NYCC Day #2 + New Yorker Festival

Another day at NYCC! While most of the con takes place at a huge convention center, some of the events and panels have been moved to venues offsite. I spent most of the day at those places to get a bit away from the crowds. Ultimately I got to attend four panels:

- The World of Philip K. Dick
Cast and crew from two shows based on stories by the popular science fiction author. I was not familiar with the shows, but I’ve watched films based off short stories by Philip K. Dick and quite enjoyed those.

- Pacific Rim Uprising
World premiere of the trailer for the second film in the series, coming out in March 2018. Some of the cast members were there, like Scott Eastwood and John Boyega of Star Wars fame. Pretty cool panel.

- Robot Chicken
Another weird animated (or stop-motion rather) show I’ve never watched, but the cast members (who do voices on the show) were a lot of fun and very entertaining. The main stars were Seth Green, Breckin Meyer and Macauley Culkin! Of all people. Kevin is all grown up.

- Lucasfilm
A panel about the cartoons, books and various Star Wars related stories by authors who work for the official franchise. I’m not familiar with the material, but it’s always fascinating to observe how influential Star Wars has become.

After NYCC I had some dinner, and made my way to the Gramercy Theater for a Q&A and live interview with actress Glenn Close - part of The New Yorker Festival. It was quite interesting to hear her discuss her craft and some of her memorable roles. The one I associate her with primarily is of course Fatal Attraction. It was fascinating to hear her talk about working on it, and watch a clip from the movie with her sitting right there in front of us. Intimate and insightful.

About 40 blocks north I then attended another event by The New Yorker - a live interview with Jerry Seinfeld! Yup, the very same man I saw perform live last night around the same time even. Tonight it wasn’t a performance - instead he was interviewed on stage by a moderator in front of a relatively small audience. He was asked many questions about his career and about comedy in general. It was very interesting to hear more about all the technical things involved in delivering jokes - at least in the way he approaches it. With Seinfeld being one of my all time favorite shows it was a treat to hear and see the titular man himself talk about it - in person.Read more