Dragon*Con Report Part 3

I'm finally gonna post some photos (for the first time in an age I know)

first off here's a picture of me with Laurell K Hamilton (She thought my Kilt was awesome)the night of the second Kilt blowing.














Next is one of Jennie trying to get rid of a stubborn fan (Yeah I know, he looks familiar to me too!)














One of the things I did over the course of the Convention was gather some new Sketches for my ComicKilt.
Here are some close ups of the ComicKilt














A Hellboy on the back pocket thanks to Mike Mignola:














A sketch from Gina Biggs on the other back pocket:














A BunBun from Sluggy Freelance courtesy of Pete Abrams:














And finally to complete the set Jennie B's pretty princess:















though that one is harder to find unless you really go looking . . . .





And why the hell not?!!

Dragon*Con Report Part 2

I'm too tired to do a full report so I'll just cover the highlights . . . .

1. I was abused by Bender.

2. Got an Autograph from Laurell K Hamilton.

3. Got Blown by Jennie B.


Intrigued? then read on.

1. While walking round the walk of fame I stopped to say hi to the guys from Futurama and give them Chocolate. While I waited I ended up talking with a girl from Northern Ireland (see my post for 13/08/10 about how it's a small world). I got to be second in line and the guy in front asked me to take a photo of him with John DiMaggio and Billy West. I was a little nervous and my hand was shaking slightly so the picture was a little blurred and I suggested taking a second one for safety. I was still holding the bag of Chocolate and John jokingly starts shouting at me "Put the Bag down Shakie! Use two Hands!" I took the second shot and gave them the Chocolates before quickly leaving.


2. When I told one of my friends that I was going to Dragon*Con and that Laurell K Hamilton would be there, he asked me to get an advanced reading edition of one of her books. So I tried to get her to sign it on the Saturday so I'd have her Sunday signing as a second chance. I went over to the Marriott Hotel where she was signing and ended up finding a rather long queue already waiting. I joined the end of it and found out that I had nearly 2 hours before the signing was to take place. People kept joining the line and after about half an hour staff kept coming out to count the line and warn people that they probably wouldn't get an Autograph. I was about 87th and the guaranteed cutoff was at 75. The guys on staff told us there was a chance she'd be able to do some more so we hung on as alternates.

Eventually they let the line into the room and the alternates were kept just outside. People were being turned away from behind us and eventually we were brought into the room. So after a short while I got up to her table and her husband Jonathon asked me if I wanted it personalised . . . . . . at this moment I have to say I listened to the little devil on my shoulder and took the opportunity to have a little fun. I asked for a dedication that would imply I had told her some personal details about my friend and laughed evilly as I walked away. ( I gave him the book today and I think he had called me a bastard at least three times before I told him the truth)


3. Dragon*Con is known for many things but one of the well known things is the Kilt Blowings (it's pretty self explanatory). Jennie B from the Devils Panties gathers a large portion of the Kilted population of Dragon*Con parades them out in front of a large crowd of women and lets loose with a Leaf Blower. Since the event was nearly shut down last year due to exposure, this year it was made an official event and she managed to get the use of a room for it. This meant crowd control, ID checks and a stage.

Several of the Larger fans of the WebComic were acting as bouncers and Jennie B had to upgrade from her usual Hard Surface Blowers (their Batteries stopped charging) to a proper Leaf Blower. There were several characters to be blown, Snape, Indiana Jones and Short Round, Steampunk Boba Fett, Link and one of the crowd favourites Jareth The Goblin King. I think next year I'll have to costume up. I was blown shortly after Snape and got my share of cheers so I walked off happy and after wards I got a picture taken with Jennie B.

And that wraps up Saturday, come back tomorrow for Sunday (possibly Monday).

And why the hell not?!!

Dragon*Con Report Part 1

It's been 5 days since Dragon*Con closed it's doors for this year and I've been home for 4. I had to build up to blogging as for the first day back I was too tired to be coherent, the second day the change in environment caused a fair bit of tightening to the point were I could barely breathe without it hurting and yesterday and today I was doing catchup of mail, webcomics and internet memes. So I'll cover day one and two of Dragon*Con in this post.

Thursday was mostly spent travelling, I had to fly from Dublin to Atlanta stopping in JFK on the way. It pretty much went very smoothly, I waltzed through security and breezed through customs in Dublin before boarding a very nice plane to JFK. As I posted before I love flying but this was one of the most geeked out planes I'd been on yet. Every seat had it's own screen in the seat in front of it and it was all on demand content. I got to watch The Losers, The A Team and The Karate Kid during the flight and still had time to listen to an album or two before landing.

Once I got to JFK I went through customs again and asides from a quick question about the food I'd declared it was all good. I've watched to many of those Border Patrol or Passport Control shows on TV . . . . I follow the rule "if it goes in my mouth, it's food!", so I always declare that I have Chocolate in my case. They never question how much Chocolate I have and let me go through without even opening the case. Then I headed for my second flight and quickly made my way to Atlanta. Once I landed in Atlanta I got my bags and got out of the Airport in record time. This year I utilised the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) system instead of a cab and saved myself a fair bit of cash (around $5 for a round trip vs $40 each way in a cab) got off at my stop, checked into the Sheraton (my first hotel) and had a very relaxing shower. I was planning on meeting up with some of the other Forumites from the Devils Panties forum but I ended up crashing on top of the Bed and woke up bright and early Friday Morning.

I got up and went downstairs to pick up my Pre-Reg Badge for the Con which took about an hour and a half (worth for a saving of $50) and then went back to my room for a quick shower before checking out of the hotel (yeah I know I only showered the night before and all I did since then was sleep and queue but Atlanta is gorram hot, so it was needed). I left my case in storage and then walked to the Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton for the convention Proper. Once the Halls were open I went in to see the Artists Alley and got to say hi to Jenny B (thedevilspanties.com/) and Gina Biggs (www.redstring.strawberrycomics.com) again and drop off what is becoming my traditional batch of Chocolates. After I scanned the artists alley for other Webcomics I read (with not entirely satisfying results) I went over to the Dealers and Exhibitors rooms to check out the Merch on sale.

At this point I should mention that I was planning on going through the Con with one or two purchases in mind and scrimping on everything else as I was a little short on funds due to a little credit card snafu (They had blocked my card due to suspected fraudulent activities . . . . I live in Dublin and suddenly there are charges on my card in Atlanta sure looks suss, of course if they went back through my charges and saw the airline tickets to Atlanta and the Hotel room reservations in Atlanta maybe they'd have cracked the Rosetta stone). So I was window shopping trying to locate the bargains and at least whittle down my options. There was a lot of stuff and I reckon if I had both the monies required and luggage enough to carry it all I'd still of had trouble just choosing one item from each stall. There was Steam Punk gear, Sci Fi gear, leather items, DVD's of childhood shows, Action Figures and memorabilia . . . . It was a glorious sight to behold. I finally left the hall with an idea of what I wanted to pick up and list of things that I could neither afford nor pack but wanted regardless.

I went back to the Sheraton to pick up my case and tried to book into the Marriott (Hotel No. 2 for those of you keeping count) but here's where the Credit Card snafu became a major Charlie Foxtrot (look it up or ask a friend with a little experience with military parlance) as my card had been temporarily blocked for security by the Credit Card Company they couldn't use it to check me in . . . . so I had to pay Cash for one night get the mess cleared with the Credit Card Company and use my card to cover the next two nights the next morning. So when I finally got to my room I just put my stuff away and headed back out to see more of the Con.

This time out I did my first sweep of the Walk of Fame . . . . just really to place where people were and to see how many people actually showed up (you still get last minute cancellations. There were one or two people who I did end up saying "aww Damn" about but there were still a lot of people to see. I ended up getting my Trek on and chatting with Robert Beltran and Garrett Wang who play Cmdr Chakotay and Ensign Kim respectively. And I think I managed to make conversation with them without failing my fanboy check.

And that pretty much wraps up my Dragon*Con Friday . . . I had intended to make it to the Saturday Morning (1am) Kilt Blowing but again I ended up crashing after a shower.

More on the Kilt Blowings and the Saturday of Dragon*Con tomorrow.


And why the hell not?!!

Wo ist meine Handy?

This post is brought to you in association with Sea-Tac Airports free wifi hotspot. (Gods bless them)

I'm sitting in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after traveling for 16 hours give or take and my deodorent is still holding (I'm extremely impressed). I'm killing time before I get a bus into the city to head to Emeraldcitycomicon! Really excited about this as I haven't been in Seattle for just under nine years. I lived here for three months as part of a course and I regard those months as the best time of my life whilst single. This trip (hereafter referred to as the Triple Threat) is a Birthday Present to myself that I decided to go on after my last trip to Buffalo. I was looking around to see what event were on in Seattle and discoverd to my great pleasure and surprise that Emeraldcitycomicon was happening the weekend of my birthday (this sunday) and thought to myself "Blimey I'm having that".

I'll get the chance to meet the people behind most of my favourite webcomics, comicbooks and some media Celebrities such as Ray Parks (Darth Maul, Toad & Snake Eyes), Mike Mignola (Hellboy though I shouldn't have to say that) Tahmoh Penikett, Aaron Douglas, & Michael Hogan (Helo, Chief Tyrol and Colonel Tigh respectively or as I'll refer to them later the Boys from BSG), Wil Wheaton (Known forever as Wesley Crusher but is also quite a renown blogger) and, probably the biggest one for me, Jewel Staite (Kaylee Frye in Firefly& Dr. Jennifer Keller in Stargate Atlantis actually if you didn't know who she was I don't want you reading my blog . . . . . . .I'm serious, Vamoose yah varmints!) She is so Shiney!

I've packed with me about $60 worth of assorted Guinness merchandise and chocolates as bribes. . . . . . . I mean gifts for some of the Guests and artists and I'm hoping to pick up a lot of swag at the con. I've brought along empty sketch pads to be filled but I honestly don't know if I'll have enough time for everyone I want to see. The con runs till 6 both Saturday & Sunday and after that I'm going to be crashing in a house I found through couchsurfing, I was lucky as it seems to be a busy weekend for most. Of all the requests I sent out I only got one positive reply, not that the negative ones were outright nos, mostly people were out of town or already had people over. One of them had said if she had known the Con was on She would have been going to that and I definitely could have stayed with her but alas she was heading away for the weekend. I'll be hoping to tell a bit more about the girl I'll be staying with by Monday.

Oh there will be a lot of photos on Monday. I'll be moving onto part 2 of the Triple Threat which is flying down to Biloxi to meet up with a friend of mine. So again I'll have time to kill so sorting my photos from the con and a bit of Blogging should do that nicely.

Ok I'm sure you'll agree I've rambled on for long enough, but in case you were wondering the title of this post is a reference to the fact that I accidentily left my Mobile in Ireland and I'm a little cut off without it. Thankfully I have most peoples numbers on a website because if I didn't I'm not 100% I could dial my home phone number nevermind anyone else. I should be able to get by without it.

And why the hell not?!