As Jennie went to park the car, we hauled our gear into the auditorium. No ticket table was set up yet, and the doors were unlocked, so we seized upon the opportunity and dragged our bags and coolers down the aisle to the first few rows, where we set up camp. At the top of the theater, near the main doors, stood a giant Jar-Jar Binks standee, with a speech balloon proclaiming that "Meesa love B-Fest!" This had been erected by a group that traditionally sits in the front row on the right side of the theater, and sure enough, there they were. Glances of acknowledgement were exchanged and we began waiting for the other B-Masters to arrive.

Ken "Jabootu" Begg, a Chicago native, B-Fest devotee, and our host for the weekend, was the first to poke his head in the door. He looked a bit crestfallen when he saw the bags strewn across his traditional front row seats, but upon learning that the seats were saved in his name, he graced us with the traditional super secret Jabootu Dance of Great Thanks. I can't tell you exactly what it is, but I will say that it involves kneeling. (Next time, Ken, a simple bow will do.)

The attending B-Masters and entourage.

Other folks began to filter in: Ken's longtime friend Jeff (to whom I did a disfavor by calling him "Paul" all weekend), Jabootu message board regular Kurt von R, and of course the enigmatic Apostic. Apostic's attendance was a pleasant surprise, as his schedule has kept him rather busy as of late, but he was there to share his vision of the world (and the b-movies that inhabit it) with us.

Trailing the Jabootu group were Joe Bannerman of Stomp Tokyo's own Opposable Thumb Films and Staff Sergeant Andrew Borntreger, U.S.M.C. Andrew is the great brain behind badmovies.org, which is probably the most prominent b-movie site in existence, and certainly the best resource for b-movie pictures and video clips in the field. Trust me when I say that it could only be run by someone like Andrew: his energy level on six hours of sleep is higher than mine directly after a nap and a couple of Starbucks' Frappucinos. Joe started off the weekend right by contracting a cold, but it was great to see him. When you converse with someone an a near-daily basis via e-mail, it's a real pleasure to be able to spend some time with them in person.

B-Fest staffers began shooing us back into the lobby to actually purchase tickets as I began to search for Justin Vader, the organizer of the event. Stomp Tokyo, Jabootu, and the B-Masters had all arranged to sponsor the festival, and I was anxious to unburden myself of the sponsorship check, DVDs (Gorgo and Plan 9 From Outer Space), Stomp Tokyo t-shirt, and ST mug I brought as door prizes. That completed, I gathered up my tickets, sold off an extra ticket for a colleague who had unfortunately cancelled last-minute (maybe next year, Chad!), and sat down to enjoy the show.

At one point I spotted a gentleman in a Stomp Tokyo t-shirt, and I called him down to meet him. Tim Lehnerer introduced himself and I thanked him for coming -- and now I'd like to thank him for buying a shirt. We don't make much money off of those shirts, but it is nice that people think enough of our site to buy a shirt to help promote it. (Get yours here!)

Around me the other attendees took their seats, each bearing Stomp Tokyo's bid for name recognition: our tradtional plastic stadium cups, bearing the site name and URL, as well as that of the different departments and even a plug for the B-Masters. This year, however, the cups were molded out of glow-in-the-dark plastic, which was a pretty neat effect when the lights went down. I was pretty pleased with this year's promotional gimmick. Last year I'd seen many of our original orange cups end up in the trash; this year, I think everyone took them home. Note to self: glowing cups good.