Sunday, June 3, 2012

Supernatural - All Hell Breaks Loose 3 convention report

Part 2 – Cossack dancing, sing-a-longs and penis t-shirts….. 

(photos by sweetondean)

Warning…contains some coarse language and adult themes


Previously on All Hell Breaks Loose 3 – sweetondean had just wrapped up an eventful breakfast with Misha, Richard, Jim, Traci and Corin…

Now….

With breakfast finished, we all had to rush over to the University of New South Wales where the convention panels were being held. This is about 10 minutes away and a 20-minute cab ride in the splendid Sydney traffic.

My pals Courtney, Emma and Sarah and I all dived into the first cab...waving to the rest of the breakfast goers standing in the cab line as we tore our way across town to jump head first into the next part of the con. As we pulled into the gate for the area of the University where the auditorium is, what did we see? BABY! There, gleaming in the sunlight was a black, shiny Impala. Meeep! Ok…so in actuality, she only had 3 doors, so you know, but my goodness she was pretty and yes we all had photos taken with her.

The cast were immediately behind us in a mini-van, so we were hurried into the auditorium by the convention staff and told to take our seats. I found mine and gasped. It was front row, right in the centre. I was just about on the stage…seriously, I was pretty much in the cast’s laps…where’s Jensen when you need him… *sigh*. The first thing that happened was a hug-a-palooza! Out of everywhere came people I knew. It must have been a funny sight to see a bunch of fan-girls, front and centre hugging it out. Like I said, as much as I love and adore hanging out with the cast, this for me is the highlight of the conventions (except when Jensen is around then he’s the highlight…sorry friends, but you know me well enough to know that!). So we hugged and squeed and hugged some more. I got a few texts from behind me (because nearly everyone was behind me) and I scoured the seats to see where everyone was. I ran and said a quick hi to my friend Amanda, nipped up to see my friend Mel and to meet the wonderful Jules of Superwiki fame, said a hi to Kate, whom I met from the comments section here and eventually sat down. I got out my new camera, which I’d bought for Burcon and a brand new lens, which I was worried was going to be way too zoomy for my seat, but it wasn’t, as evidenced by my pics and I started the waiting.

Suddenly Corin popped out to welcome us and we were off! The guy should always wear green by the way and I totally love how he has a snazzy hanky hanging out of his back pocket, plus he was wearing colourful striped socks! Bless. After Corin did his bit, it was photo time! First up Misha. It’s ridiculous to say that even though I was just chatting to him a couple of hours ago, I was still a bit nervous about my photo with Misha, not Jensen nervous, because that’s some weird level of nerves that causes my motor functions and communication skills to become non-existent, these nerves are more like, I don’t want to look like a nit and I’m not sure what he’s going to do, nerves. Of course he was totally lovely as usual, so….hug, flash, thanks, smile, moving right along. Next was Richard. Now Richard’s photographer was having trouble with his light reflecting thingy so most of us that went up and got our photos had a little cuddle while we waited. I love Richard. He’s an absolute favourite of mine. Such a nice and funny guy and damn handsome… Anyhooo…after the Richard cuddle, umm photo, I hightailed it to grab my friend Shelley because we were sharing a Misha op. This was Shelley’s first con and though the two of us had been chatting on twitter and FB for ages, this was the first time we’d met! Yay. I decided to freshen up before my next Misha photo and grabbed some gum, then grabbed Shelley and her bro, who was super excited to be there too…ok, side note, I am so proud of Aussie men (not a statement you’ll hear that often from an Aussie woman) because at this convention, there were a lot of guys. The most I have ever seen at any convention. If you looked around, it didn’t appear to be an oestrogen fest. There were guys! Anyway, Shelley and I got on either side of Misha and snuggled in. Snap, flash… Photographer: ”We’re going to have to do that again, you looked like this” points at me and chews. Gum. Damn. I turned to Misha and Shelley, “Oh I’m so sorry I was chewing my gun” Misha: ”You’re so unprofessional” Me mumbling…”Umm yes sorry, you can’t take me anywhere” Gah! So I did a Jensen and tucked my gum up the back of my mouth (surely you’ve noticed that boy is always chewing gum). Smiled again…this time without the jaw movement and moved along.

Next photos were Jim and Traci. Jim first. Jim gives good hugs. He’s such a snugly bear of a man. Traci and I cuddled and had a little chat, she called me sister again and then I was on my way. Last stop was Corin. Ok, let me just rave one more time. This guy is a darling. Can he come to every convention please and can I, like, go out to dinner with him or something? He’s so nice, lovely to talk to and very easy on the eyes. I just love that he hugs everyone and I’m talking after the photo, it’s hi, hug, photo, thanks, grin, great big hug! Nawww. He’s awesome. Then I had my Angel sandwich! Squished in between Misha and Richard. They were having a huge conversation and I just stood there between them with their arms around me as they continued to chat. I said “Just talk amongst yourselves.” Misha: “Thank you we will” Richard: “Yes don’t mind us” and that was the end of my photos. I really wanted the one with all the guests, but it was expensive and I have Vancon looming, Vegascon booked with ops to be purchased and Dallascon2013 calling my name…a gal has to draw the line somewhere!

While I write this by the way, I am sitting drinking tea from a Metallicar mug, snuggled under a Dean blanky…

So now was the time for more sitting and waiting. Everything was running really late but no one cared. We watched fan vids and Changing Channels while we sat. I popped out to grab a water from the café and bumped into Corin outside. He was getting some photos with some boys….told you….boys! I just said hi and moved along and let him have his break in peace. Our first guest on stage was Traci…

Traci:


Wonderful, beautiful Traci. Traci talked about being an actress and how everyone assumes that because she’s an actress she has money, but as a working actress she sometimes wonders where her next pay check is coming from and how she’s going to make her rent that month, But she loves it and wouldn’t do anything else. (Ooo while I think about it, at breakfast she mentioned how she taught Ashton Kutcher yoga and he wouldn’t take off his socks….we pondered the reason, Corin thought it might be because he has Hobbit feet!). Traci’s influences are Meryl Streep and Marion Cotillard. She said her favourite thing about acting is being able to wear another person and she slipped on a few personas to show us including Pamela. She also loves being able to tell a story. But her most favourite thing is the fan interaction. She spoke about how lucky she is to have us and to have that instant feedback and close contact with everyone via the conventions and twitter etc.

She talked about the porch scene in Lazarus Rising when Pamela first meets the boys. She said she asked Jim if she could sort of pick him up when she hugged him, of course he was all for that! She talked about the Dean kiss. She said that she thought for sure it would’ve been Sam she was kissing so she was surprised it was Dean. She said everyone said how lucky she was to get to kiss Jensen, but she thought HE was lucky! She also said, you really can bounce a nickel off that thing. Nice! Traci told us that when they killed her off Eric rang to tell her personally. She was in the car so pulled over so she could concentrate on the phone call, which was a good thing, because when she hung up she burst into tears and had a really good cry. Then she talked about how she’d hoped that we would have got to see Pamela’s Heaven. She figured her and Ash would be up there going to concerts and rocking in out together. She told us how difficult it was to do the scene where Pamela’s eyes burned out. She had to keep them wide open for the CGI guys and keeping your eyes open while you scream is tricky, so she crossed them! So basically the raw footage of that scene is Pamela screaming with her eyes crossed! Why was that not on the gag reel? There was lots of talk about farts, fart jokes, Jared’s massive eating causing his equally massive farts, of which, she says, he’s very proud. She said farts are big on set. Hey, everyone loves a good fart joke right? She also talked about how it’s such a family atmosphere up there in Vancouver, with dogs running around and everyone just enjoying everyone else’s company


Then she talked about love and how love is love. She discussed same sex marriage and the support she feels out there in the Supernatural community for same sex marriage and equality in all relationships. She talked about how she married a couple in New York recently, whom had contacted her via twitter. Years ago she got a one of those online certificates so that she could conduct weddings, but this was the first time she’d used it. Then, before the panel was over she popped off stage to grab her drum. She asked us if we’d mind if she conducted a ritual to finish off the session. She then had us repeat after her the words to And When I Rise. Then, she drummed and sang while we sang along with her. Except I couldn’t sing very well, because it was about now that I started to get teary! It was one of the most wonderful things I’ve experienced. Traci’s voice is beautiful. She drummed and sung as the whole auditorium harmonised with her. It was a moving and simply amazing experience. I find Traci an inspiration. Her spirit shines through. She’s so connected with herself and with the world around her. She looks bright and happy and healthy. What a fantastic woman. After the convention she was off to Uluru. She’s going to write an article on the experience. She had to get all the appropriate permissions from the Aṉangu people, the traditional land owners of Uluru, because she’ll be visiting and photographing some of the sacred areas not open to the public. I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of our Outback. I have a feeling visiting Uluru and talking to the original people of that land, will be something that she will connect with deeply.

Next up was lunch…which consisted of a Devil’s trap cookie made by my friend Kat. Then Corin and Richard hit the stage.

Corin and Richard:


I think Richard should do stand up. The guy is funny! And I’m pretty sure you could pair him with anyone and he’d be ok. I thought the Corin/Richard duo was odd for a panel, but of course it wasn’t. They bounced off each other wonderfully.

Richard talked about doing a scene with the Js and their height difference. How when everyone hit their mark you actually couldn’t see Richard in frame. Everyone was “Richard, just get on your mark” and he was “I am!” but you couldn’t see him. So they stood him on a box. Still no good. So then they stood him on a bunch of boxes! Corin mentioned that he’s 6ft and Richard was highly unimpressed. He said the Js are uncomfortably tall...and also dreamy…so handsome. His words! One of the girls asking a question had it written down on a flash card, so Richard went and took it off her. He read the whole card and decided to answer the Jim question instead, which was what was his/Bobby’s favourite dance. Richard then did a full on Cossack dance. No kidding. The arms crossed leg kick out thing and the whole deal!


The next girl got dragged on to stage and was made to sit down as Corin and Richard exited. They went back into the green room with their mics on and basically issued instructions to her. Before they would come back, they made the poor girl get up and dance like a maniac. Bless her for doing it! I’m thinking a bunch of people high tailed it out of the question line after that! The guys were asked what the most disgusting thing they’d ever eaten was; Richard said Vegemite (sacrilege!) and Corin said he dug Vegemite (see…he’s awesome). Corin said he’d eaten calves brains in Belize and Armadillo meatballs, which he considered tantamount to eating road kill. A girl in the line was dressed as Cass. She had on a t-shirt that had the blue tie on it and was wearing the trench and a mini skirt. Richard was impressed with Cass’ legs! He made her parade across the stage!


The guys talked about their on screen deaths. Corin was totally surprised when Christian turned out to be a demon. He had no idea. He still doesn’t know if he was ever human or was always a demon and just faking it the whole time (we all yelled out yes he was). Richard said that he was totally bummed when he read the script where Gabe got killed in. He said he went (excuse the language) “Fuck they killed me….oh no wait, I’m not dead. Oh fuck, he killed me. Dick! Oh hang on, I’m in a porno!” Richard has a whole scenario created as to how they can bring the Trickster/Gabriel back. He’s really over thought it! He thinks maybe Gabe took over the Trickster and his meat suit or something…I don’t know, he ranted it out really quickly and then said something about blaming the drugs. There was then a question about going back in time. Richard wanted to go back and stop Hitler from writing Mein Kampf. Corin wanted to go back and invent the paperclip, except he’d call it the Corinclip. They discussed their favourite actors – Richard: Gary Oldman, Steve Martin in his early years, Misha, because he’s like a father to Richard. Corin: Johnny Depp, James Bridges, Sam Rockwell and he loves Sigourney Weaver.

They were asked what their least/most favourite thing about Australia is. Corin said his least favourite was that he didn’t live here! Richard said Corin was hitting on Australia. Richard said his least favourite was the flight. He doesn’t like to fly or sit still so 14 hours on a plane is hard work (hey, we’re used to it!) and his most favourite thing was the unstoppable sexiness of the people. Word. By now of course the guys were in the crowd. They were walking the steps of the auditorium. Some poor girl chose exactly the wrong moment to go to the bathroom and then try to get back to her seat. Corin blocked her. Side step. Block. Side step. Block. Side step. Block. Side step. Block. Honestly, you have to admire her tenacity! She ended up getting one of the awesome Corin, all enveloping hugs…so actually it was a good move on her behalf. Then they were done. Richard and Corin’s panel was great fun. Lots of laughter. These two guys are a couple of my favourites for panels. I remember Corin’s one in Chicago was hugely entertaining. Thankfully Corin comes to Aussie a lot for various expos etc., so fingers crossed I’ll see him again soon. (Yes Amy has a crush).

Next on the stage was Jim.

Jim:


“G’day Idjits!” Jim’s a well read, well versed in just about everything, man. He sung us an Australian folk song. The Ballad of Moreton Bay. He was surprised most people didn’t know it and that we weren’t taught that particular song in school. He’s known it since he was a child. He has a nice voice. Jim talked about acting in a wheelchair. He said he didn’t like it because he likes to move when he acts. But being in that chair, he was respectful of people who live in a wheelchair because he could get up and walk away when he was done, so he was conscious of all the people who can’t. The old prank question was asked again. He said it was the one question that he can guarantee he will always be asked at a convention. Yep. Anyway, he said he’s never been pranked per say, not like Misha and his car full of coins, but basically, Jared will always try and make him laugh. Most recently, they were shooting the scene in Survival Of The Fittest where Bobby was saying goodbye to the boys and telling them when it was their time to go, go. He said that the camera was on him and all he could see was Jared poking his head above the camera and in a gap in the equipment pulling crazy faces. Here he was delivering his death eulogy and Jared was trying his hardest to make him crack. Jared does it to him all the time. “And you thought they were professionals” Jim said.

He discussed GhostBobby again and how he didn’t like it. Well he said with GhostBobby the pay was better than being DeadBobby but he preferred the status quo. He liked the relationship Bobby had built up with the brothers and he enjoyed playing that dynamic. But he understood why the writers did it. He understood the drama and the storytelling and from that point of view he thought it was great, but from his point of view, the point of view of both the actor and the character, he preferred it when Bobby was alive. He has no idea what the future holds for Bobby, he only hopes that he is back at some point, preferably whole again and not as a spirit. Jim then said after being overseas for a while, he loved that we spoke English. After that he pretty much didn’t understand about 50% of the questions! We do speak fast. Then the dancing question came up again. Jim said, Bobby doesn’t dance, however Jim does, if he’s drunk enough. He’s been known to do the Timewarp. Oh Mr Beaver, red rag to a room full of Aussies. Yes we all taunted him into doing it. We yelled out all the words. I think we got a partial jump to the left, and then a step to the right, we got the hands on the hips and sort of got the knees in tight…he drew the line at the pelvic thrust!

Jim talked about whether he ever thought he’d have been on Supernatural as long as he was. He said, that no, he thought it was a one shot deal. But when he was leaving after wrapping his first episode all the crew were clapping him on the back and saying, we’ll see you again, you didn’t die. Now, 53 eps later…. The kissing Crowley question came up…again. Jim said, he has a soft beard but Mark’s stubble is scratchy! He told us to be careful what you wish for because he’d been teasing Kripke for ages, asking for a love scene and then of course he got a kissing scene, but with Mark Sheppard! He said Mark’s been riding that one kiss to fame ever since. Jim did enjoy kissing Sheriff Mills. He likes Kim/Jody a lot. He said, “It was gooooooood.” By the way, I pretty much think everyone flirts with Jim. There’s a lot of very easy teasing and flirting going back and forth.


Jim was asked if he’d ever thought about writing for Supernatural and he said, funnily he had. He’d started working up an idea that all took place in Bobby’s house…and then they burnt Bobby’s house down. So then he came up with another idea….and then they killed Bobby. So then he stopped. He said that was it because he wasn’t going to write something he wasn’t in! Though if he did write something for Bobby, he’d make sure Sheriff Mills was in it. Adorable! He was asked about his relationship with the Js. He said they get on great. He loves working on the show because it’s so much fun. Everyone gets along and has a great time on set. Everyone loves each other. He talked about how his relationship with the Js is that of a friend and a peer/colleague. That they are equals. He’s not like a father figure to them, that’s just the character he plays. He said the Js are both great at what they do, talented, Jim’s just a little “…older than them, 6 months….ok 8”.

He talked about his favourite onset memory. It was during the shooting of Death’s Door. They had what he thought was one of those emergency training deals where everyone has to muster and watch a movie. He went and hid out in his trailer, but a PA knocked on the door and said, sorry Jim but you really need to do this. So he grumbled and grizzled his way over to where they were all supposed to meet and walked into the room to see everyone in the crew there. He knew something must have been up because Jensen and Jared were there and they’re never on set before he is! He sat down and waited for the health and safety video to start but instead it was a Bobby tribute video. He was incredibly moved. Many people cried. He ascertained that he didn’t. He said, “Jim don’t cry.” Yeah, I’m sure. He also talked about Jensen directing and how, as an actor, he felt totally safe and supported by Jensen. He said he’d watched Jensen essentially training for that role for years, asking questions of every guest director that came on board, absorbing as much of the technical information that he could. Jim was never interested in that stuff. Directing is too much work and he just wanted to act, but he said, Jensen was always interested. He’d been preparing for the role of director for years. (Side note….I get irrationally excited when the cast members pontificate about Jensen, I remember Jim saying on one of the WinBros podcasts that Jensen is a “Magnificent human being.” Seriously. I feel like getting that tattooed across my heart.). Anyhoooo, that was it. Jim wrapped up by signing a hat for auction. He wrote Balls and Idjit on it. Of course he did.

Last on the days agenda was the inimitable Mr Collins.

Are you all still with me?

Misha: (warning…ahead be bad language and smut)


This is the 5th Misha panel I’ve seen and I think it was the best. The man was on fire. He was suitably dirty for the Aussie audience…we aren’t very pc at best of times, and we really love a bit of cheek and smut…and he wasn’t too smart assed as sometimes I’ve seen him get. Like at Chicon, where he obviously thought the questions were inane and basically told everyone off.

Misha made several comments at this convention about the mythology of the series. He said it at breakfast, on stage and at the autos. Basically, he says he doesn’t understand how they can kill off and then bring back Cass with no explanation. I remember at the breakfast he was saying about how Cass was walking around naked, how did he survive, why wasn’t that explained? I’d said what about the wife thing too, he said, exactly! Then he added, though if any of us saw him walking around naked we’d put him in our car. He’s probably right. He said he thinks it’s interesting the writers don’t seem to bother using mythology to explain that kind of thing anymore, they just do it. At the panel, he said this in relation to the fact that Cass is back and obviously, for him that’s a good thing. But what I heard at the breakfast and at the autos came across as a bit snarky quite frankly! Misha is Misha, so you kind of expect that bluntness from him and he tended to say it as a throw away line, so if you wanted you could take it in jest, but I’m torn by his openness in saying that he’s not impressed with how elements of the story are being written. As an ongoing cast member, I always wonder if it’s cool to be bagging out the writers like that? I mean, I guess I’ve heard Jensen do it a couple of times too, they really let their guard down a bit the conventions. They know we love and respect them so I think they’re more honest with us than they sometimes intend to be. Jared totally bagged out Dawn Ostroff in his meet and greet! Jensen’s criticised a few things but then he sort of professionalisms his way right over the top of it. Misha just basically out right said he thought it sucked! He said, how many times has Cass died anyway? We all started yelling out answers. He said, “This is not a guessing game!” I do appreciate his candour (amongst other things) and the trust he shows in sharing these opinions.


There was a question about furniture making and failure. I guess this came from the Rome con with his resume saying he makes furniture and Jensen confirming that Misha’s pretty good at it. Misha had no idea what this girl was talking about. She soldiered on asking again if he’d had any furniture failures. He still didn’t get it. He came forward to the front of the stage and leant down and said to me and the ladies sitting next to me. “What? What is she talking about?” We’re going, furniture, you make furniture right? Have you had any failures? He was so confused. He’s looking at us like we’re insane and then I think the penny dropped. “Oh furniture. Yes I make furniture.” He then talked about how the only failures he’d had were ones involving blood. Basically every piece of furniture Misha has ever made is tinged with his blood! He said he always nips off the top of his fingers with the rotary saw (he needs to be more careful, my dad cut three fingers off with a rotary saw!). He says he’s accident-prone at the best of times and he doesn’t like wearing the stupid safety gear so he’s continually injuring himself. So all of his furniture is imbedded with his DNA. Then he asked if the girl was satisfied. This became a running joke. Was he satisfying us. Yes, you know what he’s talking about….

Then there was a badly cloaked Destiel question. Why did Misha think Cass has bonded so strongly with Dean? (Language warning) Misha: “You mean why bond with Dean over Sam when obviously Cass wants to fuck Sam so much?” *Audience tries to pick themselves off the floor* Then he said to all of us “Now see what you made me do. Shame on you.” And yet, he continued…. He said Cass likes Dean for conversation where as “…Cass and Sam, its just sex. It’s more shallow.” He said that basically they can’t put him into scenes with Jared, because Jared just wants to pull Misha’s pants down. The poor girl asking the question sort of tries to slink off… “Are you satisfied? Wait, did you just fake it? Or did you come twice?” Yes…it was that kind of panel. He then apologised, “I’m sorry I’m very vulgar today.” We all yelled out, don’t worry about it you’re in Australia mate! Then he told us how a certain convention organiser in the US had the nerve to ask him not to swear…he issued a string of expletives to illustrate his point! I think by this stage we were all in tears and finding it hard to draw a breath!

He was asked if he thought things would’ve been different for Cass had he not met the Winchesters and he said, well yes, he wouldn’t have got drunk, he wouldn’t have been to a brothel. Then he stopped and said, “Cass is such a nerd isn’t he.” He talked about how Cass had really been through the ringer but that he’d finally got the hug. I think we all yelled out…well only sort of! He talked about Win Wenders’ Wings Of Desire and that basically Kripke just stole the idea for Castiel from that movie. Because in Wings Of Desire there’s the Angel Cassiel, who falls. But Cassiel got lots of sex and Cass didn’t. Misha was hoping that when Cass fell he’d be able to explore more human emotions and failings and get loads of sex, but that didn’t happen. Misha was disappointed, mostly through the lack of sex I gathered.


The next girl up managed to stop Misha in his tracks and leave him speechless. Girl: “Congratulations on your face…it’s fantastic.”

Misha:………………………………………………..

Yeah. He literally had no idea what to say! Finally he said, “Well thank you!” She asked him about candy, because she was going to send Richard and Corin some Tim Tams (a yummy chocolate biscuit) and what would he like. We all started yelling Fantales. He should remember these from last time he was here because he gave us all a Fantale at the cocktail party. I may or may not still have mine (I still have mine). Anyway, someone pegged a Fantale at him, which he ran and got and ate. Big mistake, they are very chewy. Then someone gave him another lolly called a redskin. It’s this red/pink, impossibly hard stuff. He said that was the real deal, the Fantale was more like foreplay. Then he took off his jacket while the congratulations on your face girl sung stripper music!

He was asked if he ever improvised in his scenes and he said no, he’s been specifically asked not to! He said he did however improvise the look down at his crotch in the pizza man porno scene. He thought they’d cut it out but we said, nope they left that in. He was surprised they could get away with it. Obviously he hadn’t seen the episode or he’d have known even Dean said he had a boner!

Then he was asked a question about Random Acts. Cue serious Misha. He sat down to tell us about how Random Acts had recently bought a car for a family with a 3-year-old daughter who had cancer. With the car it made it easier to get back and forth for her treatments. He said it was wonderful to see how something like that could make a substantial material difference in their lives. He’s continually impressed by the enthusiastic and generous energy of the fandom. He spoke about Haiti and the orphanage he’s involved with there and about one little boy who’s father, a widower, didn’t know what to do with the boy while he was at work so he chained the boy to a table. Now the child lives at the orphanage is learning to walk and talk…at age 4…and has completely changed from being in a sustainable loving environment. The girl who asked the question said, “See you in Haiti” Misha said, “No way, will you be there?” and excitedly ran over and met her properly.

The next question continued this serious note, if there was a zombie apocalypse, which 3 real people would you take and what would be your weapon. Misha’s answer… Spiderman, Batman and Wonderwoman and a Fantale, because if the zombies were eating those they wouldn’t be able to bite him. True fact and great idea. Fantales take forever to chew. He was asked about a possible Cass spin-off. Misha said he thinks that Cass has an addictive personality; “Obviously” so Cass would be up to no good and strung out the whole time. He talked about when he grows old how he’s going to explain Supernatural to his grand children. “There was a time when women would scream for me.” He said he’s saying this while weighing 400lbs and being stuck to the couch. As a last question, he was asked what Cass’ theme song would be and he said it would be violent gangsta rap, something about bitches. Then he was done…well not quite done, because next up was the auction!

Misha decorated his shirt. He didn’t know what to draw, so people yelled stuff out and he started to draw Angel wings…then he realised we were all watching so he ran into the middle of the stage, turned the chair over and hid behind it while he drew. Then he jumped up, with his back to us, pulled the t-shirt over his head and proudly spun around. Here it is. It went for $1600AUS.


Next Corin came out and decorated a t-shirt…. He chose to put his on a little differently. I’m sorry I can’t remember what the t-shirt sold for…for obvious reasons it was the least of my thinkin

And then it was all over. Boo. After the convention I went with Jules from Superwiki, Shelley and her brother and Amy and Rebecca to the local pub, where we relived all the fun, looked through my photos on my camera and talked conventions, genre TV and Vancon over several….like SEVERAL….bottles of champagne. It was a good day. It was a good night. Supernatural conventions and Supernatural fans…yeah, you’re all my happy place!

That’s it. Oh my gosh I am so sorry it was so long! But I warned you…I took notes!

I hope you enjoyed the write up. Sorry about the language…but blame Richard and Misha! Thanks for reading.

NEXT STOP VANCON!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Supernatural - All Hell Breaks Loose 3 convention report


Part 1 – cocktails, breakfast, unexpected Misha meetings and odd boots….. 

(photos by sweetondean)


Last weekend I attended the All Hell Breaks Loose III convention in Sydney. How it works is, Sydney gets the cast on the Friday night and all day Saturday, before they fly to Melbourne on the Saturday night for another full day of panels and whatnot on the Sunday. Busy cast is busy! Our very special guests this year were Misha, Jim, Richard, Traci and Corin. Corin was literally last minute as AJ Buckley and Travis Wester were late pullouts. So Corin basically hopped on a plane at a moment’s notice, bless him and thank goodness because he’s awesome…but I’ll get to that later.

I got myself the big ticket. That’s the one that gets you into all events. Yep, I went Platinum. I bought it when the tickets first went on sale in 2010 would you believe! I can’t even remember if any guests were confirmed at that stage…it was so long ago!

Anyway, I live in Sydney about 40 minutes from the city, but as the Friday night cocktail party and the breakfast on the Saturday morning were both going to be held at the Mercure Hotel in town, I thought, well, why not make a weekend of it. So on the Wednesday before the convention, I booked a room for the Friday and Saturday nights.

I took the Friday off work and headed to the hotel about 2 in the afternoon. I checked in and went up to my room just as Jim tweeted a picture that looked startlingly like the view I was looking at out of my window at that exact moment! Right down George Street with a glimpse of Central Station. Hmmmm.

Seeing as I was probably going to have a couple of drinks that night, I decided I better pop out and get a snack. So I grabbed my wallet and headed down stairs. I got out of the lift and walked towards the lobby and stopped in my tracks. There standing right in front of me playing with his phone was Misha Collins. An unexpected Misha sighting! I froze. About a million things went through my mind. Is that…yes it is…oh God it’s Misha….wait…should I say something…he’s staying HERE? I guess so….whoa that’s odd….so should I say hi…maybe I should just leave him alone…I probably shouldn’t bug him…I don’t want to come off as stalky….is it weird to go say hi? It’s probably rude not to right? Hang-on…is he looking at me? Gah! He’s seen me looking at him…okay, he can tell I’ve recognised him…I better say something…I’m going say something…oh no I’m walking past him…why am I walking past him? Amy stop being an idiot…turn around and…..

“Hey Misha!”

So there I stood chatting to Misha Collins in the lobby of the Mercure Hotel in Sydney.

He stuck out his hand and I shook it….

Misha: “Hello!”

Me: “It’s good to see you again, welcome to Sydney!”

He had that, hang-on I’ve seen this one before, look that the cast members seem to get when you go to a few conventions. This was the 5th time I’d met Misha.

Misha: “It’s good to see you too, we’ve met before haven’t we?”

Me: “Yes a couple of times. Are you looking forward to the weekend?”

Misha: “Yes, it’s going to be fun, are you going to be at the function tonight”

Me: “Yes I am, that’s why I’m staying here.”

Misha: “Oh, you’re not from Sydney?”

Me: “Yes I am.”

Misha: “Oh…..”

Pause. I suddenly felt awkward and thought maybe I should leave him alone.

Me: Well I’ll....”/Misha “Where…”

Me: “Oh sorry, what were you going to ask?” I kinda grabbed his arm at this point.

Misha: “No, no it’s ok.”

Me: “No, sorry, I interrupted you.”

Misha: “I was going to ask where in Sydney you’re from?”

Me: “Oh, the Northern Beaches”

Misha: “Oh I went there last time, it’s beautiful.”

Me: “Yep I grew up there it’s only about 40 minutes away but I thought I’d stay in the city for the convention you know make a weekend of it have a mini-break.” Ooops forgot to breathe and I was beginning to babble.

Misha: “Oh, nice.” Small awkward silence. Shuffle. Shuffle.

Me (soldiering on): “Are you travelling with your family?”

Misha: “No, I’m flying solo, but my mother is meeting me in Melbourne.”

Me: “Oh that’s lovely!”

Misha: “Yes it will be.”

Me: “So are you off to do some sight seeing?” (So much for not bugging him!)

Misha: “Yes I’m about to.”

Me: “Oh well enjoy, at least it’s stopped raining”

Misha: “Yes, yesterday wasn’t very nice”

Me: “I know, sorry about that.” He laughed. “The morning was nice though.”

Misha: “Yes, it was lovely in the morning, I got to go out and enjoy it.”

Okay……. we’d resorted to talking about the weather…it was time to go!

Me: “Well… I better let you go, I’ll see you tonight.”

Misha: “I’ll look forward to it.” Smiles. Winks.

Me: *Dies*

Then I walked off, grinning like a freakin’ idiot.

I waited while the dude at the bakery heated up a vegie pie for me. I was kind of buzzing all over the place. I kept giggling! The pie dude was looking at me like I was an insane person. I was bouncing on the spot with a crazy smile plastered across my face! Then, pie in hand I went back to the hotel. As I walked down the stairs into the lobby…well looky here…there’s Richard!

I went through the whole thing again. Should I say something? He was standing and Misha was sitting talking to some guy. So as I walked past Richard I said, “Hi Richard!” all bright and nonchalant.

Now Richard actually recognises me from the conventions. He recognised me in Burbank and when we talked at the autographs he asked if he’d be seeing me in Australia and I said yep in Sydney and we had a short chat about how it was going to be his first time downunder and he hoped he would get a few days here to look around. So Richard turns around and goes…

“Hey! Hi! It’s good to see you! How you doing?”

(Misha looked up at this point…he probably thought, oh no!)

Me: “I’m good. Welcome! I’m really looking forward to the weekend.”

Richard: “Thank you. Me too we’re going to have a blast.”

Me: “Yep”

Then Richard kind of looked over at Misha and back to me, like…wait did you see Misha.

Me: “Misha and I have already said hi, we ran into each other earlier.”

Misha waved.

Richard: “Oh, ok. Will you be at the party tonight?”

Me: “Yep I will.”

Richard: “Great.”

Me: (learning finally) “Ok I’ll leave you guys to it. See you tonight.”

I waved at Misha, he waved back.

I walked to the lift laughing and shaking my head. Random. So totally random to run into them like that! Talk about a fantastic start to the weekend!

My plan was to have a little nap before the evening event, but as you could well imagine, that plan went out the window in a flurry of fan-girl excitement. Instead I sort of stalked around my hotel room not knowing what to do with myself! At 5.30 I headed down to the bar, tweeting a couple of pals who were also staying in the hotel, asking them to meet me down there.

Now…this is the thing, as much as I love and adore meeting the cast, one of the highlights of attending a Supernatural convention, especially one in my hometown, is catching up with my fellow fans. I see these people every day on twitter and Facebook, so though we may not have seen each other for a year or maybe two or maybe have never officially met, we all feel like friends. It really is one of the most wonderful and gratifying things about this crazy Supernatural journey…the friends that you make along the way.

The cocktail party was due to kick off at 7.30. This year they had pushed tables together so there were only 5 set-ups for the 5 guests. We all grabbed out seats…I chose to sit opposite where the guest would be sitting.

From where I was, I could see them coming up the stairs towards the function room…then they were there…then they were being introduced…then they were sitting with us. We were blessed with Misha’s company first.


He said hi to everyone and said to me, “I’ve already seen you.” He kicked off his time with us by tossing cherry tomatoes at Richard at the neighbouring table. He then chatted about Vivid, which is the light show Sydney was hosting. We screen crazy lights all over some of the buildings around the harbour. He said it looked like the buildings were on acid and also that it looked like an American Apparel ad. I said, really that’s not great and he looked at me and said no it’s great and said something about young girls in skimpy outfits and then said to me “You’d like that.” I said…”Errrr I think you may be confused…” and he turned to my friends and said “What, she doesn’t like American Apparel?” I was left thinking, Misha thinks I like girls? Of course he was teasing me. I’m pretty sure he could tell by the way I flailed in his pretty presence that I was more likely to be partial to him. But seriously, the man is an oddity. He then talked about how he still hasn’t seen a kangaroo, except dead on the side of the road. We told him they are nasty anyway, well, the big ones will take you down and that he should go to the zoo and see one there. He was totally unimpressed. Then he made fun of a lad at our table called Dean. He was flummoxed that this guy’s name was actually Dean. He said Dean was in for a good weekend! Dean had come all the way from Kuwait. to Sydney for the event. I follow Dean on twitter, so I know him a little. Dean basically became the one that the cast members tortured all weekend! By the end of the convention, everyone knew Dean!

Each cast member sat at our table for about, I don’t know, 15 or 20 minutes or so. A lot better that the 90 seconds you get at the Creation events! But then there were only about 60 people at the VIP/Platinum cocktail party compared with around 300 at a Creation Gold cocktail party…

Anyhooo, when Richard joined us he talked about Sydney. He’d walked the length of the city, right down to the harbour to see the Opera House. You can do that in Sydney, it’s compact and flat. He talk about how he loved cities you could walk around, like Vancouver. He talked a little about the conventions and the karaoke, he talked to me quite a bit when discussing these because he recognises me from the Creation events.


Traci talked about all the animals she’d met when she went to Featherdale, which is a wildlife habitat. We also talked about her poor rib. She’d put something out and was in quite a bit of pain. She’d seen someone for an adjustment but it was still hurting her every time she breathed, though you’d never know it. We also chatted about how a few of my friends on the table with me had Skyped her and Chad about a year ago and the upshot of that was that she’d dragged me on to the stage at LACon 2011 to hug the life out of me, because my friends had told her to! Traci is just magnificent. A beautiful looking woman, whose spirit simply shines through. She hugged us all and she called me sister all weekend. 


Corin…ah Corin. Corin of the neverending grin. What a lovely, lovely guy…and very nice lookin’! I’d met him in Chicago last year, but having the chance to sit and chat to him was wonderful. He is simply adorable, there’s no other word for it. We all fell in love with Corin. I found out he’s a graffiti artist. I had no idea! I asked if gets commissions and he said he often pays for the opportunity to have him and his crew paint murals around LA. They love what they do that much. Like on a wall in a poor neighbourhood so that the kids don’t look out the window at bricks but at a painting of trees and sky. I asked where this all started and he said back in his break dancing days! So I asked if he had a break dancing name…and he does, it’s Kid Cruz (or maybe Cruise I didn’t ask how to spell it). He’s awesome. Each and every one of us that attended AHBL3, left smitten with Corin Nemec.

Jim had been on the convention whirlwind and Australia was the last stop in a pretty big commitment. Jim also teased Dean quite a bit! Poor Dean, he was sitting next to the guest so he really did cop it. Jim talked about Bobby and how he has no idea as to whether he will be back or not and this time for real, he’s not faking us out. Of course he’s very hopeful he will, but he really doesn’t know. He said the writers had only just got back together last week to start planning and writing season 8.

There was a time limit on the cocktail party, but it was pretty cruisey. Jim and Corin actually stayed for quite a while after the rest of the cast had left. A few of us went to the bar downstairs for a night cap where we saw Richard and Misha obligingly taking photos with a whole lot of fans. Then they escaped into the night, one would assume to have a feed, though Misha did eat a couple of satay sticks at the cocktail party…and we swear, he ate 2 but only one stick remained. I was reminded of the bizarre napkin-stealing incident at the last Aussie con. Even Misha was spun out by that!

Being Platinum meant that the next morning we also got to have breakfast with the cast. Now this is not like the Js breakfast where they do a panel. At this one the guests literally sit and have breakfast with us! This time around we were split into 2 tables. There were only around 30 Platinum ticket holders, which was awesome.


Misha and Richard sat first at the table I was on. These two really get along well by the way. They’re obviously great mates and they totally feed off each other. It’s the comedy stylings of Misha and Richard. Misha was trying to tweet a video of Richard and his Blundstones (Aussie boots), which I admit I still haven’t seen! He was having great difficulty getting the tweet out and while he was struggling, Richard told the story behind the video. Richard has a very old pair of brown Blundstones and while he was out shopping he picked himself up a new pair of black ones. He was going to head out with Misha to check out the town and the Vivid light show, but Misha decided he needed a nap, so passed. Richard also took what he called a powernap and then got up and decided to head into town. He got dressed in the dark. He was walking down the street thinking, wow this city feels weird, like it has a weird feel under foot. He was doing these goofy movements to illustrate, Misha was opposite him grinning like crazy. Anyway, Richard finally looks down at his feet and realises he has two odd boots on. In the dark, he’d put on one old brown boot and one new black boot. He was out in Sydney wearing odd shoes. He rang Misha to see if he was up and what he was doing. Misha was out buying sunglasses! Richard was like, WHAT? He thought Misha was still asleep. So not only had Misha bumped Richard for a nap, but then he’d slipped out without Richard knowing! So Richard told Misha about the shoes and Misha said he was going to a pub and to meet him there. Richard headed towards the pub, map in hand. He went to cross the road and realised the lights were about to change, so at the last minute, he decided to make a dash for it. As he ran, his new Blundstone boot…the black one…slipped out from under him with it’s shiney new sole and he face planted in the middle of the road! He said he went down, two different colour boot clad feet flailing in the air and map skidding out in front of him…arms out…spread eagled! He even grazed his knuckles! By this stage we’re all in tears as he acts out his tumble. Misha was thoroughly enjoying this story too! Richard gathers himself up and makes his way to the pub. When he walks in, he sees Misha is talking to a couple of locals and the first thing Misha does is point at Richard’s feet and say “See….you don’t dress like that around here do you?” Poor Richard, grazed knuckles, odd boots and then Misha to contend with! Honestly, it was such a great story, complete with actions and Misha giggling across the table! I totally adore these two. By the way, Richard still had the odd boots on at the cocktail party, but no one noticed. Mind you, we weren’t exactly looking at his feet….


When Jim sat with us he talked a bit more about Bobby. He said as much as he didn’t like the fact that they killed him off, he did admire the balls it took to do it. He understood the drama and he liked how the writing team took the angle of stripping everything away from Sam and Dean in order to force them back together again. He thought that was great story telling. He wasn’t so keen on the whole ghost Bobby thing. He’d rather have not been a ghost and he hopes that somehow the writers find a way to bring Bobby back and not just in flashback, not just because Jim values his job but because he loves working on the show so much. Jim also discussed his long time in the writing book on the original Superman, George Reeves and how Jim had learnt German for his great grandfather, but then never got the chance to speak to him in that language. He did get a chance to use a smattering of it though, when he was at AECon3 recently.

Corin was sitting opposite Jim at this time. The thing about Corin is, I don’t think he knows many of the cast that well, so he asks just about as many questions as we do! He’s really interested. He was fascinated by Jim’s George Reeves book project. When Traci came and sat opposite Corin, they had an epic conversation about Yoga, Chakras, metaphysics, low-level vibration therapy and India! Corin talked about his experience of making a movie in India and how confronting the poverty was. I have to say, I could have listened to Traci and Corin for hours. They are both very smart, connected, articulate people. Oh and Traci’s mum used to call her Taz, after the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character. I say this only because she saw a Tassie Devil for the first time during this visit and was quite surprised by it’s bizarre appearance and wondered out loud what her mum was thinking! Bless.

Having this time with the cast was fantastic. The breakfast in particular was so laid back it afforded us a great opportunity to have a relaxed chat with these wonderful people and get to know them a little more.

When the breakfast was over, the next stop was the convention proper, which was about 20 minutes away by car.

Well that’s it for part 1! It’s just such a truly special experience to be able to sit and natter to these people we all care for so much. I tried my best to remember most of what was discussed, but I’m sure I missed a lot!

Part 2 will be the panels! And I took notes…so hold on to your hats!

Thanks for reading…see you soon as AHBL3 continues with…

Cossack dancing, sing-a-longs and penis t-shirts.