Celebration report, part III
Friday: The first real day of the celebration. Badge frustration started - some of us had “Crew” badges, which were not respected like the much-coveted “All Access” badges. It was great that security was so tight, but frustrating too.
This was the day my stuff was stolen. We put a skirt around a table in the Fan Lounge, and were leaving our personal items under it. I had bought sandwiches and some other food, and had “Exile” with me, too, which I left there. A few hours later, the bag was gone. I was pissed. Luckily, Cindy was kind enough to share her sandwich with me, so I didn’t starve. (And I did buy a new copy of “Exile,” which Aaron signed for me.)
(An aside: it is strange reading “Exile,” with its picture of an aged Leia on the cover, at the same time as seeing Carrie Fisher. Which 50-year-old face is the “real” Leia? Isn’t it odd how they look different, when they were once the same? OK, moving on.)
The good news about working in the fan lounge -- it was where many Club Jaders gathered. The game squad was based there - Chris, Dan, Kelly, Dunc and PG - and others came there during breaks. The couches were very comfortable. I’m still a little unclear as to exactly what we were supposed to be doing most of the time - but it was great to see people (which was very different than past cons, when I hardly saw anyone). Plus Aaron hung out there a lot, doing his own informal meet & greets with fans who recognized him.
Game Squad hard at work:
Some Fan Lounge crew (Heather, Luci, Cyndi):
I went to a couple sessions in the Behind the Scenes room. The most interesting was David West Reynolds, who told his personal story of being an archeologist determined to find the exact filming locations of Star Wars in Tunisia. He has a wonderful dry humor, very self-deprecating, and a great set of slides. He found most of the sites. The punchline - he did his research just before the shooting of Episode 1, and so Rick McCallum asked his help. He ended up abandoning his archeology career for jobs at Lucasfilm.
At work in the afternoon, I fetched Tim Dry and Sean Crawford from the autograph area to a Meet & Greet - two very nice funny guys without a large fan base. Cindy and I had to walk up to Fan Lounge patrons and practically beg fans to meet these two - I focused on children (“wouldn’t you love to meet an actor in Star Wars?”).
I missed one of the most amusing Convention anecdotes. It was during an author panel, when someone asked Troy Denning what his favorite ’ship is. He answered with a brand of ship - Xwing, Ywing, whatever - and not with his favorite “relationship.” Rumor is Aaron set him straight.
The most significant event on Friday was Team Cake. What I learned: 6,000 pieces of cake take up a lot of space. And buttercream frosting is slippery. And gets everywhere. We had various assembly lines going: folding napkins; putting napkins and forks onto plates; cutting cakes; putting cake pieces on plates; putting Vader/C3PO/R2D2 rings onto cake; putting everything onto trays, and then putting the trays onto carts. When all the carts were full, we used AV carts. Eventually, there were plates on every single surface in that kitchen. We were all so focused on what we were doing (and the supply of cake seemed truly never ending), that I don’t think we quite realized what anyone else was doing. We decided that next time we would serve cupcakes. No, cookies. Oh, screw the fans - we’ll just throw out hard candy. (Especially after reading this piece, which Dunc blogged.
I didn't take nearly as many Team Cake photos (or as good photos) as dunc, but here are a couple:
A beautiful cake went on the stage for the celebs to eat, and then it was time to serve the masses. Rich and I took out a cart. Maybe we got a crummy section, but there was not a single thank-you to anyone I served, and most people were focused on getting the ring of their choice. I was truly bummed by that. I was out there when the Yoda stamp was unveiled as the favorite. It was a bummer to watch all those pieces of cake being trashed (couldn’t they have brought them to a homeless shelter?) - along with all those precious rings. There had been a bomb scare earlier, and many fans couldn’t get into the opening ceremonies - which explains the leftovers.
I watched the rest of the program on monitors backstage, and had my ears blown out for the second time in two days when Boba Fett’s jet pack went off, and he flew across the floor.
How did I get back to the hotel that night? Got me. I think we walked.
Saturday was the most crowded of the days. There were people everywhere, although it was never as jam packed as Indy, since this center is so huge. I managed to get into seeing Robot Chicken (even invoking Mary’s name didn’t work - I just ducked under a guard’s arm), which was enjoyable. Especially when the guy with the Free Hugs T-shirt asked a question, and the guy on the panel whose name I can’t recall jumped into his arms.
My boss (Cyndi) let me come to work an hour late so I could see a panel on Fanboys, a movie coming out later this year. As a Veronica Mars fan, I enjoyed seeing Kristen Bell do a cartwheel when she came on stage. Also on Saturday I went to a panel of the people behind yet another Star Wars-focused movie: 5/25/77. Caroline got to meet many of these people, and even pose for pictures (although she never did get to meet Kristen Bell), since their panels were in the theater where she was working. Both these movies look interesting.
The 5/25/77 panel, with Caroline:
The Meet & Greets that day were two of the nicest actors, Nina Fallon and Zach Jensen:
Rich, Caroline and I ate dinner at the Galaxy Diner in the Convention Center. As we were finishing, someone told us Carrie Fisher was there. And sure enough - she was eating a hamburger standing up, with three security guards protecting her. It was very bizarre to see her wandering around holding food, blowing her nose with a paper napkin, and having fans ogle her. Yuck. Other than handing her real tissues, I tried not to gape.
We found the right line for the Carrie Fisher show; and sat in the front row (cool). Here we are waiting:;
I’d never seen her before, so most of her jokes and anecdotes were new for me. She recited the hologram speech, which she said she knows by heart because of the many times she had to film it. The holiday special was horrible; her family watched it on bad movie night. She did seem to recall one of the songs. Hamill sang: “Oh George, is this dianoga poopoo” during the trash compactor scene. She complained about Leia’s limited wardrobe compared to Padme (who got a new dress every time she walked through a door - I have heard that joke before), discussed the absence of bras in space and the gaffer tape she wore instead. She explained how she tested for the movie, how it was in front of George and Brian DePalma, who was shooting Carrie. And George didn’t speak in those days (and now you can’t shut him up). She talked for almost an hour, so obviously I’m forgetting most of what she said.
I managed one good shot:
I think I took the shuttle back - the only time I used it the whole week.