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Beckers · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:18 am Post subject:

Well, I saw Bruce Campbell, Lou Ferigno and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and John Landis walked by me complaining to his companion that he got a really BAD script and he really did not want o have anything to do with it (whatever it was) ... Very Happy

AND I missed the LOST panel (got there later then I wanted ... NO parking and, yes, we had to walk a mile) and was NOT going to face that line, wrapped around the convention center, when there was so much too see. And, from what I was told, Mathew Fox made a surprize visit *whimper* Sad

!!!

Had a GREAT time -- so many people! Came away with posters, signed comicbooks, totebags, nic nacks and lotsa photos -- Loved the Sci Fi and Waner Bros. areas ... and I was attacked by a Killer Tomatoe!!

I think next year I might get a hotel room and go for two days. Just too much too see. Very Happy

_________________

To my great regret, Max has taken to the bottle again .... Wink

Ryalin · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 19 Location: San Diego

Ry's ComicCon report - Day 1

Up at 5:30. Out the door at 6:45. No problem finding parking at the convention center, especially as my friend K gave me super secret directions for a back way in. Once the car was safely stowed away, my friend D and I split up. She was on her way to camp out in Hall H for all of the big theatrical panels while I was on my way to line up for Ballroom 20. Got there early enough to have a pretty awesome place in line and began waiting for other friends to arrive. Once the doors opened up, we were able to get a spot in about row 5 or 6 center. Already buzzing about the day's events....definitely the panels I was most excited about.

Placeholder Panel #1 - My first official panel of ComicCon 2008 was also my first official placeholder. ComicCon is full of panels you sit through, regardless of any real interest, in order to guarantee a spot for a later panel. This one was called 'Reinventing the Page' and featured Stan Lee and Grant Morrison talking Virgin comics. All my years of going to ComicCon and this was my first time seeing Stan. Let me tell you, this guy is riddled with nagging self-doubt.....NOT. He was ornery as hell and kept Grant on his toes. Oh, and Grant Morrison should be paid to spend an hour in front of a large crowd of women reading from the phone book. The man is Scottish and has the most amazing speaking voice. Sigh....

Immediately after the Stan Lee panel were my most highly anticipated panels of the con. Doctor Who and Torchwood back to back. Doctor Who was up first with Julie Gardner and Steven Moffat.
ComicCon Highlight #1 - An extended trailer for the Xmas episode in December
ComicCon Disappointment #1 - Russell T. Davies didn't make it. According to Julie, he was tied up in a room writing Torchwood episodes while people shoved food and water under the door.
ComicCon Discovery #1 - Steven Moffat is brilliant. Scary brilliant. Insanely brilliant. And funny as hell. It was instantaneously obvious where the genius behind The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead comes from. As much as I love RTD, I can't wait to see Steven at the helm of DW. Confirmation that we get the Xmas episode in December, either 3 or 4 other stand alone movies scattered through 2009 and no full season 5 until 2010. Sigh.....
Steven Moffat said his goodbyes and John Barrowman, Gareth David-Lloyd and Naoko Mori joined Julie on stage for the Torchwood panel. The panel opened with the infamous John/James 'fight' scene from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and, of course, got everybody in the room all hot and bothered. John was positively droolworthy. My friends and I might as well have been 14 yr old girls at a Jonas Brothers concert. Besides the aforementioned John/James scene, they also had us watch Tosh's death scene, which had everybody in the room, including John and Naoko, in tears.
ComicCon Highlight #2 - Apparently John and Naoko were both in Miss Saigon at the same time and some persistent fan was able to goad them into an impromptu duet while on stage.
ComicCon Disappointment #2 - Burn Gorman didn't make the con for reasons that were never mentioned. It was also, at about this time, that my friend D texted me from Hall H letting me know that Hugh Jackman had put in a surprise appearance to promote Wolverine. If I had been anywhere else other then in front of John Barrowman, I probably would have considered throwing myself off of the roof of the convention center.
This was the BBC's first real presence at ComicCon, and I think we blew there socks off. They filled up Ballroom 20, to the tune of 4500 people, for both panels, and I'm certain there were more people outside who simply couldn't get in. Hopefully, we haven't seen the last of them. If we ever get a certain Timelord to the convention, my heart might not take it.

Following these two panels, I ran downstairs to the dealer room to take a quick look around. It was jampacked with people, something I won't mention again as it stayed jampacked with people all weekend. Discovered that despite rumors to the contrary, John and Gareth were signing autographs at a booth on the dealer floor. Ended up buying John's autobiography and getting it autographed.
ComicCon 'Ry's An Idiot' Experience #1 - Could not form two coherent sentences while standing in front of John getting my book autographed. IQ down to one quarter of normal capacity. Sigh....
ComicCon Missed Panel #1 - Had every intention of going to the Wizard's First Rule panel but never quite made it.

I ended my first full day at ComicCon with the True Blood panel, another one that I was extremely excited about. I've been reading Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries for years, and I was so excited when I heard that HBO was turning the books into a series.
ComicCon Highlight #3 - Anna Paquin, who is starring as Sookie in the series, was there. I've loved her work ever since she won the Oscar for The Piano. Definitely a bit of a fangirl moment.
ComicCon Discovery #2 - Some people just don't get their fans. Alan Ball, who is the showrunner for True Blood, came off like the 'anti-Steven Moffat'. To his credit, Alan's background is in straight drama, being the creator of the immensely acclaimed Six Feet Under. With something like that under his belt, it's obvious the guy can write, but boy, does he not know a thing about a genre crowd. He was dry, dull and when asked if he would be looking for feedback from the fans on the internet, more or less said straight out that he really wasn't interested in what the fans thought. Hmmm....... Not the best answer he could have come up with in that particular venue. They do, however, get props for best convention Swag Bag. I got a (another) copy of the first Sookie book, a True Blood comic and a t-shirt that says "Friends don't let friends drink friends". Heehee.

And so ends day one......... More to come.

-Ry

Sarah · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 25 Location: Canada

Thanks guys for posting about your experience!!! It seems like it was quite the experience!

Thanks for sharing with the rest of the class.

SunKrux · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject:

Hey Ry - you forgot to mention your fashion advice to that certain actress you met. Wink

Or was that part of Day 2? Wink

_________________
I like corny. I'm looking for corny in my life. - Iris - The Holiday

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CAP · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:36 pm Post subject:

Makes me so glad to be landlocked in Minnesota, not!

Beckers.. Landis? Couldn't you have tripped him or something and then asked politely about the Lost World

Ry.. John Barrowman and Hugh Jackman in the same building... at the same time..... the stuff of legends...

Thank you everyone... I have never spent a finer few minutes of reading .....

CAP

Beckers · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:22 am Post subject:

Ryalin · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 19 Location: San Diego

Ry's ComicCon Report - Day 2

Up at 5:30 and out the door by 6:15. Couldn't sleep so trying to function on about 2.5 hours. Would be all right if I hadn't been averaging about 6 hours the previous several nights. No trouble parking but found out that they closed the convention center lot shortly after I arrived. Once again D and I separated so that she could head to Hall H while I, once again, staked out a place in line for Ballroom 20.

Ry's Lucky ComicCon Moment #1 - As I've learned over the years, a lot of ComicCon is being in the right place at the right time, or, at the very least, knowing somebody else who's in the right place at the right time. Despite the fact that I had gotten to the Convention Center about 30 minutes earlier then the day before, the line to get into the building was astronomical. I was making my way towards the end when a hand snaked out and pulled me into line. I am indebted to my friend J for noticing me when I was apparently looking dazedly (see above regarding 2.5 hours of sleep) right past him. I've discovered that I must have a knack for just not noticing people...as I was to discover much later that day.

Anyway, did the regular ComicCon morning arse sit while waiting several hours to be let into Ballroom 20. Managed to scurry away for a few minutes to wait in line for my chance at a Spaced autograph opportunity. See, there are three different kinds of autograph opportunities at ComicCon. The first is your standard individual who sits at a table with stacks of 8 x 10 glossies that you can buy and get autographed. Prices generally range from $20-25/ autograph. The second is your sponsored group signing, usually in conjunction with a particular panel. They usually supply some piece of memoribilia that you can get signed for free...as long as you wait in the mile long line and can get through it before time runs out. The last group is the limited signings. For these hot items, you get the privilege of waiting in a line so that you can draw a ticket out of a bag. You pull out the right kind of ticket, you earn the right to wait in another line later that day for a guaranteed autograph. If you've got the time, and tickets don't run out, you can actually go through the line several times in the hopes that eventually you'll draw the right kind of ticket. Well, I really wanted in on the Spaced cast limited signing. I waited in line, drew my ticket....and failed. Rats!!! However,
Ry's Lucky ComicCon Moment #2 - Ry's wonderful, handsome, amazing husband took pity on Ry and also waited in said line even though he had no interest in a Spaced signing. Unlike me, he drew the right kind of ticket and kindly gave it to his adoring spouse. Woohoo!!!!

First up that day panelwise was the Stargate Continuum Panel, yet another one I was extremely excited about. Our featured guests were Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Ben Browder, Chris Judge and, amazingly enough, Richard Dean Anderson. I had never heard of RDA appearing at any sort of convention related event, so I was really excited to see him for the first time. I was also getting a sick sort of pleasure regarding seeing Michael Shanks and Ben Browder in the same place at the same time. With visions of an infamous Farscape Convention running through my head, I refrained from asking any embarassing questions that might have later lived on in infamy on some video release. Long story. Ask my Twin. We got a nice, long promo for Continuum. We got a video tribute to Don Davis. Chris Judge was absolutely sobbing after the video to the point where I thought he'd have to excuse himself. Most of the audience was pretty misty eyed. The most stunning aspect of the panel, however, was.........
ComicCon Discovery #3 - Richard Dean Anderson is nuts. I'm not joking. You know Jack O'Neil's personality? Well, it ain't reaching. That really is RDA's humor spot on. Amanda spent so much time flushed red that I feared for her health. Chris Judge (who is usually the designated panel troublemaker) thanked RDA for making anything Chris said or did look tame by comparison. In fact, walking away from that panel all I could wonder about was the hazard pay anybody trying to direct RDA and Chris simultaneously must have earned. Needless to say, the panel was a blast and everybody's sides ached from all the laughing.

Though there were two other Stargate Panels after this one, I scooted out of Ballroom 20 in the hopes of using the 45 minute interval to get into room 6A for the Spaced panel. Hmmmm...... Room 6A holds less then 1000 people. Spaced is getting its highly anticipated U.S. DVD release after years of prodding and pestering from U.S. fans. These are the same people responsible for such cult favorites as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Simon Pegg is going to be Scotty for pete's sake!!!! Did the ComicCon PTB stop to consider that they may have misjudged the interested crowd for this panel? Holy moly, did they!! I have never seen a line so long for an event that wasn't in Hall H or Ballroom 20. Even with 45 minutes to spare and friends saving a seat for me inside, there was no way at all that I was going to get anywhere near that panel. So, alas..
ComicCon Missed Panel #2 - Spaced. Bugger. %^&% Twisted Evil

To make matters even worse. I had decided to do Spaced in lieu of Joss Whedon's Doctor Horrible panel. By the time I discovered that I couldn't get into Spaced, it was also way too late to get back into Ballroom 20 for Joss' panel. Double bugger.
Not much to do at that point but heed the scream of nature and find a ladies room. Found one that wasn't packed full of people and was washing my hands when I noticed the woman next to me fretting about her outfit. I didn't really pay much attention until she turned to me and asked if I'd be willing to offer up an opinion. Seems as though the pretty black dress she was wearing had a cardigan that went with it and she didn't know if she should wear it or go without it. I looked at the dress without the cardigan then asked her to put the cardigan on. Seeing the dress with the sweater, I told her, honestly, that I preferred it with the sweater. She then thanked me for my opinion. I said 'no problem', and she thanked me again as I left the bathroom. Didn't really give the event much thought until I was standing in my highly anticipated Spaced autograph line, which leads us to...

ComicCon 'Ry's An Idiot' Experience #2 - Looking down at Jessica Hynes and realizing that it was her I was giving fashion advice to in the ladies room, albeit solicited fashion advice. Talk about clueless. Anyway, once I got over my shock, I felt that since I'd already dug the hole, I might as well bury myself in it.
Ry: "Jessica, may I please ask you a fairly pathetic, definitely juvenile question"?
Jessica (looking nervous): "Uh, sure".
Ry: "On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the worst date you have ever been on and 10 being the best, how, exactly, would you rank David Tennant as a kisser?
Jessica (blushing slightly and definitely with a big smile): "A 10!"

And this is why Ry should not be allowed to talk to famous people.

Had just enough time at this point to run through the line to get David Franklin's autograph before I ran back to Ballroom 20 to wait in line for the Bones panel. For this one, they brought in David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin, Tamara Taylor, Hart Hanson and John Francis Daley.
ComicCon Disappointment #3 - Emily was supposed to be there but wasn't. Just like with Burn Gorman and the Torchwood panel, there was no explanation for her abscence.
ComicCon Discovery #4 - Egads, it's amazing what you discover at these things. In this case, it's that, like RDA, David Boreanaz is nuts. His mind flits from subject to subject so quickly, you can't keep up with the tangents. He's also far goofier then I ever would have imagined. Again, I felt myself pitying the poor devils who have to reign him in on set.
Much to my joy, there were some brave fans who pointed out the horror that was the season finale and Hart impressed me by readily admitting to reading the boards and knowing exactly how ticked off people were with the ending. All in all, they were a very enjoyable bunch, David's loopiness aside.

I had every intention of going to dinner and then coming back to the Convention Center for one of the two big evening events...a Spaced marathon vs. Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. In the end, however, the 2.5 hours of sleep took its toll and I decided that sleep was more important than quality time with Edgar Wright or Joss Whedon.

And so ends day 2....More to come...

-Ry

SunKrux · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 5:30 am Post subject:

CAP · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:40 pm Post subject:

[quote="Beckers"]

Beckers · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:06 am Post subject:

Yah Think? Becker a licious That's OK, really Beckers... I know from my past history as 'fangirl' I have no right to be critical. Thank you for the photos.. ... ... .. who was taking the pictures?

My sister. She and my brother inlaw wanted to go, never having done anything like it before -- and my sister REALLY enjoyed herself! My brother inlaw loved all the old DC comic boxes. He was in comicbook heaven. Laughing

Thanks, CAP!
_________________

To my great regret, Max has taken to the bottle again .... Wink

micktheloon · Joined: 17 Mar 2008 Posts: 54 Location: England

At the London Film and Comic Con a couple of weeks ago I got some good close ups of John Landis.Missed his talk though-I went on Saturday and his talk was on Sunday-great planning!The talks are a little bit more intimate with only 250-300 people allowed in.The Indiana Jones one with Margot Kidder and some cast members was good as well as Claudia Black's-mind you she would only have to stand there and that would be good enough for me!

CAP · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject:

Micktheloon, Beckers, Ry.. thankyou.. so much... it was a pleasure getting up in the AM to read your reports.

TGIF

CAP

micktheloon · Joined: 17 Mar 2008 Posts: 54 Location: England

http://picasaweb.google.com/micktheloon/JohnLandis Just a few photos of John Landis with some bonus pics of Margot Kidder and Claudia Black.

Ryalin · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 19 Location: San Diego

Ry's ComicCon Report - Day 3

2008 was an interesting year. Normally, the two big days of ComicCon, at least for me, are Friday and Saturday. This year, the days I was most enthused about were Thursday and Friday. My plotted out schedule for Saturday was to include only 2 panels and one trip through a limited autograph line to see if I could get a lucky ticket.

Saturday began with exhaustion winning out over devotion. Decided to sleep in an extra hour and take the trolley to the convention center rather then park downtown. Without a big morning panel to wait in line for, it was nice being able to just stroll in. Made my way to the autograph area to wait in line for limited signing ticket. This one was for Adam and Jamie from Mythbusters. They were doing a panel that evening, but there was no way I could attend due to a dinner commitment. The autograph opportunity would be the next best thing.

Ry's Lucky ComicCon Moment #3 - Had enough time to get through the line twice. On my second trip through, I scored the autograph ticket. Woohoo!!! I'm meeting the Mythbusters!!!

Once I'd gotten my autograph ticket, I didn't have anything going on until 1:00, however, the 1:00 panel I wanted to attend was sure to be a room filler so.....

Placeholder Panel #2 - Sat through author Dean Koontz's panel. I had read some Koontz years and years ago, but I didn't really consider myself a Koontz expert. Would I be bored? Absolutely not. ComicCon proved, once again, that there is entertainment to be found where you least expect it. I found Koontz very bright, very interesting and very entertaining. His panel was very informal...just up at the podium talking about life and work and the everyday realities of being a relatively famous writer. The questions that people asked were intelligent and thought provoking. This was Koontz's first appearance at ComicCon, and I think he really enjoyed it.

After Koontz's panel was Joss Whedon's panel for Dollhouse, the first new TV show he's involved with since Firefly. As you might imagine, Ballroom 20 was packed to the rafters. The panel featured Joss, Eliza Dushku and Tahmoh Penikett. They aired the trailer that is currently floating around the internet. It got a great reponse from the crowd.

ComicCon Discovery #5 - Eliza is not quite what I expected. She is much more like Faith then I ever would have imagined. Her speech patterns, her humor...She really didn't stray too much from her own personality to play Faith. I wanted to be wowed by her, but I really wasn't. Joss, on the other hand, seems to really admire her. During the panel he stated that the idea for Dollhouse grew out of wanting to work with Eliza again. It sounds like the two of them are very good friends, and he has a lot of respect for her.

Joss was his regular hysterical, brutally intelligent self. One fan asked if Joss would be resentful knowing that there is already a "Save Dollhouse" website. This got a tremendous laugh out of everybody, including Joss, who stated that based on his track record, it definitely couldn't hurt. My personal feelings toward Eliza aside, Dollhouse looks like great fun. There is great chemistry between Eliza and Tahmoh, and I'm really looking foward to seeing Joss's work back on TV.

After the Dollhouse panel, I wandered downstairs to Hall H for my first trip into the 6500 seat behemouth that I had successfully avoided to that point. Based on the mile long line (I am not joking..the line was a mile long extending from the convention center to Seaport Village) to get into Hall H that morning for the back to back Heroes/Lost panels, I was expecting quite the wait. Armed with my iPod, book, PB&J sandwich and a diet coke, I was expecting to sit in line for a while. Much to my shock, I was able to walk right in. I caught the tail end of the Pixar panel and got to see the suits talk about 'Up', a really cute movie that will be coming out next year.

After the Pixar panel, it was time for the Universal panel. I was keeping my fingers crossed that we would get some surprise guests. It must have worked, because surprised we were.
ComicCon Highlight #4 - I knew that part of the Universal panel would be devoted to The Mummy. What I didn't know was that they'd be bringing in the entire cast. Yes, the ENTIRE cast. Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li, John Hannah, Maria Bello, Luke Ford and Isabella Leong were all in attendance. Seems that they are on a world tour promoting the release of the movie and decided to stop in San Diego, briefly, to put in an appearance at ComicCon. Poor Brendan looked like he had downed 4 no-doze with a red bull chaser, but he was still lovely. The first Mummy movie is one of my favorites of all time, and it was a dream come true to see Brendan in person, even if it was in a room with 6499 other people. Michelle Yeoh was a wonderful speaker and a pleasure to see as well. Jet Li was kind of quiet and stayed hunched over all time time so I couldn't get a good picture of him.

After the Mummy segment, we then were treated to the Deathrace segment. For that one, we had Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson and Natalie Martinez. Roger Corman, the creator of the original Deathrace 2000 movie was also there. Tyrese was adorable, staring out at 6500 people with a 'deer in the headlights' expression that I just wouldn't expect on an actor. Jason was.....yum....Jason. Natalie was doing the same thing to the guys. Ian was funny. Roger stated that he felt that this movie was better then his original. Joan was wondering why in the world she had done an action movie and ended up at ComicCon. I think she felt a bit out of her element. Before the panel, I would have said I had no interest in seeing Deathrace. Based on the clips they showed, I think I've changed my mind. It looks like it will be a fun popcorn movie.

After Deathrace, we had Sam Raimi talking about his first trip back into the horror motion picture genre in years....a lovely little movie called "Drag Me To Hell". Stayed long enough to watch a few clips but then had to leave to go stand in line for my Mythbusters autograph. Despite being a fairly long line, it moved very quickly. Said hi to Adam, who was smiling and very sweet but got tongue tied in front of Jamie and once again felt my IQ slipping down to my toes. They were signing this exclusive edition ComicCon poster which I now have to get framed. The poster is really funny, and I can't wait to put it up.

I needed to kill some time after the signing because I wasn't due to meet friends for dinner till a bit later, so I wandered back to Hall H where my friend D was hanging out. Caught the end of the Pineapple Express panel which, I have to say, was the only boring panel I attended all con. I had zero interest in seeing the film when I walked in the door and even less when I walked out.

So ends day 3.....one more day to come..

-Ry

CAP · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject: Re: Comic Com