Comic Con - Friday

Adam and Kate came to join us for the duration of NERD PROM and generously provided transportation to San Diego. Adam brought the production van, which was totally awesome, except if I would have known that there was a VCR I would have brought movies! But there was no time for that anyway -- too much talking to do!

We drive to San Diego with no incidents (except getting lost for breakfast foods, but that was kind of ok, because we ended up with hashbrowns which we wanted) and get them in and registered with no problems (yay!). I really have to give it up to the registration staff. Man, those people are working during this shindig and they had it down so everything was a breeze. I announced my mission to get one of the Big Frakkin Bags that the SciFi Network was giving away, which was successful. I got the last one that they were handing out for the day (yes!) and I bested some very eager nerds to get it too. It was crazy the way people were INSANE about the freebies. Fights broke out, children cried. But not me, because I got one.

So we overwhelmed dear Kate with the convention floor. It's seriously the most frantic scene you will ever witness in your life. And if you know Kate (which I highly recommend) you will know that she is a kindred soul who wants to stop and smell the flowers and shower everyone everywhere with appreciation. Really, the best ally in the world. But Comic Con makes that hard. You have a jillion other people bustling all around you to try and snag free bookmarks and it's kind of draining.

Edit: I totally forgot stuff! Thank goodness people like Miss Bliss have real brains that remember stuff. Like, when Ryan spied Chris Long (his partner in crime for Hiding in Time) and while he was chatting with Chris, we saw the dudes from The Stack (who Ryan has a major man-crush on). Then someone said "there's the Greatest American Hero" and I noticed that The Stack guys were talking to him. So we slowly sidled up to the booth and I hung back, waiting for my turn to pounce. Bliss then told us how she saw William Katt in a production of Pippin that was amazing and that she'd always wanted to tell him so. Now - this is a thing about Miss Bliss. She has a shiny heart of extra gold and she will remember every nice thing you have ever done. If you're ever bargaining at the Pearly Gates and can call-a-friend, call Bliss. She'll totally vouch for you. And also? She has a list of people that she really liked in a certain role or play or song or something and has just always wanted to tell them so. Like William Katt! So we nudged her over into telling him, and let me just say, the man was flattered. He was so darling about it. To be in the middle of Nerd Prom, surrounded by foaming comic fans who only know him from TV - and then suddenly, here is this adorable lady who remembers him from theater, his first love. It was so nice. Bliss has a better write-up on her blog, but I wanted to make sure I added it so that I don't forget.

And during all this, The Stack guys are standing there, so I tap them on the shoulder and tell them that we love the show and they were super nice and I grabbed Ryan and pulled him in and said "but he's the biggest fan" and Ryan takes it from there, gushing about how much he loves the show and then they get into the work he's done, blah blah blah, and he ends up walking away with 2 things: feeling awesome, because he's shirt twins with Alex and they want to interview him. Yay! So we're going to set that up for our next NY trip. NERDS FOR THE WIN!

We failed on getting into any of the panel discussions that day (noooo!!) but we did get to peruse Artist's Alley and made some awesome swag scores. Plus, we bought stuff. Retail therapy! Hooray! And at one point, we kind of lost Adam and then we get a text message "I'm standing in line for an inflatable He-Man sword. I think I need an intervention." We arrived just in time to see him bestowed with his new sword and, of course, made him pose in front of Castle Greyskull. Which, as you might remember, is something that this Prince Adam has in his very own house.


The rest of the afternoon was a blur and at some point in the evening we ended up in the car driving home (how did we get there? Does anyone remember?) and discussing All Time Most Embarrassing Songs You Love, Songs That Make You Cry, and Songs That Could Be Used To Torture State Secrets Out Of You. Which was fun. And everybody laughed that I have mis-labeled secret songs hidden on my iPod (hint: it's not under W for Wilson Philips). I laughed and cried and mostly laughed 'til I cried. It was an awesome day.

Another Fantastic Friday

Friday nights have been pretty fantastic for me the past few weeks (months?) because that's my set Los Angeles hang-out night and I get to see Kate perform in Scandal! (final show is Friday, April 25th - don't miss it!!) and I get to eat awesome cookies and stay up late. But last night might have been the best one yet.

I took the day off of work, so Ryan and I drove up to LA (and by drive up, I mean drive around the entire city because I thought he knew where he was going but instead he has a sonic locator device that delivers you into gridlock traffic at every turn.) during the day and got to hang out at the Natural History Museum and poke around a bit. We didn't get there as early as planned (ahem) so we didn't get to see it all, BUT we did see enough beautiful and frightening stuff to make it a successful trip.

After that, we met up with Kate and grabbed a quick dinner before releasing Ryan into the wilds of LA all alone. Kate and I had a date with Julie Andrews so Ryan was left to fend for himself. We made our way to the theater, got an EXCELLENT parking spot, then fell in line to pick up our tickets. At which point, we found out that Ms. Andrews wouldn't be autographing her books as planned, but had pre-signed a number of books that were available for sale. Kind of a bummer, but still ok. Apparently not everyone else was as cool as us. People were screaming and raving and ranting and acting like assholes about the fact she wouldn't be available to sign their book. It was a mob scene. Seriously, all this because the poor woman didn't want to be mobbed by morons. If I were her, I'd never leave my house and become all Howard Hughes about it. It never occurred to me how people sincerely feel that they are entitled to celebrities. She's Mary Poppins, therefore I own her. It was scary.

The interview was lovely, and Ms. Andrews looked brilliant as always. She told lots of funny stories that didn't make it into the book and other side notes about the people she worked with. I need to write them down so that I don't forget, so remind me: The Rex Harrison fart story. I only took a few pictures because apparently I am stupid stupid stupid and forgot to charge the extra battery pack that I brought. I hope that Kate's pictures turn out better than mine.

After the Julie Andrews interview, we headed over to the Acme Theater so that Kate could prep for her show (Scandal! Final episode this Friday, April 25th!!) and I checked in with Ryan who had apparently been comic shopping with Adam for hours (let this be a lesson: never go into a comic store with these two. Separately is ok, but together... you'll be there all day). The boys came to meet me at our favorite cookie spot for Cherry Bombs and Mont Blancs before the show.

Since it was the show's second to last episode (final one this Friday!) there was a giant audience - everyone is dying to know how it ends! - and also the characters were in GREAT form. Everyone was working hard to bring the show to an exciting final conclusion, so lots of great things happened. Daring escapes! Fistfights! Burning buildings! Girl-on-girl kissing! Gunshots! The living dead! It was really really really great. And I don't say that just because Kate is in the show. Seriously, I wouldn't drive to LA in 2.5 hours of traffic (ahem) if the show wasn't good. I got some cell phone pictures and cursed myself the whole time for not having camera batteries.

Afterward, we went for rejuvenation at the neighboring restaurant/bar to catch up with the cast and chat around the group. I was also able to give my presents to Kate and Dan (who plays Stone Rocket in the show). They are both truly wonderful improv actors and hilarious characters to boot. And since they were so kind as to sit through my dissertation on Why Needle Felting Is So Awesome last week, I made them each a figure of their character as a keepsake from the show. Giddy Girlie: #1 Fan Girl of Sketch Comedy! I had so much fun making them, that I almost didn't care if they liked them or not, but they were both very sweet about accepting them. For the record: I fully comprehend the weirdness of receiving a felt sculpture of yourself. Which is why they're not obligated to keep it or display it. My feelings won't be hurt.

During the post-show excitement, we learned that Ryan and Adam had failed to feed themselves during their 4 hours together (not enough time!) so they were languishing. We took them over to Toi Thai, which is like a punk rock club (including bouncer) but is a Thai restaurant and had some excellent food and I introduced everyone to Larb. Seriously, why doesn't everyone know about the deliciousness of lime and chili sauce?! We were given fortune cookies after our meal, and everyone agreed we'd opened the wrong cookie. So we switched our fortunes and then headed to 7-11 to play the lottery with our 'lucky numbers' which was hilarious because Adam had never played the lottery so we had to school him on how the scantron worked AND because right when we got there, the machine broke and so we couldn't buy tickets anyway. Everyone kept their form and is supposed to buy a ticket sometime this week - don't forget.

It was now nearly 3am and we stood around saying goodbye for another good, long time. We had a rock, scissors, paper tournament to see who would get to drive Adam home (we lost) and then we set off toward home.

Ryan and I were so amped up from the day that we ended up staying up talking for hours after we got home and decided to call it a night when the sun came up. And then we layed in bed giggling about our own sketch ideas until we heard the neighbors wake up and start making breakfast. So around 7am, we reeled it in and went to sleep. As soon as we stopped talking, we fell asleep immediately. Until 11, when Ryan's alarm went off so he could go to band practice. Good times!