Tag: Ruth Connell

Supernatural in The Big Easy: SPN NOLA 2023

Supernatural in The Big Easy: SPN NOLA 2023

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I have enjoyed every Supernatural convention that’s been in New Orleans, which is one of my favorite cities in the US. The food is incredible, the history and architecture are fascinating, and it’s a place where people are determined to relax and have fun – which makes it a great place for a con. This year was the first time it was a Road So Far Creation con instead of an official Supernatural con, but it was once again a wonderful time, in part because I had lots of friends there.

And because  – New Orleans!

My friend Tedra brought a bunch of free postcards to put at my vendor table, from artist @sfwFandD, which were needless to say very popular.

I love when fans do things for other fans just out of wanting to share the joy – so much of what makes fandom special!

(Also they made great bookmarks for the books)

I had to work later than usual, and then flights were wonky, so I didn’t end up actually getting there until Saturday late afternoon – which meant I missed a ton of panels and people that I really wanted to see. First Misha panel I’ve ever missed, I think. Boo work.

I did make it in time to have dinner with friends, and for the Saturday Night Special, luckily!

This was a uniquely awesome SNS because the stage at this venue was very very far from the first row of seats (which makes no one happy) so the ever resourceful Creation tech team constructed a catwalk to bring out a portion of the stage – and every single actor and musician seemed to love it as much as the fans did!

Kim performed one of my favorite Blondie songs, which is a perfect fit for her.

Creation’s own Stephanie Dizon performed, which she used to do a lot back in the day, so it was great to have her (and her great voice) onstage again.

It’s also great to have Gil McKinney back – at the cons and at SNS singing. (Check out our exclusive interview with Gil recently here if you missed it)

And look at those fabulous back up dancers aka Kim and Briana!

And newcomer to the cons JoJo Fleites also joined in the SNS.

They absolutely blew everyone away with their beautiful rendition of ‘Hard Times Come Again No More’ which was also performed this season on ‘The Winchesters’. Wow!

‘The Winchesters’ cast is as talented as Supernatural’s actors have always been apparently – Meg Donnelly also performed, showing off her onstage experience.

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‘The Winchesters’ Gets Scary with ‘Tears of a Clown’

‘The Winchesters’ Gets Scary with ‘Tears of a Clown’

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The penultimate episode of The Winchesters’ first season was what Supernatural used to call a ‘Monster of the Week’. The open is frankly terrifying, two guys out to have a good time – at a closed carnival at night? Uh oh.

Not-very-happy guy finds a ticket, hears music that his friend doesn’t, and heads right toward the creepiest looking carnival tent you can imagine because of course he does. Limbo’s Hall of Happy – and here he is, Limbo himself, waving and beckoning the guy to come right on inside. WHY, DUDE? Who would follow a clown that looks like this???

First he’s trapped in a hall of mirrors (look, those things were terrifying when I was a kid – not fun!) and then confronted with Limbo and his own face in clown makeup staring back at him. Somehow he manages to smile anyway and AAAHHHHH I am totally with Sam Winchester and his fear of clowns!

Kudos on a truly creepy scary opening, The Winchesters!

‘Tears of a Clown’ is a classic song that makes a good episode title. Dean Winchester narration kicks off after that.

Dean: Hunting’s a dishonest business. You gotta lie all the time, about who you are and what you do. But the hardest lies aren’t the ones you tell other people, they’re the ones you tell yourself.

Yes, that was a predictable ending to that sentence that I spoke right along with Dean, but it is something that Sam and Dean learned the hard way. It’s also, as I’ve written before, a big theme of this show. Who are you? Is reality what you think it is?

John and Mary are pretty good with the musical aliases, just as their sons will be. (It is so confusing that this is a prequel, and that John didn’t know any of this in the OG show, constantly making my head hurt!) Even Karen Carpenter got a shout out here, very 70s.

John is channeling his inner Dean Winchester (I know, I know, it’s gotta be the other way around), snapping at Mary when she questions if he’s okay after he was ‘overly aggressive’ with apparently more than one person. He just wants to put what happened with Kyle in the rear view, but Mary’s not so sure that’s possible. I am still not totally sold on the John-has-anger-issues thing – we don’t see a lot of it, and just hearing about it isn’t as convincing. I can understand the John has PTSD thing more, and perhaps anger is one of the things that he’s dealing with as a result, but I wish we saw more than we have. I imagine having only 13 episodes to get to some revelations in the next episode has made things more compressed than they wished they could have been.

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Supernatural Dallas Con: The Boys Return (Close to) Home

Supernatural Dallas Con: The Boys Return (Close to) Home

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The Supernatural convention in Dallas is always fun because it’s the closest we get to the boys’ hometown (until next year, when the con moves to their actual hometown, Austin!). That means they’re rested and have friends and family joining them and everyone is in a really good mood. That was the case for this con too! And it was equally fun for me because I had lots of friends there too.

I was excited to escape from the Philly winter to warmer Texas, only to arrive just as the giant Texas ice storm was ending. There were still piles of ice along the streets and slippery patches, and many people had stories of digging out their ice-encased cars that morning.

The convention center and the surrounding area was turned into a magical place, looking like a fairy corridor instead of a pathway through a parking lot.

And every branch or railing was a work of art if you looked closely enough.

Climate change, not fun. But really pretty for Liz’s camera to capture for posterity!

My intrepid friends came to pick me up at the airport anyway. #SPNFamily.

Friday was hosted by the lovely Jason Manns, as Fridays often are, in his comfy Mr. Rogers-esque sweater.

I caught some of David Haydn Jones’ panel on Friday – I love that he always dresses the part of wherever the con is, and this time was no exception. Cowboy David!

He’s working on a new song for karaoke, which is still a secret, but I’m looking forward to it.

He had only good things to say about Supernatural.

David: On my first day, Jared, Jensen and Misha were so collegial. Then they gave me a Bentley and a grenade launcher – I was a kid in a candy store!

What’s not to like? Well, actually the fire in that scene – which was real!

David: When you see that fire behind me, that’s real. Jared and Jensen were like, I’m outta here!

David is a great story teller. He told a hilarious story of that gag reel moment when he was attempting to say ‘chupacabra’ over and over, which was funny enough. But when he was saying ‘chupa chupa’ apparently in Spanish that means ‘sucky sucky’ so… very dirty.

David: There’s a whole fic on Ao3…

Also David, though I can’t remember context: You can always trust this audience for testicle humor.

David said that Ketch was originally conceived of as a sort of East End brawler – who sounds a lot like Billy Butcher on The Boys. He did have some more serious things to say too, including how being onscreen can exacerbate any kind of body dysmorphia someone might have. On the other hand, dressing up for a living is fun.

David: One of the fun parts of this job is getting to cosplay for a living.

Briana Buckmaster couldn’t be at the con because she’s filming a movie, but Kim Rhodes had her join the panel a bit through Facetime anyway!

Kim told the amusing story of her favorite memory from filming Kung Fu – which wasn’t actually from filming at all. Richard Speight, Jr. was directing, and they were walking back from lunch when a guy stopped Richard and asked for a selfie with him, proclaiming himself the worlds’ biggest Supernatural fan (and never noticing it was Kim there). As he walked away, Richard scoffed: “Not the biggest!”

They also apparently had a lot of fun on the Kung Fu set voicing the actor lobsters who were sometimes more well treated than some humans lol.

Like David, she had all good things to say about Supernatural.

Kim: I’ve been fortunate to work on shows where people who are at the top of the food chain make sure that no one gets fucked. Jared and Jensen were the same way. I’ve been so lucky to work with generous, lovely human beings. There’s not an atom less on Supernatural that it felt like my birthday.

She had kind words for the fandom too.

Kim: The greatest gift this fandom gave me is permission.

I love the way Kim greets fans, so full of joy each and every time.

It’s what she writes about in her chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood, powerfully.

She also had a visit from a tiny but awesome fan who joined her onstage – adorable!

We all had a delicious home cooked meal at a friend’s house on Friday night (and some homemade cherry cobbler which, mmmmm) and then I collapsed like I almost always do on Friday nights at cons – which meant I didn’t get to go to karaoke. The problem with the con being at a convention center is that it’s a little difficult to get back and forth, so once I was dropped off at my hotel, that was it for me!

On Saturday, we had a panel with Smallville’s Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum, which I’d really enjoyed at the last con too – this time they had a table, which confused me when I came in because it looked for a moment like I’d wandered into a conference instead of a convention. Michael played his guitar in between the two answering questions.

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Supernatural and Radio Company Take Nashville 2022!

Supernatural and Radio Company Take Nashville 2022!

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Welcome to Part 2 of our Nashcon coverage with lots of pretty pretty pictures courtesy of Prior Studios. I was so happy to have Kim, my partner in crime, back with me at a con. And we all benefit from the photos she was able to take. I had to have a cold drink beside me to post this article, and it’s winter on the East Coast of the US…

So here we go with Part 2, starting with Sunday, J2 day! The boys looked fine fine fine at the morning gold panel in gray (Jared) and ivory over plaid (Jensen) and those long long legs.

They wasted no time in getting to the banter that we all enjoy so much.

Jared said that he had been excited to wear a scarf yesterday.

Jensen: You live in a bad place to have a scarf fetish…

They love to reminisce about their time on Supernatural and I am unspeakably grateful that they want to keep talking about it as much as I want to keep hearing about it.

Jensen: We were full on kleptomaniacs on Supernatural.

Jared: We got little gift packages from Props…

I don’t think we STILL know everything that they ended up with when the show wrapped – and good for them! Look how joyously unrepentant they are.

Jared: I stole…uh, that is, two things went missing from Bobby’s house. I have the Samulet, and an army man from the car.

Jensen: Jared and I snuck in and went full Sam and Dean…

I love it. Can you just imagine the two of them being all sneaking, channeling their inner Sam and Dean? Good for you, boys! I am so glad that Jared has the Samulet, that warms my heart.

They also were remembering the early episode Wendigo, when the actor who was playing Roy was all gung ho to be set on fire and then was suddenly screaming “Put me out!”

Jared and Jensen at the time: What have we gotten ourselves into?

Fifteen years later… lol

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Supernatural Phoenix 2022!

Supernatural Phoenix 2022!

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The Supernatural Phoenix con was special this year – a lot of my friends were there, which always makes it extra wonderful. A bunch of us talked one of our friends into coming to this con, and then surprised her with friends coming in from all over since this would be her last con – yes, she’s over 80, but honestly she’s 80 plus years young! It was so wonderful to see how surprised she (and half of our other group of friends) was to see the other half, and to make sure that the guest of honor enjoyed every second of what will probably be her last SPN con (not that she’s going anywhere, but this is the local one for her!) It got me thinking that someday I’ll have my own “last Supernatural convention” and that made me need tissues. But it was also so much of what cons and fandom are about, making friends from all over who support each other all year long.

In fact, there are only a few “Official Supernatural conventions” left, including this weekend’s Nashville one and the long-postponed San Francisco con in 2023. It feels weird that the rest of the 2023 cons are not called Supernatural conventions, even if we’ll have Jared, Jensen and Misha at all of them and many of the ‘regular’ guests that we know and love. Change is inevitable, I know, but I don’t have to like it – or at least I get to be ambivalent about it! I am excited to meet the casts of Walker and Windy and The Winchesters and The Boys and Big Sky of course, I just want everyone who I know and love to stick around too. Good thing I’m not in charge of conventions, they’d have about a million guests…

Friday was a short day for me because I spent most of it either flying or having lunch with my friends. The hotel had an outdoor patio with trees and water and cornhole and it was absolutely lovely, so we grabbed a big table out there and just caught up. I made it into the convention center in time to catch some of Adam Fergus’ panel and hear his story about being scared of everything as a kid, including the werewolf he was sure he saw at night that turned out to be a hat and coat on the bannister.

Adam talked about how on Supernatural, Jared was surprised to find out he was Irish. He also said that recently he had to do a Texas accent for a role and wanted it to be believable – so he called Jensen! (Actually that was a joke – he said he always has a voice coach when he has to do an American accent)

Someone asked about his favorite episodes and he said that one of the reasons that Supernatural was on for so long was the great writing and the way they took risks, like Baby and Scoobynatural. So agreed!

Speaking of writing, Adam wrote a chapter in There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done all about his time on Supernatural and his appreciation of fandom that’s really interesting, if you haven’t checked it out yet.

Jason Manns was busy as the Friday emcee, and it was nice to see his smiling face.

Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster also did a panel, which started out with Briana channeling her inner Stephen Norton… Shhhh, don’t tell him!

Kim and Briana always have something inspirational to say, and this panel was no exception.

Kim: I am fucking allowed to feel good about myself!

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