2010 Parsippany Salute to Supernatural

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may recall that in March 2009 I got to go to the Creation Entertainment Salute to Supernatural (link is to my post last year) in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Jared was supposed to go and canceled at the last minute, but in my report, I called it the best weekend of my life (amended to top five, because...you know).

Number One (my oldest daughter, turning 15 tomorrow) and I saved up the money for tickets, but we weren't going to go this year unless Jared and/or Jensen was going to be there. Except she really wanted to go anyway, and it was a week before her birthday, so I was prone to saying yes. When they announced ticket sales and the only guests were the Ghostfacers, we (me and Lori and Megan, my compatriots from last year) were on the fence. But we wanted the Gold Package, we wanted row C, so we caved and bought tickets.


Then they announced Misha. And slowly, over the next several months, Richard (Trickster), Alona (Jo), Samantha Smith (Mary), Aldis (Jake), Rob (Chuck), and Katherine (the last Lilith). So that was cool. Not thrilling, but cool. Then one of the Ghostfacers backed out—Ed, I think. No, Harry. No, Ed. Oh, who cares? It meant one Ghostfacer. We were hoping for Jason Manns again, but we got Steve Carlson. Who was fine! I don't want to offend Steve Carlson fans. :) But I like Jason better. Over the next seven months, we had several bitter conversations about how Jared and Jensen hate us, and then they started filming and would have canceled at the last minute anyway. I don't know which would be worse. It was a lot of money for no Js.

Then Richard and the other Ghostfacer backed out two days before the convention, and I was muy disappointed. They added Matt Cohen (Young John Winchester) and Fredric Lehne (Yellow Eyes), which was cool. But honestly, last week, I wasn't excited. I looked forward to a trip away, and time with my friends, and a unique experience with my daughter, but the rest...meh.

So guess what happened?

It was better than last year.

I'm going to do the same thing I did last year: post my personal experiences, instead of reiterating stuff that's been all over the web for a week already. I don't have a lot of pictures to post, because we were too far from the stage and they mostly came out dark or blurry or you can barely tell who they are. Kayleigh from last year (with her sister Mallory) was right up front and posted some great photos and notes.

The Highlights
In case some of our readers don't troll the web or have Google alerts set up, I have to tell you that Fred is going to be back on Supernatural! He teased it on Friday, and credited us (the fans) for making it possible, then said flat out on Saturday that he was filming this week. So he'll be showing up early in the season.

I suggest everyone over 18 Google "Fred Lehne hamster pile Twister."

And check out reports of Misha's first stage session, especially.

Matt Cohen gave free hugs for two days. He gives good hugs.

Observations from Stage Time
Everyone was great. Funny, sweet, engaging. They all seemed really happy to be there. You could tell who had done this a lot (Misha) and who was new (Katherine). The new people were a little more guarded, though not in a "hold back" kind of way, more in a "what are they going to do to me" kind of way.



I loved Matt Cohen as Young John (or Baby John, as Megan calls him), but wasn't that fussed about him. He's about a million times cuter and more charismatic in person. Even if you think he's adorable or hot or whatever...until you meet him, you have no idea. Hooooooo, boy!

I was surprised how many of the actors are from NJ originally. Fred, Mary Samantha, and Aldis, and maybe one other person, I'm not sure.

There were a lot more people there this year, right from the beginning, and more guys (probably due to there being more female guests). We saw tons of familiar faces. The most obnoxious people weren't there (we had a new one, but I won't talk about her...). I'm still bad at social interaction, but managed to muddle my way through a few conversations. *waves at Kayleigh and Mallory*

The One-on-Ones
We actually had a lot less one-on-one time with the stars this year. But somehow, that didn't make it less of an experience. The karaoke party was more official, and Alona and Matt emceed and sang with some of the brave souls. Number One took too long to pick a song, though, and she got called up on stage two songs after they left. :(

Lori's husband's club membership got us rooms on the top floor, which is of course where the celebrities stayed. I had three encounters with them:

Encounter One

Random Man Walking Down the Hall with Woman Who Dropped a Piece of Paper: Hey. How ya doin'?

Me: *polite smile* "Great, thanks. How are you?"

Man: *smiles back, friendly* "I'm awesome."

*beat*

Me: *OMGTHAT'SFRED* "You were great today!"

Fred (over his shoulder): "Thanks!"

Me: "No, thank you!"

Encounter Two

Steve Carlson Passing Me in the Hall: "Hey."

Me: "Hey."

Encounter Three

Saturday night, very late, Lori, Number One, and I caught a 1.345-second glimpse of Matt crossing the hall from one room to another. Megan had walked in the other direction and our whispered screams for her attention didn't reach that far. No dialogue on that one.

I reiterate my assertion from last year: The Gold Package is the only way to go! Dessert Party, Concert, Breakfast, AND a far shorter wait time for autographs.

So here were my one-on-one experiences:

Misha Collins
In his first Q&A session, he didn't give a single straight answer to anyone. It was all craziness. SO different from last year! At the autographing, I asked at what point (between last year's con and this one) he went insane. He said it was always there, but latent. We talked a little about how it's more fun, etc., and he agreed that it curbs the boredom of the same questions over and over again. He went a little straighter on the second day. It must have been the tie.



I hardly remember what Misha talked to us about at the dessert party, besides the awfulness of the pie. Oh, yeah, he commented on how the four of us seem to belong together. LOL Then he left his pie at our table.



We won't say any more about that.

Matt Cohen
Matt is one of those guys who is so good-looking, and who works so hard at maintaining his hotness, that he's very obviously aware of it and his effect on people. But he also managed to seem sincerely appreciative of our appreciation and was even slightly red a couple of the times he claimed to be blushing.

When someone at the mike said she was nervous, he got all up in her face, teasing her, then hugged her in consolation/comfort. So then the next person said she was nervous, so he hugged her, and then he said he thought we needed more hugs in the world, so he hugged every person who came up to ask a question, every person who got a photo op, and every person at the dessert party. When he came to our table, I asked if he regretted it yet, and he said no, his arms weren't tired, his chest didn't hurt. I said, "Yeah, but three or four conventions from now..." and he said "Maybe it will just be a New Jersey thing."

So you know what that means. Put July 8-10, 2011, on your calendars right now. :)

Matt charmed us so much we all pitched in for a second photo op and all got in the picture. We bought two ops, plus the jpegs, and Chris, the photographer I mentioned last year who's so freakin' cool, made extra prints for us on site. The second photo was a little more candid and a brilliant reminder of the awesome weekend.

Aldis Hodge
Poor Aldis. He finished filming in Portland at 3:00 a.m. Saturday and flew to Jersey to be on stage and then in the photo ops and autographing, then he was at the dessert party until 12:30. I asked him around 6 if he'd slept all day, and he hadn't. Number One started to tell him, as he signed her poster, that she hadn't been watching Leverage but was about to start, but she pronounced it LEE-verage out of habit, and he teased her. :)

I can't remember what he talked about at our table. Not having time for TV, I think, because I said "well what are you doing, cool stuff like inventing watches and building violins?"

Yes, I am lame.

Samantha and Katherine
They were at the breakfast on Sunday, and I was so intimidated by Samantha's beauty and grace and so taken by Katherine's sweetness that once again, I can't remember what we talked about with them! Megan will remember, as she carried the conversations, as she always does.

I have a very hard time not calling Samantha Mary.

We didn't get one on one with Alona, except for Number One, who got a photo op with her, then endured many comments that they could be sisters. She was told to dress like Jo for the costume contest next year. :)

I'm going to wrap it up there, leaving you with my favorite fan vid of the weekend. The creator won a prize with it, as well as with a pop-up book she created for the centerpiece contest. It had a winged Castiel, the Impala, and a column of light (really lit!) in the convent. She's very talented. :)



So you all must join us next year! Okay, I don't know if I'm going yet, it depends. I have absolutely no hope Jared or Jensen will decide the Northeast is worth their presence, but now I know Creation and the guests they do get will guarantee us a good time.

My Supernatural-related Christmas Wishes

I had lunch yesterday with the friends I’m attending the New Jersey Salute to Supernatural convention with in July.  I’d like to say we’re beyond excited, but at this point we’re just apprehensive.  I mean, I love AJ Buckley and Travis Wester, and look forward to seeing them, but I wouldn’t spend $369 plus travel and hotel to see them.  The con is a long way away, and at this point last year, for the con in March, they didn’t have many more guests booked.  But they did have Jared Padalecki.  So we’re kind of resigned to not having either of the two biggies at the con.  They’re booked for LA in March and Vancouver in August, so…our hopes aren’t high.  Which sucks.  But we made the decision to go for it anyway—there’s always hope, right?  So we were discussing who we’d want to attend.

The Big Obvious

The ones we agreed we want most are:

1. Jason Manns

2. Misha Collins

3. Jim Beaver

Forget Steve Carlson and Christian Kane.  Actually, I’m okay with Christian Kane, but only as a consolation prize.  It’s got to be Jason.  And I don’t like country music.  So.

Misha’s awesome on stage, and I imagine he’ll be even better, now that he has a couple of conventions under his belt.  And Jim Beaver knows exactly how to handle us fans.

Second Tier

These guys are almost as obvious:

1. Richard Speight Jr.

Besides being just a super-nice guy, very smart, and very funny, he has an expanded role this season.  I think both he and we would enjoy having new topics for questions.

2. Todd Stashwick

Again, stage genius.  We don’t need anything new that’s show-related.  He’s just fun.

3. Mark Pellegrino

No party is complete without Lucifer, right? (said firmly tongue in cheek—calm down, P. Diddy)

Any of the rest

I’d love Gabe Tigerman (Andy) and Chad Lindberg (Ash) again.  Besides the fact that redacted spoiler, which would make Chad even more interesting, Gabe is RSJ part B.  Sweet and fun and super-nice guy.

Any of the women of the show would be cool.  Other cons have put Tracy Dinwiddie (Pam), Alona Tal (Jo), and Julie McNiven (Anna) on stage, to good report.  Samantha Smith (Mary) and Samantha Ferris (Ellen) would be even better.

How about Jake Abel (Adam), Malik Whitfield (Henricksen), or Steven Williams (Rufus)?  Of the three, I’d ask for Williams.  He seems like he’s got lots of tales to tell. :)

So, to Recap…

My letter to Santa begs him to line up Jared and Jensen.  Barring that, I want as many actors as they can get, plus Jason Manns.  But what about you?  What’s your dream convention line-up? :)

This Week's Supernatural News

Since news is light this week (and a lot of it is related to slipping ratings--but we won't talk about that), let's start with the pretty...

Remember that issue of Entertainment Weekly last spring that got the whole "final season" conversation started? All of the photos from the shoot have been released (or accessed/stolen/snuck out/whatever). Here are a couple of my favorites:



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Jensen Ackles is rumored to be attached to the 2010 movie Resident Evil: Afterlife with Milla Jovovich (confirmed) and Eva Mendes, Ali Larter, and Jason O'Mara (all rumored). I haven't been a huge fan of the RE movies, but I did go see Resident Evil: Apocalypse becuase Oded Fehr was in it. How can I do less for Jensen?

Jensen also gets a mention in this We Are Movie Geeks article about making a movie about The Flash. It's a brief mention, referencing Jensen losing the Green Lantern casting battle as a popular underdog, with a half-sentence speculation about his suitability for this role. I also saw some polls including him for the Captain America role, which of course is fan speculation rather than industry info, but it's fun to contemplate. I for one would love to see either J get a superhero gig. Or a romantic comedy, for pity's sake!

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Two Entertainment Weekly issues ago, the Must List contained a reader-supplied description of Supernatural. It would be nicer if they'd mention the show every week in the Must Watch section (which they did do in the latest issue), or even half as often as they talk about Gossip Girl, but every little mention helps!

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This isn't news, it's gossip, although it's at least confirmed gossip. :) Since so many of us Supernatural fans are also Joss Whedon fans, I thought it worth a mention:

Alan Tudyk (Wash from Firefly, Alpha from Dollhouse) and Adrianne Palicki (Jessica from Supernatural, Tyra on Friday Night Lights) are dating! Adrianne is also currently filming Red Dawn with Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

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2010 conventions are being announced all over the world! In the U.S. (+Vancouver), Creation Entertainment has the most events. They've got Chicago this November, then LA, New Jersey, and Vancouver scheduled for next year. (LA and Vancouver sold out their Gold Package tickets already!) There will also be Jus in Bello in Rome in April, Brazil in May, and Asylum in the UK, also in May. A source for lots of information on cons is the Supernatural Wiki.

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And finally, for those of you who aren't trying to keep completely spoiler free, this link has a clip and TV spot from this week's show.

Salute to Supernatural

I am recovering from the best weekend of my life.

Okay, I keep saying that, then I have to revise it and say top five, because I'm sure I've had other weekends that I felt the same way about. But seriously.

The. Best. Weekend.

I'm just going to hit the highlights here, because I could ramble on forever and that works much better on my personal blog than it does here. :) These highlights are HIGH, baby. Then, if you want more detail, you can head over to my regular blog, where I'll have daily posts about my experience.

One thing you won't get from me either here or there is a transcript of what everyone said, because I didn't record it nor did I retain it so well. I'm going to stick mostly to my personal experience, because no one else had it but me.

Okay, first, if you would believe it--the best moment of the event was Friday night at karaoke. I and my friends Megan and Lori:



sat at a table and said hi to the women sitting there, and congratulated Kayleigh, who had won a contest. We talked a little, she asked if I was on any message boards, I mentioned Supernatural Sisters, and...guess what? SHE READS US!! I was high half the night on that! :) So here's a shot of Kayleigh and me. She and her sister Mallory (I'm pretty sure it's her sister) are just the sweetest people ever, and I hope I get to see them again next year (but more on that later).



Surprise Number One--The Crowd

We figured a con in Jersey would be pretty intimate, with maybe less craziness than a big venue like LA or Chicago, but we still expected more than there was. There was one woman who was over-the-top obnoxious, and another who (seems to have) lied to us to cut the line, and one who asked Richard Speight, Jr., his opinion on Wincest (the crowd reaction apparently was enough to keep her in line after that, and she asked excellent questions otherwise).

I am NOT a social creature. I have my friends-who-are-like-me and otherwise, it's painful to strike up a conversation with a stranger. So Friday and Saturday went by without me saying a single word to the guy next to me. But that changed Saturday night, when we hung out in the bar, and Mike and his aunt Darlene were super-cool. *waves* We talked to some random people in line a couple of times, too. I didn't get/can't remember names, so this is a general shout-out to y'all. Hope to see you next year, too (more on that later).

Surprise Number Two--The Creation Staff

I'm not sure what I expected. I mean, they charge $7.25 in "freight" per ticket, even if those tickets are sent to you by e-mail. The SAME e-mail. Instead of doing a lottery with a flat rate for backstage passes and the (canceled) lunch with Jared, they auction them off, and the money isn't for charity. But when Jared canceled, I got all my money back for the photo op, including the freight charge. They allowed people who'd bought Saturday tickets to see Misha to exchange them when he got moved to Sunday. And they offered a significant discount (ostensibly due to the cancellation) off next year's con if you booked before the weekend was over. But more on that later.

The staff and volunteers were incredibly nice and welcoming people. They recognized us from one event to the next (and from almost running us down in the parking lot! LOL) and were really down to earth and personable. The guy emceeing everything teased people and made jokes and basically acted like he was one of us. The company has been around, I found out, since 1971, and they do a really great job.

Finally, Chris, the photographer, is superfantabulous. He takes really great photos, moves everything along really well but doesn't make you feel rushed or like an object instead of a person, AND, when he heard me lament that I'd blinked in the photo with Jim Beaver, told me he'd fix it and send me a new copy. I mean, how supercool is that?!

Surprise Number Three--The Access

Now, I'm sure things are different for Jensen and Jared (who?). They're kept protected from the insane freaks by also being protected from us nice, smart, reasonable, well-behaved fans. And indeed, things were very different on Sunday than they were Friday and Saturday. For the dessert reception Saturday night and the breakfast on Sunday, we got two minutes with each celebrity. But still, that up-close-and personal moment? SO worth the Gold Package. Seriously, you have to get it. But more on that later...

Anyway, on Sunday everything was very tightly scheduled, especially after Jim Beaver threw everything off first thing. :) It's photo op, photo op, speakerspeakerspeaker, autographing, go home. That creates a slight distance between the group of us down here and the guests Up There. Still, you don't get rushed through the autograph line, you can chat with them, and they all act like they want to chat. Poor Traci Dinwiddie was really tired, really sick, and really sweet and funny. The staff made sure she got through things as quickly as possible so she could rest.

But on Friday and Saturday...

This is my very favorite shot of the weekend:



That's Gabriel Tigerman, who played Andy in the episodes "Simon Said" and "All Hell Breaks Loose Part I." ALL the guests were nice, personable, awesome people who gave us more than we really deserve. But Chad Lindberg (Ash), Richard Speight, Jr. (The Trickster), and Gabriel Tigerman (Andy) went way beyond.

First, Friday night, Chad and Jason Manns (the musician) weren't leaving right away, so they showed up at karaoke. Then Richard appeared--he'd arrived in preparation for his event the next morning--and after about an hour or so, we got up the nerve to edge our way over and talk to them. We spent a good 10 minutes or more with Chad and Jason, then gave way to talk to other people and caught Richard, with whom we discussed all kinds of things, including television and the broken advertising model and stuff. Chad wandered back over and joined us, and by 1:20 a.m. we had a crowd surrounding us--I think (hope!) they were trying to hear, because, you know, we were so brilliant--and we only stopped when the handlers said the guys needed to get up early and we had to let them go.

We had elevator time with both Richard and Gabe, and Saturday night, we hung in the bar for a while after the dessert party, and they showed up, as did Jason Manns and Todd Stashwick. Misha Collins (Castiel) and Malik/Charles Malik Whitfield (Agent Henricksen) spent some time in there, too, but not when we were there.

We were really super lucky. Not everyone got these opportunities. Not too many people went to karaoke, because it started at 11:00 p.m., and not many people were in the bar (though plenty were in the lobby). We were in the right spot, and made ourselves available, and of course being fun and articulate didn't hurt. Nor did Megan's awesome boots. They were quite memorable. :)

What Wasn't a Surprise

1. Jason Manns. He had a turn on stage, and did his concert, and he sounded as amazing in person as he does in the studio. His talent is...well, okay, "unsurpassed" is probably too much of a superlative, but there isn't anyone I'd rather see perform. He spent a lot of time with us, too, during the autographing time on Friday, and didn't mind all the silly women asking for hugs. Oh, wait, there was one surprise about Jason. He's BIG. Everyone thought he'd be smaller, but he's easily Jensen Ackles' height, and quite built.

2. Misha Collins is beautiful.



Lori got much better pictures with her much better camera with the much better zoom, but it doesn't matter. His extreme beauty in person is etched in my brain, never to be worn away. Plus, she gave me copies.

3. Everyone was so entertaining!

They all had great answers to the questions they were asked, they kept the flow going, and they were willing to tell embarrassing stories and/or tell us no when they didn't want to do or say something. And they were all different.

Jim was Bobby Singer if he'd never become a hunter and had a second-grader he totally doted on.

Malik was being all spiritual and inspirational one minute, making toilet/swirly jokes the next or claiming Misha was going to strip for us.

Traci was shy, but put herself fully in our hands and trusted us to treat her kindly, then went all the way and had one of the top stories of the night.

Todd has such a broad and varied career, including stand-up, that he just got up there and put on a show. Every minute was entertaining, even those that were serious.

Chad had the toughest time, being on Friday with half the crowd, not getting enough questions, and some of them being really tough for someone who spent a handful of episodes on the show two years ago.

Okay, I think I've rambled on long enough. Now for la pièce de résistance...

This One's For You...

Everyone please thank Terri Clark for inspiring me to be bold (and find a way to expense the trip!). It's all WAY tentative, because even though everyone agreed, we still have to make the connections and follow through. But Terri will be interviewing Jim Beaver for Supernatural Sisters, and I have already received e-mail from Richard Speight, Jr.'s manager to do one with him. If we're lucky, we'll have several sprinkled over the next few months, probably scheduled during the next hiatus to keep us all from drying up in withdrawal.

Please send questions for any of the stars who were at the convention to natalie AT nataliedamschroder DOT com so we can do some kick-ass interviews!

AND, we have a nice little prize package that we're putting together and will hold some kind of contest for in the coming weeks.

Sooooo...that's the highlights. Can you imagine if I gave details? If you want me to elaborate on anything, or have questions, please comment! I could talk about this forever, and if I do it here, my husband will personally thank each and every one of you. :)

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OH, I almost forgot! Creation plans to hold a Salute to Supernatural in Parsippany, NJ, in July 2010. No one is booked yet, but my oldest kid, a fan, is extremely jealous of me and we are already saving our money for the day they officially announce tickets are on sale and, hopefully, that Jared and Jensen are booked. So stay tuned and keep an eye out for that!