As usual, the cosplay rocked the con, and if people in costume spotted you holding a camera, they'd pose. It's surprising how many would pose while on the escalator at the Marriott. There were so many Waldos too. I always knew where one was though the zombie one topped the list. I also discovered if I put my camera on the sport setting and turned on the flash, I had a better chance of getting a shot indoors without a long exposure time and at longer distances.
We have random lunch time observations (from the Corner Bakery).
Plenty of superheroes and villians. Though it was the year for Captain America.
Stormtroopers.
Other random people watching shots.
And then there's this lovely lady. She was at D*C with her daughter and both were dressed up as Red Hat Ladies. That headdress she's wearing is a red strapless bra with feathers and beads on it. I wish I had gotten a better picture.
This year there was a room/panel that featured steampunk exhibitors and business at the Weston on Sunday afternoon. The outfits and props there were amazing. BISis and I collected quite a few cards and one compliment for my "lustrious locks." Below are the pictures and one demonstration video.
We're close. So very close. And we all know that cons aren't for sissies. There are still some good rules, or guidelines as it were, for surviving at Dragon*Con (or any other convention).
4-3-1 Rule: 4 hours of sleep, 3 meals, 1 shower This should be the minimum mandatory for us all especially concerning the shower. 40k+ people packed into that small a space requires good hygiene habits.
Hygiene rule: Cleanliness is next to Wheatoness. Wash your hands frequently and before you put anything in your mouth. If you're not near a sink, use hand sanitizer. Con crud sucks and you don't want to pass it on to anyone else.
Elevator rule: Go up to go down, Go down to go up If there's space on the elevator, get on it. It doesn't matter if it's going the direction you want. It'll go that way soon enough.
Corollary to the Elevator rule: Pointy costumes on the elevator, wait for the next. Trust me, I've gotten poked in the face/back of the head/tit too many times while pressed back against the glass in an elevator at the Hyatt.
2nd Corollary to the Elevator rule: Be prepared to get up close and personal with strangers. I swear, dude, I did not mean to grab your ass. I got bumped by Chewbacca. Okay, the first time, I got bumped by Chewy. The second time was an ass grab. Sorry. Nice top hat, by the by.
3rd Corollary to the Elevator rule: The Stair rule: The stairs can be your friend. BISis has no patience with waiting for things. She also doesn't understand any of the DC elevator rules. I'm prepared to take the stairs most of the time. This year I've requested that we be on the 10th floor or below. I can do 10 flights a couple times a day. Last year though, the 16th floor almost killed me. By the by, the stairwells are gross by the end of the con.
Line rule: Talk to people. I've always had great conversations with complete strangers while waiting in line for my badge (really, with as long as that wait is, you might as well enjoy it) and for panels. Dragon*Con is filled with people just like you. You never know, you could make life long friends, or at least, a weekend drinking buddy.
Costumes rule: Be prepared. Have a sewing kit. Always change your underwear. Or possibly don't plan on wearing the same costume/outfit everyday. Also consider how difficult it will be to navigate stairs, rows between chairs, and the bathroom in the costume. Also be prepared for the heat. Atlanta is called Hotlanta for a reason. It's supposed to be in the low 90s for most of the weekend, and this is the south, we don't have low humidity.
Corollary to the Costume rule: Don't stand too close. I love steampunk outfits. They are fantastic. They also frequently have sharp, and pointy edges especially if they have steampunk fairy wings. Don't walk to closely. Pointy hurts. (Pardon my Willow moment.) This goes for costumes with weapons as well. It's all fun and games til someone gets an eye put out and most people don't look good in an eyepatch. They're also hard to game in, eyepatches that is.
Second most important con rule, (i.e. The Wheaton Rule): Don't be a dick! Listen to the wise and all knowing (or mostly knowing anyway) Wil Wheaton. He know of which he speaks.
And above all else, Most Important Con Rule: Have fun!
I know I'm forgetting a few here. Feel free to add more to the comments.
Bwahaha...I finished the playlist for Dragon*Con 2011. It includes Dragon*Con guest Voltaire, filking, songs from science fiction/fantasy shows (Supernatural and Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog), and songs by musicians that have acted in fantasy series (Christian Kane, Angel).
Right now, they're show in order of number of plays from least to most.
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor Superman - Five for Fighting When You're Evil - Voltaire (I've Had) The Time of My Life - Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes Bad Company - Bad Company Wanna Be A Slayer - Unknown (If you know then comment on this post or email me) I Am A Vamp Of Constant Sorrow - Luke Sienkowski Here for the party - Gretchen Wilson Hot Blooded - Foreigner Sideways - Dierks Bentley A Man Named Jayne - Luke Sienkowski Everyone's a Hero - Nathan Fillion Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down Anything Goes - John Barrowman Footloose - Kenny Loggins Back in Black - AC/DC So They Say - Ensemble (Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog) These Are My People - Rodney Atkins You Can Leave Your Hat On - Tom Jones I'm a Believer - The Monkees A Man's Gotta Do - Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day & Nathan Fillion Hellhound On My Trail - Robert Johnson Half a Hero - Adam Ezra Group Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy Black Betty - Ram Jam Don't Stop Believin' - Journey Kill Like This - Adam Ezra Group The House Rules - Christian Kane (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Öyster Cult Renegade - Styx American Made - Christian Kane Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
I've got the TV episodes narrowed down to: Fit & Fabulous - 10 minute Total Body (What? A girl's got to stay fit) Eureka - Glimpse Leverage - The Studio Job Warehouse 13 - Duped & Merge With Caution Supernatural - Hell House (if there's space)
29 August update: Okay, last night's Leverage episode was fantastic. I'm going to have to find the space to add it. I also finally caved and bought the audio version of Just A Geek by Wil Wheaton which is going to be my flight entertainment for the trip. Need space on the iPod for that too.
We are getting close people. There are just 9 days left before Dragon*Con starts. I had a freakout on Sunday when I realized how close it is. I still have way to much to do and they haven't posted the pocket program yet. As soon as it's up, I'm going to go all Officer Obie on it (watch this if you don't know what I mean). I like to have my weekend planned out even though BISis and I will probably change things up some.
I've had a mental list of clothes ready for the past month that includes cargo pants, some new geeky t-shirts (thanks to ThinkGeek.com and RiptApparel.com), and new red Converse One Stars. The shoes need insoles (adding to Target shopping list). They're comfy for walking, but not so much for standing on hard surfaces. This weekend I'll start packing my bag and make a shopping run to fill up the survival kit. Unfortunately, the new glasses won't be ready to wear to the Con.
BIS's survival kit : 2 travel packs Wet wipes travel pack of Lysol wipes travel pack of Pond's face cloths bottle of hand sanitizer hand lotion (I'll be using a lot of sanitizer saline spray for my sinuses favorite brand of band aids antiseptic wound ointment/spray blister pads travel packs of tissues single serving snacks ibuprofen, aspirin, Pepto extra hair ties floppy hat (red, white and blue monstrosity from the 1970 World Fair, you'll spot me if I wear it) spare batteries chargers for the phone, iPod, and camera hoodie and cardigan (BISis is always wearing mine when I get cold)
I haven't even started on my playlist for this year. I'll get that posted tomorrow or Thursday once I figure it out. I also need to decide what episodes I want on the iPod. I'll be bringing along my cables to hook it up to the TV. I'm choosing from Leverage, Eureka, Haven, and Warehouse 13. "Glimpse" from this season of Eureka is a given. How could I not have the Stan Lee episode?
Gah. I'm just realizing how much more there is than I thought. I need to find the charger for the camera and charge the battery. Where the hell is the power adapter for that? I need to clear last year's pictures off the memory card. They're backed up already. I need to pick up a battery for my pedometer. I want to know how far I walk this year. Last year BISis drug me all over the place. Ms. We Can Walk to the Aquarium. I already put in a request for a room on the 10th floor or below because I know she just does not get how to handle elevators at a con. We're going to do the stairs often. I can handle 10 floors. 16 floors last year danged near killed me.
And I swear, Wil Wheaton as my witness, I WILL NOT GET SICK THIS YEAR!
As part of a 2nd annual special event, Dragon*Con partnered with the Georgia Aquarium for a con only after hours party. All the exhibits were open, the Cemetery Surfers played and Shag hosted a lounge party. I love aquariums but rarely have a chance to visit them so I snapped up tickets for BISis and I the first chance I got. This is only a small selection of pictures. I took a little over 100 in about 3 hours plus a short video of the Cemetery Surfers.
Piranha, but it's only a guess.
Poisonous tree frog
Grouper
Jellyfish
Viewing spot in the penguin habitat. I must have watched too much Penguins of Madagascar. Every time I type "penguin" I think of it as pen-gu-in as per Dr. Blowhole.
Line for the moving sidewalk under a salt water tank.
What? Yes, it's blurry. It was moving.
And now for the costumes:
Aren't those fantastic boots?
I have a enlarged shot of them.
Girl in a shark. I love that.
And a short clip of the Cemetery Surfers and a cute couple dancing.
Every year I say that I'm going to make it to more panels and it never really happens. The lines get cut off or are so insanely long even an hour before hand that I look at them and say, "oh hell no." Lack of sleep can also factor into this. Yes, I know that panels don't start until 10:30 am. Who can really sleep with an Atrium Tower room in the Hyatt though. I swear I was ready to murder whom ever was holding down the "Door Open" button in one of the elevators Friday night. 2 minutes of buzzing on and off for over a half hour is way too much at 2 am (ok, so it was really Saturday morning). We had one of those little bump outs in front of our room, too, where drunks seemed to like to hang out. Friday night/buttcrack of dawn Saturday, there was a guy with no concept of an indoor voice outside the door for quite a while. He sounded like Josh Gates from Destination Truth. I didn't get up to check though. If it had been Josh Gates (who wasn't on the schedule), I would have said, "Josh Gates? Wow. I think you're hysterical and love watching your show. Please get away from my room now. You're freaking loud." If it hadn't been Josh Gates, it would have gotten ugly very quickly. I get pissy when woken from a dead sleep. Imminent death/destruction or sex are the only acceptable reasons for that and sex wasn't on the menu for them.
Back to the panels, BISis and I did get to quite a few and caught 2 on DCTv.
First up on Friday was the Warehouse 13 panel with Saul Rubinek, Eddie McClintock, and Tia Carrere. Saul is kind a funny. Tia is bright and a little raunchy. Eddie is cute and so much like his character, Pete. My friend, Lea, ran into him in the elevator at the Marriott and says he is charming and adorable up close, very much like a playful little kid. The evil Eddie goatee was sexy too.
Of course, next up was the Eureka panel at 2:30. Colin Ferguson's plane wasn't due in until 4 pm so Erica Cerra had to handle things on her own. She had no clue what to do but picked things up quickly. Whoever was running the American Sci-Fi Media track, did nothing to help her out. His introductions were funny throughout the con but not because he put any thought into them. He read them straight off imdb.com, incorrect information and all. The audience realized this which is why it was so funny. Erica can hold her own in the spotlight. She is gorgeous (I'm envious of her arm muscles) and was adorable. She'd do this excited clapping thing that was adorable and thanked every person after answering their question. She had a grand old time mock answering for Colin. My cheeks actually hurt from laughing when her panel was over.
This by the way was the line to see her. It wrapped around the side by the ballroom, out the doors to an outdoor terrace, broke for a flight of stairs, and then wrapped around the outside of the Marriott.
We missed getting into the Dark Hunter Party on Friday night, but got in some great costume watching. It also spawned the idea of doing a photo montage of Inappropriately Exposed Asses of Dragon*Con. I think next year that album will become a reality.
We saw one other celebrity panel over the weekend which was the Eureka/Warehouse 13 crossover panel on Saturday. That line snaked all over the place before circling the outside of the Hyatt. We got there an hour before the panel and were along the front of the building. You can see some of the passersby pictures on the Costumes of the Con Part 2 link at the bottom of the post. It wasn't bad until the sun shifted and we lost all shade. I ended up a little pink but it firmed up my line skills. The panel was manned by Colin Ferguson, Erica Cerra, Niel Grayston, Saul Rubinek, Eddie McClintock, Tia Carrere, and Rene Auberjonois. There was a lot of laughter and, yes, someone called Colin on missing the previous day's panel. Erica was more than happy to demonstrate how she answered questions for him.
On DCTv, we caught the Firefly panel with Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, and Summer Glau. They all were as cute and funny as you would expect. Morena has a hysterically foul mouth. Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk kept prank calling in about borrowing cars. It was funny at first but got annoying towards the end. Also, we caught the Star Trek: The Next Generation panel, which has been much talked about on other blogs. There is a good description at EPBOT that includes a video clip. You'd think actors would be a little nicer to such dedicated fans.
Now on to the more academic panels. I love these. Then tend to be smaller and highly entertaining as well as informative.
BISis and I stopped by one of the Space panels. We are a NASA fan family after all. The one we saw was Mars: Science From Above - The Orbiters & HiRISE. We were shown a powerpoint on the history and purpose of the orbiters and some of the images from the HiRISE camera by Sarah Milkovich of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Part of the HiRISE pictures were in 3D so we were provided old school glasses for it. If you want to check out some of the images, you can visit here. There is even a way for people to suggest what new images should be taken of Mars with HiRISE, at http://www.uahirise.org/hiwish/. We left the panel with great info, a lot of pictures (paper not digital) and, of course, the kick ass 3D glasses.
The Science of Steampunk panel had some great discussion about using stored compressed energy to power various things. Also talked about was the potential of using hydrogen peroxide based fuels, and if it is possible to use compressed air to power a car. Random trivia: the first rechargeable battery was created in 1862. A recommended viewing in this panel was on atmospheric pressure:
The suggested home experiment was sucking an egg into a soda bottle:
Fun was had by all in the Costuming track and lots of great tips were given. The two panels we attended were Filling in the Gaps: Making Props for Your Character and In the Details: Accessories. In Props, adhesive suggestions (for various uses) were E6000, Gorilla Glue, Liquid Stitch, QuickGrip and 377 SuperAdhesive. Superglue was recommended for both leather and bone. Design Master paint (available at Michael's) is good for giving leather a wood tone. One of the highly suggested websites was SmoothOn.com for both their products and their online how-to instructions/videos. In Accessories, the little details really do matter and the wrong shoes can break a costume. If you're making a replica of an accessory (such as a light saber), you need to change 20%, or 7 different things, so there aren't copyright issues. Of course, if you aren't selling the piece, patent doesn't really apply. (I'm not a lawyer; always check for yourself.) Line your pieces. For things like spats/gaiters, corsets and clothing, it can make a difference in how long the piece lasts.
Finally, the other panel we attended (on Sunday) was Buffy and Supernatural: Religion, Spirituality, and Show Canon. Buffy wasn't much part of the discussion. We were all pretty focused on the upcoming 6th season of Supernatural. Hosting the panel were Mary Moline, Damien Walker, and Father Bryan Small, who greeted us by saying, "Excuse the clothes. I had to work this morning." He was one of the funniest priests I've ever met, cute too if you look at his picture below. Religion is an interest for me in a more academic sense. I'm generally pretty horrible with taking part in organized religious practices. Supernatural has gotten me to consider more things though. Hell, it's the reason I am finally reading the Bible. I was having a hard time keeping everyone straight and didn't know any of the angel's histories. I've got a note about the Gospel of Phillip under the panel's name. I think it was a reading recommendation but am not really sure. If I'd actually written this post right after Dragon*Con, I'd remember I bet. That'll teach me.
Anyway, this has been a massively long post but it covers the basics of the BIS Dragon*Con panel experience. Next up, post wise, is the Georgia Aquarium After Dark.
And the Dragon*Con costume fun continues. A good chunk of these were taken by BISis outside the Hyatt on Saturday while waiting in line for the Eureka/Warehouse 13 crossover panel.
Braiiiiiins. More braiiiiins.
And yes, that is my hand and phone in the right corner. I was catching up on the multiple voice mails a friend at the con left.
Sexy Robin, sexy Batgirl and a sexy pirate.
And one of the overly exposed asses of Dragon*Con series. I swear, next year I'll do an entire photo album of them just to be able to do the snarky commentary.
Captain America being followed by Magenta and Columbia.
Hobbitses!
The Ghosbusters car and a Silk Spectre
Superman poised on top of a news dispenser to take a picture. Just after he did this, a fire engine drive by, stopped and asked to take his picture.
BISis and I had been talking at lunch about all the Doctor Who costumes. I told her that I expected to have a kid in a short pant suit, and gas mask come up to me at any moment to ask, "Are you my mummy?" Also, that I expected to turn a random corner and come face to face with a weeping angel. Well, after lunch we headed over to the Marriott, and once we found a break in the crowd we ran into...
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Now all I need for next year is the kid from "The Empty Child."
Ok, yes, I'm finally getting started doing my posts for this year's Dragon*Con. The costumes are always spectacular and inventive at the con and this year was no different. Here's a selection of some of what BIS and BISis saw around the hotels. One short note about taking pictures at Dragon*Con: It's dark and people rarely stand still well. If you use a flash, it washes everything out. If you're not using a flash, you need a longer exposure. With the longer exposure time, people (including you) move as you can see from the first picture below. Personally, unless I'm propped against something solid, I have a hard time keeping that steady. Most of my indoor pictures were taken on "aperature priority" setting.
Beauty and the Beast crew
I have no idea who these guys were but they were cute and friendly.
You can't be Sirius. Sirius Black, Severus Snape and Hogwarts students.
Steampunked Wizard of Oz
The white circles on his shield spell out "We're off to see the wizard" in typewriter keys.
