The Friday before last I went out to the desert with a bunch of friends to watch the meteor shower. Even if there had been no shooting stars, it was amazing just to be able to see the Milky Way. We put out a couple of blankets and enjoyed the show (including "oohing" and "awwing" at almost every meteor). It's awesome how something so simple can be so breath-taking.
Side note - We didn't realize until we were halfway there that it was Friday the 13th. Good news: we weren't in a campy horror film so we all made it back alive.
Side note 2 - Just as we were about to pack it up and move inside for the night we heard something in the desert. We weren't quite sure what it was - someone suggested it might be a whimpering dog or a coyote - but then the source was spotted. A huge owl on the wires not too far away (mostly a shadow). We got to see it swoop away into the night. It was a good close to the evening.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Zoo!
I went to the zoo two weeks ago. It was a gorgeous day and we saw some gorgeous animals. Here are cream-of-the-crop pictures:
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Comic Con 2010
I obviously haven't been keeping up with this blog, but I do want to get back into it (even if I'm not having awesome over-seas adventures). So what better way to kick things off than with a little bit about my recent San Diego Comic Con escapades?
THURSDAY
Thursday morning I got up bright and early so I could get dressed up in my steam punk costume. I wasn’t sure I’d have energy for a costume on subsequent days, and Thursday was the day that I was going to wander the exhibit hall the most. I went down to the trolley station in Old Town and managed to find a little side street not too far away where I could park my car for free. A four day trolley pass is only $15 – quite a deal when you consider parking downtown can be $25+ per day. I arrived a little after 9:30 so all the doors were already open and I didn’t have to wait to go inside. I started at one end of the packed convention center and slowly wound my way up and down the aisles. Even though I wandered for several hours, I only made it through about half of the hall. I did get to meet some pretty awesome people, especially in Artist’s Alley. It’s really neat that the artists themselves are there to promote their work. The highlight was meeting Dennis Calero and Todd Stashwick, who have just teamed up to create a new web comic called Devil Inside.
I decided to go wait in line for Hall H because I really wanted to see Abrams and Whedon speak about their projects. I got in for the panel before, RED, a movie about retired CIA agents that learn a secret and become targets for the current agents. Bruce Willis was there to promote it.
Abrams and Whedon were as awesome as I expected. Whedon officially announced that he was going to be the director for the new Avengers movie. He described the characters as a bunch of people who don’t really function well together – which is basically the definition of a family.
The panel for Expendables was after that, and Sylvester Stallone was there. I left toward the end because the movie didn’t really look that good – pure action and not much else.
FRIDAY
First thing on Friday morning I went to the BBC booth to pick up a ticket for the Being Human signing that was happening later in the day. It wasn’t a raffle like many of the other signings, it was just first-come, first-served. I wandered the exhibit hall for a while because that was the first thing I was going to do and it wasn’t until two in the afternoon. Once I did go to line up for it, I made friends with the person next to me in line and we became camera buddies – I took a picture of her with the stars and she took a picture of me (obviously not all the stars noticed...).
Afterward I went to go line up for True Blood in Ballroom 20. I waited in line for about 2 ½ hours before getting in for the end of the panel. While waiting I met a couple who are both musicians, but they unfortunately had to bail before we got inside because they had a gig in downtown that evening. Once I was inside, I checked the guide and found out that the TV Guide panel right after True Blood had some good guests. There were stars there from V, The Cape, Chuck, and No Ordinary Family.
SATURDAY
I spent almost all of Saturday in Ballroom 20. After two days of wandering the exhibit hall, I found it excusable to sit for a day. While waiting in line I met an AD (Assistant Director) who is working in the TV and film industry, which was pretty awesome. There were good panels all day long: Chuck, Family Guy, Cleveland Show, Futurama, Simpsons, V, Fringe, and Vampire Diaries.
SUNDAY
I went in costume again on Sunday. On the whole it was a very odd day – perhaps “karmic balance” is a good way to put it.
As soon as I arrived at the convention center I rushed to the line for Ballroom 20, which was even longer than it had been on Saturday. It stretched down the stairs and along the bay front, almost back to the start of the center. I waited in line for about an hour talking with the guys in front of me, and despite the fact that I told them multiple times what I was waiting in line for and that they were the first two panels, they failed to tell me that their panel was first and I was in the wrong line. I waited all the way until we got into the hall before I figured it out because the wrong people were presenting. I could have stuck around for Smallville and Supernatural, but I don’t watch the former and I had already seen the latter the year before.
I decided to book it to the other end of the convention center to the correct room to see if the line was bad. When I got there, there was no line and they were letting people directly inside. It was pretty packed but I lucked out and got a second row seat for Castle, with stars Stana Katic, Nathan Fillion, Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever, Molly Quinn, and Tamala Jones. As a group they were hilarious. Someone from the audience asked the question, “[I noticed you guys are being kind of silly up there; how do you ever get anything done?]” To which Molly – the youngest actor of them all – wittily replied, “[It is sometimes difficult being the only adult on set.]” Nathan gave out random prizes to people who asked questions, including: a wristband from a party he went to, a package of Oreos, his name card, a nail file (unused), and a small jar of his gray hairs. On the way in to the room they were handing out water bottles with the Castle logo on them. If you had a ticket inside, you got to go to a signing with the cast. I had no such luck, but after the panel, Stana was very nice and stuck around to do a few signatures, including the box for my water bottle.
I went to go search for a seat for Merlin which was to be in the same room in fifteen minutes. I thought I saw one more center in the second row and was about to grab it when three girls from the row in front said that they were already trying to get to those seats. They were about to send one person off to look for another seat, but I figured I had already seen the Merlin cast in Britain and they deserved the seats more than I did (they were really nice too) so I gave them the seat. I thought I was going to have to sit pretty far away because by that point seats were filling up, but as I was leaving the row, a woman stopped me. She explained she had been saving the seat next to her for her son, but that he was in line for an autograph signing at the moment and wouldn’t be able to make it. So I ended up front and center for the Merlin panel, five feet away from the panelists. The guest stars included Colin Morgan and Anthony Head. They showed a blooper reel which was hilarious, and it was obvious that they had a lot of fun on set. Anthony Head was really funny too and couldn’t stop laughing at everything. They also showed a clip of the upcoming season which was exciting.
After the panel ended I headed down to the exhibit hall because I wanted to see if James Marsters was around for the signing. Most signings take place in the Sails Pavillion upstairs with long lines, or else at major network booths with crazy packs of fans and lots of security. However, he was signing at a smaller booth that specializes in getting celebrities to come for photo ops and signatures (Froggy’s Photos). Just as I got there he stood up and left for a short break. I was afraid he was leaving for the day, but I decided to strike up a conversation with the guy working the booth. He told me that he was just on a break and would probably be leaving around two pm after one last round of signatures. I talked to him for a while and he had some interesting stories since he was also responsible for driving the celebrities around. He was very chill so I asked him if I might be able to snap a photo with James. Surprisingly enough he said, “It doesn’t hurt to ask.” So I stuck around until James came out again. There were a few people who had bought a signature and I waited for them to finish before approaching him. The guy behind the booth asked him for me, which was very generous of him. James was really nice and immediately agreed to it – I imagine the whole day had been full of silly fans like me, but he was very gracious.
The day ended on a good note, with friends and the closing event of Comic Con: Buffy, the musical episode.
On the whole, Comic Con was as amazing as ever. I’ll try to sign up to volunteer at next year’s Con – it fills up pretty fast, but I would love to help out with this awesome event.
THURSDAY
Thursday morning I got up bright and early so I could get dressed up in my steam punk costume. I wasn’t sure I’d have energy for a costume on subsequent days, and Thursday was the day that I was going to wander the exhibit hall the most. I went down to the trolley station in Old Town and managed to find a little side street not too far away where I could park my car for free. A four day trolley pass is only $15 – quite a deal when you consider parking downtown can be $25+ per day. I arrived a little after 9:30 so all the doors were already open and I didn’t have to wait to go inside. I started at one end of the packed convention center and slowly wound my way up and down the aisles. Even though I wandered for several hours, I only made it through about half of the hall. I did get to meet some pretty awesome people, especially in Artist’s Alley. It’s really neat that the artists themselves are there to promote their work. The highlight was meeting Dennis Calero and Todd Stashwick, who have just teamed up to create a new web comic called Devil Inside.
I decided to go wait in line for Hall H because I really wanted to see Abrams and Whedon speak about their projects. I got in for the panel before, RED, a movie about retired CIA agents that learn a secret and become targets for the current agents. Bruce Willis was there to promote it.
Abrams and Whedon were as awesome as I expected. Whedon officially announced that he was going to be the director for the new Avengers movie. He described the characters as a bunch of people who don’t really function well together – which is basically the definition of a family.
The panel for Expendables was after that, and Sylvester Stallone was there. I left toward the end because the movie didn’t really look that good – pure action and not much else.
FRIDAY
First thing on Friday morning I went to the BBC booth to pick up a ticket for the Being Human signing that was happening later in the day. It wasn’t a raffle like many of the other signings, it was just first-come, first-served. I wandered the exhibit hall for a while because that was the first thing I was going to do and it wasn’t until two in the afternoon. Once I did go to line up for it, I made friends with the person next to me in line and we became camera buddies – I took a picture of her with the stars and she took a picture of me (obviously not all the stars noticed...).
Afterward I went to go line up for True Blood in Ballroom 20. I waited in line for about 2 ½ hours before getting in for the end of the panel. While waiting I met a couple who are both musicians, but they unfortunately had to bail before we got inside because they had a gig in downtown that evening. Once I was inside, I checked the guide and found out that the TV Guide panel right after True Blood had some good guests. There were stars there from V, The Cape, Chuck, and No Ordinary Family.
SATURDAY
I spent almost all of Saturday in Ballroom 20. After two days of wandering the exhibit hall, I found it excusable to sit for a day. While waiting in line I met an AD (Assistant Director) who is working in the TV and film industry, which was pretty awesome. There were good panels all day long: Chuck, Family Guy, Cleveland Show, Futurama, Simpsons, V, Fringe, and Vampire Diaries.
SUNDAY
I went in costume again on Sunday. On the whole it was a very odd day – perhaps “karmic balance” is a good way to put it.
As soon as I arrived at the convention center I rushed to the line for Ballroom 20, which was even longer than it had been on Saturday. It stretched down the stairs and along the bay front, almost back to the start of the center. I waited in line for about an hour talking with the guys in front of me, and despite the fact that I told them multiple times what I was waiting in line for and that they were the first two panels, they failed to tell me that their panel was first and I was in the wrong line. I waited all the way until we got into the hall before I figured it out because the wrong people were presenting. I could have stuck around for Smallville and Supernatural, but I don’t watch the former and I had already seen the latter the year before.
I decided to book it to the other end of the convention center to the correct room to see if the line was bad. When I got there, there was no line and they were letting people directly inside. It was pretty packed but I lucked out and got a second row seat for Castle, with stars Stana Katic, Nathan Fillion, Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever, Molly Quinn, and Tamala Jones. As a group they were hilarious. Someone from the audience asked the question, “[I noticed you guys are being kind of silly up there; how do you ever get anything done?]” To which Molly – the youngest actor of them all – wittily replied, “[It is sometimes difficult being the only adult on set.]” Nathan gave out random prizes to people who asked questions, including: a wristband from a party he went to, a package of Oreos, his name card, a nail file (unused), and a small jar of his gray hairs. On the way in to the room they were handing out water bottles with the Castle logo on them. If you had a ticket inside, you got to go to a signing with the cast. I had no such luck, but after the panel, Stana was very nice and stuck around to do a few signatures, including the box for my water bottle.
I went to go search for a seat for Merlin which was to be in the same room in fifteen minutes. I thought I saw one more center in the second row and was about to grab it when three girls from the row in front said that they were already trying to get to those seats. They were about to send one person off to look for another seat, but I figured I had already seen the Merlin cast in Britain and they deserved the seats more than I did (they were really nice too) so I gave them the seat. I thought I was going to have to sit pretty far away because by that point seats were filling up, but as I was leaving the row, a woman stopped me. She explained she had been saving the seat next to her for her son, but that he was in line for an autograph signing at the moment and wouldn’t be able to make it. So I ended up front and center for the Merlin panel, five feet away from the panelists. The guest stars included Colin Morgan and Anthony Head. They showed a blooper reel which was hilarious, and it was obvious that they had a lot of fun on set. Anthony Head was really funny too and couldn’t stop laughing at everything. They also showed a clip of the upcoming season which was exciting.
After the panel ended I headed down to the exhibit hall because I wanted to see if James Marsters was around for the signing. Most signings take place in the Sails Pavillion upstairs with long lines, or else at major network booths with crazy packs of fans and lots of security. However, he was signing at a smaller booth that specializes in getting celebrities to come for photo ops and signatures (Froggy’s Photos). Just as I got there he stood up and left for a short break. I was afraid he was leaving for the day, but I decided to strike up a conversation with the guy working the booth. He told me that he was just on a break and would probably be leaving around two pm after one last round of signatures. I talked to him for a while and he had some interesting stories since he was also responsible for driving the celebrities around. He was very chill so I asked him if I might be able to snap a photo with James. Surprisingly enough he said, “It doesn’t hurt to ask.” So I stuck around until James came out again. There were a few people who had bought a signature and I waited for them to finish before approaching him. The guy behind the booth asked him for me, which was very generous of him. James was really nice and immediately agreed to it – I imagine the whole day had been full of silly fans like me, but he was very gracious.
The day ended on a good note, with friends and the closing event of Comic Con: Buffy, the musical episode.
On the whole, Comic Con was as amazing as ever. I’ll try to sign up to volunteer at next year’s Con – it fills up pretty fast, but I would love to help out with this awesome event.
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