Wizard World Chicago Comicon 2013 Day #3

Wizard World 2013 – Day 3

Saturdays at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con are traditionally this biggest day of the con.

We definitely saw the most foot traffic today, but at no point were the throngs of people unbearable.  I’m not sure if this is due to a down turn in attendance, or is a positive attribute to the new floor layout, but the convention floor (both levels) was never impassible.  There was very little occurrence of “row rage” which is typically caused by the masses of inconsiderate herd animals present in a public place stopping short, or bumping in to my expensive fancy camera.

The only uncomfortable bottle-neck areas seemed to be the escalators.  It was very obvious that the escalators in this particular section of the Donald F. Stephens Convention Center were not designed with the intent of moving quite as many people as Wizard World draws in.  The main escalators were packed nose to shoulders the entire day.  There was a strange little area at the top of the escalators with a divider in the middle made up of the elevators, that made the transition on to the show floor somewhat confusing, especially if you were coming in on the skywalk from the parking garge/hotels.

The secondary set of escalators running down the side of the show floor were broken down more often than they were operational.  The main problem with this is that these escalators are very narrow and there is no stair case option even when they are operational which would greatly help to dissipate the traffic/congestion.

For the most part, everyone was thoughtful, considerate and pleasant to be around.  The exception this year was something which to this point, I had not really encountered at a convention. On multiple occasions, I observed grown ass adults wearing shirts with the word “fuck” proudly emblazoned on the shirt.  I find this very puzzling.

Now, I know people are idiots.  I accept this as fact.  The problem that I have with this is that Wizard World is really a family event.  It’s not like Dragon*Con which encourages families, but also advertises certain adults only events (i.e. Dragon*Con After Dark).  Wizard World runs only until 7pm in the evening and offers up to two free children’s admissions for each paying adult.  Use better judgment people.  An event like Wizard World is not your chance to make a counter culture statement by wearing a shirt with the word “fuck” on it.  Grow up.

Midway through the day, I spent some time at Tom Nguyen’s table talking to him about photography, his new Art Samurai venture, and what makes women sexy.  The footage of the interview will be available soon on YouTube.  Keep your eye on the Misinformation Podcast Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MisinformationPodcast for details of when the video will be available.  Tom’s a good friend of the show and a really fun guy!

Eric and Kehoe wanted to swing by Eddie McClintock’s (Warehouse 13) table to say hi and get a quick photo.  I know absolutely nothing about Warehouse 13 beside the fact that it’s on SyFy and is about a warehouse with some wacky inventory.  What I do now know, is that if you’re not watching the show, you should be.  Why?  Well, simply because Eddie is the nicest damn man on the planet.  He chatted with us for about ten minutes about everything from why I’m not watching the show to porn stars.  Yes.  Porn stars.  I like this guy.

Next we made our way over to Jon Heder’s (Napoleon Dynamite, Blades of Glory) table so that I could get an autograph for my oldest boy.  The kid is notoriously difficult to shop for and LOVES Napoleon Dynamite.  Jon was super friendly.  He is close friends with miscreant and my former roommate Joe Spina (Geek and Gamer Girls, For the Win, Old Days) so we chatted a bit about Joe.  I made sure to ask Jon to kick him in the nuts for me.  Jon told us to make sure to go say to Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville, Pool Hall Junkies) and tell him that I know Joe, which we did and hopefully the video of that adventure will make its way to the internet someday.

He totally put us up to it Joe.  True story.

We finished our day in our super-secret hotel room lobby people watching and enjoying beers.  Not a bad day at all.

Celebrities spotted in the wild:

Alan Tudyk

Jason Priestly

Morena Baccarin

Wil…Wheaton.  I hate Wil…Wheaton.

Norman Reedus

John Berenthal

Lou Ferrigno  

 

-Z