I-CON 24 report

[amezri]

So.. you know.. one week later I've got my I-CON report. *shrug*

But first, I'd just like to post a link to the greatest wankery I've seen in a long while. I don't even watch Doctor Who or remember seeing any of the old series, but dude: Anyone writing DW slash...which features the Doctor having sex is watching the wrong program. Go play with SG1 or something, cos you clearly haven't a clue what the hell DW is about.

My very favorite comment among the wank: ...logic...broken... send... help...

Right. On to I-CON! There will be pictures and stuff inside. It's copied from my notes, so it's babbly and sloppy and not proofread. And I think some events are not in order as I wrote it down on Sunday. *shrug*

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Friday April 8, 2005: Alexis Cruz, Tony Amendola, RHPS, Voltaire

Caught the 9:00am train to Penn Station. On time, no problems. Mailed Saff's CD's while I was waiting for the train at Rensselear. Berta called while I was on the train and asked how things were. Worried about Spoon!Nazi. Got to Penn on time and had loads of time to kill, but I didn't really do anything. Waited for the 1:15pm train to Stony Brook & texted ozw a lot. Was sort of freaked about the transfer, but it was all good. Oz met me at the Stony station and we went to his room where I could stash my bag so I didn't have to carry it around campus.

We met up with alorarose and headed over to the main convention building to get badges. I had a bitch of a time finding mine -- because the woman had it under Northeast Regiment, which is the Star Wars group. So of course, I'm there looking for the Stargate group and I don't know what the frell is going on. Got my badge finally and called Zippy to let him know about the badge thing.



Vaidah had to go do anime track things, so Oz and I went to the dealers room. Think I easily spent $70 that first hour. Got a Stargate mag (Shep! Cover! Eee!), Interlopers read by Ben Browder (they tried to get me to buy James'.. ugh.), and... an autograph from Alexis Cruz and Tony Amendola!

Alexis was so cute! It's funny because I didn't even know that's where they'd be, so I was totally not prepared. I was wearing my Atlantis-like outfit (grey hiking pants with the sneakers that look like what Teyla has), so no identifying marks like a patch or something. I asked Alexis to sign my Stargate DVD *loves* I figured I had to pay something, but there was no signage, so he goes "that guy will take care of it" and I'm sort of confused and I ask how much. Alexis looks sort of embarassed then and sort of goes, "ack! you didn't know you had to pay? *frown*" I tell him that I didn't know about paying, but I didn't know how much. Anyway, he was really nice and took time signing.

Went over to Tony who was right next to Alexis. Oz saw the Angel still on his table and we were both "wtf? he was on Angel? So we asked Tony (whose voice is like whoa totally different from Bra'tac) and he says it's from the episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been...?" He played the monster of the week and he said he had a lot of fun playing the role. I had him sign a still from SG-1 for me.

That was pretty much it until Rocky Horror and Voltaire. The RHPS Stage show cast were all different this year, with the exception of Rocky. Actually, when Oz and I were walking to Javits, the guy playing Rocky was walking towards us and totally checked Oz out. Or checked me out. Or possibly both of us. I don't know. The show was awesome as always. I got really good photos this time - and lots of them. Oz got molested by Magenta!



After Rocky Horror, we went in search of food. Pretty limited choices. Grabbed something quick and then headed to Voltaire's show... in a lecture room. It felt more crowded this year what with the cramped classroom vs. gym. The sound was pretty bad, as was the lighting, but it made for some interesting photos. There's a video of him doing a dance on page 7. As well as a shot of Voltaire pulling down his pants.



Is it just me or does the man become more of a perv every year? The Star Wars parody ("Cantina") was just.. damn sick.

I can't remember what we did after that. Went to Oz's room to get my bag and then to Vaidah's house for sleep, I think.

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Saturday April 9, 2005: Alexis (again), Steve Bacic, Rockne O'Bannon, Jewel Staite

We stopped by Best Buy to see if we could find Vaidah a copy of "Peacekeeper Wars." They didn't have. That's just wrong. Got to campus around noon. The line for Rockne O'Bannon was starting by then, so we got in it. There weren't too many people and it wasn't too long before it started. I thanked him for the show and told him that I followed it mostly from the beginning since we had just gotten the SciFi Channel. He was all surprised and happy and said that he had to buy the SciFi Channel to watch the show because it wasn't part of the standard cable package back then. I had him sign my copy of Peacekeeper Wars and got a photo with him.



I'd forgotten that I brought food cubes (haw slices) to give him, so while Vaidah was getting her stuff signed, I sort of butted in and babbled and said, "I have food cubes!" and Rockne goes, "Really? I want to see them!" and I sort of threw them on the table at him. Oops. He looked at them then put them to the side as he continued on. Heh.

We went back out and located Oz. Went back inside. Had my bag molested checked again. Noticed the SG-Command.net table up finally, so I went over to say hello to Zippy. Have to say.. I sort of ditched Vaidah at the point, but I didn't mean to. Anyway, we were waiting for Oz to get to Rockne. Zippy was cool and I met Dion as well. Tanya, our team leader was no where to be seen. Hung out at their table for a bit and at some point went to Jewel Staite's Q&A.



Jewel was so very cute! We didn't even notice her on the bleachers until she was announced. (And hi, she's 22. Jewel Staite is younger than I am.) Her session was fun - there were some good questions and fun was had. The retelling of the Fuck You competition between her and Nathan Fillion was the best! It all started as some on-set prank. At some point, Nathan presented Jewel with this really lovely jewelry box, thanking her for all her work and blah blah, and she sort of opens the lid, not really suspecting that there's a HOLE in the bottom of the box with Nathan's MIDDLE FINGER sticking through XD And some other time, at the end of a reel of credits, there's the line "for jewel" and up comes a photo of Nathan giving her the finger. So. At Dragon Con, Jewel's friend, Peter David, is going through the audiance before the panel handing out little cue cards to random people. A lot of random people. When the panel starts, Nathan (being the Captain) is sort of directing and taking questions and he calls on Peter. Peter stands up and says something like, "on behalf of Jewel..." and all these people stand up and give Nathan the finger! Bwahahahaha! Nathan then has this stern, unamused face and says flatly, "that's fucked up."

Jewel also mentioned that she does read what we say on the internet. Vaidah has the direct quote. Need to get that...

Someone asked Jewel what other shipps besides Simon/Kaylee she could see happening. "Kaylee and Mal? Creeps me out. Kaylee and Jayne creeps me out even more. I'm not even going to talk about Kaylee and Book." Hee! She is the cutest thing ever and she loves her castmates! Aww!

Zippy called me then to tell me that they were doing the plaque presentation to Steve Bacic, so I'd better get out there. And before this? I had no interest in meeting Steve Bacic, at all. He was there the same time as Rockne and I totally blew past his table. Anyway, we were led back to the green room where Steve was just finishing his lunch. Zippy presented him with the plaque and shirt and gave the schpeel on who we were and what we do. Steve was really chuffed and asked what other cast we'd inducted. The saddest part? Neither Zippy nor I realized at that point that Steve had played an SG-2 mission leader twice on the show. D'oh! >_< Some SG-2 team we are. Anyway, Steve stood up for pics with Zippy.. and while I snapped a few, Zippy told me to get in the picture with them. So..I think Dion has photos of me and Steve Bacic XD I need to get those...



Afterwards, we got tapped to be photographed and interviewed for the NY Times. An article which doesn't exist. I'm telling you - I had someone check the Sunday and Monday editions - nothing. Feh. There was some shuffling and waiting, but it finally got done. While we were waiting, though, I skipped over to Voltaire's table (next to ours) to get his new CD, a Deady Quee, and a photo with him. I told him I forgot to bring the Deady plush I'd made - which he remembered. Sort of. He remembered seeing photos of the prototype, but not of the finished one. Except he commented on them, so.. *shrug* Anyway, he was signing my stuff and remembered my name without me having to say anything. I mentioned that and he goes, "there are just some leather outfits you don't forget." Uh. Oh. Last year I'd wore my Alias "Almost Thirty Years" bondage club outfit, which, basically, is just pleather pants, pleather bra, and a fishnet top. With additional bondage choker and cuffs. *ahem* So. Moving on. I asked him to take a picture with me and he was all cool about it. Oz snapped one and he wanted to see it - it was fuzzy. Voltaire wanted to take another and grabbed my camera, held it upside down while pulling me in for another shot. I have to admit it came out pretty good and I don't look like such a dork in it.



A bit after, we went to Jewel's signing. Crazy fangirl behind us was being all catty about when she discovered Jewel ("since the beginning!") and made some snide remark about me having Wonderfalls because the show was cancelled after two weeks. Uh. So what, bitch? Jewel was in half the season. Get over yourself. Anywho... Jewel was so sweet! And her husband is hot. He sort of reminded me of Jason Mraz. He was sort of the official photographer and took the photos for everyone. Jewel signed my Firefly DVD cover ("You're not on any of the covers!" "I know! *frown*"), an 8x10, and a Wonderfalls DVD cover. When her husband saw the Wonderfalls cover, he tried to hum the theme song and then goes, "how does that weird theme go?" When we were done, Oz and I waited for Vaidah while snarking about fangirl.



Vaidah went to do anime panel things and Oz went back to the Dealer's Room. Hung out by the SG-C table for a while and decided to head to the Dealer's Room again to find Oz. On the way, I passed Voltaire's table and I sort of smiled in greeting and said "hey." He does this weird "hey what's up" move and starts up a conversation. He's standing in front of his table and no one's there so, okay, Voltaire chattage. I can't remember much about what we talked about, but I do mention that I'd be going to Rockne's panel in a bit... and he looks completely clueless. Which, is okay because I'm sure most people don't know the names of producers and creators, right? Let me just remind you: Voltaire is a self-professed scifi geek. I tell him that Rockne's created Alien Nation.. SeaQuest.. Farscape? Nothing, none of them seem to register. Dude. That's just... that's like 20 years of tv scifi you can't identify. I am so disappointed. Anyway, a girl comes up waving her camera and wants to take a picture of Voltaire.. and he's not paying attention and still talking to me. I gesture at her and say that she wants a picture with him. So.. I was really confused when he pulled me next to him and posed. Righto. I then clarify that, "no, I think she wants a picture with you." So, he got a photo with the girl, though it was funny because she didn't seem to want to be *in* the picture. Voltaire comes back to me and says something like, "I'm glad you said something." Uh yeah. That's when I made my exit. omgrunaway.

Back in the dealer's room, I stopped by Alexis' table again. No one was there. Aww :( Seriously, I don't know how many people met him, but everytime I went down there, there was not one person at his table. I went up and started lamely by saying that I'd gotten his autograph on Friday and did he remember me; "yes, I remember!" and I asked if I could get a picture with him and he said "yes, of course!" getting up and walking around the tables. And as Vaidah is getting ready to take the photo, he goes, "Cyn, right?" Awww! (Also, I'm pretty sure this happened before the Bacic plaque thing. And I look like a complete idiot in the photo. But whatever)



We went to Rockne's Q&A session, which, I'm sorry, was boring as all hell. I'm sure he said some interesting stuff after Oz & I left when fans were actually asking the questions, but the moderator was omgboring. And because of the boring Q&A, I missed getting in on Alexis' plaque presentation, which was sort of a bummer. I also totally missed seeing Tanya as she was there to present Alexis with the plaque, then disappeared. heh. The sad part was that at that point I was the only one of the group in costume, so they really could have used me. Oops.

Oz and I wandered over to the Firefly fan forum, which was basically a free for all with food. They had bao! Real, steamed, Chinese bao. Which was funny because most Americans probably wouldn't touch the stuff if they knew that it was a big meatball with sweet dough around it. I saw a few left on the plate once they were opened. Jewel was there for a bit and no one noticed her as they were too busy getting food. Ah, geeks. It was cool though. There was a guy dressed as Mal. I thought of something to ask Jewel, but as usual, my timing is shitty and she was itching to go and keep an appointment doing something else, so I got out of the way. Hm. Wallflower.

We didn't know what to do after that and wandered around until we ended up at the Fandom Deathmatch panel. That was pretty entertaining for two hours, but we left before the end to find food. There were some funny match-ups, though. Dark Phoenix vs. Hello Kitty. D'Argo vs. Ultimate Wolverine. Sonic the Hedgehog vs. The Bristow. Kosh vs. The Beast on the Island (Lost). We should start a comm, y'all.

After food, we went to Oz's room and watched an episode of Robot Chicken. Uhm. Seth Green and friends have issues. I must own the DVDs. We still had time to kill before Cabaret, so I dragged Oz to catch a couple episodes of Red Dwarf, which he'd never seen before. Blasphemy! It's a good thing he liked it. Heh. I'd never seen series 3, so it was entertaining for me. After two episodes, we left for the end of Cabaret, intending to enjoy another twisted set by Voltaire. HIGHLY disappointing to trek all the way there to watch Voltaire talk on the phone for 5 minutes then play two songs. Two songs. WTF? Went back to Javits to find Vaidah, who had been released from her anime duties and we all went home to bed.

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Sunday April 10, 2005: Alexis (yes, again), Jason Carter, Voltaire

Final day! Booo! This was the most I'd even done at a con, I think. The plan was to hit the dealer's room for a Peter Mayhew something because Vaidah and I had this brilliant plan to get something signed for Tom as he's a fan. Okay.. the line for autographs was out of control at that point, so we scrapped the plan. Two minutes later, they closed the line anyway. Sorry, Tom.

Bonnie was talking to Vaidah and Oz hadn't gotten there yet, so I slipped off to talk to Alexis. He remembered me still. I will never get over that. He said, "hey, Cyn!" as I walked up to his table. *loves* I asked him about the plaque/induction and said that I was sorry I couldn't be there. He was still really chuffed about it, though, and I was told before that he's been to the site and check us out. So he was really honored to have been inducted. Had heard that he wanted to LARP on Saturday, so I asked. He said after everything he was just too tired, so he didn't go, but there was a Dark Ages LARP he wanted to check out. Told him I'd never LARPed before (and honestly, LARPers scare me) and he said that I should because it was really fun. Then he said that our group should start a LARP - we had the gear already. Said I'd bring it up and then babbled about how some of the teams already did paintball missions and there were talks of a fanfilm, so they could probably adapt something. If we started an SG LARP, I bet Alexis would join. *snerk*

I asked him how much his photos were because I wanted to get one signed. He answered and then looked at me for a moment, "didn't you get one?" I reminded him that it was the SG DVD and he nodded. There were a lot of pictures on his table, so I asked which ones were his favorite. He pointed out a couple and I settled on one of the Skaara shots. Oz and Vaidah liked the headshot, but... Skaara! There was more chatting about me having been to LA once and liking NY better and was he going home today? Told him that I would be as well and I wasn't looking forward to the long trip. "Not longer than LA, though," he said. I snerk and tell him that it's almost 7 hours (if you factor in waiting, transfers, and drive time). He guffaws so I explained. I'd leave at 2, get home by 9. Yeah. 7 hours. Said I'd rather fly to LA. LOL Anyway, he was very nice and I told him to have a nice trip back and said for me to do the same, blah blah.

There was more wandering of the floor... then I borrowed money from Vaidah to get an autograph from Jason Carter. I had this crazy irrational irritation with Jason because of this crappy webdesign company he had like.. 8 years ago. I'm stupid, I know. But really, the sites he was selling were.. painful. Think black animated background with yellow text painful. I don't even remember the name of the thing and it's defunct by now, I'm sure. Oh, cripes, I found it. Pipeline Productions (god, that is so sad... I should apply for a job there). But, yes, I'm stupid because Jason is the sweetest guy with this lovely accent and wow. So nice! Also, Marcus! So, I paid and picked the only picture on the table I liked and his handler goes, "the baby picture!" and Jason good-naturedly says, "shut up!" Then he was looking at my badge to read my name and he's squinting, so I tell him to just make it to Cyn and he says, "oh, good, because that looks really long." Bwah?! Vaidah's beside me and she's sort of snickering. "Uh, it says Cynthia..." and he's still looking at the badge! Hee! He signs the photo and draws his little Marcus stick man. I got a picture with him. It doesn't look bad. Okay, so I'm still irked by the webdeisgn thing (*mumbles something about no talent hacks*) but I can get over it.



Wandered back upstairs where I-CON was starting to wind down. Went back to Voltaire's booth so I could get a copy of What is Goth? A tad bit cheaper than stores, plus I get it signed. Rawk. Except I had no cash. He's all "Hi, Cyn<" and I'm just sort of, "uh... will you take a cheque?" He seemed reluctant and asked if my bank gave me an ATM card so I could, you know, go get money. Uh, but dude, I get charged $6 so just take the damn cheque. There was an explanation of the bank fees, blah blah, so he finally agreed. I asked who to make it out to, so he took my check book and wrote his name on it. Full name. Not that I can read it. Chicken scratch - I think that was intentional. I got my book signed and he tells me that he wants to see photos of the Deady plush. I say I'll e-mail them and that I'll try to remember to bring it next year. Then he says I should come to his June 6h show.. and Vaidah's all "Uhm. it's going to cost her $100 just to get down here." He looks at me and asks where I'm from. Albany. "Oh. You don't need to go that bad." Ah, no I don't.

Sat outside for a while before it was time for me to start the long, boring trip home.

And that's that.

For my reference:
ozw's report here
alorarose's photos (where's your report? ;_;)

Comments

[sariandra.livejournal.com]

Isn't it sick that Jewel is younger than us? *is vexed* So pretty, so talented. I just hate her! hehehe. Not really. She and Hayden Christensen are the sole reasons why I catch reruns of 'Higher Ground' on Encore WAM. Well, that and Joe Lando's hot body.. *fans self*

*skips off to check the tv guide for HG reruns*

[amezri.livejournal.com]

I never saw Higher Ground, but I remember seeing commercials for it. I'd be angrier if she weren't such a sweet person. LOL

[sariandra.livejournal.com]

It was a decent show. It probably would have been better had the writers been able to explore more. But that's always the way.