Comic-Con: An Overview for the Uninitiated...

I'm finally back. It feels very strange to not blog; I was tempted to but the lack of an internet connection put a damper on the temptation.

However, I have returned and will, hopefully, be back to my normal blogging routine.

I had a fabulous time at Comic-Con. That's pretty much going to be the gist of this blog. If I rambled on about everything fantastic I saw, it would be an even more epic-lenghth blog than usual. However, I'm sure others will follow. Today....today will just be an overview for those who cannot comprehend what, exactly Comic-Con is all about.

In short, it's about entertainment. Comic-Con is a massive convention for anyone who loves entertainment.

Comic-Con began, I believe, as a gathering of Star-Trek fans and so, in many people's minds, Comic-Con is just a massive gathering for geeks and nerds who like to dress like Spock and speak Klingon to one another. I have to confess, upon my first visit three years ago, this is what I thought.

Fortunately, I was wrong. Very, very wrong. To my delight, Comic-Con encompasses many, many things, crosses genres so it's not just favouring science fiction and provides massive amounts of entertainment in many formats. Yes, there are Trekkies there but there are also thousands of other people into many, many other things.

When you enter Comic-Con, it feels slightly like a descent into madness. Picture, if you will, a big convention centre. Then make it bigger. The San Diego Convention Centre, the site of Comic-Con, is huge. Then, picture swarms and swarms of people waiting to get inside. These people are dressed in everything from plain old t-shirts and jeans to full blown costumes from Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars (of course), Anime characters, Super Mario Brothers, Lost, Shawn of the Dead and thousands more. There are so many 'insider' t-shirts, shirts that have significance only to fans of whatever the shirts symbolize, that it's impossible to see them all.

At the centre of the convention centre is the Exhibition Hall, a massive, gaping room filled to the brim with things to see. There are film studios there: the Warner Bros. booth is always the busiest place in the hall followed by Paramount, Fox and Sony. Then there are the big comic publishers: DC, Marvel and Dark Horse. There are booths for video games, the pinnacle of which is the G4 booth, the TV network dedicated to video gaming. There are booths for artists of both Fantasy Art and Graphic Art; you can meet and talk to the artists one-on-one, just by strolling by. There are booths for fun, booths that sell things like t-shirts of Mr. Toast (I now have one because, hello....toast! I love toast), Happy Tree Friends....the list goes on and so do the booths.

The Exhibit Hall opens at 9:30 a.m. On the first day of the convention, attendees had to go get their badges which double as admission passes. Once my friend and I obtained our badges, we were sent back outside to the streets outside the convention centre to wait, along with the rest of the early birds who wanted to be there as soon as it opened. Irritatingly enough, around 9:15 a.m., the security team stopped sending people out, allowing the latecomers to get their badges and wait inside, right outside the door to the Exhibition Hall. Naturally, this inspired wrath in those of us who had been waiting for a while and, let me tell you, there were a lot of us. However, we did briefly get distracted from our irritation when we realized they'd filled up the inside waiting area to the point where the people taking the escalators down from getting their badges had nowhere to go when they got off. Yes, it's a little cruel but we actually all watched with bated breath to see who would be the first to start the pile up. We didn't have to wait long. The people began to pile into one another like dominos until some smart person finally stopped the escalator. Unfortunately, they did this without warning and one poor soul almost tumbled right off the edge.

Our irritation was increased again when they finally opened the Exhibition Hall late and then proceeded to allow all those people who were inside to enter, leaving us stranded outside with security blocking the doors so we couldn't get in. We had to wait fifteen minutes longer to get inside. This may not seem like a big deal but many people wanted to see some of the panels that were supposed to begin at 10 a.m. Getting into any of the popular panels takes a commitment of waiting in line for a very long time and the later you get there, the lower your chances of getting in.

Once inside the Exhibition Hall, the first thing to do is go find a bag. Many of the booths give out free bags, each emblazed with the logo of the place giving out the bags. If you attend Comic-Con, you need a bag to put in all the buttons, stickers, comics and gifts you're given. Many of the booths that are solely there to promote their products give out goodies to convention goers and, at the end of the day, your bag is weighed down with things you grab or are handed to you.

The floor of the Exhibition Hall ranges from chaotic (the area around the movie studios' booths) to calm (around the Fantasy Art area). There are thousands of people there and sometimes, the crowds are crushing. To top it off, the bigger booths like Fox and Warner Bros. have signings throughout the day, a chance to meet stars from your favourite movie or TV show. For me, the signings are too much work and they rarely have them for shows I like. However, it is an experience; I did get a signature from Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost and the upcoming V remake coming in November on ABC. (For a review of the first episode, check out a future blog on Captain TV). My friend and fellow attendee is a huge fan of Mitchell's so I kept her company in line and ended up getting a signed poster.

As well as the Exhibition Hall, there are panels throughout the day. On the first day, I went to a panel sponsored by Entertainment Weekly called "Wonder Women" and it featured Sigourney Weaver, Eliza Dushku, Zoe Saldana and Elizabeth Mitchell. I also saw a Dexter panel that day. For the panels, patience is required as the popular ones require at least a couple of hours' wait. They don't clear rooms between each panel and so, sometimes, you end up sitting through ones prior to the ones you want to see just to make sure you get a seat for your desired panel.

There is food to be had but like any event, it's overpriced and not that good. The trick is to eat a big breakfast, snack on things like granola bars throughout the day and wait to eat dinner afterwards though there are evening events as well. As my friend and I were still on East Coast time, we ended up wimping out of the evening events to go back to the hotel, drop off our laden bags and grab a quick dinner before going to bed around 10:30 p.m. This way, we'd have energy throughout the day.

You need energy for Comic-Con. The walk to the hotel for us each way was over a mile. Once inside, the Exhibition Hall takes a tremendous amount of walking to get from one side to another. The panels take tremendous amounts of standing in line. By the end of the day, your feet feel like you've run a marathon, no matter how comfortable your shoes. I admire the women who go in costumes that require heels.

At the end of the day, the lines streaming out of the convention centre mirror those streaming in during the morning. Some brave people head over to the line for Hall H, the largest room in the Convention Centre and always with the most popular events. People camp out here so that they get guaranteed admission along with a good seat for the next day's panels. This year, the "Twilight: New Moon" panel had Twi-Hards and their mothers' apparently camping out over 24 hours before it began. For those of us who aren't that energetic or dedicated we leave. People await, handing out yet more promotional materials. This year, the TV show Heroes was sponsoring a 'carnival' outside the Convention Centre, complete with rides, games and cotton candy stalls. I think it has something to do with what's going on with the show but since I long gave up on Heroes because it just, frankly, started to suck, I have no idea. Still, it was a great idea.

So, that's an overview of the entire event. Hopefully, I've given you a mental picture. It's organized chaos, mostly. Yet it's a fun chaos, chaos that allows us to indulge the shows, books, comics and movies that we're passionate about and embrace the fact that it's ok to be a fan. I'll recap more specifics tomorrow.

As always, thanks for reading. It's nice to be back.

Happy Monday.

Trying to See Positive on a Monday Morning

And...it's Monday again. As much as I'd like to start off by being a beam of radiant sunshine on a cloudy day, that is so not likely to happen. For a start, it's Monday and to quote the Boomtown Rats, "I Don't Like Mondays". I should add the word "much" to that though- I'm not adverse to Mondays. They just tend not to be my favourite day of the week.

I did say in Monday that the day may bring the promise and hope for the new week. I'm really hoping that's true. I had intended to start the week in a nice and chipper mood. Really, I did.

The only problem is that my weekend did not go according to plan and though I like to delude myself that I enjoy a bit of spontenaity, when it really comes down to it, Captain Monkeypants is a bit of a planner. I like to know what I'm going to do with my time. It helps me figure out how much time I can spend doing things like writing, watching television and whatever other procrastination methods I can employ before I actually HAVE to do something.

My weekend was going to be fairly quiet. My original plan was to go to Target on Saturday to buy a new coffemaker and blender with a gift card that two of my favourite people in the world had given me as a housewarming gift for my new place. I suppose I shouldn't say that didn't go as planned because I now am in position of a rather nice Mr. Coffee coffeemaker and a nice, basic blender. The only bad thing was that, on the way to Target, I got rear-ended. And I don't mean in the "That's what SHE said" way...I mean in the my-car-has-its-bumper-hanging-off-and-I-can't-open-my-trunk way.

The worst part is that it wasn't one of those accidents for which you get a chance to brace yourself. There are times when, if you slam your brakes on suddenly, you almost expect the car behind you to slam into you, you expect an impact. Not this time. I was sitting in traffic, much like I did for seven years in L.A. without an accident, waiting for traffic to move. And then BAM!

No one was hurt, which, obviously, is the most important thing. I have a few bruises and stiffness. The lady who hit me kept saying it was her fault and that she wasn't paying attention. What do you say to that? It was an accident and accidents happen.

I can't even be angry at her. Honestly speaking, who hasn't had moments when driving in which we lose focus, in which we run on autopilot? They happen to us all. And it sucks because it's just one of those things in life that they call bumps in the road (or, in my case, smashes in the road). She was insured, I was insured. It'll be a hassle to get the estimates and figure out where to get my car fixed. I'll also have to have a rental while it's in the shop. In a year, I'll probably look back and be glad it wasn't worse than it was. For now though, my poor car...I've only had her for two years and she was my first brand new car. I'm really, really hoping she can be fixed. The damage is pretty bad but she still runs and so I'm hoping a few days in the body shop will fix her up.

On the plus side, in the shock that inevitably follows a big, body-shaking smash like that, I wasn't sure what to do. I was shaken to the core and feeling rather out-of-it and so...I went to Target. And now I have a coffeemaker and blender. I even remembered to buy coffee filters.

I didn't get to follow through with the rest of my weekend plans. I wasn't feeling great and I was rather sore so I had to skip the Halloween Party on my agenda. It was a Seven Deadly Sins party. I was going to be the Grapes of Wrath. Instead, i got to enjoy my new sofa and watch absolutely horrendous crap like "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

(*Side Note: Really, Stephen Spielburg and George Lucas? What, you don't have enough freaking aliens in the rest of your movies?- and yes, George, I am looking at you and your crappy Star Wars prequels and you, Stephen, with "A.I", the movie that never ends. Seriously, Indiana Jones is an architect. He's supposed to run through temples and ruins and swing from ropes and, yes, maybe he did do that in this one but, really, ALIENS????????? The franchise is dead. Why couldn't you just leave it alone and try for another Oscar with a movie that makes us feel guilty about...something? Though I do feel guilty for watching this piece of crap. Ok, side note over).

I also watched "Heroes". I've been meaning to catch up on that all season. It usually takes me a couple of episodes to get into it. Not this season; so far, I'm really close to breaking up with "Heroes". It's awful and I miss the "Heroes" of Season 1. I may blog about that later but I think Entertainment Weekly does a good job in summing up why it's no longer good TV in this week's issue. (Summary: STOP FLASHING FORWARD TO THE FUTURE. AND LOSE SOME OF THE DAMN HEROES!)

So, the weekend wasn't what I planned. Who knows, maybe it was life's way of saying slow down. It was definitely the first time since I moved that I've had chance to sit down and do absolutely nothing. And it was nice, even if my body did feel like it had been hit with a hammer a few times.

(Another side note: Speaking of hammers, an anonoymous reader left a comment on Friday stating tips on using a hammer correctly and that holding it six inches from my face is not a good idea. That was very helpful but I should probably point out that I was exaggerating a little and that I don't really hit a nail that close to my face. I was just making a point about the fact that I'm not great with tools. But thank you, all the same. I will definitely try backing up when I hammer nails in future. Side note over).

Anyway, the long and the short of it is...things could be worse. The driver who hit me was handed accident reports for my car as well as two other cars in front of her. When all is said and done, I suppose I am the lucky one. I got out of it mostly unscathed. My car can be fixed and I got to do nothing this weekend. I got to slow down and be spontenously lazy. That doesn't happen very often.

So, when all is said and done, maybe this is a good start to a Monday morning. Maybe I am more chipper than expected. And maybe, just maybe, the week is starting with promise and hope. I mean, the insurance company promised they'd help me get my car fixed and I'm hoping they do so...maybe life does turn out the way you plan it, just not in the way you expect. I suppose it makes it more interesting though, doesn't it?