And frankly, for such a convention, with multiple events taking place at the same time, it just is not humanely (nor alienly) possible to see them all.
And so, choices and compromises are to be made constantly, in order to fill up a very limited amount of time with the maximum number of things.
Or ...
What about a more laid-back approach?
Not having a particular need for autographs, my "queuing" time has been limited so far to the one required to actually access the convention on the very first day.
Queuing is a good way to listen to fellow fans stories, and participate too.
But there is a paradox (at least for me): spending more than four times waiting for something than the duration of the thing you are waiting for means that you spent 80% of this event waiting for it.
That's a lot.
I know these 80% are spent with people you share a burning passion with, so it's definitely not an unproductive time, but again, I feel I could use some of that time to visit more booths, attend to more panels, or simply update this blog!
So that's what has been happening so far for me: my waiting time has been rather limited, which meant more freedom to ... stroll along, check items, and ... well yes, sometimes do just nothing! (I told you there was a paradox)
And then there's the "Main Event" tomorrow. That is, George Lucas being interviewed at 11am, during 90 minutes.
It seems like you have to earn this event, and some queuing up is required:
- Queuing up to collect a special badge needed to access the room. These badges will be distributed from 6am tomorrow
- Once you have your badge, you now queue up in front of the room you've been assigned to, until 11am
We passed in front of the convention center some time ago (by 8pm), and there were people with sleeping bags, already waiting. That brings the 80% percentage I was mentioning earlier up to 91%!
If that is not dedication, I don't know what is.
I'm not going to go through this experience though. Not that I am not a fan (I consider myself one, which I think is enough to actually be one), but I'm going to try a different approach.
I am going to have a nice night of sleep, then head to the convention center by 7:30am, and see if badges for the "Main event" are available.
Depending on how it goes, I'll either be lucky enough to access one of the rooms where George Lucas can be seen, or lucky enough to have the whole convention center for myself, since everyone will be in the Main Event rooms!
Now to the photos
The first one is the photo I should have taken this morning had I been quicker.
As we were heading to the Ben Burtt panel (a very good one btw), we crossed paths with ... George Lucas.
It was an interesting and quick moment, and although I wouldn't have had the courage to actually talk to him (it looks as if he was going somewhere after all), I'll remember it as a nice instant.
I saw the "Masters of the Empire" panel, where four of the working forces of TESB discussed together what it meant at the time to be part of this movie.
My next panel was a tough one: "Mark Hamill". The queue for this event was huge, and the (big) room reached its capacity before everybody in line could get inside.
Which means I suddenly had time to eat and wander (always look at the bright side)
A cute remote controlled Lego R2
Warwick Davis was here too!
And as always, fans are more and more creative it seems ...
I then went to the digital projection of Ep. 3 & 4, two movies that are 30 years apart, but equally powerful...
With a big scree, and a crisp image, I literally rediscovered these movies!
