San Diego ComicCon International 2011, Saturday

Saturday the 23rd (Day 3):  Got in line for The Indigo Ballroom at The Hilton about 6:30am to see one of my favorite shows (Sanctuary) in panel and actresses (Amanda Tapping).  Not knowing how long the lines might get, I got their early and I am glad I got their when I did, because my line buddies were great.  I didn't get the best seat that I wanted for photos, but I still managed just fine.  Sat through "Attack of the Show" panel and got to behold the sight of a Standing Chair Nerd Rave in action - we had all been given glow sticks and at the end of the "Show" panel, there was a sort of techno music video shown to glow stick along to. 

Sanctuary Panel featuring Amanda Tapping , lots of love and Robin Dunne..   Amanda talked about shooting almost all green screen and dealing with imaginary abnormals.  Like there will be tweaks to the rendering and then the director can come up and say something like, yeah, you should be more scared here.  Or being able to say, ok, this is what you are fighting.  Amanda had a scene in a room where she had to fight an abnormal first by hitting it with the butt of her gun and then kicking it, but there was nothing there - challenging!  Then Robin chimes in with "You said butt, heh heh. Oh, hey, we just lost everyone in the room."   Robin talked about his Balliwood dance moves and how terrible rehearsal was but how he somehow became flawless on camera, but doesn't remember ever dancing that day.  His character also seems to get beaten up all the time.  Amanda told him that he just falls down so beautifully... just gotta keep knocking him down.   Both spoke about how amazing Christopher Heyerdahl is and how much he has to deal with when he is in makeup for Bigfoot.  They also said that he really becomes different people when he is playing different characters (he plays Bigfoot and John Druitt) even off camera.  I would have loved to see more of the cast and crew, but at least I got to see Amanda and I had a very, very good time with this panel, they have a wonderful bond. 

Back to the hotel room to change into pirate gear for me and steampunk gear for my CB .  Tried to go light on what I was carrying because I didn't want to have a bag with me, just a few items that I would carry like my sketchpad.  I wanted it to just be me, my costume and a chance to just wander around unencumbered.  Dumb.  Ended up with an armload of freebies and other stuff like three issues of The Guild that I didn't have when we stopped by The Guild booth.  Walked up to the Hero Initiative Booth to see if Dave Gibbons was signing there, but turns out they had only done a raffle that featured him and so that squelched my dream of him signing my Watchmen graphic novel.  But I ended up with this signed issue to help spread the word about this organization that helps down and out writers and artists in the industry get back on their feet.    My main goal was to stop back by Jeff Smith's table to say hello and look how much better I'm doing, thank you once again for being awesome all of you and get a sketch.  He was just finishing up that hour of signing, so my CB and I said hello and left, with me planning to come back at 3:30 for his next signing time.  My CB and I parted ways, I went to find Freddie Williams III for a sketch (he knows some of my friends back in KC because he used to work for Hallmark).  Discovered David Lloyd's artist table and madly contacted my CB to grab my trade of V for Vendetta while she went back to the hotel room to change out of her costume.  A TV documentary crew asked to interview me about my pirate garb (I was a Pirate Avatar that day) and so I gave my name, my costume name and spun around and struck a pose for the bright lights.  Wandered back down to The Elephantmen Booth, got a free sketch by Axel  and Richard gave me a 1000 piece puzzle of Hip walking the streets.  Discovered the booth of a writer I met at ECCC several years ago (Frank Beddor) and I stopped to say hello and congratulations - got the third volume in his Alice in Wonderland trilogy  .  Jeff Smith did a sketch for me and said I was looking beautiful and healthy .  David Lloyd did a sketch for me besides sign my V for Vendetta and by then I had to go back and unpack my arms.