What a weekend that was! The Creation Entertainment -- Salute to Supernatural was truly over two weeks ago in Chicago. But I don't want to close this chapter and move on, not yet. Instead, I am revisiting the highlight and re-living the excitement. You have already seen my photos on Flickr. And I am sure you have watched clips on YouTube, read tweets and summaries from other fans. Me, myself and I have been watching the J2 main panel every night! And every night I remind myself, I was squeezed between the two men who are the best things since Shack Stack!
For those who have been to a Supernatural convention, you know how I am feeling right now -- a little sad and may be depressed, but happy, very happy. Strange things do happen to your body and your soul, my friends. If you haven't been to a Supernatural convention, the following may help you to understand the magnitude of it. If you have been to a Supernatural convention, this may remind you of your own experience.
Fan conventions are a strange territory, separating from the reality. Fan conventions reside in some intergalactic distance. It's not Tatooine and you cannot travel via a Stargate. But you may want to change your ringtone from R2D2 to a classic rock tune like Carry On Wayward Son. A Supernatural convention puts you under a spell -- it makes you forget who you are, what you do and where you are from; it makes you forget your definition of sanity and insanity; and it changes the way you think, speak and do things. But for some reasons, you feel pure because you are more than a number on the Neilson TV rating system. You are a dedicated fan. You know what you are watching and why you are watching it. You know crap TV and you don't accept crap TV. You are passionate enough to travel from afar to see your favourite celebrities live on stage. You get to sing with them, hug them and talk to them. As you travel to the convention, you keep asking yourself "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" And then BOOM! It hits you! Before you know it, your transport is here to pick you up. And you ask yourself "Why can't I have super power to stop time?" It's a very surreal experience.
You
may find yourself surprisingly organised months before the convention,
even you can't believe it -- from the moment you purchase your tickets for seating, photo ops and autograph, to the moment
you book your accommodation and travel. You receive all your PDF
confirmations, you look at them, you pinch yourself -- you are not
dreaming. You may have a check list for a check list. You don't want to
miss anything and you have to make sure you read every word on the
program. You highlight stuff and make notes. You may or may not bother
to get a good camera to take awesome photos. You're a fan, it's your
obligation! Know your settings! Practice! Practice! Practice! You may
even allocate all ten of your SD cards to sessions. Number each card if
you can. One or two weeks before you travel, you pick your outfits and you go to your hair dresser. You pack
and repack your bags for three days and nights. Don't forget your toothbrush!
The
cast of Supernatural is 99 kinds of awesome! They are talented, funny,
polite, professional, friendly, kind, sweet, unpredictable,
accommodating, smart, articulate, well spoken, hot, sexy and exceptional
good looking. They are here for a good time. We are here for a good
time. Fans ask great questions and you'll be surprised how well the cast
answer them. Each panel is so entertaining you have not yawned once! Is
that even possible? Is that healthy?
You try to concentrate during each panel. You try to not to cry and do embarrassing things when you stand in front of Jensen, Jared and friends at photo ops and autograph sessions. Your heart stops as the MC says their names. You gasp as they appear from behind the curtain. You scream and may even cry when you see them on stage live in person. You appreciate how beautiful the world can be now that Jensen and Jared are here. And then you remind yourself, "I get to hug them."
Even the Westin O'Hare turns into Planet Supernatural.
Fans occupy the hotel lobby, restaurant, bathroom and Starbucks, Supernatural fans are on every floor. Those mathematicians at the conference next door are out-numbered and out-dressed by us. You flash your convention Pass,
you get 20% off your total bill at the restaurant. Staff may even
remember you and give you the same comfy booth three times you eat there.
There is nothing better than seeing a Supernatural marathon on TV during a Supernatural
convention. (Thank you TNT!) One minute you see them on TV and then you
see them live in person. Jensen shared this story -- he was at the gym
in the morning and he turned on the TV, and BOOM -- his face! The woman
in the gym was confused!
Wait a
second...can we go back to the bit where Jensen was in the gym?! It was
highly possibly that he was in shorts or at least in a single layer.
Sweat! He is so distracting! Quit looking so so hot.. oh wait...actually...don't! I dare you out-hot yourself Jensen Ackles!
"Out-hot myself huh? I'll see what I can do."
The
whole time you ask yourself, "Am I dreaming? Am I really here?" You take
a moment and listen to the ambient sound in the ballroom. You take a
moment to observe people's behaviour and expression. You take a moment
to smell the roses, or Jensen. You remind yourself to remember every
second you spend at the convention.
Convention
days are usually long. There are multiple long queues, so make sure you
drink enough water. You sit with strangers while you wait patiently for
your row to be called for photo ops and autographs. You sing Dead or
Alive together. You don't know what gets into you, but you channel your
inner Sammy as you sing the chorus "...want it! Dean or alive.." Wait..
that's a typo..."Dead or alive.. Dead or alive.. Dead or alive.." Bon
Jovi rocks on this occasion.
Every
second is a photo perfect opportunity, so make sure your camera is
charged up and take three extra batteries! You never know who's gonna
show up at the lobby, like Richard walks in with Maccas and Rob drops
by to say "hi" to the crowd. Oh, did I mention I think Rob's room was on my floor? Misha may hang out with the crowd for a bit
after his panel.
And don't forget, when someone ask you if you've been hugged by Matt, say no, because
you will get one.
The
excitement is too overwhelming, some may cry, some may laugh like crazy,
some may just squeeze the day light out of the person next to you
because Jensen and Jared are a piece of art, like Michelangelo's DAVID.
They look exceptional hot on TV, they look exceptional hot live in
person. For this reason, I am actually surprised how well behaved fans
are at conventions. What's wrong with us?
Even when you go alone, you are never alone. The person standing in front of you or behind you is always happy to give you fashion or any advice. You trade stories about convention experiences. You discuss Supernatural episodes. You talk about driving in the snow. You realise you are not far from Milwaukee, and all of a sudden you want to go there for no reason. People tell you they too have planned the weekend so that they know when to put on the trenchcoat and transform into Castiel. You may even find out the 'beard' on her face was just mascara. And you reply by saying "That's a genius idea!" You meet your Twitter buddies. You hug and you find out James Patrice Stewart visits The Art Institute of Chicago that morning. You have breakfast and cocktail with strangers, but are they? We are family -- the Supernatural family.
Photo
ops can scare the crap out of you. But you need to be awesome. We need
you to be awesome! The queue is supernaturally long but you don't want
it to move too fast because one step closer to hugging Jensen is one
step walking away from him. People walk out of photo ops crying and
shaking because they are just too happy. Jensen's touch and hug can heal
your soul. You feel more alive than ever. It costs you $129 for one hug, but the two seconds of heaven is
worth it because of
this -- if Michelangelo is still alive, he would want to build a JENSEN and you want to touch him. He is hotter in person than you can process.
After the convention, you find yourself in my position -- the post-convention depression. It takes awhile to recover. The best thing about post-convention is that you get to sort the amazing photos you've taken from the panels, karaoke and breakfast. You get to blog about it and share your experience with others. You take your time to sort out the merchandise, autographs and photo op prints. You may not have the space in your room to put your treasures, but you put your interior designer hat on and redecorate your room. You may even clean your room before you do that, making your parents proud.
At a Supernatural convention,
I feel pure. I forget who I am, I forget my problems, I forget where I
come from. I am a Supernatural fan. That is my identity. That's all you
need to know. I may have an addiction problem, but I don't care. I can
only be healed by returning to another Supernatural convention. So,
(super)naturally I will go again. I pray to Chuck Shirley that Creation
Entertainment will announce VegasCon 2014. This is
my therapy. I need multiple hugs from Jensen. I want to chase UFOs I don't care if they are fake.
This has been A Very Supernatural Convention Experience -- Part One. In coming days, I will post another entry about my photo ops and autograph experience. Can I be dismissed and watch A Little Slice of Kevin the 3rd time today?
The Creation Entertainment -- Salute to Supernatural took place at the Westin O'Hare in Chicago on 26th to 28th of November, 2012 at the Westin O'Hare in Chicago. Guests include Jensen Ackles, Jared Padelecki, Jim Beaver, Misha Collins, Richard Speight Jr, Matt Cohen, Rachel Miner, James Patrick Stewart, Kim Rhodes, Gabriel Tigerman, DJ Qualls, Rob Benedict and Emily Perkins.
My ChiCon 2012 photo collectionis now completed. I have uploaded photos of the remaining guests -- DJ Qualls, Richard Speight Jr, Matt Cohen, Kim Rhodes, James Patrick Stuart, Rachel Miner and Gabriel Tigerman as well as some photos from the Halloween themed karaoke, where Richard and Matt dressed as a pea pod and a carrot.
Here is the link to the entire photo collection. If you click on the individual photo below, it will take you directly to their designated album.If
you see anything particular photos that you like and would like a high
res, I am happy to send, feel free to get in touch with me.
Now that I've finished my photos collection, I will get on with the little post-con report. I will find time to write. Watch this space!
It's been more than a month since the Creation Entertainment's Salute to Supernatural Convention (LACon) in LA, 11-13 February. Why did it take so long for me to get this post-con report and highlight reel done? Because I suck.. oh wait.. real life sucks.
According to the scientists, they are one step closer to creating time travel. Well.. good for them for thinking outside the square! But can they hurry up? Since I don’t have superpower, because they aren’t real like unicorns, I have to turn to science.
And what if I have superpower? I think time travel is a good one to have. I could so see myself travelling back to LACon. Surely there must be a way to relive the moment! The DeLorean is real, right?
How can I ever get over my USA trip? It was beyond awesome. But this word has been so overused, ‘awesome’ seems to be so mediocre. (Thanks Ellie!) How about this: it was a life changing experience, it was somewhat liberating. It wasn't just about meeting my favorite actors in the entire universe. It wasn't just about the shopping or the sightseeing. It was also about going on a trip with best friend, Teeny. The trip was simply unforgettable. I have never done anything this crazy before. Seriously, going overseas for a fan convention, who does that?
I knew LACon was a reliable convention to go to. If I have to pick one con location, it has to be LA, Chicago or Vancouver for a completely awesome experience, and they usually have the best line-up of guests! I've been to a few cons before like AHBL and Supanova in Sydney, but LACon was the best con experience ever! People I met were very nice and friendly -- from the mother who sat outside the room waiting for her daughter to the lady behind me while we were waiting to get Jim's autograph; from my Twitter friends to people I met who we now follow each other on Twitter, LACon is like a family reunion!
I have a playlist on YouTube, if you want to watch some raw clips, including someone calling Jared "Mr Padalecki"; Jensen on doing the voice for Redhood and meeting Lance Reddick; Jensen thanking the PR team; the closing of the con and J2 singing Happy Birthday.
Supernatural fans are the best! Fans asked really intelligent and fun questions. The answers to these questions are often insightful and inspiring. Fans ask better questions and do better interviews than the press. (Crossroads Podcast and SHoE are one of the best examples.) Only at conventions like this you get the real stuff from the actors themselves. To be completely honest, the actors are very genuine and they are not pretentious. The personalities of these actors are incredible. I love everyone! I hope they don't ever change.
My first official event at the LACon was the BBB concert and the Karaoke on Friday night. BBB was fantastic! Big heart, great songs, awesome introduction from Mr and Mrs Padalecki. Jerad and Gen stayed for the whole concert, Gen was also helping out on selling their CDs. You can imagine how crowded that area was when Gen and Jared were there.
The Karaoke kinda took me by surprise. I was surprised how much fun these actors were. I mean, they really wanted to have fun and enjoy the event with the fans. Richard Speight Jr was OMG fun. So was Matt Cohen, Amy Gumenick, Steve Williams and Katherine Boucher. I don’t know what happened to other Karaokes, but Richard asked the fans to leave our assigned seats and go up to the stage and go nuts. We could only do what we were told, right?! I am also very impressed with how well behaved the fans were. Well done people!!
There were a few fans' favorites such as Eye of the Tiger, Carry on Wayward Son and Don't Stop Believing. I gotta tell ya, Journey my friend, Journey! People love Journey there! Three times I walked past the Rockefeller Centre, three times they played Don't Stop Believing and Faithfully. AWESOME!
Tips for future attendees, if you do sing karaoke with the cast on stage, it's very likely that you will get free hugs from the cast.
Day 2 was full of awesomeness. There were five guests on Day 2 including Jim, Clif, Richard + Traci, Mark and Misha. Day 2 was full on! On top of the Q&A, you have to line-up for the autographs and photo ops. And if you are a Gold ticket holder, you have private sessions and the dessert session to attend! The program was just so full on, from 9am to 11pm.
Jim was funnier then I thought. There were so many in-jokes about that kiss with Crowley, which was funny and awkward considering that was a hot topic of the day! Jim is very nice, he is like this uncle figure who sits next to you on the plane and you have a great conversation about stuff. Who doesn't like Uncle Bobby, right? I love Bobby even more after watching Weekend at Bobby's. Jim was back on Day 3 for the "J3" sandwich and was on stage for another 15-20 minutes. Jensen was signing autograph at the backstage, he came out to give Jim a hug when Jim was telling us how comfortable he was in Weekend at Bobby's, which was directed by Jensen. For photos of the Jim's session, check out my Flickr album.
"Stop calling stop calling, I don't wanna talk anymore.. I left my head and my heart on the dance floor."
I missed the first half of Clif's session, I was dying for a good coffee! The best thing about the Marriott hotel is Starbucks in the lobby! The line was longer than usual and I really needed to buy some photos for the autograph ops. The vendor room was awesome! They pretty have every Supernatural merchandise you can get! They even have the special Supernatural branded hotel keycard from ComicCon. They have heaps of photos you can buy for the photo ops plus official magazines, t-shirts, coffee mugs, keychains etc. It's pretty awesome! It's a great way to kill time and your wallet.
Richard and Traci were so much fun. I wish that hour didn't end! I LOVE RICHARD!!!! Richard and Traci did something different during their panel. Instead of having the fans lining up to ask questions, they came down to the floor with the roving mics. All the actions happens on the floor. And what's more awesome was that they were roving around my row most of the time!!! Teeny took a lot of amazing photos and I love her for doing such an amazing job. Richard was asked about the Trickster/ Gabriel arc and if he or the writers knew about it. According to Richard, that was Jeremy Carver's intention all along. I love and miss Jeremy. He is one of my favorite writers. I want to be like Jeremy when I grow up. He write some of my favorite episodes and he created Castiel. If you haven't, you must check out his commentary for 4.03 In The Beginning. For photos from Richard and Traci's session, check out my Flickr album.
Mark Sheppard is one cool dude!! I love his British accent!! I can listen to him all day. He talked about working with Joss Whedon, Adam Baldwin and you don't have to fit in, just do your thing. (I am pretty that's what he said..) During Mark's panel, Misha was naughty and distracted him! HAHA.. you can see that on my highlight reel. What I love about Mark's panel was Jim's surprise appearance. Jim came to hug Mark and then told him 'It's over.'
Misha's panel was hilarious!! ROTFLMFAF! I think Misha's panel has a lot of his personalities in it. He was witty, intelligent, funny and charismatic. He was the only guest who dressed super sharp like he got a new suit for the every special occasion. Can't beat a three-piece suit, right! Teeny reckons Misha is so Mr Darcy, and I think even Teeny enjoyed Misha's panel (considering she has only watched a few episodes of Supernatural!) And MY GOD I was under the spell of Misha's cologne after the photo op. I think he dry-cleaned his suit with whatever cologne used. Misha Misha Misha!!! I am so glad you are on the show!!!! He talked about the Aussie fans (woohoo), his pony, the rhino and also auctioned a few Supernatural items for his charity. The best random moment from Misha's panel was when a fan asked him about the storyline of season 6, and Misha said if it was too confusing for her, don't watch it!! LOL... I LOVE YOU MISHA!!!! For more Misha's photos, go to my Flickr album. By the way, you can read a collection of tweets from LACon here.
The guests of Day 2 were so awesome. I have nothing but great things to say about them. Not only the fans were there the whole day, some of the guests stayed until the evening for the dessert session (I believe Misha, Mark, Jim and Traci were there? Definitely Misha and Mark.) Misha also made an appearance at the screening in the evening. Yes, they get paid to be there, but they are also great sports and they were just so awesome!! (Can someone tell me how many times I've used the word awesome in this post?)
Misha and Richard shared an area for their autograph session, Misha had a conversation with pretty much everyone, making the waiting time longer than usual, I think I went back to my room close to 9:30pm? I told him his rhino email was so long.. he said GET USED TO IT! Misha, please write more long emails, I love reading them!!! He signed my rhino letter, which he sent. He asked if I was a rhino hunter or something along that line, I couldn't function when he spoke.
Richard drew a cute picture which somewhat resembled Richard himself. Teeny has been cursing me since forever, because I forgot to get a special item for Richard to sign, I just forgot. I am so sorry! I just forgot! So Teeny raced back to the hotel room and brought the season 5 companion down. Richard saw his photo in the companion and said "Oh, what's this? Haven't seen this one before!" I told him it was the season 5 companion. For the record, I LOVE RICHARD!!!! Please tell me the Trickster is not dead!! I want to see him back on the show!! And before I forget, I want to see the Ghostfacers back as well! I love them!
Day 2 helped me to prep Day 3. Surprisingly, I slept very well the night before I met Jensen! Considering the first main event on Day 3 begin the Jensen autograph, I needed a good night sleep. OMG.. My body was vibrating the whole time!!! Thank Chuck AmyinSydney was there, I think I may have bruised her arms, I was squeezing her because I was so nervous.
And how awesome is AmyinSydney? She is my hero. We had a photo together with Jensen, and then I had a solo op with Jensen. I gotta say, hugging Jensen and having the opportunity to talk to him (even thought it was just a 'hello, how are you, can I have a hug, can we have a group hug, thank you'...), I would do anything to go back to that moment. He was a serious hugger and he was so cuddly and SUPER NICE! AmyinSydney and I were so happy after the photo op, we were jumping up and down and hugged each other outside the photo studio. The photos came out so brilliantly. I will show you .... when Clark Kent tells the world he is Superman.
*PS* Things I didn't know before: I didn't know the breakfast for the Gold ticket holders had food. The whole time I thought it was just the name of the event. You actually get to enjoy a continental breakfast buffet and then J2 arrived for the Q&A. I saw them in the hallway when I arrived (I wasn't a Gold ticket holder), but I arrived early because the Jensen photo op took place immediately after the breakfast. Anyway, I saw them in the hallway, and I was like.. CHUCK ME, Jared was tall! (I said that everytime I saw him). For AmyinSydney's experience at LACon (including the private Jensen and Jason concert), visit her blog here.
The J2 appearance was the most anticipated event of the weekend. The whole Sunday was about Jensen and Jared! The 'security' was tighter, for example the autographs from other cast member were personalised. The organisers asked you for your name and they wrote your name on a post-it note and stuck it on your autograph item. But for J2, your items don't get personalised, the assistants would take it off before passing it onto the boys. But I guess if you asked them in person, they might do it.
Other than that, you can pretty much give anything to them to sign. If you haven't seen this already, I gave my iPhone to Jensen to sign. My iPhone has been Jensenated! Woohoo! His assistant gave me this look "why did you give me your iPhone.. oh wait.. are you sure?" She laughed. When I asked Jensen if he could sign my iPhone, he laughed too and said SURE! Next time, the cast can sign my iPad! (iPad as in the device by Apple, not iPadalecki. Just so we are clear on this.. hahaha..)
Jensen and Jared used to have their own solo session for all ticket holders, but now they only do a joint-panel and the solo sessions were only for the Gold ticket holders :( This year, they also organised the very private Jensen and Jason Jam session, which was super expensive. AmyinSydney was there, check out her blog for the awesome write up of the Jam session. Entrance rules were so strict (no recording of any kind, not even photos), you could only bring yourself. But there was one song sang by Jensen and Jared on stage (yeah.. Jared sang!).. It was Happy Birthday!! See the clip here.
Anyway, the Q&A was so much fun. J2 had matching outfits, black shirt and jeans. It's like they have their own dress code for every con, leather jackets for Chicago, black shirts for LA.. or something like that. Misha has different suits for different con. Awesome! Many people would have agreed with me that Jensen and Jared really have great chemistry, you can't fake that. They are just so much fun to listen to. They were in great spirit.
Jensen talked about filming the up-coming western episode. He talked about how he hurt his hand while filming one of the scenes in Frontierland. By the way, the director of that episode Guy Bee was there too, but he wasn't on stage. I wish the convention organisers started to invite the writers and the directors to be guests, I love them as much as I love the cast. I would in fact pay to see a talk by Eric Kripke, Ben Edlund, Sera Gamble and Jeremy Carver! Like that talk with Joss Whedon at the Sydney Opera House last year, changed me forever..
The other question was about the support the show gets from the network. From fans point of view, we don't think the CW is doing enough to promote the show and that was the spirit of the question. Jensen talked about the support the show gets from the network, and he praised the PR team from the CW and WB for doing a great job on promoting the show. Jared talked about being on the cover of TVGuide and thank the fans for it. See the clip here.
Jared also talked about crazies who impersonated them online. (And for frek sake people, Jared and Jensen are NOT ON ANY SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, don't be fooled!) Jared said having someone impersonates you, stealing your identity does not stroke their ego but it's silly and creepy. What satisfy them is people love their work and their talent, impostors who stalked people for numbers and said all the nasty things to others online are not to be encouraged.
I am so glad someone asked Jensen about his voice work for Batman: Under the Redhood. Jensen talked about running into The Wire / Fringe / Lost actor Lance Reddick, Jensen is a fan of Lance and he had a fanboy moment when they met in a hallway during a WB photoshoot awhile ago. Lance told Jensen he was a huge comic book fan and he told Jensen how much he loved his work in Redhood. Things like this makes Jansen happy, because people love his work. Watch the clip here.
The hour went too fast and thanks to Teeny again, she took some amazing photos while I took some videos and enjoyed the panel. To view my Jensen and J2 panel photos, go to my Flickr album: Jensen and J2.
The photo op with Jensen and Jared was AMAZING!!! Teeny and I had a group hug with Jensen and Jared. I asked Jensen if we could have a group hug and he said sure (surprise?). The three of us were already in position, and Jared was like "so what are doing? are we doing this? are we doing that?", Jensen had to repeat himself to Jared: "Group hug! Group hug! GROUP HUG!" HAHA.. it was funny. I was looking at this photo and all our hands and arms got tangled up. I love that photo so much, it's the wallpaper across all my electronics.
The best thing about photo ops is that, apart from getting a high quality print out of the photo, you can also get the high res jpeg version on a CD for I think $10. Teeny told me she heard someone wasn't happy about their photo op, coz their eyes were closed or something, the girl was like 'I paid good money for this!'. I had my eyes closed for the Misha and Jim sandwich, but lucky me, the photographer's assistant told me to go back for another one. Hehe.. And it was amazing! Misha did this face, which I didn't even ask him to!
When you collected your photos in the vendor room, you get to see other photos too. It's nice, like you get to see other funny photos, like someone asked Richard to piggyback her.. LOL!! Awesome!!! Next time, I am going to ask Jensen to piggyback me with Jared at the back saying WTF. No wait... I think I will ask Jared if I can piggyback him and Jensen comes rescue me....
One more silly thing. I bought an auction item on Day 2. I didn't know what I was doing. I just wanted to put my hand up for fun sake. And I won the bloody thing! If it wasn't Teeny's spare bag, I seriously didn't know how I could ever bring this baby back!!!! It just did not fit into my suitcase. And I still don't know what to do with it, it's rolled up and sitting next to my bookshelf. But it's awesome! It's signed by all the guests. But I wish Jensen and Jared's faces are on it! You can see Jensen signing the banner in the highlight reel. He signed his name between Matt and Amy's photos.
So there you have it. This has got to be the longest post ever for the Impala's Trunk. And my butt hurts for spending the time writing it! I wish this blog post never ends because writing this reminds me of all the happy times in LACon. But I also hate doing this simple because this is like closing the final chapter of LACon. Friends on Twitter are already talking about 2012, and I don't know if I can be there. I guess for now, just be glad that I was part of something great and I had a brilliant weekend with the cast and fans of Supernatural. Thank you once again for an unforgettable weekend. I wish we will meet again.
Creation Entertainment has already announced the date for LACon 2012, Gold tickets are now on sale. Check out their website for details. Sweet Cheesus! I am thinking about it!
As you know, Misha's Random Acts has on-going initiative -- The Hope to Haiti. This summer, Misha and Matt Cohen will go to Haiti together, their mission is to help build a multipurpose community center with a green design that will provide shelter and a place to educate and feed many children in Jacmel. Here is Misha's message.
It's fantastic to hear Misha is working on this trip with Matt Cohen. The trip is scheduled from June 20-26, 2011. Matt is scheduled to be there the entire trip, while Misha is scheduled to be there from 23 June. For more details on how you can join Misha and Matt, check out the Random Acts official website for details.
