2113
Today was a looong day, and fairly atypical of my life these days, since I actually *did* something.
It started with a bang--a chemical burn on my eye (which is still stinging and red, btw). Note to self: when switching contact solution, READ THE BOTTLE FIRST. More importantly, if you hear the solution fizzing in the bottom of the drain, DON'T PUT IT IN YOUR EYE.
I got off to a late start to the SDCC, which I went to all by my lonesome. I hit a ton of traffic on the way down, so I was so frantic about finding parking that I parked in the first garage I could find (turned out to be beneath Morgan Stanley, so when I left, the two adults in the elevator with me had a conversation that went like this: sophisticated old man: "Ah, that's a lot of files. Big trial coming up?", thirtysomething businesswoman:"No, just depos." "Ah, just in time for the weekend. I've been there before myself." *chuckles like a very rich man*) and ended up getting hit with a $28 parking fee. Bleh. Ouch.
The con itself was very large, but I got through all of it in about 3 hours. I walked up and down almost every aisle (100-5400, in increments of 100), picked up some nice swag, and I got to talk to some mildly (and some more than mildly) famous people, too:
Coheed and Cambria: I said, "Did any of you happen to see a big red rubber band on this table? I think I left it here...but you probably would have noticed it, so probably not." Co&Ca: "hrm(muttering...don't see rubber band...resume ignoring me)"
So that kind of counts as talking to them. ;) Actually, later I did exchange a few words (few=about 5 or 6) with the bassist Mic, so that does sort of count.
Stan Sakai of Usagi Yojimbo (samurai rabbit) comic book fame: A long time ago my mom gave me the first four or five (!--there are 85 now!) issues of the comic, and it was really the first exposure I had to the comic book medium. I was really excited to see his name on his pass (I wasn't sure if he was just some random old asian guy drawing a rabbit in a book), so I had to buy a few of the cheaper items from the table.
Mike and Jerry from PA: I didn't really talk to Gabe, but I had a chat with Tycho about Stan Sakai and Usagi Yojimbo (and Mike's fandom of those comics) because Jerry was wearing an Usagi shirt and I commented that I'd just been to Stan's booth. Oowee.
Stephen Notley of Bob the Angry Flower: didn't actually talk to him, just stood in front of him momentarily while he conversed with some girl about something political.
Sam Brown of Explodingdog.com: I wanted Thinking of You SO BADLY it hurt, but decided I'd have to go cheaper. He's a very nice guy, and I embarrassed him by taking his picture.
Orson Scott Card: I had to check his badge, too. He was talking about mormons and other scary stuff when I got there, and I so desperately wished I had my copy of Ender's Game for him to sign, but all they had at the booth were two of his newest books in hardcover. Boo. I was going to have him sign the back of a piece of paper for me, but then I explained that it was because Ender's Game is my favorite book and that I can never recommend it to my friends becaues everyone's already read it, and he gave me his email address and told me he'd send me an autographed book. Then his assistant handed him a copy of his book Enchantment (supposedly the story of what happens post-happily-ever-after in fairy tales...probably a good reality check for me) from the display, he signed it, and I got it for free. :P
Red v. Blue people: Took their picture, didn't talk to them.
Some amusing things from the con floor: a male princess leia, girls at the Adult Swim booth covered in day-glo orange paint (I got a free belt there), a playboy playmate signing autographs, a giant sign for a movie with bad acting and good kung foo that said "It's like PORNO, but with KUNG FU instead of SEX" (I'd upload the picture but I'm lazy), and a lot of hentai. I also learned that on October 4th, the Complete Anthology of Calvin and Hobbes is coming out! Three hardbound volumes in one of those five-sided box slide-in cases hardbound books come in sometimes, with every single strip ever published (in the paper maybe? wasn't clear on that detail), for $150. Definitely a purchase I'll be recommending to my parents. ;) I also learned that I really want to see The Corpse Bride, and remembered how much I like the Chronicles of Narnia.
As I was leaving I got gifted a pass for the rest of the weekend by some random volunteer who used me in a practical joke on his friend...it wasn't really a funny joke (I pretended to be a girl the volunteer had mistaken for the fiancee of his friend who he'd been sent to retrieve from the entrance), and I think it was just an excuse to give me his number, but I got a free pass out of it, even if I have no intention of going back. (Anyone want it, btw?)
Next: stalled in starbucks while I read my new acquisitions. Then: drove ten minutes north to the concert venue. Stopped in a Ralphs for sustenance, bought liquid sustenance, got glared at by the checker girl.
So, the concert: During the first opener, I was sitting in the lobby resting my legs. They didn't sound that great anyway (Frank the Baptist). During the second, I wanted to secure my place close to the front (silly Misa...I obviously usually go to very tame concerts), and the floor-to-ceiling speakers just about blew the hair off of my arms. I felt like the drummer was dictating my heartbeat. I shoved toilet paper in my ears and all was well again, but my body still shook. So I moved closer to the center, and by the time Coheed and Cambria came on we had gotten crushed into the front area, and soon enough the moshing commenced. I was a few bodies back from the edge, but that means I was still pushed around quite a bit. I was surviving (but not seeing--I'm not exaggerating when I say there were at least five guys standing in front of me who were over six foot three) until the moshing went over the top and I got the wind knocked out of me by the combined weight of the guy in front of me and the girlfriend he was holding as it concentrated itself into his bony butt and slammed into my stomach. (Actually, at one point the pit shifted and I was actually inside of it for a moment and had to violently push my way out of it, past the hands trained to keep those people out of the crowds.) So I moved a safe distance back.
I must say, Claudio has a lot of hair. He had it tied back and under a hat at the con, and he actually wasn't bad looking at all. You just usually can't see his face, or it's dwarfed by the size of his giant fluffed curly half blondish mop. It literally looked like cousin itt had gotten a perm and a cut and come to sing for us. When he was talking to the audience the microphone head was disappearing through the curtain of curls and we couldn't even see his face. I don't mind the chops at all (always been a sideburns fan), but I'm not real keen on that spit...mostly because they don't look comfortable.
The music was wonderful, as could be expected. Claudio has a double-necked guitar! Never saw him use the upper one, though. Something I really liked about being able to see them in person was seeing how each of the three singers had their own unique vocal styling to contribute to the band's sound. (Plus being able to put voices to faces.) Claudio, of course, provides the sweet and melodic lead vocals. The lead guitarist makes all the vocal effects that sound instrumental, like the vocoder or just singing really high pitched and in tones so it sounds like a synthesizer. The bassist (the first non-significantly-older/really awkward one I've seen, probably ever), who's the one who was nice to me at the con, turned out to be the one who does the occasional harmony but specializes in the screamy-death-metal stuff that is really the only part of their songs I'm not a huge fan of. I'll admit that it fits with the music quite nicely, and he does a very impressive job at it, it's just not my cup of tea. Plus I doubt he'll have any vocal cords left in four or five years to be able to keep it up.
The last song of the encore was In Keeping Secrets... and at the end Claudio played a beautiful guitar solo, first normally, then behind his head, and finally with his teeth. Kudos to you, Claudio-o-o-o-oh-ee-yeah.
So all in all, it was a good day. Just wish I had more expendable income. :P There were really cool arm warmers at the goth booth with a ton of D rings on them and I got flashbacks of my goth-wannabe stage in high school...good times. ah well. goodnight. hope you slept well. hope my eye gets normal again.
It started with a bang--a chemical burn on my eye (which is still stinging and red, btw). Note to self: when switching contact solution, READ THE BOTTLE FIRST. More importantly, if you hear the solution fizzing in the bottom of the drain, DON'T PUT IT IN YOUR EYE.
I got off to a late start to the SDCC, which I went to all by my lonesome. I hit a ton of traffic on the way down, so I was so frantic about finding parking that I parked in the first garage I could find (turned out to be beneath Morgan Stanley, so when I left, the two adults in the elevator with me had a conversation that went like this: sophisticated old man: "Ah, that's a lot of files. Big trial coming up?", thirtysomething businesswoman:"No, just depos." "Ah, just in time for the weekend. I've been there before myself." *chuckles like a very rich man*) and ended up getting hit with a $28 parking fee. Bleh. Ouch.
The con itself was very large, but I got through all of it in about 3 hours. I walked up and down almost every aisle (100-5400, in increments of 100), picked up some nice swag, and I got to talk to some mildly (and some more than mildly) famous people, too:
Coheed and Cambria: I said, "Did any of you happen to see a big red rubber band on this table? I think I left it here...but you probably would have noticed it, so probably not." Co&Ca: "hrm(muttering...don't see rubber band...resume ignoring me)"
So that kind of counts as talking to them. ;) Actually, later I did exchange a few words (few=about 5 or 6) with the bassist Mic, so that does sort of count.
Stan Sakai of Usagi Yojimbo (samurai rabbit) comic book fame: A long time ago my mom gave me the first four or five (!--there are 85 now!) issues of the comic, and it was really the first exposure I had to the comic book medium. I was really excited to see his name on his pass (I wasn't sure if he was just some random old asian guy drawing a rabbit in a book), so I had to buy a few of the cheaper items from the table.
Mike and Jerry from PA: I didn't really talk to Gabe, but I had a chat with Tycho about Stan Sakai and Usagi Yojimbo (and Mike's fandom of those comics) because Jerry was wearing an Usagi shirt and I commented that I'd just been to Stan's booth. Oowee.
Stephen Notley of Bob the Angry Flower: didn't actually talk to him, just stood in front of him momentarily while he conversed with some girl about something political.
Sam Brown of Explodingdog.com: I wanted Thinking of You SO BADLY it hurt, but decided I'd have to go cheaper. He's a very nice guy, and I embarrassed him by taking his picture.
Orson Scott Card: I had to check his badge, too. He was talking about mormons and other scary stuff when I got there, and I so desperately wished I had my copy of Ender's Game for him to sign, but all they had at the booth were two of his newest books in hardcover. Boo. I was going to have him sign the back of a piece of paper for me, but then I explained that it was because Ender's Game is my favorite book and that I can never recommend it to my friends becaues everyone's already read it, and he gave me his email address and told me he'd send me an autographed book. Then his assistant handed him a copy of his book Enchantment (supposedly the story of what happens post-happily-ever-after in fairy tales...probably a good reality check for me) from the display, he signed it, and I got it for free. :P
Red v. Blue people: Took their picture, didn't talk to them.
Some amusing things from the con floor: a male princess leia, girls at the Adult Swim booth covered in day-glo orange paint (I got a free belt there), a playboy playmate signing autographs, a giant sign for a movie with bad acting and good kung foo that said "It's like PORNO, but with KUNG FU instead of SEX" (I'd upload the picture but I'm lazy), and a lot of hentai. I also learned that on October 4th, the Complete Anthology of Calvin and Hobbes is coming out! Three hardbound volumes in one of those five-sided box slide-in cases hardbound books come in sometimes, with every single strip ever published (in the paper maybe? wasn't clear on that detail), for $150. Definitely a purchase I'll be recommending to my parents. ;) I also learned that I really want to see The Corpse Bride, and remembered how much I like the Chronicles of Narnia.
As I was leaving I got gifted a pass for the rest of the weekend by some random volunteer who used me in a practical joke on his friend...it wasn't really a funny joke (I pretended to be a girl the volunteer had mistaken for the fiancee of his friend who he'd been sent to retrieve from the entrance), and I think it was just an excuse to give me his number, but I got a free pass out of it, even if I have no intention of going back. (Anyone want it, btw?)
Next: stalled in starbucks while I read my new acquisitions. Then: drove ten minutes north to the concert venue. Stopped in a Ralphs for sustenance, bought liquid sustenance, got glared at by the checker girl.
So, the concert: During the first opener, I was sitting in the lobby resting my legs. They didn't sound that great anyway (Frank the Baptist). During the second, I wanted to secure my place close to the front (silly Misa...I obviously usually go to very tame concerts), and the floor-to-ceiling speakers just about blew the hair off of my arms. I felt like the drummer was dictating my heartbeat. I shoved toilet paper in my ears and all was well again, but my body still shook. So I moved closer to the center, and by the time Coheed and Cambria came on we had gotten crushed into the front area, and soon enough the moshing commenced. I was a few bodies back from the edge, but that means I was still pushed around quite a bit. I was surviving (but not seeing--I'm not exaggerating when I say there were at least five guys standing in front of me who were over six foot three) until the moshing went over the top and I got the wind knocked out of me by the combined weight of the guy in front of me and the girlfriend he was holding as it concentrated itself into his bony butt and slammed into my stomach. (Actually, at one point the pit shifted and I was actually inside of it for a moment and had to violently push my way out of it, past the hands trained to keep those people out of the crowds.) So I moved a safe distance back.
I must say, Claudio has a lot of hair. He had it tied back and under a hat at the con, and he actually wasn't bad looking at all. You just usually can't see his face, or it's dwarfed by the size of his giant fluffed curly half blondish mop. It literally looked like cousin itt had gotten a perm and a cut and come to sing for us. When he was talking to the audience the microphone head was disappearing through the curtain of curls and we couldn't even see his face. I don't mind the chops at all (always been a sideburns fan), but I'm not real keen on that spit...mostly because they don't look comfortable.
The music was wonderful, as could be expected. Claudio has a double-necked guitar! Never saw him use the upper one, though. Something I really liked about being able to see them in person was seeing how each of the three singers had their own unique vocal styling to contribute to the band's sound. (Plus being able to put voices to faces.) Claudio, of course, provides the sweet and melodic lead vocals. The lead guitarist makes all the vocal effects that sound instrumental, like the vocoder or just singing really high pitched and in tones so it sounds like a synthesizer. The bassist (the first non-significantly-older/really awkward one I've seen, probably ever), who's the one who was nice to me at the con, turned out to be the one who does the occasional harmony but specializes in the screamy-death-metal stuff that is really the only part of their songs I'm not a huge fan of. I'll admit that it fits with the music quite nicely, and he does a very impressive job at it, it's just not my cup of tea. Plus I doubt he'll have any vocal cords left in four or five years to be able to keep it up.
The last song of the encore was In Keeping Secrets... and at the end Claudio played a beautiful guitar solo, first normally, then behind his head, and finally with his teeth. Kudos to you, Claudio-o-o-o-oh-ee-yeah.
So all in all, it was a good day. Just wish I had more expendable income. :P There were really cool arm warmers at the goth booth with a ton of D rings on them and I got flashbacks of my goth-wannabe stage in high school...good times. ah well. goodnight. hope you slept well. hope my eye gets normal again.
posted by Sassafrassy at 3:26 AM
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