Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con

Two weekends ago was Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con, and I have to say that it was my best con experience yet. That said, this was only my third con ever but I really did have a fantastic time, and a fair amount of it was due to taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity.

A few weeks beforehand, it looked like I would be going alone if I went (I hadn't fully decided at that point), but was then contacted by a friend from college who in lives in the area and didn't have anyone to go with either. So we decided to meet up at the con and go together. It was really good to catch up with her and talk about all the nerdy interests we have in common. Also, she did a great job of holding my bags/taking pictures when people asked for a photo with me in my Black Widow costume.

I really enjoyed walking around the vendor halls. A lot of the booths had some really good stuff, and it was a good way to see a lot of people's costumes. I was able to pick up a few things for myself, as well as get some presents for my sister. For myself I found a pair of TARDIS earrings that were reasonably priced at only $10, as well as a t-shirt of Aquawoman done in a pin-up style. There is a series of posters with her and other DC females that I really like but don't have the wall space for, so I was glad to find it on a t-shirt but I had the hardest time deciding which one to get, changing my mind about 5 times. I also found a necklace of Mjolnir (Thor's hammer), and instantly knew that I was going to get it. Originally I thought of getting it for my sister, but decided that I liked it too much and wanted to keep it for myself.

We went to two panels that day, though I had hoped to attend at least three. We were both looking forward to John Barrowman's panel that evening, but it was canceled (and rescheduled for the next morning) because he missed his flight that morning, and I later found out that it was because he accidentally overslept. I totally understood because we've all done that at sometime or another, and I really appreciated that he kept updating his page throughout the day as he tried to get to Chicago for at least some photo ops in the evening. Even though I was not staying that late, I really appreciated that he was trying to make up for it and that he understands how much everyone there was looking forward to meeting him. It seems like he comes pretty much every year, so hopefully I'll be able to see him next year or if I go to another convention that he's at in between.

The first panel we went to was Karl Urban's panel, and it was so much fun. While we were waiting outside there were three guys in Judge Dredd costumes hanging out together, and when Karl Urban came out on stage, he was preceded by two of the guys who then stood in front of the stage for the entirety of the panel. I took a couple of notes, so I thought that I would share some of the panel highlights with you. First of all, he said that he is planning on starting filming for Star Trek 3 sometime in early 2015. He said that he really enjoys when McCoy gets to argue with Spock, since arguing with Zachary Quinto is so much fun. He also did a pretty funny impression of William Shatner.

In a question asked by one of my friends, he said that he is a pretty adventurous guy but has to curb what he does a bit so that he doesn't end up getting himself killed (and is therefore unable to be insured for jobs, haha). However, on the first day of filming for Almost Human he pulled a ligament in his leg just walking down a hill. He compared filming a tv series to trench warfare, just in that it is so intense as to having a tight schedule and needing to get everything done. In talking about Almost Human, he mentioned that in being one of the lead actors on the show he thought a lot about working on Xena and how Lucy Lawless did such a great job of leading the crew and encouraging everyone. They did do a lot of improvising on Almost Human, and the “scan my balls” line early on in the series in an example of that. They would do the first few takes of a scene straight from the script, but then do a few where they would possibly improvise.

In reference to Lord of the Rings, apparently Peter Jackson cast him in the film series after seeing him in a film called The Price of Milk. One guy asked what it was like working with Sean Bean on the films, and he replied that it not good since they never worked together (Sean Bean's character dies in the first film and Karl's character doesn't appear until the second film). It was a bit of an odd question to ask in my opinion since that's pretty common knowledge about the trilogy, but Karl did a good job of rolling with it and answering good-naturedly.

One thing that became abundantly clear is that you do not want to get into a pranking war with Karl Urban. He prefers the long game, rather than several quick back-and-forth pranks. He actually waited about 10 years to get back at Viggo Mortensen for something that happened during Lord of the Rings. They were both in Spain for press for different projects, with Karl's press stuff happening the day before Viggo's. What he did was tell all the reporters how Viggo had purchased a goat farm, which he was then going to go visit once he was done with the press for this project. This caused a huge fervor, making the front page of the paper about how Viggo was retiring from acting and had bought this goat farm, and it was pretty much all anyone asked Viggo about the next day. He has something planned to get back at Simon Pegg and Chris Pine while making Star Trek 3, and decided to share one of the ideas he had, but decided against using. He was going to talk with Roberto Orci and come up with a special draft of the film for Pegg and Pine, and when the cast all sat down for a read-through, they would realize that they had no lines and McCoy was the hero of the entire film.

The last question asked was what his favorite episode of Xena was, and he said the it was the season 3 episode “Destiny”. I have to give him props for then telling a story about the shooting of the episode in which he became a huge dork. They were shooting a sexy scene between his character Caesar and Xena, when something happened to his contact lens, causing him to blink one eye repeatedly and in an quite unattractive manner. So much so that Lucy finally pulled back and was like, “What the f***?” That had everyone laughing hard, and I have to again give him credit for telling that story. It would be so easy to not mention and just keep everyone believing that he's this majorly cool guy, but it's nice to know that your favorite celebrities have awkward moments like that, just like the rest of us. I really enjoyed the panel because I've been a huge fan of his since Xena, and it was so exciting just to be in the same room as him.

The second panel we saw was the “Guardians of the Galaxy” panel with Michael Rooker and Dave Bautista. For some reason, the panel started more than 10 minutes late. There wasn't really an explanation, so I assume maybe they just had trouble getting them away from photos/autographs. To start things off, Rooker came on stage and started “Grooting” (dancing to “I Want You Back” a la the mid-credits scene in Guardians, then freezing whenever Bautista looked back at him), then having everyone get up and do the same. Bautista said that Rooker is the best dancer on the cast, while he is the worst. When they were filming the “dance-off” scene near the end of the movie, they managed to trick Bautista into dancing. In the film Ronan doesn't dance and just stares at Peter Quill, but here Lee Pace started dancing and pointed to Bautista, who then started dancing. Other than that, they said that there were not very many pranks on set.

However, they had a number of behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the film and insight to how they saw their characters. Rooker said that he had about 3 ½ to 4 hours of makeup a day, though he would often fall asleep in the chair and ended up having an “ear assistant” who would hold his head up by his ears. He also had his hair in a mohawk when they started filming, but by the end because of all the trimming he did to it, it was practically nothing. When Yondu punches Peter in the stomach, Chris Pratt told Rooker to really go for it, so he did just that. When Yondu smiles at the end after Peter tricked him by switching out the Infinity Gem for a troll doll, Rooker feels like he was thinking, “That's my boy,” quickly followed by a, “I'm going to get him.” When commenting on working with characters who are mainly CGI, they said that Sean Gunn (director James Gunn's brother and Yondu's right-hand guy) was a really good stand-in for Rocket Raccoon. When asked about their favorite scene from the movie, they both agreed that it was a tie between Peter rallying everyone together and the “gunslinger” scene with Yondu. Rooker “hopes” that there is expansion on Yondu's character in Guardians 2.

Rooker and Bautista finished up the panel by answered 10 questions rapid-fire, splitting them 5 and 5. It was pretty funny and when asked what color underwear he was wearing, Rooker simply pulled them up and showed us. Bautista then ended things by sharing how Rooker ran off with Bautista's fiance. When she visited the set, Bautista was introducing her and only go out, “This is my fi-” before Rooker picked her up and ran away with her.

After the panel my friend and I went off into a side hallway because the main hall way was packed with everyone trying to get down one tiny escalator. I had just hung up on the phone asking my parents to come pick me up (they were nice enough to drop me off in the morning so I wouldn't have to pay for parking) when Michael Rooker walked right past us. I swear, I could have just about reached out and touched him, but in wanting to respect his personal space after what had likely been a long day for him I resisted the urge. My friend and I then parted ways, her to the parking garage and me back downstairs to the lobby. I got a few photo requests while I waited to be picked up, and was happy to oblige. On the way home we needed to stop at the grocery store for a few things for dinner, and I think that I embarrassed my mom by going in with them in my costume. I took off the holsters and whatnot, and I didn't have a problem with it, so I just teased her about it. Honestly, maybe I just made someone's shift a little less boring because they saw some weirdo come into Jewel in a costume.

Well, this post is long enough as it is, so I'll wait until my next post to talk about my amazing afternoon at the convention on Sunday. And I promise it will appear soon, unlike the part 2 of C2E2 that I still have to post, haha!

I'm Hooked on a Feeling

Back on July 7^th, my sister and I were able to attend a sneak peek of Guardians of the Galaxy that would show 17 minutes from the movie. We decided to go with the IMAX theater at Navy Pier and make a partial day of it since it had been quite a while since either of us had been down there.

We left about mid-afternoon and took the El and bus. Neither of us had used the new Ventra fare system before, but it was really easy for us to get our day passes from the vending machine. Transferring to the bus was also really easy since the stop was just above the El stop where we got off. I've also never really taken the buses before, and the one we were on was clearly one of the newer ones. It was really nice; there was a digital sign up front telling you what stop was next, as well as a voice saying the same, and there were pull cords along the side so that you could request a stop. At the bus stop, there was even a sign saying how long until the next bus was due.

When we finally got to Navy Pier, the weather was perfect. It had been fairly hot all day, but having the breeze off of the lake made it just wonderful. We walked the length of the pier, just enjoying the day, the sun, and the sights. On the way back, we stopped at one of the restaurants for an early dinner. It was really good, but wow was it kind of expensive. I know, haha, it's a tourist place so of course it's going to be expensive, but it was a really good meal and it is certainly okay to treat yourself every once in a while. After we ate, we figured that we should get in line since it was going to start in less than an hour. There was already a substantial line, going up to the second floor and into the garden area. We were given our wristbands while we waited, and a little while later they let us into the theater, giving us our 3D glasses as we went in.

There was a short intro video by James Gunn, the director. I had not previously seen a photo of him, so I was a little surprised how much he looks like his brother Sean (who I know from Gilmore Girls, and also has a part in the film).

The scenes they showed were really good. It started off with the booking scene which had previously been seen in clips in the trailers. Apparently Peter Quill (Starlord) flipping the officers off was only censored for the trailers because it was not censored here. There is also more exposition on Gamora's character. They are then assigned and taken to a prison, known as “The Kyln”. Drax was not in the booking scene, so it appears that they do no meet him until the prison. Also, from the dialogue I gathered that the only ones who knew each other prior to being arrested were Rocket and Groot; they just all happened to be in the same place when they were arrested.

Going into the prison we get more of the scene when Peter is upset about the guard having his cassette player and subsequently getting beaten up. There is also more “Hooked on a Feeling” in this scene. Everyone is then put through processing and given their prison clothes and bedroll. During this Peter is shirtless at one point, and I have to say that Chris Pratt's abs are a thing of wonder – particularly in 3D.

The next scene is the four of them in the common area of the cell block with Rocket outlining how they are going to escape. While he is doing this Groot decides to go for the piece that they need to get last, sending everything into chaos and causing them to have to improvise and get everything else that they need right at that moment. At this point in time Drax is now with them. Apparently a prison scene was shown during the Comic Con panel, during which was Nathan Fillion's cameo and no one noticed, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled.

That was the last scene shown, and they then showed a new trailer (which was released the day after we saw it). There was some different music, more action, and extended parts of the last trailer, but you all likely know that since you've probably seen it. On the way out the theater, we were given our special posters.

Some final thoughts on what we saw – Since Drax's race cannot understand metaphors, it has the potential to create some funny moments. Groot only ever says one line (“I am Groot.”), but Rocket seems to be able to interpret the different inflections of how he says this line. The 3D was very good, but the action scenes seemed blurry, so for this reason I likely will not see the full movie in 3D. I was a little surprised by how many people seemed to think that we would be shown the full movie. A few friends who went to other screenings remarked on this, as did people who were at the Navy Pier location. Everything about the event that I saw clearly said “Sneak Peek” with “17 minutes of footage”, and nothing about the full movie or the word “screening”.

If the rest of the movie is anything like the little bit that we saw, Guardians of the Galaxy is sure to be a big success and a lot of fun. Be sure to go and see it starting this Friday, August 1^st!

And if you have a chance, check out this article on the film's writer, who just happens to be a female rocket scientist.

C2E2 Part 1

This past weekend, I attended C2E2, short for Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, for two days. Friday I didn't have anyone to go with me, so I just went by myself, and Saturday my sister went with me. I don't want this post to get too long, so I am planning on Saturday's happening to be it's own post.

I had a costume to wear for the weekend, but decided not to wear it until Saturday so instead I wore one of my Ren Faire outfits. Yes, I have more than one, haha. It's easy to mix and match stuff to make a "new" outfit. Since I live less than a mile from the train station, I decided to take the train into the city. I got to the station with just enough time to purchase tickets for the entire weekend before the train came in. It was a nice ride, not too long, and I was then able to catch one of the shuttles to take me the rest of the way to McCormick Place, where the convention was being held. The convention wasn't open yet, so I got in the queue line. I only had to wait about a half hour or so before the convention opened, and I walked around the show floor for a while. I mostly just took everything in since this was my first time at C2E2, but I also started taking some photos and looked at a few stall.

A few weeks ago when they put up the panel schedule, I saw that there was a panel on Science Fiction with an author whose book I was currently reading. It was the only real panel that day that I wanted to attend, and was quite surprised that there was no line at all, you could just walk into the room and pick where you wanted to sit. I had always heard about how you want to show up about an hour before the panel to make sure you got in, but that wasn't really the case here. This was actually the case all weekend, even when it was hyper crowded on Saturday. I know this isn't the case at a lot of conventions, so it was nice to have that at the first convention where I went to panels.

The panel itself was fairly interesting. The panelists were John Scalzi (I had recently finished Redshirts and loved it), Daryl Gregory, and M.D. Waters. I learned a few things, such as how a lot of authors don't have any control over the covers of their books – often it is the publishers that decide on the covers. Other than things like that, though, a lot of it was about writing which ended up not interesting me a whole lot.

I then went back down to the show floor area for the rest of the day. There were a few shows on the live stage that I stopped to see. One was a nerdy comedy sketch show where the people came up and told funny stories from their lives that had to do with being nerdy. I did a terrible job of describing it, but it was pretty hilarious and had me in stitches several times. The other one was more stand-up, where everyone got to do short (about 5 minutes or so) sets. There was also a cosplay contest that I caught a little bit of. There wasn't any pre-registration required – you just had to show up about half an hour before it started. I didn't do it since I didn't really consider what I was wearing a “costume”, I was more or less just dressing up since I didn't want to go in just my normal clothes.

There were a lot of great costumes on Friday. My favorite and probably the most creative costume was a female Boba Fett in a Civil War-style dress and hoop skirt. It was just fantastic. There was also a guy in a full Bumblebee suit from Transformers. He definitely commanded a lot of attention, and sometimes he could barely go two feet without photo requests, so sometimes he just had to forge on though. I certainly didn't get photos of all of my favorites – either they dashed on by or I didn't want to bother them. While I was at one of the shows at the live stage, I spotted a Tauriel and female Thorin, but they left their seats and I didn't have a chance to catch them.

Before I left I stopped by the booth for a local podcast network (DVM Podcast Empire – check them out!) and talked for a while with them about Person of Interest (their podcast on that show, Podcast of Interest, is literally one of my favorite podcasts), Arrow, and Agents of SHIELD. I learned that they had recently done an interview with Stephen Amell, the star of Arrow, so I made sure to download that when I got home. I have been thinking of picking up a SHIELD podcast, so I will likely give theirs a listen. It was really nice to talk to Dave again, as I had a chance to meet him last year when I was at Wizard World Chicago. He's a great guy, and you should all check out his podcasts.

I then caught a shuttle back to the train station, and would have made the train if it hadn't left early. I then had to wait half an hour until the next train, leading my parents to decide that they wouldn't wait for me and went out to dinner without me, leaving me to fend for myself for dinner. Not the great thing when you have nothing but the same leftovers at home and you're hungry after a long day on your feet. However, my wig for my costume finally arrived (there was a snafu with the company and my order somehow got lost), so I then had time to cut it to the right length.

Well, that's my first day at C2E2. Stay tuned for day two soon.