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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) usagiguy | |
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Hotel reservations for the Comic-con International: San Diego (aka San Diego Comic-con) opened today at 9am PST. Hotels through the Con Travel Desk is much cheaper than going through the hotel. I went directly through a hotel one year, and I paid about $800 more. Anyway, I was on their website right at nine, but could not get my first choice, second choice, or even my third choice of hotels.
I wanted to stay at the Omni across the street from the Convention Center, but one of those nights was already full (I need 6 nights). I had to start over. By the time I reached the beginning, everything within the area was booked. I'll be staying 5 nights at a hotel a mile away, then one night near the con. And I'm glad I got anything at all. Attendance at the con last year was 125,000, and there are only 10,000 hotel rooms in the area.
The website was running as slow as molassas, and the phone was busy all the time.
I just went looking at their site and, except for a few days here and there, it's all booked up. There is more availability farther away from the venue.
A few years ago, there were three big events happening the same weekend: Comic Con, Del Mar horse racing, and a tennis tournament. A good friend had a reservation at a Motel 6, but when he got there they demanded $600 a night. And he had a confirmed reservation!
Hotel reservation time is the worse part about the con. Once you're past this part, it's downhill all the way. That is,until you get to the registration lines, of course. But you make friends in line. I'm also a dealer, so I arrive a day early to set up and avoid most of the lines.
I've been going to Comic-con for about 27 years, back when it was still held at the El Cortez Hotel. You could sit and have a leisurely cup of coffee with Jack Kirby (though Roz really saw to it he did not overdo the caffeine), or have a conversation with Ray Bradbury. Attendance was, maybe, a thousand. Someday, I'll write about some of the old stories--meeting Osamu Tezuka, Kirby's surprise party, Sergio Aragones serenading everyone at poolside at 2 am, and the dilapidated San Diego Hotel across the street from the tattoo palors and bail bondsmen.
Only five and a half months away!
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From: darrelx |
Date: February 6th, 2007 08:07 pm (UTC) |
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From: dorukai |
Date: February 7th, 2007 12:01 am (UTC) |
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Oo, would be awesome to chat to Ray Bradbury. Though, I'm not sure what I'd say, come to think of it. Probably make some comment about exploring similar themes to his short stories in games. Sorta lame.
Interesting that you mention Sergio Aragones. I was ten, and a friend of mine brought a bunch of comics with him on a skiing trip, and it was all Groo and Usagi Yojimbo.
I forgot all about it for 20 years, and then a couple of years ago stumbled across an Usagi graphic novel, remembered how much I enjoyed the comic back in the day, and ended up collecting them all. The part that I remember most from when I was ten was when the ninja is trying to steal the sword from the Geishu, he's hiding in the roof, and Tomoe stabs him through the thigh with a spear, but he conceals it by wiping the blood from the blade as she withdraws it. Very cool. When I reread that bit finally I was suddenly ten again.
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| From: (Anonymous) |
Date: February 7th, 2007 03:25 am (UTC) |
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I met Tezuka twice when he came to the US. He really walked around with a beret. In 1998, Sharon and I went to Japan as guests of Tezuka Productions. He had already passed away, but one of his wishes had been for Japanese and Western cartoonists to share ideas and information about our industry. It was one of the best trips I have ever taken. At the trip's end was a 100th anniversary party--Dr Tezuka, had he been alive, would have been 70, and the studio he founded had turned 30. Add those up, and you get 100. There were so many people there, including animators and mangaka.
I was acquainted with Jack Kirby, though he liked talking to Sharon much more than he talked to me. He always told war stories, the same stories but each time slightly different. At his funeral, his nephew gave the eulogy, and started off with, "Uncle Jack really hated Nazis." Everyone laughed, and that set the tone for the memorial service.
I've been working with his one-time partner, Stan Lee, for more than 20 years now. He's a neat guy. The funniest thing about him, is that he is exactly the way he is portrayed in the comics.
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