Eric James Stone's Photos

My photo with Jeri Ryan

I just found this photo today while going through the boxes I brought over from my parents' basement a few weeks ago; I thought I'd lost it.

This was taken at a convention in Boston in July 1998. As you can see, Jeri was nice enough to look at the camera and smile for the photo.

Now, a photo taken like that didn't cost me anything. (Yes, I paid for convention admission and for the autograph, but I paid nothing extra for the photo.) But when it comes to major stars I actually prefer the paid photo ops.

Why? Less stress.

With the photo ops, I know I'm going to get the picture. I don't have to worry about finding someone to actually take the picture. I don't have to think about whether one of the convention promoters is going to step in to stop photo-taking in order to speed up the autograph line.

Anyway, enough about that. You want to know about Jeri's convention appearance.

Unfortunately, I can't remember very many details, since it was several years ago. I do remember that she auctioned off (for charity) a couple of the Borg items she had worn on the show. I also remember that a woman asked her a question implying that the character of Seven of Nine was degrading to women, and as I recall she handled it pretty well, pointing out that Seven's character was intelligent and strong-willed.

My autograph from Lisa Kushell

The story of how and why I got this autograph was told in a comment on another entry, and I thought I'd use that as an excuse to post the picture. Here's the story, so you don't have to go look at it on the other page:

A few years ago, I was at a [Star Trek] convention and a someone from the Oxygen network was there, interviewing people who had just gotten William Shatner's autograph. She was asking them how much they would pay for her autograph.

She interviewed me and we joked a bit about how much her autograph would be worth, and how it would be worth more if she'd actually been on Star Trek. Then she mentioned she'd been on an episode of the X-Files, and I said that was close enough.

So, if you play your cards right, you might be able to get away with pretending to have appeared on a genre show.

(By the way, the interviewer's name was Lisa Kushell, and she really did play a call girl in the X-Files episode "Orison.")

At the time I spoke with her, I couldn't remember that particular episode, so I couldn't say that I remembered her character. Later, when I looked up the episode, I realized that I would have instantly remembered her character if she'd mentioned that she played a call girl with a red wig. (The red wig was important to the plot.)

UPDATE: It turns out the interview bit she did at the convention is available on her website. I'm not in it, though. But it's pretty funny.

My Ultimate Star Trek Souvenir

I've chosen to start my photo blog with what I used to call my "Holy Grail" of Star Trek souvenirs. I started getting my photo with Trek stars about six years ago. Getting photos with stars of lesser magnitude was not too hard, but since William Shatner only appeared at major conventions, I doubted I would get a chance to get a posed picture with him.

Then, some of the convention promoters began to offer "photo ops" with the stars, and so last March at a convention in Pasedena, I was able to get my picture taken with him. In August, I was able to get it autographed at a convention in Las Vegas.