All the way back at Emerald City Con I decided I was going to cosplay.
Cosplay meaning to dress up as a character. It’s like Halloween without the candy.
This brings up several questions: 1. Who? 2. How much is this going to cost? 3. Exactly how hot are you going to get?
I decided on Captain Malcolm Reynolds played by Nathan Fillion from Firefly/Serenity because of simplicity and because I liked the character.
Welcome back to continuing coverage of Nerd Prom 2013.
Preview Night last for 3 hours and gives you a look of you’re facing for the next four days.
Yep. It looks like this. See, I just saved you a boat load of money by staying home.
Repeat after me: Stream it and they will pay.
Back when myself and Paulie C were producing Totems we started flying out a day early to the conventions and splurged by shipping our products out instead of stuffing them into our carry ons like this one.
Affectionately known as Day Zero of SDCC. The day is lost to traveling. So if you’re on the East Coast you’re losing half the day by traveling. The one questions you must ask yourself: you want to roll out of bed at oh dark thirty to get in to SDCC by noon or get in by 6pm.
I chose 6pm. I needed to FedEx out stuff and a decent night’s sleep in the humidity was fun.
The TSA Agents once again gets points for knowing my TARDIS user’s manual t-shirt at the check points.
Getting a window seat on a good ole Dash 8-300 series with no AC going to Jersey!
The good news was there was no need to switch concourses like in 2011.
After the cramped and uncomfortable seats going out to Seattle I tried to and succeeded to get exit row aisle on the way out to San Diego. And had no one between myself and the window person who remarked it was a surprise to see an empty seat.
It meant making sure to look through this carefully:
“I am Jack’s complete lack of movie references.”
I didn’t pay for Dish Live TV and their horribly designed channel guide.
Instead broke out the iPad with the Logitech Ultrathin KB Cover, stretched out, put on some Girl with the Dragon Tattoo BGM and wrote about ten pages.
Warren Ellis suggested the Logitech and I have to say once your fingers get used to smaller size it’s good to have if you’re not going to take your laptop with you.
Rolled in at six o’clock and the area I’m staying at is two blocks from the convention. So the traffic is heavier than normal as the Course of the Force vans were stationed outside the Defiance Cafe that has become a main stay of the con for a few years once the Eureka Cafe now it’s synonymous with SyFy.
Decided to try out the 207 Bar and Lounge. Had a good chicken cheese quesadilla and people watched since the lounge at 6pm was dead.
Once 9pm came and went the music outside did too. Thank you noise ordinance….at least until someone’s argument at 3am woke me up.
As you can see the advertising is just as it always been.
With three days to go before Comic-Con is upon what should you be doing or done by now?
The lead up to Comic Con begins with the mad rush for tickets. This sounds really easy but it’s become more like getting Red Sox tickets. The hotel reservations is ten times worse and looking at places on VRBO is easier. Then reselling unused tickets which ends with the scheduling being dolled out two weeks before the con.
Over the years the convention website has gotten considerably more detailed and easier to use. They even started allowing pre-ordering of t-shirts so no more lines like the ones I complained about in 2011. The introduction of My Schedule through sched.com is one of the better additions to the con. No more dogeared newspaper pages looking for panels! It’s all at your finger tips on your tablet or smart phone!
Unfortunately, that’s if the SDCC Comic-Con and the SDCC Comic-Con Sched App were updated. In this day and age you live and die by the app. Neither of which have been updated in a dog’s age. Something I hope was just overlooked but with a week to go it’s looking like we won’t be seeing a proper working SDCC App with sched.com integration until 2014.
And then there’s the giant elephant in the room that Emerald City Comic Con is streaming their panels through FlipOn
Stream it and they will pay.
So let’s take a look at things going on after the cut.
San Diego Comic-Con International is now less than two weeks away and Thursday’s Schedule has dropped.
A lot of television show previews to stand in line for if you’re able. Looks like Person of Interest is the Hotel Keycard for this year.
For those lucky enough to get tickets the news of convention exclusives and off site meet ups like The Nerd Machine taking over Petco Park since once again there’s no baseball going on that week has been doubling by the day.
Seanan McGuire posted a SDCC List last week and I’ll point to 2011’s post regarding do’s and don’ts and from 2010.
I’ll be doing a run down of panels like I did in 2011 once Sunday’s list drops.
Here’s hoping the 2hr pre-reg line from Emerald City doesn’t repeat itself at SDCC…
The #sdcc prep is almost complete.
The roller is packed. Rolled all the clothes fit on one side while the other side is empty. iPad carry on may get repacked. All electronica devices will be charged tonight. Going to leave the battery mount home this time. And any liquids are in a plastic bag.
Happy to see SDCC has posted a restaurant guide and that restaurants are including discounts for con goers. I dunno if this is a first but I have to say: Good going.
Downloaded a few podcasts from Nerdist, the Neil Gaiman and Simon Pegg casts were good enough to warrant a subscription.
A couple of links for everyone not going but want to follow along, I’ll be cross posting pictures so any pictures should show up on Twitter + FB and if I post any pictues via CNN iReport, they’ll be cross posted as well. My Flickr account will be updated with the RAW Files once I get home.
I don’t know whether I’ll get passes for next year or not. The 75% increase between last year and this year gives me enough pause to say: Is it really worth it? As much as I enjoy San Diego the town, I’ve never been to San Fran, Seattle or Phoenix which is where Wondercon, Emerald City or Phoenix Con are respectively.
So, with the full schedule of #sdcc unleashed upon us here are some panels that I’m going to attempt…
I’m not going to repost the same information from last year, it’s over here.
There really isn’t much I can add to what everyone else has recommended.
What I can suggest is a few things I learned from last year.
First, if anyone coming in from out of town and using a DSLR Camera and have a battery mount might as well leave it either at home (to save space) or in the hotel room and just swap batteries on the go. I did the battery mount last year and my wrists and neck thanked me.
Also, dragging around my iPad last year in my Brenthaven bag was a good idea but this year I’ve gone with a Booq Bag for the iPad instead, it’s easier to cart around since last years SDCC Bags were so big.
Second, have a back up panel. This may sound familiar since everyone else is recommending it. Since the movie studio lines are going to be shorter this year that just means the television lines are going to be longer. BBC has Hall H for Doctor Who on Sunday. So be prepared to wait.
Third, if there’s panel you really want to go to then the wait in the Hall H is worth it. It may not look like the line moves but it does.
Fourth, the Fed Ex/Kinkos store at the Convention is a must. From printing out boarding passes to sending back your stuff. This includes poster tubes. And thankfully those poster tubes aren’t that expensive inside the Con. Got a sleeve and a over the shoulder plastic carrier for $15.00.
Fifth, if CNN iReport is completely worth signing up for if you take a lot of costume pictures. With the Mino HD flip cameras end-of-life it’ll be interesting to see what sort of goodies they will be giving away this year.
Sixth, remember to buy something from San Diego that isn’t comic related like a Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirt.
Seventh, if SyFy does another Cafe Diem this year inside the Hard Rock just expect to pay through the nose.
Lastly, food places I went too and enjoyed
Wolffy’s Place had some good deep dish pizza.
Kansas City BBQ is re-opened.
Cowboy Star Restaurant and Butcher Shop and has a good burger.
Fred’s Mexican Cafe is a good place for mexican.
East Village Tavern and Bowl good eats and bowling too!
Dick’s Last Restort is always a fun place to go and share a table with someone.
Reading Cinemas Gaslamp Movie Theater is nice theater to go to.
Guides from 2010/2011:
Seanne Mcguire’s Guide
Shouting into the Wind.
Planet 715
SDCC Blog: Newbie Guide Part 1, 2 and 3.
So with admission tickets saga now over and the Hotel reservation not the bloody mess most of us expected the next step in San Diego Comic Con Saga begins:
Airline tickets.
I hope everyone finds the flights and prices they are looking for.