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Tuesday, July 27, 2010 10:00:34
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This year's vacation led me to San Diego, CA, for Comic-Con International 2010, the biggest geek-fest in the universe. After watching the highlights last year, it looked like it would be pretty fun, so I decided to give it a try. I bought the tickets and booked the tickets back in October, and even that was late enough that I missed out on Wednesday "preview night".
Here's a breakdown of the weekend - way more information than you care about or ever wanted to know...
Day 0: Wednesday
I took the day off of work on Wednesday to prepare. My plan was to go to sleep early on Tuesday night, wake up early, sleep 5 or 6 hours on Wednesday afternoon, then leave the house around 11pm to get to San Diego with plenty of time to spare on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, my stupid brain doesn't let me sleep on my schedule, so I ended up sleeping only about 2 hours on Wednesday evening.
Day 1: Thursday
I made the drive on schedule, and got to San Diego around 7am, after a couple of quick stops on the way (IHOP for a 3am breakfast, and a casino to stretch my legs and throw away 25 bucks). Knowing that parking at the convention center is not a good idea, I parked at the trolley station and took the train downtown. Unfortunately, an employee at the station misinformed me about the special "red-line" schedule, so I ended up waiting about 30 minutes longer than I needed before finding out that the red-line didn't come this early, so I'd have to take two trains. Of course, the wait at the next station was another 20 minutes or so, so I ended up getting to the convention center a little before 8.
Once there, I saw the line to get in - pretty long, but bearable. It wrapped around the back of the building, so I followed it back there. From there, it ducked around a corner, no big deal. But then it kept going and going and going - this had to be the longest line I've ever seen. The longest Disneyland lines were nothing compared to this line. But after about a half mile of walking just to get to the back, and another half mile to get back, I was finally in. Pre-registration/badge pickup moved surprisingly well considering the number of people there.
First stop, another line. The three USA shows (Burn Notice, White Collar, and Psych) were scheduled back-to-back-to-back in Ballroom 20, starting at 1pm. At 8:30, I saw the line was already growing, so I got in place. Three and a half hours in line in the hallway, alternating between standing and sitting in an uncomfortable position on the floor, while I was sleep-deprived, kind of sucked. For about an hour, there was a fairly steady stream of costumed attendees walking by, which was fun to watch. As big a TV nerd as I consider myself, I really had nothing in common with the people around me, so I didn't have much conversation, just a book to read (Dave Barry's History of the Millenium).
After another hour of waiting inside the auditorium, the panels began. I was in about the 8th row, so decent seats in a room of more than 4,000. The Burn Notice panel came first, and was pretty entertaining. Bruce Campbell was very funny, and the rest of the panel provided some fun and interesting answers to the prepared and audience questions. There was even an announcement of an upcoming Burn Notice prequel movie centering on Campbell's character. There was also a video describing how to do spy stuff to pitch your ideas to a Comic-Con executive, done in the style of the show. White Collar was next, a fun show starting its second season. The main cast was all there, including my favorite actress, Tiffani Thiessen, who of course looked great. The panel started with a funny video showing the planning of a caper to steal the new Tron footage, and moved on to some fun Q&A. Psych, probably the funniest show on TV right now, also had a very entertaining panel, including some singing and dancing.
The panels were fun, but honestly there wasn't much there that I would have gotten from watching the clips that will inevitably be on YouTube shortly if they're not already there. With such a large audience, there wasn't much of a chance to interact with the panelists. Also, both of the cameras I brought weren't able to take decent pictures of the panel - all of them had a horrible glare that made it impossible to see anything.
On the way back to the hotel at around 6:00, I realized the only thing I'd eaten since about 3am was a couple Oatmeal Creme Pies that I packed, so I decided to stop for dinner. I took the advice of a co-worker and stopped at Phil's BBQ, which also had great reviews on Yelp. The place has a line that wraps around the building, but since I was just going to eat at the bar, I could skip the 30 minute line and walk right in. The dinner menu is pretty much just beef ribs, pork ribs, and chicken - kind of limited for a BBQ place, but I tried the beef ribs and chicken combination, with fries. The dish came out, with tons of food. There were three giant beef ribs with lots of meat, and probably at least a half pound of chicken, along with a ton of fries. The sauce was excellent, thick and just a little spicy. Both the beef and chicken were great, and the fries were pretty good as well. Definitely the kind of place I'd frequent if I lived nearby.
Day 2: Friday
After 36 straight hours with only about 2 hours of sleep, my brain needed to be recharged. I decided to sleep in and skip day 2, which included Stargate: Universe, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, and The Joss Whedon Experience. I heard the Big Bang Theory panel was great, but somehow I doubt it was worth another day of 6 hours standing in line. So I played hooky instead.
With all day to kill, my first stop was lunch. I was in the mood for Philly cheesesteaks, so after a quick Yelp search, I ended up at Gaglione Brothers Famous Steaks & Subs for a Cheez Whiz steak sandwich with onions, with garlic fries. The sandwich was pretty good, but not as good as Corleone's back home. The garlic fries were a little weird, not something I'd have again.
I spent most of the day just kind of checking out the city. I checked out a few beaches and played some pool, and then it was time for dinner. I felt like Italian, and found one that looked kind of appealing, Paesano. I had the minestrone soup followed by baked lasagne and garlic bread. I really wasn't impressed.
Day 3: Saturday
Today was the Chuck panel, my favorite show on TV right now, and really the whole reason for attending the convention. The panel started late, and being scheduled for only 45 minutes, it ran pretty short. However, we did get a video and performance from Jeffster, and some insight into next season. Linda Hamilton will be making some appearances as Chuck's mother, and there will be several other guest stars as always, like the Old Spice guy. Unfortunately, with the time constraints, there was no time for audience Q&A, leaving the crowd a little disappointed.
I wanted to see one more panel later in the afternoon, so I stuck around and toughed out the next several panels. Family Guy was first - I'm not a fan of the show, but Seth MacFarlane is a funny guy, so the panel was bearable. The Cleveland Show was next, and that was horrible. Don't know how this show is on the air. Somehow Futurama is back on, and that panel was next - this show gave it a good effort when it started, but never really was funny, but it has a new home on Comedy Central, so Groening and crew were out there talking about it. The Simpsons was next, wrapping up the block of panels I didn't want to watch. Every time I watch the show anymore, I'm lucky to find one funny thing in the whole episode. It's another one of those shows that was great for awhile, but should have been ended about 5 or 6 years ago. But there was one funny moment in the panel; while answering a silly question about a Simpsons spinoff, someone brought up the fact that Seth MacFarlane has three shows, to which producer Matt Selman responded "Seth MacFarlane has one show three times", getting mixed reactions from the crowd.
The other panel I wanted to see was V, the remake of the old sci-fi miniseries, which will be entering its second season soon. The show is good, but the panel really didn't accomplish anything. The moron who was moderating it kept asking the actors questions about how the show is unfolding, and pretty much every answer was "Umm...well...I hope that...". The types of questions he was asking should have been directed at the show's creators and writers, and the actors should have been asked questions that they could actually answer.
After the panels, I was thinking about food, and I can't come all the way to Southern California without stopping at Shakey's. They currently have a special for a $9.99 large with BBQ sauce, bacon, ham, pineapples, and jalapeno sausage. It wasn't bad, but next time I'll stick with normal pepperoni pizza.
Day 4: Sunday:
There was nothing of interest in the Comic-Con schedule, so I took another day to relax. I figured I'd take this opportunity to find a day spa to get a fancy massage (and I mean a real massage, not a "massage"). I found one that looked promising, but never was able to contact them. The next place I found with good reviews was Suki Day Spa. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the location - it was downtown, just a couple blocks from the convention center, which meant parking was impossible. I ended up parking about a mile away in some hotel garage's "guest only" parking, and luckily the car was there when I got back. I went with the 4-handed massage, something I've never tried before. Totally worth it - a little expensive, but having two parts worked on at the same time is a different experience, very relaxing.
Dinner was at Hunter Steakhouse. I started with a caesar salad and a chunk of a pretty good oat bread and sweet butter. The main course was a filet mignon served medium rare, small but very flavorful and perfectly cooked. Sides were excellent au gratin potatoes and ordinary onion rings. For dessert, a good sized turtle cheesecake. Overall, an excellent meal.
General Notes:
This was the first time I've done serious driving in San Diego, and it's as bad or worse than Los Angeles. There are lanes merging with no notice, through lanes turning into turn lanes forcing you to change lanes to go straight, ambiguous stop signs, interstate freeways dropping to one lane (not construction, just the way it's built), freeway entrances inside neighborhoods, random onramp locations, endless business districts, unmarked freeway exits, unmarked intersections, 45-degree drops, and the same old California drivers.
My cats were happy to see me when I got home - they've been extra friendly since I've been home. I've never left them alone for more than about 2 days before, so I was worried that they'd be mad at me, or that they would have torn up the house while I was gone. But aside from a few things knocked over, the house was fine, nothing broken or damaged.
Comic-Con really isn't for me. Sitting on the floor or standing for 5 or 6 hours at a time just to be in the same room as my favorite TV actors isn't worth it to me. I'm not interested in the other pieces: comics, video games, or buying crap, and I really don't get a thrill from seeing a big movie star from across the room. It was fun seeing a bunch of people in costume, and the panels were generally entertaining, but not enough to get me back next year.
Yelp reviews
Phil's BBQ
Gaglione Bros.
Hunter Steakhouse
Paesano |
Tags: review vacation food tv
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