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Some people in Jacksonville decided to hold a con this year and very nearly managed it. DreamCon 2004.
Overall it was a blast. We stayed Friday night, attended the con Saturday, left late Saturday night. I've started writing this three times now and kept getting bogged down with the incredibly entertaining details that wouldn't interest anyone that wasn't there (and maybe not then), so I'll give you some random bits.
- The drive there was laden with omens and creepy as all hell. It was pouring rain from a sky lit with deep reds and purples from the setting sun, with lightning flashing across the rolling clouds. We called Alynia in the car behind us and asked if she was getting the feeling we were driving into a post-apocalyptic world. She said she thought it appropriate, considering our destination.
"A science fiction convention?"
"Jacksonville," she said.
- If you can catch the Tall Ship Festival as it travels from Miami to Nova Scotia, do so. The ships were berthed right in front of our hotel and were gorgeous. I'm truly sorry we didn't have the chance to see them under sail.
- If you want to see the big guests, you'll have to expect to wait. This con got good marks for one of the guys bringing out toys and using them as prizes for an impromptu trivia contest while we were waiting to see Jewel Staite (Kaylee from Firefly). You could only win once, so after I had won the first question and the three people with me had won after I prompted them, we had to quit. I love cons, geekness is rewarded.
- Do not believe con volunteers when they tell you it'll be just a minute. This con lost marks after we were shuffled off to wait with the photographers since we had paid for photos with Jewel, and then forgotten about after the first photo session was canceled and no one told us or the photographers. We got our pics later, but we missed some stuff waiting and were pretty peeved.
- Even when guests charge for autographs and pictures (all the media guests did), you can still talk to them. I told Harmony from Buffy that I loved her work in the Addams Family movies and that Teres didn't want to talk to her because of that whole Spike jealousy thing. I found out that Sam Jones III (Pete from Smallville) had never heard of the fantastic television recap site www.televisionwithoutpity.com and their constant complaints about the misuse of his character (he seemed gratified).
- Writers, on the other hand, will talk your ears off. Met Peter David again, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle for the first time, could have met P.N. Elrod (never read her books, didn't care) and met up with Jeff Strand, a writer of hilarious horror novels that I become friends with online. Niven is a pleasant gentleman with the same hairstyle I have. Pournelle is a man who plainly does not suffer fools gladly or any other way and will tell you about it. Peter David is funny and sardonic and tends to wander around the con as much as the guests do.
- Do not believe con volunteers when they tell you there'll be just a short wait.
- Some people really need to stay covered up, especially when they take it in their minds to wear chain mail bikinis and nothing else.
- You can live (or physically assault} your fantasies, as my friend Alynia does here.
- Author readings do not get a lot of attention unless it's a superstar author. Larry Niven found out that he was doing a reading Saturday morning (it hadn't been on the schedule as of Friday night) and was unprepared since a) he didn't bring in any of his own books, and b) he doesn't do readings. He asked for a copy of one of his books and started reading, got two pages in, said, "I can't read this drivel," and talked about his new books instead.
- Jeff, a "Special Guest" rather than a "Featured" one, had a grand total of four people at his reading; me, my son, Alynia, and Jeff's wife. I caught him laughing for a great greasy author's photo.
- If you want bootleg DVDs get 'em early. The sole DVD booth was shut down after the bootlegs were noticed.
- Sometimes when the dealer says you should buy something now, you should buy something now. Finally found a baskethilt rapier with a thin blade (they're usually thicker ones) and it got sold while I wandered around, talking my self into it.
- Some actors can ruin your opinions of the characters they play. Jewel Staite (Kaylee) was just as funny and smart and pretty as I'd hoped she'd be. She told us lots of behind-the-scenes stuff about Firefly, including the "flipping the bird" war between herself and Nathan Fillion (Captain Mal Reynolds) which she won decisively. She answered my question ("Do you ever catch yourself cursing in Chinese?") by talking about Alan Tudyk (Wash, the pilot) making his up because he couldn't pronounce any of it right, which meant, naturally, that he got more than anyone else. She told us what she could say about the movie, which was that it picks up 6-8 months after the last show, we'll find out a lot more about River, everyone will have significant changes by the end of the movie, there are some major and unexpected surprises in store, she didn't have to gain weight again for the movie, it'll be open to new viewers but not in a way that will annoy the regular watchers, and they're having a ball doing it. Oh, and the costumes look better. Chances of Simon finally kissing Kaylee? "Oh, I can't say. Um, it looks good."
- Panels at cons bear no relation to their titles. The "Science Fiction Fact" panel touched briefly on scientific accuracy in sc-fi and then branched out quickly into just about everything else. The panel had Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Tony Amendola (from Stargate: SG1[i], [i]The Mask of Zorro, Alias) and Gary Graham (Alien Nation), for some reason, and Peter David. It was funny and informative and boisterous and not to be missed, and had very little to do with the topic. Much like our forum threads, in fact. I was cheered when, during a brief on-topic discussion of consistency in fictional physics, the narrator mentioned Orson Scott Card as a good example of consistency in fantasy. Shout out!
- Restaurants near big clumps of business hotels are expensive. We went to a nice Italian restaurant which cost us roughly four times what we were used to spending on a meal for the family. Great food, but we were also next to an outdoor festival with a band that was equally loud and untalented. We ate and left quickly. (Niven, Pournelle, and others were at the next table, but we avoided stalking them)(mostly)
- Cons that are not organized do not get repeat business. There were no pics available for some of the signings, events were rearranged at the last minute, some of the guests missed their own panels because they hadn't been told about them, there were no booksellers there (unusual for a con with name authors), and everything had a thrown-together feel that can be fun if all goes well and annoying if all goes not-well. We had fun, but almost despite the convention.
Overall it was fun, but I'd think long and hard before automatically attending the next one.
[ June 13, 2004, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
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