Comic Con - best and worst moments

Inspired by this posting on the unofficial Comic Con blog I thought I'd mull over the good and bad bits of my experience.

Comic Con 2010 - Chuck panel videos

If you haven't already heard, Jeffster rocked the Chuck panel at Comic Con for the second year running, this time with a music video to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. The panel kicked off in true Chuck style with a season 3 reel, some technical infiltration by The Ring and Chuck and Morgan coming to the rescue with the only video footage they knew would save the fans from becoming evil intersect agents. My report on the panel is online at Den of Geek.

Here are some clips of the panel from my YouTube channel.

Comic Con 2010 - Chuck pics

I'm still uploading my videos to YouTube, so while I wait here are some of the pics I snapped during the panel.

For loads more awesome pics from the panel see the Sarah Walker Fangirls twitpic.

Comic con preview night madness

Today has been surreal to say the least. First there was the queue for preview night that started at 10am, then the Klingon signs at the convention centre transit station, then Green Hornet’s car parked on the pavement and Ecto 1 experiencing car trouble just down the road from Eureka’s Cafe Diem. And then the wait in line for about five hours to get into the exhibition hall for preview night. But by convention standards that’s pretty standard, like dog years in reverse for you normal people out there.

Celeb guests tweeted their arrivals and Felicia Day received some less than useful advice from her old friend Captain Hammer.

Felicia Day: In San Diego. Gotta figure out how to unload all the boxes or the Guild booth stealth style to avoid the guards lol.

Nathan Fillion: @feliciaday take off your shirt. No one will notice boxes.

I was determined to get a Chuck bag when I checked in, but ended up with Batman. But you make friends easily at convention queues, and the nice guy next to me agreed to swap so I could get what I came here for!

Spiderman was in the queue, with his backpack of supplies, and Batman stood patiently with the rest of us while we tweeted, checked out email, played various card games and generally paused before the madness of the exhibition hall. And it was such madness.

Swag highlights include a Wonder Woman iPhone case, a huge Green Hornet bag and a lei promoting the new CBS show Hawaii 50. Now time to sleep before the great q for Hall H tomorrow...

Comic con pre-preview night secret spy mission

I'm reporting from San Diego Comic Con for Den Of Geek so will be linking across to the pieces on the site from here so I don't just repeat what they've already published. Like this.

I did a bit of a secret spy mission this evening to scope out the convention centre and got a glimpse of the massive Hall H being set up with chairs (oh my god it really is huge) as well as some posters for Green Lantern and True Blood. I also spotted the signs for Ballroom 20 which is the place I'll be spending most of my time. That's where the likes of Chuck, Big Bang Theory, Fringe, Supernatural and Glee (to name but a few) will be appearing.

Bring on preview night! And thousands of geeks like me...

A satnav far far away

"You're gonna kill people if you give directions like that!"

We all need guidance from a Jedi master once in a while, and I think my driving skillz would benefit from some wise Yoda words. I love the marketing TomTom have done around their Star Wars voices, although to be honest they don't really need to promote them at all. But I think Darth Vader and Yoda should come as a package download, so you can choose the light or dark side of the force to get you where you're going.

I remember how excited I was when I downloaded the retro Cylon centurion voice...

What Buffy taught us

I've just posted on the SFX mag Facebook page about most rousing speeches in sci-fi. My choice? Buffy's season 7 speech to the potential slayers about accepting their power. It still gives me tingles.

"In every generation one Slayer is born because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. (She points at Willow, who smiles nervously.) This woman is more powerful than all of them combined.

"So I say we change the rule. I say my power should be our power. Tomorrow, Willow will use the essence of the scythe to change our destiny. From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?"

I haven't watched my Buffy boxsets in a while, but this speech from the last episode always gets to me. Buffy wasn't a perfect show (sorry Joss!) but I think this speech in particular pretty much nailed what it was all about. Girls taking control of their lives, standing up and standing together. And kicking ass in the process.

Thank you Buffyverse Dialogue Database for having this quote in the bank!

Nerds in a herd at Comic Con

I'm in the midst of the two weeks before Comic Con preparation frenzy, and my mind is full of the various things I need to do before I fly to sunny San Diego. New camcorder -check. Travel insurance - not quite. Condo paid for - big check.

And then I read this. I like the idea of a snark riot. In fact, I may try and incite on with the help of twitter. Anybody with me?