New York Comic Con report
Herk. :P Finished. Though if you want good panel details there are better reports floating around various blogs. At SDCC I'll go back to taking some notes.
Flickr photoset for pics
Yeah I was supposed to be in NYC on Thursday, but I was literally standing at the jetway when I got told I should really come to the hospital. Nothing like taking a taxi to the hospital . . . I really wasn't even sure I was going to go on Friday but I sort of felt like, if the way I was feeling Thursday was largely just the fact that I feel like crap all the time from whatever the hell is wrong with me, my choices were bad either way. Stay at home and feel like crap because I didn't go, or go and feel like crap because I did. I decided I preferred the more proactive option.
So Friday was a bit screwed up; I went straight from LaGuardia to Javits, which took a very long time due to Pope Traffic, so I didn't get there until 3:30ish. Basically I just wandered the exhibit hall on a few missions. I tried to get into the pitching for comics for writers panel, but it was more than standing room only - I agreed with a guy outside that it was probably a good thing that there were so many writers. But I don't know if he could hear since he was a little farther in the door, but I couldn't understand anything so I finally bailed. I did go to the Women in Comics panel, which was fairly interesting. The panel ladies did seem a bit bothered that they were on it at all; they didn't want to be distinguished that way. One panelist said that she'd been on a "Gay/Lesbians in Comics" panel at another convention (she's straight but worked on a comic with lesbian characters) and one panelist said "I don't color gay" . . . fair enough.
Left the panel and saw the progress of the line for the Neil Gaiman thing . . . WHOA. Crazy. I just couldn't bring myself to pay $20 on top of my badge cost to go to a panel. ^^; I've never had to do that for anyone, so I left it to the people it was more important to (clearly, to stand in that line). After that I was just plain exhausted so I got my suitcase out of hock and headed down to my brother's. I was able to get the con shuttle to Penn Station which was good, aside from the slightly creepy Russian guy who sat next to me and I suppose was hitting on me the whole way and nearly wouldn't let me out when we got there . . . but when I got to my brother's station, there was no elevator. One flight of stairs was okay, but then up to the lobby the escalators were out. I really hurt my side hauling that damn suitcase up those stairs and I really was NOT supposed to be lifting anything like that because of the biopsy. I have benefitted from the kindness of strangers before, but this was one time I really could have used it and there was none to be had. But there wasn't anything to do.
Um . . . I can't remember Friday night. At all. lol. We had macaroni. That's it.
Saturday: never underestimate the power of...
I got to Javits a bit after 10:30 and went straight to the "IGN theater": aka the largest programming room, capacity listed at 3,000. For comparison that's around half the size of the larger rooms at San Diego (I think Hall H where the studio panels are is 6,000). There was a line taking up about half the floor space outside (maybe 200 people? bad at estimates), but it was organized and no one was sitting down so I'm guessing it had not been there very long (exhibit hall opened at 10). They let us in maybe ten till eleven and I got a spot in the middle section about eight rows back. The panel started late - fifteen after I think, and by then the rest of the room had pretty much filled. Met my new buddies for the next few hours and finally had breakfast (Honey Nut Cheerios in a tupperware and some Code Red).
DISNEY/PIXAR (Narnia: Prince Caspian; WALL-E)
WALL-E was actually first. Unfortunately I'm completely clueless who the heck Pixar sent to present the film (this is what I get for not taking notes - did he even introduce himself?). Anyway, Some Guy got a very warm reception on account of Pixar having a strong following in the audience. I admit I had no idea what they were going to send along for the panel, but I figured we'd get a trailer and maybe some random "behind the scenes" featurette stuff. In fact, what we DID get, I'm going to talk VERY little about - because boy, if it wasn't spoileriffic, it did a great impression. They did say something about the film having an added ending - with a Peter Gabriel song? Okay, lol. I'd like to have seen the test screening forms that came back saying "needs moar peter gabriel". The first and second clips were mostly trailer-used footage (WALL-E on Earth mucking about with trash, meeting new girl bot); the third wasn't, but was building on stuff we knew from the trailer (WALL-E takes girl bot back to his trailer). The fourth clip was trailer footage again. The fifth and sixth clips, though - no comment, dude! lol. The fifth we were told featured a character who had not been publicly screened before - I will only say his name is Mo and he was very well received. I ain't saying jack about the sixth except that I sure hope it wasn't from as close to the end of the film as it looked like because otherwise they kinda spoiled the movie for me (with explanation in between the clips too). :< (Admittedly I'm very good at reverse-engineering plots.) Anyway, continuing to SERIOUSLY look forward to this one - it will definitely be Pixar's best to date, the audience response was pretty fantastic too. Maybe the best thing I can say about it is that the technology is at a point where you don't SEE it any more - we got almost 20 minutes of footage, and you almost never think "wow look at that particle effect" (just twice lol). (To some extent, if you're thinking "that water looks good", it's because you're thinking "but the leaves are kinda weird".) It's so organic and convincing, it can just create its own reality.
They started the Prince Caspian segment by screening a new version trailer (admittedly, it's a bit moot so close to the release). It was cut pretty intensely - to the point that it was a bit hard to tell what was even going on. There were, incidentally, a lot of Caspian posters in the immediate area of Javits and a few buses wandering around too. Nothing really compelling content-wise from the panel . . . both William Moseley (Peter) and Ben Barnes (Caspian) seemed like fun young guys, laid back with the whole panel deal, and willing to give hugs (there's always ONE!). They were joking around with each other quite a bit but also had some intelligent things to say about their character's development. Naturally, someone asked about plans for other films. Oddly, she chose to bring up the BBC series and Tom Baker (except she called him Robert Baker, much to the distress of some audience members who shouted correction, so I didn't catch what she was asking about him). Anyway Voyage of the Dawn Treader will start shooting this year and is set for a May 2010 release. And, of course, the remaining books are up to the returns on Caspian and Dawn Treader.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Made a bathroom run with the blessings of my row-mates before Galactica. Massive line outside. I can't make much of a report on the Galactica panel; sorry, but I was room-camping for this one. I've only seen part of the mini-series. I can tell you that probably 80% of the room was, in fact, trying to be at the Galactica panel, and not just holding seats for later ones. In attendance were Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh, who I will try not to call Eyepatch Guy), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), and Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), plus a guy from the Sci-Fi Channel I know I've seen at other panels (Eureka maybe?) but whose name I can never remember. The cast members were not the ones listed in the program guide; must have been a last minute change. No one seemed to mind. Hogan in particular was goofing off a lot. Someone asked how they felt about being on a sci-fi show that was watched by so many people who vehemently (claim to) dislike SF, and they agreed on the point (originally made by Hogan) that they never felt it was sci-fi. Sharma followed up by saying how rare it is to see Indian women on TV (even I'VE noticed this) and that apparently in the future people aren't so racist. If you'd like to know anything else about it, I hear there's an MP3 of the panel floating around lol. I'm sure that's infinitely better than me trying to recount it, especially since I have practically no clue about the series.
Partway through the Galactica panel I guess it was I heard from a row-mate that they were no longer letting anyone into the panel room, in spite of a huge line outside.
LUCASFILM
I happen to know I wasn't the only one who got pretty dang bored through most of the Lucasfilm panel. Seriously, the only Indy content they could bring was the trailer everyone had already seen and holding up a book? Well, okay, we got some response for an ad for Lego Indy game but that was just because it's going to be a cool game and the ad was well done. I know I'm spoiled what with the live satcast at SDCC, but . . . come on. Any opinions I have on the Star Wars content will be, admittedly, tainted by the fact that I fell hard out of love with the whole affair with the start of the second trilogy. But still, most of what Lucasfilm brought was either just ads, or footage of their panels from Wondercon (TACKY!). I'm sorry to those excited for Clone Wars, but I'm pretty underwhelmed by the animation. It looks like a videogame, in a bad way. Very stiff and awkward and student film project when the characters try to talk. On the flipside, the upcoming The Force Unleashed looks pretty hot. I'm not sure I'm actually going to play it, but if you WANT to fling stormtroopers across the room with the power of your mind, you'll be doing it in style. The footage they showed of the planet with the Jedi master who can make giant robot things out of junk was pretty awesome though. The end of the Lucasfilm panel looked like it was going in bad directions when they said something about going in an academic direction . . . but then they brought out Seth Green and Matt Senreich from Robot Chicken. XD I haven't actually seen the Star Wars Robot Chicken yet, I'll have to rent it when it comes out . . . (I have been out of town EVERY TIME it's aired.) I'm sure someone filmed the whole thing and posted it to the net . . . anyway they said how amazing it was that they actually got George Lucas to be IN it, and that he blew out the mic the first take he did of his scene. Apparently they were trying to really encourage him to punch it up and act (he didn't appreciate the implication that he couldn't lol) and he got a bit carried away. XD I don't really feel the way about him now that I did before (sorry George, I outgrew my hero worship faze! lol), but I did write a paper on the man in middle school so I can understand where they were coming from saying that completely blew their minds the first time they heard him say the name of their show.
Anyway I'm pretty sure Seth Green may be my dream man based on a story he told. He says that Matt called him to interview him while he was working for Toy Fare and got stuck on the bottom of the pile (his publicist went WTF is Toy Fare?), but when he found out about it, he was all excited and called back. Matt said he could get him whatever toy. I forgot what the other one was, but one of the two he asked for was a BLACK HOLE action figure. Holy crap man, marry me now, I already have a beautiful Spanish Black Hole poster to decorate our love nest and we can be incredibly obscure and strange nerds together forever. lol. Why do all the good single men have to be celebrities? ;P
UNIVERSAL (Wanted; Hellboy 2)
I admit that I forgot that Universal was promoting a film other than Hellboy 2 at their panel hahah. I was pretty damn surprised when they brought out the director, who turned out to be the same guy who did Nightwatch and Daywatch. If the footage we saw for Wanted is any indication, you will be hearing a lot more about him in the future - except that no one will be able to remember or pronounce his name. lol. "That dude who did Wanted" will probably work. Timur Bekmambetov doesn't really roll off the tongue if you're not Russian (but I'll work on it). Anyhow, we got about ten minutes of footage from the film, which is based on a graphic novel I'd vaguely heard of, standard accountant finds out he's a super-assassin plot lol. I'm not that excited that Angelina Jolie is in it (no opinion either way on her), there is bonus Morgan Freeman, but the footage . . . oh snap. The largest section was an extended chase scene through downtown Chicago. You know when you saw The Matrix for the first time, and you felt like your brain had to level up just to watch it? It's like that. Only if the Matrix was cinema verite, because it doesn't have the overslick style going on. I suppose you could say it does for "bullet time" what Casino Royale did for the Bond franchise. People were hollering like they were on a roller coaster. A surprising number of people knew who he was from Nightwatch/Daywatch, but there were some minor hiccups with questions due to the language barrier and he came across rather shy and quiet also.
Aaaaaand Hellboy. Okay, so how often have you been at a panel where the guests get a STANDING OVATION just for being introduced? XD Del Toro is like a freaking rock star at conventions (not that people sat down for everyone else). So, we got a trailer with unfinished footage in it; a lot of it was in the current trailer. The unfinished stuff was primarily a lot of footage featuring Johann Krauss, who they got Seth McFarlane to do the voice for, rofl. (Apparently no one else could get it right. This would be Peter/Brian/Stewie from Family Guy, btw. Weirdass crossover mental imagery. o_O;;;) The visuals, even with some unfinished stuff in the trailer, look SO rich compared to the first one - not that there was anything wrong with the first one, but this is out of control, completely crazy critters running rampant all over the screen. It's like the step in between the concept art and the final product is just gone - the step that usually turns things into bland mush. After the trailer they brought the lights up to reveal a bunch of costumed characters, which got them another "standing ovation" as everyone rushed the stage to take photos; I was close enough to see some detail, and I can tell you they were REALLY cool, I'm sorry I missed them whenever they were on the con floor. Del Toro was asked about the differences between doing independent and studio films . . .
del Toro (as studio guy): *whines* Well, what if it was more like...
del Toro (as himself): . . . FUCK YOU. FUCKING FUCK YOU.
Or something along those lines. The guy is a complete nutbunny, he's impossible to keep up with. XD Anyway he said if he had the choice between a really expensive car etc for life or making movies with no budget he'd rather keep doing that. He got extensive applause for condemning "lazy CG" - using it not when physical effects weren't up to the task, but when it just seemed easier. He also brought up his email address again, I think right after the 15 year old kid got up who said that he wanted to become a director because of del Toro (kid: "I'm 15 years old--" del Toro: "Congratulations! The pubes are sprouting!"). He says that most of the people he puts on his team he met at conventions and that for each film he picks like two people who've just emailed him to intern. (I seriously want to email this guy . . . though I don't know what to say.) He claims that when they're doing design work that it's like summer camp - though Mignola interjected that it also includes torture. lol. But yeah I think everyone wants to sign up for Camp del Toro anyway because even though he's totally nuts, crude, and swears nonstop, he always comes across with the kind of positive, creative energy that you really want to be around - AND he's good at what he does. Isn't that the "complete package"? The downside is, no one else got much attention at the panel! Doug Jones got specific questions (hahah, score for the creature suit guys) from audience members; Mignola only got one I remember. Though Selma Blair got a "WOO SELMA BLAIR!" in a random quiet moment. They also held up an exclusive poster, which was 2000 limited - I did manage to score one, though I have no picture because it's still in NYC until my brother ships it. I didn't rush the stage like a lot of people did afterward, though I might have been able to get up to shake del Toro's hand - he and Doug Jones and Ron Perlman and people were hanging out and doing so but I wasn't sure I wanted to leap into that fray (I feel dumb now, I mean, I've been in mosh pits for crying out loud). He said he'd be around on Sunday "shopping like a motherfucking maniac" and that people could harass him but I didn't run into him then.
After Universal I finally had to bail on the IGN theater. I would have stuck around for The Spirit and Speed Racer, but I didn't really want to sit through The Hulk and at any rate I was getting kind of sick of that room hahah. And anyway I had to hustle over to Eli Stone. :P Insert hauling ass to the other panel rooms, through a HUUUUUUUGE line which turned out to be for Venture Brothers.
TRENCHES
Okay, actually, lucky for me the OTHER panel rooms were running behind as well. How convenient. So I caught the end of the "Trenches" panel - new ABC sci-fi series, sort of. Basically they took a television pilot episode and split it up into webisodes (I kinda hate that word). It's sort of interesting, though, because it was done by an independent filmmaker so it was like guerrilla TV. The guy was saying that basically everyone coming onto the project had to be okay with the idea they might not make any money. I heard whining in another panel about it on account of it knocking off from too many other things (Screamers and Pitch Black were mentioned). Personally I know that sci-fi isn't made by the concept - it's made by how the concept is done, the storytelling and the characters. So we'll see. It's a first step, really, that could lead to more SF series getting pilots in the first place - let people shoot them, give them the chance to do well online, and then maybe get picked up for TV. Which really could be a promising opportunity for anything riskier, and I'm not sure why this is the first time it's getting tried (I am NOT counting Quarterlife getting shoved onto TV, that was an act of desperation more than brilliance and it wasn't produced to that end anyway).
ELI STONE/MARC GUGGENHEIM
There was some kind of programming snafu that had put the Eli Stone panel in a huge room and Venture Brothers in a tiny one (next door to each other). So they had to swap us. It was certainly interesting watching the Venture Brothers people try to trample each other to get to the front - there's something intriguingly ironic about wanting a good view for . . . voice actors? Anyway, it was a small room, but it was pretty full; I was in the second row (only because I felt stupid sitting in the first lol). Marc Guggenheim seems like a good guy, he took the mic down from the podium and just stood in front of the tables to talk; he went straight to audience Q&A; though for some reason I felt oddly like I was at a motivational seminar. o_O I didn't get to ask my question, I'm really bad at getting called on at things. Oh well. People had good ones. Question number one was when will anyone know about season two - apparently in about a week. Someone asked a question about whether Eli had a set character arc - he says that they'd looked at prophets and felt like there was a clear pattern to their development, and have set Eli up along those lines; so they do have a plan for the future. A lot of the rest was already talked about in interviews I'd seen and such and I'm pretty sure no one else here watches the show anyway . . . he showed a few clips once they got the projector up, from the upcoming DVD (so at least there will be a DVD for the first season). After that they segued into his spotlight panel, since he's worked in comics. He had an interesting career path I guess, actually - he was working at a law firm and landed a job writing for The Practice with a spec script. He's also done a lot of various work for Marvel - though I wasn't clear on how that got started, though he mentioned that he was one of those people who had a Marvel internship (I knew someone who had one). I also found out he's married to Tara Butters, co-creator for Reaper. lol.
I didn't catch the rest of the spotlight panel though it was fairly entertaining even without being familiar with his other work . . . I had to get to the Jim Butcher signing and um . . . the restroom. :X Not in that order.
JIM BUTCHER SIGNING (gets a header lol)
I got two bonuses with my Jim Butcher (author of the Dresden Files novels) signing - the artist for the covers was there (the novels), and I had a great conversation with a woman I met in line. She sort of knows Jim Butcher, actually, having done programming for Buffy/Angel cons - apparently James Marsden does the Dresden audiobooks, which I'll have to check out. That's the one thing that's always bugged me a little about anime cons - people are a lot more cliqueish. They're much more likely to be in large groups of friends and unlikely to talk to other people - more so recently maybe than when I first started going to cons, which may be as the fanbase has expanded to include younger fans? Anyway short or long, random interactions are something I value as part of the convention experience. The whole point of them in the first place is getting together with a bunch of people who are into the same things you are. It was also a nice break from having been alone all weekend. Anyhow, I told the cover artist that his stuff looked really good in the Barnes and Noble display (they had all the current paperback Dresden novels on one display), which it did. I like his art, not that there isn't a place for other styles also, but a lot of times cover art for fantasy stuff looks really cheesy. His is atmospheric and looks like actual art.
I told Jim Butcher that he inspired me to start writing again, which is true. Even if it was embarrassing to admit that I stopped - he said "well you can't stop writing" . . . ah, knowing that isn't enough. But, you know, some things you've got to be straight up honest about, even if it reflects badly on you, and I think I figured some things out at that con which I won't detail right now. I did think it was interesting that he didn't make eye contact; in the novels, Harry Dresden doesn't make eye contact with people (wizards see too much if they do so, short version). I'm hoping that it wasn't anything I did, but it was more likely a habit of his; I know some people don't like eye contact (truth informs fiction, perhaps?). At some point I actually remember deciding to get really aggressive and always make eye contact with people immediately, because I used to be incredibly, painfully shy and it was something I had to work at A LOT. XD;
After that, completely uninteresting minor saga of getting dinner. Short version: met my brother and his girlfriend at Andrew's Diner over by Penn Station, had an excellent chocolate shake that tasted like drinking Hershey's through a straw and my first real food of the day.
T.M. REVOLUTION
I was not leisurely strolling back to Javits but I didn't make it back until after 8:30. So no chance of finding yuffiebunny since everyone was already in the theater. Things didn't look that promising when I could see people just inside the door of the IGN theater - after I'd been wondering if anyone would go to the concert. I took a seat a few rows from the back. The room was pretty close to capacity by 9. Never underestimate the power of anime fans in large numbers. I was pretty entertained, though in a slightly "train wreck" way, by all the screaming fans trying so hard to get on the big screens (the camera was filming the audience before the concert). A lot of them had made signs. One girl I'd guess was 16 had "let me have your babies". I did not see it coming. I can barely believe it that I saw him the last time he was here - four years ago. It seems like no time at all and an eternity.
Once the concert started, a bunch of people decided to rush up into the aisles to get closer. I figured security would crack down - fire safety and all - but no one did. I had a huge bag with me, though, and wasn't sure what to do. Finally I decided to move up in front of the cameras, where there was another aisle in the chairs, so I could stand behind them instead of in the aisle. I was hanging back a bit when some girl grabbed my arm and pulled me up between her and her friends. She somehow managed to introduce herself and shake my hand - Sarah. So, thank you, Sarah, lol. I think Sarah was about 14 and probably had no clue I was a decade her senior. Someone I assume was her parent called her just before the encore to find out when she was coming home; I also found out her other friend, wearing an h. naoto shirt, didn't really like T.M.R very much. lol. I think the lot of them had probably never been to a concert before and had no idea what to do (god help them if they're learning to dance from me). Possibly a lot of the audience hadn't - they seemed confused when the band left but the lights didn't come up, and I noticed only the older audience members who had the clue to do things like use their cell phones as lighters in slow songs and the handful of people who knew some furi to one or two songs knew to call for an encore.
T.M.R, of course, was excellent. The man is a highly seasoned performer - which I don't mean as a nice way of saying he's old! lol. He has boundless energy and enthusiasm and he does not give less than 100% for an instant. TMR or Abingdon - they may never be my absolute favorite musically, but I enjoy and respect them. I think he was completely power-tripping towards the end, because finally people would just not stop screaming for him, all he had to do was put a hand up. Even from a distance, eventually you could just see this switch on his face like "no . . . really? You like me that much? :D". I think he was getting the warm fuzzies and didn't want to leave.
Walking out, the crowd certainly had good energy. Except maybe the Japanese fangirls, who were looking pretty tired and a little overwhelmed and patting themselves with their little towels (there was at least one formal tour group for the con there). There was a boy in front of me on his cell - maybe 17? who was emphatically telling his friend that it was the best concert he'd been to in his life. You can say what you want about animetards . . . or you can relax and ride the wave. If you can, it's very sweet, you know? I have a problem with them, of course, if they're going to be rude and inappropriate because they have no sense - but a lot of them are really young and it really is just new and exciting to them and they need people to be tolerant and give them a gentle shove in the right direction, I guess. The passion and joy of life is something you never want to lose so if tolerating some shrieky yaoi fangirls is the cost of having a little of that rub off . . .
Sunday: would you like to see my yeast?
Sunday morning I actually went back to the con, just to the exhibitor's hall. I wandered around a bit, browsed small press and artist alley (and got totally overwhelmed by the amount of talent), and did some shopping. I found my Moyashimon plush! <3 I was so disappointed when I missed the preorder for those. Midtown Comics had everything on sale so I bought some comics (buying COMICS at a COMIC CON?!!). I bought things I didn't know about - while I was looking around, I wound up between two groups of people and happened to see that one group had Image badges and the other had Marvel badges. So I listened to their conversations and then picked out some series. X3 At this point I actually have something on every major imprint because I read an Image series (Darkminds) back in 2000 . . . weird.
Then I met back up with my brother. Had lunch at Burger Heaven with the Pope on TV. I hope that means my grilled cheese was blessed. He wanted to go to MOMA, but there's a museum across the street called the Museum of Arts and Design (moving to Columbus Circle shortly) that had a banner up for something called "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery". So I made him go to that instead. lol. A lot of the content was pretty weak, but there were a few really awesome pieces that made up for it. One was a sampler that was sayings from this woman's rather crazy Transylvanian mother; including claims that if you wore too skimpy a swimsuit bottom you'd get a "kidney cold", and very interesting methods of contracting herpes. There was a pair of wings that was made entirely out of stray knit gloves the artist found on the street (which for all the world look like feathers from a distance). I like the idea of being able to fly away on lost gloves . . . but the most striking piece was "The Death of the Blinded Philosopher", which was about an 8 foot long piece of gray silk with a skeleton that had dragon claws digging into its eyes, sort of vomiting scarlet swirls and cockroaches and dragonflies. All hand-embroidered and covered in rhinestones. I want it over my rockstar couch when I go on Cribs. It was stunning.
Sunday night we met up with my cousin who lives on Long Island for dinner. Dinner could have gone a little better overall, but I haven't seen him in ages and I got to have a very weird culinary offering . . . the dish I had was . . . a waffle . . . with a pile of fried chicken on top . . . and a sprig (tree really) of garnish. Syrup on the side. Yep. And to follow up that weird we went home and watched Doctor Who (classic) - The Androids of Tara. Possibly not one of the best lol. Though "Sorry, but would you mind not standing on my chest? My hat is on fire!". XD
Monday + deathmatch wrap-up: and a suitcase full of butterflies
Nothing exciting on Monday. I packed, we walked around a bit; I went to Canal Plastics, the rubber place (neon pink rubber dreadfalls, here I come!), briefly Pearl Art but only the first floor. Cool place called Pearl River Market, like all the Chinatown places under one roof but very well organized and good quality. Less exciting, but more convenient, and with way less tourists. Bought a bunch o' t-shirts at Uniqlo which I desperately need (getting holes in a lot of mine).
Thought number one . . . just for the record. Every second I do wish that people were there to share it with me. It's not like I get kicks out of doing it by myself and lording it over people who couldn't go. I write up long reports in the hope it's of benefit to someone other than me that I was there. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to share experiences with other people who are excited by them. But you do what you do, everyone makes choices, and I just needed to be there that weekend. Of course if you're reading this you didn't need to be told that, but maybe I wanted to say it anyway.
So the inevitable NYCC versus SDCC Deathmatch . . . there really isn't one. They definitely WANT to be east coast SDCC - they have all their eggs in one basket, unlike Wizard World's continual re-division. Though I heard some interesting things about last year - something about all entrants to the con having to stand in the same line, regardless of whether they already had a badge - I don't think the key difference will be organizational. It will be physical. Javits doesn't have the space. It has the FOOTPRINT - the land is there, but it's not utilized, because the building was designed by an insane person. There are huge, open areas in completely useless places, and it bottlenecks horrifically in critical spots. They have to be close to max attendance already and this was their third year. There's nowhere else in NYC to go - I don't know about NJ. The other critical issue will be, if they have the attendance, can they get enough attention? They obviously want it to be a media con like SDCC has become, and it's much farther from the locus of Los Angeles - so it's more effort for studios to send people or whatever. Wizard World doesn't have the masquerade as a programming lynchpin, but I wonder how much that affects the draw - since they didn't really have one (there was a cosplay contest thing of some sort I had to miss, around 6 on Saturday).
All that said, SDCC is starting to turn people off. I heard from a dealer at this con and have overheard similar complaints both online and off that they're just getting sick of dealing with the number of people. SDCC alienated a lot of folks with the hotel chaos this year (not that hotels in NYC are a picnic, but there certainly is no shortage of them). SDCC is in fact less like going to a convention and more like waging holy war on the convention center. So there is room for an event that isn't like the FANDOM APOCALYPSE but is still large enough to get some of that kind of draw. I think that's also the reason that they're moving the con back to February next year - bad timing for weather (FAIL) but almost exactly calendar opposite SDCC (and better for movie promotion I should think, they can do spring and summer movies).
Flickr photoset for pics
Yeah I was supposed to be in NYC on Thursday, but I was literally standing at the jetway when I got told I should really come to the hospital. Nothing like taking a taxi to the hospital . . . I really wasn't even sure I was going to go on Friday but I sort of felt like, if the way I was feeling Thursday was largely just the fact that I feel like crap all the time from whatever the hell is wrong with me, my choices were bad either way. Stay at home and feel like crap because I didn't go, or go and feel like crap because I did. I decided I preferred the more proactive option.
So Friday was a bit screwed up; I went straight from LaGuardia to Javits, which took a very long time due to Pope Traffic, so I didn't get there until 3:30ish. Basically I just wandered the exhibit hall on a few missions. I tried to get into the pitching for comics for writers panel, but it was more than standing room only - I agreed with a guy outside that it was probably a good thing that there were so many writers. But I don't know if he could hear since he was a little farther in the door, but I couldn't understand anything so I finally bailed. I did go to the Women in Comics panel, which was fairly interesting. The panel ladies did seem a bit bothered that they were on it at all; they didn't want to be distinguished that way. One panelist said that she'd been on a "Gay/Lesbians in Comics" panel at another convention (she's straight but worked on a comic with lesbian characters) and one panelist said "I don't color gay" . . . fair enough.
Left the panel and saw the progress of the line for the Neil Gaiman thing . . . WHOA. Crazy. I just couldn't bring myself to pay $20 on top of my badge cost to go to a panel. ^^; I've never had to do that for anyone, so I left it to the people it was more important to (clearly, to stand in that line). After that I was just plain exhausted so I got my suitcase out of hock and headed down to my brother's. I was able to get the con shuttle to Penn Station which was good, aside from the slightly creepy Russian guy who sat next to me and I suppose was hitting on me the whole way and nearly wouldn't let me out when we got there . . . but when I got to my brother's station, there was no elevator. One flight of stairs was okay, but then up to the lobby the escalators were out. I really hurt my side hauling that damn suitcase up those stairs and I really was NOT supposed to be lifting anything like that because of the biopsy. I have benefitted from the kindness of strangers before, but this was one time I really could have used it and there was none to be had. But there wasn't anything to do.
Um . . . I can't remember Friday night. At all. lol. We had macaroni. That's it.
Saturday: never underestimate the power of...
I got to Javits a bit after 10:30 and went straight to the "IGN theater": aka the largest programming room, capacity listed at 3,000. For comparison that's around half the size of the larger rooms at San Diego (I think Hall H where the studio panels are is 6,000). There was a line taking up about half the floor space outside (maybe 200 people? bad at estimates), but it was organized and no one was sitting down so I'm guessing it had not been there very long (exhibit hall opened at 10). They let us in maybe ten till eleven and I got a spot in the middle section about eight rows back. The panel started late - fifteen after I think, and by then the rest of the room had pretty much filled. Met my new buddies for the next few hours and finally had breakfast (Honey Nut Cheerios in a tupperware and some Code Red).
DISNEY/PIXAR (Narnia: Prince Caspian; WALL-E)
WALL-E was actually first. Unfortunately I'm completely clueless who the heck Pixar sent to present the film (this is what I get for not taking notes - did he even introduce himself?). Anyway, Some Guy got a very warm reception on account of Pixar having a strong following in the audience. I admit I had no idea what they were going to send along for the panel, but I figured we'd get a trailer and maybe some random "behind the scenes" featurette stuff. In fact, what we DID get, I'm going to talk VERY little about - because boy, if it wasn't spoileriffic, it did a great impression. They did say something about the film having an added ending - with a Peter Gabriel song? Okay, lol. I'd like to have seen the test screening forms that came back saying "needs moar peter gabriel". The first and second clips were mostly trailer-used footage (WALL-E on Earth mucking about with trash, meeting new girl bot); the third wasn't, but was building on stuff we knew from the trailer (WALL-E takes girl bot back to his trailer). The fourth clip was trailer footage again. The fifth and sixth clips, though - no comment, dude! lol. The fifth we were told featured a character who had not been publicly screened before - I will only say his name is Mo and he was very well received. I ain't saying jack about the sixth except that I sure hope it wasn't from as close to the end of the film as it looked like because otherwise they kinda spoiled the movie for me (with explanation in between the clips too). :< (Admittedly I'm very good at reverse-engineering plots.) Anyway, continuing to SERIOUSLY look forward to this one - it will definitely be Pixar's best to date, the audience response was pretty fantastic too. Maybe the best thing I can say about it is that the technology is at a point where you don't SEE it any more - we got almost 20 minutes of footage, and you almost never think "wow look at that particle effect" (just twice lol). (To some extent, if you're thinking "that water looks good", it's because you're thinking "but the leaves are kinda weird".) It's so organic and convincing, it can just create its own reality.
They started the Prince Caspian segment by screening a new version trailer (admittedly, it's a bit moot so close to the release). It was cut pretty intensely - to the point that it was a bit hard to tell what was even going on. There were, incidentally, a lot of Caspian posters in the immediate area of Javits and a few buses wandering around too. Nothing really compelling content-wise from the panel . . . both William Moseley (Peter) and Ben Barnes (Caspian) seemed like fun young guys, laid back with the whole panel deal, and willing to give hugs (there's always ONE!). They were joking around with each other quite a bit but also had some intelligent things to say about their character's development. Naturally, someone asked about plans for other films. Oddly, she chose to bring up the BBC series and Tom Baker (except she called him Robert Baker, much to the distress of some audience members who shouted correction, so I didn't catch what she was asking about him). Anyway Voyage of the Dawn Treader will start shooting this year and is set for a May 2010 release. And, of course, the remaining books are up to the returns on Caspian and Dawn Treader.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Made a bathroom run with the blessings of my row-mates before Galactica. Massive line outside. I can't make much of a report on the Galactica panel; sorry, but I was room-camping for this one. I've only seen part of the mini-series. I can tell you that probably 80% of the room was, in fact, trying to be at the Galactica panel, and not just holding seats for later ones. In attendance were Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh, who I will try not to call Eyepatch Guy), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), and Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), plus a guy from the Sci-Fi Channel I know I've seen at other panels (Eureka maybe?) but whose name I can never remember. The cast members were not the ones listed in the program guide; must have been a last minute change. No one seemed to mind. Hogan in particular was goofing off a lot. Someone asked how they felt about being on a sci-fi show that was watched by so many people who vehemently (claim to) dislike SF, and they agreed on the point (originally made by Hogan) that they never felt it was sci-fi. Sharma followed up by saying how rare it is to see Indian women on TV (even I'VE noticed this) and that apparently in the future people aren't so racist. If you'd like to know anything else about it, I hear there's an MP3 of the panel floating around lol. I'm sure that's infinitely better than me trying to recount it, especially since I have practically no clue about the series.
Partway through the Galactica panel I guess it was I heard from a row-mate that they were no longer letting anyone into the panel room, in spite of a huge line outside.
LUCASFILM
I happen to know I wasn't the only one who got pretty dang bored through most of the Lucasfilm panel. Seriously, the only Indy content they could bring was the trailer everyone had already seen and holding up a book? Well, okay, we got some response for an ad for Lego Indy game but that was just because it's going to be a cool game and the ad was well done. I know I'm spoiled what with the live satcast at SDCC, but . . . come on. Any opinions I have on the Star Wars content will be, admittedly, tainted by the fact that I fell hard out of love with the whole affair with the start of the second trilogy. But still, most of what Lucasfilm brought was either just ads, or footage of their panels from Wondercon (TACKY!). I'm sorry to those excited for Clone Wars, but I'm pretty underwhelmed by the animation. It looks like a videogame, in a bad way. Very stiff and awkward and student film project when the characters try to talk. On the flipside, the upcoming The Force Unleashed looks pretty hot. I'm not sure I'm actually going to play it, but if you WANT to fling stormtroopers across the room with the power of your mind, you'll be doing it in style. The footage they showed of the planet with the Jedi master who can make giant robot things out of junk was pretty awesome though. The end of the Lucasfilm panel looked like it was going in bad directions when they said something about going in an academic direction . . . but then they brought out Seth Green and Matt Senreich from Robot Chicken. XD I haven't actually seen the Star Wars Robot Chicken yet, I'll have to rent it when it comes out . . . (I have been out of town EVERY TIME it's aired.) I'm sure someone filmed the whole thing and posted it to the net . . . anyway they said how amazing it was that they actually got George Lucas to be IN it, and that he blew out the mic the first take he did of his scene. Apparently they were trying to really encourage him to punch it up and act (he didn't appreciate the implication that he couldn't lol) and he got a bit carried away. XD I don't really feel the way about him now that I did before (sorry George, I outgrew my hero worship faze! lol), but I did write a paper on the man in middle school so I can understand where they were coming from saying that completely blew their minds the first time they heard him say the name of their show.
Anyway I'm pretty sure Seth Green may be my dream man based on a story he told. He says that Matt called him to interview him while he was working for Toy Fare and got stuck on the bottom of the pile (his publicist went WTF is Toy Fare?), but when he found out about it, he was all excited and called back. Matt said he could get him whatever toy. I forgot what the other one was, but one of the two he asked for was a BLACK HOLE action figure. Holy crap man, marry me now, I already have a beautiful Spanish Black Hole poster to decorate our love nest and we can be incredibly obscure and strange nerds together forever. lol. Why do all the good single men have to be celebrities? ;P
UNIVERSAL (Wanted; Hellboy 2)
I admit that I forgot that Universal was promoting a film other than Hellboy 2 at their panel hahah. I was pretty damn surprised when they brought out the director, who turned out to be the same guy who did Nightwatch and Daywatch. If the footage we saw for Wanted is any indication, you will be hearing a lot more about him in the future - except that no one will be able to remember or pronounce his name. lol. "That dude who did Wanted" will probably work. Timur Bekmambetov doesn't really roll off the tongue if you're not Russian (but I'll work on it). Anyhow, we got about ten minutes of footage from the film, which is based on a graphic novel I'd vaguely heard of, standard accountant finds out he's a super-assassin plot lol. I'm not that excited that Angelina Jolie is in it (no opinion either way on her), there is bonus Morgan Freeman, but the footage . . . oh snap. The largest section was an extended chase scene through downtown Chicago. You know when you saw The Matrix for the first time, and you felt like your brain had to level up just to watch it? It's like that. Only if the Matrix was cinema verite, because it doesn't have the overslick style going on. I suppose you could say it does for "bullet time" what Casino Royale did for the Bond franchise. People were hollering like they were on a roller coaster. A surprising number of people knew who he was from Nightwatch/Daywatch, but there were some minor hiccups with questions due to the language barrier and he came across rather shy and quiet also.
Aaaaaand Hellboy. Okay, so how often have you been at a panel where the guests get a STANDING OVATION just for being introduced? XD Del Toro is like a freaking rock star at conventions (not that people sat down for everyone else). So, we got a trailer with unfinished footage in it; a lot of it was in the current trailer. The unfinished stuff was primarily a lot of footage featuring Johann Krauss, who they got Seth McFarlane to do the voice for, rofl. (Apparently no one else could get it right. This would be Peter/Brian/Stewie from Family Guy, btw. Weirdass crossover mental imagery. o_O;;;) The visuals, even with some unfinished stuff in the trailer, look SO rich compared to the first one - not that there was anything wrong with the first one, but this is out of control, completely crazy critters running rampant all over the screen. It's like the step in between the concept art and the final product is just gone - the step that usually turns things into bland mush. After the trailer they brought the lights up to reveal a bunch of costumed characters, which got them another "standing ovation" as everyone rushed the stage to take photos; I was close enough to see some detail, and I can tell you they were REALLY cool, I'm sorry I missed them whenever they were on the con floor. Del Toro was asked about the differences between doing independent and studio films . . .
del Toro (as studio guy): *whines* Well, what if it was more like...
del Toro (as himself): . . . FUCK YOU. FUCKING FUCK YOU.
Or something along those lines. The guy is a complete nutbunny, he's impossible to keep up with. XD Anyway he said if he had the choice between a really expensive car etc for life or making movies with no budget he'd rather keep doing that. He got extensive applause for condemning "lazy CG" - using it not when physical effects weren't up to the task, but when it just seemed easier. He also brought up his email address again, I think right after the 15 year old kid got up who said that he wanted to become a director because of del Toro (kid: "I'm 15 years old--" del Toro: "Congratulations! The pubes are sprouting!"). He says that most of the people he puts on his team he met at conventions and that for each film he picks like two people who've just emailed him to intern. (I seriously want to email this guy . . . though I don't know what to say.) He claims that when they're doing design work that it's like summer camp - though Mignola interjected that it also includes torture. lol. But yeah I think everyone wants to sign up for Camp del Toro anyway because even though he's totally nuts, crude, and swears nonstop, he always comes across with the kind of positive, creative energy that you really want to be around - AND he's good at what he does. Isn't that the "complete package"? The downside is, no one else got much attention at the panel! Doug Jones got specific questions (hahah, score for the creature suit guys) from audience members; Mignola only got one I remember. Though Selma Blair got a "WOO SELMA BLAIR!" in a random quiet moment. They also held up an exclusive poster, which was 2000 limited - I did manage to score one, though I have no picture because it's still in NYC until my brother ships it. I didn't rush the stage like a lot of people did afterward, though I might have been able to get up to shake del Toro's hand - he and Doug Jones and Ron Perlman and people were hanging out and doing so but I wasn't sure I wanted to leap into that fray (I feel dumb now, I mean, I've been in mosh pits for crying out loud). He said he'd be around on Sunday "shopping like a motherfucking maniac" and that people could harass him but I didn't run into him then.
After Universal I finally had to bail on the IGN theater. I would have stuck around for The Spirit and Speed Racer, but I didn't really want to sit through The Hulk and at any rate I was getting kind of sick of that room hahah. And anyway I had to hustle over to Eli Stone. :P Insert hauling ass to the other panel rooms, through a HUUUUUUUGE line which turned out to be for Venture Brothers.
TRENCHES
Okay, actually, lucky for me the OTHER panel rooms were running behind as well. How convenient. So I caught the end of the "Trenches" panel - new ABC sci-fi series, sort of. Basically they took a television pilot episode and split it up into webisodes (I kinda hate that word). It's sort of interesting, though, because it was done by an independent filmmaker so it was like guerrilla TV. The guy was saying that basically everyone coming onto the project had to be okay with the idea they might not make any money. I heard whining in another panel about it on account of it knocking off from too many other things (Screamers and Pitch Black were mentioned). Personally I know that sci-fi isn't made by the concept - it's made by how the concept is done, the storytelling and the characters. So we'll see. It's a first step, really, that could lead to more SF series getting pilots in the first place - let people shoot them, give them the chance to do well online, and then maybe get picked up for TV. Which really could be a promising opportunity for anything riskier, and I'm not sure why this is the first time it's getting tried (I am NOT counting Quarterlife getting shoved onto TV, that was an act of desperation more than brilliance and it wasn't produced to that end anyway).
ELI STONE/MARC GUGGENHEIM
There was some kind of programming snafu that had put the Eli Stone panel in a huge room and Venture Brothers in a tiny one (next door to each other). So they had to swap us. It was certainly interesting watching the Venture Brothers people try to trample each other to get to the front - there's something intriguingly ironic about wanting a good view for . . . voice actors? Anyway, it was a small room, but it was pretty full; I was in the second row (only because I felt stupid sitting in the first lol). Marc Guggenheim seems like a good guy, he took the mic down from the podium and just stood in front of the tables to talk; he went straight to audience Q&A; though for some reason I felt oddly like I was at a motivational seminar. o_O I didn't get to ask my question, I'm really bad at getting called on at things. Oh well. People had good ones. Question number one was when will anyone know about season two - apparently in about a week. Someone asked a question about whether Eli had a set character arc - he says that they'd looked at prophets and felt like there was a clear pattern to their development, and have set Eli up along those lines; so they do have a plan for the future. A lot of the rest was already talked about in interviews I'd seen and such and I'm pretty sure no one else here watches the show anyway . . . he showed a few clips once they got the projector up, from the upcoming DVD (so at least there will be a DVD for the first season). After that they segued into his spotlight panel, since he's worked in comics. He had an interesting career path I guess, actually - he was working at a law firm and landed a job writing for The Practice with a spec script. He's also done a lot of various work for Marvel - though I wasn't clear on how that got started, though he mentioned that he was one of those people who had a Marvel internship (I knew someone who had one). I also found out he's married to Tara Butters, co-creator for Reaper. lol.
I didn't catch the rest of the spotlight panel though it was fairly entertaining even without being familiar with his other work . . . I had to get to the Jim Butcher signing and um . . . the restroom. :X Not in that order.
JIM BUTCHER SIGNING (gets a header lol)
I got two bonuses with my Jim Butcher (author of the Dresden Files novels) signing - the artist for the covers was there (the novels), and I had a great conversation with a woman I met in line. She sort of knows Jim Butcher, actually, having done programming for Buffy/Angel cons - apparently James Marsden does the Dresden audiobooks, which I'll have to check out. That's the one thing that's always bugged me a little about anime cons - people are a lot more cliqueish. They're much more likely to be in large groups of friends and unlikely to talk to other people - more so recently maybe than when I first started going to cons, which may be as the fanbase has expanded to include younger fans? Anyway short or long, random interactions are something I value as part of the convention experience. The whole point of them in the first place is getting together with a bunch of people who are into the same things you are. It was also a nice break from having been alone all weekend. Anyhow, I told the cover artist that his stuff looked really good in the Barnes and Noble display (they had all the current paperback Dresden novels on one display), which it did. I like his art, not that there isn't a place for other styles also, but a lot of times cover art for fantasy stuff looks really cheesy. His is atmospheric and looks like actual art.
I told Jim Butcher that he inspired me to start writing again, which is true. Even if it was embarrassing to admit that I stopped - he said "well you can't stop writing" . . . ah, knowing that isn't enough. But, you know, some things you've got to be straight up honest about, even if it reflects badly on you, and I think I figured some things out at that con which I won't detail right now. I did think it was interesting that he didn't make eye contact; in the novels, Harry Dresden doesn't make eye contact with people (wizards see too much if they do so, short version). I'm hoping that it wasn't anything I did, but it was more likely a habit of his; I know some people don't like eye contact (truth informs fiction, perhaps?). At some point I actually remember deciding to get really aggressive and always make eye contact with people immediately, because I used to be incredibly, painfully shy and it was something I had to work at A LOT. XD;
After that, completely uninteresting minor saga of getting dinner. Short version: met my brother and his girlfriend at Andrew's Diner over by Penn Station, had an excellent chocolate shake that tasted like drinking Hershey's through a straw and my first real food of the day.
T.M. REVOLUTION
I was not leisurely strolling back to Javits but I didn't make it back until after 8:30. So no chance of finding yuffiebunny since everyone was already in the theater. Things didn't look that promising when I could see people just inside the door of the IGN theater - after I'd been wondering if anyone would go to the concert. I took a seat a few rows from the back. The room was pretty close to capacity by 9. Never underestimate the power of anime fans in large numbers. I was pretty entertained, though in a slightly "train wreck" way, by all the screaming fans trying so hard to get on the big screens (the camera was filming the audience before the concert). A lot of them had made signs. One girl I'd guess was 16 had "let me have your babies". I did not see it coming. I can barely believe it that I saw him the last time he was here - four years ago. It seems like no time at all and an eternity.
Once the concert started, a bunch of people decided to rush up into the aisles to get closer. I figured security would crack down - fire safety and all - but no one did. I had a huge bag with me, though, and wasn't sure what to do. Finally I decided to move up in front of the cameras, where there was another aisle in the chairs, so I could stand behind them instead of in the aisle. I was hanging back a bit when some girl grabbed my arm and pulled me up between her and her friends. She somehow managed to introduce herself and shake my hand - Sarah. So, thank you, Sarah, lol. I think Sarah was about 14 and probably had no clue I was a decade her senior. Someone I assume was her parent called her just before the encore to find out when she was coming home; I also found out her other friend, wearing an h. naoto shirt, didn't really like T.M.R very much. lol. I think the lot of them had probably never been to a concert before and had no idea what to do (god help them if they're learning to dance from me). Possibly a lot of the audience hadn't - they seemed confused when the band left but the lights didn't come up, and I noticed only the older audience members who had the clue to do things like use their cell phones as lighters in slow songs and the handful of people who knew some furi to one or two songs knew to call for an encore.
T.M.R, of course, was excellent. The man is a highly seasoned performer - which I don't mean as a nice way of saying he's old! lol. He has boundless energy and enthusiasm and he does not give less than 100% for an instant. TMR or Abingdon - they may never be my absolute favorite musically, but I enjoy and respect them. I think he was completely power-tripping towards the end, because finally people would just not stop screaming for him, all he had to do was put a hand up. Even from a distance, eventually you could just see this switch on his face like "no . . . really? You like me that much? :D". I think he was getting the warm fuzzies and didn't want to leave.
Walking out, the crowd certainly had good energy. Except maybe the Japanese fangirls, who were looking pretty tired and a little overwhelmed and patting themselves with their little towels (there was at least one formal tour group for the con there). There was a boy in front of me on his cell - maybe 17? who was emphatically telling his friend that it was the best concert he'd been to in his life. You can say what you want about animetards . . . or you can relax and ride the wave. If you can, it's very sweet, you know? I have a problem with them, of course, if they're going to be rude and inappropriate because they have no sense - but a lot of them are really young and it really is just new and exciting to them and they need people to be tolerant and give them a gentle shove in the right direction, I guess. The passion and joy of life is something you never want to lose so if tolerating some shrieky yaoi fangirls is the cost of having a little of that rub off . . .
Sunday: would you like to see my yeast?
Sunday morning I actually went back to the con, just to the exhibitor's hall. I wandered around a bit, browsed small press and artist alley (and got totally overwhelmed by the amount of talent), and did some shopping. I found my Moyashimon plush! <3 I was so disappointed when I missed the preorder for those. Midtown Comics had everything on sale so I bought some comics (buying COMICS at a COMIC CON?!!). I bought things I didn't know about - while I was looking around, I wound up between two groups of people and happened to see that one group had Image badges and the other had Marvel badges. So I listened to their conversations and then picked out some series. X3 At this point I actually have something on every major imprint because I read an Image series (Darkminds) back in 2000 . . . weird.
Then I met back up with my brother. Had lunch at Burger Heaven with the Pope on TV. I hope that means my grilled cheese was blessed. He wanted to go to MOMA, but there's a museum across the street called the Museum of Arts and Design (moving to Columbus Circle shortly) that had a banner up for something called "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery". So I made him go to that instead. lol. A lot of the content was pretty weak, but there were a few really awesome pieces that made up for it. One was a sampler that was sayings from this woman's rather crazy Transylvanian mother; including claims that if you wore too skimpy a swimsuit bottom you'd get a "kidney cold", and very interesting methods of contracting herpes. There was a pair of wings that was made entirely out of stray knit gloves the artist found on the street (which for all the world look like feathers from a distance). I like the idea of being able to fly away on lost gloves . . . but the most striking piece was "The Death of the Blinded Philosopher", which was about an 8 foot long piece of gray silk with a skeleton that had dragon claws digging into its eyes, sort of vomiting scarlet swirls and cockroaches and dragonflies. All hand-embroidered and covered in rhinestones. I want it over my rockstar couch when I go on Cribs. It was stunning.
Sunday night we met up with my cousin who lives on Long Island for dinner. Dinner could have gone a little better overall, but I haven't seen him in ages and I got to have a very weird culinary offering . . . the dish I had was . . . a waffle . . . with a pile of fried chicken on top . . . and a sprig (tree really) of garnish. Syrup on the side. Yep. And to follow up that weird we went home and watched Doctor Who (classic) - The Androids of Tara. Possibly not one of the best lol. Though "Sorry, but would you mind not standing on my chest? My hat is on fire!". XD
Monday + deathmatch wrap-up: and a suitcase full of butterflies
Nothing exciting on Monday. I packed, we walked around a bit; I went to Canal Plastics, the rubber place (neon pink rubber dreadfalls, here I come!), briefly Pearl Art but only the first floor. Cool place called Pearl River Market, like all the Chinatown places under one roof but very well organized and good quality. Less exciting, but more convenient, and with way less tourists. Bought a bunch o' t-shirts at Uniqlo which I desperately need (getting holes in a lot of mine).
Thought number one . . . just for the record. Every second I do wish that people were there to share it with me. It's not like I get kicks out of doing it by myself and lording it over people who couldn't go. I write up long reports in the hope it's of benefit to someone other than me that I was there. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to share experiences with other people who are excited by them. But you do what you do, everyone makes choices, and I just needed to be there that weekend. Of course if you're reading this you didn't need to be told that, but maybe I wanted to say it anyway.
So the inevitable NYCC versus SDCC Deathmatch . . . there really isn't one. They definitely WANT to be east coast SDCC - they have all their eggs in one basket, unlike Wizard World's continual re-division. Though I heard some interesting things about last year - something about all entrants to the con having to stand in the same line, regardless of whether they already had a badge - I don't think the key difference will be organizational. It will be physical. Javits doesn't have the space. It has the FOOTPRINT - the land is there, but it's not utilized, because the building was designed by an insane person. There are huge, open areas in completely useless places, and it bottlenecks horrifically in critical spots. They have to be close to max attendance already and this was their third year. There's nowhere else in NYC to go - I don't know about NJ. The other critical issue will be, if they have the attendance, can they get enough attention? They obviously want it to be a media con like SDCC has become, and it's much farther from the locus of Los Angeles - so it's more effort for studios to send people or whatever. Wizard World doesn't have the masquerade as a programming lynchpin, but I wonder how much that affects the draw - since they didn't really have one (there was a cosplay contest thing of some sort I had to miss, around 6 on Saturday).
All that said, SDCC is starting to turn people off. I heard from a dealer at this con and have overheard similar complaints both online and off that they're just getting sick of dealing with the number of people. SDCC alienated a lot of folks with the hotel chaos this year (not that hotels in NYC are a picnic, but there certainly is no shortage of them). SDCC is in fact less like going to a convention and more like waging holy war on the convention center. So there is room for an event that isn't like the FANDOM APOCALYPSE but is still large enough to get some of that kind of draw. I think that's also the reason that they're moving the con back to February next year - bad timing for weather (FAIL) but almost exactly calendar opposite SDCC (and better for movie promotion I should think, they can do spring and summer movies).