The Two Gay Geeks arrived in San Diego yesterday, and if yesterday is any indication as to what we can expect from this weekend, it promises to be a day of pure madness, stress, crowds, more crowds, even MORE crowds, and hopefully one or two magical moments while we are here.
After getting settled in our lodgings during our time down here (Thank you Neal Hallford!) we took the Trolley (A bit old looking, but terribly efficient) and made our way to our first stop, Toscana Café & Wine Bar in the Gaslamp Quarter, just a block away from the mothership of madness. There we met up with Gini Koch and other friends and members of her entourage.
Being the totally newbies to San Diego Comicon (Hey, everyone has to have a first time, yes?), Gini escorted us to the Convention Center so that we could pick up our badges and other convention freebies. I must say, the registration process was one of the best I have ever seen. While Phoenix Comicon had an efficient registration area last May, I was afraid that San Diego’s would be a tad overwhelming, but the efficiency in which they did was beyond words. The entire upper area (I think it’s called the Sails) was dedicated to registration, and depending on what type of registration you needed determined where specifically you needed to be.
Keith and I received our badges (mine took longer because the staff member was having difficulty negotiating the badge with the plastic envelope it is supposed to go in to), and that was it! Right after that we received our special collectible pins and we re-joined Gini. We wandered around the convention center and since it was approaching 6:00 PM we decided to stay because we had “preview” passes to go into the Exhibitor’s Hall (I always call it the “Dealer’s Room”). Once we got Gini to her table (or rather she took us as she knew the way better than we did), we spent the next couple of hours wandering the entire room.
The room is immense. The only time I ever saw anything this big before a number of years ago at D23 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Nevertheless, as far as Comicons go, nothing even compare to this room. It’s all dealers of every type, with lots of studio exhibits that were giving out a myriad of freebies and gifts, as well as artists and writers from all over. Unfortunately, as immense as the room is, so was the crowd. By 7:00 you couldn’t walk anywhere. It truly was wall to wall people, and that wasn’t even the first day! If you need an image, think back to the classic Star Trek episode “Mark Of Gideon” and the glimpse of people all crammed together on that planet. That’s sort of what it felt like.
Shortly before 8:00 we left the Convention Center (You have to electronically scan your convention badge when you enter AND exit!) and made our way up to a special event taking place at the House of Blues. This was the “Game of Bloggers” event hosted by Tony Kim from Hero Within – Men’s Geek Nerd Fashion DC Comics Suits (Check out our article Phoenix Comicon 17 Day Two for our interview with Tony Kim) at the House of Blues just shy of a mile from the Convention Center.
This was basically an event that allowed many of Tony’s friends and contacts (primarily made up of other like-minded businessmen and women, podcasters (us), and bloggers) to mingle, share information, and basically network. We came armed with business cards and our new wrist bands advertising our show, and while I stayed at our table (I’m not all that good with meeting people I don’t know), Keith worked the room like an absolute pro! However, the evening was not an entire waste for yours truly! A few people came up and spoke with me about the projects they have, including writers, as well as a gentleman who is basically the administrator for a website designed for collectors.
By the end of the evening Keith had traded numerous cards with other guests there, and were even introduced to another podcast that is LA based (they jokingly referred to themselves as the Two Straight Geeks), and even said the next time we’re in the LA area to let them know and they would have us on their show. In the same vein, we offered them the same opportunity to come on ours if they’re ever in the Phoenix area (apparently they are big fans of Waffle House, and Phoenix has the nearest one from their location).
From there we found the nearest Trolley Station, and after doing some transferring from one line to another we found ourselves back at where we parked our car and made our way back to where we are staying.
Today we have one real commitment, that being the panel that the Two Gay Geeks will be appearing at (Heroes at the Mic), and from there it is anyone’s guess! In any event, we’ll continue to report of our activities here in San Diego, and if the opportunity presents itself we’ll try to do a Facebook Live and hopefully get an interview or two while here, so stay tuned!!!
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