VanCon 2010 - My report, part two (Saturday)
Saturday's Report
Apparently I need sleep. I was awfully slow moving Saturday morning and, despite a not outrageously early start time of 9:25am for Fredric Lehne's panel, I was so sluggish that I missed a good portion of it. I'm a little disappointed in myself, having never seen him at a con before (aside from the prior night's duet with Richard), but that didn't ruin the day for me by any means and it really was a fun, fun day.
Next up came Rob Benedict who was utterly adorable. Quirky and kinda shy but very, very funny. He exuded an awkward sweetness about him that was incredibly endearing. I know I'm not the first to report this but I'm so glad he brought up the similarities between Chuck's role in The End and Radar from M*A*S*H LOL.
After Rob came Matt's second panel of the con, minus the tight black t-shirt. Well, okay, I wish! Minus the t-shirt BUT plus a longer sleeved shirt. And he was just as pretty, sweet, and fun the second time around ::sigh::
Jensen and Jared's bodyguard Clif Kosterman followed Matt's panel and thankfully he wasn't asked some of the personal type questions I'd hoped prayed wouldn't get asked. Fellow fangirls, your restraint makes me proud ;). He has quite a sense of humor and his comments about fans showing up while filming, etc. were pretty generous to my mind. I enjoyed his description of a typical filming day and, as a Canuck, felt this odd glimmer of pride when he mentioned Tim Horton's was part of the boys' (oops, sorry… the guys') daily ritual ;). Certainly a highlight of his panel was Misha crashing it. He really is a riot. More on him shortly.
Samantha Smith is one classy lady. And is a mom down to her very marrow. No wonder she was cast as Mary Winchester! She's a beautiful woman and exuded warmth and grace and won everyone over with her/Mary's protectiveness of Dean and Sam. For me she certainly provided many "awwww moments" during her panel. After Samantha was done, I went on a gift run on Robson St., looking to buy some mementos of the trip for my sister and my hubby. Spent more money on myself than them LOL but found everything I was looking for and made it back to the theater just moments before the next panel started, one I definitely didn't want to miss…
Because next up was Misha Collins! Like last year, Misha was equal parts hilarious and fascinating. He's still a master of deflection but I have to say I felt a shift in his demeanor from last year, one that appeals to me even more. He just seemed more human and actually a little vulnerable to me this time around, yet still maintained that wonderful irreverent "fuck it" attitude that we all know and love ;). You can tell he's still observing fandom with somewhat the eye of a researcher but I also think he's learned to respect us immensely, even if successfully auctioning off a used Band-Aid for $50 still mortifies bewilders him ;). I learned later that he's about to become a father. Maybe that impending life-change is bringing on this slight change I felt. Whatever the reason, I'm absolutely a fan of Misha's and congratulate him and his lady on the soon-to-be new addition to their lives.
Demore Barnes followed and though Misha Collins is one tough act to follow, Demore lived up to the task admirably. In fact he was awesome! Funny and informative, with loads of personality and an amazing and versatile voice, his panel was terrific. There were plenty of The Unit fans in the audience so, despite his relatively small role in SPN, the Q&As never ran out of questions. I think he won over tons of fans at this con and I'm sure Creation will invite him to more in the future. I'm spoiler free regarding this but I sure hope we see more of Raphael in season 6!
Last up was SPN location manager Russ Hamilton and he gave a really entertaining and informative presentation. Russ has a terrific personality with a sarcastic sense of humor that is right up my alley so I enjoyed it immensely. I love the craft of making movies and television so getting his insights was a real treat for me as it was for the rest of the audience I'm sure.
Afterward were the autographs and with my Silver package, I received ones from Misha, Samantha and Rob. Unlike some of the signatures from last year, these were all personalized, so that was pretty nifty. I was proud of myself for being chatty and speaking with each of them however I gushed a little too much with Samantha and unfortunately gave her an awkward fan moment ::blushes:: But, before moving on to Rob, I performed my own damage control and feel pretty confident that Samantha now thinks I'm sane. I had her sign my s1 DVDs and then had a nice little exchange with Rob while he signed my s4 packaging which is what I gave to Misha when I moved on to him.
One thing I hadn't mentioned earlier was that I was anally ridiculously organized this year w/r/t the autographs and had post-its affixed to my DVD packages with the names of each actor placed where I wanted the signature. This was in part because of my faux pas with Misha last year so I wanted to be well prepared this time. This helped settle my own nerves immensely since I didn't have to fumble around looking for anything. As it turned out, it was the "new" Misha who did his own fumbling when he forgot to personalize mine. I wasn't going to say anything but the handler next to him pointed it out to him so I actually was faced with a slightly contrite and self-mocking Misha, looking me in the eyes (and they are as intense and pretty as I remembered!) and commenting on his inability to follow instructions and obvious need for a handler. That's 2 years and 2 Misha moments - a fangirl can hardly complain about that ;).
Though the evening had only just begun, the roommates and I were beat so we decided to order room service for dinner and spent a terrific evening talking about the con, old fandoms, old TV loves and, as we got punchier, had a riotous time inserting SPN characters into iconic TV shows and movies such as Bonanza, Star Trek, Trek TNG, Star Wars, etc., until we finally fell asleep. I highly recommend this little game, especially when you're becoming giddy. Seriously, imagine Bobby Singer playing Scotty or Hop Sing and try not to fall into giggle fits. Oh how we laughed!
On to Sunday's festivities...
Apparently I need sleep. I was awfully slow moving Saturday morning and, despite a not outrageously early start time of 9:25am for Fredric Lehne's panel, I was so sluggish that I missed a good portion of it. I'm a little disappointed in myself, having never seen him at a con before (aside from the prior night's duet with Richard), but that didn't ruin the day for me by any means and it really was a fun, fun day.
Next up came Rob Benedict who was utterly adorable. Quirky and kinda shy but very, very funny. He exuded an awkward sweetness about him that was incredibly endearing. I know I'm not the first to report this but I'm so glad he brought up the similarities between Chuck's role in The End and Radar from M*A*S*H LOL.
After Rob came Matt's second panel of the con, minus the tight black t-shirt. Well, okay, I wish! Minus the t-shirt BUT plus a longer sleeved shirt. And he was just as pretty, sweet, and fun the second time around ::sigh::
Jensen and Jared's bodyguard Clif Kosterman followed Matt's panel and thankfully he wasn't asked some of the personal type questions I'd hoped prayed wouldn't get asked. Fellow fangirls, your restraint makes me proud ;). He has quite a sense of humor and his comments about fans showing up while filming, etc. were pretty generous to my mind. I enjoyed his description of a typical filming day and, as a Canuck, felt this odd glimmer of pride when he mentioned Tim Horton's was part of the boys' (oops, sorry… the guys') daily ritual ;). Certainly a highlight of his panel was Misha crashing it. He really is a riot. More on him shortly.
Samantha Smith is one classy lady. And is a mom down to her very marrow. No wonder she was cast as Mary Winchester! She's a beautiful woman and exuded warmth and grace and won everyone over with her/Mary's protectiveness of Dean and Sam. For me she certainly provided many "awwww moments" during her panel. After Samantha was done, I went on a gift run on Robson St., looking to buy some mementos of the trip for my sister and my hubby. Spent more money on myself than them LOL but found everything I was looking for and made it back to the theater just moments before the next panel started, one I definitely didn't want to miss…
Because next up was Misha Collins! Like last year, Misha was equal parts hilarious and fascinating. He's still a master of deflection but I have to say I felt a shift in his demeanor from last year, one that appeals to me even more. He just seemed more human and actually a little vulnerable to me this time around, yet still maintained that wonderful irreverent "fuck it" attitude that we all know and love ;). You can tell he's still observing fandom with somewhat the eye of a researcher but I also think he's learned to respect us immensely, even if successfully auctioning off a used Band-Aid for $50 still mortifies bewilders him ;). I learned later that he's about to become a father. Maybe that impending life-change is bringing on this slight change I felt. Whatever the reason, I'm absolutely a fan of Misha's and congratulate him and his lady on the soon-to-be new addition to their lives.
Demore Barnes followed and though Misha Collins is one tough act to follow, Demore lived up to the task admirably. In fact he was awesome! Funny and informative, with loads of personality and an amazing and versatile voice, his panel was terrific. There were plenty of The Unit fans in the audience so, despite his relatively small role in SPN, the Q&As never ran out of questions. I think he won over tons of fans at this con and I'm sure Creation will invite him to more in the future. I'm spoiler free regarding this but I sure hope we see more of Raphael in season 6!
Last up was SPN location manager Russ Hamilton and he gave a really entertaining and informative presentation. Russ has a terrific personality with a sarcastic sense of humor that is right up my alley so I enjoyed it immensely. I love the craft of making movies and television so getting his insights was a real treat for me as it was for the rest of the audience I'm sure.
Afterward were the autographs and with my Silver package, I received ones from Misha, Samantha and Rob. Unlike some of the signatures from last year, these were all personalized, so that was pretty nifty. I was proud of myself for being chatty and speaking with each of them however I gushed a little too much with Samantha and unfortunately gave her an awkward fan moment ::blushes:: But, before moving on to Rob, I performed my own damage control and feel pretty confident that Samantha now thinks I'm sane. I had her sign my s1 DVDs and then had a nice little exchange with Rob while he signed my s4 packaging which is what I gave to Misha when I moved on to him.
One thing I hadn't mentioned earlier was that I was anally ridiculously organized this year w/r/t the autographs and had post-its affixed to my DVD packages with the names of each actor placed where I wanted the signature. This was in part because of my faux pas with Misha last year so I wanted to be well prepared this time. This helped settle my own nerves immensely since I didn't have to fumble around looking for anything. As it turned out, it was the "new" Misha who did his own fumbling when he forgot to personalize mine. I wasn't going to say anything but the handler next to him pointed it out to him so I actually was faced with a slightly contrite and self-mocking Misha, looking me in the eyes (and they are as intense and pretty as I remembered!) and commenting on his inability to follow instructions and obvious need for a handler. That's 2 years and 2 Misha moments - a fangirl can hardly complain about that ;).
Though the evening had only just begun, the roommates and I were beat so we decided to order room service for dinner and spent a terrific evening talking about the con, old fandoms, old TV loves and, as we got punchier, had a riotous time inserting SPN characters into iconic TV shows and movies such as Bonanza, Star Trek, Trek TNG, Star Wars, etc., until we finally fell asleep. I highly recommend this little game, especially when you're becoming giddy. Seriously, imagine Bobby Singer playing Scotty or Hop Sing and try not to fall into giggle fits. Oh how we laughed!
On to Sunday's festivities...