1:35pm.

Christopher Judge – Teal’c

Here’s where it gets interesting.  (some of the stuff below was written July 12, the day after the con, in the OS Con Attendee List on Yahoo.  I’ve added to it, but left a lot of the original post in.)

The anticipation in the giant stage room was high as hundreds of fans packed into the seats and in available standing room.  Cindy (webbgirl) had gone into the line on the left to ask a question, wearing her pink Nomad shawl, all ready.  Both lines were filling up, and I pulled out the slip of paper I’d picked from DJ’s OS “cookie jar” list.  Joan (fra), Ann (Paz), and Star urged me to go on up to ask the question, so what the hell, I thought, I’ll just read it off the fortune cookie-sized slip of paper and be done with it.  I went up, closely followed by Chantel, the teen who’d sat with us the night before during the Ice Cream Social.  I can’t remember what CJ talked about, or what questions he answered before my turn came up.  Cindy calmly asked her question, asking him what his favorite episodes were for the other actors.  Then, the other side.  And then it was my turn!  Eeek!

I was nervous.  I pulled out the paper, spoke into the microphone and as, Joan said in her report, stumbled over the sentence.  CJ asked me if I was shy (I think).  I replied that

I wouldn't be if you got some beer in me -- and then he invited me up on stage to have some of HIS beer sitting on a cup next to his chair.  (and yes, you know what? I did say that partly because I’d heard he was a big Con drinker, and heck, that’s what we Nomads tend to do at these things!) 

I honestly DON’T remember him inviting me up on the stage to have a swig of his cup of beer – you know, draft, in a large clear plastic cup?  A couple people near me, including the volunteer who’s job it was to keep things moving, kept saying, “Go up, go on!”  And I was, “What?”  So, what the hell, I climbed the four stairs to the stage, spotted the beer on the carpeted floor, and picked it up to what I heard was a huge audience, “OoooooOOOooooo.”  I sipped a little of it, and held it up so folks could see.  Like they were surprised I would actually DO it.  Hell, I can’t believe I did it.

Wackiness ensued from there on out for several minutes, with CJ grabbing my camera and taking pictures -- but I don't think any will come out, since it's a manual 35mm Canon, and he wasn't focusing or flicking the lever to advance the film -- AND he ordered me into his director's chair. The first time he said, “Sit in the chair,” I froze.  Was he serious?  He said it a second time.  The third time, he ordered me to sit – so I jumped in the tall black director’s chair, pronto.  He should direct. 

When he came back with my camera after trying to take shots of his family, who were sitting in the front row stage left, (while Coco was calling out her new nickname for me,and no, I'm not going to tell you what it is) he went in the back of the stage next to the big screen. I got off the chair at some point, I can't remember exactly when, and he pulled into the back for a self-shot pic. And then he stuck his tongue out right next to my ear, which I wasn't expecting, and I jumped.

Next, as I FINALLY got a chance to read out my question from the cookie jar sheet, he noticed it, and starting teasing about how I needed to have it written DOWN??  I was edging over to the stairs, and he was sitting on the chair by that point.  And he asked that I ask the question there.  I pulled out the slip of paper from my pocket, and realized that OH SHIT, I’d stuck the gum Star had given me on the paper so I wouldn’t choke when I got up to the question microphone!  CJ comes up over to me, and gets real close trying to read the question.  Out loud.  And he has his hands on it, and I’m trying frantically not to let the freakin’ go so he won’t feel the sticky minty gum and start all over again on me.  He reads the question out loud and catches a mistake (a “the” was dropped) and he starts on that instead.  I said something about him being my editor. There was no winning!  Or getting off the stage.  By that time, I was getting kinda desperate to get down, believe it or not, and couldn’t quite believe he was going to let me go.  I stepped down the stairs – I considered jumping off the edge just so he wouldn’t have time to do anything else, but it was too high for that.  The stage volunteer told me to stay put when I got down by the microphone.  I spaced out.  I cannot remember what the answer to my question was – and it was a short answer, too! 

Jeez.

I remember hearing the crowd cheering when I drank out of the beer cup, laughing a few times when I posed for him a little when he grabbed my camera and aimed it at me...

The cameraman filming for Creation was standing right there with his camera, getting me as I went down the stairs gobsmacked and shell-shocked, and I shook my head at him when I realized he was shooting me!  D’oh me, I didn’t make the connection that I was also up on that freaking huge screen behind me – you know, like it only shows the actors and celebrities at these events, and the rest of us are invisible?  Oye.

CJ went on with his talk while I squeeeed with Joan and Ann and Star and collected myself and tried to listen to what else he was saying.  As a lot of other folks have said, he talked a lot about having Tourettes, when he really meant ADD or something like that.  There’s no way I can remember the questions or answers.  But that little girl, the one who went up to all of the actors that weekend?  She was wearing a sweet yellow dress; he spotted her in the question line, and stepped down off the stage and picked her up.  He sat her down in the director’s chair and put his large, cool sunglasses on her face, and she sat there like a trooper for a long time.  Her father finally got a turn to ask a question, did, and then asked, “Can I have my daughter back?”  CJ lifted her up and gave her back. 

All through his time onstage, CJ kept referring to his mother, aunt, uncle and cousin, catching himself whenever he was about to say something off-color or having to do with flatulence.  One person up at the microphone asked him what his family thought of him in acting, as a celebrity.  So, he grabbed a microphone, detached it from the boom, and handed it to his mother!  His mother went on to say how he hasn’t changed since he two years old, she was proud of him, etc.  And she also got in a little dig about him not answering her messages, which cracked up those of us who were at the Brunch earlier in the day.  Next, his aunt spoke, and his cousin and uncle, all of them positive, and great under the pressure of having a whole load of fans there witnessing their statements.  Very cool family. 

The man is a total dynamo.  Energy from start to finish.  The organizers tried a couple of times to signal him that his time was over and that it was MS’s turn, and he finally relented.  Waving and getting huge cheers, he left the audience in stitches.  What a rush.

Next up was…

2:20

Michael Shanks – Dr. Daniel Jackson

Still coming down from the adrenaline rush that is Christopher Judge, Michael Shanks walked on stage to clapping and fannish smiles and a cheer or two or three.  Or an ovation.  I’m referring to another fan’s report on a website now, because it’s been almost a month now that I’m getting to this portion of my own report.  (bad, me, bad!)

What he wore:  a black closefitting t-shirt that showed off a lot of musculature in his arm (arm’age, or “arm porn”) whenever he lifted his left arm to scratch a spot on the back of neck, or just to put it into a comfortable position – elbow straight up, hint of arm-pit hair, and lots of drooling from the front rows.  Our row was guilty, yes.  There was no way even MS could keep the energy level up as high as Christopher Judge the Everready Bunny, but he did a good job of keeping everyone busy listening, watching and ogling. 

Majorcoco called out when he walked onstage if he wanted a beer – and he looked perplexed for a moment, and skipped over a direct reponse, and went directly to questions – but the beer played a major role with Webbgirl, who’d gone up in line again to ask the same question she’d asked CJ – what was MS’s favorite episodes for CJ, RDA and AT?  After a few other questioners, Webbgirl was up at bat, and Majorcoco had run up with the beer and waited with her for a while.  But, since it was taking so much time, Majorcoco went back to her seat sans the beer, which she’d left with Webbgirl.  Finally, Webbgirl was up at the microphone, held up the beer and asked if he wanted it – and he took it, and gave her a kiss!  ON the lips, folks!  Back in the seats, Majorcoco was flummoxed – but Webbgirl came back to the seats after miraculously remembering to ask her question, and transferred some of the MS contact back to her.

He got a lot of questions, but no one asked about character development for Daniel Jackson, which has been sorely lacking in the spoilers this year.  Oh well.  He hugged a lot of folks, it seemed, including a few kids.

About halfway through his time, AT and CJ poked their heads through the backdrop, and CJ quietly stole the two bottles of beer MS had onstage (from Majorcoco, of course – one from the photo shoot, and the newest one) and then put them back a few seconds later in an exaggerated cat burglar tip-toe.  They stayed onstage for a few minutes, but not too long. 

MS, as did Carmen A., Tony A., CJ, and DSD, also saw the poster of AT in all her busty glory, and paused in front of it.  Earlier, CJ had pretended to almost-sign the acre of bustage, but didn’t (as he left the stage).  That was a show-stopping banner.  He answered tons of questions, all the way until the end, when he did an answer-everything-in-ten-minutes, for all the folks left in line.  Jumping from one side of the stage to the other, he answered things like: have you ever been to X ice cream shop in LA, and what is your favorite flavor (no, and chocolate), and others.

3:05

Amanda Tapping – Major Carter

Amanda Tapping came up onto the stage, in low rider jeans, a pink tank top, and a long Chinese style green coat.  My main impression of her was from an answer she gave someone about her stage in life now: and she is Happy.  Really really happy and lucky to be where she is, doing what she likes to do.  Her first question was a shippy one – or maybe it had more to do to with, “What would you most like to have happen on Stargate?” and she answered, “Have Jack tell Sam exactly how he feels, get it out in the open.”

At that point, a few of the Nomads left the auditorium.  Celeb’ed out?  By this point, the crowd was fatigued (mostly) and had thinned a bit – the energy level went further down when AT got onstage, and the storm of camera flashes died down to a trickle.  Most of the questions were pretty forgettable to me (as after a month, most of them would be, you know?).  But there was one creepy guy, one of the last ones, who came up and asked her all sorts of detailed questions about her contract lengths and so on, until she finally asked him if he was spying on her from MGM or something!  The idiot’s point, when he finally got around to it, was he wanted her to remain on the show for the whole length of its run.  Like I said, creepy.

Perhaps the funniest part of her part on stage was, she caught sight of the now infamous Sam Breast Acerage banner in the desert camo tank top, and even SHE paused in front of it and made a comment on how large she looked in it.  Have to give her credit.  When it came time for her to sign one of the banners, she took her marker and signed it right across the breasts.  In huge letters.  She’s a good sport.  (personally, I think she must have been teased about it by CJ and MS earlier)

Now close to 4:30 and most of the Nomads having not had much of anything to eat all day, we all piled into the cars to head to the Media Center Mall area in Burbank.  The original plan was to chow down at California Pizza Kitchen, but instead, we headed into a Mex place right next to it.  Good food, lots of it, the cards got whipped out again while we waited for our dinners, and in an hour or so, wrapped it up, and we headed home.

What a tiring, fun, incredible weekend.  Was it worth the Gold Ticket?  Yeah, it was worth the Gold Ticket.  

Now, if I could only find that T-shirt I bought.  You know, the one with the Big Three on it?  The official con shirt?  Gotta be here some where.