Con talk! Part Four: Sunday's Panels, Continued...
When I left off, I had just finished getting my autographs from Jensen and Jared. SO. Since we hadn't eaten for...a really long time, Roz and I headed to the sports bar in the hotel for lunch. I texted Erin and asked if she and Rachel wanted to join us, and they DID, so we got to hang out together some more (which was nice, because in hindsight, the weekend went by SO. FAST.). Roz was all excited because Marcus Allen was sitting at the table behind us, and she totally talked basketball with him, and it amused me.
We ate, fangirled about Jared and Jensen (OBVIOUSLY), exchanging our stories and pictures from the day so far. Erin and Rachel left to go to Sandy's photo op, and I snuck a few minutes in to start working on my postcards. After that, Roz and I headed back to the ballroom for Steve Carlson's panel.
STEVE. I think his panel could have been awkward, since he's another person with tentative SPN connections, but fans had some excellent questions for him, and he was really fun. Hearing him talk about songwriting was a treat.
Someone asked him about being unlucky in love, since that's what all of his songs seems to point to, and he went into this very serious conversation about how in his line of work, with the traveling and engagements, it was really hard to have a lasting relationship ("I didn't want to cry!"). THEN, someone asked him whether or not he had a girlfriend, and Steve HYSTERICALLY was all "well, yeah, but like I said, these things don't last long..." and kept going on about how it probably wouldn't last long. It was just...SO WEIRD, but kind of funny, and I'm sure it gave hope to some of the fangirls in the room. ;) (Since the questioner kind of made it sound like she was asking Steve out for a friend or something, he was all "you mean girls like musicians? I never picked up on that." Love!)
He also had good answers to the "words" question, because he really took it seriously. His favorite word is inspiration, and his least favorite is can't. For his favorite curse word, he said he didn't know if it counted as one, but that he'd been saying douchebag a lot. Then, later, he quoted something from a movie, and asked if anyone knew which one it was from. Someone yelled out "Snatch", and he told them that that was right, and that was another curse word that he liked. HEE.
Steve also explained how his song "Night Moves" got onto the show. Since I'm obviously into the show's music, I was glad to hear this story. :) Steve and Jensen used to be roomies (HEE!), and Steve wrote the song as something he imagined could be used as a beer commercial jingle of some sort. Jensen heard it and asked Steve for a copy. He took it to set with him and was listening to it in his trailer, and one of the producers came in to talk to him and heard it. They liked it, and Jensen told Steve to "have your people call my people" (Hee!), and the song ended up in the bar scene in 1x19.
I was in line to ask Steve a question JUST as the panel time ran out (NOOOO!), but Steve looked right at me and said that if anyone else had any questions, to ask him when he was signing, so nodded to him, and did just that. BUT THAT COMES LATER, SINCE THIS IS CHRONOLOGICAL, OKAY? ;)
Sandy!
Sandy really is pretty adorable. She was so nervous, and since we all KNEW the majority of questions she'd get would be about Jared, I loved that she opened with "Jared's not here, so ask me whatever you want about him. He can kill me later." NOTE: The one question Jared asked her not to answer? Whether or not he was a good kisser (someone asked her, and she told us what he said). I thought this would lead to someone asking about being good in bed, but, alas, it did not. ;)
She came out and sat on the really high chair that was on stage (I don't even know how she got UP on it, it was so high, and she's so tiny). She fidgeted around for a few minutes, and was trying to fix her skirt and stuff, then asked something like "Can I stand? There's no way to do this decently," or something along those lines. She stood, and was just SO full of nervous giggles, and she kept telling us how nervous she was (which--she WAS, there was no way it was an act), and it was totally endearing.
A lot of the questioners congratulated her on her engagement, and, just like with Jared, she just LIT UP every time. It was really sweet.
One of the first questions (if not the first) was about how it was to have to play such an antagonistic scene with Jared. I loved how adamant she was on the "our relationship is NOT perfect" tract, because she said that it wasn't that different from real life, HEE. Sandy said that they argue in real life, so baiting each other was pretty natural for them, but that filming with Jared was even more nerve-wracking then being on stage in front of all of us.
Someone asked if Jared had any bad habits, and she said there was nothing interesting. She did say that she loved seeing him around fans, because he was so charismatic (heeeee), and that while he pretty much IS the guy you see, he loves to play cocky and act like "the big man." The BEST story of hers, of course, is the now-infamous one about the night he proposed in Paris. He was kind of pacing around, and was rubbing his hand against his chest, and she was worried that something was wrong. She asked him, and he said that he was fine, and he was just trying to see if all of his working out had paid off, and he was getting bigger. She believed him, and was SO CUTE when she said that she was wondering if she should be complimenting him more or something (awww :)), but then he proposed, and it was a total surprise.
So while Jared plays himself as all tough, compared to his brother (who's 6'7'', cause someone asked later), he's still small, and Sandy said that he sometime can make himself appear smaller, even around Jensen "who's in no way slight." And she said that SHE could take Jared. Heee! :) Her favorite word is scrumpulescent, and her least favorite is recommend (since she can never remember how to spell it). When it got to her favorite curse word, she said that she didn't KNOW any curse words. "I'd have to say darn." TOO CUTE, for real (and I can even TOTALLY believe it).
Sandy mentioned Jared's hair a few times, and how it could get all ginormous and poofy, and I kind of loved that.
Some people had some good questions for her about her past jobs (like being in the N 'Sync video), and I have to say, that while I had been WONDERING about why she did the Pussycat Doll reality show, I hadn't expected anyone to actually ask the question (!!!), but she answered it well.
Also entirely endearing was the way she kept casually mentioning Jared's family (his brother a few times, his dad). I love that they're so close. :) I was also really impressed with her plans for her future--she said she wants to go back and get her Ph.D. in psychology, which, hi, pretty amazing. YAY FOR STUDENTS! :)
At the end of her panel, when she was told it was over, she asked whether it really went that fast, or whether they were pulling the plug on her early. Awww! (And, no, it did go the full length.) ;) I've seen a few clips of her from EyeCon so far this weekend, and she seems WAY less nervous, so I guess LA helped her get her con feet. Still, I think she REALLY managed to work herself into the hearts of all of the fangirls at the con, so I'm glad people don't seem to be taking the bitter "OMG, YOU h0r, JAYRED IS MINE" stance, but rather embracing her into the SPN family.
Steve at his panel, courtesy of afrocurl:
And Sandy being ADORABLE, from xxsh0tgun:
Sandy's autograph line was first, and I actually didn't have to wait NEARLY as long as I did for all the others, since (to EVERYONE'S surprise), her autograph wasn't included in ANY of the ticket packages. So anyone who wanted it had to go and pay extra, which, I DID, because after the entire weekend, why go halfway? She added nice little messages to each autograph ("all my best," "all best wishes," etc.), and they WEREN'T all the same. I got up to her and congratulated her on her engagement, and she was just so bubbly and giggly and grateful. As she signed my picture, I asked her if being onstage had prepared her for Florida next weekend, and she immediately shook her head and was all "No! I think this is the kind of thing that you can NEVER get used to, and you never stop being nervous about." (which, kind of fits with what Jensen told me earlier :))), and then I asked her for a TOTALLY illegal picture (since she had had a photo op, they were a big no-no), and she was all "Of course!" It's not the best picture since it was all over the table and stuff, but it was the GESTURE that I love most, and she hugged me, and I wished her and Jared well again, and I just felt so NICE afterward.
My autograph.
My ARM is about as big as her entire BODY. FOR SRS! But, aww, look at her smile. :)
Steve (like Kripke the day before) was signing anything for anyone for free, so I hopped into his line next. I had brought all three of the album covers I had, only expecting him to sign one. When I got up there, I asked him how many things he'd sign, and he saw what I had (and I mean, he could TELL I was a fan, since they weren't even selling one of the albums I had brought at the merch table) and he was all "Everything!", and he did.
I told him that I was the next person in line when his Q&A ended, and that I still had a question, and put his marker down and got really serious and intense and told me to "shoot." Since I'm a HUGE dork, and because it's been bugging me ever since the episode aired, I asked him about the music in 3x02, and whether or not, once and for all, his song "If It Ain't Easy" was used. Because, I kind of thought it was, and posted in a place or two about it, and now, all of a sudden, EVERY SITE says it's him, and I feel a little weird about that.
It turns out that it was NOT. He knew exactly what I was talking about though, and said "I should really sue someone for copyright infringement, right? Because it sounds EXACTLY the same." Which...it DOES. I agreed, and we talked about the specifics of the music (the keyboards, the beat, etc., which is an AWESOME convo to have with STEVE CARLSON). He said that there's NO version of that song without lyrics in it, so I'm guessing the instrumental there is just some very similar-sounding production music. Steve also said he should probably post something to his website or something, since apparently, everyone in the WORLD thinks it's his song there. But! I feel all vindicated now, and there's an ANSWER, and, wow, that's really not going to be weighing on my mind anymore, because you don't really get more definitive than that. ;) Every time someone came up to him (me included) that seemed to know SPECIFICS about anything he's done, he got really into the conversations. It was pretty awesome, I must say!
Steve autographs!
After this, I found out that the photo ops pictures had come back early (we were told they'd be done around 7:00 at night, and it was, like, 5:00) so I waited in a pretty short line (that was, apparently, GINORMOUS later) and picked mine up. I also ended up splurging and getting the the CD with the actual jpg files on it, since, as I was explaining to Elise, my scanner is pretty old and crummy. Yeah, GOOD MOVE, since I just tried to scan something YESTERDAY, and, apparently, my scanner is too old to be compatible with Vista, and the company isn't releasing any updates. I FEEL MUCH BETTER ABOUT HAVING THE REAL FILES NOW. And when I told my mom on the phone the next day that the jpg CD was expensive, she went "Sarah, did you get it? I'll be mad at you if you didn't!" OH, MOM, Such a fangirl! :)
Post-picture picking up (say that three times fast), I hung out with Roz, Jamie, and Elise for a bit, and we traded off pictures and fangirled a little more, before I headed up to the hotel gift shop to pick up a few more postcards. We headed over to the Hilton (next door) for our semi-official fangirl dinner. The four of us met up with Erin and Rachel, and were SUPPOSED to meet up with Wendy and some members of her posse, but they never showed. I was kind of worried (since Wendy isn't so much the type to stand anyone up) until I got a text from Wendy later--she FELL ASLEEP and missed dinner. While I would have LOVED to spend more time with her, it was kind of adorable, so it all worked out. CUTE, WENDY! :)
Dinner was a whole lot of fun. Obviously, with the con over, we all got to share all of our stories and observances and everything (and for a group of people all doing basically the same thing, it IS pretty impressive how everyone had something different to tell). Most people didn't eat a DINNER dinner, but I knew I HAD to, since I was flying out of LA at midnight, and not getting back to Albany until noon. It was all of the little things, though, that made it so fun. Like when our waiter introduced himself as Juan, and Erin, Rachel, and I immediately cracked up and went "HU-AN! I just said HU-AN!"--THAT'S when you know you're in a group of people who understand you. :)
Oh, and! I had just met Elise the day before, BUT I totally got to meet her CAR--AKA THE YXT THAT JFD HIMSELF SIGNED. For some reason, I had never associated her with her LJ name, so it was kind of this big revelation to me, heh. It was awesome, though! Also awesome is that she's an AMAZING artist (no matter what she says, because, GOD, she is). During dinner she was just doodling on her placemat, and within, like, SECONDS, had these amazing little sketches of Dean and Sam. While she claimed they were NOT amazing (and I had to demonstrate what normal people's artistic talents consist of on my own placemat), they WERE, so I totally stole her placemat and KEPT THE DRAWINGS. Which are now on my bulletin board, but I kind of think I want to take them into my office to hang up, because they are THAT GOOD.
Obviously, I couldn't SCAN them, but I did take pictures of them--please assure her that she is, in fact, super talented, and that she should, in fact, draw me hot Winchester pictures on a daily basis:
I shouldn't want to make out with a piece of a random placemat so much, but I DO! It's that little tuft of hair sticking up on the back of his head that just GETS me.
Sammy's smile is PERFECT, as is the SAM!HAIR. That CAN'T be easy to master! (Also note the little chef guy on the placement on the left, heeeee.)
After...two hours or so, I guess?...we decided we should get back to the hotel, since everyone was packing/leaving/sleeping/driving soon. We got back and I got to talk to Elise and Jamie for a few more minutes, which was FANTASTIC, and I'm so glad I got to meet them (Yay!), and then I headed up to Erin and Rachel's room. Since I had to leave for the airport soon, but hadn't had a room since early that morning, they graciously lent me theirs to do exciting things such as change my shirt/charge my phone/brush my teeth. THAT is fangirl solidarity! I got to see Erin lock all of their autographs and pictures in the safe (which...BEST THING EVER), and then it was time to say goodbye to them, too, which was sad, because I feel like we really DI get some quality time in together over the weekend. Fandom truly DOES bring people together, guys--it was so nice to FINALLY have multiple examples of this in PERSON.
We said goodbye, and then Roz drove me to the airport, where WE said goodbye (So many goodbyes!), and that was that. My flight left on time at 12:10 AM, and I flew to Detroit, where there were some random delays in getting back here, and Suzanne picked me up and brought me back to my apartment, and I SHOWERED. Actually, I posted, THEN I showered.
SO. PHEW. In short, it was an AMAZING weekend, with AMAZING people (NOT LIMITED TO Jensen and Jared ;))), and I am SO in a con addict mode that it's not even FUNNY. Like, I need another one, NOW!
Sorry to ramble on so long at the two people reading this, but for posterity's sake, I had to get it all down. PHEW!