Friday, October 12, 2012

New York, Days 3-5

Been busy doing, you know, New York things the past few days, so no updates. But as my feet will start to openly revolt if I do anymore walking today, I'm heading back to the hotel shortly to slip into a coma. But before then, a few things from the past few days. Although I may be distracted in my recollections as I'm sitting in McDonald's listening to a bible group debating next to me.

1. Wednesday morning I decided to do my walk through Central Park as I'm not sure when I will next see green trees. May have overdone it as I entered the park at 107th Street and walked all the way to 59th. So 50 blocks of the park, while it was drizzling. Insane to you, perhaps, but glorious to me.

2. The plan after that was to go to MOMA. Their site says that although they open at 10:30, to avoid the crowds sometimes it's better to show up around 11:30. Which I did. Only to discover a line-up down the block...which was to get inside to get into the line to buy tickets. After that, there was the line for the coat and bag check. And finally, there was the line to get into the museum. So that plan went out the window.

3. Plan B was to hope on the subway and go down to the Village and wander around, which I did. Going to Canal Stree was probably a mistake, but if that's the only one I make this week, I'll be happy. And then I stumbled on a armer's market in Union Sqaure which made me very happy, even if I couldn't buy anything.

4. Thursday was the start of the con. Wasn't plannong on spending all day there, but I found a group of people all trying to rush to Artists' Alley like I was, so we hung out and chatted comics, which was fun. And shared tips, which artists were cool, which ones to avoid. And then there was the rush to get commissions. A lot of the artists get booked up quickly, so I was glad to get some of the people I wanted, even if a few (Amanda Conner and Terry Dodson), broke my heart by either saying they weren't doing commissions or by my not winning the lottery system set-up to determine who gets one of the 10 sketches being done.

5. The evening was a Ben Folds' Five concert at the con. Because of my pass (I have a VIP pass that I splurged on), I was literally front row centre. Which was kind of cool. Almost two hours of Ben Folds. The man can do a concert, even if I remain baffled so many women love his music ("Give me my money back, you bitch" is one of his songs, which the self-admitted "Worlds' biggest Ben Folds fan" standing next to me was belting out at the top of her lungs). Great show, though.

6. Today was about picking up some of the commissions and wandering the exhibition floor. The first day was relatively calm because only a few 4-day passes were old. Today it was crazy. Tomorrow will be total looney-tunes. Which is why I will only be getting a couple of books signed and then staying out of artists alley and the main hall. Because it will packed full of geeks losing their shit and all desperate to get the cool thing they want ahead of everyone else.

So that means I'll be hitting some panels and just wandering around outside with my camera, taking photos of people in costume. Much more fun and relaxing. I'll put photos either up on the blog or trying to resurrect my Tumblr.

7. But you know, it's a blast. Everyone should do a day at a comic con, even if you're not into comics. It's a fun vibe. Although I'm not sure if the number of scantily clad women I saw today was properly balanced by the number of topless guys who really should have been wearing more. Ah comic con, it giveth and it taketh away.

8. Right, I should go. The bible group is getting fiesty. Apparently someone was using her cell phone instead of listening to the Word.

2 comments:

John, Perth AU said...

While living in LA, I stood on my own share of sci-fi-fantasy convention lines (and got to meet Tom Baker!). In much smaller (and more isolated) Perth, conventions are more subdued. Not only did I get to have a nice chat with Neil Gaiman while he signed my copies of "Miracleman" and "Death: The High Cost Of Living", he signed them with his special gold-inked pen. "Don't die" he wrote. It's been OK so far. :)

John, Perth AU said...

By the way, the line after "I want my money back" in "Song for the Dumped" wasn't always "And don't forget...". Listen to the demo version on "Fifty-Five Vault". Also, men can be b*tches, too, believe me! :)