a99kitten's Musings

Spread it all out and looked at everything tonight :)

Purchased:
Funko SDCC Exclusive flocked Chewbacca – ran to get this when doors opened Thursday AM. Was sold out when I went by again on Saturday! Also got the flocked Gizmo on impulse :) This Chewie is something I saw on my tour at ILM and wasn’t allowed to talk about!
Kotobukiya Wonder Woman statue
Kotobukiya Star Wars Mace Windu (purple) chopsticks (I eat a lot of sushi at home so fully justified)
Kotobukiya Star Wars Han in Carbonite ice cube molds
Mimobot Han Solo with Carbonite case 16gb USB drive
Mimobot SDCC exclusive Bossk 8gb USB drive #106/500
Gentle Giant SDCC Exlusive Ralph McQuarrie concept Hoth Stormtrooper (IS Stormy’s full name so had to do it!) They are shipping to me so don’t know #
Sideshow “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope – Limited Edition” hardcover book by Morgan Spurlock #3849/5000
SDCC exclusive JLA tumblers (2)
Soft Kitty (Big Bank Theory) t-shirt
and my favorite:
Han and Chewie pic personally autographed to me by Chewbacca…err Peter Mayhew :)

Freebies (panels or on floor):
Cowboys and Aliens gold brick that was hunted and found (no premier tickets tho :( )
The Hunger Games poster (got this for a friend who loves this series)
SDCC 2011 bags with JLA, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Shark Week on them
SDCC Souvenir programs (2) with JLA cover art
Breaking Dawn “Save The Date” magnet
Breaking Dawn trading cards (including Edward – Squeee!)
Ringer chair (perfect for line sitting!)
Game of Thrones backpack w/book, t-shirt (House Baratheon), mousepad, screen protector, bookmark)
Metal water bottles from Fright Night party – say Holy Water (hehehe)
Fright Night fangs
Fright Night 3-D glasses with hard case (for all my home 3D viewing)
Oh! And the little Chewbacca plush that some guy randomly walked up to me on the floor and gave me for free because “I looked like I liked Chewbacca.” :)

And then I bought on eBay:
Gentle Giant Squirrel Pool (only 500 made – not sure of my number yet)

The fact that I bought this on eBay pisses me off a bit but I wanted it. And I waited for about 40 minutes in line but then it sold out before I got to the counter. This pisses me off because most of the sellers of this item on eBay had more than one to sell (some had 3 or 4.) They (Gentle Giant and all large vendors) should limit the SDCC exclusives to 1 per customer. Pisses me off royally that some scalpers don’t even go to Comic Con for the show, but just to buy the exclusives and get the freebies to sell all of them on eBay. Jerks.

I looked for the eBay seller that only indicated he had 1 for sale. He might have more to sell, but at least it wasn’t obvious. And at least he accepted my Best Offer and I didn’t pay as much as the buyers before me (although probably more than the people who buy any in a week or 2 I would guess.) I am still keeping an eye out on eBay for the official t-shirt with the JLA art in size small.

And then I bought a cool Wolf Sanctuary sweatshirt when I was up there on Sunday. And I buy ornaments from vacation places I go to so bought a Christmas ornament at the USS Midway store. So a consumer long weekend all the way around. Although in fairness to me, I bought much less than most Comic Con trips!

I need more shelves….

Comic Con Day 4! Oh wait…I didn’t go. I was sad when I left the hotel. Kinda like when football season is over. Mopey-face.

When I first saw the schedule for this year’s SDCC I saw that, as usual, there wasn’t much on Sunday in terms of panels that I cared about. I would have loved to see the SyFy Merlin panel but if there was a day to take off, this was it. Normally Sunday is my “floor day” after using the other days for mostly panels. Of course, I also used to go to Preview Night for floor time before it became a frackin’ nightmare to try and get a pass. #dontgetmestarted

So instead of staying around SDCC, I made a reservation at the California Wolf Sanctuary. I have been donating to this organization for a number of years but have never actually visited. So since the Monday tours were all booked, I booked a tour for Sunday. Had to be there at 9:30 and they are about 1.5 hours away so it was another early morning of getting ready, packing, checking out and sitting. But instead of in line or in panels, it was in a car.

Got up there on time. And wow. I can not think of enough good things to say about this experience. Was pure awesome sauce. The tour was for about 30 people-ish? A short in-room presentation about the history of wolves, hunting and their endangered status and where the packs are now that have been re-introduced. The guide was much, much more politically correct than I would have been. Basically – humans suck. We almost obliterated this species because man didn’t want first tier predators around. I hate most humans. Oh…and humans still hunt them. And still want them obliterated. And spend a lot of lobby money to get them off the endangered species list so they can hunt them. Even after there is scientific proof that with the wolves back in the eco system, all of nature actually thrives. But hunters don’t want to hear that. Yeah…humans generally suck.

Another thing we learned: a grey wolf has 1500 lbs (psi i believe is the measurement) of bite pressure. A pit bull or German Shepherd has 700. So…that wolf is ripping your arm out of your socket when they lose wookiee-style!

OH! And there was actually a species of direwolves back in the day! And they were HUGE! So they are not just a fantasy creature made up by George R. Martin in the Game of Thrones. Team Direwolf!!!

Anyway – after that short in room presentation, we went out to the Alaskan Grey Wolf area. But none were out. Sleepy time in the hot weather I guess. So they took us over to the Mexican wolf area. This sanctuary is a big part of the Federal project to re-introduce Mexican wolves to the wild. So they have some that are not part of the tour so that they don’t get used to humans. But they have 3 that will probably not be re-introduced to the wild and that are on occasion shown on tour.

They are 3 girls. So pretty. Because of their coloring and their smaller size (compared to the Alaskan Grey wolf) they are sometimes mistaken for coyotes. They really just look like brown Storms!

They were walking around a lot, marking the fence (which they do my rubbing on it or chewing at it), or rolling around in the dirt. So husky like! The guide was telling us a story about how because they might still be reintroduced , they don’t get the same food as the Alaskan wolves. They get more kibble than meat unless it’s meat they would hunt in the wild such as deer or rabbit. Someone asked about squirrel. He said the wolves generally don’t eat the ground squirrels or crows but they will catch them and play with them to “get their squeaker out” and then they are done with them. O.M.G. – HOW HUSKY-LIKE!!!

He said one of the other females is older and has medical (renal) issues. So she is on a very low-protein diet. But apparently she gets sick of the kibble so she takes it and spreads it out so the crows come and try and eat it and then grabs one and eats it! What a smart buddy ☺

He had funny stories about the wolves and we got some good pics. I wished I had a good camera and not just my iPhone. But oh well. Then we saw that the Alaskan wolves come out so we got to go back to see them. Wow – the first male we saw is HUGE. Huge like Angelus looks like a baby compared to him. (Angelus strongly disagrees with this comparison.) In this area they had 2 females and 2 males. They had other fenced off sections with other packs, a mom and pups, another female who kept getting into fights to try and be alpha. But they were not on tour.

We hung out and waited for the Alaskans and then the 2 females came out. They feed them raw chickens and turkey (but like the kind you get at the store, not feathered or anything), and other stuff I won’t go into because while I understand the Circle of Life, I never like seeing it.

We got to see 1 of the females really close and she was pretty funny – she would stretch for us, yawn, try and catch flies. She seemed very bored by us all ☺ The male went over and found a shady spot and stretched and then laid down like Angelus does when he is done with me and wants to lie down and not be bothered.

We got to hang out for a long time watching them, taking pictures, asking questions. The guide was great. Never felt rushed at all. And it really became clear that wolves are just feral huskies ;)

Oh! And they have the bumper sticker that I saw a long time ago and want so badly! “Little Red Riding Hood Lied” It was stuck to something and not for sale (it was made by Defenders of Wildlife years ago and they told me it was sold out and they never remade them.) I am SO getting back to my project of making this for me ☺

Basically, this tour strengthened my resolve to keep sending my donations to them and this cause. For years and years and years I have only donated to animal /wildlife causes. Mostly to Defenders of Wildlife, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and here. My only human donation in forever was for 9/11. I will continue this and increase it. The damage humans have done and continue to do to this planet and its animal life is disgusting.

Without the ecosystem they help maintain and keep in good health, all of the starving children in Africa, landmine victims in Bosnia, the fight for gay marriage, the fight against gay marriage, human tsunami/earthquake/volcano victims in Haiti/Japan/Chili/Indonesia/Philippines/wherever and the many walks, runs, trots and bracelets to find cures for every disease under the sun, moon and stars will mean nothing in the end unless you want a gray, sterile Blade Runner world. Not to say I won’t donate elsewhere too, but it will always 100% to animals. Period.

If you have a chance to ever visit, I strongly recommend it. Private tours book up well in advance (that’s my next trip!!!) and winter tours book up early too because many people like to see the wolves in the snow (it snows up there a few times a winter.)

www.californiawolfcenter.org

We drove back through the town of Julian which is an old gold mining town. Very cute. Saw 2 coyotes and 1 wild turkey on the drive back! Stopped at a vista in the National Forest (you drive through it) and you look out over a canyon named Storm! Canyon (ok, I added that exclamation point!) Stormy wants to know why he wasn’t there too!

Then got back into civilization and saw Captain America which was GREAT. Plus got trailers for John Carter (of Mars) staring Taylor Kitsch (who looks delicious in it) and the new Mission Impossible movie which looks AWESOME! Oh – and if you have not seen Captain America yet but plan to – stay till the credits are OVER. I have friends who didn’t – doh! Avengers Assemble…in July 2012!!! So even though I didn’t spend anytime at Comic Con today, I kept the Con spirit alive by geeking out anyway on both wolves and superheroes.

☺

Today was a busy day!! Up at 6am. Well actually my alarm was set for 6am but I woke up at 5:58am. Got ready and met my friend who graciously got in line at 6:30! The line was looooooooong. They made 1 giant line for everything but Hall H this year. We high-tailed it over to the Ballroom 20 line and were about 1500-2000 in line. So no problem on getting in – yay!

They let us in around 9:15 I guess and then the panels started at 10. I don’t watch Torchwood but have heard of it on twitter and tumblr. I didn’t know it was a Doctor Who spin off. So I know nothing of the show but the cast was awesome! Totally made me want to watch the show. The lead (John Barrowman) led us in song at the end of the panel – we all were singing Annie’s “Tomorrow” as the panel ended. He was a giant crack-up who I think must live on 5-Hour Energy shots. He was cracking jokes and puns every 2 seconds! And looks so much like Tom Cruise it’s weird. I am a little afraid to get excited and start watching  the show since that happened last year with Stargate: Universe and I bought the season 1 and 1.5 DVDs and caught all up in prep for season 2 and then they cancelled the show during season 2. What the frack.?? But Torchwood is on Starz and not SyFy so maybe better luck?

Then it was The Walking Dead panel.  I watched 2 (maybe 3) eps last year and stopped after the horse death. I just could not go on. But this panel and the scenes for Season 2 that they showed us convinced me to watch the last 3 eps in Season 1 (they made a short season). It does look really good. So I’ll give it another try. Much like with Game of Thrones books, I will just fast forward past the sadness.

Then it was Big Bang Theory!!!! Such a great cast. Last year’s panel was super fantastic and this year’s was awesome too. They are just so funny and great with the Q&A. Love, love, love them.

They cancelled the Bones panel for some reason (have never not had David B at a con – boo!) so I high-tailed it over to Hall H. Husband was already inside saving me a seat but it took me about 2 hours to get in. Ugh. But while in line I talked to the guy behind me. He had 2 tix to the Cowboys and Aliens premiere. I saw him take them out of his bag and said “those are so special.” He asked “do you know what these are?” I said “Sure do. And I’d kill anyone in this line to get them.” He looked at me and tried to judge how serious I was. Then I said “Nah, kidding…..maybe.” and smiled. I was quite jealous! I will add that all of the texts for the free ticket giveaways stated you had to have a SDCC badge. So that’s good. Still too many of them off-site and unable to get to if a Con attendee in reality, but at least it’s something I guess. Maybe Jon Favreau read my blog rant last night :)

Finally got in for the Sony panel – yay! They had the directors and cast for the Ghost Rider movie. It does look fun and Nic Cage is always kooky at panels. The director seems a bit insane. They showed some stunts that HE was doing to get certain shots. Very cool. So I will probably see it on DVD.

The next movie didn’t really belong at Comic Con genre-wise but it looked damn funny. Called “30 Minutes or Less” with Jesse Eisenberg, who was not there, and Danny McBride, who was also not there but sent a clip introducing the movie and apologizing for not being there and it was hysterical!, and then Aziz Ansari who was there and he was FUNNY! Definitely want to see this movie.  And I need to add Parks and Recs to my tivo line-up. I only have BBT for comedy and need more!

Then Total Recall time!!! Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston and John Cho. They were all great! Fantastic Q&A with both the moderator and the audience. The movie footage looked super cool and fun. Also – Colin and Kate are hotness. I definitely want to see this. And I was against a reboot/remake/retelling going in.

Then finally Spiderman. When I first heard of this reboot I was like “are you kidding? It’s only been a few years since the last Spidey with Tobey Maguire?!?” But the footage we got to see with Andrew Garfield as Spidey and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy looked excellent! Plus Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Denis Leary – great cast! Again – I will see this one for sure.  And Andrew Garfield is kind of adorable. But what the heck? He is British ( I had no idea from The Social Network) and he is playing Spiderman and Henry Cavill (Brit) is going to be Superman – what the heck??? The Brits are invading!! Oh well…that’s ok…love the accent.

While husband was in Hall H, and me out in line, he saw the Fright Night panel (yes, another reboot) with Colin Farrell. And he won a ticket for a special premiere tonight. So we went over after the Con and the ticket was only for 1 admission but the bossman at the door let me in too (he must have liked the wolf ears I was still wearing!) Tons of yummy food and drinks. The place was decorated in gothic vampirey and slayer mode. Very cool. With all of the weapons that thy have in the movie on display.

Then the cast showed up! And I wiggled in and got a pic with Colin Farrell – yay!! He is so hot in real life. Yum. But he was also extremely nice and patient with people pushing in and asking for pics and autographs. Very, very cool. I also talked to Anton Yelchin and told him that I loved him in Star Trek J  Funny thing – Colin Farrell is much taller than I expected. I guess not all actors are short.

Squeee!

We then got to see the movie (with free popcorn, soda, water and candy!) The movie was super fun. I barely remember the original but the story came back to me as I was watching it.  Very fun, campy horror movie. Oh – and it was in 3D. So some cool effects. A very fun event. And funnily (my word), it’s the first movie I have seen entirely in 3D. I have not been part of the crown rushing out to see 3D movies. Not very cool of me I know. But I just don;t care unless it really enhances the movie. This movie was campy and fun so the effects being thrown at you were blood and vampires and stuff so that was pretty fun. But some of the movies they have done in 3D, I’m like “Hmmm….really?” I’m sure Avatar was amazing in 3D but James Cameron filmed that in 3D. Didn’t just add it as an effect. So my take is if it will enhance the story or my enjoyment – cool. If it’s just a way to add a few flying things and get a few more dollars in ticket prices – no thanks. But then I do most of movie watching at home from NFLX anyway.

Then walked back to the hotel at 1:30am where I am now icing my ankle which is the size of 2 ankles. But a fun, long day at Comic Con 2011!!  Not sure what the plan for tomorrow is yet. But I need a bit of sleep. And would like to try for my Con shirt (if any left in small) And you know what? I have not even checked out the Star wars booth yet. Sacrilege. Total Fail!!! Need. To. Do. Saturday!

Today was crazy! A good crazy. Comic Con crazy. Woke up, looked outside and saw the GIANT line for people waiting to get their badges (happily picked mine up yesterday), got ready and was outside the main hall doors at 9:28am. They were late and didn’t open at 9:30am. There were grumpy, sweaty geeks ready to storm the doors. And they said so. 2 of them said “Don’t make us geeks sweaty and grumpy. You won’t like us when we are sweaty and grumpy. “At 9:35am, the doors opened and a giant collective cheer went up and then everyone raced to the main floor.  Stuff like that makes the Con and crowds fun.

I found several of the Con exclusive that I wanted and bought a few for a friend who couldn’t come.  I missed out on Squirrel Pool at Gentle Giant. That sucked. Especially after seeing several go up for sale on eBay this morning. Jerks. I hate scalpers. And eBay. They ruined the collectibles market forever.  And this coming from a good old fashioned capitalist.

Hasbro had a couple things I really wanted. And the line at the Hasbro booth has always been out of control busy. But this year you had to go upstairs to a room to wait in line to get a ticket so that you were now special enough to get in an even longer line at the Hasbro booth to wait to buy stuff. Give. Me. A. Break.  And then I saw several guys later with bags and bags and boxes and boxes of the Hasbro toys. How much do you want to bet they are all up on eBay now.  Jerks. And I mean Hasbro, eBay and the scalpers.  All guilty.

BUT – while I was looking around trying to find a booth I ran right into a booth with Peter Mayhew signing! Right then! NO LINE! I do already have his autograph from my first Con ever but I decided to get another J I went up to the booth and while I was deciding on which picture to buy/use (so wished I had the Chewbacca action figure that my brother gave me last October before he died. I did almost bring it just in case but the decided against it so it wouldn’t get damaged), the guy that was at the both helping with the signing looked at me and asked “So…you like Chewbacca.” Huh? Who me? With the Chewbacca backpack and Chewie toy in my hand (that some guy who walked up to me just handed me after saying “you look like you love Chewie” I’m still wondering if it has a GPS chip in it or something and he is stalking me!)

Anyway, got a Han and Chewie pic and he signed to me J Yay!! And he said thanks for being such a big Chewbacca fan. Like how could you not?? J

The floor is hard – so much to see and check out  – total sensory overload. Times a million.  There is s till so much I want to see there but not sure if I will have time. That’s a bummer.

Ran to meet my friend in line for Ballroom 20 to see the Game of Thrones panel. And we hoped to see Ringer too which was right before it. In line for 3 hours. Yikes. But we did make it in! Sarah Michelle Gellar was GREAT! Super cute and funny. Adore her even more now. And the rest of the cash was fantastic too. I shall definitely check out the show – Tuesday at 9pn on the CW – go set your tivos! She was cute when a fan asked her what character she would dress up as to go to Comic Con. She said “Well, if I went as Buffy, I KNOW most of you would see me and say ‘OMG – look at that girl – she is an awful Buffy!” LOL!!

The GOT panel was utterly fantastic. The cast was funny. Had great answers to all the questions. Totally got into answering the questions. Loved them all. And I shall put the books back on my Kindle after deleting them after some repeated animal sadness on the show. I will just fast forward through those pages. The actor who plays John Snow made me one of the fans after answering who his favorite cast mate was with the husky who plays his direwolf. Ok – I like you :)

We then hightailed it over to Hall H to see the Jon Favreau and Gullermo del Toro panel. They were both awesome. Jon has been good in every panel I have seen him at SDCC.  But Guillermo stole the show. He was swearing up a storm and then finally noticed the sign to the panelists saying to their watch their language since it; s a family audience. But his commentary was great!

We got about 7-10 mins of footage from Cowboys and Aliens. Of course I think it looks AWESOME!  Jon had a great little bit about how social media really shows him how different a clip can be perceived.  He said after he released the full trailer with Transformers 3, he saw tons of AWESOME comments on twitter but then just as many “YUCK. Weird. How can you mix those 2 genres” and “how unrealistic”. He was like umm…unrealistic. OK. But machines turning into the trucks – that’s OK. Well alrighty then. He then described his approach to movies like this and how he wants to make the movie perfectly set in its genre and take that 1 little thing that changes it (like in Iron Man all the world was the same except for Iron Man.) In this, it’s a western. Cowboys like we are used to seeing in the movies. But this thing occurs and they have to deal with. But they are still cowboys. Still out in the west riding horses, living their lives in little towns, etc. Nothing is different but this one thing. Hearing him describe it made perfect sense.

Bit of a peeve concerning this movie though. Jon made it seem like he was bringing the world premiere here to SDCC for the fans. His fans. Fans of the genre. Of the graphic novel. But all of the promotions for the tickets have been off site. Too far off site for anyone who is attending SDCC to go. And they are all open to the public. So it’s really a premiere for San Diego and its residents. Because if you are a true Comic Con fan, you are busy all day with panels, signings, being on the floor and never-ending waiting in line for all of these things. So you can’t just run off site 10 blocks away on a minute’s notice. So I do have to say that’s been very disappointing.

Even tomorrow, he announced a signing he was doing where he would give away some tickets. Yay! But no – it’s offsite – at the Hard Rock. In the middle of the afternoon. So no – I will not be going. Because there is no guarantee I will even get in the signing, or then get a ticket. The only guaranteed thing is that I will miss everything going on at the show. Which is why I am here. So that’s a bummer. And I feel a bit mis-leading to say this is for the Comic Con fans. When not a single giveaway has been at the Con. Except for the 1 pair he gave a kid who asked him a question at the panel and was wearing a Cowboys and Aliens shirt. Which was cool of him.  Oh well. A bummer for sure.

Overall a very fun day though. But I guess SDCC has gotten too big. There was a line that was supposedly 1.5 hours long to buy the official t-shirt. To me it looked even longer. Give me a break. Every other year they basically had to give those away on Sundays. But they said “there was a limited amount” in the program. WHY? It’s a frackin’ 2011 Con t-shirt. Make enough and just sell the bastards so people walk around with them and the con gets free advertising.  I do want one. But no way am I waiting that long to buy a t-shirt.

Lines for panels. Line for tickets to get in line for panels (to wait again.) Lines to buy ANYTHING. Lines to win a chance to maybe be pulled from a lottery to be 1 of 100 to get an autograph. WHAT? Come on. So maybe I am just longing for the good ol’ days (3 years ago) that you could see any panel. Buy anything. As long as you were there an hour early. Now – if you want to buy 2012 passes, you had to get in line at 5am this morning to wait for them to start selling them at 8:30am. Jeez. No thanks.

I am still having fun. But I do wonder how long I will keep coming. It’s get more and more expensive and more and more crowded. This year I am just recovering from a broken ankle plus a plus dealing with a pinched nerve so can’t run around too much so I think experiencing longer and longer lines has annoyed me. And then to not even be able to buy what I wanted because scalpers got it got them all or there’s even more lines for them elsewhere – GAH! I almost lost it when trying to plus my iPhone in to charge in the ladies restroom in Hall H. This woman was taking up 2 plugs and then tied taking a 3rd for friends phones. The lady who was using the 4th was like wth? I am only charging to 30% so other people can use the plug, I looked at her “Breathe…we are at the con….have fun….” But really… I wanted to smack the lady in the head too.

I know there are more funny tidbits (correcting the KTLA reporter when he said Star Trek when he meant Star Wars, the costumes, the booths) but I need to go to sleep now so I can get a half way decent night’s sleep so that I can do what? Get up at 6am to get in line….sigh…

I missed Comic-Con this year :( Kevin Smith is there every year and is always a great panel to sit in for. Here he rants about Twilight (pro!) and it makes a heck of a lot of sense! So HA to all you judgey-judgersons out there :)  Favorite line is re: Spock, Chewbacca, geeks :) Hehehehe

I found out about this clip because of this Vanity Fair interview:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2009/09/kevin-smith.html#share-1000000000175205

He is definitely a funny guy. Crude but funny.