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Cyn and Astrid's Excellent Adventure (Comic Con, plus road trip)
(contains some spoilers for SGA s3/4)
Most of the pictures were taken by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jwaneeta, as I stoopidly forgot to bring my camera...
So, San Diego Con: Cyn and I arrived on Wednesday at our trusty hostel downtown where we actually scored a really nice room for once, and met some of last year's crowd. The next morning I picked up my pro badge, without even having to line up... it appears they really got their online application process figured out. And we also managed to each get one of the hostel volunteers a free guest pass (you have to put in your guest's name when you apply, but after Cyn performed some Jedi mind trick on the lady behind the counter, they made an exception). We took things easy that first day, figuring that there'd be plenty of time to see everything at Comic Con (harhar). After lunch we headed for the beach at point Loma. When in San Diego, you gotto go to the beach at least once. (Did I mention we had nothing but rain in Germany all summer? It's pouring right now)
Returned to CC the next day bright and early. I went to Micheal Lovitz' Comic Book Law School seminar first, which I can only recommend - he makes this dry subject matter really fun, and there's always a lot of audience participation. And you can never hear too much about IP law, whether you're a fan artist or a pro.
I skipped out a little early because I wanted to make sure I'd get into ballroom 20 in time for the two Stargate panels. I managed to meet up withjwaneeta and also pukajen, who I hadn't met before. (I still don't know how we managed to find each other in that huge, dark room.)
jwaneeta, me, and pukajen
I enjoyed both panels muchly (even though at one point during those Q&A's there'll invariably be someone to ask a really embarassing and/or inappropriate question... it's like a rule or something.) But the panelists were great fun, not least because of the presenter, whose name escapes me now but apparently he played a minor character on SG1?
I'm now somewhat spoiled for SGA season three, but I already accidentally spoiled myself for the one thing regarding Carson when reading a fic (and man, does this spoiler suck... but I don't know specifics so please don't tell me what will happen).
Well, anyway, the spoiler sucks, but, I hadn't been aware that Jewel Staite will join the cast to make up for it! I loved her in Firefly, and she seems to have good chemistry with the rest of the cast. And I also liked Sam Carter in the four or five SG1 episodes I've watched. (Yeah,littleheaven70, I've started to watch SG1. Happy? *g*) and now I really want to see her interact with Rodney. Speaking of, judging by his blog, David Hewlett seems to be a real fangeek too, bless his heart.
The following day I skipped two overlapping panels I was really interested in, because the line in front of room 20 went halfway through the building and then outside... and I really wanted to see Joss. So I guess I'll just have to read a book on 'storytelling in comic books'. Anyway, I got in and ended up in the Futurama panel first... which was actually pretty cool, and I never even watched the show. Apparently the show got back on the air not least thanks to fan support, and the creators expressed their gratitude by creating a Futurama comic book about the whole thing, and then reading it in the characters' voices. Followed by half an hour of them doing impressions.
Then, on came Joss. And first couldn't get a word in, because there was just so much applause. Then finally the applause quieted down, but just when he started to talk, it branded up again. Yo, Comic Con loves Joss. He talked about his upcoming projects, and it sounds like he's got a lot of things in the works. I don't remember all the details, but it seems like the Ripper series on BBC could get greenlighted soon. Also, he's working on a ballet piece with Summer Glau IIRC, and on the Angel S6 comic series, and half a dozen other projects. (When someone brought up 'Wonder Woman', he did a little seizure impression. ^_^)
The end was really touching... I don't remember the exact wording but he said that the reception he got from us overwhelmed him because the insecure part of him had been wondering whether he's being forgotten... well, I think we took care of that misconception. :)
I drew this while standing in line for Joss, or waiting for panels to start. Another WIP, uncolored, plus I haven't drawn the faces yet. (yup, no way I can draw the characters, esp.Mckay, without picture reference... the pencilled heads are just a placeholder.) And I was having trouble spotting the blacks in this one, but I think I now know how to color it to get a good effect.
At some point I actually made it to the gigantic dealers' room, where I bought a ton of art books (they felt like a ton when I carried them back to Germany). That one time I strolled into the adult section, which I noticed when I was asked by one of the salespeople whether I was over 18. I lol'ed. They said, "I guess that means 'Yes'." Ah, those little things that can make your day. *g*
I finally managed to get my trembling hands on season eight of Buffy and 'Masks', the book that contains the official puppet!Angel comic mine was first. :P. So far all I've read is the puppet story. I found the plot okay, though it didn't exactly knock my socks off. Very good Angel likeness in that one though.
I went to the dealers' room a few more times during the con, and still I saw only a fraction of all there was to see. Next time I'll have a strategy and figure out beforehand what I want, work my way from east to west or something like that... that thing is just too huge. Bought a second "Serenity" t-shirt... I'm not as into Firefly as I'm into Buffy and Angel by far, but I love the design so I want a spare one. (I got chatted up by a lot of browncoats. :)
Cyn pointed me to the booth for "The Golden Compass", who had this promo. And it was somewhat hidden so there wasn't even a line.
*cherishes*
Lining up for the Once More With Feeling sing-along: Me and Jahmal, a very nice guy (who was btw involved in the making of the Serenity fan film, small world)
Con impressions:
zombie parade in downtown San Diego
On Sunday morning we took off for San Francisco. That last morning at Trusty Hostel we met a few people who'd come to SD in order to audition for American Idol. They performed their songs for us, and it turned out that Cyn, on top of being a fantastic artist, is also a great performance coach. It was fascinating. Would be cool if some of those guys made it through the first round (there were 8,000 people auditioning, I think.)
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is so quaint and pretty, even their superstores look like this:
That's the local Ralph's.
botanical garden...
Cambria, a lovely, tiny town with a just as lovely, tiny motel which we we never would've found without the Lonely Planet travel guide. When we strolled along the coast, we came upon this colony of seals:
Cyn even looks photogenic with the wind blowing in her hair. I'm not posting the pic she took of me there :P
They had a path along the coast which was perfect for running. I went for a long run later that day, the sea on one side, the wind in my face... it was wonderful, especially after spending a day in the car.
Hearst castle in San Simeon:
Two angels. In the background: Hearst's modest outdoor pool
view from one of the upper floors. The castle is built on the top of a mountain, during the first half of the last century, and the architecture is so well-built that it never got damaged in an earth quake. What looks like stone blocks is actually steal-enforced concrete.
A few miles north of the castle, there's a colony of elephant seals.
and also a colony of ground squirrels.
two seals kerfuffling
further up Highway 1:
We went wine tasting in Napa valley at this winery. Well, I tasted, Cyn drove.
Muir Woods
the colony of sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. One day a few sea lions found that those piers were much more comfy than their rock, and ever since they refused to leave. They're of course a major tourist attraction now, the fishermen were since given new places to tie their boats, everybody's happy.
pelicans
View of Alcatraz. Ever since I heard that the place is haunted, I wanted to see it. Alas, you have to book your tour a week in advance.
San Francisco was a blur of activity, so many things to do. Cyn knows a lot of people in town, which was a good thing too because that city was almost completely booked. We had to move pretty much constantly, but between crashing at Cyn's friends Trina and Steve, and onthedeadlyhook and toysdream's couches (thanks again, guys! ^_^), and persistently calling the hostels for cancellations, we did fine.
toysdream is a fantastic artist (seriously, Cyn and I were both having a moment of 'We're not worthy', he's just that good.) I bought this pastel painting from him.
... and I got this one on top of it. I'm a happy camper. :)
(btw, he's working on an Angel fan comic, like, right now. We've seen the thumbs, can't wait to see the final pages.)
japanese garden with teahouse
thedeadlyhook and astridv
We met with Cyn's friends from The Fantasy Bedtime Hour and had a great time.
Well, that was California. It was indeed excellent. I tried to getjwaneeta into SGA, and myself learned the whole back story of Dr Who. Heh. Now I'm back home and did I mention it's raining? That so doesn't help with the jet lag. I think I'll wake myself up by working on my fan art and/or watching an episode of SGA. My dad is gonna visit tomorrow at 11 (eleven!!!1!). I'm much looking forward to seeing him, I just hope he won't have to walk around with Zombie!daughter. I can't remember having such a bad case of jet lag... I mean, I slept until 4:30 in the afternoon today. Yikes.
[edited to change topic]: Holy Cow, the latest LJ debacle has made Spiegel Online (German link). I missed most of it of course, but I've been catching up. What a mess. I can see why LJ would rather see some of the content in question gone from their servers, and they're within their rights to decide what content they allow... as long as they actually make clear what that is, instead of constantly changing the rules and letting their users guess whether that thing that was acceptable last month is now reason for suspension. And deleting not the offending piece but whole accounts, paid ones at that, without prior warning or even the possibility of a refund - that's completely unacceptable. And it makes no sense to offend their user base further if they could instead remove the content in question and issue a warning. But then, that's just the heavy-handed, baby/bathwater style that we've come to expect from Barak & Co.
Until now I'd been relatively certain I'd renew my paid account come September, but now I'm torn. Who's to say that they won't suddenly, out of a whim, decide that fanfic is illegal and needs to be gone from their site. They wouldn't be the first ones arguing that case. No, I don't think there's much likelyhood for that... mostly, I really don't want to give them more money after that most recent stunt.
I don't want to have to move the dozens of pictures in my scrapbook, not to mention editing dozens of links. I certainly don't want to move from LJ but it looks more and more like fandom might break up their collective tents in the not-too-distant future. And where fandom goes there goes my nation. So anyway, I'm not moving if you're not. But just in case, here are my other journals (all dormant): http://www.journalfen.net/users/astridv, http://astridv.greatestjournal.com, http://astridv.insanejournal.com
Most of the pictures were taken by
jwaneeta, as I stoopidly forgot to bring my camera...So, San Diego Con: Cyn and I arrived on Wednesday at our trusty hostel downtown where we actually scored a really nice room for once, and met some of last year's crowd. The next morning I picked up my pro badge, without even having to line up... it appears they really got their online application process figured out. And we also managed to each get one of the hostel volunteers a free guest pass (you have to put in your guest's name when you apply, but after Cyn performed some Jedi mind trick on the lady behind the counter, they made an exception). We took things easy that first day, figuring that there'd be plenty of time to see everything at Comic Con (harhar). After lunch we headed for the beach at point Loma. When in San Diego, you gotto go to the beach at least once. (Did I mention we had nothing but rain in Germany all summer? It's pouring right now)
Returned to CC the next day bright and early. I went to Micheal Lovitz' Comic Book Law School seminar first, which I can only recommend - he makes this dry subject matter really fun, and there's always a lot of audience participation. And you can never hear too much about IP law, whether you're a fan artist or a pro.
I skipped out a little early because I wanted to make sure I'd get into ballroom 20 in time for the two Stargate panels. I managed to meet up with
jwaneeta and also pukajen, who I hadn't met before. (I still don't know how we managed to find each other in that huge, dark room.) jwaneeta, me, and pukajenI enjoyed both panels muchly (even though at one point during those Q&A's there'll invariably be someone to ask a really embarassing and/or inappropriate question... it's like a rule or something.) But the panelists were great fun, not least because of the presenter, whose name escapes me now but apparently he played a minor character on SG1?
I'm now somewhat spoiled for SGA season three, but I already accidentally spoiled myself for the one thing regarding Carson when reading a fic (and man, does this spoiler suck... but I don't know specifics so please don't tell me what will happen).
Well, anyway, the spoiler sucks, but, I hadn't been aware that Jewel Staite will join the cast to make up for it! I loved her in Firefly, and she seems to have good chemistry with the rest of the cast. And I also liked Sam Carter in the four or five SG1 episodes I've watched. (Yeah,
littleheaven70, I've started to watch SG1. Happy? *g*) and now I really want to see her interact with Rodney. Speaking of, judging by his blog, David Hewlett seems to be a real fangeek too, bless his heart.The following day I skipped two overlapping panels I was really interested in, because the line in front of room 20 went halfway through the building and then outside... and I really wanted to see Joss. So I guess I'll just have to read a book on 'storytelling in comic books'. Anyway, I got in and ended up in the Futurama panel first... which was actually pretty cool, and I never even watched the show. Apparently the show got back on the air not least thanks to fan support, and the creators expressed their gratitude by creating a Futurama comic book about the whole thing, and then reading it in the characters' voices. Followed by half an hour of them doing impressions.
Then, on came Joss. And first couldn't get a word in, because there was just so much applause. Then finally the applause quieted down, but just when he started to talk, it branded up again. Yo, Comic Con loves Joss. He talked about his upcoming projects, and it sounds like he's got a lot of things in the works. I don't remember all the details, but it seems like the Ripper series on BBC could get greenlighted soon. Also, he's working on a ballet piece with Summer Glau IIRC, and on the Angel S6 comic series, and half a dozen other projects. (When someone brought up 'Wonder Woman', he did a little seizure impression. ^_^)
The end was really touching... I don't remember the exact wording but he said that the reception he got from us overwhelmed him because the insecure part of him had been wondering whether he's being forgotten... well, I think we took care of that misconception. :)
I drew this while standing in line for Joss, or waiting for panels to start. Another WIP, uncolored, plus I haven't drawn the faces yet. (yup, no way I can draw the characters, esp.Mckay, without picture reference... the pencilled heads are just a placeholder.) And I was having trouble spotting the blacks in this one, but I think I now know how to color it to get a good effect.
At some point I actually made it to the gigantic dealers' room, where I bought a ton of art books (they felt like a ton when I carried them back to Germany). That one time I strolled into the adult section, which I noticed when I was asked by one of the salespeople whether I was over 18. I lol'ed. They said, "I guess that means 'Yes'." Ah, those little things that can make your day. *g*
I finally managed to get my trembling hands on season eight of Buffy and 'Masks', the book that contains the official puppet!Angel comic mine was first. :P. So far all I've read is the puppet story. I found the plot okay, though it didn't exactly knock my socks off. Very good Angel likeness in that one though.
I went to the dealers' room a few more times during the con, and still I saw only a fraction of all there was to see. Next time I'll have a strategy and figure out beforehand what I want, work my way from east to west or something like that... that thing is just too huge. Bought a second "Serenity" t-shirt... I'm not as into Firefly as I'm into Buffy and Angel by far, but I love the design so I want a spare one. (I got chatted up by a lot of browncoats. :)
Cyn pointed me to the booth for "The Golden Compass", who had this promo. And it was somewhat hidden so there wasn't even a line.
*cherishes*
Lining up for the Once More With Feeling sing-along: Me and Jahmal, a very nice guy (who was btw involved in the making of the Serenity fan film, small world)
Con impressions:
zombie parade in downtown San Diego
On Sunday morning we took off for San Francisco. That last morning at Trusty Hostel we met a few people who'd come to SD in order to audition for American Idol. They performed their songs for us, and it turned out that Cyn, on top of being a fantastic artist, is also a great performance coach. It was fascinating. Would be cool if some of those guys made it through the first round (there were 8,000 people auditioning, I think.)
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is so quaint and pretty, even their superstores look like this:
That's the local Ralph's.
botanical garden...
Cambria, a lovely, tiny town with a just as lovely, tiny motel which we we never would've found without the Lonely Planet travel guide. When we strolled along the coast, we came upon this colony of seals:
Cyn even looks photogenic with the wind blowing in her hair. I'm not posting the pic she took of me there :P
They had a path along the coast which was perfect for running. I went for a long run later that day, the sea on one side, the wind in my face... it was wonderful, especially after spending a day in the car.
Hearst castle in San Simeon:
Two angels. In the background: Hearst's modest outdoor pool
view from one of the upper floors. The castle is built on the top of a mountain, during the first half of the last century, and the architecture is so well-built that it never got damaged in an earth quake. What looks like stone blocks is actually steal-enforced concrete.
A few miles north of the castle, there's a colony of elephant seals.
and also a colony of ground squirrels.
two seals kerfuffling
further up Highway 1:
We went wine tasting in Napa valley at this winery. Well, I tasted, Cyn drove.
Muir Woods
the colony of sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. One day a few sea lions found that those piers were much more comfy than their rock, and ever since they refused to leave. They're of course a major tourist attraction now, the fishermen were since given new places to tie their boats, everybody's happy.
pelicans
View of Alcatraz. Ever since I heard that the place is haunted, I wanted to see it. Alas, you have to book your tour a week in advance.
San Francisco was a blur of activity, so many things to do. Cyn knows a lot of people in town, which was a good thing too because that city was almost completely booked. We had to move pretty much constantly, but between crashing at Cyn's friends Trina and Steve, and on
thedeadlyhook and toysdream's couches (thanks again, guys! ^_^), and persistently calling the hostels for cancellations, we did fine.toysdream is a fantastic artist (seriously, Cyn and I were both having a moment of 'We're not worthy', he's just that good.) I bought this pastel painting from him. ... and I got this one on top of it. I'm a happy camper. :)
(btw, he's working on an Angel fan comic, like, right now. We've seen the thumbs, can't wait to see the final pages.)
japanese garden with teahouse
thedeadlyhook and astridvWe met with Cyn's friends from The Fantasy Bedtime Hour and had a great time.
Well, that was California. It was indeed excellent. I tried to get
jwaneeta into SGA, and myself learned the whole back story of Dr Who. Heh. Now I'm back home and did I mention it's raining? That so doesn't help with the jet lag. I think I'll wake myself up by working on my fan art and/or watching an episode of SGA. My dad is gonna visit tomorrow at 11 (eleven!!!1!). I'm much looking forward to seeing him, I just hope he won't have to walk around with Zombie!daughter. I can't remember having such a bad case of jet lag... I mean, I slept until 4:30 in the afternoon today. Yikes.[edited to change topic]: Holy Cow, the latest LJ debacle has made Spiegel Online (German link). I missed most of it of course, but I've been catching up. What a mess. I can see why LJ would rather see some of the content in question gone from their servers, and they're within their rights to decide what content they allow... as long as they actually make clear what that is, instead of constantly changing the rules and letting their users guess whether that thing that was acceptable last month is now reason for suspension. And deleting not the offending piece but whole accounts, paid ones at that, without prior warning or even the possibility of a refund - that's completely unacceptable. And it makes no sense to offend their user base further if they could instead remove the content in question and issue a warning. But then, that's just the heavy-handed, baby/bathwater style that we've come to expect from Barak & Co.
Until now I'd been relatively certain I'd renew my paid account come September, but now I'm torn. Who's to say that they won't suddenly, out of a whim, decide that fanfic is illegal and needs to be gone from their site. They wouldn't be the first ones arguing that case. No, I don't think there's much likelyhood for that... mostly, I really don't want to give them more money after that most recent stunt.
I don't want to have to move the dozens of pictures in my scrapbook, not to mention editing dozens of links. I certainly don't want to move from LJ but it looks more and more like fandom might break up their collective tents in the not-too-distant future. And where fandom goes there goes my nation. So anyway, I'm not moving if you're not. But just in case, here are my other journals (all dormant): http://www.journalfen.net/users/astridv, http://astridv.greatestjournal.com, http://astridv.insanejournal.com