Kimballing: July 2006

I went to Comic Con last weekend and it was funtastic! Here is a report of what I did and what I saw. Pictures to come later.

Thursday:
Natalie came and picked Kelli and I up at 5:15am. We packed up the car and started toward California! Then, we picked up Monique in St. George and continued on our way. The drive was uneventful except for that time when we almost ran out of gas... again. It seems that whenever I am driving, we get close to running out of gas. I wonder why that is...
We checked into our super stellar Motel 6 room and saw that our "king size" bed was not so much king size as a little bit smaller than queen size.
Then, we walked the twelve blocks to the convention center to get all registered. Things were closing down at Comic Con because it was the end of the day, but we were able to head down to the six block long Exhibition Hall and hit the Browncoats booth. There we saw Jeremy *screams* the man who helped make "Done the Impossible" the documentary on the fans of Firefly. I bought a Tshirt and had him sign it. I also had Brian sign it *screams again.*
Christy and April showed up and we decided to go to dinner with them and Nikki and Matt and some other people that I didn't know until I met them. We drove to Christy's very far away hotel and were going to go even farther to a Mexican restaurant, but decided against it because we were starving, and instead just went to Buca de Beppos. It was yummalicious! But we had to wait forever for a table because there were 13 of us. Then, when we were finally seated, I, for reasons unknown, chose the seat next to a fountain statue of a little boy peeing. For the rest of the meal, I got back splash from the peeing fountain and I have to say that it wasn't pleasant. But, the food was good and the company was better.
By this time we were exhausted, so we drove back to the hotel and crashed. Three of us on the bed and one on the floor.

Friday:
We woke up bright and early because we wanted to get there with plenty of time to find out about autographs because that was pretty much my goal of the entire convention. And, like so many cons, it was a race to get in line. So, we got in line at like 8:30am and were in line to get into the exhibition hall for an hour. Nat, Kelli and I played Egyptian ratstail, I won... of course. There was a victory dance that got really annoying, really fast. Christy and gang joined us in line and we went into the exhibition hall and headed for the WB booth. We found out when Gerard Butler and Veroncia Mars autographs were and were on our way to other booths to find out about more autographs. We picked up some free capes at the Sci Fi booth, which, by the way, looked flipping awesome! And then we looked really ridiculous as we wore our silver capes on our backs over our backpacks. We looked at some booths including the Pirates booth and the Heros booth. Then, we decided that it would be best to stand in line for a Hilary Swank autograph. We got it and rejoiced! She is much prettier in person than she is on camera! But, I'm afraid of the movie that she was promoting called "The Reaping."
After getting Hilary Swanks auto, we rushed upstairs to make it to the "Heros" panel with Milo... Ventlkjiljl (don't know how to spell his last name, but he played Jess on Gilmore Girls). We got to see the pilot episode of the new NBC show and it was awesome! I am totally going to watch Heros when it comes out in the fall and not just because Jess is on the show. It just looks reallly good!
We left the Heros panel early in order to make it to the BSG panel on time. We got in the very crowded hall and split up and found seats. Lucy Lawless, Gias, Adama and Chief were there. We got some spoilers for next season from Lucy, she just kept giving stuff away and then the creators would look at her all mad because she was spilling spoilers. It was a good time and Chief is my new favorite because he is so dang funny.
After the BSG panel, we changed seats so that we could be closer for the David panel. David Boreanaz that is. He was promoting Bones. I don't care about Bones, but he was pretty and that is what really matters.
After David's panel, there really wasn't much else planned, so we shopped. We went down to the exibition hall and went around to a lot of the booths looking for anything pretty that we may want. I got a stellar Scooby Doo Tshirt. It is green. We also hit the Sony booth to see if Nicholas Cage was doing any autographs. And there we found out that if we texted Rider2 to Sony4, we would get the chance to be one of ten people to meet him and get his autograph. I do not have text. This was distressing. So, I called Marie and asked her to text for me. Marie called Sarah and told her to do the same. And, I called Christy and all of them and told them to enter as well.
Then, we were tired, and though we got another dinner invite, we opted to hit Quizznos on our way back to the hotel and we all got to bed early.

Saturday:
Ah Saturday, the busiest and longest and most crowded of all the days! 400,000 people at Comic Con. Oye with the poodles already! We got up at 5am again and walked over to the Con. It was packed! But, we got in line for the Exhibition Hall because Gerard was suppose to be doing autos that morning. Christy and group got in line with us. This day, Nat, Kelli and I played Mow. We each won a game and then it got boring.
When we got, in, it was like a race! We were all booking it to the WB booth and I was out of breath by the time I got there because it was like three blocks away from where we were let into the Hall. We rushed there and asked when the signings were, and they changed the times!!! I was upset! It was suppose to be at 10am, but they changed it to 2:45am...grrr... and V Mars was at 5:45pm.
Then, now having some time to kill, we went over to the Inkworks booth to see if Lost was doing any autographs. There was a line to get a ticket to enter a lottery to get the chance to get Lost autographs (this is how it is at Comic Con, there are unannounced autographs in a secret place at a secret time and you can get the CHANCE to get one if you know about the secret way to get that chance). So, we got in line and there was this really really annoying woman that jumped in line in the middle of our group and she refused to move, claiming that she was there first and she was just crazy! But we ignored her eventually when she stopped yelling at us. We went through the line, got a lottery ticket and then waited for the numbers to come up. Christy won, lucky girl, and the rest of us didn't. But, they were still giving out tickets, so I got back in line in hopes of getting a winning ticket. I went through the line 5 times before I won. But I won, oh yes I did! So did Kelli... win. But not Natalie *frowny face*
Then, we decided to go to Gerard Butlers panel for 300. I have to say that I never want to see that movie... ever. Gore, blood, and nudity... yuck! Gerard was beautiful of course. And the actor who played Farimer in LOTR was there too and he was pretty. But, Gerard Butler, not to bright. He kept saying that everyone was asking intelligent questions, but the questions were quite simple like, "what was most difficult about assuming your character?" So, what I now know about Gerard Butler consists of: He doesn't like wearing a codpiece, he thought his cape was heavy, and he hasn't worked out since January. Oh yeah, intelligence... or not. It is true, some people are just a pretty face.
When leaving the panel, Sarah calls to tell me that she won the Nick Cage autograph! I was very excited! That's my Baby, always doing the right thing! I redeemed my autograph at the sony booth or was on my way when Marie called and said that she won too! 97 people entered, 10 won, and I won twice... what are the chances? They didn't let me keep both of the wins though, which was tragic. And, I got to bring one guest with me and so Nat and Kelli rock paper scissored it to see who would go and Kelli won, so she accompanied me. Poor Natalie! Because Monique, Christy and Karen won too and no one else took Natalie! I pine for you Natalie! But, since I won, I couldn't get VMars autos because they were at the same time, it was tragic!
Post Gerard's panel, we went back to the Lost booth to redeem our autographs and I got to meet Hurley and Jin. Hurley is a lot smaller in person than he is on camera. He isn't as big as they make him look. Then, we went over to the Top cow booth and got Seth Green's autograph. He was awesome! He signed like five things for me and wrote that I was hot on the poster that I had him sign and I got a picture with him. If he wasn't the shortest man with a small head, I would think him very hot.
I then went to the WB booth to get in line for Gerard autos, only to find out that you needed a yellow ticket to get the auto. They gave out tickets at the door to his panel and some were yellow and some were red. I got a red... which redeemed a stupid button. I officially don't like the WB booth, they said all I would have to do was line up, not that I needed a special ticket. So, no Gerard Autograph *pouty face*.
Natalie and Monique were in line for Joss autos at the Marvel booth, so Kelli and I went to the Browncoats booth to relax and kill time. Then, while sitting there, Joss Whedon walked up and I was like, "that is Joss Whedon," then I jumped to my feet and said with more surprise and enthusiasm, "That is Joss Whedon!" So, Kelli and I got pictures with him and I got him to sign my Serenity Comic book. It was funny because Nat was standing in line for his autograph and Kelli and I got it by just sitting around!
Kelli and I then went to the Jennifer Love Hewitt panel. I have no idea what they talked about because I read my Freshman comicbook the whole time. I was really just waiting for the VMars panel to start. Which it did and Kristen Bell was there and Jason Dohring and Keith and Weevil and Sherriff Lamb, and Dick Casablancas. Dick did a Michael Jackson impersonation and did a back flip. Kristen Bell had bumper stickers pasted across her chest and butt to promote her new movie. It was a good panel and it was not very spoileresque.
Then, Nick Cage. He was grungy looking and security was extremely tight! We couldn't have anything in our hands and we couldn't take anything out of our bags and we were rushed in and out again. But, it was pretty cool to meet Nicholas Cage and shake his hand. He had long hair to his shoulders and was wearing large sunglasses, so I couldnt' see half of his face, but still, really cool! And I also got Eva Mendes autograph. Her eyes are suprisingly far apart! But she is still really pretty.
Then, after those autographs, I think that we got something to eat... somewhere... oh yeah, Kelli and I went to the mall and picked up some food and then went back for the Done the Impossible screening. We got front row seats and wore out DTI Tshirts and screamed any time that Brian, tony, Jared, or Jeremy walked past. But especially for Brian because with the fun! Then we went and took pics of them like crazy fan girls. The documentary was awesome! I was in it three times. Once singing the firefly theme song very badly. I want my copy of it and hopefully it will be in the mail to me soon. Afterwards, we stuck around and got pics with the guys and had Tony and Jared sign our shirts too.
Then, it was back to the hotel with us because of the exhaustion.

Okay, I'm tired now and this is taking longer to write than I expected it too and I met no one famous on Sunday, so I'm going to end my convention report here. I might just say more when I get my pics up on here, but until then. Thanks for reading. Though you probably didn't read the whole thing because it is just way flipping too long!

Today I was rudely awakened by a phone call at 9am from my mother. Every single Saturday, it never fails that my mother will call me at 9am. Sometimes it is at 9:30, but it is always before 10am! You would think that I would get smart and start turning off my phone on Saturday mornings, but sometimes I just forget. My phone was on vibrate, but the vibrations woke me up. I just don't understand the need to call me so early on my day off! It never fails, NEVER, she always calls and then, when I answer she is always surprised that she has woken me up! Because every other previous Saturday has taught her nothing? I'm having a grr moment because I was robbed of precious sleeping in time! Robbed I tell you!
Moving on...
I looked at the Comic Con schedule today and I am happy to gloat that David Boreaniz will be there, Seth Green, LOST, Many of the cast of Veronica Mars, Done the Impossible, Nicholas Cage, and my absolute favorite that I am beyond excited to see.... GERARD BUTLER! I had a very Yay! moment this morning when I discovered that I will get to see Gerard Butler (the Phantom of the Opera). I am very excited for my vacation now. I was excited before, but now I am more near exstatic.
Additionally...
I saw Pirates last night, it was very funny and very entertaining, and surprisingly long. There were new twists in the story that I did not expect and many characters reappeared and it added to a very interesting plot line. Johnny Depp was hilarious as was to be expected and Orlando Bloom was good looking, which is all you really get out of him. I still say that he looks better in a blonde wig with blue eyes though. My only thing that I did not care for in the movie was the ending. It didn't END! It was cliffhangeresque with a dash of unfinished plotline. I'm very cross about this because although they set themselves up for the next movie, they didn't finish this one! I would write a stern letter if I cared enough! Alas that I do not.