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.

The Social Artwalk

October 14 was a long day.

It started off with a trip to Universal Citywalk. There's a popcorn place near the entrance that smelled wonderful. I walked down to the cineplex and bught tickets for the social network.

I just ate up this movie. Sorkin's fast dialogue, Fincher's dark visuals and Reznor's score made for a very entertaining movie.

After the movie I walked over to Universal Studios and used my annual pass for the final time. I made my first visit to Shrek 4D. The last time I was in that building, I was competing for the Nintendo World Championship. It is very different now. The Shrek show was a lot of fun, but I was sitting too close to get a good view of the 3D effects.


N82 | Entrance to King Kong

I went on the Studio Tour. I got a terrible spot with a support beam stuck in my arm. The tour guide wasn't too interesting and a lot of shooting took away some locations. The highlight was seeing a bunny. The second highlight was King Kong 360. It was nice to see it from the right side of the tram.

After the Studio Tour, I headed over to see Terminator 2: 3D. I got a really good spot and saw the whole show. Afterwards, I headed outside to the Coke Soak and played with the consoles. I hit some buttons and water would shoot out of something. I noticed a girl examining another console and pressed the button that shoots water at her. I am so evil.


N82 | Afternoon sky from the west end of Universal Studios

I then headed over to the Simpsons Ride. I never knew there were three levels to the building. Most times I went, I got the middle level. On my previous visit, I was sent upstairs. This time I went in via the bottom. The Simpsons Ride is the best part of visiting Universal Studios.


N82 | I got to remember to leave the flash on.

The park closed so I headed downtown for the Artwalk. When I came out of the subway, it was dark and cold and I hadn't brought a jacket with me. Despite this, I stopped at 7-eleven and used a slurpee coupon. I was walking the streets when I saw the Grilled Cheese truck turn a corner. I followed it to a parking lot and saw a bunch of trucks already there. Earlier in the day I saw on twitter that the Baby's Bad Ass Burgers truck would be there, so I waited for them to open. They make amazing sliders served on Hawaiian Bread.


N82 | Scarlet Paradigm

After my meal, I walked around a bit. I saw a band playing in an alley. I thought I recognized the bassist as Bryan Villarin, a guy I met a couple of years ago. I checked his twitter and it was indeed him. I listened to a couple of songs and said hi to him.


N82 | Smokin Willie's bbq food truck

I walked on and saw a cupcake store. They had mini cupcakes for a buck. Yummy. Not too far away was another parking lot full of food trucks. There must have been around 15 trucks, many I had never heard of.


N82 | Lots of trucks, lots of people

I arrived at the Downtown Indie for a movie screening. I had no idea what was playing, I just knew that some old friends of mine would be there. There was a short film about a haunted car that was strange. The main film, Four Boxes, was very interesting. It needs a second viewing. There was an afterparty on the roof. This guy told me about this cool thing he saw at Goodwill. It was a KISS shirt, except under the makeup was Bill Cosby.

Along the walk back to the subway, I saw a third lot full of food trucks and a clown stripper. I love LA.