You've been waiting while I've been slowly recovering from the madness of NYCC. I got nerd germs all over me and am now sick. Ugh. Still, your intrepid reporter will do his best to...uh...report. I'm just blogging now and will add pics later. But, you can see all of them in Flickr goodness if you want to cheat. I split them into each day, so go in order!
Last, I left you with the first day of NYCC. Friday. Now, on to Saturday!
Saturday, 4/19:
Again, Joe is the early riser so he was there to set everything up. And again, I waited for that damn Fed Ex package. But, I wasn't going to wait too long. I'll admit, I stalled a bit since I knew the haircut was going to happen that day. I walked up to the Duane Reade and got some stuff needed. Scissors, mirror, gel, comb, brush, and a ruler to measure the hair. I jumped in a cab and headed off. I got in around 11 a.m. to madness. Saturday is always the busiest day. I pushed through to the podcast arena and things were rocking. Another raffle at noon started off and we gave out some more great stuff. Post raffle, I headed off for a walkabout with my hair. At 1:15-1:30, the cut was going to happen. I'll admit, I was filled with trepidation. 1:00 p.m. rolls around and Unemployed Skeletor arrives as he's doing the cut. We chat about how it's going to go and I ask if he can see enough through that bony visage. I didn't want to lose an ear as well as hair. I confer with the Vampire Cowboys Theater Company (VCTC) and we come up with a little bit to make it more theatrical. And go over music with Colleen to play during and after. Finally, it's time.
Joe gets on the mic and the crowd gathers. "See a grown man cry! He's cutting off his hair and donating it to Locks of Love!" I stand around lamenting and holding my hair out. People take pics with me. I don't think people believe it's going to happen. Suddenly, I say, "I changed my mind. I'm not doing it!" Colleen hits the music. It's the song "Hair" from the musical Hair. "Gimme a head with hair. Long beautiful hair." comes out over the speakers as I bolt off. On cue, Andrea and Qui of the VCTC stop me by punching and dragging me back to the booth. Apologies to the little girl who almost got sideswiped as they dragged me over. Andrea gives me a big punch and I finally agree. I pull the hair back and have Joe measure. 20 inches? Too much! I go for 16 and prep myself. Skeletor grabs the scissors and cuts. It seems to take forever and finally.....
It's gone. 16 inches cut! The crowd cheers as Skelly holds the hair up. I, in turn, also hold it up. Colleen cues some sad music as I lament over my lost locks. Good friend Mindy, comes over to clean up the uneven cut. She filled in for the stylist that backed out at the last minute. She did a great job of making it look presentable. Post-cut, I felt like I just lost my puppy. Peter Rios of Comic Geek Speak said, "Your whole demeanor changed. You went from super energized to down and out." Yeah. I didn't like it. Sure it goes to a good cause and I raised money for it as well. That's great. But, I don't like the cut.
No time to cry as we have an interview with the creative team behind the hilarious Venture Bros. cartoon. That's right. Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer sat at our booth and chatted with us for about 20 minutes. Great guys and of course, gutbustingly funny.
James Urbaniak, the voice of Dr. Venture on the toon was supposed to swing by right after. But, we rescheduled after his panel since he was running late. He,too, was really great to chat with and had some funny stuff to say. No spoilers for the upcoming season 3 though. All good.
More raffling off and walking around that afternoon. I showed off the new hair and everyone said the same thing, "Dude, I thought you were gonna cut it!" Hey! Eff off! I just chopped off 16 inches of hair that I've had on my head for 20 years! So eat it! Most were very nice and said it looked good. I clearly was showing my dislike for the new do, so I'm sure they were just appeasing. Though it was nice to hear Amanda Conner and Melody Anderson say it. Me heart them.
As the day ended, I jumped in a cab to head home and change and chill before the Great Podcasting Dinner of NYCC 08 at 8:30 at John's Pizza. After all of the planning and headaches, it went over great. We all had tons of food and a really good time. The only thing that sucked was the no shows that didn't pay. We had to have a set number to give to the restaurant and they based our final total on that. There was over a $300 pot that had to be taken care of for those non-paying no shows. It was all very confusing as we were trying to figure out who paid and didn't in those no shows. I knew someone who hadn't made it but I was pretty sure had paid. I accidentally offended them when I texted to find out. Again, my apologies. They were very gracious in letting the money paid stay in the pot so we wouldn't have to cover. Thanks, E! You rock! (I'll make it up to you with some free comics and swag. Deal?) So, if you committed to showing up and didn't pay, watch out. The comic book gods will curse you to a life of nothing but bad stories and horrible art. You've been warned.
More debauchery after the dinner. A bunch of us went out to Limerick in Chelsea. Nice little Irish pub. Nothing special, but a good place to chill. Charlito and Mr. Phil of Indie Spinner Rack, Peter Rios and Bryan Deemer of Comic Geek Speak, Denise and Amy of Birds of Geek, The Aviary creator Jamie Tanner, forumites Tim, Jeff, Mitch, Ryan and many more were all in attendance. Many drinks were had and it looked like there might be some Gentleman's Club trip in the making, but alas, no. Curse you Charlito!
Sunday, 4/20:
Thank goodness for my booth babes, Carrie, Kristin and Colleen. The girls got there early to set up and I arrived around 10:30 as I was working on about 4 hours of sleep. The four of us recorded a quick little chat about their time there. Wait a tic...where's Joe? Well, he's a good friend and went to our mutual friend's wedding in Seattle, so I was flying solo. But, I made the most of it and soldiered on.
On my way in, I decide to play a little joke on my buddy Charlito. I text him asking him to bail me out of jail. He replies with a laugh. I reply with this, "No. Seriously. I snuck my phone down my pants. At 54th st. precint." He replies back in panic and I go silent. Mwhahahahaha.
I roll in and sit down. Soon after, Charlito comes in and jumps on me. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!! You had me going! I was trying to figure out ways to get you out and who to call. Damn you!" Oh yeah. I got him! We laughed it off and I told him it was payback for the previous night. "Touche", he says. Though I've a feeling this may be the beginning of much mutual prankage in the future!
At noon, the nicest guy in comics, Greg Pak, came for his signing. (How did I not get pics of that? Me stupid.) It was a bit slower that day, so the traffic wasn't all that heavy. Though we did have an awkward girl come over and try to pitch us. Greg couldn't see any of the stuff for legal reasons, so I took over and tried to shoo her off. 3 times. Yeah, she was that awkward. A few of those at the show to be sure. Shortly after, we decided to go ahead and do an interview. Greg gave some great info about both of the incredible worlds of Hulk and Herc!
Afterwards, I grabbed Stephen Lindsay and Lauren Monardo of Jesus Hates Zombie fame for a quick chat as well. (Again, no pics. Sigh...) They discussed more JHZ
and their cool webcomic which I can never get the name right. You'll
just have to listen! I ran around a bit to see if some people were
available for interviews or not. The beloved Molly Crabapple had promised an interview so I was hoping to secure that. Alas, she was on a break. Sigh...
I come back and grab a few of the kids from VCTC. Qui Nguyen, Maureen Sebastian and Jon Hoche joined me for a chat about the con and their upcoming show, Soul Samurai. Maureen and Jon were both in Fight Girl Battle World, the acclaimed show I recently saw and loved. Always a fun time chatting with this crew!
I run back to see if Ms. Crabapple is ready and...she is! We walk back to the Podcast Arena and sit at our table for the recording. I was very excited for many reasons. I am a new fan of her work having just discovered her online webcomic, Backstage, and purchased her book, Dr. Sketchy's Official Rainy Day Colouring Book. She's a very interesting woman and has found success in such a unique fashion. She also dances burlesque when she can and oh yeah...she's friggin beautiful!
My life fulfilled after chatting with Molly, I just chill and stroll around a bit. Taking it all in. Colleen and I run around looking for Ghostbuster's swag for her boyfriend, Jay of The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack. I come up with a brilliant idea to have Mike Norton draw something for him. You're welcome, Jay! You owe me...AGAIN!
The girls and I break down the booth and we sadly say good-bye to another great convention. Thanks to NYCC for the great Podcast Arena again. Though, small request and hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, maybe next year don't put us by the stage. My voice is totally shot. As for the interviews, we will be dispersing them throughout the next few shows. Maybe even do a special CNI One-Shot this weekend. Stay tuned!
