Man With The Digital Camera
The trip begins with a drive down Interstate 280 bright
and early on Wednesday afternoon
More driving...
Quick stop in San Jose to pick up the Medders' family
Mr. Aaron Medders
Just outside of Gilroy
On the road again...
Even more driving...
Truck Stop
Route 5, the main artery of California. Boring as fuck
too.
See? There's NOTHING out here.
See how boring Route 5 is? I'm taking pictures of the
back of fuel trucks.
The floating iPod on the Grapevine
Six Flag Magic Mountain. What mountain?
Los Angeles. Thank God we were just driving through!
Around here was when I fell asleep....
Though I did managed to take a picture of the Motel 6 we
stayed at.
Thursday begins... Now we're back in foggy San Francisco!
... No wait, this is foggy San Diego??
Welcome back to San Diego!
....and to the San Diego Comic Con!
Big Comic-Con poster outside greeted me while I waited to
get my 4-day pass.
Twin Towers
Inside the Comic Con
The Registration Hall
"Stay classy, San Diego!" says NBC7's own Ron
Burgundy
I met up with my friend Jen and her mom after I got my
pass. They offered me breakfast at this bagel place.
More shots of the developing San Diego skyline
And so my adventure begins! Here is a shot outside of the
Nintendo booth; notice Tomb Raider's Lara Croft to the
left.
Return of the King
Pokémon! I didn't go to San Diego for this (this
time), but I had some fun when I could.
San Diego Navy Pier; I saw a lot of fighter planes and
such having fun. The USS Ronald Regan arrived when I was
down there (though I didn't take any pictures of it).
Baxter! NOO!!!!
Psylocke and... others
A look of the floor... Thursday was packed, but it was
nothing compared to Saturday!
Small Press West; where all the small timers begin their
climb to the top. I plan on having a booth there in
2006.
The Dumbrella booth; my favorite indie comic
organization... too bad they weren't taking new people :(
... I did use most of Thursday trying to ask questions about
publishing and so forth from various booths. I managed to
get two bites; one from Drawn & Quarterly, and another
from Top Shelf Comics (both have or will be recieving a copy
of Moose River). Good times.
Stormtrooper! There were a shit load of these guys in
there (no doubt)
S'more conventioneers
Pops and Aaron swing by in the afternoon, by then I was
pooped.
A big robot from "Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow"
Medders, Nyki and Aaron
Walkin' to Horton Plaza for food and stuff
A cute little green scarab
Awww! They look so cute together! :D
Pops and I outside of a Suncoast in Horton Plaza. We all
hung around the area waiting for Paul to arrive at the
Greyhound station.
This guy was in Woahville; when we first saw him he was
sitting down with his pants (and everything else) down
showing off his bare ass (and everything else). I'd thought
I'd share that with you guys. Tee hee!
Friday arrives... another day at the Comic Con!
Gwar!
A kilt is still a skirt.
The Blue Bomber himself; Megman
HOLY FUCK!
Various Aliens movie paraphanilia. Awesome!
Awesome shit man
Jen (in the red arm stockings)... her and I hung out in
the Pokémon game room (until she left for an
interview).
I still played in it and managed to win third in this
particular tournament.
Pokémon Hall once again
Uhm... yeah! :D
![This guy was cool, we talked about this and that about games... and he had a silly name tag to show off. [giggles!]](bff-Thumbnails/57.jpg)
This guy was cool, we talked about this and that about
games... and he had a silly name tag to show off.
[giggles!]
It's just a flesh wound! ... Knight role playing took
place outside.
Portfolio Review row... one of the big reasons for the
trip; to get my portfolio reviews and see if I could get a
job.
Jen drawing in her drawing pad.
San Diego was FULL of Gel ("Leg" backwards). Here is a
prime example of some gel, with some dork as her boyfriend.
It was gellapalooza there!
There was also a lot of "Best Friends" down there. Here
is one of them.
Princesses!
I want to be the guy in the lab coat.
Falling...
Lobby. ... I'll use this oppurtunity to say that while I
was there, I picked up three books by Jeffery Brown, who is
like my newest bit of inspiration. I even got two of his
books autographed. I wish I took a picture of the lad, but I
don't think it'll be the last time I'll see him in
person.
GOLD
Looks like the Sky Captain destroyed THAT robot!
Hillcrest; San Diego's Castro Disctrict.
While everyone was hanging out in Tiajuana, Pops and I
ate at an India resturant.
It was pretty fancy, but I still prefer Maharaja's at
home.
As Pops and I waited for the crew to come back from
Tiajuana, wer drove around the death trap that is downtown
San Diego. Here is Petco Park, home of the Padres!
The USS Ronald Regan returned... I was dead asleep, but
managed to wake up for a spectacular fireworks display.
Saturday comes, the BIGGEST day. Look at that foot
traffic!
Saturday I also had a portfolio review for
ArtistsForYou.com... I think I did well!
I'm an ammendment to be, yes an ammendment to be, and I'm
hoping that they ratify me!
Oh now this is original... it's a Samurai Stormtrooper!
And this Klingon's costume ain't half bad either.
It's Rocketman too! Kick ass costume!
Klingons get ALL the hot, cavewomen.
I'm a friend of Sarah Conner.
What the hell are you?
Gollum! Gollum!
Pucca! I didn't know she was Korean....
Big Brutha gets his jiggy on.
Hello Legs!
Colonial Marine and friend.
It was s cold day. ... Some Engrish
I catch up with my Orange Country bud, Juan. Here he is
playing Dragon Ball GT.
Why Westwood? Apparently if you answer it correctly, you
get a Robin EP. Cute!
More Pokémon action... this was a Team Sealed
event. I dropped out after I found out that each round was
one hour long and there were six rounds total. Blah.
These were the best costumes ever! Pity they were too
tired for a picture...
Pops, Aaron and Paul managed to get to the Comic Con on
Saturday... but we don't actually get to hang out until
later in the day. Here's Paul...
And that's Aaron. Mostly they spent the day on a Best
Friend Safari... they got more footage of Best Friends that
I did.
Speaking of which... here's a group of Best Friends.
Sunday rolls along... I'm almost burnt out of the event.
Here I am bored after waking up at 6:30 AM.
Aaron and Paul sleep together. ... I managed to run this
trip cheaply... though I tried my best to not let the Motel
6 know there was more than me in my room. To make matters
worse, they gave me a room right above the office. Blah!
Roger Dean... he painted a whole bunch of Osybisa and Yes
albums... my dad has the album that's right behind the
girl's head. Nice!
It's the Toxic Avenger!
Oh man, this is your Bestest Friend ever. Nerdman!
And look at his cape. AWESOME man!
Good GOD! It's really Orlando Bloom and Legolas and Viggo
Mortensen as Aragorn! FUCKING A'!
Officer Jenny!
That's your Best Friend!
Star Wars booth... it was revealed that the next movie
was going to be called "Revenge of the Sith". Neat!
Say hello tomy little friends!
Sunday I also had another portfolio review with Wizards
of the Coast. I didn't get a yes or a no from them... so I'm
really confused about it. ... Anyways, here's a parting shot
of the convention center, I left around 2 Sunday because I
had done everything I needed to do.
There's your best friend again!
I was picked up by Pops. Aaron and Paul were at the
Beaches, so I figured I should join them. On the way I was
introduced to this mysterious place... more on it later.
;)
Although it took us forever to find a parking space, Pops
and I swang down to the beaches to meet Aaron and Paul.
The crewers were roosting
Man, down there we got perfect examples of every type of
people we know. Here's a Gel,
Fucking Guys,
Best Friends,
and Awesome Dudes. It was a menagerie of sorts!
The beauty of this picture is destroyed by the little
shit on the left.
More Gel. We all were getting eye infections!
A pretty busy beach!
Paul wanted a drink, so we went by this place...
It was a rooftop bar.
Quite an epic picture of Paul...
And an epic picture of Pops
And an epic picture of Aaron. Sort of.
Since the dawn of time, man has YERNED to destroy the
sun!
We left the beach after the fog started to roll in (fog
in San Diego?)... but not without seeing a whole bunch of
Dr. Seuss trees first.
After the beach, Paul needed to hop on the Greyhound bus
back to Brisbane, but not until we ate at this new
resturant.
If you haven't figured it out by now, it's a VERY new
super secret Jack in the Box project called JBX. It was sort
of a mix between a sit down resturant and a fast food joint
(you order at the counter but they bring it to you). It was
kinda expensive ($8 for my meal), but worth it for the
experience.
A sort of communisty Jack image in the bathroom. The
place was awesome, and only located in San Diego (to my
knowledge). Very nice. And if it tanks, we have a whole lot
of paraphanilia to sell on eBay. :D
We dropped Paul off, then made our way back to our room.
By this time I was spent and ready to get back home to San
Francisco. I loved the trip, had fun and learned a lot.
But I had enough fun. Time to sleep.