No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on May 18, 2015

You have to understand that Peter has a standing policy of not going to first time conventions. He has had some really not good experiences with them.

However this convention, even being a first time convention, we had no worries about going to at all. We knew Michael D’Alessio would have this down to a science since his company is the one that runs the Marvel Booth like clockwork along with all the other convention work he has done.

And we were not disappointed in the least. We had a blast and a half the whole weekend once we got there.

The rest of our adventures behind a cut since this is getting long and there are a number of photos involved.

(more…)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on May 16, 2015

I was finishing up my Master’s degree at the Yale School of Drama. My last work-study was as a stagehand on a rather fine production of Pygmalion. We had been doing double performances for schools along with the evening shows. It was going to be a mixed crowd since it was a Wednesday and we had both the season ticket holders and a couple of school groups.

I walked into the stage door to be greeted by the sound tech by, “I didn’t think you would be here since your hero Jim Henson died.”

I didn’t believe him. We had history to the point that he had a reprimand in his union jacket because of me. My solution was to stay as far away from him but couldn’t do it always.

Then a couple of the actors came in and asked me if I was OK since the news broke that Henson had died.

I knew it was real then. I went to the stage and checked my gear and made sure that all the set pieces were back where they needed to be. I ran my fly check of the scenery as well. Then I went into a dark corner and collapsed for a bit. People checked on me. The stage manager offered to get in the sub but I did the show and went home and was numb.

I went to the memorial, which was a celebration of a man’s life and the lives of all the people he touched. It made me feel better.

Since then I have had a lot of discussions and conversations with people who knew Jim or worked with him. I had met him several times and, because I made myself rather memorable the first time thanks to the Tales of the Tinkerdee, he remembered me.

Funny thing is that now a generation has grown up and some have even had children of their own without Jim Henson physically in the world but his spirit lives on through us.

One of the reasons I do panels at various conventions about puppets and the history of puppetry and the ever popular ‘what is a puppet?’ is because of Jim and his belief in puppetry as another form of art and storytelling. He championed a lot of puppeteers that have gone on to champion others and encourage others to give, as Gonzo would say, ‘wiggling dolls for a living’ a try.

He is a touchstone for many of us. He gave us some of our best childhood memories. He showed how with puppets you could make the world a better place.

I have made so many friends through puppetry. I have had some seriously fun adventures because I am a puppeteer. I have made people laugh or just smile by what I do. I have had people thank me for cheering up their day with my puppets. Jim Henson is a big reason I do what I do.

He is missed and is loved even twenty-five years later and his legacy lives on through all of us.

I am grateful that I did get to meet and talked to Jim Henson.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on May 11, 2015

Sunday was a quiet day for us. We sold the rest of the books that we brought and a number of the scripts. Caroline made some more money drawing. I took Rumple out and played with the crowd for a bit.

Wizard World treated us very well and I am grateful to each and every person I encountered who worked that convention. Considering the insanity around them, they kept cool heads and solved problems and were polite to a number of people who were not been very nice to them. Also everyone manning the Info booth was great about if they didn’t know it (which they did most of the time) they found out for you. Security was firm but not obnoxious and didn’t get heavy handed until they had no other choice.

We packed up and headed home only to find that getting onto the Island was going to be a bit of a challenge that turned into a major challenge.

Now this next bit will make sense to people in the area. Just know that we added on an hour of travel time getting home because of this.

Staten Island had traffic across most of it. The Belt parkway was solid traffic from the Verrazano all the way to LaGuardia Airport. The Lincoln tunnel was 45 to an hour. The Holland tunnel was 45 to an hour. The George Washington bridge was 90 to 120 minutes plus the roads on the other side were nightmares. So we went up to the Tappan Zee via the Pallisades parkway and across then down the Sprainbrook to the Hutch across the Throgs Neck down the Clearview because the Cross Island was a parking lot. Clearview to the LIE and then home.

I watched the season ender of Once Upon a Time and am still mulling it over. Can’t say that I am happy or unhappy about it. I did think that some of the writing was rather sloppy and not happy about benching Rumple. Props to the entire cast however for all the hoops they had to jump through with those scripts.

The cats were happy to see us. I had an Inky attached to my leg most of the evening but now she seems to realize that we are sticking around so I am allowed to go places without her.

Update on the hand. Better today than yesterday. Swelling is still there but it is taking longer to get to the unusable phase. When I woke up it looked normal again. Today’s challenge is going to be sewing and pattern making along with not over using it. Also I am learning how much a left hand comes into play in my daily life. The palm of it is turning all sorts of lovely colors.

Going to get started on the day.

I am grateful that Caroline had a good time at the convention.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on May 10, 2015

You know who you are.

Yesterday had a lot of running around for some good memories.

Yes, I did get the Jenny puppet to David. He loved it and told me that his wife really like his puppet.

Billie Piper is an amazing human being and very very funny.

The War Doctor met the War Doctor.

Peter got his copy of the Escape Artist signed by David. If you haven’t seen it, you should. Probably one of the best things done he has done acting wise so far. However this one is grim and gritty and has some tough questions asked and hard answers in reply.

Got to talk to a lot of people.

Got my usual quick talk in with Dan Slot which is so much fun as always.

Met new people. Said hello to old friends.

Hand is feeling better. Still swelling up but not as much as yesterday or the day before so that’s progress.

All in all if that was the last day at the convention, it would be fine.

We have one more to go and that’s fine too.

I would like to give a special thanks to Natasha, Auri, Chris, Sue, and Kathleen for making our time at the convention enjoyable. The Wizard Crew took really good care of us.

Pictures probably tomorrow.

So again Happy Mother’s Day to all.

I am grateful for being a Mom.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on May 9, 2015

Friday at these sorts of conventions can be interesting. You have room to move but by the end of the day you have a feel for what the convention is and who is going to be there.

(for the VI: this is our table at the convention on the right half of the table is Peter’s books and scripts. On the left is Caroline’s drawings. Peter is wearing a red shirt with a purple dragon on it. Caroline is drawing and has her hand to her head.)

Peter signed books most of the day. He had a panel on writing comics that went well.

Caroline signed copies of Fearless for people and sold a few drawing.

I took care of my hand, which had gone from bad to worse during the night.

I have to give compliments to the people manning the Information booth at Wizard especially Sue who got me to the EMTs (AJ and Brian) who really helped get this hand thing sorted out.

(For the VI: My left hand wrapped in gauze and white tape in front of my Wizard World drinking cup)

I was given a set of instructions of things to look out for and pain management. The cup became my ice pack in that I could fill it with ice and place it in the palm of the hand.

I posted the above photo on Facebook and entitled it ‘the Hand of Doom’ to which John C. posted a picture of the Infinity Gauntlet which is now playing a role in the Marvel Movie Universe.

Of course that got me to thinking and I did this.

(for the VI: The back of my left hand wrapped in white tape and gauze. I have used sharpie to create the infinity stones on the back. Green in the center, then left to right yellow, blue purple, and orange.)

Got a lot of second looks and laughs from that move.

Onto our adventure of the day. Peter read Cary Elwes’ book “The Inconceivable tales from the Making of the Princess Bride”. I gave him a copy for Christmas and he read it that day. Cary Elwes was going to be at this Wizard World and Peter wanted to get his book signed. I stood in line until I was close to the front and Peter and Caroline joined me.

Mr. Elwes was gracious and kind. His helper told him that Peter was a writer of some note so he inquired about that. Caroline told him about Fearless. Peter filled him in on how the book got started. He thought that a father and daughter wrote a book together was delightful. We agreed to get him a copy of it.

(For the VI: Peter is on the left. Mr. Elwes is behind Caroline. Caroline is next to me.)

Caroline delivered the copy of Fearless and a copy of Artful to Mr. Elwes. They chatted for a bit and then we chatted for a bit.

He complimented Caroline on her intelligence and vocabulary. And thanked us for making his day a little brighter.

That made my day a little brighter and considering how my hand was feeling at that moment I was happy with the distraction.

I am grateful for everyone who has given me a helping hand.

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags: