So, as most of those who have read this, I've been working with the Adrenalin film group for almost a year now. With the film "A Few Brains More: Summer of Blood" being nearly 100% complete the film group took the movie to the Con Nooga Multi-Fandom Convention in Chattanooga Tennessee and as a result I got to attend the convention as a Special Guest. Now, short bus and helmet jokes aside this was a fairly big deal to me. I mean, an up and coming actor is invited as a guest to a convention? That's awesome.
So, Thursday, February 17th, Vicki, mt Sister Shana, her husband James and I all departed for Chattanooga. They 7 hour ride was indeed a trip with my sister and I shouting out random signs we saw in funny voices and enjoying a variety of flavored corn-nuts. We arrived at our hotel that night at around 12:30 AM. I was overwhelmed. The Chattanooga Choo-choo Hotel was awesome. An old building with cool architecture and decor that I was just giddy over. We got to the room and went for a midnight swim in the indoor pool to relax a bit after the ride and then I went back to the room to work on the playlist for our 70's themed room party.
The next morning I woke up, amped to get things rolling. I went to get to pick up my badge only to learn it wasn't being kept with all the others so I made the trek across the rather large property to the Exhibition hall, picked up my pass, and began exploring the Con. For lunch we went to an absolutely delicious restaurant called the Terminal Brew House. I had one of the BEST beers of my life, seriously. Afterward we returned to the con. Saw some cool stuff, met a few cool people and then when the rest of the group arrived the event really got started. First up I was on a panel called "So you want to be an actor". Needless to say, it was about breaking into acting. The crowd was small but full of questions and it was nice to have people interested and responding to what I had to say. Toward the end of our hour an actor named Jason Carter, of Babylon 5 fame, exploded into the room and immediately stole the scene. It was amazing, and quite entertaining. After the hour was up Mr. Carter tagged along with our group all over and we had a delightful chat about this, that, and everything in between. As corny as it sounds I felt sort of a kindred spirit in him...or something like that. Anyway, later on we went to the premiere of the film and it was great. It really came together nicely, especially for a rough cut. Though the keystone was a little screwed up and the sound wasn't perfect but it gave everyone in attendance a good idea of what we put together. A fun, campy, entertaining zombie flick. Later that night there was more hanging out, more talking, and more fun.
The next morning/day was great. Spent the vast majority of the day at our groups table, signing the occasional autograph, talking with various people, and posing for a variety of nerdy pictures that I just could help myself to get. At noon we had another panel, The Adrenalin Group hour, where we talked about the movie, the whole process that went into it, and a little about some of our future plans. Again, it's great to have people, strangers even, that want to hear what you have to say. The rest of the day was spent back at the table. Later in the afternoon I returned to my room to get ready for our Flashback in 3D room party for the room party competition. I was going for a Afro Kung Fu look and think I pulled it off quite well. Our room was incredible, much to our and all our guests' surprise. In the first hour we had over a hundred people come through. It was nuts. Eventually I returned to our room with Vicki and ended up passing out. I'm sad that I missed the latter part of the night but I think I really needed the sleep.
Sunday was...well...difficult. Physically speaking, we were all either sleep deprived, stiff and sore from lack of sleep, bad beds, and hiking across the property or hung over. But it was still a good time all together. Talked more with Jason. Met some more people. Signed some more autographs. And got some cool toys. It was sad to leave the con, but exciting nonetheless, as I handed out a lot of business cards and met a lot of people with the high prospect of future work. Vicki, Shana, and James returned home, but the group and I went to Pigeon Forge for a company retreat to discuss future work. The ride up was cool. I rode with Lanny Maude, a friend of the film group, and had a great conversation about all sorts of things.
When we arrived at the cabin I was, again, overwhelmed by how cool it was, though I was a little disturbed by the rampant bear motif. Despite that, it was beautiful and on the plus side there was a hot tub, which I thoroughly enjoyed after such a long weekend. The next day we woke up, ate, and discussed future projects and scheduled much. Then later that day we watched the DVD of AFBM: Summer of Blood and discussed minor tweaks and changes. Afterward, we had a fire, roasted some giant, mutant marshmallows, and discussed the theme for next year's room party at the Con. Then, after another dip in the hot tub, I went to bed. We had to be out of the cabin by 10 the next morning unfortunately, but I did want to get home. So we got up, packed and cleaned up, and headed to breakfast before the long drive. After a good meal with some scrumptious bacon, we hit the road. It was a long drive, but with good music, beautiful scenery, and good conversation it wasn't a bad drive.
Now, I'm happy to be home and so excited for the coming future. With all the contacts I made, the people I met, the ideas I discussed I know things are going to start rolling faster and faster.
So, I'm excited.
And this is good.
