A woman’s perspective on the TOYS, the restaurants, the people, and sharing a hotel with 2 stinky men!!!
The plane ride
The plane ride down was surprisingly delightful. Dan, Josh and I figured it for the best to upgrade to business class (as the chairs are way bigger and free booze). Upon lift-off I was getting myself ready for a relaxing and fun flight. And it was; the drinks flowed, the Steward (ess) were super helpful and nice. The whole last hours of the flight were spent with Dan and I chatting and laughing with the steward he even gave us tips on how to keep our skin GLOWING. As we departed the plane, they even gave me a bag of vodka nips for our room! Can you imagine?? We finally arrived in San Diego on Tuesday July 21st at 11:30 am.
The Hotel Room
As the booking for our trip was relatively last minute, all the rooms at the Hilton, the Clarion, etc. were taken. Which leaves us with the Quality Inn...If you research the Quality inn you will see it has much less than sparkling reviews. We had prepared for the worst, but it was surprisingly not bad. It would suffice just fine. After putting away some of our stuff we decided to check out the Con one day previous to it opening to the public.
The Calm of the Con the day before the storm
Now, the workers at the Con WILL NOT let you in pre show without an exhibitor's badge. So with our friend Matt’s help, I became exhibitor Fridge and Dan became Boris. We donned our passes and headed down to set up some of Josh's wares at our table. It was like the calm before the storm. The place was alive with people setting up some of their life’s works. Toys, art work, comic books, life size Stormtroopers, just to name a few. I have never attended anything of this magnitude. There were new Soul of Chogokin toys being displayed, a lot of my husband’s favorites and old favorites of us both. He immediately was compelled to buy a Giant Robot from the 80's and waited to pick up his Getter 1 Comic Con exclusive.
That night we went to have dinner at this Mexican place called Fred's and the whole gang was there. Sanjeev was there with Mark, Jesse, Matt and Megan Doughty, Jennileen, John, Josh, Dan and I. We ate and chatted about the weeks festivities but it was to be an early night as we were all super tired from our traveling
On sharing a Hotel room with 2 men.
Back at the hotel, we were all getting all set for bed. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth as Josh exited it. It smelled like septic death in there. But I didn't want to be rude and make Josh embarrassed, so I just brushed away, until I got really ill from the stink and started puking. My husband and Josh rushed in checking to see if I was okay. I said ”it stinks too much in here! It made me puke!!”. Josh was all glowing with pride, WOW! I made Nadia throw up!! AWESOME!! We all laughed our asses off. The rest of the night was peppered with farts and snoring. It's a good thing I am used to all this stuff, living with Dan and all..
The Waffle Spot and the Rickshaw ride
We woke up at 7:30am, or I woke up at 7:30 and made the other 2 get up with me. Josh had been talking about this magical place where you could get waffles with bacon baked right into them.... I was mesmerized. So we headed out to get a cab to take us to this almost mythical place. And you would have thought it was mythical. As the cab driver had no idea what or where Waffle Spot was. After some looking we found it.
We went in, and had our Waffles. The reality of those waffles was not as good at our hopes for them. But many pictures were still taken and are glad we went.
We then took another cab to the Con. The traffic was so thick we asked the driver to just drop us off a block or two away. Immediately we got accosted by these poor souls who make their living dragging people around in carts attached to their bikes. This one extremely spindly fellow begged us to let him take us the rest of the way to the Con. The three of us looked at him and asked him if he was aware that us three weighed like 800lbs! We are certainly not an ideal fare. He INSISTED.. I have never laughed so much in my life, this poor fellow carting the three of us up the hill on the way to the con. We oozed over the sides of the cart, and the poor guy had to get off his bike and push at certain parts. Poor guy. And what's worse - as he was nearing the crest of the hill, and was explaining about how terrible the cops were about rickshaws. (He said he had like 5 unpaid tickets, that those damn cops HATED rickshaws probably hated him.) And just as we got out, a cop ticketed him. Needless to say, I gave him a big tip.
Exclusive Lucasfilm after parties and unbelievably good Mexican food.
We went to many after parties, the first was IDW comics party which was really awesome. Open bar with really good drinks, good appetizers, and slammin’ music. As we got our drink on a BIG BRITISH man decided Josh was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.. (OOO do I see a love connection in the making?) We danced and drank and bumped in to Robbie Musso, an incredible artist, he does all the banners for CDX, did Dan's and Josh's business cards too. He's a cool cat and a good guy.
The next party was the G4 party; you would think this party would have been really super cool. It was okay, kinda packed no open bar, but fun nonetheless. At the very least it was good exposure for us. We then headed back home as Dan and I were really drunk and we wanted Denny's.
I got Moon Over My Hammy.
The next evening was the most important party, The Lucasfilm super invite-only party. We were going with Frank from Kotobukiya, but needed to get some chow first. We all wanted to get Mexican, so we stopped at a bar for a drink and asked the bar tender where the BEST Mexican food was. She told us to go to this little place called Casa Loma, a few blocks up. So we walked to the Casa Loma, and it was a dirty little hole in the wall and showing all the earmarks of an awesome Mexican place where good food was sure to follow. The three of us sat at this little high top table, the AC was broken, and it was dark in there. We all ordered Margaritas which set Josh and My mouths on fire after eating the salsa. Dan is some sort of freak so he wasn't bothered by the heat of the salsa at all. Then our plates came.. This food.. Oh my God this food...So good, everything was HAND MADE! The tortillas, both corn and flour, everything. The BEST I have ever had! And to top it off, the bill came to 42.00 dollars.. FOR ALL THAT FOOD and DRINKS! We left the Mexican place promising we'd be back the next night, and we were!
Time for the Lucas party, walking to the cab I found this homeless guy sleeping on a bench. He had 3 shopping carts expertly engineered together kind of like a cart-a-bago. Poor guy, I woke him up and gave him $20.00 to ensure my good Karma for the rest of the trip, he was so thankful. Remember to always be kind to the homeless and less fortunate. You’ll get it back ten fold.
We hail a cab which pulls up to The BEAUTIFUL Westgate Hotel. We get out and wait for Frank, enjoying the people watching and freak show of sorts.
Frank shows and we go upstairs to get these exclusive swag bags. One was an ammo case painted white with a Clonetrooper's face painted in black on it. It held a patch of the next Star Wars film coming out next month. The other was cool, it had a Darth Vader Nesting doll in it. Another Lucas party exclusive, I bet it could fetch a penny on EBAY. But we decided to give it to Josh's son Nate as he would just love it. We all filed into the elevator to get to the rooftop party.
When those doors opened and we saw the spread it was akin to when Dorothy opened her front door to view OZ. I have never been to a party of this stature, and dare I say I had no idea just how Hollywood Josh is!
Josh and Dan talked to George Sohn of Toynami as I went up to get some wine for us. George is a great guy, we hope to be reviewing some toys for him soon. Bruce Campbell was also there, I think Fred Durst, and Josh's British boyfriend too! Sucklord made his appearance as well. As Josh, Dan, and I stood in front of an ice sculpture, it really hit home. This had been an awesome trip! Awesome parties! Awesome people! Awesome traveling companions.
I am blessed to have gotten to go with Josh and Dan. I absolutely can't wait till next year.
The Hotel Room
As the booking for our trip was relatively last minute, all the rooms at the Hilton, the Clarion, etc. were taken. Which leaves us with the Quality Inn...If you research the Quality inn you will see it has much less than sparkling reviews. We had prepared for the worst, but it was surprisingly not bad. It would suffice just fine. After putting away some of our stuff we decided to check out the Con one day previous to it opening to the public.
The Calm of the Con the day before the storm
Now, the workers at the Con WILL NOT let you in pre show without an exhibitor's badge. So with our friend Matt’s help, I became exhibitor Fridge and Dan became Boris. We donned our passes and headed down to set up some of Josh's wares at our table. It was like the calm before the storm. The place was alive with people setting up some of their life’s works. Toys, art work, comic books, life size Stormtroopers, just to name a few. I have never attended anything of this magnitude. There were new Soul of Chogokin toys being displayed, a lot of my husband’s favorites and old favorites of us both. He immediately was compelled to buy a Giant Robot from the 80's and waited to pick up his Getter 1 Comic Con exclusive.
That night we went to have dinner at this Mexican place called Fred's and the whole gang was there. Sanjeev was there with Mark, Jesse, Matt and Megan Doughty, Jennileen, John, Josh, Dan and I. We ate and chatted about the weeks festivities but it was to be an early night as we were all super tired from our traveling
On sharing a Hotel room with 2 men.
Back at the hotel, we were all getting all set for bed. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth as Josh exited it. It smelled like septic death in there. But I didn't want to be rude and make Josh embarrassed, so I just brushed away, until I got really ill from the stink and started puking. My husband and Josh rushed in checking to see if I was okay. I said ”it stinks too much in here! It made me puke!!”. Josh was all glowing with pride, WOW! I made Nadia throw up!! AWESOME!! We all laughed our asses off. The rest of the night was peppered with farts and snoring. It's a good thing I am used to all this stuff, living with Dan and all..
The Waffle Spot and the Rickshaw ride
We woke up at 7:30am, or I woke up at 7:30 and made the other 2 get up with me. Josh had been talking about this magical place where you could get waffles with bacon baked right into them.... I was mesmerized. So we headed out to get a cab to take us to this almost mythical place. And you would have thought it was mythical. As the cab driver had no idea what or where Waffle Spot was. After some looking we found it.
We went in, and had our Waffles. The reality of those waffles was not as good at our hopes for them. But many pictures were still taken and are glad we went.
We then took another cab to the Con. The traffic was so thick we asked the driver to just drop us off a block or two away. Immediately we got accosted by these poor souls who make their living dragging people around in carts attached to their bikes. This one extremely spindly fellow begged us to let him take us the rest of the way to the Con. The three of us looked at him and asked him if he was aware that us three weighed like 800lbs! We are certainly not an ideal fare. He INSISTED.. I have never laughed so much in my life, this poor fellow carting the three of us up the hill on the way to the con. We oozed over the sides of the cart, and the poor guy had to get off his bike and push at certain parts. Poor guy. And what's worse - as he was nearing the crest of the hill, and was explaining about how terrible the cops were about rickshaws. (He said he had like 5 unpaid tickets, that those damn cops HATED rickshaws probably hated him.) And just as we got out, a cop ticketed him. Needless to say, I gave him a big tip.
Exclusive Lucasfilm after parties and unbelievably good Mexican food.
We went to many after parties, the first was IDW comics party which was really awesome. Open bar with really good drinks, good appetizers, and slammin’ music. As we got our drink on a BIG BRITISH man decided Josh was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.. (OOO do I see a love connection in the making?) We danced and drank and bumped in to Robbie Musso, an incredible artist, he does all the banners for CDX, did Dan's and Josh's business cards too. He's a cool cat and a good guy.
The next party was the G4 party; you would think this party would have been really super cool. It was okay, kinda packed no open bar, but fun nonetheless. At the very least it was good exposure for us. We then headed back home as Dan and I were really drunk and we wanted Denny's.
I got Moon Over My Hammy.
The next evening was the most important party, The Lucasfilm super invite-only party. We were going with Frank from Kotobukiya, but needed to get some chow first. We all wanted to get Mexican, so we stopped at a bar for a drink and asked the bar tender where the BEST Mexican food was. She told us to go to this little place called Casa Loma, a few blocks up. So we walked to the Casa Loma, and it was a dirty little hole in the wall and showing all the earmarks of an awesome Mexican place where good food was sure to follow. The three of us sat at this little high top table, the AC was broken, and it was dark in there. We all ordered Margaritas which set Josh and My mouths on fire after eating the salsa. Dan is some sort of freak so he wasn't bothered by the heat of the salsa at all. Then our plates came.. This food.. Oh my God this food...So good, everything was HAND MADE! The tortillas, both corn and flour, everything. The BEST I have ever had! And to top it off, the bill came to 42.00 dollars.. FOR ALL THAT FOOD and DRINKS! We left the Mexican place promising we'd be back the next night, and we were!
Time for the Lucas party, walking to the cab I found this homeless guy sleeping on a bench. He had 3 shopping carts expertly engineered together kind of like a cart-a-bago. Poor guy, I woke him up and gave him $20.00 to ensure my good Karma for the rest of the trip, he was so thankful. Remember to always be kind to the homeless and less fortunate. You’ll get it back ten fold.
We hail a cab which pulls up to The BEAUTIFUL Westgate Hotel. We get out and wait for Frank, enjoying the people watching and freak show of sorts.
Frank shows and we go upstairs to get these exclusive swag bags. One was an ammo case painted white with a Clonetrooper's face painted in black on it. It held a patch of the next Star Wars film coming out next month. The other was cool, it had a Darth Vader Nesting doll in it. Another Lucas party exclusive, I bet it could fetch a penny on EBAY. But we decided to give it to Josh's son Nate as he would just love it. We all filed into the elevator to get to the rooftop party.
When those doors opened and we saw the spread it was akin to when Dorothy opened her front door to view OZ. I have never been to a party of this stature, and dare I say I had no idea just how Hollywood Josh is!
Josh and Dan talked to George Sohn of Toynami as I went up to get some wine for us. George is a great guy, we hope to be reviewing some toys for him soon. Bruce Campbell was also there, I think Fred Durst, and Josh's British boyfriend too! Sucklord made his appearance as well. As Josh, Dan, and I stood in front of an ice sculpture, it really hit home. This had been an awesome trip! Awesome parties! Awesome people! Awesome traveling companions.
I am blessed to have gotten to go with Josh and Dan. I absolutely can't wait till next year.