The Programming panels were upstairs. This year one of the fun panels allowed attendees to call out suggestions for Alien Armageddon (last year it was robots). Who would win in a fight between Alf versus Frank the Pug from Men in Black. The chick from Species vs Chthulu. Plus various Star Trek & Star Wars aliens. The only rules for the game were that it could not be an animated being.
We missed the entire Masquerade. Why? Thanks for asking...grummmble. The Chinese New Year hit on the exact Saturday of the Masque. Last year it was in February and this year it was in March, just for us. It was an extravagant nightmare! Firecrackers, music and Floats everywhere! There was a full-blown parade blocking our hotel. All we wanted to do was quickly go back to our rooms, change clothes and pick up food. We had to go so far around the parade that it took 45 minutes. ONE-WAY. By the time we did our stuff, got food and brought it back it was all over except the judging.
The food at WonderCon is superior to other conventions. Inside the convention center and across the street at the Metreon Mall. The only good thing that happened because of the parade was dinner. We found a fantastic restaurant at the top of the Metreon called the Martini Grill. It was a little pricey but not scary. They had very tasty foofoo food. Chris and I ordered in a hurry and did not read the menu completely. Basically I ordered prawns and he ordered steak. What we ended up getting looked like things we would not have ordered. My food was green, baby puke green. There was an avocado sauce on my food which looked scary but tasted like heaven. Chris food also had tricks up its sleeves. His ordinary looking French fries turned out to be garlic infused. Both dinners tasted FANTASTIC!
Sadly a large chunk of the people who would normally attend ConDor in San Diego were drawn away by WonderCon in San Francisco. The 2 conventions have never been directly on top of each others dates before. It was an unavoidable dilemma that left many of us torn. We all hope it never clashes again.
WonderCon premiered the new movie 300 and it ROCKED HARD! The story is excellent and well worth watching! Frank Miller wrote the graphic novel. It reminds me a tiny bit of the Sin City movie only in the way some scenes are dead on accurate. Someone made a comment after the screening that the Wolf did not look real, but it looked exactly like the one in the book. I heard no real complaints about 300 and NOTHING can beat the amount of ABS in that movie. We ALL need to exercise more often. Even Time magazine made a comment about the men. Chris commented on the lack of fake tits :-) I liked the nouveau-British teeth: great on the top row and normal on the bottom. I thought it made everyone look a little more "real". I am going to see it again soon because it was that good.
WonderCon Freebie / SWAG Report
There were several Freebie tables at WonderCon. Two tables for flyers and bookmark type items and Two tables for company swag. It had a lot of great mini movie posters & buttons. (The mini posters are a lot easier to travel home with). Several items were at the individual Booths or at the Panels upstairs. The following is a list of all the free swag I know about. Here are a few group shots of some of the freebies.
WC Pins
WC Horror
WC 300
WC Drive
The WonderCon website is jam packed with information. Go there directly or through the Comic-Con website at: http://www.wondercon.com/
Mary, marysgarage@hotmail.com
