HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA dudes, I totes just had the most epic adventure last night. Alrite, so I'm currently at Comic Con thanks to this duderino from OKC that had a professional pass, click here to read what my pass says. I think I could totes pull off that name ... eh? eh?
Anywhoodle ... so the duderino has his two friends with him - one is an Aussie the other is from the UK ... wooah getting the accents straight is kinda blowing my mind. But anyway, the OKC duderino gave me the pass, and a ride down here, so I'm adding value by hooking them up with the parties and free food in the press lounges.
Dudes, last night we went to the Robert Rodriguez thingie majiggie, and I wasn't mad at it!!! OMG OMG OMG Corona, pulled pork and pineapple sliders, dates with goat cheese ... it was DIVINE!! Here's a pic I posted to WhoSay ...
#AMD was giving away a free laptop if you tweeted out a pic of you at the party and used #AMD and #sdcc hashtags. Sounds cool, right? Well, you're wrong. See, someone failed to check if you could actually get a signal out to send a tweet in the first place! HAHA both Verizon and AT&T had shotty service, so there we all were on our phones trying to win this damn thing ... running around with our phones in the air looking for a signal, instead of actually being social and like, productive members of society.
I gotta be honest here though, I don't fucking get Comic Con. I really don't.
So, studios have come in, made it this big to-do for their flicks ... okay, that's rad ... but they have all these parties now, and all these lists, that it TOTALLY DEFEATS THE NERD CULTURE!!!!!! Nerds and geeks aren't about VIP, lists, and all that mumbo jumbo - it's all about the love.
Lemme break it down for you. So, last night, I went straight from the floor to the Rodriguez party. We were on the list because this PR crowd had reached out to me a few weeks back, but I get up there - and this woman shoots me daggers for still rocking my Samsung backpack and flip flops. Dude, it's fucking Comic Con, be grateful I didn't rock my holier than thou Vans.
Nerds wear what they want to wear when they wanna wear it. Boohyah!
So she shoots me this look, and then they give out different colored bracelets based upon who was VIP or not. I got black ...
photo bomb courtesy of @berniesu
I got inside, and looked around at the other people that had black, and they were totally the hardcore nerds and geeks dressed down, in our little corners tweeting/ posting/ etc.
I'm not mad at not being VIP for something, or whatevs - but the nerds are the influencers. You wanted us to tweet stuff out to promote your party, yet you were kinda douchey to us for not looking a certain way. No bueno, duderinos; can't judge a nerd by their pocket protector!!!
And instead of this whole list thing that people may or may not know about - why don't the PR companies have people submit their twitter handles? Seriously, anyone can submit, and you can judge based on followers or klout scores - whatevs. Maybe Comic Con can even have a centralized directory where you can view all of the parties and bam, right there, have the page authorize access to your twitter account where you can one, two, easily click which ones you want to go to. Also too, then the PR crowds and studios have that info captured and can hit those people up at later dates. I LOVE hearing about new things, new products, anything happening. I don't find it intrusive or spammy - I just think the current system for Comic Con SERIOUSLY needs an overhaul. It's redic!!!
SAN DIEGO IS NOT LA!!!! SO STOP IT STUDIOS!!!
You're doing it wrong!!
UGH! I've been talking to people about this all morning, and they totally agree. Seriously! Our badges get scanned up, down, left, and right here. Why not scan it and view our twitter accounts, see if we post about applicable topics to your event ... etc. etc. etc.
So frustrating. I'm an efficiency freak - I can't STAND it when I see something not working that could be so freaking awesome.
Anywho, so that happened. Then, after getting pretty saucy on some free Coronas, we all realized that we still didn't have a place to crash. See, I reached out to a former FWB (friend with benefits) before coming down, and asked if we could uh, hang out, and he was totally game, translation: I have a room. BUUUTTTT, my new friends still didn't. I am all about survival of the fittest, but I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for the ride these guys gave me, and the friggen pass, translation: I'm not leaving them.
I hit up the FWB and he thought it was weird all of the sudden I had 3 extra people, totes understand - but we were straight HUSTLING to find a room. It was funny too because we actually all had money we were willing to give even just for floor space somewhere ... we. found. nothing.
The car was parked about a mile away from the convention center, and we were literally minutes away from the 12am deadline of the car being locked in the garage. We weren't mad at the notion of sleeping in the car, but we weren't sure if we could do it while it was still in the garage. The UK chickadee was super scared that if we all got a ticket it would be reported and she could be deported or whatevs. I told her those were just catastrophized thoughts. I used to live in my car, and the worst thing that happens is they knock on your door and ask what you're doing. You could be narcoleptic, or have a disability - they can't just "assume" you're sleeping in your car.
Either way though, we RAANNNNNN back to the car with 5 minutes to spare on the deadline, and drove to a shady residential area to crash.
This is another misconception, btw - don't ever ... ever ... ever ... find a random empty street to sleep on. You're too vulnerable. It's actually safer to find a busy residential street, and just set an alarm to wake you up at about 6:30/7, which is around the time the morning walkers come out. People will hassle you less, and as long as you get up and go - you're fine.
So, we drove about 20 minutes out, and parked the car behind this creepy looking RV - which was great, because again, we were in the creepy white van. Birds of a feather flock together! =)
The back windows were tinted so the Aussie and UK chick were fine, but me and the OKC duderino up front were a bit more vulnerable. We then searched the back for blankets to put over the windshield, then we had the idea to just put our massively huge comic con bags up and over the front.
Totally worked ... like ah-mazingly.
I then put my chair back as far as I could, put on my hoodie, and selected the Relax with Andrew app on my iPod touch which guides you through this meditation that is GUARANTEED to make you pass out in 5 minutes ... WHICH is what I did.
For reals ... out like a light.
About 3 hours later the car jolts - and I'm awoken from my slumber.
I look up, everyone is staring at me ... we can't sleep.
What? You mean you guys haven't slept at all this entire time??
10 minutes here, 5 minutes there.
Wow, alrite. What do you guys want to do? I ask while I adjust my hoodie.
The OKC duderino pulls out his iPhone and opens up Yelp to see what's "open now."
Coffee shop 6 minutes away, open 24 hours. Let's head there ...
He starts the car, I immediately fall back asleep.
<tangent> I'm not kidding you when I say that I have trained my brain to sleep ANYWHERE!! Seriously! I know my limits too!! I can walk 11 miles with my 40 lb backpack on within a 24 hour period, and I can drive up to 14 hours before my depth perception becomes too skewed to carry on; I'm hardcore, man. I'm all about just getting shit done. </tangent>
We drive over to the coffee shop, and oddly enough no one gets out at first. Everyone was SO exhausted at that point.
I vaguely remember hearing the door open as I fall back asleep ... yet again.
Some length of time goes by, and I realize I didn't hear the car door open again translation: the new friend was still gone.
I look up and realize everyone is still half asleep/ half awake. I ask if someone should go and check on the Aussie. The UK chickadee pipes up and says oh, I'm sure he's just sleeping outside.
See, the Aussie is also like 6'something. I'm 5'7 and have no problem sleeping in a car, but when you're that tall, yahhhhhhh I can see how that would be uncomfortable.
As if his ears were burning, the car door opens and the Aussie comes back in ...
I found an open ditch to sleep in, and then this homeless guy tried coming in too, and I said no! This is my ditch! Go check out the other one next to the piss hole.
I BURST out in laughter - omg, we've been here for an hour and we're already psychologically assimilating to the culture.
After the chuckle, I again, fall back asleep and slept until the sun came up this morning.
Totally hilarious, totally awesome ... I'm the only one that is up and about and perky as a peach. Everyone else is currently crashing on the lawn of the convention center.
Amazeballs.
But yah! We get a hotel room at 1 today, so no more sleeping adventures - haha to the best of my knowledge!!
But for reals, when it comes to sleeping in your car ...
1. Find a residential street, the more populated the better.
2. Set an alarm for 6:30 or 7 as that is about the time that walkers will be out and about.
3. Download a guided meditation sleep app with noise cancelling headphones to drown out the city sounds.
4. In the morning, find a McDonalds/ Starbucks to wash up and brush your teeth in the morning, and BAM! You're good to go!
Keep on keepin on, nerderinos!
I'm currently kicking it in the AMD press lounge. Feel free to stop by and say hi, but then I gotta get back to work. hahaha
Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 1:22PM
