San Diego Comic Con Day 4

Got up early once again, I was cosplaying as a Hobbit again (people seemed to really like it) but Chris decided to dress up as Barney Stinson from How I Meet Your Mother.

We did our normal routine and ate breakfast at Subway before making our way to the convention center. Once again this was a nice walk around the con in character and have pictures taken of us. We meet up with our friends Rachel and Jes, they had panels at Nerd HQ at noon but were going to hang out with us for a bit.

One of the highlights of the trip was when I was at the Weta booth and a Weta employee lady grabbed me and walked me over to where Richard Taylor (the man behind Weta) was sitting to show me off. He waved and gave me the thumbs up when he saw my outfit. Then another employee of Weta took my picture and said he would put it up on their website (You can see HERE  and scroll down to July 15th) and then he proceeded to take me to the Cave Trolls to get a picture of me there as well. Everyone there loved my outfit and it made me proud of what I put together. The guy who took my picture gave me a magnet in the shape of Hobbit feet... it's pretty cool.

After that we wandered around for a bit and I found my friend Jamie Chambers booth. He invented a new card game and I went to purchase it and reached for my wallet in my backpack when I noticed that my backpack was gone. Immediately I start to panic... not only is my wallet in there with a few hundred dollars, Chris' new Ipad is in there. The last place I remember it being was near the bathroom when I put it down to take some pictures with people. I guess I just walked away and left it there. Chris quickly ran back over there to see if it was still there but I was doubtful as it had been thirty minutes. He came back empty handed so we pulled out my iphone and checked the location of his iPad. I have a Find Friends app that allows me to see where my friends (with iphones/ipads) are, at all times. We saw that the ipad was still at the convention center, but the radius was to wide and we couldn't pin point the location. I decided to head to the Lost and Found booth. A few years back I lost my cellphone and it was turned in there so I was hoping I'd get lucky once again. We got to the lost and found and as I walked up they were emptying the content of my backpack onto a table and inventorying it. One of the guards just dropped it off. Everything was still in there.. whew.. that was a close call. I don't mind losing my stuff but I would have hated to have lost Chris' stuff. From now on that back pack is sticking to me like glue.

The ladies left and Chris and I continued to walk around the show floor. We went to the Jason Palmer booth (he's one of my favorite geeky artist). I was hoping he had something new but atlas there was nothing I wanted to buy. But my buddy Chris bought three paintings, Indiana Jones, Boba Fett and Serenity/Mal.. all three are AWESOME prints and will look great in his place. We also stopped by my friend Teal's booth were she and Sean Becker were promoting My Gimpy Life. It was great seeing those guys.

We meet up with my brother Michael, Aaron and Rupert and headed out to grab a bite to eat. When we first got into town I noticed that we drove by The Counter, a really cool burger place. so we headed that way. It was hot and my feet were killing me. The Counter wasn't that far from the con but when we got there it hadn't opened yet. We opted for TGIF instead. We were meeting Adam, Katie and her friend there. The seven of us had a nice lunch before going our separate ways. Chris ran off to see if he could get one of those knitted figures, while my brother and I went back to the townhouse to rest. Chris came back empty handed so he and I headed back to con.

This is when my second most memorable moment happen. I got to meet Sean Astin from Goonies / Rudy / Lord of the Rings. He was signing at the Hollywood Treasures booth. It cost $40 to get an autograph but I didn't care. I've been a huge fan of Sean for years and it was awesome to get to meet him. And a plus, he really liked my Hobbit costume. I was so excited to meet him that when I went to put his picture in my backpack.. yep.. I left it by his table. Luckily we were only a few feet away and Chris ran over and got it.

We headed back to the townhouse to drop off stuff and rest a bit. We debated on going back to con as we were going to a Marian Call concert at 7pm and we had to drive or bus there. I wasn't sure I wanted to go or just stay at the con til 7 cosplaying. We headed back to con for about a half hour when I realized it was a waste of time and I did want to go to Marian Call concert and headed back to the townhouse.

Chris helped my brother once again Tron up and Chris and I got ready to head out. We were meeting up with Luis who was going to drive us over. My buddy Will wanted to join us so he came along as well. Once at the church where she was playing Dallas and Aaron joined us. This was my first Marian Call concert thought I've enjoyed her music for years. She didn't disappoint. We all had a great time at her concert.

We drove back and everyone was going to hit the Slamcon party but my feet were killing me and I'm not much of a party person, unless it's my own party. So I said goodnight to the fellas and headed back to the townhouse were I found my brother in the window all lite up and people taking picture of him from the streets. I ate some left over hot dogs for dinner, chatted with my brother for a bit before calling it a night around 1:30am.

Tomorrow is our final day at comic con.

You can see all my Con pictures HERE 

San Diego Comic Con Day 3

Well Chris and I got up early and kind of hung around the townhouse in the morning. We opted to go get our breakfast at Subway before getting dressed up in our cosplay. We hung out with our friend Thomas who was sharing the room with us, waiting for my brother to arrive. Michael arrived around 10ish and Chris and I finally finished putting on the rest of our cosplay. I was going as a Hobbit and Chris was Altair once again.

We got to con around noon and walked around the floor for a bit taking pictures. My brother headed off to try and get into a panel while Chris and I continued to walk around and run into friends here and there.

It was a pretty laid back day. There was the Firefly panel which both Chris and I would have loved to do but folks were in line since 6pm the previous day. Yeah that's not my thing. I did panels for years but I no longer have the patience or need to wait that long. We had some lunch from the con floor, consisting of a pretzel hot dog. We searched for little knitted figures and again came close several times but never got one.

We left the con around 6pm and headed back to the townhouse to change. And to help my brother get into his Tron outfit. He planned to head back to con for the last hour and then hang out as his outfit is best when dark. After we suited him up we headed to the local Ralphs to pick up supplies for "The Geek Mob" party that I was throwing at the Guildie Townhouse.

I kept my hobbit pants and ears on but changed out my shirt for my cool LOTR/Beatles shirt and some shoes. Got to Ralphs and went shopping, bought some hamburgers and hot dogs to BBQ, chips and other snacky things to eat. Once we got back some folks had arrived and a few of them went to the local CVS to get some soda and beer. Around 7:30 more folks arrived and the party officially began at 8pm.

I had very limited space and it was tough picking and choosing who to invite. Since I did not rent the house I went by what Lydia told me. I could have up to 25 guests including the 7 guests staying in the house. So that left me with some hard choices. Choices that I didn't like making and it kind of put a dampener on the party for me. I had several people ask if they could bring others and I had to say no, even though some of them were actual friends. It wasn't a good feeling but I had no choice.

I spent most of the party moody and pouty, but luckily not many people knew. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Chris got the BBQ going and we started to play several games of Card Against Humanity. We had so many people that we actually got two different games going. After Cards they hooked up the Xbox and starting playing Rockband. My brother finally got back to the house around 10pm, as he left the 7 and it took him 3 hours to go three blocks because he was asked to take so many pictures.

I continued to be mopey and cleaned up the kitchen while everyone else was having fun. I hate when I get in those kind of moods but again it didn't deter anyone from having fun. Finally around 2am I had to call it a night and asked those remaining to head out.

It wasn't the best party for me but everyone seemed to have a great time and that's important to me. Next up day four of comic con and the last full day at con.

You can see all my Con pictures HERE 

San Diego Comic Con Day 2

Friday has begun, didn't get a good night sleep as our townhouse sits on 5th street which is the busiest street in the Gaslamp so the noise level was off the charts. But I was also excited for the con so that could also be contributed to my lack of sleep. Anyways Chris and I were up bright and early, 7am. I took a shower bath. It's a huge bath tube that sits about 3 feet high and you have to climb into it. It has one of those hand held shower type things so you can't really stand. Anyways took my shower bath and prepare to Hobbitfy myself. Chris was taking his shower bath so I headed down stairs to see who else was up. Lou was up and making himself some breakfast. I started experimenting with my two different make ups for my ears. The one I had last year was way to light, I have a lot of red in my face. So this year I purchased a bit redder and darker hoping I would get a better match. I also prepainted my ears so it would be easier and faster to put them on.

By this time Chris came down and assisted me on applying on my ears. He did a FANTASTIC job, he also did a little paint job on them to get them just right. They weren't quite the same color as my face but with the wig you would never know.. And they were a 1000 times better then last year so I was extremely happy.

After my ears Chris and I went up stairs to finish putting on our outfits. Chris was going in his very popular Altair outfit from Assassin's Creed. We both finished about 8:30 and were ready for con. We were starving so we headed down the street and found a subway. It was so hot in that place and with all the clothing we were wearing we were both dying.

We ate quickly and headed to the con. Got in around 9:30 and the floor was open. Today I really just planned to walk around in my cosplay and have pictures taken of me. There was a photo shoot for all of us dressed in Hobbit cosplay for TheOneRing.net. So Chris headed off to a panel while I meet up with Jes and Rachel. Jes was dressed as a Elf. At 11:30 we headed to the meeting place and had some group shoots taken of about 20 folks in Hobbit cosplay.. it was pretty great.

We met back up with Chris and ran into Dallas and Aaron who joined our group. We left con to grab some lunch. This is always an ordeal, we had a party of six and the first place we hit up with Syfy's Defiance Restaurant (formally known as Cafe Diem). But we had an hour wait and we were starving.. so we decided to find another place. Next was the Old Spaghetti factory. Now in all the years I have been coming to con I have never eaten here because the wait is always a few hours, so imagine my shock when I tell them that we have six and the hostess says, stand here and will seat you. Mind you that there are about 30 people standing and sitting around waiting for a table. Come to find out that one of there larger tables just opened and we were the largest party there. So we sat and had a nice pasta lunch.

After lunch the group split up and Chris and I headed back to he townhouse to relax for a few minutes. We headed back to the con and the showroom floor. I wanted to get some pictures of me with the Cave Trolls. After that Chris headed off to a panel and I roamed the floors alone. I took pictures of cosplayer and had pictures taken a me. About an our later I meet back up with Chris and we walked the floor a bit more before heading back to the townhouse to suit up for tonight's Wootstock.

Before Wootstock we headed out to get some dinner. We were cutting it close because Wootstock started at 7 and we sat down for dinner around 6:30 at The Hard Rock Cafe, which was right down the street from the theater (Wootstock).

I forgot to mention something that Chris and I were doing all day. Twitter persona @GeekyHooker made these cut knitted little figures and she was dropping them off in various places and then tweeting the location. Chris and I have been trying to get one all day but missing it by minutes each time. While we were eating dinner the one Chris really wanted (Batman) was dropped back at con. About six blocks from where we were. Well Chris in a full suit and dress shoes ran back to the townhouse to get his badge and then to the con only to miss getting it by mere seconds. By the time he got back to the restaurant he was exhausted and tired. We were already 15 minutes late for Wootstock and Jes and Olivia who had joined us for dinner left for the theater. I sat there and waited as he scarfed down his food trying to relax. We got to the theater around 7:25 and the show was already going. We found our seats and for the next four and a half hours we were entertained by a variety of people. From Paul and Storm, to Wil Wheaton, to Marian Call to Adam Savage taking about poop. For the most part it was a very entertaining show. This was my first Wootstock and it won't be my last.

After Wootstock it was 11:30pm and we headed over to the Geek and Sundry Disco Party. I had planned to just pop in and say hi to Felicia and the gang but once I got in and heard the music pumping all my weary and achy bones and feet left me and it was party time and we danced teh night away until around 1:45am.

Chris and I got home around 2am and crashed. We had to be up in six hours for the day three of con.

You can see all my Con pictures HERE 

Best Gift Ever!!!

Today when we were taking a break from the con my best bud Chris pulled out a bunch of dog tags and handed me a set. Earlier in the week he asked for some personal information and said he was creating something cool. Now I trust Chris with my life so I had no problem giving him some of my personal info, like SS #. Well he made us some official military dog tags. Depending on what info you gave him you got three to five dog tags. I got two with my personal info on it, one joke one (Frodo Baggins) and one with a personal message.

Now I love Chris, I have from the moment we met. There was this instant bond as if we've known each other all our lives. It so rarely happens and I've been fortunate enough to have it happen to me several times in the past few years. But when it comes down to it you never really know if the person feels the same way about you. But when Chris gave me that personal dog tag and I read the message he had wrote on it I knew that he felt the exact same way and my heart jumped for joy. He truly is my best friend and now that I have these dog tags he'll be close to my heart figuratively and literally. Thanks Chris for being AWESOME!!

San Diego Comic Con Day 1

Today is preview night at San Diego Comic Con. Jes and Rachel stayed the night so we could all car pool together. But first I had to finish up my MASH 4077 podcast. I had to upload and build the show notes and preset so it would be released on the 15th.

Around Noon we headed out to the John Wayne Airport to pick up my bestie Chris who was flying in for con. I have been so excited about seeing him as it's been several months. We got to the airport about a ten minute before he landed and waited by the baggage area. I was so excited that Jes and Rachel were making fun of me. I could barely sit still. When I caught site of him and jump up and immediately grabbed him brought him into a big bear hug. It's crazy how much you can miss someone, even though you talk to them daily via IM/phone.

We grabbed his bags and packed ourselves into Jes' car. Her car looks small on the outside but it's huge on the inside and we had that thing packed to the brim. Chris and I sat in the back seat and literally had to sit in each other's lap. It was cozy but I was with my best bud so I didn't mind. Several sticky hours later we made it to San Diego and to the townhouse. My friend Thomas was waiting for us with a parking pass to park across the street in the parking structure. We unloaded our bags and went our separate ways.. Jes and Rachel were heading to the Omni to their hotel room and Chris and I headed to the townhouse that we were sharing the six other people. We dumped stuff off in our room and then headed to the convention center to get our passes. It was around 6pm and the con floor just opened. We stood in what looked like a super long line for the professional tickets but it actually went very quickly and we had our tickets in about 15 minutes.

Every year the WB hands out these huge bags and this year there were Hobbit ones and I was so hoping that I would get one and I did. While we were getting tickets we ran into friends Brian, Brian and Leo. After we got out tickets we hit the floor. It was PACKED!! Since there were no panels everyone was on the floor. My goal was to get an exclusive Bilbo Hobbit figure from Bridge Direct. They were selling them at two different booths.. Gentle Giant and Entertainment Earth.  The first place Chris and I went to was Gentle Giant and there was a pretty long line so we decided to head over to Entertainment Earth. About halfway there we decided to split up, I would go back to Gentle Giant and get in line and he would see how long the line was at EE. When I got back to Gentle Giant booth the line wasn't that bad and about fifteen minutes later I had my exclusive Bilbo figure. Not only did I get mine I got two additional ones. There were no limits on how many you could buy and I knew that Jes wanted one (come to find out she got her own) but I'll be interested to see if they go up in value once the movie is out.

So my goal for Wednesday Preview night has been reached. Around 8ish we were tired from travels and it was so crowded on the con floor that we decided to go get some dinner (especially since we didn't eat lunch). So a small group of us went to this Irish pub (that we first thought was closed because no one was there), soon our group doubled in size and I had a great time hanging with my friends ( Chris, Jes, Anne, Dallas,  Luis, Aaron, Olivia, Rachelle and Rachel. As we were leaving Michele, Becca and Jeff showed up.

After dinner we said our goodbyes and Chris and I headed back to the townhouse to get some sleep. We were getting up early for the official first day of San Diego Comic Con 2012.... can't wait!!!

You can see all my Con pictures HERE

MASH, Work & Friends

Since I got home from work so late last night/early this morning I came into work a bit late but since I couldn't sleep and was up at 7am I decided to finish my next MASH 4077 Podcast, after a few hours I was done. So one less thing I have to worry about while at Comic Con.

Got into work around 11am and again it was a busy day. This was my last day before heading down to San Diego Comic Con. Everything was moving along nicely until around 5pm when catastrophe struck. The isis (hard drive that holds everything) slowly started to crash and soon went into meltdown mode.  I spent the next few hours hoping that it was an easy fix and that we didn't lose any information. I also had to get home because my friends Jes and Rachel were coming down from SF to crash at my place for SDCC the next day. So I left around 8pm and got on the road to go home, but noticed that I needed gas. I made my way to a local gas station when my post pa calls and says he's having trouble finding this person house where he is suppose to be dropping off a hard drive. While I'm talking to him my night AE calls me and is asking me questions about the isis, like password and such which I don't know. I try texting my lead AE but imessage decides to go down so no messages are being sent. I can't contact the person my post pa is trying to get to and I thought I was going to have a break down right there in the gas station parking lot.

Fifteen minutes later my post pa found the person's house and got the hard drive to him and my night AE called back and said that tech services are on the scene and the isis will be back up and running in no time with no lost media.

I got home around 9pm and my friends arrived around 11pm. We visited for a half hour (I actually got to meet Rachel for the first time.) We called it an night around midnight.. we have a big day of driving ahead of us... I also get to see my best friend Chris tomorrow afternoon and I'm so excited.. I'm sure I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep. 7

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation or Listen/Direct Download http://Aliennationpodcast.com

Show Notes

Brothers Kenny and Michael Mittleider review and discuss a short lived but very socially aware TV series from the late 80's early 90's ALIEN NATION. Each podcast we will review a single episode in sequential order starting with the Pilot. Will give you our thoughts on the episode as well as some fun behind the scenes information.

Today we cover Season 1, Episode 7 - The Night Of The Screams

Directed by Gwen Arner
Written by Tom Chehak
Original air date October 30th, 1989

Plot Summary: Sikes and George are assigned to investigate a series of murders in which the victims were drugged into submission and their hands hacked off above the wrists, resulting in their bleeding to death. The duo find their suspect, an elderly newcomer whose target is the Overseers, and his purpose is to seek retribution for the atrocities performed on the slaves. George, while having been sworn to uphold the law, finds himself in the difficult position of agreeing with the man philosophically. Sikes decided to let George call the shots on this one.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny

Longest Work Day Ever!!!

Today has been one of the longest days I have worked in a long time. Started my day at 6am, got to work around 9am and the craziness begin. This was the final day of shooting on stage and since I was taking time off for comic con I had to stay until they were done shooting and since it was the last day, they ran long and finished around 11:30pm. I dropped off the tapes to the office at midnight and finally got home around 1:30am and to bed at 2am.

Cut & Curl... Hobbit Style

Got up today and laid out my entire Hobbit outfit. I wanted to make sure I had everything and that all was good go.

After that I spent most of the day editing several of my podcasts. Both my Alien Nation, which is due on July 10th and MASH 4077 which is due on July 15th. Both had to be done this weekend as I left for Comic Con on Wednesday I knew I wouldn't have any time to finish them. I struggled all day long forcing myself to get these two podcasts done. I manage to finish Alien Nation mid day and started working on MASH.

I got a text from my buddy Sebastian who was back from up north but I really wanted to talk to his girlfriend Amanda who is a hair stylist. I really needed someone to cut and curl my hobbit wig. Luckily she was free at night. Though I wasn't done with my MASH podcast I had to get this done so I headed over to their place.

Three hours later my Hobbit hair was cut and curled and looked great. The real human hair looks so much better then the synthetic hair. As a thank you I took Amanda and Sebastian out to dinner. We went to the Black Angus. After dinner I said my goodbye and headed back to my place getting home round 11pm. I had to be up early for work the next day but I really needed to get as much of my MASH podcast done as I could so I stayed up a few more hours working on it. Finally around 1am I called it a night but still had not finished my podcast.