Dragon*Con 2010

Click here for all of my photos from Dragon*Con 2010!

Some highlights...

As expected:

• Lines, lines, lines
• No sleep
• The Awesomeness of Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama of Battlestar Galatica)
• Running into old friends :)
• Loving being with Mom and Rachel and Graham!
• Great Pride and Prejudice Costumes by Rachel
  

Better than expected:

• The other guys in the BSG panels: the Chief, Romo and Tom Zarek. (Tori? Eh waste of space)
• Giving blood. Didn't get violently ill! Woo!
• Walk of Fame lines
• The nice breeze outside the hotels
• Taking photos in the Hyatt
  

Total Fail:

• Fire Marshall in the Hyatt
• Line control for the TNG panel at the Sheraton
• Line management and autograph scheduling for Jim Butcher
• Actor autograph inflation
  
• Registration badge pick up (It's not like DragonCon didn't know how many "pre-registered" people were coming.)
• MARTA Thursday night (not DC's fault but we were nearly in a brawl and waited over 30 minutes for the train to MOVE. that sucked)
• Live Astronomy's technical difficulties for the first 45 minutes.
  

Nice surprise:

• How hilarious Vork from Watch the Guild is totally unscripted
• The obvious friendship and shenanigans between Mark Sheppard (Romo) and Aaron Douglas (the Chief) during the BSG panels & my autograph requests
• The How Stuff Works podcasters & catching Veronica Belmont prior to their panel being generally awesome.
• The Film Festival. Seriously, how have I been coming here for 10 years and never known how incredible this was?
• Getting in to the True Blood panel 15 minutes before it started & finding a good seat! Seriously, the Marriott is the best place to see large panels.
• Catching Bill Corbett's mini skit with Trace Beaulieu
  

Best costumes:

• Jem and the Holograms with the Misfits plus guitars!
• Hit Girl
• Steampunk variants including Star Trek, Green Lantern, and the Witches of Oz
• Plants vs Zombies!
• The guy that looks like the missing link between Harry Potter and David Tennant
• Dr. Who's Angels
• many, many Codexes from Watch the Guild
  

Serendipitous:

• Walking behind the guys from TAPS on the way back to the hotel
• Catching Jay and Silent Bob standing outside a convenience store
• Spotting Kristin Bauer from True Blood walking in front of the Marriott
• Not getting hit with the bottles flying out of a 3rd story window of the Hilton
• Being the last person to make the line up for Jim Butcher's official book signing (he did an unofficial one later that afternoon)
• Wearing my This is My Bookstick! shirt when walking by a guy carrying that same gun
• Seeing so many people who love Allie Brosh and Hyperbole and a Half while wearing my Clean All the Things! shirt
• How many people got and loved the Wesley Crushers! shirts, especially the people in the parade who stopped to say hi. That was awesome.

What I missed:

• The Star Trek Next Gen panel due to line confusion and tiny room.
• The BSG Science panel due to the line for Jim Butcher being insane
• The first True Blood panel due to the typo on the program placing the Dealer Room in the Hyatt :p
• Seeing the Tong Family :( Too busy this year.
• Seeing John "Hammerman" in the Walk of Fame. Year 4, I owe you a drink!
  

Where I'll be next year:

The Minnesota State Fair! Sorry DC, but I live in Minnesota now. Plane tickets are just getting more expensive, room rates are nutty, and you don't seem to be capping the madness any time soon. That was a LOT of freaken people in 4-5 hotels.

What I'll catch in 2012:

• More Mark Sheppard and Aaron Douglas!
• More Film Festival!
• Less lines, more panels.
  

UPDATE: for another positive review of Dragon*Con from a fellow historian and fantastic podcaster, read Katie Lambert's review here: http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2010/09/20/former-sorority-girl-braves-dragoncon-feels-the-love/