I arrived on Friday and was immediately waylaid in the Lobby by Kirsi (from Finland) and CoolB and his parents. After catching up and finally checking in, we all went to my room to relax and unwind. I was waiting for my 3 roomies to arrive and Krpm1 was coming over later to drop off the AV equipment she was lending us.
We decided to wait in the Lobby for her and just as I stepped into the hallway, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to get the business cards we needed for the "Frickin Friend" icebreaker. This is a con tradition and I had to get those cards. Panic time!!!
My plan was to run over to The Galleria and ransack the stores for cards, but CoolB's mom, Barb, had another idea.
After getting a card from the Desk Clerk, she then proceeded to waylay anyone who was unfortunate enough to venture into the Lobby at that particular time. One guy didn't have one, but when she said that we needed cards, he went and found one from somewhere and brought it back to her. She told him that he deserved a huge hug for that and proceeded to give him one. He really liked that and asked her how many more cards she needed! It was hysterical to watch her in action! Really enthusiastic.
The day of the con was busy as we had to find the room, since the hotel had changed it and didn't tell us. I went to the original room and wondered if the attendees really were invisible since I couldn't find anyone there. Had to go to the Front Desk to find everyone.
After we got the AV equipment setup, we spread the cast shirts out on a table in the back and everyone signed them. When we had gone on the Set Visit in July, 2001, the cast had signed our shirts, so we decided it would be fun to sign theirs this time. We were able to give Paul and Eddie their shirts personally and they loved them.
We played the "Frickin Friend" icebreaker, handed out goody bags, watched some videos of Vince and Paul (not the show), and an IMAN music video, and talked to Mike McCafferty on the phone.
Mike told us about talks that are going on for an IMAN reunion movie!
The talks are very preliminary, and he had to be somewhat vague about it, but he did say that talks are going on, and that he felt a lot more positive about them than some of the talks in the past. He really feels that something will happen this time.
The cast are all onboard to come back if the talks are successful, and Greg Yitanes and Breck Eisner have both expressed interest in directing.
We know that Craig Silverstein still has an interest in the show, but it would depend on his schedule whether he would be able to write the script. He is incredibly busy now and his career is really taking off.
We don't need fans to write letters or send postcards right now, but we would like to get the word out to the fans that something is in the works. Please don't embellish it and say that it is a sure thing or will be happening soon. The talks are very preliminary at this stage.
When the time comes for the fans to help publicize this movie, I will let you know here and on the bboards and in the egroups. I hope that everyone will jump onboard the bandwagon at that time. Everyone will be needed.
What you can do now is start posting on the Scifi.com Invisible Man bboard again. While the talks are going on, TPTB may be watching the board to see if there is any fan activity in our fandom. Let's stop being invisible and let them know that we are still here and we want a movie and DVDs. The posting is very important!
The URL for the Scifi.com bboard is
http://mboard.scifi.com/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=TheInvisibleMan
We also played the "Match Game". Bravogabbo wasn't able to attend the con, and we all agreed it was probably a good thing as this game progressed. Laura! Where did you get these questions! OH MY GOD! Some of them were real stumpers! Most people there, the contestants, the panel, and the audience, were sitting there with puzzled looks on their faces trying to think of an answer.
We had a tie between Kirsi and Bethenati for the longest time. At one point we ran out of questions and I had to start thinking up some so we could finish the game. Bethenati finally won the game and a full size poster of Paul Ben Victor and the other Stooges.
Some of the answers we got were hilarious and I think everyone in the room had a great time with these brain teasers.
Our panel who Kirsi and Bethenati had to match were CoolB, McLeigh, and Invisible Ballerina.
Then we all went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.
After lunch, we reconvened to get ready for the Scavenger Hunt. Even though she could not attend the con, Bravogabbo came up with a list of 35 items for us to find. We broke into teams of 4 and had half an hour to find the items and return to the ballroom.
I had Oskar, Pepper, and TheMalteseHobbes on my team. I got really lucky, because they were really smart and creative, and found items I totally missed. We went back to my room first, and Oskar was looking through the newspaper and found several items. Then he and Pepper started looking through the phone book. They had driven to the con, and so had TMH so they both ransacked their cars for items.
Oskar had taken pictures on his camera phone, and I was using my digital camera. I didn't have a full charge on the battery, and my daughter had misplaced my battery charger, so when Underdog came around to check our items, I was having a fit because the battery in my camera died at the crucial moment. I felt like I was letting my whole team down.
Darien's Muse was there with her parents and brother. They were visiting the U.S.A. from The Netherlands. She checked her camera and it looked like our batteries were the same, so we tried it in my camera and it worked! We were able to get the pictures to show up on my camera, and because of her generosity and spirit of fair play, my team beat her team and won the game.
Typical I-Maniac qualities... I run into them everywhere. I-Maniacs are just very special people.
Musie... when you get back online, send me your snail mail addy privately. I have something special for you.
The winning team got to choose from 2 Fawkes dolls and 2 Hobbes dolls that the wonderfully talented Mardel had made. They were just awesome Mardel.
Then we watched more videos while we waited for Paul to join us. He was running late, but the hotel didn't kick us out of the room, so we were fine.
When Paul walked into the room, you could have heard a pin drop. Even those fans who had met him before just kind of stood there staring. He was very warm and charming (as always), and soon everyone was feeling at ease. He posed for pictures and signed autographs and chatted with the con-goers. We didn't have long there because we had to meet Eddie Jones and his lovely wife Anita at the restaurant.
We all walked over to Sisley's Italian Kitchen and they had a private room ready for us. I took Eddie outside to meet Oskar and Pepper and CoolB's parents (who weren't staying for the dinner because they had other plans they couldn't change). He posed for pictures and gave autographs and chatted briefly with them, but then we had to get back to the others.
We all had a great dinner, and the waiter was really funny. He is an aspiring actor and Paul was teasing him a lot about the meal and the service.
Paul and Eddie hadn't seen each other in awhile, so it was a chance for them to catch up and give us some info on future projects for them.
Paul says to tell the fans that "Hot Scramble" is now "Should Have Been Romeo", and they may start filming in January.
He and Vince are going to try to find time in their schedules in September to have a fan club chat with us.
Paul will also be in an episode of "Monk" on August 5th (which just happens to be my birthday so I already know what one of my presents is).
Paul will also be in "The Good Steno" in New York City during OctoberFest at the Ensemble Studio Theater. I will post more details as I get them.
Eddie will be in a play called "Beggars in the House of Plenty". It will be at the Victory Theater in Los Angeles and opens either September 10th or 17th, he wasn't sure.
Mike just made a Ditech commercial, but we don't know where it is showing. Post on the bboards if you see it.
During dinner, Paul, Eddie and Anita made time to talk to everyone, posed for pics and autographed items. It was just an awesome evening, and because no one had reserved the room after us that night, the restaurant let us stay as long as we wanted. I think we were there about 3 hours.
I have to say that Eddie's wife, Anita, is a beautiful, funny, articulate woman, and a sheer delight to talk to. I really enjoyed talking to her. At one point in the evening, she asked everyone at the table what they thought of The Official and I said he was a big teddybear. Eddie laughed out loud and she said, "You got him, you really got him!" I said that he was gruff on the outside but a teddybear on the inside.
Then came time for the dessert.
Now I know in most restaurants that cater to large groups, the desserts are going to be big. BUT MY GOD!!! I wish my camera was working so I could have posted a picture of that "Angel Kiss" dessert. It was good but it was HUGE. Luckily by the end of the meal most people didn't have a lot of room for dessert, so they had agreed up front to share. Even sharing with another person wasn't enough to finish off that bad boy. It was a HUGE, rectangular piece of chocolate chip cookie warmed up with vanilla ice cream on it topped with whipped cream. Words cannot properly describe this creation. Did anyone get a picture?
All too soon it was time to go. We got farewell hugs from Eddie and Paul and sent them on their way with our good wishes and thanks for a wonderful evening.
Then we had to say farewell to all our friends, old and new. A few fans were staying an extra day to attend a play with Sangini, who played the Indian Doctor in the episode "Catevari", and 3 of us were continuing down to San Diego for the Comicon, but basically our little group was breaking up for at least another year.
*sob*
I hope that other attendees will be posting their con reports with their views of the day, and post pictures as well.
*I-Mom glares at her camera*
Joyce
(Invisible Mom)