San Diego Comic Con day 3

Friday July 23 2009

Woke up early and jumped in the shower. I slept better but Liz is not great with 5 hours sleep a night. That's what I get at home so it was no problem for me.

We walked to the con, stopping for supplies as well as breakfast at Subway. I knew I was going to be in Hall H all day so I bought lots of Coke Zero and some snacks. I lined up for Hall H (about 2 hours). Liz was with me for a bit but she wanted to hit the exhibition hall for some things we wanted. I got into the Hall H found my normal seat and got ready to watch a days worth of programming.
Warner Brothers was first they had lots of great movies. Denzel Washington and Robert Downey Jr. were some of the big stars. Next was Walt Disney (Liz's with me by then) and I thought that was kinda of boring. Then came Tim Burton, with the panel for his new movie 9. Both Liz and I know about this movie and really want to see it. Tim Burton was there and he is a freaky guy. After 9 came the main panel for me - District 9. This movie looks great! Peter Jackson is the producer and we love him (Lord of the Rings in case you're not sure) and the panel rocked. They showed some great clips and Peter talked about the hobbit and his other projects. Next was a star wars panel that sucked. Then another great panel - Peter Jackson and James Cameron and they both talked about their movies, Hollywood and how things are going in the industry. This was my favorite panel of the day. To me a great day and time well spent.

At night Liz picked us up some free tickets to see the movie Thirst. It was ok but to be honest I passed out in the thatre and spent the time sleeping with Liz poking me to stop me from snoring. So Liz will have to talk about the movie.

After that Wendy's for dinner and back to the room to sleep.

That ends day 3 - Liz is not happy, lack of sleep lol.

Garry

Was thrilled to score the free tickets to Thirst! I had to hustle around the exhibition room, asking the right people to track those down! AND I nearly got lynched when I cut into the massively long line for a free Dr. Who bag. What! That line really was ridiculous! Plus it wasn't for me, it was for Garry - so it's totally allowed {although I don't think the people who swore at me felt that way!). BUT I returned victorious!! Yipee! Now when's it bedtime?
Liz

San Diego Comic con Day 2

Thursday July 23 2009

We both only slept 4 hours. Not a problem for me but the princess needs more sleep (way, way more sleep). But she could not take it anymore in that room. Off she went to get us a new room. And she did! Not a great room but way bigger and definitely better. But, note to myself: hostel living for more then 1 night will not work for me. At least this room now had a fan to move the air around and I could not touch all the walls. One thing I never mentioned was that all the washrooms where shared, now before we left I thought this was not going to work but you know what, it was ok. I wake up so early that I was always the first in and in fact the washrooms where clean and we never had to wai, nor did we have any other problems with them.

After we settled in the room we made our way to the con. It was about a 15 - 20 minute walk to the con so that was ok. (One thing about San Diego is that there are alot of homeless people but I guess with the weather it makes sense.) We hit the con and get in line (which is something that we do alot at this place). We get into the exhibition hall and I pick up some free stuff and walk around the room again. To make sense of this room I would say it was bigger then a football field and it takes a least 2 days to see it all. We look around as much as we can and then head to some discussion panels in Hall H which is the bigggest room. We line up but we miss see the James Cameron Panel on Avatar - that sucks but there was tons of little chicks that wanted to see the Twilight panel and they didn't leave in case Edward might reappear and they'd miss a glimpse. We did get in later and we saw Terry Gilliam (Monty Python) and a great movie coming up called Kick Ass. Liz also liked the panel about the new Korean movie, Thirst. Not a bad day but we where both dead because of the lack of sleep and I think the 3 hour time change caught up to us.

We headed to the room and went to sleep - so ends day 2.

Garry

It was a great day. We were in line for about 2 hours to get into Hall H but it was lovely weather and it was actually nice to hang out. We nearly made it into the Avatar panel but within spitting distance of the door we were locked out! (But then Garry says I can really throw a loogie, he'd never have gotten one that far!) At least some of the panels we made it into later on made up for it. The guy who made the Old Boy trilogy (which I LOVED) has a new movie, Thirst - very exciting news! We didn't make it back to the hotel until midnight - we were wrecked!

Liz

San Diego Day 1

Wednesday July 22 2009

We left very early Wednesday morning. I think maybe too early but when you fly out of Buffalo you never know how long the drive will take and with the border crossing better early then late. We arrive at the border and for some reason I am always nervous, no idea why but I always am. Dude at the border was kinda of a jerk. He said he could not believe anyone would travel to a comic convention for 6 days! I tried to explain politely that WE do. We eventually got waved through and off to the airport. When we get there and get ready to check the bags. O shit, Liz has misplaced her passport. GREAT! We are both freaking out big time. We can't travel without it and we know she had it at the border as we had to show it to MR HAPPY. So she runs out of the terminal onto the shuttle back to the parking lot. I sit there freaking out - if she can't find it what'll we do? And she's gone for ages! Well maybe it wasn't ages but it felt like it. Finally she gets back and she has a smile on her face - she found it! So we finally check the bag and head to....The Anchor Bar, it serves wings from 5am apparently. So we both have chicken wings for breakfast and head to the plane. Nothing too exciting on the plane. We fly to San Diego (via Atlanta). About 7 hours later we arrive.

We jump into a cab and off to the hotel. We get to the hotel, well hostel really and I am prepared for the worst. Liz checks in and we head off to our room. My visions of the worst are not nearly bad enough! The room is clean but it's small, I mean really, really small. If I stand in the middle I think I could touch ALL 4 walls. And hot, it's like a damn sauna. OMG! I have a bit of a freak out and think to myself what have we done? Well we notice it is getting late so we have to head to the convention. We will worry about the room later. Liz and I rush over to convention and get our passes.

At the convention we hit the wall of people. Liz me and another 125,000 people. We LOVE IT!! Off we go into the dealers room and Liz wants a few things. She collects them and I look around and it is just overkill. So much too look at and see. We collect our stuff and head back to our cell (hotel).

When we get there we are both too sleepy to do anything about the room and just go to bed. Liz says she will take care of it tomorrow. I have to trust her.

We go to sleep - that ends Wednesday.

Garry

So when he says that he thinks "to myself what have we done", it was actually a bit more "Liz! WTF! This room is tiny, TINY and it's boiling. There isn't even a fan!WTF! REALLY! This is it!" All said in a loud very stressed voice.

Liz

KISS at Casino Rama

July 20 , 2009

Last night after work I headed to Casino Rama to see the best Rock band in the world KISS. Now (just in case you are new to me) I love KISS. I have seen them in concert wait for it..... 28 times! Yes this is my 29th time seeing KISS! I know this because it took me 2 hours to get to and 2 hours to get home so on the way home, with Kiss blasting out of the car speakers, I counted all the times I saw them.

Now the concert....in two words, FUCKING GREAT! When they first hit the stage I actually get goose bumps on my arms (I know that's weird but I can't help it). I love watching the band live and it reminds me of the first time I saw them. It was1977 (Liz was what 5 years old) in Detroit. The place last night was packed but it was a small hall, only about 5000 people. They looked great and even though Gene gets on my nerves with all his non-KISS stuff I love him on the stage.

Man I love this band live - GREAT SHOW

I hear they will be back in around town later this year and I will be at every show I can drive to. Maybe someday I will get to 50 shows!

I LOVE KISS

PS it is a good thing we are leaving to San Diego tomorrow or I would drive back up there to see them tonight...

Off to San Diego Wednesday

Garry

I was asleep on the sofa by 9:30. Toddled off to bed at 10:30. I'm sure the band were great but I LOVE my bed way more than you can ever love any band!
Liz

Harry Potter and Bruno

July 19 2009

Harry Potter

Liz wanted to see the new Harry Potter film so we decided to go on Sunday. I was not a fan of the other films but I really wanted to like this one so I went with her. Well the liking part didn't happen. I was so lost in this film AND it was boring. In fact about 45 minutes in I left and went to see Bruno. So maybe Liz will write a Potter review but for me 0 out of 5. Not a fan. Also in the first scene of the movie is that girl not a bit too old for Harry??

Bruno

Now I really wanted to like this movie. I kinda liked the first movie so i was pumped. Guess what! It sucked. I was so disappointed. Ask Liz - I love stupid movies and I usually laugh my ass off. This movie just did not have it.
1.5 out of 5

So really, stay home, don't see either of these films is my advice.

Let's see what Liz says

Kiss tomorrow San Diego Wednesday--SWEET

Garry

I'm with Garry except that my scores would be the other way around: 0 for Bruno and 1.5 for Harry.
Bruno: just not my thing and although I did laugh a few times it just couldn't hold my interest and I left the theatre after a few minutes. It didn't help that Harry had bored me to the point that I couldn't take another crap film. It wasn't a movie really - it felt as though I was watching the stuff off the cutting room floor and there's a really good movie out there where you care about the characters and it doesn't feel so pointless. It's no wonder Garry was confused as they assume that you know all about Harry and his world and therefore you'll hit the ground running along with the story but it's not necessarily the case. Plus that scene that Garry refer's to with the woman hitting on Harry - I agree with him - it was improbable and unnecessary. Disappointed!

Liz

Polaris July 10-12 2009

Sunday July 12 2009

Polaris

(picture is of Liz with the character named 9 from the Tim Burton film of the same name)

Always a sad kinda day, the last day of any convention as there are people at Polaris that I only see at this con every year. On the up side though it means that our biggest cons are still to come - yeah!

Sunday was a great day for me at Polaris. Liz and I went to see a panel for the new Tim Burton movie 9. It looks great and it was cool seeing the way that put this movie together. Great panel and Liz and I will be going to see this movie for sure. But to be honest we go to a LOT of movies so that's not a big shock.

David Hewlett's talk on stage was great! I love Stargate Atlantis and the character he plays, Dr. Rodney MacKay (and that the character wears a Canadian flag on his Stargate uniform!), so the 2 hour talk was the highlight of the convention for me.

The weekend ended with us all buying passes to next year's con....so we know Polaris in 2010 is a go for all 3 of us.

Garry

There were a few panels that I really liked including the one about the making of the 9. The feature film is based on a short by a guy (Shane Acker) and his friends who did all the work in his basement with minimal budget. And when you see what it takes to do a single scene of computer animation you develop a little more appreciation for this kind of talent and dedication. Really it's mind-blowing. Apparently Starz, who made the feature film and were there to show us how they did it, expect their animators to produce 3-5 SECONDS of animation in a week! That's how labour intensive this process is! Looking forward to seeing this one when it comes out on 9/09/2009. It's going to be quite dark though which is in contrast to what many people expect of an animation movie.

Check out the short film on which the feature is based:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1jl41_9-nine-shane-acker-short-animation_creation

Liz

Polaris July 10-12 2009

Saturday July 11 ,2009

(picture is my Mom ready to volunteer at the con which she does every year)

Saturday we where all up early and down for breakfast. We bought this meal plan thing from the hotel and the best meal out of the 3 was breakfast, the other 2 sucked so next year we won't bother with the meal plan.

So the day was spent going to discussion panels for Liz and myself. My Mom was working / volunteering at the photo place. The main guest this year was Micheal Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh) from Battlestar Galactica and David Hewlet from Stargate Atlantis. I was in the main room listening to all the actors talk about the shows they're on. Liz spent most of her time listenig to people talk about what books they like. BORING :) Saturday night we all met up and went to the masquerade and constellations awards. Liz and I loved the award show which is just a run down of the best tv shows and movies in sci fi for the year, Since Liz and I watch all these shows and movies we enjoyed it. I am pretty sure my Mom was bored to tears though. Then came the masquerade which was kind of boring and not that many people entered.

After the Masquerade we where all done so we went to sleep. A pretty good day.

Garry

Their were a few good panels on Saturday but my over-riding memory is of suffering through the masquerade. I know that some people do amzing work on costumes and skits for the masquesade but it really was slow this year. I think I may skip it in the future. It's kinda like watching Saturday Night Live - very hit and miss and mostly not worth for the odd gem that's stashed in the there.

Liz

Polaris July 10-12 2009

Friday July 10, 2009

Polaris

So this was Liz's 2nd Polaris and my 13th! Well, I think 13 but it may be more. My Mom's 10th time, I think. Polaris is a fan run convention which means it's kinda small but we always have a good time. The con didn't start till Friday at 7 pm so that gave us all time to get there. Liz took the bus, Mom got a ride up and I came right from work. Mom got our room and our passes so that saved Liz and me lots of time. we all met up and did some walking around through the dealers room and art show and just cruising around this new location for the con. Liz and I went to a few panels as my Mom spends most of her time volunteering. That evening we went to the bar for some Klingon Karaoke (don't ask-- but it was fun). It had been a long day for me as I was up early so around 11pm was it for me and we all went to bed.

Garry

There was a late evening talk with a guy I hadn't heard of but I had heard that he was a bit dirty so I had high hopes ;-) OMG! Was I disappointed! He was beyond boring, to the point that Garry and I had a fit of giggles whenever we looked at each other sitting there (really rude of us as we were sat in the front row). Anyway he eventually had to shut up and we escaped to the Klingon Karaoke. We decided to skip the pirate party but I heard the next day that they'd done a great job decorating everywhere so it looks like we'll have to be a bit more adventurous next year.

Liz

Poison-Def Leppard- Cheap Trick

Saturday July 4-2009

Well Saturday night and it was time to re-live my youth. The 80's! I loved the music back then so this was a great night night for me. Liz, not much of a fan, thought it would be best to stay home and sit her pretty ass in front of the telly ( which is something she rules at) so I went with my friend Dave.

Opening act: Cheap Trick
They where OK but I hate when older bands try and play new music. I know they need to keep making music but do we really need a new Cheap Trick song? I love all the hits and as openers go I really liked them.

Next - Poison
To me this band should have been the headliners. I love Poison! And I think this was the 7th or 8th time I've seen them. From the first song to the last, the whole crowd, myself included, were on our feet. It was like I was back in the 80's. Ahhh, it was great to see them again. The only sad part was the band only played 60 mins and I really wanted more. Best part was they played nothing but hits for the full hour and all the people around me LOVED them. Poison in concert are fantastic and I'll be there again the next time they come to Toronto.

Next - Def Leppard
I like Def Leppard, really I do, but I was never their biggest fan. I like the hits but have never seen them play live. They where really good. Wow do they have a lot of hits and the act is very polished. One thing I hated was the band did not look like they where having fun - it was just serious business. On a Saturday night I want ALL fun. I did like them but not sure if I would see them again. Unless they play with Poison again - then I'll definitely be there!

Cheap Trick --- 6.5
Poison --- 9.3 (would have been more but the set was only 60 mins)
Def Leppard --- 7.4

All in all a great summer Saturday night (next year I bring Liz as it is always better with her beside me).

garry

If anyone actually read this blog (other than my sister and Cindy) they'd think he actually likes me! And given that you like me, how much will you pay me to go and be tortured by Poison?

Liz

Public Ememies

Thursday July 02 2009

After work Liz and I thought it would be cool to see the new Johnny Deep movie, Public Enemies. We did try to to see this movie yesterday (Canada Day) but it was sold out. I thought this was a good sign. WRONG! This was not my kind of movie. I mean first thing, it was sooo slow. I hate a movie that kinda drags on and on. I really didn't hate it but I like movies to have more action and fun. The story is OK but I knew it already. I think Liz didn't know much about John Dillinger so she may have liked the movie better. I have to say Christian Bale has had a rough summer. Terminator Salvation was a waste and now this movie. Anyone could have played the part Bale played. Oh well, he was great in BATMAN!

so over all I would 6 out of 10.

garry

Well I enjoyed this movie. It did a good job of showing that good guys and bad guys can be hard to tell apart. And there was a line that the John Dillinger character said "I want the public to like me, I have to hide out amoung them" (or something similar) - loved when Johnny Depp delivered that line. And there seemed to be a lot of stuff going on in the background that wasn't fully addressed but I liked that the film-maker didn't need to explain everything that was going on. Not the action flick I expected but none the worse for it.

Liz