Comic Con was, um, interesting. Lots of neat stuff to see, but a bit too commercial for me. And I didn't really feel much like I belonged; I spent the four days without speaking to anyone except my roommates. (Reminded me of college that way.) I had an eye out for you, but didn't see you either. Or anyone I knew, actually.
Thursday and Friday I went to smaller panels; Saturday I spent in Hall H; Sunday I spent in the academic track (room 7B). Probably the coolest part was turning the corner in the exhibit hall and discovering that Adam Busch was signing right in front of me; I didn't even realize he was going to be there. He waved and was excited to see us, and we drove up to L.A. Saturday night to see Common Ro, which was fun.
The panels were interesting, but you could also watch a special on TV about one of those movies and get the same experience, minus the stupid fanboy questions. (Poor Charlize.) Also, I was impressed by how lively and intelligent Natalie Portman is, which leaves me astounded at how George Lucas managed to utterly crush the spirit out of her in Star Wars. The Joss panel was interesting, Nathan was funny, but it was basically a bunch of self-congratulatory wankery. Kevin Smith was hilarious; Bryan Singer was adorable and interesting. I went to the Simpsons panel; Matt Groening looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. The Veronica Mars panel was interesting, quite slashy, and the Battlestar Galactica panel was done well.
I'm irritated that so much attention was paid to Hall H and so little to anything else; I didn't attend a single panel outside Hall H that didn't have some irritating technical problem (screens not working, questions inaudible to panelists, etc.) The only panel I failed to get into was the Bruce Campbell panel, funny enough; I got into Hall H fine as long as I arrived early. People get up late over there.
And I was really irritated by how commercial the whole experience was. Basically the movie panels were just fancy movie advertisements. And the exhibit hall really wasn't that interesting unless you're a collector prepared to spend a lot of money on genre stuff. I'm interested in the art itself, not the merchandise, so I really felt out of place there. And, for example, the Star Wars panel was so repulsively self-congratulatory and self-promotional, all about wringing more and more money out of these clueless fans (and deriding anyone who dared ask even a mildly critical question, like about the release of the real original trilogy on DVD).
I'm not sure I'd go again, unless there was something I was *really* into and wanted to see a lot of. Even with Veronica Mars, which is the closest thing I have to a new fandom, I had no interest in getting their autographs after their panel.
no subject
Thursday and Friday I went to smaller panels; Saturday I spent in Hall H; Sunday I spent in the academic track (room 7B). Probably the coolest part was turning the corner in the exhibit hall and discovering that Adam Busch was signing right in front of me; I didn't even realize he was going to be there. He waved and was excited to see us, and we drove up to L.A. Saturday night to see Common Ro, which was fun.
The panels were interesting, but you could also watch a special on TV about one of those movies and get the same experience, minus the stupid fanboy questions. (Poor Charlize.) Also, I was impressed by how lively and intelligent Natalie Portman is, which leaves me astounded at how George Lucas managed to utterly crush the spirit out of her in Star Wars. The Joss panel was interesting, Nathan was funny, but it was basically a bunch of self-congratulatory wankery. Kevin Smith was hilarious; Bryan Singer was adorable and interesting. I went to the Simpsons panel; Matt Groening looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. The Veronica Mars panel was interesting, quite slashy, and the Battlestar Galactica panel was done well.
I'm irritated that so much attention was paid to Hall H and so little to anything else; I didn't attend a single panel outside Hall H that didn't have some irritating technical problem (screens not working, questions inaudible to panelists, etc.) The only panel I failed to get into was the Bruce Campbell panel, funny enough; I got into Hall H fine as long as I arrived early. People get up late over there.
And I was really irritated by how commercial the whole experience was. Basically the movie panels were just fancy movie advertisements. And the exhibit hall really wasn't that interesting unless you're a collector prepared to spend a lot of money on genre stuff. I'm interested in the art itself, not the merchandise, so I really felt out of place there. And, for example, the Star Wars panel was so repulsively self-congratulatory and self-promotional, all about wringing more and more money out of these clueless fans (and deriding anyone who dared ask even a mildly critical question, like about the release of the real original trilogy on DVD).
I'm not sure I'd go again, unless there was something I was *really* into and wanted to see a lot of. Even with Veronica Mars, which is the closest thing I have to a new fandom, I had no interest in getting their autographs after their panel.