Musings on Asylum
May. 14th, 2007 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fairyd123Back from Asylum and god am I shattered! I'm always a zombie the day after a convention and today is no exception. Finally got back after getting stuck on a train for the better part of an hour because some inconsiderate bastard decided to hurl himself under a train at Milton Keynes Central (the second week in a row that this has happened to me! Is living in Milton Keynes really that bad?). Anyway I'll write a more detailed report tomorrow about the talks (especially as I was lucky enough to go to Jensen's coffee club on the Saturday) but here's a few general thoughts:
1) That attending an event which the vast majority of your flist is at is pointless if you do not make firm arrangements to meet up with said flist. I know most of you were there but heaven's knows if I met you! Saw![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
krazykipper briefly twice (and I hope that you did have a good weekend in the end because I know that when I met you you weren't really enjoying yourself and weren't quite in the right frame of mind for the event so I really hope you did have a nice time) and now that everyone is posting their piccies with Jensen I've realised that I met kayim several times on the Sunday when she was manning the autograph queues but I don't think that I met anyone else - although if you came up to the reg desk at any point on Sunday you did probably meet me! Next time I will definitely arrange to meet up with you all!
2) That working an event is a hell of a lot more tiring than simply turning up as an attendee. Hadn't really planned on working it. Arrived on the Friday and immediately got roped into helping out sorting out the reg packs and the photo session tickets, didn't do much on the Saturday but then spent most of Sunday on the reg desk except for 30 minutes when I looked after Alona as she was signing. Fun (especially as I got to know all the incredibly lovely people working it well over the course of the weekend) but exhausting. Most of the attendees had never done an event before and a fair few of them were ruder than I would have liked so dealing with some of them was quite challenging!
3) That the fanon perception that Jensen is shy, self conscious and unhappy with large crowds would appear to be total nonsense. Jensen was completely chilled all weekend and whilst he was getting seriously tired by the end he did seem to really enjoy himself and he handled himself throughout with immense good grace and charm which considering some of the batshit behaviour he had to put up with was impressive. All the people that worked behind the scenes with him said that he was incredibly sweet and good natured. He did side step every question which was even remotely personal (and geez that little Scottish girl was persistent asking him a second time how he would describe himself in a personals ad when he had already refused to answer the question in the previous days panel) but on the whole he seemed very lovely and that he was greatly enjoying himself.
4) That Jensen's girlfriend is a pretty wholesome looking, if not particularly knock out brunette who clearly is super confident in her relationship to brave a hotel full of rabid fangirls!
5)That Alona Tal looks about ten years older and a thousand times prettier in person than she ever did as Jo in Supernatural. Granted she's painfully thin, but all the actresses I meet at these things always are but I was really impressed with her when I sat with her for a while on the Sunday while she was signing autographs. She was genuine and sweet to everyone that came up to her (loads of people complimented her on how great she was in Born Under a Bad Sign), quick witted with a dry honest sense of humour. She came across as incredibly intelligent and it pained me that none of those qualities really came across at all when she was playing Jo. In reality she and Jensen looked like an age-appropriate match but on screen she looked 15 years younger.I'm not sure I'd want her back in Supernatural but she definitely deserves to have a great career.
6) But in person Nicki Aycox actually looked pretty rough. My picture with her was absolutely dreadful (I look great in it but she is doing this weird pose where her face is in profile and her hair is over one eye so she looks like a demented cyclops - which not a good look for her!)
7) That no matter how many times you try and warn people that asking a question about fanfiction is NEVER EVER a good idea there will always be some idiot who allows their curiosity to override their common sense. I see it time and time again at conventions. Some very excitable fangirl asks a question about fanfiction and the actor then essentially responds in a way which unintentionally insults the person asking the question and everyone in the room who likes fanfiction.
As entertaining as it was to hear Jensen Ackles say the word "Wincest" it was quite clear that he wasn't actually that amused by it and to be honest unless the fandom is one where slash is a canon pairing, or the actor is a laugh riot who you could be fairly certain would find such a concept hilarious actors generally aren't terribly thrilled by the notion that people are writing stories about their characters having gay sex. Every time its asked at a con the actors response is always a thinly veiled "You're a freak and why are you asking me this?" . Jensen was asked two questions - what did he think about fanfiction and what did he think about all the little joking moments in the show where people mistake Sam and Dean for a gay couple (neither question being remotely wise).
Jensen answered that some people had very disturbed imaginations. He then said that he had heard about Wincest (huge misguided cheer from the crowd) and that he knew about it because Kim Manners had told him about it. (Jensen in a very ironic tone) "Yeah me and Jared had a real laugh about that one." He then said that he hoped his grandmother never ever read any such stories.
He then went on to answer the gay couple question by saying that Sam and Dean were brothers and that basically people liked to read subtext into relationships even though that was never what they had intended and that the gay couple jokes were Eric Kripke's way of "mocking that idea (wincest) and saying how completely ridiculous that is."
Ouch! Can't wait to read the amount of wank that will ensue as a result of that declaration!
I've always felt that fanfiction is created by fans, for fans and is very separate from what the cast and crew are doing.I love my SPN fanfic (although I don't read as much of it as I used to) and like my wincest but have never really felt the compelling urge to discuss that with Jensen as it's a very different arena than what he is doing with his interpretation of Dean. Might have been a good idea if the girl who asked the question had taken this approach!
8) That actors slinging 10 x 8's on a table in the dealer's room may not have shiny pa's to look after them. Important note to bear in mind for the future so that I don't do what I did on Sunday which was to ask the actors (thinking they were their own pa's) "This gentleman is looking for the Doctor Who actors - do you know who they are?". Terry Molloy (Davros) was thankfully highly amused and just responded "He knows who we are." while Anna Hope (Novice Haim in New Earth and Gridlock) did a "I can't believe she just said that" face.
Hey you were covered in catperson make-up including cute little whiskers in Doctor Who- how the hell was I supposed to know what you actually looked like? But to make up for it I spent the rest of the day steering people towards them for autographs.
9)That paying £30 to see Jensen up close and personal in a room full of only ten people was definitely worth it (even if the coffee club only lasted about 25 minutes).
10) That as cynical and jaded as I am it was still quite upsetting to see a small part of the fan base letting the rest of us down so badly. Apart from the odd wank (which is generally fanfic related) the SPN fandom has always seemed to me to be a really nice fandom. Which is why I was quite distressed by a lot of the behaviour that I saw over the weekend.
Step forward Psycho No. 1 who has now gone down in infamy as the nutjob who assaulted Jensen. She'd already come to the attention of the security guards by pinching his ass during the photo session (something which noone else did - thankfully) and then decided it would be a good idea to literally throw herself at him - arms round his neck, legs round his waist kiss straight on his lips. That is actually sexual assault and she's damn lucky that Jensen isn't as precious as his fannon rep prior to this event suggested he might be or she would have been arrested. As it was she had to be physically wrestled to the ground and marched out of the building. She was banned from the event and will be banned from any other event that Rogue Events do as a security risk. Way to go psycho! She did write a full written apology to Jensen but hey - too little too late. He could easily have walked out after an incident like that so 710 attendees are very grateful that he didn't.
Then there was psycho No.2 who handed Jensen a note which consisted of a photo of herself naked with her room number written on the back. No present is given to Jensen without his PA checking it first as a security measure. So funnily enough Jensen didn't get psycho girl's piccie - it got ripped up and put in the bin. But she's also lucky that Jensen's pa is a consummate professional because someone less professional might have been inclined to hand the picture around or put it up somewhere for the attendees to look at. Seriously - what kind of woman has so little respect for herself that she risks her personal safety in that way?
But whilst those were extreme examples there was a lot of other behaviour which was less than impressive.
What was up with the girls who kept edging forward during the Jason Manns concert getting closer and closer to Jensen's table? We had to watch them like a hawk in case they flung themselves at him like Psycho No.1.
And what about the 50 or so "fans" who every time Jensen moved in and out of the hall acted like the paparazzi taking photos of him and practically running to follow him? It is terrible convention etiquette to take photos of the guests as they're going about their own business and personally I would ban people for that alone but in general it is just downright fucking rude to take flash photos of someone two inches away from their face so that you're flashblinding them. I've been at events where the headliners have had no security whatseoever and have merrily attended the evening parties and hung around in the bar until the early hours of the morning just chatting with the fans. Jensen needed 2 security guards and 3 staff members to keep him safe and really even that number of people wasn't quite enough to keep the scary fangirls at bay. There was no way he would have been secure at the evening parties so of course he didn't attend and nor did any of the other guests - which was a real shame.
I get that people were there for Jensen but again some of the fans were unbelievably disrespectful to the other guests. We got multiple complaints about people just having their own conversations in the hall at top volume so that they were drowning out the guests on stage. That was also a problem in the Jason Manns concert were the majority of the audience were practically yelling at each other, except when Jensen joined Jason for Crazy Love at which point you could have heard a pin drop.
I think the thing that upset me the most is that conventions are normally quite lovely fluffy fun events to attend. Conventions are all about a group of people with a common interest coming together. People come from such diverse backgrounds but they are united by a common love for one show. There's normally a real sense of community at these events and you don't screw over people in your community! I've been to events where I've seen people leave digital cameras and handbags lying around and they can come back an hour later knowing that their fellow fans won't have ripped them off.
Not at this event sadly. Over the course of the weekend about 150 people lost their registration badges. And we had a measly 2 handed in and didn't find any when we were clearing up. Which means that all the rest were kept by the attendees who found them presumably in the hope of trying to wrangle extra autographs or in the hope that they could attend all weekend if they were only a day ticket holder. And the number of people who "lost" their autograph sheets was phenomenal. Really unpleasant grasping behaviour that really wasn't nice to see.
So despite the behaviour of a small minority I did have a really fantastic weekend and am now so tired I don't quite know what to do with myself! Will write up the talks tomorrow if I'm less zombiefied by then.
1) That attending an event which the vast majority of your flist is at is pointless if you do not make firm arrangements to meet up with said flist. I know most of you were there but heaven's knows if I met you! Saw
krazykipper briefly twice (and I hope that you did have a good weekend in the end because I know that when I met you you weren't really enjoying yourself and weren't quite in the right frame of mind for the event so I really hope you did have a nice time) and now that everyone is posting their piccies with Jensen I've realised that I met kayim several times on the Sunday when she was manning the autograph queues but I don't think that I met anyone else - although if you came up to the reg desk at any point on Sunday you did probably meet me! Next time I will definitely arrange to meet up with you all!2) That working an event is a hell of a lot more tiring than simply turning up as an attendee. Hadn't really planned on working it. Arrived on the Friday and immediately got roped into helping out sorting out the reg packs and the photo session tickets, didn't do much on the Saturday but then spent most of Sunday on the reg desk except for 30 minutes when I looked after Alona as she was signing. Fun (especially as I got to know all the incredibly lovely people working it well over the course of the weekend) but exhausting. Most of the attendees had never done an event before and a fair few of them were ruder than I would have liked so dealing with some of them was quite challenging!
3) That the fanon perception that Jensen is shy, self conscious and unhappy with large crowds would appear to be total nonsense. Jensen was completely chilled all weekend and whilst he was getting seriously tired by the end he did seem to really enjoy himself and he handled himself throughout with immense good grace and charm which considering some of the batshit behaviour he had to put up with was impressive. All the people that worked behind the scenes with him said that he was incredibly sweet and good natured. He did side step every question which was even remotely personal (and geez that little Scottish girl was persistent asking him a second time how he would describe himself in a personals ad when he had already refused to answer the question in the previous days panel) but on the whole he seemed very lovely and that he was greatly enjoying himself.
4) That Jensen's girlfriend is a pretty wholesome looking, if not particularly knock out brunette who clearly is super confident in her relationship to brave a hotel full of rabid fangirls!
5)That Alona Tal looks about ten years older and a thousand times prettier in person than she ever did as Jo in Supernatural. Granted she's painfully thin, but all the actresses I meet at these things always are but I was really impressed with her when I sat with her for a while on the Sunday while she was signing autographs. She was genuine and sweet to everyone that came up to her (loads of people complimented her on how great she was in Born Under a Bad Sign), quick witted with a dry honest sense of humour. She came across as incredibly intelligent and it pained me that none of those qualities really came across at all when she was playing Jo. In reality she and Jensen looked like an age-appropriate match but on screen she looked 15 years younger.I'm not sure I'd want her back in Supernatural but she definitely deserves to have a great career.
6) But in person Nicki Aycox actually looked pretty rough. My picture with her was absolutely dreadful (I look great in it but she is doing this weird pose where her face is in profile and her hair is over one eye so she looks like a demented cyclops - which not a good look for her!)
7) That no matter how many times you try and warn people that asking a question about fanfiction is NEVER EVER a good idea there will always be some idiot who allows their curiosity to override their common sense. I see it time and time again at conventions. Some very excitable fangirl asks a question about fanfiction and the actor then essentially responds in a way which unintentionally insults the person asking the question and everyone in the room who likes fanfiction.
As entertaining as it was to hear Jensen Ackles say the word "Wincest" it was quite clear that he wasn't actually that amused by it and to be honest unless the fandom is one where slash is a canon pairing, or the actor is a laugh riot who you could be fairly certain would find such a concept hilarious actors generally aren't terribly thrilled by the notion that people are writing stories about their characters having gay sex. Every time its asked at a con the actors response is always a thinly veiled "You're a freak and why are you asking me this?" . Jensen was asked two questions - what did he think about fanfiction and what did he think about all the little joking moments in the show where people mistake Sam and Dean for a gay couple (neither question being remotely wise).
Jensen answered that some people had very disturbed imaginations. He then said that he had heard about Wincest (huge misguided cheer from the crowd) and that he knew about it because Kim Manners had told him about it. (Jensen in a very ironic tone) "Yeah me and Jared had a real laugh about that one." He then said that he hoped his grandmother never ever read any such stories.
He then went on to answer the gay couple question by saying that Sam and Dean were brothers and that basically people liked to read subtext into relationships even though that was never what they had intended and that the gay couple jokes were Eric Kripke's way of "mocking that idea (wincest) and saying how completely ridiculous that is."
Ouch! Can't wait to read the amount of wank that will ensue as a result of that declaration!
I've always felt that fanfiction is created by fans, for fans and is very separate from what the cast and crew are doing.I love my SPN fanfic (although I don't read as much of it as I used to) and like my wincest but have never really felt the compelling urge to discuss that with Jensen as it's a very different arena than what he is doing with his interpretation of Dean. Might have been a good idea if the girl who asked the question had taken this approach!
8) That actors slinging 10 x 8's on a table in the dealer's room may not have shiny pa's to look after them. Important note to bear in mind for the future so that I don't do what I did on Sunday which was to ask the actors (thinking they were their own pa's) "This gentleman is looking for the Doctor Who actors - do you know who they are?". Terry Molloy (Davros) was thankfully highly amused and just responded "He knows who we are." while Anna Hope (Novice Haim in New Earth and Gridlock) did a "I can't believe she just said that" face.
Hey you were covered in catperson make-up including cute little whiskers in Doctor Who- how the hell was I supposed to know what you actually looked like? But to make up for it I spent the rest of the day steering people towards them for autographs.
9)That paying £30 to see Jensen up close and personal in a room full of only ten people was definitely worth it (even if the coffee club only lasted about 25 minutes).
10) That as cynical and jaded as I am it was still quite upsetting to see a small part of the fan base letting the rest of us down so badly. Apart from the odd wank (which is generally fanfic related) the SPN fandom has always seemed to me to be a really nice fandom. Which is why I was quite distressed by a lot of the behaviour that I saw over the weekend.
Step forward Psycho No. 1 who has now gone down in infamy as the nutjob who assaulted Jensen. She'd already come to the attention of the security guards by pinching his ass during the photo session (something which noone else did - thankfully) and then decided it would be a good idea to literally throw herself at him - arms round his neck, legs round his waist kiss straight on his lips. That is actually sexual assault and she's damn lucky that Jensen isn't as precious as his fannon rep prior to this event suggested he might be or she would have been arrested. As it was she had to be physically wrestled to the ground and marched out of the building. She was banned from the event and will be banned from any other event that Rogue Events do as a security risk. Way to go psycho! She did write a full written apology to Jensen but hey - too little too late. He could easily have walked out after an incident like that so 710 attendees are very grateful that he didn't.
Then there was psycho No.2 who handed Jensen a note which consisted of a photo of herself naked with her room number written on the back. No present is given to Jensen without his PA checking it first as a security measure. So funnily enough Jensen didn't get psycho girl's piccie - it got ripped up and put in the bin. But she's also lucky that Jensen's pa is a consummate professional because someone less professional might have been inclined to hand the picture around or put it up somewhere for the attendees to look at. Seriously - what kind of woman has so little respect for herself that she risks her personal safety in that way?
But whilst those were extreme examples there was a lot of other behaviour which was less than impressive.
What was up with the girls who kept edging forward during the Jason Manns concert getting closer and closer to Jensen's table? We had to watch them like a hawk in case they flung themselves at him like Psycho No.1.
And what about the 50 or so "fans" who every time Jensen moved in and out of the hall acted like the paparazzi taking photos of him and practically running to follow him? It is terrible convention etiquette to take photos of the guests as they're going about their own business and personally I would ban people for that alone but in general it is just downright fucking rude to take flash photos of someone two inches away from their face so that you're flashblinding them. I've been at events where the headliners have had no security whatseoever and have merrily attended the evening parties and hung around in the bar until the early hours of the morning just chatting with the fans. Jensen needed 2 security guards and 3 staff members to keep him safe and really even that number of people wasn't quite enough to keep the scary fangirls at bay. There was no way he would have been secure at the evening parties so of course he didn't attend and nor did any of the other guests - which was a real shame.
I get that people were there for Jensen but again some of the fans were unbelievably disrespectful to the other guests. We got multiple complaints about people just having their own conversations in the hall at top volume so that they were drowning out the guests on stage. That was also a problem in the Jason Manns concert were the majority of the audience were practically yelling at each other, except when Jensen joined Jason for Crazy Love at which point you could have heard a pin drop.
I think the thing that upset me the most is that conventions are normally quite lovely fluffy fun events to attend. Conventions are all about a group of people with a common interest coming together. People come from such diverse backgrounds but they are united by a common love for one show. There's normally a real sense of community at these events and you don't screw over people in your community! I've been to events where I've seen people leave digital cameras and handbags lying around and they can come back an hour later knowing that their fellow fans won't have ripped them off.
Not at this event sadly. Over the course of the weekend about 150 people lost their registration badges. And we had a measly 2 handed in and didn't find any when we were clearing up. Which means that all the rest were kept by the attendees who found them presumably in the hope of trying to wrangle extra autographs or in the hope that they could attend all weekend if they were only a day ticket holder. And the number of people who "lost" their autograph sheets was phenomenal. Really unpleasant grasping behaviour that really wasn't nice to see.
So despite the behaviour of a small minority I did have a really fantastic weekend and am now so tired I don't quite know what to do with myself! Will write up the talks tomorrow if I'm less zombiefied by then.
