Friday was the day of the show, y'all! In fact, I cracked that Waiting for Guffman reference in Pacifica 5 that morning when everyone was getting ready and only Fiona and Maggie responded. Ah well.
I woke up at 7, far better than the morning before, to be at the Pacifica at 8, and we spent the 2 hours before curtain getting into costumes and make up, and then ran a few scenes. The show ended up not starting for about 30 minutes after 10, but the show ran so smoothly we almost couldn't believe it.
Soon enough the show was over, and I felt an enormous wave of relief and sadness wash over me. I no longer had to worry about the performance, so I could go to any programming I wanted without missing any for rehearsal, but now I didn't have set time every day when I could see the incredible TFB people. We had to find each other to hang now.
After the show I went out to meet my parents, Kelly and Sarah, but I was really just trying to find Christian, who was in town for a family reunion and left it for the morning to come see TFB! He told me back in February that he was interested in coming to the show and followed through with it, and I was so stoked to spend the afternoon with him!
After the show I gathered my stuff from Pacifica 5 (it was a lot of stuff, unfortunately =/ ) and we watched the majority of Pottercast with Evanna Lynch, Scarlett Byrne and the Leaky crew talking about the final film. It was so wonderful to hear Evanna say **SPOILER ALERT** that she was happy Neville and Luna got together at the end of the film, even though it wasn't in the book and even though she thought it wouldn't last into marriage or anything. I just have always felt that Jo got that one wrong, that they should have ended up together, they're just so adorable. I don't know. I may just be the only one xD **END SPOILER**
After Pottercast was over, Christian needed to leave, and my mom decided to go as well, so we parted ways after many hugs, and rushed back in to the ballroom for the Pottermore presentation. At the start, they asked us to turn off all cameras and not to take pictures, because the preview was just for con-goers. No spoilers! ...Ok, maybe just this one:
Pottermore is seriously going to be incredible, guys. I wish I could tell you all about it but honestly, it's better if you just experience it yourself, and I know a lot of people who will read this were in that ballroom, seeing the same preview I did, so I don't need to tell you twice how awesome it will be, but just in case you were not at LeakyCon, the information on McGonagall alone is going to be worth that site. Just saying.
(Let's just say, there's a reason she's a bad ass.) (As if we needed proof.)
Pottermore ended and me, Kelly, Shauna, Sarah and Fiona headed over to Pacifica 11 for my first EVER Nerdfighter gathering! It was so great to be able to go to one, since they're almost never held anywhere near me, and even though John had to go home for health reasons, it was hilarious with just Hank and all of Maureen's twitter high-jinks. Throughout the entire 2 hours, she tweeted for us to do random things like stand up or shout things at Hank, or lay down in the aisles, or get up and leave and come back and Hank got SO CONFUSED as to what was going on that when he turned around and saw Maureen's phone out he immediately suspected she was behind it all. She adamantly denied it of course, but he eventually stole her phone and there was the proof he needed. It was fantastic.
There was, of course, a singing section, where Hank played some classics like the Anglerfish song, Strange Charm and other selections from his CDs, and a couple Q&A sessions with the audience. One guy asked him to show us his sweet fighting moves with two swords and Hank proceeded to dance up and down the center aisle with them. It was pretty great.
Toward the end of the gathering, Hank's wife, The Katherine, read the whole first chapter of John's new book, The Fault In Our Stars, and it was so tough and heart wrenching because I couldn't help but think of Esther the entire time she was reading. I almost wondered if the book isn't, in some ways, biographical of her life. John and Esther were friends, good friends at that, and I'm sure they had philosophical conversations about death and love. What better way to do her life justice than to write a book? This is purely speculation and I could be completely wrong, but there were some undeniable parallels between John's main character and Esther Earl.
Anyway, the gathering as a whole was hilarious and so much fun, but we were all positively starving by the time it ended, so Shauna and I went on a quest for food. We tossed around the idea of ordering room service, but upon going up to Shauna's room we realized it was going to be hideously expensive and we'd have to charge it to someone's card, neither of which we wanted to deal with. That's when Shauna's lovely roommates offered to drive us off Universal property on an adventure to find fast food, and because they were so kind to offer, we accepted!
SHAUNA'S FIRST BURGER KING EXPERIENCE! YES! WE'LL MAKE AN AMERICAN OF YOU, YET! =P
By the time our adventure for Burger King came to a close and we'd gotten back to the ballroom, we'd missed the Parselmouth's set of the wrock concert and I believe someone else's as well. We came in halfway through Hank Green's set, so we got to hear the end of his newest Harry Potter song. He ended with "Accio Deathly Hallows" (always a classic) and as soon as he was done with his set I rushed over with Shauna to get a picture with him and pick up Ellen Hardcastle for Jennie. He was so frazzled from the fans surrounding him, but it was so cool to get a picture with Hank.
After checking out the left side of merch, we ran over to the right side of the ballroom so I could get The Prince's Tale by Lauren Fairweather. I'd been anxious to run into her all day because I took over the role of Pansy in TFB from her, and Mallory had told me after the show that she'd spoken to Lauren who'd told her she thought I was adorable and loved the show (insert fangirl squeal here). When I approached her merch table I smiled and waved at her and she recognized me from the show (I'd decided to stay in costume all day because I loved my robe). We got an adorable Pansy's picture and I bought her CD.
Gred and Forge, who played after Tonks and the Aurors while I was merch-hunting, came off stage just then, so Kelly, Shauna and I got a picture with Jarrod Perkins. His wife, Stephanie, happens to be the author of Anna and the French Kiss, which I had borrowed from Jennie as well and taken down to Orlando with me. She also just happened to be sitting at Gred and Forge's merch table with a friend. So I may have booked it to my bag to dig it out and have her sign it.
As I came up to the table, Stephanie's friend, who had just been on stage with Gred and Forge and is in her own wizard rock band, recognized me from TFB and told me I'd done a great job. When Stephanie asked her what she meant, we both explained what TFB was and Stephanie thought it was really cool and was sad she missed it! So as I told her who to sign the book for, I told Stephanie that I did NaNoWriMo in November and won, and she seemed genuinely really happy for me. Seriously one of the coolest moments of the con for me, since I adore her book.
By the time the Draco and the Malfoys set started I was done with merch. I love Draco and the Malfoys, so I was relieved that I could fully enjoy the set, which was hilarious, as always. It was even more incredible when he sang Pansy (You Are the Girl of My Dreams) and Scarlett Byrne (Pansy in the films) came out on stage for him to sing it to! She looked slightly embarrassed but I think she enjoyed it.
The Whomping Willows was next to last, and as per usual, Matt brought the house down with his crazy rock know-how. Seriously, that man is one of the greatest entertainers I've ever had the pleasure to see live. His songs are so catchy, he always puts on a great show, and the atmosphere of the fans is irreplaceable. One of the most memorable moments of the entire conference for happened at the end of his set. His last song was one from his newest CD called "When the Lights Go Out," and the refrain of that song is "We're wizards. We'll party forever. This night will never end." And he taught us these words to sing along with him, which repeat a lot at the end of the song. We shouted and sung the words at the top of our lungs until the song ended and he started deconstructing for the next set, but the crowd had decided they weren't done with it. We took it upon ourselves to continue singing the refrain for a solid 5 minutes after the end of the set, over and over again, and the sheer beauty of that moment, in hindsight, really pulls the feel of the entire conference together for me. It was that moment when we truly were joined as one, in a massive yet crowded ballroom, all sharing our love of the same music, the same people and the same story that captured us all from the beginning. It was a singularly fantastic moment and I don't think I'll ever forget it.
The only thing that could have made us stop singing, as you can see in the video I linked above, was Harry and the Potters.
The first ever wizard rock band was our closer for that night, and it was my first time ever seeing them live. Let me tell you. It was an experience.
They played my favorites, "Save Ginny Weasley," "This Book Is So Awesome," and others, and their energy was so ridiculously infectious that it powered me through the end until Kelly, drooping with the exhaustion I knew I had as well, asked if we could leave early. I knew I needed the sleep too, so I said yes, only slightly upset when we learned on the walk back to the parking deck that Evanna Lynch had gotten up on stage to play bass for their last song. I knew that the next day was going to be even more full up, so I didn't regret the decision at all.
Day 4 coming soon!
HPRT: I just got back from Disneyworld last night, and on the drive home, my friends and I listened to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on audio book to keep ourselves awake. It was so much fun!
Current Book: Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli (I know, I still haven't finished it!)
Current Song: Neville the Hero by Alexandre Desplat from the Deathly Hallows Part 2 soundtrack
Sounds amazing. I can't wait to hear the rest!
ReplyDelete