The Wearin' o' The Green at WonderCon

We're home from WonderCon with some memories to share. We got up nice and early but not early enough to get a parking space at the Convention Center. The lack of signs especially in the rain was frustrating. We drove around and finally found a spot that was a 15 minute walk from the convention center. As soon as we got out of the car, it began pouring. It wasn't just a regular rain either but a heavy rain and wind that pounded on us as we made our way to the convention center. It turns out that while the front part of the convention center had signs saying "full" that there was a also a rear entrance that was far from full! We were soaking wet by the time we got to the convention center (even with umbrellas.) While we drying out, we spent some time people watching. Lots of folks were wearing green (including yours truly with a green sweater and green tights. I even asked David before we left if it was too much. His response was, "You're going to a comic book convention. Wear what you want.") I saw various shades of green and TONS of green lantern t-shirts. My favorite was seeing more than one man happily wearing a kilt. We bypassed the exhibit hall and decided to go up to the ballroom (Anaheim's version of San Diego Comic Con's Hall H a.k.a. "Hell Hall") to see Sir Ridley Scott and "Prometheus". Little did we know we would end up spending all day there. We've never spent more than a couple of hours at a time in San Diego's "Hell Hall" so this was a new experience. We made our way up to the third floor and got in the end of a line that snaked around going almost the full length of the convention center twice. The line moved pretty quickly. As we walked in we were given lenticular posters for "Prometheus" and "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" as well as a small, plastic pass card for "Prometheus". The seats down front are always the first to be scooped up but we still managed to get decent seats in the middle section, second row. To leave the ballroom for a bathroom break or food, you had to obtain a timed pink slip that would allow you re-entry, as I quickly found out. We got comfortable and parked ourselves there. For the first half hour, we were subjected to what's called, "Trailer Park". We saw some ridiculous Disney film whose name both David and I quickly forgot, "Madagascar # I dunno", "Ice Age Whatever", "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World", "Wrath of the Titans", "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter", "Resident Evil: Retribution", "ParaNorman", "Spider-man", "Prometheus", and "The Hobbit". (Most of the titles I quickly forgot about and David just had to refresh my memory.) We've never sat through so many trailers in one go so it was interesting to see them one after the other. The first panel was "The Sound of My Voice". The most interesting thing about this film was finding out bits and pieces of how they were able to make the movie to begin with. Unfortunately, they only touched upon the subject. I love monster movies but I was rolling my eyes at the next panel for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter." They started the panel with a ridiculously unfunny skit of a skeleton that was supposed to be a very sick Tim Burton. Abraham Lincoln as a guy with a serious ax to grind (on vampires.) We were eager to see Sir Ridley Scott again for "Prometheus". He was joined onstage with Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender. We were lucky to see him live via video from New Zealand at last year's San Diego Comic Con and previously before that live and in the flesh for the "Blade Runner" reunion. As my husband has been working on a script with the main character whose name is also Prometheus (David almost croaked when he found out about the name of Scott's film), we've been following it closely (that and we enjoy Scott's movies.) "Snow White and the Huntsman" was next on the list. The most interesting thing about the film was the use of tall actors to play the dwarfs. It's also one of two films coming out based on the tale of Snow White. You'll notice a big boom in fairytale based movies because of the recent large success of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland". Hollywood is raiding the public domain stash of ideas. Tristan was excited to see "Battleship" while I sat and rolled my eyes (ask David as I seemed to do that a lot today.) It seemed like a "smashup" of Top Gun meets Independence Day meets Transformers meets RoboCop meets Terminator except they're all on a battleship. "Lockout" was next. The first thing that came to mind for both David and I was, Kurt Russell in "Escape from New York". They set it in outer space (instead of New York) and the Kurt Russell character (Guy Pierce) has to save the President's Daughter (instead of the President.) I wonder what John Carpenter has to say about it. I've never seen "Resident Evil" nor have I played the video games so I was beyond clueless as to what the movie series (excuse me, what everyone kept referring to as a movie franchise) was about. I like Milla Jovovich (loved "Fifth Element") so it was fun to see how excited she was about the film. That said, I have no plans to watch the films or play the games. Last, but not least, was the reboot of Spider-man, which we're all buzzing about. While I liked Tobey as Spidey, I'm eager to see the new film go back to its roots (with a few changes.) I did have a few moments watching the clips where it looked like both Garfield and Stone look too old to play high school students. I loved seeing Martin Sheen playing "Uncle Ben" as well as Sally Field as "Aunt May". I'll be one of the first in line to see Spider-Man this summer. All in all, while most folks like seeing the actors in a film, I always enjoy hearing the director and crew (and that includes the actors) talk about how they made the film and their experiences as they worked and developed it. We recently saw director Terence Davies at the Aero theatre in Santa Monica and honestly, his after show discussion was much more interesting and memorable than the six plus hours we sat through today. It was definitely an interesting experience and one I'm glad we tried at least once. Before we left, we stopped into the exhibit hall to pick up a Transformers (Decepticon) car sticker for Tristan (grumble groan. I wanted Totoro but I'm a good Mom or a fool. I don't know which one.) We also had to pick up a copy of "Beyond Time and Again" by George Metzger (one of the first graphic novels) at Stuart Ng. I was so intent on buying the book that I didn't notice Ralph Bakshi standing next to me with a large stack of hardcover art books until I noticed David staring (sorry, David, but you were.) I wish we could remember what he bought. David has his copy of "Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi" which we coerced Tristan into asking Bakshi to sign as he was leaving the Stuart Ng booth (that's why I'm stuck putting a damn Decepticon sticker on my car. Little did I know David had already done a favor for Tristan getting him an "Avengers" poster.) Seeing Bakshi and his pile of books was definitely a memorable way to end WonderCon, the smaller "sister" con to the massive (and ever growing) San Diego Comic Con (that we've been attending for years now. All I have to say is that I can't wait for July now but I definitely need to get new walking shoes before then, for sure!