I'm baa-aack!
May. 27th, 2009 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hey everyone!
I'm back from Lansing, Michigan and MediaWest and I had a FANTASTIC time.
Myself and my best buddy,
charityflint, decided not to sell out of our room this year and it ended up being a great decision. We got to spend loads of time with our friends from California, Canada and Indiana. We did SO many things together this year, including things having to do with turtles and penguins and mixed nuts. ;-) And I'll have you all know that the peanut taped to my badge Friday morning made it all the way home to Chicago on Monday evening still intact. HA!
Not only did I get to see my regular crew of friends, but I also got to spend a little time with
khek,
sithdragn,
towerbridge2006,
mayphoenix,
renegade782003 and
the_other_sandy, just to name a few.
Another reason I like MediaWest is because it's the only place that I get to run into all of my fellow Sentinel fans. Even 10 years after the show ended and we're still going strong.
And because Charity and I weren't tied to our room, we actually went to SIX panels! We haven't done that in years! We went to ones on Leverage, Castle, The Sentinel and three Supernatural ones.
The best panel was the Jensen/Jared RPS panel run by my friends
jensenrick and
partners4life. It was so awesome! We even made tinhats to wear! My friend Jan made mine and it had devil horns on it. [snort]
I ended up buying quite a few things in the dealers room and from the hall dealers. It was mainly art this year. I wanted to decorate my office at my new house with pictures of pretty boys. :-) And because I was looking for new art, I got to meet
digitalwave!! She was selling out of her room and I went home with three prints of hers, two SPN and one Clark/Lex. And let me tell you, folks, she is the sweetest person and I'm so glad I got to chat with her a few times during the weekend. And we've both got the same first name, so we totally rock. ;-)
All in all, it was just a great fun-filled, laughter-filled five days. It was bittersweet, though, as this was most likely my last MediaWest. :-( My entire group of friends agreed not to come back next year. We are just SO tired of the horrible way this convention is run, especially with the "room lottery". The hotel is also a piece of crap. And the attendance keeps dropping steadily. There used to be around 900 people at this convention when I started going around 10 years ago. There was maybe 300 there this year. It felt almost deserted. Some of the older fans just aren't physically able to attend anymore, lots of dealers have dropped out, and the new wave of fans just aren't interested in face-to-face contact, which boggles my mind. You'd rather just sit behind your computer screen instead of interacting with people in person?? I just don't get it, truly.
So if this was to be my last MediaWest, I'm glad I had an excellent time. :-)
I'm back from Lansing, Michigan and MediaWest and I had a FANTASTIC time.
Myself and my best buddy,
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Not only did I get to see my regular crew of friends, but I also got to spend a little time with
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Another reason I like MediaWest is because it's the only place that I get to run into all of my fellow Sentinel fans. Even 10 years after the show ended and we're still going strong.
And because Charity and I weren't tied to our room, we actually went to SIX panels! We haven't done that in years! We went to ones on Leverage, Castle, The Sentinel and three Supernatural ones.
The best panel was the Jensen/Jared RPS panel run by my friends
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
I ended up buying quite a few things in the dealers room and from the hall dealers. It was mainly art this year. I wanted to decorate my office at my new house with pictures of pretty boys. :-) And because I was looking for new art, I got to meet
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
All in all, it was just a great fun-filled, laughter-filled five days. It was bittersweet, though, as this was most likely my last MediaWest. :-( My entire group of friends agreed not to come back next year. We are just SO tired of the horrible way this convention is run, especially with the "room lottery". The hotel is also a piece of crap. And the attendance keeps dropping steadily. There used to be around 900 people at this convention when I started going around 10 years ago. There was maybe 300 there this year. It felt almost deserted. Some of the older fans just aren't physically able to attend anymore, lots of dealers have dropped out, and the new wave of fans just aren't interested in face-to-face contact, which boggles my mind. You'd rather just sit behind your computer screen instead of interacting with people in person?? I just don't get it, truly.
So if this was to be my last MediaWest, I'm glad I had an excellent time. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-27 02:19 pm (UTC)You're right, MediaWest has started to fall apart and the hotel is not getting any better. I swear I only ate one meal in Hummingbirds and spent the rest of the morning meals at Grumpy's.
If I don't see you next year, it was great meeting you this year.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 12:06 am (UTC)LOL! I thoroughly enjoyed wearing my hat and talking J2 with everyone. It might not be real, but man, we made a pretty good case for it, didn't we? :-)
It's very sad that MW has started to decline so sharply. It was the one event I looked forward to every year. And wow, I only ate one meal there as well, and went to Grumpy's twice!
If I don't see you next year, it was great meeting you this year.
And you as well! :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-27 03:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 12:08 am (UTC)And aww, man, you're going to KAZ Con?? Now I'm really bummed I can't go! :-( I had a fantastic time at the last one, so I have no doubt you'll enjoy yourself. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-27 04:46 pm (UTC)fans just aren't interested in face-to-face contact, which boggles my mind
I don't get that either. Hell, I think meeting other like-minded fans is the BEST part of going to conventions. Yeah, that five minutes with Jensen (or whoever) is cool, but it's meeting the other girls and guys who think like you do and who can talk in depth about theories and ideas that makes it fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 12:09 am (UTC)YES! Exactly! Man, some of the discussions I've had with fellow fans at conventions have been amazing. Email and blogs will just never take the place of face-to-face interaction in my book.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-27 06:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 12:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-27 09:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 12:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 03:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 07:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 03:40 am (UTC)Sentinel. *squee* ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 07:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 06:06 pm (UTC)But it's always great to get together with friends!
I'm so glad that You and Charity had a such a good time! And especially that you were able to raom about and see a lot more, since you weren't doing and room dealing this time! (Wow that sounds illegal, doesn't it?!)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 07:51 pm (UTC)And you're right, all of the great, interesting discussions you can get into with a room full of fangirls can definitely be the highlight of a con!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-29 01:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-29 07:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-29 05:46 am (UTC)What do you talk about there?
Aww, I have nothing like that anywhere around. Shame. But I'm glad you had fun! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-29 07:27 pm (UTC)We had such a hoot, bringing up every reason why J2 could be real, from photos to interviews, you name it. It was all in good fun, but man, we certainly made a case for it to be true! :-) We also talked about our favorite fanfic stories.
Aww, I have nothing like that anywhere around. Shame. But I'm glad you had fun! :)
If you ever do get a chance to go to a fan-run convention, definitely go. You'd have a great time. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-30 12:44 am (UTC)I do wish that the con committee would work harder to attract membership, though. I am hopeful that the hotel will be in much better shape next year.
I'm still wondering about that peanut on your badge...:)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-01 08:17 pm (UTC)But yeah, Lori and Gordon do nothing to promote the con. I mean, for crying out loud, open up the Yahoogroup to discussion! Let us talk about the con, let the dealers say what they'll be bringing, etc. That way if we know someone who's thinking about going, they can at least check out the Yahoogroup.
As for the hotel, yeah, if it's not fully renovated by next MediaWest there's definitely a problem.
The peanut will forever remain a mystery. :-)