so much plaid in one room!
I am back from my first SPN con ever! It was pretty exciting! I am kind of exhausted and running on fumes now, but if I don't type all of it out now, I won't remember a damned thing by tomorrow. (the people who can listen and tweet at the same time are kind of amazing. I tried and failed miserably.)
I had just a general admission ticket, no bells and whistles (i.e. photo-ops, autographs, etc.), since I was just testing out this whole convention thing. The thing about making decisions in a logical/rational/cool state of mind is that you can't accurately predict how you'll feel when you're in an emotional state. In other words: dammit, should've gotten a preferred ticket for Sunday and a photo-op with Jared and Jensen (applepie_x0, xasterisk, & A.'s squee was so infectious! Maybe next year! \o\)
Friday: I missed Matt Cohen's panel, unfortunately, due to a morning seminar (priorities, I actually do have them. but still, *sadface* As an aside: the speaker at the seminar looked kind of like Dave Rose from Happy Endings...). I ran into A. at the subway, and we made it in time for Gabriel Tigerman and Elias Whatshisface-who-played-Andy's-evil-twin's panel. They were fun, and played off of each other well. Amy Gumenick's panel followed after, and omg, she is so gorgeous. *___* (and looks a lot like Britta from Community from certain angles...!)
The highlight of the night was when J. (an SPN fanboy! which is a rare breed indeed -- but surprisingly, not as rare as I'd originally assumed) came into the hotel room while the rest of us were eating pizza and was like, "Guys, I just passed Matt in the elevator and Amy and Gabe are walking down the hall!" We paused, looked at each other, and then all rushed for the door, all the while holding slices of pizza in our hands (and also in our mouths XD;;). Amy and Gabe must have been terribly startled to have a door suddenly swing open beside them and see five fangirls sticking their heads out and gaping! (Gabe did say "hi" though ;D)
We watched 7x03 before heading down to karaoke. It was loads of fun watching with fans -- and surprisingly enough, we all stayed quiet during the episode and only squeed during the commercials. Half of us decided that Dean's actions at the end of the episode were OOC while the other half decided that it was IC (I was in the former group. I was especially shocked at his attitude toward Amy's son given what had just happened!) The channel that shows SPN doesn't show the promo for the next episode for some reason, so we all crowded around my phone to watch the 7x04 promo after I found a link for it on LJ. :>
cantarina1 and I didn't stay long at the karaoke, but it was worth dropping by for! (thanks for urging me to go, silverraven! :> I'm glad I was able to catch a glimpse of Matt in person since I'd missed his panel!) The guests all looked like they were having loads of fun on the stage -- but we had to leave within an hour because our ears were ringing so much from standing beside the speaker. Apparently the karaoke lasted until 4am!
Saturday: Corin Nemec's panel was first -- pretty awesome dude and a fairly engaging speaker. I enjoyed his panel even though I was exhausted (digression: I don't know what it is about sleeping in new places -- I was fine when I went to China, Cuba, England...but when I stayed over at my friend's place, just a few cities over, I couldn't sleep all night -- and I used to have the same problem at Anime North, when I had to stay overnight in the hotel. I have no idea how well I'll be able to sleep in the hotel at St. Louis next week -- we're staying for three nights and we have really early mornings talks to attend, so idk, I guess I'll be taking sleeping pills and drinking loads of coffee in the morning D:) Anyway! I can't remember what happened after Corin's panel. I think we ditched the other events (including a panel by Damon Runyan -- no idea who he plays -- apparently he was in two episodes? He's probably a local who was included just because it was convenient) and went for food and naps. Oh wait, no, I lied. Traci and Richard's panel was after Corin's. Traci led the fans in a chant of "pudding", "assbutt", and "pie" (idek) and Richard immediately went offstage as usual (and probably drove the cameraman nuts).
There was an auction right before Misha's panel and we went mostly because we needed to snag "good" seats, i.e. fifth to last row rather than the last row (that's what happens when we get the cheap tickets X3). I ended up enjoying the auction a lot and totally geeked out, much to the amusement of cantarina1 (it was fascinating to watch because people were offering ridiculous prices that they would never offer if they were buying the same items online! heightened affective states! context dependent effects! idek! \o\) Interestingly enough, the most expensive item that was auctioned off was a banner of the Impala ($575 -- more than double of what Jensen's banner went for! And Jensen looked pretty damned fine in that banner!) -- I think a fanboy bought it (though he looked to be more than 40 years of age, so maybe the appropriate term should be...fanman? The number of guys at the convention was actually kind of surprising for me; the hot dudes and the Wincest and whatnot are huge draws for me, while I actually am not a huge fan of the horror aspects. Most of the male fans are probably getting something totally different out of the show --and out of the convention-- than I am, and it's easy to forget that sometimes.)
Misha was absolutely delightful to watch -- he's a fantastic speaker. When he's asked a question he doesn't want to (or can't) answer, he doesn't just deflect, he turns his answer into something hilarious and the audience soon forgets about the original question. I may not be a huge fan of Castiel, but Misha is a delight (he was also wearing a Justin Bieber t-shirt, which he proudly showed off XD). He also read a snippet of Go the Fuck to Sleep (which he supposedly reads to his son ;)), and I hope I have a decent recording of that bit! (aside: I brought a fairly decent point-and-shoot camera that I borrowed from my parents -- but, given how far from the stage I was, none of my pictures turned out great, despite me trying every setting ever and even calling my mom for tips. However, the videos that I surreptitiously took seem to have turned out pretty damn well considering, again, how far away I was sitting. :>)
I bailed after the costume contest (there were, like, fifty Castiels; the winner was a Zachariah who totally decapitated Simba for one of the four heads on her costume!) and went home to do some TA work and to sleep in my own bed♥ and my housemate kindly provided me with a midnight snack (haha, every time I say something about my housemate feeding me, I think of Maru and his housemate XD;;).
Also, I bought a Samulet and made it all girly. I wore it all of Sunday and the charm was surprisingly heavy! Every time I walked, it bounced against my chest, and it totally could've bruised my sternum if it bounced around more! Apparently Jensen has whacked himself with the amulet during filming before? Not surprised: that thing could be used as a weapon!
Sunday: The number of audience members probably doubled for today. XD; Thanks so much to cantarina1 for saving me an aisle seat and being so considerate of my vertically challenged state. ;) (dude, I totally do owe you podfic for it -- name your price!) We were in the second-to-last row, but whatever, I could still see the teeny Jensen- and Jared-shaped blobs on stage (and I downloaded an app on my phone five minutes before the panel began and ended up trying to sit very quietly and let my phone record the entire panel XD; The quality of the audio is actually not bad! Wish I'd thought of doing this for Misha's panel!). It was so exciting seeing Jensen and Jared live, idek, I was five seconds away from turning to cantarina1 and grabbing her arm and going, "EEEEE♥" (I'll bet she's glad I restrained myself for the sake of keeping my phone from slipping off my lap XD). Not surprisingly, the J2 panel felt like it went by too quickly, while during other panels, I was checking my watch periodically and was surprised at how little time had actually passed. At the end of the panel, Jensen auctioned off a big jar of rock salt from set for charity, and Jared helped make the jar more appealing by sniffing it and rubbing it on his face and then rubbing it on Jensen's back. X3
Other things: Clif's panel was before J&J's; he actually seemed to be a pretty decent guy and not a douchebag. He wasn't the most entertaining speaker, but he handled the questions he received professionally. Richard came back after J&J's panel -- he's one of those people who tries to come up with something new to say each time, so it was entertaining to listen to him speak again. :> Julian Richings was the last guest of the con and I was curious to see his panel because I had no idea what to expect -- he seems so solemn and composed as Death, but he was so animated and adorable in person! It was his first con (and like Damon and Elias, he's a local) and it was so adorable because it took him a while to catch on that people were lining up on both sides of the room to ask him questions and he apologized for being a bad host. I think out of all of the guests, other than Jared/Jensen/Misha, he received the most welcome and applause.
The person who probably got the most photos taken was probably the dude dressed as Dean -- he had a Brock Kelly kind of look to him, and cantarina1 and I joked, after we saw him sitting in front of us with his dark-haired girlfriend, that his girlfriend should have cosplayed as Ruby 2.0 or Lisa. The number one thing that got the most photos taken? Hand's down, the Impala parked outside of the hotel (with Ontario plates, heh) -- it was in really great shape and was terribly shiny. :>
Okay, so, that was a huge-ass long entry. I'll post specific actor and show info in a separate entry!
I had just a general admission ticket, no bells and whistles (i.e. photo-ops, autographs, etc.), since I was just testing out this whole convention thing. The thing about making decisions in a logical/rational/cool state of mind is that you can't accurately predict how you'll feel when you're in an emotional state. In other words: dammit, should've gotten a preferred ticket for Sunday and a photo-op with Jared and Jensen (applepie_x0, xasterisk, & A.'s squee was so infectious! Maybe next year! \o\)
Friday: I missed Matt Cohen's panel, unfortunately, due to a morning seminar (priorities, I actually do have them. but still, *sadface* As an aside: the speaker at the seminar looked kind of like Dave Rose from Happy Endings...). I ran into A. at the subway, and we made it in time for Gabriel Tigerman and Elias Whatshisface-who-played-Andy's-evil-twin's panel. They were fun, and played off of each other well. Amy Gumenick's panel followed after, and omg, she is so gorgeous. *___* (and looks a lot like Britta from Community from certain angles...!)
The highlight of the night was when J. (an SPN fanboy! which is a rare breed indeed -- but surprisingly, not as rare as I'd originally assumed) came into the hotel room while the rest of us were eating pizza and was like, "Guys, I just passed Matt in the elevator and Amy and Gabe are walking down the hall!" We paused, looked at each other, and then all rushed for the door, all the while holding slices of pizza in our hands (and also in our mouths XD;;). Amy and Gabe must have been terribly startled to have a door suddenly swing open beside them and see five fangirls sticking their heads out and gaping! (Gabe did say "hi" though ;D)
We watched 7x03 before heading down to karaoke. It was loads of fun watching with fans -- and surprisingly enough, we all stayed quiet during the episode and only squeed during the commercials. Half of us decided that Dean's actions at the end of the episode were OOC while the other half decided that it was IC (I was in the former group. I was especially shocked at his attitude toward Amy's son given what had just happened!) The channel that shows SPN doesn't show the promo for the next episode for some reason, so we all crowded around my phone to watch the 7x04 promo after I found a link for it on LJ. :>
cantarina1 and I didn't stay long at the karaoke, but it was worth dropping by for! (thanks for urging me to go, silverraven! :> I'm glad I was able to catch a glimpse of Matt in person since I'd missed his panel!) The guests all looked like they were having loads of fun on the stage -- but we had to leave within an hour because our ears were ringing so much from standing beside the speaker. Apparently the karaoke lasted until 4am!
Saturday: Corin Nemec's panel was first -- pretty awesome dude and a fairly engaging speaker. I enjoyed his panel even though I was exhausted (digression: I don't know what it is about sleeping in new places -- I was fine when I went to China, Cuba, England...but when I stayed over at my friend's place, just a few cities over, I couldn't sleep all night -- and I used to have the same problem at Anime North, when I had to stay overnight in the hotel. I have no idea how well I'll be able to sleep in the hotel at St. Louis next week -- we're staying for three nights and we have really early mornings talks to attend, so idk, I guess I'll be taking sleeping pills and drinking loads of coffee in the morning D:) Anyway! I can't remember what happened after Corin's panel. I think we ditched the other events (including a panel by Damon Runyan -- no idea who he plays -- apparently he was in two episodes? He's probably a local who was included just because it was convenient) and went for food and naps. Oh wait, no, I lied. Traci and Richard's panel was after Corin's. Traci led the fans in a chant of "pudding", "assbutt", and "pie" (idek) and Richard immediately went offstage as usual (and probably drove the cameraman nuts).
There was an auction right before Misha's panel and we went mostly because we needed to snag "good" seats, i.e. fifth to last row rather than the last row (that's what happens when we get the cheap tickets X3). I ended up enjoying the auction a lot and totally geeked out, much to the amusement of cantarina1 (it was fascinating to watch because people were offering ridiculous prices that they would never offer if they were buying the same items online! heightened affective states! context dependent effects! idek! \o\) Interestingly enough, the most expensive item that was auctioned off was a banner of the Impala ($575 -- more than double of what Jensen's banner went for! And Jensen looked pretty damned fine in that banner!) -- I think a fanboy bought it (though he looked to be more than 40 years of age, so maybe the appropriate term should be...fanman? The number of guys at the convention was actually kind of surprising for me; the hot dudes and the Wincest and whatnot are huge draws for me, while I actually am not a huge fan of the horror aspects. Most of the male fans are probably getting something totally different out of the show --and out of the convention-- than I am, and it's easy to forget that sometimes.)
Misha was absolutely delightful to watch -- he's a fantastic speaker. When he's asked a question he doesn't want to (or can't) answer, he doesn't just deflect, he turns his answer into something hilarious and the audience soon forgets about the original question. I may not be a huge fan of Castiel, but Misha is a delight (he was also wearing a Justin Bieber t-shirt, which he proudly showed off XD). He also read a snippet of Go the Fuck to Sleep (which he supposedly reads to his son ;)), and I hope I have a decent recording of that bit! (aside: I brought a fairly decent point-and-shoot camera that I borrowed from my parents -- but, given how far from the stage I was, none of my pictures turned out great, despite me trying every setting ever and even calling my mom for tips. However, the videos that I surreptitiously took seem to have turned out pretty damn well considering, again, how far away I was sitting. :>)
I bailed after the costume contest (there were, like, fifty Castiels; the winner was a Zachariah who totally decapitated Simba for one of the four heads on her costume!) and went home to do some TA work and to sleep in my own bed♥ and my housemate kindly provided me with a midnight snack (haha, every time I say something about my housemate feeding me, I think of Maru and his housemate XD;;).
Also, I bought a Samulet and made it all girly. I wore it all of Sunday and the charm was surprisingly heavy! Every time I walked, it bounced against my chest, and it totally could've bruised my sternum if it bounced around more! Apparently Jensen has whacked himself with the amulet during filming before? Not surprised: that thing could be used as a weapon!
Sunday: The number of audience members probably doubled for today. XD; Thanks so much to cantarina1 for saving me an aisle seat and being so considerate of my vertically challenged state. ;) (dude, I totally do owe you podfic for it -- name your price!) We were in the second-to-last row, but whatever, I could still see the teeny Jensen- and Jared-shaped blobs on stage (and I downloaded an app on my phone five minutes before the panel began and ended up trying to sit very quietly and let my phone record the entire panel XD; The quality of the audio is actually not bad! Wish I'd thought of doing this for Misha's panel!). It was so exciting seeing Jensen and Jared live, idek, I was five seconds away from turning to cantarina1 and grabbing her arm and going, "EEEEE♥" (I'll bet she's glad I restrained myself for the sake of keeping my phone from slipping off my lap XD). Not surprisingly, the J2 panel felt like it went by too quickly, while during other panels, I was checking my watch periodically and was surprised at how little time had actually passed. At the end of the panel, Jensen auctioned off a big jar of rock salt from set for charity, and Jared helped make the jar more appealing by sniffing it and rubbing it on his face and then rubbing it on Jensen's back. X3
Other things: Clif's panel was before J&J's; he actually seemed to be a pretty decent guy and not a douchebag. He wasn't the most entertaining speaker, but he handled the questions he received professionally. Richard came back after J&J's panel -- he's one of those people who tries to come up with something new to say each time, so it was entertaining to listen to him speak again. :> Julian Richings was the last guest of the con and I was curious to see his panel because I had no idea what to expect -- he seems so solemn and composed as Death, but he was so animated and adorable in person! It was his first con (and like Damon and Elias, he's a local) and it was so adorable because it took him a while to catch on that people were lining up on both sides of the room to ask him questions and he apologized for being a bad host. I think out of all of the guests, other than Jared/Jensen/Misha, he received the most welcome and applause.
The person who probably got the most photos taken was probably the dude dressed as Dean -- he had a Brock Kelly kind of look to him, and cantarina1 and I joked, after we saw him sitting in front of us with his dark-haired girlfriend, that his girlfriend should have cosplayed as Ruby 2.0 or Lisa. The number one thing that got the most photos taken? Hand's down, the Impala parked outside of the hotel (with Ontario plates, heh) -- it was in really great shape and was terribly shiny. :>
Okay, so, that was a huge-ass long entry. I'll post specific actor and show info in a separate entry!