeon design tips. Much of that was common sense, but I managed to jot down a few notes worth taking.
Also got to attend Brandon Sanderson's "Towers of Midnight" panel, in which he read a couple excerpts from the forthcoming 13th volume of the Wheel of Time! The excerpt featuring Lan was particularly satisfying. And it was reassuring to learn that even he didn't know how everything was pronounced. He was also kind enough to sign books while walking to his next event for the few of us he couldn't get to before his publicist prodded him onward. Nice guy.
The other author panel I enjoyed was Elizabeth Moon's. I sat down in the front of a small room about 20 minutes early, only to look back and see her sitting near the back of the room just having a conversation with someone in attendance. Eventually she moved up to the front and answered questions, talking about her work and her life. Very casual and very cool. Definitely need to read some more of her stuff.
Briefly wandered into the comics artist alley, where I saw Mike Mignola, who was there at a table with his wife and daughter (who was 10 - 12 years old or so and sporting an "I <3 Yaoi" button). Also browsed around the art show for a while, randomly bumped into a coworker, and picked up some nice prints, including a few by Todd Lockwood. I stood there with items-to-purchase in hand and waited for him to finish the dragon head he was sketching. It was mesmerizing to watch, and I didn't want to interrupt him.
Hit up the Walk of Fame a few times to see some celebrities and get some autographs. I had to ask Avery Brooks when I met him about his time spent teaching at Case Western Reserve University (my alma mater) - turns out he taught for a couple years back in the late 1960s as part of the Upward Bound program.
Beyond the Walk of Fame, I didn't actually go to any of the panels featuring actors/actresses, but I saw several of them around the con, which is slightly surreal and certainly caught me off guard:
- Hanging out with a few friends in Hilton lobby bar on Saturday night, I looked over at one point and noticed Avery Brooks down a ways, just hanging out. I'm also pretty sure that was Aubrey de Grey I saw sitting down at the end with laptop. After a while Avery left, and a few minutes later I look over to see that - six feet from me and within touching distance of a friend - was none other than Jewel Staite. A friend happened to call me while I was there and, when I told her that Jewel was nearby in the bar, she responded with "*gasp* Buy her a drink!" I opted not to do so, on my belief that it would just creep her out or something. But when I went to get her autograph the next day and related the story to her she said, "Well, I woulda drank it!". Lesson learned.
- A few of us were standing around Sunday night on a walkway in the Marriot, checking out the crowds of people. shinshan was standing around, dressed in her awesome Alphonse Mucha costume, when a man walked past and told her, "You look amazing". It took me a moment to process it after he had walked away, but I turned to her to let her know, "Holy crap! That was Phil LaMarr!". Then I had trouble trying to explain what he's been in, because he's been in almost everything.
- Monday morning, walking to the FedEx store inside the hotel, passed Saul Rubinek, who was wearing sunglasses and pulling his luggage.
- At the FedEx store itself, as my poster prints were finally being boxed up I looked over to notice Erica Cerra filling out a shipping form.
Also made it out to the Trader Vic's in the Hilton, where I had an Original Mai Tai, tried a Singapore Sling, and shared a Rum Keg with three other people.
Other than all that, mostly just wandered about, checking out the dealer booths and all of the costumes on display, many of which were impressive in all sorts of ways: some for the creativity, some for their craftsmanship, and some for, uh, other reasons.
Overall, pretty good time. Looking forward to going again next year.