Halloween 09

Great, I spent one of the coolest holidays in The Valley (do streetview, its inspiring, NOT) without the aid of my fiance. The better half got sick, most likely the flue and she was actually looking forward to coming along and doing some pumpkin carving. Oh well. I managed to crack one of my own out. Wow-heads, look familiar? Eh?

All was not lost. My little sister was entertaining as I dragged her, her 2 friends and my other through the streets of the small burg harassing people for candy. I also managed to pull out a neat costume thanks to Theatreg33k by way of GeekGirlDiva. GGD gave Theatreg33k a present at SDCC09 and then T-g33k allowed me to create this rockin/easy costume . . . .
I was a "Buy More Ass. Man." After extensive research of the show Chuck, the best I could gather was that these shirts don't actually exist in that world. (they were an Entertainment Earth San Diego Comic Con Exclusive) The management in at Buy More sport slightly fancier duds than their peons. Minus of course, the Nerd Herd (shout out to my boy Moose, rockin the little car)
So, I whipped up a lame nametag in Paint and- BAM! instant amusing anecdote and costume for use in the future.

Happy Halloween, hope yours was better than mine, cause it could have been much worse.

3rd 4 t3h NRRD!, Sept. '09

Layin it down this month!

Jesse Dangerously!

Dude's got some serious lyrical agility. He has a low, gravely vocal sound the bounces around. First time I heard this artist it was as a collaboration on MC Frontalot's Nerdcore Rising album, on the title track Nerdcore Rising. (and while I'm shamelessly linking things with the same name, how bout a movie titled Nerdcore Rising. and if you know me IRL, ask me to borrow my copy!) I sought him out and was continually impressed by his skill. A "healthy" white dude, form Canada?! (Damn, that's a lot of Front in a post about Jesse . . I'll try to stop) This was awesome. He uses pleasantly obscure references and has a much dirtier, no not dirtier.... pure? . . honest, how about true, yes, a true feel to his rap. He is throwing down fast paced rhymes about things he's passionate about to back beats. True geek rap if I ever heard it.

Like some other artists I've partaken of, he can be a little flat when he tries to harmonize, and often this turns me off to a rapper. I am of the silly belief that music(i.e; hip hop, rap) is musical, not spoken word against music, that's a form of poetry, and although the lines often blur in this musical world, I keep the two separated in my mind for what I'm in the mood for. Jesse is different. He has an excellent sense of timing and can keep pace with a track, very well. And if he has more to say then the loop has time for, he can STILL fit it in with tempo trickery. He's . . almost like MAGIC!.

He's very clever and I'm sure if you were to bump any one of his collection down the main drag, people would mistake you for a normal G, rollin . . that is of course, until they actually listen to some of the lyrics.

What else can I say about this kat form the frozen north? He collaborates with countless other names in the genre, and is respected ( [start quote] "i only like one [nerdy rapper] and will say his name quite happily. Jesse dangerously. he's good." - mc chris, nerdcore godfather[/end quote]) as such.
Stick some of his deliciousness in your ear, and if you share any sort of musical taste with me(which, if you're still here, might be accurate) you can definitely appreciate his skill.

Comic Con 09 Part 3rd (for real)

Consciousness came, it was not entirely welcome, but alas, there it was. Upon what was really the last day of our adventure.

I dropped the gals off at the Con and sought free parking, found some, approx 2 miles away (no joke, if it had been, the number would have been higher, I assure you.) and strolled over. Whilst I walked I encountered a young couple who inquired if I was attending AwesomeCon, which they explained was a free "Con" being held at the Hilton which was "Tim and Eric Awesome Show" themed. I was wary of them at this point, but they did not display any other signs of retardation so I continued on walking and conversing with them and parted ways about Hall H.

I then made my way into the depths of the dealer hall, the subterranean underbelly of ComicCon, to find my Fiance. Short phone tag later, I located her about 1/8 the way down from the Hall H side of the hall. I followed her for a few rows and finally inquired what her goal was, "to go from one end of the hall to the other!" Ah, so this was to be my punishment before tonight was it? So I reshouldered the backpack and two swag bags she had on her person and began to channel my inner mule, well, mule with a grin, didn't help me much around row 3000, or so, I don't remember. We grumped at each other for a few moments, I went and watched anime for a few minutes, than met T1nk again when she offered me Frank Beddor and bribes. I took them of course and we then headed for the panel situation.

We saw Scott Kurtz, Brad Guigar, Dave Kellet, and Kris Straub. They talked about what it was really like to exist as a webcomic and T1nk took copious notes. Correction, Kurts partook of some shenanigans, offered to suck someones dick, THEN spoke of the webcomic industry with the two to his closer left, while the gentleman at the far end seemed to be mute, I don't recall rightly. to be sure, ask someone else who was there. AH HA! Brad was the mute (t1nk and I just puzzled it out.) good times, back to the dealers hall, for pics, go HERE!!!1!LOL (I told you I would link her eventually, so there!)

Yeah, She takes more/better pics than I do, so see hers there. I hope that I will be able to supply as awesome pic quality (not content, this is me we're talking about) once I acquire a new mobile electronic device.

Told Front to break a leg that evening (which he did), donated to Ms. Bredeen's Alcoholic habits, and managed to stalk GeekGirlDiva successfully. For finding this rare spawn, we acquired +1 Rare Shirt ( A Chuck Buy More Supervisor Polo) I'm not a huge fan myself, but I know good swag when I see it. Many thanks to the Lady from EE. ( dont click that EE if you value your savings.) To GGD; may your l00tz be phat, ur dps high, and you're absolutely right, THIS is a diva, not . . this . .

After T1nk got her stalk on, we all met up for dinner. after food, we headed off to The Casbah For AfterCon09!!!

FRONT!! LARS!! YT!!! C&H!!! SMBC!!! AND ZEALOUS1!?!?!? SNAP!!! I just nerdgasmed all over myself. It was the shizznizle.

They attempted to start with SMBC, but due to technical difficulties . . . .

YTCracker Kicked it off, Lars jumped in on a couple songs with him.
YT was good. He was all set, and as he likes to tweet #dothedamthang , which he did. good times.

Tech Krew got their gear together and we watched some Cyanide & Happiness shorts, as well as the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal shorts.
Greatly amusing, nothing that made me pee my pants but definitely funny, and great filler between sets.

The Front brutalized the stage along side The Categorical Imperative(his drummer) and his trusty laptop. YT & Lars helped out when needed.
My first time seeing Frontalot Live, but from the other shows I've watched (all of the Nerdcore Rising special features as well as all his site's vids) and he busted it out and laid it down. There was point where he got a lil crazy with his moves, looked like he tweaked his back out, but one "Yellow Lazers" later and he was back to his spastic choreography.

Couple more shorts . . .

MC Lars and Co. hit the stage with a vengeance and threw down. He informed us Zealous1 was there, and proceeded to rock the Casbah. (oh yes, I went there) Front helped out with "O.G: Origional Gamer"which part of was composed by Jonathan Coulton (whole lotta geek musician up in these things). After pouring his energy into the audience Lars invited Zealous up on stage to rock a song, as well as two lesser known MC's who laid down some lyrics, kudos to Lars for lettin the little guy bust one out, and after it was obvious Lars was done, T1nk and I had to bounce.

We missed Doomtree, and maybe one day I will find them and listen to them, but that day has not yet come, and we we're tired, and I felt guilty bout dragging T1nk along, so I told her we could leave.


Next morning, we dropped PievuhG off to grab some last second swag, picked her back up, ate at a Denny's nearby ( I had been jonesen for Chicken Fried Steak and Biscuits and Gravy since Thur's night, I was disappointed) and made the trek back up . . I-5 *shudder* and made it home before 11 PM. GJ team, hi fives all around. Here's to a better one next time. *Holds up a bottle of B33r Bawls*

San Diego Comic Con 2009 Part 2

Next morning, got off to a late start. rolled down the hill, took a left at Albuquerque when we should have turned down at Timbucktoo. (If you dont know that joke, grow older by five years or more, watch some loony toons, or GTFO mah bliggity blawg!) but still rolled right into downtwon San Diago(yes, Anchorman jokes were in full swing from celeb tweets and beyond)

By this time T1nk was in full "im-late-and-i-will-kill-if-i'm-not-on-time" freak out mode, so I dropped Pievuhg and the better half at the first good looking stop, and moved my way up to $15 parking lot that was a good mile away. hopped a bicycle taxi, tipped the poor guy with a roll of quarters (do not underestimate my brokeness) and schlepped up to get mah badge.

As I was herded like an animal of the field among a multitude of other geeks attempting to get into the convention center, I began to feel that familiar sensation of elation. These were my people, and I immediately began to judge them. But elitism aside, I never feel more at ease than at a con. this is where my kind, the geek, the nerd, the outcast, the goth, the Trekkie(wow, spellchecker corrected that for me, yikes), the weird guy, the gamer, the hacker, the candlestick maker, this is where we congregate and only our own judge us, not the entire locale. And if they're our own judging us, we at least feel the comfort that, they have an understanding, and don't come of their opinion blindly but from a mutual understanding that most of us know, we're still not considered "normal." And I don't know if I'm getting soft or just have gained more wisdom, but now I often think before I pass judgment, assessing the previous thought as well as playing devils advocate for a second. A good example of this is actually from a panel I missed entirely.
(for the extended version seek out Kevin Smith Q&A from Hall H Comic Con 09, there should be a link here somewhere . . . there's a good one, for shorter, try this, But I suggest starting at the top and writing off your next 2 hours.)
Kevin Smith effectively said GTF-OFF Twihards, they are the geeks of the future, they are girls w/Vamp hard on's, WTF is wrong with you dude?"

Oh look, a tangent, never had one of those, or sarcasm for that matter *false belly chuckle* Oh ho ho ho . . moving on . . . .

Grabbed my badge for Fri, was told I could grab my badge for sat after 4 pm, was tossed a swag bag (very literature heavy, less on the swag) and really started taking in the sights (see pic, the 2 Astromech droids in the general Lobby. Fear the SW fans!) , the sounds (general cacophony with strange snippets, and of course, the smells [if you are, know, or have interacted with any sort of social deviate for longer than two days, we don't smell the prettiest, no, not even some of the girls. It's unfortunate, but we are making strides towards change[its here that I wanted to link to a flyer/handout/thing by Something Positive about using a shower at conventions specifically targeted at geeks. i.e. undress, we know it's embarrassing, get under the water, we know, its cold, turn it towards hot. use the soap, no those aren't demon creatures eating your flesh, they are bubbles, and normal, then rinse, dry, and dress again.] Unfortunately I cant find said pamphlet, if anyone else can, please notify me). I then hustled to get to some hall where T1nk was already in line even though the panel was about to get out in less than 10 minutes. To be fair, it was a Coraline panel with Niel Gaiman. while waiting for Pievuhg to recover me, (I was a bit lost, but she had explored the con the day before) I am very confident, I saw Stan Lee. I heard the voice, looked back, there was a white suit upon an older gentleman wearing glasses, all attached to a mustache, and surrounded by an entourage. Liz found me, and took me to T1nk. ( ComicCon Nazi's/Elite's are, well, doing there jobs, to them; "please stop being dicks," if you encounter one; "they are doing their job's, don't bug them more than twice, don't be dicks to them, they're trying to keep the Con form being lame. If you have a problem, join staff and fix it." gee? sounds like cops.)

T1nk was still in line and concerned we wouldn't make it into the "9" panel at hall H because, well, it's Hall H. So, I told her, as her Man-Pack for the weekend I was gonna head over there and get in line. ( I had attempted to establish a couple times, that since I would be attending Aftercon, and dragging her along, AND since she paid for my tickets for ComicCon, I was there at her whim to carry swag [ill-gotten or otherwise], supplies, and hold spots in lines)
Pievuhg led me down to the bottom level and we popped into the dealer hall. What a ridiculousness. To say this hall is large, crowded, or noisy, is to call an ocean wet. Picture a pulga(that's flea market for you non-ethnic's) and put it under a large concrete ceiling and sink it about 5 feet under street level, and you've got an idea of how this place looked.
Pievuhg stopped at the ComicCon booth (not as awesome or impressive as you might think, very simple, one booth) to buy a sexy ComicCon shirt. I took the opportunity to find, as Scott Kurtz put it, The "Penny Arcade Elbow" which he was in, and it seemed, so was most of the rest of the WebComic Industry. MC Frontalot was holdin down a Corner of the PA booth as their official . . um, something fancy sounding, as Tycho likes to do, that effectively means Front is their official Rapper. I stopped, saw MC Frontalot in the flesh. Got my copy of Nerdcore Rising signed, Front regaled me with the fact that my copy was early run copy and superior to the merchandise in front of him. I was pleased. I then rolled around to the other side of the booth and had Gabe of Tycho and Gabe sign my "I roll twenty's" Shirt with the phrase "I thought you were supposed to get better at this" If I could get Wil Wheaton to sign that same shirt, I may end my life as a geek in peace.With geek/fanboy Nirvana almost attained I unerringly head to find THE LINE TO H! Found it, stood in it, T1nk showed up, stood in it. Met two groups of people, one groovy, one annoying, none worth more note than that.

Then, finally made it into the SUB-FUCKING-LINES INSIDE HALL H!!! which are there to further torment those who have endured the outside for 3+ hours. Apparently other situations have been explored and I pray and keep myself ignorant of the truth in the hopes that Comic Con higher ups have assessed other options and find that this is the most effective.

Once inside Hall H we find that the end of the Disney Panel is underway and find seats.
Disney panel: Tons of Fun. Beauty and the Beast in 3D this coming Valentines day ( I know what T1nk and I are going too).
But the one I am really excited for is The Princess and the Frog. Oh yeah, all hand drawn, full blown musical numbers performed by the characters. Good jokes, a nod to more mature audiences than just kiddy fare, a gator named Louis who solves problems with sharp sticks and plays jazz trumpet(after my own heart, I assure you) and a Cajun firefly named Ray who thinks as disjointed and quickly as he talks. I laughed my ass off at the 3 min clip they showed. I'm seein that one. Only down sides I can think of, the first black Disney princess isn't actually a real princess from the start, and as if New Orleans square in Disneyland wasn't crowded enough already, with Fantasmic, Haunted Mansion, three or so restaurants, one of the easiest to find bathrooms, the train station, and of course The Cpt. Jack sparrow ride, sorry, Pirates.
Also, Miyazaki, or, J-colonel Sanders, was there to promote Ponyo's release in the U.S with full Dub, and was awarded the g">Comic Con Inkpot award, those things are metal, I want one. Paton Oswald came out, made the Disney panel a little PG13 with the Q&A, awkward geeks were awkward cause it was friggin Miyazaki-san, and the panel ended.

There was than a lull in between panels and t1nk and I moved up for a better seat and settled in for an awesome panel. Some dude I didn't recognized was moderating but introduced the director, Shane Acker, as well as Acker's two "mentors" on the project, Tim Burton, and Timur Bekmambetov (the director from Wanted). Hrmm . . Tim Squared helped shane, lol. And two huge names working on the movie, Elijah Wood, and Jennifer Connelly. In Short, "9" looks awesome, and even if it's not the deepest movie, it will have a crazy nifty hook and be very pretty to watch. After this panel, T1nk and I left to locate Pievuhg and wander the Con Some more.

We wandered the dealer room, apparently Amanda Palmer(lead singer of Dresden Dolls) was doing a book signing that afternoon/evening and T1nk had to stalk her, we ate Con food, and were charged too much for it.

Around 5 PM was a lil in booth concert by MC Frontalot and the Categorical Imperative (his drummer) at the PA Elbow! (see Pic above, I know, its a shitty pic from my cell phone. I will get a better phone and try to take better pictures, never guarantees.)

Finally, due to the fact my parking pass was only good till 8:30 pm, we all decided to call it a day and headed back up the hill.

San Diego Comic Con 2009 part 1

(There is a room above the fire station on Main Street Disneyland which Walt Disney would stay in all the time. He would keep a light on to let the people in the park know he was there and after his passing they keep the light on all the time now. Thats right)

TEN FUCKING HOURS!!!Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself by about six hours. So, for the fun adventures of how we finally decided to go to SDCC see Theatreg33k . . damn. one of these days I will link the shit outta these posts.

SO! Pievuhg had a weekend pass (she's sleeping with the owner of a local comic shop, regardless of the fact that the owner is currently carrying her husbands child SHUSH!) but T1nk(theatreg33k, yes i know, "holy shit h47!? nicknames for your nicknames?!" shuddup, T1nk is shorter and its another of her personas, AND it's my blog, keep up!) and I only had passes for Fri & Sat, we were gonna drive down Wednesday, and while pievuhg was at the con thurs, T1nk & I would hit the magic kingdom (yes, we're Disney whores and have no shame about it. yes, i know they're an evil ubercorp, but I'll be damned if its not one of the most fun places in the world, get a childhood) *looks around* crap, got ahead of myself again.

Tuesday night (after D&D) I discovered my H47b0x(my computer) decided I could log in but would then log me back out of windows, so, had to get Epyon_Avenger on the case, my digital savior. I packed up for the weekend and attempted to sleep from 1 Am to 5 Am so we could leave at 6 Am. great plan, meanwhile, T1nk stayed up all night packing and such, just gonna sleep the whole way down, which she did. Left bright and early at about 7 am (of course), watched the sun come up as we drove down I-5, the varicose vein of the crack that is the central valley of California. Constantly paranoid and fighting my fatigue-to-hunger-to-"whatwasthatnoise?!wasitthecar?!" syndrome we made a few stops along the way. tried to talk pievuhg into letting us try and sneak her into the MouseLand around Anaheim, but she wouldn't have it. At that point I thought, "oh good, almost there, not much farther" my spacial recollection of the location of Anaheim to San Diego is still skewed. the last 2-3 hours of the drive were painful for me, I had no idea where i was going again, and of course, instead of -continue on I-5, then left on suchandsuch lane- it was, okay merge onto this highway, now this highway, now left, right, right, up, down, select, start, WTF!? apparently our sweet hookup to stay over is atop the only mountain in the basin (t1nk is NOT cool with windy roads, especially if they're atop a fucking cliff) and so TEN FUCKING HOURS after leaving, we had arrived. Got lost shortly thereafter attempting to locate civilization at the bottom of the hill, had chipotle (so fuckin tasty) and found THE EASY WAY back up the hill to our HQ for the weekend. slept like the dead.

T1nk and I woke up at . . . ? 7:30 am? 8? because we were gonna drop Pievuhg off at the con and head north back to Anaheim. Apparently Pievuhg was welcomed with booze the night before and was nursing a hangover and finally at about 9am T1nk and I realized she wasn't leaving with us. BAM, off to Walt's World. Rode rides and all that, forgot my lanyard (yes, t1nk got me hooked on pin trading the trip I proposed to her [blog about that later, I'm sure] but its actually very fun and I have a sixth sense for hidden mickey's, I'm like a boar to truffles. I just think a pin is cool, but when we look closer, there's ears. anyway) but still snagged a slick lanyard weight, AND, we caught the Electrical Parade. that shit was awesome, the intro music is really the best part. It broke down, sat there for 3 mins, and a deisel pull cart rolled up and pulled it along. it was awesome. I want to be an electrical bug, that looks like so much fun.
made it back to HQ without incident, ready to attack Comic Con '09 fast and hard, just like me, OH!