Dragon Con Convention Report 2008
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Well it is report time. This year I attended Dragon Con in Atlanta for the second time. It is a very large convention and while I am not good at brevity, I will try to limit this to the bare facts. Though I will NOT promise to leave out the James Marsters and Nathan Fillion drooling!
Some of the guests that I was interested in seeing there this year were:
James Marsters, Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, James Callis Tahmoh Penikett, Michael Hogan, Dominic Keating, Hayden Panettiere, James Kyson Lee, George Takei, Avery Brooks, Walter Koenig, Michael Dorn, Cirroc Lofton, Ethan Phillips, Linda Blair, Dean Haglund, Phil Morris, Robert Picardo, Gareth David Lloyd, Anthony Lewis, Jake Lloyd, Daniel Logan, Ray Park, David Prowse, Laurell K. Hamilton, Harry Turtledove
Dragon Con in downtown Atlanta over 3 hotels (this year they added a 4th the Sheraton, but I never made it over to it this year) the main hotels are The Hyatt, The Marriott and The Hilton. All one after the other, so you can walk though one, cross the street and be in the next one.
Thursday August 28, 2008
This was my second trip to Dragon Con so I thought I new the ropes, but the first I realized once I arrive at the Atlanta airport was that I had gone to the wrong spot for a shuttle last time, which explains why we had such a hard time getting. Once I did find the right spot it was no problem getting to the hotel.
After checking in and lunch, I got a call fro Stephen (from JMConAps) to advise that the line for registration was already around the block. This floored me since it wasn’t just after 1:30pm and it didn’t open until 4:00pm. So I headed over to get in line (registration was at The Hyatt). The good thing was that they opened up about an hour earlier. Once we had our badges, Stephen and I went over to the Hilton to check out where the tickets for the James Marsters & Gareth David-Lloyd Party / Concert would be sold the next morning. Since the event was limited to only 60 people and would be sold on a first come first served basis (each person allowed to buy a max of 2 tickets). We knew we had to be one of the first 30 people in line to make sure we got one. Well once we arrived any plans to come back early in the morning disappeared, since there was already a line forming and had been since 10:00am. So we decided better to be safe then sorry and camp out as well. I did go back to my hotel first to pack what I needed and such. But I was back in line by 6:30pm and YES I spent the entire night on the floor of the Hilton waiting for tickets. I am nuts? YES! Did I get tickets? YOU BET! I would however like to thank Becky (madbrilliant) for EVERYTHING! Not only did she lend me a pillow, but she also gave me some ear plugs. This allowed me to actual get some sleep, not much sleep because the floor is HARD! But a few hours. I would also like to mention that Froggy (Photographer Extradanaire) also came out and join us and hung around until about 3:00am. I did leave around 7:00am to shower and change. I scarred poor Lizz (roommate) to death, since I had told her I was camping out all night, so she hadn’t expected me back at all. But I was back in line before 8:00am.
Friday August 29, 2008
By then quite a few people had joined the line, but we knew most wouldn’t get a ticket, since Becky (the most prepared person on earth) had given out numbers to the first 40 in line. I found out later that the last person to get a ticket was number 38. What number was I? “5”!!! Hehehehehehe!!!!
Once we got our tickets, we jumped back into line for James first Photo Ops. This of course was theme for the entire convention, going from line to line, to then another line and so on. I had my first 2 pictures taken with James, the first was our standard hug pose but for the second I gave James his very own Jayne hat that I had Angela
– Ma Cobb (http://www.geocities.com/fadingendlessly/) make just for him! And I asked him to wear it for the picture. For some reason, people in the room thought this was funny and started laughing at the photo! I thought he looked great in it! James was a very good sport but was a little embarrassed by the hat.
Once the photos were done, I went over to the Hyatt to see An Hour in the Buffy Verse with James Marsters (James only solo Q&A). By the time I got there they had already started letting people in, but Shirley was able to get me a seat in the front row, next to her and Stephen. I was able to ask the very first question to James which was “Having just finished playing an Astronaut, do you STILL believe that cavemen would win in a fight?” James laughed at the question, but he did say that he had to do some research on Buzz Aldrin and found a YouTube video of Buzz punching out a journalist. It seems this journalist was following Buzz around and telling him he was a fake and fraud and never walked on the moon. The 77 year old Buzz finally had enough and laid the guy out with one punch (not to mention the guy was 40 years younger and a foot taller!). So after he saw that video James said that if the Astronaut was Buzz then he thinks he would win! Which I thought was a brilliant answer! I can’t remember most of the questions, but I remember that a little girl asked (in a very mature question aboutdoinga social experiment) if he could roll his tough? James was not able to hear her so he jumped off the stage and went to stand in front of her so he could hear her, then he laughed and showed her he could. He did do Caliban from the Tempest, which I have on tape and hopefully people can see it!
I was suppose to leave early, since I have Photo Ops with Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk. But I couldn’t tear myself away and stayed to the end. Then I raced through 3 hotels to make it.
By the time I did, everyone had finished. I knocked on the door and asked if they were still there. They were and I was able to take my pictures (now if I looked messed up it is because I didn’t even brush my hair or fix my make up before I could the pictures). The funny thing is that Alan did not realize I there for the photos and told me he had to pee. I told him I could wait for him, but then one of girls working with the photos told him why I was there. He then said no it was OK, he would just go on the way back to the autographs since it was on the way.
My first picture was with both of them with me in the middle. Then as soon as it was done they BOTH moved away from me super fast, each giving the other the chance to take their single shots with me. But at the time my thought was yeah do I smell bad (well I had just run through 3 hotels, so maybe I did). The second shot was with Alan (he’s so cute!) and as I took this shot I had my back to Nathan, which allowed he to read the back of my t-shirt. It said “Proud Canadian Browncoat” on it (which I am!). So when it was his turn, he asked me about it and asked where I was from. I told him “Toronto” and he then got this serous look and said that he heard that they only way some one could become friends with some in Toronto was if some dies (so there was an opening). I laughed and assured him that wasn’t true and that I would be his friend. Then we took our picture together. After I did talk to them both a little bit and mentioned that the Edmonton Browncoats had Nathan and Vancouver had Jewel while Toronto had no one. Alan said that he had never been to Toronto, but had always wanted to go. I told him that when he did come, that then the Toronto Browncoats would take him out!!! He said OK.
Once I was done, I rushed over to the Marriott. Harry Turtledove (Author) was only going to be doing one signing at 2:30pm on Friday. Now unfortunately it was at the same time as Nathan and Alan Panel, but I had hoped that I could make at least some of it. Harry Turtledove is an author my husband really likes and since our wedding anniversary was coming up in a few days. I decided to get the second part of the series he really liked (and hadn’t read yet) signed for him as a gift. The line was not too bad I waited about 20 minutes and Mr. Turtledove was very sweet. I asked him if he could sign the books to Rick and write Happy Anniversary, which he did. After I ran to The Hyatt to catch the last of the Panel, ONLY to be told that the room was full and I could NOT get in. I was sooooo disappointed. Though from here on in, I can now lord it over my husband that I gave up Nathan Fillion just for him!!! So no more, poor Rick from anyone!
So instead I got some food and went to stand in line for the Battlestar Galactica Panel with had James Callis, Richard Hatch, Aaron Douglas, Tahmoh Penikett, Edward James Olmos, Michael Hogan and Kevin R. Grazier. It was a very good panel and I enjoyed watching them all. And it is very apparent that they enjoyed working together.
Once the panel was over I went back to the Hilton to get my photos and hit the Walk of Fame (which was held in that hotel). However even though all of them were printed and set out ALL of mine were missing. Once I confirmed no one picked them up for me, they had them re-printed. So someone out there decided they wanted my pictures, which is just creepy! Once I got my photos I went to get some autographs, I was able to get James to sign my Torchwood poster and at that time. I told him that I was NOT looking for sympathy or anything but that I just wanted him to know that some people lines up fro 16 hours, some even 24 hours just to get tickets to the event, just because we loved him! He was surprised and really grateful to hear that.
Well it is report time. This year I attended Dragon Con in Atlanta for the second time. It is a very large convention and while I am not good at brevity, I will try to limit this to the bare facts. Though I will NOT promise to leave out the James Marsters and Nathan Fillion drooling!
Some of the guests that I was interested in seeing there this year were:
James Marsters, Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, James Callis Tahmoh Penikett, Michael Hogan, Dominic Keating, Hayden Panettiere, James Kyson Lee, George Takei, Avery Brooks, Walter Koenig, Michael Dorn, Cirroc Lofton, Ethan Phillips, Linda Blair, Dean Haglund, Phil Morris, Robert Picardo, Gareth David Lloyd, Anthony Lewis, Jake Lloyd, Daniel Logan, Ray Park, David Prowse, Laurell K. Hamilton, Harry Turtledove
Dragon Con in downtown Atlanta over 3 hotels (this year they added a 4th the Sheraton, but I never made it over to it this year) the main hotels are The Hyatt, The Marriott and The Hilton. All one after the other, so you can walk though one, cross the street and be in the next one.

This was my second trip to Dragon Con so I thought I new the ropes, but the first I realized once I arrive at the Atlanta airport was that I had gone to the wrong spot for a shuttle last time, which explains why we had such a hard time getting. Once I did find the right spot it was no problem getting to the hotel.
After checking in and lunch, I got a call fro Stephen (from JMConAps) to advise that the line for registration was already around the block. This floored me since it wasn’t just after 1:30pm and it didn’t open until 4:00pm. So I headed over to get in line (registration was at The Hyatt). The good thing was that they opened up about an hour earlier. Once we had our badges, Stephen and I went over to the Hilton to check out where the tickets for the James Marsters & Gareth David-Lloyd Party / Concert would be sold the next morning. Since the event was limited to only 60 people and would be sold on a first come first served basis (each person allowed to buy a max of 2 tickets). We knew we had to be one of the first 30 people in line to make sure we got one. Well once we arrived any plans to come back early in the morning disappeared, since there was already a line forming and had been since 10:00am. So we decided better to be safe then sorry and camp out as well. I did go back to my hotel first to pack what I needed and such. But I was back in line by 6:30pm and YES I spent the entire night on the floor of the Hilton waiting for tickets. I am nuts? YES! Did I get tickets? YOU BET! I would however like to thank Becky (madbrilliant) for EVERYTHING! Not only did she lend me a pillow, but she also gave me some ear plugs. This allowed me to actual get some sleep, not much sleep because the floor is HARD! But a few hours. I would also like to mention that Froggy (Photographer Extradanaire) also came out and join us and hung around until about 3:00am. I did leave around 7:00am to shower and change. I scarred poor Lizz (roommate) to death, since I had told her I was camping out all night, so she hadn’t expected me back at all. But I was back in line before 8:00am.
Friday August 29, 2008
By then quite a few people had joined the line, but we knew most wouldn’t get a ticket, since Becky (the most prepared person on earth) had given out numbers to the first 40 in line. I found out later that the last person to get a ticket was number 38. What number was I? “5”!!! Hehehehehehe!!!!






Once I was done, I rushed over to the Marriott. Harry Turtledove (Author) was only going to be doing one signing at 2:30pm on Friday. Now unfortunately it was at the same time as Nathan and Alan Panel, but I had hoped that I could make at least some of it. Harry Turtledove is an author my husband really likes and since our wedding anniversary was coming up in a few days. I decided to get the second part of the series he really liked (and hadn’t read yet) signed for him as a gift. The line was not too bad I waited about 20 minutes and Mr. Turtledove was very sweet. I asked him if he could sign the books to Rick and write Happy Anniversary, which he did. After I ran to The Hyatt to catch the last of the Panel, ONLY to be told that the room was full and I could NOT get in. I was sooooo disappointed. Though from here on in, I can now lord it over my husband that I gave up Nathan Fillion just for him!!! So no more, poor Rick from anyone!

Once the panel was over I went back to the Hilton to get my photos and hit the Walk of Fame (which was held in that hotel). However even though all of them were printed and set out ALL of mine were missing. Once I confirmed no one picked them up for me, they had them re-printed. So someone out there decided they wanted my pictures, which is just creepy! Once I got my photos I went to get some autographs, I was able to get James to sign my Torchwood poster and at that time. I told him that I was NOT looking for sympathy or anything but that I just wanted him to know that some people lines up fro 16 hours, some even 24 hours just to get tickets to the event, just because we loved him! He was surprised and really grateful to hear that.
Then I got some of my Battlestar Galactica autographs. The first was from Tahmoh Penikett, who signed both my Battlestar Galactica Poster and my Dollhouse poster. The funny thing is that when I met him he said the same thing to me as Grace Park did “have we met?” He was such a sweetie and I did tell him that we were all so happy he was now part of the Whedonverse family! Next was Michael Hogan and what a sweet man. I told him we were both from the same place (southern Ontario) he asked where I lived and then told me his son lives in Toronto, actually he gave me his son’s and even the street he lived on. The whole time I was thinking he really shouldn’t do that, since for all he knew I get be some crazy person that would then go to his sons house and stalk him. But still he was very sweet. Lastly I got James Callis to sign my poster, I swear some one needs to feed that man! But he was also very nice. That was it since I had the others autographs.


Saturday August 29, 2008







Once I was done, I headed over to the Walk of Fame to get some autographs. My first stop was


Once that was done, I got my autograph on my Heroes Poster from Hayden Panettiere. Her line had originally been out the door after her photo ops in the morning but now was a very reasonable size. I did ask her if she found the room hot, since I hadn’t been there that long and I was already ready to melt. She said she was always cold so this was good for her. Then I moved on and got my Star Wars autographs from Jake Lloyd, Daniel Logan, Peter Mayhew and David Prowse. All signed my Star Wars Poster. Daniel Logan who played the young Boba Fett called me Beautiful (awwwwww!!! How sweet!). I had also wanted Ray Park autograph but his line was just too long and I had to go (not to mention the slight melting problem I was still having).

Caesar Salad House Smoked Pulled BBQ Pork BBQ Chicken Coconut Shrimp Garlic Mashed Potatoes Baked Beans Coleslaw Buttermilk Biscuits Chocolate Chip Cookies
Though I didn’t eat that much, couldn’t because James had gotten there by the time I got my food and I was too nervous. Because of some mix up the restaurant, they put us out on the patio. While it was very nice out there, it was not the most comfortable for everyone and it made the concert a bit of a problem for James since he only had one microphone for signing and non for his guitar. While I was sitting at the table right in front of him and could hear the guitar fine some further away could not. Though James did make jokes that since people couldn’t hear him playing that he was the best guitar player ever and even Eric Clapton had called him up for advise but that he had to turn him down since he was just to busy to give any. He played the following songs:

Smile
This Town
On the Moon
Looking at You
Dont Worry Son
London City
Vandals
Birth of the Blues
The really thing was that while he did have a set list he didn’t go in order and when he got to the end he said he was going to play the “dirtiest” song he ever wrote and started playing Looking At You. We all started looking at each other and about a third though James stopped and asked if he had played it already, we said yes and he said “FUCK!” really loudly and then started playing Birth of the Blues. But that was the end, it was a short concert, nice but too short (then again if it was 3 hours, I might say the same thing). At this time Gareth was to perform but as he got ready, James told him that his 5th string had broke and that he could play and rock and roll without that one. James did have to assure Gareth he wasn’t joking and show him it was in fact broken. We did yell out that Gareth should do it a cappella, but he chose not to. This was the only disappointment of the night. Both James and Gareth apologized and said they would make it up to us with charm when they came to our tables.
Our table was the first one James headed to and he stayed there a while and talk to all of us about what it was like to work on Moonshot and about his watch. It is a replica of the ones the astronaut worn during this Apollo 11 mission. I did ask James about what the actual space suit was like to wear, he had mentioned that the helmet was really bad for him since the inner one was pressed right up to his nose and it made him feel like he was being suffocated. But I asked him about the suit itself. He said that it weighted 80 pounds and because of the short cuts they took to make it weight less (the real ones weighted 102 pounds) it made it worse in some ways and straps and Velcro would rub up against him. All in all it was very uncomfortable. Once Steve came to get him, I asked Steve if I could just give James a gift I had brought him. Steve said yes. So I stood up and off slightly to the side, Steve told James that I had a birthday gift for him, I told James that I knew he had already read the book and likely had it as well as I pulled out Small Favor by Jim Butcher. BUT that this one was signed to him from Jim himself. I also told him what Jim had said to me, that he loved James work on The Dresden Files and if it was up to him James would do all of them. James seemed really touched and gave me a really tight hug (the kind where some one squeezes the air out of you) and said thank you, but he looked me right in the yes and really meant it. That for me was nicest part of the entire evening. He also told me he loved doing readings and he also wants to do the rest of them. Then he had to move away. I will say for everyone who asks me what he smells like, I finally smelled him when I got the hug, and the truth is he just smells nice but not like anything special. So I think just his natural James smell is pretty good.
While James came to our table first, Gareth came to our table last in his rounds, by this time I was feeling very sorry for him. Since the first thing he did once he got there was start picking the chicken out of the tray (with his fingers, which was cute to me at least) and then he attacked the shrimp on our table. My guess is that no one feed the poor boy! Then he wasn’t able to perform his concert. All I wanted to do was give him a hug, I didn’t since I watched a couple of the James fans scare him a little since they had NO IDEA who he was, so I didn’t want to add to that. I did ask Gareth how he enjoyed Toronto and if he had gotten a chance to meet up with John while they were both here. He said he like Toronto a lot and that even though he went down to the studio to see John, he had just missed him. He only got to met up with him when they went to San Diego. He also talked about how much he hated Los Angeles and the best thing about it was leaving it (his words not mine). He said he found everyone really fake there (in Hollywood) and that people would only talk to you if they thought they could get something from you.
Then Steve came and got Gareth because he had one last suspired for James. He had James stand in the middle of the room and asked Gareth to lend us in singing him Happy Birthday. James stood up on a chair but was totally embarrassed by this and at the end told Steve to go
I also wanted to say that during the time in between James and Gareth, Steve came over and spent some time with us at our table. He also showed us a trick he could do, he can tie a cherry steam in a knot with his tough, some a few of us can do (including myself) but he could do it really, really fast!!! Like in a few seconds! So, go Steve!
The party ended around 10:00pm and I went back to my hotel since I was still really tired. Not sure when Lizz came in from party all night, but I am sure it was very late, the notty girl.
Sunday August 31, 2008


Once I was done I grabbed lunch, then went to get my last remaining autographs, there were a couple of Star Trek people I wanted to get. But I completely missed Avery Brooks, who I did not even see in the distance the entire convention. I did get my Buffy poster signed by Dominic Keating, he did the funny thing of saying when I rolled out the poster “Buffy, oh I was in that!” Well yeah, that is why I am getting you to sign it dude! He also said that Sarah’s nose was altered for the poster, because that was not her real nose. Actually that was pretty funny. Then I got Dean Haglund to sign my X-Files poster, he was the last of the Lone Gunmen I needed. He did make a joke about the fact that the other never personalized it for me and that they suck, but he would because he was the best!



Once I was done I checked out the dealer room and even bought a couple of things, including the Small Favor Audio book. I also found Karen at the Firefly Cargo Bay stall and gave her back her video camera. But I was still tired so I headed back to my room for the night, had to miss the Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, done in the Rocky Horror style. I was told later that it was really, really good so I am sorry to have missed it.
Monday September 1, 2008
Last day of the con and I had to be in line super early. It was last chance to get a signing from Laurell K. Hamilton who writes the Anita Blake book series and whom I really wanted to see/meet and get a signature. Even though I was super early, the line was already about 20-30 people long. But after a long wait I in fact, did get my book signed. Only one, since she committed to doing everyone in the room about 100 people but in order to do that she would only sign one each and wouldn’t do any pictures (crap!). She was very sweet and when I got up to her she told me she liked my necklace, then tried to remember what it was, but she confessed she was too tired and it wasn’t coming to her. I told her it was a Druid pentagram and she said, “that it!” The I told her I was a practicing Druid and quick as could be she replied “Well, when are you going to stop practicing and just do it!” At which I laughed! And told her that was a really good one!
After this, I checked the walk of fame one last time (no James, thought it looked like he just left). And there wasn’t really anyone else left. I picked up my remaining pictures from Froggy, said Good Bye to everyone (mostly) and Lizz and I checked out the dealer rooms one last time before going back to the hotel, so I could check out. Lizz was staying another night.
Then I was off, back home. Though I will say my plane was laid 3 hours, I got in super late (and I still had to be at work the next day). Poor hubby had to stay up to come get me which was very nice, but the again I did give up Nathan Fillion for him, sooooo…
Well that is it. Hope everyone enjoyed the report.
Monday September 1, 2008
Last day of the con and I had to be in line super early. It was last chance to get a signing from Laurell K. Hamilton who writes the Anita Blake book series and whom I really wanted to see/meet and get a signature. Even though I was super early, the line was already about 20-30 people long. But after a long wait I in fact, did get my book signed. Only one, since she committed to doing everyone in the room about 100 people but in order to do that she would only sign one each and wouldn’t do any pictures (crap!). She was very sweet and when I got up to her she told me she liked my necklace, then tried to remember what it was, but she confessed she was too tired and it wasn’t coming to her. I told her it was a Druid pentagram and she said, “that it!” The I told her I was a practicing Druid and quick as could be she replied “Well, when are you going to stop practicing and just do it!” At which I laughed! And told her that was a really good one!
After this, I checked the walk of fame one last time (no James, thought it looked like he just left). And there wasn’t really anyone else left. I picked up my remaining pictures from Froggy, said Good Bye to everyone (mostly) and Lizz and I checked out the dealer rooms one last time before going back to the hotel, so I could check out. Lizz was staying another night.
Then I was off, back home. Though I will say my plane was laid 3 hours, I got in super late (and I still had to be at work the next day). Poor hubby had to stay up to come get me which was very nice, but the again I did give up Nathan Fillion for him, sooooo…
Well that is it. Hope everyone enjoyed the report.