CON-ODYSSEY: CopperCon - Thursday, August 28, 2008

CON-ODYSSEY: CopperCon - Thursday, August 28, 2008
The hotel was playing some unfriendly games. I was semi-awakened by a phone call from the hotel staff asking if I knew where to find "Mr. Sweeney", a member of "my party". I should have taken them to task, but I was too sleepy, so I just mumbled that I didn't know any "Mr. Sweeney".

I was then awakened again by a call from the hotel staff telling me that my room and taxes were not paid for. This is a pretty serious thing to tell a guest of the con. And in near-immediate hindsight, I realized it was a ploy on the part of the hotel to try to use me to force the hand of the Convention Staff to pay them for my room (and other guest rooms) in advance as opposed to at the end of the convention (which is typical). Anyway, this statement woke me up pretty quickly. The guy tried to tell me that the hotel needed my credit card number by 1pm. I had been prepared to go downstairs that morning to give them my credit card number for extras like in-room movies and room service, but not for room and tax which is supposed to be covered by the con. I made it clear that if the hotel insisted on this, I would simply check out. I could hear the guy back-pedaling on the phone, as he realized that his ploy might backfire. He'd lose out on five nights of registration, including the one night I had already spent there. He tried to fumfer, telling me I should talk to "Mark" on the constaff to get it straightened out. I told him I didn't know any "Mark" and that this wasn't an issue I was going to "deal" with at all. If the hotel wanted me to leave, I'd leave.

Of course, there was an element of bluff on my part as well. I didn't really want to leave. So I called my guest liason Shane, who told me not to worry about it. Half-an-hour later he called me back and said it was dealt with. But I determined that I wouldn't give my credit card to the hotel for ANYthing including room service. I'd pay cash for those charges at the end of my stay. And I also determined not to have any charges at the end of my stay. It was somewhat petty, but I didn't want to give any money to this hotel.

12:30pm - Jennifer L. Anderson and Patrick Toman (chairpersons of the Gathering 2009) arrived and we hung out for a bit.

1pm - David Hedgecock joined us, and we went to IHOP for lunch. I had the International Passport Breakfast with Eggs overeasy, bacon, sausage, hash browns, Swedish Pancakes and Tomato Juice.

4pm - Jen, Patrick and I went to see Pineapple Express. Not a great movie, but I have to admit I laughed a lot. So I'd give it a thumbs up.

6pm - Dinner at the Macaroni Grill with Jen, Patrick, David and Lanny Fields (multiple Gathering attendee). I had a Caesar Salad, coke and lasagna.

8pm - David and I had our first Gargoyles panel. Middling attendance, but we had fun.

9:30pm - Returned to my room.

11:30pm - A pretty impressive storm with impressive lightning displays, 100mph winds and HAIL! I was watching television, when the entire hotel blacked out. I watched the storm for awhile and then tried to read by the light of my cellphone...

MORE TO COME...

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Sunday, June 29, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Sunday, June 29, 2009

1am - Returned to my room and ate an apple.

2am - Went to sleep, which for me is early.

8:30am - Wake up call.

10am - Had the Gargoyles and Bad Guys panel with Karine. Fewer questions about Gargoyles #9 then I would have thought, but it was fun.

11:30am - Gargoyles Biology and Culture panel w/Lynati & Kimberly. A perrenial favorite of mine. Not sure anything quite as revelatory as last year in Tennessee, but it was fun.

1pm - Spidey panel w/Keith, Thom and Jennifer. Again, no major revelations, but I like talking Spidey. Next year we're probably going to do a series of Spidey panels at the L.A. Gathering 2009.

2:30pm - Went for stir fry lunch with Sammy, Jennifer, Thom, Adam and Laurean. Good stuff. Afterwards, a couple of us went to Jamba Juice.

4pm - Though we were told we didn't need to get back to judge the Iron Artist competition until 4pm, by the time we arrived it was all over. The medium was macaroni and the theme was the Ultra-Pack.

4:30pm - Sat down to watch the end of the auction, and then we had our signing.

6pm - Banquet: Salad, roll, Chicken, potatoes, carrots, asparagus, tart. I sat with constaff mostly: Nikki, Seth, Sammy, Susan, Jennifer, Karine, Patrick, Greg, Rebekkah. During the Trivia Contest, Matt led his table to victory.

9pm - Masquerade. Fewer entries every year. I hope we can reverse that trend. But what was there was pretty cherce:

Best Canon:
1st: Hunter/Aaron
2nd: Shari/DTaina
3rd: Archmage+/Chip

Best Original:
1st: J.W./Jennifer Rynmoor
2nd: Gypsey/Noel Leas

Cutest Couple: Ranmaru & Arazia

Thom Adcox Memorial Award: Justin as Odin

No Gorelisa award this year.

Best in Show: Patrick Fisher as the Tourist Gargoyle

Also, Karine had a kick-ass Hunter costume.

There was dancing next. I even swing-danced Jenn-Bob right off a table.

MORE TO COME...

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Friday, June 27, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Friday, June 27, 2009

10:30am - Wake-up call gets me up. I slept for nearly twelve hours. Guess I was tired.

11:30am - I head up to the con to collect my box of RadioPlay scripts. Say hi to some people. Tour the dealer's/art room, which is a work in progress at this point.

12:00pm - My first panel of the con(s). Thom and I hold the Voice Acting Seminar that we've done in previous years. Phoenix gets up to play Demona and does a great job. We also do the Griff, Leo, Una, Goliath scene and a couple different runs at a Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Symbiote, Uncle Ben scene. Everyone does pretty darn well.

1:30pm - First round of auditions for the Radio Play, w/Keith, Thom, Josh and Jennifer helping with the casting and Sammy manning the door. Vox stops by to give me the crochet'd Goliath she made for me. It's pretty amazing, as is the Hunter she's made for Karine and all the rest. Tthe one that makes me laugh the most is the Owen... which was the last to sell. No accounting for taste.

3:00pm - Mug-A-Guest. I remember having fun, though none of the questions stand out in my memory at the moment.

5:00pm - Opening Ceremony. (It's been pointed out to me that it's a Ceremony not multiple Ceremonies.) We opened with a full hour plus of music videos. Susan then stepped up to offer opening remarks and intros. Jen pitched G2009 in Los Angeles (check out gatheringofthegargoyles.com). Susan thanked her staff, including Nikki, Jennifer, Greg and Patrick (who am I forgetting?). Then I went up to do my schpiel and show the now-familiar pieces: the pitch, the promo, the New Olympian and Dark Ages pitches, the Bad Guys reel (much of which is now canon thanks to the comic) and "The Last". The fans have made great progress on "The Last" - but there's still more work to be done. If you're interested in helping, contact Vashkoda.

After opening ceremony, it was time for a Blue Mug Productions Dinner. Edmund Tsabard, was out whoring, so I sat in with Jennifer, Mara and Karine (who has since had to bow out of the project, much to our sorrow). We got a lot done/decided in preparation for the Monday panel. Plus the food was great: Edimame, Rangoon, Dumplings, Miso soup, Shrimp Pad Thai. Then a stop at Ben & Jerry's after dinner for a Banana/fudge/Cherry Garcia sundae.

I stopped by my room to call home, then came back downstairs to the bar (Indigo... I think the restaurant I mentioned yesterday was called Blue or something). Later a small group of us (Susan, Jen, Mara, Karine, Seth, Sammy, Rebecca, Gore, BrooklynX, Patrick, Thom & John) went up to Susan's room to hang out and laugh.

MORE TO COME...