Creation Con Chicago 2009 Report

Day Three (Sunday, November 15th)

Guests:

• Jared Padalecki / Jensen Ackles
• Julie McNiven
• Rob Benadict

Breakfast with Jared and Jensen

Sunday opens at 8:30 with a formal breakfast for the Gold Ticket-holders. We are seated at round tables that were chosen last year, with priority given to those who paid a year in advance, which Tonya did. Which is how we ended up with two of the best seats in the room.

After being excused by table to get our plates from the buffet, we had just enough time to eat before the main event: Jensen and Jared.



The boys arrived on time and took the stage I was sitting not ten feet away from, and the room exploded in screams and camera flashes. Although each of them held coffee cups, both guys were clear-headed and playful. We were allowed to take pictures during their entire 20 minute stage time, but despite my nearly continuous shooting, only a few actually turned out because of the dim lighting and their movement. I get so involved with taking pictures that I have to stop and remind myself to actually look at the subject, because they are actually closer than they appear and REALLY THERE. It’s a bit of a head trip.

They played off each other and answered audience questions and really seemed to enjoy being there. The most memorable bit had to be their reenactment of Samantha Ferris being careless with the prop guns, waving them around at the boys not knowing they actually shot objects. I don’t see how that could NOT be the first thing out of the prop-guy’s mouth, but it made for a hilarious story and a great ending note. Breakfast wrapped up quickly after the boys left, and the crowd in the hotel lobby had swollen considerably with all the general-admission fans that had come just to see Jensen and Jared. It’s really nice not having to worry about fighting for a space in line, knowing that we had our assigned seats in the third row. I volunteered to take both Lia’s and Jeanne’s cameras with me to get pictures for them, though both were fairly dated point-and-shooters and a little stubborn.



The J2 panel was great, even if it was only an hour for the both of them. They came out on stage to the theme song from the Changing Channels episode, and I nearly squeed when I caught a picture of Jared grooving out. I lost track of the conversation a couple times as I switched between all the cameras, but that doesn’t bother me. Whatever they say will be spread through fandom online, but my pictures are priceless to me. And I got quite a few good ones. The lighting was bright and I’d had all weekend to practice with different settings. The boys stayed in their chairs and fell into a routine with their body language. Both would directly face the audience member asking a question, smile brightly, and really listen. One of them would answer (Jensen usually taking the more serious topics) and the other would stay quiet and somber and usually watch the other. Joking meant facial expressions and hand gestures. Time speech patterns to avoid mid-word open mouths. Meter the camera off Jensen since he was sitting more in the light. Switch between head-shots and full-bodies. Level the frame, tilt the camera.







It’s all personal preference but I love getting good shots (I know it the second I have one), and I must have been really in sync with the boys because it was exciting and time passed way too fast. The most memorable moment for me was when Karen asked (for Amy, which was really for Kati, who was too shy to get up herself--as I would be too) a question that’s been bugging a lot of fans: Does Sam know that the message on his phone from Dean had been ‘tampered’ by Zachariah in the episode Lucifer Rising? It took a little prompting, but Jared remembered exactly what she was talking about, and then he spent a few minutes jogging Jensen’s brain. When Jensen finally remembered, he said, ‘Let’s ask Sam’ and then ‘Action!’, upon which Jared froze and completely BECAME Sam for a few seconds until Jensen said ‘Cut’ and Jared came back. Jared then cued Jensen in the same way, and again it was just so eerily awesome to watch them become their characters as if a switch had been flipped. They decided after that that No, Sam did not know the message was fake.

The only thing that would have made their panel better was if my secret fantasy had come true and Misha had crashed their stage. But I’m sure he was long gone by then. *sigh*



Jared and Jensen almost left before Jared remembered the watch he was auctioning off for his mom’s charity to support underprivileged school kids. It was the watch he’d worn for all of season 3, and the battery had died (as pointed out by Jensen). I think bidding started tentatively at $500, but as the bids started pouring in, Jensen stepped up and took control of the auction, old school cattle-call style. With every new bid, Jared’s eyes got larger and larger and his face began to crumble. It was obvious he did not expect the watch to climb past $1500, but it sold for double that to a middle-aged woman in the front row. Jared got off the stage and bent down before her to put the watch on her wrist, then gave her a strong, meaningful hug and thanked her with an expression that is normally reserved for someone who’s just saved you from being smashed by a speeding bus. Then he peeled off his plad button-down shirt and gave her that too.
Which left him in a VERY nicely fitted black t-shirt…

Photo ops were a bit of a production, since each guy was doing them separately and then together. I only chose the ‘J2 Sandwich’ or whatever ridiculous thing they were calling it, since I couldn’t afford all three without refinancing my house. It was a better experience than Misha’s, because the line wrapped around the room and I got to watch the five or six people in front of me get their pictures, which gave me time to get nervous and fangirly and feel my heart crawling up my throat. More drama. This is the reason we’re all here, after all. It’d better be memorable.
The guys were being lax about the ‘no props’ rule, if you’d managed to smuggle something past the guards at the door. One girl had a banner, and another asked if Jared and Jensen could switch places. Me, I just waited numbly on my piece of tape until I was told to ‘go’, then looked each guy in the eye and said ‘hi’ as I took my place between them. Do all Texans have a ten-foot wingspan??

Out in the hall, we run into Amanda who is still on her Jared-High and she gives me a big hug. She’s trembling all over! They should come with a warning, those boys. May cause blindness, fainting and heart palpitations.

The autograph lines were non-eventful. Creation separated Jared and Jensen to different sides of the stage, which proved to be smart as Jensen took longer. I cradled my Metallicar up to Jared’s table and showed the ‘handler’ where I wanted it signed, and once Jared saw it he brightened and flashed me a smile, then made an appreciative comment as he signed the trunk. I don’t remember much about waiting in line for Jensen, probably because I was oogling over my baby. Like Jared, it was a little disappointing how little Jensen said (I mean come on--LOOK AT THE COOLNESS OF THE FUCKING CAR!) but he did roll it back to me like Jim had done.
By this time, I am so proud of my little toy car that I am in my own little world. I had to hold it carefully to make sure I didn’t smudge any of the signatures, and as I walked past people they noticed. We sat and talked for a while, and even though there were still two guests to speak, it felt as if the weekend were pretty much over. Tonya and I had a protein bar for lunch and as soon as autographs were done, Julie McNiven took the stage.



Maybe it was just that the end of a very long weekend had arrived, but to me, Julie (who played fallen angel Anna) held the least interesting panel. When asked a question that required her to use imagination, she dragged it out and couldn’t come up with an answer. Her voice was very soft and monotonous, and she was pretty straight-forward. Then to save time, Creation held the VIP meet and greet with Rob at the same time, but they were talking so loud everyone could hear them through the curtains. It was extremely rude and made a lot of people mad. There were a lot of people that were interested in Julie, and she never ran out of audience questions. I don’t know what she thought about the experience, though.

Then lastly, but certainly not least, was Rob Benadict--never before in attendance at a convention. Not a far cry from his character Chuck, the poor guy acted comfortable and witty but the entire time he was speaking, the trembling in his hands got progressively worse. He quickly won over the audience (what was left of it) and I think most were too far away to notice his insecurity. He was asked about his band, which he enjoyed talking about just as much as Supernatural. Then if he weren’t sweet enough, he mentioned his two boys. I think everyone left with a bigger fondness for Rob--I know I did.



The convention wrapped up with Rob and Julie’s autographs, though I only opted for Rob’s. Like everyone before him, he smiled when he was handed the car and I explained that it’s only right for him to sign it too, since Chuck was their ‘creator’. I seemed to make he proud, and I’m glad. Everyone loves the soft-spoken, sweet ones.

Having Rob’s signature felt like a puzzle finally being complete. The Metallicar sported five silver autographs and each one looks so… right. It was exactly as cool as I thought it would be. I realized I have to buy a display box! Walking through the mostly dismantled merchandise room, I grabbed an empty plastic bag and wrapped up the car in it for protection. I did not get it this far to have it get scratched now!

The convention was over. Already the crowds had thinned, and had been thinning since Jared and Jensen left. Kati and Jeanne had to leave before Rob made his appearance in order to return their rental car and make it to the airport on time. It was sad to see them go--Kati is so wonderfully supportive and Jeanne has the type of personality that makes you instantly love her. I hope it’s not two years before I see them again.

Everyone else in our group was staying the night and leaving the next morning, but they already had plans for dinner. Tonya and I did manage to book Alisa, Sandy, Muffy and Lia for breakfast the next morning. Then we made the trek back to our hotel room to deposit the cameras and Metallicar.

I was checking (deleting) my old emails when I saw a notice from the Boondock Saints website, announcing the second lot of locations where the sequel, All Saints Day, would be showing. (The first premier, back in the beginning of the month, was pretty much only an east coast-west coast thing--the bastards.) I’ll admit, as I scrolled down the list I was praying to see Kansas City listed… but instead, I found two locations in Chicago, both about 15 miles away! Tonya and I looked at each other--there was no way we could miss this, it was purely serendipitous. The movie would never be showing close to home, so we’d have to wait for it to come out on DVD, IF it came out on DVD.

Quick backstory:

10 year-old Boondock Saints is about as ‘cult classic’ as they come. It’s a low-budget film that struggled to get through production and was nearly shelved when the release date collided with the Columbine school shooting. It got poor reviews and was only shown on five US screens for a period of one week. However, DVD sales topped $50 million--which producer Troy Duffy never saw a cent of as he signed away his profit rights.



Expectations for the sequel were mixed. All Saints Day has kept a lot of people waiting. All of the original cast were back, except Willem Dafoe. And the first movie had me (and a lot of other people) completely infatuated after seeing it for the first time. I love the entire ideal of the Saints, and knew a sequel could be totally awesome.

I also knew how much it could suck.

Let’s be honest--it’s been ten years. Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus aren’t so young any more. And really, Boondock Saints is the kind of movie you can only make once. How could a sequel be better?



Pray for the best and expect the worst--that was Tonya’s and my thinking about it. And now--after being crushed to find out we wouldn’t be watching it on November first--we had our second chance. There was no other option, really.

I HATE spoilers so I will not refer to any events from the movie, but I’ll say this: All Saints Day is definitely something to talk about. It managed to straddle a fine line between mockery and deadly serious, tipping too far into mockery only once in my opinion. There were some really BAD ASS scenes which left me squeeing in my seat, and then were some hilarious and well-played ‘nods’ to the original film which only the die-hard fans would appreciate. The boys looked pretty good, especially Norman. I liked the alternating back story and real-time progression and how they tied together in the end. Oh, and the ending.

Troy Duffy is an evil man. EVIL.

This is one of those movies that the more you think about it and talk about it, the more you liked it and want (need) to see it again. What a great way to end the weekend, even if we did spend an ungodly amount of money between the taxi, food, and tickets.