Chicago Con - Report & Picture Post
Aug. 30th, 2009 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
switch842First off, all pictures have been uploaded here: Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Feel free to snurch any of the pics for personal use. Please ask before reposting anywhere, just so I know where they're going. I'll probably say yes. Unless, it's like a porn site or something. LOL
Anyway, on with the report!
FRIDAY
So, Friday started off pretty awesome for me. After getting through the registration line (where we were all punched by Mama Duck) and getting all the photo ops I wanted. We shopped a bit and then went for lunch before going back in for Gary's panel. I had marked on the schedule all the times when they were going to be showing videos so I could make sure I was in the auditorium so I didn't miss mine if they played like last year. So, we get to our seats, Gary does the "Welcome to the convention" bit and then calls my name!!! I, like, opened the convention. That was really pretty awesome. I felt like kind of an idiot up on stage talking about the vid, but everyone said I did fine. So, yay! :-)
Then we had Gary Paul Von Jones. Yes, that is his full and legal name. Want the story? I'm sure you do. :-) So, as part of his job he traveled back and forth between the US and Canada a lot. A few years ago, he kept getting pulled aside by Homeland Security/customs after they checked his passport. At first he was all worried, but it took like 5 seconds, and then he was on his way. Apparently his name, Gary Jones, is very popular and there are a few people that have had some trouble with the law. So, he just kept getting flagged because of that. Eventually, he decides he needs a middle name to help him get past this problem. He finally decides on Paul. So his wife gets all the forms and he fills them all out and gives them to his wife to turn in. A few weeks later, he gets all his official papers back and, um, well, there's something a little off. His new license says his name is "Gary Paul Von Jones." He had a woman in the audience come look at it, and yes. It does indeed say that. So, he asks his wife about it. Evidently, she thought "Gary Paul Jones" was too plain of a name and she added the "Von" on the forms before turning them in! Nice, wife, huh? LOL So, that was that and he hasn't had any trouble since then.
After Gary was Connor. The only thing I really remember specifically about his talk was his "Nasty Al" comment. He's apparently good friends with Misha Collins and mentioned he was on SPN. Then was all "What does he play?". Everyone started shouting "Castiel!" and "An angel!". Which, when it's that many people it's kind of hard to hear. So, he misheard Castiel and was all "What? Nastiel? I'm Nasty Al. I'm nasty on the inside." It had us SPN fans roaring!
Other than that, I just got an impression from him that he was just a really nice guy. He seemed really relaxed up on stage. Joking around a lot, having fun. It was really cool. Which showed up later than night at the karaoke party. Some girls were up singing Bon Jovi's Wanted: Dead or Alive. Some of the audience was singing along and getting into it, but I guess not enough. So, he hops up and starts singing along with them! It was great. There's a couple very blurry pictures of him in the links above. :-)
But before the karaoke was Starhole! The Stargate spoof with Gary and Dean Haglund. It was HILARIOUS! OMG. I have not laughed that hard in a very long time. If you're ever at a con where they're doing that, go see it. You will not be disappointed. Though you may be scarred after seeing Dean in a sports bra pretending to be Carter. That was slightly disturbing...
SATURDAY
Saturday was Michael and Amanda. *BEWARE - SOME SPOILERS FROM SPN SEASON 5 IN MICHAEL'S REPORT BELOW.
Michael was charming as always. He was in a really good mood this year. Joking and laughing a lot. It was nice to see him so relaxed. In answer to my question, he thinks he got to do everything with Daniel that he wanted. He would have like to delve more into Daniel's childhood and being an orphan. But that's not really something that would work on the show.
***SPOILERS***
Then Michael talked a bit about the episode of Supernatural that Lexa is in. She's in episode 4. Which is apparently the episode where Dean goes to the future!! When he was on set, he said it looked a lot like the video game Left For Dead, if any of you play that. Guess it's sort of a post-apocalyptic thing. Definitely sounds very interesting.
***END SPOILERS***
Then there was Amanda. The lovely Amanda. Um, I don't really remember too much about her talk. Just that she was very lovely and nice and awesome. Check the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sg1_debrief comm for more specific reports. I hope. :-)
Then the dessert party with Amanda, Gary & Dean. I will say, off stage Gary is a lot quieter than I was expecting. On stage, he's great, hilarious, very funny. Off stage, he seemed quite reserved. If you saw him in the hall and said hi, he'd just sort of smile and nod back. Which is fine, really. I guess just not quite what I was expecting from him.
Anyway, I had a lovely moment with Amanda at the dessert party. Courtesy of Erin. Who seemed to feel it was her duty that weekend to tell everyone I was with child. :-) Yes, I am pregnant. Some of you know that. I've been keeping updates locked to a select group since it is a rather private thing. But since half the cast of Stargate now knows, I'd figure I'd share with everyone else, too. I'm still going to keep most of the updates on all that locked down. But, there you go. So, anyway. Amanda comes to our table, talks a little bit goes around the table with everyone and Erin's all "She's pregnant!" :-P LOL So, Amanda holds out her hand, I take it. I held hands with Amanda. Had a brief little chat about the wonder that is pregnancy and motherhood. I will mention then at the end of her talk, she made me a little teary. The last time she was in Chicago for a con was 2004 (my first con) and she had been pregnant with Olivia. She had lost two previous pregnancies and she said that it was all the love in the room at that con that she felt let Olivia stick around. So, yeah. That made me a little teary. :-)
So, after the dessert party, we were going to have our annual lobby party, but I was so freaking exhausted that I went to bed! *sigh* It was like 11:30. I feel so old....
SUNDAY
MORE SPOILERS FOR SPN SEASON 5 BELOW IN THE PAUL & RACHEL TALK.
Sunday was Atlantis day! At the breakfast we had Paul and Rachel. Sadly, my pics of them really didn't turn out. But they were lovely. The morning sort of devolved into this competition of which table could cheer loudest when the guest arrived. We eventually gave Rachel a standing ovation when she arrived. I think we won. :-) LOL
Paul and Rachel were on stage together for their chat. They really have this brother/sister thing going on. Paul kept mocking Rachel. She kept hitting him. At one point, Paul called Teyla a slut. LOL It was in reaction to a question that was something like, if Teyla hadn't gotten pregnant by what's his name, would she have gotten together with Sheppard? And Paul was all, "Who's to say she didn't?" Or something like that. The whole thing was very amusing. :-)
***SPOILERS***
I asked Paul about his Supernatural role. He is in episode 5, which is the one with Paris Hilton. Sadly, he has no scenes with her. :-( He mentioned his characters name, but I forget what it is. Sorry. Later, someone asked him if he survives longer than Kavan did in his episode. Happily, he said yes. :-) But considering Kavan died in the opening teaser, it really doesn't take much to survive past that. So, he could still die in the episode, but it's at least later than that.
***END SPOILERS***
THEN WE HAD JOE!!!!!!!!!! Finally! He showed up! LOL His panel started a little late, since the photo ops ran late, which pushed back the start of his cocktail party thing. But that was OK. It happens. People seemed to have much more serious questions for Joe than at the other panels. It didn't seem as light-hearted and jokey as previous panels. But it was still good. It was also the only panel that seemed to have the most groan-worthy questions. Not that they were bad, but they were the questions that really only matter to the question asker. No one else is going to care about the answer kind of type thing.
Let's see. The use of Johnny Cash at the end of "Vegas" was a surprise. Joe had been wanting to use Johnny Cash for awhile, but there was never really anywhere to put it in. Cooper mentioned they were looking into it, but Johnny Cash is $$$$$$$, so they might not get it. But they did and Joe was happy. :-D
And that's all I really remember. If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask and I'll go from there. :-)
Anyway, on with the report!
FRIDAY
So, Friday started off pretty awesome for me. After getting through the registration line (where we were all punched by Mama Duck) and getting all the photo ops I wanted. We shopped a bit and then went for lunch before going back in for Gary's panel. I had marked on the schedule all the times when they were going to be showing videos so I could make sure I was in the auditorium so I didn't miss mine if they played like last year. So, we get to our seats, Gary does the "Welcome to the convention" bit and then calls my name!!! I, like, opened the convention. That was really pretty awesome. I felt like kind of an idiot up on stage talking about the vid, but everyone said I did fine. So, yay! :-)
Then we had Gary Paul Von Jones. Yes, that is his full and legal name. Want the story? I'm sure you do. :-) So, as part of his job he traveled back and forth between the US and Canada a lot. A few years ago, he kept getting pulled aside by Homeland Security/customs after they checked his passport. At first he was all worried, but it took like 5 seconds, and then he was on his way. Apparently his name, Gary Jones, is very popular and there are a few people that have had some trouble with the law. So, he just kept getting flagged because of that. Eventually, he decides he needs a middle name to help him get past this problem. He finally decides on Paul. So his wife gets all the forms and he fills them all out and gives them to his wife to turn in. A few weeks later, he gets all his official papers back and, um, well, there's something a little off. His new license says his name is "Gary Paul Von Jones." He had a woman in the audience come look at it, and yes. It does indeed say that. So, he asks his wife about it. Evidently, she thought "Gary Paul Jones" was too plain of a name and she added the "Von" on the forms before turning them in! Nice, wife, huh? LOL So, that was that and he hasn't had any trouble since then.
After Gary was Connor. The only thing I really remember specifically about his talk was his "Nasty Al" comment. He's apparently good friends with Misha Collins and mentioned he was on SPN. Then was all "What does he play?". Everyone started shouting "Castiel!" and "An angel!". Which, when it's that many people it's kind of hard to hear. So, he misheard Castiel and was all "What? Nastiel? I'm Nasty Al. I'm nasty on the inside." It had us SPN fans roaring!
Other than that, I just got an impression from him that he was just a really nice guy. He seemed really relaxed up on stage. Joking around a lot, having fun. It was really cool. Which showed up later than night at the karaoke party. Some girls were up singing Bon Jovi's Wanted: Dead or Alive. Some of the audience was singing along and getting into it, but I guess not enough. So, he hops up and starts singing along with them! It was great. There's a couple very blurry pictures of him in the links above. :-)
But before the karaoke was Starhole! The Stargate spoof with Gary and Dean Haglund. It was HILARIOUS! OMG. I have not laughed that hard in a very long time. If you're ever at a con where they're doing that, go see it. You will not be disappointed. Though you may be scarred after seeing Dean in a sports bra pretending to be Carter. That was slightly disturbing...
SATURDAY
Saturday was Michael and Amanda. *BEWARE - SOME SPOILERS FROM SPN SEASON 5 IN MICHAEL'S REPORT BELOW.
Michael was charming as always. He was in a really good mood this year. Joking and laughing a lot. It was nice to see him so relaxed. In answer to my question, he thinks he got to do everything with Daniel that he wanted. He would have like to delve more into Daniel's childhood and being an orphan. But that's not really something that would work on the show.
***SPOILERS***
Then Michael talked a bit about the episode of Supernatural that Lexa is in. She's in episode 4. Which is apparently the episode where Dean goes to the future!! When he was on set, he said it looked a lot like the video game Left For Dead, if any of you play that. Guess it's sort of a post-apocalyptic thing. Definitely sounds very interesting.
***END SPOILERS***
Then there was Amanda. The lovely Amanda. Um, I don't really remember too much about her talk. Just that she was very lovely and nice and awesome. Check the
sg1_debrief comm for more specific reports. I hope. :-)Then the dessert party with Amanda, Gary & Dean. I will say, off stage Gary is a lot quieter than I was expecting. On stage, he's great, hilarious, very funny. Off stage, he seemed quite reserved. If you saw him in the hall and said hi, he'd just sort of smile and nod back. Which is fine, really. I guess just not quite what I was expecting from him.
Anyway, I had a lovely moment with Amanda at the dessert party. Courtesy of Erin. Who seemed to feel it was her duty that weekend to tell everyone I was with child. :-) Yes, I am pregnant. Some of you know that. I've been keeping updates locked to a select group since it is a rather private thing. But since half the cast of Stargate now knows, I'd figure I'd share with everyone else, too. I'm still going to keep most of the updates on all that locked down. But, there you go. So, anyway. Amanda comes to our table, talks a little bit goes around the table with everyone and Erin's all "She's pregnant!" :-P LOL So, Amanda holds out her hand, I take it. I held hands with Amanda. Had a brief little chat about the wonder that is pregnancy and motherhood. I will mention then at the end of her talk, she made me a little teary. The last time she was in Chicago for a con was 2004 (my first con) and she had been pregnant with Olivia. She had lost two previous pregnancies and she said that it was all the love in the room at that con that she felt let Olivia stick around. So, yeah. That made me a little teary. :-)
So, after the dessert party, we were going to have our annual lobby party, but I was so freaking exhausted that I went to bed! *sigh* It was like 11:30. I feel so old....
SUNDAY
MORE SPOILERS FOR SPN SEASON 5 BELOW IN THE PAUL & RACHEL TALK.
Sunday was Atlantis day! At the breakfast we had Paul and Rachel. Sadly, my pics of them really didn't turn out. But they were lovely. The morning sort of devolved into this competition of which table could cheer loudest when the guest arrived. We eventually gave Rachel a standing ovation when she arrived. I think we won. :-) LOL
Paul and Rachel were on stage together for their chat. They really have this brother/sister thing going on. Paul kept mocking Rachel. She kept hitting him. At one point, Paul called Teyla a slut. LOL It was in reaction to a question that was something like, if Teyla hadn't gotten pregnant by what's his name, would she have gotten together with Sheppard? And Paul was all, "Who's to say she didn't?" Or something like that. The whole thing was very amusing. :-)
***SPOILERS***
I asked Paul about his Supernatural role. He is in episode 5, which is the one with Paris Hilton. Sadly, he has no scenes with her. :-( He mentioned his characters name, but I forget what it is. Sorry. Later, someone asked him if he survives longer than Kavan did in his episode. Happily, he said yes. :-) But considering Kavan died in the opening teaser, it really doesn't take much to survive past that. So, he could still die in the episode, but it's at least later than that.
***END SPOILERS***
THEN WE HAD JOE!!!!!!!!!! Finally! He showed up! LOL His panel started a little late, since the photo ops ran late, which pushed back the start of his cocktail party thing. But that was OK. It happens. People seemed to have much more serious questions for Joe than at the other panels. It didn't seem as light-hearted and jokey as previous panels. But it was still good. It was also the only panel that seemed to have the most groan-worthy questions. Not that they were bad, but they were the questions that really only matter to the question asker. No one else is going to care about the answer kind of type thing.
Let's see. The use of Johnny Cash at the end of "Vegas" was a surprise. Joe had been wanting to use Johnny Cash for awhile, but there was never really anywhere to put it in. Cooper mentioned they were looking into it, but Johnny Cash is $$$$$$$, so they might not get it. But they did and Joe was happy. :-D
And that's all I really remember. If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask and I'll go from there. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-31 12:53 am (UTC)Perhaps next year I'll try taking notes for a better report if I go. :-)