Ah yes...my 2nd year at NYCC. I was so exhausted (plus I had no voice left) I took Monday off. Employers must just loooove their nerd employees this time of year. I took of both Friday and Monday and a lot of folks I know took off Thursday and Friday, seeing as that NYCC now is four days long vs. three.Many who heard I was planning a book push for Comic Con thought I had a table. Oh no. My publisher isn't big enough to have a spot at NYCC, so instead of selling myself on the corner to afford a 3x3 space at NYCC, I made postcards, got dressed up, had Lauren dress up too, and we WALKED that bad boy for 3 days. Mind you, 2 days were for selling, the 3rd day was for fun.
I'll try and keep the events short and to the point.
Day One - 10/14/11 (Book Release Day)Lauren and I got dressed up in gear (me in a waist cincher, a low cut top and a short skirt with heels boots and ripped up tights while she was in a small suede vest and low rise jeans with the long, curly black wig from the photo-shoot in June) and arrived at NYCC by noon. We worked our way over to the Vampire Freaks table (Jet got a primo spot this year in the aisle next to the HUGE Marvel display) to see if we could trade work for bag storage. Luckily they were willing to help us and so in turn we handed out TONS of Vampire Freaks cards/stickers/etc along with my postcards. We even went down to Autograph Alley to put them on every table.
The first thing Lauren and I did was wander Artists Alley. Met some wonderful people. One in particular I think you should check out is LOADED BARREL STUDIOS. These three men (2 of which are brothers) have created this amazing company where they film a story and then use the stills from that to create a graphic novel. I'm currently reading "GREY" so I'll review it when done.
After Artists Alley we decided to wander down to Autograph Alley as Lauren desperately wanted to see the deal on getting Mark Hamill's autograph and I had a few ladies I wanted to meet as well. Specifically Felicia Day (The Guild, Dragonage, Buffy), Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Tru Calling, Dollhouse) and Jewel Staite (Firefly, Serenity, Stargate Atlantis). I wanted to also give them a copy of my book for free. So I paid the money (oh yes, you pay for that autograph and that moment to say "Hi, I love your work.") and met the two of the three on Friday (met the third on Sunday) and gave them my card, letting them know if they wanted a free copy of my book to have their agent or manager email me. The most excited about that was Felicia Day. I learned later that's because she has a huge following on Goodreads. Yikes! I hope she likes the book. If not, I might be in trouble, huh? Oh well. I only gave it to her cause I thought she'd like it. My way of showing my admiration for her work. Here's a picture of she and I.
She took pics with anyone who asked. She was the only one who did this. Everyone else had signs that said no pictures. So HUGE props to Ms. Day!
I also visited with Eliza Dushku on Friday. Now, as some of you know, I've met (and actually hung out with) her before. I'm aquaintences with one of her brothers as he used to direct theatre here in NYC (he has since moved out to LA)...and I adore him. She and I hung out at a dress rehearsal of one of his shows. She's a very lovely, smart, sassy, woman with a sweet nature and a spunky attitude. I can see why she's gotten as far as she has. What was really great was after I said, "You probably don't remember me," she said I looked familiar and when I mentioned her brother she DID remember. Funny when something so small makes your day. What a darling lady. I even got to say hi to her beau, Rick, again. He's such a wonderful man. We chatted about his appearance on the TV show "Body of Proof."
After these two awesome encounters I decided to suprise my co-worker (Let's be honest, I did drag Lauren away from work and school for three days on her feet to work for me at this thing). She wanted nothing more than to meet and get Mark Hamill's autograph. Problem was his autograph cost $100. No kidding. So, I split it with her so she could afford it. Problem was, by the time I did this, he was done for the day. We'd have to come back tomorrow. Oh well.
By this point it was closing time for the show rooms and galleries. We'd have stayed and done some panel's but we both had to be up early and back the next day so we headed home for some rest.
Day Two - 10/15/11 (Book Release Party Day)
This was the day Lauren and I dressed up to the nine's. The pics at the top of this post of us is what we had on. And yes, we wore corsets from about 11am to 1am on Sunday. Let me tell you...not rushing to put it on again anytime soon.
Anyways, day two. We headed to the Vampire Freaks table, secured our things, picked up flyers/stickers/etc., and began to wander in areas where we'd be the most seen by photographers. The plan was if you wanted a pic you took a postcard for my book. We wandered the floor and to be honest, I lost count at 50 pictures, most of which were of either Lauren and me or just Lauren. After we did worked the floor (that sound dirty), we stopped by to visit people we'd met the day before (Jared with Loaded Barrel Studios and Ashliegh who was working for the Just Dance 3 exhibit) This is Ashliegh:
This is what Ashliegh had to deal with all day:
Lauren and I made a point of stopping by to watch people dance and chat with Ashliegh each day, multiple times. It looks like a really fun game! I think Lauren is asking for it for Xmas! Yay!
Anyhoo...where was I? Oh yes...we headed down to Autograph Alley again...where we ran into these guys:
We then got in line for Lauren to meet Mark Hamill. Here's what she had him sign:
He remembered seeing her in Felicia Day's line with me the day before. Awwww.:) I shook his hand and thanked him. He really made her day.
When this day at NYCC was done, we grabbed a cab and headed to the venue for the Book Release Party. I'll do a blog entry on that seperately so stay tuned for pics of that. Just know that it was a wonderful night. I'd secured the whole back are at Vintage Bar/Restaurant for the event. It was candle lit with comfy couches and great food/drinks. A lot showed up and we had a loverly night. Vince Lingner took a lot of pics so be warned...I'll post a lot! :)
Now, my buddy Matt was in town from Boston visiting and that party had us out until 1am-ish. Thankfully he bought us a cab ride home. We were out cold by 2am.
Day Three - 10/16/11 (Casual Day)
Today we were determined to dress comfortably, me especially, since I'd worn corsets/waist cinchers for two days straight. The day was just so we could wander and I was looking for a specific T-shirt (which I found) that says, "AND THEN BUFFY STAKED EDWARD. THE END." Awesome.
This is how comfy we dressed:
We also took Matt to his first NYC Comic Con!
And we OF COURSE visite with Ashliegh:
(Note: The head band thingy Lauren has on was a free gifty from Just Dance 3...yeah, we know it makes her look like Olivia Newton-John).
After roaming a bit I found my way down to Autograph alley again, this time to meet Jewel Staite. She's is an amazing sweet lady. I had typed up a letter for Sean Maher with concern to his recent coming out of the closet since the events on why he waited so long to "come out" mirrors a show I'll be directing in the spring. I wanted to see if he'd mind if we dedicated a night to him. I asked her to give him the letter. She said she would. I hope she does. I respect him and his decisions (as well as his work as an actor...he's about to be in Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" so keep an eye out for him, he's playing the villian). Anyhoo...I had her sign a pic from Firefly and gave her a free copy of my book as well as the name of a great wine/cheese place she should try in town (if you don't know, Jewel has a great foody blog HERE).
It was a very exhausting weekend but in the end, we distributed 600 postcards for my book, I got to visit with Eliza Dushku again, I got to meet Felicia Day and Jewel Staite, I got my letter to Sean Maher delivered, shook hands with Mark Hamill, chatted with Rick Fox, made new friends, and hung with some old ones. It was visually amazing and to be honest...a lot more busy than last year's Comic Con!
I will say though, by the time Lauren and I got home...all we could do was sit there in silence and look through all our stuff from the Con...as our brains could no longer make converstion. Which was very likely for the best as I woke up with NO voice the next day. Ha!
Until next year's Comic Con, I leave you with a pic of Lauren and one of her fave Sci-Fi characters of all time:
Cheers!
xo
Tamsin :)
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