Bone sore? No. Bone Tired? Maybe

So, it's the end of Toronto Trek, and because of the shiny new hotel, I did NOT shoot upright in the middle of the night screaming in pain because of a leg cramp.

That's good, right?

So... What did I do... Hm...

Well, I took off from work half an hour early on Friday because I could and they let me. Took the TTC down to the new hotel, hooked up w/ Snra, and started wandering the halls.

First point: The doubletree is uncomfortably large. The panel space is spread between two polar opposite points in the hotel.

They COULD NOT BE FURTHER APART AND STILL BE IN THE SAME BUILDING.

I say that in ALL CAPS as a point of emphasis. If you walk past the first set of panel rooms, you LEAVE THE BUILDING. If you walk past the second set of panel rooms, you HIT A WALL.

There's a length of corridor that probably burned more calories than any con activity ever since they stopped the orgies in the '70s.

(If, by any chance, the orgies DIDN'T stop in the '70s, feel free to not tell me, as I'd cry)

The building is massive. Huge. The corridor has a mall in it. Although I do believe if they had a Tim's in there they'd make out like bandit train robbing robber barons.

Because of the massiveness of the building, the fact that the panel rooms are on polar opposites of the building is annoying.

Yes, I know the Regal was much the same. I didn't have to pack five days rations to get from one end of the Regal to the other.

The dealer's room was, as usual, uninteresting to me. Fanfic, swords, stuff. One dealer bought a bunch of Dr. Frankly figures from V&L at $10 and tried to sell them for $50. He is in the bad books now.

The only gaming venue was the Hairy T. Another place from Oshawa had some HC figs, so I bought a couple boxes. Got a couple new figs, so no complaints. No Uniques , of course.

Friday went blur-like. I got Snra & Myself dinner from Harvey's (no peameal bacon?! A pox on you, food merchant!), and headed to my first panel, The Year in Gaming. A little jabber about D&D 3.5, some kvetching about WoD 2.0, hey, ho, let's go.

Afterwards, the gaming room had a running of the Buffy board game (cleverly entitled "Board now", a joke so subtle as to escape the notice of everyone there). Since no one else in teh room had ever played the game before, it was left up to yours truly to organize the assembly of the game and teach them all how to play. I did so, if I may say so myself, masterfully.

The victory, btw, went to the forces of good, ONLY because I told them how they could win.

What happened afterwards? Jesus, I have no idea. I think I went to bed really early. And at one point, I gave gurudata a clothesline.

Sliced in three for brevity.

So, there was next a day called... Saturday.

Wherin I did naught. There was a breakfast run to Tim's, and I had a panel on White Wolf's wrapping up the WoD to start up WoD 2.0 w/ eyebeams and noizangel.

Lots of fun was had, and the room seemed to be split on wether it was just another WW cash grab or a chance for something new. One of the attendees apparently knows playtesters who hold loud conversations in public places.

After that, I did a little working of The Line. This consisted of walking down a line of autograph buyers (well, prospective autograph buyers, as they hadn't yet BOUGHT the autographs, or at least hadn't bought the ones not on their autograph ticket), asking A) if they liked Buffy, Angel or Firefly, and if so, B) would they like a flyer to Sunnydale Central.

Now, my feelings on the event are irrelevant, as A) I love my wife and B) I don't want her to slit my throat as I sleep. So, being the chameleon like salesman I am, everybody in the line got the schpiel.

Headed home to get redeem147's muffins and some books for eyebeams to read/sign. Petted cats. Drove very, very fast.

Grabbed dinner for Snra & I, and headed to my Survivor Panel (where we discused the Rupert Regime). noizangel was once again in attendance. In between bites of my southwest steak & cheese, I expounded the belief that Rupert deserved that million because he was huggable. And that the Pirate thing was cool. Yay, Survivor.

More running around, and a quick teardown of the booth and I'm off to the 7 p.m panel with fellow NGO members noizangel and Creighton. I had to ditch early because of a previously offered service.

You see, this was the first year of a Gord Free masquerade. Dave, who'd previously handled the TT gaming, was now MC for the masquerade. And Dave, well, Dave had laryngitis. So they were more than a little terrified. So the masquerade director asked me if I'd please just wait backstage, and if Dave lost his power of speech, I was to intervene.

Which put me in an awkward position. First off, I had to, as a good human being, hope Dave would be okay. But I ALSO had to look out for #1. So I sat there and hoped Dave would recover nicely from his laryngitis. But not too quickly.

Of course, that was for naught. He soldiered on bravely, and I got to watch the masquerade from backstage. Interesting persepctive. Of course, that makes three masqueardes I've EVER seen, but still.

After that, mosied on down to the gaming room for a leisurly game of Zombies!!! I did not do terribly well (and I also did not get to play GROS or Counting Sheep). I would have won with two more good rolls, but that's how most Zombies!!! games turn out. I wish I'd been able to get the chainsaw.

After gaming, visited the OBAVAparty, the dance (where I saw behaviour on the part of Steven Tassie that the Origins Awards committee would be shocked, I say SHOCKED to witness), and back up to the OBAVA party where I continued to be a good little boy and follow my Dr's orders to not drink. Feh. I did eat snacks and drink soda. And watch hico get plastered. He's a quiet drunk.

Eventually, I headed off to bed (but not before checking to see if the Q. Continuum party had any pate left. Nope).

Which was followed therewith by Sunday

Sunday was much like Saturday. Got breakfast at Tim's, did panels, ran line.

The panels were a panel ostensibly on the Babylon 5 DVDs, but since it was in fact the Only B5 panel there, we let it drift. Not so much that we didn't rein it back in when the Geocaching discussion got out of hand.

It was good to talk B5. I like that show.

Anyway, back to the line, line up to get Romanov & Hertzberg (sounds like a borscht belt comedy team. "And now the ethnic comedy styyyyylings of Romanov and Hertzberg!") to sign the banner, the t-shirt, and a copy of Monster Smackdown. Not mine, unfortunately, but I believe he already DID sign mine. So that's good.

Off to the final panel, the Livejournal panel. Not bad. Mostly attended by people who have them, so that was interesting. gnaremoob was moderator. Her behaviour at the previous night's dance was also noted.

And if he TRIES anything, I'll be carrying his nuts home in a paper sack.

Not much to do after that. Wandered floor, sat at table, wandered some more, walked over to Crapscape Canada's table and said hi to scapersuse (and her 'just friend' actor Malcolm Xerxes) and electricland. Note to pretty ladies: surely SOMETHING has happened that SFC should have mentioned in the past 10 months?

Table was broken down, and we went off to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. The waiter handled the large (20 members) group with aplomb, and it was an enjoyable feast. Everyone headed out with some regret, and now I'm here.

So very, very tired.

Hasty addenda to recent events

Oh, yeah. Much fun was had visiting the people at Pixel Barrel and shouting "Fifty dollars for the inferior British version! You should be ashamed!"

News on JLU

Comics Continuum posts a note about the series which includes this summary:

* Saturday, Aug. 7: "For the Man Who Has Everything"

Batman and Wonder Woman surprise Superman at the Fortress of Solitude, in order to bring the Man of Steel his birthday present. But when they arrive, he has been immobilized by a special "gift" that Mongul has delivered to him.

Okay, this is a bit odd. I wonder how they'll reference the original Moore story (would they even have to pay an adaptation fee? And if so, would Gibbons get both shares?).

It's one of my favourite Superman stories (although some hate it for it's portrayal of a Krypton that was not an eden in the stars), and it'll be neat to see it on TV. Anyone know when YTV's showing them?

(no subject)

Okay, this is odd. I've known of his existence for two weeks, and apparently we're blood brothers now.

My Best Friend is khaosworks

Our 12 common interests are: alternate history, barenaked ladies, conspiracy theories, historical fiction, justice society of America, Kenneth hite, Marx brothers, mythology, paranormal, rpgs, science fiction, terry pratchett

Who is your best friend? Username:

Created by macoto

As well, mega props go out to pann_da_bear and elizard100 for the Obava party.

People who deserve neutering

Okay, so I'm at my FLGS today, lovingly caressing the Anne Coulter doll (her flesh, so soft, her voice, so hard) when I hear Shock the Monkey on the radio.

For those who do not know, it's a song by Peter Gabriel from the '80s in which he said "hey, you know, animal testing is freakin' BAD, man. Let's ease off the primate electro-shock, at least".

So, song ends, I pick up my Ultimates booster (got Baron Zemo! Woo!) and the Dj comes on and says "and that's Peter Gabriel with Shock the Monkey! Hey, I'll bet the humane society is gonna be upset about that!"

Jesus. Do they have NO idea how stupid they sound? The exact depths of their dumbness? Would it kill the masters of our airwaves to hire people who know something about, say, music and its history? With the IQs of chickens?

I mean, God, what's it say when I miss Carla Collins on the radio?