Vanessa Marshall Fan Expo Dallas 2019

I absolutely enjoyed Star Wars Rebels. It was intriguing. There was character growth. There was a hint of romance. There was loyalty and friendship and a’ cause’.  On top of that, there were guest appearances from previous Star Wars alumni. Something for everyone.

Fan Expo presented a great opportunity for me to get VanessaMarshall’s autograph and exchange a few words of appreciation. She graciously accepted what I said and added a few comments on what she thought about the family concept of the show.

I’m very happy I had this chance.

AH

Jason Patric Fan Expo Dallas 2019

Jason Patric was friendly. He didn’t have a long line but his fans seemed very happy to meet him. I needed to get him because he was in Lost Boys. I enjoyed that movie. It was one I dragged The Wife to many years ago. Since Corey and Kiefer were present, it would be a shame not to add Jason’s autograph to the collection.

AH

Tom Welling Fan Expo Dallas 2019

Yes, another show I never watched and have collected a bunch of autographs.

And yes, another show I have SDCC ties.

The Smallville panel would often be on Sunday at SDCC. Sunday’s a ‘easy’ or ‘light’ day for me. I actually would sit in a panel. Over the years, as I waited for my panel, I would sit through the Smallville panel a time or two. Tom Welling seemed to be not only the main character of the show but the captain of the panel.

After all of these years, I got my chance to add him to my collection

AH

Kristin Kreuk Fan Expo Dallas 2019

Kristin Kreuk was very nice.

The guy in front of me was a character. Lots of missing teeth. Older. Unkempt.  He had a hand full of hundreds. He paid for the auto. When he received it, he asked if that was all He was disappointed with the signature. She pulled back the photo and added the character name. He still wasn’t happy.

Then he wanted a selfie. Handler told him that was extra. That slightly frustrated him. He muttered a few things. He pulled out the wad of money again and handed over some more.  Took the selfie and talked the whole time.

The confusion on Kristin’s face was hidden for the selfie but returned as he slowly moved away from the table. I watched him move away and hesitated a moment to make sure he was just a little further away before I said, that was ’interesting’.

She smiled and moved past it.

AH

Finn Wolfhard Fan Expo Dallas 2019

I have Finn Wolfhard on an ‘It’ mini poster. Yes, another SDCC anecdote.

Since I have most of the cast from Stranger Things on 8 x 10’s I stood in the long lines of teen and pre-teen girls.  The girls were dramatically excited. The line moved fairly fast. Since the line was moving, the dramatics were more entertaining than irritating.

Because of the nature of his fans, I must give him some props. He has a moment to figure out how to react to the overly excited fans. Some are giggling, some near tears, some silent, some lingering. That’s a lot for a guy that might be twenty years old to digest at convention. He navigated those waters well.

 AH

Tyler Hoechlin Fan Expo Dallas 2019

There was a long line for Tyler Hoechlin. And it will be no surprise, it was 95% female. Most of the males were boyfriends there to protect Tyler from overly enthusiastic girlfriends.

He saw my U of A shirt and commented on it.  I asked if he went there. He said he played baseball for Arizona State.  We did not let that cross-state rivalry spoil the day.

AH

Pamela Anderson Fan Expo Dallas 2019

There is no reason to write anything for the Pamela Anderson post as no one will read it. They are just starting at the photo.

AH

PS: if you got this far, she was very nice. She was willing to sign anything. One of my fellow collectors had some risqué photos for her They were both discreet as there are kids all over the convention center.

Corey Feldman Fan Expo Dallas 2019

I almost didn’t get this autograph as I thought I already had it. I checked and I confused Corey Haim with Corey Feldman. Silly me.

The line was long for Corey Feldman. He took a few breaks as he was signing. While that makes the line move slower, since he was chatting with people, it refreshed him so he wasn’t a robot at the end of the day.

He was nice. He refused to sign without personalizing. So the photo is made out to The Wife. He did look up and said I didn’t look like a Karen. Then he added that now a days, who could tell. I laughed.

I’m including the Haim autograph too. That was from Chiller Theater in Jersey; a long time ago. That Corey was also nice.

AH

Mark Sheppard Fan Expo Dallas 2019

This is another occasion where I gotten more than one autograph from the same actor. A long time ago at SDCC, I got Mark Sheppard to sign a photo from Firefly.

That was before he dove into two very large fandoms and everyone wanted him: Dr Who and Supernatural.

He was in the Sails Pavilion and I don’t recall anyone in his line. I walked up. I told him I really liked Firefly and it was a shame it was cancelled. At the time, Firefly was still under most people's radar.

At Fan Expo, my friend from El Paso asked if I could do his nephew a favor and get a photo signed by Mark. Not an issue. He wanted something from Supernatural.  Since I was in line already, I choose a photo from Dr Who for myself.

Here are both photos. His signature hasn’t change much over the last 15 years.

AH

Lana Parrilla – Fan Expo Dallas 2019

I watched Once Upon a Time for several seasons. It was good. It was fun. I liked how Disney wedged in their movies.

I have always thought the Evil Queen in the series, LanaParrilla was the most beautiful woman on the show.  Last year, when I was at SDCC, I had a chance to get Lana’s autograph but I choose to do the Whiskey Cavalier signing instead so I could see Lauren Cohan. I don’t regret that but I was excited to see Lana was coming to Dallas.

When I finally handed over my photo to Lana, I wanted to say I was suave and cool. While I wasn’t nerdy, I didn’t say any of the things I wanted. I just said ‘hello’ and ‘oh, red is a great color for that photo.’

We all know I can be gabby. My performance dysfunction was all me. Silly autograph collector. She was friendly. I left with my photo and ego in hand.

AH

Kiefer Sutherland Fan Expo Dallas 2019

Saturday morning, I got to the convention center early for Fan Expo Dallas. The last couple of years, there has been a lot of slow and unorganized lines. Because of that, a lot of time was wasted. That wasted time causes some stress. You spend time wondering if you can work through your entire Wishlist.

When I entered the signing area, I went straight to Kiefer Sutherland’s line. He wasn’t there yet. I think I was an hour early. That was okay. This was one of my top wants.

Kiefer was nice. He chatted with people and blah blah blah.  I’m very happy I got his signature.

The guy in front of me was interesting. His kid, wife, and himself were dragging rolling suitcases. Very odd. I won’t take this opportunity to tell you how I find that irritating as I usually trip over them. These three seemed to be very good shepherds of their luggage and never caused me any grief.

When they finally stood in front of Kiefer, Dad opened the suitcase and pulled out a chuck of wood. It was probably 11 x 14 and an inch or more thick.  It was a relief image etched into the block of wood. The image was Kiefer from the movie, Lost Boys. It was very well done. The dad might have used a laser because there was so much detail.  Very impressive.  This wood image is what he wanted signed.  A very unique item

Kiefer marveled over it. It really was very well done.  Kiefer suggested a color to sign. He wanted some assurance the ink would look good on the wood.  Dad okayed the color.

After it was signed and everyone was done ‘oooohing’ and aaaahhhing;’ Dad pulled out another block of wood and handed it over to Kiefer. Kiefer inspected it as the guy explained the type of wood and that he does woodwork for a living.  Kiefer handed it back and the dad refused to touch it. He said it was a gift.  Kiefer was very polite. He offered to buy it. He felt guilty taking the ‘art work’. The dad was adamant. Kiefer suggested signing this one too and having the guy sell it. But no. It was a gift.   Then Kiefer told him to pick out any photo he wanted and he’d sign it for free.  The dad had a plan.  He pulled out a third wooden image of Kiefer from the suitcase. Much smaller and Kiefer signed that for him – for free.

AH

PS I know, I should have taken a photo.

Sam Raimi Texas Frightmare Weekend 2019

Let me bore you yet AGAIN with a SDCC anecdote. In 2008, I was one of the winners of the raffle for Drag Me to Hell.  It was one of the secret signings the used to do. You only knew where and when to show up. It was always in the back of the convention center. You were not allowed to bring in your backpack or take any photos.  Ideally, you were only supposed to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’.

When we entered the room all those years ago, Sam Raimi was there along with Alison Lohman and Justin Long and I THINK Dileep Roa. I don’t remember him but it looks like it might be his signature on the mini poster.

Flash forward to 2019. I’m in line for Sam. He is being friendly with everyone. I handed over my photo and we talked over each other as we ask questions. We both smile and I wait for him. Then I tell him about 2008.  I told he asked me a question and I gave a silly answer.  He confessed he probably asked a stupid question.  When I denied that, his handler laughed in contempt and said he probably did. We all smiled.

So I told him that he asked about my favorite part of SDCC.  At the time, I was trying to be good and just stick to ‘hello’ and 'thank you’. I reply innocently  with, I liked the WB booth the most.  That was a stupid answer.  I figured he wanted a response like the Drag me to Hell panel was awesome! Or even this signing. I did not say anything clever. 
After I told him this, he said it was an okay answer and he should not have been asking questions.  But it was awesome he wanted to engage with the people and not just signing a quick autograph and shouting ‘next!’

I told him I always remembered that signing. I really liked that his attendance was not perfunctory. He wanted to be there. And it seemed to be the same thing with his appearance at Texas Frightmare.

AH

The Chin himself Bruce Campbell Texas Frightmare Weekend 2019

Texas Frightmare Weekend is the perfect convention for BruceCampbell. Everyone there knows and loves ‘Evil Dead’.  

Many, many years ago, The Wife and I stood in line at a B&N and got him to autograph his book, If Chins could Kill. He was charming back them and The Wife developed a bit of a crush on him. The first photo is from his book.

Bruce was the main reason I started watching Burn Notice. It’s not Sci Fi, so it’s not really my thing but the show was fun and it something my parents and a few friends watched. It was something we could all share. The Wife really liked the grey in his hair.  Don’t tell her I told you that.

Now, I did not stand in line for hours getting this photo signed by Bruce.  My college friend from El Paso did me a big favor and stood in line for hours. Thank you!

As I mentioned before, it’s nice to have friends. Friends are good. The second photo is from Texas Frightmare.

AH

Jenna Jameson Texas Frightmare Weekend 2019

This is actually the second time I've gotten Jenna Jameson’s autograph.  The first time was at SDCC many years ago. At the time, she was promoting her graphic novel and was signing a full-size poster. That time was full of chaos and lots of fanboys going crazy.

This time, there was less chaos and it was a nice encounter.  She chattered with everyone. We talked about everything that you should never talk about with friends or strangers: Politics, religion, and Twitter.  Since her line wasn’t long, we talked longer than we hold have. She was engaging and very open.

AH

Cerina Vincent – Texas Frightmare Weekend 2019

I never watched the Power Rangers. I was too old for that show. It is amazing how many Power Ranger fans are out there. While people wanted to see Cerina Vincent because of being the Yellow Ranger,  I wanted to see her because of Cabin Fever.  To each his own. 

AH

Stan Shaw Texas Frightmare Weekend 2019

You have seen Stan Shaw in a lot of movies. I think of him from The Boys in Company C and The Great Santini. He was also in The Monster Squad. I HAD to add him to the mini poster I have.

As I pulled out the poster and handed my money to the handler, Stan quickly signed my poster before I finished getting my change back. He signed in silver. His signature stands out nicely on the poster. The 'shame' is the other signatures are in gold.

I also had him sign a photo from the movie, Buffalo Soldiers.  I told him I didn’t know anything about them until I went to the U of A. There, we would see a group of young men dressed in uniforms from the period and march as Buffalo Soldiers on campus.  The thing that was most impressive, they wore those heavy hot uniforms and marched in the afternoon heat of Tucson.  

AH

Kathleen Kinmont Texas Frightmare Weekend 2019

Kathleen Kinmont was fun. I’ve mentioned before I really enjoy the movie, That Thing you Do. She has a small part in it. Not so small that I didn’t notice her.

She excitedly talked about who she worked with on the movie and being directed by Tom Hanks. She mentioned that most of her screen time was cut from the movie and she didn’t know until the premier night.

The photo I got signed is from Renegade. She mentioned something about Lorenzo Lamas who was the star of the show. She had a lot of good things to say about him. That perked my ears up as I also had a story about him. (One day I will post about that autograph.) I shared a little of my story with her. I told Kathleen that I saw him at a convention with his then current wife and his ex-wife.  She laughed and said that was Shawna and Shauna.  She said it’s smart to keep your ex and current wives names the same. We both laughed.

Since I caused her line to get long, I thanked her and moved along.

As I was telling one of my fellow hounds about this encounter, he shook his head and asked if I 'didn’t know'.  A large question mark appeared over my head.  Kathleen was also married to Lorenzo Lamas.

D’Oh!

AH

Jackson Bostwick Texas Frightmare Weekend 2019

My sister and I watched a lot of Saturday morning cartoons and shows. It is still debated if those morning were wasted. In the course of watching all morning long, we naturally watched Shazam and Isis.

It always nice to see the actors from our childhood. Reminiscing can be fun if it can be shared and not the complete focus of the conversation with friends. Jackson Bostwick was fun to meet.

AH