Also?

[feliciakw]

If I ever host a con, the festivities will start a day early. The con goers will be confined to a room, while 300 - 500 strangers are brought in to hug, touch, and grope--with the possible addition of coughing and sneezing--said con goers. If, after the last stranger has left, a con goer is still willing and able to project good spirits, laugh, initiate physical contact, and engage in witty repartee, he/she shall get a full refund.

[/sarcasm]

There's a reason the guys get tired of physical contact with total strangers, people. If they initiate it, that's one thing. If they agree to it, that's fine. But if they don't want to be touched, that's their choice, too. Sheesh.

Comments

[ficwriter1966.livejournal.com]

There's wank? Already? The thing just started!

It's like we were saying in DC - they pay their money and they think that entitles them to do *exactly* what they please. With a bloody, fiery doom to anyone who tells them they can't.

*sigh*

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

No, not so much full-blown wank and complaints and lack of sense of humor. Jensen and/or Jared have apparently been saying that they can't touch anyone because of swine flu. Some are saying that it's a really lame excuse, you get it from the air, not by touching, etc., etc. It's obviously a joke that they're using to take the pressure off the fact that--in my own opinion--they just don't. want. to. be. touched. by hundreds of strangers.

There's also been complaints that they were sitting down for the photo shoot. I believe one person said, "It's only 600 pictures. They should suck it up." Yeah. Right.

ETA: Okay, maybe the swine flu thing wasn't a total joke. Apparently there were 40 cases in the area. Huh.

Also? I'm getting really tired (again) of people making a perverted joke out of the guys' friendship. You know what I'm talkin' 'bout.

It would probably be beneficial to my mental health to simply wait for pics and vids to show up.

[ficwriter1966.livejournal.com]

It's a *handy* excuse. If they were honestly worried about swine flu, they wouldn't be there at all. And would not have gotten on an airplane. (I came home from DC with a cold, in spite of the fact that I washed my hands like a maniac and don't remember being around anyone with a coughing/sneezing problem.)

But seriously, yeah, I get very tired of people and their sense of entitlement. I remember the old days of cons, when I would be beside myself with glee to stand in an autograph line for an hour and get a signature on an 8x10. To make 5 seconds of eye contact and say "Hi." It would not have occurred to me to FONDLE anybody. Heck, I even asked you if you'd mind a hug, and you're a fellow fangirl!

Don't even get me started on the "It's 4realz! It is! J2 are in LUV!!!!!"

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree. If they were truly worried, they wouldn't have gone. Or would be wearing masks, ala the US . . . um . . . bicycling team? . . . when they landed in China last year. But it is a handy excuse. I just kinda wonder at fandom's (deliberate) cluelessness and lack of respect of the request.

As far as the sitting for piccies, I just had a thought. I wonder what the guys would say to the pic being posed on, like, a settee or something. They could sit on either end, possibly with their arms across the back of the settee, the person comes in, sits down, the photog snaps the piccie, NEXT. That way they wouldn't actually have to touch the person, but it might *look* more "intimate." Or not. I dunno. Not like I'm ever gonna be in a position to find out.

Fans have changed a lot since the day, huh. And I had the fortune of having my first experience in fandom be with a group of women who had been around the role playing block (SCA) and knew where to draw the boundaries. And when someone did get out of line, they were quickly . . . um . . . deported. Or so the story goes.

[leelust.livejournal.com]

ITA. I'm so tired of nowadays fans behaviour. They think if they paid some money (even if it was solid chunk) they have a right to dictate everything. They still go under a statement that the guests can not go to the con - how would that for fans? The more they pissed about stuff the less con spirit is there. it's sad. They know there are a lot of them hence there'll be queue after queue so why complain? And the hair question is out of question at all - it's Jensen's hair (i love it btw) and it's only up to him how to sport it.
As for no touching - i so understand them. Plus i don't think that with one second touch something would change for fan - most of them didn't even remember if they'd been touching the guys or not.

Aptly-named Asylum

[cecily1880.livejournal.com]

Totally agree, I was spooked by a couple of women I'd met twice at other cons coming up and hugging me. I hardly know these people! I was really shocked when I first went to the US and saw all these complete strangers touching/hugging the actors.

The flu rumour was rubbish, even if there was flu around, just "no touching" wouldn't really help (because passing a photo for signing will do the same for germs). I also didn't hear until now anyone say that J&J had said that, but obviously with 1500 people there, many different comments were bandied around.

The reasons given by staff to people who asked were several different reports of the inappropriate touching (yes, the worst possible "inappropriate" you can think of) they had experienced at some time over the two preceding cons (LA and/or AHBL) and some grabbing in the corridors of the hotel there. There were a thousand people crammed into corridors all Friday evening, and squeezing past them was difficult for anyone, so for a guest, it would have been hell, and many guests were certainly touched or grabbed. I'd guess not J&J in that case, because they had bodyguards, but once it was obvious that the audience was way too grabby, they may have made the rule then.

The ticket fiasco made people hot and sweaty and very pissed off, (I queued continuously from 12:30pm to 10pm, getting my autographs for about 1/2 hour of that) so adding to the general bad atmosphere and fan misery, which then gets passed on in the form of complaints when you finally get to your photo-op and get 10 seconds of time and no touching allowed, or no personalised auto.

I don't blame them at all for wanting to sit down for the photos, Jared had just walked off a (delayed) plane, after a long flight. Friday was supposed to be a civilised 4pm-8pm deal for J&J - about 300 photos and 300 autos, but they were running almost 2 hours late by then. They must have been really irritated but were just reported to be "not very happy or chatty" for the photo-ops, and I think they seemed quite relaxed by the time of the autos. However, by Saturday, I was quite concerned for the entire event; if it had been any other show I would have expected one or more of the actors to walk out, because they were made to do a load more work than was scheduled. I'd estimate 2,000 autos and nearly a thousand photos for Jensen. He certainly didn't sign up for that at first, because it was increased hugely when Jared was signed, so many more were added in. Fitting all that, plus three stage talks and two coffee lounge talks into only 48 hours was really tight and Jensen's last stage talk, which should have been the show finale, was cancelled because he was still signing. But people still complained that J&J weren't personalizing autographs or chatting to people for long enough, and weren't hugging and moving around to different poses for the photos. There wasn't time for any of that, because the tickets for both of that had been seriously oversold. (And I now have a very strong desire to write to them to apologize for their entire experience this weekend, even before I write the opposite letter to the con organizers.)

Re: Aptly-named Asylum

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the first hand account. I hope you had a good time in spite of the *tries to think of a way to put it nicely . . .* . . . inefficient manner in which the con was conducted.

You don't really want to get me started on the registration/line/queuing/*blink blink* TEN HOUR???? wait. It sounds like these people have never organized a large event in their lives. From what you say (and I'm just guessing) it sounds like it started with a serious lack of manpower and just went downhill from there. (Seriously, if you know you're having 1500+ in attendance, you need to be efficient and well staffed.)

I had a look at the con schedule, and it was insane. Two to three times as much work as a Creations con, where they're usually only there for a day or two. Multiple stage talks and coffee lounges and auto lines . . . And that's before you factor the grabby fans into the equation.

You know, I read about these fans who don't cut the guys any slack, or who physically accost them, or who purposely try to embarrass them, and part of me wonders why J&J still do these appearances. Add to that the lack of professionalism and organization on the part of these convention organizers, and it just adds to my puzzlement. Part of me will be really surprised if J&J go to Asylum next year.

Add to all that the additional rumormongering that inevitably comes out of a convention, and it's obvious that the guys can't win for trying. It's why I like to stick to vids and pics for my con information, though occasionally I'll find a con report that relates the experience objectively (without the fandom spin, if you know what I mean).

Your apology letter might not ever reach them, but then again, it might. If you feel strongly enough that you want to apologize to them, I think you probably should. At the very least, someone along the line will appreciate it, I'd think.

Re: Aptly-named Asylum

[cecily1880.livejournal.com]

The weird thing is the first one, two years ago, was equally badly organised (although much less popular) and Jensen was jumped on by the girl, so I really thought he'd never come back to this organiser, and I was absolutely amazed that he did this year. I would have put money on that, and lost, so now although I think this one was way worse for fans, maybe it wasn't quite so for the stars.

However I think the actors were taken advantage of, Misha having to cover for Jensen's panel and explain to the fans that Jensen wouldn't make it, then Malik and Gabe having to cover some of that too, instead of an organiser standing up to admit it. They handed out more tickets than they'd budgeted for (and presumably paid the actors for) - with all the confusion over missing photo ops and autographs in the packs, and no-one checking them. I got to the front of the queue to collect my missing photo ops at 10pm after my autographs and they had run out of numbered printed photo op tickets - ie the 1,000 or so numbered photos of Jensen. I assumed that I would have already been allocated my numbers, but apparently not, they had already given out *all* the scheduled photo op tickets, so someone else had been given mine, and they scribbled "photo Jensen" on a spare blank autograph card (and no-one could forge that, obviously!)

Re: Aptly-named Asylum

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I've seen tiny pieces-parts of the 2007 Asylum. Not much, though, because the vid quality gives me a headache. Only Jensen went to that one, right? I knew it was the same event/company, but I wasn't sure if it was the same people/employees running the event. If it was, that's really sad that they haven't learned anything in their time doing this. (I also notice from their site that SPN is essentially their sole topic for their events.)

I kind of thought in my own mind that Jensen didn't go to last year's because of the flying fangirl incident.

I actually have more to say on the topic, but it's not gelling at the moment. Alas.

Re: Aptly-named Asylum

[cecily1880.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have much more to say, and apologise if it's too much here, but I was furious.

Yes, Jensen went to the first one in 2007 with Danneel, I'm told the first time she went to one with him, and they were mostly Smallville/Buffy guests, as the show had only just started here then.

Yes, it was the same organisers (two rather casual and unbusinesslike guys who very much remind me of the Ghostfacers in their attitude and business manner, sort of playing at it, and thinking they are doing a great job of this, excited but clueless, if you know what I mean), and two years on, they are still exactly the same, wandering around in scruffy track gear, and still totally unprofessional - all the admin staff from the previous convention had left, (friends said they hadn't been paid for the last one, so refused to do this one), so they had no experienced staff at all. I really hope the actors got their money up front.

They're still unable to receive non-local payment so had huge queues from everyone non-UK to pay in cash on the day. They tried to set up Paypal, a month before the event, when Jared booked, and they started selling J2, (nothing like forward planning eh?) but with no financial records, Paypal wouldn't let them withdraw the money until some weeks later, as guarantee against claims for refunds, so they cancelled that account, and payments for the photo-ops and extra tickets were then void and refunded. That caused some of the huge queue on Friday for the J2 photos.

They still used the same suspiciously secretive "raffle" for the exclusive coffee lounge tickets for Jared and Jensen chats, which of course the staff and their friends win most of. In 2007 they asked their friends what their raffle ticket number was, and then later on it read out in the winning numbers - this time, they didn't bother to pretend, just read out the registration pass numbers of people who'd "won." I really begrudged handing over money for that raffle, but hoped it would be more transparent this time, given the number of people attending, and many from abroad, but no. There was another raffle later to win a signed photo, which Jared drew and was fair.

All in all, they are the most unprofessional business I've ever seen.

Re: Aptly-named Asylum

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

This is why I don't want to hear people complaining about Creations in the future. Yes, they charge prices that constitute highway robbery and herd fans through lines like so much cattle. But they've been doing cons since the Star Trek days and pretty much have the weekend down to a (questionable) science.

I don't even know what to say about the coffee lounge thing. The Guys don't even do anything like that here. And the not being able to handle out-of-country patrons is stupid. They must know that they're going to have them. If they can't handle them, say so in the promotional material (and see how popular you become).

Oy.