Jacen736
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Eyecon Report Part 3
Saturday, April 5, 2008:
I awoke around 8:00 AM and got ready for the con (I wore the
Supernatural shirt I had purchased the day before) which opened at
9:00 AM. I went to the dealer's room and purchased pictures of Alona
Tal, Chad Linberg, Samantha Ferris, Jim Beaver, Gabriel Tigerman,
Sandra McCoy, and Jared Padalecki (of course  . Each photo cost $6
and since I was already spending the money I purchased a Supernatural
baseball hat since I've been wearing hats more lately (cost $25).
I then got the autographs (at $20 per autograph) of Chad Linberg,
Sandy McCoy, Gabriel Tigerman, and Samantha Ferris. All were nice but
Sandy McCoy was exceptionally nice. We were not allowed to have our
pictures taken with any of the stars (because there were photo ops you
could purchase with any of them) but I did take photos of each of them
while in line.
The first formal event on Saturday was the Q&A session with Jim Beaver
who plays Bobby Singer. While waiting for the room to open, I stood
in line and I got to meet Kam aka Kamelionwriter the admin of the
Yahoo group! Kam, who looks very much like Reba MacIntyre, was very
nice and it was a pleasure to meet her!
Jim Beaver was very nice and quite funny. He undid his button down
shirt and revealed a shirt that read "I read John / Bobby". He said a
fan gave it to him and he didn't know what it meant (which I think was
a joke) but it was funny to hear one of the stars make funny of slash
fiction (Prior to this weekend I didn't know what slash fiction was
LOL. Karie had mentioned it in passing and I asked her what it was).
In the session I learned that Jim is also a writer and a Vietnam
Veteran (seems he has written for movies that cover the Vietnam War
era). He was great during his Q&A session and I got great photos.
Next we had a "Special Event (TBA)" on the agenda which turned out to
be an auction for breakfast with the stars. They master of ceremonies
(named Dizzy) hosted the auction and the ticket for breakfast with
Jared Padalecki went for $900 (and it was won by Alisa who Karie had
picked up at the airport). I was so happy for Alisa although I would
never have paid that amount of money LOL. The part that was bad on
the con's part was the person who was bidding against Alisa they
offered an additional ticket if she matches what Alisa paid. Alisa
didn't mind but personally if I paid close to a grand for what was
advertised as breakfast one on one with Jared Padalecki I'd be ticked
that they would allow someone else to sit in on it if they would pay
the same amount and to me it seemed they just wanted another $900.
The other stars also had similar tickets and they ranged from Alona
Tal going for $150 to Sandra McCoy going for $850 (and they also did
the giving the runner up a second ticket for Sandy). Personally after
all the money I spent on this con I wasn't about to spend money for a
very expensive breakfast with the stars.
Next was the Road House Q&A session which including Samantha Ferris
(Ellen), Chad Linberg (Ash), and Alona Tal (Jo—who just showed up to
the convention). Sam was great and acted basically as MC for this Q&A
session. Chad acts just like Ash and was very entertaining. It turns
out Alona is from Israel—something I didn't know and she made a great
comment about wanting to portray her grandmother on film which was
very touching. They all seemed great and I wasn't aware that Samantha
Ferris had been in so many different shows. Chad has an upcoming
documentary called "Big Break" which chronicles him and some of his
former roommates all of who are in the business.
After that Sandy McCoy had her Q&A session which was an add-on when it
was learned Jared Padalecki couldn't make it until Sunday because of
the post-strike filming schedule. Sandy is Jared's girlfriend and it
was announced just recently that the two have become engaged. This
Q&A session was very nice and Sandy is so genuine and very nice. She
was very nervous during the session as she said she gets nervous
talking in front of crowds. In the session she was very open and when
someone asked about her and Jared's first date she said they really
didn't have one because they were friends first until one night when
they became more than friends which made everyone chuckle. Sandy
shared that she is a dancer but that Jared will not dance in front of
her nor will she act in front of him despite the episode she did on
Supernatural as the Crossroads Demon (where Jared playing Sam kills
her as the Crossroads Demon). I truly became a Sandy McCoy fan after
this seeing how genuine she is and truly a class act. She and Jared
seem like a wonderful couple and she shared that the two of them enjoy
playing checkers, chess, and other board games together!
The last Q&A session was of Gabriel Tigerman who played Andy in two
episodes of season 2. This was Gabriel's first con appearance so he
was dubbed a "con virgin". He was also quite open and did a great
session.
After that we had some free time so I ran over to the dealer's room
and by then Alona Tal was signing autographs so I nabbed her
autograph. I then went to lunch with the group I hung out with during
the weekend. Since the hotel is attached to the Florida mall and
there is a food court there, we got seats and each grabbed food from
one of the different food vendors. I got a quesadilla and a taco at
Taco Bell LOL.
Jim Beaver had his autograph session (separate ticket required) and
they had us sit in our assigned seats and they called us up row by row
which wasn't bad since not everyone had purchased this ticket. Jim
was very nice and friendly as he autographed the photo I had
purchased. We were not allowed to have our pictures taken with him
but I did snap his picture as I approached.
After this I went to my hotel room and got changed into a shirt, tie,
dress pants, and blazer for the banquet. At 7:00 PM the line up began
for the Banquet Registration and we lined up by badge number. As we
approached they asked us which star we'd like to be in the "vicinity
of" and we were seated accordingly. The banquet ticket cost $85 and
it was because the stars were supposed to be eating with us. Well
given that I was toward the back of the line I didn't have a star at
my table. It would have been nice if they asked the stars to mingle
and go from table to table but they didn't. One of my friends ended
up at a table with a star and the star (who I won't name because of
what they revealed) said they really didn't know what they were
supposed to be doing. The dinner was a salad with roll. At the table
was iced tea and since I'm allergic to caffeine I asked for something
else and was told the only thing they could offer me was water. I had
the option of going to the bar for a soda or an alcoholic beverage
which turned out to be a cash bar. I chose the water but someone at
our table went up for a soda and got charged $3.50! After the salad
we had our main dish which was chicken with mashed potatoes (which
were brown in color and bland in taste) and some green beans / carrots
which were kind of hard. Then we had dessert which was a nice piece
of cake. We were then basically told to get out of the banquet area.
The banquet was a HUGE disappointment and definitely not worth $85.
Platinum pass holders were then invited to the "Exclusive Platinum
Party". We didn't have to pay extra for this but like the ****tail
party it was a tiny room which was quite crowded and they had very
loud music playing and a cash bar (we couldn't even get a free drink).
After a few minutes Dizzy came in and introduced Steve Carlson who
was set to do a concert later and he did two songs for us and then the
other part of the "exclusive" party was a guitar hero contest. Chad
Lindberg and Gabriel Tigerman played which was funny to watch but that
was about it for this "exclusive" party. What a waste of time this was!
I then went and changed out of the formal clothes because I was hot
and put back on t-shirt and shorts. I then went down to the Steve
Carlson concert which was supposed to start at 10:30 but got pushed
back to 11:00 and started at 11:15 (like everything at this
con—started late). I stayed until about 12:15 when I was so tired
that I just couldn't keep my eyes open so I went to my hotel room and
fell asleep before my head hit the pillow. Carlson's concert was
great and I had never heard of him before this but he was a former
room mate of Jensen Ackles and he had a song in one of the episodes of
Supernatural. Carlson was then selling CDs but I passed. He was also
an option for a photo op or autograph earlier in the day but again I
passed.
After the concert there was to be a "Late Night Pajama Party" which I
had planned to go to—I had even packed a nice pair of pajamas but I
was too tired. I later learned it only somewhat happened and
basically turned into some people wearing pajamas playing games and
that Gabriel Tigerman did participate.
During the day there were three panels: "Supernatural Writer's
Workshop", "John Winchester—Loving Father or Obsessive Jerk" and "Good
Guys vs. Bad Guys: An Examination of the Minor Characters" but I
didn't have the chance to attend these.
--- 
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4/8/2008, 10:46 pm
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