Farpoint Report

[gonzai]

Ah yes, that Farpoint wrap up I promised…

 

 

Friday – Convention prep included taking my car to be washed at an automated carwash – and I forgot to remove the magnets first. I’m down two magnets now. And I decided I’d stop by an art/frame shop close to the con hotel beforehand, and it turns out they’re closing for good. (That’s Aaron Bros., BTW, they’re shutting down all of their East Coast ops.) Everything 50% off. I may have gone a wee bit wild on the art supplies.

 

I finally arrived at the con only 10 minutes after opening and proceeded straight to the art show. The new hotel (Crowne Plaza) immediately showed off some of its finer qualities – the art room had plenty of light, the music on the PA system was precisely my taste, and you could look at the carpet without throwing up. I managed to get my art up between socialization with other artists and headed to the lobby.

 

This is where the dealers room, fan tables and autograph areas were set up. It was also the weakest part of the con, I felt, because: it was crowded; it was very difficult to get from point A to point B; you couldn’t get through the dealers area without bumping another person, a display or both; and the dealers room was often closed, making it even harder to get around, esp to the hotel restaurant. But except for a lack of signage, I had no other gripes about either the hotel or the convention. Surprisingly smooth for a first go.

 

I found plenty of Alan Tudyk photos about, including a lovely full side view of him perched on the roof in ‘Death At A Funeral’. Stark naked. Yeah, that’s a photo of me I’d want sold to the public. But I bought it! And a couple others. Failed, however, to find a Weevil action figure. Also saw Aprilvalentine and her new furchild, Sasha, who is just adorable, visited with some other folks, and then took in the Terminator panel. After Terminator, I went to the screening room where the theme of the weekend was ‘beginnings’ – the pilot episodes of all manner of fannish things. I watched the first ep of ‘The Adventures of Brisco County Jr’, which I’d never seen but oft heard about. I approved J I gotta get those DVDs! Took a trip through the art room now that it was ready to roll, bid on a necklace and a Theresa Mather original and noted I had a bid on a wood-burned stool I made. Then to the Supernatural panel and many half-arsed renditions of ‘Eye of the Tiger’, after which most of us wandered over to the USS Chesapeake’s party for snacks and conversation and poring over Anne & John’s very awesome photo book of their vacation in Australia, lucky them, before I conked out and went home.

 

 

Saturday – After some misadventures in trying to obtain breakfast, I rolled back in at the hotel. Turned out the hotel was providing concessions, to include breakfast items, in the lobby. I didn’t have to go hither and yon looking for food after all. The first panel I attended was on ‘The Dark Knight’, and ‘Dr Who’ was in the same room immediately after. To my chagrin, Alan was signing autographs at a table in the hallway directly opposite the Who panel. I was torn. Really torn. When the panel ended, it turned out Alan was going to come back to the hallway in half an hour, so I scooted off to pick up a book I’d ordered from kradical and made it back in time to play with Sam, the Donation Dog. (Sam is a yellow lab who works for Search & Rescue.)

 

Now covered in dog hair, I got in line for Alan. As it turns out, he doesn’t remember me or the gifts I gave him at Spamalot. Nerds. But we had a nice chat, I had my picture taken with him and he signed photos for both me (the naked pic!) and my mother (not naked pic.) Off I scampered again, this time to get  terri_osborne  to sign kradical's book and catch some of Krad’s readings before setting up camp in the main ballroom for Alan’s panel. I managed to snag a 3^rd row seat and some pretty good photos early on, then got in line to ask him a question. I spent the rest of the panel in that line! Alan brought the Nathan Fillion version of the gag reel with him and played it for us, and he had gifts for everyone who asked him a question. I asked him who his favorite non-Wash character was, the answer was Simon from DAAF. I was the last question, it was charity auction time then and Alan added many items to the auction, including his expired SAG card that he had never signed. Oops. I did manage to film the auction, but holding up the camera was murderous on my shoulders. After the panel I headed out to the autograph line and hung out with TD, Dave & Heather, and their...whatever it was.

I picked up autographs from Harve Bennett and more from Alan, and showed him a couple of the pics I took at the panel as they were quite good if I daresay so myself.
 
I also had Peter David and puppetmaker40 sign Krad’s book. I then tracked down jslinder  in the game room and went to dinner in the hotel with him and his wife Pam. The three of us took a final sweep of the art room, and I still had the winning bids on both pieces with 15 minutes left in the auction; Jeff bid on two of my items. I went home then and fiddled with the computer for a while to produce my earlier post and a couple 8x10s of my best photo of Alan, then to bed.

 

 

Sunday – So early in the morning…I availed myself of the hotel’s Sunday brunch and ate a lot more than I usually do, but it’s been literally years since I’ve had French toast. Back to the art room where it seems I was outbid on the Mather in those last 15 minutes. FRAK! Still had the necklace though. I took down and packed up my art early to make life simpler for both me and the art show staff, then back to the autograph line. I got the photo signed by Alan and gave him a copy, then visited some more with krad & terri Osborne, then to the Life on Mars panel, which had turned into a ‘Lorenzo’s life in music’ panel by the time I got there. Very little show involved.

Afterward I paid for the necklace and formally checked out of the art show, watched a bit of the BSG pilot, and took a final sweep of the dealer’s room. Back to the big room for Alan’s second panel (I decided, painfully, to forego the BSG panel) and this time I had 2^nd row. But they ran the gag reel again early on in the panel, and never turned the lights back on, which my camera objected to.


This time Alan only had a few gifts, so he wrote down everyone’s question and then chose his favorite questions at the end for giving gifts. He also ran a bit OT and then signed in the hallway some more, so I went through the line again to bid farewell to him. I then dashed away home to pick up CJ and brought her back with me, leaving her in the car while I watched the amateur play and participated in (most of) the Lost panel. Then I had to to head out to take CJ to obedience and her graduation. Busy busy weekend!