DragonCon Day 2

Every had one of those periods of time that you have no time?

The last day and 1/2 of DragonCon has seemed like that.
Saturday-
I found the Banquet tickets. They were buried in the folders. But we were short one for Ariel. Peter took care of it after singing with Harlan for an hour. But I get ahead of myself.

I did a panel on Finding your Muse with a number of authors. I was there representing the editorial side of the equation. Lots of lively talk and banter. I think the audience enjoyed themselves. I was told by several people later that they thought it was one of the best/most useful panels for them so far.

We ran to the main area to see the Firefly cast. Peter helped Jewel pull a practical joke on Nathan who really is a good sport overall. Jewel and Nathan had been creatively flipping each other off during the filming of both the TV show and the movie. The movie wrapped and for the cast party they had a gag reel to show. At the end of the gag reel was the words For Jewel and then where Mr. Grrrr Arrgh would usually show up someone had mocked up a Caleb doll (the character Nathan played on Buffy) with the finger extended. Not to be out done, Jewel recruited Peter to help her. He announced to the audience before the cast arrived but when most of the room was full that he needed their help. Giggles and laughter and the audience agreed to help

The cast enters and eventually start to take questions. Who should Nathan first pick but the gentleman sitting in the second row who’s hand shot up first. Peter stood up on the chairs, and bellowed, "Nathan! On behalf of Jewel..." at which point everyone in the packed ballroom got to their feet, "Dragon*Con salutes you!" And a room filled with over a thousand people extended their middle fingers at Nathan Fillion. Nathan looked over the crowd and says, “That’s a lot of bird.” He informed the crowd that they have screwed up in a joking manner. Later someone asks about practical jokes and what were some of the most impressive ones. Nathan starts, ‘Well I was at this convention called DragonCon....” The crowd roared their approval.

After that panel we raced to the other side of the Hyatt for Peter’s next panel which was with Harlan. Peter and Harlan did part of their cabaret act for the audience and a lot of shtick and stories in between. I saw the beginning but Caroline who had sat through two panels already had had enough. I took her back to our hotel room and let her run around of a bit.

Later that afternoon I did a panel on From Page to Screen about children’s books being turning into movies. It turned more into a panel about how a book is or isn’t turned into a movie. I also explained the difference between trademark and copyright.

I sprinted from there to the hotel room to change my clothes for the banquet. I was able to eat dinner before sprinting after Caroline for most of the rest of the event. After the festivities were over we headed back to the hotel. Peter told me I had the night off. He would take care of the Munchkin and Ariel wanted to see the Chick Corea concert. I took Ariel to the concert and then headed for the guest green room. There I ran into my past and my present. Old friends from years gone by were there and we caught up on news. New friends from my recent past were there as well. I introduced my old past to my present. It felt kind of odd in many ways. I think about how much my life has changed since I attended my first DragonCon. I turned into a pumpkin at midnight since I would be attend church Sunday morning with my parents and Caroline.

DragonCon Day 3

Caroline didn’t have a good night’s sleep. She kept whimpering and then she would briefly wake up crying only to fall back to sleep a little bit later. I didn’t have much of a good night’s sleep either. She woke up at 7:30 and was not going back to sleep. This was a good thing since I could bring her to church with my parents. She made it through about the first 1/3 of the mass before she started to become a handful. The latter 2/3 was a mix of behaviors. I returned to the Hotel after purchasing a few necessary supplies for the next two days.

My first panel was An Expert’s Guide to Winning Costume Contests. We went over what is typically known as Rotsler’s Rules of Costuming. These are approximately 33 rules that should guide one in creating a really great costume. There were both horror stories and encouragement given to the audience. It was there I finally ran into Jeff and Susan Stringer who I have known since before they were married. We arranged for Ariel to help them with their costume in the Masquerade this year. While I was doing my panel apparently my daughter was amusing quite a few people in the “Stump Peter David Panel”. When her father hums “Hammer Time” she becomes quite the mistress of boogie and dances up a storm. This is the only song that it always works for unless she is eating.

I took Caroline through the Art show. I kept moving since I knew if I stopped she was going to cause a scene. About 1/2 way through the show she fell asleep. I took her upstairs and Ariel babysat her. I proceeded to finally make my way through the dealer’s room and the exhibit hall which is really turning into Dealer’s room #2. I found Matt and Jewel and talked to Matt for a bit. I had lunch and returned to the room to see how Caroline was doing. Still asleep. I stretched out on the bed assuming that Caroline’s nap would end soon. I closed my eyes for what seemed like just minutes but turned into an hour. She woke me up in time for me to feed Ariel and get to my next panel.

My next panel was in the Young Adult. We talked about British fantasy authors besides J.K. Rowling. It was a good conversation since the audience was small. I have had a lot of fun on the YA panels this year. I think this is a track that will grow into a powerhouse over the next couple of years.

Peter had a panel on the Hulk. I decided that Caroline needed some running around time. She bounced around the room while I started typing Dragoncon Day 2 . I ordered dinner for Peter and me to arrive before Peter came back from his panel. He made the decision to not go to the radio play but stay in the room to settle Caroline. I had to run back to the Hyatt since my cell phone dropped out of my pocket in the Young Adult room. I then hiked to the Atlanta Civic Center to see what I could see of the Masquerade. There I observed just about every rule of Rostler’s being broken by one group or another. I was on a deadline to get back to the Hotel for the cabaret in which I had a very small part. As time ticked down for me I became more antsy. I did see my friend Thom and his buddies recreate Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. It looked wonderful and played well to the crowd. The Best in Show went to The Monster Tango The group remixed Cell Block Tango from Chicago with the Universal Monsters. Hard to explain but it looked great! Ariel was the Angel of Healing in Sketch that crossed the four horseman vs. the four archangel in a grudge match. Yes, it was the Apocalypse WWE style. Very funny.

I managed to make it back to the Hotel just in time to find out that we were running late. I could have stayed to see Ariel’s costume. Then the real kicker. Harlan had to bow out due to losing his voice. Peter did this on his own by the seat of his pants. I participated in one piece where the gag needed a second person. Peter introduced me to the audience and said that I was standing in for Harlan. I then dropped to my knees so I was half my height. The audience laughed. We proceeded to do Putting on the Ritz with me as the Monster from Young Frankenstein, After the cabaret was over Peter and I wandered around meeting up with friends and making new ones. Went to bed about 2 AM and got up at 7:15. yaaaAAAWWWWnnnnnnn.

On to our final day at DragonCon 2004