July 27, 2007


  • - Thursday re-cap - San Diego Comic-Con -

    As I mentioned yesterday, I spent lots of money at the Comic-Con already, and you'd think I'd stop while I'm ahead. Nope. Spent some money again, because I'm learning that it can be pretty hard to ignore some really good deals for things that I want anyway. It's a good thing my hotel provides free breakfast, because I can at least save money there.

    Every year at Comic-Con, I normally am able to attend a good majority of all the main panels that I like to attend. This year however, due to the over crowding of attendees and the over crowding of the programs and the fact that there's too many things to do, I just have to live with the fact that I won't be able to do everything that I want. That fact became true today, when I wasn't able to enter "Hall H" for the Paramount pictures panel. I even cut in line to get closer to the door (I know, shame shame), but I still wasn't able to get in. At that point where I was in line, it would be almost two whole hours until they'll allow us to enter Hall H for the next panel (Lionsgate). The big draw for me was that Jessica Alba is going to be there, however I've seen her already in the past two years so I can live without that experience this time around. I later found out that in the Paramount panel, they showed the trailer of the upcoming Iron Man movie, had a live feed from the set of Indiana Jones IV, and even gave out cool SWAG. Oh well, I must stay strong to my new way of thinking at comic-con, that I won't be able to see everything I want to see.

    Since I didn't get to go to those two panels, I was able to spend more time on the exhibit hall / dealer's room, with my friend and his family. I definitely had a lot of fun roaming the booths, taking more pictures, and picking up new SWAG and stuff. Speaking of taking pictures, I consider myself pretty much "experienced" in asking to take photos from the booth babes and costumed folks in general. Sometimes however some people aren't very receptive to getting their photos taken, like this one time I asked a group of viking cosplayers for a photo and I noticed that one of the girls who was sitting on the ground resting rolling her eyes to that question. Sorry. Then there are times when they are very receptive, like at the Heroes booth were I was able to ask one of the cheerleader booth babes to get the rest of the girls into one group photo. Ofcourse, as soon as that happened, everybody else jumped for the photo-op.

    I did get to see a couple of celebrities on the show floor. Blair Butler of G4TV was filming an interview when I saw her, and I have to say that she is even prettier in person; taller too. I cunningly walked behind the interview to see if I was caught on tape (I'll check my TiVo when I get back home). When she was done, I wanted to talk to her for awhile and take a picture with her, however she looked busy so I'll have to find another opportunity to do so. Other celebs I saw were Tobin Bell and James Wan from the Saw movies, which had a booth that was drawing attention from attendees ("keep moving! do not block the aisle!"). G4TV of course had their live broadcast of their Comic-Con special, and I once again tried to see if I could get caught on tape. However this time around they had a stricter policy to keep everybody moving, as opposed to last year when they had a mob surrounding their booth. They also put up graphic cardboard fences, which blocks most of the shot of the background audience, which I guess helps discourage people (like me) who are just standing around there trying to be on film. I was at least able to see hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira, as well as Rosario Dawson who was being interviewed at that particular time.

    I went up stairs to the Lost Season 4 panel, a good 45 minutes before it starts. It's a good thing I did, because 15 minutes later, the room was already full. The Lost panel was once again a fun one to go to, and the creators of the show; Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, revealed a few good tidbits about the new season, as well as brought a surprise guest in Harold Perrineau. With a show like Lost however, it is hard for them to tell us more things about what's coming, so as a precaution they had with them bells to ring whenever the other person is about to say too much.

    After going to Horton Plaza to eat dinner, with another friend of mine that showed up, we went to the world premiere screening of the movie "Shoot 'em Up." It stars Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Monica Bellucci. I'll be doing a proper review of it after my Comic-Con blog coverage, but let me at least say that I thought it was a really fun movie to watch, as long as you leave your brain at the door. If you like gun action sequences, then this is the movie for you.

    Before I forget, as I mentioned last year, there's a bidding war from major cities for Comic-Con to move from San Diego. Comic-Con's contract expires next year, so cities like Los Angeles, and New York wants the huge revenue that the event brings. It looks like Comic-Con is here to stay at San Diego for at least four more years ('till 2012) on the new contract, and hopefully they can extend it even further with no problems by then.

    Well that's it until Friday's recap. I'm still having issues getting online, so bleah to that. Photos are okay, but any video footage will have to wait.

    *edit* Something odd just happened. A little bit after I posted this blog, I hear a knock on my hotel door. I look at the peep hole and there's this woman. I asked her what she wanted and she inquired if I was "Jack." She asks me this while casually looking at her cellphone and all, giving me a wryly smile. I say "No, sorry." She just gives me an "oh, okay" and walks away. Hold on Hold on Hold on, she did look like she was either a stripper or a hooker! Ofcourse I didn't ask her if she was, but damn, what a way to end my day.