#SDCC: And my date for the #WalkingDead Press event is ... (best and worst entries)

Ello all, 

Thanks for kicking it last night Danny!!!

So earlier in the week I announced that instead of bringing a random OKC date to the Walking Dead press event tonight - I'd MUCH rather take one of you fanschmastically awesome people!!! I then asked you guys to show me your brraaiinnnnsss and booyyy did you guys ever! 

Here is the best and worst entry and the announcement of our winner ... drumroll ... 

The WORST entry I received was this loverly piece of work ... 

Really .... really .... really .... 

FORTUNATELY ... the next entry wound up literally blowing me away. Check out some of the design skills from our winner Mr. Tyler Schirado!! 

Tyler Before:

Tyler After:

Now THAT is what I'm talking about!! 

CONGRATS TYLER!!! I'll see you tonight as I lick and eat yo' face off at the party!!! 

Thanks so so much for reading, and thanks so so much for the entries everyone!!! You guys came up with some pretty cool ideas!! 

Rock on everyone! Hope you all are having a great Comic Con!

I'll be over at Wired Cafe all day - but feel free to tweet me and I'll come down and say howdy! 

@JenFriel

#nerdsunite

#NerdsUnite: The Ramblings of a Raconteuse (My First Comic Con!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Helenna. We met on twitter not too long ao, and she's totes mcgotes one rad chiquita banana with a flare for all things flair! That's right, Helenna here is what we call an artsy fartsy nerd. She's a poet, into all things dramatic arts, and she's going to come on board to write each week about her love of said drama. Well not like actual drama drama, like some cat fight shit - but you get the idea. I only have one thing left to say ... HIT IT HELENNA!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Helslevy

Well, this week I’ll be going to Comic Con for the first time ever.  To say I’m excited is a gigantic understatement.  

I’m ecstatic, elated, freaking joyously jumping up and down feeling like I should run around in circles excited.  I’m Christmas morning when you are 4 years old excited, a zombie seeing brains excited, my cat getting pet by two people at once excited.  So excited I can barely type the word ex-ccccc—iiii—ttteeeddddd!!  

So why I am so crazed you ask?  

I have never been to Comic Con and for me it has always kind of been the holy grail or mystical emerald city.  I’ve been on the yellow brick road headed there for awhile, but never took the final steps to see the wizard.  And in this version, the wizard is AWESOME.  I’m not quite sure why I’ve never made it there before.  Part of it was always finances, or other obligations, and then I had this silly pact with myself that I wasn’t going to attend until I was on a panel there.  Who knows why I made that dumb rule.  But this year when Geek Girls Create wasn’t an accepted panel I was like, “hellzzz yes, I’m still going!”  

Now ironically, I have a family wedding to go to this weekend so I’ll only be there for preview night and then the full day on Thursday.

(NOTE: next year no one is allowed to get married, have a baby, even the apocalypse will not keep me from attending Comic Con for the entire length of the festivities. Actually, apocalypse during Comic Con might be the best way to ensure survival.  After all, aside from a army base where else would you find so many people with knowledge about how to survive the end of the world?)  But I digress….

So I’ll be there on Weds and Thursday!  Tweet me if you are there, and maybe in the midst of the madness we’ll run into each other, or come and visit myself and the other Geek Girls Create ladies at the Geekscape booth! Here are the deets! 

GEEK GIRLS CREATE - appearance/signing

Thursday, July 12th (11am – 12pm) The Geek Girls Create Meet Up!

 The Geekscape SDCC Booth #3919

 in attendance: Kristen Nedopak (Skyrim Parodies), Stephanie Thorpe (ElfQuest), Helenna Santos Levy (American Reunion), Crix Lee (COO GirlGamer.com), Leah Cevoli (Robot Chicken), 

And we’ll be signing copies of these, so please drop by and say “hi!”

#xoxo hels

tweet me at: @helslevy

browse me at: helennasantoslevy.com

email me at: contacthelenna@gmail.com

#NerdsUnite: Inside the marketing mind of @MyMelodie (There are Plenty of Fish at Comic Con)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Melodie. I met her when she invited me to come and crash on her couch for the night in the San Dizzle and she is for reals one of the nicest chicas ever. She's a fellow marketer and wanted to use this space to share her thoughts on life, love, and all things nerd. Hit it Melodie! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @MyMelodie

Any reader of this site knows that nerds dominate the online dating scene. I mean our very own @JenFriel has gone on over 109 okcupid dates in 9 months and even survived getting suspended from OKCupid! Our beautiful @itsmejoolie had a big dating adventure prompted by OKCupid and, we got @casetines , A Dude in the OKC Corral and not to mention the lovely @itsjessweaver met her husband on Plenty of Fish.

Online dating uses math and other nerdy algorithms to match people up, in addition it gives you a chance to screen people based on your criteria and find out how tech and online savvy someone is even before you meet them. Sounds pretty rad to me! Oh and I recently learned Online Dating Is Now Officially A More Popular Way To Meet People Than Bars And Clubs! How does this relate to me you say? Well I’ve got an EPIC online dating story for you. Even more epic than when I found out I was targeted on a craigslist missed connection.

A couple years ago I set up a profile on Plenty of Fish. Not taking it too seriously I didn’t really log on much or go on many dates through that site. I sent a few emails back and forth with one particular dude after he sent me a fairly generic note: “Hi, would you be interested in talking and perhaps sharing date night this Friday. I'm new to this and quite interested in having fun with the new venture! Take care” (Note: Plenty of Fish deletes old messages and I no longer have an account so I can’t actually log on to screen shot messages. The messages also don’t show up in email notifications so you have to actually log in to retrieve them. However, I did copy and paste this text and found it in my email inbox). I don’t normally respond to generic messages but I recall being intrigued by this dude’s profile so I messaged him back asking him more about what he did for a living. He explained to me how he was starting his own business and then proceeded to ask me out again for that Friday night (Our messages were exchanged on a Monday). I intended to reply back but since I wasn’t taking the site too seriously it wasn’t a priority and completely slipped my mind to log back on to set up a date for Friday. At this point I had giving him zero personal information so he had no way of emailing or calling me outside of Plenty of Fish.

Fast Forward to Friday of that same week and Comic Con is in town! Comic Con comes to San Diego every summer. Pretty much the largest nerd/geek fest ever! I’m talking over 130,000 nerds and geeks all in one place! My friend had a 4 day pass and couldn’t make it that Friday so she let me borrow her pass. I took the trolley down to Comic Con and spent about 2 hours walking around the expo hall in what can be described as Halloween on crack. Nerdy costumes galore!

The Gaslamp (Downtown San Diego) is booming during Comic- Con. As soon as I stepped out of the convention center, I see a fairly long line at the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Truck. The line keeps growing.

Dude behind me in line: What’s going on here?
Me: I think they’re giving out free ice cream

We ask the person in front of us and it’s confirmed. Free ice cream! Who could resist that deal? The dude behind me in line strikes up a conversation with me.

Dude: Were you just at Comic-Con?
Me: Yep. My friend let me borrow her pass for the day so I went to check it out for a couple hours. What about you?
Dude: Yep. I was just there too. Same situation, my friend had a 4 day pass but had to work today so she let me borrow her pass. Me: Cool what did you think? Dude: It was crazy I’ve never seen anything like it.
Me: Yeah I’ve been the last few years just for sightseeing. I always love seeing the costumes.
Dude: (Changes subject from Comic Con) So are you from San Diego?
Me: Yeah, I grew up here and have spent most of my life in San Diego. How about you?
Dude: My parents live here and I just got back from traveling and teaching English in Thailand for a year.
Me: That sounds like a cool experience! What do you plan to do next?
Dude: I’m starting my own business in the restaurant industry. We partner with restaurants and offer a wine club people can join so they can avoid corkage fees at restaurants when bringing their own wine.
Me: That company sounds really familiar, I think I’ve met someone from your company before.
Dude: Oh really? I have one other partner but we really haven’t launched yet.
Me: Hm…I swear I’ve talked to someone recently who works for a company that does exactly what you’re describing. Are you in the Chamber of Commerce? Or any other networking groups?
Dude: Nope
Me: Weird, I know I’ve met someone from your company before.

Finally we make it to the front of the line for ice cream! We continue standing on the street and talking while eating our ice cream.

Dude: There is a similar company in Las Vegas that recently ran a Groupon deal. That might be where you heard of it.
Me: Yeah I am on Groupon’s mailing list, must be it So at this point we both convince ourselves that I’ve never heard of his company. Even though I still know that I have. Either that or I was going crazy!
Dude: (As we’re finishing our ice cream) So what are you doing for the rest of the evening?
Me: I was going to grab some food and check out the concert at Petco Park.
Dude: Sounds fun, I’m pretty hungry, ice cream doesn’t cut it. Want to go grab some food at Happy Hour?
Me: Sure! Let’s do it.

We started walking around to find a place for Happy Hour. We see the Palm Restaurant so decide to go there. We sit at the bar, order a couple appetizers, drinks and our random meeting at Comic-Con has basically turned into a date! There is nothing nerdier than meeting at Comic Con, right?! Our conversation continues. We discuss our hobbies, backgrounds, places we’ve traveled to. At this point I’ve probably spent over an hour with the dude I just met in line at an ice cream truck outside of Comic Con. He starts talking about his business again and his dog.

Dude: Do you have any pets?
Me: No. I love animals but don’t have time for pets right now. Do you? Dude: Yeah I have a dog. I really missed him when I was in Thailand.

All of a sudden if dawns on me as to why everything he was telling me sounds oh-so- familiar.

Me: OMG You messaged me on Plenty of Fish! That’s how I know you, that’s how I heard about your company because you described to me in an email what you did for a living and how you’re starting your own business in the restaurant industry!
Dude: Holy Shit! Are you serious?
Me: You started talking about how you missed your dog when you were in Thailand and I remember you saying that in an email to me!
Dude: Wait a minute I totally recognize you now! I remember all our emails.
Me: WHOA I even remember your last email to me was asking me out for Friday which is TODAY! Sorry I never replied, I don’t check that site regularly. But apparently I didn’t need to since we’re still out together on Friday!
Dude: No worries, I understand how it is. Look I’m even wearing the same shirt as my profile photo (Orange shirt)
Me: This is crazy! I can’t believe out of the thousands of people at Comic Con we would end up here together.
Dude: If anything, this gives us a great story to tell.
Me: I’ve had some pretty crazy things happen to me but this tops the list. We’re both still in awe that the universe brought us together in the way that it did through random occurrences that I guess aren’t at all random.

We finish out food/drinks, pay and walk over to Petco Park where there was a concert going on to catch the end of it.

The pseudo date was ending so he asks me how I got downtown.

Me: I took the trolley.
Dude: I’m happy to give you a ride back if you’d like.
Me: Sure I’m parked at the Trolley station.

He drops me off at the Trolley station and we say our goodbyes. We were both still in shock by our meeting. I mean what are the odds of meeting in the midst of 130,000?! Not only just meeting but actually talking, hitting it off, deciding to continue hanging out together that same night?! Now you’re probably wondering what happened after our epic meeting….Oh the suspense…..NOTHING! Absolutely nothing! I believe that everything happens for a reason so the reason for me meeting the dude was for the sole purpose of giving me this amazing story! And it really is true; there are Plenty of Fish at Comic Con!

#thatisall

Click here to follow Melodie on twitter or find her on facebook here and check out her blog over yonder!

#YayLife: T-minus 1 week til #SDCC

a hoi hoi nerdlings,

DUDES!!! I'm so effin stoked!! I just confirmed my plans for Comic Con!!!!!!! YAYYYYYY!!!

I'm leaving next Thursday morning, and I will be there until Sunday - I think. Hahaha, not sure when I'm coming back, but I'll for sure be down there starting Thursday night.

If you guys have any cool parties or anything I should check out, drop me a line! @JenFriel on Twitter, or Facebook.com/JenFriel

I can't WAIIITTTTTTTTT to hang out with some of you!!! Totes tweet me if you're gonna be there. We HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO do a meet up!!

Yayerssssssss!! Now, it's Peanut butta jelly time!!

#nerdsunite

Countdown to @Comic_Con: 34 Days

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @AdamReisinger

Note: This is part of an ongoing series looking ahead to San Diego Comic-Con 2011, as contributor Adam Reisinger prepares to attend the convention for the first time.

Holy crap, we're basically a month away from San Diego Comic-Con. That's insane. Somehow it seems too close and too far away simultaneously. I didn't really realize quite how imminent the show was until I started getting multiple "pre-order SDCC exclusives" e-mails this week.

Now, when I'd originaly planned my SDCC trip, I wasn't too focused on show exclusives for a few reasons:

1. The cost quickly starts adding up, especially when dealing with stuff like statues and busts

2. When you buy them at the show, you have to deal with transporting them back across the country

3. Many of them aren't really "exclusive" anyway; some can be pre-ordered for non-attendees while others don't sell out in San Diego and are available for weeks after

But eventually the reality of "I'm going to Comic-Con and I can easily buy all this stuff" sinks in. That happened for me a couple days ago, when I finally put in a pre-order for the SDCC exclusive issues of the "Dollhouse" comic from Dark Horse and the "Charmed" comic from Zenescope, along with the Emma Frost statue pictured up top.

As for what else I'm going to get, well that's going to take some planning -- and even with that planning I probably won't know for sure until I'm walking the show floor. Bleeding Cool has a nice list of Previews exclusives, and AwesomeToyBlog is keeping an updated list of action figures, statues and the like that is regularly updated as new exclusives are announced.

Perhaps the most impressive list I've seen so far comes from the SDCC Blog, which has an ongoing list of exclusives along with pretty good pictures of each. Among the ones I haven't ordered yet, here are the top 5 items I want to get (in no particular order):

- Ultimate Fallout #1, White Cover Edition

- "The Simpsons" Comic Book Guy Ornament

- Gremlins Gizmo Comic Con Edition

- Ghostbusters Stay Puft Marshmallow Man - Carol Ferris Barbie Doll (for my niece, I swear!)

Be sure to follow Adam on Twitter @AdamReisinger or visit his website, www.adamreisinger.com

#nerdsunite