why Dragon*Con is super
Sep. 4th, 2007 11:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedimara77In this post, I listed my Dragon*Con events.
Friday:
I had to go to work on Friday because I didn't have enough time to take the whole day off, and Philip had meetings in the morning. I left work at 11:30, ate, and packed all my stuff. Philip got to my apartment and we left for Atlanta around 1 pm.
The drive was okay, except for the 30 minutes of traffic we hit while merging onto I-75 from Florida's Turnpike. I drove all the way to Atlanta and we hit more traffic about 20 miles out of the city. I was very annoyed and Philip did his best to calm me down. Finally we got to the hotel (we stayed at the Hilton) and there were tons of nerds out and about! I love Dragon*Con, lol.
After checking in and putting all our stuff away, we left for the Hyatt to pick up our badges. We got lost on the way but luckily Carl, who was with Alli, noticed me and Alli pointed me in the right direction. Of course everyone in the line had S names so my line was pretty long. After getting our badges we were both very hungry so we went to the Food Court and met up with Smitha (aka![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
andorus). She was one of my roommates at C3 so it was cool hanging out with her again, especially since she had been in Japan for 2 years. We chatted for awhile, looked at the schedule and maps, and then walked Smitha back to her car (she lives in metro Atlanta so she drove in every day). Her car had been booted so we waited with her, and then she dropped us off at our hotel. Philip and I were pretty tired so we went back to the room to sleep.
Saturday:
I woke up at 9 and got ready, then left for the Walk of Fame, where all the celebrities were. I wanted to get Timothy Zahn's autograph. He was doing signing at 11:30, and my friend Crysta (akachristmasjedi) was going to be there, too. Smitha called me wanting to meet up, so I waited for her outside the Walk of Fame, and then she showed up with Crysta and her husband. I had never met Crysta before, even though I've known her online for over 7 years. She was dressed up as Mara Jade, which was pretty awesome. :)
I also bumped into Alli and her friends in front of the Walk of Fame.
Anyways, we looked around the Walk of Fame for awhile, then waited in line for Zahn's autograph. He showed up early and we were one of the first people in line, so we didn't have to wait very long. He is so nice and gracious. I told him that I wasn't reading the new books, but if I was, I wouldn't be reading them after certain recent events. (I had missed his panel on Friday but Crysta told me all about it, and he said he was livid about the certain recent events.) He thanked me and told me to write to Del Rey because they listen to the fans. I got my picture taken with him and Crysta dressed as Mara.
Then we parted ways and I met with Philip in the Hilton, because I wanted to drop off my book Zahn had signed and get something to eat. We both went to the Hyatt and I went to the Star Wars EU panel (with Zahn) while Philip went to see a reading by Michael Shermer (Philip's new boyfriend). The Zahn panel was pretty cool, and there was another woman who wrote the Essential Guide to Alien Species, and it was interesting hearing what she had to say. Unfortunately they asked for people not to talk about spoilers for the last two books, so we didn't get to hear Zahn's opinion of certain recent events. He did say that he doesn't like characters dying in Star Wars, and he likes to read Star Wars and think "I wonder how these characters are going to get out of this situation," not "I wonder who is going to die." I agree and disagree with him. I think some character deaths are good but it's getting too dark, IMO. I got to ask him a question, which was what sort of guidelines Lucasfilm gave him for the Thrawn trilogy, and he said none. He has no plans for a new Star Wars book, but if he is asked to write one he will propose a sequel to Allegiance, in which the Hand of Judgment are kidnapped by Thrawn and start the beginnings of the 501st.
After the EU panel I went to find Philip, who was still in the panel, and took his picture with Michael Shermer.
I wanted to go to the Star Wars 30 years panel with the actors, so I met up with Crysta and her friends outside the ballroom. While waiting my phone rang, and it was Philip who was also in the panel with Smitha. They came over to join us. I thought the panel was fun; it was interesting hearing how the actors got their parts in Star Wars. Matt Wood (the voice of Grievous) told a great story about how he got the part. He was a sound engineer at Lucasfilm, and he was recording actors and mixing their voices who were auditioning for the part. George Lucas kept saying no to all the actors, and Rick McCallum was getting frustrated. As a dare, Matt recorded his voice and submitted it as "A.S." He forgot about it, and later Rick called and said that George loved the recording from "A.S." Matt looked down the list with all the information and couldn't find "A.S.", and then he realized that it was him. He told Rick, who told George, and then George called him and laughed about it. My version of the story sucked, but it was pretty funny, especially Matt's impression of George.
After that panel, Philip, Smitha, and I walked through the Art Show, then the Dealer and Exhibit Halls. I didn't buy anything, but saw some t-shirts I liked. Then we went back to the room to chill out, and then went to the Skeptics vs. Believers panel (one of the guests was Michael Shermer who Philip is in love with now).
After that, we decided to skip some of the 7 o'clock panels and go to dinner instead. We went to Benihana and there were lots of people in costume there, including a Buddy Christ at the table next to us.
After dinner we went back to the room again to hang out, then we walked Smitha to her car, then Philip and I spent time at the space and science panels in the Hilton. I saw part of the "How to get to Mars without killing ourselves" panel, about the effects of space travel on the body. It was interesting but I knew most of that stuff already. Then we went next door where there were dancing Tesla coils.
Then we went back to the room to sleep.
Sunday:
Sunday morning I woke up at 8 am and headed out for the Hyatt and the Harry Potter panel as soon as I got ready. There weren't many people on the street or in the hotels, so I thought that I might have left too early, but sure enough there was a line already formed when I got there. Luckily they let us into the ballroom soon because the it was the first panel of the morning. I saved a seat for Smitha and she showed up a little while later. The panel was a lot of fun, and they (James and Oliver Phelps and Matthew Lewis) were all very charming and funny. And of course James and Oliver were sooooooooo freaking hot. I love them so much. The best part of the panel was when they were talking about looking forward to filming Deathly Hallows and they were trying to avoid spoilers. Oliver (George) said, "I'm really earing up for that one." LOL!
After the panel Smitha and I went back to the Hilton because I wanted to go to the Dealer Hall to buy a t-shirt. Philip called me because he had locked himself out of the hotel room, so I was nice and let him in. He came with us down to the Dealer Hall and stopped by the Skeptics booth to drool over Michael Shermer some more. I bought my t-shirt (Support Cedric Diggory!), and then I helped Philip pick out a science/math t-shirt. He spent so long picking one out so I called him a woman.
We went back up to the room to put away our stuff, then I left to go to the James Marsters panel. I didn't know the other two guests, but I enjoyed the panel anyway. James is very funny and of course, so hot. He sang "All Apologies" and quoted from Macbeth. It was really hot, lol.
After that panel I went to get in line for the Stargate panel. Of course the line was already around the block. Thankfullydragonbetween spotted me so I jumped in line with them. The Stargate panel was fun, but to be honest I didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else did. I didn't like the "megapanel" format. I like panels more when there's only a few guests. Plus, the sound was really bad in the beginning, which was a pain in the butt. It was entertaining, but I don't think I'd go to another Stargate panel unless it was only a few guests. (Please forgive me, theemdash.) I did, however, like the fact that Michael Shanks said that he liked ice hockey when he first got cast, mainly because my Jack/Daniel story involved them watching ice hockey. ;)
After that panel I went back to the hotel because I was beat and needed to be by myself. Philip showed up a little while later and we watched TV. Around 5:15 I went over to the Hyatt to attend the Classic Cartoons panel, which Smitha moderated. I didn't know much about the cartoons but I thought it was a good panel.
After that Smitha and I went to the Food Court for dinner. Emily (nasturtium) showed up later on and hung out with us for awhile, and Philip showed up as well. After dinner, Smitha, Philip and I went to Star Wars trivia. I will not speak of this, lol. It just made me more determined to do better next year. Plus, Michael Stackpole was one of the judges and he asked the question that got me out of the game, so it was okay.
After SW Trivia I wanted to go to the Stargate games, so we found the track room and saw the end of Stargate Family Feud. It was pretty fun and "McKay" was a very good host. After that we walked Smitha to her car and then spent the rest of the night in the science panels. The space track had a link up to the Kitt Peak telescope, and we got to see the "pillars of creation" from the Eagle Nebula, which is the most famous photograph from the Hubble. It was pretty cool. We also walked over to the Marriott, because Crysta said she was going to be hanging out in her Mara costume, and I wanted to say good-bye. Unfortunately, we didn't see her, but we did take lots of cool pictures. After that we were pretty tired so we went back to the hotel room.
Monday:
We didn't have anything planned for Monday, so we got up around 9 and then checked out. We got all of our stuff to the car, but I wanted to go through the Walk of Fame one more time. Luckily, I did, because I noticed that the Harry Potter people were taking pictures!
(Side note: Most of the big names in the Walk of Fame were doing photo ops, which meant that you had to pay an extra fee in addition to the autograph fee in order to get a picture with them. I hate this. I don't mind paying $20 to meet some people, but I want to get a picture out of it, too! So, after hearing about the photo ops, I decided that I didn't want to pay to meet people without getting a picture.)
I quickly jumped in the short line and met James and Oliver, and then Matthew. They were all very gracious. I told James and Oliver that I couldn't wait until Deathly Hallows and that the "certain moment" made me cry. I told Matthew that I missed Neville all through Deathly Hallows and was very excited when he came through the portrait. All of this can be summed up in one sentence: The Phelps twins are so hot.
The twins and I.
Matthew Lewis and I.
After this we left Atlanta and all the nerdiness. It was very sad. I made Philip drive most of the way. We got back to Orlando a little before 6, ate, and then went home to chill. It was a great weekend, and I can't wait for next Dragon*Con!
Here's some other random pictures from the con:
Hermione, Ginny, and really good Harry:
A really pretty Padme nightgown costume from ROTS:
The cutest Padmes:
Philip and a Night Elf (from World of Warcraft):
A Quidditch player (I love these costumes!):
Spider-Man guarding the Marriott:
Crazy Mullet guy:
More WoW characters:
Another Wow person (I liked the exclamation point):
Me and Smitha (a very blurry pic, don't you feel like you are on drugs?):
Philip joins the Ghostbusters:
Philip and some dude from Mortal Kombat (I think):
The first Walter Sobchak:
The second Walter Sobchak:
Emperor Palpatine:
Robots in diguise:
Friday:
I had to go to work on Friday because I didn't have enough time to take the whole day off, and Philip had meetings in the morning. I left work at 11:30, ate, and packed all my stuff. Philip got to my apartment and we left for Atlanta around 1 pm.
The drive was okay, except for the 30 minutes of traffic we hit while merging onto I-75 from Florida's Turnpike. I drove all the way to Atlanta and we hit more traffic about 20 miles out of the city. I was very annoyed and Philip did his best to calm me down. Finally we got to the hotel (we stayed at the Hilton) and there were tons of nerds out and about! I love Dragon*Con, lol.
After checking in and putting all our stuff away, we left for the Hyatt to pick up our badges. We got lost on the way but luckily Carl, who was with Alli, noticed me and Alli pointed me in the right direction. Of course everyone in the line had S names so my line was pretty long. After getting our badges we were both very hungry so we went to the Food Court and met up with Smitha (aka
andorus). She was one of my roommates at C3 so it was cool hanging out with her again, especially since she had been in Japan for 2 years. We chatted for awhile, looked at the schedule and maps, and then walked Smitha back to her car (she lives in metro Atlanta so she drove in every day). Her car had been booted so we waited with her, and then she dropped us off at our hotel. Philip and I were pretty tired so we went back to the room to sleep. Saturday:
I woke up at 9 and got ready, then left for the Walk of Fame, where all the celebrities were. I wanted to get Timothy Zahn's autograph. He was doing signing at 11:30, and my friend Crysta (aka
christmasjedi) was going to be there, too. Smitha called me wanting to meet up, so I waited for her outside the Walk of Fame, and then she showed up with Crysta and her husband. I had never met Crysta before, even though I've known her online for over 7 years. She was dressed up as Mara Jade, which was pretty awesome. :) I also bumped into Alli and her friends in front of the Walk of Fame.
Anyways, we looked around the Walk of Fame for awhile, then waited in line for Zahn's autograph. He showed up early and we were one of the first people in line, so we didn't have to wait very long. He is so nice and gracious. I told him that I wasn't reading the new books, but if I was, I wouldn't be reading them after certain recent events. (I had missed his panel on Friday but Crysta told me all about it, and he said he was livid about the certain recent events.) He thanked me and told me to write to Del Rey because they listen to the fans. I got my picture taken with him and Crysta dressed as Mara.
Then we parted ways and I met with Philip in the Hilton, because I wanted to drop off my book Zahn had signed and get something to eat. We both went to the Hyatt and I went to the Star Wars EU panel (with Zahn) while Philip went to see a reading by Michael Shermer (Philip's new boyfriend). The Zahn panel was pretty cool, and there was another woman who wrote the Essential Guide to Alien Species, and it was interesting hearing what she had to say. Unfortunately they asked for people not to talk about spoilers for the last two books, so we didn't get to hear Zahn's opinion of certain recent events. He did say that he doesn't like characters dying in Star Wars, and he likes to read Star Wars and think "I wonder how these characters are going to get out of this situation," not "I wonder who is going to die." I agree and disagree with him. I think some character deaths are good but it's getting too dark, IMO. I got to ask him a question, which was what sort of guidelines Lucasfilm gave him for the Thrawn trilogy, and he said none. He has no plans for a new Star Wars book, but if he is asked to write one he will propose a sequel to Allegiance, in which the Hand of Judgment are kidnapped by Thrawn and start the beginnings of the 501st.
After the EU panel I went to find Philip, who was still in the panel, and took his picture with Michael Shermer.
I wanted to go to the Star Wars 30 years panel with the actors, so I met up with Crysta and her friends outside the ballroom. While waiting my phone rang, and it was Philip who was also in the panel with Smitha. They came over to join us. I thought the panel was fun; it was interesting hearing how the actors got their parts in Star Wars. Matt Wood (the voice of Grievous) told a great story about how he got the part. He was a sound engineer at Lucasfilm, and he was recording actors and mixing their voices who were auditioning for the part. George Lucas kept saying no to all the actors, and Rick McCallum was getting frustrated. As a dare, Matt recorded his voice and submitted it as "A.S." He forgot about it, and later Rick called and said that George loved the recording from "A.S." Matt looked down the list with all the information and couldn't find "A.S.", and then he realized that it was him. He told Rick, who told George, and then George called him and laughed about it. My version of the story sucked, but it was pretty funny, especially Matt's impression of George.
After that panel, Philip, Smitha, and I walked through the Art Show, then the Dealer and Exhibit Halls. I didn't buy anything, but saw some t-shirts I liked. Then we went back to the room to chill out, and then went to the Skeptics vs. Believers panel (one of the guests was Michael Shermer who Philip is in love with now).
After that, we decided to skip some of the 7 o'clock panels and go to dinner instead. We went to Benihana and there were lots of people in costume there, including a Buddy Christ at the table next to us.
After dinner we went back to the room again to hang out, then we walked Smitha to her car, then Philip and I spent time at the space and science panels in the Hilton. I saw part of the "How to get to Mars without killing ourselves" panel, about the effects of space travel on the body. It was interesting but I knew most of that stuff already. Then we went next door where there were dancing Tesla coils.
Then we went back to the room to sleep.
Sunday:
Sunday morning I woke up at 8 am and headed out for the Hyatt and the Harry Potter panel as soon as I got ready. There weren't many people on the street or in the hotels, so I thought that I might have left too early, but sure enough there was a line already formed when I got there. Luckily they let us into the ballroom soon because the it was the first panel of the morning. I saved a seat for Smitha and she showed up a little while later. The panel was a lot of fun, and they (James and Oliver Phelps and Matthew Lewis) were all very charming and funny. And of course James and Oliver were sooooooooo freaking hot. I love them so much. The best part of the panel was when they were talking about looking forward to filming Deathly Hallows and they were trying to avoid spoilers. Oliver (George) said, "I'm really earing up for that one." LOL!
After the panel Smitha and I went back to the Hilton because I wanted to go to the Dealer Hall to buy a t-shirt. Philip called me because he had locked himself out of the hotel room, so I was nice and let him in. He came with us down to the Dealer Hall and stopped by the Skeptics booth to drool over Michael Shermer some more. I bought my t-shirt (Support Cedric Diggory!), and then I helped Philip pick out a science/math t-shirt. He spent so long picking one out so I called him a woman.
We went back up to the room to put away our stuff, then I left to go to the James Marsters panel. I didn't know the other two guests, but I enjoyed the panel anyway. James is very funny and of course, so hot. He sang "All Apologies" and quoted from Macbeth. It was really hot, lol.
After that panel I went to get in line for the Stargate panel. Of course the line was already around the block. Thankfully
dragonbetween spotted me so I jumped in line with them. The Stargate panel was fun, but to be honest I didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else did. I didn't like the "megapanel" format. I like panels more when there's only a few guests. Plus, the sound was really bad in the beginning, which was a pain in the butt. It was entertaining, but I don't think I'd go to another Stargate panel unless it was only a few guests. (Please forgive me, theemdash.) I did, however, like the fact that Michael Shanks said that he liked ice hockey when he first got cast, mainly because my Jack/Daniel story involved them watching ice hockey. ;) After that panel I went back to the hotel because I was beat and needed to be by myself. Philip showed up a little while later and we watched TV. Around 5:15 I went over to the Hyatt to attend the Classic Cartoons panel, which Smitha moderated. I didn't know much about the cartoons but I thought it was a good panel.
After that Smitha and I went to the Food Court for dinner. Emily (
nasturtium) showed up later on and hung out with us for awhile, and Philip showed up as well. After dinner, Smitha, Philip and I went to Star Wars trivia. I will not speak of this, lol. It just made me more determined to do better next year. Plus, Michael Stackpole was one of the judges and he asked the question that got me out of the game, so it was okay. After SW Trivia I wanted to go to the Stargate games, so we found the track room and saw the end of Stargate Family Feud. It was pretty fun and "McKay" was a very good host. After that we walked Smitha to her car and then spent the rest of the night in the science panels. The space track had a link up to the Kitt Peak telescope, and we got to see the "pillars of creation" from the Eagle Nebula, which is the most famous photograph from the Hubble. It was pretty cool. We also walked over to the Marriott, because Crysta said she was going to be hanging out in her Mara costume, and I wanted to say good-bye. Unfortunately, we didn't see her, but we did take lots of cool pictures. After that we were pretty tired so we went back to the hotel room.
Monday:
We didn't have anything planned for Monday, so we got up around 9 and then checked out. We got all of our stuff to the car, but I wanted to go through the Walk of Fame one more time. Luckily, I did, because I noticed that the Harry Potter people were taking pictures!
(Side note: Most of the big names in the Walk of Fame were doing photo ops, which meant that you had to pay an extra fee in addition to the autograph fee in order to get a picture with them. I hate this. I don't mind paying $20 to meet some people, but I want to get a picture out of it, too! So, after hearing about the photo ops, I decided that I didn't want to pay to meet people without getting a picture.)
I quickly jumped in the short line and met James and Oliver, and then Matthew. They were all very gracious. I told James and Oliver that I couldn't wait until Deathly Hallows and that the "certain moment" made me cry. I told Matthew that I missed Neville all through Deathly Hallows and was very excited when he came through the portrait. All of this can be summed up in one sentence: The Phelps twins are so hot.
The twins and I.
Matthew Lewis and I.
After this we left Atlanta and all the nerdiness. It was very sad. I made Philip drive most of the way. We got back to Orlando a little before 6, ate, and then went home to chill. It was a great weekend, and I can't wait for next Dragon*Con!
Here's some other random pictures from the con:
Hermione, Ginny, and really good Harry:
A really pretty Padme nightgown costume from ROTS:
The cutest Padmes:
Philip and a Night Elf (from World of Warcraft):
A Quidditch player (I love these costumes!):
Spider-Man guarding the Marriott:
Crazy Mullet guy:
More WoW characters:
Another Wow person (I liked the exclamation point):
Me and Smitha (a very blurry pic, don't you feel like you are on drugs?):
Philip joins the Ghostbusters:
Philip and some dude from Mortal Kombat (I think):
The first Walter Sobchak:
The second Walter Sobchak:
Emperor Palpatine:
Robots in diguise:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 07:03 pm (UTC)I am so jealous :P
Glad you had fun though...some Fab costumes
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 09:01 pm (UTC)Also, I totally blame not taking many questions on Chris. That man just likes to talk.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 10:14 pm (UTC)And, I want Philip's derivers t-shirt.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-08 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 12:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 12:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 05:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 12:05 pm (UTC)