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April 9 2008 to April 14, 2008.
Ok, I have been told that my past reports were a little too long and filled with a little too much detail. So while brevity is so not a strong point for me. I have tired to cut down all the details, and just get to the meat of it. For anyone who just wants to read about the convention please skip to Friday on the report.
Wednesday April 9, 2008:
Flew out to LAX and arrived in Burbank at the Marriott just after 5:00pm, I had had tickets to The Price in Right, but was unable to make it in time. I also had all kinds of plans of going shopping and doing a whole bunch of things, but then decided that ordering room service and staying in was much more important.
My friend Kelly was scheduled to arrive at the hotel around 1-2 am, but I decided to try and get some sleep instead of waiting up. Turns out that was a good thing, since her flight was majority delayed and she then ended up with a rental car nightmare, that had only arriving at the hotel at 6:00am.
Thursday April 10, 2008:
I was already wake when Kelly finally got to the hotel and since we would have needed to get up soon anyways we just ordered breakfast and got ready. We had booked a Studio Tour of the WB. We actual got there later then when we had tickets, but they were cool about it and let us take the next one. It was a fun tour, not quite as good as Paramount but still really great. We saw the set of ER and the Central Perk from friends set. We didn’t see any stars, even though a few of the shows were filming and I had hope I would see Adam Baldwin since Chuck was in production but no such luck. We ended the tour at their museum which has a lot of customer actual wore on movies. There was an entire floor fully of Harry Potter stuff, including the sorting hat (the one that tells you which house at Hogwarts you belong to) and Kelly and I each got sorted. Kelly belongs to Hufflepuff and I got (can you believe this!) Slytherin!
After the tour we had lunch at the studio and then headed over to NBC studios since we had tickets to see The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The wait was long and boring and neither of us could understand why shows need you there 3 hours before they tape. I actual was selected and interviewed to maybe play a game or something, but they didn’t end up picking me. They ended up playing the Marshmallow game, which is always funny to watch. The guest for the day, were Marcia Cross from Desperate Housewives (and while I had hoped she would talk about Nathan Fillion, no such luck.) Also Leona Lewis 
performed and we all got a copy of her CD. The show air the next day and I had Rick TiVo it for me, and no you can’t see me in the audience, there is a slight glimpse of me at the very end but I’m not facing the camera so you only see my side/back. Oh well, it was still fun.
After Ellen, we headed over to Rodeo Drive to check it out and shop. We got their a little late so a lot of the stores were closed. But I did buy a sweater that I really like and wasn’t expensive.Then we went to The Ivy for dinner, I had heard it was a really nice place and that lots of celebrities have been seen eating there. We had hoped to see some one, but no luck (well that we saw anyways). But the food was good (a little over priced, but good) and it was a nice place.
We did swing by the rental car place at LAX so that we could get another car, since Kelly wasn’t happy driving the no-so-mini mini van (all that was left) she rented earlier. Once that once taken care of it was back to the hotel.
We were able to register after 10:00pm on Thursday night and we both did, I stayed at the convention to be able to shop for some 8x10 photos that I was going to get signed and poor very tired Kelly went back to the room and finally got some sleep.
Friday April 11, 2008:
The original plan was to go and check out all the Buffy and Angel locations and get better photos (we had done this in 2006 when we were there but it was night time). Then followed by a trip over the Venice Beach. However I had found out the night before that the convention started at 2:00pm and that they had Tom Lenk schedule right away. So we can to cut the plan down to only Venice Beach. Neither of us had been there before and had both wanted to go. We did walk the strip (though we didn’t see the street performers or the muscle guys working out) we did see about 1000 tattoo shops though. We also did some shopping got a quick massage and took some pictures. We walked back along the beach itself and while Kelly had talked about going for a swim (I knew better) she put one toes in the water and yelled “its cold!”. Yup, the Pacific in April is damn cold! We did however see dolphins swimming off shore and I mean close, as in 50 feet close! It was sooooo cool!
We ended up back at the hotel in time for everything at the convention to begin. It started off with Tom Lenk’s (Andrew Well from Buffy & Angel) Photos session. Tom was friendly and fun, not as shy I had heard he was.As we are going to Tom’s photo session, I spotted off to the side (much to my surprise, since it was not on the website that he would be there) Camden Toy. So after the photo session I went over to him and found that he was signing autographs and taking pictures. I happen to have my Buffy and Angel posters with me since I was going to get Tom to sign them, and I got Camden to sign them as well. But I’m still a little upset, because if I had known I would have brought one of my sideshow gentlemen figure that I wanted him to sign. Camden was very sweet and such a flirt! But I had heard he was, so I wasn’t surprised.
Then it was Tom Lenk’s Q&A, he was funny and a smart ass during a lot of it, but in a good way. I did ask him what it was like filming Date Movie and how he got the role. He went in to a long explanation about the fact that he looked a lot like ELIJAH WOOD and/or a Hobbit. And how he had auctioned for the role a bunch of time but hadn’t gotten it, but that he had been on the set visiting Alyson Hannigan. When the director had seen him and said that they had made a mistake and cast the wrong guy, they then fired the guy they cast and hired him and that his custom was too small because it was made for the other guy. The funny part about me asking the question, is that at one point he had paused and I thought he was finished so I said Thank you and started walking away. He then said, “I wasn’t finished, but whatever…” So I went back to the mic and said “sorry, go a head” And he did, went on for a while after.
It was followed by Tim Russ (Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager) Q&A, and while that was happening, they had Tom’s autograph session happening at the same time. Since it is all done at the same time we can stand in line for the autograph and still watch the Q&A.I got Tom to sign both my Buffy and Angel posters and he was very sweet. I did ask him when he would be going to Toronto since “we” would love to see him there. He replied that “we” should set it up and he would go!
Tim’s Q&A was followed by his autograph session, and he was nice and professional.
After we headed back to see Camden Toy because Kelly wanted to get her Buffy poster signed as well. And he poised for photos with us at that time as well, we each got one, and the some offered to take one with both of us in it. They came out pretty good.After we choose to get something to eat (since we were both really hungry) instead of attending the: “Working on Star Trek Panel” with Salome Jens, Suzie Plakson, Max Grodenchik and Vaughn Armstrong. Though I did catch a little of it at one point. As a side note, when Tom Lenk was on stage during his Q&A, he did mention that when he was going to UCLA that the big acting class was run by Salome Jens and that he had a hard time getting in and once he did she told him to leave and come back when he could act. He followed that statement with, HA! Guess I showed her, since I am a working actor in Hollywood now!
Next it was Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from Star Trek) Q&A. She was great and told the great story of how she tried to leave Star Trek after the first year, but how Dr. Martin Luther King talked her out of it. I had heard it before, but it was much better hearing it from her with all the details. I did ask her a question about her character on Heroes. I asked if she thought her character would get powers of her own and if so what she would like it to be. She said she thought that might be the way they would take it, and that she didn’t want to suggest anything since they would probably do the opposite.
Nichelle’s Q&A was followed by the autographs for all the Star Trek people, Salome Jens, Suzie Plakson, Max Grodenchik, Vaughn Armstrong and Nichelle Nichols. I had Max Grodenchik, Suzie Plakson, Salome Jens, Nichelle Nichols all sign 8x10 photos since I kept them all in a Star Trek Binder. Vaughn Armstrong however was on an episode of Buffy “The Zeppo” where he played a cop. So I had him sign my Buffy Poster. When he saw it, he first asked what it was for (it was slightly rolled up) and when I told him it was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he replied he was in that (ahhh…yeah…that’s why I’m getting you to sign it). He then went into the fact that the cop was Irish and did a Irish accent and said “Hey, you Vampires over there stop biting each other!” It was pretty funny.Once all the autographs were over (and they took a while) they had the Star Trek Cabart, which had Nichelle Nichols, Tim Russ & The Tim Russ Trio, Suzie Plakson, Max Grodenchik, and Vaughn Armstrong all performing. This was a separate ticket and while it might have interesting, we skipped it and just went to dinner.
Saturday April 12, 2008:
Today was the big day, we were going to see James Marsters. Funny how we were both soooooo excited (even though we both have met him several time before!).
We had a easy morning, since James didn’t go on until noon. Though we did get to the convention to catch the tail end of David Palffy (Anubis/Sokar from Stargate).Then it was autographs with James Marsters!(Spike from Buffy & Angel). They were done by ticket number and since we had low number (I think mine was # 5) we were one of the first to get our autographs. I had James sign my retail incentive cover of Angel after the fall #2, which has a really nice picture of Spike with flames behind him. I was also able to get James my gift, which was a copy of both the audio & paper back of the non-fiction book, the History of God. It is all about the forming of the desert religions, and I know he is interested in that. The audio book was so he could listen to it on one of his long drives to see his son. James did say, he had just thrown out his copy of the old testament since it was all about killing and he was much into the love of the new testament.
After we got our autographs we sat down to see Brent Spiner Q&A. It was the first time I had seen him talk, though I had met him in Atlanta at Dragon*Con, the year before. He was great on stage! He started it out with, “you know I really enjoyed all my years on Buffy playing Spike!” We all laughed, then he asked who was behind the curtained area signing autographs, we told him it was James and he pretended to look over and then said “Spike back there with no cloths on!” He made a couple more references to James and even said that he thought he was great and that the cast had been pushing for him to play Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis.After Brent’s Q&A, then had a panel with both Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst from Hercules, followed by autographs with them. But since neither of us are fans, we skipped it.
Instead I went and got my photo taken with Grace Park (Sharon/Boomer/Athena from Battlestar Galactica), who was super cool and asked me my name and where I was from during the shoot, when she found out I was from Canada, she said “Me too!” but it turns out she from the west coast, so I’m not likely to run into her on the street here in Toronto (darn).After the photo with Grace I headed to the signing room, where there were a few more actors who had been on Star Trek and other things signing there for anyone who wanted to see them. I had Richard Herd who played Dr. Stanley Backer in the episode of Buffy Killed by Death, sign my Buffy poster.
Then it was Grace Park’s Q&A. She was sweet on stage and friendly and even answered the same questions (some were asked twice) with the same level of interest. I had planned on asking her a question that my friend Margaret suggestioned, but some one beat me to it. So no question for Magie!
After that we grabbed some lunch and then headed back for James Marsters Photo Session, which was GREAT of course. The last time I had seen James and we took photos, he told me that if I wanted to do something specific, that I should bring in a photo of the pose and we could do that, so that want I did. We had 2 photos taken at that shoot, the first one was a re-creation of a Spike & Dru photo and the next was just a huggie one.
I would just like to say, that even after all this time and all the time I have met the man. I get super nervous around him and he is still soooo perfect in person.
Then it time for James Marsters Q&A. I was the second person to ask a question, which was about the rumor that the make up for Piccolo took 4 hours to do, and if that was true how did he handle it. He confirmed it did take 4 hours, but that the very first time it took 17 hours, so after that the 4 hours didn’t seem so bad. He also went into how, he did a lot of his stunts because they didn’t want to pay to have his stunt double in the full make up as well. So when the director would see his stunt double and he wouldn’t look like him, he would say, “Nope, get James in here!” he also said that the suit was great but it made him sweat, from the moment he put it on and he had to stay in it all day. The rest of the Q&A was great he was lively and his usual self, though I did wonder if he was just a little tired, because he normally bouncing off the walls and he wasn’t this weekend at all. But he still gave a lot!
The Smallville Panel was up next, which had Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy Olsen from Smallville), Laura Vandervoot (Supergirl from Smallville), Erica Durance (Lois Lane from Smallville) and Phil Morris (The Martian Manhunter from Smallville). The panel was good, but it went slow just because whenever anyone asked a question, they all had to take a turn and answer it. So by the time the second of third person was answering, you had forgotten the original question.There was some time between the Smallville panel and when the autographs started, so we headed out to a book store which was closed by, (less then 10 minutes drive) called: Dark Delicacies. I had heard Amber Benson would be there signing. We thought we might miss her, but she was still there and since there was no one else in line, we were able to get her books signed. I got both her books: GHOSTS OF ALBION: ACCURSED and GHOSTS OF ALBION: Whitchery. Also her graphic novel: Shadowplay. However silly me forgot to take any pictures, even though I had my camera with me. I did tell Amber, we had hope to go and see Common Rotation (Adam Busch’s Band) playing that night, but that they were on at the same time as James was. I also told her I had seen them the last time I was there for their Halloween show. She told me she and her dad had (she pointed to this older man, sitting in a chair behind her reading a book) been at the show. I told her I had seen her, but that we hadn’t wanted to bother her so we didn’t go over. She said that next we should come over and say hi. I did realize that her dad was the man sitting at the table next to us and had even been the one to pick my jacket up when it fell off the back of my chair, hmmm small world. Anyway Amber was as always super sweet! And I now have her books (Signed! To boot!).
We made it back just before the autographs for all the Smallville people and Grace Park was about to start. I was able to get my Smallville poster signed by, Aaron Ashmore, Laura Vandervoot and Erica Durance. I had it already signed by James Marsters at Dragon*Con the year before.
The autographs went slow, actual very slow and once I had my all the autographs on my Smallville poster I had to get in a new line to get Grace Park to sign my Battlestar Galactica poster. Not only was that taking a while, they kept moving her around and ended up having her in the hallway in the end, actual at one point she got up and was being lead away, she said while she was walking by us (jokily) “Sorry, that’s it, no more autographs.” Turn out she just had to use the bathroom. But I did get my poster signed and as I was leaving I said to Grace “Canadain girls rock!” at which she smiled, gave me 2 strong tumbs ups and said “Yeah!”
I had to hurry back to the room, since I wanted to drop off all my stuff and change for the James Marsters concert which was suppose to start at 8:30pm. It was starting late because the autographs were running late and they still had to set up the room. As I was walking to me room, I passed James and Steve (Himber) coming out of the elevator. So I knew I had a little time.We made it back to convention center (which is right next to the hotel) in time to wait to be let in (so much for hurrying like a mad women). But we didn’t have to wait too long. Kelly and I had reversed seats and they were pretty good, second row right in the middle. The concert was fantastic, James played the following songs:
Not A MillionaireLooking At You
Don't Worry Son
White Hot Girls
Like A Waterfall
ADDED: Fall Of Night
Louise
Civilized Man
Angel
Dangerous
All She Wanted
Birth Of The Blues
ENCORES:
Picture In A Frame (Tom Waits)
Chocolate Jesus (Tom Waits)
Baby Blue (Keb-Mo)
The really funny part was at one point James changed mics so he could sit down. He said that we had never seen him do that before, but that he was having some wrist problems from the filming of Dragonball, nothing a chiropractor couldn’t fix though. Well as he was singing the mic kept slipping down, so while it started pointing up, it ended up pointing down at the end of the song. James fixed it for the next one, but it did it again and this time James was getting frustrated and just kept shaking his head at it since he couldn’t stop signing and playing to fix it. Finally the sound guy came out after the song and James said to him, that he was going to hurt that mic, while he was trying to tighten the bolt to hold it. But the guy, then tightened the bolt right at the mic and James said, “Oh, that bolt!” Unfortunately it didn’t help, and the thing slipped down again, so James got back up again to finish the set. The sound did take the mic away and had it fix, but James said he didn’t want it anymore because he was mad at it. At one point James said he wanted to added a song, and we all clapped and told him to do it. At first he said no because he hadn’t practiced it in 3 weeks, but then decided to go ahead, it was Fall of Night, which he did beautifully! After he sang it, and we all clapped really loud and shouted that it was great he said, “Well now I’m glad I did it!” James ended the set with one of my favorites songs he does, which is Baby Blue, he some trouble with it at the start, saying that now he had forgotten how it went. He just stood there for a while trying to remember it and I was afraid he wouldn’t do it, but he finally said he was just going to sing it and see what happened. It was of course wonderful and I love it when he ends with it!
My only issue with the concert was it was too short; I could have listened to him for another hour and been really happy! Oh well it was still the best!
Sunday April 13, 2008:
We had to get up earlier than we wanted to be at the convention in time for the first Q&A. This day more then all the others was harder to stay indoors it was just so beautiful and warm. Actual it was down right hot! But lets hang out in the sun by the pool hot, not some one get me inside hot. Oh well, no time for hanging out by the pool when there is a convention to attend.
The first Q&A was Roxann Dawnson (Belanna Torres from Star Trek: Voyager), I have to admit that if I saw Roxann Dawnson walking down the street, I WOULD NEVER RECOGNIZE HER! Not in million years. She looks so different from when she was on the show. Her Q&A was good, she talked about directing both Heroes and Lost. As well as her time on Star Trek: Voyager and her current work as a director/producer on Cold Case.
Then it was Thomas Dekker (John Connor from Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles) Q&A. It was one of his first, so he was a little nervous, but he did do a good job. He was asked right away about his hair, since he had cut is super short. He said he had just finished a movie where he played a cancer patient and had all his hair on his head including his eyebrows saved off. I was able to ask him a question, it was about Summer Glau and how he could pretend she was this tough killer machine, when she was so little in real life. He replied, with actual have you seen Summer in the morning before she has had her coffee, it really 
isn’t that hard after that (but he was mostly joking).After Thomas Dekker, we headed out to Starbucks for a drink, but were back James Marsters Q&A in penalty of time. Actual by now they were running late.
James was once again great, he came out wearing a red Hawaiian shirt which some one commented on. He did say he got in Hawaii, personally I liked it. I had planned on asking him a question about playing Ted Bundy, but after hearing what another fan (Patti) was going to ask him. I changed it to ask: What makes you laugh? What really tickles you? His reply was basically life. Both Saturday and Sundays Q&A had some really great questions, and James had equally some great replies. One of my favorite questions/commits was about Captain John and how she didn’t like him (this was said by one of the loyal fans that has been to every convention I have been at the very least.) While she did get some boos, James took the commit as a complement because her issue was that she really didn’t trust
Captain John, so it meant his performance was good enough to convince her he couldn’t be trusted. He was also asked if he would be back on Torchwood, James replied that while he hasn’t been asked yet, he was sure he would be asked to return. That he has been doing it long enough and knows when he will be back on a show. So that’s super good news.After James Q&A, there was the autographs with James Marsters, Roxann Dawnson and Thomas Dekker. I left right away, because I was going to take my photo with Brent Spiner and since James Q&A started late, it went over the photo session time for Brent. As I am running over I see Brent leaving. But I talk to the photographer (Chris who is amazing!!! And who I love!) and he told me to come back later and he would try to get him back fro me.
I then went back and met Kelly in line for James autograph. I got James to sign the letter from P.S. I Love You. It was an actual letter (prop) used in the movie, it was the letter that Gerry (Gerard Butler) writes to his best friend John
(James Marsters) in the movie. The scene was cut from the movie, but should be on the DVD extras. I mentioned I was sad it was cut but James said that it was a good thing because it wasn’t right for the movie. I don’t know about that and will reverse commit until I see the scene for myself. I was also able to give James some maple candy and told him that like last time he has to share it with the kids.It still amazes me that normally I am a confident, intelligent, strong women. That is right up until I get in front of James, then I turn into a drooling idiot who can not put 2 words together. Oh well,
James pretty and me like!I was then able to get both Roxann Dawnson and Thomas Dekker autographs. Roxann was being very professional and just signing whatever was put in front of her, but not looking up at anyone. She did look up at me when I said thank you and smiled. Thomas on the other hand was being very friendly and as an added bonus had taken off his jacket and shirt and was just in a grey undershirt (Magie liked the eye candy!). I had him sign my Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, and he signed it to me. So that was great.
We had a little time and head out to get some lunch, but were back for James last Photo session. This time, I had 4 pictures done. Two of them were my requests, one I left up to him and the last one was with both me and Kelly. Boy, I would have liked to hold onto that man a lot longer, but I had to let go and then there was no more James… So sad…
I ended up missing the beginning of Zachary Quinto (Sylar from Heroes and the new Spock from Star Trek) because I was in the photo room trying to get my re-shoot with Brent Spiner, the unexpected bonus was James was still in the room and I got to stare at him a little longer. The photographer still wasn’t able to go and get Brent, so I had to come back yet again. I did see most of Zachary Quinto Q&A and it was good, it was also one of his first and he really moved it along, but there were some questions he couldn’t answer and just told people he would have to get back to them at other Q&A’s.
I skipped out just before it ended and went to get my picture taken. They were able to get Brent just as he was leaving, a few more minutes and he would have been gone. I apologized for having missed the session the first time, he said that was OK and I was right to insist on doing it now. It was kind of funny, because during the photo I asked for a hug (always do) and Brent said in a happy upbeat toner “NO!” I actual think this was the first time some one has said no, I don’t mind because they have every right to say no. It was just the way he said it. But in the end I got my picture. So that was good.
I ran back to the main room to see Leonard Nimoy’s Q&A ( Mr. Spock from Star Trek). I missed the very beginning, but was able to catch most of it. I found Leonard to really great, he was warm and super funny. He had us all laughing our asses off. He answered all kinds of questions, from his charity work to Star Trek. I really enjoyed seeing him.Then at one point some one asked him about what he thought about Zachary Quinto taking over the role. It really seemed it he was happy about it and really has no hard feelings, that he is glad that the character will continue on. He then turned to the organizers and asked where Zachary was, because wasn’t he suppose to be out there to join him. They replied with they were working on it. He said “working on it? How can you be working on it?” but then Zachary show’s up at the microphone and starts to ask Leonard a question. I could hear what he tried to ask because everyone went nuts. And then Zachary joined Leonard on stage. It was really great to see both together and the resembles between them is VERY clear.
They did a few things that were really neat, they both said at the request of a fan “Live long and prosper!” and they gave both gave the Vulcan hand gesture. At the end of the panel, Leonard said that he been holding on to something for a while and he felt it was time to pass it along. He then gave Zachary a #1 Vulcan t-shirt. Zachary was touched by this and said that he thought he should have it changed to # 2 Vulcan. Then the panel was over.After Kelly had some time and went back to our room to pack her stuff since she was leaving right
after the convention ended. I on the hand joined the long line (that was out the door) to have my photo taken with Leonard Nimoy. The line went really fast and I didn’t really have to wait very long. When it was my turn I found Leonard to be very sweet, I also asked for a hug and he said sure. I was very happy with my photo with him.The last thing we had was the autograph session with Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. Leonard line went super fast, he is an old pro at this, and he signs fast and moves on. He wasn’t really looking up at people, but when I said thank
you, he looked up at me smiled and said “your welcome!”Zachary’s line took a little longer and when I got to him I had him sign my Heroes poster, which already had 2 signatures. Zachary asked who they were and I told him, it was Malcolm McDowell and Erick (I had forgotten his last name and just stood there trying to remember when he supplied “Avari”) and I said yes, that’s it.
Then sadly that was it, the convention was over. Kelly and I were both super sad and neither of us wanted it to end. It was an excellent convention, even though it needed more James!
We went back to the room, got Kelly’s stuff (I got changed into my bathing suit) and I walked her out. After she left, I went for a swim in the hotel pool, then back to the room to order room service and watch some TV. I was just too tired to do anything else, and I had a very early flight the next morning.
I will say that the best thing in the world I have done, is down load a whole bunch of Buffy, Angel and Firefly episodes onto my iPod. It made waiting in airports so much easier. Though people must have wondered what I was laughing at.
All in all that is it. Hope you all liked the report.
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