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Gatecon 2002 Day Two: Gastown and |
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
September 12-15, 2002
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Last Updated 11/12/2002
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often get asked if reprints of my photos are available. If you are interested
in Photo Reprints, the details can be found on the main Gatecon 2002 page.
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print.
Remember to click on the small
pictures below to bring up a larger version of the photo.
Thursday
was the "official" beginning of Gatecon 2002, although there were no
events scheduled until the cocktail party that evening.
So, a
group of folks, organized by Slida and the Gategoers list, headed into downtown
Vancouver to the historic shopping district of Gastown. And boy did we shop!
The local merchants were ecstatic to see us and beamed every time I whipped out
the credit card, I know. Several times I had to ask them "Can you add just
one more item?" and, needless to say, they were happy to oblige! Cindy,
DJ, Leah and I worked our way down one side of the street and back up the
other, ogling all of the tourist trinkets (and buying a few, including, of
course, post cards -- I even got a huge post card of a nude beach, complete
with lots of people *ahem* posing -- key chains, magnets and other tacky
souvenirs. I bought an extra copy for a friend.). We also found a number of
really nice shops with local Canadian made crafts and artwork and jewelry. I
managed to do quite a bit of Christmas shopping and even indulged in some
jewelry items for myself (some stunning handmade stone jewelry with Celtic
designs interwoven with metal). One of the other Gategoers who had been in the
car with us, Barbara, seemed to come and go, suddenly popping up in a shop with
us and then going on her way again.
I've
also been on the quest for the elusive moose for a few years now (long story
short: I'm a photographer but I always seem to *just* miss seeing the moose, no
matter where we go in Canada, Alaska, Colorado, etc.... so the search for the
moose has become a bit of a joke. Of course, I always see lots of bears,
eagles, elk, you name it, I've photographed it...even numerous wild animals in
Australia!). Anyway, every time I see a stuffed moose, I try to get Leah to buy
it for me...and there are a LOT of stuffed moose on sale in Vancouver.
Unfortunately for Leah, Cindy kept egging me on and pointing out every single
moose item in every single store! LOL! I did get one moose purchase out of
Leah. At one point, there was a store with a HUGE stuffed moose inside and
signs all over outside saying 'Come in to see the world's largest moose."
All unknowing (and oh-so-innocently), DJ was leaning very fetchingly over one
of the signs and I (cleverly) told her to hold still for a photo. Once she
finished posing and saw what the sign said (World Biggest Moose), I thought I
would have to run (or hobble, anyway) for my life! In a shop nearby, Leah pointed out that Junior was also shopping
in Gastown that day. We didn’t see Teal’c, so I don’t know how that worked out!
See below for the web photos!
We
happened by the famous Gastown clock just exactly at noon, so we got to see the
steam coming up through it and the horns going off.
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Gastown Steam Clock |
Gastown Steam Clock |
Junior |
Unsuspecting DJ |
The Moose Quest |
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A “smoking” store |
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If you
get a chance to shop in Gastown, it is definitely worth a trip and a lot of
fun. There are tons of shop with BC Jade items for sale and the souvenirs, as I
mentioned, but take the time to wander through some of the higher class shops
to see the wildlife paintings, the Inuit themed art, the handmade jewelry that
are works of art themselves, and so on. There is a local stone called Ammolite
that is just gorgeous. Sort of a Canadian opal, if you will. I ogled quite a
few of them but never found a setting that I just couldn't live without. (We'll
be touring on Monday and Tuesday so who knows? Perhaps I'll find one yet!) Even
if you don't buy anything, everything is well worth seeing.
We
finally worked our way back up the street to meet our Gategoers group at the
Old Spaghetti Factory. We had a back room reserved and I believe we were split
up into four big tables back there. We had a lot of Daniel fans at our table
and got a little rowdy. Our waitress did tell us that we were having too much
fun (said with a big smile)!
I
decided to try some of the local ale (Granville Island Gastown Amber
Ale—unfortunately, it was served cold! Heathens! Ale is to be room
temperature!) and DJ, in honor of Jack, I suppose, ordered the Spaghetti with
Browned Butter and Mizithra Cheese, ala Homer. (As in, Homer of the Iliad, but
I insisted they really meant Homer Simpson.) We learned on the back of our
menus, btw, that Gastown was named after the notorious saloon keeper, Gassy
Jack Deighton. You can imagine we had a bit of fun with that information!
As an
aside, we passed a film crew filming one street over from the main Gastown drag
as we came into town and I maintained they were filming Dead Zone. DJ disagreed
and we never did make it back over there to sneak around the corner and take a
few photos. (Someone later told me that Dead Zone wasn’t filming right now, so
I guess DJ was right. I did wonder, after seeing John Doe this past weekend, if
it could have been them. I don’t know if they film in Vancouver but some of the
scenery seemed familiar!)
On
the cab ride back to the hotel, we passed a shop with a wonderful array of New
Age, Celtic, and Egyptian items in their windows. I caught their website
address if anyone wants to look them up while they're in town: warriorsandwonders.com. (We made it
over to the shop on Monday and it was just awesome: full of Egyptian and
fantasy figures and swords and the like. The prices were very good and just
about everything was on sale.)
Thank
you, Slida, and everyone else who helped organize this outing and who also gave
us a lift into town on the journey in!
After
an exhausting day shopping, we came back to the hotel and all got fancied up
for the first official event of Gatecon: the cocktail party. Nothing really
exciting happened, although the food was very good. There were huge trays of
veggies, and fresh fruit, and numerous hot dishes, including fried shrimp,
scallops, eggrolls, meatballs and the like. We actually made it our dinner.
Sadly, no guests were able to make it, as far as I know. None had arrived by
the time we left, anyway, but we had a good time eating and mingling and
gabbing. We ran into my friend Rene from the Alias Smith & Jones list who
we'd last seen at Wolfcon last February so it was great to catch up with her.
Rene coveted one of our "Got Daniel" badges (made by the lovely and
talented Chance), but when I chased Chance down and asked for another one, she
said she was already all out of them! The picture on the badge is just lovely
(very sexy), so it's no wonder.
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Chance shows off some
special shirts made for guests |
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Cindy, DJ, Rene & Leah
at Cocktail Party |
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Rowan with Danny Bear |
DJ clowning around |
Leah shows off her Daniel
buttons |
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We
finally adjourned to the hotel restaurant for some dessert and we egged Leah
into doing the concept sketch for a new cartoon, then wrote it by committee!
Leah’s working on drawing it now, so you’ll just have to wait and see. I'll
only say that it is another "Daniel descends" cartoon. After that, we
then decided it was time to go to bed at a halfway decent hour! Of course, I
came upstairs and wrote the reports I posted last night!
I'm a
bit cross-eyed right now after a full day of photographing the guest panels, so
I'm going to finish this report up. Hopefully, I'll have the report for today
and some of the marvelous, funny comments by the guests written up before the
night is over. The banquet is also tonight.
My
convention has been "made," however, because Colin Cunningham (Maj.
Davis) gave me a big hug and a kiss. I was completely taken by surprise and
have no doubt my mouth will be hanging open when the picture that was snapped
is developed. We've seen JR Bourne, Peter Williams, Jay Acovone, Frida Betrani,
Colin Cunningham, and Alexis Cruz today, so it has been quite a packed day and
a laugh riot. Any of you who have seen some of these guys on stage before, can
imagine how much fun the panels were. Anyway, more on that in a bit!
Day Three –
Panels and the Banquet
Or
Featuring pictures of Brad Wright, Alexis
Cruz, Virginia Hey (from Farscape), Jay Acovone, Jay Brazeau, Tony Amendola,
Erick Avari, Gary Jones, Teryl Rothery, Don S. Davis, Dan Shea, Amanda Tapping,
Colin Cunningham, JR Bourne and more!
Featuring pictures of Michael Shanks,
Amanda Tapping, Tom McBeath
and Lexa Doig (from Andromeda)
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