G2005 - Friday, July 29

G2005 - Friday, July 29

ConJournal continues...

The Guadelajara Restaurant in the Palace Station bookends my day.

Started there in the morning, eating alone: eggs, toast, sausage, hash browns.

Then I checked in at the front desk, I believe, before heading upstairs for my first Mug-A-Guest at...

12:00pm. Fan was there, and Daniel and Doug, I think. And others. But I can't remember now. (Please forgive me, as always, if I left you out.) We had a nice fairly open chat, I think. Friendly and intimate, which is the whole point of Mugs.

1:15pm. Then I think I helped Carol carry a bunch of the Gargoyles Production art that she had brought down to the art room. (And a shout out to Johanne Beaudoin at Disney for helping arrange this for us.) I also set up the art panel for my kids stuff. I also spent some time admiring all the great fan art.

3:00pm. Next up, the Writing for Animation Panel. I'm afraid I had nothing prepared for this one, so I talked a little about the writing process, and then opened it up to Q&A. Somehow, we managed to fill the time. I hope it was somewhat interesting and/or informative.

4:15pm. By this time, I was hungry again. So it was time for a late lunch across the street at the Macaroni Grill with Jen, Si and Patrick. Still, I didn't want this to be my dinner, so I just ordered a Fried Calimari appetizer.

6:00pm. Opening Ceremonies. Chris spoke. And Jen intro'd the 2006 convention in Los Angeles. Eventually, it was my turn... and I had a lot to cover:
--Talking about the DVDs (First Season out, Volume One of Season Two coming this winter (probably December)).
--the Comics (due out in the first half of 2006).
--A BIG YEAR FOR GARG FANS!!!
--I thanked the current staff: Chris, Lanny, Carol, Kathy, Lynati, Winterwold, Dreamie, Aaron, Hudson & Seth.
--Nearly forgot to thank Thom.

Then I had stuff to play.
--We had pre-recorded Audio Greetings from Kath Soucie and Keith David. That Keith greeting went over very well.
--Then we had pre-recorded Video Greetings from myself, Thom, Michael Reaves, Frank Paur, Jeff Bennett, Bill Faggerbakke, Brigitte Bako and Ed Asner. Those also seemed appreciated.
--I showed a teaser from the Second Season DVD extras. People seemed to like that too.
--I skipped showing the Gargoyles Pitch that I show most years, as it now appears on the first season DVD. Instead, I had dug up a tape that I had forgotten existed: it's an earlier version of the pitch, with older art, read by Jim Cummings. Next year, I may show both.
--Showed the Garg Promo and Garg Presentation videos, as always.
--Showed the New Olympian & Dark Ages pitches, as always.
--Showed Bad Guys, as always.
--Instead of playing the Audio to "The Last", we had a special treat. Vashkoda did an amazing job of editing, coloring and adding music and effects to The Last, based on the audio tape, script and storyboard. It looked just great. The work only really covered ACT ONE of the episode, but I'm really hoping that some of you artistic types will contact her. If every artist in the fandom just boarded one scene, then by next year, we might have a "new" episode totally completed.

After the Ceremonies, a bunch of us went looking for a place that could handle a large dinner party. We (myself, Carol, Kathy, Thom, seth, Marina, Eric and Scott) wound up at Pasta Palace, where I had bread, minestrone, Veal Picatta and mashed potatos.

Also finished in time, so that I didn't need to run to the Blue Mug... though somehow Thom managed to be late.

10:00pm. Blue Mug. A few Blue moments and a stunning near-psychic moment from Andrea Zucconi. ;) But mostly it was just fun talking until late into the night.

Then, as noted above, it was back to bookend the night at the Guadelajara for Banana Cream Pie and "milk". (In quotes, because it was undrinkable.) I think that was me, Kathy, Lynati, Norcumi, Aaron, Emambu, GXB, Tony & Andrea. And... and... i can totally picture him, but I am just blanking out on the name. (SORRY!!!)

Then I called it a night.

More tomorrow...