Month: July 2026

Comic-Con, Sunday

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Sunday is a bit light. Not only is there not a lot of good panels, but I’m am just so worn out.

I don’t sleep well at home, in my own bed. I certainly can’t sleep well on the top of a bunk bed, with roommates going in and out all the time.

The first I saw was author David Gerrold, who wrote Trek’s “The Trouble With Tribbles” as well as other episodes of various Trek series. He also wrote “Jumping Off the Planet”, which I enjoyed reading back in High School, but also recently re-read.

He also wrote the book “The Martian Child”, which was mostly based on his experiences trying to adopt a child, while being a single, gay man.

He asked the producers who was playing him in the film adaptation, and was pleased that it was someone as good looking and nice as John Cusack. Although his major gripe with the film is that the main character is a writer, but there are almost no books seen in his house. Gerrold stated he had to have a room just for his books, and another for all the books he had read. Writers are usually voracious readers, stealing borrowing ideas from others.

I went to the “35 Years of Sailor Moon” panel, but it was really about a newer series, not even mentioning anything about the previous shows. There were 4 voice actresses from the English dub.

I had an aisle seat and a mom and daughter asked if they could sit in the seats next to me. They weren’t mine so sure. I did hear the girl ask if boys were allowed to like Sailor Moon. My parents never told me not to watch, so I suppose it was allowed.

While listening to the speakers answer audience questions, one had mentioned Linda Carter (Wonder Woman) as a powerful female influence on her as a child. I sudden had the realization, the transformation of Diana Prince into Wonder Woman, may have inspired by the Sailor Moon transformations. Although a quick search gave me no confirmation.

Prior to that, I caught the last few minutes of the “Air Bud Returns” panel. They had one of the dogs that played Bud in the movie. The dog looked so much like Duke from the Bush’s Baked Beans commercials. I got to see Duke at Fan Fair one year.

Hungry and nothing else going on I left, in search of food. I found a Persian restaurant and sat at the bar. I ordered a chicken and beef kabob with saffron rice and a fire roasted tomato. The meat was delicious and so tender, the tomato was harder. It was great, but $30 is a lot to spend on lunch.

The restroom layout was interesting. They had several individual rooms with toilets, but then there was a large sink to wash up in the hall.

For the last panel, as it was the last of the day, I went to what I thought was going to be about a new or recent musical based on Buffy, the vampire Slayer. Instead it was a showing of an episode that i had missed, as I believe I was working exclusively evenings at that point and my VCR had broken.

The entire episode was a musical, caused by a demon, of course.

No panel, but I did get to see the late Michelle Trachtenberg again.

The exhibit Hall was closing by the time I got out, so i went back to pack up. It was snug, but I got everything into my carry-on. As I am someone who prefers to spend money on experiences rather than things, I only had 2 books bought, but I had a bit of free stuff.

I had plenty of time and space to carefully fold and pack my clothes to go there, but trying to do the same, on the floor, with a bunch of waded up dirty clothes, isn’t quite as easy.

One of my roommates was having a bit harder time. He bought a lot of stuff, duplicates in some cases, and was not going to get everything into his suitcase, 2 backpacks, and a box.

He was from Brazil, so he had ordered a box of games that was delivered to the hostel. This was to avoid large delivery fees as well as huge import tariffs. (I have several times picked up Brazilians at the airport that had empty bags, just so the could go shopping for shirts or jeans, that they can’t afford at home.)

I did suggest that he go to stores or restaurants to get boxes that he could use as check luggage, but he did not listen. Instead he removed packaging and flattened it out, trying to remove as much volume as possible. If he is opening up packages and folding them, then just throw them away. Right?

He even took some of the games and flattened the inserts, even going to the length of folding a divider the opposite way.

It is his stuff and his problem of transport, so i don’t care.

I asked at the front desk if they knew what time the buses start in the morning, but they did not. So I had to set my alarm for 4 am and head out to find the stop.

I already knew that the bus to the airport was $2.50, and luckily I had exact change, as they do not give any back.

I had to walk a few blocks to get to the stop. Pausing to look at the map, I then went around a corner and saw the bus, good I was not going to have to get an expensive Uber (~$30) or walk, but then the bus pulls off. No big deal, there will be another soon.

Ubers are hard to get sometimes, early in the morning (Or was this late at night?). If I couldn’t get a bus or Uber, then I was going to have to walk back, so I had to have enough time. Fortunately, it would be much cooler than the trip from the airport.

When the bus arrived at the first terminal, an automated recording stated the airline at that terminal. It did not specify the one I needed, which I see on a sign as soon as we depart. I went to terminal 2 and they have a shuttle that goes back and forth.

I had to wait a full 5 minutes before getting through security. Dang these long lines. Considering the number of people leaving today, I am surprised at the small number there.

Somehow, my gate is always at the far end of the terminal, walking passed dozens of other gates that my plane could have been.

There were many flights leaving. The same message came from each gate crew, the plane is full, so if you are in a later boarding party, you will not have overhead space and will have to check your bags.

After the 10th flight, and since I’m in group 7, I looked at the site and saw it was only $30 to get Priority Seating. WTH, I did it and I have never seen a plane so empty. I was fifth, after another couple and the handicapped. I could literally put my bag anywhere I wanted. Such luxury.

On the first flight, I sat next to a couple with a sleeping tot. This flight I sat next to a couple who were expecting soon. I must be a family magnet.

Some message stated they were diverting because of a storm over Florida. Using my offline map, there was no on board displays, I saw that we almost reached Savannah, GA before going down the coast. We took off going over the Pacific, and now we are over the Atlantic, true coast to coast.

After paying $98 for parking, I went home.

 

Comic-Con, Saturday

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I spotted a panel with the name of “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend” and of course had to check it out.

There was nothing about Simon and Garfunkel talked about, instead it was a horror anthology comic called “Hello Darkness”. Interesting enough, though.

There ware back to back Futurama and Simpson panels, but Bob’s Burgers was before that, which I detest, so I went to the fore-mentioned panel instead. By the time I exited that, the line for the others was already capped.

I got a text wishing me a happy birthday. I had reply back that I had been so busy, that I barely knew what day of the week it was.

Since there was nothing going on, I decide to get lunch and was actually able to find a seat at a table. I noticed a kid across from me that had a button stating it was his birthday. I mentioned to him the co-incidence, but he was either too shy or he didn’t believe me, he just kept eating his food and staring down.

I roamed around a bit, before heading over to a new location, there were a couple of panels I wanted to check out at another nearby hotel.

After waiting in a long line, I managed to get into the room just at the end of the previous panel. Once over, very few people were leaving, showing that they didn’t care about that one.

Nathan Fillion’s “The Rookie” was going into the 9th season. They talked about relationships (both real and on-screen), behind the screens details (most “driving” shots are done by a car on a trailer, this show has a guy in a seat on the roof doing the actual driving), and pregnancies (2 women had kids while on the show, but hidden. Another had her pregnancy written into the show.).

The moderator grilled them with questions, which everyone had to write on a small dry erase board before revealing all at once. Nathan Fillion was voted “most like his character”, “nicest”, and “most likely to mess up his lines”. Although, to be fair, as the lead, he would have more lines to say.

Afterwards, there was a reunion of Mad TV, 10 years after ending. They are still just as funny as they were.

I ran quickly to a panel on Reacher, catching the last half. Great book series, but the show is skipping a lot of them. That is my only complaint against the show.

Apparently, they are going to spin off Neagley into her own series, and an companion novel, perhaps more.

Somehow on Tuesday, when I was looking through the schedule, I managed to overlook 2 interesting panels. Danny Trejo and Cyanide & Happiness.

Everyone’s favorite bad-ass,Danny Trejo was there to promote a new comic based on a Mexican mythos. The main character (basically Trejo) opens a portal to hell. From the discussion, I’m not certain he actually had anything to do with creating the comic, other than posing for illustrations, but I’m sure it is still good.

The sick and twisted Cyanide & Happiness is a webtoon featuring very basic “stick figure” characters doing dangerous and perverted things, but funnily. The artists were doing live drawings based off the audiences random words, which they would give away at their booth.

At least half of the people there were waiting for a House of the Dragon, Season 3 sneak peek. I didn’t want to be spoiled, plus I didn’t want to sit there for over an hour, waiting. I’m going to see all the season anyway, so why see anything now. I suppose it is like the idiots who pay for a movie, just so they can see the trailer for a film or show, that they are excited to see anyway. Then many of the leave after the trailer, not watching what they actually paid for.

Don’t they know the same trailer will be on TV the next day, anyhow?

Comic Con, Friday

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As I walked down the road, on my way to the convention, I notice a guy next to me that I recognize. It took me a second to process through my muddy brain.

It was Doc Farrow, who plays coach Wayne Wilkins, on “Young Sheldon” and “Georgie and Mandy”.

I chatted for a couple minutes and took a photo. He gave me a button that promoted a short film he made, co-starring Lance Barber, who plays George Cooper on those same shows.

I headed into a room for a panel labeled “Kristin Kreuk: Black Star”.

What? The star of “Smallville” isn’t black, as far as I know.

“Black Star” is a new comic series that she, and a couple friends, spent the last couple years developing.

The story is centered in Winnipeg, where co-writer Peter Mooney is originally from, and takes place over multiple timelines. The title comes from a huge black star in the middle of the Winnipeg Muninciple building.

Their boxes just arrived the day before, so none of them had a chance to even go through them yet.

They were available at a booth in the main hall, but when I immediately went down afterwards, the lady at the booth stated they had sold out already.

I didn’t really want to buy it, but I would have liked to at least see the artwork in person.

I walked a little bit down the aisle and found myself next to someone else that I thought I knew. It was Brian Pulido, the creator of “Lady Death” comic series, among others.

My friend Russel is a big fan and we had met Pulido in Orlando or Tampa at another convention, again many, many years ago. My memory really is weirder than even I can fathom.

I found a panel on Star Trek and astronomy, with Rekha Sharma, who has played a scientist or alien in many shows and films. There was also a NASA engineer (wearing a blue jacket, which is what an engineering officer on ST is supposed to wear) and a xenobiologist (from JPL, I think they said).

Not much “astronomy” talk, mostly what they thought about “first contact” with alien life could entail.

I jumped around, from panel to panel to the main hall and back, ending the night at a viewing of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”, followed by karaoke of audience members singing the songs of the show.

It stars Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle, and the Rookie), Neil Patrick Harris (Lemony Snicket, Doogie Howser, How I met your mother), and Felicia Day (The Guild).

It was created by Joss Whedon, which explains why it is so good.

I had not watched it since it came out, way back in 2008, so I had forgotten how funny and how good the singing actually is.

If you have never seen it (or even if you have) go watch it now. You will not be disappointed.

Comic-Con, Thursday

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I mentioned the noisy hinge to the front desk and they had taken care of it before I was ready to go out.

I walked down the road a little ways, to an Albertson’s, looking for something to eat for breakfast, on the run.

It was too early, so a clerk was removing all the old pastries from the shelves. New stuff was still in the oven.

I bought a small bottle of OJ and a couple small snack pies, apple and pecan. I was hoping to find a small fruit bowl, but couldn’t afford them.

I had gone too far in that direction, so I ended up having to come back to get to the convention center, taking a long flight of stairs, instead of crossing a half dozen train tracks. This lead directly to the convention center, but the only entrance open in the morning was on the other end.

Seriously, these people do not know how to organize a large group. There are maybe a dozen doors along the front, but they funnel 10,000 through only 1. They do utilize more later, but then the flow is significantly more spread out anyway.

There is an escalator that takes you down from the second floor, and then it is blocked off at the bottom, so that you must scan to go out, then you may re-scan in the next door to come back in. Why??? I have already scanned to get in the first place, so why do I have to go out?

There is another elsewhere, going up, where they have a long (60-70 ft) barricade at the top before you can choose which way to go, even if you then walk directly along the side of that escalator.

Nothing started until 10, the main doors opened at 9, so that people could line up (out of the sun) for whatever event they wanted. I headed upstairs and was one of a handful that was at the panel that I wanted, so I got a seat, right up front.

I just bounced from panel to panel, surprisingly not having to stand in line to get into any of them.

One was in the Grand Ballroom, well, it was actually called Ballroom 20, but I think my name would have been better. It could easily hold a few hundred dancers, without crowding. Also, it is the only room, that I know of, that was called a “ballroom” and not a “hall”.

There was a vampire discussion, with Ashley Greene and Peter Facinelli, who both played “Cullens” in Twilight, and the director, Catherine Hardwick.

They also had a K-pop boy band, N-Hyphen, who just released a vampire video, with many vampire themed songs. Although, from the preview, it looks very homo-erotic. I’m not sure if that was they were going for.

By 2pm, there were no more interesting panels, for a while, so I browsed around the main hall for a bit.

I came up to one booth, and looking at the artwork on the book cover, it looked very familiar. The artist asked me if I knew his work, and I replied it looked like a “zombie fetus” book I bought in Orlando 20-something years ago. He was very surprised, because he had only gone to that convention once. I loaned out the book I had to someone, and of course, never seen it again. So I bought the 25th anniversary edition and a sequel, $40. He autographed both, for free, which he normally charges for, just because of the previous purchase. I think he may have just been more impressed that I remembered it from that long ago.

“Artist Alley” has at least 100 artists in their booths, most of which had some awesome artwork displayed. But I have a limited bank account and really don’t want to carry anything at all.

Hunger was striking, and the food at the con was limited in variety, and very expensive. I headed back over to the “Gaslight” district, and found a Irish bar that had a reasonable priced menu posted out front.

I order a shepherd’s pie, only $16, but was disappointed in how small it was. It did fill me a bit, so I guess I should not complain for that. I sat about 10 minutes after I finished, waiting for my check, before someone came over to take my dishes, who was not my waitress, then waited another 8 for it to actually come.

The total was over $18, because of added sales tax, but also a “hospitality” fee. I presume that was the tip, so I left exact change on the clipboard and left. I don’t know who would have been tipped anyway, as the person who sat me, the person who took my order, the one bringing my order, and the one who brought the check, were all different people.

They were not that busy to have that poor of service.

I came back to the room, just to drop off some of the stuff I was carrying, including some swag I got from panels. Then I headed back over to the main hall, for a while.

The next panel I wanted wasn’t until 7, and it was just after 5, but I was hurting again, so I just went up to just sit.

There is a “food court” with a seating area, but every seat is taken up by people just sitting there, not eating, even though there are plenty of rooms with panels that they could sit in, and maybe be entertained.

One panel was really just a trivia contest, for Andy’s mint chocolates. Many of the questions and answers I did not have any clue about. Other questions, I was just way too slow for my brain to process.

One question was about a character that liked lollipops, no one was answering, so I joking called out “Kojak”. The host thought it was funny enough, so I got a chocolate.

San Diego, day 1

SDSpivey

Ok, I got up at 4am and got ready and went off to the airport.

Once I arrived at the terminal, I see the sign stating 3-5 minutes delay for security. Oh God, I’m way too early. I sat at the gate for over an hour and a half.

It was only a 4 and half hour flight, so they only served a small bag of pretzels, a bag with a couple Oreos, and a small cup of a drink. Not nearly enough fuel for my day.

I managed to nod off for 20 minutes or so, but didn’t really get any rest. The couple sitting next to me had a 3-ish little girl, who managed to sleep almost the whole way, so no crying, hurray!

The plane was a 737, which I didn’t know anyone still used. There was no entertainment or information displays, so I had to guess on location and ETA, based on time used so far.

I was thinking about using Uber or even the bus, but last year, the Uber to the hotel, about half a mile, was over $40. This year, the hostel is 3.5 miles, so I really didn’t want to even look at the price. Everything in CA is outrageous. The bus was only $2.50, but I had 4 hours before I was supposed to check in, so no hurry, so I decided to walk.

About 20 minutes later, I regretted that decision immensely. At home the temperature yesterday was about 98F. Here was only 77, but felt so much worse. There are almost no clouds or trees, so the sun just beats down.

I was smart enough to refill my water bottle before leaving the airport, but I almost drank the entire liter by the time I arrived. Also, my ipad lost 20% of the battery, just from the heat, so it wasn’t just me being too damn old.

I did figure out a solution, not that it would help today. I should have fond a big name hotel neat the hostel, then used the airport shuttle to go there, then it would be closer to walk, but hindsight…

Fortunately, the clerk let me check in early, so I dumped my stuff and sat in the common room for a bit, recharging my ipad up, and cooling me down, before heading out to find food.

I found a Yemeni restaurant, but they won’t be open for another month. I can’t wait that long. So I hit a bar that a couple people said had good food. I had a burrito, not bad, but didn’t have any salsa.

I came back to my room, to dig out my Comic Con badge and went down to the con center to get my goodie bag. really only the schedule is want I was wanting. I returned and marked up the programs I wanted to see.

3.5 miles from the airport to the hostel, plus maybe the same for roaming around downtown. My hips are sore, something I haven’t had to experience, so far, even last year.

I hung around the common room awhile, talking with whomever came in. One guy was from Crystal River, wherever that is.

An employee said they were going to have a “movie night”, but never actually played the movie, but did have nachos and popcorn in some bowls.

I did not want to go to bed too early, I would just end up waking too early and have nothing to do. I hung out until I realized I had basically been up for 21 hours, then went to bed.

I was stuck on the top bunk, and the woman below kept coughing and getting up to go to the toilet or whatever, shaking the bed, squeaking the very loud hinge, and closing the tight door. Meanwhile, I had placed some of my things at the foot of the bed, so I was worried that I was going to kick something off and make a huge noise or mess.

I finally got out of bed around 8, peed for the second time since arriving (man am I dehydrated), and walked a few blocks to a market.

It was basically the same as a Sav-alot, just a bunch of cheap, no-name brands, but I got a few items and headed back to eat.

Wednesday has nothing really going on, so I though about going back down to TJ. Halfway to the market, my hips were arguing with me again, so there is no way I am going to walk aimlessly around. I am probably stay in, only going out to eat, today. Wasteful, I know, but better than wasting a day or more not being able to use the tickets I paid so much for.

I am sure I will get bored and go out anyway.