Dragon*Con - a marginally coherent recap (1/2)

[fredericks]

Day One

The journey begins! with registration.


I arrived in ATL Thursday afternoon, and after a trip to the wrong Sheraton in the area (I’m pretty sure a Johnson and Wales kid was following me, and got left there when I hightailed it back to the airport via the shuttle), checked in a little before 3PM. I’d been lulled into complacency by a couple of posts I’d seen on dragoncon about how badge pick-up had gone quickly early Thursday the year before, so I decided to linger in the room until close to half-past four. When I made my way to the Hyatt I was met by a massive line (nothing compared to the lines I’d see for Firefly events, as I’d come to find out later on), which made its way around almost the entire perimeter of the hotel. It took a little more than an hour for my portion of the line to make its way into the hotel proper, and then they pulled one of those amusement park things, where they had a labyrinth-like set-up waiting on the inside (“finally in! awesome, now just to get the – oh, what the FUCK?!?”). Navigating that took about another hour, but the end result was I had our badges in hand.

Thursday had nothing officially on the schedule, Con-wise, so atraxia and I decided to lay loose and recover from the whole airport experience. We wandered around the Hyatt and the Marriott and had dinner in a nearby Benihana (talk about classy).

Day Two - Friday

Gareth is the handsome fellow in the middle, FYI.


My day started nice and early with a Torchwood panel consisting of Gareth David Lloyd and Anthony Lewis. It was in the Sheraton, which, score. I tend to get anal about going to celebrity panels: I need to sit in the front rows so I can clearly see the actor's face. Sure, the events usually have a couple of projection screens set-up, but if I wanted to see them on a screen I’d stay at home watching them on the telly. Which requires getting to panels two or three hours in advance (unless it’s a Firefly panel, in which case seven hours in advance is the minimal requirement…but, again, I’ll get to that later). I managed to snag a pretty good seat, and was treated to geeky awesomeness that is Gareth in person. I found the man adorable beforehand, but now that I know that he’s a big Tool/NIN fan (“seen ‘em in concert like five times”; he is of that age, though; look at me, going on as though I’m an old woman) and that he giggled when someone (Anthony) said he “slotted in well”, I’m in lurve. Gareth had that “In The Early Part of Con” energy going, where he was quite bubbly and, at times (although I hate to admit it), his mouth ran away with things. There was one instance where a young woman walked up to the mic during the Q&A session (I loathe Q&As; have I mentioned this already?) and said “Hi, Gareth; I’ll be your stalker this weekend” and then apparently pulled out a flask of what seemed to be strong liquor. At which point Gareth had her bring it up to him and he took a swig, simultaneously creeping and squicking the hell out of me. Then he passed it over to the somewhat gobsmacked-looking Anthony Lewis who appeared to go against his better judgment and take a swig as well. I really don’t know why Gareth even thought about doing such a thing, but I just have to think that he hasn’t been to many Cons and/or hasn’t had that pivotal run-in with a nutty fan. YET.


Nathan conducting the audience to increase their applause. He was such a ham.

After the Torchwood panel I moseyed over to meet K. at the Nathan Fillion panel because Alan Tudyk was a last-minute addition to the event and my Tudyk adoration has no bounds. Their panel was a straight Q&A, and it worked surprisingly well. The two actors signed various items and would give them to audience members who asked questions. Nathan came across quite alpha, btw. If one's into that sort of thing. *ahem*


Taken shortly before the proverbial shit hit the proverbial fan. The DS9 Panel with Avery Brooks and Michael Dorn.

With the Fillion/Tudyk Yuk-Yuk Fest finished I went to see Avery Brooks and Michael Dorn's panel, which turned out to be the second most inadvertantly hilarious thing I'd be privy to the entire weekend (that occurred in a panel, at any rate). I hadn't noticed this listing until a couple of hours earlier, and I was surprised as all hell to see Avery Brooks in attendance knowing his past opinion of Trek Cons and Trekkies in general. I got to the room pretty late but still managed to snag an okay seat. It was led by the head of the Trek Track, a gentleman who endeavored to run things in talk show format, beginning the panel with a poor resolution video of previous Trek events he'd had a hand in. Things were progressing okay, if a bit slowly, until the moderator decided to ask Mr. Brooks and Mr. Dorn how they felt [as black men] about Barack Obama's nomination for presidential candidate. At which point my jaw dropped and I had to grab my right arm with my left hand in order to prevent a forehead slap.


Hawk asks Worf if the moderator actually asks what Hawk thinks he asks. Worf simply glances over before pulling out his bat'leth.

"Yes, let me ask the black guys about Senator Obama. I mean, they *are* black and all. And after they give me their one or two sentence response I can go back to asking Mr. Dorn about how it felt to undergo three hours of makeup work everyday while filming." I can only think that's what was going through the mod's mind when he decided to spring that one. The expressions on Michael and Avery's faces were simply priceless. God, I'm STILL sputtering thinking about this. Simply put, such a reaction cannot be put into a sound bite. And the actors said as much, almost verbally shooting the moderator down before retreating back behind veneers of politeness. At first the moderator seemed upset by the actors's reactions and became somewhat defensive, especially when the audience became restless and one person decided to shout "move off of politics!" Then the mod decided to tell the audience that he only wanted to show everyone that the actors had "lives outside of the TV show" which...yeah, we'd had no clue about until that moment. He just kept digging himself deeper, and the actors actually had to placate him and encourage him to get himself back on track (after Avery Brooks broke it down for everyone and went on about the misdirection act going on in the media and the way in which "everything is political" and, God, I wanted to bear little wire sunglasses-wearing babies immediately after that moment), but he remained flustered and things were painfully wrapped up ten minutes or so later.

When I left that wacky shindig I headed over to the Law in Fandom panel, where a bunch of fandom folks and lawyer-types went over trademarks, copyrights, the concept of creative commons, transformative works, and the whole deal behind the Harry Potter Lexicon shakedown. It was fascinating and very informative (a theme for the bulk of discussion-centered panels) if, and this might be my personal bias talking, a little *too* HP heavy. Surely there were other fandoms/fandom issues that could have been tackled as well?

After Law in Fandom I went to "Emerging Infectious Diseases" panel, run by one Dr. Cmar, an infectious disease specialist from John Hopkins. This one hit all my healthcare buttons, and I took notes! Copious notes! It was like I was back in school. The lecturer had a dry humor that was right up my alley, and he kept things moving very well. The description in the Con book make the talk sound more morbid and speculative than it actually was: he covered measles, influenza, the recent salmonella scare, and MRSA, doing a great job of not insulting our intelligence but watering it down just enough to keep the lay folks in the loop.

When Dr. Cmar's talk wrapped up I went to the X-Track panel titled "They did WHAT to my favorite book/fandom", which was more or less an "I love the 80's" style forum where the audience provided the names of various books that are in the process of being made into movies or various movies that were based on books/comics and the Need Coffee crew mercilessly skewed the perpetrators involved in the debacles. I laughed until tears ran from my eyes.

God, I was busy on Friday, wasn't I?

After that panel finished I think I grabbed something to eat and then headed back to the hotel with K. There was a party going on in the ballroom on our level, which we'd initially thought was the BSG Colonial Fleet party but just turned out to be some random gig. K. checked it out first and texted me while I was in our room, debating whether I should see what was going on: "OMG, it's just like a junior high dance". Of course I had to see what she was talking about, and she was dead on - there was some rock music playing, the lights were on almost all the way, and three folks were attempting to dance on the floor while everyone else either sat on the perimeter of the room or were attempting to get trashed at the bar (the folks at the door actually gave out tickets for one free beer, which should have told us something about the life of the party. As in, there was none. Call a code already).

We bounced, deciding to check back in after the 11:30(PM) panel, which was dubbed "Fanfic- For Adults Only!" (exclamation point theirs). The room started out halfway full, but once the panelists started talking it was clear that the focus was going to be on male/male slash, mainly consisting of fangirls squeeing about their OTPs and naughty fic kinks about 1/4 of the crowd picked up and beat a hasty retreat. The panelists at this event were more or less the same folks from the earlier fandom/fanfic panel I'd attended, so things were HP heavy again. I felt obligated to chime in with my due South, Highlander, and Stargate: Atlantis love (my OTPs are obvious, y'all) and then the black woman in front of me brought up Mag 7 and The Sentinel, while the majority of younger folks in the crowd seemed to scratch their heads and nod as the old biddies talked about their black and white shows (seriously? the young woman who seemed to head the fanfic stuff mentioned she'd been in fandom since 2001 like it was equivalent to having been around since the Stone Ages. I had to roll my eyes). What was most enjoyable about that panel was the way I ended up having to translate all the fandom speak for K. (for example atraxia: "What's 'Mpreg'?" fredericks:"When a dude is pregnant in fic." atraxia.:[pause]"That's weird." PRICELESS).

When we returned to the random party in our hotel the music had gotten no less lame (is it possible to *dance* to Metallica? no, right? so why play it at a dance party??), so we just called it a night. There was some party we went to where I wished aloud that the DJ would play "Poison" by BellBivDevoe and K. actually went up and requested it (the DJ's response? "'Poison'? What's that?" "Oh, well, no. Don't have it."), but I can't remember if it was here or at another gig. Oh well, funny either way.


Isn't this kid adorkable???


Next: Days Three, Four, and Five - The Rosenbaum Variety Hour, the Battlestar cast gets totally trashed at the Fleet party, and Snape makes out with Hermione (I WISH I could have taken a picture for you).

Comments

[devoosha.livejournal.com]

Dude! I am SO going with you next year!

One of my flist...eoywin...was at that Nathan Fillion panel too I think! Picture looks familiar!

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

You better! I kept thinking, when something amused the hell out of me "oh man, she'd LOVE this". Hence my text. :)

[captainschlumpy.livejournal.com]

Wow, busy! I want to go next time! So much fun and opportunity for headsmacking! I took my friend Sabrina to a yaoi-con panel one year and some poor girl actually asked if the prostate was just a myth! I could not help laughing until I cried.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I took my friend Sabrina to a yaoi-con panel one year and some poor girl actually asked if the prostate was just a myth!
*grin*When you ignore the improbable stupidity of the question it takes on almost philosophical depths.

You'd have fun, I think. They have an anime/manga track that looks cool. And all the awesome costumers. And the parties are interesting, if nothing else.

[mersipan.livejournal.com]

That looks like sooo much fun...thanks for the write-up! I was so bummed I didn't get to go this year - next year for sure.

And I am with you in Tudyk-adoration. :D

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I can see how people end up going for years and years on end, because the entire experience was so much fun. It's the first time I've been surrounded by so many people geeking out on the same level (or higher!) than myself, and it was quite refreshing.

And Tudyk just seems so sweet you want to pinch his cheeks and feed him some pie. Absolutely adorable.

[army-kitten.livejournal.com]

the only part of this i would have been squeeing about is actually michael dorn and avery brooks (it's nice to see where our fandoms overlap XD), but i don't think i would have been able to prevent a forehead slap. OMG your photos! i would have been especially annoyed that the mod went so off topic, because i would have wanted to hear more about oh, i dunno, STAR TREK.

worf was always one of my favorite characters. <3 and even though i still haven't watched deep space nine yet, i've seen enough to know that captain sisko is just as awesome and sexy as all the other star fleet captains. well, i wouldn't call kirk "awesome," but he was rather handsome back in the day. oh, but scott backula is disqualified, because enterprise doesn't count.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

The whole Trek thing was surreal, and because of the experience I ended up avoiding all Trek Track stuff over the weekend. Neither actor was talking freely, and I'm not sure whether it was because of the mod's questions or because they were just reticent (Dorn looked embarrassed, Brooks looked rather bored). But, yeah, DS9 is one of my big loves. I can't believe you haven't made it your business to watch it yet!

Scott Backula in Quantum Leap = snog-worthy. The taint of Enterprise ruins everything.

[army-kitten.livejournal.com]

QUANTUM LEAP. XD i spent many happy hours of my childhood watching that... and yes, scott backula was definitely shag-material back then.

the thing with DS9 is that it requires watching from the very beginning, in order—and that's a big undertaking, since i don't watch movies or television that much (i've never even seen every episode of voyager, which is my favorite trek). whenever i've tried to watch an individual episode of DS9 i generally had no idea what was going on. i'm going to put it in my netflix queue, though. one of these days i will be totally in the DS9 loop! and we can make DS9 inside jokes! or something...

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I feel the way you do about DS9 when it comes to Babylon5. I know it's like this epic work with this 5 season arc and I really should be up on it to keep my geek cred, but putting the energy into five seasons worth of eppies? Sorta tough. I mean, I've watched all of DS9 but bought the entire thing on DVD about a year ago with the intention of brushing up from beginning to end and the DVDs are still on my shelf gathering dust. And S1 is a little slow. but still good! it's just that you can feel the characters trying to break out of the cliche roles.

ETA - you know what I just realized? It was Quantum Leap that began my slow inevitable slide into slashland. Because whenever Sam would leap into a chick who was in a relationship with a dude I'd always find myself wishing that Scott Backula would make kissy face with the dude instead of "conveniently" leaping out before anything naughty went down. What was up with that!?!? (begins plotting Quantum Leap crossover fic of DOOM!)

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Now that you are home you've got no excuse for not watching all the rest of Due South you're putting off. Are you seriously trying to tell me you haven't watched "Call of the Wild?"

Don't make me hurt you.

(Also, I really think I need to try to get to DCon next year.)

And then Fraser said...

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

So much love for your icon, btw.

There are a number of fandoms that I enjoy reveling in and I've yet to finish actually watching the source material. I'm trying to remedy the whole Due South thing! Really! I mean, Callum and Paul are combustible. Frakkin' fire hazards on my TV. I'd feel bad skipping over everything to check out Call of the Wild. But I will start on S3, promise. Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday. Just for you. And Kowalski in glasses.

Come to DCon, yo. You know you want to.

Re: And then Fraser said...

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Callum and Paul make me very, very happy. So does CotW. ::nods::

There's a moment in Mountie on the Bountie that will make you squeal. You'll know it when you see it.

I am seriously thinking about next year. athena4lynn goes with friends every year and says she probably has hotel space, even, so I have no excuse.

And is bookclub tomorrow? Because Mondays are a no-go for me. And also, I never go the book. Actually, this whole semester is pretty much no-fun-reading, what with the thesis and all.

I will use the icon again, because it makes me tingly happy.

Re: And then Fraser said...

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Now look! you've gone and made my eyes rain.
Tomorrow is bookclub (first rule is...), and it completely sucks that Mondays don't work for you. Dammit. This book was pretty interesting, too. I hated the hell out of it when I started reading but it grew on me. It'll lead for good discussion fodder. Then again, knowing this group the only people that'll show up will be lovely ladies that didn't even bother to hunt down Cliff Notes...oh well, it's usually fun nonetheless. Even if you can't make it.

I know the MotB moment. I've been reading due South fic for the last two years; I can more or less *quote* that moment at this point. But watching it might wear out the rewind button on my remote control.

Tuesday. I will. Totally. Yes. Due South. Me and the DVD player. Yup.

Re: And then Fraser said...

[sternel.livejournal.com]

Once this thesis is done in December I will have tons of free time. And my head won't be trying to explode on me on a regular basis. AND my schedule will be more flexible as the semester goes on, so we'll see.

And quote all you want, it's the seeing of it that's the fun part. Oh, boys.

I am trying to resist the urge but I know I'll be looking for more and more procrastination the deeper into thesis-writing I get and there's already DS fic in my head...god I need help...

Re: And then Fraser said...

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I am trying to resist the urge but I know I'll be looking for more and more procrastination the deeper into thesis-writing I get and there's already DS fic in my head...god I need help...
No! Non! I refuse to sink into Due South bliss alone. No fair you try to get me watching and then you drop it cold turkey. Let it out, dear; it'll do you good.

You need to come out when you can. I miss your snark.

[kitsu84.livejournal.com]

Ok. First of all, you and I are TOTALLY doing a meet-up next year. Srsly. Now then, on to your report:

but now that I know that he’s a big Tool/NIN fan

I had the same reaction you did when I heard that Gareth was a fan of NIN because I'm quite the fan of them myself -- my brother being the one to blame, of course. He's been a fan of Trent since the early nineties, and he's the one who ultimately introduced me to the group.

And I'm rambling. Time to shut-up, and move on.

Gareth had that “In The Early Part of Con” energy going, where he was quite bubbly and, at times (although I hate to admit it), his mouth ran away with things.

I noticed that myself, and I found it rather endearing. So cute, and yet so naive. And yet I still can't figure out why he clammed up on me on Friday. He was very sweet and talkative with everybody else -- I guess that's what lead me to the conclusion that I had insulted him.

*shrugs*

No big deal. I got to see his purdy face a few times over the course of the weekend, and I got to have dinner with him. So, meh, no hard feelings. By the way, you should see this picture my mom took of him at the dinner -- it's hilarious.

There was one instance where a young woman walked up to the mic during the Q&A session (I loathe Q&As; have I mentioned this already?) and said “Hi, Gareth; I’ll be your stalker this weekend” and then apparently pulled out a flask of what seemed to be strong liquor. At which point Gareth had her bring it up to him and he took a swig, simultaneously creeping and squicking the hell out of me. Then he passed it over to the somewhat gobsmacked-looking Anthony Lewis who appeared to go against his better judgment and take a swig as well. I really don’t know why Gareth even thought about doing such a thing, but I just have to think that he hasn’t been to many Cons and/or hasn’t had that pivotal run-in with a nutty fan. YET.

I heard about that, and all I could say was: Ew. Seriously, Gareth... come on! You would think that he would've known better than that. Hell, even Anthony seemed to have had more sense where that was concerned than he did.

*facepalms*

I think the whole thing in the nutshell is that when JB and/or JM's around Gareth, they tend to keep him in line, and tell him what to do and not do around fans. But when he's on his own, it's an entirely different scenario. Although, that's just my personal opinion. I could be off in left-field somewhere... Which is a very distinct possibility.

Can't wait to read the second part of your report, and keep an eye out for mine as well cuz I'll be giving you an honorable mention. ;D

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

No big deal. I got to see his purdy face a few times over the course of the weekend, and I got to have dinner with him.
Lucky bint.
Not that I'm jealous or anything. Excessively. Not that I'm excessively jealous. Or hiding it well. Does it show?

I think the whole thing in the nutshell is that when JB and/or JM's around Gareth, they tend to keep him in line, and tell him what to do and not do around fans. But when he's on his own, it's an entirely different scenario.
He was like a teenager with a weekend away from his parents, and I'm surprised his handlers didn't pick up on that sooner and give him a quiet "eh, Gar, bud, maybe drinking from the weird girl's bottle isn't such a smart i- dammit! Quick! Call Poison Control!" He was like the polar opposite of Ianto, which, oddly, didn't diminish my ubercrush at all.

[kitsu84.livejournal.com]

Not that I'm jealous or anything. Excessively. Not that I'm excessively jealous. Or hiding it well. Does it show?

It's showing just a bit. By the way, did I also mention that his thigh brushed up against mine a few times under the table? And it was completely -- one hundred percent -- him. I had nothing to do with it. I swear to the holy creator.

I can now die a happy woman.

He was like a teenager with a weekend away from his parents, and I'm surprised his handlers didn't pick up on that sooner and give him a quiet "eh, Gar, bud, maybe drinking from the weird girl's bottle isn't such a smart i- dammit! Quick! Call Poison Control!"

Hahaha! Yeah, I gotta agree with you. That whole flask thing was a bit excessive. But a good portion of the blame belongs on the fan who did it -- she knew better than that. It's fans like that which causes the rest of us to suffer.

Also, there was another fan who grabbed his ass when he posed for a picture with her -- and she was one of the Dragon*Con interviewers!

[emily-goddess.livejournal.com]

It was fascinating and very informative (a theme for the bulk of discussion-centered panels) if, and this might be my personal bias talking, a little *too* HP heavy. Surely there were other fandoms/fandom issues that could have been tackled as well?

This was before the ruling came down, yes? If the judge had suffered massive head trauma and ruled in favor of RDR, it could have had a HUGE chilling effect on Fandom and thus, it was kind of the big news in Fandom this year. In hindsight, with the judge turning out to be in possession of a brain, it doesn't seem so important.

Also: I really hope I can afford to go to D*C next year. I've never been to a con, and it'd be cool to meet you and devoosha IRL.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Yup, before the ruling. I understood covering the whole thing, just that all the fandom/fanfic stuff I ended up going to was HP-heavy, mainly because the panelists were writers/vidders from that fandom. *shrug* Oh well.

If you could come *and* persuade devoosha that she really really *needs* to come it'd be beyond awesome. :)

[emily-goddess.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking how we could meet childofmetis since she lives in Atlanta Then I checked your Friends and realized you don't know her, which made me sad, because I think you two would like each other.