Dragon*Con Part I

"My people are the misfits, the one's that don't fit in" - Third Eye Blind lyrics from Misfits


     If anyone would have told me a few years ago that I would be spending my Labor Day weekend at something called Dragon*Con, I would NOT have believed them. Described as the largest multi media, popular culture convention, focusing on Science- fiction, and fantasy, horror, gaming, comics, literature, art, music and film, with fan tracks such as Alternative History, Anime, and Tolkien's Middle Earth, I felt a bit out of the loop. What do I know about any of these things? Sure, I saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I can admit to never reading the books and I sure as hell can't speak Elvish! What am I doing here?!!? Enter: True Blood.

     The convention first hit our radar when we read that actors from True Blood namely Sam Trammell, Nelsan Ellis, Kristin Bauer van Straten, and Michelle Forbes had signed on to make appearances. Further research informed us of three True Blood panels the actors would attend. Having no knowledge of the inner workings of Dragon*Con (or D*Con) and based solely on the fact that True Blood would be represented, we hastily signed on for what would become one of the most interesting, eye opening weekends Rae and I have ever experienced.

     Love at first sight? Hardly! Like I said, we were newbies. We had no idea what to expect. Three and a half plus hours of wait in the pre-registration line? You've got to be kidding me, why did we bother to pre-register in the first place?

     Tired, cranky and a bit disillusioned we made our way back to our hotel room and collapsed. After a mere three hours the phone on our night stand began to ring, rousing us from our sleep, and signaling the official start  to day one of D*Con.

Friday Sept. 3rd, 2010-
     Running late (as usual) Rae and I got dressed and made our way to the Hyatt, one of the Con hotels and home to our first ever True Blood panel. We decided to embrace the weekend as journalists on assignment. We went prepared with notebooks, pens, markers and highlighters at the ready. We were eager to learn from and share with everyone we met. We were on a mission to "find our people".

     As the panel began, the room was a buzz with excitement. The moderator came out and started introducing the actors, Nelsan was first, followed by Kristin, and Sam came last (Michelle would join the actors the next day). We were treated to some very personal, funny anecdotes from the actors on everything from character inspiration, to wardrobe choices, to what it's really like to act with fangs. It was personal revelations such as these that made us feel special, like we were being "let in on the secret". As the first panel drew to a close I couldn't help but feel lucky having been there to experience it. But just as a hungry "baby vampire" always wants more, I couldn't wait to see what else the Con had in store for us!

     So we made it through our first panel. We took some fantastic notes, made several thematic observations, gave out some business cards and talked up our blog.....mission accomplished, right? Wrong! We had so much more to do. Along with our self imposed mission to "find our people" we attached a secondary mission: Meet the actors of True Blood, inform them of our blog and (GASP) give them our business card. This sounds easy in theory, in practice, not so much. Rachel and I decided  to execute our mission during the autograph signing on the "Walk of Fame".

     Being the crafty masterminds that we are, Rachel and I headed over to the Hilton (another Con hotel and site of the Walk of Fame). Upon entering the room we immediately began looking for the True Blood area, we were after all on a mission! Thankfully neither Rachel or I are part of some elite force of operatives who conduct important missions to save the world from impending doom- an elite force, we are not! Looking to our right, we were sidetracked by our own childhood memories of one, Lavar Burton (now seated in front of us an the Walk of Fame). We remembered how much we enjoyed his show "Reading Rainbow" as kids, and even paused to sing the opening theme in unison. "Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high. Take a look, it's in a book, Reading Rainbow". OH MY GOD, we were "geeking out".

     But wait....there's more! As we criss crossed the room we saw the likes of Kevin Sorbo a.k.a. Hercules in all his splendor, signing autographs for legions of devoted fans.Then I remembered...."Hey isn't Luke Perry supposed to be here?" I was off, trying to catch a glimpse of a man who fan boys and fan girls would refer to as Pike from the movie Buffy The Vampire Slayer but could only be THE Dylan McKay in my heart. No dice, the elusive Luke Perry had managed to slip away undetected. We passed several tables of actors, authors, and cartoonists none of whom we recognized. I turned around and noticed a sign with the name Sean Astin in bold face type, sitting beneath it was the man himself. I grabbed Rachel by the arm and called her attention to the actor, briefly contemplating starting a slow chant of "Rudy, Rudy". Come on, like you wouldn't of wanted to do the same thing!

     Fearing we lost sight of our "mission" we made our way to the far end of the Walk of Fame. Looking around one last time, Rachel finally saw something. The names Nelsan Ellis and Sam Trammell were hanging on the wall,however, a crowd of people blocked our line of vision. Were the actors there or would we have to come back and face the gauntlet again? All of a sudden the crowd parted and we caught sight of one of the actors. Eureka! We have lift off. As we got into the queue we quickly discussed some talking points  to start telling them about our blog! Nelsan was first, Rachel spoke to him about our blog and asked if it would be ok to pass him our business card. She handed Nelsan the card and he began to study it, front and back. "A uniquely feminist perspective" he read off with a smile! "I'm gonna put this in my pocket" he said. Next up was Sam, and it was my turn to do the talking. I slowly moved down the line and presented Sam with the picture I had ready for him to autograph. He looked up at me, smiled and said "Hi, how are you?". "Great" I responded and paused for a second. A little voice inside my head nagged me...."Ask him how HE'S doing, jerk" so I did...."How are YOU?" I asked, to the answer of "Solid". Now I don't know about you, but when I meet someone whose work I admire I tend to get a bit nervous, causing me to joke around with them and be playful. My intention for this is to put myself and hopefully the person I'm talking to at ease. This time was no different. "Would you like me to personalize this autograph for you?" Sam asked. "Sure" I said, "My name is Rebecca" and without stopping to breathe I spelled it out for him "R-e-b-e-c-c-a". As Rachel and I began to fall into the conversation with Sam he looked up, turned to Rae and asks "So am I making this out to Rachel R-a-c-h-e-l?" Taken aback at how he would know her name, Rachel and I just looked at each other for a minute before realizing he read her name off the badge we were all required to wear, and used that as an opportunity to poke fun at me for the way I introduced myself! Good one Sam. Before we left, I passed him our business card, and let him know we would be honored if he could take a look at our blog; and welcomed any feedback he would be willing to give. I also expressed a desire to do an interview with the cast sometime in the future. So how about it guys? We're still interested in feedback and welcome any opportunity for an interview.

     Ok, so maybe we had a little more in common with our fellow Con-goers then we originally thought. This was.....FUN. A Twenty-four hour Halloween/Mardi Gras atmosphere, with the occasional run in with  a celebrity....not too shabby! ~ Rebecca

"Those are the one's for me, Yeah those are the one's for me, the misfits, the freaks, the enemy, you and me" - Third Eye Blind, lyrics from Misfits