The Office Convention: Rat it dee dee doo
We are back from an awesome weekend in lovely Scranton! Read below for a description and link to our pictures.
Driving up, the GPS took us some cockamamie way (like through manayunk and just generally not on highways), and since it was dark and raining we had to drive slow, so it took about 4 hours to get up there. Normally, it should take 2.5 hours. But it doesn’t matter that we didn’t get there till 10pm b/c we couldn’t go to the VIP Cocktail party anyway since only Corporate level tickets could go, and they were sold out. I was able to get Regional Manager tickets, though, so I was happy. Actually, if they do this again next year, a word to the wise is the Corporate level tix were $150 more than regional manager tix, and the only extra things they included were entrance to the VIP cocktail parties and casino night, all of which were, granted, with the cast, but I’m not convinced it’s worth $150 extra per person to do that. Or maybe it is. Life lessons from Creed alone I guess make it worth it…
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and walked around in the rain trying to find out where to get our passes and someplace to eat. Eventually we found both. Then we waited in line for a while for pictures with the cast. Later was the cast Q&A which was, as you can probably imagine, awesome. Ed Helms sang some songs (including Take a Chance on Me), Daryl kept kissing Kelly, and Creed answered in character. Haha oh and if you ever wondered how Stanley gets so “dour and sour” – he thinks of dead cats and dogs! Also, did you know Andy Buckley, who plays Dunder Mifflin’s CFO, in real life is a stock broker? Being on The Office is his side project. Haha and after Ed Helms ended his first question with “Rat it dee dee doo” the next several cast members ended their answers the same way. Very humorous. Oh and they also showed bloopers from this season, which were hilarious! Anyway, the Q&A was totally worth the price of the tickets just for this part of the weekend :) Afterwards was a look-alike contest and a concert by the Scrantones (who play the theme song). However, we were old and tired and decided we’d rather go back to the hotel and order from Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe and watch a To Catch a Predator marathon. Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe was quite good, btw.
Sunday morning we got up super early to get a good seat at the Blogger’s Breakfast. I never read any Office blogs before but Tanster who writes Office Tally was there and she was greeted with as much fanfare as Brian (Kevin), Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration, and Meredith. Lastly was the Writer’s Block, and the “special guest” was BJ Novak, so that was fun. The other surprise was they showed the first Act of this coming Thursday’s episode, but we decided we didn’t want to be teased so we left right before they played it.
All in all it was super fun and I’ll definitely go next year – and you should too! If nothing else, Scranton is really beautiful, especially with all the leaves changing colors :)
Here is a link to pictures. Clickable Text
PS – Rachel, I’m really sorry we couldn’t go to your party. Please make a post about it with a link to pictures!!
Comments
The picture with horns Ryan and Stanley is priceless. Also, it’s amazing that Scranton is so big on being in the show.
I totally believe that Scranton capitalizes on “The Office.” The only way it got on the map is from coal mining and their economy hasn’t been the same since a lot of the mines closed. PS: How was Ryan in real life? Since he’s a writer of the show, I always hoped he would be hilarious in person. Also, how were the streets? The last time I was there, they had potholes as big as my head.
I am seriously so jealous! If you had to miss the party, this is the best possible excuse hahaha.
And its great that Creed answered in character – although I’m pretty sure real life Creed isn’t too far off from the character Creed. He’s a tad touched. Too much acid back in the day haha.
Good thing your GPS didn’t lead you into a lake. Was B.J. Novak a jerk? I dislike his character on the show so much, so I have a tainted image of him.
I am like that with BJ Novak too, he just seems like a jerk. I think it’s because he made himself a main character when he really shouldn’t have been one haha. Although he does write some of the funniest episodes, so I’ll allow it.
the potholes weren’t big or even many… not to say the streets were all newly paved or anything, but it wasn’t terrible. It was incredibly clean.
Lol we did joke about the GPS driving us into a lake, but by the time we got there we were so frustrated all thoughts of jokes and lakes had to be postponed.
BJ wasn’t a jerk. He wasn’t that talkative actually. I mean, he fully answered questions that were posed to him, but he didn’t steal any of the other writers’ thunder when questions were posed to the group. Haha a kid asked him “Why is Ryan a butt this year?” to which BJ responded that Ryan is insecure and the only way he can deal with his new found boss-hood (e.g., power) is to act like a big-shot jerk. But a good point was brought up that people like Kevin worship that “I’ve been the big city and have a cooler life than you,” so it’s kind of a mutual thing that forces him to act that way. My personal opinion is that it’s the only way he thinks – thinks mind you – he can handle Michael.
Also, I forgot to mention, one of the main writers who was there plays Moes. The first time he was in the show, it was really his beard, but since it took him 3 months to grow, in his contract for this season, he said he wouldn’t grow it again; it’d have to be false.
Oh and anther new writer played the medial intern when Meredith was in the hospital.