Saturday, November 29, 2008

Chicago TARDIS 2008 - Day Three

Alcohol to replenish the Magical Bucket of Booze...$37.86

Lis Sladen Autograph...$20.00

Clear Eyes Triple Action Eye Drops...$2.16

Having to buy the Clear Eyes because your mind was broken last night by some information that wouldn't have broken you so much if you weren't piss drunk and when later in the evening you were imagining a scenario involving said mind breaking information, with your glasses off and managing to nick your eye with the corner of the fucking program schedule....Priceless

You probably want me to fill in the blanks, don't you?

Day three would start with us standing in line to get our packets. Apparently I wasn't cool enough to rate a pre-printed name badge. I don't feel so bad though because Dan had gotten his stuff in July and hadn't gotten a pre-printed name badge either. Then it was on to the races trying to figure out how to work through the damn scheduling conflicts.

It turned out to be a Big Finish/Writers day as I traveled back and forth between rooms to either see a Big Finish related panel, get autographs from the Big Finish gang, or listen to some of the writers talk about their craft. Autographs came first and it was nice to once again thrill and provide chuckles for the guests as they saw their younger selves in the Big Finish Audio book. As always, the Benny gang of Lisa Bowerman, Paul Cornell, Simon Guerrier, and Rob Shearman were pleasure to chat as the autograph line moved. It was my first time meeting India Fisher and Jason Haigh-Ellery and both are kind and gracious. And as a bonus I got Lisa to do a personal inscription on an item for Tim.

During the Benny panel Paul talked about the fact that he's in discussion to come back and do some work on Benny in a couple of years along with mention of the tenth season. Before you ask, nothing was specifically mentioned about the tenth season, just that we can expect one.

India Fisher had me in stitches during the Big Finish panel. She is just a laugh riot and tons of fun. Most of that session involved talking about the upcoming Key 2 Time series.

The various writers panel were great for those aspiring writers/authors. Rob Shearman's session was basically him holding court discussing how ugly the World Fantasy Award is and the early days of the new series when they were trying to push the boundaries of what the BBC would let them do. Simon went into a bit of how he got to where he was as an author, his influences, and the basic process of getting commissioned and doing a BBC new series book. Later in another panel he would talk about working with the 25 new writers for the Short Trips anthology. Kate Orman and Jon Blum talked a tad about writing during the New Adventures era, a story that never saw the light of day, and how they work together as a writing team.

Later on I made another run to the liquor store since the Magical Bucket of Booze was running low. For those of you in Texas think of it as a smaller Spec's. I picked up a 12 pack of Sam Adams lager and Shiner Cheer. Yes, I managed to find Shiner in Chicago. The Christmas Cheer is their dunkel with a noticeable peach aftertaste and a hint of pecans. I'm digging it but I think it might've been a tad too wonky for Simon.

There were some parties that were hit because I'm all about the Tacos of Doom and you can't avoid going to an awesome celebration for the Third Doctor. He's not my favorite, but I respect the passion of his fans for throwing that party. Anyone interested in a Benny one at Gallifrey?

Eventually my way was made back down to the lobby with the Magical Bucket of Booze by my side. Simon stopped by to partake of The Bucket for a second night. Again, this is what I love about these conventions. You can sit down in the hotel lobby, have a few beers, and chat with guests like you're old mates. There's no pretentions or vibe that they're better than you. At the heart of the matter they're also fans, just fans who got lucky to work on show they love.

It was during this point of the evening that my mind was broken. I made it up to the room with the remains of The Bucket. I plopped into bed, took my glasses off, and was speaking of that which broke my mind while flipping the convention schedule which was printed separate from the convention program. My eye normally freaks out when anything comes within a twenty mile radius of it, but apparently the booze weakened the defenses because before I knew it the damn corner of a page I was flipping knicked my eye.



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