Chicago Con 2012 Report - Karaoke & Jim/Misha Panel
Haha, to be perfectly honest I don't even know where to start with this one...
I've been living in the US for almost a year now and still haven't been to a single US Convention. So I asked my friend if she were up to visiting Chicago for the weekend and we flew in O'Hare on Friday. After a cold but beautiful day of sightseeing and goofing around we stopped by the Westin Hotel to attend the legendary Karaoke Kings Koncert hosted by Matt Cohen and Richard Speight jr.. I know my friend (who has never watched a single episode of SPN and doesn't know anything or anyone involved) was pretty freaked out by the people there but that's okay, I was too.
It was weird for me, being at a convention, something I'm so used to, and not having at least a dozen different people to meet up with and talk to. Anyway, we waited in line for quite a while and ended up in 5th-or-so-row in front of the stage. Soon the night was started by a lady who I suppose is one of the organizers (?) with 'Thriller' and shortly after she introduced our two hosts for the night! Matthew Cohen was dressed up as a carrott and Richard Speight joined him as a bunch of peas.
It was hi-la-ri-ous!!! Later that evening they got even more company in form of Gabriel Tigerman (Andy), James Patrick Stewart (Dick Roman/Leviathan) and Kim Rhodes (Sheriff Jody Mills).
I have to say the event was fun and definitely worth checking out, it's just that my feet were KILLING me (clever choice of wearing high heeled boots for a day of sightseeing) and we'd been up for over 24 hours...
After browsing through the schedule booklet for a while I realized that it didn't make that much sense for me. I had only purchased one photo ticket with Misha, no other photos or autographs or anything, so yeah - the panels were the only thing I would have been able to attend. And unlike European conventions, where a couple of things are happening at the same time (which sucks sometimes, too, I agree) at Creation Entertainment everything happens in a row. First a panel. Then a photo op session, an autograph session and so on. So for me there would've been at least 1 hour and a half break in between every panel with nothing to do. Sure, there was a vendors room but I hadn't planned on buying anything so yeah. I also didn't want my friend to spend the whole day alone in Chicago.
In the end I decided only to show up for Jim and Misha's panel, take my Misha photo and then leave. Which... yeah... didn't work out very well, after all. I'd asked some girls in the row behind me how things were at US cons, if you could line up for the Q&A before the panel started or not and they were like „oh you can just go to the microphone when the panel starts“. Haha, yeah... right....... the host announced Jim and in less than 5 seconds there was a queue of at least 20 people on both sides. I hurried to get in line but already knew it was pretty pointless.
Jim was on stage for about 20 minutes before Misha joined him, dressed in a suit shirt and a hideous tie that only he could make look sexy. I don't remember much of the panel, since most of the time I was a) angry at myself for not getting in line earlier, as my gutt'd told me and b) annoyed with some of the stupid stupid stupid questions other people were asking (two 'if you were stranded on an island' questions... SERIOUSLY???) - also one girl who asked if she could get in front of me because she wanted to ask Jim a question and then, oh wonder wonder, didn't get back to her place in the line and asked Misha a question instead. Yeah... I was not amused. Of course I didn't even get close to the microphone and soon the panel ended. I took a few decent photos but that's it.
I went downstairs then, where the photo shoot would take place (they were running late so luckily I didn't have to wait the expected hour but only like half an hour until the Misha/Richard photos were done). The line was long though and I have to say that the staff I encountered during my time there was everything but friendly. They answered my questions, yes, but everything had a taste of superior and stuck up behavior to it and I felt small and stupid just talking to them. Anyway...
I got inside the photo studio finally and that's where I finally decided that this con sucked - I think generally music in the studio is a good idea... I would really appreciate it though, if you could turn down the fucking volume so that I could hear my own words, thank you very much. I'd decided on some sort of regular back-to-back-pretending-to-look-cool pose but hey, I didn't even get the chance to tell Misha about it. As soon as I walked up to him he was like 'Hey, it's good to see you!' and pulled me in a hug (and who am I to refuse a hug from Misha Collins) - unfortunately the photographer decided this was the moment and took the photo. Which... yeah........ not exactly what I had in mind, dude...
(I still like it, though...^^°)
I pulled back and looked at Misha, kind of helpless and was surprised to see a similar expression on his face. Trying not to read too much into his reaction but he seemed genuinely bummed. He said something but I didn't understand him and then the next person in line was already 'pushed' forward and I was ushered outside. I heard him say 'see you soon, okay?' and then I was out of the room and close to punching someone in the face.
Okay...... I know some of you already think I'm a conceited bitch who thinks she's Misha's BFF and that's okay - whatever, if it helps you sleep at night, I don't care. But seriously...... Misha Collins is the main if not the ONLY reason (besides seeing my friends) I go to conventions; to see him, to talk to him, to just... for the lack of a better word to experience him. And Chicago Con was a big disappointment in that department. Where in Europe you can purchase cheap (and I mean CHEAP) tickets for Photos and even Meet and Greets, prices here in the US are incredibly high, M&Gs start at 200 bucks... you don't even have the chance to run into the actors in the hallway, because they're heavily guarded and ushered around mostly backstage, as I see it.
So yeah... I can now say I've been to both European and US conventions and that I don't like the latter. I do know that Rogue Events has their flaws, they're always late, always chaotic - but I personally prefer them a hundred times over Creation.
Still, it was good seeing Misha and knowing that this wasn't my last convention, I can check this off as a single unpleasant experience.
See you next time, guys!