50 Days of Dragon Con Day 29

Lost...Again

While I am on the subject of getting lost in the Hyatt, I have yet another story to tell you.  One year not so long ago, I was looking for a good place to eat.  I had heard that the Hyatt had a bar on the roof and it spun.  COOL.  I also heard that the Hyatt had a good restaurant called Twenty-Two Storys.  I decided this was the place to go.  Now, I thought this awesome Twenty-Two Storys was on the roof of the Hyatt and went looking for it.  This was a few years after the struggling to find a bathroom incident so I was a wee bit more familiar with the hotel than I was previously...or so I thought.

Once at the Hyatt I went to the elevator bank and usually they have something that tells you to go to the special elevator that takes you to the roof.  Maybe you have to get a special visitors pass or something.  I could find no info on this at the elevator so I decided to do some more walking.  I knew there was an information panel over at the International Tower so I headed over there.  I found the interactive menu for Twenty-Two Storys but not instructions on how to get there.  AHHHH!  Really irritating.  I kept looking around and decided to try the elevators again. 

As I got back to the elevators, there were fellow con goers and they were setting up the Con Suite and told me to stop by.  I decided to follow them.  I did this because I did not have a Hyatt room key and did not want to get trapped on a higher floor.  I wandered around the second floor of the Hyatt and found the Con Suite for the first time ever.  TOTALLY COOL!  YAY!  It has now been an hour since I set out and I am famished and not a little bit pisssed off.  I decided eff this I was going to go to Sear in the Marriott.  On my way out of the elevators heading to the Marriott habit trail I walked passed the bar known for the Bucket O' Rum and saw the waist high sign stating that this was Twenty-Two Storys restaurant and bar.  OMG I was soooo mad.  GRRR, I thought this was supposed to be on the roof.  Needless to say that Polaris is the bar on top of the Hyatt.  Yeah, I know that...now.

The Polaris at the top of the Radius Tower.

 

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 30

Lost...At A Con

Have you ever had to pee so bad you thought your eyeballs were floating?  Of course you have.  We all have.  One Thursday before con, I was doing some recognisance.  I was still a newbie then.  In fact I think this was my second or third year at con.  I was wandering around and got myself lost below ground somewhere in the Hyatt.  It was the maze that is the in between spot between the Hyatt proper and the International Tower.  UGG if you have ever been there, you know what I am talking about.  There are several floors and all of them are confusing.  They all look similar.  I was looking for a bathroom and I kept seeing signs to go here and there but I could not find the bathroom to save my life.  Finally I found my way to the Hyatt proper and their wonderful bathroom.  YAY.

While I am on the subject of con bathrooms, the Marriott is the bomb-diggety.  They have gorgeous bathrooms that are all individual and they have people in there cleaning almost all of the time.  I have never been to a Marriott bathroom that has been out of toilet paper or paper towels.  They are such the poo.  This is not to say that the Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton and Westin are bad, just they are not as cool as the Marriott.  If you have a need to make #1 or #2 and it is not a rush situation,  recommend making a stop in the Marriott.

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 31

Celebrities

Every year Dragon Con brings in dozens upon dozens of celebrities.  Some are current, some are not.  Some are main stream, some are not.  Some are authors, some are movie stars.  There is a celebrity of sorts for everyone.  Some of the celebrities do the Walk of Fame- I will get into this more in a later post.  Some celebrities do panels and discussions.  Either way, celebrity sightings are cool. 

The celebrities that do panels are often surprised by the turnout of the people that come to see them.  Often times, the lines to get into the celebrity panels go around the building to get into them.  Not every celebrity is the same.  There are bigger names and there are lesser known names.  Every few years there are celebrity surprises.  The celebrities are not necessarily sci-fi related and yet they are invited and come to con.

Back in 2011 Dragon Con brought Loni Anderson and Howard Hessman to con.  They did a couple of W.K.R.P. panels.  Heck, maybe it was only one, I do not remember for sure.  This is one of the few celebrity panels that I stood in line for for hours.  I did not know why these two were at a sci-fi convention nor did I care.  These two were absolutely AMAZING guests.  They were genuine, friendly and truly surprised at the turnout.  We were so happy to have them.  This was truly one of my most memorable panels I have been to.  Such WONDERFUL guests and I have to say Loni Anderson looks FANOMINAL.  

Thank you for coming Mr Hessmann and Ms Anderson.  Thank you for coming and being such great guests.  I hope you will be able to come again soon.

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 32

People of the Con

Every year there are an infinite number of different kinds of people that attend con.  You have those that are cosplayers, those that are professionals in other categories, sports fanatics, Trekkies, Quidich players, literary gurus, artists of every kind, gamers and anything and everything in between.  Everyone comes to con to have a good time.  What we do to have fun is as different from one another as we are as individuals.

I have always had to travel quite a distance to get to con.  In the airport you might not be able to pick out all of the folks going to con, but you sure can pick out a few on your plane.  I love sitting in the terminal watching to see who all on my plane I might bump into at con and who I might want to chat with.  It is kind of a game that I like to play, "Find the Con-ers".  Once we get to Atlanta, they city is all excited about having us there.  There are signs welcoming us to their fine city and also to Dragon Con.  Pretty cool!  It is pretty easy spotting the others like me once in Atlanta...we are EVERYWHERE!

One year I decided to take the Atlanta metro called MARTA to the con from the airport.  This was quite the adventure trying to navigate with all of my luggage.  Now, once on the train there was mishmash of VERY obvious con goers.  This was only my second year at con and I was still new and learning about everything.  Still, I could pick out my people from the other end of the train.  There was this one guy I saw in San Francisco.  In San Francisco he had a kindle with him and a shoulder dragon  No other luggage.  I did not think this was too odd because he could have checked it in.  HOWEVER, on MARTA he did not have any other luggage either.  UMMM, HMMM, he was on my plane and now on the same train so it is not like he lost his luggage.  If that had happened he would be dealing with that still and not be on this train with me.  This was soooo STRANGE.  Traveling with no luggage at all?  HMMMM.  I saw him at con a few days later and he was wearing the same clothes...ewwwwww.  He was not on the same plane home as I was...thank goodness.  I hope he did take a shower a few times while he was there.  Needless to say there are all sorts of folks that go to con. 

Pic courtesy of google and this is the kind of dragon he was wearing.

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 33

Music

Every year there are dozens of musicians that come to the con.  One of the many regulars is Aurelio Voltaire.  He is one of my favorite.  Voltaire is not only a musician but an artist and a writer as well.  A few years ago there was some sort of confusion or controversy over if he was going to be coming back to con.  I do not know where the problem came from but at the time it was a big tadoo.  There was lots of sorrow as he has been a staple at con for many many years.  In fact, he was even in the documentary Four Days at Dragon Con.  In the end he made it back to con.

Voltaire always puts on a great show every year.  He does panels and also has a booth where he sells his CD, books and other stuff.  One year, during his show, he told us this might be his last ever performance at con.  Awwww.  Bummer!  I was in the audience jumping to the music and singing along when someone bumped into me...Shocking, I know.  When I looked over at who bumped me it was this guy and he was crying and singing along.  I too was singing along but I was not crying at all.  This poor kid, I say kid, he was like 22, was just a total mess.  At the one point in the show Voltaire asked for people to come up on stage and sing with him..the guy beside me started sobbing like his mom died or something.  I told him to go on up and he did not want to.  Finally he went up.  I was so glad for him but, really?  What was the crying about?  I don't get it,  Needless to say Voltaire has been back every year since this one and I will go to see him again.  He is a seriously cool dude and you should stop by his table and say hi.

Photo courtesy of Voltaire.

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 34

Parties

Every year there are dozens and dozens of parties to go to.  By FAR there have been two that have been my favorite.  I will tell you about one of them now.  I am a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan.  Have been for decades.  There is a track dedicated to Tolkien and I spend a lot of time there.  Larry, Kirsten and all of the many others put on a wonderful con.  Every year this is one of the places you will most likely find me.  Every year they put on a few parties.  They put on an Evening at Bree where they have their costume contest and it is a blast.  They also put on Hobbit Drinking Songs which is a total hoot.  OMG this is so much fun and lots of drunken debochery.  The CD's are fun but singing along with all of your peeps takes fun to a totally different level. 

Even with all of this fun, by far my favorite party they have put on was in 2013.  They put on a 80's dance party.  HOLY BANANAS folks, this was amazing.  This was also during the Hobbit movies so there were lots of fanboys and girls there.  There were hobbits, Dwarves, Kings, Princes and oh so many other costumes there.  We did the Conga Line, the mashed potato and everything in between.  It was soo awesome to see someone dressed as Bombur doing the worm.  For those of you who do not know who Bombur is, he is he totally FAAAAT dwarf who well, he is said to be as wide as he is tall.  Can you imagine first cosplaying him and second doing the worm in all of that padding?  WOW.  So cool.  This was the most fun I have had in years.  Last year they did a 70's dance party and it was fun but there is something to be said for dwarves dancing to Madonna that just does it for me.  I hope the Tolkien Track does another dance party this year so we can have more dwarves doing the worm.

Photo Courtesy of the OneRing.net

50 Days of Dragon Con Day 35

At the Drive-In

Every year the Sci-Fi Media track puts on a Drive-in movie also called Heckle-a-Thon.  This is one of the better events of the con.  The first year it was in a pretty small room.  Since then and every year since, this event gets bigger and bigger.  Joe, Kelly and Kevin put on a great show.  They have provided door prizes and even more importantly, they ALWAYS provide a good time.  Think MST3K style.  Lots of jeering and laughing going on through the whole thing.  The movies that they play are amazing. They are usually B movies or movies that are found on the SyFy channel.  The movies that have been played are Sharktopus, MegaPython vs. Gateroid, Supershark and Mega Piranha.  I might have missed one in there but I do not think so.  These movies are so awesome.  This is always a great time had by all and I encourage you to try it out one year.

Found this on Flickr.  Joe Kevin and Kelly setting up the Drive-in.