A Pair of Halloween Girls
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
Since I’ve been attending more and more celebrity shows that might be better classified as “Horror Conventions,” my appreciation and fondness of the genre has grown to the point that I’ve become more tuned in to picking up signed photos and engaging in celebrity encounters with actors and actresses from some of the more notable franchises. Whereas I had skipped plenty of these opportunities in the past, this year I’ve made them part of my want-lists going in. For example, I had passed up both Danielle Harris and Scout Taylor-Compton at shows in the past, but when I attended the Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Convention on Sunday, August 12, 2012, this time they made the cut. No pun intended. Read the rest of this entry »
Obviously, I was dragging a bit on the morning of Sunday, September 30, 2012. After the Volksfest in Stuttgart and a few liters of beer the night before, not to mention the six hour time difference, it was amazing that I was even functioning at all. But I was. In fact, I actually had very little issue getting myself ready and getting downstairs at the Hotel Traube for our first European hotel breakfast of the trip. By most standards, it would have been outstanding, but up against some of the other ones I’d had before (and would have during the week), it was just fair. It had the meats and cheeses that most of the others did, but for being a morning-after beer meal, it just wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been. I sorely missed the bagels and lox that were enjoyed so frequently in Amsterdam. 
I’ve thus far done quite a bit of complaining about the celebrities at the Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago whom I got the chance to meet on August 11, 2012. When it was Joey Lawrence’s chance to meet me, I only had one complaint really. He was too bronze. That is to say, I was okay with paying the $40 autograph fee (which although high, was at least in the correct stratosphere), and I was very happy that this included a free photo with him, but it just didn’t look like the Joey Lawrence whom I used to know. 
Bob and I began our sixth day of travel through New England on the morning of Monday, July 9, 2012, at the Comfort Suites in Norwich, Connecticut. We had a nice breakfast and then headed toward our first destination of the day, the Trumbull Cemetery in Lebanon, Connecticut, about 2o minutes north of our hotel. This is the final resting place of Declaration of Independence signer William Williams, not to be confused with any of the other dozen or so famous William Williams throughout history. This one had been elected to the Continental Congress to replace Oliver Wolcott, and although he arrived too late to actually vote for it, he became a signatory of the Declaration on behalf of the state of Connecticut. 
You’ve heard of the so-called Fifth Beatle, a designation that could be shared by any number of individuals (but hopefully not Yoko) who weren’t part of the crux of the Fab Four, but may have been right on the cusp. There are two so-called ‘Fifth Beatles’ in the Star Trek world. Obviously they have nothing to do with the Beatles, but ‘Eighth Trekkers’ just sounds stupid. The first would have been Majel Barrett, who portrayed Nurse Christine Chapel in 34 episodes of the series. The second would be Grace Lee Whitney, who portrayed Yeoman Janice Rand.