Back from Fedcon :-)
helens_daughter and aletheiafelinea were closest with their guesses regarding my recent whereabouts, but not close enough for a cigar. ;-)
For friends of moving pictures:
I'm not a convention person; usually there are too many people for my taste, and many of them are too obsessed with their hobbies for me to feel comfortable. But hey, Richard Dean Anderson?!? We didn't have to think twice whether we wanted to go and see him or not! Plus he brought Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society along, and I've wanted to attend one of his speeches for ages.He's really one impressive man and knows how to talk. Very passionate about and fully dedicated to his work. And I admit I sniffed in my hanky when he talked about the turning point in his life which made him leave Greenpeace (he was a co-founder) and start Sea Shepherd.
He'd been in a rubber dingy between a group of whales and a Russian whaler, and the wales were harpooned. He said one male made, after being hit, the conscious decision not to crash his dinghy and safe his life, and that he was convinced that the whale knew what they were doing there. I absolutely believe him, and while I don't agree with everything he said, the group deserves all the support they can get. Other celebrities supporting Sea Shepherd are, among others, Christian Bale, Pierce Brosnan and William Shatner. As Watson said: "We got MacGyver, Batman, James Bond and Captain Kirk, how can we lose?" And they had The Joker as well; Heath Ledger also supported Sea Shepherd.
RDA's panels were a hoot. He was the revenge for generations of convention guests confronted with fan questions they couldn't answer. It's really difficult to describe what was going on there. Imagine Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes on stage, and you get the picture. He joked about his increased weight (the wankers at Bild Zeitung aside, nobody cared about that, and who cares about Bild!), talked very lovingly about his daughter (clearly a genius in the making... ah, proud dads!) and answered most questions very charmingly by not answering them at all.
As far as the rest of the con was concerned, I was positively surprised. It's been a few year since we've last been to a Fedcon/Ringcon, and back then, we were mostly busy running around and doing interviews. Which is nice for those who like to read interviews, but not so nice for those who do them and miss half of the weekend's events. This time was really relaxed and enjoyable; the Maritim Hotel in Düsseldorf was stellar both in terms of location, quality and service. I haven't seen so many fantastic costumes before (even some Doctor Who ones! There was a Tardis walking around, friends!), and all in all, the fans were far better behaved than at former cons when it comes to approaching the guests and asking questions. I didn't witness any "star chasing", thanks the Gods. Mind you, not that there haven't been daft questions. It wouldn't be a con without at least one individual not understanding the difference between "actor" and "character played by actor".
There were many actors from the various Stargate shows present. I got a bit nostalgic; I used to be a really big SG-1 fan. Then I was reminded of what I had loved about SG-1 (the team) and what made me flee the fandom (a good number of the fans). Yes, yes, I get it, you need a gun to be "authentic", but don't POINT THAT BLOODY THING AT ME! Why have some people run around pointing guns at people and yell at each other all through the convention? It's a sci-fi con, not a fucking war, goddamit. And while I'm all in support of fan actions and don't really mind that the Gaters got their three minutes of fame on the stage with their stars, the headhoncho of the lot yelling "hop hop ruck zuck zack zack" like some Feldbwebel left over from Kaiser Wilhelm made me cringe. What's next, Fedcon Bootcamp?!
The guests were all great, with exception of Dirk Benedict (Starbuck from "Battle Star Galagtica" and Face from "A-Team"). To be fair, he was entertaining, and went that extra mile for his fans. But I have little to no patience with Republicans whinging about how they are an oppressed species and how Evil Leftie Hollywood hates them and how in the good old days men were still manly men and there were morals and standards and family and everybody hated him yadda yadda yadda (I know I'm in the minority here; people went crazy about him, but eh...) He's been approached to run for gov. of Montana, by the way. Good luck with that. My favourite quote: "Britain is this big socialist country where they'd take my children away from me". *boggle*
Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap/Enterprise): very charming, very friendly, but as I never watched any of the shows he's been in, I skipped the biggest part of his panels. But he's definitely got that special something, and there was many a swooning lady! :-)
Will Wheaton (Wesley Crusher/TNG) was a pleasure to listen to. Here's a man who uses the internet in the best of ways, and who knows what he's working with.He's very aware of the possibilities modern technologies offer, how important net freedom is and how dangerous copyright laws can be for our freedom of speech. Lovely guy, and I can only recommend his blog for your reading pleasure.
Tony Amendola (Bra'tac/SG-1) is always an interesting guests; I've seen him several times before, but he never gets boring. It's also nice to have somebody on stage who shares a bit of the "real work" and realities involved when being an actor. Sobering, but fascinating.
The Startrek guests I've seen, Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troy/TNG), Garrett Wang (Lt. Kim/VOY), who also doubled as MC, and Robert Duncan McNeill (Lt. Paris/VOY) were very funny, just as I remembered them. They know how to entertain their audience, and take time for their fans. That's a great thing, and you could tell the fans really appreciated it.
I've never watched Stargate: Atlantis, but Paul McGillion and Kate Hewlett were both adorable and very, very funny. If they should be at a con near you, don't miss them!
As I said, we took it easy. No chasing from panel to panel, we didn't take any pictures, we met old friends and had many chats and drinks. A lovely weekend! Oh, and while I've connected strolling with Rockabilly weekenders so far, I almost fell off my chair when the crowd strolled to a remixed version of the Doctor Who theme. Who'd have thought of that back in the golden days of Hemsby Rockabilly Weekenders...! You can get in the spirit here:
Molly originally posted this entry at http://joyful-molly.dreamwidth.org/316624.html. You can comment on LJ or DW, using OpenID.
For friends of moving pictures:
I'm not a convention person; usually there are too many people for my taste, and many of them are too obsessed with their hobbies for me to feel comfortable. But hey, Richard Dean Anderson?!? We didn't have to think twice whether we wanted to go and see him or not! Plus he brought Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society along, and I've wanted to attend one of his speeches for ages.He's really one impressive man and knows how to talk. Very passionate about and fully dedicated to his work. And I admit I sniffed in my hanky when he talked about the turning point in his life which made him leave Greenpeace (he was a co-founder) and start Sea Shepherd.
He'd been in a rubber dingy between a group of whales and a Russian whaler, and the wales were harpooned. He said one male made, after being hit, the conscious decision not to crash his dinghy and safe his life, and that he was convinced that the whale knew what they were doing there. I absolutely believe him, and while I don't agree with everything he said, the group deserves all the support they can get. Other celebrities supporting Sea Shepherd are, among others, Christian Bale, Pierce Brosnan and William Shatner. As Watson said: "We got MacGyver, Batman, James Bond and Captain Kirk, how can we lose?" And they had The Joker as well; Heath Ledger also supported Sea Shepherd.
RDA's panels were a hoot. He was the revenge for generations of convention guests confronted with fan questions they couldn't answer. It's really difficult to describe what was going on there. Imagine Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes on stage, and you get the picture. He joked about his increased weight (the wankers at Bild Zeitung aside, nobody cared about that, and who cares about Bild!), talked very lovingly about his daughter (clearly a genius in the making... ah, proud dads!) and answered most questions very charmingly by not answering them at all.
As far as the rest of the con was concerned, I was positively surprised. It's been a few year since we've last been to a Fedcon/Ringcon, and back then, we were mostly busy running around and doing interviews. Which is nice for those who like to read interviews, but not so nice for those who do them and miss half of the weekend's events. This time was really relaxed and enjoyable; the Maritim Hotel in Düsseldorf was stellar both in terms of location, quality and service. I haven't seen so many fantastic costumes before (even some Doctor Who ones! There was a Tardis walking around, friends!), and all in all, the fans were far better behaved than at former cons when it comes to approaching the guests and asking questions. I didn't witness any "star chasing", thanks the Gods. Mind you, not that there haven't been daft questions. It wouldn't be a con without at least one individual not understanding the difference between "actor" and "character played by actor".
There were many actors from the various Stargate shows present. I got a bit nostalgic; I used to be a really big SG-1 fan. Then I was reminded of what I had loved about SG-1 (the team) and what made me flee the fandom (a good number of the fans). Yes, yes, I get it, you need a gun to be "authentic", but don't POINT THAT BLOODY THING AT ME! Why have some people run around pointing guns at people and yell at each other all through the convention? It's a sci-fi con, not a fucking war, goddamit. And while I'm all in support of fan actions and don't really mind that the Gaters got their three minutes of fame on the stage with their stars, the headhoncho of the lot yelling "hop hop ruck zuck zack zack" like some Feldbwebel left over from Kaiser Wilhelm made me cringe. What's next, Fedcon Bootcamp?!
The guests were all great, with exception of Dirk Benedict (Starbuck from "Battle Star Galagtica" and Face from "A-Team"). To be fair, he was entertaining, and went that extra mile for his fans. But I have little to no patience with Republicans whinging about how they are an oppressed species and how Evil Leftie Hollywood hates them and how in the good old days men were still manly men and there were morals and standards and family and everybody hated him yadda yadda yadda (I know I'm in the minority here; people went crazy about him, but eh...) He's been approached to run for gov. of Montana, by the way. Good luck with that. My favourite quote: "Britain is this big socialist country where they'd take my children away from me". *boggle*
Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap/Enterprise): very charming, very friendly, but as I never watched any of the shows he's been in, I skipped the biggest part of his panels. But he's definitely got that special something, and there was many a swooning lady! :-)
Will Wheaton (Wesley Crusher/TNG) was a pleasure to listen to. Here's a man who uses the internet in the best of ways, and who knows what he's working with.He's very aware of the possibilities modern technologies offer, how important net freedom is and how dangerous copyright laws can be for our freedom of speech. Lovely guy, and I can only recommend his blog for your reading pleasure.
Tony Amendola (Bra'tac/SG-1) is always an interesting guests; I've seen him several times before, but he never gets boring. It's also nice to have somebody on stage who shares a bit of the "real work" and realities involved when being an actor. Sobering, but fascinating.
The Startrek guests I've seen, Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troy/TNG), Garrett Wang (Lt. Kim/VOY), who also doubled as MC, and Robert Duncan McNeill (Lt. Paris/VOY) were very funny, just as I remembered them. They know how to entertain their audience, and take time for their fans. That's a great thing, and you could tell the fans really appreciated it.
I've never watched Stargate: Atlantis, but Paul McGillion and Kate Hewlett were both adorable and very, very funny. If they should be at a con near you, don't miss them!
As I said, we took it easy. No chasing from panel to panel, we didn't take any pictures, we met old friends and had many chats and drinks. A lovely weekend! Oh, and while I've connected strolling with Rockabilly weekenders so far, I almost fell off my chair when the crowd strolled to a remixed version of the Doctor Who theme. Who'd have thought of that back in the golden days of Hemsby Rockabilly Weekenders...! You can get in the spirit here:
Click to view Molly originally posted this entry at http://joyful-molly.dreamwidth.org/316624.html. You can comment on LJ or DW, using OpenID.