CONvergence 2007 - Part The Sixth
Crap. This is getting kind of long, isn't it?
Once again I got up at some idiotic hour, 8:30 or 9:00 AM. What the hell? I've lost the ability to sleep in. I blame caffeine addiction.
So I got caffeine and breakfast, somehow (I think it was convenience store donuts), and watched the tail end of Monsters Inc. There's really no reason to be up that early on a con Sunday. I'm not sure what else I did to fill the time.
More dealer's room browsing. Poverty limited me to only a couple items, and they turned out to be the 2006 video yearbook and a used copy of Lady Terminator, an Indonesian action film which is supposed to be a batshit insane orgy of sex and violence. Logical choices, really. And yet I wonder if I should've gotten other stuff. I still don't have the 2005 video yearbook. Some guy was selling disks of mp3s of old radio shows, including X Minus One. There was a gorgeous all-metal figurine of Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still. And, this is rather embarrassing, but except for the Cinema Rex Staff t-shirt, that really basic 1999 CONvergence t-shirt, and that basic green MISFITs t-shirt everyone gets, I've never owned any CONvergence or MISFITs wear. I regret that, but darn it, I like the video stuff and I'm frequently poor.
Soon it was time for the annual Iron Artist panel, my last real commitment. Guest of honor Brian Keene provided the concept: zombie rats eating a guy wearing Cthulhu slippers. Amanda Schuckman and porcelainsakura were back as Japanese pop star Hai-Chan and her manager. I decided to do Dracula again. And this time, the artists included local puppeteer Gordon Smuder, who was doing art in the guise of a classic, Muppettesque puppet. There were the usual fun improv bits from us judges, but y'know, it's kind of hard to compete with a puppet. Gordon really shot off some zingers. And John Kovalic's vodka consumption was another source of scene-stealing amusement. But I had a hoot and a half, and I think Brian did too.
My final Rex shift was the classic 1932 The Mummy, which I've never seen. And I'd still have to consider it unseen, there was a mad candy rush and I never had much of a chance to look at the screen. For some reason, all the fruit candy got snarfed this year. We ran out of Skittles, we ran out of Jolly Ranchers (which has never happened), I think we even ran out of Mike and Ikes. But the chocolate candies were still in abundance. I don't get that.
Afterwards, some asshat singled me out to complain about how unattractive the female lead was. Shit on a shingle dude, I hope you enjoy your virginity.
I went to closing ceremonies and saw the board's closing sketch, a brilliant mockumentary about a future Earth in which CONvergence has taken over. And Prince and the Electric Mayhem! Genius! Also, saveau gifted me the usual bootlegs of Dr. Who and Battlestar Galactica. Someday I'll have cable, but until then, thanks man.
Finally, it was time for the Dead Dog party. The Dead Dog Movie, voted on by whichever con attendees who bothered to fill out a ballot and stick it in the right box, turned out to be Serenity. So I go get some beer and camp out in Cinema Rex, when I miss a call on my phone. So someone calls John's phone and asks for me. This is a stupid detail but I mention it because it means... I have had a phone conversation on an iPhone! Geek points for me! It turned out to be 10000comicbooks. A bunch of people and Brian Keene were heading out to Khan's Mongolian Barbecue for a decent meal, did I want to join them? At this point I realized (shock! horror!) that I've probably seen Serenity enough times, and that ass-kicking Asian food with fun people was something my body and mind could better use. So I gave up my seat and went to chow down on random conglomerations of beef, shrimp and noodles.
Would you believe I've never been to Khan's before? One of the Twin Cities' great culinary traditions, and I've never darkened its doors? Well, I was glad to finally do it. And I need to do it again.
Once again I got up at some idiotic hour, 8:30 or 9:00 AM. What the hell? I've lost the ability to sleep in. I blame caffeine addiction.
So I got caffeine and breakfast, somehow (I think it was convenience store donuts), and watched the tail end of Monsters Inc. There's really no reason to be up that early on a con Sunday. I'm not sure what else I did to fill the time.
More dealer's room browsing. Poverty limited me to only a couple items, and they turned out to be the 2006 video yearbook and a used copy of Lady Terminator, an Indonesian action film which is supposed to be a batshit insane orgy of sex and violence. Logical choices, really. And yet I wonder if I should've gotten other stuff. I still don't have the 2005 video yearbook. Some guy was selling disks of mp3s of old radio shows, including X Minus One. There was a gorgeous all-metal figurine of Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still. And, this is rather embarrassing, but except for the Cinema Rex Staff t-shirt, that really basic 1999 CONvergence t-shirt, and that basic green MISFITs t-shirt everyone gets, I've never owned any CONvergence or MISFITs wear. I regret that, but darn it, I like the video stuff and I'm frequently poor.
Soon it was time for the annual Iron Artist panel, my last real commitment. Guest of honor Brian Keene provided the concept: zombie rats eating a guy wearing Cthulhu slippers. Amanda Schuckman and porcelainsakura were back as Japanese pop star Hai-Chan and her manager. I decided to do Dracula again. And this time, the artists included local puppeteer Gordon Smuder, who was doing art in the guise of a classic, Muppettesque puppet. There were the usual fun improv bits from us judges, but y'know, it's kind of hard to compete with a puppet. Gordon really shot off some zingers. And John Kovalic's vodka consumption was another source of scene-stealing amusement. But I had a hoot and a half, and I think Brian did too.
My final Rex shift was the classic 1932 The Mummy, which I've never seen. And I'd still have to consider it unseen, there was a mad candy rush and I never had much of a chance to look at the screen. For some reason, all the fruit candy got snarfed this year. We ran out of Skittles, we ran out of Jolly Ranchers (which has never happened), I think we even ran out of Mike and Ikes. But the chocolate candies were still in abundance. I don't get that.
Afterwards, some asshat singled me out to complain about how unattractive the female lead was. Shit on a shingle dude, I hope you enjoy your virginity.
I went to closing ceremonies and saw the board's closing sketch, a brilliant mockumentary about a future Earth in which CONvergence has taken over. And Prince and the Electric Mayhem! Genius! Also, saveau gifted me the usual bootlegs of Dr. Who and Battlestar Galactica. Someday I'll have cable, but until then, thanks man.
Finally, it was time for the Dead Dog party. The Dead Dog Movie, voted on by whichever con attendees who bothered to fill out a ballot and stick it in the right box, turned out to be Serenity. So I go get some beer and camp out in Cinema Rex, when I miss a call on my phone. So someone calls John's phone and asks for me. This is a stupid detail but I mention it because it means... I have had a phone conversation on an iPhone! Geek points for me! It turned out to be 10000comicbooks. A bunch of people and Brian Keene were heading out to Khan's Mongolian Barbecue for a decent meal, did I want to join them? At this point I realized (shock! horror!) that I've probably seen Serenity enough times, and that ass-kicking Asian food with fun people was something my body and mind could better use. So I gave up my seat and went to chow down on random conglomerations of beef, shrimp and noodles.
Would you believe I've never been to Khan's before? One of the Twin Cities' great culinary traditions, and I've never darkened its doors? Well, I was glad to finally do it. And I need to do it again.