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| Friday used to be quiet, now its insane |
Lots of pictures are at the Tumblr page if you want to go here
I got into the city after 12. I missed the Blue is the Warmest Color screening at the New York Film Festival because I was slow moving.
Heading to the Javitts Center it was clear this was different then yesterday. The people in costume and heading over seemed to be psyched and not a mob of people trying to get in on the big thing. At the Con the feeling was different. Friendlier a bit like home-or what was once home.
Much of the early talk with vendors and press people was that Thursday crowd was different. It wasn't there for the con but something else. I heard stories of several long time vendors having things stolen which hadn't happened before. People described the sensation as unpleasant.
Today on the other hand was better.
For me the crowds were the continuing story. They moved back and forth through the con like waves on the ocean.By two it was difficult to move down many aisles. Around five when several book signings were going on, line management on the sales floor from several booths were making it difficult as a couple of publishers ran lines on either side of one aisle. I saw a couple of vendors arguing with people on one line because they were hugging so close to their booth no one could get to it.
I saw a guy and a girl get into a fight over the size of her ass because it was too big to move around.
I kept retreating up to the press area because it was calm and quiet there- and I could sit down. It was there that I ran into Mondocurry whom I went to the Oldboy panel, Hubert who interviewed the Oldboy cast and Alec who was going to hunt dumplings on a PR event related to Oldboy.
The retreat was because I got shut out of panels, most notably Big Ass Spider and Max Brooks. I figured the Max Brooks would be full, but not Big Ass Spider. The person working the door wouldn't let me in. Who knows.
Before the Oldboy panel I did wander artists alley with Mondo. It was cool since I saw some great art and I got to meet Frank Cho who I love. Its not just Liberty Meadows, rather its just his style and economy of line that is wonderful.
I don't know about Mondo, I had to leave early since I had to meet up with my brother but I wasn't much impressed with the Oldboy panel which was Michael Imperioloi, writer Mark Protosevich and a girl who's name I didn't catch. Josh Brolin said a few words via video. They ran a trailer. They talked a bit about the project and kept coming back to the earlier film. Everything seemed to relate to the earlier film. The panel then showed a clip of Josh Brolin beating people up with a claw hammer before beating up Samuel L Jackson and cutting bits of his throat. Its a cool scene, but it seems to be amping things up toward silliness (the gore is way over the top) because the story is so well known in some parts that you can't do a straight retelling. It looks well made, well acted and earnest but why are they doing it when it doesn't appear to be able to stand on its own?
Unimpressed I left so I could head home.
It was ultimately an okay day, though sadly lacking in the wonder of years past.
To end on a positive note, the crowd was mostly polite and I had lots of nice conversations. I also picked up a couple of small independent films which will be reviewed soon.
That's it bed time- time to do it all over again tomorrow.
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