In April, to coincide with Chill Out, I would make my first NYC stop of 2026. Arrived the evening prior, parked, went to sleep. Wake up the next day and my first stop would be for Michael Jackson's nephew Jaafar Jackson. Sadly, he garaged out. Then tried a spot to upgrade my photo with Arsenio Hall but he denied.
My 2026 start in NYC is pretty rough, and sadly that remained a trend. Went to an event with Robert Pattison and other actors. It was a mob scene and there were people and barricades everywhere. Robert did almost the entire area of people and barricades....EXCEPT the part where I was at! PUNCH! He didn't stop leaving.
To make things worse, Alana Haim who I never got also did the section I wasn't in. I got actress Sydney Lemmon who I already have and I got Jordyn Curet. Zendaya didn't do it going in but did it leaving. However, I have Zendaya and didn't want to miss actress Isabella Rossellini who was moderating a book signing q&a. So, I bailed just before Zendaya got to my side. In hindsight I could have stayed and gotten another photo op, but I didn't want to risk missing yet another name I was gunning for.
Waiting outside the bookstore and saw Isabella Rossellini walk out. She was nice and I got the photo. This felt good because I had failed on her in 2025. Went in the bookstore and got a photo with biologist Marlene Zuk.
After a largely rough day, I decided to go to an "easy" show stop with mass gets, but primarily for Margaret Colin from Independence Day. At this spot I got Michael Esper (fresh), Richard Thomas (repeat), Jeena Yi (fresh), Kayli Carter (fresh), Marylouise Burke (repeat), Margaret Colin (fresh), Maria-Christina Oliveras (fresh), and Anika Noni Rose (fresh). Anika didn't want to do photos at first, but when I explained I just wanted a selfie she was happy to do that. I never had the desire to pay for her at a con so getting her for free was nice.
My rough time hadn't ended because Carl Clemons denied and I didn't spot Ricardo Chavira, both of whom were on my want list. Final spot for the evening was a club with Fast and the Furious actor Sung Kang. When he was done there was a photo op line and I managed to get the op. This ended my evening.
Full list of Day 1 NYC photo ops
Next day is Chill Out Con. My first get is Giorgio Cantarini from Gladiator. Then get the twin girls from the Godfather, Jeanne Savarino and Janet Savarino. Then got an upgrade with Debbe Dunning. I was commissioned to get someone Boy George autographs and that landed me a free updated photo op. After the photo op he banned real cameras and I went semi viral.
Then I got boxer Vinny Paz who refereed the Bart Gunn vs Butterbean Brawl For All match. Then Ross Bagley (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Brett Scallions from the band Fuel, and my main goal for this con, Joseph Marcell AKA Geoffrey from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Ended my time at Chill Out with a Brooke Shields update.
Full list of Chill Out photo ops
After Chill Out headed to NYC to the "easy" show spots mainly for Rebecca De Mornay and Nathan Lane. First spot is for Rebecca. At that spot Ralph Macchio is randomly spotted and he is with his daughter Julia Macchio (she was in Cobra Kai). I got a photo op with both. Julia is fresh and for Ralph it's my second ever photo op, marking a 15-year update.
Waited for Rabecca and while I went upstairs to check if she's mingling, she apparently ran to the subway and didn't stop. PUNCH. Went to the next spot in the hopes of seeing Nathan Lane but he apparently snuck out. At that spot I did get actors Christopher Abbott and Jonathan Cake among others, so it wasn't a total loss. But my NYC roughness bled to the next day as I didn't get my two main targets. Spoiler alert, I would make up both of these in the future.
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