Vacation, Part 2
Well it's been a crazy insane couple of days... I don't even remember half the stuff we did... But I'll try
July 15th 2005 - Friday
Is it weird that when I try to think about what specifically happened on Friday my mind is blank? OH YEAH... this was the day of the Adventure Novel panel!!! I met authors Kevin J. Anderson, author of many X Files, Star Wars, Dune and his own style novels. Also on that panel were his wife and co-author of the Young Jedi Knights books Rebecca Moesta, Thomas Greanias, first-time author of the new book Atlantis Rising, and James Rollins, author of the book Map of Bones, whom I met the day before under his other pseudonym James Clemens. This was an extremely interesting panel. I learned a lot about the views of these famous authors on what they feel is necessary for an adventure novel in the 21st century, and why it can be used as a springboard for tackling many social issues in a fantastical context.
After the Adventure Novel panel, I raced over to the Autograph sigining area to get a free book and autograph from these famous authors. Unfortunately, I did not make it there early enough to get a free book. I had to buy all the books I got autographed, but it was no problem, considering I would buy these books in my own Barnes and Noble eventually. I shook hands with all the authors, discussed the negative and positive aspects of attending a creative writing class with Kevin J. Anderson, who mentioned how in his college class, he constantly wrote pieces of science fiction and fantasy and yet was always told by his professor that he needed to focus on more current, modern short fiction.
I also talked with James Rollins/Clemens a bit. His true last name is a very unpronounceable Polish one. We talked about the positives of using a pseudonym when in situations where the last name is such a clunker. But he said my last name Zuewski is not too bad, so I shouldn't immediately consider using a pseudonym unless my agent or publisher suggests it... whenever I get THOSE! LOL
After that, I attended the Jim Henson Company 50th Anniversary Retrospective. Brian Henson was stuck in traffic, however his sister Lisa Henson was there, along with some other people behind the shows, including Karen Prell, who did the voice of Red Fraggle!!!! They showed the first TV appearances of Jim Henson himself on the Mike Douglas show, and also clips of all his work up to the present. They hinted at a sequel to The Dark Crystal as a feature film and a following cartoon series! Also, they showed the trailer and behind the scenes clips from the new movie Mirrormask that is coming out in the Fall! It looks odd and fantastic at the same time. It's also written by Neil Gaiman.
I also met Robert Jordan today. This was great that I was able to sit in on his Spotlight panel, which discussed in some detail his Wheel of Time series, which I'm currently reading. I went to meet him afterward at the autograph table, but I did not get a chance to do so. There were already over 100 people waiting on the line. So, I skipped that one. But it was funny, afterward I met him coming out of his hotel while we were walking to where we parked the car. I shook his hand, got a little nervous and walked away. LOL!
July 16th 2005 - Saturday
This was the big day. The day I was waiting for... the day I came to the Con for. Starting at 10 am in the gigantic Ballroom 20, ABC presented a 2 hour long panel on 2 new shows for the fall season... Invasion and The Night Stalker. Both of which look very very interesting. Invasion is about an alien invasion that starts in a tiny Florida town in Dade County during a massive hurricane, which, is supposedly later revealed as a smokescreen to hide the activities of the aliens. Ok, immediately I think about Dean Koontz's book The Taking. On the panel, were a director, the little girl who plays Rose, and the show's creator and exec. producer Frank Spotnitz, who co-produced The X Files.
The Night Stalker looks interesting, however it will take a while to get used to the new Carl Kolchak. I will always think of Darrin McGavin in that role. Stuart Townsend is the new Kolchak, and they also included his co-star in the panel, Gabrielle Union. In addition, the creator of the show Frank Spotnitz was there.
After this, was the first thing I was waiting for.... The LOST panel!!! They showed previews of the special features on the Season 1 DVD coming out, including DELETED SCENES from the pilot episode!!! Faaaaaantastic. There were people there dressed up as the Lost characters!!! I was so pissed I missed taking the picture of the Claire and Charlie characters for Viki. They looked so cute. The guests on the panel were producers on the show, Maggie Grace (Shannon), and Josh Holloway (Sawyer). I took pictures aplenty.
AND THEN..... THE STARGATE PRESENTATION!!!! I got to see the creator of the show Brad Wright, his co-producer... AND the cast of the new season... Ben Browder, Christopher Judge, Amanda Tapping and Beau Bridges! They are INSANE in real life! Wow. Wow wow wow! LOL
And then the cast of Atlantis came out... McKay, Beckett, Sheppard, Teyla, and the new character Ronon Dex or whatever his name is. It was a truly enjoyable experience and I was able to take 2 rolls worth of film!!!! I AM STILL ECSTATIC!
Oh, and afterward I attended the Science in Storytelling panel, with Kevin Anderson again, Vernor Vinge, Orson Scott Card, and some others that I was not familiar with.
Ok I have to cut it short now because Des and Chandler are getting impatient and want to get back for the last day of the Con.
I'll write more later!!!
July 15th 2005 - Friday
Is it weird that when I try to think about what specifically happened on Friday my mind is blank? OH YEAH... this was the day of the Adventure Novel panel!!! I met authors Kevin J. Anderson, author of many X Files, Star Wars, Dune and his own style novels. Also on that panel were his wife and co-author of the Young Jedi Knights books Rebecca Moesta, Thomas Greanias, first-time author of the new book Atlantis Rising, and James Rollins, author of the book Map of Bones, whom I met the day before under his other pseudonym James Clemens. This was an extremely interesting panel. I learned a lot about the views of these famous authors on what they feel is necessary for an adventure novel in the 21st century, and why it can be used as a springboard for tackling many social issues in a fantastical context.
After the Adventure Novel panel, I raced over to the Autograph sigining area to get a free book and autograph from these famous authors. Unfortunately, I did not make it there early enough to get a free book. I had to buy all the books I got autographed, but it was no problem, considering I would buy these books in my own Barnes and Noble eventually. I shook hands with all the authors, discussed the negative and positive aspects of attending a creative writing class with Kevin J. Anderson, who mentioned how in his college class, he constantly wrote pieces of science fiction and fantasy and yet was always told by his professor that he needed to focus on more current, modern short fiction.
I also talked with James Rollins/Clemens a bit. His true last name is a very unpronounceable Polish one. We talked about the positives of using a pseudonym when in situations where the last name is such a clunker. But he said my last name Zuewski is not too bad, so I shouldn't immediately consider using a pseudonym unless my agent or publisher suggests it... whenever I get THOSE! LOL
After that, I attended the Jim Henson Company 50th Anniversary Retrospective. Brian Henson was stuck in traffic, however his sister Lisa Henson was there, along with some other people behind the shows, including Karen Prell, who did the voice of Red Fraggle!!!! They showed the first TV appearances of Jim Henson himself on the Mike Douglas show, and also clips of all his work up to the present. They hinted at a sequel to The Dark Crystal as a feature film and a following cartoon series! Also, they showed the trailer and behind the scenes clips from the new movie Mirrormask that is coming out in the Fall! It looks odd and fantastic at the same time. It's also written by Neil Gaiman.
I also met Robert Jordan today. This was great that I was able to sit in on his Spotlight panel, which discussed in some detail his Wheel of Time series, which I'm currently reading. I went to meet him afterward at the autograph table, but I did not get a chance to do so. There were already over 100 people waiting on the line. So, I skipped that one. But it was funny, afterward I met him coming out of his hotel while we were walking to where we parked the car. I shook his hand, got a little nervous and walked away. LOL!
July 16th 2005 - Saturday
This was the big day. The day I was waiting for... the day I came to the Con for. Starting at 10 am in the gigantic Ballroom 20, ABC presented a 2 hour long panel on 2 new shows for the fall season... Invasion and The Night Stalker. Both of which look very very interesting. Invasion is about an alien invasion that starts in a tiny Florida town in Dade County during a massive hurricane, which, is supposedly later revealed as a smokescreen to hide the activities of the aliens. Ok, immediately I think about Dean Koontz's book The Taking. On the panel, were a director, the little girl who plays Rose, and the show's creator and exec. producer Frank Spotnitz, who co-produced The X Files.
The Night Stalker looks interesting, however it will take a while to get used to the new Carl Kolchak. I will always think of Darrin McGavin in that role. Stuart Townsend is the new Kolchak, and they also included his co-star in the panel, Gabrielle Union. In addition, the creator of the show Frank Spotnitz was there.
After this, was the first thing I was waiting for.... The LOST panel!!! They showed previews of the special features on the Season 1 DVD coming out, including DELETED SCENES from the pilot episode!!! Faaaaaantastic. There were people there dressed up as the Lost characters!!! I was so pissed I missed taking the picture of the Claire and Charlie characters for Viki. They looked so cute. The guests on the panel were producers on the show, Maggie Grace (Shannon), and Josh Holloway (Sawyer). I took pictures aplenty.
AND THEN..... THE STARGATE PRESENTATION!!!! I got to see the creator of the show Brad Wright, his co-producer... AND the cast of the new season... Ben Browder, Christopher Judge, Amanda Tapping and Beau Bridges! They are INSANE in real life! Wow. Wow wow wow! LOL
And then the cast of Atlantis came out... McKay, Beckett, Sheppard, Teyla, and the new character Ronon Dex or whatever his name is. It was a truly enjoyable experience and I was able to take 2 rolls worth of film!!!! I AM STILL ECSTATIC!
Oh, and afterward I attended the Science in Storytelling panel, with Kevin Anderson again, Vernor Vinge, Orson Scott Card, and some others that I was not familiar with.
Ok I have to cut it short now because Des and Chandler are getting impatient and want to get back for the last day of the Con.
I'll write more later!!!