I saw video of Jonathan Frid trying to eat at the banquet last week.  I was flabbergasted at the horde of two-legged ignorance that would not take no for an answer when he and/or those assigned to sit with him explained that he was trying to eat and would not do autographs and photos for people at his banquet table.    I would have had hotel security thrown the people out who kept pestering after being asked to leave the area and leave Frid alone but those who were with JF tried to remain polite but firm as possible.  If one approach didn't work, you could see these same fans trying some other approach around the other side of the table trying to avoid the first group of protectors assigned to Frid's table.

What the hell is wrong with some people?  You don't behave like that in the first place and in the second place, you don't make an old man's dinner difficult to enjoy in that fashion.

I don't care WHO it is, you don't treat someone in that fashion.

That's totally sickening and deplorable!  How could people do that to someone they supposedly love and admire?  And you're right, it doesn't matter who it is.  No one should be treated like that.  What happened to respect for our elders?

Hi you guys,
Just wanted to update and let you all know that I heard back from Jim Pierson.  He apologized for what happened and also said the difficulties Ted and I had were the only ones reported.

I sent a reply back thanking him and asking him to add to the registration form a place asking for accommodations.

If anyone had a problem this year or would like to see the registration form ask for accommodations, it would be a good idea to contact him!

P.S.  I'm adding what I said in my email...

Cassie

Dear Mr. Pierson,
Thanks for responding back to me.

I was wondering if you’d consider, for future Fest events, having a place on the registration form to indicate whether accommodation is needed?  It would really help to have that information in advance, don’t you think?  Having that information would help plan for how big a section you’d need for disabled people, or if you needed a sign language interpreter for Deaf fans.  Although it might not have happened, now that the DVDs are captioned, you might get Deaf fans that want to attend.  People who don’t pre-register (like my husband and me) could be encouraged or told in a newsletter—like Shadowgram—to make their needs known.

I used to be an interpreter for the Deaf and I’m used to advocating for their needs.  I’ve learned a lot about having my husband’s and my needs met.  When we registered, we should have told the volunteers that we would need chairs to sit during the event.  When there weren’t any chairs accessible (because of being saved by friends for other people) and the volunteers weren’t helpful, we could have gone to the hotel management.  According to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), if the organization sponsoring event isn’t providing accommodation (not enough chairs), then it’s the hotel’s responsibility to do it and we could have asked them for chairs.

Would you consider this please?  I know there’s a shortage of volunteers as there is and I wouldn’t be able to help on the west coast as I can’t afford to travel there but I would be very happy to help with accommodating needs on the east coast.

My friends Cheryl and Dawn had an issue with Marcy Robin, but my husband and I did not.  It was another volunteer who told us we couldn’t sit in the reserved seats even after I told her we were disabled.  We’d left the building long before Marcy Robin came into the room.

Thanks again,
Cassie

And I really like, Irishcoda, what you said if things had gone eskew and the vampire consciousness of Barnabas had occupied his mortal body in 1969.  Now wouldn't that have been a hoot!  Woopsadaisy!  I can just picture Julia rolling her eyes, saying:  "Well, that was a great idea."

It would have been the whole Tom Jennings thing all over again!  Barnabas would think he needed a drink and be chasing her around but with no fangs.  

I think Barnabas went into his vampire body when he sent his consciousness back to 1897 because his body already existed at that time.  As a matter of fact, keep watching the 1897 storyline - it will provide an explanation when an unexpected visitor shows up to help.

That's true...Only his consciousness went back to 1897 so it did need to occupy the body there.  What happened to the consciousness that was in the vampire body?  There *was* one there, he was "sleeping" at the time.  It's like an episode of a show I watch, "Lost" where the character's consciousness went back in time to his body then.  The consciousness of that past body came to the present.  It was quite wild.

Now, what if the vampire consciousness had come to the human Barnabas sitting in a trance?  Wouldn't that have been something!

My head is still spinning a little after Frank Borzellieri's presentation on time travel/parallel time.  I thought to put this post here because the we're on the 1897 storyline when Barnabas travels back to save David.

One thing I used to wonder was:  when Barnabas went back, why did he go back to his vampire body?  What if he'd gone back but his body remained chained in that coffin?  One explanation of course is it would wreck the storyline but I think it's also there was a belief you couldn't exist in time with two bodies. 

I'm thinking maybe you can. 

I didn't think to ask on Saturday because my mind was too busy wrapping itself around someone in a jet plane being seconds into our future (LOL) but maybe someone asked this question at one of the earlier presentations?

One reason I think it's possible is that it happens in a book called The Time Traveller's Wife.  Then there's also the TV series, "Lost".  The past season has been about time travel with the main characters being 30 years into their pasts.  One character watches his father holding his infant self.

There's a way it works in physics but for the life of me I can't explain it.  I think I saved a diagram of what your life would look like if you travelled into your own past, time bending in on itself.

Anyway, re the DS storyline, I wonder how things could have been different if Barnabas had just shown up as his 1970 human self instead of being transported into the vampire body?

Sally,
That's what I thought I remembered too from 1999 and 2001.  I hadn't had the opportunity to go to a Fest until this time around.  But I remember that there was a place reserved for people with special needs and I do remember that they exited the room first and got on line first.  So I just assumed it would be the same this time around.  I am on FB and I did leave a post to Marie about the Fest, regretting that I didn't get to see her because there weren't accommodations for mobility impaired folks.

Just a P.S. to everyone:  About other able-bodied people giving up their seats:  I don't know that they were aware of our problem.  And for all we know, there were people with mobility issues that had to stand along the walls that we didn't see.  It was really really crowded in there and then the lights went out as we left the room.  All I know for sure is that a volunteer was the one who told us we couldn't sit in the seats because they were reserved for volunteers or stars.  I told her that my husband and I couldn't stand and she didn't say, oh, let's get you two chairs and bring them to the back of the room.  She said nothing at all except move.

People in wheelchairs were not all in the front.  A lot of them were on the sides, behind people already standing up.  As we were leaving, they were asking the standees to please move a little so they could see.  I thought it really stunk that there wasn't a section for the wheelchairs and people with crutches and canes.

One thing that was really cool about this year's fest was Frank Borzellieri.  I have a feeling he made a similar presentation at the fest last year but this was the first time I'd heard it.  He was saying that anything is possible as long as it doesn't violate the law of physics.  He went into going back into time and changing the past, i.e. what you mentioned about Petofi.  That's been discounted before because it could create a paradox *but* he provided an explanation of how it could happen.  It's a conjecture so far, hasn't been proven.  If Petofi went back to change things so he wasn't a werewolf, he might create a parallel world then and there.  It's not anything proven but ya know--if we could think it, maybe someone will be able to prove it.  Look at what Einstein was able to do!