Hot Nerd Girl

Tag: san diego comic con

  • San Diego Comic-Con – here we come!

    San Diego Comic-Con.

    It’s my favorite and least favorite time of year. So much fun! So much stress!

    Going to Cons for almost 15 years couldn’t even prepare me for the madness that is Comic-Con. Luckily, I’ve learned to relax, take it all in stride, and not try to do every. single. thing. Every year I go is a completely different and unique experience and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

    Here is some general information, tips, lessons learned, where you can find me, and people/panels I feel deserve to be seen. I’ll be posting Con coverage on my social media during the Con (so be sure to follow!) and some wrap ups afterwards.

    Facebook: www.facebook.com/hotnerdgirl

    Twitter: @hot_nerd_girl

    Instagram: www.instagram.com/hotnerdgirlofficial

    May the Con be ever in your favor!

    Panels I’m thinking about attending:

    My list is much longer than this but here are a few panels that I plan to attend that have nothing to do with a TV show or movie. I’m a bit biased because I have friends and acquaintances involved in each of these but they definitely deserve some attention and if you want to meet me there’s a good chance you’ll get a chance at one of these panels! Again, I can’t guarantee (things happen, one must be flexible at SDCC) but I’m going to try my best! Either way, these are panels and topics that are definitely worth checking out!

    Thursday:

    10:00am – Wrath of Con Bloggers (Room 14A)

    12:30pm – Roddenberry Entertainment Presents (Room 24ABC)

    2:00pm – Greenlight Your Passion Project (Room 7AB)

    7:00pm – PodCRASH with That Chris Gore Live (Room 25ABC)

    Friday:

    10:00am – Geek Wars: The Nerds Awaken (Room 14A)

    12:00pm – Star Wars Goes Steampunk (Room 14A)

    Saturday:

    11:00am – Andre the Giant: The Man Behind the Legend (Room 29AB)

    4:00pm – Oddball Comic Live! (Room 7AB)

    Where you’re guaranteed to see me:

    I’ll be at the Game of Bloggers meet up on Wednesday night at the Dragons Den next to Petco Park 9pm-12am hosted by Tony Kim of Crazy4ComicCon fame

    For more information on how to attend go HERE!

    People to visit in the Exhibition Hall:

    I-07 – Sergio Aragones (one of the nicest people you will ever meet)

    1915 – DC Entertainment (great photo op! The photographer with the spiky white hair is my friend Tre Ridings. Everyone be sure to tell him that I say “hi” 😉 )

    4037 – Hollywood Sci-Fi Museum (great photo op!)

    4016 – Ivy Doomkitty (she’s hosting a bunch of your favorite cosplayers, check out her Twitter for a schedule)

    1947 – NASA (because…NASA…)

    1309 – National Cartoonists Society (specifically Greg Evans and Karen Evans)

    2543 – Roddenberry Entertainment

    The single most important piece of advice I can give you:

    At Cons I shake a lot of hands and am touched by a lot of people. I’m a hugger and a touchy-feely person who puts my hands on people while we’re talking. I’m also Obsessive Compulsive and I get sick VERY easily. Therefore…

    Hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer.

    I cannot emphasize this enough. Even if you’re pro-germ, anti-anti-bacterial (I get it, I use good old fashioned soap and water at home), make this the ONE time of year that you use tons and tons of the stuff. The more alcohol the better (none of the “all-natural” stuff). You WILL get Con Crud. Frequent applications of healthy-sized dollops (none of these little mini squirts) of hand sanitizer will help prevent Con Crud. I promise. Get one of those little bottles that hangs from your backpack. Everyone has them, no one will think you look like a dork. Hand wipes also work but are harder to use on the sly. But get some becuae you will use them, often. And wash your hands with soap and water as often as you can.

    TMI WARNING:

    Girls, if you’re surfing the crimson wave, RUN and get yourself a period cup. Moon Cup, Lily Cup, Whatever Cup. Doesn’t matter what brand (they’re a personal preference thing anyways). You will not regret it. I’m convinced that it is the single most important item a woman can have in the zombie apocalypse as well.

    Other helpful advice based on my experience:

    Relax. For real. There’s NO WAY on God’s green Earth that you’re going to get to do everything you want to do. Pick and choose and make a plan. Want to see the Doctor Who panel in Hall H? Plan to camp out that night.

    Which brings us to Hall H. Frakking Hall H. It used to be so simple. Not anymore. I’m older and wiser now so it would take a lot to persuade me to camp out (the need to camp out is a relatively recent phenomenon I’ll point out), especially with the new wrist band requirement. I used to get with a group of friends and take turns, I could go shower, eat, brush my teeth, etc. We were all there for some part of the night and weren’t letting in a huge group of people at the last minute – usually just my Mama but she’s tiny and doesn’t count. It was a very non-douchy way of helping each other out. With the new wrist band requirement you can still do that but say goodbye to any parties, meetups, premiers, or evening activities that night. If you’re not there when they hand the bands out, you’re not getting in. Unless you’re between the ages of 18-25 and can handle night after night of it, camping out sucks. Decide which day is most important to you and do it once. I’m not gonna lie, it’s a huge rush to be in the Hall and to see everything first. It’s also where I first saw Tony Kim of Crazy4ComicCon and the Button Lady. I have some amazing memories in Hall H. Now they pretty much release most of it online immediately after so I’m over the camping. That being said, I was in Ballroom 20 for the 10 year Firefly reunion and you can bet your ass I’d be camping out for the 20th. If you can’t live without it, camp for it. Otherwise, don’t bother.

    Where to drink according to Discover SD:

    *Disclaimer: I’ve only personally been to a few of these so I can’t vouch for them personally

    Best downtown bars

    Comic-Con specialty cocktails

    Things to do around Comic-Con if you couldn’t get tickets:

    Find ideas HERE and HERE.

    Links to last year’s SDCC coverage by yours truly:

    2014 Part 1 (Panels and Floor)

    2014 Part 2 (Costume Contest and Cosplay)

    2014 Part 3 (Joss Whedon Nerd HQ and Outlander Premier)

    My two favorite Comic-Con insider blogs:

    Crazy4ComicCon

    The Nerdy Girlie

    Stay tuned for more San Diego Comic-Con coverage!

  • San Diego Comic-Con 2014 (Part 3) – Joss Whedon Nerd HQ and Outlander Premier

    Hot Nerd Girl Outlander

    Welcome to Part 3 of my San Diego Comic-Con wrap-up! This section is all about the Joss Whedon Nerd HQ panel-turned-last-minute-Mystery-Guest-panel and the Outlander premier.

    If you missed Part 1 go HERE. If you missed Part 2 go HERE.

    NERD HQ

    Hayden (Geek Outlaw), Podthingy cohost John Mulhall, HNG Podcast cohost Darcy Villere, and I were all really excited to nab tickets to the Joss Whedon Nerd HQ panel. Nerd HQ panels are quickly becoming the hottest ticket in town during SDCC and the tickets sell out, literally, in the blink of an eye. I’m not joking. I blinked and the tickets for The Walking Dead and Nathan Fillion panels were GONE. Joss had been our first choice though so we were happy just to walk away with tickets to his “Conversation for a Cause” benefiting Operation Smile. Then, the day before the panel, a rumor started circulating that Joss had been laid up with a sudden knee surgery and wouldn’t be able to make it. We had no idea if they would cancel the panel or Skype Joss in or try to make it up to us by bringing in someone else. It turned into the ultimate Mystery Panel (though my bet was always on Nathan Fillion). We had no idea right up until the moment we took our seats and the show started.

    It turned out that I was right and out walked Nathan Fillion, quickly followed by Liam McIntyre (Spartacus), Chloe Bennet (Agents of SHIELD), Seth Green, and Alan Tudyk.

    During the very first audience question my phone buzzed with a text message from Darcy who was sitting on the other side of the theater with John. Turns out Hayden and I were on camera the entire time the girl was asking her question and Darcy snapped a picture of it.

    One of the audience members got more than she bargained for when she tried to ask a question. First Liam showed that he was paying rapt attention.

    Then everyone else decided to join him. With the exception of Seth who decided it was more important to take pictures for posterity.

    Then, about halfway through – tada!- Joss Whedon turned up via Skype from his bed in London where they were just finishing up filming Avengers: Age of Ultron.

    And proved that he is, indeed, the Puppet Master.

    Watch the entire Nerd HQ Conversation with Joss Whedon and Mystery Panel here (keep an eye out for me and Geek Outlaw at 10:52):

    –

    STARZ OUTLANDER PREMIER

    Yes, I’m dressed like Captain Malcolm Reynolds. We came straight from Comic-Con, mmmkay?

    I’ve been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember and, as a result, I quickly got tired of books meant for my age group and was always on the lookout for books that would challenge me. This is why, when I was around the age of 14 or so, my Dad handed me a book that my Stepmom had recommended to him and said “here, read this, I think you’ll like it.” That book was Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and I was smitten. It took several more years but I eventually convinced Mama Jedi to give it a try and she quickly became as enraptured by the story of Jamie and Claire as I was. Outlander is one of those books that I’ve recommended to more people than I can count. Whenever someone asked me what book I would want to make into a movie, I never hesitated to say Outlander. So it was quite fitting that two Star Trek alums (I’m a Trekkie in case you’re new here), Ronald D. Moore and Ira Steven Behr, made it happen in a way that honors the spirit and vision of the world Gabaldon created.

    First we waited in a rather lengthy line and completely skipped Hall H in order to check out the SDCC panel. Panelists: Ronald D. Moore (Producer), Diana Gabaldon (Writer), Caitriona Balfe (Claire Randall), Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser), Tobias Menzies (Frank Randall/Black Jack Randall), Graham McTavish (Dougal MacKenzie), Lotte Verbeek (Geillis Duncan)

    Turns out, in Scotland, Gaelic is pronounced “Gall-ick” not “Gay-lick.” I learn something new every day. We also learned that they thought it would be most difficult to cast the part of Jamie but it turns out they found Heughan pretty quickly and ended up having the hardest time casting Claire. Like me, Gabaldon was not initially impressed with Heughan’s look and couldn’t picture him as Jamie (I believe she initially called him “hideous” – ha!), but then she saw him in the part and he grew on her (me too). Moore has included Gabaldon pretty much every step of the way, resulting in a TV series that Gabaldon is both excited about and proud of. Gabaldon and George RR Martin are good friends and will often commiserate with and try to one-up each other. For example, it seems that Martin is quite jealous that Outlander has 16 episodes instead of just ten. We even got a highly amusing kilt twirl from Ron Moore.

    Mama Jedi and I also visited the Outlander booth in the Exhibitor Hall a few times. Which had everything to do with checking out the period props and nothing at all to do with the handsome men in kilts *ahem*

    Thanks to a little help from Geek Outlaw, we managed to nab a couple of passes to the Starz World Premier at the Spreckels Theatre just a few blocks down from the Convention Center.

    The crowd was impressive, as was the plaid carpet.

    Once inside, we were forced, forced I tell you, to walk through the lobby between two rows of even more handsome men in kilts standing on logs and boulders looking all tall and manly. Mama Jedi was a bit twitterpated, methinks. I almost tripped and fell flat on my face at one point because I was too busy looking at all of the studliness surrounding me and not even remotely paying attention to where I was going. I have no idea if anyone saw that. I’m really hoping that nobody saw that.

    Luckily our seats were on the aisle…

    … so we had a great view of the theatre and the screen with its bevy of Scottish Highlander historical FAQ.

    The women behind and to the right of us seemed to be in a group together and they were pretty much obsessed with getting pictures of the actors. Every time I looked over my shoulder all I saw was a sea of glowing smart phone screens.

    When the actors finally did walk in, every woman (and some of the men) jumped to their feet and surged forward. I was slightly concerned for the actor’s safety, but the fans ended up behaving themselves. Can you tell how amused I was by all of this by the fact that I took pictures of the people as opposed to pictures of the actors?

    The one exception I made was Tobias Menzies who walked by right next to me and was so close that this was the picture I got and my camera wasn’t even zoomed in.

    The show started with some intro music by three lovely and talented female bagpipe players.

    The first episode did not disappoint. It is available to watch HERE for those who are interested (trust me, be interested).

    We were then treated to a Q&A with the same folks we saw on the Comic-Con panel…

    … and an almost flash from Graham McTavish.

    –

    After which we got a proverbial cherry topper to our Outlander ice cream in the form of a musical performance from none other than composer Bear McCreary himself.

    –

    –

    All in all, a fabulous experience well worth skipping dinner for.

    And that wraps up my 2014 San Diego Comic-Con wrap-up! Thanks for tuning in and I’ll see you at the next Con!

    Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 in case you missed them.

  • HNG Podcast – 2013 Comic Con Part 2

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    In Part 2 of our San Diego Comic Con podcast we discuss the Friday, Saturday and Sunday Hall H panels: The Walking Dead; Game of Thrones; The Seventh Son; Godzilla; Warcraft; 300: Rise of an Empire; Gravity; Superman vs. Batman; I, Frankenstein; The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; The Wolverine; X-Men: Days of Future Past, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Supernatural, Breaking Bad, and Doctor Who. We also talked about how I felt when Nathan Fillion was momentarily 2 inches away from me, photo bombing a Doctor Who time crash, getting recognized by some followers, HNG and social media.

    For Part 1 of the Podcast, go HERE.

    Stay tuned for a post with tons of pictures from 2013 San Diego Comic Con!

  • HNG Podcast – 2013 Comic Con Part 1

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    I’ve been recovering from a gnarly Comic Con cold (stoopid germs) all week so I’m running a bit behind on my Comic Con wrap-up posts. Stay tuned for a post that’ll include pictures and more details on the panels, but in the meantime, Darcy and I recorded a podcast where I go through my entire Comic Con experience very, very quickly. Talking about 4 days worth of awesomeness in an hour is apparently too much for the blog to handle so we had to split it up into two posts.

    In Part 1 we discuss meeting Brent Spiner again, Thursday’s Sherlock, X-Files, and Brave New Warriors panels in Ballroom 20, and Friday’s The World’s End, Veronica Mars, and Kick-Ass 2/Riddick panels in Hall H.

    Check out Part 2 of the podcast coming right atcha!

  • San Diego Comic Con 2013 Thursday Shenanigans

    It’s Day One of San Diego Comic Con 2013 and somehow I always manage to forget just HOW insane it is. So. Many. People. It’s always super stressful but it’s also so much fun.

    I decided to dress like Han Solo and my nephew just happened to wear his Jedi costume so we were pretty much perfect together. It’s like we’re not just related but we’re psychically linked as well.

    After sitting into a crapload of traffic (thank God I picked up my badge on Wednesday night), I finally pulled into the hotel that will be my home for the next few days. I got there too late to join Geek Outlaw in the Ballroom 20 line but I managed to get into the Sherlock, X-Files 20th Anniversary, and Brave New Warriors panels. I spent the rest of the morning hanging out with my friend Brett at his booth (L-07) and my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. We also visited artists Lord Mesa and Patrick Ballesteros in row DD of Artists Alley.

    I’ll do a more in-depth wrap-up later but in the meantime, here are some of today’s highlights…

    Demented Dreams (Booth L-07) where you can buy an HNG calendar 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Patrick Ballesteros

     

     

    Sherlock panel

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    X-Files panel

     

     

    Brave New Warriors panel

     

    I’m off to camp out in the Hall H line! Stay tuned for more highlights tomorrow.

  • HNG Podcast: Pre-Comic Con Confab Conversation…thing.

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    Welcome to the 3rd HNG podcast!
    In this Pre-Com Con Con Con, Darcy and I discuss my plans for San Diego Comic Con including what costumes I’ll be wearing, what panels I’ll be camping out for, and what artists/booths I’ll be visiting. It’s a much briefer podcast, clocking in at approximately 24 minutes.

    We’ll do a wrap-up podcast next week once the madness is over.

    If you’re going to Comic Con and you see me, please be sure to say Hi! I will likely be dressed as:
    Thursday: Han Solo
    Friday: an HNG t-shirt
    Saturday: Captain Malcolm Reynolds
    Sunday: the 10th Doctor
    I will also be spending some time each day (exact time TBD – I’ll tweet it and put it on the facebook page whenever I’m there) at Booth L-07 where my extremely talented artist friend (and HNG logo designer) Brett DeWall has a booth. I’ll have calendars and stickers and pins and all kinds of fun stuff. So, y’all come on down now, ya hear?

  • San Diego Comic Con, Part 4 – Sunday Shenanigans

    Geek Outlaw and Hot Nerd Girl aka Nerd Best Friends Forever

    This has been my craziest Summer ever. I feel like I’m never home and I pretty much haven’t been since the beginning of June. Some of the reasons have been great (weddings, visiting new family members, hiking through Yosemite) and some of them have been sad (Grandma’s funeral) but all of them have been very time consuming. So I apologize for being so behind in answering emails and messages. Hopefully things start to calm down a bit.

    In the meantime, here is my last SDCC 2012-related post! (Don’t forget to check out my interview with Rod Roddenberry in the very near future. It was conducted at SDCC but is a beast all its own).

    Even though I had a couple more costumes to choose from I opted not to cosplay on Sunday. Not gonna lie, it was kind of a pain in the ass and one day of it was enough for me. I will definitely cosplay at future conventions though. It was a lot of fun despite the hassle.

    The first half of the day was consumed by the Fringe, Supernatural, and Doctor Who panels in Hall H. In case you missed it, I wrote about all of the Comic Con panels here.

    The second half I spent wandering around the Exhibition Hall. I didn’t see as many celebs on Sunday but Convention regular Thomas Jane was there.

    A bunch of people requested that I check out the Suicide Girls booth. Ask and you shall receive. They really liked my buttons.

    My buttons turned out to be pretty popular actually.

    Which is awesome cause I’m pretty much obsessed with my new button machine.

    I really wanted an awesome souvenir from the Con, and y’all know I’m a huge Trekkie, so when Geek Outlaw found Brian Rood’s booth I got really excited. I bought that lovely Kirk-Spock print you see in the pic.

    Some other randomly awesome stuff from the Floor:

    I’m actually pretty bummed that they remade Total Recall (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it mmmkay?) but I’ll wait until I see it to pass final judgement. I gotta admit though, this hover car was pretty badass.

    Geek Outlaw disappeared on me so I took this picture to make him feel guilty for ditching me 😉

    We ran into fan Andrew while roaming around.

    Michonne forgot to cut my arms and jaw off. Bad Michonne.

    My friend Eddy was sad that he was a zombie.

    We heard that there were Batmobiles across the way at the Hilton so we made our way over there.

    On to costumes!

    It took this badass chica about 1000 hours to make this armor out of aluminum.

    Where was this uber hot Cap when I needed her?? We were bummed that we didn’t run into each other when I was dressed as Thor the day before.

    Orcs! and Trolls!

    And Gollum! Oh my!

    I think he’s a little scared of me.

    This Bane was very friendly.

    As was this Darth Vader. All he wanted was a hug and everyone was just walking by. He looked very surprised and happy when I hugged him. What can I say? I’m a lover.

    Dark Helmet was not as friendly.

    Shit! I hate it when I get my Schartz twisted.

    I know who I’m gonna call. The World’s Tallest Ghostbuster standing next to me.

    It’s a Starfleet officer who has been assimilated by the Borg and has an Alien busting out of his chest WHO HAS ALSO BEEN ASSIMILATED BY THE BORG!! *le sigh* … I think I’m in love.

    Exterminate! Exterminate! EXTERMINATE!!!

    While taking the picture with the Dalek I heard someone yell “Hey Hot Nerd Girl! Show us your tits!” I turned around and my friend Leia was standing there! She’s a fellow HNG and sexy beast. Sorry guys, I did not show her my tits.

    And so ended my 2012 Comic Con experience. It was a great first crack and I can’t wait to go next year. I’m going to try to make it to APE Con in San Francisco in October but with all this traveling I’ve been doing I may not make it. We’ll see. In the meantime, thanks to Mama Jedi, Troi, Darcy, Joy, Christian, Eddy, and especially Geek Outlaw for hanging out with me at SDCC. Thanks again to Daniel and Morgan for the great panel seats. Thanks to everyone I met and chatted with. And thanks to you for patiently waiting for this SDCC coverage while I was off gallivanting around the country.

    I leave you with this totally awesome picture I took of Geek Outlaw.

    You’re welcome.

  • San Diego Comic Con, Part 3 – Saturday Shenanigans

    Saturday was cosplay day. My first time ever cosplaying in public (I’m uber shy, remember?) so it was kind of a big deal for me. I’d spent a lot of time and energy putting together a few costumes, the pièce de résistance of which was my Thor costume.

    Then I woke up with hives.

    Awesome.

    Everything kept going downhill from there so it ended up taking forever for hair and makeup (shout out to my sister-in-law for the fun Thor eye makeup!) By the time we walked out the door the hives had mostly gone away. But, much to my dismay, we didn’t get to Comic Con until about 1:30pm.

    Uff da.

    For some bizarre reason that I can’t fathom, there were Bible-thumpers protesting Comic Con, claiming it was evil. Now, I may not be super religious or anything but I consider myself a good little 1/2 Catholic-1/2 Methodist and I’ve wracked my brain trying to figure out why they protest at Comic Con but not other, more questionable conventions. All I can come up with is they are attention whores. At any rate, there were a few snarky folks who took it upon themselves to protest the protesters. I was a fan of them.

    As soon as I got there I pretty much made a beeline for the Roddenberry panel so I didn’t get to hang out for very long. I did get stopped for pictures though which was a pretty surreal experience. I suck at modeling so I kind of did the same pose over and over again. I also hadn’t had any liquid courage yet.

    After sitting in on his panel I interviewed Rod Roddenberry (coming soon!)

    By that point it was almost time to leave for the Superhero Pub Crawl so I raced around the Floor really fast to see as much as possible before I had to go. One of my first stops was The Devil Inside booth for my missing Dennis Calero signature and to show Todd Stashwick my Thor costume as promised the day before.

    Love them!

    Todd put a picture of me holding up the book on his Twitter.

    Some other randomly awesome stuff from the Floor:

    Darcy got to meet fellow super tall dude Peter Mayhew aka Chewbacca.

    Geek Outlaw got to meet one of his idols, Peter Cullen aka Optimus Prime.

    AND Bruce Campbell (which I’m insanely jealous about).

    Eddie McClintock from Warehouse 13! Eating a sandwich!

    The cast of Fringe!

    There was a pretty epic Iron Man display featuring several suits. That is, if you could get close enough to see it. They were constantly doing some kind of activity so the crowd around it was always enormous.

    J. August Richards from Angel!

    Avenger bunnies!

    On to costumes!

    Ridiculously adorkable Optimus Prime.

    Joy and The Batman.

    Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse! BETELGEUSE!

    Who ya gonna call?

    Maybe Joy can hitch a ride.

    Klingons!

    Those Clone Troopers are looking confused.

    Geek Outlaw on the prowl.

    Some Gamers hanging out just outside. That chick was badass.

    Dammit Hayden, she’s a Doctor, not a clubber!

    Wonda WOMAAAAAAAAN!

    Even Kato takes the trolley to Comic Con.

    Justice League!

    Avengers Assemble!

    Then we were off to the Superhero Pub Crawl. We met up with Hayden’s BFF Jerry who came dressed as Indie. A decision that proved very popular with the ladies.

    The rest of the night was just madness really.

    Stay tuned for “Part 4 – Sunday Shenanigans” and the Roddenberry interview – coming soon!

  • San Diego Comic Con, Part 2 – Friday Shenanigans

    I’ve been struggling to figure out how best to showcase my Comic Con shenanigans because I have over a thousand pictures taken over the course of 3 days. I did a post dedicated to the Panels and thought I might do posts dedicated to Costumes, Celebs, Exhibition Floor, etc. but no matter how I worked it, it just wasn’t coming out right. So I decided to showcase each day individually starting with Friday.

    Holy craparoni there was a ton of people. I knew there would be, and yet, nothing can prepare you for the experience the first time you go. I used to celebrate Halloween in the Castro, I know what it’s like to be surrounded by a shit ton of humans dressed in crazy costumes, but I’m also used to smaller conventions where it takes less than 45 minutes to walk from one end of the Exhibition Floor to the other.

    Craziness both outside… …and inside.

    In the past I’ve discussed my extreme shyness and social awkwardness. They go hand in hand and it’s something that I’m constantly fighting with, especially as the blog grows. This trait o’ mine can be particularly frustrating to my family and friends when they’re with me at conventions and events and are promoting me. I have a tendency to panic and retreat whenever I hear my name mentioned so by the time they turn to introduce me to someone I’m nowhere to be found. For Comic Con it was decided that they were going to liquor me up.

    I’m dead serious.

    And they came prepared. My sister-in-law, Troi, brought disposable flasks. My NBFF (Nerd Best Friend Forever), Geek Outlaw, made a delicious alcoholic concoction in his CamelBak each morning. I was ordered to sip from one of these two vessels throughout the day so that I would be less likely to panic and run. To be clear, I was never once intoxicated or even slightly buzzed, but I will admit that it took the edge off a little. A few people were even surprised when they were told how well I was doing at being social.

    Geez, I totally sound pathetic haha. The point is, it helped and I probably had my most socially successfully convention ever.

    Sippin’ on gin and juice

    I needed that little bit of liquid courage because I made buttons to hand out to the people I met. Lots and lots of gloriously nerdy buttons. Despite the liquor I was pretty shy about handing these out but there were a few times when they caught on like wildfire and I actually had a line of people waiting to dunk their hands in the giant bag of buttons. I made these in the 1.5 days between getting home from my Grandma’s funeral in Cincinnati and the first day of Comic Con so hopefully the next batch of buttons will be better.

    I was lucky enough to meet up with some friends throughout the day including one of my best buds Brett (he zombifies all my pictures for me), Aaron who I hadn’t seen in at least a couple of years, and Eddy who I hadn’t seen in 10 years.

    Brett! Aaron! Eddy! (and a seriously awesome photobomb)

    While on the Floor I headed over to the DC booth to visit Tre’ Ridings, a fabulous photographer who I met at WonderCon and have kept in touch with. If you haven’t yet, check out DC’s We Can Be Heroes campaign. While there Eddy and I got our pictures taken.

    Eddy got a bit saucy This made me LOL I stuck with good ol’ fashioned badassery Take THAT Lex Luther!

    I’m an insanely devoted Trekkie and have been collecting signatures in my TNG The Continuing Mission book for about 15 years now starting with John de Lancie. So I was super excited to see Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton at Comic Con! But super sad that I didn’t have my book on me. I got their signatures and pictures with them anyways.

    The next day I brought my book but Brent was gone. So I’ve added LeVar’s signature to the book. Hopefully Brent’s won’t be far behind!

    From top to bottom: Rod Roddenberry, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, John de Lancie, LeVar Burton

    My sister-in-law and I ran into Colin Ferguson from Eureka on our way to the Roddenberry After Party. He was super nice.

    Lou Ferrigno was huge! And also very nice.

    Todd Stashwick is officially my new favorite celebrity. I didn’t recognize him at first with his hat and glasses. He was there promoting the printed trade paperback of his online comic book The Devil Inside and we started chatting it up about all kinds of random stuff like Chicago and the Secret Service. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes into the conversation that it even came out that he was an actor (trust me, you know who he is). We ended up talking for quite a while and I left with a copy of his book and a promise that I’d return the next day to show him my Thor costume and get Dennis Calero’s signature on my book.

    Some other randomly awesome stuff from the Floor:

    KITT…

    And Michael from Knight Rider.

    Awesome Indiana Jones booth complete with live snakes.

    Optimus Prime is the shit.

    Trolls!

    Zombie mobile from The Walking Dead.

    I don’t know why but the Batpod looked kind of small to me in real life but looking at it in comparison with the people in the picture it looks like a decent size. Weird.

    Troi is obsessed with zombies.

    Who’s scruffy-looking??

    The Captain’s chair was blocked off but they let this guy take a picture in it. Love the Roddenberry folks!

    Troi got the greatest LEGO set ever for my brother and my nephew. It has working electronics. Frak, I’m jealous.

    Time for costumes!

    We were behind some Avatar: The Last Airbender fans in a panel line.

    And also ran into some Legend of Korra peeps.

    My best guess is GI Joe. Correct me if I’m wrong!

    Saw a ton of Poison Ivy’s and Harley Quinn’s per usual.

    This guy was a big hit with Troi.

    Alicia Hunt?

    A towering inferno of physical perfection.

    Awesome AT-AT.

    Remember this girl?

    Her name is Jennifer Landa and she’s super sweet and she put together another spectacular Star Wars costume, this time of the Millennium Falcon.

    Everyone needs a little bit of Tusken Raider in their life to keep them on their toes.

    This Prometheus promotion calmly and silently walked through the Exhibition Hall while his lovely ladies passed crap out.

    Best. Penguin. Ever.

    What’s up Doc?

    And a couple after my own heart.

    It’s Picard and a female Geordi! How awesome is she?!?

    At the end of the day we headed over to Fluxx for the Roddenberry Trek Nation Party. (Friendly reminder that my interview with Rod Roddenberry will be coming to you soon!) On the way there we ran into the zombie walk. Depending on how long you’ve been reading you may or may not know that zombies are my biggest fear. Needless to say, I snapped this picture and then walked very briskly to the next street over.

    Me and Mom waiting to be let in to Fluxx. Apparently I was supposed to go through the Media/VIP line. Oops. I’m still getting used to being considered Media :/

    At the club we met up with friends Joy and Darcy (yes, he’s really that tall).

    And watched a circus performer lady.

    There was a super creepy Tron dude who just stood there and never took his motorcycle helmet off.

    Hanging out with Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment. He’s super awesome.

    This was some kind of Jägermeister concoction that Geek Outlaw ordered for me.

    Whatever. It was delicious.

    Goofing off with Troi, Mama Jedi and Geek Outlaw

    We left the party at 10:00pm (around the time the geeks left and the usual clubbers started showing up) to try and get some sleep before Day 2 of the Comic Con craziness.

     Stay tuned for “Part 3 – Saturday Shenanigans” in the next couple of days!

  • San Diego Comic Con, Part 1 – The Panels

    Hot Nerd Girl and Geek Outlaw at it again

    I promised detailed blogs about Comic Con and by golly, I aim to keep that promise. There’s just one problem. There’s waaaay too much for just one post. I tried. I’ve gone through approx. 1000 pictures (no joke) and narrowed them down to the best of the best and even then I was left with so many that I had to break it up.  So I’m splitting SDCC into 3 (or 4) blogs.  The first of which is the panels.

    FRIDAY (Community, Legend of Korra, Firefly):

    I’ve been to many conventions but this was my first time at the mothership aka Comic Con and boy, did I learn a lot about what to do/not to do (but that’s a whole ‘nuther post). I thought that because I live in San Diego County I could sleep at home and drive to SDCC each day.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    I’m ridiculous.

    Parking is a bitch so what you end up having to do is drive to a trolley station and take the trolley the rest of the way. They helpfully provide CC-specific trolleys to make it easy for you. One problem, the first one gets you to the Convention Center just after 7:00am. Waaaay too late if you want to get in line for one of the big panels *cough cough Firefly cough cough*

    Daniel to the rescue!

    Lucky for me and Geek Outlaw, our mutual fan (and now fave friend) Daniel, had planned to camp out and saved a spot for us in the Ballroom 20 line. I felt guilty about cutting in line for exactly 3 minutes at which point I saw everyone else doing the exact same thing and got over it.

    I’m not gonna lie, I was there for Firefly and Firefly alone. But you have to sit on all of the panels before Firefly in order to have a seat for Firefly (they seriously need to figure out a better system) so I ended up sitting through the panels fro Community and Legend of Korra as well.

    I wasn’t the only one.

    The first panel of the day was Community. I find Community highly entertaining so I was more than happy to sit in on their panel. They did not disappoint. The cast and crew were hilarious and the film clips they put together for Comic Con were chock full of funny shenanigans. Chevy Chase and Donald Glover were noticeably absent. Which is too bad because LeVar Burton was there and they could have had an epic Troy/LeVar moment.

    Cast and Crew of Community

    The second panel of the day was Legend of Korra (I’d like to know who they had to bang to get the lucky spot between Community and Firefly). This panel was like Chinese water torture for my sister-in-law. She looked like she was either going to explode or throw up. Maybe both. Simultaneously. I had an advantage because I’ve seen a bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender. So I actually enjoyed the panel. It was notable in that I recognized two of the voice actors. Bud (David Faustino) from Married with Children and Janet Varney from The Selling (which I reviewed a while back because it’s directed/produced/starring our mutual friends from SFSU). It was also fun because they recorded the audience doing crowd voice work for a future episode. I’ll admit, it got me intrigued about checking out an episode or two of the cartoon. For those who are Korra fans, they did a preview of an upcoming episode by reading the script live while showing concept sketches of the episode. They also showed off future costume and character designs.

    The cast and crew of The Legend of Korra Hey! It’s the chick from Falling Skies!

    Then came the panel we were there for, the 10 year Firefly reunion. It was epic. Truly epic. I felt like I was a part of history. The sheer volume of love being poured forth was incredibly intense. The actors and Joss all cried at some point. Most of the audience cried at some point. My mom cried through 90% of it. It was magical. I took video of parts of it but then I found this full length video and thought you would appreciate it more.

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V85olh2aZ34]

    –

    Nathan Fillion was so overwhelmed that he totally missed a question that was directed at him and his costars had to answer for him.  They all said that Firefly was the best job they’d ever had. At one point they all blamed Summer Glau for something (which you’ll find hilarious if you’ve watched the extras on the DVD) and the look on her face was priceless. Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, and Ron Glass were missing and their absence was felt deeply by everyone in the room. The most touching moment in an hour chock full of touching moments was when the last question was asked of Joss Whedon –  “what do the fans mean to you?”

    [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXiS0gV8cic]

    –

    It was the most beautiful “thank you” I’ve ever witnessed and I feel truly honored to have been there for it.

    Tid bit excited!

    SATURDAY (Spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski, Roddenberry Presents):

    Saturday was the day I cosplayed as Thor. Which was awesome but awful at the same time. It was my first time cosplaying at a convention and I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get ready. As a result I got to Comic Con about…ohhhhh….5 hours later than I’d intended and missed a bunch of the morning panels I’d wanted to check out. I’m a little jealous that Geek Outlaw got to sit it on the Powerful Women, Simpsons, Futurama, Once Upon a Time, and Peter Cullen panels but meh, what are you gonna do?

    (Be sure to check out Geek Outlaw’s blog if you want to get the dish on those panels I just mentioned!)

    No matter, I had something uber awesome to look forward to. I was scheduled to interview Rod Roddenberry after his 3:00pm panel.

    As a result I caught the Joe Straczynski panel right beforehand. The best part of that panel? One guy complained that a Joe comic had kept him up on a school night so Joe reached into his wallet and gave the guy a $20 refund.  It was quite hilarious.

    The Roddenberry panel was a whole ‘nuther level of awesomesauce but I’m saving all of the Roddenberry stuff for its own post later this week. So stay tuned for that!

    SUNDAY (Fringe, Supernatural, Doctor Who):

    I was supposed to cosplay on Sunday as well but my experience on Saturday convinced me that it was a terrible idea so I reverted back to an HNG t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Comfort and timeliness will always, always win out for me. I am nothing if not practical.

    Morgan to the rescue!

    The one panel that I was determined to see was Doctor Who. I lurv me some Doctor. Again, thanks to the trolley schedule, we were pretty much screwed but miraculously, another HNG/GO fan came to our rescue. Morgan camped out and let us join him in line for Hall H. Seriously. Best. Fans. Ever. I’ve promised myself that I will plan this better and do my own camping out next year.

    Immediately upon walking into Hall H we were handed Fringe fedoras a la The Observers  (fun fact, while I was in New York I saw Evita on Broadway starring Michael Cerveris as Peron and he was AH-mazing)

    Fringe was the first panel of the day and after mentioning their brushes with cancellation, there was a very lovely moment when at least half the audience held up pictures of white tulips. I’ll admit that I got a little verklempt.

    Despite the best efforts of the audience (and some teasing from Joshua Jackson), the Fringe cast and crew revealed no secrets about the upcoming final season.

    It was kind of a kick to see the actors smile and laugh. There was one especially funny moment when Anna Torv said she “was coming…” and then paused in her sentence. The audience started laughing.

    Then Joshua Jackson got it and started laughing.

    Then the rest of the cast got it and started laughing.

    Then Anna got it and was completely mortified.

    It then became a running joke throughout the rest of the panel. I feel for you Anna, that is totally something that would happen to me. The mood quickly shifted when the cast were asked what their favorite scene was that they were not in. Cue the waterworks! Anna Torv,  Jasika Nicole, and Lance Reddick all teared up when describing memorable and beautiful scenes from the show.

    And then shifted back again just as quickly when the best audience questioners ever took the floor. I can’t even remember what their question was, I was too busy laughing at their deadpan Observer impression. Seriously, they never broke character once and the girl in the back right had the most amazingly creepy buggy-eyed thing going on..

    It was an all around awesome panel and made me want to run home and catch up on my Fringe episodes on Netflix.

    Next up was Supernatural, a show I’ve never had time to get into. Seriously, I wish that I didn’t have to sleep, I would be more than happy to fill 100% of my time watching every awesomely nerdy show there is. I have some friends that are obsessed with this show and have been trying to get me to watch it for years. They were very jealous that I got to see this panel. The running joke here was that “anything is possible” was used to answer at least half of the questions they were asked.

    I may not know much about the show but I do know about Mark Sheppard and I was SUPER excited to see him. I’m pretty sure that he’s contractually obligated to only appear in TV shows/movies that are nerd-worthy.

    I never really thought that Jared Padalecki was that cute but I must admit, he’s pretty damn good-looking in real life. He and Jensen Ackles win major brownie points for their gag reel antics.

    Then came the panel that I was really there for, Doctor Who. Or should I say “Doctor WHOOO???” Seeing these people in real life is kind of a surreal experience. I usually only get star struck by Star Trek actors but I was totally star struck by these guys. I literally sat on the edge on my seat the entire time. And that’s only partly because the girl in front of me was so tall she most likely plays in the WNBA.

    First of all, let me just say how incredibly gorgeous Karen Gillan is. Seriously. I didn’t think she could get any prettier than she is on TV but she can! I’ve seen it with my own two eyes! Just stunning.

    The moderator of the panel was one of my nerd crushes, Chris Hardwick (not Wil Wheaton as some mistakenly believed) and he was nerding out just as much as the rest of us. He even brought his sonic screwdriver.  There was a bit of good-natured ribbing between him and Matt Smith. Apparently they ran into each other the night before at a party and this happened:

    Oops! Chris blamed it on his pointy face.

    The best audience question came from a little girl dressed up as a Dalek. She wanted to know what button, screen or object on the TARDIS was their favorite. The cast took this question very seriously and even admitted to stealing a few of their favorites (a pair of binoculars for Karen). Matt’s favorite is the main lever he yanks all the time. The little girl walked away but Matt Smith called her back and asked her if she had a favorite button, screen or object on the TARDIS. She looked at him very pointedly, said “NO” and walked away again. The whole room was laughing so hard I think we all peed ourselves a little.

    They were also asked what they find annoying about each other. Matt said that Karen picks her lip, Karen said that Matt shakes his head and they both agreed that Arthur Darvill goes into “dad mode.”

    Having seen the Firefly and Doctor Who panels, I can now die a happy nerd.

    Stay tuned for more posts about Comic Con 2012 including the Roddenberry interview I mentioned and all of the awesome costumes!