When we were in San Diego a couple weeks ago we were startled to find ourselves in the middle of a sudden zombie invasion. Hundreds of walking dead began ambling down the crowded sidewalks of 5th Avenue one day as we were heading back to our hotel. It was unsettling and amusing all at once. (For a clip of the footage we took refer to my Comic-Khan post.)
Jason's brother Matt and Matt's friend Tabatha were our zombie compadres. And no, I am not normally that pale though it it's probably debatable whether painting myself various shades of grey made a significant difference in my skin tone.
Upon our return home we were surprised to hear that a similar event would be taking place in Salt Lake City just a couple weeks after the one we witnessed in San Diego. Since we are dorks extraordinaire we couldn’t miss this unique opportunity to get our undead stumble on.
I had never dabbled in latex before so I was pretty proud of my initial attempt with this arm wound. Not too shoddy for a first timer.
Jason’s brother Matt and a couple of his friends joined us, and the roughly 2,000 other zombie walkers, for a mile and a half lurch around downtown Salt Lake City last Sunday. What a fun and crazy activity! This horde of corpses, which overflowed the sidewalks for blocks, closely resembled your worst nightmare. We came across many astonished bystanders whose apparent anxiousness only encouraged chasings by rouge zombies. Being among the army of monsters, in contrast to being on the menu, may seem like it would have been a relatively untroubled experience but it wasn’t as carefree as you might think.
The undead horde was waiting here to be released from Pioneer Park.
First of all, I wasn’t anticipating a little decomposing flesh and some oozing wounds turning me into a celebrity. Disgusting must be “in” because there were cameras everywhere. The vacant sneers of us maggot magnets were always met with flashes and glaring lenses…and sometimes screams. Man, if I had known the paparazzi were going to be swarming I would have worn my more fashionable tattered shirt and styled my rotting hair.
Looks like something you'd see in a post-apocalypse city; a chilling reminder of humanity's violent end.My favorite detail of Matt's costume was his hair accessories: dead leaves adorned his ratty crown. Just what you'd expect to find on the head of someone fresh from the grave.
Secondly, shuffling through post-life may seem like an almost relaxing pursuit, I know we flesh-gnawers make shambling slowly look so easy, but let me assure that dragging one of your limbs behind you in an unnatural fashion and hanging your atrophied arms like limp fish as you stagger over the ground at a maddeningly sluggish pace is anything but comfortable. I’m certain this is why many of the undead gave up on maintaining their swagger as we neared the end of the course. I never relinquished my grotesque authenticity and I had the backache afterward to prove it.
Jason was an eager brain-seeker. He liked to spook those we passed with a lively chase or a menacing groan. The streets of downtown were literally dripping with blood after our masses staggered through.
Besides the clumsiness and awkward notoriety, being a zombie was also frustrating because your terrified quarry often jumped into trees or over fences as easy as nibbling a toe. How are you supposed to get some brains if holding your rigid arms out in a useless fashion is the most offensive move in your arsenal? What’s a poor hungry zombie to do?
Tennis shoes, a race t-shirt, sweatbands, and a Walkman: how ironic that a runner couldn't escape the clutches of a lumbering zombie. Why didn't someone warn me that it's not a good idea to wear headphones when running in traffic or when the world is teeming with the undead?This little girl was freaky with a leash around her waist and a brain in her mouth.
So before you start feeling sorry for yourself, and all of those other tasty humans, consider the zombies’ plight. If you tried hobbling a mile and a half in their putrid shoes you might have a little sympathy for those ghouls. After all, most of them probably have a permanently kinked neck and a rumbly tummy. No wonder they’re grouchy; we all know how low blood sugar can affect your outlook on life.
Every July thousands of comic book nerds, sci-fi buffs, and screaming fans materialize in San Diego for Comic-Con. This year those geeks numbered over 130,000 so those of you who haven’t heard of Comic-Con, the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world, what hunk of kryptonite have you been hiding under?
We took this picture in front of the convention center the night before the con began. That’s the only reason there aren’t 400 people milling around in the backgroundYou can captain my America anytime!
For a number of years Jason and I have contemplated attending this event and drooled over all the news footage from it. This time we decided to just go for it and buy tickets. With so many passes available one would think that they would be relatively easy to come by but no, the convention sold-out in less than three hours. We only succeeded in getting tickets by refreshing our browser nonstop in true OCD fashion and by getting a little lucky.
Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulk in the 70’s TV series, wasn’t the friendliest of guys but he was happy to smile for a picture when being paid to do so.
Acquiring passes to this illustrious conference wasn’t the only tricky part of attending. Finding a hotel with availability this side of Mexico also proved to be horrendous but we managed to book one within walking distance, just ten blocks from the convention center, after a lot of online hunting and groping.
I asked this guy dressed as Robin if I could get a picture with him. He agreed and the next thing I knew I was being whisked into his arms as he exclaimed, “I’m a strong boy!” Thus the red face and funny picture.
All the bother was worth it baby!
Comic-Con has much to keep any movie, TV, or comic book nerd on sensory overload. All day long Q&A panels fill the convention center’s massive ballrooms. And these babies are the real deal; they are headed by the stars, producers, and creators of all the shows and fantasies you love. Some of this year’s big hitters were the cast of True Blood, TheVampire Diaries, Game of Thrones, Twilight, The Amazing Spiderman, Chuck, TheBig Bang Theory…I could continue but I’ve probably made you jealous enough. Did I mention that Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson were also there? Okay, okay, I’ll stop making you cry.
Ian, who plays Damon on The Vampire Diaries, is a favorite sucker of mine. His panel was a must-ogle, I mean must-see, for me. Bobas were everywhere at Comic-Con. One would think they were clones or something.
Although the celebrity panels alone could definitely keep you star struck and enthralled for all four days of the con, visiting the enormous exhibit hall is not to be missed. The exhibit hall is filled with hundreds of booths where you can buy not only practically any comic book from the artists themselves but all sorts of exclusive toys and hard-to-find geeky merchandise. I’ve heard it said that you could spend all your con time in the exhibit hall and still not see everything; that seems pretty accurate. We got sucked onto the exhibit floor far more often than we were planning and yet we saw only a fraction of what was there. I guess it’s just as well that we didn’t visit more booths though because we spent $1000 as it was on cat buses, Data shirts, airship goggles, and signed comic books….how did I survive this long without a cat bus? Yes, if you go to Comic-Con bring lots of cash and plan on blowing it.
Michael Dorn was a little intimidating, it’s not everyday you run into a 6’3″ Klingon, but what a nice guy.I couldn’t resist waiting in line with a bunch of kids to get a picture with Pikachu. You wouldn’t have been able to resist his cute little twitching ears either.
Comic-Con isn’t just famous for star appearances and nerdy merchandise though, it’s known for its lines and, although they may seem of mythical proportions, they are definitely no myth. One morning we waited in a line to get into the convention center so we could stand in another line for a chance to get passes to wait in yet another line just to buy some special Hasbro toys. Who wouldn’t wait Triforce, I mean trifold, for a Transformers/G.I. Joe mashup? The next day we lined up for panel sessions with about 6,000 other people in a never-ending row that stretched over two miles. It was madness. If you find yourself at the con expect to spend almost all of your time hanging out in winding lines that extend all the way to the Dead Marshes of Mordor.
Being at the very end of a 6,000 person line is sure to make you a sad panda. But, despite this line’s extraordinary length, we made it into our desired ballroom just an hour and a half later.
Speaking of sessions and session lines, choosing what sessions to go to was difficult. How do you decide between the science of zombies and a Klingon lifestyles presentation? It’s a hard call believe me. A few panels I definitely wanted to be present for: Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and Star Trek: The Captains.
The Family Guy panel was rowdy and highly entertaining. Those that dared to ask questions inevitably got harassed and anal fixations, of course, were discussed.Just north of a the convention center a parking lot was transformed into South Park in all its 2D glory. It was pretty amusing.
Since this was our first time at Comic-Con we weren’t sure how hard it would be to get into our top panel picks. Twilight was the very first session the very first morning of the con. It began at 11:30 AM but bloggers recommended getting in line before 6 AM for guaranteed seats so that’s what we did. We were up shortly after 4 and in line by 5:30. Our six hour wait was sure to be boring and, judging from the number of fans in line when we arrived, not entirely necessary. But just an hour or so later things began to get interesting.
Booboo Stewart, who plays Seth Clearwater in the Twilight saga, pushed around a cart of fruit to offer to those in line. I told him I’d pass on a banana but I would take an autograph.
It all started with Breaking Dawn swag being dispersed: posters and coffee mugs. Muffins, fruit, juice, and water were next handed out to the waiting fans and then, all of a sudden, a great deal of commotion and press marked the arrival of some utterly unanticipated excitement.
Elizabeth Reaser was happy to sign autographs and take pictures with the Twihards. What a good sport!
Members of the Breaking Dawn cast had appeared to greet their hardcore followers that had been waiting in line for hours or days just to get good seats in the Twilight panel: Ashley Greene (Alice), Nikki Reed (Rosalie), Booboo Stewart (Seth), Julia Jones (Leah), and Elizabeth Reaser (Esme). I got autographs and pictures with a number of them. All the stars were nice but Elizabeth, Julia, and Booboo were especially grateful and accommodating. It was refreshing for this franchise to show such appreciation for its fans. To pass out swag and breakfast was more than anyone expected but to also have the actors make their way through the line was unbelievable. Way to go Twilight for showing those other shows up!
Jason was little more than a boy toy inside this giant Star Wars action figure box.Will Shatner and Avery Brooks have drastically different personalities. Their contrasts made for a more interesting session.
The Twilight panel was terrific but it wasn’t the only session that captivated us. We went to Star Trek: The Captains and met Will Shatner, Avery Brooks, and Scott Bakula. Their quirky personalities, along with session moderator Kevin Smith, made the panel anything but dull. We also got to do a long Khan with Will Shatner. Hilarious. Incidentally, Shatner was promoting his documentary TheCaptainsavailable on Epix. It looks pretty funny and is definitely something I will be checking out.
We also attended the Vampire Diaries, Family Guy, Simpsons, Futurama, and American Dad sessions and therefore got to meet a host of vampire hotties, including my favorite Ian Somerholder, along with some comical characters such as Seth Green and Matt Groening. Encountering three starship captains did not totally satiate the trekker within me so we also caught Patrick Stewart at a panel for Dorothy of Oz, a cute animated film that he did voice work for. Sir Patrick Stewart was as eloquent as expected. And, as if all that weren’t enough, we got a sneak peak at an upcoming Fox series called Terra Nova too that looks pretty intriguing. Holy panels Batman!
Cosplay doesn’t get any more intricate or nerdy than the Comic-Con Masquerade. This Totoro was my favorite even though it didn’t win any big awards. Patrick Stewart was as well-spoken as ever. What a thrill to be in the presence of such a distinguished gentleman and cult favorite.A couple giant robots were hanging out on a street corner as part of a Real Steel campaign. They look even more impressive next to a miniscule dot such as myself.
The sessions weren’t the only places to get up-close and personal with celebrities though. Down in the exhibit hall I got to meet a couple members of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast, Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn. My teenage self would have fainted! They were both very nice even though my many years of fandom probably translated into a lot of staring and conversation befuddling. We also ran into Robert Kirkman, the creator of TheWalking Dead, along with such other comic bigwigs as Ian Churchill and Ben Edlund. And we got a chance to chat with some upcoming comic artists. Shane and Chris Houghton, the creators of the Reed Gunther books, were probably the friendliest comic guys I met at the con; I look forward to their future success.
Anywhere else this guy’s amazing costume would have stood out but at Comic-Con he was just one of the herd.
Comic-Con was crazy. The convention center and the streets surrounding it were always congested and overflowing with humanity. The lines were insane and at times I was so sick of sifting through the huge crowds that I had to go back to our hotel room for a wee breather to regain a smidgen of my personal bubble space but it was a once in a lifetime experience. Interacting with some of my favorite stars and meeting other personalities that are sure to become new favorites was a surreal hoot. And almost all of the celebrities we met were very obliging, which was unexpected. Being in the heart of nerdom was amusing too. When you are in line for a session and the people in front of you ask you if you want to participate in a dungeon crawl or you see a gaggle of storm troopers meander by you know that you are living every geek’s fantasy right down to the vinyl clad women.
Some of you may have heard of a little get-together called Comic-Con; it’s just a small gathering of over 100,000 of the world’s biggest geeks. Even if you haven’t been living in a cave long enough to know about Comic-Con, surely you have heard of RowleyCon. RowleyCon is an illustrious multiday event where the geeky 1337 are invited to work up a gaming sweat (deodorant optional) and compete for uber status. It’s sure to become the hottest thing on the nerd radar since D&D.
Our friend Jeremy Rowley is a gaming aficionado extraordinaire and he decided that instead of going to Comic-Con he was going to bring the Con to him. He and his wife Amber hosted a weekend teeming with everything nerd: board games, Star Craft II, DDR, Dance Central, and even some classic Nintendo games.
Not underwear on the head...but close. This brilliant, yet somewhat disturbing, Batman costume was all my idea but I still have to give Jason props for having the confidence to wear it. A nerd party without Star Trek is like a Klingon without a bat'leth. I wore my Starfleet uniform on Friday so this get-together wouldn't be lacking an essential ingredient.
Since competitions were held in every gaming category, and used to determine not only each division’s champion but an overall mega geek, I decided I had better become somewhat familiar with all of these geeky pursuits so I could at least lose at RowleyCon with dignity. My desire to not be the suckiest led to Jason teaching me how to play Star Craft II. I had never played this game before last week but he taught me enough that I could give the impression that I knew what I was doing as I lost miserably. To be beaten gracefully was all I was hoping for; I seriously doubted I had the sweet skills necessary to win a round. But somehow, despite my minimal aptitude, I did manage to whip Jacob’s Terran hinny during the tournament even though he owns this game. (No Jacob, the force is not with you.)
Jason was also undefeated at DDR...until he played me. Wahahaha!Jeremy is a DDR head. Good thing I didn't have to go head to head with that head or I wouldn't have ended up ahead.Jacob wasted everyone at Duck Hunt. I'm glad he didn't play every game as pathetically as he played Star Craft.
There was one competition that I definitely didn’t need anyone’s assistance training for: Dance Dance Revolution, AKA DDR. While I am certainly no expert at this game, the hardcore DDRers would step all over my face, I can dance dance good enough to impress the easily wowed. I ended up winning the DDR competition undefeated. Good thing Jeremy excluded himself from the contest; that boy is unnatural when it comes to DDR. I never would have beaten him.
On Saturday Jason and I both dressed in a steampunk motif. Jason made a pretty great airship captain.It only took some slight modifications to turn my Halloween costume from last year into a steampunk masterpiece.
My esteemed teacher, Jason, won the Star Craft tournament. He technically got second place but the first place winner, Adam, won the title of uber nerd making him ineligible for a Star Craft winning too. Surprisingly, I actually gamed my way into a close second place for overall nerd. Dang that Adam! If only I had been proclaimed the biggest geek in the world then I could have retreated to Valinor satisfied.
Andrew beat me, Jason, and Simone at Dominion. Maybe being the world's slowest Dominion player has its advantages.The Small World contest was intense. I believe Adam's races slaughtered the other contenders.Jason's brother was very popular with the Rowleys' cat. I think Mel wanted to live in his beard.
Even if I didn’t vanquish all the other gamers at least Jason and I won the prizes for best costume. The competition was really tough…okay, so Jas and I were the only ones that dressed up and consequently we could have just worn underwear on our heads and won…oh wait, that’s pretty close to what happened-just kidding. Although tighty whities may have been involved we actually did put together some pretty cool costumes at the last minute using pieces of costumes I had made previously and a few new accessories. With a little creativity we each ended up with two different outfits so we could wear unique attire on both nights of RowleyCon.
Jason's goggles made his big blue eyes look bigger, brighter, and bluer...and totally screwball.
RowleyCon was a little chaotic, with an abundance of tournaments going on simultaneously and sometimes haphazardly, but it was a lot of fun. It was also very refreshing not to be in charge of this party; being guests instead of hosts was a nice change. We are looking forward to geeking it up again next year. You nerds are going down!
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