Hello, all! I know I promised I’d be blogging from the “Something Wicked” Supernatural fan convention up in Vancouver this weekend, and I confess that I’ve been very derelict in my duties in that regard. Apologies, but we’ve been having a blast up here, and frankly, the only times I’ve been in my room have been when I’ve been sleeping and when we had our little TVGuide.com bloggers episode viewing party on Thursday night!
This will still be just a quickie. Metalligirl, Idahogirl, SJJCM, and I all arrived in
On Friday, MG, IG, SJJCM, and I hit the road to find the studio and to search for shooting locations that wouldn’t be included in the location bus tour scheduled for Sunday. The word we’d gotten was that they were shooting at the studio, not out on location, so our chances of seeing anyone were miniscule, but the sun was out and it was lovely. We didn’t see the boys, but we did meet and get to pet Jared’s dogs! Two girls were walking them outside the studio, and Harley and Sadie, not being on leashes, came right up to us to say hello where we were taking pictures on the sidewalk. We got photos of them only as they were walking away, but it was a fun experience!
From the studio in
Friday evening was registration for the convention, dinner with the organizers to prepare for the following day’s screening of Jensen’s film Ten Inch Hero, which he shot last year (the four of us had all volunteered to help with logistics), and then a mixer for the convention attendees in the hotel bar. This turned out to be the smallest convention I had ever attended, with only 30 people turning up. Something Wicked lost a number of attendees when Creation Entertainment announced its
The highlight of Saturday was the screening at a local
Saturday night was the con’s costume-optional party. The winner of the prize for best costume did a superb recreation of the dead silent film starlet from Hollywood Babylon. We also had a Woman in White. Me? I went as the Impala, all in black with silver jewelry including Chevy bowtie logo earrings and necklace and with Chevy logo stickers on my hip side panels and my … trunk. *grin*
Today we took a bus tour in the Vancouver rain to various exterior locations used in the show, including the private home used for the Winchester residence in Home and What Is and What Should Never Be (you wouldn’t recognize it, absent all the set dressing; the freaky tree isn’t really there, and the house doesn’t have rosebushes or a picket fence!); the historic Rosemary Mansion used as the inn in Playthings; the St. Andrews-Wesley church used in Salvation and Houses of the Holy; the Riverview mental hospital used in Asylum, In My Time of Dying, and Folsom Prison Blues; the Old Terminal Pub used in Asylum and The Magnificent Seven; the studio in Burnaby, which was redressed as the Oklahoma Gas and Power Company office in Bugs; the Lu Lu Island trestle bridge, which appeared in Hookman and Salvation (we saw the Hookman side); and the gas station (now a bottle recycling depot!) where Dean made his emotional call to John in Home. We saw additional locations that didn’t allow for us to stop and take photos, including the carpark where they filmed the closing scene of Nightshifter; the west building at Riverview that provided the front steps for the coroner’s office in Bloody Mary and the hospital in Something Wicked; the exterior of the building used as the psychiatrist’s office in Asylum; and the park that was redressed as the graveyard where Dean stood at John’s grave in What Is and What Should Never Be.
We returned to the hotel for a discussion session, a trivia competition, and farewells. The discussion wound up being a fascinating one, because there were two university professors (also fans!) in attendance who were researching the fandom for an academic book on the phenomenon. Their questions about what made us fans, what drew us to the show, and what determined our fandom expression (ranging from just enjoying the show to blogging/commenting to doing meta analysis on episodes and topics to writing fan fiction) made for a spirited and free-wheeling conversation!
Most folk are leaving tomorrow. SJJCM and I are staying until Friday, and MG extended her stay by a day, so tomorrow she’ll join SJJCM and me in the hunt for location shooting. Tomorrow will be day one of shooting on episode ten. We don’t know where they’ll be, but we’ll be on the prowl! We’ll also try to hit some of the locations where the bus couldn’t stop today, so we may have more photos for the collection.
How quickly I can get photos up will depend a bit on how lucky we are in the location hunt, and how late we’re getting back to the hotel. But you can trust that we’ll be having fun!! And you will be hearing from us as things develop.