just "some" video footage of SDCC 2012 preview night. I was running on 30 minutes of sleep,waited in line for preview night(about 3 hours??? or more lol!but it was worth it!),and i couldn't check into my hotel until i had a security deposit! luckily, the hotel was able to hold my luggage until it was check in time and I was able to get the security deposit. so, there wasn't a bank(that i bank with) nearby so that i could deposit cash into my card as a deposit. thus, my journey to comic-con began! like david banner, i slung a simple bag(my laptop bag)over my shoulder with immediate necessities(camera,cash,phone,etc..)and trodded down the road. all the neighbouring mountains and hills really made it feel as though i were in an episode of the incredible hulk or CHiPs lol! and there was a bank(but not my bank)nearby so i eventually had to wire money to my bank account and so on. it was my only chance, the closest bank(my bank)was near tijuana! there was no hesitation to make the venture out there, but time was of importance. which is why i planned an early flight to prepare for the unexpected and in this case. in order to wire money to my current bank account, i had to set up an account with this bank. it was noon by the time i had got done with all the banking business and registration/badge pick up was in about 3 hours. plenty of time to find my way to the convention and lounge around the fashion valley mall a bit for a bite to eat. i got something quick and fast from a bagel shop/french cafe i cannot recall the name just now. but it was near the parking lot and trolley station(my destination). i took my lunch to go and inhaled it through the parking lot proceeding to the trolley pay station. with my hands full of oil from the bag of chips and avocado from the veggie sandwich i inserted ten dollars into the pay station for a day pass trolley ticket(and a day of fun!). i got back five golden coins(dollar coins)! wow! it seemed like i just paid charon a toll for a ferry ride! turned out i didnt even need to purchase a day pass whatsoever as i wasn't even checked for my ticket upon boarding. screw it, the ride was fun and worth it. it seemed everyone in the trolley was a comic-con attendee, people from europe,mexico,japan it was amazing! i stumbled upon a group of comic-con volunteers who were already seasoned veterans of the con. after a few exchange of words about star trek and current tv shows bazinga,big bang theory,smallville whatever(which i have no interest of). i quickly became part of their group and joined them on their way to comic-con without having to take another trolley. the convention was near and since they knew their way around after the second trolley(i took) we walked it. their names i cannot remember but they were all volunteers and within the masses upon masses of bodies at comic-con i would never see them again after we split up. finally, at comic-con(san diego convention center)and badge pick up/registration was alot quicker and hassle free than i thought. except, for the mess that my badge was mistakenly already claimed. after proof of id and troubleshooting assistance i received my badge! YES! and a professional badge too! lol! it also garnished me rights for all the comic-con goodies (souvenir book,program book, and an official comic-con cman of steel carry bag blah!). now, where to go next??? i just followed everyone else and flashed my(professional)badge to gain clearance of the second floor. i just moved with the crowd and hit a roadblock of people once i got around the second floor. what was this line for? yeah, preview night! ok, so iam already here and hotel check in time was a few hours away. was it gonna be worth it to go alllll the way back to the hotel??? NO, this was comic-con!!!! So, i waited,waited,waited, and waited. With my cell set to die in mere moments, i could only observe everyone else beat time with their ipads,iphones,ipods and i somethings. Of course, i had the souvenir and program books to flip through. but after an hour or so, i thought to have gathered enough information as i could. after all i was here most importantly to promote bloodshot theatre as best i could(panels,q&a's,celebrity meet and greets were out the door). the comic-con carry bag trade offs were fun to witness and at best killed time. i held onto my man of steel bag after seeing there was quite a demand for it. the attendees in front of me slowly started to fold and conceal theirs once people began scouting/trading for them. since it was superman(blah!)i was kinda willing to trade but for a good one! and thats about the time people started toting around a dark knight rises bag. i made no attempt to offer for a trade as i doubted anyone would be willing to trade for my man of steel bag, sigh! so, i wound up with my crummy man of steel bag. sit,stand,sit,stand hour after hour.... trying to fight sleep! whoa! just then a few sexy female cosplayers began parading the halls! a really cool x-23(hartsoe's razor anyone? please!??) and a few other anime characters(that i do not know)began to show up. whoever they were they got me up and awake so i kept my eyes peeled for more! the line began to move and stopped around the corner where i could get a nice view of petco park. it was then that i sought out a perfect taping location. with that thought held, i anticipated the appearance of e.spanto on friday the 13th. all of a sudden cheers and applause began to echo through hallway. could this mean??? no, still another 30 minutes or so from what i could tell until preview night. with the little sleep i got, those thirty minutes seemed like an eternity! and soon the crowd began to move and make "the" move for preview night. hurray!!! down the escalator i went with the crowd, almost there! like opening a christmas or birthday present i was finally at the entrance. WOW! this is it! i made it! iam here at last! iam at san diego comic-con!!!! attendees dispersed everywhere like hungry wolves knowing where/what/who to prey upon. i just kinda stood there gazing for a moment(half asleep), in awe and unsure what to think,where to go,what to do etc... this was preview night i had the opportunity to look,grab,buy whatever and anything before anyone else! i wasn't in kansas anymore(errr.. texas comic con or eckmans). alright, so i decided to tape first and marvel at the gigantic displays and such. i wasn't planning on buying much anyhow, as stated before just here for promotion. there were a few items i had in mind for purchase most importantly the comic-con batman t- shirt! ahhh.. i'll get to it later! bad idea. i took a quick walk around, circling the outer side of the exhibit. now, it was time to actually go in to the aisles upon aisles of vendors and exhibitors. i quickly picked up a creature from the black lagoon t- shirt and later a dr. phibes t-shirt. i browsed the endless selection of action figures everywhere! (i was in search of a dc universe classics wave 1 orion). i found only one vendor to have one and at the price of 40 u.s. dollars, so i decided to hold on it. the price was about right as ive seen an orion go up to about 80 bucks online. i had to get my back issue fix and stumbled upon a bargain bin of comics(4x$10). a good selection too as i was after bronze age comics of mr. miracle and new gods. so i picked up a couple of each and got away with an early copy of mr. miracle(issue 18, by king kirby!). the vendor had not realized it wasn't marked at the special price! but was nice enough to let me have it at that price. cool! now all i need is just the pricey issues 1-17!!! aisle through aisle i went, alotta neat stuff that i didn't have to have. the big toy companies(hasbro and mattel)had lots of new items to display, but not for sale i had assumed. i couldn't help noticing quite a few attendees toting around hasbros S.H.I.E.L.D heli-carrier! wow! i had the opportunity for matty collectors con-exclusives(dark knight rises batman)weeks prior(from the site) to the show. but i decided to pass, and kinda wished i didn't 'cos it came with a really neat matty collector tote bag! aside from the t-shirt, i was kinda interested in finding a one-of-a kind comic-con exclusive. there were a few and i eyed the batman(batbear???)keychain with the super-powers style packaging(i think last year they offered a green lantern bear, yes?). and a great mazinga styled batman robot(the colours differed from what i had seen online)like the shogun warriors. pretty cool, but when you start making superheroes into bears and robots my interest is lost. shopping around, going through the aisles, i didn't have my camera out and missed a shot at marina sirtis(deanna troi of STNG). damn. what i could tell she had her own booth set-up for signing? anyhow, she was just as sexy as i remembered her all those late saturday nights of watching STNG! it was a thrill to see her in person! she seemed occupied at the moment so i just glanced, smiled and continued. i didn't want to seem like some deranged trekkie waiting for the right moment to strike! lol! i continued down aisles again and again i found something of interest(well for me)a big barda(with helmet) dc universe classics figure for 8 bucks. i'll take it! since i already have the variant, just something to add to my new gods collection. so, having got my fouth world fullfillment i decided to leave the exhibit and find my way back to the hotel.but not before making another attempt at grabbing a comic-con batman t-shirt! no luck, lines were already closed for the evening. bummer. anyhow, sundown was rapidily approaching as i exited the convention, i looked for my shuttle stop. found it! but for some reason the stop was re-located behind petco park. no problem, i didn't mind taking a stroll through a bit of down town san diego. i crossed the tracks, followed the crowd, browsed the nearby eateries(for future reference)and eventually came across the gaslamp area. there were officers directing traffic and it was at the tip of my tongue to ask for info finding my shuttle stop. but i just kept moving not caring if i got lost. i was tired, but down for an adventure! i overheard voices and footsteps behind me as i turned around the corner of a street by petco park. was i being followed??? lol! no, it turned out to be a couple of con-attendees just as lost as i was! so we joined forces to find our shuttle stop(which was just around the corner). finally, boarded the shuttle as the driver informed us that the shuttle would again pick up here the next day. on the way back i was too tired to strike up conversation with my newfound friends. even so, to see what bags they had to offer up a trade for my man of steel bag! the shuttle neared the hotel i was to stay at but passed it up! oh no! no reason to panic i thought it was certain to loop back again. hell, ive waited this long and been waiting all day another half hour isn't gonna kill me. i bid my friends farewell as their stop was the next(highly doubting id see them again just like everyone else). the loop around seemed quick as more tired attendees boarded the shuttle the second time around. at last, i was at the hotel but not before i stopped in a nearby diner. it was a burger-type eatery that was connected to one of the neighbouring hotels(bunz burgers). i ordered up a veggie burger to satisfy my late night hunger midnight snack. service was great and i didn't have to wait too long(then again, did it matter at this point?). okay, check-in time now everything went well. i was given back the rest of my luggage and made my way to my room. i was amazed at how i managed to still stand! lol! the hotels structure kinda reminded me of threes company with all the palm trees around haha! i was hoping to see janet(joyce de witt)ride along somewhere on her ten speed! anyway, the door to my room looked as though it had been pried open before(there was a huge indenture along the doors right border). hmmm? what happened here before? suicide? murder? drug bust? kidnapping? who cares! it was time to eat and hit the sack! the room was simple and had a huge mirror! i finished up my meal, unpacked, and gathered my thoughts for a moment then hit the sack like a ton of bricks! and that was day 1(preview night)for me, i will be blogging days 2-4 later for now check out some of the footage here:
http://youtu.be/Enr7Sma9YsQ
oh yes, although iam no travel planner but heres a few lessons i learned that day....
1. aside from having cash "cash" at your disposal. ALWAYS, have a back up major credit or debit card(with cash in them, duh!)!!!! Then again, i blame this on the hotel for not stating this(security deposit) anywhere prior to booking. unless it was(in that small tiny fine print you don't realize when you have just signed your life away!)and i overlooked it.
2. always carry your phone charger(or an extra battery if ya got one)! you just might find an available eletrical outlet to charge it up again. i had observed this and security/staff didn't seem to mind as attendees charged their i-devices and phones. this is a given, but if you know youre gonna leave your room for long periods of time(at a convention particularily)take it with you!
3. finally, get some sleep!!!! a good amount of rest will always keep refreshed and energized for the next day! well sometimes. until then pleasant screams!!!!
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