Toronto Supernatural Con - Part 2
So Saturday the line-up started with Corin Nemec, who was charming. I had seen him in Vancouver where he surprised me. I wasn’t a big fan of his SPN character and didn’t much care if I went to his panel but I have found myself delightfully surprised by most of the panelists so figured I would go. Even though it was an early Saturday morning particularly after the late karaoke, I did want to catch Corin’s panel. I continue to enjoy listening to him and I actually got up and asked a question!! There was no line and I wanted to hear his Star Trek con story again, where he was accosted by Klingons. :) I would suggest he get someone else to do his hair though because…
He also had a very interesting belt buckle on that someone questioned him about saying it was mesmerising. Very Texas…
Traci Dinwiddie and Richard Speight Jr were up next. Traci started by herself backstage with our group. She is so gorgeous in person and I had no idea how tall she was. Mind you, she did have three inch heels on too which I’m not sure how she walk in but then I don’t often do heels anymore. She talked a bit about her trip to Mexico which is part of her global community type work. She really exudes calm and without sounding too new-agey, she really has a wonderful aura about her. On stage, Traci again started by herself , delighting all of us by drumming and having us do a three part chant. She divided the audience up into three and the three parts to the chant were Pudding, Ass-Butt, and Pie. It was a rather odd combo but very loud and fun, getting us laughing.
Traci her drum and an audience volunteer holding the mic.
Richard joined soon after the chant and as is his style, wandered through the audience to the delight of those at the back. He really is a charmer, that man. He is difficult to photograph as wolfling can attest as he is always moving so pictures tend to blur. As he was doing another panel by himself on Sunday, we didn't have the opportunity to chat with him backstage Saturday.
Damon R who had only a minor part in the show and who I thought “why is he here” was ever so lovely telling us about his careers the first being as a financial trader something he did because it had the potential of earning him lots of money and that’s what was expected of him, that he make a substantial living. He found it unfulfilling and when the market hit a downturn in the 90s, he looked to acting, a career that has provided him with fulfillment which although he doesn’t expect will ever make him rich, does provide him with satisfaction he never got before. So many of the actors we talked to spoke about being true to oneself, finding their way through the crazy world of entertainment. Very interesting and inspiring.
THE MAIN EVENT
Up next was the main event for Saturday, at least in my mind - MISHA!! He was late arriving for the backstage thing because he’d been for a run just before. He had showered but hadn’t yet cooled down so was still sweating. I must admit, I didn’t mind a sweaty Misha. ;) In answer to one of the questions, he did say that he had nothing in the works now but that he was keeping himself busy. The theatre was packed for his panel and to my delight, they showed the kick-ass Cas video at the beginning of the panel, the Bad-ass mofo one to Let the Bodies Hit the Floor. Haha! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Don't Piss off the Nerd Angel
When Misha came on stage, the room went crazy and he had a wonderful grin on his face. He couldn’t help knowing how much the fans love him. He was his usual irreverent self and I lapped up every moment of it. I did try and get video of the panel but the vids turned out blurry. I’m still not sure how to focus for the vids. But the photos came out pretty good, barring the red-eye which I will fix at some point. The highlights that I remember from the panel were: 1) Misha doing a mock strip-tease, taking his overshirt off or at least unbuttoning it to reveal the Justin Beiber shirt, 2) making a comment that he was hot and you can imagine the reaction of the audience to that, 3) describing his initial lack of ability to do fight scenes 4) and when asked how he could see Castiel coming back, saying that he would be a long piece of hair on Sam’s face - ludicrous and I expect there will have to be a fanfic about that. :)
Misha's grin when he first came on stage
More Misha with the Beiber shirt...
Just 'cause I like his smile...
And there are more pics here: Misha
The panel was over far too quickly but we still had the evening cocktail party to see the man and all the other guests that were there on Saturday. I was very lucky getting three Misha fixes on the weekend. Call me a very happy woman!! There might also have been a photo op involved. It was amusing standing in the photo-op line waiting as Misha came in. He decided that he needed to take off his t-shirt which made the woman behind me rather pleased as the t-shirt did have Justin Beiber on it. Lol! Ah, Misha. I think the driver for removing the t-shirt was that it was still damp from all the Misha sweat. Unfortunately, he left the room to remove said shirt. Boo!
After that were autographs with everyone, another chance to see the actors and then the wait until the cocktail party. It was actually nice to have the evening off as such as the roomies and I and ladyeternal all headed over to a restaurant for some actual dinner.
The cocktail party was great. It is always a whirlwind with the guests spending no more than about one or two minutes at each table but they do have 30 tables to visit so understandable. The Saturday evening parties always have a centerpiece contest and at the other conventions I’ve attended, the creation staff had done the voting. Well, at this one, and apparently this was started by Richard at the Boston con, it was basically the Richard/Misha show. Richard hosted with Misha and the other actors, Traci, Damon, & Corin, taking turns describing the centerpieces, giving them silly names and then asking for applause which was the basis for selecting the winner. We had seated ourselves at a table with a kick-ass centerpiece (see pic below) that had incredible detail to it, pictures, quotes, models of the Impala, amazing suff and we all felt should win. It didn’t, that honor going to a gorgeous stained glass votive holder (pic also below.)
Cake like centerpiece...
The winner...
And the actors...
One fun thing about the cocktail parties, aside from talking every so quickly to the actors is meeting the other fans. Seated at our table was a woman who had come all the way from Italy for the convention. I asked why she wasn’t doing Jus in Bello and she said it was cheaper for her to fly to Toronto than for her to get the same level of attendance at the Toronto con.
We managed to hang in until we had a visit from each of the actors and then headed off for the night as I wanted to be at least a bit rested for the long Sunday which was to start at 9:00 with the breakfast.
More to come...