My Take On B3 | Part 2 by Hera

HERA'S BLOG

Hera

My Take On B3 | Part 2
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Jonathan Woodward. I think he lives at hotels, especially if people buy him drinks. I spoke to Jonathan briefly after MalN introduced me, but all I remember was tugging his forelock for him to lean down so I could smell his hair. I don’t know why that came up, I wasn’t flirting, really. The gesture had some pertinent context in what we were talking about, I just can’t remember what that context was. He straightened up and said “That’s a pretty odd thing to smell.” To which I prattled “Back of the neck, behind the ears. Those are the best.” He pretended to find that interesting. I blame the Guinness.

My favorite shot of Christina. She stopped by for visit Friday night:

Photo by lycenae

Jonathan being...well, Jonathan:

Photo by lycenae

Mark Shepherd came by Friday morning and he stayed several hours, talking and taking pictures. Very relaxed. He sat through our 11 a.m. strategy meeting that the California Browncoats held in the lobby, talking about next steps and what was on for the day. He said some calming things about our situation, and was very supportive.

At the meeting, Adam (Lexigeek) of the California Browncoats told the assemblage that a donate button had been put up on their website to gather funds when the first rumour that the Flan would cancel had circulated, so that the CBs would have some money to work with, but when the announcement had come through that Flan was proceeding, they had taken the button down. Thursday night the button went back up, and in less than 24 hours they had been given $3200 by concerned Browncoats to help defray expenses. I found that very touching, and almost started to cry. People had to pat me on the back and murmur at me. You think I’m kidding. I was very close to losing it.

Adam directs us on what’s next:

The California Browncoats said that the cocktail party Friday at 8pm was still a go, to be held in the hotel bar, much like the original, Flan cocktail party, but with everyone, not just folks with tickets. YAY! A chance to dress up! So, when Nathan and Alan walked unannounced into the hotel, most everyone there was in evening dress. It was way cool. We all looked so smashing. Mike from Dallas was in a full tux! Nathan came in carrying a box of personal things, early drafts of scripts, tapes of rough cuts, oddments and things. He said that he had heard that there were some people who had traveled from the UK and Australia. Would they come up front please? Then he proceeded to hand out the box contents to the people who'd paid the most for airfare. A really nice gesture...AND he got to clean out his closet.

Nate housecleaning:

At this point I was standing off to the side watching the mass of people mobbing Nathan, not hearing a thing that was being said, when this fellow in a cap walked right up to me and paused, looking around. I glanced at him, then did a double-take. “Alan!?!” I said, before my brain told me not to. He looked at me and said “Hi!”. “What are you doing here!?!” I asked. Now, you may think that was kinda rude, but I was floored. He was supposed to be in New Mexico. He had cancelled his Flan appearance because of that fact. He said he ended up having the weekend off. He mentioned he had had to cancel his appearance at Flan, so I quipped "It's 'cause you cancelled that they cancelled Flan." He made a great face, slapped his forehead "Oh, no. I was afraid something like that would happen..." During the group photoshoot later, I was down in front, crouching so as not to block anyone (turns out there was nobody behind me, ha! But it was all happening so fast...sob). After crouching for a little too long, I yelped "Knees! Knees!", Nathan said "OK, break!" and Alan leaned over and patted my shoulder, saying I was a trooper. I shook his hand, on autopilot, and did the three-part shake from my high school days. He did it too, without a stutter. He's originally from Plano, TX, so maybe that explains it. For some reason I was really comfortable around him. A totally un-intimidating man. It was so, so nice of him to take the time to fly out and visit with us.

The group photo I’m in. Far left, grinning giddily:

Alan speaks, everyone listens:

Alan’s buttons, gifts from fans:

Photo by lycenae

And proving that you can find anything on youtube, here's a clip of the Friday night melee where UK Phoebe (she works at Harrod's) gives Nathan a tin of tea (Alan is skunked once again!), and Tall Sean zips in for his photo op.

The Good Works Fringe fund drive that several of the ANer’s are working on got scooped and made the front page of the Edmonton Journal, the newspaper from Nathan’s home town. They interviewed MalN! Alas, I won nothing at the raffle held at B3, except perhaps some good karma. Maybe I didn’t win 'cause all I did to help out was open and close the door to the suite "Hi, come on in. Bye, thank you for coming".

http://www.goodworkspresents.org/

Aside from all the celebrity watching, I spent most of the weekend doing my favorite thing: meeting travelers and trying to guess where they're from by their accent. The Browncoats are perfect for this pastime, as fans come from all over the planet. I met an Israeli dancer from Portland, a woman from Wales, and a grandmother from Australia with her grandson (a great swimmer). I hijacked Dave, an ex-Navy man from Hawaii who was being way too much of a wallflower, and he and Meghan hung out, she being the tallest woman at the con at 6'1". We also dragged Dave along on our excursion to the Pier in our rented Hummer stretch-limo, but that story is for another time (FYI, the insides of those things look like a '70s disco, and the liquor in the cabinets is of the lowest quality imaginable. So, in other words, kitschy and wonderful!) The ANer’s themselves boasted an Aussie, A UKer, and a young gal from Germany. I got to meet two Sean's (unrelated aside from their first name and that they’re both wheelchairers) and enjoyed talking to them about their con impressions. At the gathering at Clare's restaurant, they were trapped in a corner because of the crowd, and every single VIP came by to talk to them and shake their hand. I captured a conversation the Seans and I had with http://www.stripgenerator.com:

I spent a lot of time talking to Mark from Dark Horse comics over the course of the weekend, whom I met outside in the smoking area off the bar at the Hilton. He's a great guy. I also got to meet the famous TheOneTrueB!x, or B!x, who is the Oregonian responsible for starting the tradition of the EqualityNow June 23rd world-wide charity screenings of Serenity (that brought in roughly $65,000 this past summer). A very interesting man. You either can't get him to say a word, or you can't shut him up.

http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/

to be continued...

COMMENTS

Friday, December 22, 2006 11:12 AM

DIZ

Fun reading! It's like being there all over again. Which is actually pretty bittersweet.

And you were a wonderful door woman! We couldn't have had the room raffle without your help. You got to tell people if they could come in or if the could go out, and that's where the POWER LIES! :)

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 4:55 PM

FOLLOWMAL

You are one of the best B3 reporters out there!

I didn't know that you got to talk to Alan this much, I'm so happy you did. I felt awful that he ended up with all the ANer's surrounding Nathan with not much attention. He was a good sport about it and played along with all the fun and mayhem that occurred in giving Nathan the Book. Alan's such a good guy!

I loved the Sean's! They were both so sweet and I'm so happy the VIP's made time to be with them.

I didn't get to talk to Christina at all, and I was so impressed with her friendliness to BC's who surrounded her. Didn't seem to faze her or her date!

Can't wait til your next installment.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 3:18 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER

Wow...this is great stuff here, Hera! Definitely feeling my jealous skyrocket at all the cool stuff reported here;)

BEB

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