The Black Bunny

Thursday, August 25, 2011

D*C 2011 Insanity at Jesse's!

Most pre-Dragon Con production has been at Jesse's house. Here is a pictorial sample of the carnage, work and costumes....

Friday, August 12, 2011

D*C 2011 Poor Man's Pub Crawl Schedule

Looks like an interesting evening....

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Pub Crawl is growing each year. With that in mind, I have compiled and list of suggestions, guidelines and general rules for the Poor Man's Pub Crawl.

Suggestions….
> Make sure you have eaten a decent dinner and given it time to settle before the Crawl begins.
> Limit yourself to one drink per room.

Conduct…
> If you become too drunk or obnoxious, you will be asked to leave the Crawl and you will not be invited back the next year.
> Please remember you are in someone else’s hotel room. Respect them, their property and the hotel property.

Protocol…
> If you drop out of the Crawl before completing all the stops, you will drop to the bottom of next years Crawl room list.
> Each stop will be approximately 30 minutes. We will have an official timer. Time will start when the official timer arrives (not the first person) and end when the official timer calls ‘TIME’. At that time everyone must head to the next stop.

Judges…
> If you do not complete the entire Crawl, your votes will be disqualified and you will not be asked to judge the next year.
> If a room has multiple drinks being served for their theme, I suggest you sample each drink instead of having a full glass.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Geek Night at Kyle's

Last Saturday night, Kyle hosted his first Geek Night in his new house and it was a smashing success. It was attended by Jesse, Josh, Me, Darrell, Donna, Harris, Liz, DTag, Melissa, Zach and assorted others.

There were games, TV, food and PINBALL! Kyle has a fantastic pinball machine in his den. It really was the hit of the gathering!

I'm not quite sure how or why it happened but at sometime, it became all about the feet..

But that is great lead in to the shoes. Late last week, I received the Mermaid shoes. I ordered them back in June and was beginning to get a little worried about them. I knew Donna was going to Geek Night so I brought hers with me. I could not wait to see someone wearing them. They are 5 1/2 inch clear heels with what looks like water and goldfish in the 2 inch clear toe platform. What do ya think???

I LOVE them!

The rest of the evening was spent watching Dr. Horrible, socializing and playing games - Catch Phrase, Cranium and Apples to Apples. Unfortunately, Zach ended up on our team. I say unfortunately because Zach is good at these games and really enjoys playing them. On the other hand, his team mates were either tipsy or missing. At the least the one that bailed got a date out of it.

And a good time was had by all!

Friday, August 5, 2011

D*C 2011 Map

View D*C 2011 in a larger map

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Announcement about D*C 2011 Badge Transfers Deadline

The last day the D*C office will process membership transfers will be Wednesday, August 3rd. Anyone wanting to transfer membership must do so through the Dragon*Con Office. They WILL NOT be processing membership transfers at the show. Click here for more information.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

D*C 2011 – 36 Days away and counting!

As always there is lots going on this year. There will be the traditional Thursday Night Dinner, the Friday Night Poor Man’s Pub Crawl, the Black Bunny Crew will march in the parade on Saturday morning and the Masquerade viewing on Sunday night - plus the thousands of other convention events going on during the weekend.

I have heard from some people about Thursday night dinner. Right now there is a three-way tie between Meehan’s, Max Lager’s and Benihana all close to the three main host hotels. I will need to know a pseudo-concrete number by August 22 to make sure the restaurant has room for us. If you haven’t let know you are going, please do as soon as possible.

The Poor Man’s Pub Crawl is currently FULL. We have seven rooms participating and expect approximately 35 people to walk the crawl. Due to the large numbers this year, ONLY people associated with a Pub Crawl room and judges will be walking the Crawl. I will be tapping a few people (very few) as impartial judges. If you are interested, let me know.

The Black Bunny will be walking in the D*C parade on Saturday morning. I am hoping for a big turnout. If you plan on walking with us, let me know and I will add you to the list. I just want to make sure I have enough parade ribbons for everyone.

The Masquerade viewing on Sunday night will probably be planned…… sometime that Sunday morning. It will be word of mouth, or email, or text, or Facebook, or Twitter, or Google+ but it will not be on MySpace. I really don’t know yet.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

To Life, Love & Loot!

Love the new commercial!!!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Dragon*Con 2010 - Monday

Dead Dog Day. We were up and had the room completely packed by 9:30a. I went ahead and called for luggage assistance expecting a 1 ½ hr wait – that would get us checked out by 11a. Much to my surprise, there was no wait and they would be up in 10 minutes. I left Darrell with the luggage and ran over to get the car. By the time, I made it back to the Marriott, Darrell and the luggage were waiting for me. We packed up the car and went back to the parking deck. It was nice to meander around the Monday morning dregs and not have to stress about moving the luggage down. Darrell and I took one more walk through the Exhibitors Hall’s and the Dealer’s Room. I got to say good bye to my Kindra, Conner and Paul and then we were outta there. I never make it past noon at D*C on Monday. I am ready to go home. I’m tired.

The rest of my afternoon consisted of unpacking intermingled with long naps.

The next adventure, Disney!!!!!

I leave you with some random D*C pictures taken throughout the weekend…

Dragon*Con 2010 - Sunday

Sunday is normally my sleep in morning but NO not this year. I had pictures with Stan Lee at 10a. Normally, I don’t do the photos but I couldn’t pass up a picture with Lafayette from True Blood and I really don’t think I will ever see Stan Lee again.

After the photo, I wanted to hit the Walk of Fame as early as possible. I have discovered that early Sunday morning visits to the Walk of Fame means shorter lines. One of my vices is getting my DVD’s signed. This morning I was after Marty Klebba and Lee Arenberg from the Pirates movies, Nelsan Ellis and Sam Trammell from True Blood and Patricia Quinn from the Rocky Horror Picture show.

As I arrived, there was no one at Lee or Marty’s tables. I walked up and pulled out my DVD. As they were signing, I told them I had brought them a little gift and asked about their t-shirt sizes. Luckily, I had done some research for Marty’s t-shirt. I was prepared. I think they liked the Black Bunny Crew shirts. Marty was a sweetheart. He ran around the table for me to take a picture and then Lee followed suit. They were great guys.

There was a short line for Sam and Lafayette. I will admit, I was impressed by Nelsan. He took my DVD opened it up and then looked at me and said, ‘Good morning Captain’. I think he is the first celebrity to actually take time to read my D*C badge. It made me smile. Sam was just Sam. He comes across just like his True Blood character – down to earth and just a nice guy. We was even wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans.

I was about to walk out of the room when Jesse and Josh walked in. We decided to take one more stroll around to see all the celebrities before heading across the hall. On our way out, Tia Carrere bumped into Josh. He didn’t notice who it was until Jesse pointed it out.

We walked to the other side of the Hilton and walked into the smaller Walk of Fame room, I just wanted to lay eyes on the ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ cast. Larry Hagman (Major Nelson) and Bill Daily (Major Healy) definitely looked their age but Barbara Eden has aged gracefully. She is still beautiful.

Then we wandered through one of the Exhibit all’s and back through the Dealer’s Room. None of the vendor’s really stood out to me this year.

Darrell and I walked back over to Artist’s Alley in the Hyatt. That was one thing he wanted to see before the weekend was gone. I stayed awhile but was exhausted. Finally, I told him I would meet him back in the room.

I took a little nap and then started the daunting task of packing up the room. I didn’t get it all done but I made good head way.

At 3p, we had a Disney meeting. It seemed to be the only time we could all get together. We discussed meeting times, travel arrangements and all that good stuff. Dtag had some fantastic t-shirts made for us all to wear to MNSSHP and Zach brought us personalized drinks!

The main Sunday event is the viewing of the Masquerade in someones room. It is usually in my room but since Jesse had the bigger room, we all met there. I’m trying to remember how many people we had… Josh, Kyle, Jesse, Zach, me, Darrell, Kris, Jane, Chris, Julian, Patricia, Liz, Steve, Kindra, Paul and Conner. I think that was most of everybody.

The only exceptional thing about the Masquerade this year was Logan. Logan is Diana and Patrick’s son. He had been costuming as Ang, the last Airbender at D*C. Denise Crosby happen to see him, get a picture with him and told him to enter the Masquerade – she was a judge. I believe it was his first contest. He won a PS3 for Best in Show in the Children’s category. It was nothing but a room full of screams when they announced it.

The rest of the Masquerade was spent questioning costumes, wondering why there was a bored child on stage for the duration of the Masquerade and brainstorming what we could do better – in other words, a typical Masquerade viewing. At least they did play our beloved Duck Dodger’s in the 24 ½ Century. I personally think someone should go as Duck Dodgers (Daffy Duck) and ‘Eager Young Space Cadet ‘(Porky Pig) at the next D*C.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Dragon*Con 2010 - Saturday

I was up at 8a on Saturday morning. The Crew was meeting down stairs in front of the Marriott at 9:15. The parade lineup was at 9:30a. In all the years the Black Bunny has walked the D*C parade, I don’t think we have ever made it before 10a. It’s a good thing the pirates don’t walk first. We had most of the Crew for the parade. A few succumbed to the Pub Crawl hangover or babysitting and some of the Crew walked with caution trying not to succumb to the Pub Crawl ill effects. Overall, it was a great representation from the Black Bunny Crew! Let me say a huge ‘THANK YOU!!’ to everyone who walked the parade with the Bunny.

The parade was a little different this year. We couldn’t give out beads. I did get to see more but I really missed the beads. I’m want to talk to the parade coordinator and see if we can work in some beads next year. To me, it makes all the difference in the world.

After the parade, we gathered in the Pulse Loft for one last group shot. When the waves of people started pouring into the Marriott, we knew the parade was over. Darrell was a sweetheart and went to food court to grab us lunch while I headed back to the room.

After lunch, Darrell took a nap while I headed over to the Artist Alley. This was the first time Shag had attended D*C and I had lots o’stuff for him to sign. Steve V. told me the day before that Shag was only signing between 2p and 3p and I did NOT want to miss him. I got there about 1:45p and was 5th in line. I saw Steve was first. I’m glad Steve and I were both there. It allowed us get pictures of each other with him.

I have to tell you, Shag was wonderful! I had a large print, book, coaster tin and about 16 postcards. He signed them all.

I went back to the room for a little rest. After a short nap,I walked down to Jesse's room. I got to see Steve, Liz and Zach suited up for Ghostbusters and the lovely Donna visited in her Wonder Woman costume.

It wasn't long before Erik arrived for the evening. He and Darrell were getting ready in our room for the IBK Convention downstairs. It took a little time to get ready but they looked amazing!

They headed out and met up with the other IBK members and tons of pictures taken while they gave out handfuls of IBK beads.

I spent the rest of the evening looking at costumes, wandering the floor, drinking rum with Kris and hanging out with Kindra, Paul and Conner in the back corner of the Marriott.

I wasn’t there when it happened but I was told Conner experienced his first photo frenzy. Kindra has specifically dressed him in case the perfect photo opportunity presented itself and it did….

The evening lobby shot…

Dragon*Con 2010 - Friday

I was up and out early Friday morning. I went with Jesse and Kyle to the True Blood panel at 10a. The panel was fun and entertaining. The best part, I got to see my beloved Lafayette in person.

After that panel, I ran down to Froggy’s to find out when my True Blood pictures were scheduled for today. I was to be back around 1:30p. That gave me just enough time to grab lunch and get ready. I texted Kindra the time. I wanted her in the picture with me.

After the picture, I walked back up with ‘Pam’ (Kristin Bauer) from True Blood. She was very sweet and didn’t seem to want to run away from her fans like some celebrities.

I had time for a quick run through the Dealer’s Room with Jesse before I went back to the room to prepare for the Poor Man’s Pub Crawl. Darrell was a sweetheart and ran to the food court and brought dinner back to the room for me. After dinner, I began staging the Pub Crawl ribbons and mixing the Tiki Tea. I even managed to handwrite a couple of Pub Crawl schedules for those who wanted them.

At 6:15p, folks started arriving. After taking care of all the ribbons and making sure everyone had a drink, it was time for the ‘Group Photo’. There were so many participants at Tiki Tea; I had to take the photo in two parts.

Thus the Pub Crawl began. Next room was the ‘Borg’ stop. We hit a minor snafu in that there were no cups. A quick elevator ride back down to my room and a fight to get back to the ‘Borg’ room – including 4 flights of stairs – and we were back in business.

From the ‘Borg’ room, we journeyed over to the Hyatt for ‘Mardi Gras’ in the International Tower.

Next was the deadly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle room in the Radius Tower at the Hyatt. I did make a public announcement that if you had never consumed Absinthe before to BE CAREFUL, it WILL kick your butt. Some listened, some didn’t.

The TMNT won a special award for causing the most memory loss among participants – Cricket; your Fez is on the way!

Next, we journeyed, well some staggered, back to the Marriott. It was time for HELL! The Hell room was amazing. The red lighting, the dry ice and awesome drinks and lots o’spicy snacks.

Jed did some AMAZING radio clips as part of their theme but the noise level made it impossible to hear them. I did have them posted here but Gabcast blew up on me. I'll try and find a new host!

Our last stop was the Stark Industries Mixer. They went all out. Josh, Kyle, Jesse and Zach were dressed to the nines. Zach was security; your name was taken and checked at the door. The room was illuminated by the glowing ‘ice cube’ in each drink. Once all participants were present, a quick welcome was made by Jesse and Zach queued the music by asking Kyle to ‘lay down a fat beat’. That is when the AC/DC started. It was the last room full of Pub Crawl drunks. There was much socializing, friendship and things I’m sure I don’t want to know about going on in the dark.

I have to brag on Kyle and Zach as this point. Going into the room, Zach would not break character. I was trying to breeze in before everyone else and he would not let me by without giving my name and checking his list. Annoying yes but I was highly impressed. Way to go Zach!

Kyle was also incredible. If you wanted a drink, he got you a drink. If you ask him a question, you were given a quick response followed by ‘Ma’am’ or ‘Sir’. At one time I was harassing him about being so straight laced and formal and the only answer I received was ‘Yes ma’am. Thank you ma’am.’ Kudos to Kyle for staying in character for the entire Stark Industries Mixer – especially after partaking at five previous pub crawl stops.

At 10:15p, I made a grand announcement that if you were present – we had lost a few on the way – you had successfully completed the 2010 D*C Poor Man’s Pub Crawl. I told everyone I loved them but to get the hell out.

After some Pub Crawl after-party fun, it was off to bed. It was going to be an early morning for the Black Bunny Crew!