I got some reasonably good photos out of this weekend, and many that came out just about useable after extensive use of Paint Shop Pro. First and most importantly:
Yes, I met the DemiGod! Stan is a really, really nice guy. I cannot say this enough. He spent all of Saturday cramming in as much fan interaction as humanly possible. He signed autographs, he talked, he did photos with anyone who asked. The man has stamina. He stuck with the autograph queue after all the other guests had left and he is just the nicest guy.
By the way, I think I'm not usually *quite* that pale. Being that close to Him makes vertical something I really have to concentrate on :-) And the t-shirt he is holding is one of my 'Richie's swimming in the River Denial' shirts, one I had just given him.
I wrote up my con report in chronological order, I'm going to cut and paste it into here. Do not expect me to remember much of what happened on Saturday. I was so wowed by meeting Him I had pretty much run out of wow for meeting Peter Wingfield, which in any other context would have been a huge cool thing, but I was too busy like trying not to faint from really actually meeting Stan. So, next con, I will try and like notice there are other guests there. This time I didn't do so well at that bit ;-)
Okay, in chronological order:
The night before the con I created the Horsehugs of the Apocalypse. Five little computer graphic characters:
I printed out five sets of them. At the time I couldn't decide if they were funny or not. I hope they are.
Printer ran out of ink. bad. The only denialcon stuff I had printed out was half a dozen flyers and three posters I did to test ink colours and layout. I decided not to worry and pack. Then re pack. Then double check everything. Then I go to bed. I wake up before my alarm clock goes and am scarily efficient getting up. I mean, I’m going to be in the same room as * Stan * in a few hours, how can I sleep?
Got to Birmingham all on time, cool. The hotel didn’t have a room for a couple of hours. I got there at 11 and the room was at 2, and it was raining. Okay, I can handle this, I’m in a whole new place with new and un plundered SF and comic shops. Spent three hours getting happily lost, asking directions, getting lost again, wandering off the little map, wandering back on the little map, and finally getting Nostalgia and Comics. Looked around downstairs, nothing I totally needed. Headed upstairs to the back issues department.
There it was.
Justice League International issue 24.
Cue 'Hallelujah!' chorus... I have only been looking for this particular comic for about six years. Happy dance! Okay, I know, not Highlander related, but I now have every JLA, JLI, JLE and annual between the relaunch after crisis and the most recent relaunch, except JLA 104 and two #2 annuals. This is a very cool thing for me.
Checked in, got my room. Tried to sleep for a few hours but the hotel room was without doubt the noisiest I've ever been in. They had this faulty extractor fan they couldn't stop when the kitchen was open, and that room was pretty much useless except for the small hours of the morning. Last thing I will say about that hotel is I will not be going back there unless there is another Chronicles there. Nothing else could drag me back.
Got my registration badge, got my stuff set up in the dealers room on Janet's table. I still have many t-shirts left, everyone was too busy to buy stuff apparently.
First event of the weekend was the ROG list party. I lurk on that list so I went in and watched all the Methos bits along with them. There is something very reassuring about being in a room full of people that snigger at the same bits you do. I also got to see all the bits of the episode 'Methos' that had him in. I haven't actually seen that episode before. Methinks it would make more sense with the rest of the plot attatched, but the man looks good.
After that the ROG lot had to leave and the MTAS party was scheduled to start. Turned out they had set up in a much more comfortable but theoretically locked room across the way (how it got unlocked I’m not sure I want to know :-) ). So I helped carry some stuff through and rearrange the tables so they were around the edges instead of the middle and someone (I met many many people but learned um like one name) phoned the hotel to be American at them and demand chairs. Which worked.
Here are some other MTAS party pictures. MT himself is in some of them somewhere at the back.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the MTAS have the best parties. Tons of people, lots of black leather, a bunch of clan denial people in red. I told everyone that would listen about my minicon. I left the poster next to the beer on the theory that everyone would see it there.
Note the Rat cake on the table. Later they were handing out pieces of tail.
There was much handing out of buttons and clip on badges and red gloves and things. I rather lost track of who gave what. Susie, Mary Ellen and Alis definitely gave out things. I found places on my shirt for all the new badges and had the MTAS thing clipped to my collar.
Me at the MTAS party wearing all the stuff I acquired this weekend. This is my last sighting of my Clan Denial armband :-( If anyone found it, it has my name on it. I think tis gone for good tho...
The badges were a sort of lost/found notice for Stan’s fan club, a red one that just said Clan Denial, one with Stan’s picture on that said Chronicles 99 across the top, and probably others I’ve forgot. I had already had to choose which badges to leave off, now I totally clanked when I breathed, let alone moved. There was also like a red tag with a motorbike engraved on it in silver. Cool. Oh, and there was a temporary tattoo, which itches, but it was the clan symbol so I left it on all weekend.
I got my minicon posters and went and asked where I could put them and stuck them in the lift and on a door to the main hall.
TOJtG had a video of Buffy clips to the song ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’ and it played pretty much on repeat as more people arrived and had to watch it. he also went round handing out leaflets for his vampire con (sounds like it will be cool but I cant afford to, um breathe let alone go). The video was cool but irritating cos I hadn’t seen any of the eps the clips were from yet. There was a bit of Angel working out shirtless. When that was about to come on the first time Andi was in the room he yelled ‘Andi- drool!’, which got her attention. :-)
The Marcus arrived. (I meant to write Then but this sounds good too) He was wearing a suit. Verrry nice. I’m still not entirely a fan of his (I’m in MTAS for the parties more than for him) but he definitely has style. He talked to a bunch of people. Someone (who I’ve met at two cons now and still don’t remember the name of oops) went over to and introduced himself then wandered over to where we were sitting and said ‘I’ve just committed the ultimate faux pas. I just asked Marcus who he was’. Heh heh. Someone else there for the booze perchance...
Around 10 someone (I think the Cold Squad people) had the room booked so the MTAS party had to move. Everyone help carry stuff up to someone’s quad room. I arrived practically last and there was much rearranging of luggage so there were places to sit. I perched on the bed right next to the door. Which had its bad points cos someone trod on all my toes walking across to where they were sitting. But it also had its very good point. I think the band were there (there were a bunch of blokes speaking German, probly a good bet that were them). Then Marcus arrived and there was only space right next to the door so he stood right next to me and played with my knees. Okay, okay, I had my shirt with the MTAS tag over my knees and he couldn’t quite see the name on it so he turned it round to read it. But the other way sounds better. I could tell he read it cos his lips moved. Then he stood and repeated it a few times with a puzzled expression trying to figure how to say it. His expressions are something else I mean he doesn’t just do anything only a little. He twists his face up and you have to grin too. I like him. Then he disappeared into the bathroom with Andi. I think they were looking at photos.
Someone got the whipped cream out and people started squirting it into their mouths, at each other, throwing gobs across the room, scraping it off clothing etc. I looked through a book of Clan Denial photos that got passed around. There were a couple of discussions about which huge bottle of booze belonged to which people. I’ve seen less drink in a supermarket. I don’t know half the names of the stuff in weird colours. Anyways, I finished all my lucozade (I don’t drink, I just get the hangovers) and went back to my room and was actually in bed by midnight (boring, but I had been awake since 5am on two hours sleep).
Saturday started at 8am. Clan Denial was meeting up for breakfast cos it would probly be our last chance that weekend. We went in the quieter restaurant and pushed a load of tables together. I sat at one end of the table feeling awful. Like I said at the time, if it really was the MTAS that made me feel that way in the mornings there would be murder done. I actually had fun at breakfast, it was a nice way to start the day. There were photos taken.
A few pictures of the Clan. I got more pictures of people at parties than I did of the famous guys even though I used up much less film on it. I got a huge number of photos of a hall full of the backs of peoples heads. Next time I guess I better buy the right camera for the job if I want to be able to see that far away.
Yes, this is me at breakfast taking a photo. Breakfast, as in AM, as in only dark if you happen to get up really early. I am not a breakfast person.
After that people were already queuing to get into the main hall for the opening ceremony. I bagsied most of a row for the clan by the simple expedient of stretching out on them. We were about five or six rows back, where the first three rows were for stewards and disabled only. Various clan members squeezed in at different times of the day, and others were up on the balcony (you could tell from the t shirts including the one hung over the front).
Various persons in red some of whom I know.
Opening ceremony. They introduced people. I’ll get the order wrong, but I think first it was writers, then Marcus? Then she said something about ‘at his first con’ so obviously that is Richard Ridings, right? Nope, she missed the word British. It was * Stan *! Yaaaaaay loudly!!
A quick digression about how I felt right then seeing him in person. I thought it wouldn’t be a terribly huge deal. I mean I met VP and JB and that wasn’t so huge, just very cool. I thought it would be comparable to that. Nope, this was more of a talking to David Duchovny scale thing, just seeing him walk out there in the flesh. And after I talked to DD when I phoned mum she thought something terrible had happened because my voice was so tiny and wobbly. It was like, he’s real! He’s here! So I was way out of it from that moment on. I have many visual memories of this bit of the con (well, one particular bit of this bit of the con), and I used up half my camera by the end of the opening ceremony, but don’t ask me what else happened. Some guests were on their way or working that morning or something. Then they announced an unexpected not on the programme guest, Michael J Jackson aka Sean Burns. So all the bits on the timetable that said Highlander panel were his Q&A sessions instead.
Then the guests filed out and the opening ceremony was over. I had to go get more film. I hurried, but I got back rather more than half way through Marcus & Valentine's Q&A.
Bother, I cant remember much of this at all. I think I was so waiting for Stan that everything else was extraneous, even though I like these guys. I think they answered questions I'd seen the answers to before as well. VP talked a lot more than MT. The con booklet says MT speaks ‘perfect’ English (the con booklet is great, btw. funny and explains everyone for the benefit of total newbies, and even funnier if you know more about the show. very cool, and with nice pictures.) Well he speaks English, but he does have his own personal spin on how the language works. Its kind of nice actually.
Actually, one thing I do remember that might not actually have been this Q&A was Val talking about how he would answer his phone and there would just be this really loud background noise of the bar, and then someone would laugh (he copies MT’s laugh, which is very individual). Then the guy on the other end would say ‘Hello, it’s Marcus’ (copies his accent) and VP says yes I know. So VP knows what MT’s favourite bar is. Also something about in Bordeaux Richard Ridings spent a lot of time in a particular Irish bar there, and one time he went in on his own and they asked where his friends were and he said they probably wouldn’t be there before the bar closed and they said that’s alright we’ll stay open, ‘which is unheard of’ says VP, impressed. I was there for like twenty minutes, they must have said more than that. But don’t ask me what.
Next, it was Stan’s Q&A. I think I used up a whole camera taking photos at the beginning of this. Way cool. Someone had a tape recorder going so hopefully there will be a proper transcript but here is what I remember.
Stan came out to lots of yelling and clapping and loads of flashes going off at once and it was soooo bright in there (not the brightest it got all day, scarily enough, but like daylight levels in the whole hall from the cameras aimed at Stan!). I was snapping away like crazy and I really, really hope some of these photos come out.
The closest I got to a useable picture of Stan on stage. He is smiling.
Stan was up there with a microphone and the flashes are dying down. He said hi and said so should we have some questions or should he just go into his routine (I think he like did a little dance? I could only see bits of him). He said that would get pretty boring pretty quickly. (not so Stan! some of us could watch you sit there and smile for hours quite happily)
Stan had lots of interesting stuff to say. I’ll not get it in order. He said that Highlander was past and his involvement would be with cons now and he was looking forward. He said he had written a script for a pilot (when someone asked him later what characters he would like to play he said it would be cool to play this character he’s written. Isn’t it cool to know he’s got the same writing bug most of us do? :-) ) He said it was funny and um action too?
what else. how he got into acting: when he was like 4 he did a Campbells soup commercial and that campaign was like a big thing in America and someone told his mom she should try to get him in it so she did. he was very disillusioned by the experience because they didn’t use soup just hot water that steamed and he was little and looking forward to the soup. he tells it much better than I do.
Apparently after this ad some manager people were trying to turn him into the macauly culkin (sp) of his day but his mom got him out of that which was good. how he got started acting in college was he needed one humanities credit. so he did this acting course and he wasn’t taking it seriously and he wasn’t filling in his journal like he was supposed to and when he was supposed to go hand it in he got his pink slip to say he was ill and went along later and his teacher got really mad at him and blackmailed him into auditioning so he wouldn’t flunk the course and told him he wasn’t taking it seriously and that was bad because he had talent. which was something he hadn’t heard before. (I am just thinking how much more cool it is hearing him say it than writing or reading it. which is obvious but anyways...) So he went and auditioned and got a part and ended up finding out he enjoyed it. He managed to support himself through the summer by acting and that was great.
He didn’t do much of the motorbike stuff in the series because Richie was supposed to be such a hot driver and he weren’t. He did a few drive by bits. He mentioned the play he’s been in. He talked about his fan club and how it is definitely a legitimate operation and how people have complained to him that the highlander store hasn’t sent stuff and that was really bad and he would talk to Davis about that.
he said his career so far has been exploiting his youth, when he got started there was a real need for people that looked like teenagers but were old enough there was no work permit problem and they could like be reliable and learn their lines and stuff. He said when he started on Highlander he was young and he pretty much did what everyone said to. He said his nay-eve-it-ay (sorry, I liked the way he said it) helped him get through but also hurt him. by the time they got to Paris he was unhappy and he started making suggestions and holding his ground. he reckons that as long as your suggestions are about the character then people listen. He also says it really helps to have a solution not just a complaint. He said you have to go with your gut when you are acting, you have to go with your instincts. He says its okay to have a reputation as a stickler.
On Friends he was brought in at the last minute to replace someone that had been someone’s friend but they really sucked. He had a disagreement about how to say something and his way got the laugh and after that they let him do things his way. He was naked and he doesn’t know if she was because there was a lot of like taping the sheet up to make sure nothing showed but he thinks she was.
Someone asked and he said He’d never been directed by Adrian. Officially. He joked that was to preserve their friendship.
He said the bad part of acting is not acting, the down time between shows, because of going from being in front of the cameras and everyone concentrating on you back to ordinary life.
he talked about preparing for a role and he said that it is great to go around immersing yourself in their world, like following seals around for a weekend to prepare for JAG, but you don’t get the time for that so he didn’t. Its really about making yourself believe that you are in that situation. He said children are natural actors, you tell them to be someone and they just are that person.
He had a walk on part in some film I never heard of but someone made a note of the title and I think there are pictures up already?? And peter thinks his fans are bad like that.
After this Q&A I nipped out to the registration desk to give them my presents for the guests. You weren’t supposed to give them in the signing sessions because even if everyone took 30 seconds we would be there like weeks. Anyways, I meant to be good and I got out the two hugs I bought and the print outs of the horsehugs of the apocalypse and then Stan walked out. So I have his presents in my hand, I had to give them to him in person. It was Fate. and not me timing it on purpose at all. nope. ;-)
I actually talked to Stan. Reasonably coherently. I think. I cannot remember most of what I said at all. I remember he said thankyou. I don’t know what he thought of the horsehugs, but he recognised my email address !!! yikes. He knows me! I quickly mentally scan thru what I’ve said in email and, um, panic. I thought he might recognise it from the convention I was trying to do so I babbled about that for a little bit. My stutter was there but relatively under control. I just didn’t say anything too sensible. So then Stan gave the presents back to the desk to keep for him and he hugged me and I got a little kiss on the cheek!!!!!!! I remember more about him from when I was further away, I phase so much when he’s right there. My sense of touch has a very acute memory of this bit though. And smell.