WonderCon was AWESOME!
Well, more accurately, my weekend in San Fran was AWESOME. I didn't end up spending much time at WonderCon.
The week or so leading up to WonderCon was a bit stressful. I lived on a couple of hours of sleep per night, as I raced to finish Victoria's new Ahsoka Tano costume. Since the new season 3 design is older than the first season character, her head tentacles are longer, which meant that I had to create a whole new headpiece from scratch. I decided to level up by teaching myself to make molds and cast in silicone. Self-education means making mistakes along the way, and I made a bunch. Adding to the stress, Victoria had already announced on Facebook that she would be debuting the costume at WonderCon, and wearing it to the Clone Wars panel on Saturday. She had been posting progress pics of the costume, and since she is Facebook friends with a bunch of the folks who work on the Clone Wars TV show, who are in the San Fran area where Lucasfilm has its HQ, I had something of a hard deadline.
Still unfinished, but only in need of a paint job, we packed the car and some supplies, and left LA on Thursday night at about 4:30 AM. I got maybe an hour or two sleep in the car before taking the wheel for the second half of the drive. We were both exhausted when we got to the hotel at around 10:30 on Friday morning.
We needed to get to SF by Friday morning because Hannah's boyfriend Josh had invited us to take a tour of the Lucasfilm facility. Josh is an animator at ILM. He recently worked on Rango, and he's currently working on Transformers 3. He offered to give us a tour of Lucasfilm, and since we were going to be in town for WonderCon, we gladly accepted.
Here we are at the Presidio in San Francisco, for our visit to Lucasfilm!
The term "presidio" is a Spanish term for a fortified base. If you look closely at the sign in the photo, you can see that this presidio was established in 1776 by Spain, as the military center of their expansion into the area. The base fell into Mexican hands, then into American hands in 1847, and remained a military base for 147 years.
After the Presidio was decommissioned as a military base, the land was almost sold to developers. Note that we're talking about a considerable piece of land in downtown San Francisco, nearly 1500 acres, at the head of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. As an urban park, it is an invaluable benefit to the residents and visitors of the city. But as real estate, it would be worth billions. Under the Clinton administration, the decision was made to make it a national park with the mandate that it become self-sufficient, generating enough income on its own to support its own maintenance. So the Presidio has a number of commercial tenants.
A view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Lucasfilm.
As part of the drive to self-sufficiency, in 1999 a plot of 23 acres was opened to bids for a 99-year lease. One of San Francisco's biggest land developers planned to pave over the land and build condos, apartments, and office space. Enter: George Lucas. His plan to build a digital arts center with architectural nods toward the historical structures of the area, including dedicating 17 of the 23 acres for the preservation and restoration of a public park, won in a unanimous vote from the park trust, and defeated the local condo-mogul.
Up ahead: 1 Letterman Drive!
And so, on a site that once held the Letterman Army Hospital (named for the Civil-War-era medical director), Lucas built the Letterman Digital Arts Center to house Industrial Light and Magic, his visual effects and animation company, as well as his videogame company, LucasArts, along with Lucasfilm's marketing and licensing divisions and other parts of the Lucas empire.
Although I would love to step into live-size reproductions of Bespin architecture, the Letterman Digital Arts Center is designed with obvious respect toward the history of the Presidio, incorporating the red brick, white stucco, and terra cotta roofs present in some of the park's oldest buildings. The large asphalt parking lots of the Army Hospital are green once more as parking has been moved underground. In place of the 9-story hospital, four 4-story buildings crouch, carefully avoiding blocking the gorgeous view.
Here we are with Josh!
Frankly, I didn't expect it to be much more than an office building, with a few bits of memorabilia. But the buildings were pretty nice for office buildings, and there was memorabilia everywhere. From the bronze statue of Yoda in front of the entrance, to the models and maquettes from projects dating back to ILM's early days, the place was a temple to movie magic. I really got a sense of the history of the groundbreaking company over the last 35 years.
We're hanging out in George Lucas' living room.
j/k
This is the reception area for Lucasfilm. It is very comfortable, with dozens of coffeetable books about the Lucas-verse. On the far wall stand Boba Fett and Darth Vader, by bookshelves that bore a few props and memorabilia. This was just the tip of the iceberg, but public photos are not allowed beyond the reception area.
It's George Lucas!
The biggest thrill came when George Lucas himself walked right past us. It was so unexpected, especially since we had been told that Lucas came to this campus infrequently, preferring to work out of his office back at Skywalker Ranch. Of course, this being a place of business, and we being guests, we kept our cool and let him go about his business unmolested. Which is to say, we were shocked into immobility.
At some point, a woman from Lucas Licensing stopped me and Victoria to take a look at us. She said we were like "models," not because we are so freaking hawt (though we are, of course), but because we were decked out in Star Wars gear. Victoria wore a Marc Ecko Boba Fett hoodie, a belt buckle of Han Solo's blaster, and a Luke Skywalker T-shirt from Ashley Eckstein's Her Universe clothing line. I was wearing a Marc Ecko Rebel pilot jacket, Empire Strikes Back T-shirt, and Rebel insignia belt buckle. I didn't even dress up special for the occasion, this is just the way I dress. I'm such a nerd.
The cafeteria has a gorgeous view of the Palace of Fine Arts, as well as the Golden Gate Bridge and other San Francisco sights. Of course, they're a little easier to see if you PUT DOWN YOUR DAMNED iPHONE.
Caught!
We peeked into a screening room where someone was watching a scene from Phantom Menace in 3D. We ate in the fancy cafeteria. We shopped in the company store, where I bought a shirt that makes me look like I work for Lucasfilm, and a fleece that claims that I worked on the visual effects for Star Tours, the Star Wars motion simulator ride at Disneyland. While at the company store, we ran into Dave Filoni and his assistant. Dave is in charge of the Clone Wars TV series, and we chatted with him for a bit. Then in the hallway, George Lucas walked right past us again! He was with Steve Sansweet, and I guess they were giving him his send-off, as it was Steve's last day on the job.
So, that was pretty AWESOME.
We hung out for a while after the tour, just to look at the books.
Nerd trivia:
In the Star Trek universe, Starfleet Academy is located in the Presidio.
That's why the Starfleet Academy logo has the Golden Gate Bridge in it.
The grounds of the campus were quite lovely, so we spent a little time relaxing before we headed home.
NERDS!
There's always time for a picture among the sakura blossoms.
Friday night, we attended the Star Wars dinner. It is an annual tradition for the 501st and Rebel Legion (fan groups who dress up as stormtroopers and other Star Wars characters) to throw a dinner for members. This year, the dinner was in honor of Steve Sansweet. Steve was retiring after 15 years as the Lucasfilm Fan Ambassador. He was (and still is) one of the biggest Star Wars collectors in the world. His collection of Star Wars merchandise and memorabilia was either the biggest, or at least in the top three. So Lucasfilm hired him to be basically the ombudsman for the fans, the direct mouthpiece between Lucasfilm and the fans. The dinner was held at Jillian's, sort of a sports bar restaurant. The food is unremarkable, I think it's chosen more because it has one big, main room big enough to accommodate all of us.
Our hotel.
After the dinner, we returned to the Marriott Marquis room I shared with Victoria, and my friends Shea and Yaya, and Brianna. Victoria hit the sack, while I stayed up most of the night, hand painting the Ahsoka headpiece. I managed to get abour an hour and a half of sleep that night.
The view from our hotel room.
On Saturday, we hung out in the room, getting ready and working on our costumes. Finally, I finished, or near enough as it didn't matter anymore. Shea got dressed a Aayla Secura, the blue, tentacle-headed Jedi from Clone Wars, while Victoria and I taped plastic dropcloths all over the bathroom so I could airbrush her Jersey-Shore-orange, Ahsoka's color. Although the season 3 design has Ahsoka in a dress with tights on her legs, the tights have diamond-shaped holes down their sides, and the dress has an open back and no sleeves, so she ends up needing to have most of her body painted anyway.
Shea had this amazing custom lightsaber, a gorgeous and accurate representation of the Clone Wars (not movie) version of Aayla Secura's lightsaber. I was drooling over that all weekend.
Finally dressed, we're hurrying to the convention (finally!).
Is this what the kids are wearing nowadays?
We managed to get dressed just barely in time to get to the convention a block away, pick up our badges, and head to the Clone Wars panel before it started (5PM). I was in my 1978 Battlestar Galactica viper pilot outfit, a comfortable and stress-free costume.
Aayla Secura has her "get the fuck out of my way, I'm late for my panel" glare in place.
When we got to the panel hall, there were so many people trying to take photos from all directions, that they decided to make it easy on the audience by heading up to the front of the room where everyone could see them. A crowd formed quickly.
Peter Mayhew was on the panel! The season finale of Clone Wars featured Chewbacca, so they actually brought Peter Mayhew in to consult, in order to get Chewie's posture, movement, and body language right.
After the panel, Dave Filoni's assistant got Victoria into the "green room" to hang out with the panelists. Good thing we had run into them the day before at Lucasfilm! They checked out her costume up close, noticing all the accurate details we had painstakingly included. Soon afterward, Filoni came out to chat with us for a bit, along with Ashley Eckstein, the voice actress for Ahsoka, and her husband, who plays for the San Diego Padres.
Ahsoka x3! Victoria poses with a young Ahsoka cosplayer, and Ahsoka Tano voice actor Ashley Eckstein.
Shea and Victoria with Dave Filoni and Ashley Eckstein. Lucky me, I get to... take the picture.
Steve Sansweet was there too!
So that was pretty AWESOME.
After the panel, we checked out the exhibit hall briefly. We went to the HBO Game Of Thrones booth where we got our pictures taken on the Iron Throne, and we got to see a few of the costumes from the series.
Daenerys' wedding dress.
Eddard Stark's outfit and the sigil of Winterfell.
The fate of Ahsoka? It would explain why she's not in Revenge of the Sith.
Then we headed back to the Marriott. I decided to run out to Walgreen's for some snacks while we waited to get together with some friends for dinner. The girls were getting out of their body paint and accessories, but I stayed in my Colonial Warrior costume (except the shirt, I wore my ESB shirt for comfort).
Lies! The alien girls are a lie!
Outside the hotel, several smokers smoked. As I walked down the sidewalk, an older dude standing by himself in an alcove said, "nice costume." He asked me to come over so he could see it, and we got to talking about the outfit. I snuck a peek at the convention badge that he wore, to confirm my suspicion that... it was Boomer! Herb Jefferson Jr., the original Boomer from the 1978 series! He told me an anecdote about the pins they wore on their costume, then I took a picture with him on my cameraphone, and went on my way.
So that was pretty AWESOME.
For dinner, we ate at Sanraku, a sushi place in the Metreon. They did have some good sashimi. The Metreon is a shopping mall right across the street from the convention center, but it's really sad-looking because most of the retail space is out of business. There's a movie theatre, the Sanraku, and almost nothing else. That night, I finally got a full night's sleep.
Brunch with Jim, Jake, and Jules!
Sunday we had brunch at the misnamed Mel's Drive-In. It was really a diner, not a drive-in, since there was no parking lot. There are several locations in California, but since George Lucas shot American Graffiti at Mel's Drive-In in San Francisco (a location that has since been demolished), they kind of went all-out with the American Graffiti decor. There's something fun and decadent about having a milkshake for breakfast.
On Sunday we finally went to the convention proper, to check out the exhibit hall, finally, and to do some shopping. Victoria wanted to get her picture taken on the Iron Throne again, this time in normal clothes.
I wore my Battlestar outfit again. We made our way to autograph alley, so Victoria could meet Boomer. Of course he remembered me, and we chatted for a bit. I bought his autograph on one of the ammo cylinders on my gunbelt. So now I have Starbuck's signature on my blaster, Apollo's autograph on my boot, and Boomer's autograph on my gunbelt. It has two more ammo cylinders, so I guess I have room for more if I feel the need. I'm not really an autograph collector, but I've been kind of enjoying collecting their signatures on my costume.
We also found this super nice statuette of Bruce Lee for sale. It's 1/4 scale, a gorgeous sculpt, super detailed, in an Enter the Dragon pose. It even has streaks of perspiration! I'm a big Bruce Lee fan, but I don't really have any memorabilia, other than a couple of toys, so Victoria wanted to get it for me. The guy wanted $190 for it, but thanks to Yaya's haggling, we got it for $160 (including tax!). I had noticed that Jim Kelly and Bob Wall, who were also in Enter the Dragon, were at the con, so I decided to get their autographs on the wooden base of the statue, which had Bruce Lee's signature printed on it.
For dinner we went to a Westfield nearby, with a slightly upscale food court. I ended up eating at the Buckhorn Grill, which is known for its tri-tip. We hung out with Yaya and Oscar for a bit before making the long drive home.
All in all, I had a pretty awesome weekend, despite not being at the con that much.
The week or so leading up to WonderCon was a bit stressful. I lived on a couple of hours of sleep per night, as I raced to finish Victoria's new Ahsoka Tano costume. Since the new season 3 design is older than the first season character, her head tentacles are longer, which meant that I had to create a whole new headpiece from scratch. I decided to level up by teaching myself to make molds and cast in silicone. Self-education means making mistakes along the way, and I made a bunch. Adding to the stress, Victoria had already announced on Facebook that she would be debuting the costume at WonderCon, and wearing it to the Clone Wars panel on Saturday. She had been posting progress pics of the costume, and since she is Facebook friends with a bunch of the folks who work on the Clone Wars TV show, who are in the San Fran area where Lucasfilm has its HQ, I had something of a hard deadline.
Still unfinished, but only in need of a paint job, we packed the car and some supplies, and left LA on Thursday night at about 4:30 AM. I got maybe an hour or two sleep in the car before taking the wheel for the second half of the drive. We were both exhausted when we got to the hotel at around 10:30 on Friday morning.
We needed to get to SF by Friday morning because Hannah's boyfriend Josh had invited us to take a tour of the Lucasfilm facility. Josh is an animator at ILM. He recently worked on Rango, and he's currently working on Transformers 3. He offered to give us a tour of Lucasfilm, and since we were going to be in town for WonderCon, we gladly accepted.
Here we are at the Presidio in San Francisco, for our visit to Lucasfilm!
The term "presidio" is a Spanish term for a fortified base. If you look closely at the sign in the photo, you can see that this presidio was established in 1776 by Spain, as the military center of their expansion into the area. The base fell into Mexican hands, then into American hands in 1847, and remained a military base for 147 years.
After the Presidio was decommissioned as a military base, the land was almost sold to developers. Note that we're talking about a considerable piece of land in downtown San Francisco, nearly 1500 acres, at the head of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. As an urban park, it is an invaluable benefit to the residents and visitors of the city. But as real estate, it would be worth billions. Under the Clinton administration, the decision was made to make it a national park with the mandate that it become self-sufficient, generating enough income on its own to support its own maintenance. So the Presidio has a number of commercial tenants.
A view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Lucasfilm.
As part of the drive to self-sufficiency, in 1999 a plot of 23 acres was opened to bids for a 99-year lease. One of San Francisco's biggest land developers planned to pave over the land and build condos, apartments, and office space. Enter: George Lucas. His plan to build a digital arts center with architectural nods toward the historical structures of the area, including dedicating 17 of the 23 acres for the preservation and restoration of a public park, won in a unanimous vote from the park trust, and defeated the local condo-mogul.
Up ahead: 1 Letterman Drive!
And so, on a site that once held the Letterman Army Hospital (named for the Civil-War-era medical director), Lucas built the Letterman Digital Arts Center to house Industrial Light and Magic, his visual effects and animation company, as well as his videogame company, LucasArts, along with Lucasfilm's marketing and licensing divisions and other parts of the Lucas empire.
Although I would love to step into live-size reproductions of Bespin architecture, the Letterman Digital Arts Center is designed with obvious respect toward the history of the Presidio, incorporating the red brick, white stucco, and terra cotta roofs present in some of the park's oldest buildings. The large asphalt parking lots of the Army Hospital are green once more as parking has been moved underground. In place of the 9-story hospital, four 4-story buildings crouch, carefully avoiding blocking the gorgeous view.
Here we are with Josh!
Frankly, I didn't expect it to be much more than an office building, with a few bits of memorabilia. But the buildings were pretty nice for office buildings, and there was memorabilia everywhere. From the bronze statue of Yoda in front of the entrance, to the models and maquettes from projects dating back to ILM's early days, the place was a temple to movie magic. I really got a sense of the history of the groundbreaking company over the last 35 years.
We're hanging out in George Lucas' living room.
j/k
This is the reception area for Lucasfilm. It is very comfortable, with dozens of coffeetable books about the Lucas-verse. On the far wall stand Boba Fett and Darth Vader, by bookshelves that bore a few props and memorabilia. This was just the tip of the iceberg, but public photos are not allowed beyond the reception area.
It's George Lucas!
The biggest thrill came when George Lucas himself walked right past us. It was so unexpected, especially since we had been told that Lucas came to this campus infrequently, preferring to work out of his office back at Skywalker Ranch. Of course, this being a place of business, and we being guests, we kept our cool and let him go about his business unmolested. Which is to say, we were shocked into immobility.
At some point, a woman from Lucas Licensing stopped me and Victoria to take a look at us. She said we were like "models," not because we are so freaking hawt (though we are, of course), but because we were decked out in Star Wars gear. Victoria wore a Marc Ecko Boba Fett hoodie, a belt buckle of Han Solo's blaster, and a Luke Skywalker T-shirt from Ashley Eckstein's Her Universe clothing line. I was wearing a Marc Ecko Rebel pilot jacket, Empire Strikes Back T-shirt, and Rebel insignia belt buckle. I didn't even dress up special for the occasion, this is just the way I dress. I'm such a nerd.
The cafeteria has a gorgeous view of the Palace of Fine Arts, as well as the Golden Gate Bridge and other San Francisco sights. Of course, they're a little easier to see if you PUT DOWN YOUR DAMNED iPHONE.
Caught!
We peeked into a screening room where someone was watching a scene from Phantom Menace in 3D. We ate in the fancy cafeteria. We shopped in the company store, where I bought a shirt that makes me look like I work for Lucasfilm, and a fleece that claims that I worked on the visual effects for Star Tours, the Star Wars motion simulator ride at Disneyland. While at the company store, we ran into Dave Filoni and his assistant. Dave is in charge of the Clone Wars TV series, and we chatted with him for a bit. Then in the hallway, George Lucas walked right past us again! He was with Steve Sansweet, and I guess they were giving him his send-off, as it was Steve's last day on the job.
So, that was pretty AWESOME.
We hung out for a while after the tour, just to look at the books.
Nerd trivia:
In the Star Trek universe, Starfleet Academy is located in the Presidio.
That's why the Starfleet Academy logo has the Golden Gate Bridge in it.
The grounds of the campus were quite lovely, so we spent a little time relaxing before we headed home.
NERDS!
There's always time for a picture among the sakura blossoms.
Friday night, we attended the Star Wars dinner. It is an annual tradition for the 501st and Rebel Legion (fan groups who dress up as stormtroopers and other Star Wars characters) to throw a dinner for members. This year, the dinner was in honor of Steve Sansweet. Steve was retiring after 15 years as the Lucasfilm Fan Ambassador. He was (and still is) one of the biggest Star Wars collectors in the world. His collection of Star Wars merchandise and memorabilia was either the biggest, or at least in the top three. So Lucasfilm hired him to be basically the ombudsman for the fans, the direct mouthpiece between Lucasfilm and the fans. The dinner was held at Jillian's, sort of a sports bar restaurant. The food is unremarkable, I think it's chosen more because it has one big, main room big enough to accommodate all of us.
Our hotel.
After the dinner, we returned to the Marriott Marquis room I shared with Victoria, and my friends Shea and Yaya, and Brianna. Victoria hit the sack, while I stayed up most of the night, hand painting the Ahsoka headpiece. I managed to get abour an hour and a half of sleep that night.
The view from our hotel room.
On Saturday, we hung out in the room, getting ready and working on our costumes. Finally, I finished, or near enough as it didn't matter anymore. Shea got dressed a Aayla Secura, the blue, tentacle-headed Jedi from Clone Wars, while Victoria and I taped plastic dropcloths all over the bathroom so I could airbrush her Jersey-Shore-orange, Ahsoka's color. Although the season 3 design has Ahsoka in a dress with tights on her legs, the tights have diamond-shaped holes down their sides, and the dress has an open back and no sleeves, so she ends up needing to have most of her body painted anyway.
Shea had this amazing custom lightsaber, a gorgeous and accurate representation of the Clone Wars (not movie) version of Aayla Secura's lightsaber. I was drooling over that all weekend.
Finally dressed, we're hurrying to the convention (finally!).
Is this what the kids are wearing nowadays?
We managed to get dressed just barely in time to get to the convention a block away, pick up our badges, and head to the Clone Wars panel before it started (5PM). I was in my 1978 Battlestar Galactica viper pilot outfit, a comfortable and stress-free costume.
Aayla Secura has her "get the fuck out of my way, I'm late for my panel" glare in place.
When we got to the panel hall, there were so many people trying to take photos from all directions, that they decided to make it easy on the audience by heading up to the front of the room where everyone could see them. A crowd formed quickly.
Peter Mayhew was on the panel! The season finale of Clone Wars featured Chewbacca, so they actually brought Peter Mayhew in to consult, in order to get Chewie's posture, movement, and body language right.
After the panel, Dave Filoni's assistant got Victoria into the "green room" to hang out with the panelists. Good thing we had run into them the day before at Lucasfilm! They checked out her costume up close, noticing all the accurate details we had painstakingly included. Soon afterward, Filoni came out to chat with us for a bit, along with Ashley Eckstein, the voice actress for Ahsoka, and her husband, who plays for the San Diego Padres.
Ahsoka x3! Victoria poses with a young Ahsoka cosplayer, and Ahsoka Tano voice actor Ashley Eckstein.
Shea and Victoria with Dave Filoni and Ashley Eckstein. Lucky me, I get to... take the picture.
Steve Sansweet was there too!
So that was pretty AWESOME.
After the panel, we checked out the exhibit hall briefly. We went to the HBO Game Of Thrones booth where we got our pictures taken on the Iron Throne, and we got to see a few of the costumes from the series.
Daenerys' wedding dress.
Eddard Stark's outfit and the sigil of Winterfell.
The fate of Ahsoka? It would explain why she's not in Revenge of the Sith.
Then we headed back to the Marriott. I decided to run out to Walgreen's for some snacks while we waited to get together with some friends for dinner. The girls were getting out of their body paint and accessories, but I stayed in my Colonial Warrior costume (except the shirt, I wore my ESB shirt for comfort).
Lies! The alien girls are a lie!
Outside the hotel, several smokers smoked. As I walked down the sidewalk, an older dude standing by himself in an alcove said, "nice costume." He asked me to come over so he could see it, and we got to talking about the outfit. I snuck a peek at the convention badge that he wore, to confirm my suspicion that... it was Boomer! Herb Jefferson Jr., the original Boomer from the 1978 series! He told me an anecdote about the pins they wore on their costume, then I took a picture with him on my cameraphone, and went on my way.
So that was pretty AWESOME.
For dinner, we ate at Sanraku, a sushi place in the Metreon. They did have some good sashimi. The Metreon is a shopping mall right across the street from the convention center, but it's really sad-looking because most of the retail space is out of business. There's a movie theatre, the Sanraku, and almost nothing else. That night, I finally got a full night's sleep.
Brunch with Jim, Jake, and Jules!
Sunday we had brunch at the misnamed Mel's Drive-In. It was really a diner, not a drive-in, since there was no parking lot. There are several locations in California, but since George Lucas shot American Graffiti at Mel's Drive-In in San Francisco (a location that has since been demolished), they kind of went all-out with the American Graffiti decor. There's something fun and decadent about having a milkshake for breakfast.
On Sunday we finally went to the convention proper, to check out the exhibit hall, finally, and to do some shopping. Victoria wanted to get her picture taken on the Iron Throne again, this time in normal clothes.
I wore my Battlestar outfit again. We made our way to autograph alley, so Victoria could meet Boomer. Of course he remembered me, and we chatted for a bit. I bought his autograph on one of the ammo cylinders on my gunbelt. So now I have Starbuck's signature on my blaster, Apollo's autograph on my boot, and Boomer's autograph on my gunbelt. It has two more ammo cylinders, so I guess I have room for more if I feel the need. I'm not really an autograph collector, but I've been kind of enjoying collecting their signatures on my costume.
We also found this super nice statuette of Bruce Lee for sale. It's 1/4 scale, a gorgeous sculpt, super detailed, in an Enter the Dragon pose. It even has streaks of perspiration! I'm a big Bruce Lee fan, but I don't really have any memorabilia, other than a couple of toys, so Victoria wanted to get it for me. The guy wanted $190 for it, but thanks to Yaya's haggling, we got it for $160 (including tax!). I had noticed that Jim Kelly and Bob Wall, who were also in Enter the Dragon, were at the con, so I decided to get their autographs on the wooden base of the statue, which had Bruce Lee's signature printed on it.
For dinner we went to a Westfield nearby, with a slightly upscale food court. I ended up eating at the Buckhorn Grill, which is known for its tri-tip. We hung out with Yaya and Oscar for a bit before making the long drive home.
All in all, I had a pretty awesome weekend, despite not being at the con that much.