farpoint 2008: report, photos, video

[amezri]

I'm about a week and a half late. I blame plague. But here we go: write up, photos, and even video!

Farpoint 2008: February 15-17, 2008 in Hunt Valley, MD

If there is some extra bitter snark stuck in here, I'm sorry. I can't be bothered to edit at this point in time. Pictures linked within text, or you can use the links at the bottom.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Got up at 5:00am. Showered, dressed, packed up the rest of the stuff in the Jepp and headed to smashedrecords'. After a last minute scramble for things, we headed out at about 7:30am. It took us about 7 hours to get to Hunt Valley, which included two rest stops - one of which was for gas - and a third random stop in search of Wolfgang Puck sandwiches (don't ask). Once we got to Hunt Valley, we decided to stop at Wegman's before the hotel so we could get some last minute items. Checked in at the hotel and found out we were on the 3rd floor this time (ugh!), but once again we some how parked in the the lot that was closest to where we needed to be. Ha!

We decided to hit registration right away before unpacking so I could get and extra James Callis autograph ticket. Mostly because I didn't want to have to wait in line Sunday if I could help it. Right, so then we went and got all our crap out of the car and into the room. Sat around for a few minutes before I decided to get into my Tenth Doctor costume. I almost didn't want to actually, but.. eh. Why not? So then I had to convince smashedrecords to get into her Rose dress. By the time we were ready, it was time to head to the art room to get my pieces set up.

Andres and Bonnie were already there when we arrived. They were setting up Bonnie's jewelry. I sort of wish someone had told me they'd try to hang my pictures on peg boards with giant hooks.. I might have rigged up some sort of wire system to hang them from. As it was, the organizer made one aborted attempt to shove a hook through the back before having me set up at a table in the back of the room.

smashedrecords and I wandered over to the dealer's room and ran in to Nate. He said he'd get into his Doctor costume in a bit, so he'd find us later. Saw Dan at the SciFiHero merch table setting up. He's always got a crew with him when I see him! I planned on looking around the dealer's room to see what I could find and really only meant to buy an 8x10 of James Callis, but before we even went to dinner, I ended up with the photo, a Sheppard figure (wheee! smug smirk!), patches for queenmaab, and two patches for me. Didn't even bother to bargain for any of that. I probably shouldn't even mention the LOAD of Spike figures smashedrecords made off with. I can't believe there isn't a photo of that somewhere. Actually, she managed to nab one I wanted - the punk 70s "Fool for Love" Spike. The vendor said he had another at home and would hold on for more on Saturday. Yays!

We found Nate shortly after in his Doctor suit and so of course we goofed and took some pictures. Also ran into Howard, who I know from the New Voyages set. Erm, I think then I took Nate to the art show to show him the pieces I brought in. smashedrecords had decided to go back to the room for a bit, so Nate and I wandered the con looking for, I think, the ScifiHero fan table. No luck, but on the way back upstairs, we ran in to the Mailhottes, James Cawley, and Patrick Bell. Said a quick hello to everyone. James ragged on me about my costume and asked if I'd ever do a Starfleet uniform. Ahaha. No. Been there, done that. Never again.

Hungry by then, so we regrouped. smashedrecords and I went and changed to street clothes before heading out to with Nate and Ken to find food. Ended up at the local Panera's. Exciting out of state dining!

After dinner, I decided to get in my SGA black garrison BDUs because, really, I didn't know when else that weekend I was going to wear them. Decided to wander the hotel, but as in all cases after hours, we ended up at the bar with Bonnie & Andres. Apparently James Cawley & crew were in there for dinner, so he called me over. Told me they might be watching a rough cut of BaF sometime (though.. if they ever did, I missed it) and then there was talk of getting me back in one of those ridiculous Starfleet minidress numbers. I said I much preferred what I was wearing (black BDUs and a tactical holster) and James tells me he could make me a female security outfit with pants and that he'd let me have a phaser. Dude, if that were that case, I'd be far more willing. Hah.

Back over at our glowing bar table, I have no idea what was going on, but there was a lot of laughing at Andres and loud chatter. At some point, a group of boys in Stargate Atlantis uniforms came in. Helllooo, boys in tactical gear. (Yes, yes, Atlantis has ruined me.) I chatted with them quickly as they walked by and before smashedrecords and I left, we made sure to get some photos with them. Okay, no, see, apparently, I was in these photos with them and they are my favorite photos from the weekend because it looks like a military detail up to no good. I love them. The really funny thing is at the time I didn't even know they were with SciFiHero, just that it was a group of people in proper SGA uniforms (one of whom had a rather large crush on the Flan). I should, actually mention, that before the photos, Pano decided that my holster being empty was just plain wrong and was trying to shove his sidearm into it and well.. uhm.. I'm sure that looked rather interesting in the dim light of the bar! XD

Anyway. I decided I would make an appearance at the Farragut premiere party. smashedrecords came with me for a little while before bailing as it wasn't really her scene. Technically, I'm not sure it was mine either as I felt a bit out of place. At least I knew a few people,. so I did end up talking a little with Rich and John and then namedropper! Patrick.

During the Farragut thing, though, I randomly got a call from Pete (of Ten Year Vamp) asking me what I was up to. He wanted to give me a copy of the photos I'd taken for him at the bodog thing but, you know, obviously not with me being in Maryland, so I'm to call him when I get home. Raaaandom.

The Farragut party broke up not too long after I got there, so I headed back to the bar to see if I could find anyone. I did. Dan was there with Liz, Pano, and some other people. I think Dion & Tanya had arrived (with their friend Matt & Ophelia), though I hadn't seen them. I think I got ragged on a bit because the flag patch on my shirt was way too huge which, okay, yeah, I know it sort of is, but all patches look huge on me anyway so I didn't even think about it. smashedrecords came back down with Dion and they hung out for a little while before we all bailed and went to bed.


Saturday, February 16, 2008

I'm not even going to talk about a certain someone snoring because... well, actually, it didn't bother me enough to completely disrupt my sleep schedule. So, yeah. Woke up at about 6am, though. Rearranged my luggage, got out what I was going to wear today and grabbed a quick shower. Putzed around until about 9am before I decided to eat and get dressed in the Hogwarts gear for the day.

Once we were all ready, smashedrecords and I took another wander through the dealers room. I picked up the Spike figure that was being held for me as well as a Moore series Oz figure. Stood by Dan's table for awhile. There was just a lot of wandering on Saturday morning.

Downstairs, we went to see who was by the Farragut/New Voyages table and ran into Camera!Alex and Liz. Traded some barbs. It was good time. Shortly after meeting up, the both of them were arrested by the Klingons!

Stopped by Erin Grey's table and got something signed for erintheodd and a photo with her for myself. She was really nice. I gave her a copy of Module, of course. For whatever reason she had asked me where my family was from and I replied, Taiwan. So we started talking about her son and some Taiwanese in-laws and weird Chinese food and my expressing the regret that I didn't stick with the Chinese classes and learn to read my own language. It was a strange but interesting conversation.

Back at Dan's table, I was continually being ragged on for the flag patch I had and how it was just way too big. So I asked Dan if he had a properly sized one - I'd buy it. He couldn't find a US one so I randomly said if he had a Taiwanese flag, I'd take that. well, wouldn't you know, he pulled one out of the bag! And he let me have it in trade for a lunch run. Wheee! I'm actually pretty chuffed to have it. (Told my mom about it when I got home and she said she was surprised I'd be willing to wear it. Which I thought was silly, because why not?!)

Insert more loitering during which time smashedrecords threatened a boy from Dark Ops and then the two of us posed for a lot of pictures, first at the Dark Ops booth and then just for our own entertainment in the hall downstairs. We also had a Major Mojo sighting.

It was finally time for some panels. Patrick and smashedrecords followed me in and we caught the tail end of Erin Grey's Q&A. Liz H. came in just after we did so the both of us moved up closer once Erin Grey got off stage. Snagged pretty decent seats.

Marina Sirtis. Well, let me say I've heard some pretty mixed reactions to her (and generally not favorable). I thought she was pretty funny, but definitely bitchy. She of course talked about Star Trek and how she kind of hated playing Deanna because she had to be nice all the time. *snerk* Someone mentioned Gargoyles and she rolled her eyes a bit at it, but I'm not sure if it was the whole thing (she says later that she doesn't consider voice work real acting) or the story she tells. The story being that Jonathan Frakes likes to say at conventions that Demona was Xanatos' sidekick. "Excuse me," Marina says with a raised eyebrow. "What is the name of the show? Gargoyles. And what is Demona? A gargoyle. Who is who's sidekick?" Haha. She was also asked about SG-1 and she says that she got along with everyone (except one person who she won't name) and would like to return, but no one has asked her -- they just keep mentioning her name in the storyline though. Which, yeah.. true. Anyway, I can't remember the question the person asked, but she tells us this story about shooting the submarine scene in "Watergate." They're all in the sub and Shanks is being bitchy (though she concedes that it was hot and cramped), and he suddenly shouts, "Who do I have to F-- to get off this show?!" And without batting an eye, she apparently says, "the same person you F--ed to get on the show," and Amanda Tapping fell out of her chair laughing. She won a lot of points with me for that. Oh, I'd forgotten.. she also talked about the finale of Enterprise how crap it was for the last shot of their show to be a shot of Riker and Troi totally unfair to that crew who;d spent 5 years working on the show. Agreed.

Next up was James Callis. Oh, James Callis, how I heart you. Except, not so much with that haircut. Really. Honestly, I can't remember much of what he said, though because I was too busy oggling. Hm. There was the story about how they wanted some sort of country/farmer accent for Baltar so they asked him to do Michael Caine. (Just watch the video.) Talking about a practical joke he tried. People asked about the Head!Six thing... like, do either he or Tricia know what is going on with that and... they don't. Figures. Oh! He also talked about how he decided to carry himself in certain manner when playing Baltar because Gaius isn't really intentionally bad, he lacks the confidence, so James moves sort of shifty and unsure. Where as someone like, say, Apollo is sure of what he's doing -- the hero -- and moves very deliberately and with purpose. It's not really something you think about but when he points it out, you totally get it.

smashedrecords was bored out of her mind and had bailed on the rest of James' Q&A. Nate was camera duty for me, though. I'd asked him to take some shots of me at the table and with James and Marina, so he was already hanging out in the area when James finished his talk. Hung out with Emerald while we waited in line. It only took about an hour for us to get to the front of the line.

I gave James a print of Module and he looks at it for a second before he says it's lovely and then asks me if I was in the art show. I tell him that, yes, I have four pieces in it. He says that he saw them there and they were nice. Heart! Heartheartheart. Yes. I am just really chuffed that he even made the connection then bothered to verbalize it. I had him sign one of the covers in the BSG season 1 set as well as an 8x10, and then I got a photo with him. Eeee! It was so awesome. He was so nice.

Marina was next. I gave her the print and she looked at it for awhile. She asked me what it was supposed to be so I give my standard, "it's kind of abstract, so whatever you want it to be," and she tells me that she loves abstract art; that Kandinsky is her favorite artist. She asks me if I've signed and and I say yes and tell her where. But she doesn't see it anywhere on the front, so she pulls it out of the plastic and makes me initial it on the front with a silver Sharpie. Wow, okay. Cool, but.. okay. "It'll be worth something some day," she says and also tells me she's going to frame it and put it in her office. I'm very flattered... and glad she isn't a heinous bitch as I've heard. Hah! I had her sign my Gargoyles DVD cover and I tell her that Demona was my favorite character and I think she wasn't really evil, just misunderstood and Marina mumbled in agreement. Got a nice photo with her as well.

I think this was when I decided to register for Shore Leave because earlier in the day I had found out they just announced that the Hewletts were attending. David! And Kate! *gleee* Adam Baldwin was already on the roster so there was just no way to miss this one. Got my ticket right away and also a photo op with David, but I'm thinking I ought to go back and add one with Kate and Adam too.

By this time, I was starving, so I went to find smashedrecords. She was in the bar, unsurprisingly, having drinks with Pano and the Mikes. I guess they were headed out by the time I got there. No matter, I was hungry and the bar had food! smashedrecords and I shared a plate of chicken tenders and fries while we chatted with Dan and Patrick, who was apparently to be having dinner with the NV crew, but ditched them to hang with us. After food, I wanted out of the Hogwarts costume, so I headed back to the room and changed into jeans and my Threadless Marshmallow Factory shirt. (Kitha didn't find it too amusing... but it got some laughs anyway.)

I headed back down to the ballroom for Masquerade. Saw Rich and Jeff doing their security thing and they asked why I wasn't still in costume and why wasn't I in the Masquerade. Ha, no way, not again. There were technical debacles in the already sub-par Masquerade showing this year. Eh. Bonnie and Tanya both won awards for their costumes. Go, them! Best costume, though, had to be the Robot Chicken Vader. I was dying when the audience started clucking the Imperial March. Wish I had gotten video.

On the plus side, we got to see James Callis strut his stuff while modeling a crew jacket during the charity auction at intermission. The jacket sold for something like $400. Nuts. James had also brought along a copy of BSG season 1 signed by everyone they could manage and that sold for $600.

No one was really hanging around after Masquerade, which was weird. We did get a few photos of Robot Chicken Vader, Andres in some Naruto costume, and Mad-Eye Moody. Nothing much beyond that, though, so we headed to the bar to see who was there. Apparently, it was still to early for bar hanging because there wasn't really anyone there. So, uh, we crashed whatever pow wow was going on in Frankie & Vinnie's with the Farragut/New Voyages people. smashedrecords and I sat and chatted with Patrick, James, John, Paul, and Leslie. She did a lot of the barb trading with Paul and James. It was amusing to watch.

After a bit of chatter there, we decided to bail and see if there was anyone up at the bar. By passed Ten Forward, though we did go in to have a look with John. Just like last year, it was just bad music and children on the dance floor. Ugh. smashedrecords hung out with Pano & the Mikes while I went with Dion, Tanya, Bonnie, Andres, and some other 501st people to a table towards the back. Not too long after I sat down, smashedrecords came and got me and said I should go sit outside and hang with the ScifiHero people. So I did. There was a lot of drunken hijinx involving smashedrecords, Pano, and airsoft guns. I should have taken photos, but really didn't think to. I chatted a bit with Mike S. about metal work and jewelry craft, which was cool. I love having art/craft discussions. Also chatted briefly with Liz, who I didn't really get a chance to talk to all weekend. Kind of regret it because she seems pretty cool so I wish we hung out more during the con. At some point during this, I was left alone with Dan, so we just kind of chatted a bit about.. nothing at all that I can remember. My brain is small.

Eventually we all regrouped and decided it was time to call it quits and get some sleep.


Sunday, February 17, 2008

Had a good night's sleep because uhm... the person who snored relocated. Woke up at 8:00am. smashedrecords and I got dressed and headed down to checkout the art auction. It turned out none of my stuff was even in the auction. Atene had only gotten the one bid, so it sold for less than I wanted, which was mildly disappointing, mostly because the whole pricing sheet thing was not explained to me properly. On the plus side, smashedrecords won a piece of pottery with Elvish on it.

After the auction, we sort of just tooled around waiting until she could get the items she'd won and I could pick up the artwork that didn't sell. Found out that Ken from Dark Ops was the one who bought the artwork, so that was cool. I saw Paul wandering the tables in the halls and he mentioned that he wanted to see my artwork so I should stop by and show him later on.

With nothing else to do, we went back into the dealer's room. smashedrecords said she saw a blue suited Doctor figure at one of the dealers' tables so we had a look. I asked the guy and he did indeed find a blue suited Doctor with glasses among his wares when Friday he said he didn't have one. Also picked up the two Battlestar minimates he had at the tables. Once again, I couldn't be bothered to bargain. I'm going to need more display shelves.. and a bigger box for random action figure accessories.

After that purchase (ouch!) we headed back to the art room to get our things. I'm bummed about the final sale price of mine, but oh well.. live & learn. Having collected out things, we headed back downstairs to see if we could find Paul and if I could sell the leftover pieces to anyone. Amazingly, I did! Paul looked at them and decided to get Blackened Heart with a simple, "How much? Sold." James came over to have a look as well and I was suddenly surrounded by New Voyages people looking at my artwork. James even asked me why I didn't talk about my artwork on set and why didn't he know I did this stuff. Hah, Well, I didn't socialize all that much what with being chained to that computer! :-P He and Paul then joked about having my artwork on either of their shows. Funny, guys.

The crowd sort of dispersed, so smashedrecords and I just sat there people watching for a little while. Jessie and Patrick hung out with us. James came back a little bit later with a surprise for Jessie, which was really nice. She was so cute about it. Oh, to be 15 and that level of fangirly again. Wait.... Anyway. At some point, James mentioned that Joel had wanted to come but couldn't and next thing you know he calls Joel and hands me the phone. Haha. That was pretty cool though. I miss hanging out with Joel. I think smashedrecords and I stayed and chatted with Jessie a bit after that, but then somehow we got separated. Wait, no, actually, I think we decided to head out then and smashedrecords wanted to go find Pano & the Mikes before we left. I had to head to the Dark Ops table to sign my print for Ken anyway. She'd wandered off while I did that so when I was done, I had no idea where she went.

So I once again found myself wandering the dealers tables, which is where I found Jessie and Patrick again. They were at the giant strip run by the guy we bought patches from on Friday. I wanted the Fruity Oaty Bar tshirt and Jessie was looking at a Happy Bunny patch. In what was my one and only act of bargaining all weekend, I managed to get the shirt and patch for $25, which was basically just $2 off, but it was a victory since he was hemming and hawing about the patch being rare or whatever. Whatever, guy. Found smashedrecords right after that and we all headed back to our room so we could pack.

There was apparently a party in progress. Dion, Tanya, Matt, and Ophelia were in there watching Spider-Man and making food. XD It took us about an hour to pack up, by which time Jessie and Patrick had wandered off on their own. Took a while for us to load the car, though. Went back in and made the rounds around the con to say goodbye. Left a note for Paul about potential frame issues. Got some last minute photos.

We'd given up on finding Pano, Liz, and the Mikes, but spotted them waiting in line for Marina Sirtis. We got a photo with them and even managed to snag one with James Callis, who didn't have anyone waiting in line for him at that time. I chatted with Liz again and let her try on my black team jacket as Dan didn't have one in her size with him. Had a final round of goodbyes to the New Voyages/Farragut folks. smashedrecords got a photo with James, and I think she may have promised to visit the set in June.

We hit the road at about 2pm, which was a little later than I planned to, but not really by much. With only one stop for gas and food, we made it back to smashedrecords' at about 8:30pm. Not too bad. I got home at about 9:15pm and planned to unpack, but that so didn't happen.



All my photos are here.
All my videos on youtube here.

Other Farpoint reports/pictures:
+ Liz's photos
+ tiggerallyn: on the Farpoint experience
+ Rising Phoenix Productions photos
+ Dan and Pano at Cheeburger!!
+ posing for their Cheeburger photo
+ Cheeburger eats Pano
+ another video of James answering the prank question

People who contracted the Farpoint Plague:
+ Dan
+ Dion
+ Bonnie
+ Nate
+ me
+ tiggerallyn apparently
+ and many more!!

Comments

[arysani.livejournal.com]

love the "up to no good" photos - looks like fun :)

you do know that i'll basically be a leech all weekend, right? i'm very bad in new social situations. i'm told this is slightly annoying, but i'll try to keep it cool. *facepalm*

[amezri.livejournal.com]

Dude, really, don't worry about it! You will have a great time. ICON is a good one to start with, I think.

FYI, after 4 years, I still don't really know my way around campus. So. Yeah.

[punslingerr.livejournal.com]

Sounds like an awesome time. :)
Well, except for the plague part, but that came afterwards...