Van Helsing/WriterCon

[rusty_halo]

I somehow ended up seeing Van Helsing twice this weekend. Friday I saw it with drujan, Saturday I saw it in the same theater with jaydk. (Everyone else's schedules conflicted ... I got to hang out with each friend individually, though, so I didn't really mind).

I liked the movie, btw. It was very cheesy and stupid, style without substance, but fun, like a theme park ride. The worst parts were when we were supposed to take the lead actors seriously--Kate Beckinsale, in particuarly, was painfully dull. But the intentionally cheesy parts, like Dracula and his Brides, were awesome. I love the guy who played Dracula--he was so delightfully over-the-top. And all the references to old monster movies were fun to catch, especially since I just finished taking a class on vampire films.

drujan and I snuck alcohol into the theater, and I think we must've gotten pretty drunk, because we somehow ended up planning two vacations for this year, to Las Vegas and to Disney World.

Not sure about Disney, but I think we're really going to Vegas--just expanding the trip to WriterCon. It looks now like we're going to arrive Tuesday night and spend Wednesday and Thursday exploring the city prior to the con. Then I'm going to WriterCon (rooming with irfikos, irfikos' roommate, and miggy) while drujan is going to continue exploring Vegas.

I'm going to stay in a different hotel with drujan on Tuesday and Wednesday--we're going to decide tonight which one. This is so exciting--I've never been to Vegas before, but drujan has, so she has lots of ideas about what we should do.

We're probably going to stay really late on Monday and take an 11:30 PM flight home to NYC, which gets in around 7:30 AM, sleep on the plane, and then go straight to work from that. I figure it's best to get the most possible out of the trip, plus that way we can hang out with whoever's left on Monday, or catch up on any last-minute activities.

So, anyone else arriving early or staying late? I want to know who's going to be around. :)

Comments

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

Manly and I will be coming in on Wednesday afternoon, and leaving about noon on Monday. :)

Yay! I'm so glad you're coming! This is going to be so much damn fun. ::bounces::

And hey, if you come to Disney, I just live about an hour and a half away, so we could maybe have lunch together. :)

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Awesome.

Any idea what's happening Wednesday night? Maybe some of the people already in town can meet up for dinner or something. :)

[10zlaine.livejournal.com]

I'm getting in on Wednesday, but I haven't made any accommodations plans. Still trying to talk thefangirl into it, and I'm thinking soulmate815 was maybe coming? So, if either M. or drujan wants to room with me, that'd be kewl. Then we can just work in Ingrid.

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

I don't know about soulmate815; she registered but hasn't finalized her plans. (I'm also working on getting her to go.)

drujan and I went ahead and made hotel reservations, because she has very particular ideas about what she wants. We're up for extra roommates, though, for some of these nights. We're going to be jumping around all over the place. Our current schedule is:

Tuesday: drujan and I are at Mandalay Bay (so that we can get up early and spend time in their awesome pool); we can fit 2 extra roommates.

Wednesday: drujan and I are at The Mirage (nice rooms, nice pool, right near Imperial Palace); we have room for 2 more roommates.

Thursday: This is where it gets strange; I have plans to move to the Imperial Palace but I might stay another night in the Mirage instead. In which case I might need to find someone else to share the bill with my Imperial Palace roommates (irfikos and her roomie) that night. And if I do move to the Imperial Palace I should help drujan find someone else to stay with her at the Mirage. So this night is going to be complicated.

Friday & Saturday: I'm at Imperial Palace with irfikos, her roomie, and miggy; drujan is going to find accomodations elsewhere and might spend one night at the Grand Canyon.

Sunday: drujan is moving to Treasure Island and will probably need to find roommates. (She wants me to come with her but I think I'm probably going to stay close to the Imperial Palace in order to be near everyone else.)

Man, this is complicated. So where do you think you'll end up staying? I had originally planned to stay at the Imperial Palace the whole time but drujan convinced me that I had to at least experience other hotels. One good thing is that the Mirage and Treasure Island are right near the Imperial Palace, where all the Writercon stuff is happening. And I'll be there Friday and Saturday for sure.

[10zlaine.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. So many choices! I mean, when I first was thinking accommodation, I was thinking of one place, as usual! By your having listed all the variety, I can definitely see what drujan means about experiencing--'cause it could be some groovy fun. I've never experienced Vegas, really, and this is the perfect opportunity.

You're using up one of your *paid* vacation weeks! *g* I could definitely commit to sharing on Wednesday. I'd even say I'd share with drujan for some of the other, but it just now occurred to me that since I'm on *special* assigned duty, I may need to see what Chris thinks about if I should stay at the Imperial for easy access? It may not even matter, but it would probably simplify things.

Now, I'm totally confuddled! Suddenly, I have no idea what I'm doing!!

[drujan.livejournal.com]

I am going to change my reservation for Sunday night to Flamingo. It's right next to Imperial Palace and its pool is awesome! (Even though I do have a reservation for a room with the gorgeous view of pirates at TI... Oh, man. Decisions, decisions.) Actually, I'd like to stay at Flamingo the Saturday night as well, but only if I could find a roomie, as Saturdays rates are more expensive. Otherwise, it will have to be Imperial Palace Saturday, and then Flamingo (wheeee! pool!) Sunday.

As for Friday night, I decided to drive up to the Grand Canyon and spend it there. Again, if anyone is interested?.. I'd hate to miss Friday's get-together, but I wanted to do the proper Grand Canyon thing for years, and I can't pass the chance.

So, if you want to stay with me at Flamingo on Sunday and maybe Saturday, you are more then welcome. And if anyone wants to see the Grand Canyon? Come on, it'd be fun! ;-)

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be getting there on either Tuesday or Wednesday... I'm driving down from Seattle, mostly so onetwomany (who is flying over from Australia) and I can drive back afterward through Utah, Idaho, and either Oregon or Montana (depending on time) -- give her a bit of a tour of the Western US.

[shaddyr]

I'm flying out of Seattle on Wednesday morning, so I shall be there by that afternoon. I'm going to take a Tuesday morning flight back.

And Van Helsing was fun in spite of the dreky parts. Did you 'get' the Wolverine shout-out? I'm starting to wonder of pellmelody and I were the only ones who caught that...

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Did you 'get' the Wolverine shout-out?

You mean when werewolf-Van Helsing scratches his claws Wolverine-style? I thought that might be a Wolverine reference.... (too bad this film wasn't half as good as X-Men.)

Man, that movie has references to everything. Though it really started to grate on me that some of the music was lifted almost exactly from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Still, it was fun.

Do you know if any of the people arriving early have plans to meet up before the con starts? Maybe we can all exchange cell phone numbers or something closer to the con date.

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

I'm coming to Writercon on Thursday, so not really early (leaving Monday) but I'm looking forward to meeting you, finally. :-) And I can confirm that Vegas is big fun - lots of things to do besides gambling.

And wasn't Dracula fabulous? If you saw Moulin Rouge, he's the same actor who played the evil Duke - hard to believe it's the same guy.