- Comic Con Pics (59)
- San Diego Zoo Pics (34)
- Lego Land, Part 1 (156)
- Lego Land, Part 2 (86) (Yes, I liked LegoLand...)
Tuesday, July 24: Arrive in San Diego. Sunny. Hot. Niiiice. Check-in at fabulous Best Western Bayside, and prowl SD waterfront (purty), Seaport Village (ditto), Gaslamp quarter (trendy), and Old Town, a painstaking on site recreation/preservation of an early 19th century settlement - an amazing amalgamation of history, tourism, and consumerism. In sum, very cool. Ate in a pub brilliantly named "O'Hungry's" that excused itself for its overall divey cruddiness by providing "historical flavor" - they didn't have air conditioning or 409 grease cleaner a century ago...and by gum you won't get it now.
Wednesday, July 25: Enjoyed the delights of Best Western's free breakfast....scrambled eggs by the paper-plateful, fer joy, fer joy. Preview Night at Comic Con - which means pick up your badge, and run rampant at the exhibit hall, grabbing all the schwag you can get. I am mildly miffed that we had to cut the schwag run short -- but alas, it was for a lovely cause...Avenue Q! We scored $15 nosebleed tickets via Goldstar Events. I heart Goldstar. I heart Avenue Q. Genius, my friends, pure genius. Sesame Street on crack, with better songs.
Thursday, July 26: First Full Day of the Con! Schwag Motto: We strike hard, we strike smart, we strike fast. No paper goods (postcards, fliers, posters) unless they contain really cool images or nekkid flesh. Tangible goods, dammit. Hit the big booths, don't be polite. That cute little kid? He's between you and the last free T-shirt of the hour. Show no mercy. First order of biz is to be true to the celebra-whore spirit and dash up to the celebrity signings pavilion in order to line up for drawings for tickets to attend exclusive signings with celebs. We got a Stan Lee ticket...but then he canceled. Not cool man. Especially after I tackled a burly geek for the last Hasbro Shop ticket in order to purchase a limited edition Stan Lee action figure. Sidebar Rant: Why the eff should I have to compete for a ticket in order to BUY something?!!! Outrageous. The blood, the sweat (oh the sweat, man)...all for the chance for me to drop wads on cash on crap I really don't need, and more importantly, crap I won't even allow myself to unwrap from their original packaging? Uh huh, yeah. Anyway, cooled my heels at a couple of studio presentations (Paramount and Lionsgate). Coupla interesting trailers, coupla interesting appearances. The "Get Smart" presentation was best, not only cuz we got free shirts, but because Steve Carell (I heart you Steve!), the Rock, and Masi Oka (Hiro on Heroes) appeared in person. Dane Cook and Jessica Alba were there for Good Luck Chuck, and a few other celebs like Kate Beckinsdale and Clive Owen (his movie, Shoot 'em Up looks really, really cool). Dammit why didn't you guys do signings?!!! I would have given my left nut (ok, ovary?) to meet Steve and Masi. Dinner/Happy Hour at Moose's McGillicuddy's in the Gaslamp. Excellent pub, excellent Happy Hour prices. Then back to the Convention Center for a screening of Superman Doomsday, a straight to DVD Superman animated movie. Why was I there? My favorite Buffy vamp, Spike (played by James Marsters) was the voice of Lex. Hell, the odds that he'd make an appearance were pretty damn good. But alas, all we got was a video message. Sigh. Movie was ok, and the free action figure was cool, too.
Friday, July 27: More schwag, more people, more panels. Kevin Smith = Best Presentation Ever. We saw a pilot of the CW's Reaper, which he directed. But to hear him shoot the breeze...an absolute delight. Expletive-filled, vulgar-image-filled, delight. Oh, I got to meet Katey Segal, of Married With Children and Futurama fame. She was very nice, and signed my Futurama comic graciously. I must say, though, the practice of charging $$ to take pix (of her and with her) left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Which I promptly got rid of with Happy Hour at Moose's again...made it back to the hotel fairly early in order to rest up for SATURDAY, the most jam-packed day at the Con.
Saturday, July 28: Bloody, bloody hell. The humanity, oh the humanity. The costumes, oh the costumes. Too much to see, too little time. If only Hermione's time changer thing from HP were real....I wanted to be in two or three places at the same time...Per the usual routine, perused the daily newsletter for celeb signings and hightailed to the ticket drawings. I got a ticket for Laurell K. Hamilton! And on my second try! And get this...I got a ticket for the Superbad signing, too! Things are looking up. After trolling the hall floor for schwag (Hee! A Viz tote and a Harry Potter bag, yay.) I made my way to a couple of panels, one that featured peeps from Balls of Fury (looks hilarious)...bummed I missed the Heroes panel. (Can you believe peeps lined up for that two hours before? Freaks. Well, I should talk. I lined up for Joss Whedon's talk a couple hours before...) Laurel Hamilton was very cool. She signed my copy of the graphic novel based on her first Anita Blake book. The Superbad guys were cute. I too, along with the other Asian fangrrl who provided her name and hotel room to him, pledge my love to Michael Cera. They signed my movie poster, choosing rather lewd places on their likenesses to do so. My faves were Michael Cera, Seth Rogan, and Judd Apatow. They be so cool. Joss Whedon's talk was awesome. Nothing like communing with like-minded peeps and genuflecting as one. We continued that spirit with a late night sing-a-long presentation of the Buffy Musical. Joss didn't show, but that's cool. Seeing the musical on big screen, and singing off key with fellow fans, was almost as fun.
Sunday, July 29: Sigh. Last day of Con. Better load up on the last dregs of schwag. Very leisurely, mellow, hangover nursing day. Couple of panels, couple turns in the hall. I attended a Jericho panel (Awesome, awesome show. Please watch it. Nuts.), while my younger brother attended the Pathology panel, which is a horror flick starring Milo Ventimiglia (from Heroes). Sidebar, my bro ran into Milo in the Men's room after the panel. They were urinal neighbors. My bro was respectful, of course, not like some other dudes, who pulled out cams and were asking for pics barely after Milo zipped up. Dudes, please. We ended the day trolling the exhibit hall for last minute deals and schwag grabs. Good times. Left the Con on high spirits, and then rented a car to drive the 55 miles to Laguna Beach in order to rendezvous with older bro and his wife for dinner. Lovely place, lovely company.
Monday, July 30: Last day in San Diego. Bought a "San Diego Go Card" which allowed for free admission to various SD sights. My main target was LegoLand, though the Pandies at the SD Zoo were on the agenda, too. The Zoo was lovely. I loved the Polar Bears and the Pandie Bears. We got the Polar Bears when they were especially playful...the Pandies were more mellow and pensive. One of the pandies looked, to quote my bro Hansen, "like a dude in a Panda suit". They were all so cute and precious. Now on to LegoLand...I heart LegoLand!!!!! It's the happiest place on earth. I especially loved Miniland, USA. Miniature recreations of famous places...the detailing is amazing, and the integration into the landscaping makes the structures seem organic. My faves were the Las Vegas Strip, New York City, DC, and San Francisco. Awesome. The park has lots to do, but wasn't overwhelming, and very doable in one day. We walked it quite easily, and there was lots for adults to see. Highly recommended.
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