My Shiny Weekend in Burbank Part 2

Saturday, December 9 2006

So on Saturday we congregate in the lobby to await news and plans from Adam, our fearless leader on that days events. Things were kept under wraps to avoid crashers. We get orange wristbands that were are told we need to have on for the rest of thr weekend to get into anything that goes on. We are then get on buses to another place in downtown Burbank for the days events. The dealers get a full space to sell their wares and time for some events! Maria teaches a Swearing in Chinese class which wass fun and informative. This helped us vent our frustrations about those cancelled con organizers that must not be named. The guy from the fruity oat bar commercial is there too to talk to people, take pics and sign. Corey from Multiverse announced that Multiverse had licensing from Fox for a Firefly MMO! The amazing Greg Edmundson shows up for a Q and A. This guy is so hmble and talented! He had such passion for the show and the music of it's characters. after she took general questions, I lined up to get him to sign my liner notes and tell him how much I love Inara's theme and the mixing of generes. He proceeds to let me know how much he loved the female characters on the show and humemd for me Inara's theme. He was so gracious. He kept saying it was all Joss! He told me he looked forward to talking to me more that night at dinner. Whatever dinner was, was a closely gaurded secret.

That night, we all got on Buses not knowing where our final destination would be.. IT ened up being LA Cantina. Clare Kramer's (Glorificus from Buffy) bar/restaurant in Hollywood! Oh and by the way, it's not to open for another 2 weeks. Oh and one mroe thing, only us orange wristbanded browncoats were allowed in. There were non-stop finger foods.. I even saw Calre walk past me with an empty tray asking everyone if they were having a good time with her big smile. The setting was a bit tight for me, but this was a once in a lifetime experience. I grabbed a more substantial dinner (sicne I was so excited earlier in the day that I had not eaten anything msot of the day) at a peruvian restaurant across the way. Teh waitress and owner were so nice to us and I had the bext chicken and rice ever. When I mignled my way back into the club, I saw some of the BDhs at a VIP table..ther was the beautifyl Morena, Ron Glass, Jonation, Mark, Christina and Nathan from who I recall seeing with my own eyes. I saw one of the twins from Serenity in the crowd. I also got to talk with Michael Fairman (Niska). For a guy who plays a terrifying villian, this man is so nice. He was telling me how happy he is to be doing this for the fans and to be able to talk and be with us. When I told him I was from New York, he smiled and told me about how he grew up in NYC. I joked with hom about being scared of him because he was such a good villian. Such a sweet man! I headed back to the hotel early because I was tired and it was starting to rain pretty hard.. Appraently rain in LA is a rare thing...it was POURING! I missed out on some of the more intimate moments with the BDH's, but I was happy to hear some of the great stories the next day.

Sunday, December 10 2006

We head out again to another part of the offsite venue from their prior day's activities. We get a prime table near the front. Now I may have the order of events here a bit off so bear with me.
11th Hour presented some of her lovely artwork and showed us the progress towards tyhe Serenity RPG cover art. Oh yeah and Tim Minear showed up...

Tim Minear (Co-Executive Producer/Director/Writer) showing up was my personal ultimate favorite moment! I always knew him as the writer of my favorite Angel episode ("Have you now or have you ever been" and "Out of Gas") and from his witty commentaries on Angel and Firefly DVDs. Until this day, I always mis-pronounced his name (it sounds like My-Near). He showed us a fan video he made of his own shows . yes, he is a geek too!!!



Oh yeah and there was a screening of the opening sequence of the pilot of his new show "Drive". But wait there's more... yes, so much more. He made me laugh so hard I almost cried. He did a live commentary on "Ariel", which was so awesome. He told us so many great stories. Too mnay to enumerate here. He's the man. Second only to Joss, himself. So after that, he exits the room and I figure this is my time to get some lunch... As I am walking outside, I see a line of people and who is at a table... Tim! So I make the choice to continue my "Firefly Fast" a bit longer in order to get to talk to Tim and have him sign a Firefly characters pciture I had bought. A kind browncoat behind me held my camera while I thanked Tim and told him how I really wanted to tell him that his favorite episdoe of Angel was also mine. He smiled and was like "Well of course!" And I let him know how brilliant him and Joss are and thanked him for creating such great stories. He asked me my name , thanked me and asked if I wanted to take a pic with him. I hesitated and he was like "I don't want to force you" and I'm like "No, I would, I jsut don't want to seem like too much of a fan girl.". Me while we pose we for the pic and I finish by saying "Believe me, I'm very squee inside right now." And that I was! Tim Minear rocks my socks!

The costume director provided a Q and A and she showed us THE Illyria costume from Angel! I apoligize that I cannot recall her name.. When I find it, I'll edit this post to give her the credit she deserves.(Edit: Shauna Trpcic is her name)

Later on, Jonathan returns a bit late because his car had broken down that morning, introduced by one Troy Camden (One of the scarey dudes in "HUSH"). Jonathan was hilarious with his schtick.

We played some team trivia games.. I was Captain of Team 2. We won a few and lost a few. It was a lot of fun.. I got to be "The train Job" for one of the games where team members had to order the episodes..

I stood on line to get Jonathan's autograph and as things were wrapping up in the venus, he got to me. He was so funny. I shook his hand and introduced myself again and he did the same. HE then jokingly kneeaded my left hand and told a joke... I thanked him yet again for all his efforts to make this a good weekend and for staying with us this weekend. He gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek... aww! This guy is great.

Time to go back to the hotel, then out to grab some dinner and then play some more trivia and Bingo! I participated in the raffle to benefit Fringe Theatre Adventures on Nathan's bahalf, since this is where he got his start. I ended up winning one of the prized signed Mal Photos by Nathan! Another lucky end to an amazing weekend.

I feel so blessed to have been able to have so many wonderful experiences in one weekend. I cannot thank those who donated funds, time, effort, the actors, the crew, all the great browncoats out there enough. I discovered a family I never knew I had. You know what made this bash happen? Love. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens. Makes her home. Love is what turned a defeat into an amazing victory!