2011 Chicago Con report (Saturday)
Aug. 27th, 2011 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elderwittyOkay, so I was supposed to post this last night. But while I was sitting in the comfy chair at my sister's, selecting and uploading photos for inclusion, I glanced over at the computer desk in her dining room and realized something. Her printer is a scanner, too. There went my evening. Having never used it before, there was a delay while my niece tried to talk me through it on the phone. (Luckily, she was on her way home and not very far away.)
Scanned this year's photos. Figured what the hell and did last year's, too. Then came the rotating, cropping, and sharpening of editing. Here's an idea: why don't they just always give the sharpest image possible? At one point I had to delete all the stuff I'd saved and start over, because I'd started adjusting the exposure instead of the sharpness at some point I couldn't be bothered to determine when. Long story long - I left after 5am. But it's all uploaded now. Wheee!!
Some of the photos look blurry, but when you click them bigger they clear up. Shouldn't it be the other way round?
Saturday
Came waaaay too early. (Or maybe it was the staying up late? :considers: Nah.)
Got over to the Westin, only to find a line spanning the long lobby almost to the front doors. Joy (no LJ name), who we’d met the day before, and Mike from England, whose seat is next to Walter’s were the last two people in line, so conversation started right up. (Not that we’d let not knowing someone deter the chatting.) Line moves, we all get in and sit at the same table. Get our food, chat, cheer when Ben comes in, and watch the girl with Kim Kardashian eyebrows defend the empty seat next to her from all comers. (I heard her name, I just failed to retain it – does anyone know?)
Ben's arrival - I thought my lack of caffeine made him look like that.
At the next table a friend of Walter’s,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
calcitrix (real name ?) showed us the linoleum-cut prints she’d made the night before. “What?!?! How’d you bring all your gear?” She drove in, and brought the supplies so she’d have something to do, and something to give to people. Me: “You mean I get to keep it? Thanks and awesome!! You have to sign it, then.” She also explained the linocut process, whereby you cut the design into the linoleum (which is mounted on a block of wood) in reverse, then roll ink over it and press it onto the paper to create the positive. I think she said this one had three separate elements: Atlantis, sea, sky. Really cool stuff.
Joy showed us lots of gorgeous photos on her iPad. I was floored by all the fabulous shots.
Someone from Creation lets us know that Ben was running a bit behind, since there was no handler to stem his chats with the first groups. We began to worry that he wouldn’t get to us before we had to leave for Kavan’s talk. When it turned out that he would, we squishedcalcitrix in at our table so she wouldn’t have to make the hard choice (she was eight tables back).
Ben sat down and apologized for taking so long to get to us. I said we’d been told it was because he ‘hadn’t been handled at the first few tables’. He (and the rest of the table) froze solid for about five seconds, before he said something like, “I don’t know how to respond to that.” (I love that reaction. I put on my most innocent face, and people aren’t sure if it’s done on purpose. It is.) He asked where we’re all from and again apologized. He stood up and told the remaining tables that he was going to spend time at all of them, but he understood if they needed to leave to see Kavan. I don’t think anyone left, but can’t be sure, due to the fleeing that we all did as soon as he sat with the next group. He’s very nice, and still boyish-looking as ever, but I did want to recommend the wearing of sunblock.
Kavan Smith
He finished filming Eureka late the night before and flew in. He kept his ballcap on for the entire thing (more on why later), so I didn’t get a lot of good shots. He talked about playing a robot, and having to hold the smile, without breathing, for long periods of time. He made mention of a plan to give SARAH a physical body next season, but I guess we won’t be seeing that. Again, hope for a transcript for more details. He finished up and we went to get in line for his photo op.
Are you there, God? It's me, Kavan.
Take off your hat!!
Cons are hard!
Kavan photo op
Walter and I planned to bear hug him from both sides. Walter forgot, due to being so close to the pretty, and I did the same (although it seems like my arm made a halfhearted attempt at it). :D Next year.
Christopher Judge
Not a lot of good shots here, either. Next year, I’ll have a squad in place to duct tape the man to his director’s chair. He was pacing like a lion on a hot plate. He told about the switch from the CGI helmet in the movie to the practical one for the show, and how they'd built it around a short, skinny white dude. There were a lot of stories about farting and pooing. He said that’s how you know you’ve been accepted on a set, when the other actors turd-burglar your trailer. Paul briefly popped onstage at one point.
Paul cracking him up
Everything I have is big (talking about the Jaffa helmet)
Like a lion on a hot tin plate
Success! (Does anyone remember why he was doing this? I was laughing pretty hard.) Okay,ailurophile6 tells me that he was demonstrating the hydraulics in the helmet, and how it took six people to operate it.
I think he looks like George Takei here. (Don't worry, almost nobody sees a resemblance where I do.)
Do the Hustle!
We went to lunch and met the rude lunch lady (Walter says ‘sassy’), ate with Jenn, Alicia, and Christine (?), then went back in time to catch the end of the
Stargate/Sci-Fi Genre Auction
From what I could see, it was stuff from the vendor room, some at bargain prices, but most going for more than the sticker price. I wasn’t a fan of the auctioneer’s style, either. If three people put their hands up to bid, say, $75 – he’d count ‘em off “$75, 100, 125”. Um, ew. That’s not how it’s done at any auction I’ve ever been to, but nobody complained.
The cute guy in the John Sheppard costume (looked like standard mission wear, except for the bright yellow shoulder walkie-talkie and the regulation haircut) bought a lot of the big banners, and we guessed that he might be redecorating his basement. Or very, very single.
blurry cute dude
Paul McGillion
So adorable. He told us about his new show, sort of a cross behind 30 Rock and (I can’t remember what, but it sounded a bit Mr. Eddie’s Father to me). He plays an actor on a sci-fi show, whose 13-year-old nephew lives with him. It’s about them, Paul’s slacker friends who come and hang out, and behind the scenes of a tv show. It could be very funny, if they don’t fall into the cutesy trap. They showed the trailer later, and it has possibilities. He talked about his parents being doubtful about a career in acting, ‘til his dad got wind of how much he was making. Then they were all for him being on that Star Trek show. (They couldn’t grasp the difference between the two at first.)
Chris suddenly climbed through the curtain, circled Paul and the chair, and left again. Walter figured he’d come up for a stroll-by farting, but Paul didn’t say anything, so maybe that wasn’t the case.
With the adorable Kimberly
I think he's being his mother
(I don’t think we stayed for the trivia competition, but we might have. It’s like The Lost Weekend, but with more photos and less booze.)
Ben Browder
He’s for the duct tape brigade next year, too. He has Winona from Farscape, which I think I knew, and is from Texas, which I didn’t. He was on both the football and acting squads, and when his coach asked if the other players needed to worry about him in the showers, he pointed out that acting is where the girls are. He so smart.
Damn, those eyes are blue!
I think he slept in this shirt ... in the overhead bin
Dinner break
We went to Giordano’s with Jess and Kelly. They’d both gone there the day before, too. It is the closest thing that isn’t McDonald’s, and the food’s pretty good. Well, except for pepperocinis and olives in my salad, which nobody at the table wanted. Weird – there’s usually one in every crowd. :grin: The Italian sausage sandwich was tasty, and big enough that I had to ditch some of the bread to finish it. We tried to get back in time for the costume contests, but it was already over. John Sheppard guy didn’t win! (Maybe he got back too late, too?)
Ben, Chris, and Paul autographs
We went through Ben’s line first, and he seemed to like the photo. He recognized it as a Remington (probably because he’s from Texas). He was charming as all get out, and seemed to be enjoying the whole experience.
We scampered over to the other wall for the next two. Well, Walter did. I forgot there was more, and headed to collect my stuff and go. I’m telling you – Ben is distracting! Luckily, I came to my senses while showing Kelly the photo, and joined Joy and Walter in line. Kassandra kept us company until she was peeled away by the magical dividing curtain. She waited on a baggage cart that was parked backstage or next to the stage for most of the weekend. (Has anyone come up with a plausible explanation for that?)
Anyway, Chris signed Walter’s photo with ‘Indeed’. He didn’t mention my non-Judge/mental (nope, not sorry – not even a little) photo, just signed it and shook my hand. He’s got a really nice smile.
We shuffled the couple of feet to Paul’s line, then a Creationist asked us to curve it outward. (I forecasted disaster.) Another, higher ranking person, said that everyone from Joy and back should follow to the other side, where they would be installing Paul now that Ben was done. As we passed Kassandra on the kart, she asked where we were going. I said, “They’re taking us to our doom.” “Where?” “TO OUR DOOOOOOOM!!!” Good times. :D We settled into place while Paul finished up his three or four pre-Joy fans before moving over to this side.
While we waited, Walter suggested asking him to do whatever it took to get David working on a sequel for A Dog’s Breakfast. I said he should sit on him if needed. Paul looked at Walter with those bright blue eyes, asking about personalization, and while he grabbed for his errant post-it I relayed the request to Paul. He was taken aback (even though I specified that no nudity was needed if he was squeamish) and suggested that we ask David.
The girl (the one with the awesome multicolored hair) with Paul was from St. Louis, and recognized the Arch right away. Paul asked where it was, and I told him I took it across the street from my house. He meant ‘what city’, so I explained that it was the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. He thought it looked like the Stargate. (Hmm.) He said something to Walter that implied we were married. I told him that Walter’s husband couldn’t come, and that, in fact, I was the only one of us three who wasn’t married.
He asked, “Do you ever get lonely?” in a playful, charming way, and my brain told my mouth to say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t answer those types of questions from married men.” We all stood there blinking until the giant security guard (gsg) leaned in and announced, “We need to move it along.” I protested, “Hey, he’s macking on me, here!” GSG must have some glimmer of a sense of humor, because he sternly told Paul, “No more macking.” Even so, I told Paul to feel free to “mack on Mike” (Mike from England), who was lucky enough to be behind us in line. He replied, “Oh, thanks very much,” and we staggered, giggling, back to our seats.
Paul and Chris were still signing when we headed off to the
Dessert party
Sat with Alicia, Jenn, Christine, Kassandra, and Walter at the table nearest the ice cream, which was merely a coincidence. Well, not really – they picked it because it would be the second table visited after the VIPs. They so smart! Got our bowls, sat back down, and watched the people dance. Kassandra was determined to have Kavan sit next to her, especially after what he wrote on the photo op. Go look.mackenziesmomma
Kavan came in, in the hat, and photos were taken. Not by me, sadly, as I was too slow. He sat between Kassandra and Walter, who asked him how long he’d been an over-the-road trucker. Laughs all around. Someone asked about his blonde hair in some movie, and it turns out that they dyed it so he’d look less like the lead. (Apparently, it wasn’t all that flattering. He should have gone with an eyepatch.) I told him that keeping the cap on throughout his talk made it really hard to get good photos, and he said that that was the idea. We all assured him that, tired or not, he’s still gorgeous. Next table.
We discussed the centerpiece contests entries, both this year and last, when the table Jenn and I were at built ours from our ice cream bowls and cherry stems.
David DeLuise sat down next to Christine, and was boyish and charming and funny. The only thing I remember is him commenting, when Paul arrived, on what a handsome (sexy?) man he was. I assured him he was in with a chance. :smirk: He was still with us when Paul came over, and there was a really fine-looking hug, which gave us a sliver of David belly to ogle.
They didn't let Paul sit down. This worked out pretty well for Christine, since she got to hug his waist while he chatted with us. I can’t remember a thing he said. Anyone?
Same non-sitting down when Chris came in. (The Creation Crew played it off that they had early flights, but plans to go out for drinks were heard. That’s understandable – I just wonder why Cretin feels the need to lie to the paying customers?) Anyway, Chris shook everyone’s hand and thanked us for coming, and being patient with the lengthy signing and short dessert visit, then off he went. It was funny to watch Paul and Chris lap Kavan as they went around the tables.
Alexis Cruz stopped by, right before we called it a night. In fact, we stayed because we saw him coming. He also thanked us. He looks just as good close up, btw. Alex Zahara was far enough away that we didn’t think he’d notice us slinking out, so out we slinked (slank? slunk?).
Back to the hotel for crashing. (I feel like I’m leaving lots out. Feel free to add or correct.)
Scanned this year's photos. Figured what the hell and did last year's, too. Then came the rotating, cropping, and sharpening of editing. Here's an idea: why don't they just always give the sharpest image possible? At one point I had to delete all the stuff I'd saved and start over, because I'd started adjusting the exposure instead of the sharpness at some point I couldn't be bothered to determine when. Long story long - I left after 5am. But it's all uploaded now. Wheee!!
Some of the photos look blurry, but when you click them bigger they clear up. Shouldn't it be the other way round?
Saturday
Came waaaay too early. (Or maybe it was the staying up late? :considers: Nah.)
Got over to the Westin, only to find a line spanning the long lobby almost to the front doors. Joy (no LJ name), who we’d met the day before, and Mike from England, whose seat is next to Walter’s were the last two people in line, so conversation started right up. (Not that we’d let not knowing someone deter the chatting.) Line moves, we all get in and sit at the same table. Get our food, chat, cheer when Ben comes in, and watch the girl with Kim Kardashian eyebrows defend the empty seat next to her from all comers. (I heard her name, I just failed to retain it – does anyone know?)
Ben's arrival - I thought my lack of caffeine made him look like that.
At the next table a friend of Walter’s,
calcitrix (real name ?) showed us the linoleum-cut prints she’d made the night before. “What?!?! How’d you bring all your gear?” She drove in, and brought the supplies so she’d have something to do, and something to give to people. Me: “You mean I get to keep it? Thanks and awesome!! You have to sign it, then.” She also explained the linocut process, whereby you cut the design into the linoleum (which is mounted on a block of wood) in reverse, then roll ink over it and press it onto the paper to create the positive. I think she said this one had three separate elements: Atlantis, sea, sky. Really cool stuff.Joy showed us lots of gorgeous photos on her iPad. I was floored by all the fabulous shots.
Someone from Creation lets us know that Ben was running a bit behind, since there was no handler to stem his chats with the first groups. We began to worry that he wouldn’t get to us before we had to leave for Kavan’s talk. When it turned out that he would, we squished
calcitrix in at our table so she wouldn’t have to make the hard choice (she was eight tables back).Ben sat down and apologized for taking so long to get to us. I said we’d been told it was because he ‘hadn’t been handled at the first few tables’. He (and the rest of the table) froze solid for about five seconds, before he said something like, “I don’t know how to respond to that.” (I love that reaction. I put on my most innocent face, and people aren’t sure if it’s done on purpose. It is.) He asked where we’re all from and again apologized. He stood up and told the remaining tables that he was going to spend time at all of them, but he understood if they needed to leave to see Kavan. I don’t think anyone left, but can’t be sure, due to the fleeing that we all did as soon as he sat with the next group. He’s very nice, and still boyish-looking as ever, but I did want to recommend the wearing of sunblock.
Kavan Smith
He finished filming Eureka late the night before and flew in. He kept his ballcap on for the entire thing (more on why later), so I didn’t get a lot of good shots. He talked about playing a robot, and having to hold the smile, without breathing, for long periods of time. He made mention of a plan to give SARAH a physical body next season, but I guess we won’t be seeing that. Again, hope for a transcript for more details. He finished up and we went to get in line for his photo op.
Are you there, God? It's me, Kavan.
Take off your hat!!
Cons are hard!
Kavan photo op
Walter and I planned to bear hug him from both sides. Walter forgot, due to being so close to the pretty, and I did the same (although it seems like my arm made a halfhearted attempt at it). :D Next year.
Christopher Judge
Not a lot of good shots here, either. Next year, I’ll have a squad in place to duct tape the man to his director’s chair. He was pacing like a lion on a hot plate. He told about the switch from the CGI helmet in the movie to the practical one for the show, and how they'd built it around a short, skinny white dude. There were a lot of stories about farting and pooing. He said that’s how you know you’ve been accepted on a set, when the other actors turd-burglar your trailer. Paul briefly popped onstage at one point.
Paul cracking him up
Everything I have is big (talking about the Jaffa helmet)
Like a lion on a hot tin plate
Success! (Does anyone remember why he was doing this? I was laughing pretty hard.) Okay,
ailurophile6 tells me that he was demonstrating the hydraulics in the helmet, and how it took six people to operate it.I think he looks like George Takei here. (Don't worry, almost nobody sees a resemblance where I do.)
Do the Hustle!
We went to lunch and met the rude lunch lady (Walter says ‘sassy’), ate with Jenn, Alicia, and Christine (?), then went back in time to catch the end of the
Stargate/Sci-Fi Genre Auction
From what I could see, it was stuff from the vendor room, some at bargain prices, but most going for more than the sticker price. I wasn’t a fan of the auctioneer’s style, either. If three people put their hands up to bid, say, $75 – he’d count ‘em off “$75, 100, 125”. Um, ew. That’s not how it’s done at any auction I’ve ever been to, but nobody complained.
The cute guy in the John Sheppard costume (looked like standard mission wear, except for the bright yellow shoulder walkie-talkie and the regulation haircut) bought a lot of the big banners, and we guessed that he might be redecorating his basement. Or very, very single.
blurry cute dude
Paul McGillion
So adorable. He told us about his new show, sort of a cross behind 30 Rock and (I can’t remember what, but it sounded a bit Mr. Eddie’s Father to me). He plays an actor on a sci-fi show, whose 13-year-old nephew lives with him. It’s about them, Paul’s slacker friends who come and hang out, and behind the scenes of a tv show. It could be very funny, if they don’t fall into the cutesy trap. They showed the trailer later, and it has possibilities. He talked about his parents being doubtful about a career in acting, ‘til his dad got wind of how much he was making. Then they were all for him being on that Star Trek show. (They couldn’t grasp the difference between the two at first.)
Chris suddenly climbed through the curtain, circled Paul and the chair, and left again. Walter figured he’d come up for a stroll-by farting, but Paul didn’t say anything, so maybe that wasn’t the case.
With the adorable Kimberly
I think he's being his mother
(I don’t think we stayed for the trivia competition, but we might have. It’s like The Lost Weekend, but with more photos and less booze.)
Ben Browder
He’s for the duct tape brigade next year, too. He has Winona from Farscape, which I think I knew, and is from Texas, which I didn’t. He was on both the football and acting squads, and when his coach asked if the other players needed to worry about him in the showers, he pointed out that acting is where the girls are. He so smart.
Damn, those eyes are blue!
I think he slept in this shirt ... in the overhead bin
Dinner break
We went to Giordano’s with Jess and Kelly. They’d both gone there the day before, too. It is the closest thing that isn’t McDonald’s, and the food’s pretty good. Well, except for pepperocinis and olives in my salad, which nobody at the table wanted. Weird – there’s usually one in every crowd. :grin: The Italian sausage sandwich was tasty, and big enough that I had to ditch some of the bread to finish it. We tried to get back in time for the costume contests, but it was already over. John Sheppard guy didn’t win! (Maybe he got back too late, too?)
Ben, Chris, and Paul autographs
We went through Ben’s line first, and he seemed to like the photo. He recognized it as a Remington (probably because he’s from Texas). He was charming as all get out, and seemed to be enjoying the whole experience.
We scampered over to the other wall for the next two. Well, Walter did. I forgot there was more, and headed to collect my stuff and go. I’m telling you – Ben is distracting! Luckily, I came to my senses while showing Kelly the photo, and joined Joy and Walter in line. Kassandra kept us company until she was peeled away by the magical dividing curtain. She waited on a baggage cart that was parked backstage or next to the stage for most of the weekend. (Has anyone come up with a plausible explanation for that?)
Anyway, Chris signed Walter’s photo with ‘Indeed’. He didn’t mention my non-Judge/mental (nope, not sorry – not even a little) photo, just signed it and shook my hand. He’s got a really nice smile.
We shuffled the couple of feet to Paul’s line, then a Creationist asked us to curve it outward. (I forecasted disaster.) Another, higher ranking person, said that everyone from Joy and back should follow to the other side, where they would be installing Paul now that Ben was done. As we passed Kassandra on the kart, she asked where we were going. I said, “They’re taking us to our doom.” “Where?” “TO OUR DOOOOOOOM!!!” Good times. :D We settled into place while Paul finished up his three or four pre-Joy fans before moving over to this side.
While we waited, Walter suggested asking him to do whatever it took to get David working on a sequel for A Dog’s Breakfast. I said he should sit on him if needed. Paul looked at Walter with those bright blue eyes, asking about personalization, and while he grabbed for his errant post-it I relayed the request to Paul. He was taken aback (even though I specified that no nudity was needed if he was squeamish) and suggested that we ask David.
The girl (the one with the awesome multicolored hair) with Paul was from St. Louis, and recognized the Arch right away. Paul asked where it was, and I told him I took it across the street from my house. He meant ‘what city’, so I explained that it was the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. He thought it looked like the Stargate. (Hmm.) He said something to Walter that implied we were married. I told him that Walter’s husband couldn’t come, and that, in fact, I was the only one of us three who wasn’t married.
He asked, “Do you ever get lonely?” in a playful, charming way, and my brain told my mouth to say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t answer those types of questions from married men.” We all stood there blinking until the giant security guard (gsg) leaned in and announced, “We need to move it along.” I protested, “Hey, he’s macking on me, here!” GSG must have some glimmer of a sense of humor, because he sternly told Paul, “No more macking.” Even so, I told Paul to feel free to “mack on Mike” (Mike from England), who was lucky enough to be behind us in line. He replied, “Oh, thanks very much,” and we staggered, giggling, back to our seats.
Paul and Chris were still signing when we headed off to the
Dessert party
Sat with Alicia, Jenn, Christine, Kassandra, and Walter at the table nearest the ice cream, which was merely a coincidence. Well, not really – they picked it because it would be the second table visited after the VIPs. They so smart! Got our bowls, sat back down, and watched the people dance. Kassandra was determined to have Kavan sit next to her, especially after what he wrote on the photo op. Go look.
mackenziesmommaKavan came in, in the hat, and photos were taken. Not by me, sadly, as I was too slow. He sat between Kassandra and Walter, who asked him how long he’d been an over-the-road trucker. Laughs all around. Someone asked about his blonde hair in some movie, and it turns out that they dyed it so he’d look less like the lead. (Apparently, it wasn’t all that flattering. He should have gone with an eyepatch.) I told him that keeping the cap on throughout his talk made it really hard to get good photos, and he said that that was the idea. We all assured him that, tired or not, he’s still gorgeous. Next table.
We discussed the centerpiece contests entries, both this year and last, when the table Jenn and I were at built ours from our ice cream bowls and cherry stems.
David DeLuise sat down next to Christine, and was boyish and charming and funny. The only thing I remember is him commenting, when Paul arrived, on what a handsome (sexy?) man he was. I assured him he was in with a chance. :smirk: He was still with us when Paul came over, and there was a really fine-looking hug, which gave us a sliver of David belly to ogle.
They didn't let Paul sit down. This worked out pretty well for Christine, since she got to hug his waist while he chatted with us. I can’t remember a thing he said. Anyone?
Same non-sitting down when Chris came in. (The Creation Crew played it off that they had early flights, but plans to go out for drinks were heard. That’s understandable – I just wonder why Cretin feels the need to lie to the paying customers?) Anyway, Chris shook everyone’s hand and thanked us for coming, and being patient with the lengthy signing and short dessert visit, then off he went. It was funny to watch Paul and Chris lap Kavan as they went around the tables.
Alexis Cruz stopped by, right before we called it a night. In fact, we stayed because we saw him coming. He also thanked us. He looks just as good close up, btw. Alex Zahara was far enough away that we didn’t think he’d notice us slinking out, so out we slinked (slank? slunk?).
Back to the hotel for crashing. (I feel like I’m leaving lots out. Feel free to add or correct.)
