You Cannot Be Serious...

[lazypadawan]

So, while I was only sporadically online over the past couple of days I saw that they finally gave a date and time for "The Daily Show Live," er, George Lucas's appearance at Celebration V (Saturday the 14th, 11 a.m.). I knew it was going to be tricky getting into this thing, but this is ridiculous.

Let's just really low-ball potential attendance at Celebration V with 25,000 people, about two thousand less than Celebration II. Even with "only" 25 grand souls, about 6500 people will be able to see this presentation at all. That includes the main stage where the live interview will take place and all of the other stages being used for overflow. That means AT LEAST 3/4 of attendees will be SOL. If attendance is the same as or higher than Celebration IV, i.e. 34,000+, that makes it even less likely you'll see Papa George in person. Making matters worse is that Lucas is appearing one time only, whereas at Celebration III, he did like two or three appearances.

Here's where it really gets to suck-land. You have to have a bracelet to get into the presentation or the overflow rooms and since 1) they start handing them out at 6 a.m. on Saturday and 2) the official Celebration site's FAQ practically encourages you to camp out overnight, it is obvious that you have start lining up on Friday and stay in line overnight or you will have no prayer at all of getting in on Saturday. Because if you don't, there are 15,000 other a-holes who will. And even if you are fine with pooping in your pants and not showering and risking getting hit by lightning, there's still no guarantee you'll get in. The only people who don't have to wait are those who paid the extra bucks for the VIP packages, which is only fair if you paid that kind of money to go. You know how unenthused I was before about Jon Stewart's presence, but this pretty much sews it up for me. Unless Lucas is handing out bags of money, I'm not going to those lengths for anyone. Eff that noise, as we Gen-Xers used to say.

Here's an idea, Reed Entertainment. Why not let people PREORDER their bracelets??? First come, first serve to the first 6500 people who can hit the click button. Give first priority to Hyperspace members; after all we paid that $15 per annum for no good reason anyway. Set it for 6 p.m. PST so everybody's home from work or school. That way nobody has to camp out overnight or forego other events to get into a line.

But I guess making things easy doesn't make for good press, does it? And I'm afraid that's what they want...a line full of crazy, wet, smelly fans they can show on t.v..

Ah well, who wants to sit in a room full of people who haven't bathed on a hot humid August day anyway?

In other Celebration catastrophes, I hear that the company the con used to set up "official" hotel reservations went belly up. Oops. I'm booked through Hotels.com, whew!

Comments

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Oh ugh. Although, to be honest, I wasn't really planning on going to see George Lucas anyway (simply because I can't stand Jon Stewart and I just couldn't justify the sort of wait I assumed we'd experience to see something with him). But yeah, that just doesn't sound like a barrel of fun... besides which, I'm going to be working at the convention and, while I don't have my schedule yet, I doubt waiting in line overnight would fit well with it.

And I hadn't heard the news about the reservation company. This might explain why I recently received an update to my reservation confirmation.

[cyndisuesue.livejournal.com]

Funny, I spoke to on-peak today and had no problem at all -the website would not allow me to add the third party onto my room reservation. After it was done, I did receive another confirmation, too.

As to seeing papa George, it will happen for me only if Mary throws it to the "Elites" as a perk of the job! I'm really nervous that Jon will ruin everything for me with a political comment or two. I want politics kept OUT of my SW escapism!

I can't believe we'll be there in just three weeks!! Eek!

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

I'm really nervous that Jon will ruin everything for me with a political comment or two. I want politics kept OUT of my SW escapism!

I'm with you on the latter, but I wouldn't be too worried. In the TDS interview with GL, politics didn't figure remotely into the conversation. It was, by and large, merely a geek meeting his idol. I expect this C5 shindig to be more of the same.

[skywalker-child.livejournal.com]

I was just reading about the whole "Getting in to see George" thing myself and have resigned myself to not seeing him. (Of course, I still haven't bought my tickets for the convention itself, but probably would've sat here to get the magic bracelet.) I liked that, on the website, besides warning you about the weather, they also mentioned gators. That tickled me.

My boyfriend and our friends that we're going with booked our hotel directly through Universal, as we're making a whole trip out of it. Smart us.

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a completely different company that went belly up? *shrug*

I still am *facepalming* over why the heck they didn't use the fricking NFL stadium adjoining the convention center to host GL last time. Guess they haven't learned.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

The TFN headline was a little misleading upon looking at it a second time:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/CV_Hotel_Reservation_Site_Goes_Bankrupt_132637.asp

[darth-pipes.livejournal.com]

Five celebrations done by a billion-dollar-company and they still can't get it right?

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Even Steve Jobs is laughing.

[sreya.livejournal.com]

Good grief. I have to admit, I've not been overly impressed by all of this so far. I think the part I'm most excited about so far is the Last Tour to Endor party... and that's not even at the con itself! I mean, none of the "official" merch interests me (c'mon, it's all Boba Fett, YAWN), sounds like I probably won't get to meet/see any of the big stars without shelling over tons of money for autographs I don't see a need for, or wasting a whole lot of time in a line in awful weather, and while there's a few interesting things on the schedule, I haven't seen much to get me REALLY excited. Okay, the laser tag looks like a blast, but that'll be 15 minutes of play. I think part of my problem is that what I really want is something more like those "academic" style cons I've seen for the Harry Potter fans, with a lot of focus on the underlying mythology, fanfic writing, etc.

Oh, well, I'm vacationing in Florida with friends, with 5 days of excuses to geek out in a way I haven't done in years. So long as I manage expectations, I'll be fine. *grin*

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

I think part of my problem is that what I really want is something more like those "academic" style cons I've seen for the Harry Potter fans, with a lot of focus on the underlying mythology, fanfic writing, etc.

That's the kind of stuff I would love to see at Celebration too. Comic Con has scheduled legal workshops, tips for getting into the biz, screenwriting classes, how to do podcasts, etc.. There's even a Twilight fan fiction group meeting in a neighboring hotel. I understand they want to make Celebration all about geeky fun and there's nothing wrong with geeky fun. But I noticed the lack of substance at the last Celebration and I was disappointed they didn't change up the programming very much this time around. Another big yawn from me on the con exclusives. I'll likely hit up the Celebration store for other goodies but the best Boba Fett item is one of the artists' exclusives.

One thing about Celebration that sets it apart from other cons...it's Darwinian to the extreme. I joked years ago that it's like the Star Wars episode of Survivor where your job is to outsmart, outplay, and outlast every other attendee in order to see, do, and get what you want. There are times when you'll feel like the guy at the car show who has to keep his hand on the new Ferrari all Memorial Day weekend to win it.

But I'm really looking forward to the Disney party. That will be fun! Disney does that kind of stuff right.