Silicon Valley Comic Con

[Drunk Monk]

I was on a mission to catch a Sith Lord. Managed to walk the whole floor during the preview with my nifty press pass. Saw Kirk from a distance (autographs are really expensive - $50-100!) missed Kirk's panel because I had my Sith rendezvous. A one hour interview turned into a 3+ hour chat over Stellas & Guinnesses. We might still be chatting had a band not shown up at the fairmont lobby bar.

Saw Woz being interviewed as he strolled the floor. He was nerding out gleefully. Looks like the birth of a new exciting con. I go back tomorrow with my intern daughter (scored her a press pass). This will be her first con. She can explain all the new anime to me.

More to come.

[Greg]

And I got the trickle down . . . .

Not a euphemism

[Drunk Monk]

Friday was just a preview - the work portion that earned me 2 press passes, one for me, one for my daughter's 1st con. But first, T drove there. She has her permit; her test is next week. Lemme tell ya, having your kid drive over hwy17 on a permit is a real white knuckler, even tho she's a cautious driver.

We got there in good shape and had to struggle to find parking. That was a sign. Comic con was way oversold - so damn packed. I'm used to crowds but masses of arythmic gawking nerds was challenging. But we had a blast. Woz did a great job - tons of cool stuff all over. Impressive. They made a ton of $$$ so I'm sure this is the beginning of something grand.

[Drunk Monk]

We missed both Ginny Weasley & Castle. Didn't even make note of that until we were leaving. We were too overwhelmed. Crossed paths with Uhura as she was being wheelchaired to the restroom. She looked great. Chewbacca looked sad because no one was in his autograph line. I managed to Jedi my way to the front of Rays line (there was a no press policy). Once Ray saw me, he called us up, high fived T, took a pic w/her ($55 value) and gave her an autographed darth maul 8x10. His line was around 70 deep then. It was her fav moment.

We caught Woz's talk w/the ceo of oculus rift on ar & vr. Also saw the cosplay contest. The kids were super cute. The mc, who I initially wrote off as just cleavage, was actually witty ala Elvira. T's fav was a Jedi sailor moon. I liked a biped imperial walker.

[Drunk Monk]

I ran into two old friends there.  Both were single white males, by themselves, no friends.  One was a very old high school friend (so he's our age), who was impressed to meet my daughter and immediately launched into a rant about how he was still 'single as a dollar bill'.  After we shook him off, I told T that he is also a deadhead, so we'd cross paths at nerdy events like this and dead shows, and he was always the same, going on and on about how he can't find true love.  She was like, 'yeah, well, look at where he is.'

[Drunk Monk]

And I got the trickle down . . . .

Not a euphemism

I give good trickle. 

[Drunk Monk]

I went.  I posed.  I'll have a report soon.  Just ttt-ing this now so I can find it easily later...

[Drunk Monk]

I hustled a press pass again, for me and my daughter, who joined me on Sunday.  

Unlike last year, when I had the Darth Maul mission, I had no target interview, no real reason to attend.  I reached out to Pam Grier because I was a fan of her early blaxploitation films and she's in a new videogame Shaolin Shuffle, a Call of Duty zombie co-op game.  I sent her agent an interview request but never heard back.  I was hoping for a face-to-face, not having to drop $30 for a selfie or an autograph (that was her asking price).  SVCC is a little odd about reaching talent.  Talent is all private contracts so they don't arrange any interview connections.  I can imagine that would be quite the Pandora's box.  

I got there Friday after work.  It's so much bigger now.  Not only does it take up the entire SJ convention center, it now encompasses all of Plaza de Cesar Chavez and the SJ National Civic Center.  South Hall, where we hold our entire TCEC event, is just for attendee wristband pick up.  Press picks up passes elsewhere.  Parking was a bitch but after a few Friday-after-work frustrated loops, I lucked out and found street parking.  Then I met up with one of my stalwart partners-in-crime and JNK-member, Carlos. We walked all the aisles in search of mischief.  There were a lot of sword booths - 4 or 5 - mostly fantasy stuff but some had some top shelf Hanwei stuff and Dragonsong Forge was there from Florida.  I was all set to buy a butterfly-knife-bottle opener (had my eye on one since I saw at WonderCon in 2011 after my date with Saoirse Ronan).  But the dealer was an asshole.  He kept his knives under a thick sheet of clear plastic and wouldn't let you handle them to check the action - you could only buy them.  So next time.

The Woz invited press to a pre-party at the Glasshouse up the street.  Not sure what that was all about exactly, but I dragged Carlos along with the promise of snacks.  Yeah, there were hor d'oeuvres, plenty of them and really tasty ones.  There was also an open bar.  There was some distillery that was showcasing its whiskey and tequila.  Cute waitresses were walking about with pill-cup sized shots.  But we went straight to the bar and upon learning of the distillery, Carlos asked for a flight.  We charmed the bartender with a fat tip and the next thing you know, we had three cups of whiskey. She said she was required to add an ice cube so it wasn't technically a 'shot' but we're talking well over a finger in a coffee-cup sized cup and a tiny concave cube that melted almost instantly. There were two horrid ones, apple and pear flavored, and one straight bourbon which wasn't bad.  Carlos went back for a flight of tequila as he is a connoisseur, but I abstained knowing te-kill-ya is DM kryptonite and the gateway to kareoke.  Or worse.  So I asked for more whiskey.  I got a half cup.  There were things to check out, some droids, a video memento machine that never emailed me the vid like promised (maybe I keyed my email in wrong as I was pretty deep in the whiskey), vintage videogames (Carlos humiliated himself at Donkey Kong but still beat a drunker press person), and lots and lots of snacks.  After we had consumed our fill, we wandered back to the plaza to check out the PS4 trailer, and then stumbled across free pizza as one of the food trucks was closing shop and getting rid of its overage.  Amazing pizza - honey sesame sundried tomato and gourmet cheese...can't remember the name of the distillery or the pizza truck.  It was a great start for SVCC 2.0.

[Drunk Monk]

I was just reviewing this thread because of a post here - http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum/s...p?tid=4327 - and realized I never followed up on the rest of the CC. 

But I wrote this article because I had to publish something to justify my press passes: http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/arti...ticle=1358.

I got an email last month saying anyone who got a press pass last year is pre-approved for this year. 

[Drunk Monk]

Oh bother. Turns out SVCC is the same weekend that this JA Kung Fu master is throwing his inaugural event in CO. He says he’s gwan bring mi out fa his ting, but time will tell. Been inna reggae scene too long ta believe in such promises. Time will tell.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Offer them to G-Man & The Queen!

[Greg]

Ha!. I'm not leaving the house for the next four months. Might not even leave the couch.

[Drunk Monk]

I got a press pass for this weekend and for a change, Patrick got one two.  His gf is a huge Momoa fangirl, but now she can't even come.  I'm not sure Patrick & I will even be there at the same time.  We both intend to hit it Friday, but I may skip out to visit an old friend who works at the National across the street.  There's a Power Rangers panel I might do as an excuse to justify my press pass.  Patrick is going Saturday.  I'll be there Sunday - Stacy will drop me off early and pick me up way late (will probably catch a movie after).  Been thinking about cosplaying Sunday just to have a story.  I dunno.  After SDCC, I'm spoiled for CCs.  We'll see how it all goes.

[Drunk Monk]

You could fit all of svcc into two sdcc Hall Hs.

Hooked up with 2 old friends - a vet rmer who manages the civic across the street and got me lunch (I gave him a bunch of qigong DVDs) and my neighbor from svale who I haven’t seen in 2 decades.

Now sitting in 220 (svcc’s hall h which is easily a 40th the size) about to see another of celeb crush - Morena Baccarin.

[Drunk Monk]

Morena brought her husband. Major buzzkill. He’s cute and charming and knows how to make her laugh. I hate him. She did say that Jessica Brody was her all time fav character to play and I must agree.

Original Power Rangers were next and I was front & center. I asked a martial artsy question and the Asian dude liked my Kareem shirt - 3rd compliment of the eve plus one dude asked to take a pic of me. Finally some recognition!

---

The sad news is this might be the last time for SVCC. Attendance was way down. They didn’t carpet the hall or turn all the lights on - cutting costs. I chatted with a vendor from New Mexico who was also at SDCC and they said after getting the obligatory ‘reserve your spot for next year’ - standard procedure on day 1 of CCs - they got a retraction email saying next year’s dates were not firm and they are looking at rebranding. Major bummer.