Dragon*Con Report

Well, I had a great time at Dragon*Con, as I'd hoped and expected...here's a quick rundown of the highlights:

Ran into some Dad's Garage friends (Z, Tiff, and Tara) in the Dealer's Room/Artist Alley, while I was standing at Christopher Jones' table and browsing through his stuff. (Thank God it wasn't at one of the "naughtier" artists' tables!) I also met a couple of former co-workers and chatted briefly...Will in the dealer's room and Leah while getting in line for the "Meet the Stars of Harry Potter" panel. (I would've liked to talk to Leah more, but I had to move on and take my place in line.)

The Harry Potter panel in question, with James & Oliver Phelps (the Weasley twins) and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) was highly entertaining...and the next panel I attended, a Babylon 5 Q&A with Claudia Christian and Julie Caitlin Brown, was even more so. Claudia Christian is always frickin' hilarious...it's worth checking out the DVD of Final Voyage for her participation in the audio commentary (which is infinitely more entertaining than the actual movie). I should have asked her if she'd done any other DVD commentaries...

Saturday morning, Tippi Hedren had a panel discussing her efforts with the Shambala animal preserve...very admirable work!

The highlight of Saturday night, for me, was the screening (and subsequent Q&A) of The Signal, a very suspenseful, disturbing, and yes, even funny thriller with a great cast of Atlanta actors. When this movie gets to your area, I highly recommend it.

Sunday's Adult Swim panel/screening was outstanding...a lot of crazy, hilarious stuff there. (My favorite parts were "The Cat's in Pajamas" music video, and Unknown Hinson's unknown hinson-ness throughout the panel.) Shout-out to MaryK!

Didn't see the Masquerade...I just didn't want to deal with the lines and crowds (which were bad enough at the other events). Instead, I saw "The Monty Python Experience," a unique combination of Python material and improvisation by the "Mr. Frisket" troupe. (For example, they took the traditional improv game of "Story, Story, Die," but had the improvisors tell the tale in the personas of assorted Python characters--Mr. Nudge-Nudge, a Gumby, a Pepperpot, Graham Chapman's Colonel Muriel ("Stop That, It's Silly") Volestrangler, etc.) And there was much rejoicing.

As for the Dealer's Room & Artist Alley, I did manage to pick up a few cool comics (including some old Green Lanterns which would undoubtedly interest SallyP), and got some sketches...including an Adam Hughes piece, which I'd previously given up hope for. Luckily, I just managed to sign up early enough to fit one in. I'll share the sketches as soon as I have a chance to scan them in...but for now, I'm going to call it a night.