Biloxi, MS
The beautiful Mississippi Coast Convention Center was home to Gulf Coast Fan Fest over the past weekend in Biloxi, MS. I attended both days of the event and I had a really great time. I arrived in Biloxi on Friday afternoon and caught up with some good friends before heading out to the official Kick Off Party at the Crooked Letter Brewing Company in nearby Ocean Springs. At the party, Comic Book Men‘s very own Ming Chen was in attendance as were a few other guests and convention attendees. Former WCW/WWE superstar Honk Tonk Man performed his one man show as well.
On Saturday I entered the convention ready to visit with friends that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I managed to catch up with quite a few of them and probably missed just as many as I wandered around the convention center. I was dressed as Doctor Zhukov from the Fortune and Glory RPG. Most people called me Doctor Horrible from Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
After a couple of hours, I decided to go back to my hotel room at the Quality Inn next to the Coliseum, freshen up a bit, and change into some shorts and a t-shirt. I returned to the convention and sought out the two autographs that I wanted the most: Peter Davison (the 5th Doctor) and David Naughton (An American Werewolf In London). I succeeded in getting both of them.
Davison is my favorite Doctor. I was a tad star struck by him. He didn’t say a whole lot to me but thanked me for being a fan and thanked me for supporting his work. After getting his autograph, I moved along to David Naughton’s table. When I walked up to him, I told him my name and blurted out, “Among my werewolf freak friends, you are considered a god.” He laughed and said, “That’s funny,” and engaged me a little about werewolves. I told him that I’m a huge fan of the classic werewolf films including the Lon Chaney, Jr. movies and the classic Werewolf of London. He seemed a little surprised that I mentioned Werewolf of London and said that not many people bring up that film. I got an autograph and a photo with him. He was excellent.
The rest of my Saturday at the convention was spent strolling through the vendor area, catching up with artists like my good friend, Vo Nguyen, and visiting with the other conventions on hand promoting their own events. I also sat in on the Kevin Sorbo panel. Mediated by Ming Chen, the panel was great. Sorbo held nothing back when asked questions about his work, his faith, and his politics. It was one of the most interesting panels that I’ve ever attended. I especially enjoyed Sorbo’s stories about his work on Hercules and Xena.
After the convention closed for the day, I headed out to the beach across the street from the coliseum and took a long walk along the beach and on the pier heading out into the Gulf of Mexico. Biloxi has always been one of my favorite cities to visit, and this weekend was one of my best visits yet. The weather was perfect and the beach was simply gorgeous.
Sunday morning I got up early and enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. Then I attended Mass at Our Lady Of Fatima parish. After that I checked out of my room and headed to the convention. I visited with a few more of my friends and purchased a print from Vo Nguyen. He sketched a photo of the Joker for me as well. I also walked through the numerous film artifacts in the Merrill Movie Museum. If you ever have a chance to check out this traveling museum, do it!
In the afternoon, myself and a few other representatives of Southern Geek (Rafe and Shannon White and Cave Moran) hosted a panel on The Walking Dead. We had a fairly decent crowd considering the fact that we were up against Peter Davison. I spent a little more time at the convention taking photos of cosplayers such as RedTop Cosplay and Iron Mwar. After saying good bye to a few good friends, I headed over to the beach for one last look and then headed home. I hope to return to GCFF next year. It was an excellent event.
As always, thanks for reading my post. October is stacked, so be sure to keep an eye on my page for more geeky goodness. I have plans to attend more conventions in the next few months, and I plan on blogging about all of them. I’ll have another Throwback Thursday tomorrow as well, so don’t forget to check my blog tomorrow!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 