a99kitten's Musings

Just watched tonight’s episode of Big Bang Theory. Wow. You caught me off guard guys. I’m still sniffling.

I hate to admit that I had kind of forgotten that the actress died. And when Howard mentioned his Mom, I thought to myself right then “oh, that’s how they will deal with it. Have her away, etc. She didn’t appear on the show so maybe even find another voice.” Yes. I thought it during tonight’s episode. It’s Hollywood. They do that.

Then Mrs. Wolowitz died. And I got instantly sad. The actors did a great job of being very sad and remaining in character.

When Sheldon said “When I lost my own father, I didn’t have any friends to help me through it. You do.”, it made me cry and smile at the same time. When my brother died, my friends are the ones who got me through it.

Them. And Big Bang Theory. I watched repeats every single night for several months. It was the only thing I could watch without getting sad. The only thing besides my huskies that could make me smile at all.

That was a great episode tonight.

Now I need to go get all this dust out of my eyes.

RIP Carol Ann Susi AKA Mrs. Wolowitz #fuckcancer

So….”feminists” and the media bloated in political correctness flamed Marvel all over the internet with this VARIANT cover drawn by an artist for this Spider-Woman comic:

EVIL AND BAD!

But J Lo just tweeted out this tonight:

PRO WOMEN!

Ummm?

#stupid and #ridiculous

Finally hung my new Mike Kungl piece today!! I bought this at his show at the Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego during SDCC. Going in, I told myself I had no wall space so you are just going to meet Mike, say hi to everyone and leave. Yeah…so…#fail

He did a Marvin piece. I love Marvin (also my very first tattoo!) Plus I am huge fan of the color combo of purples and greens. *please see my love of Maleficent. It is a 1 of a kind. He did a few of these but each in a different color scheme. So this purple and green one = all mine :) #mineminemineminemine #saidlikekDaffy

I also got to meet Mike in person. We spoke a couple times on the phone while he was doing my commissioned piece but I missed him at the last SDCC. And I got to meet his wife. Both were so kind and it was great to hear how they loved doing the husky piece (both are big dog lovers which is also great!) It will always be very, very special to me and I’m glad others feel that way too.

And seeing everyone at the gallery again was fun! The staff there was excited about the husky piece. Was a fun night for sure and I look forward to the next one!

This makes 3 Kungl pieces I have: the Leia artist proof, Marvin and my Chewie/Angelus/Storm original commission. This is becoming an expensive habit! I am still coveting a TinkTini original…but again #nowallspaceleft http://www.mkungl.com/2/d.php?contentID=195

I finally watched the last 2 episodes of S4 of Game of Thrones last weekend. As usual with GoT, the 2nd to last ep of the season was WAY crazier. Like…amazing crazy. Jon Snow and Ghost continue to be my favorites of all time.

But since this finale was rounding out Book 3, I was hoping to see some things that we did not get :/ And I was very bummed about this. I really felt the story they left was a key one – Catelyn??? KEY. (we’ll ignore the Arya and Hound changes right now.) And would certainly create quite the stir. And I’m left thinking that the storyline is actually not at all important for the books, so all of the future possibilities I imagined with it are non-existent, since I imagine GRRM would have insisted it be kept in if it played a large part going forward. Very Big Bummer. Although I still hope it does. But I must say, I was looking so forward to that :(

Then today I read, for the 2nd time this week and from different sources, the “spoiler” about upcoming story lines. None of it was a surprise and makes perfect sense and I assumed half of it already. BUT…in 1 of the news stories, it said how the upcoming season 5 (which should be following the story lines of Book 4) would have important details from Book 5. Huh?

So now I’m starting to think we will fast forward Book 4, which is actually pretty much fine since it was my least favorite, and head to Book 5? And since we already got things not in the books so far (hints for Book 6?), will the show veer more off the books?

All I know is the end of Book 5 made me want to throw my Kindle across the room. So I really wish GRRM would finish Book 6! And is he delaying on purpose for the show? And if the long unkept secret spoiler of Jon Snow is true (the days before the internet were kind sorta better in a way), I think we need a LOT more story and fast!

Heading to SDCC this week (SQUEEEE!) and will be trying to get into Hall H for the GoT panel. And by trying to get in I mean waiting in line for a wristband on Thursday night and hoping to get a spot in a line on a lawn (if you are on the concrete, you could be in trouble) so we can eat pretzels and energy bars for hours on end and then run but not run for seats…but then once you are in – YOU ARE IN!

HBO is having a pop-up store dedicated to GoT and there is an interactive Survive the Realm at the Omni Hotel. Will definitely try and check out both of those as well. Oh! And don’t forget getting the flocked Ghost Funko POP!! I need 2 of those :) Ned Stark will also be at SDCC…in the form of Sean Bean for a different show starting in August. I just might need to check that panel out as well. I’m still bitter about Ned…

But they never, ever give away spoilers at their panels so not expecting much in that area. Although I am imagining that the In Memoriam they do every year, and which had people almost crying (and not just me!) last year for Robb and Greywind, will cause a break out in applause and cheers for Joffrey. Muahuahuahua!

Plus Jon Snow will be there :) Now if they could just bring Ghost!!!!

OK, I was a bad girl. BUT, in my defense, it’s a super rare collectible that I’ve been wanting for a long time found in near pristine condition….PLUS it’s almost May the Fourth Be With You – my 2nd favorite holiday! :)

Thursday afternoon a friend sent me a link to an auction by an individual collector of Star Wars posters. He had every one – every single one from every movie, every version, every re-release. And they were all in excellent condition. Some of the older posters are hard to find in great condition. It was common practice to fold posters so most have been. Or just damaged through the years.

I scrolled through all of the posters and there was 3 or 4 that I would have loved to bid on but there was 2 that I wanted a LOT. One of them had JUST ended and went for a lot of $$$ but the other had 8 minutes left!

It was being held at a private online auction house. I placed several bids on it using my friends ID (I didn’t have time to try and register) but it was real auction style – so after my last second bid it extended the auction instead of being able to snipe like on eBay. #dammit

I was in a bidding war with another guy and he clearly wanted it. Once we ran up the price 33% over where I started, I did a quick internet check and lo and behold I found another in the same great condition. There were others that were folded or had damage and they were still going for a decent amount due to the rarity of this poster. I have found folded ones every so often but I do not allow any folded posters in my collection. So while I watched the seconds tick down on this private auction debating whether to place another bid (and wonder about my sanity), I submitted an offer on the other I found. I was texting my friend who said let the private auction one go – he collects old movie posters and said this was a reputable shop (where I found the other.) And it was less than the auction house one! I sure hope that seller appreciates me running up the price for him #doh

Some Poster Info I gleaned from various Star Wars and rare poster sites (some of it I knew and some I didn’t!):

Rolled, never folded. No pin holes. This one was never used!

Star Wars Happy Birthday One Sheet

The poster shows 11 out of 12 original Kenner action figures. For unknown reasons, the Jawa action figure was omitted. Utinni!!!

My favorite purchases are the ones I do on gut with no hemming and hawing and I find I am always very happy with them. It shipped Friday! Of course the framing will be another small fortune….but it will be a fantastic and well loved addition to my collection. Finding and collecting the old, rare stuff is so satisfying :)

I just watched the last episode of Veronica Mars. Yes…I realize I’m a bit late to that party.

I admit that I never watched when it was first on. And I also admit that when the panel for the new movie coming out was scheduled for Hall H at SDCC, I was pretty annoyed. How could they put that in pre-Walking Dead and Game of Thrones?!?!?! But we had to sit through it so whatever. The cast came out and the place went crazy. Ho-hum. But after listening to the cast, their interactions and watching some brief footage, I was intrigued.

I have watched many shows and movies that I was not previously interested in after attending the panels at SDCC. And it is always because of how the cast interacts. If they are fun and engaged, it makes a HUGE difference.

So I looked for the show on Netflix – no luck. It’s on Amazon but is not part of Prime you you have to pay to watch. It was on Hulu but I already pay for NFLX and AMZN Prime so was not signing up for Hulu. Then I found it on SoapNet (via DTV) – yay! And they were JUST starting Season 1 on Saturdays (they run it a few times a week but the episode sequences are all different.) The downside was that I got 3 episodes a week. So I recorded 6 over two weeks before I started watching any. I watched the pilot episode and was HOOKED!!!!! So I’ve been watching since July. And finally finished tonight as the last episode of season 3 aired today. And I’m sad it’s over. NOW I understand why so many people were bummed when it was cancelled. At least I have the movie coming out soon!

The writing was smart and witty. Yes – it’s about a high school girl (and then college in S3) who works as a “junior” PI for her Dad. But the stories are great. Each season has a season-long story arc. But each episode also has individual story lines.

Kristen Bell’s delivery was perfect. She is so perfect in this role and now thinking of her playing a dingbat in Forgetting Sarah Marshall is very wrong (although the voice of Gossip Girl works as my blog title suggests :) ) She plays a strong female character who is smart as a whip but adorable too but she is not perfect and does make mistakes and has boy trouble (to say the least…but not the Edward/Jacob kind so don’t worry.) Plus she loves her dog! And carries a taser. Perfect. She is the PI equivalent of a vampire slayer.

The entire cast is great. Well..let me take that back. I didn’t like Duncan. At all. He was way too wooden and I cannot see what Veronica would ever see in him. . But everyone else was great. And a bevy of famous guest stars – Paul Rudd, Amanda Seyfried, Harry Hamlin, Steve Guttenberg, Ed Begley Jr, Sam Huntington, Leighton Meester (Blaire!), Kevin Smith, Aaron Paul (for you Breaking Badsters), Jane Lynch, Laura San Giacomo, Armie Hammer, Alyson Hannigan (Willow!), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia!) and even Patty Hearst (oh yeah also Richard Grieco which made me laugh!) But so, so many of the characters, even small ones or minor recurring ones, are so fantastic.

I also love that they portrayed a great relationship between Veronica and her Dad. Keith Mars is pretty much the perfect dad without being a fake perfect TV guy.

I say again that it is sad that shows like this (well written, well acted with fun/interesting story lines) get cancelled so quickly but so much crap gets made/renewed (as I see an ad for another season of The Bachelor.)

If you haven’t watched it, and were thinking about it, I say do it before the movie comes out! And if you weren’t thinking about it – maybe you should. Apparently SoapNet is going off the air as of 12/31 so you can’t watch it there. If you have Hulu – go! If not, there is always Amazon:

Also, Team Logan forever…and ever :)

When I was at San Diego Comic-Con this July, I was on the look out for some new, interesting Chewbacca art. He’s actually not the easiest character to portray correctly. I was never able to find anything that I loved (well…Chewbacca wise I mean.) On the last day I made it over to the Chuck Jones Gallery….as evidenced by this purchase: https://a99kitten.com/?p=10450

While there, I also bought another piece. It caught my eye as soon as I walked in but I had been so involved in my purchase of Bad Girls that it took me a while to get over to it. It was not Chewbacca, and I typically don’t collect Leia art, but this piece definitely caught my eye:

It is a good sized piece – 36″ x 24″ on canvas. It’s an artist proof (#3 of 10) and extremely cool in real life :) I’m typically not into the modern or art deco look honestly, but the colors of this just grabbed me. I love the various silvers and greys with white and black (I think another reason I will always have a husky.) My color scheme at home is all browns. Deep, rich browns in various tones. So she doesn’t really fit in but it’ll work. I have a HUGE bus stop poster of Jango Fett framed from Attack of the Clones (all blues and silvers) so they will work together. As I was discussing this piece with the gallery rep, I asked if the artist had done any Chewbacca art. He said not that he was aware of but he could contact the artist. I had actually JUST missed him that day. Darn! And it turned out he left the gallery and went over to the Acme Archives booth inside SDCC. Doh!

Anyway, turns out that no, he had not any done Chewbacca art but that he always wanted to if it was the right feel. Chewie is hard because a lot of artists portray him too cartoony or goofy. I like the fierce Chewie. So we discussed him doing a commission just for me! He would have to get OK by LucasFilm once he did the piece but I was pretty excited!

On a conference call to discuss ideas for the piece, the artist (Mike) asked why I loved Chewbacca so much. That’s easy – because he was Han’s best friend. And protector. Who was big and strong and scared most people but he was a marshmallow inside…to his people. Just like Angelus and Storm were for me. Angelus even sounded like Chewbacca when he talked. And Chewie’s sounds were inspired by George Lucas’ malamute Indiana (who looks a lot like Angelus) so it was a perfect mix. Plus we live in Tahoe and the snow and I always called it Hoth when I’d take the buds out in the snow.

Mike loved the story and it turns out he and his wife are big dog lovers. So he appreciated my love of my buds. And how it translated to my love of all things Chewbacca. So I sent him a bunch of pics of the buds as well as my favorites of Chewie so he could get a sense of how I liked them. He obviously would be keeping it in his own style (art deco-ey, modern. See his site linked below) but incorporating the Chewie, Angelus and Storm in the snow.

The finished work arrived (yes, LucasFilm signed off on it!) and I just got it back from the framers. I. Love. It. He captured the expressions of Angelus and Storm perfectly. Like….perfectly. Plus having an original piece of art commissioned just for me is pretty darn nifty. The fact that it incorporates my beloved friends who are no longer with me along with one of my favorite fictional characters brings together 2 things that I have spent a lot of time in my life enjoying.

I look at this all the time and smile. The buds brought me smiles every day while they were with me, so it’s only natural they keep doing it.

Mike Kungl: http://www.mkungl.com/2/index.php There are **easily** a handful that I would love to hang in my house.

At SDCC, I went by the same booth Thursday and Friday to check out a piece of art. It was the canvas original of “Bad Girls” by Mimi Yoon. In person, this piece was amazing. The colors truly pop out and grab you. It was also almost as tall as me framed on the wall – great, great piece. It was also $15,000 and there was no way I was spending that kind of money on something withOUT Chewbacca in it ;)

Bad Girls original

Besides my Star Wars and Indy collecting, I have always loved collecting the female characters in DC and Marvel. This is a lot easier now than it was when I was younger. I still have carded action figures safe and sound from when I was a kid but they didn’t make too many of them which was pretty silly if you think about it. Pretty (and usually big boobed) super heroes sold to boys? Seems like an easy sell. Although now it’s hard to find the really awesome pieces because those same boys grew up, made some money and now buy them all up :) I think Slave Leia changed it all honestly.

I loved (well…still love) Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Storm, Scarlet Witch, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Batgirl, etc, etc growing up. Not because I’m some feminist girl who wanted to feel empowered/not need men/blah blah baloney though. I mostly loved that they kicked serious ass while they were pretty and wearing cool outfits with high-heeled boots. I’m such a girl :)

They had an artist proof on canvas (and paper it turned out) at a much more reasonable price plus smaller. Edition size was 100 so still a small run (paper was 250.) But SDCC had just started and I wanted to see if any new Star Wars art caught my eye before spending any money (if I spent any on art at all.) The guy at the booth was nice, and showed me some pieces they had that they weren’t allowed to display (very nice), but he was a bit pushy and kept using salesmen mumbo-jumbo “what can we do to get this done?”, “let’s schedule a sit down and talk about this”, etc. And I hate to be sold to. So I eventually got out of there and said I’d think about it.

I walked by again on Friday and looked at the original again. Still gorgeous. But my proof was gone! Sold. Darn. I guess it was not meant to be. But I was sad. I did really like the piece. Walked by again Saturday and the original was gone! (Turns out it was sold by the Chuck Jones Gallery as I learned on Sunday…)

On Sunday I decided to go to the Chuck Jones Gallery. I always stop by there when in town for SDCC. I walk in the front door and there is my Bad Girls artist proof on canvas all framed and pretty! And there is the artist! And she is signing dedication cards for the canvas if you buy one. Oh man. An employee walks up and asks me if I know this piece and gave him the above story. He smiled and and said I guess this is fate then. Yep. He knew I was sold.

Artist Mimi Yoon (and me!) with my Bad Girls :)

Mimi Yoon writing my dedication card for Bad Girls

My dedication card!

They shipped it up to me and the girls arrived all safe and sound. And I just put them up on the wall. LOVE IT. The colors pop and they catch the light as you walk by. #24 of 100. Absolutely ZERO buyer’s remorse. It was, after all, Fate :)

On the wall!

I just watched the documentary “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope”. Loved it. I was going through con withdrawal since I got back home from SDCC last Sunday night so this was perfect. I might have to re-watch it in December as we are half way through the countdown clock to SDCC14!

It’s directed by Morgan Spurlock and written by him and Joss Whedon (and Jeremy Chilnick who I don’t know.)

It’s all real people. People who are regular attendees, the celebs who attend, real footage. It follows a handful of “characters” all attending SDCC – 2 artists who want to break into comic book illustration (1 is an Air Force guy!), an amateur costume designer who wants to showcase her work, a toy collector (I thought I had problems), a couple who met at SDCC the year prior and a comic book store owner. He happens to own Mike High Comics in Colorado who you always see there so it was interesting to follow his story.

In between showing you their 5 day adventure at SDCC (with a little back story thrown in in their hometowns first), they have clips of panels, the floor, costumed attendees, and comments by artists, actors, etc who are all part of nerd-dom :) Kevin Smith is hysterical is his clips. Joss Whedon, Seth Rogan and Seth Green show up a few times as they should but plenty more are throw in (Corey Feldman!!) Plus little blurb interviews with real attendees about why they go, what they like, what it means to them, etc.

The story about the couple is basically how he wants to propose at Comic Con. And the proposal is adorable (if you read any stories about 2011 SDCC you already knew this happened – so no spoiler!) but I was a little (lot) creeped out by how she would never let him out of her sight. I would have never given my approval for that footage if I were her. Or married her if I were him. But that’s their business.

The Mile High Comics owner has been going to comic con for 38 years (or was it 34?) and he was worried about his business and the expense of SDCC as it’s becoming less and less about comics (he is very right.) He has a very high value comic he might have to sell to pay off vendors, etc and stay in the green. Anyway, it’s an interesting story. I felt a little guilt since I now buy all my comics through my iPad. I just couldn’t store anymore :/

I think that to people that are not nerds or geeks, I am a giant nerd geek. But to real serious nerd geeks – I’m not at all. So that’s interesting (if only to me.) But I really liked this movie. And yes, I do read comics. But I’m not someone who can tell you what happened in issue 45 of Uncanny X-Men. Tell me the story, I’ll track with you though. But I do also love the movies, some shows, some collectibles and the just the fan experience. So it’s not just for comics for me. Never was. I started going because of Star Wars (my biggest nerd category for sure.) And it really is awesome to be in a place where everyone loves the same stuff. Just like going to your favorite’s team’s home game. You can’t beat that energy. And this has no drunken brawls up in the cheap seats.

They had some footage of Hall H for Kevin Smith’s panel. This is always the last panel on Saturday night. I left right before his panel that year (2011) which was right after the Cowboys & Aliens panel had Harrison Ford show up for his Con appearance EVER and the crazy Marvel panel where they brought out all of the Avengers cast (they show quick clips of both of these.) Anyway, it’s funny because I recognized several people (attendees and employees) who I see at the cons regularly. Like the woman is the traffic director at the top of the escalators going to Ball Room 20!! That made me chuckle. I actually had 3 people tell me they remembered me from last year :) It’s Chewie and the fluffy wolf ears I tell ya!

And Button Lady was there!!! In line with a question of course!! She is a woman whose costume is a long coat/dress thing that is covered head-to-toe/front and back in Con-subject related buttons. And Chris Hardwick called her Button Lady when she came up to the mic and that stuck :)

One of the comments is that Comic Con is no longer just about comics. But it’s about any really, crazy popular thing that has fans that flock to it. That’s exactly right. I’d prefer to keep it more geared to the subject matter of comics or related stuff like that. I don’t see how shows like Breaking Bad or Psych belong. But both have crazed fan bases so they do in that regard I suppose. But I never see any stupid reality TV crap there. I’ll trip Honey Boo-Boo if I have to.

Anyway, if anyone has ever been curious about Comic Con, I think this is a good way to see it. There is NO experience like going to a con for the full 4.5 days. But this is a good beak wetter :) And about all a lot of people could handle any way ;)

Here’s the official site and trailer: http://comicconmovie.com/

San Diego Comic Con 2013 is over. I hate the day after con withdrawal. But I am quite happy to be home to Stormy!

What a trip! Up at 4:30am Wednesday morning to arrive early enough to check-in, drop luggage off and get in line for badge pick-uo. Once in line, we made line friends. This is key to con survival in my opinion. You spend a LOT of time in lines and I can’t just sit and read the whole time. Ended up meeting very nice people from LA, NY and DC. We played card games, chatted about what we all wanted to see, our past con experiences and what we wanted when we hit the floor running tonight! Turned out we wanted similar things so we divided and conquered and each picked a booth and bought the items for the others. Met up over the next couple days to exchange and it worked out perfectly!!!

Then we got our badges and moved to the exhibit hall line where we waited for hours again. But we kept our line friends :) Then we got on to the floor and I had to run across the the entire exhibit hall to get to the Funko booth….with a huge line. DOH! No good line friends there, but made friends with some security and Funko people. I won 2 things while waiting in the Funko line and got ALL of the items I wanted plus the items my friends wanted!!! Sonya had gone to the Marvel booth and got us the exclusive Old Man Logan figure and Levi got us the Stark Shields! Our line friend went to Hasbro and got Sonya the Star Wars Angry Birds set and me the Boba Fett and Han in Carbonite – exclusive black series. VERY productive evening!!!

Then we dropped off our haul at the hotel and went to dinner at Nobu. SO. SOOO. Yummy.

Thursday was a floor morning and Hall H afternoon. We hit up the Walking Dead booth first and went on from there. The booths by the big shows/studios were all great as usual. No line for Hall H yet so we walked in and the seat master (my friend Sonya who I always go to cons with) got us seats in dead center row 11!!! For HARRISON FORD!!!

First up was the Entertainment Weekly Visionaries panel. It’s 3 directors with movies coming out. They were all fantastic. But I really liked Edgar Wright- he was FUNNY. Then the Divergent panel. I had never even heard of the movie and barely recall hearing about the books. But the panel was fantastic. A lot of the cast showed up as well as the author and it was a very fun panel. Footage looked great and it intrigued me enough to download the first 2 books of the series (3rd coming out soon.) I’m about 1/3 of the way through Book 1 and really like it so far.

Then it was Ender’s Game time. Again, I have barely heard of the book but, according to the panel, is required by the US Military? Between that and the footage, I was intrigued enough to download Book 1 of that series too. Will start after Divergent 1 and 2. But of course, the main reason I was in that Hall H today was for my man. He never, ever, never does cons. When he showed up unannounced for Cowboys & Aliens 2 years ago the place erupted into to a giant flashbulb and long, unending scream. This time he was announced a week or 2 ago. Hall H was easily 1/2 empty when we showed up around 12:30. But as it got closer to Enders Game panel time (3:30 I think), the place filled up completely and there ended up being a line of people who didn’t get in. Every single person in our section said they were there for Harrison Ford. Of course :)

Of course the applause and screaming and flashbulbs went on forever when he came out. And of course during the Q&A you get the jackass who doesn’t ask him about his current movie but instead a Han Solo/Indiana Jones question. This is the reason he doesn’t go to these things. The question was “if Han Solo and Indiana Jones met, what would they say?” Everyone in the hall booed the guy and yelled noooooooo. Come on. Harrison took off his glasses, looked around and said “I’m never coming back here” and started to get up. He was obviously kidding and chuckled and sat back down. Then said “I don’t know…..’Hi. How are you?'” He has definitely settled himself comfortably into the role of the lovable curmudgeon with a dry sense of humor we all can’t help but love. Got a few good pics but this is my favorite..

Sonya and I both agreed that I could have *easily* run up there and jumped him before security could stop me. But I restrained myself :)

Another awesome Thursday activity was being a pool of gold and silver!!! This is my ultimate Uncle Scrooge goal (but with real gold and silver) :)

Hehehehehe

We left Hall H after the Enders Game panel was done. More floor time, drop stuff at hotel and then dinner at Lolita’s. Carne Asada fries! O.M.G. We ran into some friends so went to the MTV2 party after dinner with them. We lasted about 1 hour. Not my thing. But a big party that I think MTV spent a boatload on. Live bands that I might know if I was a tweener. Huge fireworks display, tons of interactive stuff all around plus free food and wine/beer/sodas. Plus free giant glowsticks :) It didn’t have one single thing to do with SDCC other than being a spectacle but oh well.

Friday was a beast. Sonya’s fiancee camped out in Hall H line starting around midnight. We met him around 5:30-6ish with Starbucks. Day was loaded with The World’s End (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Kick Ass 2 (cast), Riddick (Vin Diesel and Katee Sackhoff), The Walking Dead (huge cast panel) and The Game of Thrones (huge cast panel.) All were great but I think GOT was my favorite. Although the footage for TWD S4 was INSANE!!! But besides the fact that I love the books and TV series and the cast are always great to see on these panels, they started the panel with lights off and this video:

http://youtu.be/9m4ZPULXJKw

ONLY watch if you are caught up on Season 3! It’s an In Memoriam of all the characters who have died through the 3 seasons set to Boys to Men and with a little humor thrown in. GREAT execution. They never have footage to show since their season just ended and hasn’t start filming for the next season yet. So they need to be creative and always are. During the panel, Jason Momoa ruhed onstage and kissed Emilia Clarke (Daenerys). I didn’t hear what he said to her but then as he rushed off she said “My Sun and Stars…” You could tell they were all surprised by his fly-by so that was fun :)

After the GOT panel ended, my friends went off and did their thing and I went to the floor for a bit. Picked up a drawing I had commissioned on Artists Alley:

It really is amazing watching these guys draw.

The GOT cast were at the WB booth. Peter Dinklage waved at me. But sooo crowded around there I left pretty quickly. After checking out the floor for a bit, decided to head over to check out the stuff on the lawn at the Hilton Bayfront. Checked that all out and decided to get a soda and sit down. As I was tweeting/instagramming/facebooking, I looked up and saw Jason Momoa (aka Khol Drogo.) I jumped up and asked for a pic! He was very sweet and even though his handler was trying to rush him away, he did. When he saw my Chewbacca phone case he said “Your Chewbacca phone is a f***ing awesome!” LOL

By Friday night, we were all far too tired to even consider camping for Hall H on Friday night/Saturday morning. We all really wanted to see everything in there but at some point, your adultness sets in and a bed and shower sound better. I really think they will need to do something about the camping. Pretty much not fair if a family with kids or 60 yr old wants to see a Hall H panel but can’t because camping is truly a suck option. Plus being that exhausted makes for not as fun of a day, IMO. And frankly, the non-showering situation is very noticeable. But oh well. I’ll find a college kid and pay him to camp for me next year. Capitalism will prevail.

So Sonya and I did Ballroom 20 all day instead. Only had to line up at 6:30am! And then Sonya’s seat-masterness won again – front row! All fun panels PLUS I got to run to the floor and pick up the last SDCC13 exclusive collectible that I had wanted. You needed to get in line for a wristband in order to buy it and I was able to get it on Saturday AM! Sonya got to ask a question in the True Blood panel and I got to see the panels I wanted to. While we were bummed not to be in Hall H for Tom Cruise and Marvel, we had a really great day.

The key to having fun at Comic Con is have a Plan A, B and C. There are a LOT of people, so a lot of lines. So you can’t always get into/do your Plan A. But that’s no reason to not have fun since there is sooooo much stuff going on!!

Dinner at Fleming’s was super delicious. There was a table across from us that I saw 3 different women stop and ask for pics so it was someone famous-ish. Just someone I didn’t recognize. Turns out it was some cast members from Survivor. Then saw the guy (also an MMA fighter?) who played the Mr T role in the new A-Team movie there. And then a long time twitter friend met me there with his wife for drinks. A fun day and night for sure!!

Sundays are for packing up, checking out and walking the floor or downtown. Sonya and I were strolling downtown and saw Michael Rooker right in front of the Hard Rock Hotel! Merle!!! Asked for a quick picture and he said sure even though his handler was trying to wrangle him. He was very sweet and told me take good care of my ears (was wearing my fluffy wold ears as usual) :) We went on to an early lunch after waiting in line for the Game of Thrones exhibit but giving up on it. Off to Lolita’s! (Hey – these are only found in San Diego!) Then we hit the floor for a bit. Madness! Got some decent swag and took a few more pics and then it was time for Sonya to head for the airport. I went back downtown as I wanted to go to the Chuck Jones Gallery. They always do fun things for SDCC week. I walked in, and saw the canvas of the piece I almost bought on the floor but talked myself out of several times, right there front and center. Turns out the artist was in the gallery and doing dedications if you bought the piece. Seriously? It was fate at this point. So I did it. This is the larger original:

I actually bought 2 pieces there. When I get them (being shipped to me), I will blog again with photos and their history. Both are beautiful. At least to me.

Then it was time to go! No more buying!!! Hotel, airport, airplane, airport, driving. HOME! Plus I shipped most of my stuff so when I get that box in a day or 2, it will be like a mini-Comic Con/Christmas all over again :)

The only bummer about the Con is that Disney kept any and all news about Star Wars away. Nothing. Nada. I assume they are holding anything back and will release it at D23 – Disney’s expo. But this is truly their audience and since they realize that with Marvel, they should realize it with Star Wars. I can only hope that since they probably don’t have that much to reveal yet, they WILL change their minds and do something at SDCC14 when more information about the new Star Wars movies are available. Fingers and paws crossed.

I realized that while I was there I only saw tweets or FB posts related to Comic Con. No other tweets, no Facebook, no news, no TV, no politics, no media other than fun. And I was in a GREAT mood the entire time! I way, way prefer that. I think I need to clean up my twitter and FB feeds.

I have tons of fun every year. It gets crazier each year plus more and more crowded and maybe I will get tired of dealing with that at some point, but probably not. I like finding new shows, movies, comics and books to investigate and it’s fun to be surrounded by people who like the same things. Of course, I can only take that many people for so long :) Sad SDCC is over but now back home in the mountains with NO lines, very few people plus my very own Hoth Stormtrooper so it’s all A-OK :)

Flickr link for all the pics: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjH1QZjv