Comic Con 2009

Last Thursday mom, Greg, My and I went to the San Diego Comic Con. It was My's first time and we were all very excited to go. We left early in the morning so as to bypass the traffic and get to San Diego around the time the Con was opening. We checked into our hotel then headed to a little restaurant for breakfast. My and I had already eaten so we fed these adorable little birds while mom and Greg had their breakfast.
We went over to the convention center, got our badges and headed inside. It was almost as I remembered except the fact of Greg not having a booth and thus no place to collapse once your legs grew tired. There were already a ton of people and it was only the second day of Comic Con. We walked around and met some of our artist friends. That is always one of my favorite parts of Comic Con. All the artists are so great and I love hearing their stories and sometimes doing drawings with them. I was sad to hear that two of my favorite artists weren't there this year. I would have liked to see them again. We ran into Greg Manchess, one of our friends, and he told a horror story about his luggage. Apparently once he arrived in San Diego, he was informed that his luggage, including clothing and art supplies had been shipped to Ireland. So Greg was stuck wearing the same clothes for three days.
My and I did some exploring around, and at 2 we met Mary and her mom Beth. Mom Greg, My Mary, Beth and I headed upstairs to attend the Terry Gilliam talk on his new movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."Beth did some magic and got Mary, My herself and I seats quite near the front of the room. The talk was quite interesting, especially since I'm a big fan of Terry Gilliam's work. The movie visually looks wonderful, the story interesting as well. And it has some really great actors in it. After the talk we all went to dinner at Royal Thai, which is one of our favorite restaurants in San Diego. The food there was great as always and I had a blast talking with My and Mary. Next Mom, Mary, My, Greg and I went back to Comic Con to attend a panel of kung fu, but it turned out to be different from what we expected. It was more a panel on Chinese war films, which are rather violent.
We left that and since it was late, headed our separate ways. We unfortunately got separated from Greg in the process and he headed over to the Westin (which is where all the artists meet) while we went back to the hotel.
The next day we met for breakfast with Mary and Beth as well as their friend, who was quite nice. Mary, My and I ran over to the convention center because we thought they were giving out bags for one of my favorite television shows called Fringe. They informed us that no, they were not giving our these bags, maybe later. So the three of us walked around, visited our favorite booths, such as the artist Lark Pien and the Ugly Doll booth. We also traveled around in search of pins for Mary and My. I got some good ones as well.
Mom told us about a neat vintage label booth which we went to check out. The booth had a ton of neat things. Old labels, letters, checks, engravings. Everything was really cool and I would have liked to buy a whole bunch of things. I ended up getting a old check that is really neat. Mary got a lot of things including a label for a company called "Chief Maryland" (Mary's full name is Mary Chieffo). We did a lot of walking and thus our feet were throbbing so we had to stop several times to rest and eat. While walking around, I saw two people and instantly recognized them as the writers of Lost (Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis). I told mom and her and Beth ran after them. They were really nice and I took a picture with them. It was really great to met them in person and I got the feeling that most people don't recognize them.After a long day, Mary and Beth left and mom, Greg, My and I went out to dinner with some other artists. They weren't exactly my crowd, but My and I had lots of fun making a stop motion animation out of pictures on our menus. It was really fun. It was getting late so we got in the car and drove to Francie's (who is Greg's aunt) house. My and I spent the night with her and then went with her and her son back to Comic Con the next day. Why stay another day you ask? Well I was determined to see the Lost and Fringe panels. So as soon as we arrived we got into the Lost line, which was HUGE. It was really fun seeing all these people dressed as Dharma workers or Hurley. We were in line for maybe an forty minutes and I realized that we probably would not get into the panel. So I called our friend Ron who works at Comic Con and he let us in. It felt like we were VIP, getting to go through the ropes in the front. The panel was absolutely amazing. I had the greatest time and I think My did to even though she doesn't watch the show. Damon and Carlton (the producers, creators and sometimes writers of the show) were there with all there usual jokes. They showed us some videos that fans made that were hysterical along with some "commercials" for the upcoming final season which were quite interesting and gave a clue as to what this last season holds. A bunch of the actors were there including Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Michael Emerson (Ben), Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert), Josh Halloway (Sawyer) and a surprise at the end, my favorite Lost cast member, Dominic Monaghan (Charlie). It was truly amazing and I feel so honored to have been a part of it.
Once that was done, My and I ate lunch and went over to the Lost booth where they are going to auction off a lot of the props from the show. I had my eye on the Drive Shaft ring, but I have the feeling it'll be a ton of money...
Next we got into line for the Fringe talk. While in line I received a call from my mom informing me that I had gotten the lead female part in the play Two Gentlemen of Verona at Theatricum. I then found out that Ventana had gotten the other leading female part. It was really wonderful news.
We got into the Fringe panel after it had started but it was still fun and I really enjoyed it. It was great listening to the actors talk about themselves, their characters and ideas for the future of the show. I was especially happy getting to hear from John Noble who plays Walter who is one of my favorite characters in the world. Afterwards I ran downstairs to try and get in line for them to sign something, but it was already full.
We all headed home after a long, but very fulfilling day.
It was an amazing couple of days and I think everyone had a great deal of fun. My was a great companion throughout the weekend and I was so thankful that she stayed another day even though she didn't watch the shows that I stayed for. Thanks so much.
I had a great time and I looking forward to next year to do it all again!