Well I'm back from three days in Star Wars heaven and hell. Star Wars Celebration III was all about the lines. Since this was my first con since I was a kid, I suppose I should be grateful that I learned so much in such a short time. Chief among the lessons was that Indianapolis is a great place with a walkable downtown. If the weather had been better I would have seen a lot more of it.
Day 1-Arrived Thursday afternoon. Checked in at my hotel, six miles from downtown, and received maps to the Convention Center. I drove down, parked in the downtown mall's parking deck, and headed for will call. Bypassed first long line, entered the no line at will call, picked up my stuff, and was told to head back out to the entry line. I headed the other way and was in the main hall, ID in hand. The will call volunteer didn't mention that as a fan club member I could pick up a lanyard a couple of booths down, which would get me in an hour earlier every day of the show. Fortunately another attendee let me know. What I wish I'd done that first day was hit the store line. I never did get into the store. I did hear Matt Stover talk writing and Revenge of the Sith. I thought he made some good comments about Lucas and the fact that Lucas sees the force and the people/events of the movies as much more grey, much less black and white, than some of the fans do. I suppose you can't have a story of redemption if everything is black and white. Also checked out the art display that first day. And the Exhibitor Hall. And some of the fan hall. Still thought there was so much more I could have done.
Day 2-Friday was a long day, mainly because I spent so much time in lines. Met a couple of nice guys, John and Jason, in the line to get in. We stood in the rain for well over an hour and I shared my umbrella with John. We had a good conversation about the politics of the first trilogy and current American politics. I'm 99% sure he was a gay Republican. Both he and Jason were students in the midwest. I'd hoped to hook up again with them but never did. After that it was off to pick the best line in my soggy shoes and wet shirt. I went with the wait to hear a phone call from Hayden, who's in Italy filming the Decameron. I never would have thought a 30 minutes phone call would be worth a two hour wait, but it was. He was friendly and polite and seemed to really enjoy connecting with the fans. And the fans made waiting in line tolerable. Another highlight was Star Wars in 30. A small cast presented the moves on a bare stage with props. Shakespeare meets Star Wars.
There's more to come.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment