Comic Con 2009 Recap
I've survived another year of Comic Con! And it was fantastic as always. But boy-oh-boy am I tired!
The recap!
Monday! People started arriving arriving. Yay!
Tuesday! DISNEYLAND! Mainly with Team Awesome, which was me, brightone, steinba, and sideofzen. I would give a full report, but sideofzen's videos pretty much take care of that (part one/part two).
Wednesday! Started with a midday Padres game. My Padres lost (again) but we had a fabulous time despite that. This is also when we discovered that there were Twilight fans in line for that panel... which wasn't until the next day. And they'd been in line since the day before. Yipes! Then, we picked up our badges, went for appetizers and drinks at Sevilla, wandered the exhibit hall floor a bit when it opened, then went to dinner at Yard House. Because that's how we roll.
Thursday! Quiet morning for me. I wandered a bit, took myself out to lunch at the somewhat-newly-reinstated Old Spaghetti Factory (creamy pesto dressing, oh how I have missed you!), then went to the Wonder Women panel. Sigourney Weaver was fabulous, classy, and smart, Zoe Saldana was full of awesome, Elizabeth Mitchell is a sci-fi geek and was also full of awesome, and Eliza Dushku is, well, she's pretty and defends her Joss. Great panel overall, though. Then, after happy hour, it was time for the AMAZING INSANE FANTASTIC Battlestar Galactica concert at House of Blues conducted by Bear McCreary and hosted by Edward James Olmos. wrathofhon and I ended up drinking and cracking jokes with Michael Hogan, but I chickened out of talking with Katee Sackoff even though she was three feet away from me. There were sixteen performers on stage and all were amazing, especially the violin player, the cello player, and the percussion section, but they all kicked butt. The finales were my favorite part (well, those and the times EJO shouted "So say we all!" and we all shouted it back at him): the first was All Along The Watchtower, which they started with Katee Sackoff and Bear McCreary on the piano, and the second finale included a rocked-out version of the original theme. So. Much. Win.
Friday! I braved Hall H for the first time since the Serenity panel a few years back. I'm so glad that I did! I mean, ROBERT DOWNEY JR. for gosh sakes! And Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington and my Movie Boyfriend(TM) James Marsden and Josh Brolin and Cameron Diaz and clips from Where the Wild Things Are and Sherlock Holmes which I'm SO EXCITED about! And that The Box movie looks like it was be all kinds of nifty, albeit in a twisted way. I did a quick Google search and found this panel recap if anybody wants details. Then, the Disney Animation panel hosted by John freakin Lasseter, with 3D fun (Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and MY movie, Beauty in the Beast in 3D!!!), clips from The Princess and the Frog, and the brilliant Hayao Miyazaki showing part of his new movie, Ponyo, which looks stunning. After that panel was the panel on 9, which I went to mainly to see Tim Burton but I'm now very excited about the movie. I hit happy hour (again) after that, then went to the True Blood party at Rock Bottom. Those HBO folks treat their fans well! Free food, free drinks, swag galore... goodness!
Saturday! Ballroom 20 day. I missed my beloved Lost because I decided that my also-beloved Chuck needed me more (and he's my Television Boyfriend(TM)... if Hugh Jackman had been there, I would have had a Fake Boyfriend Triple-Play). And thus I was treated to not only a joyously fun panel but also a "Jeffster" performance! That was, of course, AWESOME! Fox animation panels followed, and the first two of those made me quite a fan of Seth MacFarlane, I gotta say (I love his shows, but now I think that he's all kinds of cool, too). The Futurama panel was just plain uncomfortable, the situation with the voice actors being what it is, and The Simpsons got more Guinness Book of Records recognition which is fantastic. The pilot (and panel) for V followed, which I thought was brilliant, then the Fringe panel (whose swag was a Fringe fan's dream) and then the True Blood panel (with Mountain O' Swag). All three had nearly their entire casts present. Gotta love that. I attempted X-Sanguin for the first time even that night, but I was far too tired and escaped pretty fast. I'm sure I'd enjoy it more if it wasn't during Con. These old bones can only take so much!
Sunday! DOCTOR WHO PANEL! kenobi and I got up early for that one (thanks for letting me crash there, dear!). Seeing an actor who played the Doctor is really big for me; I'd seen Two, Three, Five, Six, and Seven while I still lived in the Midwest as a kid and attended conventions in Chicago, so seeing Ten felt like I was right back in junior high. There were five panels between that and Torchwood, but we stayed through them all and worked our way forward in the room. American Dad was really funny, Paper Heart looks touching and funny and generally neat, Mystery Team was... well, honestly, it was lame, and Alien Trespass was hysterical and now a must-see. Being Human (also on BBCA) looks really good, but I don't know when I'd get to watching it. Torchwood? Great panel. All that needed to be brought up was brought up, and seeing John Barrowman in all his glory (no, not like that) is just plain fun. After hitting the floor one last time, we were off to another group dinner -- this time at Buca -- before airport departures began.
Why am I still conscious? I'm tired, folks! But that was a great Con, the bestest part of which is always seeing my friends.
The recap!
Monday! People started arriving arriving. Yay!
Tuesday! DISNEYLAND! Mainly with Team Awesome, which was me, brightone, steinba, and sideofzen. I would give a full report, but sideofzen's videos pretty much take care of that (part one/part two).
Wednesday! Started with a midday Padres game. My Padres lost (again) but we had a fabulous time despite that. This is also when we discovered that there were Twilight fans in line for that panel... which wasn't until the next day. And they'd been in line since the day before. Yipes! Then, we picked up our badges, went for appetizers and drinks at Sevilla, wandered the exhibit hall floor a bit when it opened, then went to dinner at Yard House. Because that's how we roll.
Thursday! Quiet morning for me. I wandered a bit, took myself out to lunch at the somewhat-newly-reinstated Old Spaghetti Factory (creamy pesto dressing, oh how I have missed you!), then went to the Wonder Women panel. Sigourney Weaver was fabulous, classy, and smart, Zoe Saldana was full of awesome, Elizabeth Mitchell is a sci-fi geek and was also full of awesome, and Eliza Dushku is, well, she's pretty and defends her Joss. Great panel overall, though. Then, after happy hour, it was time for the AMAZING INSANE FANTASTIC Battlestar Galactica concert at House of Blues conducted by Bear McCreary and hosted by Edward James Olmos. wrathofhon and I ended up drinking and cracking jokes with Michael Hogan, but I chickened out of talking with Katee Sackoff even though she was three feet away from me. There were sixteen performers on stage and all were amazing, especially the violin player, the cello player, and the percussion section, but they all kicked butt. The finales were my favorite part (well, those and the times EJO shouted "So say we all!" and we all shouted it back at him): the first was All Along The Watchtower, which they started with Katee Sackoff and Bear McCreary on the piano, and the second finale included a rocked-out version of the original theme. So. Much. Win.
Friday! I braved Hall H for the first time since the Serenity panel a few years back. I'm so glad that I did! I mean, ROBERT DOWNEY JR. for gosh sakes! And Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington and my Movie Boyfriend(TM) James Marsden and Josh Brolin and Cameron Diaz and clips from Where the Wild Things Are and Sherlock Holmes which I'm SO EXCITED about! And that The Box movie looks like it was be all kinds of nifty, albeit in a twisted way. I did a quick Google search and found this panel recap if anybody wants details. Then, the Disney Animation panel hosted by John freakin Lasseter, with 3D fun (Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and MY movie, Beauty in the Beast in 3D!!!), clips from The Princess and the Frog, and the brilliant Hayao Miyazaki showing part of his new movie, Ponyo, which looks stunning. After that panel was the panel on 9, which I went to mainly to see Tim Burton but I'm now very excited about the movie. I hit happy hour (again) after that, then went to the True Blood party at Rock Bottom. Those HBO folks treat their fans well! Free food, free drinks, swag galore... goodness!
Saturday! Ballroom 20 day. I missed my beloved Lost because I decided that my also-beloved Chuck needed me more (and he's my Television Boyfriend(TM)... if Hugh Jackman had been there, I would have had a Fake Boyfriend Triple-Play). And thus I was treated to not only a joyously fun panel but also a "Jeffster" performance! That was, of course, AWESOME! Fox animation panels followed, and the first two of those made me quite a fan of Seth MacFarlane, I gotta say (I love his shows, but now I think that he's all kinds of cool, too). The Futurama panel was just plain uncomfortable, the situation with the voice actors being what it is, and The Simpsons got more Guinness Book of Records recognition which is fantastic. The pilot (and panel) for V followed, which I thought was brilliant, then the Fringe panel (whose swag was a Fringe fan's dream) and then the True Blood panel (with Mountain O' Swag). All three had nearly their entire casts present. Gotta love that. I attempted X-Sanguin for the first time even that night, but I was far too tired and escaped pretty fast. I'm sure I'd enjoy it more if it wasn't during Con. These old bones can only take so much!
Sunday! DOCTOR WHO PANEL! kenobi and I got up early for that one (thanks for letting me crash there, dear!). Seeing an actor who played the Doctor is really big for me; I'd seen Two, Three, Five, Six, and Seven while I still lived in the Midwest as a kid and attended conventions in Chicago, so seeing Ten felt like I was right back in junior high. There were five panels between that and Torchwood, but we stayed through them all and worked our way forward in the room. American Dad was really funny, Paper Heart looks touching and funny and generally neat, Mystery Team was... well, honestly, it was lame, and Alien Trespass was hysterical and now a must-see. Being Human (also on BBCA) looks really good, but I don't know when I'd get to watching it. Torchwood? Great panel. All that needed to be brought up was brought up, and seeing John Barrowman in all his glory (no, not like that) is just plain fun. After hitting the floor one last time, we were off to another group dinner -- this time at Buca -- before airport departures began.
Why am I still conscious? I'm tired, folks! But that was a great Con, the bestest part of which is always seeing my friends.