Comic Con… I am Groot… and stuff…

Posted on July 28, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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Yup.

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Some of the well-costumed people literally spend all day doing nothing but photo ops.

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Old school Doctor Who.

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Let’s play ‘spot the flaming skull guy!’

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Comic Con attracts a lot of people, some of whom just hang around outside.

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Lipstick, check. ID, check. Love potion, check.

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Like I said earlier.

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One last photo of zombie lady.

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Um… a guy made a sign… and believe me, it is worse on the other side… and all he does is follow the religious zealots… with their own signs… around, yelling… uh… counter arguments to the zealot’s point of view. Make of this what you will.

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Comic Con really is in a lovely spot.

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I want that… for driving through Southern California traffic.

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We really are getting near the end of the Comic Con posts… I swear…

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Comic Con… meet the press… (with special guest appearance by a big-name celebrity)… and tips on how to spot famous people among the hordes…

Posted on July 28, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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No, that isn’t a costume, it is a steady cam… which brings me to my first celebrity spotting tip for Comic Con… follow media camera crews. Those crews cost a lot of money per hour, and they generally don’t send them out just for laughs. They know where the famous people are going to be.

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I had fun watching this guy set up his gear. It took a while.

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Okay, this tip will not pan out every single time you try it. They do interview random people in costumes between their big assignments. But I did get to see my second favorite wheel chair-based costume.

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You don’t often get to see a dwarf getting ready to interview a wizard. You know what they say: “Meddle not in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.”

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That dwarf was not actually that short… he was on his knees… but you have to applaud his dedication.

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A random, poorly-taken selfie, that made it into this post because of the TV interview of two Wookies in the background.

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Yes, that is Steven Spielberg. I saw him. I am saving the real posts about celebrities for the end of my Comic Con posts, but this one leads to my best tip for seeing famous people.

Keep checking the stages set up on the exhibition hall floor for D C Comics, Marvel Comics, and any big name studio that does movies and television. That is where the action is. When I do the last posts… with all the famous people… I will tell you how to take advantage of this tip.

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Okay, I don’t think he is famous… he seems too worried about the placement of the boom mic.

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This guy might even have his own show… but I don’t know who he is, so let’s move on.

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I like that picture because it is out of focus… except for the phone in the foreground… which seems to be focused just fine.

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I don’t even remember what was going on here, or who the people are, but there are female bagpipers in kilts… and a big video camera… so… yeah…

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Does anybody recognize the guy sitting down in the grey shirt… or the girl sitting next to him?

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The cast of the TV show Supergirl. This is the kind of media frenzy you are looking for if you want to spot famous people.

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I have better pictures of them… which I will share… when I give you my best celebrity spotting tips… with the best pictures to back up my claim.

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Comic Con… Deadpool was there…

Posted on July 28, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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See, I told you.

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He was also here… my favorite part of that photos is the creepy clown in the background…

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And here… I like the blue Crocks.

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Sponge Bob and Patrick were there.

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And so was… uh… this guy.

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This was by far my favorite wheel chair costume.

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Well you knew there was going to be a Game Of Thrones group photo op after the Star Wars group photo op.

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I have a sneaking suspicion that the guy dressed as a dire wolf is less interested in Game Of Thrones than he is in meeting women also dressed up in furry costumes. Just a hunch.

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Most realistic warship costume ever!

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And I even spotted Afro Samurai… yes, that is a real thing.

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The lights of San Francisco…

Posted on July 28, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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This is why I stayed up there, in my favorite spot in the hills above Berkeley, for so long, and why you ended up having to look at all those sunset and fountain pictures… (I had to do something while I was waiting for the sun to go down)…

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I wanted to try taking some pictures with my tripod. Pictures of the city lights, from far away, with the big telephoto lens. And I learned something.

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As you can see from this shot of Oakland, even with a tripod, camera shake is still a factor.

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And it gets noticeably worse when I zoom all the way in. I don’t know if it is the wind, or my hand pushing the button to trigger the shutter, or because it isn’t a very expensive tripod.

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But it works pretty well if I am not zoomed in too far.

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Or on things that aren’t quite so far away, like this shot of the U C Berkeley campus.

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But I had fun up there. I love that place.

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I know, I am sneaking in a few sunrise pictures that I took as I sped back to San Diego, to go to Comic Con.

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Yes, I took them while I was driving.

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Yes, I know I shouldn’t do that.

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Yes, I will try to be careful when I do it again.

 

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Okay, we are almost done with the sunset photos from the last time I was in the Bay Area… no, not this time, the last time, before I went back to San Diego for Comic Con, and then, today, came back to the Bay Area to see Hamilton in a few days…

Posted on July 27, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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I mean, technically, I stayed past the sunset to try taking a few pictures of the city lights, so there will be one more post after this one…

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But man, you can’t go wrong with the view of the sun setting over San Francisco Bay, seen from the hills above Berkeley.

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Hey! Get that big, ugly head out of the way! We are trying to see the sunset.

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I guess that one is the last official photo of that particular sunset.

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Or does the sunset include the twilight time after you can’t see the sun anymore, but the sky is still lit up with colors?

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Hey look, there is the Berkeley Marina, where that statue I helped make is standing, and where Big Johnny and I took Willie, my godson, to the most dangerous playground in the world. That seems like a long time ago.

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Berkeley, in the foreground, and San Francisco in the distance.

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Even Oakland looks good at night… ha… sorry, Oakland.

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Okay, we are almost done. One more post of city lights, and a bunch of Comic Con stuff, including some of famous people, and a few random things, with maybe more pictures of whatever it is we do in the Bay Area before we go see the play… and then we are all caught up, and I can go back to doing my regular weird stuff.

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The most adorable couple I saw at Comic Con…

Posted on July 27, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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I know, I am actually back in the Bay Area… after starting in San Diego, going to the Bay Area, going back to San Diego for Comic Con, and now I’m back to see the Hamilton Musical… and I still have pictures from the last time I was in the Bay Area… and Comic Con… and I am going to start making more pictures of this adventure… so… uh…

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The most muscular couple I saw at Comic Con… and no, I am not assuming they are an actual couple, but there are two of them.

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The main thing is that peace has been declared between the Spartans and the Gnomes… thanks to Captain Beard Man!!!

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One great thing about Comic Con is that, if you walk around enough, you will be able to get pictures of strange groupings of costumed people. I don’t know what is going on here, but I know one thing…

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All these people have been practicing their poses at home in front of a mirror.

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Ummmm… okay…

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Yeah…

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That’s a cool costume. I haven’t seen that movie yet.

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That guy does look a little like Captain Kirk… and that has to be his son… pretending he doesn’t know him.

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Yes, I am going back to the Bay Area… I will try not to break it this time…

Posted on July 26, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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Yes, I know, I was in the Bay Area last week. I had to come back to San Diego to go to Comic Con, now, I am going back to see the musical, Hamilton. Seriously, does anybody know what the odds of getting tickets to Hamilton and Comic Con on back-to-back weekends are? Like getting tickets to the World Series and the Superbowl on the same day you won the lottery. I mean, I guess, I don’t do organized sports, but I imagine those tickets are hard to get too.

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I have to split soon…

Posted on July 26, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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I have to jet, boogie, jam, take off, cruise, leave, go, scram, jump, move, blow this popsicle… (or hot dog, if you prefer)… stand, make myself scarce, shuffle, relocate, hie mineself hence, decamp, head out, hit the road, shove off, bail, bolt, book, vamoose, mosey, cut and run, high-tail it, skedaddle, ramble or scoot…

Because… Hamilton tickets!

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Comic Con… where it’s okay to stroke your Wookie in public…

Posted on July 26, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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And is it just me, or is the one on the left wearing hair gel… on its face?

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No, I don’t know what is up with that lady on the left, but I do wonder how one interviews a Wookie for TV. I mean, you can ask a Wookie any question you want to, and it is always going to answer: “Hhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaannnnnngggggg”… which, if you don’t know what a Wokkie sounds like, is a little like a cross between an opera singer clearing their throat and a whale song.

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You need to have a pretty good costume to attract the media at Comic Con.

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You have a lot of competition.

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And it takes a lot to get noticed.

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It is easy to get lost in the crowd… and yes, you have to do a costume prop check, to make sure none of the weapons are real.

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Sometimes, all you need to get filmed… by a very expensive steady cam… is to be a cute kid in a homemade costume.

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If you aren’t cute, young, or rich enough to buy top end costumes, nobody cares if you wear regular clothes.

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But if you do, no amount of body piercings and tattoos is going to get you noticed.

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Comic Con… wait… is that Tony Stark???

Posted on July 26, 2017 by pouringmyartout

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Did you see the actual Robert Downey Jr.???

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No… calm down… it’s just a rubber head.

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And this isn’t the real Iron Man. It isn’t even a real person in a really good Iron Man costume.

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There, you can see the base upon which Iron Man is affixed. And behind him, to the left, you can see the rubber head. But this brings up an interesting point about Comic Con. Sometimes, you can’t tell if you are looking at a real person in a costume, or a display of some sort.

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Is that a guy dressed as an alien predator, or a display? There is no stand under it. I am still not sure which it is… but it didn’t move while I was looking at it… which was sort of creepy.

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Okay, that one has a stand, but it looks exactly like other Wookies I saw wandering around. Maybe that is where they bought their costumes.

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That is a real zombie… well, you know what I mean… fake zombies don’t pose for pictures… I mean, not really.

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They also don’t move around.

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But that zombie behind her… that one is fake.

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The Dalek is fake… or at least it didn’t move all day… not even when a pint-sized Marge Simpson held up a stuffed toy for it to exterminate. Could a real Dalek resist that temptation? I think not.

 

 

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