Tag Archives: San Diego

Comic Con 2010…Holy Crap part 2

Posted on by renmiked

Friday

Friday started off far too early after the the night before, but I had a plan for panels to execute starting with Hawaii Five-O.  Overall I thought the show looked decent and I may give it a shot but its not a must see in my opinion.  Daniel Dae Kim answered a few Lost related questions, which gave some insight into what he thought of the finale amongst other things. I stayed in the room for the next panel, which was AMC’s The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead panel started off with zombies roaming the floor.  The make-up was absolutely incredibly.  I was within a foot of the zombies and between staying in character and the costuming, you felt like a zombie apocalypse was on the horizon.  I had never read The Walking Dead before the panel but the show looked terrific and up to the lofty standards AMC has set for itself.  Its been two weeks now, so I am forgetting the details but I’ll try and hit the things that really stick out to me.

My next panel was going to be for Fable III, so I went and lined up by the room with about a hundred other people only to find out that it was canceled at the last minute.  I think after this I ended up wandering the exhibit floor for a while and then meeting up with a few people for some beverages and a salad at The Field, an Irish Pub in the Gaslamp District.  There was a nice selection or beers and I had a very good caesar salad, which hit the spot after a long morning of not eating.  Next up was the Jay and Jack meet up at Tivoli.

After having a few at The Field we wandered over the Tivoli’s for the Jay and Jack meet up.  This was an absolute blast.  Some people were a little intoxicated, as you may have seen from the videos and photos, but I won’t name any names.  Meeting up with people was definitely the highlight for me.  It was just a good time with no BS and no drama.  It truly is a group of people who are genuine and fun.  Needless to say the night ended late and Saturday morning rolled around early, too early for some of us.

On Saturday I slept in a bit and had to ship a few things home before heading to the con.  The first thing I went to was the Jay and Jack panel with Ryan and Jen from The Transmission.  It was nice to get some finale talk in during the trip.  I didn’t get to discuss it much with people, and I enjoyed hearing others thoughts on the series as a whole as well as the finale itself.  The room had a pretty low ceiling but I think Jay and Jack requested that so they would look taller.  After the panel I met up with Josh and Jen of The Gleeful Podcast / Idle Review Podcast and headed to the convention center to check out some panels.

I ended up going to the room where the Mythbusters panel would be later that evening and just stayed there through four other panels.  I was glad I did this because each of the other panels (and one pilot) that i saw were very fun and interesting.  First was Eureka from SyFy, which I’ve always meant to watch but never did.  They split a double session with Warehouse 13, also of SyFy. The casts were very engaging and you could feel the camaraderie and appreciation they have for each other.  Next we moved up before Nikita from CW, this proved to be slightly dangerous, for me.

While moving up I was caught in a row that did not have the ammount of seats we needed but, the row in front of me did.  So I decided to “hop” over the chairs to the row in front.  Im glad I have a son already because I don’t know if it would be possible after my chair adventure.  Anyway, Nikita was surprisingly good.  They showed the whole pilot before the panel and I will probably check it out in the fall.  After Nikita was Human Target, which was also a fun panel but not a show I would ever watch.  The main event was up next and that was The Mythbusters.

The entire crew was on the panel, Tory, Grant, Adam, Jamie and of course Kari.  Chris Hardwick conducted the panel and was efficient and hilarious.  There was great video of the many explosions as well as a sneak peak into next season.  The rooom was teeming with energy for these guys andthey absolutely delivered. I would absolutely suggest you find video of their panel and watch it.  You may not get the experience of being in the room but its well worth it.

My night ended at The Yard House, which I got lost walking to.  I ended up six city blocks from where I was supposed to be, but eventually I did make it.  This was the Media Junkyard / SHOE / 10th Wonder meet up and was also my last event of Comic Con.  Yards of beer and a confessional cam make for a fun evening.  Three ladies in particular dominated the camera corner and made for some of the funnest moments of the trip.  I ended up taking a petty cab back to the hotel ,after The Yard House closed, where I ended up staying awake until about 4am, even though I had to be up at 630am to go to the airport.  It ended up being four of the most enjoyable days I can recall.

I would like to thank all the great people I met or re-met, you really made this experience memorable.

Comic Con 2010…Holy Crap! part 1

Posted on by renmiked

This was my first sojourn to San Diego for Comic Con, or for anything else for that matter, and I was unsure of what exactly to expect.  I had pretty good advice going in about things to do and avoid, which was very helpful.  Nothing truly prepares you for the sensory onslaught or the sheer size of the event itself.  Comic Con flows out of the convention center and infiltrates the neighboring Gaslamp District, making you question if everything you are seeing is some type of marketing campaign or just a normal part of life in San Diego. From Robert Rodriguez handing out tacos to promote Machete to SyFy taking over a cafe and theming it based on one of their shows every turn offers new experience or marketing adventure.  One of the best things about the con is the ability to meet creators and writers of comics and artists of all types who have booths on the exhibit floor and are willing to converse about their art.  My head is still spinning from this 4 day journey that began last Wednesday at 5 am.

WEDNESDAY

Early Wednesday morning I  headed off to the airport on my trek to Comic Con.  I flew Southwest, because most of the other airlines have insane fees or shit service, and had no issues or delays.  Upon arriving in San Diego, I grabbed a cab and took the short ride to The Hyatt from the airport.  I headed to the convention center to see how long the line was to pick up passes.   There were about a hundred or so people in line so I went to find something to eat.  I ended up at SyFy’s Cafe Diem, which ended up being my first experience at the con.  I sat at the bar and the service was good, as was the chili.  I was back over at the convention center in about 20 minutes and when I arrived there was no line outside, so I walked right in and picked up my pass.

There were a few hours before the exhibit floor was opening so I went and roamed a little while.  I came back with a few people who had to pick up passes still, so I went ahead to get my first glimpse of Comic Con.  As I entered the exhibit hall I was immediately overwhelmed.  To sum up my feelings the next day someone texted me asking what I thought so far and my response was “amazing/exhausted”.  The hall was just a mass of bodies trying to devour every ounce of geekdom and techness the floor had to offer.  After five minutes my head was spinning and I was wandering like a strung-out hooker looking for my next fix.  After a little while I met up with a group of people and we went to Fred’s for some delicious mexican and beer.  All in all my first day was very good even though I lost my bearings in the Exhibit Hall for awhile.

Thursday

I woke up around 730 or so on Thursday morning and headed out to pick up provisions for the day at Ralph’s ,a local supermarket, and then off to see some panels.  My first panel was The One Ring : The Hobbit panel.  I chose it because it was a smaller panel and had a short line so I could ease into the experience.  It was okay, they kind of rehashed all the news about The Hobbit movie that has come out recently and speculating on what may happen to the project.  I went to see the 38 Studios panel next.

38 Studios is a game studio headed by Curt Schilling , yes the pitcher, and they were previewing their first release Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The panel included: Todd McFarlane, R.A. Salvatore, Ken Rolston and Curt Schilling.  Todd McFarlane was incredible to watch and his passion and intensity for his craft easily came across.  At one point McFarlane was up on the table describing how the characters will live in the world being created.  The shots of the game looked absolutely terrific and I am definitely excited to see more of this game.

Before the 38 Studios panel I sat through some of the Caprica, Battlestar and Beyond panel.  I have never seen either show so I didn’t know much of what was going on but Bear McCreary, composer Battlestar, Caprica and Walking Dead, was incredibly interesting and I was glad I sat through the panel.  I was planning on seeing Assassin’s Creed panel next but never made it there.

That night I ended up going to the G4 / Lucasfilm party with the Media Junkyard crew and Jana.  This was beyond insane.  There were Stormtroopers everywhere, Darth Vader and Boba Fett chilled at the party, and some other Empire Strikes Back theming and characters.  Im not going into any details but needless to say the night ended in the early morning hour and was complete effing awesome.  Oh but I will say the Josh Whedon was cutting a rug at the party.  A big thanks to the whole Media Junkyard crew for bringing me along on this crazy experience.

to be continued…

Bear McCreary
http://www.bearmccreary.com/
38 Studios
http://38studios.com/
The One Ring
http://www.theonering.net/
Fred’s Mexican Cafe
http://www.fredsmexicancafe.com
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