During Comic-Con, San Diego's traditional tourist spots--the Convention Center, Seaport Village and the Embarcadero hosted thousands of attendees. Downtown streets were also flowing with resident and visitor Comic-Con attendees. It felt like a party. Even some of the homeless, whose difficult and painful lives are lived in sidewalk full view of pedestrians, got into the ambience at times. A few joked with gentle Comic-Con folks who responded with answers to questions about their day, what they did, who they saw.
A few days before attendees arrived, while on an early morning walk, I saw the initial advertisement for "Cowboys and Aliens" World Premier advance ticket sale; it was a gigantic grey-blue wall-advertisement drapped over a side of the habor Hilton Hotel. Thinking I had a few days to go, I decided to wait to get a ticket. I should have planned ahead. Life got a little hectic and I forgot. A Saturday 24th local evening news announcement about the World Premier and local media coverage stirred my Blogspot.com instincts. Too late to purchase a ticket, I hurried downtown.Why watch on T.V. when I could at least BE NEAR??!!!! On the way to the Civic Theater, I felt the air energize. Festive Comic-con revelers were everywhere. It was a fun atmosphere with children, teens, and adults in Sci-Fi garb and make-up. We amused urbanites watched a driver and passengers of a "Ghost Buster's" faux-car playfully interact with costumed onlookers.
At the Civic Theater, like the Sci-Fi fans already-positioned who had realized the event's importance, I set up camp on the corner opposite in a pretty good celebrity viewing site. The evening was a balmy and classically wonderful San Diego summer's eve. "When the weather is like this", I wondered, "why don't we have more Red Carpet events here?"
Stars were glamerous and poised, even sometimes threading their way through the crowds without making a grand declaration of their presence. Various of my fellow onlookers in the B crowd (the A crowd sat in the stands in front of the TV cameras) simply let them pass and then whispered, " Isn't that???," or "Hey, guess who just walked by?," without pressing for stars to stop and pose or write autographs on the sidewalks. Roady's mingled with us in quiet conversation, dropping insider facts and observations. I barely got a glimpse of Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Ron Howard. We did manage to inspire Olivia Wilde to cross the street for photos and autographs. Her graciousness matched her beauty Saturday evening.
I shared space and several minutes of conversation with a world traveler named Matt who had just returned from New York and was on his way to Spain. We noted the casual but respectful San Diegan response. We both considered that we were possibly witnessing the beginning of San Diego's transition into a MAJOR Media Industry city. We have resident celebrity's. We have film crews from the big and little screens here on a regular basis. (I include private Internet film Companies in this media format.) We currently may not be Industry power players like Hollywood and New York; however, in the future as San Diego's film/media industry continues to grow in size and importance, we perhaps will become an influential host city for future World Premier/ Red Carpet events.
With the B crowd,
Delores Fisher
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