Where I Actually Leave The House
Feature where I post about random places I've been which focuses on places with books, conventions, and other random odds and ends with oodles of pictures, misc. madness, and fun (for me anyway!)
Mayhem Convention 2012
Spooky Empire has had a few Mayhems in May, and I've never attended any of them until 2012. I always saved the time off, money, and enthusiasm for their bigger October show. However, this year held a bittersweet difference - it would be the last year for the Wyndham resort to host our convention. The buildings are being torn down! Heartbroken, we had to go and stay there one last time before the big goodbye. It's been a wonderful six years there and feels like a mini second-home.
It turns out that's what we THOUGHT, though, as now the hotel is still there and I guess the deal fell through. Still, the convention moved it to another resort now because they thought the demolition was imminent. Hopefully if the hotel stays around (it's for sale now), then next year we will be back there in October. Can only hope!
It turns out that's what we THOUGHT, though, as now the hotel is still there and I guess the deal fell through. Still, the convention moved it to another resort now because they thought the demolition was imminent. Hopefully if the hotel stays around (it's for sale now), then next year we will be back there in October. Can only hope!
The biggest highlight for me was meeting James Marsters (of Spike and Buffy fame). We attended his Q&A and I must say his voice is positively hypnotizing. He answered questions from the audience and one of the main things was, of course, Buffy. He also brought up his band that he's trying to promote, Ghost of the Robot. Here's the youtube link to their newest album, Murphy's Law (2011). They have three albums out now. There was a touching moment at the end of the Q&A where someone wanted a hug from him and he told them he would shake their hand, which he did so sweetly, but said he had promised his wife that he would not hug other women at conventions, tours, promotions, or in any other circumstance.
To my delight he showed up at the Saturday night VIP party and I got to speak to him personally about his music and also that my favorite character of his is actually Braniac from Smallville. I believe he was happy to hear this and focus on other works he did. Such a sweet guy and again, the voice is incredible. He was kind enough to take a picture with us. Two actually, but one is very blurry (Grrrr!) Talking to him in person up close and that accent, well that made my night for sure!
My father and I were always huge Smallville fans so I sought out a Smallville picture for him the autograph for me on Sunday. I had him sign it to both me and my father and plan to make copies for my dad. He told me the story of the jacket in the picture, that he had loved it but didn't get to keep it, and didn't get to keep anything from that set. I remember this scene well from the show, it was an intense moment.
When he first saw the picture he said, Oh, this is from Smallville isn't it?, then started speaking of his experiences with it.
Meeting Holly Marie Combs from Charmed this year was also a lot of fun. She seems like such a sweet person. Previous years we met Brian Krause (Leo) from Charmed, and also I got to see the Q&A with Shannon Doherty. They had said that Holly is very shy and not good with crowds so they didn't know if she'd ever join the convention experience. Thankfully she did and seemed to have a good time. It seemed that she and Brian are pretty close. They hung out together at the VIP party, were placed together for the autographs, and also at the Q&A seemed to have fun cracking jokes and sharing memories.
They spoke of much at the Q&A, including her experiences filming when only days from her delivery date while pregnant, adjusting to newcomers like Rose McGowan, and how well she had gotten along with Shannon Doherty. Both she and Brian expressed enthusiasm if a follow-up or movie to Charmed was ever done.
Choosing this one for the autograph picture was a no-brainer! With a giant charm spell book, fell in love with this picture. Would love great hung in a library. My dad was a huge fan of charmed so again I had the autograph signed over to both of us.
We also did a professional shot with Froggy's Photos, Melissa bought that one and has the original and hasn't scanned it yet (argh!)
I certainly never thought that one day I would meet THE Linda Hamilton of Terminator fame. Years ago we met Eddie Furlong, now her. She is so sweet it's amazing and very hands-on! She was massaging Melissa and my backs for this picture! She is very talkative to everyone even with the line and seems to genuinely love people and her fans. Seems like such a down to earth and sweet woman, she was a pure pleasure to meet.
As always the Vendor Room was fun. We must spend about four hours a weekend every time we go. Since it was Mayhem it's a smaller convention and so the vendor supply is a little less than the October gala. Still there were amazing artists as always and we indulged and browsed to our fans hearts content.
Really, who wouldn't want that State Puff Marshmallow Man?
I do have one from Ebay years ago but he arrived a bit dirty. Some bleach on the head took care of that.
I really loved that Phantom of the Opera picture but it was sadly out of my budget. Most of the art at these conventions is incredibly reasonable in price.
We fell in love with one vendor, where we kept returning all weekend, Bubbles Baubles and Wicks. She had many amazing soap scents, and I ended up picking up three (Male's Vampire Blood for my fiance Nathan, Witches blood for me, and another very nice musky scent) Also I had to buy some of her adorable and cute ducks for a dollar a piece, they're too cute to resist!
Here's my spread on the bed. Melissa and I tend to do this every year, take a picture of little things we buy. On the very top is a collector Screamfest cup from previous conventions (she got one as well). It's awesome. The two books were on a vendors table for only 25 cents a piece! How could I resist? I covered these and the zombie bookmark in a previous Mailbox Monday post.
They were giving away sample cigars which was under the ducks. I also have been wanting to get a lot more magnets lately, my fridge is sadly not creative enough for my tastes. Fell in LOVE with Slimer from Ghostbusters (how cool is he?), a Walking Dead, Bela Lugosi promo, Bride of Frankenstein, and Vampire Diaries.
I was very excited to find an artist doing wall hangings, and picked up the Witches Crossing from her. My plan was to hang on the Hollows bookshelf, but sadly it doesn't fit just right yet. I do love it as a library decoration for Urban Fantasy.
I also got a lot (as you can see) of pins. My plan was to cover one of my book tote bags with misc pins. It looks....okay, not as good as I planned, so I think it would make more sense to spread these out a bit.
And Melissa bought me this artwork when she purchased two herself (they had a deal.) I fell in LOVE with this Sleepy Hollow type artwork and also think it would look great in a personal home library. A classic for a classic, the artist was sweet to sign the prints we purchased.
Overall a very fun weekend at Mayhem. We took over 200 photos overall. Friday we at at the local Checkers, which is adorable inside with vintage retro themes, but they were out of ice for the coke and it tasted horribly. Saturday we did our traditional hotel pizza, and Sunday we ate at The Olive Garden with a gift card I had from work. We read outside Sunday by the pool like we always mean to but never get around to, and while there brought a cooler with cokes and a sampled some of the cigars. I found I actually dig the White Wine cigar pretty well.
They had a Universal Monster theme room from a sponsor but I wanted to make a different post for that, there's already so many pictures in this post alone and it would just get drowned out. Hope everyone enjoyed my brief recaps of memory.
