Comic Con!
I'm giving up my ambition to write a real review of the TMBG show. Too much time has passed. HOWEVER, I went to Comic Con this past weekend, and many things happened.
Friday, I did not attend, though my friends did. I, instead, went to class and work. In class, Chris Blackwell came to speak to us. He's the man who founded Island Records back in the day to promote Jamaican music in England. This was Bob Marley's record label. Super awesome. Then work, where nothing extremely special happened. After work, I headed up to Penn Station to pick up Mr Bill Remmers. He spent Friday and Saturday nights at my apartment so he could go to Comic Con both Saturday and Sunday. When we got back to the dorm, we set up his bed and got his stuff settled. We decided what we were going to get up to the next day: how early, when to meet his friend, etc., then headed next door to watch Val's brand new copy of Firefly and hang out. Much later, we finally went to bed.
Saturday we headed out around 8:45, to meet Bill's friend Ryan at the train station around 9:15. We ended up missing him, but getting to the Jarvits Center at the same time, so we all picked up our tickets and got in the underground line to enter the main floor. Bill was excited when we ran into Colin Baker. Shortly after, they left me waiting in line to meet the guys from Cyanide and Happiness to further wander. I then got a call from Jayme and Rachel saying they were in line for the Penny Arcade panel already. So, I hurried down to join them. On the way I ran into the lovely Emmy (binsybaby) and said a quick, and slightly awkward hello. A bit of the way through the Penny Arcade panel, it was decided that we weren't gong to get into Robot Chicken unless we left early to grab a spot in line. I decided I was more familiar with Robot Chicken than Penny Arcade, so was the one to leave and get in line. I there ran into Mike (aka TDK), and befrended the people in front of and behind me. In front was a journalist who reminded me a bit of Sarah Vowell (I think her name was Kristin) and a guy who does camerawork for reality shows and his friend. They were really fun to spend about an hour talking to as we waited to get in. I took pictures during this panel. Seth Green is fucking hilarious, and Breckin Meyer isn't very much less so. They kept rambling on instead of getting to next questions, and just generally dicking about. It was great. My favorite was when all five guys on the panel had their cameras out taking pictures of Dark Anakin standing next to the guy who dressed up as the chicken. After, I met back up with Jayme, Val and Rachel. Rachel wandered off to watch the Jedi performance, and Val and Jayme and I decided to leave for an hour or so to find cheaper food for lunch. On the way out, I spotted Neil (trapezzoid) and went over to say hello. He recognized my screenname (I have been semi-creepily commenting on his journal since like 2003 or 2004 now...), and gave me a hug in greeting. That was awesome, mainly because I love hugs and don't get them enough so it was awesome to get one from someone I was meeting in person for the first time. I do feel bad though, as I did not say hello to the beautiful and talented Ming. I was too preoccupied with saying hello but not imposing and getting back to my friends who were waiting to leave. So, we headed to Subway/Taco Bell for lunch. Upon returning, they headed to stand in line for the Venture Brothers panel, and I went back into the exhibition floor for a bit. I bought a petticoat skirt and nifty colored contacts (non-prescription so I have to either wear them with my glasses or be blind) before realizing there was nothing left to do on the exhibition floor and they wouldn't get out until 7:45. So, I went and got in line for Venture Brothers, and they eventually let everyone in. Bill and Ryan came to join me, and we hung out until the end of the panel. Then we escorted Ryan back to Penn Station before heading back to my dorm. There I switched out my Comic Con stuff for recording stuff and left Bill to take a nap while I went back up to campus for a recording session. We had the last session of the night, then the first the next morning. It made it nice not having to completely normal everything at midnight.
When I got home, I woke up Bill, decided I was not ambitious enough to wake up and try to get Joss Whedon autograph tickets at 7am, and went to bed. In the morning, we left around 8:40, and then Bill accidentally dropped his wallet on the subway as we were getting off so we had to take care of that a bit before heading back to the studio. We ended up being about half an hour late, which Doug luckily didn't mind. They'd gone ahead and continued vocal takes and were just starting to set up for ambient guitar sounds. The bass was waiting for me, because we decided that Doug kept coming up with basslines just slightly too complicated for the song. I'd barely changed what I'd played when we tried tracking it live two weeks previously, and the writer liked how simple I was keeping it. So, I plugged Doug's bass into two DI boxes and recorded several takes. With just the basics (guitar, bass, and vocals) the song sounds kinda Moldy Peaches-esque, but we're putting lots of ridiculousness on top of it. It should turn out pretty well.
After the session, I headed back up to the Jarvits Center. Bill had left earlier to meet the lady who found his wallet on the subway up at a church coffee. I'd loaned him $20 for a cab, and said I'd meet him back at the Jarvits' Center. I found him at Colin Baker's booth again, and we wandered around for a bit. He left me in line for funnel cake and went to get me a spot in line for the Fringe panel, as he had to leave to go to the last showing of Equus before the panel started, but I really really wanted to go to it. That is the most ridiculously badass show on TV right now. I was unable to get into the Dollhouse panel just before it because of my session and not getting in line in time, but the Fringe panel I was determined to go to. I left during the Q&A because I wanted to be home in time to watch the Grammy's pre-telecast. First, I went to check out the kids area and then stopped by the Penny Arcade booth to say hello to the fellow Seattleites. I got home around 3:30, and accompanied Val, Jayme, and a very high Ryan to Burger King. I left them there to get soda, and then came back in time to catch about three awards before the Best Children's Album category. As I predicted when I saw the nominations, TMBG won. It was awesome, though as soon as they started walking towards the stage I went "Wait, where's Flans?!" I thought it was really adorable how Danny jumped in to say something too though. Then I went next door with the soda, and we watched more Firefly. Then for some reason we ended up watching almost all of the rest of the televised Grammys. I kept trying to mute stuff that sucked, and a couple times people protested because they actually liked it, so I unmuted it, but I still seem to have gained the reputation of Music Nazi from that, as last night watching Leno and waiting for Conan, Duffy was the musical act and Sean asked if I could not mute her as he actually liked her. I hadn't even reached for the remote. But yeah, everyone in the room was yelling at the TV in outrage while we had it on mute when the Jonas Brothers performed with Stevie Wonder. We all were upset that he was introduced as Stevie Jonas, and whenever they jumped onto the platform he was playing on we yelled at them to get away from him. It was fun. Radiohead with the USC marching band was awesome, as was Paul McCartney with Dave Grohl. I absolutely love that song, so I had to get up and dance for most of it.
So, that was my weekend. Lots and lots of fun. I'm so tired now though. I really wanted to take a nap this afternoon, but I had to get some stuff done.
Friday, I did not attend, though my friends did. I, instead, went to class and work. In class, Chris Blackwell came to speak to us. He's the man who founded Island Records back in the day to promote Jamaican music in England. This was Bob Marley's record label. Super awesome. Then work, where nothing extremely special happened. After work, I headed up to Penn Station to pick up Mr Bill Remmers. He spent Friday and Saturday nights at my apartment so he could go to Comic Con both Saturday and Sunday. When we got back to the dorm, we set up his bed and got his stuff settled. We decided what we were going to get up to the next day: how early, when to meet his friend, etc., then headed next door to watch Val's brand new copy of Firefly and hang out. Much later, we finally went to bed.
Saturday we headed out around 8:45, to meet Bill's friend Ryan at the train station around 9:15. We ended up missing him, but getting to the Jarvits Center at the same time, so we all picked up our tickets and got in the underground line to enter the main floor. Bill was excited when we ran into Colin Baker. Shortly after, they left me waiting in line to meet the guys from Cyanide and Happiness to further wander. I then got a call from Jayme and Rachel saying they were in line for the Penny Arcade panel already. So, I hurried down to join them. On the way I ran into the lovely Emmy (binsybaby) and said a quick, and slightly awkward hello. A bit of the way through the Penny Arcade panel, it was decided that we weren't gong to get into Robot Chicken unless we left early to grab a spot in line. I decided I was more familiar with Robot Chicken than Penny Arcade, so was the one to leave and get in line. I there ran into Mike (aka TDK), and befrended the people in front of and behind me. In front was a journalist who reminded me a bit of Sarah Vowell (I think her name was Kristin) and a guy who does camerawork for reality shows and his friend. They were really fun to spend about an hour talking to as we waited to get in. I took pictures during this panel. Seth Green is fucking hilarious, and Breckin Meyer isn't very much less so. They kept rambling on instead of getting to next questions, and just generally dicking about. It was great. My favorite was when all five guys on the panel had their cameras out taking pictures of Dark Anakin standing next to the guy who dressed up as the chicken. After, I met back up with Jayme, Val and Rachel. Rachel wandered off to watch the Jedi performance, and Val and Jayme and I decided to leave for an hour or so to find cheaper food for lunch. On the way out, I spotted Neil (trapezzoid) and went over to say hello. He recognized my screenname (I have been semi-creepily commenting on his journal since like 2003 or 2004 now...), and gave me a hug in greeting. That was awesome, mainly because I love hugs and don't get them enough so it was awesome to get one from someone I was meeting in person for the first time. I do feel bad though, as I did not say hello to the beautiful and talented Ming. I was too preoccupied with saying hello but not imposing and getting back to my friends who were waiting to leave. So, we headed to Subway/Taco Bell for lunch. Upon returning, they headed to stand in line for the Venture Brothers panel, and I went back into the exhibition floor for a bit. I bought a petticoat skirt and nifty colored contacts (non-prescription so I have to either wear them with my glasses or be blind) before realizing there was nothing left to do on the exhibition floor and they wouldn't get out until 7:45. So, I went and got in line for Venture Brothers, and they eventually let everyone in. Bill and Ryan came to join me, and we hung out until the end of the panel. Then we escorted Ryan back to Penn Station before heading back to my dorm. There I switched out my Comic Con stuff for recording stuff and left Bill to take a nap while I went back up to campus for a recording session. We had the last session of the night, then the first the next morning. It made it nice not having to completely normal everything at midnight.
When I got home, I woke up Bill, decided I was not ambitious enough to wake up and try to get Joss Whedon autograph tickets at 7am, and went to bed. In the morning, we left around 8:40, and then Bill accidentally dropped his wallet on the subway as we were getting off so we had to take care of that a bit before heading back to the studio. We ended up being about half an hour late, which Doug luckily didn't mind. They'd gone ahead and continued vocal takes and were just starting to set up for ambient guitar sounds. The bass was waiting for me, because we decided that Doug kept coming up with basslines just slightly too complicated for the song. I'd barely changed what I'd played when we tried tracking it live two weeks previously, and the writer liked how simple I was keeping it. So, I plugged Doug's bass into two DI boxes and recorded several takes. With just the basics (guitar, bass, and vocals) the song sounds kinda Moldy Peaches-esque, but we're putting lots of ridiculousness on top of it. It should turn out pretty well.
After the session, I headed back up to the Jarvits Center. Bill had left earlier to meet the lady who found his wallet on the subway up at a church coffee. I'd loaned him $20 for a cab, and said I'd meet him back at the Jarvits' Center. I found him at Colin Baker's booth again, and we wandered around for a bit. He left me in line for funnel cake and went to get me a spot in line for the Fringe panel, as he had to leave to go to the last showing of Equus before the panel started, but I really really wanted to go to it. That is the most ridiculously badass show on TV right now. I was unable to get into the Dollhouse panel just before it because of my session and not getting in line in time, but the Fringe panel I was determined to go to. I left during the Q&A because I wanted to be home in time to watch the Grammy's pre-telecast. First, I went to check out the kids area and then stopped by the Penny Arcade booth to say hello to the fellow Seattleites. I got home around 3:30, and accompanied Val, Jayme, and a very high Ryan to Burger King. I left them there to get soda, and then came back in time to catch about three awards before the Best Children's Album category. As I predicted when I saw the nominations, TMBG won. It was awesome, though as soon as they started walking towards the stage I went "Wait, where's Flans?!" I thought it was really adorable how Danny jumped in to say something too though. Then I went next door with the soda, and we watched more Firefly. Then for some reason we ended up watching almost all of the rest of the televised Grammys. I kept trying to mute stuff that sucked, and a couple times people protested because they actually liked it, so I unmuted it, but I still seem to have gained the reputation of Music Nazi from that, as last night watching Leno and waiting for Conan, Duffy was the musical act and Sean asked if I could not mute her as he actually liked her. I hadn't even reached for the remote. But yeah, everyone in the room was yelling at the TV in outrage while we had it on mute when the Jonas Brothers performed with Stevie Wonder. We all were upset that he was introduced as Stevie Jonas, and whenever they jumped onto the platform he was playing on we yelled at them to get away from him. It was fun. Radiohead with the USC marching band was awesome, as was Paul McCartney with Dave Grohl. I absolutely love that song, so I had to get up and dance for most of it.
So, that was my weekend. Lots and lots of fun. I'm so tired now though. I really wanted to take a nap this afternoon, but I had to get some stuff done.