PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE!

So I saw the Pee-wee play!!! Yes. Just add that to the incredibly long list of reasons to love living in New York City! Now let me start by saying something that you'll probably get mad at me for: I wasn't really a huge Pee-wee fan. I know, I know. I just didn't remember ever being REALLY into it. I knew I watched it as a kid, but I would've called myself a fan. That's all changed now. :)

First, let me just tell you HOW I got to see this show. Frakkin' FOURSQUARE, that's how! As you may have known if you follow my twitter, I'm a little addicted to foursquare badges. They do absolutely nothing and I can't even get stickers of them like you can from GetGlue. But I still need to get as many as I can. I will just walk around the city to check into places to get badges. ANYWAY, a few months back, when the Pee-wee show on Broadway first opened, Pee-wee started a little campaign with fourquare, in which one could earn a Pee-wee badge by first being his friend on foursquare, and then checking into 2 or 3 places Pee-wee checked in to. There were plenty right near my office, so I got this fairly easily. It's a great badge, it looks like his suit. I was happy. I did not know anything else would come of it.

THEN, a couple months after that, I get an email that basically says: "Dear Foursquare Badge-holder, We're having a drawing for free tickets to see Pee-wee on Broadway for a special taping of the show to air on HBO. To enter, blah blah blah." So I entered. AND I WON! 'Twas VERY exciting. Luckily I had nothing planned for that day, so I went.


And it WAS GREAT! I realised once the show started that I knew A LOT more than I thought I did about Pee-wee. I remembered SO much! I completely forgot about Penny, which was my favourite bit on that show. Not to mention Ptery and Globey! Of course there was Chairy, but I never forgot her. It was a GREAT show. Funny and fun and very nostalgic. If I hadn't been watching the last ever production, I would've been telling EVERYONE to go see it. So I'm super glad I got the chance and I thank you very much, foursquare!

But it gets better! More fourquare awesomeness! SO, at the end of the show, Pee-wee mentions that in a couple days there will be a foursquare PARTY at the new Bowlmor Lanes in Times Square (the original is in Union Square) for a select few of the badge-holders who ask to participate. I get ANOTHER email asking about this and I RSVP and the next day I'm told I can go! WOOT! Now, while this was a bowling party, I really didn't feel like bowling, so I just sat at the bar with my friend and tried some of their food. About an hour in, Pee-wee shows up and makes his way around the entire party saying hello to everyone that came. SUCH a sweetheart. He even actually OFFERED to take pictures without me even asking! I absolutely adore him now. He won me over. Too bad it's at the end of the Pee-wee train... I don't know how much more he can do with the character, but I'm considering buying the DVD set of the show... :-P

So meeting Pee-wee was definitely the highlight, but the whole experience was really cool and I only have foursquare to thank. So no longer can I be made fun of for my badge addiction! :-) (Side note: I also got $5 admission to the Whitney with my Whitney badge the other day — that's a $13 savings people!!!)

Anyway, last thing I want to tell you peeps, is that the HBO taping I went to IS AIRING THIS WEEKEND! March 19th, to be exact! Set your DVRs and watch this! I will admit, if you know NOTHING of Pee-wee, you might not enjoy it quite as much, but it's still a good time. Check it out: Pee-wee on HBO!

Trailer

The End.

Busy Bee Part 2

OK! SO! After getting home at 4AM, I was VERY lazy on Saturday and didn't make it to the convention until around 5PM. Yes. I spent a mere 2 HOURS at NYCC (not counting my booth shift on Friday) in total. I just went directly to Artist's Alley to hang out with friends and get a few sketches. I managed to get three from Katie Cook, Declun Shalvey & Leandro Fernandez (I don't have them scanned right now, but I'll post 'em eventually)!

After that a bunch of us went out for dinner. I forget the name of the place, but THIS is what I saw on the wall on the way out. Why?!?!?!?!?!

Saturday night was also the Marvel after-party, hosted by none other than the famous C.B. Cebulski! I was PLANNING on not staying out too late because I had to be up at 8AM to drive to Pennsylvania the next morning...but I should've known better. Here are the only pics from that night I will share...

Me, Jeph Loeb & Brea Grant!


And this is me with Scott Porter (of the famous Friday Night Lights that I have to watch soon)!

This guy decided around 2AM that we should turn the party into a karaoke party! It was a great idea. Everyone went nuts and had a fantastic time. I left AGAIN around 4AM, but this party was still going STRONG. Scott was a sweetheart and definitely helped turn this party up a notch. (Also, Brea was so adorable that night when she sang! haha)

So, as I mentioned I had to get up at 8AM the next morning. Which I managed to do (ok, 8:30!). And this is why. For the 8 weeks preceding this day, I had be VERY good about keeping up with the gym 2-3 times a week (a big deal for me as ever since I stopped kickboxing, I've been VERY lazy). What finally got me motivated? THE WARRIOR DASH!

What is the Warrior Dash, you ask? Well, it's an approx. 3 mile race complete with obstacle! There's climbing cargo ropes, schlepping through ICE FUCKING COLD WATER and over logs, climbing up muddy hills, crawling through mud under barbed wire, jumping over fire and MORE. So after 4 nights of drinking and being out late, and about 4 hours of sleep, I took a 3 hour drive to Quarryville, PA to compete in this.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect to win. Actual athletes will compete in this. My main goal was to a) FINISH it and b) NOT be the last of my group of friends. And in these two things I succeeded! WOOT!

Yeah, they give you a little finisher medal at the end which was pretty cool. The race was really fun. It would have been MORE fun had I properly prepared for it. I was out of breath JUST WAITING AT THE FINISH LINE. And the hardest part of the whole race was the RUNNING. I HATE running and my stamina is CRAP. Most of the obstacles were fairly easy to complete, but all the running throughout was ROUGH. Also, at about the second obstacle — climbing up and over these truck-like constructions — I jumped down off the second one and really hurt my leg, so I had to go through most of the race with THAT pain (which I'm JUST this week FINALLY getting over). But I made it through in 45 minutes! 7th out of my group of 16 friends! (Approx. 3800th out of 5111 people. haha) The best of us did it in 24 minutes (I have no idea how that's possible! :-P) and the last of us I THINK in like 58 minutes. Still pretty fucking impressive!

Throughout the race, Brightroom Photography was taking pictures of us, this is the only cool one of me that I found from the very end (I really wanted one crawling through the mud-pit under the barbed wire) but I'm not buying it b/c they are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Jerks. (Hence the copyright logo over it, it's just the preview so you can choose which to buy.)


Here's a great group shot someone took of us. So fun.


After the race, you get hosed down (though it only does so much) and a free beer. You can also buy more beer and food and stuff. It really is a lot of fun and we're already planning on doing it again next year. This time I WILL GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!! :)

Oh and these were my poor knees at the end of it...


So, that being the ROUGHEST part of my crazy-busy month of October, there's still so much more to come! The following Tues, I finally went back to The Comic Book Club (a weekly, live talkshow about comics that's REALLY funny) since my friend Declun was a guest on it and I had been neglecting the show (I used to go very frequently). I LOVE the guys who run the show and since I hadn't been there in so long, I hung out afterwards with them AGAIN a little too late that I should've. Oh well. It was fun.

I then followed it up on Wednesday with a ladies night with some of my favourite ladies. We had a delicious meal at Josie's East with lots of girl talk. I actually made it home at a decent hour THIS time. The other thing to happen to me on Wednesday was my good pal Scott Adsit (who plays Pete Hornberger on 30 Rock) invited me and a friend to watch the 30 Rock live episode from the luxury of the SNL Green Room! I decided to bring Declun because I honestly can't think of a bigger fan of the show (and also because my poor little cousin who I originally asked was out of state and couldn't come).

So then on Thursday we went to the SNL studio (EEEEEE!!!!) and did just that! There was free pizza, sushi, wine, coffee and cookies in there. I saw Brian Williams in there (too nervous to talk to him, he's AWESOME) and watched the HILARIOUS east coast taping of the show on the many big screens they have there.

The guy who runs the 30 Rock twitter account took a pic of our group hanging out in the green room before the taping started and posted it on twitter:


Scott took us around for a tour of the set in between the east and the west coast tapings. We got to meet Tina Fey, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, John Lutz, Jack McBrayer, Bill Hader, Judah Friedlander and more. (I actually have met Tina, Bill & Judah before and they are super awesome.) We then took this awesome picture in front of their fake FOX news set:


Then we went back to the green room to await the west coast taping. We noticed that the screen where we watched the show was just showing the floor of the set (meaning the camera was just sitting on the floor). So when Scott left to go tape the next show, he found it and brought Rachel Dratch to say hello to us:


I have to say, it was pretty hilarious to see that in the room all of a sudden. haha I wonder what everyone else in there thought of that...

Anyway, the second taping was just as awesome as the first and included a couple of little differences that made it fun.

I got a couple more shots of the SNL studio before I left. Here's some retired costumes that are great. That's Church Lady in the middle who I LOVED when I was a kid:


In this very hall, I also met MATT DAMON!!!!!! Just a quick handshake and hello, but that was so cool. He's so awesome.


Part of the 30 Rock set being taken down at the end.


Unfortunately I don't have any pics from what followed but we ALSO went to the after party!!! Free booze, free cupcakes, mini hamburgers and other snack foods, and even free milkshakes!! I met Dot com and Tracy Morgan bumped into me. Talked to Jane Krakowski about the fatty milkshakes and stood there while Alec Baldwin talked to her right over my shoulder (it was very crowded). Had a great time hanging with Scott and his lovely lady Sandy, and also Christina Gausas who is such a doll! (She and Scott do a 2-person improv show at UCB theater called Adsit & Gausas. The next one is 11/10! GO!)

So, yet another late night home, but WELL worth it. I had such a great time and now Declun owes me for the rest of his life. haha I was so wiped out I just spent the entire weekend home playing Final Fantasy XIII, watching TV and knitting. I needed to replenish for the REST of October....


To be continued...

San Diego Comicon 2010

Finally! (Though I think I'm getting this one done a lot quicker than last year...) As you can see, we had Odin's throne at the Marvel booth this year. (If you don't know who Odin is, you need to brush up on your Norse mythology!! He's Thor's dad and in case you didn't know, Thor — the movie — is coming out next May, directed by KENNETH BRANAGH!!!!!) So that's me up there, wearing the InuYasha ears I picked up this year. (I buy some type of ears at nearly every con I go to. I need to stop.)

So, I was in LA for a few days prior to this (and I may post some pics from that portion of my trip as well). I drove down to San Diego in turned out to be a very fun "road trip" (I use the term loosely...it was under 3 hours...) with my friends Zane & Brea Grant (I met them LAST year at Comicon!) as well as new friend Vera!

We rushed over to the con for Zane & Brea's signing (they write a cool comic called We Will Bury You for IDW — check it out!). And THIS was the first thing I see as I near the convention center:


(I added the little titles. :-P) Really?! REALLY?! We need this at Comicon!? There was supposedly a big group of West Baptist asshats protesting on Friday — apparently we worship our comic book heroes as gods, when we should be worshipping god (cuz I'm sure all these fanboys think Superman created the WORLD) — but after I saw this, I figured that was enough for me. Those kids were just a few feet away from her. While I actually think "Fuck God" isn't the BEST way to go about showing how awful this woman is, they're hearts were in the right place and they had the balls and patience to stand there while awesomeness was just through the doors behind them!

Anyway, the NEXT thing I see is THIS and my spirits were immediately perked up! Go Optimus!!!


Here's Zane & Brea signing at the IDW booth, less than 30 minutes after we arrived in San Diego...
And one with my Hipstamatic app on my iPhone! Man I love that app, too bad my 3G is so frakkin' slow and can't handle it (oh man, I can't wait for my iPhone 4!!! My 30th birthday present!), so this is the only pic I took with it.


While at the IDW booth, I learned that The Last Unicorn, one of my favourite animated movies of all time (it's really good, watch it!) is being adapted into a comic! AND the guy who wrote the original novel, Peter S. Beagle, was based on was there signing!!!


He was SOOO sweet!! Talked to him for a little bit, got him to sign the first issue AND I picked up another novel he wrote and had him sign it. It's called Tamsin. I just started it and it's about a girl named Jennifer who lives in New York City and has a black cat!!! WHAT?!?!?! Too weird! AND she moves to England. Granted she doesn't WANT to, but I LOVE England! Coincidences freak me out. :-P

Anyway, the other really cool things that we had at the Marvel booth. Firstly...THESE:


Yep, that's Thor's, Odin's & Loki's helmets. I love how Odin's sorta combines the other two. Loki's looks crazy cool.

Then on Sunday they traded them out for the Captain America shield, which I missed (but I'm sure the internet has pics of it), then swapped that out even later for the Infinity Gauntlet!! So cool! And from a certain angle it caught the light and looked like it glowed!!


Also, at some point, they opened the doors behind the throne to show off the Destroyer!!!



But the best thing I think we had were the actors themselves!!! Here's Loki & Thor:


And Red Skull (ELROND!!) & Captain America!!


The guy playing Thor is Kirk's dad from the new Star Trek movie. He is a giant. And he is beautiful. O_o haha

So aside from Marvel, here's some other random cool things I came across:

This was outside the hotel across from the convention center. They usually have some crazy thing going on. I think last year it was a Heroes carnival thing. I have no idea what this was for, but it was cool.


Another thing outside that I don't know what it was for. Just on some lawn. haha I just liked it.


Technically Marvel, but not at OUR booth...I really rather like the Armored Adventures cartoon!


People dressed as Katamari!!!! Awesome! This was at a demonstration of this dance game. All weekend I walked past new costume people trying to dance. haha


Legos and Harry Potter! What's not to like! As soon as the Lego Harry Potter game is available cheap/used, I'll be playing that (unless it coincides with Fable III, nothing will keep me from Fable III).


A cool Star Wars toy set up over at the Hasbro booth...


Luke's in there!!


I think this was also at the Hasbro booth...sweet.


The Green Hornet car (which I later learned was called Black Beauty) with some hot chicks.


On Sunday night I saw them packing up the Ecto-1!!!!!! This was arguably the coolest thing I saw this weekend! Black Beauty is also in the truck. This drew quite a crowd so the crew put the lights and sounds on for us and it played the Ghostbusters music!!! So cool.


Stopped by Christina Strain & Adrian Alphona's table! One of my favourite colourists and one of my favourite artists! And awesome people! Christina put me & Adrian up in LA before the con this year! She rules!


The last day of the con I saw a ton of these AWESOME fox hat/tail sets. I eventually asked someone where they got them and apparently it was a raffle or something, then she told me where I could buy them online and I forgot. So if you know, PLEASE TELL ME. (Or better yet, buy me one! haha :-P) That dude looks suspicious of my picture-taking...


The other super cool thing at the con was the Walking Dead booth where they had a set up to take pictures in. VERY cool. I can't wait for this show, the comic is so awesome. (Don't tell Kirkman I said that!)


They had like movie screens behind the windows showing zombies walking up. Creepy!


So here are my pics on this set. I'm not sure my photo-acting skills came through, so I added balloons. hehe (I love working in comics!!!)


(Interesting fact, I heard they had "God Forgive Us" written there for preview night but were "compelled" to change it after that. Ridiculous, but not surprising.)

Buffy fans should remember the line in the balloon I added here:


And a pretty famous horror line...


The girl taking the picture told me to lean in to get a close up with this guy. I had to do SOMETHING. ;-)


Outside at Tin Fish, a zombie waits for her lunch...


I think my favourite night at the con was Friday night at the Marvel party. I had such a good time with some of my favourite people in comics. Also, we had a visit from this cutie pie:


The sweetheart that he is, he offered to call my mom (who is a huge Heroes fan) and leave her a message (it was like 3 in the morning in NYC). Needless to say, my mom was thrilled. Better than any silly souvenir I could've gotten!

After the party we made a pit stop at the Subway near there, the only place open 24 hours! Clearly this was also a lot of fun! I tried to take the picture myself...


Then someone offered to do it for me! ;-) That's Lee Douhig in the bag and someone I can't remember, Gerry Duggan & CB Cebulski with me in the front! All great dudes!!!


Had to get a 2010 pic with Brea. We swapped hair lengths from last year!! haha (And we both changed our colours!)


I semi-stalked Steve Niles. If you follow us on twitter you may have seen me threatening to run him off the road as we were both driving to LA at the same time. I'd assumed at that time that I'd actually be able to hang out with him, but this right here is the only time I ended up seeing him at the convention. And he didn't see me. I sent him this picture and stood there waiting to get it for a minute or two before giving up and walking away. I didn't wanna skip all the people waiting in line to meet him and I figured I'd run into him later. Oh well. There's always New York Comicon!!


Gotta get a pic wearing Lee's hat every year now! :-P


I didn't spend the entire time at the con, I walked around a little bit (at one point going on my own private scavenger hunt for Space Invader pieces which I will blog about later). Here's some stuff around town I liked:

I love old run down building signs like this!


And I also like new, modern, cool signs like this! I saw this and wondered what this store could be for:


Then I saw this on the door. How silly of me! Of COURSE it is!


This mural was on the way between my hotel and the con. Cool, huh?


View from the hall window at my hotel.


Some really pretty walkway near my hotel!


Anyway, back to the con. On the last day this chick came by to take pics on the throne. I thought her Imperial Forces costume was SO COOL (and she's VERY pretty), so I took these pics. My co-worker emails me a few days after I get back telling me this is Adrianne Curry, first "Next Top Model" winner and wife of Peter Brady! She also posted pics of herself at this con! I didn't even know who she was. I like that she's a geek!


Then there was the breakdown. I always love watching this. It's kinda sad, but in a cool way...if that makes sense...


I'm sure I missed some cool parts, but without photographic evidence, I probably forgot. Thanks for sticking with this post if you got the whole way through. If you made it this far, here's a treat for you!

On Sunday night, I walked behind these INCREDIBLY drunk ladies on the way to meet up with Marvel peeps. I couldn't help but take a picture. YOU would have to, don't lie. ;-)

Soon I'll post about Space Invaders and possibly some LA pics too! (Then I have to go back and post about some other things I'm still pissed I never posted! ARRGHH!

Later, peeps!


The End.