Tag Archives: San Diego

Preview Night at Comic-Con (in Tweets)

  • RT @Robot6: SDCC ’09 | Mark Waid takes a turn as radio DJ on KCRW
  • In San Diego, checked into hotel. Free wifi = yay!
  • Hotel room has great view of…the roof. Whee.
  • Serious fans! RT @Robot6: SDCC ’09 | Behold the power of Twilight: More than 100 Twilight fans already are lined up.

At the Con

  • Badge pick-up took 5 minutes from arival at con. And hey, I have ANOTHER copy of Blackest Night #0!
  • Wed night: the only time you’ll see the Mrs Fields carts without a line.
  • Simple costume: walking bulletin board.
  • Huge line at Graphitti T-shirt booth for Green Lantern figures.
  • First person in Twilight line has a dome tent.
  • Not many costumes at preview night, but a few. Sitting on shuttle behind Wonder Girl & (I think) Ravager.
  • Uploading first batch of photos to Flickr account over slow hotel wifi

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Quick Thoughts: Reprints, Tropes and Cons

Some links and observations for the day.

Links

Comics Should Be Good looks at DC Super-Stars reprints from the 1970s — including a Flash book which re-drew a Golden Age story. Hmm, I have a new blog post idea: comparing the original and redrawn versions of “Deal Me From the Bottom” and “City of Shifting Sand” from All-Flash #22 (yes, they did this twice!)

If you dare, read TV Tropes on Super Speed. (Beware, this is TV Tropes, so you run the risk of a tab explosion if you read it!)

San Diego Thoughts

Twitter has been full of people talking about flying to San Diego today, or starting long drives. Living 2-3 hours away, it’s easy for me to forget that a lot of people need a full day of travel before and after the con. I mean, I’m planning to drive down after lunch. I could do the entire con taking only 2½ days off work, but for many people, it’s a full week.

I find it highly amusing that @WizardWorld has been heavily pushing Chicago Comic-Con on Twitter today…the day before Comic-Con International. Certainly it makes perfect sense to capitalize on people thinking about cons who might not be going to this one, but might go to yours. And heck, I started getting excited about the build-up to CCI during the week before Wizard World Philadelphia and HeroesCon. It just seems funny for some reason.

Expanded from some of my Twitter posts today.

Covering San Diego (2009)

In a few days I’ll be off to Comic-Con International in San Diego. It’ll be my 20th year attending the con. Now I feel old.

Anyway, I’ll be posting about my experiences at the con in several places:

Here’s a list of my past convention reports and photos, including San Diego 2003–2008, Wizard World Los Angeles 2007–2008, and WonderCon 2008–2009. I’m also almost done with the Convention Tips list, which should wrap up Wednesday morning.

Comic-Con Trolley Tips

The trolley is a good way to get around Downtown San Diego. Here are some tips for making the most of it during Comic-Con International:

  • Trolley maps and schedules are on sdcommute.com and sdmts.com. Here’s a direct link to the trolley map.
  • You can get a 4-day pass online at sdcommute.com. They mail it, so it’s probably too late for this year, but next time…
  • There are 2 trolley stops near the convention center: Convention Center and Gaslamp Quarter.
  • Downtown trolleys run every 15 min/day, 30 min/evening, until around midnight (later on weekends)
  • Trolleys are crowded, especially on Fri and Sat, so plan for at least 30 min delay.
  • MTS has posted the special event trolley schedule for the con (via @SD_Comic_Con)

Check out my full list of Tips for Comic-Con here at Speed Force!

Downtown San Diego Shows During Comic-Con 2009

Lyceum Theatre Entrance.As a follow-up to my last Comic-Con Tip — catch a play or concert at a downtown theater — I’ve compiled a list of events going on in or near Downtown San Diego during the convention.

I’m sure there’s more going on — these are just the events I found online. And of course San Diego is a big city, so there’s lots of stuff going on outside of the downtown area.

Downtown

Plays and Movie Screenings

  • Rocky Horror Picture Show screening Wednesday 11:00pm at the Lyceum Theatre
  • Repo! The Genetic Opera screening Saturday 12:00am* at Gaslamp Stadium Theaters.
  • Godspell Thursday-Sunday at the Horton Grand Theatre
  • Jazz Queens Cast Blue Shadows Thursday-Saturday at the Lyceum Space Theatre
  • Lebowski Fest, Sunday 6pm at House of Blues.

Comedy

  • Demetri Martin Saturday at the Spreckels Theatre
  • Brian Posehn & Doug Benson, Friday 8pm Balboa Theatre
  • Tim and Eric Live, Friday 12:00am* at 4th and B. (Also, Awesomecon on Saturday)

Music

  • Richard Cheese Wednesday at 7:00pm at the House of Blues (main stage)
  • Modern Day Moonshine on Thursday at 7:00pm at the House of Blues (Voodoo Stage, free)
  • West of Memphis on Friday at 7:00pm at the House of Blues (Voodoo Stage, free)
  • Private Domain on Saturday at 7:00pm at the House of Blues (Voodoo Stage, free)
  • Sci Fi & UCP Present Bear McCreary: the Music of Battlestar Galactica Thursday-Saturday at the House of Blues
  • Van Hunt Sunday at 7pm at House of Blues (Delta Room)

I know there’s got to be more going on, but for some reason the only downtown events I could find online were at House of Blues.

Nearby

All Over Town

There is, of course, lots of stuff going on in other parts of San Diego, so if you’re willing to do some driving, take a cab, or are already staying outside of downtown, check out Sign on San Diego’s Comic-Con Guide. Actually, check it out anyway. They’ve got local restaurants, bars and nightclubs,

Theater Scouting

I’ve been to the Spreckels Theatre, the Lyceum, and the Voodoo Stage at the House of Blues (just last month). The Spreckels is a medium-sized theater hidden inside an office building at Broadway and 1st near Horton Plaza. The Lyceum is actually below Horton Plaza, with a sunken entrance at the north end of the mall (pictured above, with the obelisk). The House of Blues is just north of Broadway on 6th and takes up the entire width of the block. The Voodoo Stage is actually a small raised platform

I’ve also walked past the Horton Grand Theatre several times, and keep forgetting I’ve already taken photos of it. It’s on 4th next to the Horton Grand Hotel.

*Several events are listed as being 12:00am on (for example) Friday a certain day. I suspect in most cases they mean midnight at the end of Friday evening. Taken literally, it would mean 12:00am Friday morning, or Thursday evening.