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HLWW8 Report

To the Best of My Recollection

I had this great idea that I would write notes during the HLWW8 weekend and then sit down and write this report. That would have been the smart thing to do. But no, I did not write a single thing down. So most of this is based off of my memory. I'm sitting here with the program schedule in front of me and writing what comes to mind. So, I apologize in advance if I attribute a quote to the wrong person, or write that someone said something during a Saturday session when it actually was a Sunday session. I tried my best to be accurate. If you see something that is completely off please let me know.

This was also primarily written for myself, a sort of journal entry on my experiences that weekend. So, if you don't care to read the personal just skip down to the parts you're interested in. I don't mind and heck, I won't even know. :-)

Pictures that have an orange border around them can be clicked to see a larger image. Not all images have a larger version.
- Shawn Dempsey

Pre-Con

Decisions, Decisions

Should I Stay or Should I go???

I had signed up for HLWW8 back in early July 2006 and had been looking forward to it for over a year. But in June (2007) I found out that I would be laid-off on December 31, 2007. While my company was being generous with a bonus and severance package if I stayed through the end of the year to transition my position, being unemployed in the IT field, AGAIN, leaves you a little anxious and I kept debating about canceling and not going to the convention. Just to save money. Depending on the week or the day this past summer I might have said "yes, I'm going" or "no, I'm not going." My wife, Marion, told me to go since I had been looking forward to it for so long and it would all work out. She decided to stay home with my daughter, Caitlin, just to save some money. Originally all three of us were going to go to Vancouver. Me to the convention and they would site-see. I finally bought my tickets on September 6, 2007 on Frontier Airlines. Of course a week later I discover that the price dropped by $100 but Frontier has no policy to credit the difference or issue travel vouchers like some other airlines do. Live and learn. Despite all that I was ready to go!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Day 1: HLWW8

Going to Vancouver

I arrived at DIA (Denver International Airport) at around 8:15am. After waiting in line for about 1/2-hour at the ticket counter to get my boarding pass I finally got to the gate at about 8:50am. I immediately looked for Matthew Allen (aka Matthew MacLeod). I had read that he would be leaving Denver that morning after spending time with his girlfriend up in Northglenn, CO. I emailed him and discovered we would be on the same flight along with another couple (RJ Cleveland and his wife Karen). As he had indicated in his email he was easy to pick out wearing a Watcher's hat and necklace. We chatted for a while about Highlander, the various lists and message boards, what we had been up to since the LA Walkabout and various other topics.

We left Denver on-time at 10am on Flight 631 - an Airbus A319. Matthew, RJ and Karen were up near the bulk-head. I was assigned seat 7F and I had row 7 all to myself and slept most of the way to Vancouver. For most of the descent into Vancouver I watched out the starboard side window. I had never been to Vancouver before or to Canada for that matter. We banked in almost a complete circle over the water (The Strait of Georgia I believe) as we descended towards the airport. The airport is right next to the water and as we approached land and the runway from over the sea with all the low lying clouds, I could see a lot of green fields around the airport and mountains in the distance. The whole scene reminded me a lot of landing at Dublin airport in Ireland a year ago (October 2006) and immediately I liked Vancouver.

The four of us stuck together and decided to navigate our way to the hotel together too. RJ had been on many business trips to Vancouver and knew his way around a little so we all deferred to his expertise on where to go. We got our luggage and proceeded through customs. The customs office seemed to be suspicious of why I was traveling alone. He asked me a lot of questions.
<Officer>: What brings you to Vancouver?
<me>: Vacation
<Officer>: By yourself?
<me>: yep
<Officer>: What are you going to do?
<me>: Attend a convention. (and no I didn't mention it was for Highlander)
<Officer>: Anyone traveling with you?
<me>: Nope. Just me.
<Officer>: Where are you staying?
<me>: At the Marriott Pinnacle downtown
<Officer>: enjoy your stay

But he sure gave me a strange look as I walked off. The funny thing is that I only walked off about 10 feet and turned around to wait for Matthew and the others. The same custom officer checked Matthew through next. The officer glanced over at me and I'm sure he was thinking, "I thought you said you were traveling alone!" I hear him ask Matthew why he was here and Matthew without hesitation offers "I'm attending the Highlander convention at the Marriott Pinnacle." I said to Matthew that I don't think they trust guys traveling by themselves. Matthew, RJ and Karen all get through customs and we start looking for transportation. We followed RJ because he's been to Vancouver on business trips before and sort of knows his way around. We found the Airporter, a bus service that hits all the major hotels in Vancouver and by 1:30pm we were on our way to Downtown Vancouver and the Pinnacle.

To the Hotel

The bus ride felt like it took forever. We drove through the heart of the city and I swear we hit every red light along the way. We were on a regular sized Airport bus and were told that those of us going to the Marriott Pinnacle would have to transfer to a smaller bus. We stopped at a hotel (can't remember which one) and were told to transfer here. So many of us were transferring I didn't think everyone would get on the smaller bus. But I think we all made it. The smaller bus dropped us off at the Renaissance hotel, across the street from the Pinnacle, around 2:30pm.

I checked in at the front desk. They had me down for a double bed still. I told them I was alone so a single would be fine too. They gave me a single bed on the 16th floor. I was in room 1615.

There were about 31 floors in the hotel. From my room on the 16th Floor I had a view of many of the other buildings in downtown Vancouver including the Renaissance hotel across the street. I could just make out the mountains in the distance and if I strained a little I could see the bay/harbor just past the Renaissance hotel about 2 blocks away. I found out later that Matthew, who was rooming with Jonor, was about 5 floors above me and had a great view of the water. And they could see the sulfur piles where Band of Brothers was filmed.

The room was very nice, though very expensive at $195 per night. If I had had time to find a room-mate it would have been easier to swallow. But then again I like my own space. The Canadian dollar and the US. dollar were about equal. To connect to the Internet from your room cost another $15.95 per day. Many people decided not to connect because of the high cost. I decided to do it Thursday and Friday but not Saturday or Sunday. (After getting home and looking over the bill I discovered they charged me for Saturday anyway. I'm going to try and fight that.) I had brought along a little computer video camera so that I could talk to my six year old daughter Caitlin from the hotel and she could see me. I had promised her we would do that so that was another reason I paid for the Internet access. Trust me, the last thing you want to do is break a promise to a very smart six year old who tends to hold me to my word and gives me a lot of grief if I don't.

I decided to head down to the lobby around 3pm to see if anyone else was down there, to check out the hotel and to find out when registration for HLWW8 would begin. While the hotel was not small by any means the lobby was not overly large either. From the front doors the main elevators were directly across the way, the front desk was to the right and did not take up a lot of room. There was a sofa, chair and table to the left and beyond that was the restaurant and bar area. It was at that sofa that I saw Matthew standing talking to a few people so I joined him there. Anita King introduced herself as well as Valoise and a guy named Arthur. Anita and Valoise I had emailed with online many times but this was the fist time we met in person. At one point Carmel walked in from outside and said a quick hello to all of us. Anita, Matthew, Valoise and Arthur were all going to volunteer at the con and were about to go into a meeting with all the volunteers to get their directions. Registration would be at 5pm. I walked down the street about 2 blocks to a corner grocery store called Urban Fare where I bought some food and drinks to keep in the room during the weekend. One block away from the store I could see the waterfront.

Registration

A little after 5pm I got in the registration line for HLWW8. The con was to take place in the ballroom area of the third floor. There was a large staircase from the lobby up to the third floor. The top of the staircase was directly in front of the Pinnacle Ballrooms where the main seating was located. Registration was in front of the Pinnacle rooms. There were two lines - one for preferred seating and one for general seating. I was in the preferred seating line. RJ, Karen, Matthew and Arthur were the volunteers helping out with the registration lines. I was asking if Glo was around. Glo lives here in Colorado, about an hour from where I live. We had never met in person yet. She had emailed me that she would be working the registration table. At the table Bev Shihara checked me in. I was given a black tote bag (with HLWW8 logo), a program book, the pocket schedule/program page with all the times for all the events, my badge and a schedule for the Friday morning Fan Sessions/Workshops. My badge number was 12 and my seat number was 13. While I was registering a woman came over and asked if I was Shawn from Colorado. It was Glo. We finally got to meet. We joked how we had to come to Canada to meet being that we live only one hour apart.

8pm Fan Meet & Greet

At 8pm I attended the Fan Meet & Greet in the Pinnacle room. Carmel introduced the Committee, welcomed the newbies and answered questions. This was an opportunity for us fans to mingle and put names with faces. Anita was in the corner handing out goodie bags to all the newbies (people who had never been to a con before). She was in charge of helping the newbies get acclimated. I was actually feeling a little under the weather. I was getting over a cold but had a lingering cough. After the plane flight and long day I was feeling a little run down. Some one commented I looked bored. Not bored, just fighting off my cold. I finally got to meet Nancye Elliott (HLWW VP and photographer). And I found Ree (Rene "Ree" Averett, President of the PWFC). She said she thought I might be the only male member of PWFC.

Also during the Fan Meet & Greet I was walking over to a table to get some water when a group walked past me. And one of the women pointed at me and shouted out, "I recognize him! I read his report online about the LA Walkabout." And she continued on her way. (She even reference the discussion Elizabeth Gracen and I had about changing hairstyles from con to con.) I thought that was funny - I had forgotten that my report was even still out there on my weweb siteThen I thought, who the hell was that???? I later found out it was Karin from Florida (the one who organizes online all the reports for the virtual gatherings). She and I got to talking on Sunday and she told me that after she had read my LA Walkabout report that she knew she had to come to one of these events. I'm flattered that what I wrote had such an impact on her. (especially since I thought what I wrote was pretty crappy!!! ha!) Karin, I enjoyed meeting you and talking with you and hope to see you at a future event.

I also met Beatrice (of course I can't remember her last name though). She was selling raffle tickets for coffee with the GOHs on Sunday and photos with the GOHs on Sunday too.

Went to bed early to rest up for the big weekend.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Day 2: HLWW8

10am - 11am Duncan MacLeod: Hero or Villain

I woke up at 8am, showered and walked back down the street to the Urban Fare store to get some breakfast. Urban Fare had an area where you could get breakfast/lunch/dinner and eat there. And by some miracle my cold was completely gone. Though a cough would sneak up on me at the most inopportune moment occasionally that day. I wanted to attend Carmel's workshop session and so I found the room. While they were getting set up Nancye was walking around taking some before pictures and at one point she was up on the stage getting a shot of the audience. I was standing off in the corner and thought I would play with her and so I waved live a mad-man in her direction (figuring she wouldn't see it until the film was developed). Well, she lowers the camera and jokingly shouts to me, "Shawn, there's always one in every crowd!!!!" Oops!!! Caught!!! I actually did it to her several more times throughout the weekend. Either she didn't notice or she just ignored me, but, she never said anything.
Love ya Nancye!!!!!

So the first workshop I attended was Carmel's 10am session - Duncan MacLeod: Hero or Villian. We were in Pinnacle 2 and 3 which was the main event ballroom. She was up on the stage. There were about 25 to 35 of us in the audience. Carmel said that the title of the session was not appropriate. Because Duncan was definitely a hero. But he was a hero with some villainous tendencies and she spent most of the session giving examples of his heroic nature interspersed with some of his vivillainouscts (for example in Forgive Us Our Trespasses when Duncan goes on a murderous rampage to kill the English responsible for the deaths of his people). She explained how Duncan operated under a different set of rules than mortals and that he was bound by situational ethics when it came to judging people and events. Another example she used to highlight idea that Duncan operates under different rules and can be vivillainouss the scene in Promises when Duncan shoves the dictator out the window to his death. Duncan even warns people ahead of time. If you don't do the right thing I will come for you.

Carmel discussed Duncan and Amanda's relationship and how Amanda's presence offered Duncan some release from the weight of the world. Their actions usually revolved around having fun and Amanda rarely saw the vivillainouside of Duncan. When Amanda thought Duncan wouldn't fight to win in Forgive Us Our Trespasses she didn't know how to handle or deal with the brooding Duncan. She ran to Methos for help and advice.

So to sum up the session: Duncan is definitely a hero, he tries to do the right thing but like any of us he is capable of vivillainouscts and throughout his history has orchestrated some vivillainouscts.

After the session was over I went over to Carmel and re-introduced myself. We talked a little and commented on how much fun the weekend would be.

12pm - 1pm Dr. Shawn Shimpach

The next session I went to was the one by Dr. Shawn Shimpach. I also learned where my seat was. I was in the front row, the last preferred seat in the front row on the right-side of the stage (if you were facing the stage). Dr. Shimpach is a professor at the University of MaMassachusettsnd wrote a journal article, "The Immortal Cosmopolitan: The International Co-production and Global Circulation of Highlander: The Series." I think Carmel said she came across the article and wanted to have Dr. Shimpach speak at HLWW8 about what he learned. He holds a PhD in Cinema Studies from New York University.

Shawn explained that most studies of fans and media involves the academic "living" amongst the fans and studying and reporting on how fans react and interact with a show or movie. He does not do this. Or at least his journal article was not about that. His goal was the study of culture as it was reflected not just in the TV show Highlander: The Series but also reflected within the production of that show.

At the core of his article was what he called "The Immortal Cosmopolitan." He explained that a cosmopolitan is a description of someone who is comfortable in any part of the world. Someone who is seen "at home" any where in the world. A cosmopolitan person is not local to one geographical area or location. In fact Shawn emphasized the difference between the idea of being "local" versus "cosmopolitan" in the series storyline as well as in the production of the show itself.

Duncan started off as a local to Glenfinnan and Scotland. As he lived longer and longer he became more cosmopolitan. He was never of a certain locale. He was a citizen of the world. Comfortable in any country or any city. Fit in whether it was Europe, Japan, Canada or with Native Americans of North America. He spoke many languages. He even lost his heavy Scottish accent over the centuries. He was as much a citizen of Vancouver (Seacouver) as he was of Paris.

Shawn then went on to explain how the production of Highlander also reflected this idea of "local vs cosmopolitan." Because of the international agreements wrapped around the production (remember financing for production were provided by many countries - Canada, France, Germany, Japan) of the show the production was under much pressure to acaccommodatehe requests from these various nations and cultures. The show production always tried to stay local (e.g. Vancouver/Seacouver was definitely portrayed as part of the U.USanadian culture and the Paris location shoots were French. But the production was able to bring in other cultures and appease say the Japanese financers via the flashbacks which took Duncan MacLeod around the world.

Shawn indicated that this duality of local vs cosmopolitan is evident in the episode "Band of Brothers" which he plays for many of his university classes. Shawn described how in this episode the show went out of it's way to over-emphasize the importance of the move from "Seacouver" to Paris. For production reasons and due to the international agreements Highlander had to be filmed in Vancouver and in Paris. For the characters this was a big deal uprooting and going to Paris. The characters agonized over the decision to move there after being settled in Seacouver. In fact Shawn pointed out how in all the following seasons of Highlander that the story never had to over explain this move again. It was always expected and assumed that half-way through a season MacLeod and company would end up in Paris. This episode was used to "explain" the transition from Vancouver to Paris. Producers were afraid this was so unusual for an audience that the audience had to be given some explanation. Shawn said what he found unusual was that the audience was accepting of the move and in many of the fan circles even knew the behind the scenes reasons for the move. This is made even more unusual as this was 1992/93 prior to the explosion of the Internet. So fans were getting their information via other means.

I found Dr. Shawn Shimpach's discussion very interesting. In the 1990's I was one of those that knew of the multi-national production influence behind the show but I never thought of it in terms of it being "cosmopolitan." I spoke with Shawn in the hallway after his session and I told him I enjoyed his session and how I knew of the multi-national production back in the early 90's and some of the reasons for it but that I can't remember how I had learned about it. Now having a week since Shawn's session to think about it I'm almost positive many of us found out about it from first couple of Highlander conventions in Denver way back then. Shawn is a nice guy and easy to talk with. You always got a sense that he felt a little out of place, even though he was a fan of Highlander too. That somehow we were judging him as an academic. But he fit in with all the rest of us just fine.

1pm - 2pm Lunch

Lunch was suppose to be 1pm to 2pm. I think I skipped lunch. I ended up talking to Aryn Culbertson, one of the volunteers, in the hallway most of that time. At 1:30pm those of us with preferred seating had to line up to get into the main event ballroom then 15 minutes later general seating was let in.

2pm - 2:15pm Official Opening

Carmel officially opened the convention and prepped us for the fun that was to follow.

2:15pm - 3:30pm Lee Moder Brandon Jerwa and David Abramowitz

The first session was with David Abramowitz and Brandon Jerwa (the writer for the new Highlander comic book). Lee Moder (the artist of the new Highlander comic book) was suppose to be there. But he was very sick (caught a flu bug or something) and couldn't make it. Right up to the day before he thought he might make it but it was not meant to be.

Brandon and his wife sat a couple of rows behind me and to the right for the entire convention (except when he was on stage for a session). They are very nice and easy to talk to. Brandon explained how he had not watched Highlander before writing the comic and there was a low murmor from the audience when he said this. But he followed that up with he was provided all the seasons to watch and spent a marathon session watching all of the episodes and everybody laughed. David Abramowitz's role in the comic was as a consultant to provide story and continuity support to Brandon. David said he tried not to be a "pain in the ass." He asked Brandon if he was a pain in the ass. Brandon shook his head no and added that he had worked with many "pains in the ass" and you were definitely not one of them. The banter between David and Brandon was humorous and fit right in with what you would expect from David and Adrian or David with any other Guest of Honor (GOH). David indicated that he had been quite happy with what Brandon had wrote and really didn't have to make many changes. Brandon said that he received very slight changes here and there from David. Basically along the lines Connor wouldn't say or do that. Or maybe add this or that.

Someone asked Brandon if he often met with the Lee Moder or any artists for any project. Brandon said that HLWW8 was the first time that David and he had met in person. Their communication previously had only been via notes/emails/phone. As for the artists he said it was rare for the comic writers and artists to get together or collaborate. Often the artists are from another country and don't speak English. Because Lee Moder was "closer" and spoke English he and Lee did communicate a little more than other projects he had been on.

Brandon said he's only scheduled to write the comic up to issue 12 (I think he said 12 but I may be off an issue or 2) Then the writing will be turned over to someone else and a new storyline will begin. He has indicated to Dynamite (the publisher) that he's interested in writing more for Highlander in the future. He's currently writing the new Battlestar Galactica comic.

At one point the subject of Highlander: The Source came up and David addressed it in a way only he could. He sighed and said (and this is not verbatim but to the best of my memory), "It's like a golden turd at the top of a hill. And it starts to roll down the hill. It collects more and more garbage along the way until when it finally crashes down at the bottom of the hill it's nothing more than a big ugly turd. A pile of crap." It was pretty funny and we were surprised he opened up that much about it prior to the next day's session which was to discuss The Source.

I think during this session Brandon said that he hadn't seen The Source yet but had it Tivo'd. He asked the audience if he should watch it and Anita King shouted, "Don't do it! It's two hours of your life you can't get back!" David A. laughed and kind of moaned, "ohhhhhh!" at Anita's comment.

3:30pm - 4pm F Braun McAsh

What can I say - F Braun McAsh is, well, F Braun McAsh. He can talk and entertain your ear off. He is still studying swords and fighting, still choreographying fights, and is now in the process of writing several books. One of them is on Dracula, the real Dracula, and how history documents a "dark stranger" that looks very much like Dracula, down to a signet ring, showing up for several hundred years until about 1806. Braun said his book is approximately 75 percent fact and 25 percent fiction and he's not telling you which parts are which. You the reader will have to figure that out. But he is very enthusiastic about the book project. He said he only got his first computer about four years ago so that he could write.

Braun also indicated that in the four seasons he was with the show he only had to replace 2 actors for a fight scene because he had no time to train them. He couldn't remember their names. He said the scene of Xavier St. Cloud riding the sand dunes, jumping down off the horse and fighting on the dune was all done by Braun. Because all you could see was the eyes and the rest of the body was covered in robes and clothing, it was easy for McAsh to get away with acting that part out.

Braun also described how his getting the sword master job on Highlander was a bit fortuitous. (some of the exact details are a bit fuzzy now, so I can't remember all the names) He was working on another show or project and he was talking to someone at the commissary (where they have all the food). The discussion came up that McAsh should choreograph more say like Highlander. McAsh had sent his resume into Highlander but never heard from them. He told his buddy that they already had a great sword guy, Bob Anderson, who had worked with the likes of Errol Flynn.

(Here's a bit of trivia I just found out: according to IMDB.com Errol Flynn died of a heart attack on October 14, 1959 in, where else, Vancouver, BC, Canada.)
So, while he's talking to this guy, another guy, who was associated with Highlander: The Series, over-heard the conversation and approached Braun about replacing Anderson. And the rest is history. Braun later found out that this Highlander exec usually never went to the commissary and it was just a coincidence he happened to be there and overheard Braun's discussion.

4pm - 5pm David, Gillian and Donna on writing

During this session David Abramowitz, Gillian Horvath and Donna Lettow discussed their involvement writing for Highlander. David quickly repeated how the show that first season had gone through five or six head writers in as many episodes and he finally got his chance.

For Gillian, it was her first experience working on a show, and she said since then she has worked on many other shows and didn't realize at the time how hard they worked on Highlander with so few resources compared to other series. Basically it was just David, Gillian and Donna working out of an office in LA. Donna came on later in the show, thanks to knowing Gillian, and did a lot of the historical research for the show.

They were asked when did they know the show was a hit. Gillian commented that she didn't realize how much so until her and Donna showed up for their first convention in Denver. David didn't go that year and Gillian called him up and said you won't believe the turnout. If they do it again you need to go!

It was discussed that thanks to Gillian most of the outtakes we see on the DVD's are a result of her not being able to throw anything out that was related to the show. She would see film laying on the cutting room floor and she would grab it. And stored it all in her attic. It was this footage that she and Donna would bring to the Denver conventions and discuss. I remember these sessions well as it was one of my favorite sessions during the Denver convention years. Gillian and Donna would sit up on stage and provide a little background on what they were about to show and then they would role the footage. This included the famous out-takes of the Jimmy scene as well as the outtakes of Lizzie and Peter Wingfield out of control laughing during the Forgive Us Our Trespasses episode.

Gillian admitted that she doesn't remember many of the stories any more. But Donna, she's got one heck of a memory. When Gillian couldn't remember a detail, Donna would just jump in and fill in the blanks with the exact information. This happened so many times that she even surprised Gillian. Gillian has worked on many series since Highlander and is currently writing episodes of the new Flash series on the Sci-Fi Channel. Gillian said that she is so busy that she has no time to collect show memorabilia and out-takes. She hopes someone else has that kind of passion and time to do so.

Donna indicated that she and her family moved back to the east coast (Maryland I think she said) and she's working in the corporate world but still writing.

At the Elevator

After the day's sessions were over I quickly checked out the dealer's room and then headed for the elevator on the 3rd floor to go back up to my room. When I got to the bank of elevators there was a woman standing there already waiting for the elevator too. I guess she saw my badge and she stuck out her hand and said Hi I'm Nic. I kind of laughed when I realized it was Nicolette Zachary. Over the past few years she and I have emailed back and forth via the HLWW list and off list but we had never met. I said I'm Shawn Dempsey and she responded, "Oh, you'rrrrrre Shawn." Come to think of it, I'm not quite sure how she meant that. Was that, "Oh, you're Shawn nice to meet you" or was it "Oh crap, you'rrrrrre Shawn." Hmmmm, I'm going to have to ask her when she gets back from the Vancouver Tour. :-) Nic, for me, it was great meeting you finally.

Dinner?????

Okay, I think old age is setting in, I can't remember where or what I ate, but, I think I walked back to the Urban Fare corner store and had dinner there. I hit 40 this past year so one event, or meal, blurs with the rest I guess. After dinner I walked down to the waterfront/harbour and around back to the hotel.

7:30pm - 8:15pm Guest Meet & Greet

The Guest Meet & Greet took place in the Pinnacle Ballroom too to the rear of the main events stage. We all gathered outside of the ballroom in the hall where we had registered the day before. I got to talking with Sarita and her husband. And Beatrice and I had a brief conversation about our lives. At one point the Guests of Honor (Adrian, Lizzie, David, Jim and Ken Gord) all showed up in the lobby standing near the wall with Carmel. Carmel addressed all of us and introduced us to them and said something like "here are the people we are all here to meet." Then we started to file into the ballroom.

They had about 8 to 10 circular tables arranged with chairs close together. We all randomly picked seats. I sat with Sarita (SBO) and Mr. SBO. Arthur was also at our table. I can't remember who else (there's that old age memory loss thing again) but there were about 8 to 10 of us at the table. Plus an empty seat for the GOHs to sit down at. That seat was directly across from where I was sitting. Our table was just about dead-center of all the other tables. To my left was the table Anita was at. The idea was that each Guest of Honor would rotate amongst the tables within a 45 minute period and talk with all of us.

The GOHs came into the room. Peter Wingfield came in and gave Nancye a big hug. I think she blushed. Carmel and the committee attempted throughout the time to usher the guests from one table to the next and tried to get each guest at every table. I'm not sure if that had completely worked. But I'd say for the most part most people got to sit with everyone.

At first Adrian, Peter, Lizzie, David, and Ken had all made it to other tables. Brandon Jerwa and his wife looked a little lost but seeing two seats open at our table they came over and Brandon said, "well I guess you're stuck with me!" and they sat down to talk to us. He said not to worry that if any of the important people came by he would get up and let them join us. Very funny guy.

I can't remember the order of the other guests at our table. Dr. Shawn Shimpach sat with us at one point. Like Brandon, he seemed, like he felt a little out of place and even said as much.

Carmel, Vicky, Nancye, Annie and the whole committee made valiant attempts to get the guests to rotate throughout the tables. Usually we got about 5 minutes with each one until they were ushered off to the next table. When David Abramowitz sat down at our table and was about to say something, one of the committee (Vicky I think) tapped him on his shoulder to kind of indicate "time to move." David jokingly shouts out, "No, I just got here!!!" and didn't move. Later we heard him exclaim the same thing from one or two other tables each time more adamant than the last. We laughed every time we heard him. Some of the GOH's got so wrapped up in conversations that they didn't want to move. Lizzie was one of them (at one of the other tables).

Ken Gord sat and talked with us for a while. He is a tall skinny guy (though next to me everyone is freaking tall) and very quiet spoken. He said he hadn't been to a convention since the first one in Denver back in 1994. He asked if any of us were there and I said yes. He recently had spoken to David Abramowitz who told him he was going to HLWW8. Ken asked David, "How come I never get invited to these things? I want to go." So, David put him in touch with Carmel and he joined us in Vancouver. Throughout the weekend he mingled a lot with all of us and was very comfortable talking to us around the hotel.

At one point Carmel got on the microphone from a podium and was trying to figure out which tables had seen a specific GOH yet. She asked, "Put your hands up if your table hasn't had Adrian yet." Well everyone laughed because of the implication of that statement and even Adrian laughed and raised his hand high. Adrian then chided Carmel about her Australian sayings. He told all of us how when he arrived Carmel greeted him and asked "did you pull up alright?" It was the only time I saw Carmel a little flustered as she tried to explain it. Adrian quipped that she couldn't even explain it. Apparently she was asking if he arrived okay - did he pull up to the curb okay.

When Peter got to our table he discussed being on 24. He told us that he had filmed one episode, was scheduled for three more and had an option for four additional episodes. I asked him to give us the scoop on what was going on with Kiefer Sutherland. He said he didn't know. He didn't have any scenes yet with Keifer and so he hadn't met with him yet.

Adrian joined our table and the discussion turned to what he currently was working on. He mentioned that his Wraiths of Roanoke was going to air next weekend on Sci-Fi. We said we were looking forward to seeing it. Someone mentioned that we almost didn't recognize him with his beard (plus his hair was completely slicked back). He said he was growing it for his next movie as Captain Drake (which is also the working title of the film) which he was leaving for Europe sometime after the convention to begin filming. It is scheduled to air sometime on the Sci-Fi Channel. I asked him if he was purposely going after all these period films and he said no that it was just working out that way. The scripts come in and he picks and chooses what he wants to do.

Lizzie, at our table, started off by looking around the table and saying I don't know you, or we've met. She got to me and said "I know we've met" and I told her it was in Denver and at the LA Walkabout. I reminded her I gave her a photo of her and I from the Gathering 5 in Denver (2000). She said, "Oh yeah!" She also talked about her daughter and being a mom and how this weekend was going to be the longest she's been away from her daughter. She asked how old my daughter is and I told her 6 going on 16.

Dr. Shawn Shimpach discussed Highlander with us a little more and expressed how much he was enjoying his time here. But he was a little out of his comfort zone. He kept saying you don't want me you want them (pointing to Adrian, Peter. Lizzie and all). Someone told him to sit down and talk to us which he did.

8:15pm - 9pm Crazy Tie Competition

With the Fan Meet & Greet over it was time for the Crazy Tie Competition. Adrian explained that this year would be the second annual Crazy Tie Day fundraiser (October 19th) and the idea is to get friends, family, coworkers involved in raising money for charity and having fun at the same time. Some people made their own ties at home and brought them to Vancouver while others made them at the convention in one of the ballrooms where they had craft stuff available for decorating a tie. Most of us still sat at our tables from the Meet & Greet. Sarita, who was at my table, showed me her tie. It was a reddish tie with hearts and on the tie she had glued and appliqued a variety of images from Highlander and objects that represented various scenes from the show. The tie was almost completely covered front and back. She had images of the Eiffel Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, the barge, Adrian in a tux, and much more. There was probably about 20 people with their crazy ties. They were made to line up and stand together and Adrian went down the line reviewing the ties and commenting on them. He joked with Sarita that she had so much on her tie (front and back) that she couldn't tie it. Sarita just held it up with one hand and Adrian joked what you're going to walk around holding the tie in your hand!

Another tie that Adrian focused on was one that a young kid made. Not sure how old he was - maybe 12? But on his tie he had written "I'm with stupid" with an arrow pointing to his left (I think he had his mother standing to his left). It sounded like his mother wasn't too happy with the tie but Adrian thought it was really funny. Adrian kept making sure he wasn't standing anywhere near the arrow. If the kid moved Adrian would jump out of the way to get away from the arrow. The funny thing was that this kid was so sedate. He acted almost bored which just made the whole thing even funnier.

Another tie that Adrian seemed to get a kick out of was Matthew's tie. In addition to decorating the tie Matt had added some music or song to play from the tie. (I can't remember the song) Adrian thought it was so funny he got a hand-held microphone and held it up to the tie so we all could hear it.

So after reviewing everyone's tie Adrian had to pick the five he really liked and then he would pick the winner from those five. Sarita and Matthew were two of the five that he picked and so was the kid with the "I'm with Stupid" tie. With the five standing there he tried to get Lizzie and David to help him choose a winner but they wouldn't. I think David yelled at him something like, "For God's sake make a decision." Adrian shot him the evil eye for that comment and they laughed. Adrian decided to walk down the line and we all were to clap if we liked the tie. But it didn't help because the clapping was almost the same for each tie. The funny thing was when he was standing with the kid with the "I'm with Stupid" tie Adrian was standing with the arrow pointed right at himself and he didn't realize it. The kid then pointed at his tie then at Adrian and back-and-forth, indicating he was with Stupid and it was Adrian. Adrian finally saw what the kid was doing and Adrian quickly jumped to the kid's right-side to get away from that arrow.

At first I though Matthew was going to win because Adrian seemed a little more focused on his tie. But Adrian finally settled on Sarita and she was the winner of the crazy tie competition. She looked so shocked. She said she had worked on the tie for about a week. Her reward was a picture with Adrian. Carmel had them go up on the stage and Nancye and everyone took Adrian's and Sarita's picture. Except for ... Sarita's husband, Mr. SBO. He was so caught up in what was going on he forgot to snap a picture. After they had gotten off the stage Adrian was nice enough to pose with Sarita again, off to the side, so that she could get a picture with her camera. In addition, Adrian had his picture taken with all of the crazy tie competitors on stage.

9pm Adrian discusses new Peace logo and new Event

After the photos Adrian had all of us gather in the seats around the stage for an announcement. The entire evening he wore a sweater that was zippered up. He now took the sweater off to reveal a white t-shirt he was wearing with a new logo for The Peace Fund. We were the first to see it. It has the image of a child's open hand. The idea being that The Peace Fund is reaching out to aid children around the world. His new videographer/graphic designer, who was there filming all of this for Adrian, was the one responsible for coming up with the logo. (again, I don't remember his name)

Adrian then wanted to show us a video of a new initiative The Peace Fund was embarking on. However, there was some technical difficulty getting the audio to play. While Carmel's people scrambled to get the video working Adrian did his best to entertain. At one point we heard Lizzie yelling from the back of the room. She was yelling at Adrian how much longer he was going to be. She was hungry and wanted to know if they were going to get something to eat. Adrian says I'm in the middle of something. She asks approximately how much longer - a half hour? an hour? Adrian tells her to give him 15 minutes. Finally the video rolls and and it's a short clip advertising his "Waking the World" initiative. The video was created by the same guy who created the logo. Basically, The Peace Fund is going to have bands going to every country on every continent playing at events to raise awareness of the plight of children around the world. Adrian's hope is to take The Peace Fund to the next level and have it become more well-known in the public eye with the end result being they can raise much more money and help more kids around the world. The idea seems to have great potential. We'll have to wait and see what comes of it.

After Hours

After the GOHs left many of us hung around the ballroom to chat. At Anita's table F Braun McAsh had set up court and was chatting it up with Anita many of the newbies. I was standing near the table just listening in to what he had to say. He was recounting an incident where he was walking late at night, with his bag slung over his shoulder and he was followed by three (I think it was 3) fellows that were up to no good. He said his bag looked similar to a laptop bag but it did not contain a laptop. He felt the bag tug as one of the guys tried to rip it from his arm. Braun brought his elbow up and followed the tug all the way back to the guys' face. Needless to say he "took care" of all of them. He said they were young kids. While they were all laying on the ground he found their wallets and took their driver's license. He then grabbed one of the kids and in a deep voice he told him, "You don't know who I am." He holds the kid's license in the kid's face, "but I know who you are and I know where you live. I'm going to mail your license to your parents and you will have to explain to your dad why you got the crap kicked out of you and how your license ended up being mailed to him."

At an adjoining table Nancye, her daughter, Judes, and Annie were relaxing after a long day. Nancye saw me standing there and told me to sit with her and talk to her. They are a fun group. Though I learned things about the staff that made me blush. Nancye and her daughter promised they would deny everything if I ever repeated any of it. So, I'm not going to say a word. But I'm still blushing.

Nancye and the rest of the committee left to get some sleep and I sat down behind Anita to continue listening to F Braun McAsh. By this time he was going into detail about his Dracula novel and describing lots of details that he learned from all of his research. This went on for about another half-hour when the hotel staff rolled in and started collecting the chairs and rolling the tables away. Guess that was their way of giving us the boot and to get out.

I followed Anita down to the bar to see who was hanging out there. She went to one table and I sat down at another table with Sarita and her husband and several others. We talked about the day's events. Eventually Sarita and I ended up over at Anita's table with Bonita, John Mosby and Nic. The bar shut down early each night. They stopped serving around midnight and then close to 1am they popped on all the lights and it was suddenly bright as day in there. We all headed off to our respective rooms at that point.

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