Toronto Trek 20
Jul. 11th, 2006 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desoto_hia873Well, it's taken me a few days to get around to reporting on Toronto Trek 20. It was great fun, but left me so tired that I could barely uncross my eyes yesterday. And today, of course, I'm back to the cod. But here, at last, I present Toronto Trek picspam:
I took Friday off work and drove to Toronto via Peterborough, picking Jim up on the way. After a slight mix-up at the front desk, we got checked into the hotel and were taken on a tour of the con facilities. I'm surprised I'm not still lost in there somewhere--it was a pretty big hotel and Toronto Trek was using a lot of rooms. We met up with a friend (Hi P!) and headed off for dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant (mmm, sushi). Jim lasted just long enough for our wine to arrive and then took off for the Blast Off party. And he says I'm the excitable one!
P and I had a nice long gab and drank Jim's wine. After our goodbyes, I also went to the Blast Off party with not a little trepidation. I never know what to talk about in these situations and, really, what can I possibly say to famous people that they haven't heard a thousand times before? But I need not have worried: by this time, Jim had practically worked himself into a frenzy and was best friends with half the people in the room. All I had to do was trail along in his wake. Several of the guests had already left by the time I got there, but I did meet Jewel Staite and Garrett Wang. I hardly recognized Garrett--he's grown his hair quite long.
Jewel's first Q&A was bright and early on Saturday morning. We almost got there on time (I'm SO not a morning person). I can't actually remember a lot of what she talked about--it's these damn cod, I tell ya. She did seem very pleased when someone asked her to tell us something about Jewel rather than just talk about Kaylee. Oh yes, she also said that she wasn't remotely attracted to Adam Baldwin or Nathan Fillion and the thought of kissing either of them squicked her out. It's a good thing I didn't mention all the Jayne/Kaylee porn I've read over at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
jaylee_ship. Heee. She said she liked kissing Sean Maher, though.
Later in the day, Jim and I had our photo taken with Jewel.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
styrofoam_guy was volunteering at the photo place, so I got to say hi to him there. He wound up seeing Jim and me fairly often as my prize package included "front of the line" privileges for both photographs and autographs. I gotta win these things more often--no waiting in lines for hours for us! We were in, out, and off to the panels. It was great.
So, am I short or what? Also, kind of jowly in that picture. Jewel is so very, very young (and thin), which possibly explains her preference for Sean over Adam--who is, technically, old enough to be her father.
At the autograph session, I got Jewel to sign the Serenity promo card we were given at the Toronto preview screening. That makes three BDH signatures now; Morena at SFX will make four. :-)
Jim is a fan of the original Star Trek series, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a photo taken with George Takei. He looks a little bug-eyed (George, not Jim).
Jim got him to sign the insert for his S3 DVD. He's all keen to go to and see William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy at SFX now, so he's saving the inserts from S1 and S2 for them.
Amber Benson and Adam Busch were this year's BtVS guests. I asked them if I could take their picture at the autograph session to commemorate the irony of having them there together. Well, it turns out that they really are together. Yes, they're an actual couple. The Powers That Be are laughing themselves silly.
I had James Marsters autograph my Chance DVD last year at SFX and added Amber's signature to it this weekend. Followingsunnyd_lite's and redeem147's leads, I also got her and Adam to sign my copy of Bite Me! by Nikki Stafford. Jim and I also had our photo taken with Amber. Doesn't she look slinky? I guess that's her "Come Hither" face.
Amber and Adam did a Q&A session together on Sunday afternoon and they were very entertaining. Many jokes were made about dating one's own murderer. Amber is completely unlike Tara--she's bubbly and bouncy and just happy, happy, happy. Adam was rather more laid back, but was big with the deadpan humour. They were really fun. Adam didn't have his band at the con, but they brought out a banjo player and sang with him. I don't remember what the songs were (Amber and Adam first did one together, then he sang one alone), but I was quite impressed with Adam's voice. I may have to pick up some Common Rotation CDs.
By Sunday morning, Jim was just beside himself with glee and was running around like a man possessed. Turns out he's a total celeb whore--who knew? He was popping in and out of photo and autograph sessions to the point where I didn't even know where he was half the time. But that was OK becausesunnyd_lite had arrived by then. It was a bit early in the day for pink martinis, but we had lunch in one of the hotel's restaurants and wound up sitting at the table next to Jewel. Actually, Jim and I wound up sitting very near her at lunch the day before, too. I think she was stalking me.
I caught up with Jim briefly as he was getting Michael Shanks' autograph. The man must have really big nipples--good thing that white t-shirt wasn't wet. Or maybe not so good.
Shortly after that,sunnyd_lite and I headed off for Jewel's second Q&A. We got there in time to hear the end of Garrett Wang's session and, man, what a character he is! I wish I'd been there for the entire thing--he just kept telling one funny story after another. I think Jewel found him a hard act to follow, but this Q&A was actually better than her first one. sunnyd_lite was very brave and even asked her a question. So did Garrett Wang, actually. :-)
Toronto Trek runs a ton of panels and we went to quite a few of them, including Klingon Rituals and Ceremonies, the Whedonverse Geek-off (I coulda been a contendah),redeem147's Whedonverse Alumni, and hazyone101's and lionnesss's Things That Make You Go Oooh! We also checked out the art auction (I bid on a cross-stitched Buffy and Spike, but didn't get it) and the dealer's room (I bought a Mal doll, a Reaver doll, and an autographed photo of Harry Groener), went to a Once More With Feeling sing-along, watched the last 20 minutes of Serenity, stuffed ourselves at the hotel's Italian restaurant (my prize package came with a $100 gift certificate), and met up with several Browncoats in Ten Forward (which was, oddly, on the eleventh floor). We were going to try to get a group shot taken with Jewel on Sunday morning, but so many people bought her drinks at the party the night before that she was too hungover to show up.
It was a good weekend. :-)
And now--on to Writercon! Woot!
I took Friday off work and drove to Toronto via Peterborough, picking Jim up on the way. After a slight mix-up at the front desk, we got checked into the hotel and were taken on a tour of the con facilities. I'm surprised I'm not still lost in there somewhere--it was a pretty big hotel and Toronto Trek was using a lot of rooms. We met up with a friend (Hi P!) and headed off for dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant (mmm, sushi). Jim lasted just long enough for our wine to arrive and then took off for the Blast Off party. And he says I'm the excitable one!
P and I had a nice long gab and drank Jim's wine. After our goodbyes, I also went to the Blast Off party with not a little trepidation. I never know what to talk about in these situations and, really, what can I possibly say to famous people that they haven't heard a thousand times before? But I need not have worried: by this time, Jim had practically worked himself into a frenzy and was best friends with half the people in the room. All I had to do was trail along in his wake. Several of the guests had already left by the time I got there, but I did meet Jewel Staite and Garrett Wang. I hardly recognized Garrett--he's grown his hair quite long.
Jewel's first Q&A was bright and early on Saturday morning. We almost got there on time (I'm SO not a morning person). I can't actually remember a lot of what she talked about--it's these damn cod, I tell ya. She did seem very pleased when someone asked her to tell us something about Jewel rather than just talk about Kaylee. Oh yes, she also said that she wasn't remotely attracted to Adam Baldwin or Nathan Fillion and the thought of kissing either of them squicked her out. It's a good thing I didn't mention all the Jayne/Kaylee porn I've read over at
jaylee_ship. Heee. She said she liked kissing Sean Maher, though.Later in the day, Jim and I had our photo taken with Jewel.
styrofoam_guy was volunteering at the photo place, so I got to say hi to him there. He wound up seeing Jim and me fairly often as my prize package included "front of the line" privileges for both photographs and autographs. I gotta win these things more often--no waiting in lines for hours for us! We were in, out, and off to the panels. It was great.So, am I short or what? Also, kind of jowly in that picture. Jewel is so very, very young (and thin), which possibly explains her preference for Sean over Adam--who is, technically, old enough to be her father.
At the autograph session, I got Jewel to sign the Serenity promo card we were given at the Toronto preview screening. That makes three BDH signatures now; Morena at SFX will make four. :-)
Jim is a fan of the original Star Trek series, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a photo taken with George Takei. He looks a little bug-eyed (George, not Jim).
Jim got him to sign the insert for his S3 DVD. He's all keen to go to and see William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy at SFX now, so he's saving the inserts from S1 and S2 for them.
Amber Benson and Adam Busch were this year's BtVS guests. I asked them if I could take their picture at the autograph session to commemorate the irony of having them there together. Well, it turns out that they really are together. Yes, they're an actual couple. The Powers That Be are laughing themselves silly.
I had James Marsters autograph my Chance DVD last year at SFX and added Amber's signature to it this weekend. Following
sunnyd_lite's and redeem147's leads, I also got her and Adam to sign my copy of Bite Me! by Nikki Stafford. Jim and I also had our photo taken with Amber. Doesn't she look slinky? I guess that's her "Come Hither" face.Amber and Adam did a Q&A session together on Sunday afternoon and they were very entertaining. Many jokes were made about dating one's own murderer. Amber is completely unlike Tara--she's bubbly and bouncy and just happy, happy, happy. Adam was rather more laid back, but was big with the deadpan humour. They were really fun. Adam didn't have his band at the con, but they brought out a banjo player and sang with him. I don't remember what the songs were (Amber and Adam first did one together, then he sang one alone), but I was quite impressed with Adam's voice. I may have to pick up some Common Rotation CDs.
By Sunday morning, Jim was just beside himself with glee and was running around like a man possessed. Turns out he's a total celeb whore--who knew? He was popping in and out of photo and autograph sessions to the point where I didn't even know where he was half the time. But that was OK because
sunnyd_lite had arrived by then. It was a bit early in the day for pink martinis, but we had lunch in one of the hotel's restaurants and wound up sitting at the table next to Jewel. Actually, Jim and I wound up sitting very near her at lunch the day before, too. I think she was stalking me.I caught up with Jim briefly as he was getting Michael Shanks' autograph. The man must have really big nipples--good thing that white t-shirt wasn't wet. Or maybe not so good.
Shortly after that,
sunnyd_lite and I headed off for Jewel's second Q&A. We got there in time to hear the end of Garrett Wang's session and, man, what a character he is! I wish I'd been there for the entire thing--he just kept telling one funny story after another. I think Jewel found him a hard act to follow, but this Q&A was actually better than her first one. sunnyd_lite was very brave and even asked her a question. So did Garrett Wang, actually. :-)Toronto Trek runs a ton of panels and we went to quite a few of them, including Klingon Rituals and Ceremonies, the Whedonverse Geek-off (I coulda been a contendah),
redeem147's Whedonverse Alumni, and hazyone101's and lionnesss's Things That Make You Go Oooh! We also checked out the art auction (I bid on a cross-stitched Buffy and Spike, but didn't get it) and the dealer's room (I bought a Mal doll, a Reaver doll, and an autographed photo of Harry Groener), went to a Once More With Feeling sing-along, watched the last 20 minutes of Serenity, stuffed ourselves at the hotel's Italian restaurant (my prize package came with a $100 gift certificate), and met up with several Browncoats in Ten Forward (which was, oddly, on the eleventh floor). We were going to try to get a group shot taken with Jewel on Sunday morning, but so many people bought her drinks at the party the night before that she was too hungover to show up.It was a good weekend. :-)
And now--on to Writercon! Woot!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-12 04:12 am (UTC)Writercon! Woot woot!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-12 09:03 pm (UTC)::is also slightly nervous::
no subject
Date: 2006-07-12 11:27 pm (UTC)I promise I will be nice to you. ::does the scout's honour finger thing::
no subject
Date: 2006-07-12 04:13 am (UTC)Amber Benson and Adam Busch were this year's BtVS guests. I asked them if I could take their picture at the autograph session to commemorate the irony of having them there together. Well, it turns out that they really are together. Yes, they're an actual couple. The Powers That Be are laughing themselves silly.
Hey cool! They're still together! I'd been wondering about that... since I think they've been a couple now for two or three years (it's been quite awhile, at any rate) and I hadn't heard anything about them recently.
but I was quite impressed with Adam's voice. I may have to pick up some Common Rotation CDs.
He and Eric sound really good together, even though their vocal styles are completely different. It's an odd, but pleasant, blend.
It was a good weekend. :-)
It sounds like you had a blast!!
And now--on to Writercon! Woot!
*whimper*
I just need to keep repeating "I get to go to Comic-Con, I get to go to Comic-Con" over and over until I quit regreting (even if it's just a little) choosing that one over WriterCon.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-12 09:06 pm (UTC)I'm always the last one to find out everything! Apparently, I live under a rock.
You're not the only one who chose Comic-Con over Writercon--
no subject
Date: 2006-07-14 01:00 am (UTC)You're going to WriterCon?! Me, too!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-14 02:02 am (UTC)Jim is tall, yes--about six feet. He looks like such a giant because I am so very short. :-)
Yup, I'm going to Writercon. July has been a very good month for fandom! I can't wait to meet you!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-14 11:01 am (UTC)