The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

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Shrykespeare
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The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by Shrykespeare »

I just arrived this morning in Austin, and was greeted almost immediately by NSpan and his GF. We'll be hooking up with Alyson later for dinner, and going to see Paranormal Activity. But the really cool things about this gig came as a complete surprise to me, when I was greeted by Nico himself once we got back to NSpan's place. So the gang is all here, and hopefully there'll be some photos to go along with it later.
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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undeadmonkey
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by undeadmonkey »

aww, yall are in my home state and im not there. It's ok though, hope yall have a great time!

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W
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by W »

So... Technically its the first ever Fantaverse Union since its the first time?

Have fun.
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Geezer
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by Geezer »

I already said that over at "the Archive!"
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becs
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by becs »

OMG what an awesome surprise. so... you're going to get them all drunk and take pictures right?
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by frendo »

Wish I was there, man!

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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by undeadmonkey »

becs wrote:OMG what an awesome surprise. so... you're going to get them all drunk and take pictures right?
hah, im so looking forward to that now!

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Shrykespeare
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by Shrykespeare »

What a great day.

Flew in at about 1:00 Austin time, met with NSpan and Nico and NSpan's GF Kate, and hung around talking until late afternoon. Then, we went at about 6:00 to County Line BBQ, where we were joined by Fantaversian Alyson and my great friend Ashley (who just moved to Austin), and we proceeded to pig out royally.

At about 8:30 we drove to the Alamo Drafthouse (minus Ashley), and waited in line to see Paranormal Activity. Scary movie! Then, unfortunately, Nico had to leave us to embark on the long, long drive back to Dallas, where he may get only a few quality hours of sleep before returning to work tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow, after sleeping in, NSpan, Alyson, Kate and I will be touring downtown Austin, and that evening we will be watching the Master Pancake comedy version of Nightmare on Elm Street. If there's time, we are going to head over to another location to watch Ashley's comedy troupe perform in a "comedy cagematch". Should be terrific!

I'll report back tomorrow. I am just exhausted. Night!
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by NSpan »

had a blast today.. here's hopin' that Rick makes it home safe (I don't envy having to drive back to Dallas at this hour).. Patrick is all tucked in--while me and Kate are winding down with Young Guns.. Alyson is home (alone), thanking God she has a cat to keep her company.. meanwhile, i'm REALLY tempted to fuck with Shrykey Paranormal Activity-style... buuuut i'll be mature about it... and, anyway, the wacky sounds our two kittens make at night should do the trick anyhow..

Patsy's friend Ash is awesome, and we might see her again this weekend.. considering our usual schedule, we're actually turning in really early.. but we have big plans for tomorrow, so we need our beauty-sleep... we only managed to get one photo today (damn shame, we simply forgot to grab the digital camera on our way out)... but we'll try to make up for it tomorrow.. and, for those lookin for embarrassing drunk photos--we decided to take a cab downtown tomorrow, which means more than a few whiskies-on-the-rocks will be imbibed.. we'll try and get some good shots
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numbersix
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by numbersix »

Sounded like fun.

You basterds

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Shrykespeare
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by Shrykespeare »

Slept till noon today.

Watched college football and played Buzz! Trivia on PlayStation under mid-afternoon. Then had an awesome lunch at Z Tejas Restaurant, before driving to downtown Austin to catch the Master Pancake spoof of Nightmare on Elm Street... basically, we watched the movie while they added their own commentary. Pretty funny at times, stupid in others. Then we drove to an Improv club where a couple of troupes were having a cagematch (one of them was coached by our friend Ashley)... happy ending, Ashley's troupe won. Very funny stuff.

Back at NSpan's now, playin' Trivial Pursuit and catching a late movie before bed.

Tomorrow, who knows?
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by Nicodemus »

Howdy hey! Made it back to Big D a few minutes before 4 a.m., not too bad considering what time I lit out... Wish I coulda stayed! (Especially with the day I had at my "flagship" store... Sheesh. Three words, folks: Yu-Gi-Oh! Nazi basterds.

Here, then, is MY "take" on yesterday's Day One of the First Very Nearly Annual Fantasy Moguls Reunion:

What y'all gotta realize is, being in retail, and having four stores "under" me, my schedule's pretty much always in the air. I remember a stretch this past Summer, as the economy tanked and I dealt with seemingly interminable staffing issues, when I worked for 44 days straight. (And very nearly lost my mind, or what remained of my mind, or that greying, congealed tapioca stuffed into my ears that occasionally stands in for my mind. Whatever.) We had significant events scheduled at my store all this weekend, so there was no guarantee I'd be able to take off, even for 12 hours or so, down to Austin to meet Shrykey as he made his first (required) pilgrimage to our Austin, capital of our state and Lone Star Holy Land, our very own Tex-Mecca. (Like that?) [Grin]

So I set about reducing expectations, 'cause the only thing worse than telling my great good friend the Shrykester that I COULDN'T come down for the day, would be telling him I WAS, and then not being able to. But, beginning last weeked, Spannaus and I began secret negotiations in the event I could come down and surprise 'im, first in the "old" TFR Chat Room -- in my very first, and now most likely last, use of the thing! -- and then in E-mails. Even Thursday night, I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull this off -- I had a staff meeting at one of the stores first thing Friday -- but I was on the road by ten in the a.m., and ALMOST managed to spring the trap on Shrykey and Spannaus at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, perhaps the only commerical aviation hub in the United States where shoes are optional, but hookahs are mandatory. Well, almost.

My GPS, as part of SkyNet's master plan for world domination, did its level best to kill me, but I managed -- after some highly covert phone calls to Spannaus -- to find his house all right, and was standing at the top of the stairs when he, his lovely significant other, and Shryke arrived. Man, you shoulda seen the look on Shrykey's face! I was standing there holding a sign reading, "BOB BAGGINOTON, a.k.a. 'SHRYKEY'" (the 'Bagginoton' thing goes waaay back to one of his first articles at FM), and dude's reading it, trying to figure out if I'm a wayward limo driver, or a stalker, or merely yet another random Hill Country vagrant, but with exceptionally particular panhandling criteria. He scrunches up his face into this incredulous expression, squeaks out a hesitant, "...Nico?" and, well, the Reunion was in full swing!

I have to interject here and say: Spannaus and his mate are INCREDIBLE hosts, with exceptional taste in books and movies, and two of the coolest cats I've ever met (matter of fact, that goes for the two human residents of the flat, as well). After sitting around shooting the breeze for a time, catching up and talking about all the neato burrito things that are happening 'round these here parts, we grabbed lunch at a hip Austin sammich shop with a kickass club sandwich and personnel right out of the Mos Eisley Cantina, then listened to records -- RECORDS!!! [swoon] -- for a bit before heading on over to County Line, one of the very best Bar-B-Que restaurants in this state or any other, where we saw a fantastic sunset overlooking the nation's -- er, state -- capital city, listened to three chords played in an unending tapestry of bass bodaciosity, stuffed our faces full of onion rings and pepper jack cheese puffs and brisket and ribs and sausage, and met the lovely and talented Alyson, fellow Fantaversian, and Ashley, one of Shrykey's former colleagues, who teaches improv comedy in Austin and is a comedienne herself. After several attempts to have a group picture taken, we headed on over to the Alamo Drafthouse South, perhaps the coolest movie theater ever, for Paranormal Activity -- one of the scariest films I've seen since The Ring. A handful of t-shirts, some screams and laughs later, I called it a night -- too soon, much too soon, but I had miles and miles to go -- 204, exactly, according to my mass-murdering GPS -- before I slept -- and that was about it for yours truly!

Can't wait to see the pics!


Image
Aly, Nico, and Spannaus (l.-r.) at the First Very Nearly Annual Fantasy Moguls Reunion!

P.S. Congratulations to Ashley! Woo hoo!

E.T.A.: Dude. Spannaus, you TOTALLY should have fucked with Shrykey, Paranormal-style. [Grin]

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Shrykespeare
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by Shrykespeare »

Thanks for the commentary, Nico. I agree with everything you've said, except...

Fucking with me Paranormal-style would not have worked. I'm not saying I'm too smart to have fallen for that, but I was so tired that no amount of floorboard-squeaking, wall-tapping, or chain-rattling would have woken me from my comatose state. Nothing short of a rampaging herd of gundarks traipsing through my room would have stirred me. And besides that, trying to scare me in the same manner of a horror movie we only exited two hours before is a little on the obvious side. It's not that I never have bad dreams, I do, but they are almost never inspired by horror movies. I tend to not remember 99.999% of my dreams anyway, but those that I do remember do not include zombies, vampires, or any manner of demonic possession. But I digress...

After we got home last night, about eight of Nick's friends showed up, six-packs in hand, for a rousing four hours of drunkenness, which I was more than happy to stand on the periphery of. I don't drink alcohol, and I didn't want to spoil the festivities, so I just spent most of the time between 11pm and 3am listening to the vinyl-induced strains of the Beach Boys, The Allman Brothers and The James Gang. I surfed the net and played with Nick and Kate's kitties until the party finally let out.

It's now about noon, which means I have about six hours until my plane leaves. Alyson is supposed to show up to take me out for breakfast tacos (yumm!!), as Nick (who got pretty hammered) and Kate (who got shanghaied into a late-night babysitting gig lasting from 11pm till 5am) sleep it off. I don't know what is in store for me in my last few hours in Austin, but I'll probably head to the airport no later than 5pm, arriving in Phoenix just in time to hear my beloved Cardinals get the shit stomped out of them by the extremely-pissed-off Giants. Woo-hoo.

Anyway, it's been a hell of a trip so far, and I wouldn't have missed any of it for the world. We've all been discussing a possible venue for our second "reunion", which hopefully we will include a lot more members of the Fantaverse than this weekend had. We'll be starting a thread on it in the next few months to see just what people think of the idea, as well as how many members think they can attend. I have nothing much in the way of details right now, but I can tell you that it will involve sand, surf, and movies, though not necessarily in that order, probably some time next autumn. How does that sound?

I'll probably make my final post in this thread after I've returned to Phoenix. Thanks again, Nico, for your.... illuminating post. Glad you made it back to Big D in time to get five minutes of truly satisfying sleep. I know the comic book business can be a harsh mistress, but I know you'll endure.
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Geezer
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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by Geezer »

Cardinals are going to win! Or at least keep it close, don't worry about them Giants being pissed. They just aren't that good :D
Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. - The Dude

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Re: The First Ever Fantaverse Reunion

Post by Geezer »

Told you ;)
Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. - The Dude

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