long beach comic con

i decided to post the few pics i took...apparently my lens was dirty and that is why the pictures all have a fuzzy glamour shot look to them

random pic of the convention

a booth that rented or maybe sold costumes...lots of star wars cosplay

fake green r2 although it looks blue in the pic

the start of the guild panel

long beach comic con

it was a small convention but it was fairly crowded...i did the guild shooting tour, which was headed by the director, producer, and a some other people who worked on the series...as we walked through the various areas in the convention center, they explained how they shot the scenes and some of the challenges that they had along with any interesting and funny stories associated with those shots...it was interesting to learn a little bit about how shows are filmed...it turns out that they shot the convention scenes during an actual convention called comic expo

i also attended the guild panel, which was a question and answer session, and there was a raffle for a super humongous sword...i didn't take many pics, because there wasn't that much worth taking pictures of

the show itself was more centered on comics, and there was a lot more interaction with independent artists and comic book writers...there was some really good artwork that i was tempted to get...i wish i could remember the artist's name

partial schedule

the first few hours will be guild related at long beach comic con...i'll probably skip the screening though since i saw the eps


Saturday, 10/29 10:15 AM

WALKING TOUR: The Guild on Location at Long Beach! Join key members of The Guild production team for a walking tour of the locations at the Long Beach Comic Con that were used to create season 5. See where Vork crashed the van, where Zaboo got shut out of the Middle Earth panel, and where Tink faced off with a rival Slave Leia. iPads/tablets encouraged (but not required) for the walking tour.

Saturday, 10/29 at 11:00 AM

SCREENING: The Guild Season 5: With filming location in four cities, 75 speaking roles and 263 extras, this season is the biggest season of The Guild yet. Season five follows the characters of The Guild as they travel to a gaming convention called MEGAGAME-O-RAMACON, which was filmed in part at this spring's Long Beach Comic Expo. Enjoy The Guild's triumphant return to Long Beach with a screening of the entire season.

Saturday, 10/29 at 1:00 PM

Q&A with Felicia Day and The Guild
Join creator and star of The Guild Felicia Day and cast members Vincent Caso, Amy Okuda and Robin Thorsen along with director Sean Becker and producer Kim Evey for a lively Q&A discussing Season 5 of the hit web series which was filmed right here at this spring's Long Beach Comic Expo.

long beach comic-con?

it turns out that there is a small con at long beach this weekend, so i got a ticket for saturday...this is their second show and is a really small con...maybe an hour to see the entire show floor...it'll be nice to see the difference between a new con starting out like this one versus sdcc...the most notable guest to me is the guild...i'll probably check out their panel...maybe some of the exhibitors will have some good merchandise

http://www.longbeachcomiccon.com/index.php

cons

pop culture conventions have been growing rapidly in popularity with comic-con being the largest one in the states...i've been to comic-con and pasadena grand slam and hope to check out other conventions...pasadena grand slam used to be the largest star trek convention but has decreased in popularity over the years since there is no more star trek on tv...they can't get enough stars to show up that i think they cancelled the past few shows...it was already on its way down when i went about 4 or 5 years ago, but it used to be the largest convention around...wonder con is coming to anaheim next year, so i will go if i can get tickets...i would also like to go to dragon-con in atlanta...i think dragon-con might be what comic-con was like before the hollywood invasion...based on the pics from this year's con, there is a lot more cosplaying at this show...there is also new york comic-con...it's not as large as sdcc, but since it's in new york, i bet it would be lots of fun...some other shows are pax (penny arcade expo) and comiket...pax usually conflicts with dragon con but didn't this year...pax is in seattle and the focus is on games...comiket is the mother of all conventions...it's in tokyo and is held twice a year in summer and winter...for comparison, comic con had about 130k people this year and comiket had about 550k, but since the average japanese person is probably half or even a third of the size of your typical super fat simpsons comic book guy sdcc attendee, it might be easier to navigate around the booths...it'll be cool just to look at all the people showing up in costumes even if i wouldn't be able to recognize most of them...also, it's self published, so i'm guessing less corporate influence

http://www.comiket.co.jp/info-a/TAFO/C80TAFO/C80eng.html

their website is probably one of the worst i've seen

so many people...i won't post any cosplay pics since that would make this post almost nsfw

wondercon

wondercon is moving from sf to anaheim next year...might check that out and see how it compares to comic-con

http://www.comic-con.org/wc/wc_exhib_info.shtml

rock jocks

i didn't see this at comic-con, but it's chicago-con...i only recognize two people in the poster...felicia day and robert picardo from voyager/wonder years

http://www.rockjocksthemovie.com/

http://www.dailyblam.com/news/2011/03/27/teaser-poster-synopsis-for-rock-jocks-starring-felicia-day-jason-mewes-doug-jones

couldn't find much about it except for the link above

syfy repost

http://i.imgur.com/QIcjG.jpg

"we should have more wrestling"...so true...why do they have wrestling on syfy?

sdcc 2011 and nyc

san diego comic-con...a yearly pilgrimage by 150k fans to attend the mother of all geek-cons...it used to be that the grand slam star trek convention in pasadena was the largest thing around, but sdcc dwarfs all others now...a lot of the attention is focused on movies and tv shows, but there was still decent activity in the indie comic and artist sections...some think that it has strayed from the original purpose of the show...however, i think comics is a dying industry (at least in the US...manga is still pretty popular in japan)...expanding comics to other mediums such as movies ensures that comics can stay in business...also, the greater appeal of comic-con to mainstream fans helps the indie comic writers and artists since they are able to showcase their stuff to a wider audience...there are some things that don't really belong at comic con though...one example is shark week...shark week?...that is not con-worthy...i have to give them credit for making up for their lack of relevancy with good looking chicks handing out stuff though

i didn't have anything that i really wanted to see except maybe the walking dead, but i didn't want to camp out to get to that panel...for me, the best part of comic-con is the loot...in particular, the firefly variety...the first thing i checked out were the qmx and california browncoat booths...qmx had a prototype serenity model that should go on sale later this year for about $100...i'll be getting that when it comes out...they also had these larger scale models

this one lights up

i was thinking of getting the big damn hero figures and the dr. horrible penny figure, but i decided not to...ended up getting nothing from the qmx booth...still fun to look at...the browncoat booth didn't have much either but i got a t-shirt and book...those who were there with me know that they tried to trick me by giving me a women's size shirt...it did not fit

http://www.teefury.com/archive/1171/River_Tam___The_Fireflies_/

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1848565062/pageturners0c

i also got some original artwork by jason palmer

http://www.shop.serenityprint.com/Shiny-The-Big-Damn-Crew-Print-Shiny-print.htm

of the panels that i was able to get in, i thought the knights of badassdom was the best and not just because summer glau was part of it...i think this type of panel represents the spirit of what comic-con is about...it is a small budget movie about larpers (live action role playing)...http://knightsofbadassdom.com/...it delves into a world where few tread...even among the geeks, larping is on a another level...yet the trailer makes it seem funny without making fun of and looks like it could be popular with everyone...there has been very little marketing for this, and i'm guessing they don't have the money...however, a movie like this will probably spread better by word of mouth and the interwebs

the other panels i saw were dragon age (live action web series of the game featuring felicia day), twixt...a good article about it here (http://geeksofdoom.com/2011/07/23/sdcc-2011-wtf-is-twixt-coppola-explains/)...the movie itself didn't seem very interesting...what was interesting was listening to francis ford coppola and his genuine interest in film and the film making process...he is almost like a little kid in his excitement when talking about movies and what he is trying to do with this film but without all the pomp and pretentiousness that one might expect from a director of his renown...the other panel that i saw was immortals, which was not good

also got a pic with the guild cast and a signed poster...watch the new season here

http://www.watchtheguild.com/the-guild-season-5-episode-1-road-trip/

overall, it was a fun con, but i don't think i will go again...there are too many people for the size of convention center...i really hope that they can find a larger venue and a better system for getting into the panels

on to nyc...i spent 5 days in manhattan...my trip was mostly walking and eating...eating and walking...in 95 degree heat and 95% humidity...if i had to pick a walking theme song, it would have been "summer in the city" by lovin' spoonful

i've been to nyc before but was only there for a day and a half...this time i was able to experience more of the city...the one thing manhattan has on the other major cities (at least of the ones i've been to) are the restaurants...so many small, hole in the wall type places to try...i don't take pics of food, so i had to jack these

some german bar before going to SL club...brats and kraut

at cafe lalo where they filmed you've got mail...this is quiche, but i had a belgian waffle

this is at clinton st. bakery...blueberry pancakes with double cured bacon and sugar cured bacon

lombardi's pizza...half cheese and half white

max brenner's...i had some ice cream chocolate dip thing..this is chocolate cake/cookie and chocolate ice cream

popover from popover cafe...i also had corned beef and hash...real corned beef and not the canned stuff

shake shack burger...i liked it better than in-n-out but i never thought in-n-out was that good...will have to try five guys burger to declare a winner

also tried korean food at ktown in manhattan and was pretty good...saw lady liberty and went to the met...

the met was super crowded because it was nearing the end of the alexander mcqueen exhibit...i don't know anything about fashion, so i am not sure what the big deal was...i can see how it is a type of art form, but  unlike pure art like painting, i think clothes should also be functional...these were not functional...the fashion industry seems wasteful and superficial to me

also went to simyone lounge in the meat packing district...it was a small club...music was ok, but i don't know what good clubbing music is nowadays...one thing i noticed was that there must have been lots of models, because there were so many thin women who were 6ft tall and up...quite a few were around 6'2"-6'4"

it was a good little trip to wrap up my time off before i start work again...got me a jobby job, and i'll be back to the grind in little over a week

nerd hq

dangit...this is what i missed after leaving nerd hq...http://yfrog.com/gycecpfsj...i'll post more about comic-con, but i need time to gather my thoughts

wonder-con

wonder-con is much smaller than comic-con, but i imagine comic-con was like this 20 years ago before it became the mainstream monstrosity that it is now