San Diego Coimc Con - Day 3 - Saturday

Since I missed so much of yesterday I was going to make sure I spent as much time at the con today as possible. Though I got in from the party around 12:30am and went to bed around 1am, I was up early around 6 and started to get ready. I didn't want to have to wait for anyone to put on my ears this morning so I actually slept with them on. I wrapped a t-shirt around my head and slept that way. So this morning I took off the shirt and the ears looked great. As for my feet, I was actually going to sleep in them because they were such a pain to get on yesterday but with the shoehorn I was hoping it wouldn't be so bad. And I needed to get them off anyways as I had some major blisters because unfortunately I gave Greg some "smaller" shoes I couldn't wear socks with them so I had to go barefoot in them and all the rubbing and sweat irritated my feet.

So first thing was to take a shower and soak my feet, but I couldn't get my head wet as I wasn't sure if the ears would stay on. I wanted to add more hair to my Hobbit feet as some fell off during the day yesterday. So with my hobbit ears on I walked to 7-11 to get some white glue. It was funny as they were setting up a farmers market in front of our hotel and I walked passed about 20 or so people and not one of them gave me a second look. Even the cashier at 7-11 didn't acknowledge that I had on Hobbit ears.

When I got back to the hotel I grabbed some snipping from the hair cut yesterday and attempted to add hair to my feet. I was somewhat successful but more of the hair just wound up sticking to my hands. Once I was done I got my Hobbit outfit on, minus the vest (lost a button at the party), then the wig and finally my feet. Again my right one went on with no issues but the left one took about 30 minutes before I could slip it on. I knew that my feet were suffering but I didn't care. I wanted to spend all day in my Hobbit outfit. I worked hard on it and wanted to show it off.

Troy and I took a taxi to the convention center this morning as I said my feet weren't doing so well. My brother was still at the hotel sleeping in a bit and planned to have his wife Lora drive down to SD and drop off his Tron outfit. Once at the convention center Troy and I parted ways and I started my rounds. I planned on doing nothing but walking around taking pictures and having pictures taken of me.

The Guild panel was the only panel I wanted to see today and was at 4ish, but I still hadn't heard if I was going to be able to get in. So I went to Brian and asked, he informed me that I would need to stand in line and if I didn't get in he said to linger in the hallways and he might be able to get me in to stand against the wall. I have to admit I was upset, hurt and disappointed. He said the reserve seating was for press and sponsors. So when the time came to get in line it was hot outside and there was no way I was going to stand in line for hours in my Hobbit outfit hoping to get in. So I opted to not go at all and for the first time I didn't get to the Guild panel :(

My brother Micheal finally showed up but not in costume as his Tron outfit had some electrical issues. And then my friend Leslie arrived in costume and we roamed the lobby area. I knew with Leslie by my side I'd be getting in a lot more pictures and that was the case. We stood in one spot for about a half hour and had person after person come take our pictures... first together, then separately.. it was pretty awesome. Then my friend Chris showed up in costume and he and Leslie decided to head back to their hotel and change. So I walked around a bit more, though my feet were killing me. Until the floor closed at 7pm. Michael, Troy and I met up with my buddy Scott and we decided to go grab a bite to eat. We waited for Chris and Leslie who were suppose to go to the hotel and change and then come back but they never showed up again. My buddy Thomas did show up and have a bite with us.

We were all invited to a party but I was spent, my feet were killing me and bleeding and I needed to get back to the hotel. Troy, Thomas, and Scott opted to party hop while Michael and I headed back to our hotel. It was about 10pm when I got back to the hotel and I took off my Hobbit feet to see all the sores and bruises caused by the feet... it's going to take a few weeks for my feet to fully heal.

Overall Saturday had some super highs (having hundreds of people take my photo) and super lows (not getting into the Guild panel), but over all it was another fun day at comic con.

Check out more picture here:

Kenny & Friends:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150717480660375.706633.707225374&l=0baccddeda&type=1

Costumes:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150717409685375.706617.707225374&l=8cea480cf7&type=1

San Diego Coimc Con - Day 2 - Friday - KOTG Live Podcast / BBQ

So Jenni and I have been wanting to do something for Knights of the Guild podcast at Comic Con, last year we attempted to rent a place to have a Guild trivia night but things didn't work out. This year our good friend Lydia offered us the Guildie Townhouse to do a live Knights of the Guild broadcast. We figured we might as well have a little party as well. So I set up the invite and went through my facebook friends and added those I thought would be interested. By the end there were over 100 guests and I knew this house would hold maybe 30 tops. We also got approached by a geeky band who wanted to play live music at this party. I knew it had gotten out of hand so I cancelled it. I still wanted to do the live podcast and have friends over so I sent out another invite and we wound up with about 30 people this time around.

So I had gotten to the Guild house earlier that day (read my previous blog) and dropped off all the food and drinks. The party started at 7pm and the live podcast started at 7:30pm. So Chris, Leslie, Michael and I got to the house around 6:30 to start to set up (well I did, the others sat on the patio and started the party early). Eva and Louis were already at the house and helped me set up things. 7 came and folks started to show up. Chris started the BBQ and folks kept coming. Soon we had over 50 people in the house, luckily it's a large house but I didn't know or invite 1/3 of the people, which upset me because I purchased the beer, drinks and food that everyone was eating. Anyways.. the party was hopping, we had Rock Band in the living room, BBQ out on the patio and live podcasting in the office. We had planned to start at 7:30 but my co-host Jenni was no where to be found. We also planned to do a video podcast but again due to technical issues we could only do an audio podcast and broadcast audio only. At 8 there was still no sign of Jenni so I enlisted the help of fellow podcaster Andrew of Podcast Squared and my brother Michael to co-host the show with me.

We first started with an interview with Vince (the only cast member to join us.. Thanks Vince) who plays Bladezz on the show. Then I interview extra Anne and then stunt woman/actress America Young when down the stairs came walking Jenni who was up stairs sleeping this entire time. As she sat down with David from Whedonopolis who came to our event to do an article for the website. I got a break to walk around and visit with folks. When Jenni was done she got up and went to play RockBand and I grabbed by buddy Thomas from Ireland and sat down to do a fan interview about CC with him. Soon after my friend Andrew joined us and took over as I went off to socialize a bit more. Once those guys were done I wrapped up the show, saved it and looked forward to posting next week. (which will never happen, will explain in SDCC Sunday blog).

So the podcast was over and the party was rocking. Folks seemed to be having a blast. The party was officially suppose to end at 10pm but actually went to 11pm by then folks started to leave and then around 11:30 Lydia and I shewed the remaining stragglers out.

Overall the Podcast didn't go as planned, there were a bit more party goers then planned but the food and drinks seemed to last and everything told me how much fun they had... so in the end the first Knights of the Guild Live Podcast / BBQ party was a success.

Check out more photos from the party HERE

San Diego Coimc Con - Day 2 - Friday

Today I was up around 7am and out the door by 7:30am. I had to get my jeep and drive to Ralphs to buy all the food and drinks for tonight's Knights of the Guild live podcast / BBQ party. The trip was uneventful, got to Ralphs and got hot dogs, burgers, chips, soda, beer and such, spent a about $200. Drove over to The Guild townhouse and after some text/tweets/phone play got in and started to unload all the goodies. While at the townhouse I planned to met with Greg Aronowitz's who had my Hobbit ears and feet and Leslie who was going to cut and style my Hobbit hair around 10am. Today I was going to go in full costume as a Hobbit. I was extremely excited as I've been working on this outfit for months and it was all coming together finally. So I sat and waited, and waited, and waited until around 11 when my brother called me and said he was close by and asked what city SDCC was in. I told him San Diego but his online direction sent him to La Mesa. After setting him straight it took him another half hour until he made it to the townhouse to start his SDCC adventure. I had already heard from Leslie and she was running late helping other people and would be over soon. Noon rolled around and I have to admit I was getting very frustrated that no one had showed up. I was wasting my Friday sitting at the Guild townhouse. Around 1:30 I almost gave up and just went to con, but then both Greg and Leslie showed up about the same time and I got a good look at my Hobbit feet in person for the first time, they were pretty EPIC!!! He also brought my ears and glued them on. He left and Leslie went to work on make up and blending my ears in with the rest of my face. After that she went to work on the wig. Since I had my ears on and we didn't want to mess with them my brother got volunteered to put on the wig and have Leslie cut it. Half hour later she had it look 1000 times better then it did. It still isn't the best wig but she did wonders with it. I put on my Hobbit clothes and tried to put on my hobbit feet, with no success. It's now 2pm and half of my comic day is over.

We still had to take both cars (Michael's and mine) back to the hotel, get my feet on and get to con. We dropped off my Jeep at my hotel and then attempted to put on my Hobbit feet. After struggling 20 minutes I got my right one on, but a half hour later it was no use I couldn't get on my left one. Greg had mentioned that I should get a shoehorn but I didn't take his advice.. now I was regretting it. So around 3pm we went in search for a shoehorn and fifteen minutes and 3 stores later, we were successful. We took Michael's truck to the petco parking garage and once there it took a few minutes but I got my left foot on and my outfit was complete. I was hot, sweaty and uncomfortable but I was ready for comic con. We arrived at the convention center around 4pm. Six hours later then I expected.

Before I even got into the convention center I was having people asking to take picture of me. Inside Michael and I did a bit of walking around. This was Mikes first time and he was in awe of the largeness of it all. We did the floor for an hour or so but with my Hobbit feet I was afraid of having someone step on them so I opted to show him around the entire convention center. As we walked around I had 50 or 60 folks ask if they could take pictures and inquire about my Hobbit feet. We meet up with Chris and Leslie and the three of them hung back and listen as people would see me and say things like .. look it's a Hobbit or wow look at those feet, or yell out Hey Bilbo, or Hey Frodo. It was only about three hours but it was a blast having folks appreciate all the hard work that went into my costume. About 6:30 Chris, Leslie, Michael and I headed to the Guild townhouse but before that we stopped by a CVS which was interesting as folks inside who were not con goers checked me out in my full Hobbit garb. Will post another blog about The Knights of the Guild Live Podcast / BBQ event.

While the day started with frustrations it ended well as I now have a fantastic Hobbit costume.

You can check out more pictures from SDCC 2011:

Kenny & Friends:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150717480660375.706633.707225374&l=0baccddeda&type=1

Costumes:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150717409685375.706617.707225374&l=8cea480cf7&type=1

San Diego Coimc Con - Day 1 - Thursday

Got a decent night sleep last night, had fun at preview night and was looking forward to today. There were several panels that I wanted to see today. The One Ring dot net "The Hobbit", Dragon Age and Clone Wars Season Four. First one "The Hobbit" was set to start at 10am so I up and out the door around 8:30am so I could get to the con by 9am. While heading over I was getting tweets that folks were already lining up. As the panel after The Hobbit was the very popular Felicia Days' new webseries Dragon Age (which I always wanted to see). So when I go there I found my friend Dani a few people from the front but couldn't jump in line with her because of the barriers, as I continued to walk around the line I found several other friends Anne and Rachelle in line and they waved me over to join them. Three hobbit ladies were grumbling about line cutting but I didn't care I was getting in to both panels.

The One Ring dot Net is a great site for all things Lord of the Rings. It is a fan site so they presented all the information that they had gathered about the two Hobbit movies. It was a cool panel, though I think I already knew everything they announced as I frequently read their website. After that panel was Felicia Days' Dragon Age Redemption panel. George Ruiz moderated while actors Felicia Day and Doug Jones along with several game creators and crew were on the panel. They showed the trailer and unfortunately it was in black and white (tech issues), but we did get to see it again in all it's color glory. That panel was fun, Felicia Day is always a great speaker and she was in her element.

After that I had a few hours to kill so I headed down to the sales floor. My friend Chris arrived and we hooked up. We grabbed some lunch (pretzel dog) and headed out back to eat near the water. Once we were done there we both wanted to do a Star Wars panel, he wanted to so Star Wars The Old Republic and I wanted to do Star Wars The Clone Wars Season 4. Luckily they were back to back in room 6BCF. They line was huge so we decided to get in a few hours early and hopefully get in by the time his panel started. Well I didn't know 6BCF is a large room and they started to let folks in and soon enough we were inside for the Tekken Vs Street Fighter panel. It was a very bizarre panel, but folks seem to love it. I have never been into either of those games so I really didn't know what was going on. But an hour later Chris' Star Wars The Old Republic (Star Wars MMO) panel started and that was very enjoyable. Though I don't intend to play (crappy internet), I love Star Wars and it was fun seeing what they had come up with. Then it was time for the panel I was really looking forward to today... Star Wars the Clone Wars Season 4. Had a few of the producers but the person I was most excited to see and hear was the show runner himself Dave Filoni. He and George are the mastermind behind one of the coolest TV series currently on. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and each week I get a piece of this new epic story. They were there to talk about the upcoming Season 4, they showed six or seven clips and it all looked AMAZING.

Joining the guys on stage were Team Unicorn (Michele, Milynn, Clare and Rileah) dressed as Night Sisters.. they looked GREAT!!

After the panel I wanted to hang around to see if I could get a picture with the Unicorn girls as I know 3 of the 4 of them. As they came out they saw me and immediately came over to hug me. I asked for a pix and they were happy to do so. Then Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) came up and asked for a picture. Bonnie Burton was there and I got a picture with her, Kyle Newman (Director of Fanboys) was there and finally to my surprise Dave Filoni was there and I had saw him earlier on the show room floor and I wanted to say hi so bad but chicken out but this time I was determined to say hi and to thank him for The Clone Wars and I did just that. I think I stumbled on my words but he got the idea. I asked if I could get a picture and he said of course. Meeting Dave was a highlight of my 2011 comic con experience.

After that I was on cloud nine, Chris and I headed back to the floor met up with a few friends here and there but around 7pm we headed to a near by Ralphs as I needed to buy all the food and drinks for my Knights of the Guild live podcast bbq. But as we got closer to Ralphs Chris and I knew there would be no way of carrying all this stuff to the Guild townhouse where the party was happening. While we were walking we got a text from Andrew and Scott asking if we wanted to hook up for dinner. So we changed or plans Chris headed out to met up with Leslie and I headed to the Bristol Hotel for a New Media meet up. There I got to see so many "online" friends and even got to meet Angelique who I have talked to on Twitter forever but never met in person. Adam Levermore  was there and mentioned that a group of folks were going to go the Yard House for dinner. So we started to make our way there when we met up with Leslie, Chris and Leo. As we were talking by some hotel I noticed this very blue eyed boy smoking outfront, as I passed by he turned to look at our group and gave us a smile.. as we passed by him everyone looked around and said... wasn't that Elijah Wood.. Once at the Yard House there was going to be an hour wait so we opted to find another place. We also met Troy along the way. So now we were up to 13. We tried Hard Rock but they we no longer taking reservations so we ended up back on 5th at a place call Maloney's. There was no waiting which was great but the server was slow (might have been because of our large numbers). We grabbed two booths and enjoyed a good dinner and great company. Soon enough it was close to midnight and I needed to get back to my hotel to sleep as there was a lot do tomorrow.

You can check out more pictures from SDCC 2011:

Kenny & Friends:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150717480660375.706633.707225374&l=0baccddeda&type=1

Costumes:  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150717409685375.706617.707225374&l=8cea480cf7&type=1

San Diego Comic Con - Pre-View Day

Comic Con - Pre-View Day

Woke up early today as I couldn't sleep. It's like Christmas for geeks.. The San Diego Comic Con is about to begin. I still had a ton of things to do before I headed down. I still needed to pack. I had gathered all my stuff together and put it in the dining room but still needed to go into the garage and get the suitcases. This year I was dressing up as well so I also had to make sure I grabbed all the parts to both of my costumes. I am also podcasting live from SDCC so I had to pack up my mobile recording unit. So there was still lots to pack up. I was up at 5:30am (as I said earlier, I couldn't sleep). So I started to pack and was finished around 9am. I then went out to my Jeep and cleaned it up. I also have a slow leaking tire that I have been wanting to get fixed for a week or so but my work schedule as prevented me from doing so. So I was going to switch out my full spare for that tire but couldn't get the nuts off the tire so I'll just have to deal with the slow leak, hopefully that won't case me any issues this week.

At 10am I was ready to head out, stopped first to put air in the tire and fill up my tank, then went to the store to pick up some snacks, water and such. By 10:30 I was on the road heading to Los Alomitos to pick up my friend Troy who was joining me at SDCC this year. Got to his place around 11:30, had to run an errand for him and then we headed down to San Diego Noon. Traffic wasn't bad, a few pockets of traffic but got here down here in just a few hours.

We went to the hotel but it was too early to check in but fortunately they had a parking space underneath so I was able to park my Jeep under the hotel and Troy and I headed to the Convention Center to pick up our passes. Our Hotel is about 2 miles from the Con so it's a nice walk. As we got closer to he con the excitement built. Every year I swear I'm not doing SDCC next year but when it's time to book a hotel or buy tickets I forgot all the craziness and do it.. Anyways on our way to the con we ran into my buddies Andrew and Scott who were eating lunch at a pub. We said hi and said we would be back once we got our passes.

We got to the convention center and it wasn't too bad.. sure there were thousands of people but the bulk had not yet arrived. We walked right in to the convention center and ten minutes later we had our passes and were ready to go. Once we had our passes we headed back to Andrew and Scott but before we got to them I had some woman off the street ask if she could get a picture of me. I wasn't dressed up or anything.. just wearing my Flash tshirt. It was very bizarre. Well we got back to Andrew and Scott and had a great lunch with those guys. Once we were done we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel to check in.

We checked in and we got some great rooms with a beautiful view. We're on the top floor and on the outside looking over the water. After we checked in we took a quick break before heading back to the convention center for the start of preview night at 6pm. We got there around 6:30pm and headed to the Guild booth to say hi to the cast who were signing. Got to meet up with a few more Guildies, finally started to walk the floor with Troy and Thomas and got about 90% of it done before they started to close the hall at 9pm.

After they closed the hall most of the Guildies went to the Hammer Improv show, but Troy and I went to Cafe Diem to grab some dinner. I love Cafe Diem and try and eat there as much as I can. Once we were done eating we headed to the Omni for a Think Hero meet up but when we got there we didn't see any familiar face and we were tired so we decided to head back to the hotel room.

Got back to the room around 11:30pm and crashed.. I had blisters on both feet and soreness in very delicate parts of the body. Stayed awake another hour or so chatting with Troy before going to bed.

Gotta get up early for the first day of SDCC.

Pictures to follow!!

So Much To Do!!!

Here was my plan for Saturday:  Get my Jeep Smoged/registered and the tire fixed. Interview Kim and Sean for KOTG CompanionCasts, edit a portion of KOTG CC 501 and 502 and Edit KOTG #35. Also I'll try and sew buttons and hem my Hobbit pants and try and find a Hobbit wig.

Well this is what I actually got done. I finished Knights of the Guild episode #35, interviewed Kim Evey and Sean Becker for my KOTG CompanionCast and worked on stringing out episode 501 for the CompanionCast.  And that was all.. not nearly as much as I wanted to do but better then nothing.

So my Sunday plan was interviewing Felicia for KOTC CC, finished the 1st two KOTG CC 501 & 502. Finish KOTG #35 and finish MASH 4077 Podcast #13 and if I can't find a Hobbit wig I'll attempted to do that was well. Oh and I'll prepare for Comic Con.

And what I actually got done; worked on my Hobbit pants, sewed on buttons and hem (shortened) them. Found and tried to alter a wig, finished my next MASH 4077 Podcast episode 13, Interviewed Felicia Day for KOTG CC 501, 502, and 503. Added Felicia's audio to episode 501 of the CompanionCast (but didn't finish it).

So I got everything done with exception to getting my Jeep smogged and the tired changed. And finishing KOTG CompanionCast 501 & 502. And the wig I got is still not working the way I want.. still need to work on it.

I didn't get everything done as planned but I'm happy with the amount of work I did get done.

Two days to Comic Con and I still have so much to do.

My Hobbit Outfit - Need Opinions

Okay.. finally finished with my Hobbit outfit. Got the pants, shirt, vest, suspenders, cloak and pipe. Have the wig/hair but not happy with it yet.. still working on it. And Greg is in the process of finishing up my Feet and Ears.

So here is what I need to know.

Which combo do you like better:

Suspenders No Vest No Cloak

Vest No Cloak

Vest with Cloak

Suspenders No Vest With Cloak

I like all the looks and may do various ones throughout the day but wanted to know what you guys think.