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DragonCon 2004
Sep. 7th, 2004 01:07 pmDragonCon was, again, a blast. And again, I managed to neglect almost all programming while being distracted in the hallways by amazing costumes and other niftiness. I did make it to the first Firefly panel, unlike the many fans that ended up waiting in a long line and finally were told to try again later. We decided that since we had managed to attend one, we'd not go and crowd the later ones, as much as we were tempted to. Nathan Fillion, Jewel Staite and Adam Baldwin are funny, charismatic and utterly enjoyable. A few pictures of this are in the Friday gallery.
This year attendance was noticeably down, both among costume-wearers and general audience. I assumed that this was due to conflicting other conventions, Frances, or the fire marshall. On the flip side, it meant that the Tokyo rush hour subway feel of last year's con was history as well. Overall I'd say it was a good thing, and consequently, if you plan to go next year, be sure to pre-register well in advance.
Costumes weren't quite as impressive as last year, which in no way means that it wasn't mind boggling. In particular there were amazing elves that actually looked like the real thing. I ended up taking about 4 gigs of pictures, and I think that says something right there.
DragonCon is a Florida convention that just happens to be held in Georgia. This was even more obvious this year, since everyone was calling home and catching the weather channel to check up on Frances, and in the hallways and panels discussions quickly sprung up with strangers as they swapped information and latest news. I just wish this nice bonding could have happened without a natural disaster.
We also decided to brave things and head back on Monday night, despite conflicting and wild rumors of interstate closures, curfews, sink holes and other obstacles. Driving through the remnants of Frances was rather unpleasant, but overall things went smoothly. Some towns along the way were partially in the dark, but we had no trouble finding fuel and apart from very random debris on the road I75 was perfectly passable.
Alas, I got to return to an apartment without power, and a molten fridge, and consequently remained at a friend's place for the night. Today we have power back, and with very few exceptions all local roads are passable and there is hardly any wind damage to be seen. Yet again Tampa was extraordinarily lucky, as compared Orlando, let alone Melbourne or Punta Gorda.
In short, neither the cold I managed to pick up and am now nursing, nor a hurricane could keep me from thoroughly enjoying this year's DragonCon. Thank you all, and see you next year.
PS. Anyone who reads this and met me, or is otherwise curious, should contact me via the email address listed in the web gallery. I have a bunch of pictures of certain people, and I can mail CDs or files of the full resolution pictures, provided I know where to send them!
This year attendance was noticeably down, both among costume-wearers and general audience. I assumed that this was due to conflicting other conventions, Frances, or the fire marshall. On the flip side, it meant that the Tokyo rush hour subway feel of last year's con was history as well. Overall I'd say it was a good thing, and consequently, if you plan to go next year, be sure to pre-register well in advance.
Costumes weren't quite as impressive as last year, which in no way means that it wasn't mind boggling. In particular there were amazing elves that actually looked like the real thing. I ended up taking about 4 gigs of pictures, and I think that says something right there.
DragonCon is a Florida convention that just happens to be held in Georgia. This was even more obvious this year, since everyone was calling home and catching the weather channel to check up on Frances, and in the hallways and panels discussions quickly sprung up with strangers as they swapped information and latest news. I just wish this nice bonding could have happened without a natural disaster.
We also decided to brave things and head back on Monday night, despite conflicting and wild rumors of interstate closures, curfews, sink holes and other obstacles. Driving through the remnants of Frances was rather unpleasant, but overall things went smoothly. Some towns along the way were partially in the dark, but we had no trouble finding fuel and apart from very random debris on the road I75 was perfectly passable.
Alas, I got to return to an apartment without power, and a molten fridge, and consequently remained at a friend's place for the night. Today we have power back, and with very few exceptions all local roads are passable and there is hardly any wind damage to be seen. Yet again Tampa was extraordinarily lucky, as compared Orlando, let alone Melbourne or Punta Gorda.
In short, neither the cold I managed to pick up and am now nursing, nor a hurricane could keep me from thoroughly enjoying this year's DragonCon. Thank you all, and see you next year.
PS. Anyone who reads this and met me, or is otherwise curious, should contact me via the email address listed in the web gallery. I have a bunch of pictures of certain people, and I can mail CDs or files of the full resolution pictures, provided I know where to send them!
