I went to ComicCon with my friends, Natalie, Becky and Kelly.  We arrived in San Diego  Thursday night at 6 and booked it over to the convention center to register before 7.  We found out about a special Nicolas Cage signing that only 100 people entered it, and they were going to pick 5, so there was a 1 in 20 chance of winning! We found out there would definately be a Veronica Mars signing Woohoo! Then we all got our pic with this hot Wolverine.

 We walked around a bit to get our bearings.  By Saturday it truly was 5-6 hours to get across, that place was freaking packed!  We found the WB booth and the Marvel booth where Joss Whedon and John Cassady were going to be signing.  We met up with some friends including Kristy, and April, other convention buddies/browncoats; and Jeremy and Bryan the makers of "Done the Impossible", the browncoats documentary.  We didn't get back to our hotel that night till 11 O'clock.  Thats when the real fun began. 

We'd been promised a king size bed, and all we got was a double for four girls to share.  We had to squish three of us onto the bed every night and the fourth slept on the floor.  They didn't even have an extra blanket.  I'm gonna sidetrack for a minute to complain.  The room was about the size of two closets.  The sink was not even in the bathroom, it was in the rooms walkway, and there was barely enough room for the bed itself, so the person who had to sleep on the floor, was still squished.  By day two, the air conditioning was out at the entire motel.  When we got up in the morning to take a shower, we could not dry off, because there was so much humidity, and you try to put make up on and it would just melt right off your face.  We are never going to forget that motel.  Now back to comiccon.(Nat's hiding in the bathroom.)

Friday morning we got up at 5 AM, got ready and hiked the twelve blocks to the convention center and made it there by 7:30.  This year I had the BRILLIANT idea instead of bringing a backpack that hurt my back last year, I brought my roll on luggage.  (It was full of snacks and goodies so I wouldnt have to pay $5 per hot dog, $4 for muffin, $12 for personal pizza, etc...)  DON'T ever go to comiccon with a roll on suitcase!  In that day alone I got my shoulder wrenched 5 or 6 times, by the next morning I could barely even move.  Take my advice, stick with the backpack.  

On a brighter note I bought myself a Jack Skellington over the shoulder bag.  I used it the rest of the con. :)


 
Friday, because of the hassle of the roll on luggage, instead of spending time in the exhibition hall, I pretty much stayed up in room 20 where I was in the front row with a whole group of Browncoats.   I made a brief trip down to make friends with the lady who ran the WB booth, Karen you are awesome!. 

So first panel in room 20 : American Dad/Family Guy, everyone was there except for Seth Green.  They made a surprise phone call to him so he got on and did a couple of his voices from the shows. 

I love Seth, I got another copy of his comic book The Freshman and a good pic this time with him. He's such a funny guy.

Next panel was Snoop Dog and "Hood Of Horrors" a new horror move coming out.  The funniest part of the panel is that Snoop dog never showed up.  They kept saying he was stuck in traffic, he was stuck downstairs....he never did make it.
The wrestler, Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) is starring in it, and said he is not going back to wrestling anytime soon.  (His signature move, the Diamond Cutter will not be featured in the movie.  Yes somebody asked).

Next panel : Superman (Christopher Reeves).  I don't know the story really well, but apparently Richard Donner was the Director of the first Superman movie, and they filmed Superman 1 and 2 at the same time.  Then for some reason he was fired and a new guy did Superman 2.  Here... I found a place on line that helps explain it. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081573/ (Read the "Trivia").  So now they are about to release Superman 2 as it was originally intended, and from the preview they showed us it looked like a whole different movie.  Richard Donner was there and he was blown away at the audience response.  He really hadn't realized what an impact he had had.  The audience seemed excited that he was finally getting the reconition he deserved.

Next panel : This is the one I'd been waiting for all day.  The Sci-Fi, BattlestarGalactica Panel :    It was Edward Olmos (Adama's) first convention ever, and he was so happy to be there.  They all made fun of James Callis (Gaius) because there is lots of nudity in the first part of season 3 (with the Cylon's).  (oops, that was kind of a spoiler.  oh well, you already guessed that one)

   Aaron (chief) was his usual charming self playing up to the crowd.  It was a fun panel and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.
There were so many people waiting to get in, in a room that fit 3000 people.  That 1,000 people stood out in the hallway and weren't able to come in.  (But I was in the front row!...  okay so the roll on luggage was good for something)

 

Next panel : David Boreanaz and Bones!  Front Row... David was his usual charming self, but unlike last year people refrained from asking about ANGEL.



  Things went well right up until near the end some girl from the audience said that she'd been up till 3 AM writing him a letter and wanted to know if she could bring it up to him.  Hart Hanson, the creator of Bones, quipped.  "You need to learn to write faster" which had everyone including David, laughing.  But David graciously let her come up....which started a stage rush.  He actually signed nine or ten things before security cordoned him off, and had him leave.  I had the front row, and I happily refrained from adding myself to that chaos.

Aside from hanging out at the Browncoats booth, that pretty much raps up Friday.

Saturday I had to take 1200 milligrams of Ibuprofen just to get out of bed.  Reminder NO ROLL ON LUGGAGE!  I am so glad I went though, Saturday was the best day ever. 

I met Dylan and his roomate Bill.
and all my friends in the overcrowded line to get into the exhibition hall.
 

  When they opened the doors at 10 O'clock, there was a "Please don't run" announcement, so everybody "jogged".  We enjoyed the booths on one half of the floor.  To go through the whole floor would have taken the entire day.  But the best part came during the afternoon. First was Seth Green signing for Freshman 2 he was his usual funny self and I got a great pic :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we were in the first part of the line for the Joss signing.  They went directly from the Joss signing to the Veronica Mars signing.  It was fun to meet Kristen, and Jason, and to see Michael Muhney again.  They were giving out a poster that lots of people were getting signed, but the poster did not have a picture of Michael so whenever he was asked to sign it, he would draw a stick figure with a sheriffs badge and sign it.

Michael Muhney remembered us (Dylan and I) from Wizard World and he couldn't wait to party with us in a few weeks at Booster.  Jason Dohring, was very sweet.  He had already signed my picture, and I was speaking with Enrico, and I turned back to him and told him how excited I was to see him at "Booster".  He actually called me by name, and told me he was happy I was going to be there.  Kristen is so pretty, and it always amazes me just how tiny these stars are.  I found a picture of her in a silk (pink of course) outfit, it's not risque, but it's kind of sexy.  She showed it to Enrico, and I think she even called him "dad".  He "tsk'd" like a real dad and said.  "That picture should not have been made."  Ryan Hansen (Dick) is really cute, and they are all just such hotties!

Surprisingly I was one of the 5 chosen for Nicolas Cage, and I was allowed to bring a guest, but it was at the same time as Veronica Mars signing.  Of course we picked Veronica Mars, but the Veronica Mars people came down 5 minutes early, and the signings went really fast..so Dylan and I had three minutes to book it up the stairs and get to the other side of the convention hall.  (Luckily it doesnt take 5 hours to cross the convention if you are upstairs...)  We sprinted the entire way.  While we were sprinting we got to see Toby Maguire, being lead from a room by security...but we had to keep going.  We got there one second before they closed the doors!  IT was awesome.  We got Joss, Veronica Mars and Nicolas Cage.

He was doing a special signing for Ghost Rider so we got to meet him, Eva Mendez, and Mark Johnson the Director.  We had 10 friends from Utah that all entered and 4 of us won, and we got to bring 4 guests.  So a third of us who met Nicolas Cage are from Utah.  The funniest thing is one of our friends had made a "In Joss we trust", and when she went up to get her signature from Mark ... he commented that she had a nice shirt, and asked which Joss she was referring to.  Half the people waiting for autographs were browncoats, so they replied. "Joss Whedon!" really loud.  HE smiled and said, "thats' right, I forgot this place is the Church of Joss."

Then that night we got front row seats to the "Done the Impossible" documentary.  The place was packed.  From the front to the back the place was packed, about 1,000 people.  Joss was not there, there were no stars there...just the fans.    After the documentary they showed a pre-screening of "Splinter".  Two of the stars of the movie, Diamond Dallas Page, and Edward Olmos (Adama)....were there, and all the Browncoats got up and left and they showed that movie to about 100 people.  

Sunday was spent pretty much looking at booths.  I met the voice of Timmy Turner from Fairly Oddparents.  (Tara Strong)  She does a lot of other voices too...but the Timmy Turner voice was what she used when she called my kids (on my phone) and told them "She wished they were here."  I got a picture. 

The funniest thing on Sunday is Natalie and I are waiting by the Browncoats booth and the announcer keeps getting on saying,"The convention hall is closed make your final purchases, STOP shopping," when that did not work she got on and said "The shoppin frenzy must come to an end!"

and then booths were giving out free things cause they did not want to pack them and one lady kept yelling at the top of her lungs,"I WANT ONE" I don't know if she ever did get anything but it was some funny stuff.

That night Nat,Becky,Kelli,Jeremy,Brian and I went out to eat at a little western town on the edge of SanDiego.  It was alot of fun, we looked in shops and had great mexican food and got some great pics :)


 

We got stuck in Escondido, poor Nat's Subby died and we had to wait while they fixed her, so we could drive home.

  
There is a new series called Hero.  One of the main characters played Forrest on Buffy.  It looks amazing.

 
Natalie Becky Kelli Bryan and Jeremy I got 8 words for you "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" I miss you all :)