Hokay! The second half of the story of my weekend!

Saturday was the last day to submit entries to the Dresden Files Halloween Costume Contest, and though I felt it was inappropriate for me to enter, I still wanted to get in on the costuming fun! Early that afternoon, I pondered over how I could pose to best depict Molly. The first thing to come to mind was to have her with the beaded leather bracelet she wore in White Night, struggling to move the beads up the strap with her mind. However, as I didn’t have the materials and the light was quickly fleeing, I realized I would have to think of something else.

Then it hit me.

The costume I have for Molly is based on how she looks in the book Proven Guilty, in which she helps staff a horror movie convention called “SplatterCon!!!” Considering her appreciation of the genre, dollars to donuts she’s a big fan of the Bruce Campbell oeuvre. I kicked myself for not dressing up as her the previous night when I went to see My Name is Bruce, losing the opportunity for a “Molly fangirling Bruce Campbell at SplatterCon!!!” photo.

But wait! All was not lost! Halloween wasn’t Bruce’s only night in New York! My friend Shecky saw him enter the theater around seven the previous night–what if I could catch him on his way in?

I mentioned this idea to my friends on the Jim-Butcher.com forum, and Craig (a fellow New Yorker I’ve palled around with on a couple occasions) volunteered to join me and bring his camera. SCORE!

Craig and I went over at 6:40, in hopes of catching Bruce before he introduced the 7:20 screening. We whiled away a significant chunk of the time laughing about how ridiculous we were being. Alas, Bruce must have gone in a different door. At 7:25, the sensible thing would have been to call it a night, but no one has ever called me sensible! Instead, we went in and spoke to the manager. I explained the situation and asked him if there was any way we could pull it off. Shockingly, he didn’t gape at us in horror and tell us to beat it! He suggested we come back during the Q&A at 9 and ask Bruce if it would be okay. He even said he’d let us go into the theatre without tickets! If you’re out there, Justin, you ROCK.

Craig and I went out for crepes and conversation, then returned at 8:45 to catch the tail end of the movie. At the Q&A, I explained the story to Bruce, and rather than publicly mocking me, he waved me down to take the picture! EEEEEE! He asked who I was dressed as, then asked if I looked like the character. The audience was largely silent, save for a couple smartasses who said no. (Hmph! Jim himself has [url=http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,7771.msg260409.html#msg260409]commended me[/url] on it!)

Alas, my camera’s flash wasn’t on, and Craig didn’t know how to turn it on, so he took two blurry photos before Bruce humorously shoved me away for taking too long, saying “Gah, Evil Dead IV will be made by the time you take the picture!” I laughed and thanked him, though inside I lamented getting so far, only to be thwarted by a stupid flash.

As a last ditch effort, I talked to one of the ushers and verified which door he’d be leaving from, and we waited for him outside. I thanked Craig for the umpteenth time for indulging my insanity. Finally, Bruce emerged! “I turned the flash on this time!” I said by way of greeting, and he grinned and said “Let’s do this thing!” We took the picture, and it was everything I hoped it would be, and Craig shook his hand, and then he was off! Craig and I did a little squee dance, and parted ways.

WINNERS = US!

Though I think we can all agree that the real winner is AMERICA.

File under: costuming, dresden files, epic win.