Comic-Con Diary: 60 Stormtroopers Walk Onto the Terrace…
by James HudnallI just got home from Comic-Con. In a couple hours I have to take a shower and head back downtown for a big party my Hollywood management company invited me to. Every year they team with a bunch of other companies and throw a huge industry mixer. They’re usually really crowded and noisy, but there’s free food and drinks and I usually met interesting people.
This year they also teamed up with Wired magazine and set up a private green room called the “Wired Cafe,” where select people from the press and the industry are invited during the day. They have a bunch of laptops set up for people to blog and tweet and a cafe with an open bar and great food. I decided to go there for lunch instead of my usual haunts. I had a Smoked Turkey Panini and considered a Dim Sum sampler, which the person at my table ordered with his Burger. Maybe tomorrow.
There were some sponsors there like Patron Tequila and Bustelo Coffee giving out free drinks. I never tried either. Not being a drinker I only had one Patron cocktail, which had grapefruit juice and club soda. It was goood. I gotta say, the Bustelo canned espresso drinks were awesome. I like Starbucks products. Especially when I am driving long distances. But Bustelo is more flavorful. I never had them before. I found out these are advance copies and they will be on sale in a few weeks at Wal-Mart and Trader Joes.
The Con seemed to have the usual Thursday crowds, which were fairly intense. But the next two days will be much worse. I wish I brought my camera. I missed a couple of shots that would have been golden. They have all these pedi-cabs outside carting people between the restaurants and the Con. And I walked by one that had a guy in a predator costume being driven around. It was hilarious.
(I hate using my cell phone; the shots never look good enough.)
There were the usual people in costumes, including the Star Wars variety which are perennial. I remember one year I was sitting on the outside terrace in the back of the Con, which looks out over Coronado island. A friend walked by and we started talking. All of a sudden, about 60 Star Wars Stormtroopers walk onto the terrace and pose for a photo on the outside steps.
“Now I’ve seen everything.” I said. My friend laughed.
This year a lot of booths were scaled down from previous Cons. I’m sure the economy had to do with it. But the movie and TV companies still had impressive set ups.
Marvel Comics has four different life-sized Iron Man costumes with glowing eyes and chest generators. They ranged from the crude version from “Iron Man” to one that may be used in “Iron Man 2.”
SyFy (which used to be the SciFi channel until some rebranding doofus decided to change the name slightly) went so far as to rent a restaurant space right near the Con in the Gaslamp quarter. The coffee shop for the Hard Rock Hotel, usually called Mary Jane’s, is called Cafe Diem during the Con. All the items on the menu are advertisements for Scifi Syfy shows with names like Caprica salads (but not Battlestar Burgers). Lots of cardboard stand ups of their characters. The prices were a little high, like $7 milkshakes, but the place seemed busy.
I got to see a bunch of familiar faces and I was surprised how many people told me they loved my Big Hollywood columns. That’s always nice to hear. I will look for Doug TenNapel’s booth tomorrow. I forgot to write down the number and it’s a huge place. I only got to see about half of the show run today.
Today I parked at the Padres parking lot as the baseball stadium is next door. My mom told me it was free for the Con (disclosure: my sister knows the owner of the team, so I though the info might have come from her). Ha! It was $20. I ended up having to park on the roof because they were almost out of spaces.
Just as I was leaving I noticed I had a really good view of the old El Cortez hotel in the distance, where the Con used to be back in the 70s. It still has that big neon sign on the top with the words “Hotel” lopped off because it went condo. And there was once a restaurant on top called the Skylight Room with a beautiful flashing neon sign below the word “Hotel.” Not anymore. They don’t even turn on the sign at night.
Things change.
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34 Comments
Dude!
I love the 501st!!!!
The 501st… amazing. I assume the Elvis stormtrooper was there as usual?
I didn't see him but I did see a guy in a chrome Old Republic outfit with disco music blasting from his suit. Yes, that place is hilarious.
Why didn't you embellish your story with a tryst with a perfect Carrie Fisher look-alike wearing the slave outfit? I would think this shared fantasy would be compulsory subject matter when writing of this event.
Ah, the memories you brought back… The restaurant on top of the El Cortez was the "Sky Room", not "Skylight". Used to eat my dinner at Cafe Cortez every night. Interesting history here: http://www.elc.cc/history.html
During WWII, there was a military post above the restaurant.
[...] News Sources wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI just got home from Comic-Con. In a couple hours I have to take a shower and head back downtown for a big party my Hollywood management company invited me to. Every year they team with a bunch of other companies and throw a huge industry mixer. They’re usually really crowded and noisy, but there’s free food and drinks and I usually met interesting people. This year they also teamed up with Wired magazine and set up a private green room called the “Wired Cafe,” where select people from t [...]
Thanks for the clip. That was great.
Ah yes, the Sky Room. You can see from that old clip how th hotel once dominate the skyline. I remember seeing it from the car as we drove by on the freeway so many times and how that sign would be lit up. I always loved big neon signs. Another one I loved as a kid was the Planters Peanut sign that was in San Francisco back in the day. It had a giant Mr Peanut waving at you. I loved that sign. They torn it down in the 80s. Planters had a factory there.
Thanks for the clip. That was great.
Ah yes, the Sky Room. You can see from that old clip how the hotel once dominate the skyline. I remember seeing it from the car as we drove by on the freeway so many times and how that sign would be lit up. I always loved big neon signs. Another one I loved as a kid was the Planters Peanut sign that was in San Francisco back in the day. It had a giant Mr Peanut waving at you. I loved that sign. They torn it down in the 80s. Planters had a cannery there.
I never was into Carrie Fisher. The women in Lucas movies are never that appealing to me, including the ones in the Indiana Jones moves. They just have obnoxious personalities.
Thanks for the clip. That was great.
Ah yes, the Sky Room. You can see from that old clip how the hotel once dominated the skyline. I remember seeing it from the car as we drove by on the freeway so many times and how that sign would be lit up. I always loved big neon signs. Another one I loved as a kid was the Planters Peanut sign that was in San Francisco back in the day. It had a giant Mr Peanut waving at you. I loved that sign. They torn it down in the 80s. Planters had a cannery there.
I never was into Carrie Fisher. The women in Lucas movies are never that appealing to me, including the ones in the Indiana Jones moves. They just have obnoxious personalities.
Well, I like Natalie Portman, but her character in Star Wars is boring.
None of you Big Hollywood guys got into the Avatar screening?? I've read the commentary…I want you or TenNapel's direct take because you've given us the flavor of the event so well so far.
I walked in to Con at about 1pm on friday and immediately ran into a convoy of about 15 Princess Leia Slave girls. They were, for once, all good looking. Not a bad way to start off Con.
A little more research turned up info on that neon sign below the "hotel" sign. It was for the Starlight Room restaurant (okay, so Skylight wasn't that far off after all), which was located a couple of floors below the Sky Room. Some of the original elements of it have been saved, and are on display in the public rooms of the building.
James
Three things about her character… Ahem
1) You don't Vote for Queen
2) Once you are a Queen you do not step down to become a Senator, Royalty trumps Senator
3) What could she possibly see in Whinyikin Skywalker …. and I thought Luke was bad
The prequel movies do not exist… I am not listening LALALALALALALALA!
Ah Comic Con how I miss you! This is my first year in the last five that I've not gone to Comic Con, and the last year in 10 that I've gone to NO cons at all. I'm having Withdrawls! O.O!
So Have some extra fun for those of us who are married with Children too young to go!
Thanks! We love you, too!
Why do you assume political titles of the Star Wars universe would reflect our world's political titles/positions? Dope.
And if you "thought Luke was bad," how can you possibly be a Star Wars fan? Why bother posting at all? Some individualist, just spouting all the latest neo-geek slags about Star Wars.
Actually, I meant Starlight. Skylight is not what I thought I wrote
Hah! The only good thing abt. VH was it made Universal finally put out good dvd's of their classic monster series. I know you have stuff to do, but the mainstream accounts of the panels are so bland…you still feel like they're Jane Goodalls viewing the mysterious chimps of Gombe.
I would personally love to see the Princess Leia slave girl look alikes, probably yhe highlight of the show, for me. Now why don't you tell us how Israel, the Mossad. the Cia, Goldman-Sachs, the CFR and the Rothchilds banking cabal are tied into this insidious, diabolical plot to obviously brainwash the unwashed masses? Just sayin'……
I went to Comic-Con a few times during the late 80's while I was a student at San Diego State. Do you know what I saw?
Not only do you get to wait in line to get into Hall H, then you get to wait in line to get whatever swag they give away. And then there's the chance that they'll run out of that. At least, that was my experience at last years Con & the Watchmen t-shirt.
Van Helsing, btw, is one of my guilty dvd pleasures. It ain't a great a movie, but it is a lot of fun.
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I actually went to the Con at the El Cortez and I loved the video. I thought the kid in the elevator was going to be given the keys to the chocolate factory!
It's almost impossible to get in those preview halls unless you want to wait in 4 hour lines.* I don't.
I suppose if I had press credentials they would let me in earlier, but I didn't have any this year. I would like to have seen it but to be frank, Cameron's lame f**k political stances bore me silly. He makes entertaining enough movies, but please. I hear this one is all preachy. Rod Serling he ain't.
I did get into the Van Helsing one a few years back, because I know the producer, but that wasn't exactly something to brag about (Seeing the preview for Van Helsing, I mean)
Ok
If you can't admit that Luke whined in the films well then I don't think you watched them ……..
As to your first question? Your kidding right! Yes she is Queen Amadala should I ask her if she is the janitor then……….
NEo-geek slags ?!? Seriously that is terrible even for the latest in Neo-geek troll.
The first movies were great……. The Prequels they don't exist! LALALALALALALALALALa
and neither does the 2nd Highlander movie for that matter—– Nope doesn't exist LALALALALa
So would you be a Fett-clone, or a "wet?"
Luke is far more the man than his father hoped to be….at least, the father from the prequels.
The suspense is killing me, Aaron, what did you see?!
I don't know if it is worth seven dollars, but it's pretty freakin' good.
Doug Tennapel's booth is right next to the Fantagraphics one.
james, great article and I would gather seeing 60 stormtroopers walking around PERIOD would be a site…A mixer, I have not heard that expression, in a number of years….
Sounds like your having a good time and I must admit I am somewhat envious….
Big Hollywood’s ComiCon updates…
Here are some entries two of Big Hollywood’s contributors have been writing on their SDCCI attendance…
Sorry, some of my message got cut out. What I was trying to say was I saw comic books and nowadays with all the additional nerd stuff it seems that's the last thing you'll see at Comic-Con which is a shame.
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