This past weekend I decided to further my debt by attending the Best of Both Worlds Convention in Canberra, Australia. My friend who went with me to NZ lives in Canberra so it was also a chance to visit him. The guest list was quite varied:
Brett Beattie (Gimli-scale/stunt double), David Weatherly (Barliman Butterbur), Thomas Robins (Deagol), Mike Grealish (WETA leather craftsman), Daniel Falconer (senior designer at WETA), Andrew Sthelin (stuntman), Paul Norrell (King of Dead) and Stephen Ure (Grishnakh/Gorbag).
The convention was quite small (100 people maybe? 150?) and was designed for you to have time to interact with the guests. This included cocktails Friday evening (which I didn't go to), a banquet and dancing on Saturday evening and a wrap party Sunday evening. Thomas and Stephen spent time after the cocktail party with a group of about 8 of us talking and drinking. At the banquet, several of the guys spent a lot of time on the dance floor. Andrew was there most of the time and Brett spent a lot of time dancing as well. Mike, Daniel and Thomas had fun dancing for ahwile also--and Thomas showed off a bit of break dancing even
After we were kicked out of hte restaurant at 1am, a group of a dozen of us and Andrew and Daniel stayed up until 3:30am talking and drinking (Andrew was very hungover the next day) and the guys shared some great stories (most of which I am not allowed to share). Great fun really.
The downside to it being such a small convention was that it was very expensive. No photographs were allowed with the guests since the organizers wanted you to buy profesional pictures of you and the guests (nice but expensive-AD $40 for one guest). Bummer
At the autograph session I got autographs from Daniel, Brett and Thomas. I had Thomas sign the picture of us from the NZ convention. He remembered me pretty quickly and loved the photo--he was like "oh, that's a great photo." he wrote on it "cute couple. Best wishes. Thomas Robins" <thunk> I enjoyed seeing him again--he's a really great guy and I hope to run into him in NZ.
Daniel is great, I chatted with him briefly. He said he'd see me around Wellington and instructed me to not be shy and say "hi" when I saw him. Brett is awesome. He's a real outdoorsy, back to nature guy so we had a lot to talk about.
I wasn't at the convention on Sunday but had one of hte staff members get Andrew's autograph for me (I decided I wanted it after spending all that time around him Saturday night--a great guy). And David Weatherly signed the book for free!
Sunday evening after hte wrap party my friend and I hung around for a bit longer as did the guests and others. I managed to get my picture taken wtih Brett and Andrew (they were happy to oblige) and will post a copy as soon as I get the roll developed. When I said goodbye to the guys it felt like I really did know some of them which is a neat feeling.
I got a big hug from Daniel and he said he was looking forward to seeing me in Wellington. I got a huge hug from Thomas and a kiss on the cheek.
Andrew gave me several hugs and a kiss on the cheek. I have his email address and am supposed to email him once I'm Wellington so we can meet up.
I chatted with Brett briefly and got a hug and a kiss on the cheek from him as well.
He's interested in doing the next Armageddon convention in NZ so hopefully I'll see him again then. Stephen Ure also said goodbye to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and another hug and kiss after I told him I'd be in Wellington and he suggested I get in contact with him. So final count for the weekend was too many hugs to remember, several new "friends", priceless memories and 5 kisses
So I left feeling sad but very happy also. I'm really glad I spent the money and got to know these guys. It's always neat to hear from people other than the big stars as they have so much to tell. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again in NZ--at conventions or otherwise.
I'll try to remember a few of the things the guys said that I can share and will post here.
