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prelude to a con
Apr. 28th, 2009 05:55 pmHere's the first of my con reports. I arrived around 11 in Wednesday morning and had lunch with Mary Glynn, Elaine and Terry while waiting for my room to be ready. Gayle and Lois joined us later.
Then it was time for my day trip to the LA Times. The editor of the editorial pages, Jim Newton, had invited me to come in anytime I came to LA so I arranged for an informal tour. Not many fans had arrived yet, but Terri Hutson, who lives in the area, and John Mosby and I had a really great time. We sat with Jim in his office and he gave us a little history about the Times and how the editorial staff operates. It sounds like they have a good relationship with the publisher, a position of respect which leaves them free to voice their positions on the issues. As Jim showed us around we saw various award winning stories and photographs prominently displayed. He also showed us various meeting rooms and office spaces in the building and we made the rounds of all the departments of the paper. Many of these spaces have been used as movie locations in the past. In fact, one of their best meeting rooms was transformed into Eddie Murphy's apartment in the movie Dreamgirls. As we left I got some shots of the fantastic lobby with its murals and spinning globe.
Had dinner in the hotel bar. So many people came drifting in, Aine, Karen Scott, Karin, Ina. . . Rich Ridings and his daughter Freya came through and we sent them off to Dennys for dinner, an American food experience I guess every visitor should have at least once.
On Thursday I kept running into more and more friends, great way to start the day. I went with Sharon Gobioff and her husband to Berverly Hills to window shop and stroll down Rodeo Drive. Lots of tourists and not too many shoppers, but it was fun and in the few shops we went into the employees were very nice and very friendly. Driving back through the neighborhood, past the gates to Bel Aire, everything looked just like a movie set.
That afternoon we had the volunteer meeting and then registration. More and more friends arrived, too many to list. I just love Highlander cons and all the friends that I see there.
After dinner I met up with Dar to make sure all the vids I'd made for the con and the panel were working fine and at the fan meet and greet we got the flash drive from Andrew that had his vid on it for the panel. Hanging out in the bar meeting old friends and new, great evening and a sign of the great time I was going to have this weekend.
Then it was time for my day trip to the LA Times. The editor of the editorial pages, Jim Newton, had invited me to come in anytime I came to LA so I arranged for an informal tour. Not many fans had arrived yet, but Terri Hutson, who lives in the area, and John Mosby and I had a really great time. We sat with Jim in his office and he gave us a little history about the Times and how the editorial staff operates. It sounds like they have a good relationship with the publisher, a position of respect which leaves them free to voice their positions on the issues. As Jim showed us around we saw various award winning stories and photographs prominently displayed. He also showed us various meeting rooms and office spaces in the building and we made the rounds of all the departments of the paper. Many of these spaces have been used as movie locations in the past. In fact, one of their best meeting rooms was transformed into Eddie Murphy's apartment in the movie Dreamgirls. As we left I got some shots of the fantastic lobby with its murals and spinning globe.
Had dinner in the hotel bar. So many people came drifting in, Aine, Karen Scott, Karin, Ina. . . Rich Ridings and his daughter Freya came through and we sent them off to Dennys for dinner, an American food experience I guess every visitor should have at least once.
On Thursday I kept running into more and more friends, great way to start the day. I went with Sharon Gobioff and her husband to Berverly Hills to window shop and stroll down Rodeo Drive. Lots of tourists and not too many shoppers, but it was fun and in the few shops we went into the employees were very nice and very friendly. Driving back through the neighborhood, past the gates to Bel Aire, everything looked just like a movie set.
That afternoon we had the volunteer meeting and then registration. More and more friends arrived, too many to list. I just love Highlander cons and all the friends that I see there.
After dinner I met up with Dar to make sure all the vids I'd made for the con and the panel were working fine and at the fan meet and greet we got the flash drive from Andrew that had his vid on it for the panel. Hanging out in the bar meeting old friends and new, great evening and a sign of the great time I was going to have this weekend.
