Another Year, Another Con

[hsapiens]

It seems that waiting for breakfast becomes my LJ update time. I'm packed and ready to head back to Texas. Next year's con moves to Cherry Hill and I can't say that I'll be sorry to never again stay at this hotel. On the plus side, the elevators worked this time. I have a nice view of the Manhattan skyline and it is particularly convenient to get into the City but Secaucus is not my idea of a great vacation spot.

Random con thoughts:

1. The shortest route between Point A and Point B in Secaucus involves an extended tour of industrial parks and at least one turn into a scary-looking garage.

2. Michael Shanks was early to the breakfast and spent a long time at every table. He wore black leather and black denim. I'm not so clear on what's up with the hair but it was obvious that whatever it was, it was on purpose. I might not be down with it but I was so ridiculously thrilled that he wasn't wearing a baseball cap that I was willing to forgive and forget.

3. Michael Shanks gave us a deliciously evil laugh when we were discussing his casting as Lucifer in the upcoming Rage of Angels. He remains optimistic that the project will be produced.

4. Do not ever get between Jay Acavone and his $150 jar of facial cream.

5. Tony Amendola reads Shakespeare beautifully. The fact that he followed it with a theatrical reading of doggerel and bad internet jokes only proved I'd happily listen to him read anything.

6. Kate Hewlett is an excellent playwright. This was a wonderful discovery last night. She's also a fun guest and clearly enjoyed being onstage.

7. Cliff Simon? He is still incendiary hot. They tailor his wardrobe on the show and it's all real leather. Oh yeah, and since he's "ripped" (his words), they made a decision to remove the sleeves from most of his wardrobe in the forthcoming movie. The guys (MS and RDA?) made sport of him for this while filming.

8. A third movie script is being written. I have no idea if that means we'll *see* a third, but Brad is penning one.

9. Alexis Cruz is still a thoughtful kind of guy but the cabaret act is not one you'd expect from a guy who was on the schmaltzy, Christian-fest Touched by an Angel.

10. Paul McGillion's Scottish accent reasserts itself in direct proportion to the hotness of the woman standing in front of him. :)

11. I'm still sorry that Steve Bacic couldn't make it.

12. Cons are still all about the friends. No surprise that I had fun with the usual suspects (selmak, janiekins, triciabyrne1978) but also with niamaea, who turns out to be exactly as cool and nice and pretty as I suspected. I got to know a lot of people from Gateworld this time around. I would be willing to wade into the abyss in order to keep up with Dave and Marla, who were just plain wonderful.

13. Meeting triciabyrne1978's family was...interesting. It's good to know that she comes by her smut gene naturally.

14. The hotel bartender didn't get to us often but he "made up for it" by forgetting to include the mixers. However, a glass of tequila really isn't an improvement over the margarita I ordered. Not that that stopped me from drinking it.

15. Creation Cons are MUCH MUCH MUCH more enjoyable when they're run by a really nice, laid-back guy. With the exception of a few incidences, it was easy to forget that we were at a Creation Con. It was the (mostly) pleasant event that I suspected a con could be. I almost don't feel overcharged. ;)

Comments

[nialla]

Kate's LJ feed is here -- Loft in
Translation.

I would think ticketing would be handled by people in the office for Creation. The con I worked at was all volunteer, where we just got a free ticket for working, but I think Creation has an office staff, but those working security and such are volunteers. I mostly worked at registration, but did a bit of "floater" work relieving those running the mikes for Q&A sessions.

The last Creation con I went to was the first year they were doing the Stargate franchise and had one in Dallas. It was a terrible venue, with the dealer's area at the back of the room where the guests were onstage. I have problems hearing anyway, so I could barely hear the guests over the buzz of the dealers and customers talking. For some guests, I could move closer to a speaker so I could understand what they were saying.

I do wish they'd come back to Dallas again, because the venues they have now are totally out of my reach, but I hope they'd choose another location or at least put the dealer's area in another room.

[hsapiens.livejournal.com]

Yay! I've already subscribed. Thank you! :) :)

Ticketing is handled by Leticia and I haven't ever heard a single customer say a nice thing about the woman. I've had my own difficulties with her and haven't got a nice thing to say, either.

I can't believe that we were both at the Dallas con! I don't think I knew you then so it's no surprise, I suppose, that we didn't meet. I was in the front row, slightly off center. I had Joe with me, and he's the one Teryl pulled on stage to recreate the Heimdall/RDA thing with. :) That was the con where we sat with the savejanetfraiser.com group because I figured anyone who likes Teryl must be good people. I made lots of good friends at the con.

You're right about the dealer room placement. That sucked beyond believing. I keep hoping for another Dallas show, too, but I'm guessing the economics didn't work for them.

[nialla]

I was towards the back, which is another reason the dealer's area location ticked me off. I'm not one for getting autographs and such, so I usually stick to the "cheap" seats. ;)

I went to see the actors, but also to see Rachel Caine, who wrote one of the novelizations and also writes the Weather Wardens series, and is just generally a cool person. Somewhere on my computer I've got a picture of us at the con.

It seems like Creation is favoring the coasts and Northern cities for their cons. The only one outside those areas are ones in Austin and Vegas. The Austin one is a horror con that I believe was established there pre-Creation running it, and the Vegas one is a Trek one taking advantage of the Star Trek Experience being located there.

[hsapiens.livejournal.com]

That was the dumbest move I've ever seen, honestly. They haven't repeated it, for what it's worth. I like the close up seats because I love to take pictures. As a short person, I have to be up close to do that. Also? If it weren't for the dessert/breakfast functions, I probably would have left all the cons without making any new friends. Those events force me out of my shell and I've made some excellent friends for it.

I think they don't understand the market. There's enough population density on the coasts that it doesn't matter but elsewhere, they'd need to know where to locate. I understand picking venues near to airports but Dallas, which never struck me as a community overly friendly to sci fi and the geeks who love it, was an odd choice. It looked good geographically but I don't think it was a great location. But that could be the Houstonian in me, ragging on Dallas. ;)

[nialla]

I'd wondered if perhaps the hotel had flaked on them and they simply couldn't get another room to put the dealers in. I've seen stranger things happen, including one con that had to completely cancel a month or two before the con date, because the hotel double booked. Turned out the hotel had changed management and the new people didn't want to host a con, but didn't just outright tell them that.

Actually, there's a lot of good venues for cons in the Dallas area, but the hotel Creation chose was one I'd never been to that I can recall. Looks like they would have checked with local fans for a good deal. My best friend is a meeting planner and wouldn't have minded telling the good places to go. For some reason, cons with actor guests just aren't happening much in Dallas. There are two sci fi/fantasy cons (Con DFW and Fencon), plus two anime related cons (A-KON is massive), but the only one I ever hear about with actor guests anymore is an "expo" and not a con. They're held in a convention center not a hotel venue, and it's more of a "go for the day" type things, not the all-encompassing event a real con is.

It's really sad, because there's been some great cons in the DFW area in the past. Ironically, I think a couple of them folded after Creation did some events within weeks of the fan run events, then Creation all but disappeared. Most people can't afford to go to two cons close together, and Creation can bring in more guests at once. It was sort of like a Wal-Mart opening, the local stores shut down, then Wal-Mart moved on because they weren't making any money.

The last several years, the closest con with guests is one up in Tulsa, but I haven't been the last two years. There has to be a guest I really want to see to go that far, and there just hasn't been anyone I haven't already seen that I want to see. I've also been out to Dragon*Con in Atlanta a couple of times (which is just unbelievably massive) and Denver several times, mostly because I have friends there I can crash with. ;)

[hsapiens.livejournal.com]

Good point -- I never thought about the hotel failing to live up to its commitments. I would be livid if I were Creation. I'm not surprised that Creation wouldn't have checked with local fans for hotels, though, because I don't get the impression that they generally communicate with fan communities.

I missed the Tulsa one where Lexa was preggers with their first child and I've always regretted it. It looked like that one was tons of fun, even if my pref for seeing Michael is sans wife. Actually, sans stage partner because he tends to let someone else "carry" the talk. He gives off an introvert vibe; I like that being up there alone forces him to come out of his shell a little.

I'd love to go to Dragon Con just once because it sounds like a really fun time. Denver is always on my list of favorite destinations as I love the Rockies. :)