[Groop] WonderCon 2006 Report

[Shawn]

Greetings everyone,
   
  I was able to make it to the WonderCon for the first time, and I have to say it was a great experience.  Having it in San Francisco was ideal for me personally, since I live somewhat close-by.  I took some reasonable pictures, and would love to share them with anyone who is interested.  I wish I was more computer-suave in order to just set up a site where any and all could view them, but, until that magic day happens, anyone interested in seeing them will just have to email me personally so that I can forward them along to your email addresses.  Sorry about that.
   
  Here is a humble report from a "newbie" ----
   
   
  * Mark, of course, was missed throughout the whole con.  However, he did make a small appearance via Sergio's cell phone during the "Quick Draw" - Mark was strong enough to call in and say "hi" to everyone.  (Sergio placed the earpiece of the phone close to his mic, so that the audience could hear Mark's voice)  Mark sounded in good spirits - must have been the nurses <wink> and the "...old movies" he was watching.  Also during Sergio’s solo performance at the “Quick Draw”, he had me in tears, from laughing so hard, when he drew his panoramic view of how “he” saw us, the audience.  Great stuff.
   
  * Sergio announced that he was working on Solo, published by DC, which should be out in print before the San Diego Convention.  I cannot wait - and am wondering, can we pre-order this from DC directly?  Does anyone know?
   
  * I was able to purchase, from Sergio, the 100th issue of "The Simpson's" - Sergio makes an appearance talking to Bart who is attending the "Springfield Comic-Con".  (I wonder how much the hotels went for at that convention?)  Moreover, Sergio has a two page drawing of what Sergio really sees when he is at a convention.  Funny stuff!   
   
  * Scott Shaw! was also there along with his wife and son.  He and Sergio both were not too happy that their "booths" were very far apart from one another.  Scott was selling his boxes of Oddball Comics cards.  These are pictures, set to cards, of a few oddball comics from Scott's personal collection.  They are hilarious!
   
  * Kevin Smith gave a stellar performance.  I laughed so hard at his antics I was actually in tears.  One of the funniest things that happened was while he was on stage, he told a 7-year old boy, who was boasting about seeing ALL of Kevin’s movies, that the boy had “
a terrible father”.  Kevin’s movies are known to be full of expletives as well as crude humor, so Kevin was more than a little shocked that the boy’s father let him see Kevin’s movies, let alone even know about "Jay and Silent Bob".
   
  * Mission: Impossibly III was previewed and talked about by writer/director J.J. Abrams.  This looks to be a fantastic movie.  J.J. Abrams, himself, is a very charismatic, dynamic, and funny man.  He obviously had a good time at the WonderCon.  The studio was nice enough to hand out black caps, with "MI III" on the front, and 05/05/06 on the back.
   
  * Before the preview of MI III, we saw a large clip of the Squirrel who has the never-ending quest of chasing a nut up and down ice glaciers.  It was promised that "Scratch" will have a bigger role in the upcoming movie "Ice Age II, The Meltdown" with Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, and Jay Leno- Release date March 31, 2006.  Scratch will actually interact with the main characters.  So, that is something to look forward to seeing.
   
  * The Fire Marshall closed the exhibit hall for a while on Saturday.  There were just too many people!  The line just to get into the WonderCon was HUGE both Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday, the WonderCon people even stopped selling tickets to get inside the con!  I don't know for sure, but I believe that most of the people were there to see Kevin Smith, and once he was over, things got back to normal - yet, the line of people never really seemed to die down outside.  I purchased my ticket to the con over the internet and arrived early on Friday (first day of the con) and had no problems with any lines what so ever.
   
  * San Francisco was definitely crowded, however the weather was awe-inspiring, and everyone I met was friendly and happy.  There was a parade on Saturday night to celebrate Chinese New Year.  It was hard to take many pictures because of the dark (and my camera is not one of those fancy million dollar types), however, I was able to get a few shots.  China Town was packed full of celebrants, not to mention the color red!  Happy year of the Dog to everyone!
   
  BTW:  I have a couple of extra Programs that I found discarded around the Con (can you imagine!!), and an extra MI III hat, if there is anyone interested in them (not for eBay!) please let me know - no charge, of course.  I guess it will be first come, first served, kind of deal.  Sorry I couldn't scrounge up more.  I did try.  :)
   
  Thank you for letting me be a part of this great Groop!  I am having a so much fun.  If anyone has any questions, feedback, suggestions, etc. please feel free to email me.
   
  Keep Smiling - hoping to see you all in San Diego come July!
   
  Shawn Nicholson
  San Luis Obispo, California
  (the girl :)

		
---------------------------------
Relax. Yahoo! Mail virus scanning helps detect nasty viruses!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.newdream.net/pipermail/groop/attachments/20060215/a02ca7a4/attachment-0001.htm