WonderCon 2012: Day 2 recap

I'm sorry it took me over a week to get Day 2's recap up everyone (or anyone?); I caught my first cold of the year thanks to WonderCon...it's what happens when you shake so many hands. But without further ado, here is the recap along with the link to Day 2's Flickr album.

Enjoy!


After having a super late dinner at Bubba Gump the night before, tsudoku, our buddy Vinh and I struggled to get up in the morning for Day 2. Luckily the Batman vs. Iron Man and World of CAPCOM panels didn't start until 11:30 and noon, respectively, so we had about an hour to kill out on the exhibition floor.

Me and Vinh found the booth with the Domo beanies  

Batmen

Big Bird!

Gundam Wing with me to scale 

Marvel memorabilia 

He did it with gusto! 

I ended up missing the first half of the CAPCOM panel since I wanted to know who would best who in a fight (the panel split 50/50 – deductive reasoning and ability to hack technology goes to Batman while technology, money and smarts goes to Iron Man. However, the panel would choose neither to try and solve the world's problems). The guys caught me up on the CAPCOM panel, which was really just a "here's what CAPCOM is releasing next!" panel (hint: RE: Operation Raccoon City).

Somehow, I really don't know how, the three of us managed to get in to the main ballroom where all the movie screenings/panels were taking place. We caught maybe the last 15 minutes of The Sound of My Voice, a seriously creepy looking movie about a suburban cult lead by an equally creepy looking blond woman (Brit Marling). I kinda want to see it.

Next was the Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter panel hosted by the author of the novel and adapted screenplay, Seth Grahame-Smith. The director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and Abe Lincoln himself, Benjamin Walker, made an appearance and we were treated to a brand new trailer (in 3D)! Conclusion: I really need to the book before the movie comes out because it looks badass!

Of course the photo quality is going to be crappy; it's what happens
when you take a picture of a big screen in the dark. That's Timur
Bekmambetov and Benjamin Walker. 

Almost immediately after the Abraham Lincoln panel was over, the next host (I feel horrible that I didn't catch his name) walked on stage and introduced our next guest: Sir Ridley Scott, legendary sci-fi director of Aliens and Blade Runner. I just about lost my mind! 

We were immediately treated to the brand new two-and-a-half minute trailer (that was unfortunately leaked 12 hours prior) to his new cinematic masterpiece, Prometheus (again, in 3D). Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender also made an appearance, and yes, Mr. Fassbender is a hottie, I get it now. Aside from getting to see the trailer twice (yes, twice), the best part about the panel is hearing Sir Ridley declare his intention to make another sci-fi film in the future—yay!

Sir Ridley Scott and panel host (does anyone know his name)?

Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender

By this time it's about 2:15 and none of us really cared to stay for all the other movie panels—Lockout, Battleship, Snow White and the Huntsman, Resident Evil: Retribution, Looper, and The Amazing Spider-Man. Staying for just the movie panels might be how some people prefer to spend their Day 2 but not us; we wanted something a bit more enriching…something with a bit more variety. And that is how we ended up at the Geek & Sundry panel.

OK not really. We wanted to see Felicia Day (@feliciaday) and Wil Wheaton (@wilw) talk about Felicia's newest Internet venture, the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel.

The most important panel was starting up at 3:30 and I told the guys how important it was for me to be there, and there I was…sitting in front of Ernest Cline, awesome author of Ready Player One and screenwriter of Fanboys. The man is a walking 1980s nostalgia engineer. He even drives a Delorean. Real deal, right here!

Ernest Cline; he talks super fast. His enthusiasm for pop culture 
reminds me of my brother 

When it came time for questions, I finally managed to muster up the courage to ask Ernest if he used an outline format or just some form of word vomit when he wrote his book. "Definitely an outline format, just like a screenplay," he told me. But the best bit of advice he gave me was, "Write about what you're excited about first, and then go back and fill in the details." He also mentioned you should have an awesome copy editor to read through your manuscript once it's completed since s/he will point out details you may have missed or didn't even consider while you were writing.

I really tried sticking around for the Geek Slant: How the East Meets the West panel but by that point my stomach vehemently growled "BAGEL." The bagel was delicious by the way.

I met up with the guys afterwards. Earlier we decided that I would meet up with them after the Spider-Man movie panel but they never made it in. Apparently it pays to spend your entire day in the ballroom after all. It's alright; they spent their time taking pictures of a bunch of cosplayers in the lobby and out on the floor (check out the Flickr link for photos because frankly I'm too lazy to include anymore pictures at this point). 

7:00 finally rolled around, which meant it was time for the Tournament of Nerds panel! @nahdeeeyah's boyfriend @jasonsheridan was set to perform in this comedic bracket-style debate. ToN works like every single debate you've ever had with your friends (who would win in a fight: Superman or Batman?) except there's a twist…there is no room for an even playing field. Here's how it was matched up: Thor v. Godzilla (with Maddox as Godzilla); Freddy Krueger v. The Undertaker; Alfred Pennyworth (@jasonsheridan) v. J. Jonah Jameson; and Ferris Bueller v. The Twilight Zone (wtf). After it was finally whittled down to Godzilla v. The Twilight Zone, only one winner could be crowned: Godzilla. 

The last event of the night was the Masquerade which was held in the ballroom. While everyone's costumes were pretty fantastic (I could never build a Transformer that shot laser beams at the audience), there was one event that pretty much owned the masquerade: the 7 minute LARPing* performance of Jedis v. Sith fighters. BTW the Sith won. We have no idea who won the masquerade; we just knew we were hungry.

*LARPing: verb, to LARP 
LARP: acronym, Live Action Role Playing