He's Fucking Sick! He's Twisted!
Hello people!
This post covers the entirety of events that span from Friday the 12th to Sunday the 14th. Please enjoy.
FRIDAY
The bus ride was Hell on wheels. The transfer in Cleveland was delayed an hour because so many fucking people had to get on that bus that they couldn’t fit everyone, and they, therefore, had to call in another bus, which took an extremely long time.
Eventually, we boarded the bus…and I discovered that there was no Wi-Fi. It SUCKED. I was offline for the rest of the day because of that. Greyhound claims that every bus has Wi-Fi, so they need to fucking fix their advertising. Anywho, it took FOREVER but I finally arrived in Chicago. I waited at the bus station there for about half an hour, til @robertiwataki could pick me up.
We left around 12:30 and stopped at Wendy’s to get some lunch. Then we went to the hotel to check in to our room. We unloaded all our shit and I took a shower, since it’d been over 24 hours since my last one. EWW. We went downstairs and checked in to the convention. We had VIP passes, so got easy access to everything. The first thing we did was meander around the Dealer Room.
There was a lot of cool shit for sale, but most of it was overpriced. Why? Because they can. We met this really nice dude who made these things called, “Pumpkin Teeth,” which are little plastic teeth you put in a jack-o-lantern’s mouth so you don’t have to carve the teeth yourself. He was so sweet, but rather chatty, lol. Still, he was fun to talk to. After that, we decided to get some autographs and meet some celebs.
First up: Lance Henriksen. I’ve only ever seen him in Millennium, Terminator and a few guest roles here and there (I believe he was on an ep of Castle not too long ago). It was early, and there was only one person at his table, so we went right up. I had brought the Millennium DVD case for him to sign. I shook his hand because, well, that’s what I fucking do, and he saw my Heavy Rain tattoo. He LOVED it.
That’s not an exaggeration, he absolutely loved it. He signed my DVD case, then took a couple pics with me (and showed me his tattoos - they’re awesome). Then, I asked if he would say hi to my parents on a video, cuz they love him, too. He was all for it and was so sweet. He’s just a great, great man. Then, we went to see Robert Englund. Because we had VIP passes, we were allowed to line jump to about the middle of the line.
But, I felt like a total bitch doing that, since other people had been waiting much longer and the line wasn’t even that long. So, Rob and I went to the back of the line to wait. We eventually got up to the table and I was nervous as fuck. I had on my Freddy jewelry (earrings, ring) and had brought a Freddy pin to give to Robert. First off, I shook his hand. He also noticed my Heavy Rain tattoo, and he also absolutely fucking loved it.
I recall him saying it was “unique,” I believe. I gave him the pin and he loved it, as well. He said, “Wow, this is fantastic. You made this? You should talk to us about these for the website.” He was talking about his official website, on which they sell some fan-made merch. I had never even thought about that, but if he thinks that shit’s good enough for his site, fuck yeah, I’m in.
I had purchased a Freddy plushie earlier, and that’s what I had him sign. He said, “Gimme that doll! Where should I sign it?” I told him wherever he thought would be best, and he started signing the hat. He made some comment about not being able to find Freddy’s weenie as he signed, lol. Then, I finally showed him my Freddy tattoo. Again, he loved it.
He said he’d never seen that kind of design before and he thought it looked awesome. I asked him to sign it, and he had me come around to his side of the table and kneel down beside him so he could carefully write his name on/above it. It was so epic. I asked if I could hug him and he said, “Sure!” He then noticed that Rob was taping with a video camera and he said, “SHE’S ALL MINE AND I’M NOT GIVING HER BACK.”
UNF UNF UNF I LOVE YOU ROBERT. <3 I was fairly light-headed with glee after that, lol, and we took a good handful of pics of my arm so I could show Lloyd, The Tattoo Man back home, and get it tat’d on my arm. After that, we met up with some of Rob’s friends, Zac and Greg, and went to dinner at a restaurant adjacent to a movie theater. The restaurant was all right. Food was okay, but quite pricey.
But Zac and Greg are fucking amazing. Hilarious and awesome and I so love them, lol, I wish I could steal them away from Chicago. XD The place we went to was a Bogart-themed restaurant, but the music they were playing was pretty modern. They played “E.T.” and I was like, “I don’t think this music is appropriate for the restaurant.” Greg said, “Are you kidding? This is one of Bogey’s favorites!”
Zac, imitating Bogart, said, “PLAY THAT SHIT AGAIN.” I lol’d so hard, I can’t even tell you. It was one of the funniest fucking things ever. We went to see a special screening of Fright Night after that. Rob and I got to go in right away cuz of our VIP passes, but Zac and Greg hadn’t gotten their Flashback passes yet, so they had to wait for a while. They did, eventually, get to join us, though. And the movie was FANTASTIC.
I don’t even like Colin Farrell, but GOD, it was good. And HE was good! And David Tennant was fucking hilariously awesome. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it. We went back to our hotels afterwards and Rob and I went to sleep pretty quickly. It had been a really tiring day, lol.
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SATURDAY
This was the longest and busiest day of the con. We got up at 8:00 and checked into the ticket booth around 9:30. The Dealer Room (where most of the celebs were signing autographs, as well) wasn’t technically open til 10:30, but since we were VIPs. Ya know. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter that we got to go in early, cuz no one was fucking there.
We pretty much just stood around, killing time until celebrities showed up. Finally, they began to filter in. We went to Malcolm McDowell, first. He was very kind, and I got a Clockwork Orange poster signed for Nick. I told Malcolm that it was for my brother, and he said, “Well, that’s very sweet of you, doing that for your brother. You’re a good sister.” XD
I took a pic with him, then headed over to the Doug Bradley line. That was also for Nick. He was nice, but he seemed sorta out of it. Rob said he was just being British, lol. I took a pic with him and onto Sid Haig I went. That definitely was for Nick. He was pretty nice, too, but distracted by other fans engaging him in conversation. That was a quick autograph and pic.
Then, there was Michael Rooker. Even though he was a total dick on The Walking Dead (which is the only thing I’ve seen him in), he’s a really cool dude, lol. And I mean, a REALLY cool dude. Like, I wish we could’ve taken him out to dinner and chilled together. I got up to him and had him sign a Walking Dead poster to me, mom and dad. He was very sweet about it.
We took a pic, of course, and then he was like, “Wait, wait, do this.” And he held up a fist. So I matched him, and Rob took another pic. It’s awesome, and Michael was totally sweet. I shook his hand and we headed over to the last man in the room: Kane Hodder. I’ve only seen Kane in Fear Clinic, but I know that he plays Jason in some of the Jason movies.
He is a DOLL. Seriously, he looks so intimidating but he is absolutely sweet. He had a pic of him with Robert Englund and Tony Todd on his table, so I had him autograph that. Then we took a pic of him choking me out, LOL. It’s kind of his thing, I guess. XD I told him I loved Fear Clinic and he said he thinks they may be making a feature film out of it, so I’m excited about that.
He asked if I was gonna get Robert to sign the pic, too, and I was like, “Uh, sure!” See, as VIPs, we got a free Robert autograph and a free Malcolm autograph. Well, my free Robert autograph was last night, with the plushie. But I didn’t mind paying for another to have those two signatures on that pic. It was totally worth it to me. And so, Rob and I got back in the Robert line.
We were there for a while, but every time we were in that line, we met really awesome people to chat with, so it was fun. We reached Robert again and I went first. I shook his hand again and he signed the pic, then he said something like, “Oh, you’re the one with the really unique tattoo!” His wife, Nancy, who was sitting with him, said, “Yeah,” and pointed to my Freddy one.
Then Robert said, “No, I meant this one,” and he grabbed my arm and pointed out the Heavy Rain one. Hehe! So amazing. I thanked him, then Rob got his autograph, and then we went to get some food cuz we were fucking starving. We met up with The Dudes (Greg and Zac) in the Dealer Room cuz they wanted to meet Lance Henriksen. Rob and I stood in line with them.
When The Dudes were done, I was standing right in front of Lance and wasn’t fully paying attention. I turned to him and he smiled and I was like, “Oh! We just wanted to see you again.” He shook my hand and complimented my tattoo again, and I asked if he would be at the VIP party later on that night. He said he would, so we said we’d see him there.
It was nearing time for the Robert Englund photo shoot, where he would take a pic with fans while wearing the Freddy glove. I was wearing my Freddy scarf, made by the lovely @fhornchickie, and Robert loved it and wanted to use it for the pic. He grabbed both ends, tightened it around my neck and pretended to be choking me with it, LOL. The guys seemed to have some thing about choking me this weekend...
Anywho, it turned out EPIC and it’s now my FB and Twitter profile pics. ;] We rejoined The Dudes and went over to WizardCon/ComicCon across the street, where Bruce Campbell was a special guest. Rob went in and checked to see if Bruce was even at his booth, since he had a Q&A at 5:00 and it was 4:30 at that time. Bruce wasn’t there, so we decided to come back tomorrow.
*SIDE NOTE: While I was waiting for Rob to come back, Christopher Lloyd and Norman Reedus walked past me. I didn't stop either of them - both looked pretty hurried and preoccupied - but it was awesome.
But The Dudes, Rob and I chilled together in a quiet room away from the con for about an hour and a half. I wound up falling asleep, though I dunno for how long. When I woke up, Rob and I decided we should go get ready for the VIP party. It was sposed to start at 6:45, but we got in line around 7:00 and the doors still hadn’t opened yet. Eventually, we were let in.
The celebs meandered in about ten minutes later, though I only saw Robert, Lance, Kane and Michael. Later, I saw Doug, but never Sid or Malcolm (but I’m told Malcolm was there much later on, I guess I just missed him). The second Robert walked in, people swarmed him. Someone brought him a drink and a crowd just followed him around.
I joined the crowd once he actually reached the center of the room and just listened to him talk. He’s so passionate and excited when he talks, it’s really fun to just listen. He talked about a book he loves, Let the Right One In,” as well as how talented the Glee kids are (for serious <3). He came face-to-face with me, and I was still wearing my Freddy scarf, and he said, “Aren’t you hot in that scarf?!”
I said, “Naw, it’s special,” and then he spotted my Heavy Rain tattoo again and said, “God, I love this tattoo. Where’d you get it done?” I said a local place in New York and he said, “Oh, where in New York are you from?” I told him Hudson Falls, and he talked about a series of books that take place there (which I know about cuz mom told me about them).
After that, Robert sorta got away from me and I ran in to Lance, so I chatted with him for a minute. Again, he shook my hand and said, “There’s that tattoo. I am never gonna forget it. It looks like a take-out menu; I’ll have the dog and the shark, and the Origami. Wrap it all up in Origami.” XD So adorable, lol. I asked if I could talk to him for a minute and he said, “Sure!”
I gave him my card and told him about how I wanted to bring physical copies of The Saico Chronicles to the con to give to the stars, but that they didn’t ship in time, so I asked if there was somewhere I could send his copy. He said to go to his website and email him from there, saying, “This is for Lance, he knows about it.” I thanked him and he said, “Of course, I love short stories! I’d love to read them!” <3
We took a pic and I moved on. Things went just as well with the others. I talked to Michael Rooker next, who, seriously, I can’t get over how fucking sweet that guy is. I hugged him and talked to him and he said something like, “Are you online?” I said, “Yeah, I’m on Twitter all the time,” and he said, “Okay, perfect!” We took a pic and I went to Kane after that.
Kane was great about it, too, and gave me his email address to send him the electronic copy. <3 At one point, I was standing near Robert and Michael came over while Robert was recording a Freddy message for this lovely lady’s kids. Michael leaned into me and said, “He’s fucking sick! He’s twisted!” about Robert, and I laughed and said, “In the best way, though.”
When Robert was done recording, Michael hugged him and they chatted. It was adorable. Anywho, I went to talk to Robert again, but as I started to hand him my card he said, “Oh, you’ll have to give that to my wife, Nancy, she handles all that.” He pointed her out to me (unnecessarily, I knew what his wife looked like from earlier, lol) and I gave her my card.
She’s a sweetheart, too. Such a great, super nice bunch of people. I chilled with some other VIPers who were staying out of the crowd after already having spoken with the celebs. I gave out some cards and we talked about tattoos and Freddy merch and it was just a lovely time. After the party, we had some time to kill, so Rob went to get pizza and came back with The Dudes and a guy I hadn’t met, yet: Leeper.
We all chilled in the hotel room, joking around, eating pizza, talking about the cons. It was really fun. At 10:20, we went down to one of the ballrooms to watch the screening of Robert Englund’s newest, super low-budget indie film called, The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue. It was fucking brilliant. It’s mostly comedy with a little horror thrown in, and it’s got a lot of people from Second City in it. It was just so fucking hilarious. I loved it so much.
Unfortunately, it’s not on DVD yet. They need more people to show interest in it before they can get it on DVD, so please take a second to check it out and tell everybody you know, lol. It’s so funny, I think anyone would like it. The two main actors were presenting the film, and afterwards, they stuck around to meet and greet, so I went up to both of them and thanked them.
I also gave them my card and said that I’m online constantly and would be telling EVERYONE about the movie. They were pretty happy about that. XD Rob and I went back to the room and went to sleep rather quickly.
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SUNDAY
The last day! We slept in til around 10:30, then I took a shower and got dressed and whatnot. We packed up all our shit cuz check out was at noon. We had a bellhop come up and help us with our stuff, then we all got in the elevator to go down…and who was in there but Kane Hodder. I said, “hey,” and he said it back, then this girl got in the elevator in front of Kane.
She was kinda oblivious - I think she was texting on her phone - and Kane started going, “Kill-kill-kill-kill-kill…” Ya know, like in the Jason movies. We all cracked up and I said, “My dad used to work in a restaurant and he did that over the intercom and scared somebody.” Kane said, “Is your dad as fucked up in the head as me?” And I laughed and said, “Well, sorta, yeah.”
The group dissipated and Rob and I went to the car to load shit. That was done quickly enough, I grabbed what I needed and we went back inside. Rob went to check out and I went back to Robert’s line just to thank him for being so awesome. I shook his hand AGAIN and he held my arm in place and traced a finger down my Heavy Rain tattoo, lol.
I thanked him for the weekend and said, “You’re the reason I got into horror,” and he said I was lucky cuz I live in New York, so I didn’t have to move to get a start in writing or anything. After that, I rejoined Rob in the lobby and we went back into the Dealer Room to buy shit. I got a Freddy tote bag, a Freddy t-shirt and a sleeve in which to put my autographs.
*SIDE NOTE: This girl was taking photos for Robert Englund at his table. She said, "Robert," and he said to her, "That's Mr. Krueger to you, bitch." The whole line burst out laughing and the photo girl was giddy as Hell about it, lol. Gotta love Nightmare fans. Okay, onward.
The last thing I did was go up to Michael Rooker and thank him for the weekend, as well, and for being so wonderful. He said, “Wow, that’s really nice of you, thank you,” then asked if I wanted to take a pic, and I was like, “Uh, sure!” It came out great and I thanked him one last time before Rob and I left Flashback Weekend. We headed over to WC/CC and immediately got in line for Bruce Campbell.
Oh, btw, I never actually paid to get in to WC/CC. The security guard didn’t even look at me as I walked in. Normally, I wouldn’t condone such behavior, but spending $20 to stand in line for two and a half hours for one autograph is, I think, silly. I stayed in line for Bruce while Rob and The Dudes walked around the con. There were a couple of awesome guys behind me and we talked for a while.
After two and a half hours or so, I finally got to go up to Bruce. Now, because Bruce has SO many people to get to, the volunteers at the show had us write our names on Post-Its and place them where we wanted our movie/book/poster/etc. signed. I had the Burn Notice case to get signed to myself, mom and dad, and then the Evil Dead case to get signed for Nick.
*SIDE NOTE: Bruce looked AMAZING. He was in a suit and tie and oh god, how I wanted to jump across that table and fucking maul him, lol. Sorry, WHEW.
Anywho, I handed Bruce the Evil Dead case first, and he looked at me weird and said, “Is that you?” I chuckled and said, “No, that’s for my brother,” and Bruce said, “I was gonna say, you’re one ugly Nick.”
Such a classic Bruce thing to say, LOL. He signed the Burn Notice case first, actually, then signed the Evil Dead one. I said, “My whole family’s in love with you,” and he said, “As it should be!” XD I gave him my card and said, “I’ve been tweeting you, so I just wanted to give you my card, ya know,” and he was like, “Oh, thanks! Great, thank you.”
Dunno if he threw it away or not, but at least I gave it to him. X] I shook his hand, thanked him again, then stood off to the side to wait for Rob. Oh, man, it was amazing. Bruce’s voice is even more glorious IRL. And he’s even fucking cuter, if that’s humanly possible. Rob told me afterward that one of the volunteers said he likes to give the girls as much time with Bruce as possible, HAHA. I win. ;]
We met up with The Dudes and went to get something to eat at Denny’s. Zac had a sketchpad that he’d found on his kitchen countertop, apparently, and Greg doodled something in it, then I took a turn. I just drew up Stephen Colbert and the Selleck Stache Seal of Approval, since those are about the only things I can draw. Our waitress was adorable and hilarious and we had a great time.
As we were leaving the restaurant, this freakish dude with two birds on his shoulders came up to us and started talking to us. And putting the birds on OUR shoulders. And heads. It was fucking ridiculous and hilarious, but I didn’t want those fucking birds on me. I was pretty thrilled when the guy FINALLY left. We all stood around and chatted for a while, but unfortunately, all great things must come to an end.
We parted ways and Rob took me to a 7/11 down the street to get some food for the bus ride home. Technically, I was scheduled to go home tomorrow (Monday), but I would have to stay at Rob’s house or be put up in a motel and, honestly, I’d rather just go home and be with my family and in my room, lol. I thought sight-seeing around Chicago would be cool for Monday morning, but I’m broke.
Spent almost everything at the con, so it was silly to stay any longer. I just got some food from the 7/11, then we went to the bus station. I exchanged my ticket for the bus that was leaving at 11:20, then Rob helped me lug my shit over to a seat. My computer wouldn’t play DVDs this weekend, so I asked if he could take a look at it (he’s an IT guy). He thinks the drive is the problem, meaning I have to replace it.
Suckish, but not too bad, I guess. He said it’s not super expensive, so that’s good. He left after that and I spent the evening online, waiting for the bus. I boarded at 11:30 and now, I’m on my way home. Can’t wait to get there. I had a fucking wonderful time in Chicago, but I really miss my family and my home. <3
You can see all the pics here, in the Facebook album (this link is public and should work, but let me know if it doesn't).
Love y'all - Mira/Doc/Kat *meow*
This post covers the entirety of events that span from Friday the 12th to Sunday the 14th. Please enjoy.
FRIDAY
The bus ride was Hell on wheels. The transfer in Cleveland was delayed an hour because so many fucking people had to get on that bus that they couldn’t fit everyone, and they, therefore, had to call in another bus, which took an extremely long time.
Eventually, we boarded the bus…and I discovered that there was no Wi-Fi. It SUCKED. I was offline for the rest of the day because of that. Greyhound claims that every bus has Wi-Fi, so they need to fucking fix their advertising. Anywho, it took FOREVER but I finally arrived in Chicago. I waited at the bus station there for about half an hour, til @robertiwataki could pick me up.
We left around 12:30 and stopped at Wendy’s to get some lunch. Then we went to the hotel to check in to our room. We unloaded all our shit and I took a shower, since it’d been over 24 hours since my last one. EWW. We went downstairs and checked in to the convention. We had VIP passes, so got easy access to everything. The first thing we did was meander around the Dealer Room.
There was a lot of cool shit for sale, but most of it was overpriced. Why? Because they can. We met this really nice dude who made these things called, “Pumpkin Teeth,” which are little plastic teeth you put in a jack-o-lantern’s mouth so you don’t have to carve the teeth yourself. He was so sweet, but rather chatty, lol. Still, he was fun to talk to. After that, we decided to get some autographs and meet some celebs.
First up: Lance Henriksen. I’ve only ever seen him in Millennium, Terminator and a few guest roles here and there (I believe he was on an ep of Castle not too long ago). It was early, and there was only one person at his table, so we went right up. I had brought the Millennium DVD case for him to sign. I shook his hand because, well, that’s what I fucking do, and he saw my Heavy Rain tattoo. He LOVED it.
That’s not an exaggeration, he absolutely loved it. He signed my DVD case, then took a couple pics with me (and showed me his tattoos - they’re awesome). Then, I asked if he would say hi to my parents on a video, cuz they love him, too. He was all for it and was so sweet. He’s just a great, great man. Then, we went to see Robert Englund. Because we had VIP passes, we were allowed to line jump to about the middle of the line.
But, I felt like a total bitch doing that, since other people had been waiting much longer and the line wasn’t even that long. So, Rob and I went to the back of the line to wait. We eventually got up to the table and I was nervous as fuck. I had on my Freddy jewelry (earrings, ring) and had brought a Freddy pin to give to Robert. First off, I shook his hand. He also noticed my Heavy Rain tattoo, and he also absolutely fucking loved it.
I recall him saying it was “unique,” I believe. I gave him the pin and he loved it, as well. He said, “Wow, this is fantastic. You made this? You should talk to us about these for the website.” He was talking about his official website, on which they sell some fan-made merch. I had never even thought about that, but if he thinks that shit’s good enough for his site, fuck yeah, I’m in.
I had purchased a Freddy plushie earlier, and that’s what I had him sign. He said, “Gimme that doll! Where should I sign it?” I told him wherever he thought would be best, and he started signing the hat. He made some comment about not being able to find Freddy’s weenie as he signed, lol. Then, I finally showed him my Freddy tattoo. Again, he loved it.
He said he’d never seen that kind of design before and he thought it looked awesome. I asked him to sign it, and he had me come around to his side of the table and kneel down beside him so he could carefully write his name on/above it. It was so epic. I asked if I could hug him and he said, “Sure!” He then noticed that Rob was taping with a video camera and he said, “SHE’S ALL MINE AND I’M NOT GIVING HER BACK.”
UNF UNF UNF I LOVE YOU ROBERT. <3 I was fairly light-headed with glee after that, lol, and we took a good handful of pics of my arm so I could show Lloyd, The Tattoo Man back home, and get it tat’d on my arm. After that, we met up with some of Rob’s friends, Zac and Greg, and went to dinner at a restaurant adjacent to a movie theater. The restaurant was all right. Food was okay, but quite pricey.
But Zac and Greg are fucking amazing. Hilarious and awesome and I so love them, lol, I wish I could steal them away from Chicago. XD The place we went to was a Bogart-themed restaurant, but the music they were playing was pretty modern. They played “E.T.” and I was like, “I don’t think this music is appropriate for the restaurant.” Greg said, “Are you kidding? This is one of Bogey’s favorites!”
Zac, imitating Bogart, said, “PLAY THAT SHIT AGAIN.” I lol’d so hard, I can’t even tell you. It was one of the funniest fucking things ever. We went to see a special screening of Fright Night after that. Rob and I got to go in right away cuz of our VIP passes, but Zac and Greg hadn’t gotten their Flashback passes yet, so they had to wait for a while. They did, eventually, get to join us, though. And the movie was FANTASTIC.
I don’t even like Colin Farrell, but GOD, it was good. And HE was good! And David Tennant was fucking hilariously awesome. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it. We went back to our hotels afterwards and Rob and I went to sleep pretty quickly. It had been a really tiring day, lol.
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SATURDAY
This was the longest and busiest day of the con. We got up at 8:00 and checked into the ticket booth around 9:30. The Dealer Room (where most of the celebs were signing autographs, as well) wasn’t technically open til 10:30, but since we were VIPs. Ya know. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter that we got to go in early, cuz no one was fucking there.
We pretty much just stood around, killing time until celebrities showed up. Finally, they began to filter in. We went to Malcolm McDowell, first. He was very kind, and I got a Clockwork Orange poster signed for Nick. I told Malcolm that it was for my brother, and he said, “Well, that’s very sweet of you, doing that for your brother. You’re a good sister.” XD
I took a pic with him, then headed over to the Doug Bradley line. That was also for Nick. He was nice, but he seemed sorta out of it. Rob said he was just being British, lol. I took a pic with him and onto Sid Haig I went. That definitely was for Nick. He was pretty nice, too, but distracted by other fans engaging him in conversation. That was a quick autograph and pic.
Then, there was Michael Rooker. Even though he was a total dick on The Walking Dead (which is the only thing I’ve seen him in), he’s a really cool dude, lol. And I mean, a REALLY cool dude. Like, I wish we could’ve taken him out to dinner and chilled together. I got up to him and had him sign a Walking Dead poster to me, mom and dad. He was very sweet about it.
We took a pic, of course, and then he was like, “Wait, wait, do this.” And he held up a fist. So I matched him, and Rob took another pic. It’s awesome, and Michael was totally sweet. I shook his hand and we headed over to the last man in the room: Kane Hodder. I’ve only seen Kane in Fear Clinic, but I know that he plays Jason in some of the Jason movies.
He is a DOLL. Seriously, he looks so intimidating but he is absolutely sweet. He had a pic of him with Robert Englund and Tony Todd on his table, so I had him autograph that. Then we took a pic of him choking me out, LOL. It’s kind of his thing, I guess. XD I told him I loved Fear Clinic and he said he thinks they may be making a feature film out of it, so I’m excited about that.
He asked if I was gonna get Robert to sign the pic, too, and I was like, “Uh, sure!” See, as VIPs, we got a free Robert autograph and a free Malcolm autograph. Well, my free Robert autograph was last night, with the plushie. But I didn’t mind paying for another to have those two signatures on that pic. It was totally worth it to me. And so, Rob and I got back in the Robert line.
We were there for a while, but every time we were in that line, we met really awesome people to chat with, so it was fun. We reached Robert again and I went first. I shook his hand again and he signed the pic, then he said something like, “Oh, you’re the one with the really unique tattoo!” His wife, Nancy, who was sitting with him, said, “Yeah,” and pointed to my Freddy one.
Then Robert said, “No, I meant this one,” and he grabbed my arm and pointed out the Heavy Rain one. Hehe! So amazing. I thanked him, then Rob got his autograph, and then we went to get some food cuz we were fucking starving. We met up with The Dudes (Greg and Zac) in the Dealer Room cuz they wanted to meet Lance Henriksen. Rob and I stood in line with them.
When The Dudes were done, I was standing right in front of Lance and wasn’t fully paying attention. I turned to him and he smiled and I was like, “Oh! We just wanted to see you again.” He shook my hand and complimented my tattoo again, and I asked if he would be at the VIP party later on that night. He said he would, so we said we’d see him there.
It was nearing time for the Robert Englund photo shoot, where he would take a pic with fans while wearing the Freddy glove. I was wearing my Freddy scarf, made by the lovely @fhornchickie, and Robert loved it and wanted to use it for the pic. He grabbed both ends, tightened it around my neck and pretended to be choking me with it, LOL. The guys seemed to have some thing about choking me this weekend...
Anywho, it turned out EPIC and it’s now my FB and Twitter profile pics. ;] We rejoined The Dudes and went over to WizardCon/ComicCon across the street, where Bruce Campbell was a special guest. Rob went in and checked to see if Bruce was even at his booth, since he had a Q&A at 5:00 and it was 4:30 at that time. Bruce wasn’t there, so we decided to come back tomorrow.
*SIDE NOTE: While I was waiting for Rob to come back, Christopher Lloyd and Norman Reedus walked past me. I didn't stop either of them - both looked pretty hurried and preoccupied - but it was awesome.
But The Dudes, Rob and I chilled together in a quiet room away from the con for about an hour and a half. I wound up falling asleep, though I dunno for how long. When I woke up, Rob and I decided we should go get ready for the VIP party. It was sposed to start at 6:45, but we got in line around 7:00 and the doors still hadn’t opened yet. Eventually, we were let in.
The celebs meandered in about ten minutes later, though I only saw Robert, Lance, Kane and Michael. Later, I saw Doug, but never Sid or Malcolm (but I’m told Malcolm was there much later on, I guess I just missed him). The second Robert walked in, people swarmed him. Someone brought him a drink and a crowd just followed him around.
I joined the crowd once he actually reached the center of the room and just listened to him talk. He’s so passionate and excited when he talks, it’s really fun to just listen. He talked about a book he loves, Let the Right One In,” as well as how talented the Glee kids are (for serious <3). He came face-to-face with me, and I was still wearing my Freddy scarf, and he said, “Aren’t you hot in that scarf?!”
I said, “Naw, it’s special,” and then he spotted my Heavy Rain tattoo again and said, “God, I love this tattoo. Where’d you get it done?” I said a local place in New York and he said, “Oh, where in New York are you from?” I told him Hudson Falls, and he talked about a series of books that take place there (which I know about cuz mom told me about them).
After that, Robert sorta got away from me and I ran in to Lance, so I chatted with him for a minute. Again, he shook my hand and said, “There’s that tattoo. I am never gonna forget it. It looks like a take-out menu; I’ll have the dog and the shark, and the Origami. Wrap it all up in Origami.” XD So adorable, lol. I asked if I could talk to him for a minute and he said, “Sure!”
I gave him my card and told him about how I wanted to bring physical copies of The Saico Chronicles to the con to give to the stars, but that they didn’t ship in time, so I asked if there was somewhere I could send his copy. He said to go to his website and email him from there, saying, “This is for Lance, he knows about it.” I thanked him and he said, “Of course, I love short stories! I’d love to read them!” <3
We took a pic and I moved on. Things went just as well with the others. I talked to Michael Rooker next, who, seriously, I can’t get over how fucking sweet that guy is. I hugged him and talked to him and he said something like, “Are you online?” I said, “Yeah, I’m on Twitter all the time,” and he said, “Okay, perfect!” We took a pic and I went to Kane after that.
Kane was great about it, too, and gave me his email address to send him the electronic copy. <3 At one point, I was standing near Robert and Michael came over while Robert was recording a Freddy message for this lovely lady’s kids. Michael leaned into me and said, “He’s fucking sick! He’s twisted!” about Robert, and I laughed and said, “In the best way, though.”
When Robert was done recording, Michael hugged him and they chatted. It was adorable. Anywho, I went to talk to Robert again, but as I started to hand him my card he said, “Oh, you’ll have to give that to my wife, Nancy, she handles all that.” He pointed her out to me (unnecessarily, I knew what his wife looked like from earlier, lol) and I gave her my card.
She’s a sweetheart, too. Such a great, super nice bunch of people. I chilled with some other VIPers who were staying out of the crowd after already having spoken with the celebs. I gave out some cards and we talked about tattoos and Freddy merch and it was just a lovely time. After the party, we had some time to kill, so Rob went to get pizza and came back with The Dudes and a guy I hadn’t met, yet: Leeper.
We all chilled in the hotel room, joking around, eating pizza, talking about the cons. It was really fun. At 10:20, we went down to one of the ballrooms to watch the screening of Robert Englund’s newest, super low-budget indie film called, The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue. It was fucking brilliant. It’s mostly comedy with a little horror thrown in, and it’s got a lot of people from Second City in it. It was just so fucking hilarious. I loved it so much.
Unfortunately, it’s not on DVD yet. They need more people to show interest in it before they can get it on DVD, so please take a second to check it out and tell everybody you know, lol. It’s so funny, I think anyone would like it. The two main actors were presenting the film, and afterwards, they stuck around to meet and greet, so I went up to both of them and thanked them.
I also gave them my card and said that I’m online constantly and would be telling EVERYONE about the movie. They were pretty happy about that. XD Rob and I went back to the room and went to sleep rather quickly.
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SUNDAY
The last day! We slept in til around 10:30, then I took a shower and got dressed and whatnot. We packed up all our shit cuz check out was at noon. We had a bellhop come up and help us with our stuff, then we all got in the elevator to go down…and who was in there but Kane Hodder. I said, “hey,” and he said it back, then this girl got in the elevator in front of Kane.
She was kinda oblivious - I think she was texting on her phone - and Kane started going, “Kill-kill-kill-kill-kill…” Ya know, like in the Jason movies. We all cracked up and I said, “My dad used to work in a restaurant and he did that over the intercom and scared somebody.” Kane said, “Is your dad as fucked up in the head as me?” And I laughed and said, “Well, sorta, yeah.”
The group dissipated and Rob and I went to the car to load shit. That was done quickly enough, I grabbed what I needed and we went back inside. Rob went to check out and I went back to Robert’s line just to thank him for being so awesome. I shook his hand AGAIN and he held my arm in place and traced a finger down my Heavy Rain tattoo, lol.
I thanked him for the weekend and said, “You’re the reason I got into horror,” and he said I was lucky cuz I live in New York, so I didn’t have to move to get a start in writing or anything. After that, I rejoined Rob in the lobby and we went back into the Dealer Room to buy shit. I got a Freddy tote bag, a Freddy t-shirt and a sleeve in which to put my autographs.
*SIDE NOTE: This girl was taking photos for Robert Englund at his table. She said, "Robert," and he said to her, "That's Mr. Krueger to you, bitch." The whole line burst out laughing and the photo girl was giddy as Hell about it, lol. Gotta love Nightmare fans. Okay, onward.
The last thing I did was go up to Michael Rooker and thank him for the weekend, as well, and for being so wonderful. He said, “Wow, that’s really nice of you, thank you,” then asked if I wanted to take a pic, and I was like, “Uh, sure!” It came out great and I thanked him one last time before Rob and I left Flashback Weekend. We headed over to WC/CC and immediately got in line for Bruce Campbell.
Oh, btw, I never actually paid to get in to WC/CC. The security guard didn’t even look at me as I walked in. Normally, I wouldn’t condone such behavior, but spending $20 to stand in line for two and a half hours for one autograph is, I think, silly. I stayed in line for Bruce while Rob and The Dudes walked around the con. There were a couple of awesome guys behind me and we talked for a while.
After two and a half hours or so, I finally got to go up to Bruce. Now, because Bruce has SO many people to get to, the volunteers at the show had us write our names on Post-Its and place them where we wanted our movie/book/poster/etc. signed. I had the Burn Notice case to get signed to myself, mom and dad, and then the Evil Dead case to get signed for Nick.
*SIDE NOTE: Bruce looked AMAZING. He was in a suit and tie and oh god, how I wanted to jump across that table and fucking maul him, lol. Sorry, WHEW.
Anywho, I handed Bruce the Evil Dead case first, and he looked at me weird and said, “Is that you?” I chuckled and said, “No, that’s for my brother,” and Bruce said, “I was gonna say, you’re one ugly Nick.”
Such a classic Bruce thing to say, LOL. He signed the Burn Notice case first, actually, then signed the Evil Dead one. I said, “My whole family’s in love with you,” and he said, “As it should be!” XD I gave him my card and said, “I’ve been tweeting you, so I just wanted to give you my card, ya know,” and he was like, “Oh, thanks! Great, thank you.”
Dunno if he threw it away or not, but at least I gave it to him. X] I shook his hand, thanked him again, then stood off to the side to wait for Rob. Oh, man, it was amazing. Bruce’s voice is even more glorious IRL. And he’s even fucking cuter, if that’s humanly possible. Rob told me afterward that one of the volunteers said he likes to give the girls as much time with Bruce as possible, HAHA. I win. ;]
We met up with The Dudes and went to get something to eat at Denny’s. Zac had a sketchpad that he’d found on his kitchen countertop, apparently, and Greg doodled something in it, then I took a turn. I just drew up Stephen Colbert and the Selleck Stache Seal of Approval, since those are about the only things I can draw. Our waitress was adorable and hilarious and we had a great time.
As we were leaving the restaurant, this freakish dude with two birds on his shoulders came up to us and started talking to us. And putting the birds on OUR shoulders. And heads. It was fucking ridiculous and hilarious, but I didn’t want those fucking birds on me. I was pretty thrilled when the guy FINALLY left. We all stood around and chatted for a while, but unfortunately, all great things must come to an end.
We parted ways and Rob took me to a 7/11 down the street to get some food for the bus ride home. Technically, I was scheduled to go home tomorrow (Monday), but I would have to stay at Rob’s house or be put up in a motel and, honestly, I’d rather just go home and be with my family and in my room, lol. I thought sight-seeing around Chicago would be cool for Monday morning, but I’m broke.
Spent almost everything at the con, so it was silly to stay any longer. I just got some food from the 7/11, then we went to the bus station. I exchanged my ticket for the bus that was leaving at 11:20, then Rob helped me lug my shit over to a seat. My computer wouldn’t play DVDs this weekend, so I asked if he could take a look at it (he’s an IT guy). He thinks the drive is the problem, meaning I have to replace it.
Suckish, but not too bad, I guess. He said it’s not super expensive, so that’s good. He left after that and I spent the evening online, waiting for the bus. I boarded at 11:30 and now, I’m on my way home. Can’t wait to get there. I had a fucking wonderful time in Chicago, but I really miss my family and my home. <3
You can see all the pics here, in the Facebook album (this link is public and should work, but let me know if it doesn't).
Love y'all - Mira/Doc/Kat *meow*