Salt Lake Comic Con Day 3

 My last day at the Salt Lake Comic Con started off amazingly.

Video Games Live!

I've literally waited years to experience this concert, and the wait was well worth it.  This show was beyond everything I imagined, and being there live is beyond what I can explain.

Lights, video, interaction, etc.

Usually when you attend the Symphony there's decorum.  Rules.  Etiquette.  There are only certain places you're allowed to applaud, after all.  Don't be the weirdo who claps in the middle of a movement.

But with Video Games Live you're allowed to clap and cheer whenever you feel moved, and there was A LOT of clapping and cheering going on, especially during favorite games.

I cried through the whole of it!!  Especially during the Kingdom Hearts.

I started crying before the concert began.  (I'm not joking.  A couple tears went down my face.)

And the Skyrim segment was so well done.  I couldn't help but think of my Dad, who would have LOVED this concert!!!!!, but decided back in May not to get a ticket.  He was addicted to Skyrim for the LONGEST time.  The game that will not end . . . heh.  But seriously, I'm dragging my Dad to this concert next year.

The Snow College choir sang, and at first my family laughed (sorry, we did) when we heard that they were singing, but they were Incredible.  Awesome bass section.  In an area surrounded by so many Universities (U of U, BYU, UVU) within 40 mile, Snow College is a 2 year college in Ephraim Utah, out in the middle of no where, about 122 miles from SLC.

The choir was Phenomenal.

And the soloist was amazing, too.

Honestly, I wish more people were aware of how amazing Game Music is.

 At the Evermore section.  Heh, I look more happy then scared.

 Steven with Heather Theurer, the amazing Fantasy artist, who has also painted some amazing Disney portraits.  They're worth checking out on her site.  Apparently the Merida painting was amazing in person, unfortunately it was sold out before I had a chance to see it.  I would love to own the Lilo and Stitch painting.  So cute.

 Brandon Sanderson!

He's an Incredible Fantasy writer.

(I recommend Elantris and Warbreaker, though I hear Mistborn is amazing, I just haven't read it yet . . . ).  He's an expert at creating unique magic systems.

I first found out about Brandon before he was even published.  While working on his masters at BYU, he was rooming with a few guys a couple blocks from where I live.  He didn't attend the YSA (Young Single Adult) ward I was going to, but his roommates did, and when some of his friends in the ward found out how much I love fantasy, they told me about Brandon.  So when Elantris was published, I went to the BYU library and found out every copy of the book was checked out, except his master thesis copy of Elantris, so I checked that out.  Didn't get all the little pictures, but it was really interesting.

And FYI, when he talks about a local church group service auction, in which cans of food were used as auction payment, during the annotations of Warbreaker, I was there.  (It was super surreal reading an event in a book I was actually present for.  Brandon put up as auction the opportunity to have a character in one of his books named after you.  That would have been fun :0)

 Disney Cosplayers right outside the Disney Store.  They totally went inside after this picture was taken.

A video to remind you what 2015 is supposed to look like, in case you forgot.

 The Batmobile!

 Kids shooting at Storm Troopers :0)

It's a great way to pass the afternoon.

 I geeked out over this recreation of Bilbo's Contract from the Hobbit.

 Beware the Orcs.

 More LEGO's, just for fun.

Comic Con was fun.  I wish I made it to more panels.  And I hope the Con works on it's efficiency next year when it comes to managing all the people and the registration line.  Far from perfect, but a good time.

Big Bang Theory and Vasquez Rocks

 (Picture taken from the 14 Antelope Valley Freeway)

 Geology 101 made me a total natural science nerd.  It was one of those college general ed. classes I was absolutely dreading, but in the end I was completely loving.  Whenever I now see an interesting rock formation, I like to try and figure out how in Earth's history it was formed.

The above rocks are viewed from the Antelope Valley Freeway in the Santa Clarita area, Los Angeles County.  In the last 10 years I've driven by this place many times on the way to Ventura, and each time I get super excited.  

Seeing the rocks only lasts a minute or so, but right before it happens I seem to know it's just around the corner.  This happy feeling bubbles up inside letting me know.  (Geology nerd.)  On all those trips I never found out what the rocks are called, only that the Escondido Canyon Road exit would lead me to it.  Since we tend to pass this way towards the end of the day, usually after 10 hours on the road, we never pull off to check it out.

Funny enough, thanks to a Big Bang Theory episode I finally know the name of the rocks!  They're the Vasquez Rocks.  Leonard and the gang are heading to a convention in Bakersfield, only to get distracted by a spontaneous photo shot.  Honestly, their Star Trek: The Next Generation cosplay outfits are awesome.

But in the Big Bang Theory episode "The Bakersfield Expedition," it was mentioned that several Star Trek scenes were filmed at Vasquez Rocks . . . suddenly images of 1994's Star Trek Generations flashed in front of me, and an overwhelming feeling of stupidity engulfed. 

Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I must have made the Star Trek connection with these rocks, so I was being a geeky nerd on two accounts!!!

  

And I now know how these rocks were formed.  From wikipedia: "The Vasquez Rocks were formed via Quaternary sediments deposited in alluvial fans, approximately 25 million years ago, from the erosion of the San Gabriel mountains located to the south.  The collision of the North American and Pacific Plates created an anticline, due to the Elkhorn Fault, that then weathered away from the top."

I actually understood that, but this makes me regret selling back my geology book to the college book store . . . the life of a poor student.