Comic-Con 2007!!! (Part 2 - "Everyone Hates Andrew" - With a Special Appearance by This Wall)

Welcome back!

Last time we left off, I was just getting ready for my second day at Comic-Con (no, this isn't a 1-post-per-day thing; it just happened to work that way). So now we'll take a look at my next set of 25 pictures. Hooray!

Again, we're going with my little "Everyone Hates Andrew" theme. This time, the agressors are Blade (who must be mistaking me for a vampire) and Bishop (who must be mistaking me for some time traveling...guy...). Is it geekish that I'm able to identify these guys without even thinking about it?

Remember what I was saying last time about how annoying it is for a picture to be not completely blurry, but still a little blurry. Perfect example. That faux-Princess Leia and Jaba the Hutt look pretty good together, but you'll never know for sure, because there's just the tiniest blur in it. However, there's also the possibility that that woman was actually very ugly, and the blur is the only thing standing between you and complete revulsion.

Speaking of revulsion, there was another potential picture that I could have taken, but didn't. It was at the booth of...I'm not sure, maybe Dimension Films? Anyhoo, they had a woman posing at a pole, in order to promote one of their movies, a Quentin Tarintino "movie" called Grindhouse. In that movie, there's a character, a woman who had a machine gun as a prosthetic leg. Now, at this booth, there was a fairly young woman who had the same thing; a machine gun as a prosthetic leg. But this wasn't added in with CGI; this was real - she was actually missing her leg!

There were plenty of people taking pictures, and I was going to, mainly because she was placed there as a photo op. But I just...couldn't. I think it was the small scar on her midriff. It really made me think, "You know, this isn't some glamor model, this is just a girl, not much older than me, who's been in some sort of accident. And now she's being paid because she's missing her leg. And all these fat slobs around me, they're not concerned with what happened to her. They just want to take the picture. 'Gather round the freak show, people!' She's smiling, but it's a faint, almost forced smile, one she's had to wear for hours. Why am I taking this picture? If she had a leg, would I even be considering this? Am I taking a picture of what she has, or what she doesn't have?"

...Yes, that did all go through my mind. And in the end, I didn't take the picture. It just made me feel too uneasy with myself. Although I was later told by one of my residents that "it's the pictures that make you feel uncomfortable that you have to take," I'm comfortable with my choice.


......What? That's all I had from Day 2? Really? Okay, then, onto Day 3!

Now, Day 3 was Saturday, and I knew Saturday was going to be sold out (it was the only day sold out last year, and since three of the four days were sold out this year, it was a pretty good chance that this was one of them). And, following our experiences with parking the previous day, we didn't want a repeat. So, my cousin suggests that we drive down to the trolley station, and take that into the Convention Center. We did that, and it was a good idea...at the time. You see, later on that day, one of my companions was giving blood - a charitable venture, to be sure. However, she didn't take too kindly to having a good portion of her blood taken out. So, she was feeling really faint, and in no condition to travel on a very, very shaky train.

Hence, I had to go back on the trolley - by myself and without my iPod - to Chula Vista, and then drive for the first time in 7 months, after sundown and in unfamiliar territory. (You know what? I still drove better than Squall did!) I then had to pick them up, and we drove back. So, taking the trolley actually turned out to be a bad idea...but there was no way we could have known that unless I had precognitive powers (and if I did, why would I be wasting my time going to comic book conventions. I would be the superhero!)

...Where was I? Oh, yes! So, we took the trolley in, which brought us to the trolley station area, where we saw something we wouldn't have seen otherwise:

What's that? Some sort of drawing? Yes! I'm not sure if you've ever heard of those sidewalk-perspective-art things, but this is one of them (though I'm not sure if it's the same guy, as this one has a beard. If you don't know how this kind of art works, look at that link. It's really fascinating. Anyway, I'm guessing this guy was paid to do something related to Beowulf. And so we get this. Here, you can see a bunch of dead soldier dudes on the ground.

And above, we see a (non-chalk) stand-up of the monster Grendel, holding yet another dead soldeir dude (it looks like he's actually holding two, but look again). That's probably one of the odder depictions of Grendel that I've seen; most pictures portray him as some sort of werewolf (or other lycanthrope), not some weird zombie-thing.

Here's a full-on view. Notice the "CAUTION" tape. I guarantee, if that were not there, there would be people stepping on that poor dude's drawing. The attendees of this convention were incredibly dumb. More than once (much more than once), I saw people running across the rails right before a trolley, or even it's big brother, the real train, zoomed by. How there wasn't any deaths on those tracks, I'll never know.

Here you can get a better view of the dead soldier dudes. It looks like one of them could use a hand!



...I'm sorry. I'm really, truly sorry.

Okay, final shot of this, I promise. You may notice that there's some sort of glass-like reflection on this shot. That, my intrepid reader, is because this shot was taken behind a little glass thing that essentially tells you where to look through for the correct perspective. Now, you may be thinking, "Wait, that doesn't look too 3D to me!" Well, consider that the picture is still incomplete, and also that I'm actually not taking the picture from the exact right angle. In real life, it looks much better than this.

Heh. Remember how I said I got a few pictures of this thing each time I went up the escalator. This was the second one, and I must say, I think it turned out the best out of all of them. It's crisp, clear, and shows just how frickin' huge this place was. I think I should send it in to the Comic-Con powers-that-be, so that they can use it as one of their "official" pictures. Hell, they may even pay me. In fact, I'll make them pay me! They'll have no choice, what with my obvious photographic talent. *Hides every other picture.*

I have no idea what I was taking a picture of here, but I obviously moved the camera during a long exposure. Why did I keep it in, then, since it is obviously a shot that didn't come out right? I dunno, I kinda like it. Plus, if you stare at it for a long time while listening to this Cirque du Solei music, it makes you nostalgic for a time you were never a part of (or Protonostalgic). That merits an inclusion in my book!

This was a great idea that just didn't work. In order to give an idea of the sheer magnitude of this event, I wanted to take a picture of the row number signs going down the main aisle. However, there were three problems:
1. It turned out way too dark (wide open spaces, I suppose).
2. I'm just a bit too low.
3. There's a freakin' support pole in my way. That kind of ruined that idea. Still, the thing was huge. Three stories, about 500 yards each, all full.

I took a big picture by this guy last year (his name's Alphonse, by the way) at the same booth, but back then he was in a different pose, and had his brother there, also cast in some sort of plaster-plastic hybrid. As for me, I've grown more frowny and less gay-looking, though I still cock my head to the right (well, your left, my right).

So, although I was trying to get as many people to pose hurting me, not everyone was in for it. This rabbit-woman is a perfect example. I tell her to whack me with that staff, and she just says, "Oh, I'm not going to hit you." I should have responded with something to the affect of "Goddammit, you long-eared skank! When I tell you to hit me, hit me!" That would have sprang her into motion pretty quickly. However, the gentleman in me took precedence, and I just stood there, head cocked to the right, looking like some lame guy who takes unexciting pictures with rabbit-women.

And here's me with a cospayer of Megaman (though, judging by the size and shape of the body, I'd say this character was more of the female persuasion). Again, they didn't want to take a picture hurting me, and would rather take a picture thrusting forward the blue head of Ebeneezer Scrooge. Fed up, I decided to take my aggression out on someone. Though it looks like my fist is heading towards Mega(wo)man's head, i actually sucker-punched that kid in the light blue shirt. Several applauded.

This is me trading fingers with a guy dressed up as Phoenix Wright. Now, for those unaware, Phoenix Wright is the eponymous character in the Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney series for the Nintendo DS (a great, great series). Now, one of his main quirks (and they even joke about this in the game) is the fact that when he's shouting "OBJECTION", as he is wont to do, he always points his finger out. See here for reference. So, I decided to do a point-off, which is about as close as that kind of character can get to "hurting" me. In the end, I think I look better, despite his pillow. I mean, he's smiling. Smiling!

Apparently, there's a movie coming out this December called The Golden Compass. I've never heard of it before, but it apparently has Nicole Kidman (who I don't really like anyway). Anyhoo, they had quite a presence here, including taking pictures with a bluescreen (you'll see that later). And right here, they had a stature of a large bear-like creature, most likely a bear. It was so big that I had to take two pictures of it, one from the side and one from the front...

...But which is which? Even though this is where you see the bears face straight-on, but you only see the side of his body. So who's to say what's the front and what's the side? We're through the looking glass here people...

This is one of my favorite shots, particularly of the "Let's Kill Andrew" collection. It's like, it doesn't matter if they're white or black, Jedi or Sith, Twi'lek or human - everyone has it out for me. I'm particularly concerned with how close to my groin that guy lowered his lightsaber. I guess that's part of the movie that Lucas decided to take out in the final cut.

Now, as I've explained multiple times before, this thing was huge. 30,000 people a day. I explained to people that it was a lot of "walking, standing in line, and pushing through crowds." So, I walk by this wall on Saturday, and it's totally empty. This wall was an anomaly. This wall was special. Never before, nor ever again, did I see this wall empty, but for a brief, shining moment, I was able to see the full scope of this wall. It was a photo opportunity I was not willing to pass up. So, I took a picture of this wall, and it made my day.

Note: that little bug-like thing in the middle of this wall? Not a bug. It was just some random symbol sticker thing. So there.

Now, here's the Batmobile from the original 1960s Batman TV show. It was being displayed at the Hot Wheels booth and, if you think about it, is damn ugly. I don't really know why I took this picture of it, nor the several pictures I took the next day (well, I obviously had forgotten that I took this one).

Also, please not that this is somewhat of a tilted-camera shot, a homage to the horrid camera-work of that show.

Here's me standing by a large Bender costumed-guy. I didn't even bother asking the guy to attack me in any way; he could barely walk around, let alone move his arms in any significant way. One thing I noticed, though: the corners of my mouth are both turned down, but its still pretty obvious that I have some sort of smile going on. Ah, the wonders of human facial expressions.

Okay, this is me trying to make up for the botched shot earlier on. However, even though this one does go all the way to the end (and you can see that there are a lot of signs), going from 2300 to 0 just doesn't have the same Oomph! as going from 5000 to 0.

Wow, it looks like our relationship broke down pretty quickly. Strip a guy's arm of all but its robotic components and rip off his helmet, and his mood's suddenly turned sour. Now, some may question why someone would dress as such a specific character aspect (that's only in the movies for what, three minutes?), but he pulls it off pretty well. And, no, there's not some giant flying waffle in the air that's caught my attention; Darth Vader's strangling me with his Dark Side powers. And that jackass in the back is just getting a kick out of my death.

Another one I like (I think this post has my favorite pictures of me getting hurt). Political? Perhaps (read: no). Fun? Yes. Seriously, if you saw someone like Boba Fett, you're not going to be particularly brave. You're going to surrender before he has a chance to speak (well...if he spoke).

Funny note: I was messing around with this on Photoshop, and even though I look fairly frightened and subservient in this picture, I was able to make my face look very...what I can only call defiant. I decided to make something of it, and I actually submitted on my deviantART profile (by the way, I have a deviantART profile, where I'll probably be putting some of my pieces as I make them). It's actually called "Defiance". Have a gander. I actually have a comment on it (which is pretty good for a nobody like me), in which they say (and I quote), "Beautiful... it's merely beautiful"....which doesn't sound that great, unless you consider that they person probably speaks another language. Replace "merely" with "simply" and it sounds a lot more like what I'm hoping they were trying to say.

I have no idea what the heck these are, or what they were for. But they took the time to dress up, so I decided to take the time to take a picture. Sweet deal, no?

And, for our last piece of Part 2, we have yet another of my favorite shots. This one, though, I like for the opposite reason as the one with all the different Jedi attacking me. That one had a lot of people coming from a lot of different places, with all sorts of weapons threatening me in all sorts of ways. This one, though...this is simple. To the point. Clean, crisp, and effective. A good way to end this session, which probably has more of these self-destructive shots than any other.

This week's going to be hellish for me, what with a final and a group presentation and Fall Training, but I'll still be plugging away every night, type-type-typing until I get this behemoth completed, hopefully before the week is out. I'll see you next time!

Comic-Con 2007!!! (Part 1 - In the Beginning)

Ahoy there!

"Hey, who the hell is this guy?"
"I think he's the guy who maintains this blog."
"Wait, someone actually maintains this thing?"
"A...apparently..."
"Well, he must be a hack, because this thing hasn't been updated in a week and a half."
"Indeed. Want to go shoot some pool?"
"Sure!"

Hey, guys, wait up! Guys...okay, I'll talk to you later, guys! Now, where was I? Oh, yes! Hello, one and one alike. It's been a while, hasn't it? Too long. I feel like a slacker and a sloth. Well, I'm going to make up for it right...now!

This Sunday, I returned from my trip to the International Comic-Con in San Diego. Now I know what you're thinking: "Sunday? Then why are you only posting now?" Well, Mr. Magoo, I've still been busy this week, finishing up a paper and prepping a speech for my communications class (which went perfectly, thank you very much). I also needed to use that time to organize everything. That is to say, put pictures from my camera to my hard drive, from my hard drive to Photobucket, from Photobucket onto Blogger, and from Blogger into your brain. It is the very definition of "Tedium" (in one of the less-reputable dictionaries, I think...).

Now, onto the stories. So, Comic-Con is the world's largest popular arts convention. It began as a simple comic book convention (hence the name), but has since grown into what can only be described as the premiere entertainment convention, spanning comics, books, movies, TV, video games, card games, board games, the whole shebang. This year was the largest year yet, selling out and garnering 125,000 attendees. That's a lot, in case you were wondering.

I had gone to this convention last year, and if you were interested in reading about it, you can do so here. You'll find some interesting connections betwixt the two years (which I will point out regardless). Now, last year I had attended with a couple of friends (who just so happen to be regular commentators on this blog) named...well, I'll go by their preferred names of Squall and Rinoa. Last year, I drove them down, and we stayed at the house of my most gracious cousin and her family in Chula Vista, about 25 minutes outside of San Diego proper.

Now, this year I couldn't really drive down with them, seeing as I'm, y'know, in Berkeley. So, I just flew down and met up with them (my cousin, though? Still a gracious house host). What I will be presenting is my adventures in San Diego.

...Oh, not all at once, mind you. Bandwidth concerns ("im in ur inturnetz, sukin ur banwith"), along with the fact that doing them all at once would take me an unnecessarily long time to complete, and the fact that I had 125 usable photos, led me to split this into 5 6 different blog posts. The first 5 will will have 25 shots apiece, and the final one will include the miscellaneous extra.

And now, without further ado, let's all take a look at this trip through the eyes of [the camera of] Andrew Schnorr......

Ummm...that's not San Diego. It's actually in the sky. The sky? How is this possible? Through the power of science, my friends! This picture was actually taken in what's known as an airplane, a machine which can fly in the air, ferrying passengers with it.

Now, that's all fine and good, but why did I take a picture from this so-called "aired-plane"? Simple: it looks cool. When you look at that picture, you almost don't know if it's a snowy plain with some hills in the background or what. I feel as though I could walk on those clouds.

Uh, yeah. I actually took a bunch of pictures of this. Don't worry, I'm only putting up four of them (the rest were either blurry or uninteresting). Why did I take so many. Well, as many who remember my young years will know, I love clouds. I have described them as "God's Watercolors". In fact, I love them so much that I used to take pictures of them. I don't anymore, sadly, but the ability to photograph them from the other side was too tempting to pass up. So I did. And I think that it's really awesome, like a sea of white.

I think this is my favorite of the four. Isn't it just cool? Sometimes I wish that computer screens were more vertical so that I could make this my screensaver.
Going back to my "white sea" analogy, doesn't this just look like an island in the ocean, rather than a mountaintop in the clouds. How cool do you think it would be to be on that mountain and see the clouds below you all the time (I'm making the assumption that you don't need oxygen to live here).

Ah, here we are! Welcome again to Comic-Con. Now, this picture is a little deceptive. I didn't actually get in the building right after I got off the plane. No, because I didn't have my badge, I had to stand in line with all the people who pre-registered. Now, on the Wednesday preview night (which I couldn't go to thanks to class), the registration line takes about 10 minutes. On Thursday morning, though? 2 hours. No joke. The line wrapped around the convention center and traveled into the docks. When people asked me where the end of the line was, I said, "Look for the boats, and keep going."

I knew beforehand that it was going to be bad, and I told my travel companions to go on ahead (I didn't want to hold them back), so the only thing I was wishing was that I was standing next to people who were at least somewhat interesting. As it turned out, I was the most interesting person in line, but that's really to be expected, really. However, the people I was with could carry on a conversation, and two of them were rather attractive females (who were there for some business reason). Thanks to my silver tongue, I was graced with a couple of hugs by the time we got out of the line and went our separate ways. Smooth operator, I know.

Oh, yeah, and you'll see a picture like this a few times throughout this series. For some reason, I just liked taking a picture of it. This is probably the worst of them, but I needed an introductory shot, so nyah.

Ah, and so it begins. Yes, one of the mainstay of Comic-Con is the multitude of fans who "cosplay", or dress up as their favorite characters. Some of the costumes that people come up with are rather elaborate, others are absurdly simple. This gentleman here was dressed as Beast from the X-Men series. He actually looks pretty good, aside from the fact that he's about a foot or two too short. Still, good to know that I tower over the furry blue beast.

And here is my more diplomatic side. Note that I would have edited the red out of my eyes, but the fact that I was shaking hands with a Sith lord was too uncanny to be coincidence. So, I decided to let myself remain Sith-ified.

Okay, here's an interesting little exhibit that was at the Star Wars booth. Now, the theme for this year's Comic-Con was actually Star Wars itself. Hence, the stormtroopers were everywhere. Seriously. I'm sure that the 501st had quite the presence there. I eventually just started taking pictures (oh, you'll see pictures of them) with the hopes that one day, I'd be paid a dollar for every stormtrooper I saw. I'd be rich as the king of Spain! For purposes of this blog, I'm going to request that every time you see a stormtrooper or other Imperial soldier, take a shot of sparkling cider or the drink of your choice.

Oh, yeah, so there was a collection of Darth Vader helmets that were each painted a different way. These appeared to be inspired by the design on the Death Star as well as Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night.

I'm...I'm not exactly sure what either of these is supposed to be. The one on the right appears to be a kind of face-like thing, most likely a face, but it scares the hell out of me! The other one just looks like hipster graffiti.

Again, I'm not sure what the one on the right is supposed to be. I am a fan of the Carmen Miranda version, however. There's just unlimited potential for a Star Wars!: The Musical Broadway show with a sexy Latin Darth Vader.

Don't bother looking for something special about the helmet on the right. That's just a plain one, probably meant for comparison. As for the one on the left, I think it's the helmet that Vader wore when he was just a young soldier fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. His experiences there embittered him, and that's what really turned to the dark side.

I'm not sure what little cartoons are on the left helmet, but I know for a fact that I don't like the one on the left, because it reeks of hippie propaganda.

Okay, based on the design of this final helmet, I'm guessing it's either supposed to be an alternate reality in which Darth Vader joined the rebels, or an alternate reality in which Darth Vader was an employee of Terminix.

Now, this year I had a couple of things I wanted to do. First among these was to get as many different sketches of me as possible (more on this much later). The second thing I wanted to do was make myself get "injured" in every picture that I was in. I think those made for some of the best pictures in the my collection. So this was the first one. For those who do not know, that is a Pokémon called Charizard (or, as I later found out, is called Glurak in German). And he looked a little hungry. His mouth was open just wide enough, and...argh!

Take a shot. Funny story, I was actually somewhat ostracized in the Star Wars booth thanks to my T-Shirt, which had this design (of my own making) of Captain Jean Luc Picard (of Star Trek's making). While there, I had to convince people, amidst a sea (okay, a couple) of boos and hisses. My defense: "Hey, I like Star Wars too!"

So, anyway, when I asked this guy to pose like he was punching me, he happily obliged. Though honestly, this looks less like a punch and more like a eye-noogie.

Ah, yes, another Pokémon. I actually didn't know what this big guy's name was, so I had to look it up. ........Feraligatr? What the hell? What kind of name is that? Well, anyway, I noticed that the Feraigsjklfgjsfoiu had something dripping from its arm, be it an icicle, or water, or...something else entirely. However, I found it to be a perfect opportunity for a lovely, disturbing shot.

Now, during the show, there were a bunch of things called "Gatherings". These were times in which like-minded cosplayers could, surprisingly enough, gather together. They would all have some common theme, and would take pictures as a group. Because my companions dressed up essentially every day, they were always going to these, and I followed along to a few. This particular one was for the Super Smash Bros. Gathering, so everyone was dressed as a character from that series. This particular fellow here was dressed as a presumably older and taller version of the character Ness (one of the most annoying characters to use), whose primary weapons are a baseball bat and yo-yo (go figure). I thought his costume was really good; I particularly wondered where on Earth he could buy that shirt.

By the way, I look particularly German in this picture.

Not being content acting as friends (perhaps even allies), I forced big-Ness to attack me with yo-yo of pain. I look less German in this photo...more French (oooh, burned!.......*cough*).

And here's the whole group for the Super Smash Bros. Gathering. From left to right, we have Luigi, Princess Daisy, Wario, Princess Peach, Mario, Ness, Dark Link, Nana (of the Ice Climbers), Sheik, Fox McCloud, Princess Zelda, and Falco Lombardi (who I, for the life of me, couldn't recognize, seeing as they had nothing to show that they were trying to be a bird. Seriously, I though he was just some random space mercenary).

By the way, that Dark Link character? That's actually one of my companions. And the sword? Real. Dull, but real. That's what I love about these types of conventions; you can bring deadly weapons into a room with thousands of people and nobody bats an eyelash.

Now, here's me with a little girl.......let me rephrase that. Here's me with a young enthusiast of the character Sheik, and she probably had one of the best costumes in the show, right down to red contact lenses. Unfortunately, the picture came out somewhat blurry. (Let me take a moment to apologize in advance for all pictures that are somewhat blurry; not totally blurry, but just enough that its not clear. Those drive me insane too!)

Oh, those things she's holding? Well, in Super Smash Bros., Sheik carries throwing needles, and that's what those are supposed to be. In reality, they're four of my pens that I was going to Photoshop into needles. But since the shot is blurry, you can't tell, so I just got lazy.

Not all the people who dressed up were simple fans. For others, it was part of their jobs. These people are called "cospayers". Get it? No? :( Anyway, this slithery gorgon lady was promoting some computer RPG game. Which one, I can't remember. So much for that advertising!

On another note, the person who took this picture is now working as a bird feeder in the San Diego Central Park.

I'm not sure what scared me more: these guys' incredibly well-done zombie makeup, or the fact that I could see that one guy's beer belly sticking out.

What? What does this picture mean, you say? You can't see anything, you say? Well, there's still a bit of narration to go along with this, my doubting Thomas.

There is a parking structure just outside of the San Diego Convention Center. It is close-by, and it is (relatively) cheap - $10 for the day. If you can get this parking, you're golden. However, on Friday, we must have gotten there just a little too late (despite coming rather early). The parking structure was closed. This is bad. Bad. Because that means you have to drive through San Diego to find another place to park. Now, apparently that weekend was full of stuff in SD. Not only was there Comic-Con, but they also were hosting an American Idol audition, as well as about two other big things. So the streets were packed. It would take 10 minutes just to get past a single street light. And finding a nearby parking structure? Fugetaboudit. We just went from street to street, further and further away from the convention center, until we reached the Westin Hotel, almost a mile away (we were able to get a college kid to drive us in a bicycle rickshaw deal [which is something the faint of heart should never do; it's scary as hell]).

Now, we went into this parking lot because we saw that it was only $10 for "Special Event Parking." When we went inside, though, we discovered that that only meant special events at the Westin. For everyone else? $28. Twenty-Eight dollars?! How could they justify such a price? Two words: valet parking. We had to give them the keys to the car and pay them a premium so that they could drive the car the last 20 feet (literally, that's it) to the parking space. Ridiculous as it was, our options were limited, particularly since there were cars behind us, making escape difficult. So, we had to pony up the money. In order to make sure that the dirty, dirty valets didn't steal our stuff, I took a picture of the inside of the car, so that if anything was missing, we could prove that it existed in the first place.

Looking back on it, it's a good thing that the valets didn't steal anything, because with this picture, I wouldn't have been able to prove squat.


As we were walking toward the convention center, we say the queerest thing: six jet fighters flying across the sky, releasing bursts of...whatever they release and spelling out "HA HA HA". (And on the other side of the sky, a final "HA"). That's it. Nothing else. It was really odd.

My theory (which I just confirmed with Wikipedia) was that it was a marketing move for the sequel to Batman Begins (called The Dark Knight), in which the main villain is - who else - the Joker.


And so, that is the end of my first set of Comic-Con photos. Tune in soon to see when I get the next ones up! I'm working tirelessly (actually, I'm quite tired) to make sure that these entries are of the finest quality. See you soon!