As I write this, Kathleen is getting the evening off from Mommy duty. I'm here in the hotel room while she's off hanging with friends while Ariel is, in all likelihood, at the concert being given by Chick Corea. Caroline was getting a bit fussy, reluctant to settle down for bed. So I've ordered up "Shrek II and Caroline, a huge fan of computer animation, is contentedly watching it in bed.
This was a pretty good day. Kathleen and I were both on a panel about where one's muse comes from. From what does a writer draw inspiration. The basic answer for me is deadlines and bills. That's about all the spur I need.
Went to the "Firefly" panel. Now...Jewel Staite (who used to work for me on "Space Cases" back when she was thirteen) and Nathan Fillion have been having a sort of bizarre contest since the earliest days of "Firefly." Basically they find new and innovative ways to flip each other off. It seemed that Nathan had the last word because, at the very end of the "Firfly" motion picture outtake reel, the words "For Jewel" appeared followed by an action figure of Nathan as Caleb extending his middle finger at her.
So apparently Nathan won the contest.
Not anymore.
Because when they started doing their Q&A, Nathan happened to call on the fat bearded guy in the third row. And I stood up on the chairs, and bellowed, "Nathan! On behalf of Jewel..." at which point everyone in the packed ballroom got to their feet, "Dragon*Con salutes you!" And a room filled with over a thousand people extended their middle fingers at Nathan Fillion. Nathan took it as well as could be expected, admitting "that's a lot of bird," although he did darkly warn several times that we had "f*cked up." Jewel was beaming, pleased with her (no pun intended) handiwork. Adam Baldwin looked serenely bemused.
In the afternoon, Harlan and I did a two-man panel that was supposed to be horror stories about network executives. Now...a bit of backstory. Dragon*Con had wanted Harlan and I to host "Iron Artist" Sunday morning, but Harlan had demurred. When asked what he WOULD like to do, Harlan said, for reasons surpassing understanding, "You know what would be great. Peter and I love to sing. How about he and I do a late-night cabaret. Just him and me and a piano player and we'll sing show tunes and standards."
Well, the next thing we knew, the thing had mutated into two pianists, a base player, and half a dozen other acts, and Harlan and I would be MC'ing it. Which we reluctantly said we'd do, but it wasn't at all what we'd wanted.
So what we decided to do was to take our Saturday afternoon panel and do the cabaret we'd wanted to do in the first place. We had a wonderful pianist and, to the surprise of the confused but willing audience, Harlan and I did a variety of tunes including "Night Life," Tom Lehrer's "The Elements," and "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat."
I signed at the table from 3 to 6:30 and then headed to the Awards banquet, where the food was okay, Harlan kept baiting the MC and vice versa, and I watched a bunch of people who weren't me win stuff.
And now I'm here.
PAD
Posted by Peter David at September 4, 2004 10:43 PM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingPAD, In case you had any worries, as an audience member this afternoon I thought the impromptu cabaret went swimmingly. For any out there who missed it, cry yourself to sleep tonight, because Harlan and PAD crooning together (and entertaining with a little back and forth in between songs) was an absolute treat.
I was at the Firefly panel. It seemed Nathan was saying "That's f*ed up" (rather than we were).
They were a treat. It seemed they genuinely enjoy just being around each other. They handled every question gracefully, and left us wanting oh so much more.
Unfortunately, I've missed seeing PAD at every other turn. He was not at his table when I was in Artist's Alley. I've missed the panels so far due to a variety of reasons (conflicts, lost track of time, etc). Seen Kathleen all over, but not a sign of the man himself (just heard his voice in the Firefly panel).
And yep, I'm glad I chose the Marriott. The 20th floor is nice this time of year...
Jason
"And I stood up on the chairs, and bellowed, "Nathan! On behalf of Jewel..." at which point everyone in the packed ballroom got to their feet, "Dragon*Con salutes you!" And a room filled with over a thousand people extended their middle fingers at Nathan Fillion"
oO?
PETER!?!! You babysit you kids with tv?!! The Horror! No wonder they begin a life a crime. I can see on the newspapers now
"David Daughters Do Dastardly Deeds!"
When they're all on deathrow for serial leaving bags of burning poop on front door steps, playing Ding Dong Dash and t.p.ing leading all up to the White House, we'll know it all began with your cruel tv babysitting.
-- Concerned Ken from Chicago
I hate George Leedom, and I am glad you don't post to the AOL folder anymore. He deserves no audience. He is human filth.
Was the "DragonCon Bird Army" Jewel's idea? And yeah, I fail to see how Nathan Fillion's gonna top that one.
That was a great "flipping the bird" story. I can only hope someone had video running for it, it'd make a great little video to float around on the net.
>Was the "DragonCon Bird Army" Jewel's idea? And >yeah, I fail to see how Nathan Fillion's gonna >top that one.
In the year 2060, mankind has been devastated by the "Bird War". It began innocently enough, when Nathan Fillion hypnotized one million TV viewers into flipping Jewel Staite off whenever they passed her by... ;)
PAD:
>I signed at the table from 3 to 6:30 and then headed to the Awards banquet, where the food was okay, Harlan kept baiting the MC and vice versa, and I watched a bunch of people who weren't me win stuff.
>And now I'm here.
So at the end of the day, when all is said and done..... you did win. ;)
When will this policy of Mutually Assured Flipping end?! It's madness!
-- Ken from Chicago (who has a great fear of the end credits of next year's Firefly movie SERENITY)
Never had much of a chance to see "Space Cases" or "Firefly," but Jewel was good on "Wonderfalls" and it sounds like she's a cool person.
I finally watched FIREFLY. I bought the DVD collection. I wish I didn't. Not because it was bad, but because it was so good. The potential was so up there with an unbelievable great cast and sharp writing. In 14 hours, the characters had more personality than any of the characters in ENTERPRISE. Fox really blew it on this show.
Thanks to you and Harlan singing "If I Were a Rich Man" at that panel, my roommates nearly smothered me with a pillow. Because it's been stuck in my head for FOUR DAYS now, and I kept humming it, and now it's stuck in THEIR heads...
I thought it went swimmingly. :)
Contrary to Elizabeth's claim, Fiddler on the Roof was not stuck in my head. Fortunately, I brought a brain decoy when associating with Elizabeth for this very reason. My original brain was safetly in its little travel vat in my luggage.
I thought your solo of "If I Were a Rich Man" was marvelous.
Also, please extend my compliments to Kathleen. I admire her ability to resist cackling while doing Frankenstein's part in "Putting on the Ritz".
Anne-
Thanks. Peter gave me every out but I figured if he could put his courage to the sticking place so could I. It was fun and silly. Over all the convention was a lot of fun.
Kath
The hilarious part of the massive amount of birds was the look on Fillion's face as he realized what was going on. When Jewel and Adam realized what was going on, Jewel also flipped him off and Adam stood up and gave him the double deuce. It was pretty freaking funny.
