This year’s Christmas card photo:
Happy Holidays Friends and Family!
Family and Friends - 13. page
Boston SUPER Megafest 2009
Boston Super Megafest or SMF is the largest gathering of celebrities, fans and memorabilia dealers in the New England area. This weekend event, which took place on Nov 21 & 22, 2009 at the Sheraton in Framingham, MA is lots of fun for only $20.
The people attending are often more interesting than the celebrities. People come dressed in all kinds of elaborate costumes and really get into the fantasy of being a super hero or sci-fi character. The most popular costumes tend to be from Star Wars and Star Trek, but Batman and the Joker are also popular.
Parked outside the hotel was the Batmobile from the original TV show. I was a big fan of the TV show when I was a kid. It is so funny to watch those episodes now. If you are too young to remember the show, there are lots of episodes and clips on youtube.
The vast majority of people who attend these events are geeks, nerds, and dorks, with a few typical folks along to ‘people watch’ the geeks, nerds and dorks. All together it’s a nice bunch of folks just having a good time. For me, it’s a fun escape from everyday life; add that to the nostalgia thrown in and it’s a blast!
The highlight of this years event for me was meeting Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: TNG). OK, so I’m a bit of a Star Trek geek. I’ve enjoyed the TV shows and movies since the original, but my favorite Star Trek is the Next Generation (TNG). For movies, Star Trek IV has always been my favorite, but the new 2009 movie, is pretty darn good. Brent Spiner is a friendly guy and very funny.
I also got to meet Larry Storch (Corporal Agarn on F Troop). F Troop was another of my favorite shows in the 60’s and Larry still looks pretty darn good in his 80’s!
Also at the Megafest were two of the Monkees, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork. I met both of them and saw them preform on Saturday night. Peter played “Day Dream Believer” solo with his guitar, which I really enjoyed. Micky is still quite an entertainer.
There was a whole lot more going on at the Megafest, but these were a few of my favorites. More photos on Flickr.
Fall Foliage on Grafton Common
November 8th and no blog posts so far this month. It’s been a bit busier than usual, which tends to happen with the holidays right around the corner. To be honest, I’m always glad when the holiday season is over. Life is already too busy without adding a bunch more things to do.
I’ve also been busy building a bedroom for Anthony on the first floor. I’m trying to get this done before the holidays, so this is taking up a lot of my time. I’ll post some photos of this project soon.
I just uploaded some fall foliage photos to my flicker account that I took at the Grafton Common a few weeks ago. Grafton common is extra beautiful in autumn and many people have been married at the gazebo in October. Grafton Center is a quaint little New England common. Some say it is a perfect example of small-town New England. The town has been careful not to allow too much change to the area, so even though the town has grown a lot, the common has remain relatively unchanged for decades.
One of Grafton’s claims to fame is the Grafton Gazebo, which sits on the common. The gazebo was built for a Hollywood film called Ah, Wilderness! in 1935, which starred Lionel Barrymore and Mickey Rooney among others.
Fisheye photo
Rock & Shock
We took Aaron and a couple of friends to Rock & Shock 2009 at the Worcester DCU Center last night. Rock & Shock is a Horror convention that mixes artist and vendor displays with rock music. We didn’t do the music part, we went primarily because Aaron is a huge horror/thriller movie buff. As I’ve mentioned before, he does his own thriller show on local cable TV, so he just loves dressing up and going to events like this.
Where he got this interest in horror movies, I have no idea. Rich and I are not fans of this genre. In fact, I avoid scary movies as much as possible. Real life is plenty scary enough for me! Rich tolerates them for Aaron and usually takes him to the movies he wants to see. I decided to come to this event since it’s the Halloween time of year and also brought Eric along. I figured, if it was too much for him or I, we could just leave. As it turned out we all had a great time. Eric loved all the action and especially enjoyed the people dressed up in costumes.
There were lots of horror film actors, directors, make-up artists, costume designers, film makers and distributors there. You could get an autograph and photo taken with lots of horror celebrities (usually for a price). I was excited to meet Malcolm McDowell who was the villain in Star Trek Generations among other films. I confess, I’m a Star Trek nerd and I would surely fit in better at a Star Trek convention.
Some people actually thought that was my real hair!
In addition to actors, there were also tattoo artists, toy and model makers, costume contests, horror industry professionals and vendors, comic book artists & vendors, film screenings, CD and DVD vendors, models and actors in costume, and many other artists and vendors. Aaron came home with lots of new props for his movies and also did some networking with a couple of local film makers.
Aaron, Katie and Ryan are big fans of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Here is Aaron as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Ryan is Brad. Eric is wearing his prisoner Halloween costume. Hey, must always keep a sense of humor!
In Memory of Poppy
Shortly before he died, Dr. John Koomey recognized a transportation problem for students with special needs at our local high school. The high school has a Functional Academic School-to-Work Program, but due to a lack of transportation, the student’s access was limited to establishments within walking distance of the school.
Dr. Koomey’s family said he often talked about doing something about this problem. But sadly he passed away before he had time to address the situation with the school district. After his death, Dr Koomey’s family decided to follow through with his wishes and they purchased a wheelchair accessible van for the school department. The donation also includes funds to maintain the van.
Dr. Koomey was fondly known as ‘Poppy’ by his grandchildren, two of whom are special need students in the Grafton public schools. The words “In Memory of Poppy” are inscribed on the back of the van.
I was personally touch by the incredible generosity of this family. What a wonderful tribute to Dr. Koomey! This gift will benefit many children for many years to come, including my boys. A BIG Bissell thank you to the Koomey Family!
