Conventions: Wonder Con 2015, Day Two
Wondercon, Day Two
at the Anaheim Convention Center
Another day, another round of panels at Wonder Con! Seanie and I had a tough time deciding between a Teen Titans Go! Screening and Q&A and Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation: Careers at Disney Animation. Ultimately, we went with the career one because we need jobs more than we need to see the voice actors behind a cartoon, albeit one we enjoy a great deal. Most of the questions were geared more towards students and very recent graduates, which is a bit of a downer when you’ve been out of school for several years. Still, it was very interesting. Two of the panel members outlined the different ways the studios are set up, and how production is managed in-house. I always love learning little insider tidbits like that. We hung around after the session was over with about twenty other people to talk to the panelists, who were friendly and helpful but somewhat discouraging. (Seanie was told his non-fiction writing skills probably couldn’t transfer over; my skills were more suitable for Disney Corporate). Ah well.
Wandering around the dealers’ room again, Seanie and I slipped into spending mode. We bought graphic novels until the weight of the bags threatened to pull our arms out of our shoulder sockets! Ben Costa signed two volumes of his Pang, the Wandering Shaolin Monk for us. We scooped up a ton of older Marvel and Disney comics at a half-price comic dealer. Valiant Comics was offering a bundle deal, so we picked out seven titles to try. Most of the books were new to us, but that’s what a con is for, right? Trying new stuff. I also picked up the first issue of IDW’s Jem and the Holograms, just to see how they updated the 80s cartoon for the 21st century. Good thing my arms were completely weighed down by bags - it kept me from spending even more money!
At some point we looked at our phones and realized we’d missed most of the panels we meant to attend in the afternoon, so we walked to the car to drop off all the comics and wandered over to the Disneyland Hotel to hit up Trader Sam’s, the kitschy Tiki Bar we’ve grown to love. We hoped that since we were arriving so early, there wouldn’t be too many people around - but we still couldn’t get a seat inside the bar, so we sat on the patio in front and lazily sipped our Piranha Pool and Shipwreck on the Rocks. Originally, we meant for Trader Sam’s to be a pit stop, after which we would return to the convention. But after studying the schedule I decided there wasn’t anything that necessitated walking all the way back, so instead we slid off to Disneyland to do the Easter Egg hunt.
I know, not that much to report today, really. I did speak to an animator/book author about possibly doing an event at the bookstore I work at, but overall today was a easy-going, wandering sort of day.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman & Michael Zulli
2013: Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2013: The Taming of the Shrew
2012: The Lady of the Rivers Book Giveaway
2011: The First Clash by Jim Lacey
2010: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
2009: Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth
at the Anaheim Convention Center
Another day, another round of panels at Wonder Con! Seanie and I had a tough time deciding between a Teen Titans Go! Screening and Q&A and Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation: Careers at Disney Animation. Ultimately, we went with the career one because we need jobs more than we need to see the voice actors behind a cartoon, albeit one we enjoy a great deal. Most of the questions were geared more towards students and very recent graduates, which is a bit of a downer when you’ve been out of school for several years. Still, it was very interesting. Two of the panel members outlined the different ways the studios are set up, and how production is managed in-house. I always love learning little insider tidbits like that. We hung around after the session was over with about twenty other people to talk to the panelists, who were friendly and helpful but somewhat discouraging. (Seanie was told his non-fiction writing skills probably couldn’t transfer over; my skills were more suitable for Disney Corporate). Ah well.
Wandering around the dealers’ room again, Seanie and I slipped into spending mode. We bought graphic novels until the weight of the bags threatened to pull our arms out of our shoulder sockets! Ben Costa signed two volumes of his Pang, the Wandering Shaolin Monk for us. We scooped up a ton of older Marvel and Disney comics at a half-price comic dealer. Valiant Comics was offering a bundle deal, so we picked out seven titles to try. Most of the books were new to us, but that’s what a con is for, right? Trying new stuff. I also picked up the first issue of IDW’s Jem and the Holograms, just to see how they updated the 80s cartoon for the 21st century. Good thing my arms were completely weighed down by bags - it kept me from spending even more money!
At some point we looked at our phones and realized we’d missed most of the panels we meant to attend in the afternoon, so we walked to the car to drop off all the comics and wandered over to the Disneyland Hotel to hit up Trader Sam’s, the kitschy Tiki Bar we’ve grown to love. We hoped that since we were arriving so early, there wouldn’t be too many people around - but we still couldn’t get a seat inside the bar, so we sat on the patio in front and lazily sipped our Piranha Pool and Shipwreck on the Rocks. Originally, we meant for Trader Sam’s to be a pit stop, after which we would return to the convention. But after studying the schedule I decided there wasn’t anything that necessitated walking all the way back, so instead we slid off to Disneyland to do the Easter Egg hunt.
I know, not that much to report today, really. I did speak to an animator/book author about possibly doing an event at the bookstore I work at, but overall today was a easy-going, wandering sort of day.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman & Michael Zulli
2013: Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2013: The Taming of the Shrew
2012: The Lady of the Rivers Book Giveaway
2011: The First Clash by Jim Lacey
2010: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
2009: Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth