CCEE 2017: Friday or PETER CAPALDI!!!!!!
Met the man himself today. God, he's amazing. I'm so glad he decided to do some cons before the end of his tenure. Apparently this was only his third con (I guess they don't count San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con since that's work related).
But let's start at the beginning. So, Friday is always parade day and today's was the fifth year. My gosh, it was cold. It was barely above freezing and the damn sun only made brief appearances. Aside from that, spirits were high.
The Mayor stopped by to snap some photos. I'm right next to him holding the flag that says "The Expo Doctors" (our cosplay group).
We didn't end up behind a guest's car like last year, but that's okay. Actually, Adrian Paul from Highlander was in a car behind us, but it was kind of awkward to turn back.
After the parade was over, I was all ready to get Peter's autograph. He had a session scheduled for first thing once the doors opened. I hoofed it over there only to find some confused fans milling about. I heard the word "cancelled" and I swear my heart just sunk. Thankfully, cancelled only meant his first autograph was cancelled. The expo crew kept saying, "Oh, there's some technical difficulties", implying that his flight was having issues or something. BUT... that was a total lie because I had some friends who ran into Peter at the main hotel last night and they managed to get some selfies with him. They said Peter had a rough flight, he missed a connection or something, so he was probably a very tired man. I can totally understand wanting to take a morning to recover so you're at your best for your fans.
Needless to say, my plans were thrown off, so I pre paid for Peter's autograph and then wandered off to find somewhere to sit down. I thought maybe I could hang out in the giant panel room, but it was closed. There were, however, two ladies sitting near the doors and they told me they were waiting for Peter's panel. This was around 2:00 p.m. Peter's panel wasn't until 4:15 p.m. Somehow my arriving spurred them to properly line up for the panel, so I was third in line. Had a nice chat with one of the ladies and found out we have a mutual friend in common, so that was fun.
After much waiting and standing, we were let in around 3:45 p.m. Ended up with some great seats about three rows back from the stage. That, combined with my awesome camera, allowed me to capture some nice shots:
Peter's rock star arrival. :-) Notice all of the press in front of the stage. Oh, and apparently I've been mispronouncing his last name all this time. It's CaPALdi, like he's your buddy, not CaPALLdi, like he's gloomy.
Garrett Wang, who is always a guest for some reason, moderated the panel. He kept the questions moving, but it was all very quick. He really didn't engage with Peter. I guess that's okay. You want the fans to ask the questions in the end.
Garrett was also quite taken with Peter's hair. :-D Look at it! That's some epic hair. Very last season Pertwee-esque.
Peter's answers were really good. He never struggled to answer a question and his response was always interesting. He did waffle on some answers, like when someone asked who his favourite Doctor was ("All of them.") or who his favourite Companion was ("K9."), or who would make a good next Doctor (long winded description about an actor and then he ends up naming himself.) People kept talking like his time was Twelve was over, but he kept pointing out that he wasn't gone yet and he still has the Christmas special to film. Someone asked him if he knew the Doctor's name and he replied by saying he thinks the Doctor's name is more of a frequency or feeling that you feel in your heart and that was an answer I've never heard before.
Oh, and he hasn't considered directing an episode of Doctor Who because it's too much responsibility and he likes acting more.
Sigh. I could listen to his man talk forever.
After the panel I ran off to get Peter's autograph. Thankfully, a friend had just arrived at the grounds so she was nice enough to get in line for me to save me a spot. I dressed up as Four, thinking Peter would appreciate it, and he said he liked my scarf when I got up to the table! I managed to thank him for coming to the expo and I kind of rambled about how Canada sort of gets ignored, but I totally forget to say how much I appreciate him and his performance as Twelve. God damn it, I cannot talk to celebrities.
So, I got Peter to sign my 50th anniversary Doctor Who calendar. Only, it was released before Peter was announced as Twelve, so he's nowhere in the calendar. Not wanting him to sign something separately from the calendar, I managed a compromise. Earlier in the month I bought the poster calendar for this year, removed December, and then stuck that page into my 50th anniversary calendar. As you can see below, the page designs between the two calendars don't match:
But who cares, right? Everything's together and if I ever meet more Twelfth Doctor era actors, they will have a page to sign.
Close up of my autograph. I think Peter was signing all of the personalized stuff with "Dr. ?". I guess that's his quick way of writing Doctor Who.
Capped off my very long day by getting a photo op with Peter. Since he had his Ray Bans at his panel, my friend and I had the idea to wear our Ray Bans on the hope that Peter had his at the photo op. As you can see, he did not, but I got him to hold one of my sonic screwdrivers.
We tried to be serious, but I don't think anyone can match Peter's intense face. ;-D
Oh, and randomly, I had two media types take my picture while I was waiting around for stuff. One from Blogtor Who and one from Space (the channel that airs Doctor Who in Canada). I'm on the Blogtor Who Twitter if you want to see. I was surprised people wanted to take my photo. My costume is nothing special; it's still a work in progress. Maybe they were impressed with my homemade scarf?
So that was day two. I feel like I just did a Saturday. Man, I'm getting old. Tomorrow is my photo op with Jeremy Renner. I'm still debating whether I should get his autograph or not. We'll see. But much sitting tomorrow! Yay!
But let's start at the beginning. So, Friday is always parade day and today's was the fifth year. My gosh, it was cold. It was barely above freezing and the damn sun only made brief appearances. Aside from that, spirits were high.
The Mayor stopped by to snap some photos. I'm right next to him holding the flag that says "The Expo Doctors" (our cosplay group).
We didn't end up behind a guest's car like last year, but that's okay. Actually, Adrian Paul from Highlander was in a car behind us, but it was kind of awkward to turn back.
After the parade was over, I was all ready to get Peter's autograph. He had a session scheduled for first thing once the doors opened. I hoofed it over there only to find some confused fans milling about. I heard the word "cancelled" and I swear my heart just sunk. Thankfully, cancelled only meant his first autograph was cancelled. The expo crew kept saying, "Oh, there's some technical difficulties", implying that his flight was having issues or something. BUT... that was a total lie because I had some friends who ran into Peter at the main hotel last night and they managed to get some selfies with him. They said Peter had a rough flight, he missed a connection or something, so he was probably a very tired man. I can totally understand wanting to take a morning to recover so you're at your best for your fans.
Needless to say, my plans were thrown off, so I pre paid for Peter's autograph and then wandered off to find somewhere to sit down. I thought maybe I could hang out in the giant panel room, but it was closed. There were, however, two ladies sitting near the doors and they told me they were waiting for Peter's panel. This was around 2:00 p.m. Peter's panel wasn't until 4:15 p.m. Somehow my arriving spurred them to properly line up for the panel, so I was third in line. Had a nice chat with one of the ladies and found out we have a mutual friend in common, so that was fun.
After much waiting and standing, we were let in around 3:45 p.m. Ended up with some great seats about three rows back from the stage. That, combined with my awesome camera, allowed me to capture some nice shots:
Peter's rock star arrival. :-) Notice all of the press in front of the stage. Oh, and apparently I've been mispronouncing his last name all this time. It's CaPALdi, like he's your buddy, not CaPALLdi, like he's gloomy.
Garrett Wang, who is always a guest for some reason, moderated the panel. He kept the questions moving, but it was all very quick. He really didn't engage with Peter. I guess that's okay. You want the fans to ask the questions in the end.
Garrett was also quite taken with Peter's hair. :-D Look at it! That's some epic hair. Very last season Pertwee-esque.
Peter's answers were really good. He never struggled to answer a question and his response was always interesting. He did waffle on some answers, like when someone asked who his favourite Doctor was ("All of them.") or who his favourite Companion was ("K9."), or who would make a good next Doctor (long winded description about an actor and then he ends up naming himself.) People kept talking like his time was Twelve was over, but he kept pointing out that he wasn't gone yet and he still has the Christmas special to film. Someone asked him if he knew the Doctor's name and he replied by saying he thinks the Doctor's name is more of a frequency or feeling that you feel in your heart and that was an answer I've never heard before.
Oh, and he hasn't considered directing an episode of Doctor Who because it's too much responsibility and he likes acting more.
Sigh. I could listen to his man talk forever.
After the panel I ran off to get Peter's autograph. Thankfully, a friend had just arrived at the grounds so she was nice enough to get in line for me to save me a spot. I dressed up as Four, thinking Peter would appreciate it, and he said he liked my scarf when I got up to the table! I managed to thank him for coming to the expo and I kind of rambled about how Canada sort of gets ignored, but I totally forget to say how much I appreciate him and his performance as Twelve. God damn it, I cannot talk to celebrities.
So, I got Peter to sign my 50th anniversary Doctor Who calendar. Only, it was released before Peter was announced as Twelve, so he's nowhere in the calendar. Not wanting him to sign something separately from the calendar, I managed a compromise. Earlier in the month I bought the poster calendar for this year, removed December, and then stuck that page into my 50th anniversary calendar. As you can see below, the page designs between the two calendars don't match:
But who cares, right? Everything's together and if I ever meet more Twelfth Doctor era actors, they will have a page to sign.
Close up of my autograph. I think Peter was signing all of the personalized stuff with "Dr. ?". I guess that's his quick way of writing Doctor Who.
Capped off my very long day by getting a photo op with Peter. Since he had his Ray Bans at his panel, my friend and I had the idea to wear our Ray Bans on the hope that Peter had his at the photo op. As you can see, he did not, but I got him to hold one of my sonic screwdrivers.
We tried to be serious, but I don't think anyone can match Peter's intense face. ;-D
Oh, and randomly, I had two media types take my picture while I was waiting around for stuff. One from Blogtor Who and one from Space (the channel that airs Doctor Who in Canada). I'm on the Blogtor Who Twitter if you want to see. I was surprised people wanted to take my photo. My costume is nothing special; it's still a work in progress. Maybe they were impressed with my homemade scarf?
So that was day two. I feel like I just did a Saturday. Man, I'm getting old. Tomorrow is my photo op with Jeremy Renner. I'm still debating whether I should get his autograph or not. We'll see. But much sitting tomorrow! Yay!