Harvester of Eyes writes...

I should have put a header on the last entry. As you may have guessed, it was GATHERING 2008 JOURNAL, PART ONE. So here's:

GATHERING 2008 JOURNAL, PART 2.

June 27, 2008
Woke up surprisingly early, largely due to the fact that my stomach was growling. After I showered, I ran downstairs and out to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee and something frosted. Went back up to the room after getting breakfast, and watched Leo's DVD of "They Live" with the roomies. I don't think that Taina had ever seen the legendary sunglasses fight.

Shortly after 10 AM rolled around, I ran down to the ATM in the lobby, but aborted that mission when I saw the $2.50 surcharge. Taina and I then tried unsuccessfully to get an elevator, and wound up taking the stairs to the Ninth Floor. Then we started searching for the James Room, taking time to laugh at all the funny room names (she got a big kick out of "Noyes Room"). We picked up our registration packages, and then I mingled for a bit. Brooklyn X and I exchanged horror stories about our flights. It also turned out there was a fun map in the registration package, which showed a comic store nearby.

The roommates were planning to the city, but I had been to Chicago twice before. So I went down to search for the comic store, and actually managed to find it. The owner had the "Gargoyles" comic in with the children's comics, which I found amusing. I bought the one Gargs comic they had (#6), and also bought another graphic novel of the Lucifer series ("Wolf Beneath the Tree").

I attended the voice-acting panel after that, which had more of a seminar feel than it did last year. After that, I made my first trip to the Dealer's Room. I bought a T-Shirt with Crzydemona's "Evil Shouldn't Look This Good" picture, so I can now die a happy man. I looked at some of the other shirts (wound up buying another later on in the weekend), and checked out some of the crocheted Gargoyles characters that were for sale.

After that, I started talking with Bishansky, Aaron, and Mara after Mara noticed my GIR shirt. A large group of us eventually decided to go to Chilis: myself, Mandi, Brooklyn X, Revel, Aaron, Mara, Emambu, Kayote, a con virgin whose name escapes me, and two people making a documentary on the Gathering.

I was reminded why I don't go to Chilis very often. It's a great place, but there's too many things on the menu to choose from. I flipped through it back and forth about five times before deciding on mushroom jack fajitas. Tried to follow on the conversation, which mostly involved random movie and cartoon quotes. Mara mentioned something to the filmmakers called a "gar-gasm," but I didn't hear her explanation of it too clearly. After lunch, we stopped on the walk back to the hotel and started chatting about more stuff. Then the rain started to pick up.

I went back to the room to drop some stuff off, and then went down to the 2nd Floor for Opening Ceremonies. Got lost on the stairs. As I was going down, I met Gorebash and Karine coming up, who informed me the stairs were a dead-end. So we all went back to the third floor, where we managed to catch an elevator. Opening Ceremonies only ran for about two hours. And Greg Weisman didn't break anything this time. But he did almost forget the reel for "Atlantis: The Last." After they were over, I finally made my withdrawal from the CVS around the corner. I ran into Thom Adcox in the lobby on the way back, and he seemed to remember me, which was cool.

Met up with the roommates again after that. Taina told me about how she'd gotten her picture taken with Keith David. We hung out in the room for a bit and watched some "Samurai Jack" episodes. I tried unsuccessfully to find the Subway after that. I passed it yesterday while scoping out the neighborhood, but could not remember where it was (and it was listed on the map, but I was looking in the wrong spot). Made a few circles around the block while smoking my cigar, and then gave up. It was a nice night, but a little humid. They also appeared to be setting something up on Church Street.

I went back to the hotel room and wound up eating leftovers for dinner while we watched Leo's brother's DVD of "Heavy Metal." We mostly MSTed it, especially the last half-hour. I think they watched "Flesh Gordon" after that. I wasn't really interested, so I just read (and threw in the occasional smart-ass comment) until I nodded off.

June 28, 2008
Again, I awoke after six hours of sleep without even trying to. Went down to Dunkin Donuts again for coffee and a muffin, and chatted for a bit with a vendor. Turns out the thing they were setting up for last night was an art fair.

Taina was still in the shower when I got back, and Leo and Doppleganger were nowhere to be found. So I took Leo's DVD of "Total Recall" out and put in "Invader Zim." We watched the first episode of that (my roomies came back as it was warming up), and then we headed up to the 9th Floor. Vox told me that she was giving discounts if someone were to buy a "couple." So I bought Xanatos and Fox as gifts for my goddaughter and her brother. Then I checked out some artwork. Mara had a number of good ones up for bid. It was hard for me to bid on just one.

After that, I searched for the Fed Ex Kinko's and found out it no longer existed. So I scouted out where the Post Office was. Mission partially accomplished, I hiked up to the Con Suite. Initially, it was just Seth and Sammy in the Suite with Gargoyles: Season One going in the background. Had a nice chat with Seth about Spectacular Spider Man, and then a few more people wandered in. I ran downstairs twenty minutes before the 1:00PM panel on weapons was supposed to start, and entered the art fair to grab lunch. Decided on a grilled chicken skewer over lo mein noodles, then ran upstairs while snacking to catch the end of "Awakening."

After that, I went to the weapons panel, which was a lot of fun. I decided to stick around for Karine's panel on character perspectives and dimensions. I always like watching artists work, though it makes me jealous the way they make it look so easy. I just don't have the gift. But I'm gifted in other things. Like sarcasm.

After that, I went into the Dealer's Room, and had a fun chat with GregX about Venture Brothers. He's memorized more of the Monarch's dialogue than I have. Eventually, it moved out into the hallway, where we chatted with Matt until it was time for the Radio Play. This one surprised me, mostly because I agreed with Matt that I didn't think it could be formatted for Radio Play. Won't say anything more, other than I learned something unexpected.

During the Radio Play, we could hear a storm raging outside, but the room was windowless. After the play was over, I went out onto the balcony and saw that the Art Fair below had taken a good beating. So after a stop off in the room, I went down to ground level for some close-ups of the devastation. Saw some outhouses that got knocked down, as well as a huge pile of tent supports that were being stacked in an intersection.

Anyway, I went to the lounge next to the hotel after that to get my sushi fix. A little pricey, but I love sushi. After dinner, I saw Matt and his friend Ryan hanging around outside. I chatted with them for a bit, until they went off to dinner with another friend, so I went back to the room, where I found the roomies watching more "Samurai Jack." At one point, I went to the lobby to chuck some trash, and ran into another con-goer named Shadow Wing. I had an interesting discussion with him, but it got cut short since the ride he was waiting for arrived.

I went back up to the room, watched another Jack episode, and then decided to grab some ice cream from Ben and Jerry's before going upstairs to the Blue Mug a Guest. This year,I managed to stay up to the end, and boy was it fun. I saw an amusing Navy ad that I need to look for on Youtube. Also, the location where Keith David bought his cigar is a dark secret. He could tell me, but then he'd have to kill me. We also saw Thom do his impression of Goliath and Elisa having sex, and got Greg's more, um, honest opinions on a few plot points in the movie "Iron Man."

By the end of the Mug, I was a bit buzzed on Vault. After it broke up, GregX briefly told me about his dinner, and then I crammed into an elevator with Thom Adcox and about nine other attendees, and proceeded down to the room for rest.

To be concluded...

Harvester of Eyes writes...

June 25th, 2008
Woke up before my alarm. Funny how I never seem to be able to do that on weekdays. Got up, grabbed a shower, bowl of rice krispies, and some coffee. Made sure I'd packed everything, and then sat and visited with my grandparents for a bit, who'd come down from Maryland because my grandfather was having lumbar surgery. After that, I hit the road.

The flight at Richmond International was only delayed by about an hour, but it was okay. I had a good novel to read ("Count Zero," the second book in William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy). I got my first good omen when we boarded, and my window curtain refused to open. I got my second good sign when the captain announced they were delaying takeoff due to maintenance issues. The clincher occurred after we arrived at O'Hare. My seat was close to the cockpit, and I overheard the captain loudly remark that he was glad they were getting out of that jet and onto another. Whatever. I arrived with my organs intact.

I went to pick up the rental after I'd claimed my bag. The woman asked me if I wanted to upgrade from a PT Cruiser to a Mustang for only six bucks. Gee, that was a tough choice. Sadly, there was a lot of traffic on the road to De Kalb (I was spending Wednesday night with my aunt and uncle), so I couldn't really test the horsepower. The sound system was nice, though.

I had a nice visit with my aunt and uncle. It was fun trying to name a movie that Uncle Dave might have seen Keith David in (best I could do was "Crash." For some reason, "Platoon" never came into my mind). Also played some Star Wars: Battlefront on Xbox Live with my cousin (shot Ewoks with a sniper rifle. Yay!), and I received word that my grandfather made it through surgery. We ate a late dinner, but it was delicious. My aunt made rattatouille and spinach crepes with cous cous (and strawberry shortcake with ice cream for dessert). After that, I drank some wine while we watched my cousin's DVD of "Batman Begins." Went up to bed after that.

June 26, 2008
I rose, ate breakfast, and departed from my aunt and uncle's house at about 10ish. Turns out the Mustang isn't very fuel efficient. So I think the extra six bucks wasn't a fair trade, after all. I put gas in the rental, dropped it off, and after following the wrong signs at O'Hare for a bit, managed to find the shuttle service. The shuttle driver didn't seem to talk much, despite my efforts to start conversation. But I still gave him a tip when we got there.

I ran into Greg Bishansky in the lobby, and we were both checking in at the same time. As I dumped my bags in my room, he called and invited me to hang out for a bit before other con staff began arriving. So I went upstairs to his room. He and I had a nice chat (interrupted briefly when Leo arrived, and I went downstairs to give him a key) interspersed with viewings of various animated things as well as some clips from the Colbert Report.

After that, he needed to prepare for the arrival of the other staff, so I went downstairs, unpacked some essentials, took another minute to laugh at the ludicrous prices of the snacks available in the room, and then went down to CVS to buy more affordable provisions. I picked up some snacks and caffiene, and when I got back to the hotel, bumped into Bishansky and Leo in the lobby, so I stopped to chat. In the process, I was regaled with amusing tales from past cons.

I finally got my stuff up in the room after getting a call from my cousin, who's working at Northwestern for the summer, a block and a half from the hotel. After stashing the goods, I went back downstairs, where Greg was still waiting for the con staff, and chatted with him (mostly about the sorry state of our flights) until my cousin showed up. He and I then found a Panera's not far from the hotel, and got some sandwiches (I had a Bacon Turkey Bravo, not my usual).

We parted ways after we ate, since he had more RA meetings. I made a second trip to CVS (forgot to get bottled water the first trip), then hit a wine and cigar store, respectively. The proprietor of the latter, an elderly Indian man, simply said, "we close in five minutes. Find what you want fast."

Anyway, after that, I went back up to the room, and had a fun chat with Leo about movies and Robot Chicken. Then I realized I had no spoons with which to consume the pudding I bought. So I took another trip down to CVS. Doppleganger and DTaina arrived shortly after I got back. We tried for a while to hook up Taina's PS2 in order to watch DVDs. For some reason, the volume on the TV was a little weak. Figures. They charge through the nose for everything else, and the TV doesn't work. Still, swankier than the last hotel (which was not without its charm). We turned on the subtitles while we watched Leo's DVD of "Orgazmo," which was pretty funny. Then we all drifted off after that.

To be continued...

Andres D. writes...

When will season two of the spectacular spiderman be released?

Kerry writes...

My con journal. ^..^

Thursday

After work, I packed up the last few things I needed and headed off to pick up Ethan from class. Some final preparations were in order while we waited for Vox to get home, and then we were off.

Friday

Vox drove through the night; I had the morning shift. We arrived at the hotel at about noonish, checked in and headed for the dealer's room to set up the small army of dolls. Those that were to be guest gifts were given out: Thom got a Lexington, Greg and Keith each got a Goliath, and the con-chair received the mascot dolls. Karine was so ecstatic to receive her Robyn Canmore (in her Bad Guys Hunter outfit) that I believe it never left her side the rest of the day. Paula, of Mystick Waboose, was also there with her very amusing t-shirts and lovely clothes. We had fun talking to her last year, and this year her company was just as good. ^..^

Spent the rest of the time before Opening Ceremonies working on fleshing out a sketch I'd brought with me, but that was put on hold as soon as the festivities began. I was surprised to see the number of new people there: it seemed like a third of the room had never been to a Gathering before. As usual, everything was entertaining, and we even got to see the music video entries this time. Unfortunately, we got so hungry we missed out on this year's showing of "The Last."

Wandered off to find some good food, and boy did we find it (good food seemed to be everywhere). That night it was the Celtic Knot, a very reasonably-priced restaurant with dishes based, naturally, in the British Isles. Vox had a very light salmon covered in pesto atop a bed of spinach, Ethan had something that was the equivalent of beef stew in a pastry, and I had marinated London broil with fingerling potatoes and broccoli. So tasty! After that we shuffled back to the room and promptly fell asleep.

Saturday

I wasn't planning on doing the radio play this year, so my day was pretty easy. Hung out in the dealer's room, gabbed a bit, and inked the sketch. Round about lunchtime we decided to group up for food: took Paula and a couple of other people in search of reasonably priced sushi. Sashimi Sashimi had it, and it was fabulous. Best dragon roll I've ever had, and we had it again for lunch a time or two. ^..^

The radio play went well considering the reformatting that had to be done. I like the story better in nonlinear format, but that totally wouldn't have suited the play at all, and everybody did a great job on what Greg turned it into. ^..^ Dinner that night was fun. We followed a tantalizing smell to the FlatTop Grill, which is a place kind of like a Mongolian barbeque. All the raw ingredients and sauces are there to pile into bowls. If you want any extras (or have allergies), there are little plastic sticks you put into the bowl. Then they cook it on a giant hibachi grill, pour it all into a big red bowl, and bring it to you. And it was fabulous! They also had really good drinks. Their pomegranate lemonade was really tasty, and the pomegranate margarita was great, and we had a good laugh as the others partook of their signature beverage: the Horny Monkey. LOL Then it was on to the Blue Mug, which was hilarious and lasted until about 1am. After that we crawled back to the room for some rest.

Sunday

Up and back out to the dealer's room. By the end of the day, my pic had a background and was fully colored (thanks to the borrowing of a laptop for reference). The bio & culture panel was good again this year; we got a pretty full explanation of the mechanisms behind the gargoyles' eyes lighting up, among other things. Ran out for lunch, and then it was time for the Iron Artist competition. Theme: the Ultrapack. Secret Ingredients: uncooked pasta and glue! I handed out some paper and let people borrow my colored pencils, and we got furiously to work. After an hour of grousing, requests to hand things over, giggling, and pasta-smashing, people in the hallway were "kidnapped" for voting purposes. I didn't win, but it was definitely a fun thing to participate in, and I'll try to whenever we have one.

Ethan and Vox got all pretty for the banquet and dance; I would have, but I'd forgotten to bring anything nice (and I'm not sure any of it fits properly anymore >..< ). The food was pretty good, and the dessert was very good. Note to self: fruit tarts are yummy. Thom and Gorebash were at our table, so we did pretty well on the trivia, but eventually we fell to a Gargoyles 2198 question. It was fun seeing the staff come up with so many extra questions, though. We all knew so much that they ran out. ;P

The Masquerade was definitely a treat, as I didn't get to go last year (we had to bug out in the middle of the banquet). Plenty of good costumes and a fun time. The dance was okay, but the music wasn't really inspiring me, so after a couple of times on the floor I just watched. Then I got an invite for Uno and snacks in Thom's room, so of course I went. ^..^ That was great fun. I won once, the snacks were good, and we got to laugh at the television (and show Thom some very unmentionable internet pictures LOL). More staying up till 1am, then crashing.

Monday

Ran things around to make sure checking out wouldn't be a problem, then hit the Blue Mug Productions panel. I have to say that this will be a very interesting endeavor, and I think the fandom's prurience will be happily satisfied. :P

Then we bundled into the car and I began driving. The way home was more eventful due to missing a turn around some construction and other things, but eventually Vox took over and got us home in one piece. Dropped the others off home and dragged myself to my house, where I promptly collapsed into bed.

All in all, a good con, though I'm glad driving isn't an option next year. That was exhausting. It took me until yesterday to recover. x..x I look forward to seeing everybody again next year, and maybe this time I'll actually be in the art show instead of just looking at it.

KingCobra_582 writes...

My Gathering 2008 Con Journal, the conclusion.

SUNDAY, JUNE 29TH

Woke up. Showered. Went to the comic book panel, hosted by Greg W. and Karine. A fun way to kill an hour. Didn't really get anything out of it, but it was pleasant.

Killed some time at the library.

Returned to the hotel a little while and headed upstairs for the 'Spectacular Spider-man' panel hosted by Greg w., Jennifer Anderson, and Thom Adcox. Asked Greg (no pun intended) a couple of questions ('Will Harry return in season 2?' 'Will we have Spiderman DVD season sets, like Gargoyles?') but mostly I just sat and listened. There will be DVD sets coming soon, but not as a season compilation. More like those 3 episodes per volume kind that I generally tend to associate with Anime. Not that Spiderman is anime, of course.

Though now I'm pondering what an anime version of Spiderman would be like. Damn you, overactive imagination!

Didn't stick around for the live auction, but I returned to the Bonbright Room at 3:30 for Autograph Signing (I'd figured there would have been a anthology signing session. Boy, was I dead wrong.) and did... nothing. Boredom the entire time. Only one person had asked for my autograph, and that was in line for Radio Play auditions. And it was more of a 'you're here and I have my anthology, so I might as well ask' thing then a 'Thanks for writing this submission! You rock and I want your John Hancock!'

Eh, no sense complaining.

Joined A Fan, Ranmaru, Azariel (sp?), VidTheKid, and those 2 girls with the camera (the ones filming a documentary about the con) for the 8th annual Anti-banquet at Giordano's. Pizza was delicious, but rich, so I got full fast. Halloweenking had come in and asked if he could join us, and we said sure, but apparently the waitress had seated him elsewhere. Oh, well. If I ever go to Chicago again, for whatever reason, I definitely need to eat at Giordano's again. That pizza was like heaven. Not too saucy, delicious pepperoni, and the crust was flaky in a exquisite crunchy sort of way. Big thumbs up to them. If they have Giordano's in L.A., (though I somehow doubt they do) Greg, you should definitely go there. Assuming you like pizza.

Rained heavily. Again. What was it with Illinois weather??

The 4 of us (minus Hal and the girls) went back to the Orrington. Ranmaru and Azariel changed into their costumes in our room, and we headed down to Masquerade.

The Masquerade. Lots of picture taking. Got one with Ranmaru and Azariel, just b/c I hadn't had any taken of me yet and I wanted at least one. Kudos to Flanker for playing Odin and to the guy (girl?) who played 'The Gargoyle Tourist'. Kind of looked it could've been Brooklyn's grandma or something. :P

Lot of dancing afterwards, though I'm not enthused in that activity, so I just watched a lot. Wandered around the room in boredom and hoping to mingle. Eventually got caught up in Jeb's 'Mugen' video game he had set up in one corner of the room. I played such characters as Piccolo from DBZ, Naruto from, well, Naruto, Sonic The Hedgehog, and even Fat Albert. A decent sized crowd remained constant, and everyone alternated between watching participating.

I eventually started having trouble keeping my eyes open, so I called it a night and sluggishly dragged my tired ass upstairs. Comfy bed, how I have missed you.

MONDAY, JUNE 30TH

The last day was here. Fast and bittersweet. Some things never change. At least I've made a few new friends. :)

On my way out of the hotel, Thom got on my elevator and we were so busy talking that I forgot to pay attention what floor I got off at, and I couldn't get back on. My response? 'Oh, s**t.'

After all that, my first panel of the day (because it snatched my curiosity) was the 'Blue Mug Productions' thing, at 11:30, in the Bonbright Room, (as I write this, I'm suddenly thinking of Clue, for some reason. :P) hosted by Greg W., Jen Anderson, Karine, and Mara Cordova. They showed off some artwork, gave some character descriptions for their first online comic, plugged their new website (www.BlueMugProductions), and answered some questions. Sounded intriguing, and I approve. Trouble is, I kept thinking to myself (God, I must sound so cheap) that due to finances and my not splurging too often, I'd probably just look at the free stuff.

Closing Ceremonies. What I wouldn't have given for the con to have gone a little slower. Like I said, bittersweet. Some plugging for next year's con (back in L.A. so I am definitely gonna be there!) and the usual handshakes. Saluted Thom.

And, with that, the con was over.

For another year.

VidTheKid and I, having decided to skip the Navy Pier trip (how did that go BTW?), left right afterwards, the three of us having already packed up and checked out. Dropped A Fan off at O'Hare and drove home, stopping once for gas in Indiana. Had lunch at a Steak N' Shake (another highly recommended restaurant, though service can be a bit slow, from experience) outside Lafayette. We were several miles down the freeway when I realized I'd left my hat there (Doh!), but we decided it wasn't worth it. Price of gas was/still is 3 times as much as I'd paid for that dumb cap.

Tried twice to watch 'Futurama' with commentary on the portable DVD player. The first time the car was moving so much that the disc was skipping. The second time we tried, VidTheKid couldn't hear the audio. We gave up.

We eventually hit 70-West and followed it onto state route 142, following it home. It was after 11:00 PM when we finally ended our journey.

Another year, another fun con.

Until G2009 in L.A., good luck.

I'll watch for Spiderman season 2.

Revel writes...

So things began early Friday morning for Michele (Spacebabie) and myself. Sadly I miss the days we could drive 2 or 3 days across country to get to the hotel in our pimped mini van or other vehicle of choice. But working aound time at work can be difficult. Nevertheless we made due with an ungodly early United Airlines flight. I napped a little on the plane but was in the middle and the person next to me snored.

There were reports of bad weather moving into the Chicago area, in fact it was suppose to rain on and off all weekend. Apparently though we had the Cowboy pilot who did not care how much fuel he was going to use and sped up to get us in and on the ground before the weather moved in. Fine by me! So we got in, no with no problems, the bags came out early, the shuttle got us to the hotel, all without incident. There was a slight mess up at the hotel with the reservation, I had set it with my name and Greg Bishansky's name as well, but apparently they thought I was a no show and cancled me. We got it straightened out and bags stowed.

First order of business was of course to get signed in at the Reg Desk, always a great opportunity to see and chat with people you have not seen in a year. Which is really amazing how after a year, how great it is to talk in person with someone you should keep better tabs on, would be great to hang more often than once a year for 4 days. Anyhow, I next went and got my art, which thankfully all survived the trip perfectly intact. I only had 4 pieces to show but I was proud of all 4 of them.

http://revel8.tripod.com/id966.htm

http://revel8.tripod.com/id869.htm

http://revel8.tripod.com/id867.htm

http://revel8.tripod.com/id922.htm

I received a lot of good feedback and compliments for many artist I am in total envy of and respect. It took a lit to keep from just breaking out into SQUEES, but I maintained my professionalism. I checked out what others had brought and though the show was a bit small the work presented was as top notch as always. We just have really bad ass talented people in our little fandom.

A good number of us moved to the voice acting panel, which I have attended before but it is always fun, you get to hear professional tips and stories about things that can go on in the sound booth. I got to read a few lines as the Sybiote which was fun, not sure if I hit the part right but it was fun.
Next up was the Radio Play Auditions, it's gotten to a point that if Emambu and I DON'T audition we get all kinds of pleading looks, him more so than I, of course. I read for Elisa which I had not used her sheet before and acutally liked it quite a bit, they are smooth and easy lines to get some character behind male or female and even sound ok with a Scottish accent. I did get a part but that comes later.

Spacie was feeling sleepy and went to take a nap during auditions and after which a group of us went to Chili's for lunch I got the 4 mini burgers which were quite good. I then got scolded by Michele for not waking her up to go... oops (dork!) Opening Ceremonies is always fun, some of the videos were cut out this year, but they can be found on the DVD set (BUY THEM!) so it started with the fan made AMVs and then moved into the more Con exclusive materials and stories. I've seen and heard them 8 times now and still love it. Which once again, there were many con-virgins, now if we can just get some more repeats we are so golden.

Spacie was hungry and we decieded to try something different, some Indian food. Now I was still mostly full from Chili's but part of being at con is being social, so I settle for a soup and salad. Gside had a Lamb curry and michele had a chicken dish. It was good, very greasy but good. As with tradtion on the first day we went back to the hotel and hung out and caught up with long time friends, new peopel always welcomed to hang out as well. I think we went to bed sometime around 1am or so.

Todd Jensen writes...

In "Gargoyles"#8, Hudson at one point called Constance "Lassie" during the battle at Westminster Abbey. This fits his speech patterns, but I wondered if there was some additional significance to it.

In the original comedy proposal, the equivalents of the trio were named Coco, Amp, and Lassie. Constance and Staghart are nicknamed "Coco" and "Amp", as a reference to that. Was Hudson's use of the word "lassie" intended as a way to get all three of the original names into the story? It was a great way of doing so, since those who didn't know about the comedy development wouldn't even realize they were missing something (for the reason that I gave in the first paragraph).

Greg Weisguy writes...

Does your Red Tornado mini-series take place in the present, or is it set in the past relative to other DCU titles?

shoujax writes...

I've been a fan of this series since I was a little kid and it saw it on the disney afternoons. I'm 23 now and have bought the dvds. I know it's not likely but is it possible season 2 volume two will be released sometime within the next year or 2?

KingCobra_582 writes...

The Con, Day 1 and Day 2

FRIDAY, JUNE 27TH

The 1st day of the con. It went hella fast.

I didn't really do much, aside from poking around the Dealer's Room, auditioning for the Radio Play, (where I had read for
both Brooklyn AND Hudson) and attending the mandatory Opening Ceremonies. Nothing really new to say, if I may be frank,
since it was the same material (Bad Guys leica reel, early Gargoyles pitch, etc.) that seems to show every year, but I was
still entertained.

Went to the bar afterwards for a beer. My 2nd or so that whole day. Drinking it outside, even. What a great idea, Ed.
*eyeroll*

Bought a bitchin' $15 Yama shirt. Also put a bid on the 'Gargoyles Vs. Predator' piece.

SATURDAY, JUNE 28TH

Found out I wasn't cast in the Radio Play. Damn.

Oh, well. Can't win 'em all, right?

Sat through Keith David's Mug-A-Guest. He talked some about his acting. Answered various questions from random fans and
signed an autograph for my ex-boss (being a Keith fan, she'd been begging me for months before the con even started) and
another, for myself, (on my 'There's Something About Mary' tape) as well.

Had dinner with A Fan, VidTheKid, Patrick, (new guy named Patrick, not Patrick Toman) Chyna Rose, and... whatever his name
was. Nearly burned my mouth (even after letting it cool for a few minutes) on a meatball sub, and had more Garlic Bread
then there was room for. Chyna Rose's appetite was ruined after she found a small piece of glass in her food. Can't say I
blame her. Glad I never have to eat there again. Would not want to, after THAT. Damn.

Went to the library across the road from the Orrington to catch up on my email.

Radio Play was fun. As I had suspected, (I was probably not alone in my suspicions) the play was about Gargoyles issues #7,
#8, and #9. The hail outside made things a little difficult, but it didn't last long and definitely didn't ruin it.
Keith was Goliath and Thom was Lex, of course. Jen 'CrzyDemona' gave a great turn as Shari. Greg requested a vow of secrecy
for the events of #9, which, just like last year's rendition of #3-#5, I'm keeping. At least until issue 9 is out and the
RP footage ends up on YouTube.

Blue Mug was... okay, though far from 'blue'. Tried to ask a couple raunchy questions, but I was overtired and my brain was
fried, so I couldn't even be coherent. Yay. So, I wasn't entirely in a 'Blue' mood. After 2 failed attempts, I caved and
went with the non-blue flow, asking Greg W. why he'd chosen to place 'Gargoyles' in Manhattan instead of L.A. or Chicago.

Eventually retired to my room for the night, hoping to catch '28 Weeks Later' on HBO. But, wouldn't you know it, the
eastern time zone had screwed me up and I'd ended up missing the first hour of it. Dammit. Returned afterwards hoping that
the Blue Mug was still going. Nope.

So far, luck has not seemed to really be on my side at this year's con.

I returned to my room and went to bed. Really needed sleep at that point.

NEXT: The Conclusion Of My Con Journal.