Comic-Con 2012 - Day 2 - Thursday

808 Pureview | The IRON MAN 3 display at the Marvel booth

I woke up early Thursday morning so I could get some exclusives from the floor.  This plan was successful, as I scored a Godzilla action figure.  I headed to the Cartoon Network booth and got a map of the land of OOO from Adventure Time.  On the back was the Comic-Con Quest to get a stamp from 10 booths on the exhibit hall.


808 Pureview | Zombie Finn and Rainbow Dash

After getting 4 stamps, I noticed it was getting close to 10am.  One of my roommates told me that a place way up on 4th St would be giving out processors.  The place turned out to be 10 blocks away.  It was beginning to rain when I got to an empty alley.  I looked around the block and found the line of people to get in.


808 Pureview | The AMD A8

I got in and signed some forms and got an AMD processor.  Sweet.  While waiting in line I stared at the bar.  There was an open bar, but it was 10:30am in the morning.  I settled on water and watched some game demos.  I then headed back to my room to have lunch.


808 Pureview | Dejah Thoris from John Carter of Mars

I dropped off my swag and made myself a sandwich.  My next panel wasn't until 1pm, so I decided to finish the Adventure Time quest.  After getting off the elevator, I spotted a gorgeous woman posing.  I took her picture and mouthed thanks.  She smiled back at me.  After learning she's a model named Valerie Perez, I regret not taking some time to take more pictures.


808 Pureview | Donatello says hi

I went back to the floor and finished the quest.  I got a rad Adventure Time medal I wore for the rest of the con.  Afterwards I headed over to the Indigo Ballroom to see the Voltron panel.  Even though I was late, I managed to get second row.  I moved up to front row for the Power Rangers panel, which was fun.  I recorded the whole panel and found the zoom on the 808 Pureview to be amazing and easy to use.


808 Pureview | X-Men and the Avengers


808 Pureview | Busts of Captain America, Red Skull, Iron Man and War Machine

In the weeks before Comic-Con, I would monitor twitter hashtags and blogs for access to all the parties.  One of the parties was at the Omni hotel put on by Wired magazine.  I signed up for reader day at the Wired Cafe and when I checked in, I was upgraded to VIP.  I proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon getting drunk and eating chicken wings.  


808 Pureview | The cast of Doctor Who at the Wired Cafe

So while I'm getting my nom on, I look over and the cast of Doctor Who shows up.  My heart does a few flips and I wash my hands so I could get my 808 Pureview out.  A little bit of zoom and I got this great photo.  It wasn't too long until I ran into some local friends I met last year.  The good times came to an end since the cafe runs until 5pm, so I headed back to my room..


808 Pureview | Me and Sonic 

I ran into Sonic on the way back.  After dropping off my gear and topping up my phone battery, I made my way to the Hard Rock for the first party of the night put on by the LA Times Hero Complex.


808 Pureview | Terry Crews


While waiting in line a few members of the cast of the Expendables 2 came by.  I saw Dolph Lundgren and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I manged to get this pic of Terry Crews.  One of the best things about the 808 Pureview is how fast it is to pull it out of your pocket and take a picture.


808 Pureview | Monsters of Petco Park

Since the Hero Complex party was running late, I decided to leave and head for the next party.  Along the way, I stopped at Petco Park to check out the Dawn of the Con party.  Not much was going on except for a video big screen and a giant line for t-shirts.  I made my way to NERD HQ for the TV Live Aushole party.  This was a cool party held in the rafters.  Host Michael Ausiello greeted everyone in line and gave out t-shirts.  I had a great time socializing but after two hours it was time to head to the next party.


808 Pureview | Amazing body art at the IMAX Remix party

I made my way 6 blocks up the street and hopped on a shuttle that took me to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at Balboa Park.  This was the nicest party I went to all weekend.  Great booze, great food, met a few cool people.  The big event was a VJ set by Glenn Morrison up on the big OMNIMAX screen.  Nature scenes were mixed with movie action scenes in an experience that went beyond my field of vision.  This was followed up with a premiere of the new James Bond Skyfall trailer.  The action looks great but I did not like new Q.  After a shuttle ride back to my hotel, the day ended.

Comic-Con 2012 - Day 1 - Preview Night

It's been two weeks since Comic-Con and I'm still sick.  And so we begin a recount of my Comic-Con adventures...


808 Pureview | View from my hotel room of the USS Midway

Wednesday morning my train to San Diego was delayed about 20 minutes.  After boarding and finding my seat, I went to the cafe car and spotted Seth Green and his wife Claire Grant.  Since Comic-Con started about a week earlier than usual, there were no drunks on board to visit the Del Mar races.  This didn't stop the train from being standing room only from southern Orange County to downtown San Diego.


808 Pureview | The Manchester Grand Hyatt pool

During the Comic-Con hotel lottery, I ended up with my eighth choice: Manchester Grand Hyatt.  One of my roommates was there early, so he checked in for me.  We ended up with a great room.  There was a pull down bed, a couch, a meeting table, a kitchenette and room for two single beds.  It was right off the elevator and on the same floor as the pool.


808 Pureview | Cartoon Network mural with Finn from Adventure Time at the New Children's Museum

After dropping off my stuff, I headed to Ralphs to pick up groceries.  I initially wanted to go pick up my badge, but I then I thought it would be better to pick it up right before the floor opened.  The nice thing about having a kitchen in your room is being able to buy everything you need for the whole weekend.


808 Pureview | Inside the Sails Pavilion at the San Diego Convention Center

Went back to the room and ate a sandwich.  My roommates watched Toddlers and Tiaras.  I never watched it before.  Holy shit, I couldn't believe these people existed.  After that nonsense, I went to get my badge.  Even though I lost my paperwork, getting my badge was super quick. I went to get in line to get to the floor and ended up cutting the line.  Oops.  Nobody complained though.


808 Pureview | Megazord, coming later this year


808 Pureview | Godzilla wrecks the convention center


808 Pureview | Cave trolls from The Hobbit


808 Pureview | Benson would talk and tell you to stop slacking and go back to work


808 Pureview | Wonder Woman meets the cast from Hotel Transylvania

The floor was a bit overwhelming.  This was my first real outing with my new Nokia 808 Pureview, so I ended up with some blurry photos.  One thing I really love about the 808 Pureview is how fast and easy it is to start the camera.  Lines for exclusives I had targeted were huge.  I did manage to score an action figure set.


808 Pureview | Wall of skulls in extreme low light

After getting my fill of the exhibit hall, I headed back to the Hyatt to drop off my stuff.  I headed to the Gaslamp to visit my favorite bar in San Diego, the Noble Experiment. The drinks are strong and well crafted.  Presentation is a big deal here.  Drinks come in cups or glasses according to their tradition and different kinds of ice are used that suited each drink.


808 Pureview | The most amazing mint tulip, served in a traditional silver cup

The appointment was set for 9:30, but one of my roommates was late and arrived after I had started my second drink. I ordered their Mint Julip, which was amazing.  I was pretty hammered after the second drink.  I think at this point we all went back to the room to sleep.

Unboxing the Nokia 808 Pureview from Amazon.com

N8 | Check out my George Foreman grill

I have been really excited about the Nokia 808 Pureview ever since its announcement. On June 18, Nokia announced it would be sold on Amazon.com for $700. It wasn't too long until Amazon listed their ship date of July 8th.

I pre-ordered mine on July 2 with one day so it would be here in time for Comic Con 2012. On July 6th, I found out Amazon had it in stock and with my Prime membership, I could get Saturday delivery for five bucks more than one day shipping.  I cancelled my order so I could get in on that special.

Saturday delivery almost didn't work. UPS estimated a 12pm delivery. The UPS guy delivered it to the wrong address at 11:42am. I had to call customer service, who told me they would contact the driver but wouldn't be able to deliver until Monday. At this point I am stomping around my living room furious about paying extra for Saturday delivery and getting screwed over. Yes, I got mad over five bucks. Luckily the UPS guy showed up around 12:45.  Excitement and relief took over as I got ready to shoot the video above.

Comic Con 2011 - Day 5

Note: this is yet another long overdue blog post


N8 | Zatanna

On Sunday I woke up early again despite all my partying the night before.  I went over to the Hyatt next door to get registered for Comic Con 2012.  The line took 3 hours to get through.  I managed to get one of the last 4 day passes with preview night.  I went back to the room and hastily packed my stuff.  I ended up leaving behind my shorts in the bathroom.


N8 | Amy Pond

With my stuff left with bag check, I headed off to Hall H in hopes of getting in for the Doctor Who panel.  Unfortunately, I was too late and didn't get in.  I did get to see panels for the Cleveland Show and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  The Sunny panel was great, the cast showed up in costumes from The Nightman Cometh.


N8 | An Oompa Loompa

Afterwards I walked the floor and picked a bunch of freebies.  Freebies are easy to get when the floor is about to close.  I went back to the hotel and had a nice dinner at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion.  Said bye to some of my roomates and hopped on the train and headed home.


N8 | Playing Zombie Fluxx on the train

Comic Con 2011 - Day 4

Note: this is a long overdue post


N8 | War Machine

I woke up Saturday morning around 7 am and immediately got in line for Ballroom 20 for the 10 am Chuck panel.  I was in line early enough to get in and for a spot in the middle of the room.  The panel was a lot of fun but bittersweet since it would be the final panel.  Zachary Levy had a hard time keeping it together.


N8 | A centaur waits for the elevator

Usually I sit in ballroom 20 for the Matt Groening / Seth Macfarlane animation block, but there was an animated show I wanted to see more.  I walked over to the line for room 6A to see Adventure Time.  I waited through 3 panels, which were strange.  First up was a spotlight on author Sherrilyn Kenyon.  She talked about her novels about vampires who die at 27 and her family life.  Next up was Marvel video games.        They showed off a new Marvel vs Capcom game that had Ghost Rider doing awesome shit.  Finally there was a vampire romance panel.  By now, the room was 80% filled with Adventure Time fans and the Q&A featured a few Marcelline cosplayers.


N8 | A sea of Finns

Finally, the Adventure Time panel kicked off with everyone in the room getting a Finn hat.  Then there was a sneak preview at the upcoming Fiona and Cake episode, which everyone went bonkers for.  Matt Groening and John DiMaggio showed up from the Futurama panel for the Q&A.  Matt talked about how Pendleton Ward met him as a kid and his mom told Matt how Penn wanted to be an animator just like him.


N8 | Togepi inspired attire

Afterwards I headed to South Park village for more snow cones and to get lunch from a food truck.  I then headed over to get in line for the Power Rangers Samurai panel.  Before that, I waited through a Roddenberry panel.  They showed off Trek Nation and talked about the legacy of Gene Roddenberry.  I got a neat book during the Q&A.


The cast of Power Rangers Samurai

The Power Rangers Samurai panel was moderated by Paul Schrier, who has played Bulk on and off since the first season 19 years ago.  He introduced the then un-aired first episode of Samurai.  He then introduced the cast.  I was seriously impressed by Hector David Jr., who entered with a bunch of backflips.  The cast closed the panel with their morphin call.


N8 | Some guy passed out at the Mariachi El Bronx party

By now the sun had set and I hit the gaslamp.  I found out about a concert featuring Mariachi El Bronx, a band I had seen open for Primus and was very impressed with.  There was an open bar and I ran into some friends I made on Thursday.  Great times.

Comic Con 2011 - Day 3

Note: I finished this post many months ago, but blogger lost it and I never got around to finishing it. I plan on finishing my Comic Con 2011 memoirs before this year's con.

Friday at Comic Con had plenty of highs and lows.


N8 | Big Gun

Friday morning began with staking out a couple of 7-Elevens hoping to catch the Cowboys and Aliens giveaways. I traveled to 3 stores with no sign of giveaways of any activity, so I headed to the Hilton Bayfront for the Adult Swim panels. I was approaching Petco Park when I got the text message to find the 7-Eleven at 555 C St. This location was about 8 blocks from where I was, so I started running. It didn't take long for me to run out of breath. This moment set in how terribly out of shape I was. Anyway, I made my way up 10th Avenue to C street and headed west. I arrived at a 7-Eleven and found some people waiting out front. After a couple of minutes, one of them realized we were at the wrong store. We were at 525 East C street while the giveaway was happening at 555 West C street. After another 10 blocks of speed walking, I became the 44th person in line. 10am rolled around and I got a gold brick with no movie ticket inside.


N8 | Jun from Gatchaman

I was pretty far away from the convention center, so I headed to the nearest shuttle stop which was at Emerald Plaza. Towards the end of the shuttle ride, I got another text saying the next giveaway was at the lawn at the Hilton Bayfront. I got lucky since I was headed there anyway. Although I was impeded by the line for Hall H, I managed to get another brick. Another empty brick. Dismayed, I headed to the line for Adult Swim panels in the Indigo Ballroom.


N8 | Genderbent Blue Beetle and Booster Gold

I kinda wish I had visited the Hilton Bayfront before. After going through a maze of escalators, I found myself in the back of the hotel next to the bay. The line was quite impressive, but my friend was holding a spot about halfway through the line. The Indigo Ballroom was quite impressive. It reminded me a lot of Ballroom 20 at the convention center. We found seats near the middle of the room and could see the screens and the stage well.


N8 | A time machine

First panel was for The Venture Bros.  They showed off the Shallow Gravy music video.  Next up was a crazy Childrens Hospital panel.  The Q&A was incredible.  Megan Mullaly talked about her husband enjoying her lips and then the cast pulled a girl onto the stage after she asked a dumb question.  NTSF:SD:SUV: followed up with a crazy video shoot in the aisles.


N8 | Another time machine

By now I was hungry and headed over to the South Park Experience.  After scoring a snow cone, I went to get some lunch.  San Diego food trucks were parked next door and I can say that they are just as good as the ones up in LA.  Afterwards, I decided to go check out the Conan art exhibit.  Along the way I ran into an Ironman monster truck.


N8 | Adventure Time!

I headed inside to walk the floor a bit.  I saw the TARDIS from Doctor Who, Conan O'Brien doing autographs at the WB booth, a Delorean time machine, and bunches of cosplayers.  I tried to get into the Batman panel with Adam West and Burt Ward, but the line was too long.


N8 | Conan O'Brien

I spent the rest of the night finding a party to go to.  Every place I went to had nearly finished up for the night.  The geek girls party I went to was over by the time I got there.  I managed to score a free drink at a sports bar, but that was a lame spot.  Thus the night ended.