Monster-Mania Day 2: The Revenge

"Waugie's Chicken! You kill 'em, we chill 'em!"

Day 2 started by grabbing Krisy Jett for an interview at the Fright Rags table. I planned on interviewing at least three bloggers for ETMC by asking some goofy questions. (Due ot my travel this week and the need for editing them, the interviews won't be posted for another couple weeks). Kristy was a real great sport by participating in my first ever live video interview for this site and some really hilarious answers to my ridiculous questions.

Following the interview, we had our most disappointing experience at the show. Dan and I got into line to meet the Boondock Saints' Sean Patrick Flannery, Norman Reedus and David Della Rocco because the wait was nowhere near as long as last night. After waiting about 20 minutes without moving, I was told by one of the staff that I could not take a picture with any of the actors. However, if I paid for their autographs and came back later that night at 6, I could wait in a huge line again to take a posed picture with all of them. Oh and I had to drag my autographs back down to present as proof. I was waiting to be asked for a blood sample next. The idea of waiting in line for over an hour, being $60 poorer and then having to wait for over two more hours just to get a posed picture with these guys turned me off meeting them altogether. I don't know where the idea for that format originated, but I hope they do not employ that tactic for future signings and pictures.

Instead of dealing with the Boondock mis-management, we got in line for John Carpenter and waited for just under two hours to meet him because we were in line when he went to lunch. While we waited in Carpenter's room, I heard a familiar voice angrily asking for coffee. It was none other than Erin Gray who played Wilma Deering on the Buck Rogers series I loved as a kid. After about 10 minutes, she started to get a little testy demanding for some more coffee. Another 10 minutes passed before she got up from the table and walked across the room with coffee pot in hand loudly complaining that she asked for coffee over an hour ago (an hour? que paso?) and wanted some more. Two things crossed my mind: why was Erin fiending for coffee so much and what the hell was she doing signing in John Carpenter's room to begin with? I told Dan, "Wow she loves coffee more than I love Diet Dr. Pepper." It definitely kept us amused until we went face-to-face with JC.

At first, he looked salty as all hell (maybe he was fiending for coffee too?), but then I remembered he wasn't a young buck anymore. In truth, he was actually very nice. After complimenting my OBEY Fright Rags tee, I asked him about the They Live remake rumors. He replied that it was probably going to happen, so I asked him what his contribution would be to the project. He said, "I'm going to stick out my open hand and receive a very, very large check for an enormous amount of money." I said, "Hey that's American way. I wish someone would do that for me when I reached out my hand." He laughed and posed with me. I admit to being totally geeked out at this point. Look at my expression...

One brief victory dance later, we met up with Johnny and Jen again before heading to one of the autograph halls. As we were going in, Johnny got stopped by Jay Amabile of the uber cool The Sexy Armpit. Jay didn't recognize me at first, which was pretty funny. Thanks to the long Carpenter wait and Jay's short time at the show, I missed my window to have a beer with the man and interview him. Next time Gadget! Next time! Either way, it was good to meet him in person albeit for a few minutes.

Next, we got met Felissa Rose from Sleepaway Camp. Long story short, I never get scared of horror films but I watched SC when I was way too young and that final shot of her creepy ass face scarred my brain until about two years ago when she friended me on Facebook. With no alcohol in my system, I was getting pretty creeped out in line until it was time to meet her. For those of you who do not knOw, she is hawt! At first I told her about how she scared the living crap out of me until I realized I might be acting like a complete tool. My cool guy persona finally kicked in and I told her that everything is ok now because she absolutely beautiful and stunning in person. She said, "Oh stop...you're making me blush!" And no BS, I totally made her blush. She gripped me up for our pic before I returned back to geekville.

Let me just mention briefly that I met William Forsythe because I promised my wife Jules years ago that if I ever had a chance to meet him in person, I would tell him of a running joke we had with each other when we were going out. I told him that we used to intimate his character from Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo who kept dropping his pants and asking what the spots were on his peter. He asked me if I was going to drop my trousers like his character did and I told him I'd only do that for Felissa Rose. I thought he was going to deck me, but I think he appreciated when I spoke of his better roles. The best thing about him was is that he is the bad ass in real life that I always imagined him to be and it was great!

That was my last interaction with any celebs (only three total). I wanted to save my money for some wishful deals at vendor booths on Sunday, so we all had drinks in the bar. Dan and I went to Joel Robinson's Boondock Saints raffle and lost, but it was for a good cause and that's all that matters. After we all got more of our booze on, we caught half of the Pet Semetary Q&A .

I used my mini digital camera to take some short vids of Denise Crosby, who drinks the blood of the young, talking about Fred Gwynne and Andrew Hubatsek speaking in his creepy ass Zelda voice. Check them out:

The best part of the night happened when I finally coerced Johnny to do the mock interview with me. My idea was to conduct the interview in the style of Inside the Actors Studio with me doing a horrible impression of James Lipton minus the accent. We both had quite a few drinks in us at this point in and the result was hilarious. Dan and Jen took turns shooting the interview and random conversations him and I had. The funny thing about it was that the interviews did not play out as Geof meets Johnny, but rather Enter The Man-Cave meets Freddy in Space. I even threw on a t-shirt from my local watering hole for this special and intimate interview instead of wearing a suit or something snazzy like that. Like Kristy's interview, this one needs to be edited for time, so look for this sometime in the next couple weeks.

After saying our goodbyes to Johnny, his family and Jen the next morning, we went to the ATM machine to see that it was out of order...for the rest of the day. So that plan for a Sunday spree blew up in my face. With only $30 bucks left in my pocket, I skipped the bootlegs and Dexter slides to buy way better goodies instead. I bought my second Fright Rags shirt of Return of the Living Dead and sadly bid farewell to the legendary Kristy Jett. Sniff, sniff! Check out the rag:

And my last purchase was a smaller version of Joel Robinson's incredible piece of The Boondock Saints. If I had more money, I probably would have bought at least two more pieces to display all over the Man-Cave. There's always his site or the next con. But for now, check this out:

Just like that, Monster-Mania came to an end. I am typing this post up on a Tuesday night wondering how two days have passed since the event ended. Once again, it was cool to see celebs and get some neat gifts for myself, but the best highlights that made this event worthwhile were hanging with friends. We had so much fun with Johnny, Jen and Kristy plus we met a whole lot of cool new people. The only thing I have left to say is: how many more days until the next one?

For another take on the weekend's festivities, including more Dan Petrucci antics, check out Johnny's blog and click here. Yes we used a lot of the same photos in our posts as I just leanred by reading his blog, but hey, our personal photographer was on vacation. ;) But make sure to also check out his site for many more going ons at the convention that I did not cover here, like some of the cool stuff he picked up in the dealers' room.