Comic Con: Saturday

And here we come to the classic problem with blogging. Once you lose momentum, the show's over. Do you realize that I never even got around to posting all my pics from my cruise last year? I know you all can't wait to see the pictures of me pretending to tip over the leaning tower of Pisa. Classic.

But I've also neglected to finish my Comic Con posting (here and on the tv blog, much to my chagrin). So I haven't told you what happened on Saturday, my last day of attending programming.

If you recall, on Friday night we were pretty wiped. I was really shocked by how tiring sitting on your ass all day can be. So on Saturday we decided to skip the morning panels and sleep in. After we dragged ourselves out of bed, we decided to continue the laziness by enjoying the hotel pool. Of course the one cloudy day in San Diego would be the one where we wanted to just soak up some rays, but the pool deck was so nice and the hot tub so relaxing that we didn't really care. Oh, and the sun came back as soon as we went back inside. Figures.

The first few panels I wanted to see on Saturday weren't actually in the Convention Center. Due to Comic Con's increasing attendance, the organization has started holding panels in the ballroom of the Hilton next door. So to get to the Glee and Heroes panels, we walked around the side of Convention Center and into the lovely hotel.

At first blush, Glee doesn't seem like it would be a logical fit with Comic Con. There's nary a comic, spaceship, or dragon in sight. But since Comic Con is basically a celebration of all things pop culture, it makes sense to me. Still, I was surprised by the turn-out. Glee has really struck a chord with a lot of people (including me) and there were hundreds of people there wearing red Gleek t-shirts. And most of them seemed to be high-school age.

After Glee, we stayed right where we were for the Heroes panel. This was probably the most unruly crowd, people were out of their chairs taking pictures (and blocking the view) as soon as the cast started appearing. And the screams for Zach Quinto were embarrassing; I mean I love him a lot too, but get a grip ladies. Oh, and on the whole I was not impressed by the Heroes panel. I mean, seeing so many of the cast was cool, but promises that Hiro would be time-traveling even more next season? Lots of new cast members? Jesus, writers, have you learned NOTHING??

Then it was back to the Convention Center to snag a spot for True Blood. On the way we passed Jimmy Fallon randomly roaming the halls (in a robot costume or something) and Selvi did some light heckling. As one does. We were back in Ballroom 20 for True Blood and got there early which meant sitting through most of the Fringe panel, which was cool. Josh Jackson = hot and John Noble was pretty funny. I mean, I watch the show, but I'm a casual viewer, not a real fan. And then. True Blood.

The best part of this panel was the news that they would actually be marketing True Blood (as a blood orange soda) and seeing the preview for the second half of the season. Good stuff. And if I thought girls went crazy for Zachary Quinto, they were basically rabid for Alexander Skarsgaard. The guy is certainly good looking and charismatic and is clearly the fan favorite. A lot of people in the crowd were excited to see the author of the Sookie books, Charlaine Harris, and to hear that she had been contracted to write three more. Having only read the first and finding it ok but fun, I was kind of meh to this news.

As we sat listening to the fan questions, I realized that this was my last Comic Con panel. The four days had gone by in a blur, as I knew they would, but I couldn't believe everything we had seen. But while the panels were over...there was still Saturday night's parties to visit!

Carly had met a guy during one of her panel (as Carly always does) who worked for Cartoon Network, and he invited us all to the Robot Chicken party being held at Skate San Diego, a roller rink. After having the WORST TAXI DRIVER IN SAN DIEGO, seriously, the dude had no idea where we were going, and I had to take the CB and talk to the dispatcher myself, we made it to the skating rink. Where we were met with tons of awesome Star Wars themed costumes, including a roller-skating Storm Trooper. How cool is that? Also, we saw Seth Green who is even tinier in person that I was expecting.

The party was kind of lame (too loud music and no booze) so Carly's dude drove us back to the Convention Center where we watched the Masquerade Ball on the big screen set up in the Pavilion. The amount of time and effort that people must have put into their costumes and skits was, frankly, staggering, but it was kind of cool to see them. And after the show they cleared the tables, set up a DJ booth, and we all got down and dirty. Ah, geeks dancing. Love it!

And then it was back to the hotel, collapsing into bed, and in the morning packing and flying home. Thus endeth the Comic Con adventure.