Nightmares in Colorado/Rocky Mountain Nightmares 2024

The con was held on the second floor of the hotel. One thing I did really like was that there was a lounge like area right after the check in area where people could sit, rest, grab food and drinks. Having this kind of sitting area was nice for people with disabilities or for older con goers. The dealers room/celebrity guest area were also right off of this area. Then the one panel room was on the opposite side at the end of a long hallway. There were also cards everywhere that was a part of a card scavenger hunt. Each card had art work on it representing a different celebrity guest and con goers could try to collect the whole set.

Panels

The panels for the most part at this con centered on the celebrity guests with no other panel programing. This is the one place where the con could super dial up. Not every celebrity guest is interesting to everyone, everyone has their own fandoms, and having diverse panels could help to entertain people who are just not that interested in the main events panel. I think as the con grows more people may be willing to volunteer with panels to hope increase options.

How To Start A Podcast

Notes:

-You don't need the fancy equipment when you first start out.
-One of the mic brands he recommended was Yeti.
-For video editing he recommended that you make sure all your drivers were updated.

-Adobe Audition and Power Director are good to use. You can also use open source software, but the free stuff has limitations.

-This was a very short panel and it felt like he ran through his material really fast. I've done this too mostly because of talking too fast.

Ve Neill Unmasked - Behind the Make-Up Magic

Notes:

-She doesn't like doing slasher makeup since anyone can make someone bloody, but likes more complex things where she has to make something beautiful. 

-Beetlejuice was actually a pale yellow, but it was hard to tell with the lighting. For the noise Michael Keaton wanted a broken nose for the character. They didn't have the budget to make the prosthetic so they used swollen lip prosthetics  on his nose to make it look broken.

-She was super impacted by the death of Robin Williams. Any time they were on the same set he would find her to just say hi.

-One of her hobbies is making trade bead necklaces and some of her extras made their way into the Jack Sparrow costume.

-Bootstrap Bill was all makeup and not CGI.

-Was the head person on most of the A-Team series, but left the last season due to how unbearable Mr. T was.

-She is still in contact with many of the contestants from Face/Off because it did help to drive their careers. Some of her favorite makeups included the bell hop and the transforming fire engine. 

-Has never been married.

-Said that the development of silicon makeups has been one of the most important developments to the industry.

-Another thing that has improved the field is that they can do scans of people's faces instead of doing casts. This new way creates perfect molds with no sagging.

-It was also her birthday weekend, so the audience sang happy birthday. (I nearly filmed it, but then I remembered that it is copy righted). 

Michael Ironside - A Discussion of Iconic Roles

-He couldn't sit in the chair because of it being too low and he has metal knees.

-He had some great stories that included not just his professional career, but his personal life. 

-He took acting lesions to improve his writing.

-The fort in Starship Troopers was built on a Native American reservation. 

-There were only two 'real' hydraulic bugs in the film and all of the others were CGI.

-The brain bug was just a shell.

-He would go off  on amusing tangents from the questions people would ask him.

-His character in V was played in a way to honor veterans and how they are changed by what they have seen and the experiences they have had.

-He is part of the organization Teach Peace. 

Clint Howard - Movies and Music

-His first acting gig was on the Andy Griffith Show around 2 years old.

-He was 7 when his appearance on Star Trek aired, but he thinks it was filmed when he was 6.

-The Andy Griffith Show represented the depression. 

-He auditioned for Luke Skywalker in the same group as Mark Hamill. He went up against him a few times in auditions for different characters.

-Says his brother Ron is a better big brother then he is a director.

He is working on making Another Ice Cream Man movie.

The Dealer's Room/Celebrity Row

This con had these two areas smashed together. There were a lot of cool items for sell and a lot of it was either made items (craft like stuff and art) or horror items that you only normally see on the internet. There were also a lot of Funko figures, but that seems to just be a staple of cons now.

I did end up getting on of the cups because of how cool the artwork was. Tommy (the con director) also had some other items for sell including these really cool boxes (they were just outside of my price range). I also ended up getting a horror themed business card holder that they had for only $10.

The above video was of a mystery box one of the tables were selling for $25. Some of the boxes were supposed to have autographs in them, but I went for a heavier one since I was more interested in items. With autographs you could get someone you are not a fan of and I didn't want to get stuck with an unwanted autograph.

The Hotel

I'm basing what I say as a person that attended the con and not as someone that actually spent the night. They did have water stations up which is key to the health of people attending. One of the key things I noticed though was that they had the bathrooms locked on the lobby level (1st level). I understand that they are downtown and probably have concerns about the unhoused, but this is also a form of discrimination against guests that have disabilities or are older. They do not have as long to try and track down a key because urgency is a way of life for them. This clearly shows a disconnect with guest needs. We were able to get a temporary key, but before that we had issues. Then there is the restaurant. The restaurant charges an automatic 20% service fee even for the you get it yourself breakfast buffet. So they charge you a fee to serve yourself? Really? They don't even disclose this fee to you before you sit down, so this could be seen as one of the illegal service fees that the government is going after right now. Because of all of these issues I have to give this hotel a F- and I wish on Google that you could do negative stars. 

Parking

The hotel had wanted $45 dollars a day to park, but just across the street was a lot that charged $15 for Friday and $5 for Saturday and Sunday. Huge price difference. I recommend that if this con is at the same place next year and you want to drive in, look at the different nearby lots and parking structures. Also it is a bit of a hike to Civic Center Station, but it was walkable for those that are able-bodied to moderate mobility issues. 

Cosplay/Costumes

I was a little sad that more people weren't dressed up, but there were still a lot of great ones.

Overall the con was fun, I just wish there would have been more to do. I think as the con gets bigger there will be more and more to do. One thing though that I really like about these smaller cons is that you have the chance to just talk to the celebrity guests. I got to have a great conversation with Michael Ironside about his work on SeaQuest. SeaQuest was a show that helped to drive my interest in science when I was growing up and this was the first cast member that I have had a chance to talk to about it. It was a little said that he didn't like the talking fish (Darwin the dolphin) and that he had tried to lessen how much it was used when he took over as writer and producer/director. At larger cons you don't always get that chance. I'll talk more about my convo with him in a future podcast. I think that this con could have a good home in Colorado, but I hope that the venue changes.

Top Picture From: https://rockymountainnightmares.com/