Tag: Adam Rose

Supernatural Nashcon 2022 – Friday and Saturday with Misha Collins and SNS!

Supernatural Nashcon 2022 – Friday and Saturday with Misha Collins and SNS!

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Nashville is one of my favorite Supernatural conventions. It’s usually around the holidays, and it’s usually at the Gaylord Opryland, which is a ridiculous Disneyland of a hotel with a river running through it and a boat you can take from one side to the other and so much walking that it makes my still-messed-up knee hurt just thinking about it. But I kinda love it too – also it’s a con that a lot of my good friends go to, and that alone makes it special.

This year the con was in a different hotel (sans inside river and boat) and Alana didn’t make it, but Kim and I had a lovely room and I was thrilled to have her beside me taking photos – I’ve missed her photos but I’ve missed her being my partner in crime at cons even more! She didn’t make it to many panels but the ones she did make, whew, there are some pretty pretty pictures from them! So this con gets two posts, this one for all the Friday people fun and Saturday with the Saturday Night Special concert, and stay tuned for the Sunday festivities and the Radio Company debut concert wrap up – it was a busy and awesome few days!

I caught a little of Osric Chau and Adam Rose’s panel – when I walked in they were reminiscing about how they initially bonded over Osric’s Goku cosplay. I remember that! I loved the early days of the cons when Os would show up in some incredible cosplay and Gil or Misha or Jared or Jensen would have no clue what to say in response. Priceless!

The two got along famously, and were soon busy planning a joint birthday party – which would inevitably be amazing.

Adam has become internet famous for being the blue cardigan guy on TikTok. He said it’s always funny when someone knows him as that and then suddenly is like, wait, you’re on Supernatural??

A fan asked how he convinced Jensen to do the cardigan TikTok.

Adam: I said, wanna do a TikTok? And he said…okay…

Of course Adam was planning a new TikTok with Jensen – maybe an evil red cardigan? Or maybe one with Jared?

Osric: Do they make them in Jared size??

They were asked what Supernatural’s tag line would be, and pondered.

Osric: Bitch…jerk?

Seems legit.

Osric was asked about doing the first Supernatural HIllywood Show video and said he loved doing it.

Osric: How many casts are so down for doing a parody of their own show??

They talked about writing, which Osric is doing a lot of recently. He also wrote an insightful chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood about his experience playing Kevin on Supernatural, which I love. He said that he was so sad about his character dying that he snuck out after filming that scene without even saying goodbye, he was so emotional.

Briana Buckmaster and Kim Rhodes also had a panel on Friday.

Kim got some questions about autism and had some great advice: if you want to know about autistic people, ask autistic people!

They both talked about how much they loved working on supernatural, with how collaborative and respectful an environment it was for an actor.

Briana: It’s wonderful to work on a show that makes you feel like an artist.

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Supernatural New Jersey 2019!

Supernatural New Jersey 2019!

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New Jersey is my “home con”. That means I can load a bunch of boxes of books into my car and drive there – and then hope I can find someone to help me get them all up the long long ramp and into the convention center!

I didn’t really need to worry, because as always, fandom comes through. I was on my own in the vendor room officially, but dozens of people came by on a regular basis to check on me and see if I needed a bathroom break (to the ONE bathroom for the entire convention center….don’t get me started about how much I hate this venue…) or a hot dog or another bottle of water. Two of the nicest women ever helped me wrangle a luggage cart from my nearby hotel and load and unload the boxes of books to and from my car. Another lovely woman delivered my photo ops right to my vendor table so I wouldn’t have to go grab them at the end of the con. The entire weekend was full of the best of SPNFamily, honestly. I met so many people who have read Family Don’t End With Blood and been inspired by it. I got to have dinner with my friend Trish from Attitudes in Reverse (one of the charities that the book benefits) and with a fellow acafan who’s teaching a course on leadership and Supernatural and her inspiring student.

As we got ready for the final season of Supernatural to kick off, everyone seemed to want to just relish our time together while we have it.

Friday kicked off with Rachel Miner, who always starts the con off with smiles and sparkles and words that inevitably make me feel better about people and life in general. I love the chapter that Rachel wrote in Family Don’t End With Blood, and the way she looks at the world.

Rachel on what it’s meant to be part of the SPNFamily: Everyone in this group are abnormally good humans.

Rachel advises to keep reminders of whatever it is that inspires you. She keeps pictures on her computer, some of them from fans.

She also talked about the importance of finding community and being able to help each other, something that Random Acts has done for many fans.

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Back to Chicago, Where It All Began! Supernatural 2019

Back to Chicago, Where It All Began! Supernatural 2019

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The very first Supernatural convention I went to was in Chicago. Well, actually that’s not true. There was a fan-run and all-fan convention of about 30 people in Vancouver in 2007 a few months before the Creation one in Chicago, where I met people who also loved Supernatural and who I still call friends today, twelve years later. But Chicago was the first one with Jared and Jensen, along with a few other SPN guests and some folks from Buffy and Angel too (because Creation wasn’t sure this new little show could pull off a con on its own). My friends and I stalked the website for literally months, waiting for the tickets to go on sale so we could snag some. We had no idea what to expect really – would the actors be as nice as they seemed in the few interviews we’d seen? Would they be entertaining onstage? I want to laugh so hard now, knowing the answers to those questions – but I don’t think anyone could have predicted just how NICE they really are or just how entertaining they would be!

Through the years, I’ve been back to Chicago for a Supernatural convention many times. One of my good friends lives there – we met through a con, when I found myself stranded after the convention ended and a hurricane blew in, cancelling all flights and leaving me without a hotel. I was new to twitter, but I put out a plea – can anyone help? Up drove Laurena, rescuing me from a very bad part of town and taking me in, because SPNFamily. We’ve been friends ever since.

This year, Laurena and her lovely husband Rock helped me in the vendor room once again. There were many old friends at this con, some that I’ve known since the very first one twelve years ago, and many new friends too, some that I’ve met along the way and now call my good friends too. Knowing that the Show is coming to an end made the Chicago con even more emotional than usual, because I keep thinking of beginnings now that I’m constantly thinking about endings. There will be at least one more Chicago con, but this was the last one that will happen when the Show is still on the air. And that hurts.

The actors are also thinking a lot about endings now, and some of them about beginnings too. Richard Speight Jr. reminisced with Rob about his first convention, which was also right here in Chicago. We were writing ‘Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls’ at the time, and there’s an entire chapter in that book on the first couple of Chicago conventions – it’s where we first met Richard and got to know him. None of us could imagine at the time how much our lives would change because of Supernatural.

So this year was bittersweet, but there was a whole lotta sweet! (Neither my camera nor my phone were at all happy so I got fewer photos than usual, but I’ve included some of the better ones here. At least that finally forced me to go out and get a new phone!)  Rachel Miner kicked off the con, as she often does – which is a lot like kicking off the day with a sparkly rainbow and lots of sunshine. And unicorns.

Rachel said she feels comfortable at conventions, like she’s with friends. She proved it by sharing her epic fail moments that would be on a gag reel.  That should tell you what sort of courageous – and hilarious – person Rachel is.

Rachel is an unabashed Cas girl.

Rachel: I’d like to think if Cas saw Meg in the The Empty, he’d have tried to rescue her.

She likes that both Meg and Cas didn’t fit traditional gender roles, and that they probably have both been male and female.

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Supernatural Vegas 2019! Part One

Supernatural Vegas 2019! Part One

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This year’s Vegas con was special. I know I say that about pretty much every con, because they’re all special in their own way – but no convention had ever been like this. This was the first convention after we found out that Supernatural is ending after next season. When I heard the news, I couldn’t wait to be with a bunch of people who truly “get it”. Fellow fans who are just as devastated by the news as I was, and who love the actors and the Show enough to support the decision anyway. I just wanted to talk to people who understand, and get lots of hugs too. And that’s pretty much what I got.

My friend Laurena from Winchester Family Business and I roomed together at the Rio, where I’ve had all sorts of misadventures before including the traumatic experience of having our bathroom explode in the middle of the night and our room be overtaken with sewage (literally) like something out of a horror movie. The Rio always brings adventures of some kind, even if it’s only the adventure of walking five miles each way from the hotel through the casino to the convention center which is more or less in the next state over. Maybe an exaggeration, but maybe not. There’s also the drama of the Starbucks which insists on closing at 3 pm every day and the serious lack of fast and easy takeout. And the smoke-filled casino.

But actually, I have as many fond memories of the Rio as traumatic ones. This year, like every year, was a time to catch up with friends old and new. I got to see HR’s brand new Richard sculpture along with the rest of the gang. This fandom is so damn talented!

This year, I just wanted to immerse myself in the arms of the SPNFamily, both cast and fans. So that’s what I did.

My friend Alana and I spent a lot of time talking about how many fans were confronted with derision in their non-fannish lives and being judged for grieving the loss of a television show. So we sat down and filmed a video for her channel, which you can watch on her channel (link below). We hope it helps a little bit as we all help each other get through this. And try to look forward to the next year of Supernatural!

Why It’s Okay to Be Sad About Supernatural Ending

I’ve grown to love being part of the “vendor squad” at the Supernatural cons. We’re like a traveling band of wanderers, but we all look out for each other and support each other. There’s always someone to watch your table while you run to the bathroom or pat you on the back when you’re tired or lend you some packing tape or just share a laugh. I was right next to the lovely Jason Manns’ table manned by the equally lovely Misty when he wasn’t there. It was nice to catch up with Jason again and to reminisce a little about the early days of the fandom and some of his first concerts, including in my hometown many years ago! Jason contributed a free digital download of ‘Soul’ to one of our first books, Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls, and a Station Breaks free song to Family Don’t End With Blood too, so he’s part of the FDEWB family.

I flew in on Wednesday night and arrived at about 1 am after flying for 9 hours including layovers, so needless to say I was absolutely knackered. I checked in and started dragging my suitcases across the casino floor when I heard someone call out “hey, are you Fangasm?”

A young woman in a Supernatural tee shirt who looked very distraught was asking, so I said yes. Nearly in tears, she asked if I could help her, because her roommate wasn’t getting in until tomorrow and the hotel was not letting her check in because she was under 21. As though stranding her in the middle of a casino was a better idea! I got back in the check in line and gave them a guarantee for her so they’d give her a room – so for the rest of the weekend whenever I saw her, she’d joke that I was her savoir. Hey, we’re all SPNFamily.

Thursday was kicked off by our host Richard Speight Jr., as always, and Louden Swain.

Then it was time for Adam Rose, who I haven’t seen in a long time and really enjoy. Adam immediately acknowledged the elephant in the room.

Adam: I heard the news…I’m really excited to see how they wrap things up. It’s great they get a year to do that.

What are Aaron and his Gollum up to?

Adam: Last time we saw Aaron and his Gollum they were at a disco in Germany so I feel like they’re having fun.

He’s also up on his Supernatural memes, including the one he stars in from his episode.

Adam: Oh my god these guys are psychopaths… I love that meme!

Adam was not spared some J2 pranking on set.

Adam: I’m doing this intense scene with Jensen and I see Jared pop up (off camera of course) holding this paper with a phallic object on it. I cracked up. So then, 13 takes later…

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Ten Things The Hillywood Show Got Right with Supernatural Parody 2!

Ten Things The Hillywood Show Got Right with Supernatural Parody 2!

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I’ve been a fan of the Hillywood Show since I discovered their parody videos with their first Supernatural video several years ago. Hannah and Hilly Hindi, the sisters behind The Hillywood Show, were kind enough to chat with me about that video and to also contribute some insights to the documentary film on fandom I co-wrote, Squee! I’ve been eagerly awaiting their second Supernatural parody with high expectations, but the reality surpassed them when it was released last week – Supernatural Parody 2 is a loving tribute to the show, its amazing cast, and its incredible fandom. As I took some notes on why I was enjoying it so much, I realized it’s because once again, they totally got it right – even for someone like me, who adores Supernatural and has written five books on the show and the fandom!

I was at the Supernatural convention in Denver last weekend, and there was quite a bit of talk about the new parody, which both fans and Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles had high praise for. Jensen in particular was impressed with the production value and the professionalism of the set and the shoot, and especially with the realistic proton packs that he and Jared got to wear – they sometimes had to take them off between takes because Jared kept bumping into the door and other things. Jensen seemed excited that the blasters really worked too, which I think means they were having a lot of fun playing with them! I shared those reactions with Hannah and Hilly when we chatted.

Hilly: He did keep bumping into the door, we can confirm that one. Hannah: I just know that Jared really likes to push buttons!

Lynn: Boys…

Hilly: The pack, though, really was the coolest toy. They were like the real deal, so it’s the ultimate toy and Jared was like, yes! I could just see his eyes light up.

[There’s a great moment on the behind the scenes feature where Osric shows Jensen how to pull out his blaster, and he does. Then Jared pulls out his, with significantly more flourish, and Osric grins and whispers to the camera.

Osric: The gentle giant…

Jared makes the blaster light up and then asks, with his eyes all hopefully lit up, “do you want this on?”

Hilly: No, cuz that means you’re killing us…]

I laughed out loud at that.

Cap sabalovesdean

Hilly: We haven’t been able to talk about it or hear from them since the shoot. They asked, “When can we mention it?” I told them you can’t until the video is out. So, weeks down the road now, it’s really cool to hear them talk about it.

Lynn: They definitely enjoyed it. So, after thinking about this a bit, I’ve identified ten things you got very right. I’m gonna go through them one by one, and you can comment, okay?

Number 1. One of the things that makes your parodies so brilliant and so loved by fans is that you really GET the show you’re parodying, maybe Supernatural more than even the other shows you’ve parodied. You were able to reproduce the show itself with the level of detail that fandom relishes – the kitchen set from Changing Channels, the library in the Men of Letters bunker, the proton packs with Dean’s little army man and the Colt and Sam’s with Ruby’s knife. Some of the scenes looked so eerily similar, like that iconic moment when Dean fires the Colt and kills Azazel in slow motion. How do you decide what scenes and what details to include and how much detail to put into it? It must take so much time!

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Supernatural Takes on The Thule

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This week’s Supernatural episode was by another new writer, Meredith Glynn, but directed by a returning fan favorite director, Nina Lopez Corrado. The Winchesters once again come up against the Thule, Nazi necromancers who are determined this time to resurrect Hitler himself.

The first half of the episode was a bit oddly paced and choppy, but it had some wonderful scenes. This season we’re getting more domestic Winchesters than we usually do, which makes me incredibly happy. Robbie Thompson was onto something when he wanted to show us more of the brothers’ lives in between cases. That lets us see the people they are, and lets us see the bond between the two of them in a different way than we see it on a hunt. We know they have each other’s backs, and that’s wonderful to see as well, but part of the reason they’re so close is that there are all those little moments in between – the little moments that bond all of us to the people we care about.

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Making History at Supernatural’s VanCon

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Best Cast Ever
Best Cast Ever

I’ve spent the week happily immersed in VanCon photos and reports and vids, like most of the Supernatural fandom, musing about why VanCon feels so special. Of course every occasion that fans have to get together is special, because we don’t often get to be with our SPN Family face to face. VanCon gives me lots of other fans to squee about Show with, to share my anticipation for S10, and to hash out what we did and didn’t like about S9 (and the eight seasons before that too). And then VanCon does other cons one better by giving me not only the actors but some of Supernatural’s writers and crew – which makes it pretty much the enactment of the reciprocal relationship we’ve written about in all our books. My week in Vancouver was all about those relationships – fans and fans, fans and actors, actors and actors, with some crew members and writers to round out the reciprocity. Relationships are what make we humans happiest, so I guess it’s not surprising that I’m still smiling.

VanCon coincided with the beginning of filming Supernatural’s 200th episode, which seemed entirely fitting. We contributed to some 200th episode gifts for the cast and crew, along with many other fans. Another group of fans arranged for a banner to be flown over the set congratulating the cast and crew on reaching such an important milestone.

The occasion made me think. When we first started researching Supernatural back in 2007, the Show was on the verge of cancellation at the end of every season, with fans rallying with postcard campaigns and network pleas and then crossing our fingers until the renewal was announced and we could finally breathe again. Nobody – not even the fandom – would have believed that we’d see 10 seasons and 200 episodes. But here we are, and going stronger than ever!

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