DragonCon 2010 Panels
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, Sis 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.
Sis 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.
Recommended websites from In the Details:
Felt hats makings: hatsupply.com
Star Wars replicas: partsofsw.com
Footwear: SCABoots.com
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.