Howard Sherman Texas Frightmare 2016

I was on the fence about this signature but I already admitted I was under the influence of a friend, so I picked this one up too.

I remember when Day of the Dead came out. I was excited about the movie although it did not live up to my expectations. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a decent movie.  I just had a hard time connecting with it. However, Bub was such a fascinating character. Howard Sherman who played Bub signed and I must admit I’m happy I added this to my collection.

AH

Kenny Johnson Texas Frightmare 2016

This is what happens when you hang out with friends at a show once you are more or less ‘done'.  You start talking about an actor and then you decide you need to get them.

Kenny Johnson has been in everything I never watched:  Bates Hotel, Sons of Anarchy, Dexter, Saving Grace, etc, etc, etc.

Another nice guy.

AH

Rose McGowan Texas Frightmare 2016

While the line for Rose McGowan was long-ish, it went fast.  Or it seemed to go fast as I was hanging out with a fellow hound.

She was nice and let me chose a pen color that matched her dress.

AH

Michael Beck Texas Frightmare 2016

In the past, I have admitted that now and then I have ‘fanboyed out’ and lost my suave James Bond demeanor as I got a signature.  It doesn’t happen often but it does occur.  Michael Beck has done that to me twice. 

Think about that for a moment.  While extremely excited, I was able to converse with Tom Cruise and Hugh Jackman.  Denzal Washington put me on my heels but I made him laugh at the end. I think I conducted myself well with Ray Bradbury, George RR Martin, and Tom Clancy. George Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Buzz Aldrin? A piece of cake.  However, I have geeked out twice with Michael Beck.

I first got his autograph 8 years ago at SDCC. There was no line and I just walked up. It started off well: I said hello.

Then it fell apart.  I babbled about how much I loved the movie, The Warriors.  Well, I think I’m being generous with the word ‘babbled’.  I think I uttered a syllable every few seconds.  He was kind and said to take my time and I did take my time. However, I didn’t say anything else.  I took my photo and left.

James Remar Texas Frightmare 2016

I have no right to say the movie The Warriors is meaningful to me.  I have no right to say it ‘speaks’ to me.  I shouldn’t say that I ‘get’ it.  Or even that I find it inspiring.

I’m an lower middle class kid from a homogenous small town.  I didn’t need to be in a gang to survive. I never got in a fight where weapons were needed. Yet the movie is a favorite.  A big favorite.  In college, we adapted a line from the movie:  When we see the ocean, we figure we’re home; we’re safe…my fellow dorm mates and I changed that to: when I see the Stadium, I think I’m home, I’m safe.  That won’t mean anything to anyone who didn’t live in the dorm that was in the football stadium.

James Remar has been in a lot of movie and shows I’ve seen. When I see him I always think of Ajax.  He signed for me. In a giddy way, I mentioned I loved his ‘wimps’ line in the movie.  So he added to the photo.

AH

Lance Guest Texas Frightmare 2016

The movie, the Last Starfighter was never on my radar back in 1984.  However, a friend’s girlfriend wanted to see it. So a bunch of us crowded in my rusty Vega and drive to the theater on one of my rare trips back to Jersey.  I’ll admit it was cute movie. The company I kept was probably the bigger influence on my opinion.

Since this was something that had some fun memories, I knew I needed to use this opportunity to get Lance Guest’s signature.  It was quick. He was nice. I got the autograph and moved on.

AH

Matthew Lillard Texas Frightmare 2016

This autograph took 2 line attempts.  The first time was just after David Arquette.  I spent about an hour in line and then had to give up as Matthew Lillard left to do photo ops.  I came back later, before he finished his photo op, hoping to get a jump on the line.  I didn’t.  A bunch of people were already there. However, when Matthew did come back, he gave me and others near me 'high fives'. He also told us we’d have a long wait. He didn’t lie.

He spent time with everyone.  He sat on the front of the table.  He’d signed, chatted, and he posed for photos.  It was not a rushed experience.  He laughed and smiled and asked questions.  After he signed for me, he rushed to the back of the line and high fived people and apologized for taking so long. He joked with the people and raised everyone’s energy levels. Then he rushed back to his table.

AH

David Arquette Texas Frightmare 2016

I expected the longest line and most time spent waiting in line to be with David Arquette.  While it wasn’t the longest line of the night, it was a nice wait.  Several people in front were getting a lot of items signed. The guy immediately in front of me had a laundry list for various fans that could not attend the show.

As I was waiting, I heard David mention he needed to take a break.  He said just a few more people.  That was not going to include me. I was figuring on a 30 minute break.  However, after the ‘few’ passed, David looked up and saw a child in line behind me.  He recanted and said after he signed for the little one, he’d take a break. That was very nice of him to think of the kids.

David was nice, told me he loved Dallas and that I looked like I just came from work.  I got the impression he thought I was cosplaying in a white shirt and tie. I said I really had driven straight from the office.  I had my laptop in the backpack.  I thanked him and left so the kid could his autograph.

AH

Linda Gray USA Film Festival 2016

Everyone knows Linda Gray from the TV show Dallas. She is also a stable in the Dallas area. She is one of the nicest and sweetest people you’ll meet.  None of the hounds have anything negative to say about her.  She always makes time for an autograph or a photo request.  She’ll even  recognize you and say hi after she sees you a few times.

AH

 

Kelly Lynch USA Film Festival 2016

Kelly Lynch is very fashionable. She wore a black outfit that was very revealing in the chest area. I was a gentleman and did not look for any wardrobe malfunctions.

As she signed, he mentioned the photo was from Magic City and there will be a movie based on the series.

AH

 

Bruce Davison USA Film Festival

Bruce Davidson was nice. He paused while in the theater to sign. As I was about to ask for a second autograph (for a buddy that couldn’t make it to the event), another hound stepped up and got his attention.  After he was done with the other hound, he walked away and I lost me chance for help my buddy.

AH

Courtney Hope USA Film Festival

Courtney Hope walked right past me and my friends.  They were all distracted by another arrival. I was busy trying to find my photo of her. 

Courtney is very pretty and very friendly.  She was excited that people recognized her and her friends were thrilled that they were hanging out with a ‘celeb’.

As I handed over my photo, she looked at the photo and smirked.  One of her friend’s giggled. I told her upfront, I’m always impressed with martial art skills. We even exchange a couple of sentences about karate before another hound asked her for a signature.

The story could have ended right there…

One of the other actors at the film festival had passed me.  So I entered the theater lobby and got him to sign. As I was turning away, Courtney was there.  I side stepped to avoid bumping into her.  She recognized me and said hi.  Things were calmer inside the building. Just to make idle conversation, I confirmed she was from Dallas. She admitted she said grew up in Plano. I idly threw out the comment that I used to manage a 7-11 in Plano. She got excited. She asked which one. I told her. That was the one she always went to for her red Slurpee. She loved red Slurpees. She had to have one every day!  Did I remember her as a customer?

Okay…now I’m thinking quickly.  Retail was not my forte. I was not a very nice person when I managed a 7-11. It’s amazing my wife married. Through the retail hell flashbacks, I realize she is WAY too young to have been one of my customers. So I relaxed. 

I told her that was interesting. I told her that she won’t have liked me if I was there. I was always throwing the kids out.  She laughed.  She admitted the teenagers were a little obnoxious but she was always a good kid.   We both laughed.

AH

Richard Franklin WhoFest 3 2016

The UNIT episodes of Dr Who are some of my favorite. Of course I saw UNIT episodes from Tom Baker’s Doctor first and then Jon Pertwee, but I really enjoy those reoccurring characters. Earlier this year, a friend picked up Stg Benton for me. Now was my chance to get Capt Yates. Richard Franklin signed a photo for me.

AH

Simon Fisher-Becker WhoFest 3 2016

More than just a blue man whose head now rests in a box, he’s a big fan of the show.  SimonFisher-Becker mentioned he would love to come back and work alongside of Peter Capaldi. Again, a very friendly person and he talked about some of the sightseeing he did while in Dallas.

AH

Wendy Padbury WhoFest 3 2016

Who Fest is a small little convention that has had a nice list of guests the last 2 years. One of the guests this year was Wendy Padbury, a companion of the second Doctor. (Young ones, if you are scratching your head and saying David Tennent never had Wendy as a companion, you need to rethink your Dr Who street cred.)

Wendy was friendly and outgoing. She mentioned she got to visit the 6^th Floor museum and how moving it was to her.  We also talked about London and how it’s changed over the last 10 years.  It was a nice chat.

AH

Walter Koenig Creation Convention 2016

This was the last autograph I picked up from the Creation show.

As I stepped up, Walter Koenig had just finished discussing the arrangement of the Sharpies and which one to use for which photos.  He asked me which color I wanted, I’m assuming in an attempt to prove the arrangement of color and photos was correct. I choose the wrong color. His handlers laughed. He took it good naturedly. I’d offered to change colors but he insisted I choose correctly.

AH  

Delino DeShields Rangers Fan Fest 2016

I have to admit upfront, I did not stand in line for hours at Fan Fest to get this signed ball by Delino DeShields Jr.  One of my autograph buddies took pity on me. I got to the ball park early and struck out on the lottery.  There was nothing at the park for me to do for another 4 hours. It was cold. I was tired and miserable.  He was going to be at the ballpark all day, so he offered to pick this up for me. Pretty nice of him. I owe him.

AH

Mariette Hartley – DIFF 2016

I have been working a lot. While I was able to get Diego Luna at DIFF, I did not expect to return to the film festival to get any more autographs. Then at the last minute I heard that Mariette Hartley was going to be on the Red Carpet.  Ugh.  I HAD to get her.  She played Zarabeth in a Star Trek episode. 

My buddy, knowing I didn’t have much time, found some photos that I might like from that episode.  So all I had to do was print a photo and show up at the event. Which I did, just as she finished walking off the Red Carpet.  Good timing on my part.  I borrowed a blue paint pen and went to meet her.  I stood next to her husband (Jerry Sroka).

She came over and I asked if she would sign.  She said yes and saw the photo I had.  She turned to the hubby and said she just got done talking to a ‘nerdy girl’ reporter.  She further explained (and I continued to eavesdrop) that the reporter asked one of the ‘those questions’ the one like: If you could be any tree what tree would you be? But the reporter asked: if you could be in Star Trek or Star Wars which would you pick?

Well, it seems the girl was skeptical about Ms Hartley’s resume.  I was asked if the photo could be borrowed and then Mariette wondered through the crowd to find the reporter. Along the way, Mariette showed the photo to Barry Bostwick and several others.  My photo was making the rounds.

Meanwhile, Jerry Sroka and I are chatting. I didn’t have anything for him to sign but we talked. We kept each other company. He told me about the time he was in a Trek episode.  I furrowed my eyebrows. He said he showed up at the studios and said he was to work on Star Trek. The guard asked which one. He didn’t have an answer.  He had no idea there was more than one.  From that I knew he was talking the ‘new’ stuff.   Then he mentioned an actor and I narrowed it down the series (Voyager).  That helped him realize I was really a Trekkie and not some guy that wanted a photo of his wife when she was half naked.

Mariette came back and signed.  I thanked her and then I thanked Jerry for keeping me company. I think he was happy for the company too.

For the record, if I could be any tree, I would want to be an Ent. Then, after a considerable pause to think things over, I would tell you to not waste time with a silly sophomoric question that should never be asked after graduating high school.

AH

Diego Luna – DIFF 2016

Dallas has a few film festivals every year.  Sometimes there are a lot of celebrities that attend and somethings not so many.  Sometimes the names that attend are big and sometimes they are not so exciting.  Sometimes, the name is just a name until you dig a little.

While Diego Luna is widely known in Mexico he is not as well known in the USA.  He has been in several movies you might have seen but not as the star. His name was not as exciting as others but after Googling him, you saw that he was going to be in the movie Rogue One; the next Star Wars movie. While he will not be a star in the next Star Wars movie, just being associated with the franchise will elevate him in the USA.

He was at the Dallas Independent Film Festival (DIFF) for the movie he produced called 'Mr Pig'. I was at DIFF to track down his autograph.   I found a photoshopped image of him that I liked. It's pixelated somewhat but I liked it.  The ‘official’ images from the movie were too dark for my tastes.

When he arrived he had a huge smile and readily agreed to sign. He posed for photos and chatted.

It was an exciting addition to my collection.

AH

Tanya Lemani – Creation Convention - Dallas 2016

I enjoy meeting actors from the original Star Trek series that did not have reoccurring roles. Tanya Lemani was in the episode: The Wolf in the Fold.  She played a possible love interest to Scotty but was murdered.

She was outgoing. When I asked if she had been to Texas before, she shared an anecdote about seeing the NASA astronauts in Houston in the 60's.  She was on a movie junket and someone arranged the tour of NASA. This was when the astronauts were rock stars.  Everyone wanted to know more about them and about the space program and believed the possibilities were endless.

She was given a tour and got to see some exciting things. At the end of the tour, she causally said she would love to return the favor and give a tour of the studio where she was working.  At these things work out, she said it wasn't long before she got a phone call asking if she could make those arrangements. Not really prepared to give a tour, she did bring them on set but she didn’t have to do much.  Everyone at the studio was excited to do what they could make the visitors happy.

I left with a smile meeting one of the people that helped make my childhood interesting.

AH