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Emerald City Comic Con Wrap-Up!!

March 8, 2013 · Filed under Comedy, Conventions, Disney, Film, Gaming, General Geekery, Just for Fun, Memories, Music, Pop Culture, Social Commentary, Television, Theatre/Live Performance, Wil Wheaton, Zombies

Hi Gang!! I just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that my official “wrap-up” of this year’s ECCC will be posted later this afternoon.

Keep checking back! Lots of cosplay photos and panel reviews!

Update: Hi folks, sorry the wrap-up isn’t posted yet. I’ve been having some technical issues with some of the photos I’m trying to upload. Hope to have these resolved soon. Keep checking back!!

Update (2):

Ok, let’s wrap this up!

First off, this year’s Emerald City Comic was a lot of fun, but I can’t say it was more fun than last year. This may have been because of the drugs.

I threw my back out spectacularly just 3 days prior to the Con and, as a result, I was on prescription pain-killers for the duration which made me feel like I was almost walking outside of my body as opposed to in it. The upside was that I was so mellow that I didn’t stress out as much this year about making it to certain panels on time; the downside was that I felt more than slightly adjacent to everything happening around me, so it didn’t feel like I was actually experiencing anything. Weird.

ECCC nearly doubled in size this year, and with that came some interesting decisions about the layout of the event. For some reason they cloistered the Gaming area far away from the main hub of action (the main panel rooms, signing stalls and show floor) and so it took a lot of effort to get to. As a result, it sort of felt like Gaming had been put in the corner on a time out. We managed to make it down there for one panel (which wasn’t a gaming related panel AT ALL) and met Felicia Day, which was awesome. Otherwise, we didn’t really have any time to peruse the vendors in this area because we had a tight panel schedule we were sticking to, and we kept having to hot-foot it back to the show floor and panel rooms. It was kind of a bummer.

I realize that the key word in Emerald City Comic Con is “COMIC”, but gaming has always had a strong foothold in this world thanks to the likes of D&D et al, so it was just plain weird that it was so sequestered.

Anywho…. Onto Day 1!

First “main hall” panel of ECCC was Felicia Day, and it was delightful. Felicia chatted with moderator Melanie McFarland of IMDB.com about her career thus far, including her hopes for the future of Geek and Sundry (her YouTube channel). She kept saying that she could not confirm that they’d been picked up for another year, but something tells me that they have been. She stated that her goal if they get renewed is to create more gaming-centric programming, hearing this, I did a little wiggle of joy in my folding chair.

Ms. Day was incredibly laid-back and gracious with the fans, and even made a point of stating how unfair it was that the first dozen rows of seats were cordoned off for “VIP” attendees only.

Aside: Folks, there were about 200 seats in this special “VIP Only” section, and only 12 people sitting in them (FOR THE ENTIRE CON). The exception to this might have been the finale panel of ECCC on day 3 – Sir Patrick Stewart – but otherwise, the VIP section was almost always nearly vacant. I really appreciated that Felicia Day took a moment to point out the elitism that was starting to show its unattractive head at this moderately-sized event.

Ms. Day also announced that she is set to appear in yet more episodes of Supernatural (and is probably in Vancouver, BC filming as I am writing this); I’ve never been a hardcore Supernatural fan, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the two episodes she’s appeared in thus far, so I am very much looking forward to whatever comes next.

After the Felica Day panel we raced down to the Gaming Floor and managed to duck into the Paul and Storm Discuss Learning Town panel. For those of you unfamiliar with Paul and Storm (who have heard of me) and their web series Learning Town, take a moment to hop over to the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel and check it out. I’ll wait here.

Paul and Storm with Learning Town head writer, Josh Cagan

Welcome back! Awesome, right? For those of you who didn’t actually check it out, here’s a quick synopsis: Thanks to an untimely death, Paul and Storm find themselves the new hosts of a children’s educational series called Learning Town. Puppets catch fire. Hilarity ensues.

Paul and Storm talked about the creation of the show, and their hope for a second season. P&S have always been a little bit hard to read (they’d be terrific poker players), and though I’m sure they’re actually super-nice guys, they have a tendency to appear aloof and bored. It may just be that they are actually painfully shy (not uncommon in performers, as strange as this sounds) and don’t feel comfortable without their guitars to hide behind. I say all of this because we didn’t really take away a whole lot from the panel except the the knowledge that they used a total twelve fire extinguishers on camera during the taping of the first season of Learning Town and that they wrote the first draft of most of the songs in less than a month.

After the Learning Town panel we stood in line and met Felicia Day, who is the sweetest, most genuine gal ever. When I mentioned that we’re both from Huntsville, AL she gave me a high five and asked when I’d last been back (2005) and then stated that she was a bad granddaughter who needed to get back there to visit her grandmother. I agreed, I needed to visit my grandmother in Huntsville, too. Then she drew a bunny on my souvenir photo. Awesome.

Next we made a slow circuit through the show floor and took many a cosplay photo (featured below), before wandering up to the signing room to see whose line was the shortest. Interestingly, Gillian Anderson’s line was pretty dern small, so we hopped into that and (after a few minutes queuing) strolled up to her table.

Gillian Anderson, the Scully Years

Gillian Anderson is over it. Either that or she’s still bewildered by the attention of fans. It’s not that she wasn’t polite. She was very polite on the surface, but it was the “bored now” undertones that rankled me. I can understand how a person might want to pull a Garbo and just want to be left alone, but if that’s the case, don’t come to conventions and line your wallet with the fans’ money. It’s just in poor taste. But, anyway, I met her. So I can cross that off my list.

This concluded Day One of ECCC on a rather odd note. But Day Two started off in a much better place.

Knowing that Sir Patrick Stewart’s autograph would be in particularly high-demand, I queued up for him as soon as we arrived at the convention center. There were so many people in line to meet him/get his autograph, that he was limited to maybe 5 seconds of interaction per person. Even so, it was a terrific 5 seconds! Sir Patrick is a cool-ass dude, man. He just oozes cool. He is the Zaphod Beeblebrox of planet Earth (only minus the second head and rampant narcissism). The guy is 72 and you’d never know it to look at him. He carries himself like a much younger person and is incredibly sharp. I told him that I really loved his performance in “Macbeth”, he replied (in that fantastic accent of his), “Yes, well. That was quite an experience.”

After meeting Sir Patrick, we headed back to the main panel hall for Gillian Anderson’s panel. There is only one way to describe this panel: weird. Just like at the signing table it was as if she couldn’t be bothered. I took nothing away from this panel with the exception of knowledge that David Duchovny may (or may not) be exactly like his character on Californication. I honestly wish I had spent this hour checking out the vendors on the Gaming floor instead.

photo credit:Andre Tan

However, things took a positive turn with the panel immediately following Ms. Anderson, Natalia Tena.

Ms. Tena is best known for her portrayals of Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry Potter movies and Osha the Wildling in the Game of Thrones series. Natalia Tena is freaking HI-LARIOUS! The moderator warned us in advance to expect adult language and, wow, it was like having our own sailor onstage. She talked at length about her band Molotov Jukebox (which you should definitely check out) as well as the look of her “lady garden” (not joking) and how if she were a super villain, she’d be one of her own invention called “Wasp Woman”. I’m not even going to tell you where the stinger would be. Just guess. She was simply wonderful with the fans who stepped up to ask questions, genuine engaging, kind and FUNNY.

Natalia Tena, photo credit: Suzi Platt

The final panel of Day Two was a Walking Dead panel featuring Michael Rooker (Merle) and Danai Gurira (Michonne). Unlike the character she plays, Danai Gurira is super talkative, sweet-natured and completely open. Michael was quite the rapscallion and you could easily imagine the two of them goofing around and teasing each other on set between takes of blood and gore. They were unable to provide any previews or spoilers of this or next season, but they did spend some time on their character’s personal motivations. This wasn’t as illuminating as you might have imagined. It’s fairly easy to read into these characters on screen, but it was interesting seeing inside these two very different actors and their processes.

Danai Gurira and Michael Rooker, photo credit: Andre Tan

On the final day of Comic Con, we started out getting a photo signed for our Godson by Natalia Tena. Our Godson had joined us on Day Two and had purchased a photo op with Ms. Tena, and asked us if we could have her sign it for him. This photo is terrific. She’d adopted what she called her “sexiest pose”, which in reality had her looking like she was grabbing the back of her own head while, at the same time, starting to sneeze. Basically, she looked ridiculous and hilarious next to our Godson who was simply standing there with an adorable, patient, grin on his face.

We presented the photo for Ms. Tena to sign and she grabbed it in horror exclaiming, “What the HELL am I doing in this picture?!” She then actually wrote “What the HELL am I doing in this picture?!” on the photo as well as an arrow pointing at herself and the word “IDIOT” before actually signing her autograph at the bottom. It. Was. AWESOME. If my Godson gives me the “OK” I will post it here.

After this most memorable autograph session in the history of EVER, we headed into one of the smaller panel rooms and sat in on Danai Gurira’s solo panel. I must say, I am seriously impressed with this chick. In addition to being an actress, she is an accomplished award-winning playwright, whose been produced off-Broadway and whose works focus on the struggle of women in Kenya, where she grew up.

Immediately following Danai’s panel was Jim Cummings, voice of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Zummi Gummi and HUNDREDS of other cartoon characters. Jim talked about getting into the industry and his experience working with Disney (all positive… although I doubt he’d be allowed to say anything negative publicly due to contractual obligations). Then the moderator decided it would be funny to ask Jim if he ever used any of his character voices “in the bedroom”. His immediate answer was, “No, of course not”. He then went on to MURDER MY CHILDHOOD by performing a “what if” scenario with Pooh, Tigger and Ray (the firefly from the Princess and the Frog). It was hysterical and oh so very, very wrong. I will never be able to watch Winnie the Pooh the same way again.

Pooh, you’ve been an awfully naughty bear

After this we ducked into the main panel hall again for the Geek and Sundry Panel of Awesome. What made this panel so awesome was that it was Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton with NO MODERATOR. Felicia and Wil came off as siblings. Teasing each other, telling fart jokes, torturing each other with embarrassing anecdotes. Wil also filled the big brother role of, “Hey, that’s my sister! Back off, man!” when a fan asked Felicia out on a date. They were simply adorable.

photo credit: Bonniegrrl

The final panel of the con was Sir Patrick Stewart himself. He held us all captive in his knightly hand telling stories of how Paramount had is toupee hand-delivered to him for his Star Trek audition (news flash, the toupee did not make the cut), accidentally getting cast in Dune and letting us in on the fact that the new X-Men movie will begin filming in less than six weeks!

photo credit: Andre Tan

My favorite story of the panel had to do with Sir Patrick being accidentally cast in Dune. The director thought he’d cast someone else, and when Mr. Stewart arrived on-set it was too late to do anything about it. A juicy anecdote to this story was that Sir Patrick did not know (at the time of filming) who Sting was.

He said, “I mean, I’d heard of this musician fellow called Sting and I knew his arrival on-set was causing a lot of excitement, but I really had no idea who he was. During a pause between takes I turned to him and said, ‘So you’re a musician?’ and he said, ‘Yeah.’ So I asked, ‘What do you play?’ and he said, ‘Bass.’ Then I said, ‘You know, I’ve always wondered how you deal with having to tote that massive thing around. It must be a headache.’ Sting then explained to me that he, in fact, played a bass guitar, not a bass fiddle. So then I asked who he played with and he said he had is own band. So I said, ‘Oh really? What sort of band?’ and he said, ‘The Police.’ Folks, I then turned to him and said, ‘You play in a police band?’”

Yeah, the entire hall pretty much died of laughter at that point. It was awesome.

That concluded our ECCC ’13 experience. We met a lot of folks over the three days and took plenty of cosplay photos. Sadly, not all of them are here because a number of the image files somehow got corrupted and went kerplooey. But do see below for the photos I was able to save.

Princess Bubblegum by Miss Lime. Be sure to check out her Tumblr page! misslime.tumblr.com

Thomas as Bane (the jolliest looking Bane I ever did see…)

“Crossplay” Barf from Spaceballs

Nick as Nyan Cat!

Joel (or Mike) and Tom Servo!

Steampunk Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Awesome.

The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland

Capt. Redcoat McHaggis. Check out the awesome ‘stache!!

Inspector Gadget – this young fellow was in quite a hurry to get somewhere, so I was unable to get his name. Too bad his Go-Go-Gadget Copter wasn’t practical

Bender from Futurama

Spencer Voykin as He-Man and Clay Stooshnoff as Skeletor

Storm Beaker and Obi Sam the Eagle!

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Chris Hardwick’s Comedy Jokes

February 1, 2013 · Filed under Comedy, Comics, General Geekery, Just for Fun, Pop Culture, Social Commentary

My face still hurts from laughing. That is how awesome Chris Hardwick’s set was at the Tacoma Comedy Club last Saturday night.

Equally brazen and apologetic, Mr. Hardwick spent his 45 minutes on stage trying out new material on a willing, receptive and energetic crowd.

The theme of his set appeared to be “Times I’ve Been Embarrassed Sexually”; I never imagined that I’d find myself rooting for an encounter with a cheap blow-up doll to turn out well, but I did.

Mr. Hardwick held the audience in the palm of his hand and worked the room with expert ease. For moments where his material wasn’t as tight as he would have liked, he switched to audience interaction bits, showcasing his well-honed improv skills and keeping the pace moving at a perfect clip.

I forgot to take pics while he was actually performing… so this is from a past stand-up gig. Thanks Google Images! If you know who took this photo, please let me know so I can credit them.

Afterward, he spent time meeting,taking photos with and hugging audience members who smartly chose to linger behind.

Note how Chris knew where to look, and I didn’t. True photo-op pro.

The one “hiccup” during Chris’s set occurred when he looked up and discovered a patron videoing his set. He called them out on it and handled it as nicely as he could, pointing out that his material is copyrighted (as well as a work in progess) and that the venue should have put a stop to the videotaping immediately. He spent a couple of moments explaining (not the legal) but the moral and ethical “wrongness” of filming an artist’s work without their permission. The guilty party seemed embarrassed yet indignant. I hope for Chris’s sake that they kept their promise to him not to post what they had filmed on Youtube… even though his set was pretty much flawless.

I spent a couple of moments chatting with Mr. Hardwick after the set, and let me tell ya, the guy is the nicest, most unassuming, celebrity I have ever met. Not a trace of ego and genuinely nice.

You can find out more about Chris Hardwick’s “workshop” stand-up tour on the Nerdist site HERE. If he’s coming to your neck of the woods I highly recommend you make the effort to see him!

And this week’s addition to the Testimonial Gallery is (naturally):

Chris Hardwick – Nerdist

Chris Hardwick! YAY! [kermitflail.gif]

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The DEADLINE Strikes BACK!!

January 25, 2013 · Filed under Comedy, Commerce, Conventions, Craftiness, Disney, Gaming, General Geekery, Halloween, Holidays, Just for Fun, Pop Culture, Randomosity, Theatre/Live Performance, Travel

Hi, ya’ll! I’m sorry I’ve been largely absent and , to be frank, I don’t have a good reason for it. Call it writer’s block, poor time-management or just plain laziness, I’ve got nothing to blame but myself for not keeping to my previously tidy schedule.

Therefore, I made a decision this week. Beginning right….NOW… I’m re-committing to my blog-a-week Friday deadline. I may post more frequently than once a week, but I will definitely not post less.

2013 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for yours truly – starting tomorrow night with my tickets to see Chris Hardwick perform live here in Tacoma, WA. I am super excited about this event and cannot wait to fill you in on the details next week.

Chris Hardwick – Nerd About Town

In February I hope to attend a performance of Warhorse, the award-winning stage play utilizing AMAZING full-size puppets of horses. Those of you familiar with me and this site know that I’m a bit obsessed with puppetry in all its forms and I have been chomping at the bit (pun intended) to see this show since I first heard about its workshop beginnings at the Nat’l Theatre in London, UK. Fingers-crossed I can score tix!

March will bring the return of me returning to Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle and let me tell ya, the media list this year is bonkers it’s so good – more on that as the date approaches….

April showers will bring both Mayflowers and Weird Al Yankovic to my neck of the woods. Plans so far are to attend this concert for his Al-pocalypse album. I will also be taking hi-decibel ear plugs because I know from experience that his concerts are the LOUDEST ever. Having been a rock show lighting tech for Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, I know from loud and Weird Al is ludicrous-loud and proud of it.

Weird Al

May doesn’t have anything on the schedule so far, but it’s still early yet.

June takes me back to the Oregon Shakespeare festival to see my best friend return to the boards, this time as Hermia in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Stoked. So stoked.

Speaking of Shakespeare – in July I will be working with quiet Productions out of Seattle as Assistant Director on their production of The Merchant ofVenice. quiet is the company that produced the production of Pippin I appeared in at the end of 2012. Merchant… will open in Seattle in August.

quiet Productions – click image for more info

Also happening in August – PAX Prime!!! Hell, yeah, I’m going and, hell, yeah, it’s going to ROCK.

September will be spent in preparation for Halloween. I’m planning on building a new effect for my display this year and I will do my best to document the process from design to completion here on the blog.

Hint of things to come….

October brings Halloween (of course), but prior to the holiday is GeekGirlCon in Seattle. Plans are to attend, we’ll see how things line up as the date approaches.

November takes me to Las Vegas (my old hometown) for LDI, the annual entertainment technology show.

December doesn’t have any “special events” planned beyond the standard holiday stuff – but we’ll see what the season brings.

So as you can I see I have quite the busy year a head of me – which means plenty of fodder for the ol’ blog. I hope you have fun following me on my many adventures.

Also, don’t forget, I’m still collecting proof that I DO EXIST! Send me your testimonial photo and I’ll add it to the GALLERY!

OK, 2013, let’s do this!!

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I Can Haz A Blog Post?

October 22, 2012 · Filed under Books, Comedy, Disney, Doctor Who, General Geekery, Pop Culture, Theatre/Live Performance, Zombies

Hi, yall! I *do* exist!

Ok, so this is a quickly cobbled together post wherein I rattle off the stuff I’ve been up to recently.

As you know I am currently in rehearsals for PIPPIN (I’m not yelling at you, the title is literally all caps). Here is an image of one of the promotional postcards for the show wherein I look particularly badass with my juggling pins.

That’s right, ya’ll, I juggle things other than my schedule…

We open on Nov 29^th and run through Dec 8. Short run, but still very exciting.

TV things –I’m having to catch-up on shows a day or more after they originally air, so apologies for being behind on the latest and greatest…

Once Upon a Time is back for season 2 – so yay for that. I’m enjoying the nice twist they threw in to the end of the first ep of the season. I am seriously loving Ginnifer Goodwin’s take on “kick-ass Snow White” in this series – so much more believable and awesome than Kristen Stewart in that… thing… that was in theatres this past summer, amiright?

Yes. No.

The Walking Dead season 3 has been impressively good so far. They’ve really done an excellent job of upping the ante yet again. I am particularly impressed with Chandler Riggs, the young actor who plays Carl, as he portrays an increasingly hardened 12 year-old in the post-apocalyptic reality of the series. I am both sad for and a little frightened of the man Carl will ultimately become.

When I was a child I played as a child… But when there was a zombie apocalypse I became a sociopath.

Doctor Who Series 7 is already over and we have to wait for the Christmas ep for another new episode, which will launch us into Series 7.5 (those wacky Brits and their loopy schedules). Those of you folks who were/are both Whovians and Pondians(?) are likely just as sad as I was to see Amy and Rory go. This is not a spoiler because Steven Moffat (the writer/show-runner) of Doctor Who told us back in APRIL that they were coming to the end of their storyline and that it was not going to be the most happy of endings. However, for folks who haven’t seen it yet I won’t spoil it and say what happened… but I WILL say that I will never look at the Statue of Liberty the same way again… ever. {shudder}

Farewell Ponds!

Internet things that are like TV things – Felicia Day’s fantastic web series The Guild boasted it’s season 6 (wow!) premiere a couple of weeks ago. I was worried that the series might have jumped the shark with last season’s finale, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that show is still fresh and creative. This time around we get to see the characters move out of their allegorical (or sometimes literal) basements and into the “real world” often with hilarious and sometimes poignant results. They post new episodes every Tuesday, and you can find them on Felicia’s website Geek and Sundry, or by clicking HERE.

Cast of The Guild! Web Series’d!

Book things – I am going back and re-reading the entire Discworld series by English author Terry Pratchett. I had forgotten just how wonderfully irreverent these books are. If you’re unfamiliar with Discworld, but are a fan of things like Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, run – don’t walk – to the nearest bookstore or library and buy or check out this book series. The Discworld is a flat, circular, planetary disc that rests on the backs of four elephants who are standing on the shell of the Great A’Tuin – a giant space turtle. My most favorite book in the series is “Equal Rites” which centers around Eskarina “Esk” Smith a young girl destined (by mistake) to become a wizard. Only problem? Unlike the world of Harry Potter, girls can’t be wizards. Only boys can. Girls can be witches, of course, but never wizards. Strictly a boys club. Esk isn’t too keen on this and sets out to change the world so that she can become a wizard after all – hence the clever play on words in the title. Anyway, check’em out… I guarantee fun.

The Great A’Tuin… this turtle really moves

Well that about wraps it up for now, ya’ll. But I did still manage to get a new addition to the Testimonial Gallery!

Paul and Storm!!

Paul and Storm of Paul and Storm!!

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I Can’t, I Have Rehearsal

October 2, 2012 · Filed under Comedy, Craftiness, Just for Fun, Music, Randomosity, Theatre/Live Performance

Sorry I’ve been MIA for the past couple of weeks, ya’ll. The truth is that I have been both busy and lazy.

I decided that I’d had enough of NOT being on-stage. So, after a seven-year hiatus from treading the boards, I went to an audition. I fully expected to not be cast. I’m older and fatter than I was 7 years ago, as well as terribly out of practice. But I went, because I needed to get the tippy-toes wet again with the experience of the audition process.

Then something bizarre happened.

I got cast.

It took two rounds of callbacks, but still, I got cast. In my first show in seven years. After my first audition in even longer than that.

Whoa.

I need to be honest here and tell you that the two things that popped into my mind immediately after receiving the “we’d love to have you” phone call were the following: A) I must be better than I thought and B) Or maybe this is a low-quality company.

After two weeks of rehearsal I can happily report that this is definitely NOT a low-quality company. This is a very good company, with a very clear vision and an excellent team of creative professionals behind it all.

Woo!

This makes me doubly happy because if the company doesn’t suck, it must mean that I ALSO don’t suck.

Woo-hoo!

So I hope you’ll forgive me if my postings are a little sparse as I get re-used to the rehearsal routine again, which also includes figuring out and adjusting my writing schedule.

If you’re going to be in the Seattle area in late-November, early December, please come see me on-stage for the first time in seven years in the Quiet production of PIPPIN!

Magic to Do! (Just for You!)

And this week’s addition to the Testimonial Gallery is:

G4′s Kristin Adams!

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Watch This!! Watch it NOW! NOW!!!

September 17, 2012 · Filed under Comedy, General Geekery, Just for Fun, Muppets, Music, Pop Culture, Television

Fraggles!! Ben Folds Five!! Nerdist!!! KERMIT FLAIL!!!!!!!!!! (That last part isn’t in the video… that’s just me right now)

And behind the scenes too!!

AAAAAAaaaaaaahh!!!! I’m over-flowing with happiness!! On a Monday!!! It’s like a miracle!

PAX

August 30, 2012 · Filed under Comedy, Conventions, Flaninja, Gaming, General Geekery, Pop Culture, Wil Wheaton

It’s here, ya’ll. PAX Prime! Wooooo!

I am seriously stoked about attending this convention! Sure, it’s going to be huge and ungainly and loaded down with gamer-y goodness, and I have no idea what to expect beyond that, but I know it’s going to be AWESOME.

Why??

Games, man. Games. Lots of ‘em. And not all in one category, either. Not all video, not all tabletop, not all RPG, just ALL. ALL, Ya’ll!!

To paraphrase Ally Brosh from Hyperbole and a Half:

Yup.

Even Flaninja is excited, and he hasn’t been around the blog in ages. He’s a stoic dude (think Oz from Buffy, but in pastry-form) and the fact that he’s even shown up shows a level of enthusiasm not to be ignored.

Stoked.

I’ve prepared for this con-adventure using the tools of any modern geeky, nerd-type. I downloaded the Guidebook app, and set my schedule after perusing the daily panel and event lists. I’ve actually left most of the three days wide open for shenanigans, because this is my first time attending this con and I don’t want to bog myself down too much and inadvertently prevent fun-having and exploration.

I’ll report next week on all the happenings I happen to happen upon!

So there I was, at Costco…

August 18, 2012 · Filed under Books, Comedy, Pop Culture, Randomosity, The Bloggess

UPDATE: 8/20/2012…see below…

And wouldn’t you know it, I ran into fellow (and far more popular) blogger who’s name is ALSO Jen (though she’s known by most as The Bloggess)!

At Costco you can even find Jens in bulk!

I’ll give a fuller report tomorrow of all the awesome!

Aaaaaaand here’s the promised follow-up!

First of all, let me just say, Jenny Lawson is THE sweetest, sweetheart of a lady I think I’ve ever met outside of my circle of friends.

She took her time with each of her admiring fans, she was personable, she was genuine and she never rushed anyone.

Because the event was at a Costco (a location so damn contrary to what anyone thinks of when they think of “book signings” that it was totally perfect) Jenny wasn’t able to do a true reading mostly because of all the cussing in her book “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened”, but also because it was a Costco.

Jenny made up for the lack of reading by bringing with her Copernicus, the Homicidal Monkey and her husband Victor. Both were terrific sports. Copernicus, because he refrained from killing anyone (mostly because Jenny’s fans are wary of his hugs) and Victor because he happily snapped photos of his wife’s fans as they basked in the glow of her awesomeness.

When I got up to the table, after she’d complimented my Blue Box Ale t-shirt (she’s a recent Doctor Who fan), I stated as casually as possible, “You’ve never heard of me, but I’m Jen Tidwell.” To which she jaw-droppingly (mine, not hers) replied, “Oh my God, I’ve TOTALLY heard of you!”

After this, I’m not sure what else happened because I was in a state of euphoria that she’d heard of me, and not just because a while back I’d asked her permission to use her photo of Juanita Weasel in my Testimonial Gallery.

Anyway, at some point during my blissful coma I managed to ask her to affirm her knowledge of me by signing an 8×10 of herself, and then I suggested she do a reading of her book over the public address system, substituting “Beyonce” in place of foul-language. This made her laugh, which was awesome.

After that, Victor took our photo, and my wife and I got out of the way so as not to monopolize any more of her time.

It was a terrific experience, made that much more special with the knowledge that Jenny has to overcome her own deep-seated anxiety with social gatherings to even make it to these events. She is incredibly generous and selfless.

Her book tour is finished now, but if she ever comes to a city near you, take a moment to go see her and thank her for all that she does.

AND THIS WEEK’S ADDITION TO THE TESTIMONIAL GALLERY IS (who else?):