Nathan's such a freaking ham.

The One True b!X | August 30, 06:32 CET

Nathan was using his iphone to record the panel with secret messages to be podcast somewhere??? This is the first time I've heard of him doing that.

Anonymous1 | August 30, 08:01 CET

I don't believe that was Nathan's iPhone. I believe it was some radio or podcast's recording device.

The One True b!X | August 30, 08:10 CET

Hmmm, I think you are right. It seems to have a display window and keys. An iPhone doesn't have physical keys and the display window takes up the whole front of the phone.

Anonymous1 | August 30, 08:43 CET

I guess Nathan didn't feel like hugging.

I've never been to a con before, would most people consider this a good first 9 minutes?

Succatash | August 30, 09:23 CET

I asked the guy who picked up the recording device after the panel and he said he was from Firefly Talk.

tmhsiao | August 30, 13:24 CET

As I understand it, Nathan was following the rules by not hugging the woman who came onstage. As someone said in the youtube comments, she shouldn't be too disappointed. She got an autographed copy of Alan's Interview of Nathan from Reelz.

(Edited for spelling; Dyslexic Fingers before Noon.)

[ edited by TDBrown on 2008-08-30 16:22 ]

TDBrown | August 30, 16:20 CET

Wait, she also got the interview? In addition to the cast photo card?

The One True b!X | August 30, 17:15 CET

The not-hugging thing makes me cringe. It's the rules, but Alan let her get away with it and then Nathan refused (politely). Makes Nathan look like a weenie for 1/2 a second. I was surprised I didn't hear a collective "Awww.." from the audience when he refused her. Nathan was in the right to refuse, but it still makes me cringe anyway. And just let me be clear: Nathan is not a weenie.

mongorules | August 30, 18:03 CET

I can't blame the guys for not wanting to take random hugs from strangers. Hugging at DragonCon can be dangerous... I can't tell you how many times I've almost lost an eye to a stray fairy wing :-)

QueenBee | August 30, 18:50 CET

Would anyone find it remotely noteworthy if it were a female actor who was declining to embrace a male stranger? Men have just as much right to define and assert their own physical boundaries as women do.

ETA LMAO at Alan's bits on the farting contest and the play about the barbie doll heads!

[ edited by BrewBunny on 2008-08-31 01:47 ]

BrewBunny | August 31, 01:36 CET

BB, the thing that actually struck me was precisely how much the refusal was IN CHARACTER for Nathan. He's made no secret, over the years, of his sense of personal, physical boundaries.

Beyond that, color me unsurprised that the very first questioner at the panel violated the rules. Par for the course at panels. Everyone thinks they're special.

The One True b!X | August 31, 01:50 CET

Good point BrewBunny!
If Nathan was a woman, this would be a total non-issue and bascially not deserving a second thought.
Heck, I even tell my own kids that they can say 'NO' to a hug. Especially from strangers......

Spacegirl3200 | August 31, 02:24 CET

Don't they have someone there to reign people like that in? I wouldn't EVER dream of walking around their table and asking for a hug. Color me polite and not at all 'special'. ;)

Did anyone besides me think that Nathan was being a bit passive-aggressive at one point though? There was a question from Alan to Nathan about the "Knight" movie question and Nathan responded something to the effect of, "I don't know. I couldn't hear because of people talking." It made me laugh. But maybe I was reading more into it. It amazes me though how obnoxious people can be. You went to hear the panel, right? So shut up.

p.s. It makes no difference to me whether the person was male or female on the giving and/or receiving end of the hug. Everyone is within their rights to pass (and Nathan WAS polite). I just meant that when one celebrity (Alan) lets her hug and then the other celebrity (Nathan) doesn't, it just makes the other celebrity (IMO) look a bit like a weenie.

The fact that they dole-out hugs at all amazes me. That would freak me out. How about a nice handshake? LOL

[ edited by mongorules on 2008-08-31 02:44 ]

mongorules | August 31, 02:36 CET

Would anyone find it remotely noteworthy if it were a female actor who was declining to embrace a male stranger? Men have just as much right to define and assert their own physical boundaries as women do.

That's a good point, it made me think. For the sake of the argument, I don't think this is about his right, as much as it is about society's expectations of the right thing to do.

I think that the hugging behaviors of men and women will become the same just as soon as the victims of catcalls, groping and rape are equally divided between genders as well.

Is it sexist to embrace the notion that men and women hug differently because of sexism?

[ edited by Succatash on 2008-08-31 03:54 ]

Succatash | August 31, 03:53 CET

Hugs everybody!

Anonymous1 | August 31, 04:11 CET

This is probably way the panel started late.

http://nonnymouse.blogspot.com/2008/08/first.html

Anonymous1 | August 31, 18:27 CET

This topic long over but I've just now watched the video. I have been to precisely 2 Cons; one afloat and one on land (ComicCon), none of which I would have dreamed of thinking I could hug Whedon-folk or any other well-known types like I knew them. I didn't even shake Michael Fairman's hand when I was at the group dinner with him. It just didn't occur to me and wasn't really necessary. It was just great to spend some time with him. And I have to say as far as was that a good first nine minutes of Q&A? The attendees have X amount of time with Alan and Nathan and two different people ask two-anally oriented questions within the span of a few minutes? Color me disgusted, though both Nathan/Alan were good sports. I sure wouldn't want to attend an expensive event like that only to have to sit through frat-boy questions.

[ edited by Tonya J on 2008-09-01 04:02 ]

Tonya J | September 01, 03:59 CET

I'm a little delayed checking this post out because I've been a bit under the weather, but this just caught my eye, because it's from my blog:



LOL I've been randomly quoted! :D

Yes, the day of the panel it was scheduled for a certain room, but after the line grew crazy long they moved it to a bigger room at the last minute. This caused them to have to start loading the room late and also just the process of loading that many people in the room took a VERY long time. I later saw the room that they originally were supposed to hold the panel in, and it was tiny! They had no clue how big a crowd the Firefly panels were going to draw.

Regarding the drive-by hug: She didn't really ask for a hug, she just kind of went for it. I don't really think it's a fair assessment to say that Alan let her and Nathan did not - Alan had no warning and pretty much no choice. You could see how surprised he was. Nathan had a few seconds to figure out what to do. I think his decline was as graceful as possible and I don't blame him for doing so.

I had my picture taken with both of them at the Con, Alan shook my hand (I would have LOVED to have hugged him but he didn't offer, so I left it at the handshake), but then Nathan did hug me. So he was in a hugging mood for at least some of the con. :D

Also, if anyone's interested, I have some (kinda crappy) videos from three Firefly panels
here.

[ edited by mouse on 2008-09-22 04:10 ]

mouse | September 22, 04:07 CET