"I'd like to rest my heavy head tonight on a bed of California stars. I'd like to lay my weary bones tonight on a bed of California stars." ~wilco

Oh my goodness, Comic-Con is insane. 130,000 people (including me) have descended on San Diego for this nerd's paradise, and even for a New Yorker, it's overwhelming. But it's also amazing. I had been warned that I would spend much of my time waiting in lines, but it was still a bit of a surprise to discover the extent to which that is true. I waited over two hours on Wednesday night just to pick up my badge. Over two hours, just to get a badge! I went to the badge pick-up with a friend and we were in line outside and she said, "this isn't so bad." We assumed that when we got inside the building, we'd be able to get our badges right away. I joked, "Watch when we get inside there are more lines snaking through the whole thing." I was totally kidding, but it turns out I was right. This is what it looked like:
It was ridiculous. But I got my badge so I was ready for Thursday morning.
On Thursday morning I got in line early for Ballroom 20. The first panel was Burn Notice, which I don't watch, but I sat through it because Covert Affairs was next (it's one of my favorite shows). I got a good spot, and the Burn Notice panel was actually really entertaining. Bruce Campbell is hilarious.


Covert Affairs was awesome. Piper Perabo is adorable, Peter Gallagher is, well, Peter Gallagher (I LOVE him), Chris Gorham is gorgeous and charming...I love that entire cast, and it was so much fun to see them interact in person. I filmed the panel so I didn't focus on taking photos. I'll upload my videos later.

Next I went to Napoleon Dynamite. If you're wondering why the cast of a movie that came out seven years ago was there, it's because they've turned the movie into an animated series that'll begin airing midseason on Fox. It was fun to see the cast reunited. I mostly went because of Tina Majorino (I'm a huge Veronica Mars fan), but I liked seeing Jon Heder (who is incredibly hilarious) and the rest of the cast as well. That panel was in a small room and I was right up front, so it was a nice change from Ballroom 20.


Next I headed to NerdHQ, where I was working and got to see the Felicia Day panel. She's pretty amazing. Here she is with Zac Levi:

At night I went to see Mark Christopher Lawrence (Big Mike on Chuck) do his stand-up act, which was fun. I'll post a photo later.

I'm not sure when I'll post again. I know I won't be back to my hotel room for a couple of days because I'll be working at NerdHQ until late and then camping out for panels. Another defining feature of Comic-Con seems to be the fact that no one sleeps. Eventually I'll put a bunch of pictures online, but that might not be for awhile.

This is just my day one report, so stay tuned for more!

"On the stereo, listen as we go. Nothing's gonna stop me now. California, here we come, right back where we started from." ~phantom planet

Covered by Mates of State:

Tomorrow I'm heading out to California! I'll be in San Diego attending Comic-Con and working at NerdHQ. After five days in San Diego, I'll head to L.A. to meet up with a couple of friends. My parents will then join me and we'll take a road trip across the west, stopping at Death Valley, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Grand Canyon on our way back to their house. I'm excited. I'll have internet access along the way so I may post updates, although I don't think I'll have much free time. Stay tuned for tons of pictures at the end of my journey!

"And if you listen, I can’t call. And if you jump, you just might fall. And if you shout, I’ll only hear you. If I could stay, then the night would give you up. Stay, then the day would keep it’s trust. Stay, with the demons you drown, stay, with the spirit I found, stay, and the night would be enough." ~u2

I have more to write about, but the most pressing thing is U2. If you know me at all, you know I'm obsessed with U2. Meeting Bono last year was one of my most memorable experiences. I'm absolutely crazy about the band; there's so much that I love about them, I could go on forever. Instead, however, I'll focus on my most recent U2 experience. I went to see them in Philadelphia. I did GA (general admission), which meant I didn't have a seat but had a spot on the field (the concert was in the football stadium where the Eagles play). GA is the best way to experience a big band like U2 in a stadium. There is nothing like it in the world. The stadium holds 80,000 people and 16,000 people are on the field in GA. On the field, the energy is like nothing else you've ever experienced. You're surrounded by thousands of people just as excited as you are to be there. In the stands you never know what the people around you will be like, but if you've waited over 12 hours for a good spot, you know you'll only have other crazy hardcore fans around you, and that makes a huge difference.
I took the bus to Philly early in the morning (6:30am) to line up and was #439 in line. U2 didn't go on until after 9pm so I spent a whole lotta time in line, but I wanted a good spot. I had fabulous people around me in line who welcomed me into their group (and filled me up with lots of food throughout the day!). When we were finally let into the stadium, I ended up just where I wanted to be, on the railing along the outer circle (it's difficult to describe the stage, so the best way is just to show you a visual):
The Claw is pretty cool, huh? No wonder this is the most expensive tour ever.
I've been in the center pit before and it's a lot of fun, but it's difficult to see the main stage because it's so high. Where I was standing, I had an unobstructed view (no heads!) and had great close-up views when the band members came out on the walkway (which was fairly often; there were moving bridges that brought them out).

Interpol opened the show, and I was really excited about that because I'm a big fan of theirs. They did a great job (although I was disappointed that they didn't play "No Exit").

One thing I don't love about U2 is that they don't vary their setlists much. I guess they cater towards the casual fans/people who don't see them in concert multiple times, and I understand that. If you're only going to see U2 in concert once, you probably want to hear the hits. And they have a lot of hits. So each concert ends up being like a "greatest hits" show with a few wildcard songs thrown in there. I go for the wildcards. I've heard "Pride," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "One," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," and "Beautiful Day" so many times live that I would be thrilled if they were replaced, but they're setlist standards and unfortunately they're not going anywhere. I would kill to hear "Numb" live. That's the one song that I would seriously go absolutely crazy if they played. Someone would literally have to pick me up off the floor (and I really mean it). They haven't played it since 1993, though, and if they haven't played a song in nearly 20 years, of course I'm not expecting to hear it. I suspect Edge has forgotten the lyrics. I'm realistic about my expectations. Each new show I go to, I hope to hear one song I LOVE that I haven't heard them play live before. The last time I got "Ultraviolet," which made the whole show worth it. This time that song was "Stay." "Stay" made me so freakin' happy that I didn't care about what they didn't play.
"Stay (live in Philly, 7/14/11):"
I was also glad to hear "Scarlet," "Zooropa," "Until the End of the World," and "Even Better than the Real Thing." One standard song I always enjoy is "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." Part of it is always the crowd singing, and I'm a sucker for letting the crowd sing. 80,000 people belting out a song together is an experience like no other. It's cathartic and unifying and simply lovely. Plus, this time it was accompanied by some really old video footage of the band, which was funny.
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (live in Philly, 7/14/11):"
Another song I've heard live before but that I liked hearing again was "Miss Sarajevo." I love Bono's opera voice.
"Miss Sarajevo (live in Philly, 7/14/11):"
Overall I had a blast. I recommend everyone go to one U2 show and do the GA experience. It gives you a tremendous sense of community with the fans around you and with the band. It physically takes a huge toll on you and you'll spend days recovering, but when they're playing you're just filled with pure adrenaline. And now I have a crazy-dark tan, which is awesome (who knows how long it will last, but I'm happy for now).

I took a bunch of photos, none of which came out great, so I'll share just a couple here and then direct you to my photo page for more.

"It's hotter than the islands are tonight, and Mr. Softee's trying to shut me down. But I keep scraping by the fading light. Mi 'pana, this is my town. Piragua, piragua, keep scraping by, piragua." ~in the heights (lin-manuel miranda)

This song usually pops into my head whenever I pass a piragua guy on the street (which happened every time I left school for the last two months, because he waits right outside the school for the kids to come out). It's definitely piragua season. I might like the reprise even better. In the Heights is a great cast recording to listen to in the summer; the music is light and playful and upbeat. Lin-Manuel's Tony acceptance speech for Best Score was quite awesome. I especially love the Sondheim reference. He's quite awesome. During this year's Tonys, he spent the show backstage writing a rap based on the night's happenings for Neil Patrick Harris to perform in closing the show. I knew right away that Mr. Miranda must have created it, and of course I was right. Anyway, here's his Tony acceptance speech from a few years ago:


I met a famous Broadway performer yesterday. He's one of the best musical theater actors of his generation (if not the best), he's a Tony winner whom the New York Times called "The Last Leading Man," I'm constantly in awe of how talented he is, and one of my friends introduced me to him. Of course I made a fool out of myself, but he was so incredibly kind and we actually had a real conversation. I'm still in awe.

Another cool Broadway experience: I went to the fan performance of The Book of Mormon. I've seen the show already, but I was very grateful for this opportunity to see it again. The show scheduled an extra performance that was completely free for all the audience members. They held a lottery for everyone who has ever entered the daily lottery, and I happened to win. It was a stroke of luck (some people entered dozens of times and didn't win tickets to the fan performance, but I only entered once and won). I got seats in the second row of the orchestra on the aisle so I had an absolutely perfect view, and I loved seeing the show again. The crowd was incredibly enthusiastic, and the performance was filmed for the Lincoln Center archives, so it was a cool show to attend. I think it was very generous of them to give back to their fans through this free performance. They certainly don't need the publicity (they're sold out for months), and this was a very nice gesture. The show was just as funny the second time. Just in case you can't get tickets, you can catch a glimpse of the show in their Tony performance:


Another show I've seen recently is The Illusion at Signature Theater Company. It's the last in Signature's Tony Kushner series, to which I subscribed this season (so I was able to see all four shows in the series). This play incredibly different from the other three Kushner plays that were performed (both parts of Angels in America and The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures), but I enjoyed it very much. It was directed by the talented Michael Mayer, whose careful attention to all the production elements (from the set design to the lighting) created a beautiful production. It was illuminating to participate in a talk-back with the cast members after the show; this is the kind of play you should see more than once in order to understand it more completely (because of a reveal at the end that I won't spoil), and I liked hearing the cast discuss it. Ben Brantley wrote an interesting review for the New York Times. I was glad I was able to see all the plays in Signature's Kushner season, because he's such a talented playwright who has a lot to say.