FEDCON, Dallas, TX (June 13-15, 2008)

[TPoptarts]

I still wish I could go and meet everyone though.

[CX]

Sucks that the con got cancelled, but at least you guys got to have some time together. And from what sounds like went down, my respect for John Billingsly has been reaffirmed.

And Dis, you look great in that costume. Don't take this as me hitting on you or anything, but I honestly don't think you had anything to worry about as far as your abs - it looks like whatever you did worked pretty well. So... What did CT have to say about the outfit? Did he remember you from that skit you did a while back?

[Elessar]

Sucks that the con got cancelled, but at least you guys got to have some time together. And from what sounds like went down, my respect for John Billingsly has been reaffirmed.

And Dis, you look great in that costume. Don't take this as me hitting on you or anything, but I honestly don't think you had anything to worry about as far as your abs - it looks like whatever you did worked pretty well. So... What did CT have to say about the outfit? Did he remember you from that skit you did a while back?

Take what you see the in photos and add 4,327 pts, because I'd seen photos before, just of her in general, and they did not do her justice. I would like to politely point out that Distracted is a very beautiful woman .

Because we didn't get to do our skit, we could tell she was very upset at dinner, so when we were out grocery shopping for our awesome little wine/cheese/sushi/sandwhich picnic (and watching Enterprise videos), me and Priso picked her up some flowers .

[JadziaKathryn]

This is crazy. You don't cancel a convention halfway through. That's just insane. And wouldn't it be better to muddle through and make the best of it? I don't get it.

BUT, I am impressed with John Billingsley's actions on behalf of all the fans. And at least you had some good fun anyway.

[Asso]

Great, great image!

[Elessar]

This is crazy. You don't cancel a convention halfway through. That's just insane. And wouldn't it be better to muddle through and make the best of it? I don't get it.

BUT, I am impressed with John Billingsley's actions on behalf of all the fans. And at least you had some good fun anyway.

When it got over and done with the guy was like a freakin mafia don or Robert Kennedy or something - he couldn't enter a room without people like fawning over him and thanking him , which I did too, it was just funny.

[Elessar]

And alas the Convention weekend comes to a close...

I must go say goodbye to Ek and Priso

[blacknblue]

Seriously, both of you ladies looked cute as a pair of buttons. My sincere compliments. And my sincere envy to everyone who got the chance to go.

[TPoptarts]

Here's an email I got on my Facebook about the con being cancelled

this has truly been a disaster, but not in only one way. Things have been going poorly for a couple of weeks now. It started when several of the actors were pulled out by their agents and the agents didn't even tell the actors. Another actor was pulled out because there just wasn't enough interest shown in that actor to justify the cost.

Tim scrambled to get some other guests (including myself) on the list to come to the convention (even though there were still more guests than at any convention I've ever attended), then there were flight problems with several of us and we weren't able to get there. There was also at least three guests (one actor and two directors that I know of for sure) who had to be on sets and had to cancel their appearances at the last moment.

Tim was just about to begin working on the flight problems, but that very day Tim started having the serious back problems (very serious, his spine is leaking spinal fluid) and he was admitted to the hospital where his cell phone and laptop were taken away to keep him from working. I don't know Jane's number, so I didn't know a lot of this for a couple of days.

At around the same time, the hotel, which was supposed to charge only after the convention, suddenly demanded $20,000 up front. For some reason, when Tim's folks who were having to run the convention without him showed up, the hotel then demanded another $10,000 right then in addition to the $20 grand they'd already gotten (keeping in mind that the money was originally supposed to be paid after the con was over...)

I think this was the straw that broke the camel's back. With all of the financial stuff racking up, several of the guests not able to get there and Tim unable to be there to fix issues as they cropped up, I think that Tim realized that it just became too low quality for the fans and he decided to scrap it and refund everyone their money.

Now he's working on a way to try to make it up to the fans who came, but that's just going to cost him even more and the expenses he's already piled up over this are pretty massive.

This truly has to be one of the worst moments of Tim's life and I know it's killing him, so we just all need to stand behind him and support him in any way we can. He's a great guy and he deserves much, much better than what fate is handing him right now.

[Distracted]

I feel very sorry for Mr. Brazeale and his back, but it honestly doesn't excuse how he mismanaged the event. Hotels with convention halls usually have pre-reservation requirements to keep the hall without prepayment. If he didn't have the pre-reservation numbers to cover the cost of the meeting rooms, he should have cancelled the event a week ago. Just crossing one's fingers and hoping for the best doesn't cut it in the real world.

I'm back. I was offline all weekend, at first because I was busy having a good time, and then because I had to pull myself together so that I could post without sounding too bitter.

My husband and I had a very pleasant weekend eating out and meeting three wonderful new friends. eK, Priso, and Elessar were terrific... young, enthusiastic and energetic. Just being around them made me feel 20 years younger. I enjoyed every moment of being with them. Both Priso and Elessar are such gentlemen (my flowers are on the kitchen table, guys. They're gorgeous. Thanks again) and I wish eK lived closer. I'd have a new adopted sister. She's so much FUN!

Despite the obvious disappointments of the weekend, I agree with eK that I wouldn't have missed it for the world. And thanks for the positive reviews of the costume, everybody. It means a lot to me to know that you guys liked it. To answer your question, CX... no, I don't think Connor recognised me. Of course, at that point he was trying to salvage the weekend financially by doing cash autographs at 20 dollars apiece and probably wondering how he was going to get home and whether he was going to get paid, so the poor guy had other things on his mind. He didn't look happy.

[TPoptarts]

Gah I still wish I could have been there. Like even though it got cancelled in the middle. And the worst thing is I actually COULD go because my period decided to be nice to me this time but of course like how the frell was I supposed to know that for the first time in like a million years I wouldn't have cramps. (And that's all I'm gonna say now cuz I'm sure no one wanna listen to me talk about my endometrium ) My period is evil and it hates me.

[Distracted]

Here are the best of the few photos my husband took.


The TriS gang, minus Jedikatie, who unfortunately did not seem to be in a sociable mood. Can't blame her, I guess. It was a rough weekend.


Me and Connor. Poor dear. He was very nice, despite being obviously both exhausted and fed up with the whole situation.

[Elessar]

Wow, you really caught Larry Nemecek looking kinda nuts off to Connor's left

I had a blast. I don't want to point fingers because that actor's version of what happened sounds so different from the FedCON personnel we talked to. Basically that says that it was the hotel's fault and the fault of just unhelpable medical issues of Tim's - and the FedCON personnel (AND Billingsley, BTW) said without equivocation that Tim didn't have the skills to pull this off, that his staff made rookie mistakes, and that they just didn't get the turnout they needed.

It will be impossible to ever know whether the true blame rests with Tim and poor executive decisions, lack of experience, etc - or as the actor seems to be intimating, if it was unreasonable demands by the hotel and unavoidable circumstances that killed the Con. We'll probably never know, but the idea that "Tim would like to do something to make it up to the fans" sounds laughable to anyone who was there because it was stated unequivocally that there's no chance he could ever run a convention again. Maybe he burned some bridges or made some enemies, who knows.

One way or another, I had a great time - it was 100% worth going, to such an extent that me, Ek, and Priso were talking this morning about going to Vegas in August if some favorable life circumstances turn out for us. Everyone should look into their ability to plan to go to Vegas

Go look at the Vegas Con post I've already made called "Huge List Going".

[pookha]

there really wasnt an excuse to cancel the start of saturday.
at least make it through the day. he had enough guests to make the programming work and i dont see the hotel letting him out of fees since they couldnt rebook the space.

if things were so dire with the hotel (and some of it sounds fishy.) a week out he could have canceled the con and most people could have gotten some refunds ect since there would be more then 48 hours notice.

frankly some of the stuff i read from tim has been contractictory.
and i dont see a hospital letting someone go if their spinal cord was leaking.

i used to do a sf fan newsletter which i have been considering bringing back for awhile.

i am considering sending tim's claims about what happened with the hyatt to their sales manager and ask them for their side of the story.

reading through the fedcon forum i saw i know some of the dealers who were there so i will be asking more about their take on the situation.

[Distracted]

It certainly would be nice if you could discover what really happened, pookha. I may not get my money back, but I'd sure as heck like to know the truth.