DragonCon ~ The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Had a great time at Dragoncon. Got to talk to James several times during autographs and photo shoots. He was funny and so sweet. I enjoyed watching him with other fans as I waited for my turn. He was a live wire. Does he ever slow down? He is so good with kids. He turns to mush when a child asks a question at a panel. He took a photo with a young boy about ten or twelve years old on Sunday. He spoke to the boy for a long time before the photo. He took another photo with the boy's family and then stood talking to them all for awhile. The photographer was very rude and tried to get him to move on. James just ignored him.
We arrived around 8PM on Thursday night. Stood in line for ids about two and half hours. We didn't get to go to anything on Friday due to a misunderstanding with the family we were staying with that weekend. So we missed the first panel and a chance to buy tickets for the meet and greet.
Sat. morning, we did go to the panel that had Torchwood actors. James, Gareth and the actor who played Tommy, the soldier that Tosh was involved with. It was interesting and very funny. Lots of love for John Barrowman from both James and Gareth. James talked about getting a gash in his leg which he tried to hide from the group, but was bleeding through his costume. He finally told John who brought in someone to fix him up. He said the SUV that Torchwood rides in is very uncomfortable. He talked about being handcuffed to Gwen. She pulled him out of the SUV to jump into the rift before the bomb went off. He said he more or less fell out of the SUV and knocked out a front tooth. So he got hurt a couple of times in the episode of Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang. He loved working with the crew. He thought they were nicer than American crews. Gareth said he thought American crews were nicer to work with. We got there early, but still ended up almost sitting in the back of the room. Couldn't see the actors from where we were. Had to watch on the screens over head to see them.
After the panel, we walked around the booths selling merchandise. Tried to find something unusual for autographs. Gave up and just bought some photos. My friend, Tommy, adores Gareth. I saw a photo of Gareth with no shirt dripping wet. Well, of course, Tommy had to have that photo. We purchased two photos of each of them. I found one of James from Buffy where his blue eyes were just shining bright. I bought one of him in Torchwood where he is holding two guns and looking smug. So we got in line for the autographs. James pointed out that in the Buffy photography you could see his smoking patch through the shirt. Then he talked about how he had fun shooting the Torchwood scene where he clears out the bar. Seems he likes playing with guns. Tommy handed his photos to Gareth's handlers. They freaked out about the shirtless photo and wanted to know where he got it. Seems it wasn't approved. They refunded his money for it.
We had purchased prepaid photos with James, Gareth, and several other actors. I was in line behind a guy who had a book of photos of him and James. This guy scared me a bit. I mean I think I am a fan, but this guy was a bit nuts. James seemed to know him right away. They took three photos together during this set. The guy had certain poses he wanted and James just laughed as they tried them out. The photographer wasn't please about the amount of time James took with the guy. I told James he was just to nice to his fans which got a laugh out of him. I was sort of in a daze being so close the him. I started to walk away after thanking him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to thank me. He had on a sleeveless muscle type shirt. Wasn't crazy about that shirt. Had a two hour wait to get the photo.
We didn't back to Tommy's sister's house till late. We ate after 10PM that night. The family wanted to talk. I just wanted to go to bed, but we sat up and talked. We got up very early on Sunday so we could get better seats at the panel with James and Michael from Smallville. We sat about five rows back from the front. Had very good view of James and Michael. They seem to really like each other and joked around a lot. Poor Michael seems to get asked a lot about shaving his head for the role of Lex. A woman asked if he shaved or used a cap. He went into a thing about how he had to shave and use makeup. He said he had to shave his chest for one sex scene which ended up being cut, but was on the dvd. James said something about having to shave his nipples for his scenes in Buffy. The woman who asked about shaving then told them she had had cancer and lost all of her hair at one point. Michael felt bad then. He came off the stage to hug her. A child asked them how they liked being the bad guys. You could just see James melt when the kid asked a question. He was so sweet with kids. Michael hated the microphones on the tables. He asked for a cordless. The guy who brought him one had a shaved head. Michael made a remark about the guy having good head which set James and the crowd off laughing. Michael talked about leaving Smallville. He thought he had done as much as he could with the character and it seems his leaving wasn't too popular with the show. Both of them said the show didn't explain why they were doing things in the show. They were just told to do the scenes and they would find out later why something was happening. Both James and Michael were confused why Milton Fine lured Lex to Honduras. No one would tell them what was going on. Same thing with why Brainiac was injecting Lex with something. It was on a need to know basis it seemed. They were doing scenes with no idea of what was going on or why. This panel was more informal and very funny.
After seeing Michael, Tommy decided he wanted a photo with him and an autograph. When he got the autograph, he told Michael he loved him in Sorority Boys. Michael was surprised and then realized he didn't have any photos from that to autograph. We wandered around a bit looking at all the other actors. We decided to have a potty break. The restrooms were just out side the ball room where the Walk of Fame was. Tommy was at the urinal. It had dividers between them. Tommy said he notice the guy next to him had on a shirt he had seen somewhere. Being guys they don't look at each other at the urinals or so I am told by Tommy. Eyes straight ahead and no talking. Tommy was washing his hands when he looked up to see Michael in the mirror next to him. That was why he thought he had seen that shirt before. Michael looked at Tommy and asked him if he had just signed an autograph for him. Tommy said yes and that he was glad to see Michael was washing his hands. I no longer worry about anything sounding stupid that I say to an actor. I don't think I could beat that remark.
We decided to have more photos done. Tommy had photos with Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk and Tahmoh Penikett who was on Battlestar Galactica and is now on Dollhouse. Lines were long so there was a lot of standing around. We saw lots of actors coming and going. I would punch Tommy in the arm and say look there. We saw Edward James Olmos, Robert Englund, George Takei, Richard Hatch, James Kyson Lee, Linda Blair, James Hong, Erin Gray, and Yancy Butler just walking by. We were standing in line when someone bumped into Tommy. It was Alan Tudyk. When Tommy got Alan's autograph, he told Alan how he enjoyed him in the movie, Death at a Funeral. Alan got excited and started talking about the movie. He talked about working with Frank Oz who directed it. All the actors were so friendly.
On Sunday I had another photo with James. I told him I had a photo the day before. He said he had a better shirt on today and then grabbed me in a bear hug. I sort of lost my mind and couldn't even talk after that. They took photos of James alone with fans and then photos of James and Gareth with fans next. Then they took photos of Gareth alone with fans. Tommy was first in line with just Gareth. Gareth hugged Tommy and the photographer wasn't ready. So Gareth just said he would keep hugging Tommy till the guy was ready. Tommy about died. The woman who was taking the tickets made some remark to Gareth and Tommy about it costing by the minute. Gareth said he had plenty of money so he would just keeping hugging. Tommy may never wash that shirt he was wearing that day. He floated the rest of the day.
Just before we had our photos done on Sunday, they took photos with the cast of Battlestar Galactica and fans. It was such a large photo they had to use special cameras. Those photos took a while to develop. We waited and waited for our photos to come out. This is the ugly part of our trip. We waited for almost three hours. Then they brought out my photo with James finally. Seems the BSG photos held them up. Then they had two printers. One very slow and one quick. The quick one broke down they said. They told us to come back the next day which was Monday. Tommy had to go home without his photo of Gareth. On Monday the photos were still not ready. He has to email Froggy Photos with information about the photo with a photo of himself so they can mail it to him. This is his only photo with Gareth. If they don't send it to him he will be crushed. Froggy Photos had been rushing us and yelling at the fans the whole time. Now they screw up and act like it isn't a problem. We had purchased a digital photo at an extra $10 to be emailed to us of each photo. They refunded the money for it for Tommy's photo, but will still send it to him. Or so they said.
On Sunday we were very tired, but more please than not with the day. We were standing at the front of the hotel waiting for Tommy's family to pick us up. Tommy joked with his sister on the phone that he felt like a high class hooker standing in front of the hotel waiting to be picked up. I was watching the crowd mill around while we waited. I noticed a pretty blond running up the drive toward us. I just glanced at her and turned away. Suddenly she was in my face. She said "Hi, sexy." Tommy thought at first she was talking to him. Instead she got real close to me. She started talking to me and asked me where I got my shirt. Now I'm female and 56 years old. I look like someone's grandmother. This woman ran her finger up and down between my breasts along the line of button on my shirt. I am hard to shock, but I was stunned. She kept smiling at me and finally walked away. Tommy and I just stared at her. She must have been high or something.
On Tuesday, we spent time with Tommy's sister having lunch and just talking. We started for the airport with lots of time before we needed to be there. About four miles away from the airport, we blew out a tire. Luckily, they have guys who drive the highways there just to help people with things like this. He was there before we could even call for help. He got the tire changed for us. We had on sandals because we had to remove our shoes as we went through security at the airport. Ants were everywhere on the side of the highway. Got bit a lot. Made it to our gate about twenty minutes before boarding time. We were worried that storms in Dallas from hurricane Gustav would delay us, but no problem. We got back to TX about 9PM. I finally got home after 10PM. My dogs were so excited to have me back. My son said our male, Max, refused to eat while I was away. He had to be petted and give me lots of licks as soon as I got in the door. They joined me in the bathroom. Athena wouldn't leave me. She kept grabbing my hand with her mouth and nudging me with her nose. Max finally left me alone and was eating while keeping an eye on me.
So I am still tired. I have great memories of the trip. Tommy wants to go again next year. We hope to stay in a hotel next year if we do go. Tommy's family was very nice, but they live about 45 minutes away from the hotels. So we spent a lot of time driving back and forth. It would just be easier to be at one of the hotels. I feel like I have been run over by a truck right now. So I hope this makes sense. I am not sure how to spell my own name at the moment. I will post photos later when I get things together. And yes, I can die happy now. Don't ask me about the George thing below. I couldn't figure out why it is there or how to erase it.
eorge TakeiGeorge Takei
We arrived around 8PM on Thursday night. Stood in line for ids about two and half hours. We didn't get to go to anything on Friday due to a misunderstanding with the family we were staying with that weekend. So we missed the first panel and a chance to buy tickets for the meet and greet.
Sat. morning, we did go to the panel that had Torchwood actors. James, Gareth and the actor who played Tommy, the soldier that Tosh was involved with. It was interesting and very funny. Lots of love for John Barrowman from both James and Gareth. James talked about getting a gash in his leg which he tried to hide from the group, but was bleeding through his costume. He finally told John who brought in someone to fix him up. He said the SUV that Torchwood rides in is very uncomfortable. He talked about being handcuffed to Gwen. She pulled him out of the SUV to jump into the rift before the bomb went off. He said he more or less fell out of the SUV and knocked out a front tooth. So he got hurt a couple of times in the episode of Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang. He loved working with the crew. He thought they were nicer than American crews. Gareth said he thought American crews were nicer to work with. We got there early, but still ended up almost sitting in the back of the room. Couldn't see the actors from where we were. Had to watch on the screens over head to see them.
After the panel, we walked around the booths selling merchandise. Tried to find something unusual for autographs. Gave up and just bought some photos. My friend, Tommy, adores Gareth. I saw a photo of Gareth with no shirt dripping wet. Well, of course, Tommy had to have that photo. We purchased two photos of each of them. I found one of James from Buffy where his blue eyes were just shining bright. I bought one of him in Torchwood where he is holding two guns and looking smug. So we got in line for the autographs. James pointed out that in the Buffy photography you could see his smoking patch through the shirt. Then he talked about how he had fun shooting the Torchwood scene where he clears out the bar. Seems he likes playing with guns. Tommy handed his photos to Gareth's handlers. They freaked out about the shirtless photo and wanted to know where he got it. Seems it wasn't approved. They refunded his money for it.
We had purchased prepaid photos with James, Gareth, and several other actors. I was in line behind a guy who had a book of photos of him and James. This guy scared me a bit. I mean I think I am a fan, but this guy was a bit nuts. James seemed to know him right away. They took three photos together during this set. The guy had certain poses he wanted and James just laughed as they tried them out. The photographer wasn't please about the amount of time James took with the guy. I told James he was just to nice to his fans which got a laugh out of him. I was sort of in a daze being so close the him. I started to walk away after thanking him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to thank me. He had on a sleeveless muscle type shirt. Wasn't crazy about that shirt. Had a two hour wait to get the photo.
We didn't back to Tommy's sister's house till late. We ate after 10PM that night. The family wanted to talk. I just wanted to go to bed, but we sat up and talked. We got up very early on Sunday so we could get better seats at the panel with James and Michael from Smallville. We sat about five rows back from the front. Had very good view of James and Michael. They seem to really like each other and joked around a lot. Poor Michael seems to get asked a lot about shaving his head for the role of Lex. A woman asked if he shaved or used a cap. He went into a thing about how he had to shave and use makeup. He said he had to shave his chest for one sex scene which ended up being cut, but was on the dvd. James said something about having to shave his nipples for his scenes in Buffy. The woman who asked about shaving then told them she had had cancer and lost all of her hair at one point. Michael felt bad then. He came off the stage to hug her. A child asked them how they liked being the bad guys. You could just see James melt when the kid asked a question. He was so sweet with kids. Michael hated the microphones on the tables. He asked for a cordless. The guy who brought him one had a shaved head. Michael made a remark about the guy having good head which set James and the crowd off laughing. Michael talked about leaving Smallville. He thought he had done as much as he could with the character and it seems his leaving wasn't too popular with the show. Both of them said the show didn't explain why they were doing things in the show. They were just told to do the scenes and they would find out later why something was happening. Both James and Michael were confused why Milton Fine lured Lex to Honduras. No one would tell them what was going on. Same thing with why Brainiac was injecting Lex with something. It was on a need to know basis it seemed. They were doing scenes with no idea of what was going on or why. This panel was more informal and very funny.
After seeing Michael, Tommy decided he wanted a photo with him and an autograph. When he got the autograph, he told Michael he loved him in Sorority Boys. Michael was surprised and then realized he didn't have any photos from that to autograph. We wandered around a bit looking at all the other actors. We decided to have a potty break. The restrooms were just out side the ball room where the Walk of Fame was. Tommy was at the urinal. It had dividers between them. Tommy said he notice the guy next to him had on a shirt he had seen somewhere. Being guys they don't look at each other at the urinals or so I am told by Tommy. Eyes straight ahead and no talking. Tommy was washing his hands when he looked up to see Michael in the mirror next to him. That was why he thought he had seen that shirt before. Michael looked at Tommy and asked him if he had just signed an autograph for him. Tommy said yes and that he was glad to see Michael was washing his hands. I no longer worry about anything sounding stupid that I say to an actor. I don't think I could beat that remark.
We decided to have more photos done. Tommy had photos with Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk and Tahmoh Penikett who was on Battlestar Galactica and is now on Dollhouse. Lines were long so there was a lot of standing around. We saw lots of actors coming and going. I would punch Tommy in the arm and say look there. We saw Edward James Olmos, Robert Englund, George Takei, Richard Hatch, James Kyson Lee, Linda Blair, James Hong, Erin Gray, and Yancy Butler just walking by. We were standing in line when someone bumped into Tommy. It was Alan Tudyk. When Tommy got Alan's autograph, he told Alan how he enjoyed him in the movie, Death at a Funeral. Alan got excited and started talking about the movie. He talked about working with Frank Oz who directed it. All the actors were so friendly.
On Sunday I had another photo with James. I told him I had a photo the day before. He said he had a better shirt on today and then grabbed me in a bear hug. I sort of lost my mind and couldn't even talk after that. They took photos of James alone with fans and then photos of James and Gareth with fans next. Then they took photos of Gareth alone with fans. Tommy was first in line with just Gareth. Gareth hugged Tommy and the photographer wasn't ready. So Gareth just said he would keep hugging Tommy till the guy was ready. Tommy about died. The woman who was taking the tickets made some remark to Gareth and Tommy about it costing by the minute. Gareth said he had plenty of money so he would just keeping hugging. Tommy may never wash that shirt he was wearing that day. He floated the rest of the day.
Just before we had our photos done on Sunday, they took photos with the cast of Battlestar Galactica and fans. It was such a large photo they had to use special cameras. Those photos took a while to develop. We waited and waited for our photos to come out. This is the ugly part of our trip. We waited for almost three hours. Then they brought out my photo with James finally. Seems the BSG photos held them up. Then they had two printers. One very slow and one quick. The quick one broke down they said. They told us to come back the next day which was Monday. Tommy had to go home without his photo of Gareth. On Monday the photos were still not ready. He has to email Froggy Photos with information about the photo with a photo of himself so they can mail it to him. This is his only photo with Gareth. If they don't send it to him he will be crushed. Froggy Photos had been rushing us and yelling at the fans the whole time. Now they screw up and act like it isn't a problem. We had purchased a digital photo at an extra $10 to be emailed to us of each photo. They refunded the money for it for Tommy's photo, but will still send it to him. Or so they said.
On Sunday we were very tired, but more please than not with the day. We were standing at the front of the hotel waiting for Tommy's family to pick us up. Tommy joked with his sister on the phone that he felt like a high class hooker standing in front of the hotel waiting to be picked up. I was watching the crowd mill around while we waited. I noticed a pretty blond running up the drive toward us. I just glanced at her and turned away. Suddenly she was in my face. She said "Hi, sexy." Tommy thought at first she was talking to him. Instead she got real close to me. She started talking to me and asked me where I got my shirt. Now I'm female and 56 years old. I look like someone's grandmother. This woman ran her finger up and down between my breasts along the line of button on my shirt. I am hard to shock, but I was stunned. She kept smiling at me and finally walked away. Tommy and I just stared at her. She must have been high or something.
On Tuesday, we spent time with Tommy's sister having lunch and just talking. We started for the airport with lots of time before we needed to be there. About four miles away from the airport, we blew out a tire. Luckily, they have guys who drive the highways there just to help people with things like this. He was there before we could even call for help. He got the tire changed for us. We had on sandals because we had to remove our shoes as we went through security at the airport. Ants were everywhere on the side of the highway. Got bit a lot. Made it to our gate about twenty minutes before boarding time. We were worried that storms in Dallas from hurricane Gustav would delay us, but no problem. We got back to TX about 9PM. I finally got home after 10PM. My dogs were so excited to have me back. My son said our male, Max, refused to eat while I was away. He had to be petted and give me lots of licks as soon as I got in the door. They joined me in the bathroom. Athena wouldn't leave me. She kept grabbing my hand with her mouth and nudging me with her nose. Max finally left me alone and was eating while keeping an eye on me.
So I am still tired. I have great memories of the trip. Tommy wants to go again next year. We hope to stay in a hotel next year if we do go. Tommy's family was very nice, but they live about 45 minutes away from the hotels. So we spent a lot of time driving back and forth. It would just be easier to be at one of the hotels. I feel like I have been run over by a truck right now. So I hope this makes sense. I am not sure how to spell my own name at the moment. I will post photos later when I get things together. And yes, I can die happy now. Don't ask me about the George thing below. I couldn't figure out why it is there or how to erase it.
eorge TakeiGeorge Takei