A Station Eight Fan Web Site

Gargoyles

The Phoenix Gate

Ask Greg Archives

COMEBACKS 2007-07 (Jul)

Archive Index


: « First : « 10 : Displaying #51 - #60 of 107 records. : 10 » : Last » :


Posts Per Page: 1 : 10 : 25 : 50 : 100 : All :


Bookmark Link

kathy writes...

I Went to Pancake World and What Did I See?

Well, first I went to the airport and picked up Greg. And then I went to Pancake World aka Pigeon Forge where they just happened to be hosting the 11th Annual Gathering of the Gargoyles. It was good to see people I talk to but don't normally see in person. And it was good to meet some new folks too.

Open Ceremonies is not without its nostalgic charm. I missed out on all the late night stuff due to a string of crushing headaches and inexplicably having my body clock reset to somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. But I did enjoy a trip to a shooting range where I got to actually try some of the gun-related activities I normally only write and/or read about. (which was extremely educational). And I played laser tag, which was fun in its own cathartic sort of way. And of course there was lots and lots of GARGOYLES - episodes to watch, stories told, and the irrepressable Thom Adcox.

I hosted a writing seminar which was well received. And since it wouldn't actually be a Gathering without talking about writing at least a little (and more likely a lot) that was also of the good.

And there were pancakes. And rain. And a leaking roof. And a whole lot of people pulling together to make sure Kerry the Comic Book Guy's stuff didn't get ruined. Which was cool.

But then it was over. And people went home. And I drove Greg back down the mountain (getting lost slightly in Maryville, because I always do) and when I got home I packed my lunch and got ready to go back to the real world, thus ending another Gathering weekend.

Greg responds...

You forgot the late night call when my plane was delayed...

Thanks again for everything!

Response recorded on July 13, 2007

Bookmark Link

Nameless writes...

Ufff, i have just finished reading Demona files to see if my questions were answered before...they werent :P I notice that there are more questions about her than any of the other characters! I wonder how she would react at knowing just how many human fans she has. Life is so ironic sometimes, isnt it? Anyway, here are a few questions :)
Demona hasnt shown any kind of pain at the word "inmortal" but she seems not to happy either. Is she happy (Or at least satisfied) of been inmortal?
Is she afraid of death, or its like "i will fight it off if i have too, but i really dont care if it gets me"??
Is She aware of just how pretty she is? :P

Greg responds...

It comes in handy.
I think she is afraid of death.
I think so. Yes. In a surface sense, I think she makes use of her hotness.

Response recorded on July 13, 2007

Bookmark Link

JanAlexandra writes...

Did Fox & Xanatos cohabited right away since the day he picked her up at Rikers island?
& where did they go first after the limo starts off?
Did anything in particular happened between them in the limo during their way to the destinations?

Greg responds...

Yes.

I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Response recorded on July 13, 2007

Bookmark Link

Charisma82 writes...

Tuesday, June 25, 2007: Day 5 of Gathering of the Gargoyles

I guess there really isn't a day 5, and that's probably when everyone is getting home, but still… Here's the last day of my journaling from a non-gathering point of view.

Kay and I didn't wake up until 10:00am the next morning because we were wiped out from Disneyland the day before. We packed and left the hotel around 11:00am to go next door to IHOP for the 3rd time in the three days (IHOP, day 3… it's kind of a joke around here now). We were going to meet my grandparents and my aunt and her family there, and since they called and told us they had a table already, we knew we'd be in and out of there quick. When we went inside, they were nowhere to be found. What had happened is that they went to the other IHOP on that street (for some strange reason, the IHOP people decided to put two IHOPs on the same street, literally 4 blocks from each other). We drove to the other IHOP and had breakfast there (so I guess we went to IHOP 4 times all together on the trip). When we finished breakfast, my family drove to the parking structure and went on the tram again to get into the Disneyland Park while the rest of our party walked (they had a parking pass for their car somewhere else and we didn't).

We went to California Adventure on this day. And again, there was a problem with the ticket I had to get into the park (the whole name thing was off… it was annoying). What made it worse than the day before with the other Disney employee, was that the lady was even more perturbed at us than the one before. Usually, Disney employees are the nicest people ever, but the two that we got that ushered us in each day at the ticket booth needed to remember where they worked. Enough on that. We met up with the rest of our party at a shop at the front of the park after we rented a locker to stuff our extra stuff in. We went to Soaring Over California, and seeing that the line was over an hour, we got fast passes. We went by the Grizzly Peak River Run thing and it was over an hour to wait in line (not surprising because it was REALLY hot and muggy outside), so we kept on going. We finally decided to go watch the Bug's Life 3D show, which is cute, and then after that we headed over to Tower of Terror, which only my family got on because no one else wanted to lose their breakfast or were too scared to get on it. After that ride (which is one of my favorites at that park) my cousin and Tyson wanted to get on the Grizzly Peak Rapid Ride, and so we stood in line for over an hour to get on it. That had to be the longest hour of the whole day… no the whole trip. I was not in the best of moods waiting for that ride, especially because the last time I'd gotten on the ride, I'd been soaked and uncomfortable for the rest of the trip. So, I made my dad get me a poncho that I would sit on so my backside wouldn't get wet. I didn't care if the top half of me was wet, but the bottom half of me was going to stay dry. The ride was fun and I didn't get too wet like others in our group, so I was happy. When that ride was over we had a half hour to kill before we could use our fast passes (which are a blessing… I need to shake the hand of the guy who came up with the idea of fast passes and tell him he deserves the biggest raise in Disneyland history…) so we went through the tortilla and sourdough bread factories. I like these because they are a nice little break from the crowd and you get to learn stuff too. Once we were done in there, we used the fast passes to get on Soaring Over California. Just about everyone who has gone on that ride have had only nice things to say about it. It is a very cool ride. We've seen people cry once they get off of it. How did you like that ride?

After this ride, my aunt and her family said their goodbyes to us. They left the park to go visit a friend of my aunt's for the next day. My grandparents and my family ate dinner (I had a sourdough bread bowl from the bread factory and everyone else had Mexican food). When we finished there, my family and I rode the Mulholland Madness roller coaster. My grandparents left after that to go do whatever they wanted and then they left the park. My mom, Kay, and I got on the Boomerang ride and then my whole family got on California Screamin'. That ride is awesome. We headed back over to Tower of Terror because my mom wanted to ride it again, but the line was too long, so we went to my favorite place ever which is called the Disney Animation Studio. This place is my favorite place in both parks combined, hands down. I LOVE IT!!! Have you ever been in there? If not, you're missing out. We didn't get to go to any of the rooms to do anything because my parents wanted to leave soon, so we sat in the main room, listening to music from Disney movies while drawings of the movies were shown all over the round room. After this, we did some shopping (ran into my grandparents 2 other times) and then left the park around 9:30pm. When we got home around 12:30am, everyone went to bed as soon as we walked in the door.

So, that's the whole thing and I am now finished with the journals. I hope you and all the other Gargoyles fans had a great time at the gathering. Though I didn't get to go (hopefully one day I will), I did have a great time at Disneyland.

Thank you for your time and all that you do.

-Charisma82

Greg responds...

The first and only time I ever rode Tower of Terror was the day it opened at DisneyWorld. We were down there for the World Premiere of Gargoyles in September 1994. I was on the ride with my boss Gary Krisel, Marina Sirtis, Salli Richardson, Keith David and his manager Josh Silver.

Response recorded on July 13, 2007

Bookmark Link

Zach Baker is a Jeopardy GOD!

Some of you may remember fellow fan Zach Baker. He's been to multiple Gatherings, performed in multiple Radio Plays, married a fellow Gargoyles fan (and had a kid with her, thus insuring us future generations of fans). He's a former student of mine, and a very funny guy.

And Zach Baker has been kicking butt and taking names on Jeopardy the last two days. He's won $44K already. So tune in tomorrow to your local Jeopardy station and send Zach your psychic best wishes. (It's a syndicated show, so check local listings. It's on ABC, channel 7 at 7pm in Los Angeles.) And yeah, I know the episodes were taped weeks if not months ago, but it's good karma! Trust me.


Bookmark Link

Marie writes...

Was Una named after Lady Una from Spencer's The Faerie Queene, or simply because she was based on a unicorn?

Greg responds...

Largely the latter, but I read Faerie Queene in college, so it may have been an influence.

Response recorded on July 12, 2007

Bookmark Link

New to the Club writes...

Hi Greg, this is my first time to the ASK GREG website. Did Demona try to assassinate Hitler during World War II? Ha ha, just kidding. You stated in your guidelines not to submit original ideas masquerading as questions and you used the Demona Hitler question as an example. Hope you don't mind the joke.

Anyway, my actual question is kind of silly. What's Goliath's favorite snack food, excluding Jalepanos? Does he like candy?

Greg responds...

I hate to disappoint you on your first question... but I don't know. I'll let you (all of you) decide for yourself.

Response recorded on July 12, 2007

Bookmark Link

Karine writes...

Hey, I was a guest this year. Yeah, listed in the con book as a Guest next to Thom and Greg. It was strange and weird and cool and fun all at the same time.

I took very few photos, and none of them during con activities. I blame it on Samuel. All his fault for having my attention!!! So you'll just have to go look at other people's photos.

Thursday
Samuel and I were dropped off at the airport by Adam and Matthieu on Thursday morning. I like the self-check-in terminals, they make things fast and easy. As I was told that Pigeon Forge was a dry county, I went to the duty free store to pick up some good mixer booze and some Sortilège (maple syrup whisky liqueur) to bring, but as they have changed the rules on bringing liquids on planes, the alcohol had to be put in luggage that would be checked. And since I'd packed very tight, there was no room for bottles, and thus I could not buy anything. (poo)

Sam was very well behaved on the plane. Once arrived in Chicago, we met up with Jen and Thom at the gate for Knoxville; Thom was litterally sedated, so Jen and I shared some lunch while he snoozed. Susan (co-chair of G2008 in Chicago) joined us, and then they changed our gate, so we had to wake up Thom and make our way there. I had to work, but there was no room on the plane to have Sam in his car seat, so Jen offered to take him; however, due to placement of oxygen masks, I had to keep Samuel with me. No biggie, it was a short trip, and he slept most of the way (mommy's milk is an effective narcotic sometimes).

In Knoxville, we piled up in the car Susan had rented, installed the GPS, and drove to our hotel. Except that the GPS couldn't find the hotel at first, and then when Jen reprogrammed it with an intersection, it brought us PAST the hotel into the following town. We joked that it brought us to the booze, as it made us pass a very well stocked liquor store. We got, among other things, a TUB of margarita... it was good. Wish I could find that here, it's great for parties. We drove back into Pigeon Forge (aka OMG Tacky Town, aka Vegas Light) and found our hotel.

As far as hotels go, this was on the not good side. It wasn't awful, but for those who've been to the Orlando Gathering... yeah. Like that. Water problems from torrential rain included. Although we'd find that out on Sunday... The thing about the hotel is thaty at first it seemed "not as bad as it seems", if you understand what I mean, but it progressively got worse. The room that I was sharing with Jennifer, Samuel and Eric (aka Gorebash) stank of cigarette smoke. The hotel staff did not have any non-smoking rooms, so they offered to clean the room and change the sheets. Why they don't do this between every stay is beyond me. The room was okay after that, thankfully.

Guests and staff met up in the lobby, and we made our way to the Japanese steak house across the street. Good food. Good performance. Good company. Sam was zerberted by Greg W, cuddled and snuggled by several people, and was a happy camper throughout. When we got back to the room, he went to sleep pretty easily, and we grownups had a relaxing evening chatting before turning in.

Friday
Sam woke up around 4:45 AM, and since I'm a light sleeper, he woke me up. I took him into my bed before he could wake up the others and nursed him. We both fell asleep shortly, only to all wake up around 8:30 or so.

We went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. The deal was that you could get pancakes and syrup OR biscuits and gravy for free as long as you bought a drink. Starch and Carbs, anyone? I mostly passed on the biscuits and gravy thing. Not my thing. So after the pancakes, I made my way to host my first panel... or at least I tried! I was looking for the room like an idiot. My phone rang and I was told, "You know you're supposed to be in 3B now, right?" I said, "Yes, I know, and I'd BE there if I KNEW how to GET there!" After a few elevator rides, Sam and I finally arrived in the room. Nikki and I hosted the Basic Art Tips discussion. I taught perspective and backgrounds, Nikki and I explored character design, we explained more about how perspective affects characters, and the like. It was a good panel.

I went back to the room for Sam to have a nap. While he slept, I whipped out my laptop and continued working on the Bad Guys comic. After he woke up, I printed a bunch of stuff in the ConSuite, then we made our way to the third floor atrium again. I went to set up in the art show, chatted with some people there, and took a look at the stuff posted. Then it was Opening Ceremonies, and Samuel was getting really fussy after a while, so I had to cut my presence short and make my way back to the hotel room to have him nap some more before dinner. He had a really hard time settling down, so I skipped on the mini-golf because I would probably have been spending my time looking after him rather than playing. Plus, I was HUNGRY. I figured the stroller ride would help him get some sleep. We went out to dinner, but I ended up getting really worried and upset at the amount of noise in the place, which did wake up Samuel. However, he ended up being okay after he calmed down. Sammy took Samuel at one point, and my Sam was finding this arrangement quite pleasant! Sammy is awesome with him. Seth also got a truckfull of smiles and giggles out of him. These two would make wonderful parents. After dinner, we made our way back to the room, and Sam was put to bed. Eric went to get some ice and I prepared the margarita tub. We had some drinks and chatted the rest of the evening.

Saturday
It was around 7ish that I woke up, I think. I got up after a while, unable to sleep anymore. Everyone else was sleeping -- yes, even Samuel! I checked on him, then went to take a shower, got ready, then looked back in the room and saw that everyone was still sleeping. I lied down next to Jen again, and dozed a bit before everyone finally got up around 8:30.

We got ready and headed down for breakfast. Pancakes again, and coffee. Starch and Carbs. Wheee. Jen was holding Radio Play auditions, and I decided to audition for the first time since the beginning of Radio Plays. After that was done, I hosted the "From Fan to Pro" panel, where I answered several questions about working on the Gargoyles comics, and some about breaking into the business. It was a busy panel, which I hosted with Samuel in my arms. I had brought the Cocoa Warriors book to show (the Aztec comic that had me stressed out and which I hated, and when I received the final product a few weeks ago was quite proud of, and again very grateful for the help I got to get it done), but forgot all about bringing storyboard samples. As I chatted with someone about his art, Samuel was giggling and squealing on my shoulder, and it took me a while to realize that it was Gore playing Peekaboo with him that had him so excitedly happy.

I had a couple of hours free before finding out if I was cast in the play, and so I went to post my silly Kanthara drawing I'd done during Opening Ceremonies (and coloured in the evening) in the Art show. The drawing was an apology for not having any art for sale in the show -- I'd only posted pages from Issue 5 and one of the pages from the test I did to get the gig in the first place. Samuel was sleeping in his stroller, so I was able to leave him with JennBob and Jade so I could get some lunch; after I returned to the Dealers' Room, I took advantage of the babysitting to chat with people and look at what was for sale. I was wowed by the crochet-made dolls that Vox Mortuum had for sale. I ended up being cast in the radio play, after goofing off for a while longer, I went to the radio play rehearsal.

Rehearsal went very well. I think Samuel slept during most of it. He spent it with Sammy, who was sitting at the far end of the room. He woke up just as we finished, and I ended up nursing him at the beginning of the actual performance. This worked out fine, as he got cast as Alex (someone else provided the voice, though ;)) and was cooperative due to a full tummy when it was his turn to act. The play was an adaptation of issues 3, 4 and 5 of the comic, so everyone who was there got a SNEAK PREVIEW of the issue that's going to come out in July! MWAHAHAHA! Anyways, we put on a good show. It was a lot of fun.

There was an expedition to the tattoo parlour across the street, because a bunch of people wanted to get a tattoo. lybell designed a Phoenix Gate drawing, and everyone decided where they wanted it. I didn't want to get a tattoo, myself, but I did toy with the idea of getting a cartilage piercing on my left ear. I finally decided against it, because doing it would have only been a spur-of-the-moment thing, not something thought out; plus, the last piercing I got caused all my piercings to get infected, and my body became allergic to several metals. I'm afraid that I'd end up with an inflamed ear. So anyways, back to the tattoo: the shop didn't have time to do them that evening, so that plan got cancelled, with a rescheduling for the next day.

Dinner happened next. We went to a seafood-type place across the street, and I wasn't in the mood for fried fare (I swear, it's almost all there is to eat!) so I ordered a pasta and shrimp dish instead. And it was the. Blandest. Food. Ever. Andrea had the same thing, and agreed with me. Blegh. I had a beer, and it was American Budweiser... almost like drinking a glass of water. It was that or Bud Light, Coors Light, Michelob Light or Corona... I'm a Canadian Beer Snob. :P

We tried to go swimming before the Blue Mug (which I ended up skipping because I had to put Samuel to bed), but the pool was full of excited kids, so we cancelled that idea too. When everyone went off to the Mug, I put Sam in the playpen, let him fall asleep, and then I had a nice phone chat with Adam. I also did some drawing for the comic, designing a new character. I turned in around midnight, but had trouble falling asleep. I was merely dozing when Jen and Eric came back from the Blue Mug. We chatted a bit about it, and then I tried to sleep... and it took me a good long while to finally drift off.

Sunday
Again with the late getting up. I'm so grateful that Sam is turning into a late sleeper. We had breakfast, and since I didn't think I could stand pancakes again, I went for the eggs and meat buffet. Protein and Fat instead of Starch and Carbs. And coffee.

Since there were no panels we needed to be at until 2PM, we headed out to the tattoo parlour again. Honestly, given the tackiness and run-down look of the town, this shop was amazingly clean, and even classy. The tattoo artists were great, too. They are very professional, and fun. Jen got marked first, and then it was one after the other for the rest of the time. I went back to the hotel room to get Sam to have a nap before I needed to be at the Bad Guys panel. I nursed him into submission, then was able to work some more on the comic before I printed out the updated page 2 and headed to the panel.

Well, instead of being a panel on the comic, it turned into a marketing meeting on how to promote the comics and the show. I felt pretty useless in the discussion, and Greg felt like he was a broken record, but there were so many NEW people at the con that to them, it was all new stuff. After the panel, I went into the art show to post the six first pages of the Bad Guys comic (only page 1 was finished, page 2 was nearly there, the rest was very rough, but readable), and watched as people filed in to look at the pages.

Jen, Eric, Sam and I went back to our room and changed into nice clothes for the banquet. Samuel fell asleep in his stroller, and slept through most of the meal. Nikki, Thom, Greg and I were seated at a Head Table, which honestly, was kind of weird. Still, we had a good time, and when Samuel woke up, he nursed, then played on the floor between Greg and me, laughing up at us. Greg held Sam and zerberted him some more. Then came the Q&A. At one point, I asked people to ask questions about Bad Guys, since they hadn't at the panel, and eventually we got asked silly things like what kind of pie we like. :)

We headed back to our rooms to get changed for the Masquerade. Jen and I had agreed, just for fun, to wear our medieval outfits (corsets and all), much to our straight male friends' delight. We got back to the room for the Masquerade, and I sat with Greg and Thom to judge the costumes. It amuses me that some people will wear costumes but not participate in the competition, but oh well. It was a fun show. Hal the Gargoyle was FREAKING AMAZING. It was his first con, too. Holy crap. Anyways, I wheeled a sleeping Samuel into the next room with Greg and Thom, and we chose the winners. I ended up leaving Samuel in the quiet part of the room, and then when the party got started, I goofed and did some cancan dancing with JennBob, Nikki, ChynaRose, Jade (and maybe others? I just know the line was getting long). I mentionned to friends that I was going to put Sam to bed, and to come over for our small room party -- I am so grateful that Samuel can sleep through this, because otherwise I would not have been able to spend evenings with anyone, and Jen and Eric would have been kept out of their own room. Anyways, mixers where brought, the Margarita tub was taken out, and we shared drinks and watched silly online videos and generally had a great time. People started trickling out around 1AM... we must be getting old or something.

By the way, I made up a drink that evening, which people called a Green Jolly Rancher. Here's the recipe: in a tumbler with ice, add 1 shot Midori, 1 shot Vodka, and fill with Mountain Dew. Hey, it's what was there, and it worked really well.

Monday
I can so get used to Samuel not waking up until 8AM or later... And that morning, when I got him from his crib, I nursed him, and then he just fell asleep again. We all got ready and packed, and as he was still sleeping when it was time to go, I just put him in the stroller with his blanket to go to breakfast. He only woke up in the middle of our breakfast, so I changed his diaper and clothes down there, and then I realised that I'd have to be at the autograph panel (kept forgetting I was a Guest) and rushed upstairs to the panel with Greg and Thom.

So I signed autographs, then they held the auction, and then I signed more autographs on things won at the auction. Before long, it was time for Jen, Thom, Samuel and me to leave, so we said our goodbyes, picked up our stuff, and Patrick drove us to the airport. We got checked in, and as our planes were leaving from the same gate, we were able to have some more time together before we all had to say goodbye. I really wanted to bring Jen back with me.

On the flight to Washington, I was able to get a free seat for Samuel to be in. As our flight was delayed, I was worried that I'd be missing my plane to Montreal, since the layover was a mere 25 minutes; that plane ended up being delayed too, for which I was grateful, as it allowed me to grab some lunch, and notice that Samuel had more than overflowed from his diaper... again. Thankfully, I still had his PJs from the morning in the stroller. The (not so) funny thing is that in the Knoxville airport, Samuel's diaper had overflowed and I decided to purchase a onesie at the airport because I thought the PJs would be too warm... and he ended up in the PJs anyways. Anyways, the second flight was full, so I had Sam in my lap. He slept right through. Landing in Montreal was uneventful. Customs were easy, getting luggage was easy, and then my boys picked me up and we went for pizza. Well, I had pizza. Adam had a sub, and Matthieu asked for spaghetti, and we shared a poutine. Matthieu told me all about his weekend (with some prodding from his dad) and Sam got to tell his dad all about his trip, in the way only a four-month-old can. And later that eveing, after the boys were in bed, I got to snuggle with my husband. It's good to be home.

I'm pre-registered for next year. Chicago! I don't know if I'll get the whole family to come with me... it depends on vacation time and on money, and also on what there is to do family-wise in Chicago. I'm sure I'll find stuff. :)

Greg responds...

"zerbert" must equal "flauble". We call 'em flaubles in my family.

Response recorded on July 12, 2007

Bookmark Link

K9: The First writes...

Hello Mister Wiesman, How's your family?

There, I asked a question, I actually wanted to do a ramble of sorts based on my observations on Gargoyle biology. Sort of like someone else did with Gargate genetics. (I'd post what they said, but it's very very long)

STONE SLEEP

Now, obviously at first, this seems to not make a lot of sense. If you're in mid-flight and you turn to stone, you're out of luck. And if a predator or some natural disaster hits you while you sleep, you're not going to have a good chance of making it.

But if one thinks about it, it makes perfect evolutional sense. Of the two main responses to danger from a predator, Flight or Fight, the one that uses the leeast energy and usually has the least chance of injury is Flight, or avoidence from the Fight response for as long as possible, and the best way to avoid Fight is to hide, a.k.a.: Camouflage.

Think about it, if a Gargate, or several Gargates(a Clan) were to either scruntch as tight as possible, huddle close together, or grab hold of a cliff face and make themselves as unnoticable as possible, they would simply look to be nothing more then another rock, or a part of the cliff. This would make them nigh impossible to be found by most predators, and if one finds one or more stone Gargates, it may just walk on by with little care for the prey. But if it dosen't, and still trys to eat the Gargate, it'll be detered from trying again due to either any injuries the predator gets from chomping of the stone, or from the fact that stone doesn't taste very good.

I have another Ramble on Wings, but since I worry as to weather or not it would cause this to be banned, I'll post it separatly.

Greg responds...

Family's good, thanks.

Camouflage... I don't know. Maybe that helps, but you don't need it to explain stone sleep evolution.

Stone sleep is a huge protection against predators in the pre-tool age. Claws and teeth don't bite through stone (or rather the organic stone-like substance that Gargoyles turn into). Even scent is altered. A stone gargoyle is of little interest to and in almost no danger from other animals. It's not until Humans developed tools -- thousands of years after Gargoyles evolved -- that stone sleep became a liability.

Response recorded on July 12, 2007

Bookmark Link

JULY 12

This day in Gargoyles' Universe History....

July 12th...

1996
Demona begins stealing high technology from research facilities -- largely in the hopes that she would encounter the Manhattan clan.



: « First : « 10 : Displaying #51 - #60 of 107 records. : 10 » : Last » :