Well, DragonCon has come and gone this year. I have to say that I have been looking forward to it for some time and it did not fail to disappoint. If you are unfamiliar w/ what Dragon Con is, you can read my earlier post about Dragon Con or visit Dragon Con’s website.
Overview
I think I could spend pages on all the great things that I liked about this year’s Dragon Con, but, before I start rambling on about the event, here are a few pics of things around the con!
Looking over these pictures, I am still pretty amazed by the skill / dedication of some of these people. They really did a great job!
Dragon Con’s Walk of Fame
Although I am not much of a fan of celebrities, I have to admit that I was pretty excited about seeing some people this year. The celebrates that I wanted to see this year included (in no particular order): Lenoard Nimoy, William Shatner, Patrick Stuart, Felicia Day, John Schneider, and Catherine Bach.
I was able to attend a panel that was hosted by Nimoy and Shatner. They did a great job and had the audience rolling. As they spoke, you could easily see that they were old friends, even as they kept taking small jabs at one another while working w/ the audience. Of course, the running gag was Shatner asking Nimoy why he was not in the new Star Trek movie while Nimoy managed to get a lead role. It was hilarious!
I came to appreciate Nimoy as he is a very balanced person – not too unlike his Spock persona, but with a large dose of kindness thrown in. Of course, Shatner is well… uh… just Shatner… WYSIWYG. They both seemed to be great people.
On the other hand, Patrick Stewart has officially made it on my ‘this-celebrity-is-an-ass’ list. Along w/ Adam West, I feel that he did not have much respect for his fans. At every convention, the celebrities usually do photo-ops and offer to sign paraphernalia for their fans. Usually, they ask a fee (ranging from 20 – 50 dollars, depending upon your level of fame). Although paying for a signature rankles me a bit, I can justify it as they are trying to get payment for their time, usually provide a high res photo for you, and spend a few moments to chat w/ you.
As for Mr. Stewart, he set aside some time in his busy schedule to be available for signatures. However, there were a few hitches…
<rant>
- He had to be in an enclosed room by himself. Despite the fact that every other celebrity was in a great common room, he, for some reason, had his own room.
- Rather than charging 20 – 50 dollars for a signature – he charged 120!!!
- Also, he did not allow any photos unless you wanted to take a photo of him signing your item as “proof of its value and authenticity”
- Finally, if you wanted a picture w/ him, you had to fork out 200 bucks!!! To compare, Nimoy and Shatner charged ~100 bucks to get a pictures w/ both of them together!
</rant>
It was really disappointing…
Anyway, Crystal and I did have the pleasure to listen to and speak w/ John Schneider and Catherine Bach. They were both very down-to-earth and friendly people. They spent some time speaking about the Dukes of Hazzard as well as some of their upcoming projects. All in all, they were easy going and fun to speak with and offered some great insights into the creation of and the legacy of the Dukes. Now I have to go watch the series again!
Finally, I hate to admit but - I failed in one of my objectives. I spent the whole con telling myself that I would catch Felicia Day at her signing booth in order to get a picture with her. Despite my best efforts, I never got to get that picture. Oh well…
Here are a few pictures that Crystal and I took w/ the celebrities:
A Few Other Highlights
As I said before, I could spend pages writing about all the great things of Dragon Con this year. In order to keep things short, here are a few other excellent highlights of the trip:
Meeting @steph_rose and @adam_dominguez – Everyone knows about Twitter, right? Anyway, two of my favorite people that I have met via twitter actually attended Dragon Con. Although we did not get to hang out as much as I wanted to, I had a blast being able to finally met them in person. You guys rock! We will have to all get together again soon! Of course, I had to mention them by their twitter handle, since, somehow, their handles seems like their real names to me.
The Masquerade / Dragon Con Parade - In my previous post on Dragon Con, I spent some time speaking about the Masq and the Parade. My thoughts have not changed. It is needless to say that I love these two events and consider them both a essential part of the Dragon Con experience. Duck Dodgers FTW. :) On a side note, I feel that this year’s Masq was EXCELLENT. Not only were most of the costumes stellar, but the hosts were wonderful.
In Conclusion…
I have to say that it was a great trip. At this point, one may ask, “How do I feel now that I am back from Dragon Con?” Frankly, I feel awful. :) During our last day there I managed to catch the dreaded Con Crud. This powerful disease is the bane of all con-goers as it is a highly mutated and evolved virus that is created by the close proximity of hundreds of geeks. Once created, this disease will incubate for several days and then viciously attack, not only debilitating its prey but also any who are close to said victim. Of course, the only cure for Con Crud is relaxation and a heavy dose of a long-running video game session. :)
I am planning to post the rest of my pictures within the next day or so. Until then, let me end this post w/ my favorite pictures that I took at Dragon Con this year. If you can’t identify 5 / 6 of these, you lose 10,000 geek points. :)
I can’t wait for 2010!