TOPIC: Celebration IV

I'm curious, did any of the West coast (or east coast/central) people attend Celebrations this memorial weekend?<br /><br />If so, what did ya think?

Star Wars Con...were there games there?<br /><br />Sorry - passed again this year...

I didn't go, since I went home to MA for my Dad's retirement party.  I do know that Friday night there was a bomb scare during the opening ceremonies that caused the cops to evacuate the LACC for a couple hours - there was a suspicious package outside the LACC (turned out to be nothing).<br /><br />Brian<br />

Yep, I went on Saturday.  It was OK but honestly, for the cost, I was a little disappointed.  Its like $45 for one day and for that, I would have expected more.<br /><br />Saw a couple of the Fan Films which were good.  Went to a Star Wars "museum" which was really just one room with movie props, constumes, and the original Millenium Falcon which was interesting.  The best part was a Q&A talk with Ben Burt who was the guy that basically invented the sounds of Star Wars (Lightsabers, blasters, R2, Chewie, etc.).  Very cool.  The talks in general would have been interesting but they are strategically spaced out over the whole weekend to encourage you to get the Weekend Pass which I wasn't about to do.  :|  There was a lame "lazer tag" area ($8 for 15 mins).  There was also some talks about how to build your own R2-D2 and costumes that I wasn't really into but seemed to be popular.<br /><br />There is an Exhibitors hall that is just like the one at GenCon but with Star Wars stuff.  And if you want to wait in a long line, you can get autographs from some of the Star Wars actors.  I was stunned by how much Jake Lloyd and the kid who played young Boba Fett have grown up.  If Natalie Portman was there, I might have tried to get her autograph.  <br /><br />Thats about it though.  I've never been before and it was fun but I was expecting a little more.  Perhaps interactive exhibits, more frequent "lectures", more props from the movies, the main actors (Ewan, Natalie, Hayden, Mark, Harrison) from the 6 films, etc.  Or even an appearance from George would have been nice.  I probably won't go back next year but I don't regret going this year.

If memory serves me correct Ewan Mcgregor and Natalie portman were never in a Star Wars movie.  Who is young Boba Fett?  (thought his name was Jaster Mareel)

<br />If memory serves me correct Ewan Mcgregor and Natalie portman were never in a Star Wars movie.  Who is young Boba Fett?  (thought his name was Jaster Mareel)<br />

<br /><br />Yep, Jaster Mareel.  Thats him.  Funny, I thought he was in a scene with Ewan. 

I met Daniel Logan (boba fett) and Ray Parks (Darth Maul) at SoCal Gen Con (or was it a Comic Con) 2-3 years ago - they were both really cool guys!  Daniel had already sprouted - so I know what you mean when you said it was amazing how fast they have grown...

I got a chance to meet Ray Parks at SoCal GenCon in 2004.  He was absolutely delightful to talk with.<br /><br /><br />

You know who else has surprised the heck out of me...Richard Hatch (original Apollo from BSG).<br /><br />That guy knows his stuff and was both a pleasure to talk to and very sharp/witty!<br /><br />Oh - and Marc Singer (Beastmaster / V) - he has a friendly personality too - nice guy.

CNN.com has a video montage of the convention. Just click on any of the video feeds and check for star wars convention. The thing was around 4-5 minutes long.

Nathan Fillion at GenCon SoCal was wonderfully nice and friendly.<br />

I met Kevin Sorbo (Hercules and Andromeda) in the Las Vegas airport.  He was another very nice guy.  Human behavior is funny thought.  He was on the same flight to Portland as I was--he was going up to play golf, but it was about a two hour wait in Las Vegas.  I could not believe how many teenybopper type women (most in their 40s) kept coming by and bugging him--over and over again.  It was embarassing.  I wanted to leave him alone, but he started the conversation.  We only exchanged a few words, because he was tired, but he commented that being a recognizable faces has its drawbacks.  We chatted for a few minutes about Portland and I steered clear of TV shows.  Extremely pleasant to talk with when not being bugged by "fans" who knew he was a star, but probably had no idea star of what.<br /><br />Another celebrity I enjoyed speaking with was Margaret Weis (Dragonlance).  I spent several hours with her at a writer's conference.  She critiqued one of my chapters for me.  Last year I met her again in the lobby of the Marriot the night of the Golden Ticket run.  I almost tried to convince her to come up to the tavern with me and see if we could get her to run with us on Team Token, but the Marriot had screwed up her reservation and she had to straighten some things out.  (would have had to get permission from Jeff, but that would have been cool to have the author of Dragonlance and all the choose your own adventure books with us).  Anyway another great person to talk to.<br />