A CON WEEKEND WITH DOUGIE
by
Tim Rosenberger
While
I was thinking about how to start this I realized
something important. If you’re planning on writing
a report about a few days at a con then write what
you did down after each day so you don’t forget
a lot of the details and then go home to write it
less detailed and more clunky than you would like
it to be. I did not follow this rule and that means
that I will have to write another somewhat vague report
about what happened between Dougie and I.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY
To make
a long story shorter, I ended up going to Wizard World
Chicago on the fifth through ninth of August. When
I had decided to go I knew that Luke Goss was going
but had no idea that Dougie was going as well. It
was only after I had made the decision to go that
I found out about Doug attending. It’s safe
to say that I was more than a little excited to see
my favorite fish stick again.
I arrived
in the Chicago area on that Wednesday. I then waited
impatiently the rest of that day and Thursday (a day
mainly consisting of con shopping) for Friday to arrive.
It finally did and I went to the con and almost immediately
started looking for his table. It took a while but
eventually I found it. You would think after meeting
the man before, and knowing how nice he was, would
make it easier to go up and talk to him. It didn’t
for me, though.
After
building up my courage for at least ten minutes I
got in the line for his table and waited until it
was my turn to see him. When I got up to his table
I was immediately hit with a super friendly Dougie
greeting. I can’t remember exactly what he said
(see what I mean about the writing things down thing)
but hugs and other friendly greetings were involved.
We chit-chatted
for a bit. He asked me how I had been and what I had
been up to at the con. He told me that there was supposed
to be a special My Name is Jerry screening
the night before (Thursday) but they had cancelled
it and he had gotten in town too late Thursday night
to get there on time for the screening in the first
place. I was very sorry to hear this news as I am
very much looking forward to seeing My Name is
Jerry (which I may get to see in September at
a nearby film festival). He then mentioned if I had
seen someone that I was supposed to meet while at
the con and I said know. He expressed his disappointment
at not getting to see Parker (Creator of Del
Toro Films who was unable to attend the con at
the last minute). He mentioned that there was a book
in the works involving him as a mime. I don’t
know if Webmaster Helen has written something about
it on the site yet but it involves Dougie, as a mime,
doing certain famous poses. I think he said the working
title of the book was Mime Very Own Book.
He informed
me that a Hellboy II Q & A panel with Luke Goss
and himself that was taking place the next morning.
I was unaware of this panel, as it wasn’t well
advertised by the con organizers (well, actually,
it wasn’t really advertised at all). He said
to come back again later when the line wasn’t
so long. He said that he wanted to see me at the Buffy
panel that he was doing later that day and then we
said our goodbyes.
The Buffy
panel was good but I don’t remember any of it
so I will decline to talk about it.
I came back to his table a few hours later to say
hello again and we talked some more. I mentioned how
tired I was and how I hadn’t had much to eat
all day. Dougie rifled under his table and found a
plastic food container. It contained a half eaten
tuna sandwich (I found this funny and wandered if
all the con guests being sponsored by that company,
Cool Water Productions, got the same thing or if Dougie
was the only one) and some French fries. Dougie told
me that he hadn’t even touched the other half
of the sandwich (which, to verify, had been cut in
half not eaten until half of it was left) and that
he wanted me to have it because I was “A growing
boy”. I said thank you and that he didn’t
need to do that. He insisted and I ended up taking
it.
I said
I would see him the next morning at the Q & A
and said goodbye.
SATURDAY
The panel
was at twelve that day and I got to the panel room
a little before then. Just finding the room was an
ordeal, as the Q & A wasn’t listed on the
panel board until after it had already started. A
couple others were looking for the same room. We heard
a man working at the con say that they needed some
things in the room for the HBII panel. He mentioned
which room it was in and that enabled us to find it.
So after
finding the room and getting seated we waited for
it to begin. The four of us in the room grew to around
seven or so. Dougie and Luke talked to their con organizer
(Derek, who was very nice I might add) and they decided
to sit down with the crowd because of the small turn
up. It made for a much more personal experience. I
won’t talk much about the Q & A as I have
it on video and will, hopefully, have it up on youtube
soon (although, I didn’t get the beginning of
it because I didn’t think to record it at first
and I didn’t get the end of it because my video
camera’s battery went dead from not charging
it enough the night before). Suffice it to say it
was a very enjoyable time. Luke and Doug provided
some fun stories and such about Hellboy and some of
their other acting jobs. The crowd grew as the Q &
A went on, which I was glad to see, and by the end
of it there were around twenty to thirty people attending.
I reluctantly exited the Q & A, sorry to see it
end but knowing that I could see Dougie later on in
the day.
While
going back into the main convention room Dougie got
my attention and I talked to him as we walked back.
Eventually he said he had to go back to his table
and we said goodbye for now.
I wait
back to his table later and said hi. I gave him a
couple of Babe Ruth bars and a thing of Kit-Kats (because
I heard he liked his sweets, especially Kit-Kats).
I hope they hadn’t melted too much since I had
bought them the previous day. We talked for a few
until the line got a little congested behind me and
he told me to, again, come back again later in the
day when the line was shorter.(By the way I’m
keeping my brief meeting with Luke Goss out of this
report to keep this as Dougie-centric as possible.
I will say that he was a real nice guy though and
was terrific to a nervous, shy guy like myself.)
Later
that day I walked by Doug’s table area and was
stopped by someone calling my name. I looked around
and saw Dougie waving at me. I walked over to him
and he said that he was about to do an interview for
some web thing that was at the con. “Are you
going to the Hellboy Meet and Greet later tonight?”
he asked.
“Uh,
no, I don’t think so,” I told him. “I
was thinking about it but I never got around to buying
tickets for it.”
“Hmm,
stick around for a bit,” he told me.
He went
and did his interview for twenty minutes while I looked
at my copy of Art of Hellboy the Movie that
I found cheap at the con.
He finished
his interview and walked back over to me.
“Would
you want to come to the dinner?” he asked.
“Sure,”
I said.
“Okay,
well, you don’t have anywhere to be later tonight,
do you? Because I don’t want to keep you from
going somewhere if you already have plans.”
“No,
I’m not doing anything.”
“Good.”
He then said he would ask con organizer Derek if it
was okay for me to come to the dinner. He called Derek
up on his phone and Derek being the nice guy that
he is said that it would be fine if I came.
“I’m
going back up to my room. Would you mind hanging out
for forty minutes?” he asked.
I said
that would be fine.
We went
up to his room (which was in the hotel adjoining the
convention center) and I could tell when we were walking
up there that he was tired. It wasn’t quite
like a switch had been turned. It wasn’t like
he went from cheerful and full of energy to tired
and worn out. But there was slight change that showed
me that he was worn out. Plus, he told me himself
that he was tired so that helped.
We made
it up to his room and the next forty minutes consisted
of Dougie trying to get me to talk. I would just like
to say that I’m a shy person and that I can
be quiet at first when I first meet people. It takes
me a while but after I spend a some time with someone
I can get to the point where I can talk face to face
freely and frequently too them. That weekend so far
and the few hours the summer before at Hellebration
‘08 had not been enough time for me to get to
that convert level with Doug yet and so I wasn’t
as talkative as I could’ve been.
When
I was talking we talked about some of the fan videos
of him that had been made and we watched a few on
his laptop. We also touched briefly on the subject
of Dougie being a little technology challenged (I
had brought up floppies and he didn’t know what
they were. Well, not by name, anyway).
Doug
rested for a little with his feet propped up on a
chair and the rest of him on the floor (apparently
that’s a favorite position of his to sleep in
when he’s in his trailer during movies).
The time
came to go to the dinner. We went downstairs and found
our way there. This report is long enough and so I’ll
just give a bullet point for the dinner.
•
Dougie introduced me to the person I had been looking
for at the con and we, and her friends she came with,
sat at the same table for the dinner (apparently they
had been invited to the dinner by Derek).
• I had some nice food and got a free comic
and other things from Cool Water Productions.
• Luke Goss came over and sat at my table and
talked with everyone for a little bit.
• Camden Toy, who played many Buffy
monsters (such as one of the Gentlemen with
Dougie) among other things, was there.
• There was a Hellboy type trivia game
to win some Hellboy related goodies. I got
one of the questions right and got something cool.
• There were a few group pictures taken of the
guests with Doug, Luke, and Camden. We got a copy
of the photos by the end of the dinner and everybody
got them signed by the three guys attending.
• Oh, and dinner was good.
After
the dinner Dougie and the other two had to go to party
type thing. I was invited to come along but said that
I wasn’t much for parties in the first place.
Dougie said neither was he and my fellow con goers
and myself all talked with Dougie for a little while
before he needed to go inside. I said goodbye to him
and that I would see him on the next day. I said goodbye
to my newly acquainted friends and left.
SUNDAY
Not much
to report here. I did very little on Sunday. By that
point I had little left to do at the con. I went to
a panel early in the day and then walked around looking
for things of interest until late in the day.
I met
Dougie at his table. “I was wondering if I was
going to see you today,” he said.
“Well,
you kept telling me that it would be best for me to
come by later in the day so I decided to wait to come
and see you today until later.”
We talked
for a little bit and he told me when he was leaving
that day. I said that I would come back around then.
Later
I came by and he told me he was finishing up there
earlier than expected. He asked me if I wouldn’t
mind sticking around and talking with him for a little
while before he had to leave for his flight. I said
would mind at all. After getting everything packed
away at his booth we walked out of the main convention
room and over to the hotel lobby.
During
this walk I could see that he was even more tired
than the previous day. He mentioned that he was very
disoriented and asked if I could notice that he was
tired. I said yes I could. It didn’t help that
he was lugging around his suitcases all the way to
the hotel lobby.
We found
some nice chairs next to a glass table in the lobby
and took our seats there. We talked about my college
plans, what some of my interests were, and what I
wanted to major in. We also talked a little about
my family life and other things.
After
talking to Dougie for a while and helping him eat
another tuna fish sandwich I said that I had to get
going. We both gave each other hugs goodbye and said
farewell.
As always
I hope you have enjoyed this very, very, long Dougie
account.
I had
a good time with Doug and he made sure the weekend
was fun for me. I only hope that I am able to go to
the nearby film festival in September to see him again
when he’s there for the festival’s screening
of My Name is Jerry. I can only hope to go
there and meet up with my friend Doug Jones once again.
Tim/tim0122,
Somewhere in Illinois, 1:50 A.M., August 24th, 2009
