San Antonio Wizard World
My "Lois and Clark" icon seemed appropriate since I did actually get to meet (and hug!) Dean Cain.
So I may have mentioned in a long-ago post that I was heading to the UK via the US. I didn't get to go to SDCC but I am here in San Antonio which seems to have a climate similar to that I left behind in Brisbane.
San Antonio is of course home to The Alamo. Now (like most Brits, I imagine) I'd heard of it (and Davy Crockett) but not much more. It's a sobering reminder that for the US at least, bloody history isn't all that long ago (summary: Texas rebelled against Mexican rule, some Texan rebels holed up in The Alamo, after holding out against overwhelming odds for a couple of weeks they were overrun and slaughtered by the Mexican army. Texas went on to win independence regardless). The site is actually free to go around (it's funded by donation, gift shop proceeds and government grant) and does give some insights into the reasons behind what verges on paranoia in some sections of modern-day US politics (I'd type more but it's a real pain on the tablet - and I stupidly left my Bluetooth kb at home).
Then followed three days of the con itself. The con did lose some of its headliners (Eliza Dushku, Norman Reedus, Michael Rosenbaum) but had plenty of energy and to be honest I could not have fitted in more photo ops and auto sessions anyway.
Most of the actors are very friendly and huggy. The photo shoots were almost mercilessly efficient but all the actors took time to chat at the auto sessions.
Not so pleasant were the 3000 screaming 14-year-old girls who were there just to see some "social media personalities" (four teenage boys, as far as I could tell) and who were running around trying to get glimpses of their "heroes" one of whom turns out to be a homophobic ass, but more on that later). The screams were skull-shattering and at times going around the Con floor felt like playing Frogger only with teenies instead of cars).
It did however spark off an interesting conversation with James Marsters. I said that he used to have his own screaming fangirl attachment and he looked a bit pained - I think he got fed up of them pretty quick (I didn't tell him what we used to call them!). When he realised I was British he asked what I thought of his accent and I was honest and said it was pretty good but didn't fool me and explained why. I then felt bad when he said he was only cast three days before filming started (which I had no idea about) and said that under the circumstances he did really well (he said that Tony Head helped a lot as well as watching Monty Python!). Anyway he was a real sweetheart. There was also an interesting moment in his panel talk (aside from when the crazy woman asked him if he'd slept with any of the Buffy cast - in her defence he did say he was unembarrassable at the start) when someone said that David Boreanaz had "posted something conservative" on Twitter and asked if he (James) agreed (note: I have no idea what DB posted). James looked really pained again and said "No." and then mumbled something like "Just...don't" (directed towards DB not the con-goer). Heh. See, this is why I rarely follow actors on Twitter (also see later).
Random Buffy-related aside, SMG has done an absolutely HILARIOUS Reddit AMA that is well worth checking out if you haven't seen it. I felt guilty for not liking The Crazy Ones.
So what else? An American guy asked for my number in Manu Bennett's photo op queue, he was very sweet but hadn't twigged that us living on different continents might pose a problem, as well as me being old enough to be his mother.
John Barrowman was of course an absolute legend. He signed my Shark Attack 3: MegalodonDVD cover for free (they were only signing one thing per and he'd already signed my Arrow Blu-Ray cover) and he was an scream in the panel. I also got to meet Scott who is sweet as well as being ridiculously hot. He also posed with the "social media personalities" only later realising that one of them has made homophobic comments. He was pretty upset about it later on Twitter. I did chat with him on the Sunday and he said that the boy hadn't said anything bad to him personally, so there's that I guess.
Dean Cain is a total darling although don't follow him on Twitter unless you want to read some Tea Party-esque rants. It took a few months before I calmed down enough to realise that I did want to thank him for what remains one of my favourite shows. Plus he's still ridiculously hot and I'm shallow. He was very funny in his panel, even though he must have heard and answered all the questions many times before. One little boy had to be told by Dean that sorry, heat vision isn't real. Apparently he was in tears afterwards. Suck it up, kid, Santa Claus isn't real either.
Manu Bennett is adorable and his girlfriend is one of the luckiest women alive, that's all I'll say!
All the con-goers were amazingly friendly - everyone was willing to chat in queues etc and I never felt lonely because I was there on my own. So a very fun few days overall. I will definitely have to do this again.
So I may have mentioned in a long-ago post that I was heading to the UK via the US. I didn't get to go to SDCC but I am here in San Antonio which seems to have a climate similar to that I left behind in Brisbane.
San Antonio is of course home to The Alamo. Now (like most Brits, I imagine) I'd heard of it (and Davy Crockett) but not much more. It's a sobering reminder that for the US at least, bloody history isn't all that long ago (summary: Texas rebelled against Mexican rule, some Texan rebels holed up in The Alamo, after holding out against overwhelming odds for a couple of weeks they were overrun and slaughtered by the Mexican army. Texas went on to win independence regardless). The site is actually free to go around (it's funded by donation, gift shop proceeds and government grant) and does give some insights into the reasons behind what verges on paranoia in some sections of modern-day US politics (I'd type more but it's a real pain on the tablet - and I stupidly left my Bluetooth kb at home).
Then followed three days of the con itself. The con did lose some of its headliners (Eliza Dushku, Norman Reedus, Michael Rosenbaum) but had plenty of energy and to be honest I could not have fitted in more photo ops and auto sessions anyway.
Most of the actors are very friendly and huggy. The photo shoots were almost mercilessly efficient but all the actors took time to chat at the auto sessions.
Not so pleasant were the 3000 screaming 14-year-old girls who were there just to see some "social media personalities" (four teenage boys, as far as I could tell) and who were running around trying to get glimpses of their "heroes" one of whom turns out to be a homophobic ass, but more on that later). The screams were skull-shattering and at times going around the Con floor felt like playing Frogger only with teenies instead of cars).
It did however spark off an interesting conversation with James Marsters. I said that he used to have his own screaming fangirl attachment and he looked a bit pained - I think he got fed up of them pretty quick (I didn't tell him what we used to call them!). When he realised I was British he asked what I thought of his accent and I was honest and said it was pretty good but didn't fool me and explained why. I then felt bad when he said he was only cast three days before filming started (which I had no idea about) and said that under the circumstances he did really well (he said that Tony Head helped a lot as well as watching Monty Python!). Anyway he was a real sweetheart. There was also an interesting moment in his panel talk (aside from when the crazy woman asked him if he'd slept with any of the Buffy cast - in her defence he did say he was unembarrassable at the start) when someone said that David Boreanaz had "posted something conservative" on Twitter and asked if he (James) agreed (note: I have no idea what DB posted). James looked really pained again and said "No." and then mumbled something like "Just...don't" (directed towards DB not the con-goer). Heh. See, this is why I rarely follow actors on Twitter (also see later).
Random Buffy-related aside, SMG has done an absolutely HILARIOUS Reddit AMA that is well worth checking out if you haven't seen it. I felt guilty for not liking The Crazy Ones.
So what else? An American guy asked for my number in Manu Bennett's photo op queue, he was very sweet but hadn't twigged that us living on different continents might pose a problem, as well as me being old enough to be his mother.
John Barrowman was of course an absolute legend. He signed my Shark Attack 3: MegalodonDVD cover for free (they were only signing one thing per and he'd already signed my Arrow Blu-Ray cover) and he was an scream in the panel. I also got to meet Scott who is sweet as well as being ridiculously hot. He also posed with the "social media personalities" only later realising that one of them has made homophobic comments. He was pretty upset about it later on Twitter. I did chat with him on the Sunday and he said that the boy hadn't said anything bad to him personally, so there's that I guess.
Dean Cain is a total darling although don't follow him on Twitter unless you want to read some Tea Party-esque rants. It took a few months before I calmed down enough to realise that I did want to thank him for what remains one of my favourite shows. Plus he's still ridiculously hot and I'm shallow. He was very funny in his panel, even though he must have heard and answered all the questions many times before. One little boy had to be told by Dean that sorry, heat vision isn't real. Apparently he was in tears afterwards. Suck it up, kid, Santa Claus isn't real either.
Manu Bennett is adorable and his girlfriend is one of the luckiest women alive, that's all I'll say!
All the con-goers were amazingly friendly - everyone was willing to chat in queues etc and I never felt lonely because I was there on my own. So a very fun few days overall. I will definitely have to do this again.