Well its Friday morning for me and getting a good 2.5-3 hrs of sleep I am off and ready to hit up comic con day 2, or as my schedule would say, Oh S#!T day there is waaaaayyyy too much to do. For anyone who saw the autograph schedule, they know there are about 13 different signings that are being ticketed off at 9am, not to mention the 7am drawing for the Star Trek Captains (talent was not named, but I guessed there would be Shatner and Bakula for sure. Stewart was very hopeful as he was going to promote Dorothy of Oz, but that was on Saturday) So once again with very little sleep and running on coffee and subway sub (BTW subway did not serve breakfast subs prior to 6am) I line up to get into Con. Now this day was much more prepared that Thursday and this is something I will comment on in a later post. I had a couple of friends who were so kind as to be lined up at 430am to get into the convention hall so I was not all the way in the back of the line. So they apparently handed out these falling skies promotional bags that had water tins, pins, tshirts, light up bouncy ball, etc. I missed it =(. Well they let us all in and we get to line up above hall H at the escalators that lead down into the showroom. The ticket raffle begins and (thank goodness) everyone is calm and orderly and lines up single file to pull the raffle for the Star Trek Captain's signing. I'm first and BOOM! get a winning ticket. Signing in room 28C at 12:30pm. As the clock approaches 9am I tell my friend some of things to try and do once the showroom opens while I attempt to get a couple more autograph raffles.
With the Star Trek Signing that meant no Thundercats or Green Lantern Signing (Boo, I wanted to see Emmanuelle Chriqui). I set my sights on getting autographs for the Raven (Alice Eve, John Cusack, etc), Haywire (Steven Soderbergh, Gina "Conviction" Carano), Attack of the Show, Guillermo del Toro, George R.R. Martin. Now I know that sounds like a lot but the way they are doing the autograph raffles is interesting. Basically everyone lines up in a single line, then is directed into the sails pavillion after people are let into the showroom (So while advertised at 9am for ticket raffles, they really began around 945am), and its like a game of lemmings, everyone filters to the ticket raffle they want to get. I went to the Haywire line first as it was completely empty and got a winning ticket on first try again, YAY! Now comes the interesting part, I was told to go ALL THE WAY BACK IN LINE, but noticed that people were just circling back into other lines. I respect the rules put in place but contested what the others were doing. Luckily the lady (sorry I can't remember the name of who) told me I could do what I wanted but that I was warned of the consequences and shouldn't complain if something goes wrong. I must say thank you for being so kind and not being all "forceful I am authority, I am the rules and you must follow" type. So, yes I circled around and got the Raven, and Attack of the Show.
Now many of you (ok maybe not many) are thinking, what about the WB signings. Well those were a little crazy. I know they got a lot of heat for how they conducted their signings last year and so they conformed to the Comic Con policies and did the whole wristband/raffle thing. The problem was people were lining up super early for the ones they wanted and the lines were getting capped off early. For example the True Blood signing that was raffled off at 1pm, was lining up at 9 and, I believe, got capped off by 1130am. So unless I wanted to wait for a very popular raffle from WB, I had to forego my chance to get those signings. I was bummed as I really wanted to see Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch from Big Bang Theory (met the rest of the cast from previous comic cons) and Kevin Smith is always a joy to see at Con and shoot the S#!T with.
So it is nearly 11am and I have my autograph sessions in order and am informed through twitter that Jon Favreau is going to be signing Cowboys and Aliens posters at the Hard Rock Hotel at 130pm. Well that is another kink in the schedule (not to mention the text messages about getting a gold brick with a chance to see the Hollywood Style premier of Cowboys and Aliens). I get my friend to line up for that and the poster looks sweet, not to mention he got a pass to the premier screening, of course I get to go!
By this time people are lining up for Attack of the Show signing, so much like yesterday I have spent almost half my day and I have not stepped foot into the showroom or into a panel. I line up and realize I forgot my camera, DANG! Once again the niceness of people makes itself known and someone offers to take pictures of me with the stars and send them through email. Thanks and if you read this I would like to see those pictures. Running back and forth from sigining to signing I get them all done. In fact I was helped out by having the Star Trek signing start at 1215pm. While Bakula and Shatner were there, only Shatner was signing and it felt so rushed even Bill (yeah we are on those terms =P) looked a little annoyed by what was happening. I am going to comment later on my signings for the Raven and Haywire in a later post as those were particularly special for me.
Anywho, its just past 2pm and I want to see the Green Lantern Panel in room 6bcf because Conan O'Brien was going to be promoting his alter Ego, The Flaming C. Truly an entertainer and someone who responds so well on the fly. He was bombarded with questions such as asking for a hug, doing the string dance, having Jay Leno or some form of a chin being The Flaming C's arch nemesis, to which Conan responded, "geez you guys are more upset about than I am. I'm just trying to move past it (sorry Conan, we faithful defend team Coco till the end!), to someone asking for his name placard signed, to someone dressed up as the Flaming C. Conan did all the requests without hesitation or fail, and even got involved in some play fighting (I think) with a fan. They were handing out tickets for an autograph session with Conan. Did not win, but was thoroughly entertained by the panel.
By this time I want to attend the Spiderman (Sony) panel in Hall H but am so tired at this point I make a couple of rounds on the showroom floor and head back to the hotel. In all the commotion I totally forget to stop by the Nickelodeon booth to pick up my ticket to attend the TMNT launch party at Bar Basic, AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!! This was something that I had to do before noon this day. Well I head back to my hotel to rest a little and freshen up for another fun night of partying.
My first party is the El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron video game launch party, something I get to attend thanks to a facebook contest. Well the party is rockin, the beats are flowing, and so are the drinks. I love these hosted bars. I spend more time drinking and conversing with my friends. Good times. Even better is that gift back with shirts and posters were given out and there was a raffle to win the game, original artwork, and crystal/glass sculpture thingy straight from Japan. One of my friends one that!
Fully liquored up and feeling like a good time, its off to the Nerd Party, Hosted by Zac Levi and the Nerd Machine. (Side note: I would have loved to do more of the Nerd Party everything at Nerd HQ, especially the conversations, but with so much going on and already having a semi set plan it was hard to incorporate the awesomeness that was Nerd HQ. I hope even though this will be the final season for CHUCK (sad tear ;-(, that this will be something that continues to happen). First thing I notice is that it seems a little quiet for a Nerd party. Then I notice two lines and some people going upstairs and some not. So the "real party" is happening upstairs. Asking how to get there, I was told I had to be on the guest list or that it was at capacity (two different security guards giving me info). I really wanted to be there too since I was there last year at the Chuck TweetUp at Bar Ninety. Well hung around and enjoyed my time.
Then off to the AMC, From Dusk till Con, Poynt Party at Stingaree. Without sounding like a broken record, it was good times. I got there a little late so I think I missed the celebs that were there but I enjoyed myself with some drinks and meeting some nice people. People watching is also fun to do. Super tired by then and head back to hotel at 2am. And guess what???? Getting up early again, this time to get my ticket for next year. And the journey continues!!!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Thursday - Day One
Hi all. I know this is almost two weeks past Comic Con but I still want to share my experience of Con with all of you. I will attempt to keep this blog short and highlight the best parts of my day. Here we go
First full day of comic con and I was ready at 5:00am in the morning to head on down to the convention center and get my day started. I spent most of the night before planning my day and making sure I had all my goods in order (backpack, pens, poster tube, phone, tablet, badge). First thing I do, and something I suggest everyone to do if you don't already, is go to comic-con.org and look for the daily newsletter to see any updates or changes that might have happened to the schedule. First thing I notice is there is a Pee Wee Herman signing. Cool! So I add that to my morning things to do, which included stopping by the Pan-Am booth to get one of those nifty bags (did not do), signing information at Lionsgate for Taylor Lautner new movie Abduction (did not do), grab a tag at Legendary pictures booth to win an Ipad (did not do), Ticket distribution for Batman: Arkham City, Napolean Dynamite, and game of thrones (all did not do), and try to attend the off site event for Real Steel with Hugh Jackman (again did not do). Now with so much planned how did not get a single thing done here. I was given passes to the 10am screening of Captain America movie at Horton Plaza UA theatre. I will do a separate post of my experience at the screening and my personal review of the movie.
So flashforward (I did like that show and do miss it) 2.5 hours and I go to the Omni to attend the WIRED Lounge. Anyone who has the opportunity to do this during Comic-Con should. First off they have great music playing and the drinks are flowing (of course you have to be 21 and up). They also showcased the Just Dance 3 game for Xbox360 Kinect with beautiful dancers and offered guests a chance to "shake their groove thang!" There was a picture booth where people could take pictures with pieces from the Cirque du Soleil show, as well as two performers who were walking throughout the lounge. But probably the best thing about the lounge is being away from the masses in the convention center, meeting other fellow Comic-Con attendees, whether they be fans or there for work, and most of all the celebrities that make their way to the lounge. All the ones I did meet were very sociable and spent a moment or two to speak to us fans while being given the VIP treatment by WIRED.
The clock strikes 3pm and I am finally making my way to the convention center to make my first step into Comic Con 2011. Yup crowded as H-E-double hockey sticks. Missing pretty much all the panels that I hoped to attend, I scour the floor picking freebees here and there. The DC comics booth is giving out lots of green lantern goodies and Wayne Casino themed Casino chips. There would be a different one each day. I also stop by the Marvel booth and attempt to get an avengers shirt, as well as a Fear Itself t-shirt but am informed that the shirts are XXL and the person handing out the shirts "wanted to show love to the big guys out there." Now I get that the shirt would have probably been too big for me, but it was an Iron Fist shirt (one of my fave Marvel characters) and I could always use it as a house shirt. Either way I was bummed. I continue roaming the floor with no plan in mind but still enjoying the nerd/geek fest that is Comic Con.
Well before I know it it is 5:30pm and I know that the showroom floow does not officially close until 7pm but I had a full lineup of parties that I wanted to attend, so I needed time to catch some dinner (I did fast food this day) and freshen up for the evening. The first party on the lineup is the THQ Saints Row 3 party at Hard Rock Float. The party started at 7pm and was packed with people. By this time of the night I had barely gotten any charge back in my phone and therefore was unable to take any pictures of the venue but the pool looked real nice with a lighted THQ, there was a private, roped off area, and the bar was pushing drinks left and right. It was a little dark but Float offered a spectacular view of the convention center and the bay, not to mention the place was loaded with beautiful people. I got a couple of drinks and mingled meeting a wide variety of people, from the gamers to the partiers. Before leaving I notice Sasha Grey in the VIP area and I initially did not want to bother her as she was talking to other people, but I may not get another chance to say hi. So I say hi and she is so nice to take herself away from the other people to say hi and take a picture. Sweet!
Well from there I grab a taxi and head on over to the Westgate Hotel to attend the Threadless launch party. Now I attended this last year and they had that little warehouse next to Broken yolk (I believe the Sega arcade was there this year). But this party was also shared by Image and CBLDF's 25th anniversary party. To say the least the venue was a huge contrast from last years, much more elegant and fancy. I thought the shirts looked great but sharing the event with other groups, for me, took away from the awesomeness that is Threadless. I loved last year's event where there were artists drawing and giving out original, one of a kind, pieces of art, as well as having more of an artsy presentation feel. Anywho still had fun, but was a different feel to it.
Finally to end the night I went to the Joblo.com, Latinoreview.com, Complex, Macallan Comic-Con Kickoff Party at the Keating hotel Sway lounge. Walking downstairs to the club I already feel the music bumping and walking in felt like going to a club on a friday night, there was very little feel that this had any connection to Comic-Con other than being in San Diego for comic con. With DJ Mick|Boogie spinning beats, heads were bobbin and the people were dancing. As with the party at Float, the bar was beyond crowded but I was able to get my Cran/Vodka. I walked throughout the entire club and noticed, parked in a more lounging area of the club, in the corner was a mini bar serving only Macallan. HEAVEN!!! To say the least I had my fair share of Macallan 17 neat with a splash of water. Moving back into the party area of the club I look at the DJ booth and notice Mick|Boogie is off the wheels. I ask if he's gonna get back on and he says, "he'll play as long as he wants". I look at the DJ booth and notice none other than DJ midlifecrisis (yes that guy. Director of Iron Man and Cowboys and Aliens Jon Favreau) and Faizon Love as the Emcee/hype man. I will say that Jon does not skip a beat when it comes to mixing music. Equipped with his Iron man designed IMac, Jon was spinning a great mix of 80s party music. The rest of the night was a little bit of a blur (Thanks Macallan 17) but I do remember a beautiful group of women, dancing with them, seeing a little dance battle on the floor, and having a couple of A-holes tell me I was getting to close to them at the bar (ummmm... that area was packed and I just wanted a drink, don't get your hopes up dude!). Big ups to El Mayimbe for getting that put together. This party was definitely the highlight of my evening.
Probably 2-3am and its time to head to the hotel and get some rest before the next day, which would probably start at 5am again!
First full day of comic con and I was ready at 5:00am in the morning to head on down to the convention center and get my day started. I spent most of the night before planning my day and making sure I had all my goods in order (backpack, pens, poster tube, phone, tablet, badge). First thing I do, and something I suggest everyone to do if you don't already, is go to comic-con.org and look for the daily newsletter to see any updates or changes that might have happened to the schedule. First thing I notice is there is a Pee Wee Herman signing. Cool! So I add that to my morning things to do, which included stopping by the Pan-Am booth to get one of those nifty bags (did not do), signing information at Lionsgate for Taylor Lautner new movie Abduction (did not do), grab a tag at Legendary pictures booth to win an Ipad (did not do), Ticket distribution for Batman: Arkham City, Napolean Dynamite, and game of thrones (all did not do), and try to attend the off site event for Real Steel with Hugh Jackman (again did not do). Now with so much planned how did not get a single thing done here. I was given passes to the 10am screening of Captain America movie at Horton Plaza UA theatre. I will do a separate post of my experience at the screening and my personal review of the movie.
So flashforward (I did like that show and do miss it) 2.5 hours and I go to the Omni to attend the WIRED Lounge. Anyone who has the opportunity to do this during Comic-Con should. First off they have great music playing and the drinks are flowing (of course you have to be 21 and up). They also showcased the Just Dance 3 game for Xbox360 Kinect with beautiful dancers and offered guests a chance to "shake their groove thang!" There was a picture booth where people could take pictures with pieces from the Cirque du Soleil show, as well as two performers who were walking throughout the lounge. But probably the best thing about the lounge is being away from the masses in the convention center, meeting other fellow Comic-Con attendees, whether they be fans or there for work, and most of all the celebrities that make their way to the lounge. All the ones I did meet were very sociable and spent a moment or two to speak to us fans while being given the VIP treatment by WIRED.
The clock strikes 3pm and I am finally making my way to the convention center to make my first step into Comic Con 2011. Yup crowded as H-E-double hockey sticks. Missing pretty much all the panels that I hoped to attend, I scour the floor picking freebees here and there. The DC comics booth is giving out lots of green lantern goodies and Wayne Casino themed Casino chips. There would be a different one each day. I also stop by the Marvel booth and attempt to get an avengers shirt, as well as a Fear Itself t-shirt but am informed that the shirts are XXL and the person handing out the shirts "wanted to show love to the big guys out there." Now I get that the shirt would have probably been too big for me, but it was an Iron Fist shirt (one of my fave Marvel characters) and I could always use it as a house shirt. Either way I was bummed. I continue roaming the floor with no plan in mind but still enjoying the nerd/geek fest that is Comic Con.
Well before I know it it is 5:30pm and I know that the showroom floow does not officially close until 7pm but I had a full lineup of parties that I wanted to attend, so I needed time to catch some dinner (I did fast food this day) and freshen up for the evening. The first party on the lineup is the THQ Saints Row 3 party at Hard Rock Float. The party started at 7pm and was packed with people. By this time of the night I had barely gotten any charge back in my phone and therefore was unable to take any pictures of the venue but the pool looked real nice with a lighted THQ, there was a private, roped off area, and the bar was pushing drinks left and right. It was a little dark but Float offered a spectacular view of the convention center and the bay, not to mention the place was loaded with beautiful people. I got a couple of drinks and mingled meeting a wide variety of people, from the gamers to the partiers. Before leaving I notice Sasha Grey in the VIP area and I initially did not want to bother her as she was talking to other people, but I may not get another chance to say hi. So I say hi and she is so nice to take herself away from the other people to say hi and take a picture. Sweet!
Well from there I grab a taxi and head on over to the Westgate Hotel to attend the Threadless launch party. Now I attended this last year and they had that little warehouse next to Broken yolk (I believe the Sega arcade was there this year). But this party was also shared by Image and CBLDF's 25th anniversary party. To say the least the venue was a huge contrast from last years, much more elegant and fancy. I thought the shirts looked great but sharing the event with other groups, for me, took away from the awesomeness that is Threadless. I loved last year's event where there were artists drawing and giving out original, one of a kind, pieces of art, as well as having more of an artsy presentation feel. Anywho still had fun, but was a different feel to it.
Finally to end the night I went to the Joblo.com, Latinoreview.com, Complex, Macallan Comic-Con Kickoff Party at the Keating hotel Sway lounge. Walking downstairs to the club I already feel the music bumping and walking in felt like going to a club on a friday night, there was very little feel that this had any connection to Comic-Con other than being in San Diego for comic con. With DJ Mick|Boogie spinning beats, heads were bobbin and the people were dancing. As with the party at Float, the bar was beyond crowded but I was able to get my Cran/Vodka. I walked throughout the entire club and noticed, parked in a more lounging area of the club, in the corner was a mini bar serving only Macallan. HEAVEN!!! To say the least I had my fair share of Macallan 17 neat with a splash of water. Moving back into the party area of the club I look at the DJ booth and notice Mick|Boogie is off the wheels. I ask if he's gonna get back on and he says, "he'll play as long as he wants". I look at the DJ booth and notice none other than DJ midlifecrisis (yes that guy. Director of Iron Man and Cowboys and Aliens Jon Favreau) and Faizon Love as the Emcee/hype man. I will say that Jon does not skip a beat when it comes to mixing music. Equipped with his Iron man designed IMac, Jon was spinning a great mix of 80s party music. The rest of the night was a little bit of a blur (Thanks Macallan 17) but I do remember a beautiful group of women, dancing with them, seeing a little dance battle on the floor, and having a couple of A-holes tell me I was getting to close to them at the bar (ummmm... that area was packed and I just wanted a drink, don't get your hopes up dude!). Big ups to El Mayimbe for getting that put together. This party was definitely the highlight of my evening.
Probably 2-3am and its time to head to the hotel and get some rest before the next day, which would probably start at 5am again!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Side rant...
Hey all. I will get my review of the rest of the days of comic con 2011 up soon (and hopefully with pics =D ) but I need to get this off my chest and want to know if others had this problem as well. First thing first, I was having trouble accessing the wifi all weekend. I don't know if it was me or my devices but I could never make use of the WIFI. I was running a Samsung Epic 4G and an HP Touchpad tablet (I did think about the Ipad2 but I really love WebOS and will support it as long as the products are available) and everytime I would access a WIFI server it kept asking me for a log-in. Now I thought that the WIFI at the convention center was free.
Anywho, my first real problem was that my cellphone battery would barely last me a good 5-6 hours. This was with constant usage of twitter, facebook, gmail, and the web browser for the Epic 4G. I did have my charger in my backpack but rarely had time to sit down near a socket and recharge. I think it would be a great help for everyone if next year charging stations could be set up at specific areas of the convention center floor or more specifically in lines while we are all waiting 2-3 hours either to get into the convention hall, a specific panel, or just waiting to win a raffle. I wanted to keep up with all the tweets of the day and provide my own as well but that would only cause more stress to the phone. Now I guess most people at comic con had the iphone4 and those phones all appear to have good battery life but I'm on Sprint and the iphone is not available (and I need to have a physical keyboard for typing) so please don't respond with comments such as, "Get away from Sprint, you need the iphone". Thanks.
Secondly, and I know this is something that will continue to be present at any major convention, is that people need to be somewhat hygienic. I enjoy meeting new people in whatever line I'm in or whatever panel I'm at, but it makes it difficult to maintain focus on the conversation when there is an oderiferous emination that won't go away. I understand that for some people the Comic-Con is so important that sleep and showers seem secondary, but please consider carrying a box of mints, a pocket deodorant, and maybe some sort of cologne or perfume. For example, last year I thought the best freebee giveaway was the deodorant bar given away from (I believe) mattel.
Thirdly is people who bring strollers to the Comic-Con, I do not mind you, but please stop hitting the back of my feet and legs and then complaining that I'm moving too slow or am not moving out of the way for you. HAVE YOU SEEN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT ARE ON THE CONVENTION FLOOR!!! Definitely not easy to manuvuer through those aisles but I always take into consideration people with strollers or wheelchairs or any other type of assitance device. The only other thing that truly bugs me about strollers are people who use them to hold stuff and not the children that are crying and yelling or being pulled by those corded backpacks. It bugs me because I should have thought of that. It would be so much easier on my back if I had some sort of cart to carry my stuff throughout the convention hall.
Fourthly are the ELITE security guards who are posted at specific positions in the hall telling people, "you can't go there." Now I know not all the security guards are not like that and most that I met were very cool and personable people, but there are those select few who made me walk out of my way when there were people clearly on the other side. Example, during one of the morning lineups for autograph raffles, I was on the outside of the sails pavilion waiting in line when a friend calls and needs to get something from me. I politely ask the people who were next to me in line if it would be ok to save my place while I do this errand and they said yes. Well as I'm about to enter that gap between the sails and where ballroom 20 is, a security guard tells me I cannot pass and need to go all the way around. Most of the time I will gladly follow because its the rules, but only if it makes sense. This did not. I wanted back in, guard says no, and directly on the other side of the guard where three people talking about the fringe bag they just received.
Well anywho I needed to get that off my chest because for the many years I have been going to Comic-Con I have become well accostumed to the procedures but please lets try to make some of these things better or just go away.
I would love to hear from others what are some of their pet peeves or Comic-Con and maybe some suggestions that would make Comic-Con a better experience for them.
Until next time....
Anywho, my first real problem was that my cellphone battery would barely last me a good 5-6 hours. This was with constant usage of twitter, facebook, gmail, and the web browser for the Epic 4G. I did have my charger in my backpack but rarely had time to sit down near a socket and recharge. I think it would be a great help for everyone if next year charging stations could be set up at specific areas of the convention center floor or more specifically in lines while we are all waiting 2-3 hours either to get into the convention hall, a specific panel, or just waiting to win a raffle. I wanted to keep up with all the tweets of the day and provide my own as well but that would only cause more stress to the phone. Now I guess most people at comic con had the iphone4 and those phones all appear to have good battery life but I'm on Sprint and the iphone is not available (and I need to have a physical keyboard for typing) so please don't respond with comments such as, "Get away from Sprint, you need the iphone". Thanks.
Secondly, and I know this is something that will continue to be present at any major convention, is that people need to be somewhat hygienic. I enjoy meeting new people in whatever line I'm in or whatever panel I'm at, but it makes it difficult to maintain focus on the conversation when there is an oderiferous emination that won't go away. I understand that for some people the Comic-Con is so important that sleep and showers seem secondary, but please consider carrying a box of mints, a pocket deodorant, and maybe some sort of cologne or perfume. For example, last year I thought the best freebee giveaway was the deodorant bar given away from (I believe) mattel.
Thirdly is people who bring strollers to the Comic-Con, I do not mind you, but please stop hitting the back of my feet and legs and then complaining that I'm moving too slow or am not moving out of the way for you. HAVE YOU SEEN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT ARE ON THE CONVENTION FLOOR!!! Definitely not easy to manuvuer through those aisles but I always take into consideration people with strollers or wheelchairs or any other type of assitance device. The only other thing that truly bugs me about strollers are people who use them to hold stuff and not the children that are crying and yelling or being pulled by those corded backpacks. It bugs me because I should have thought of that. It would be so much easier on my back if I had some sort of cart to carry my stuff throughout the convention hall.
Fourthly are the ELITE security guards who are posted at specific positions in the hall telling people, "you can't go there." Now I know not all the security guards are not like that and most that I met were very cool and personable people, but there are those select few who made me walk out of my way when there were people clearly on the other side. Example, during one of the morning lineups for autograph raffles, I was on the outside of the sails pavilion waiting in line when a friend calls and needs to get something from me. I politely ask the people who were next to me in line if it would be ok to save my place while I do this errand and they said yes. Well as I'm about to enter that gap between the sails and where ballroom 20 is, a security guard tells me I cannot pass and need to go all the way around. Most of the time I will gladly follow because its the rules, but only if it makes sense. This did not. I wanted back in, guard says no, and directly on the other side of the guard where three people talking about the fringe bag they just received.
Well anywho I needed to get that off my chest because for the many years I have been going to Comic-Con I have become well accostumed to the procedures but please lets try to make some of these things better or just go away.
I would love to hear from others what are some of their pet peeves or Comic-Con and maybe some suggestions that would make Comic-Con a better experience for them.
Until next time....
Monday, July 25, 2011
Wednesday - Preview Night
First off I want to say hello and thank you for taking the time to find this blog and read this. This is my first time doing a blog so I apologize in advance if this tends to ramble on or lack some detail but I am just writing this during my lunch break and trying to remember all that was Comic Con 2011, mostly because I still cannot get it out of my head. Yes I am so happy and thankful that I get to attend (and have for the past 18 years) but right now my body is glad to have had one long good nights rest and to take a lot of weight of off my feel. I will post something separate describing my experience with the Comic Con and what truly got my wanting to create a blog about one of my favorite times of the year.
Wow first night of Comic Con and I could feel the excitement in the air. I gathered my backpack and poster tube and was ready for my ritual luncheon/early dinner that the group of people that I attend with do every year. This year we hit up Hodad's and the burger and beer really hit the spot. Then the walk to the convention center to pick up the badges began and nothing feels sweeter than seeing the Gaslamp District of San Diego being transformed into the pop-culture, entertainment mecca that is the San Diego Comic Convention. I just love seeing bars and restaurants being transformed into themed places of everything comic and pop-culture related.
I had my schedule ready for the weekend. I had an idea of which panels I would attend, which autographs I would try to get, which giveaway/exclusives I would want, and which parties I would be attending in the evenings. Definitely had each day booked with things to do, but preview night is all about finding out about the last minute additions companies do with their packed schedule of events. So off into the convention hall I go.
Well I finally get to the convention center and I get that feeling of going to a summer camp (or as I call it Nerd/Geek Camp, seeing old friends again, reminisce about previous cons and discuss our plans and expectations for this year's con). Of course we also get to gripe about the changes that were made to this year's con as well. Surprisingly enough the badge pickup was quick and simple. I decided to get my badge at 5:00pm and was out of there at 5:15pm. It felt great.
So now the thing at Comic con that I will be spending the most energy and time doing begins.... WAITING IN LINE. Yes, the lovely dance of standing on my heels, then toes, then outside of foot, taking 5-10 steps forward, stop and repeat. This was the first day, or as I call it Day 0 of comic con, and my feet, legs, knees, ankles, and back were feeling fine and I had no complaints about it.
Inside the Convention hall my first move was to do the Pan-Am flight to try and get that sweet vintage Pan-Am flight bag. Well they weren't starting flights until 6:40 and I decided to roam around the hall (bad decision as I will tell you later) and visit some familiar booths (Lionsgate, CBS, WB, Fox, Marvel, DC, etc) to inquire about their booth autograph schedule, freebee giveaways, and other exclusive things that would be good to know. Other than Marvel and DC, most of the booths were close together but still hard to get too as there still seemed to be quite a lot of people, given that this preview night was suppose to be limited to certain badge holders but that's another story.
I get the info I was looking for and head back to the Pan-Am booth and realized all the "flights" had been booked, but just like a true airline and the great character acting of the booth babes, "there will be a standby line for anyone looking to get on a flight". Well I waited for a little but wasn't able to get on a flight and had to give up my chance that day to catch a "flight" and snag a sweet Pan-Am bag.
I spent the rest of my evening just scouring the floor and realizing that so many booths have contest that are either twitter, facebook, qr scans, or microsoft snap tags and I had all the hashtags and messages ready to go for each contest. For example, Cowboys and aliens was offering a chance for the comic con fans to attend the world premiere of the movie by texting 'cowboys' to 834567. Unfortunately for me this service did not work for Sprint (ugh! Boo Sprint, but I still love the truly unlimited plans you do offer =D) but I did have a friend who was able to get that service and gold bricks would be handed out at various locations throughout the Gaslamp District (I'll comment more on that scavenger hunt in my next post). WB had microsoft snap tags, which again did not seem to work for my Sprint Samsung Epic, that were to be scanned. For some reason my phone could not scan image well and never sent the image. Anyway more griping about my phone later.
Wednesday preview night done and I already feel overwhelmed and my proposed schedule just got significantly tighter. Now the trouble is deciding which things I can live with not getting and which things are a must. For example on Thursday morning I had the captain america screening at Horton Plaza United theatre (which is about 8-10 blocks from the convention center), do the Real Steel presentation at Petco Park parking lot (again away from convention center but only 2 blocks away. Oh yeah this was something I had just heard about today and wanted to squeeze into my Thursday schedule) or go to the convention hall to get in on the Game of Thrones autograph raffle by WB. Not to mention lining up for ballroom 20 for the tv show panels.
Let's just say Wednesday night let to some difficult time sleeping. I also realize that after doing this blog (which is my first by the way, so sorry for the real bareboned look to it) I should have taken more pictures of the stuff I was doing so I can post them. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed my first post on Comic con 2011. I'll get my Thursday - Sunday reviews hopefully by the end of the week.
Until next time...
Wow first night of Comic Con and I could feel the excitement in the air. I gathered my backpack and poster tube and was ready for my ritual luncheon/early dinner that the group of people that I attend with do every year. This year we hit up Hodad's and the burger and beer really hit the spot. Then the walk to the convention center to pick up the badges began and nothing feels sweeter than seeing the Gaslamp District of San Diego being transformed into the pop-culture, entertainment mecca that is the San Diego Comic Convention. I just love seeing bars and restaurants being transformed into themed places of everything comic and pop-culture related.
I had my schedule ready for the weekend. I had an idea of which panels I would attend, which autographs I would try to get, which giveaway/exclusives I would want, and which parties I would be attending in the evenings. Definitely had each day booked with things to do, but preview night is all about finding out about the last minute additions companies do with their packed schedule of events. So off into the convention hall I go.
Well I finally get to the convention center and I get that feeling of going to a summer camp (or as I call it Nerd/Geek Camp, seeing old friends again, reminisce about previous cons and discuss our plans and expectations for this year's con). Of course we also get to gripe about the changes that were made to this year's con as well. Surprisingly enough the badge pickup was quick and simple. I decided to get my badge at 5:00pm and was out of there at 5:15pm. It felt great.
So now the thing at Comic con that I will be spending the most energy and time doing begins.... WAITING IN LINE. Yes, the lovely dance of standing on my heels, then toes, then outside of foot, taking 5-10 steps forward, stop and repeat. This was the first day, or as I call it Day 0 of comic con, and my feet, legs, knees, ankles, and back were feeling fine and I had no complaints about it.
Inside the Convention hall my first move was to do the Pan-Am flight to try and get that sweet vintage Pan-Am flight bag. Well they weren't starting flights until 6:40 and I decided to roam around the hall (bad decision as I will tell you later) and visit some familiar booths (Lionsgate, CBS, WB, Fox, Marvel, DC, etc) to inquire about their booth autograph schedule, freebee giveaways, and other exclusive things that would be good to know. Other than Marvel and DC, most of the booths were close together but still hard to get too as there still seemed to be quite a lot of people, given that this preview night was suppose to be limited to certain badge holders but that's another story.
I get the info I was looking for and head back to the Pan-Am booth and realized all the "flights" had been booked, but just like a true airline and the great character acting of the booth babes, "there will be a standby line for anyone looking to get on a flight". Well I waited for a little but wasn't able to get on a flight and had to give up my chance that day to catch a "flight" and snag a sweet Pan-Am bag.
I spent the rest of my evening just scouring the floor and realizing that so many booths have contest that are either twitter, facebook, qr scans, or microsoft snap tags and I had all the hashtags and messages ready to go for each contest. For example, Cowboys and aliens was offering a chance for the comic con fans to attend the world premiere of the movie by texting 'cowboys' to 834567. Unfortunately for me this service did not work for Sprint (ugh! Boo Sprint, but I still love the truly unlimited plans you do offer =D) but I did have a friend who was able to get that service and gold bricks would be handed out at various locations throughout the Gaslamp District (I'll comment more on that scavenger hunt in my next post). WB had microsoft snap tags, which again did not seem to work for my Sprint Samsung Epic, that were to be scanned. For some reason my phone could not scan image well and never sent the image. Anyway more griping about my phone later.
Wednesday preview night done and I already feel overwhelmed and my proposed schedule just got significantly tighter. Now the trouble is deciding which things I can live with not getting and which things are a must. For example on Thursday morning I had the captain america screening at Horton Plaza United theatre (which is about 8-10 blocks from the convention center), do the Real Steel presentation at Petco Park parking lot (again away from convention center but only 2 blocks away. Oh yeah this was something I had just heard about today and wanted to squeeze into my Thursday schedule) or go to the convention hall to get in on the Game of Thrones autograph raffle by WB. Not to mention lining up for ballroom 20 for the tv show panels.
Let's just say Wednesday night let to some difficult time sleeping. I also realize that after doing this blog (which is my first by the way, so sorry for the real bareboned look to it) I should have taken more pictures of the stuff I was doing so I can post them. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed my first post on Comic con 2011. I'll get my Thursday - Sunday reviews hopefully by the end of the week.
Until next time...
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