This topic will be different in the sense that I will continually bump it until the con is over. CONvergence is a 4-day sci-fi convention from Thursday to Sunday. I have my schedule mapped out already, and each day, I'll post random thoughts about my experiences. Here's my outlook:
Guests of Honor
Jason Carter - Actor - Dead Matter, Babylon 5 Edward Douglas - Gothic Horror Fantasy soundtrack creator - Midnight Syndicate, Dead Matter Brian Keene - Novelist/Comic Writer - Grave Conditions, The Last Zombie Seanan McGuire - Urban Fantasist - October Daye, InCrptid, Newsflesh Lynne Thomas - Librarian/Author/Editor - Chicks Dig Time Lords Anthony Tollin - Historian/Publisher/Comics Colorist - The Shadow & Doc Savage reprints Catherynne Valente - Novelist/Poet - The Orphan's Tales Brian Van Camp - Actor - Dead Matter Greg Weisman - Creator of Disney’s Gargoyles and supervising producer of The Spectacular Spider-Man for 2008.
Greg Weisman is the only one I recognize, because Gargoyles was my favorite cartoon back in the mid 90s. If you haven't seen it, you need to find it on YouTube immediately.
CONVERGENCE 2011 Schedule - Subject to Change
Thursday, June 30th
2:30-4:30 PM – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 5:00 -6:00 PM – Comics as TV Afterlife
Friday, July 1st
9:30-10:30 AM - 80s/90s Cartoons 11:00 -12:00 PM – Critiquing Fandom 2:00-3:00 PM – Year in Review 5:00-6:00 PM – Stuff I Didn’t Know 7:00-8:00 PM – Inception Panel
Saturday, July 2nd
9:30-10:30 AM – Creating Fairy Tales 11:00-12:00 PM – Hollywood Myths 2:00 PM – Greg Weisman Autograph Signing, Twitter Must Be True 3:30-4:30 PM – Gargoyles Panel 4:30-5:30 PM – Greg Weisman Interview
Sunday, July 3rd
9:30-10:30 AM – Toy Story 3 Panel 11:00-12:00 PM – Future of Robots 2:00-3:00 PM – History of Spider-Man Panel 3:30-4:30 PM – James Bond (MI6) Panel
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"Should I slice off your tongue or break your countless bones? Either way, I get paid; you'll bleed to death and die alone." - Blood Money
After wandering around waiting for **** to open up, I watched Willy Wonka in its "entirety" for the first time. I'd never seen it from start to finish, but I must say it's one of those timeless classics that everyone should see. The worst part is the CD **** itself right before the best scene (tunnel of doom), so we had to skip it...bastards.
I went to a panel called "Comics as TV Afterlife," with Greg Weisman, another comic writer, and theater actor. They discussed how to adapt TV shows into comics, vice versa, and the politics that goes on. Greg mentioned how Gargoyles was a great seller for SLG comics, but licensing fees from Disney ****** over that project. He wasn't even the main writer for the comic adaptation to his own new series, Young Justice. Other writers developed the first six issues. The panel took off when I referenced continuity in film, TV, and comics. It bled into how the Internet community acts so fast to ***** and moan about any changes done to make characters appeal to broader audiences. A consensus was made that you can't please everybody, so it's all about doing what needs to be done, regardless of some butthurt fanbase.
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"Should I slice off your tongue or break your countless bones? Either way, I get paid; you'll bleed to death and die alone." - Blood Money
80s/90s Cartoons Panel: Reminisicing about the golden age of after school/Saturday cartoons is awesome.
Health Scams Panel: Homeopathy, Exercise machines, and vaccinations all come under scrutiny. A particular story about using a fecal transplant curing Autism (eww) was ridiculuous.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: I was impressed by the interaction between the main characters. The pseudo-noir setting was nice. However, the homages to old sci-fi and steampunk caught me off-guard at first. I never watched old sci-fi flicks like that, so I didn't get the "itchy" feeling most people would. Still, I'm glad it was better than I expected.
I ducked out after that at 2, because I'd rather stay home and wait for tomorrow. Gargoyles is awesome, and those panels will happen.
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"Should I slice off your tongue or break your countless bones? Either way, I get paid; you'll bleed to death and die alone." - Blood Money
Common Hollywood Myths: Mythbusters, Bipedal Aliens, PEW PEW lasers, space noises, evolutionary transcendance, and Bond Gadgets...YEAH!
Twitter: The panel was about Twitter and the effect breaking news on the site has on the internet and society in general. I haven't created an account yet, but I'm interested. Hopefully it actually has some value, but I doubt it.
Gargoyles: This was the panel I went to the convention for, and it didn't disappoint. A person went full boar and cosplayed as Demona, wings and all. I learned a lot about Disney company policy, the casting of Star Trek actors in major voice roles, and the creator's own view on immortality. It was worth the wait.
One more day.
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"Should I slice off your tongue or break your countless bones? Either way, I get paid; you'll bleed to death and die alone." - Blood Money