Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Fight, The Con, and the Pope

So it's Tuesday! That means I get to tell everyone about my "week". For me the week starts on Thursday (because it's the day of the show). Anyway, after the show, I attended a special screening of "The Forbidden Kingdom". For those of you who don't know, that is the Jackie Chan/Jet Li martial arts epic. What can I say but the fight was great! The rest of the movie...not so much. It was..decent, and while 85% of the movie was by the numbers, there was one or two things that made me think that SOMEONE was thinking while making this movie.
During that time (of the show) our very own Belkis was attending the Stan Lee VIP event. As you can see from our main page, she snagged a photo with him. I was hoping for an interview, but he didn't stay that long at the event.
Friday, I went to the NYCC (actually, I went all three days). It was great. I got to meet up with alot of my contacts, made a few new ones and did a slew of audio and (Belkis did) video interviews (which are being uploaded to the site as I type this). I got to meet the head of the NYCC Lance Fensterman (he did the show for those of you who don't remember) and he was the coolest guy. I have to say that He does look VERY young, but handled everything like the pro he is. He said he was stressed, but he sure didn't show it.
The costumes were light (in comparison to the I-con a few weeks back) but were still plenty to see. My fave was these two hot chicks in a scantly clad version of Batman and Robin (never had my camera with me in the 4 times I saw them). I got to see Kal Penn and Neil Patrick Harris (who were cool enough to take a few minutes to sign stuff). I saw Stan Lee in the flesh (walked right by me) and a life-sized Hulk statue (which was awesome). Saturday night was the CAG awards party and I had a great time. I even recorded the entire event (which will be uploaded to the site soon). Oh, and there was the "free area" which was just for press, and professionals. It had free popcorn, soda, water, and (wait for it) air. That's wight they had an oxygen bar!
Now for my gripes (you know they had to come). First off, I was supposed to attend a press only Stan Lee panel which I missed (stupid me read the e-mail wrong). I had planed to meet (previous guest) Bill Baker (who I just couldn't find), and the thing that really got on my nerves were my co-hosts. As I have mentioned in the past these guys are working for free, and are taking time out of their lives for me, so really, who am I to complain? But, I asked both of them to bring and wear the CBN shirt so people can know who they are with. Belkis said that she read my text message wrong (and had planned to bring it until she got that message), and Hassan said that I should have told him before. Now it's not like I just sprung on the fact that the con was last weekend, they knew well in advance what I wanted. Maybe it's true what they say about surrounding yourself with people who will lift you up instead of dragging you down. "What's the big deal? It's just a shirt" you might say. Here's the thing. Yes, it IS just a shirt. So if I ask everyone to wear it, why aren't they? These things aren't free. and it is a sign of "not-caring-ness". Why do the job half-@$$ed? Obviously you are here for me, but also yourselves. When I'm at a job (a paying job) and they want such and such, sometimes I don't give 100% that's because I HAVE to be there. But these guys (supposedly WANT to be here). It's not all bad, they did help out by taking photos and doing the interviews so, it's not like they didn't do any work, and that I am not grateful (cause I am).
Oh, and the Pope was in the city!

5 comments:

MFC Studios said...

Here's a nice post script. I just got a message commenting on my lack of a mic for the on-camera interviews. I'm guessing this person saw that we didn't have that and is (very poorly) trying to equate that with the level of effort put forward by (some of) my crew.
To answer it simply, I asked for a camera (but wasn't specific on the mic). So I was provided with a camera (and a cameraman to boot!). I asked for people to wear certain things and they did not. So...not the same thing is it?

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should try a checklist.

MFC Studios said...

that actually is a good idea. I do a checklist when I have a table (I actually wrote about that oh so long ago), so why not do the same for just attending a con?

Anonymous said...

I know it may seem like a big deal that the two of them didn't wear a shirt and believe me, I know how important it is for the people involved to show their support and the cost to you. However, maybe you should pick your battles more carefully. These are the kinds of little things that accumulate and splinter relationships. I think if you'd finish your thoughts the other way around, getting the negative things out of the way first, the little things may not seem like such a big deal. And I think you'll realize how much the good actually outweighs the bad. After all, it is just a shirt...

MFC Studios said...

Thanks for your input. I'm glad that you can see both sides of the issue and you addressed it quite well. A friend of mine told me over the weekend that it's because of these friendships that I might be taking things so personally.

It's tough to be a friend and a "boss" at the same time....