My Salt Lake City Comic Con Loot

You can't go to a Con without gathering a bunch of loot to take home.  And loot of the Nerdy variety is the best kind.

Of course I had to get an official pin, because I collect pins.  They're fun, cheap, and small.

 Then I got two handcrafted leather journals.  They're gorgeous!  Easily my most favorite purchase.  It was so hard picking two.

 The paper is linen, and the overall quality is top notch.

 An Evermore Park coin!  The actual park isn't completed, the first phase should be completed end of 2015, but they are sure marketing this Victorian wonder of a place, and I love the marketing.

(Insert:  If Evermore Park doesn't happen, I will be sorely disappointed.  It's going to be amazing!)

The coin was available at the their booth/display.  You had to trade for it, with the trader, as long as he didn't already have what you were willing to trade.  I traded a UVU stress ball.  I sure got the better end of the trade!  It's a cool coin.

 A Comic Con spinner coin!!

Oh this is fun.  The middle spins, and helps you decide what to do next.

 Dragon Gold!

There were 5 different coins available, but I only wanted the 4.  The 5th had a giant boar on the back.  These are authentic recreations from the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, cast from the molds originally used for the movie.  By WETA.

Seriously, it's been one of my dreams since childhood, ever since I read the Hobbit, to own Dragons Gold.  I'm not joking.  It was fun dreaming up Smaug surrounded by gold, and I wanted some of the goods.

Childhood dream realized!! :0)

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.

Salt Lake Comic Con Day 1

What do I so far think of the 2014 Salt Lake Comic Con?

Not much.

It's 4 PM.

I'm still in line.

Literally.

So I might as well write about it . . .

Last April during the SLC Comic Con Fan X, I thought it was insane walking directly into the entry room around 2 PM first day Thursday, only to be greeted by a huge wrap around line.

This year?  We got here around 1:30 PM and the line was wrapping around the block, on the outside, around the Utah Symphony building.

Last April there was a second entry next to Energy Solutions, so we thought we would try to go there, but it's closed this year.  Only one entry.

So then my Mom called my Dad who was having lunch at City Creek what he was planning, and he heard that the Megaplex at the Gateway was doing registration thanks to the Con film fest.  A long walk later we discovered that that offer was only available on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A long walk back we joined my Dad and brother Steven, who have been in line since 1:45 PM.

And now we're in that giant room, finally, the registration room, and it's nothing but chaos.  No direction.  Lines everywhere splitting off every which way.  Surround sound confusion and complaining.

At 4:19 I'm still not sure we're where we're supposed to be.

None of the volunteers know what is going on.

I found out, via Facebook, that the Cary Elwes forum was at 3:00.  That was one of the events I would have liked to attend.

Oh well.

At least I can now see the taunting glimmer of lights passed the reception entrance, as I inch along.

When I first saw the line at 1:30 I guessed it would take 3 hours.

I might have been generous.

(4:33, far from entering, still in line.)

Terrible management and planning.

(Blogger wouldn't let me post this blog post while I was in the building.  It's 8:49, and my feet are tired.  Last time I didn't get to look at any booths, so I took that opportunity today, since no panels sounded particularly interesting.

BTW, the Hobbit booth is AWESOME.  Can I say how excited I am to finally see the end to the Hobbit trilogy?  Ex-ci-ted.

And the Evermore booth is fun this year.  FYI, if there's a unique small junk item you wouldn't mind getting rid of, you can trade it for a really cool Evermore Park coin, as long as the trader guy doesn't already have it.

And the Evermore Park booth is right next to a super fun LEGO booth.

And one last point, I finally got into the Con at 5:30, nearly a 4 hr. wait.  It took them almost 8 minutes to give us 7 wrist bands.  When we left after 8:00, there was still a super long line inside the registration room.  I feel bad for those people.  A long wait just for a wrist band.)

Video Games Live in Salt Lake City

This is happening!

Video Games Live!!

Of course it isn't until this September, so I can't wait.  I feel extremely lucky its coming to Salt Lake City at all.  Steven and I have been talking about Video Games Live for years, noticing what cities were getting it, and whether we should plan a trip.

We don't have to go anywhere!  Except a short trip into Salt Lake this September, the same weekend as the Salt Lake Comic Con, which was totally by design, I'm sure.  I'm not complaining at all. 

The Utah Symphony will be performing, and they're fabulous.

Now, until then, I'll be listening to the Kingdom Hearts medley I downloaded to my IPod years ago.

Don't want to wish my life away, but September can't come soon enough.

SLC Comic Con, Evermore Park, and Star Trek TNG

 Yesterday I visited my very first Comic Con!!!  The Salt Lake Comic Con.  Yay!

* And There Was Much Rejoicing *

Last October was the very first, drawing 75,000 attendees, making it the highest attended first year Comic Con, ever, which is amazing.  This year they're anticipating 100,000.  There's going to be ANOTHER comic con in September.

Yeah, we're a bunch of nerds.

True story: The TV show Psych had a University/College competition a few years ago, with the school who submitted the most votes getting a mention.  Brigham Young University, BYU for short, naturally won.  The "mention" we got was a couple of girls in a bar ordering drinks while wearing a "Y" shirt, which, to someone not in the know, could easily be confused with Yale.  I'm fine with that.

 We got there around 1:00, and the line was crazy!  Then someone recommended a couple of us go to the other side of the building, the other entrance, where the line was next to nothing.  Several blocks later and we were practically at the front of the line.

 It didn't take long for people to figure out the secret.

 The curtained off Photo Op area.

 The first panel my Mom and I went to was Ioan Gruffudd of Horatio Hornblower fame, Fantastic Four, Amazing Grace, etc.  He was absolutely delightful, respectful, and down to Earth.  My respect points for him went way up.

Then my Mom and I went to a panel featuring Sean Patrick Flanery, who was Indiana Jones in the Young Indiana Jones series.  Apparently he was in this movie called The Boondock Saints, which he is now known.  His vulgarity, F-bombs, immoral stories were so disgusting, my Mom and I got up within in the first 5 minutes and walked out.

I don't know if I can watch the Young Indiana Jones now without thinking of his awful speech.  It's going to be hard separating the real man from the character.  Feels like the curtain rising in Wizard of Oz.  Makes me sad, but it was absolutely horrid.

 I heard Evermore Park, a soon to be Victorian Theme park in Pleasant Grove Utah in Summer 2015, had a booth, but I didn't know they were going to have a full scale model.  I'm so excited!!!  Charles Dickens at Christmas, Jack the Ripper during Halloween, fairy festival, pirate ship, caves, 3 high end restaurants, Victorian shopping square, beautiful gardens, etc.  If they can pull this off Evermore is going to be amazing.  And everyone working there is going to be expected to act and be in character at all times.

Makes me think of a real life Austenland, but cooler.

 And I love the advertisements posed as vintage postcards.

 My Dad got a photo of himself with Adam Baldwin.

One of my Dad's friend gave him a Photo Op $30 voucher, and he tried to pass it off to one of us kids.  I'm introverted, perfectly fine watching panels, so the idea of getting a photo with a celebrity doesn't interest me.  Goodness, I went to a few performances of Alien Voices in L.A. with members of Star Trek, and even then I didn't autographs after the show.  I sat in the middle of an emptying theater, and my Mom grabbed my Midsummer Night's Dream scrip, getting me autographs from John D. Lancie, Leonard Nimoy, Roxann Dawson, and Ethan Phillips.  She said I would thank her later, and I do, but I'm just kinda like that.

And my Dad's like that, too.  I get it from him.

(My Mom still loves to tell the story of a photography convention in L.A. back in the 90's, and Leonard Nimoy was sitting at a booth by himself, showing his photography.  My Mom and Dad were walking in that direction.  My Mom stopped and had a solid, quality 15 minute conversation him him; my Dad, seeing what she was about to do, kept on walking, watching with worry from the distance.)  

When we finally made it to the photo op location, around 5:00, it was too late to get a photo op with any of the TNG cast.  But Adam Baldwin, from Firefly and Chuck, was starting at 6:15.  My Dad really respects him.  Because the Star Trek TNG panel was at 6:30, in which all but my Dad paid $25 above entry fee to see, we couldn't do the photo op.  We talked my Dad into it.

You can have up to 4 people per photo, and my brothers REALLY wanted to join my Dad, Michael particularly, but we wanted to make the panel.

Turns out the conference was running late!!!  At 6:45 my Dad finds us in line and shows us the photo, beaming, Michael bummed, and then showed the photo to another Baldwin fan in the Muppet panel line who really wanted a photo, but couldn't afford it.  So she quickly asked her friend to take a picture with my Dad holding the photo.  It was pretty funny, and my Dad was having a great time.

 And then the Star Trek TNG panel!!!!!!  What we were looking forward to the whole time.

William Shatner, a huge supporter of the SLC Comic Con, hosted the event.  And from the TNG cast Jonathan Frakes, Denise Crosby, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner were there.  LeVar Burton canceled at the last minute for a film shoot, or something.

And it was announced last night that Patrick Stewart is coming on Saturday!!  I'm not going to be there, but that's cool.  Sad he wasn't there last night, but better late then never.  He's coming because of the fan outreach.

 "Riker" in the captains chair.

 It was a lot of fun!  I'm glad I went to Comic Con :0)