Another Comic-Con Survived

Another year, another San Diego Comic-Con International survived.  Michael and I headed down on Wednesday morning after dropping Len off at Cedars-Sinai for dialysis.  That way, I could have a few extra hours with my dear friend Gloria Benson, who was bringing her granddaughter Seven to Comic-Con, the first trip for either of them.  Len came down with a couple of friends, but traffic delayed his arrival until almost 7:30, by which time I had picked up Gloria and Seven at their hotel, had lunch, checked into our hotel, picked up all of our badges, and started swimming in the sea of humanity at the preview opening of the convention.  

This year, we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel.  It was our 10th choice, but at least it was walking distance from the convention.  Those are the "sails" at the top of the SDCC.  As you can see from the photo we were a few stories above a party area, but the one you can't see was the noisy one.  There was always music playing--I got a kick out of the check-in desk asking what my choices of music were, and when we got to the room, classic rock was playing.  I knew I was home when I stepped off the elevator and there was a huge photo of the Beatles in Miami in 1964--a photo a knew well from my Beatles trading cards of that era.

As it did last year, SyFy took over the cafe in the Hard Rock, and the decor and menu reflected that.
Here's my son, Michael, waiting for breakfast.

On Thursday, Len was on the panel that followed the showing of a documentary about the 75 year history of DC Comics.  It will be released on November 11.  It was informative and touching. The clips of Julie Schwartz made us all cry.  We miss Julie, who was the editor of Superman for many years and brought on what is called the Silver Age of Comics by reviving The Flash.  I knew Julie before I ever met Len.

Friday was the Warner Bros. & DC Comics Party.  Gloria and Seven stood in line for three hours that morning and failed to get into The Big Bang Theory panel because the True Blood fans had taken over the 6500-seat room first thing in the morning and stayed until that panel at 5:30 at night.  Nobody told the people in line that the room wasn't being cleared and that they would never get in.  The Bare Naked Ladies played and Wil Wheaton moderated TBBT panel, so I was really sorry that I didn't get in, either.   I figured it wasn't really fair to ask Bill Prady to get me in two years in a row (and Bill was sad I didn't ask.)

Fortunately for me, Bare Naked Ladies, who wrote and perform TBBT theme also played the much smaller WB party, introduced by Chuck Lorre. BNL were not bare, naked, or ladies.

Jim Parsons and Wil Wheaton had a bit of a chat at the party. I can't seem to upload the video with Johnny and Simon swaying to the band, though.

As they did last year, members of the costumer's guild took some of the different over-sized WB swag bags and turned them into fashion statements from the 1940s.

I particularly like the hat in this photograph.  I missed photographing the zoot suit.

 Mark Valley was at the party, but we missed talking to him. 

Here he is talking to the sheriff on Eureka (and checking his cell phone.)

We did catch Chi McBride, who calls me "Mrs. Len" when he sees me.  He's utterly charming and inclined to kiss me on the wrist.  I think he's cuddly.

Seven expressed her desire to meet Stan Lee, and I was able to accommodate her wish when Stan walked right in front of me at the preview.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get cameras out to record her reaction, which included Gloria admonishing her to "breathe, breathe."

I was also able to introduce her to the amazing Sergio Aragones, and, on Saturday, even stopped Sergio to photograph them together.  He and Gloria spoke in Spanish and he cooed over Seven.
At the Quick Draw Panel, Sergio was one of six artists who performed.  The top half of the drawing of Sergio was done by another Mad Magazine artist. 

 The image was covered at the belt and Sergio drew the bottom half without knowing it was a drawing of himself.  Hilarity ensued. 

The other two drawings below were done by Sergio to incorporate the caption "Sit on it."  I think he did six drawings on that round all together.  All different. 

 Sergio's impression of the BP oil spill.

Sergio's thoughts on the Arizona anti-immigration law.

Len participated in the Quick Draw by guessing words or phrases the artists drew.  He really has a good time doing it. 

Later on Saturday, we split up so he could sign with the Human Target cast and do the press feeding frenzy and I could go to a private cocktail party at the Hilton. 

Before I left Gloria and Seven in the Human Target autograph line, I photographed Len with the new producer (who created Chuck) and the new producer with Mark Valley and Chi McBride. 

I got back in time to catch the Human Target panel, but I almost didn't get into the room.  We did an end-run around security, and after, we got a photograph of Len with Jackie Earle Haley.

The Hard Rock had an  11 a.m. check out, so I spent the morning taking care of that.  Len had the annual Pro v. Fan trivia contest that afternoon, and then we did dinner with Paul Levitz before the dead dog party and the drive home.  Wisely, I took Monday off from work, and even though I couldn't sleep all day, it was nice to catch a few extra hours of shut-eye.

And it is a mere 51 weeks before we do the whole thing again.

Comicon 2009: Friday Evening

The Warner Bros. Television cocktail party was held on the 4th floor terrace of the Hilton Hotel on the bay. It was a lovely evening with good food and a pretty sunset.The casts of shows like The Big Bang Theory, Dexter, and Heroes, along with writers and directors were there. There was also a good showing of folks from upcoming shows, like The Vampire Diaries and the reason we were invited, The Human Target. I met Mark Valley and Jackie Earle Haley (and Jackie's wife Amelia), chatted with Jim Parsons (above), and hung out with Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and his wife, and Brian Lowry of Variety.Len met Jackie (together, above) at the Watchmen premier. Len had written the Watchmen video game and Jackie voiced Rorschach for the game and played the role in the movie. He has a newly created character in The Human Target. He's a terrific actor whom I remember fondly from Breaking Away. He and his wife are really lovely people and we had a good time talking with them.

Tomorrow will be Len's busy day. Not only is he doing The Human Target panel and press conference, he's interviewing Doug Moench and doing the Ben 10 panel.

I'm planning to run over to the antique shops at Ocean Beach and get back to take pictures at the press conference and panel tomorrow. Things were so much easier before they built the baseball stadium down here (right next door to our hotel) and the antique shops were within walking distance of our hotel. But urban renewal and Ebay have combined to eliminate the shops, so now only a few remain in far-flung locations. Pity.

Comicon 2009: Friday

Today's the day I actually braved the crowds and went over to the convention center to catch The Big Bang Theory panel. I did cheat a little bit by imposing on my friendship with Bill Prady to ask for guest passes, so we could have decent seats without having to sit in line for hours. I met up with Bill's assistant and got our passes and one for actress Chase Masterson.
The cast, along with co-creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady put on an hysterical panel. It was preceded by a clip reel of scenes which relate to Comicon attendees. A huge favorite is "Rock, Paper, Sissors, Lizard, Spock" which JimParsons was asked to do live. He can't. Apparently, every one of the 12 or so takes will be available on the Season 2 DVD set, due out in September.

Jim did a great job answering the question about how Sheldon would respond to being nominated for an Emmy Award (as Jim was last week) and what he'd do for an acceptance speech when he wins. Here's the response:



And now, it is time for me to walk over to the Hilton for the Warner Bros. Television reception where I'll see the folks from TBBT and meet the folks who are bringing Len's baby The Human Target to the small screen this winter.