Kelsey’s Day 4 Report
Sunday
After being up super late on Saturday, I decided to sleep in on Sunday. And by that I mean I forgot to set my alarm and woke up as everyone else was leaving the hotel to head to the Convention Center. I took my time getting ready and headed down to the front desk to try and find a place near by with true New York bagels. Let me stress again how cool the staff at The Jane Hotel is! I asked if they knew of good places to get bagels and both guys behind the desk started to tell me all about their favorite places to go and how I was doing the right thing by getting a true bagel before I left. Then when they realized it needed to be within walking distance they looked a place up online for me with good reviews and told me how to get there.
My destination was Hudson Bagels a few blocks from the hotel. Sunday morning in New York is very cool. People were out walking their dogs, playing with their kids, running errands. It was a little like walking around in a movie. The leaves were starting to change, and there was a nice breeze, it was again kind of magical. After a short walk I made it to the bagel shop and headed in. For those of you that are unaware there is a difference between New York bagels and the bagels in the rest of the country. Bagels in NY are boiled before they are baked. I know in Ohio they are usually just baked. I ordered an onion bagel with vegetable cream cheese and some juice.
I sat outside on a bench in front of the shop and ate my delicious breakfast and talked to my mom on the phone. Then grabbed a taxi and headed to the last day of NYCC. Walking into the convention center I saw Boba Fett playing “The Safety Dance” on the accordion, and I knew it was going to be an alright day. Sunday tickets had sold out before the show started and it was obvious. I think it felt busier than Saturday but I am not sure if that is true or not. I know trying to make it to the CR table was an adventure.
I spent most of Sunday away from the Comic Related table and infiltrated other podcasters. I hung out at the other end of our row with the guys from Comic Geek Speak and Indie Spinner Rack, along with Mario Gonzalez, Rich Miller, and Jeff and Charlie from H2Awesome. I believe at one point I also accosted Kirby Krackle. To the left of Indie Spinner Rack was Jimmy from Comic News Insider who had the coolest people at his booth that day. I got the chance to meet True Blood’s Carrie Preston, she was really sweet, and had on the cutest shoes!
Around 3pm I grabbed some lunch from a Greek food cart down the street. It was really good; I am a felafel junkie and cart felafel did not disappoint. Around 4:30 the convention started to clear out and people started to pack it in and start to say their goodbyes. Because my flight out wasn’t until Monday I parted ways with the rest of the CR crew at this point as they began their trips home.
The NY locals and the folks leaving Monday all got together to get dinner. We headed to someone apartment who lived near by to drop our stuff off. Rich had his bike at the show and let me ride it!Riding a bike through the city was really cool! Also on the way to the apartment we passed the studio for the Colbert Report, that was neat. We ended up eating dinner at a great Thai place called Pure. After a weekend of eating to much and not always the healthiest, and that hotdog still haunting me the Thai Beef Noodle soup I ordered was exactly want I needed.
After dinner a few of us headed out to a dead dog party for vendors, guests and press of the show to get together and chill after a crazy weekend. I think I stayed for about 25 minutes before I grabbed a cab back to the Jane to get some sleep. Dead dog is an accurate name for the party because everyone was dead dog tired. I finished packing and went to bed early hoping to be rested for my trip back to the airport Monday morning.
Monday
I got up around 9am and finished packing the last few odds and ends and head down to check out. Ashley who had been my front desk buddy got me checked out and let me know the directions I had to La Guardia were good. I headed out for my last trip through the city. I grabbed another bagel at a place called Bonsingore. And again it was great. I took my bagel to go and got on the E train for the last time. It was a bit bittersweet, but I was ready to head home and recoup after a great weekend. The trip was much easier on the return since I had some idea where I was going. The trip home was uneventful, especially considering I kept falling asleep as the plane was taxiing before take off. I got home safe and sound!
Thoughts:
I could totally move to Manhattan tomorrow and live there.
New York bagels really are that good and it seems like all of the OJ in the big apple is fresh squeezed.
Yes the city is big, yes it is loud, yes it is fast but if you are prepared for that you can flow right along with it.
The Subway is not as scary as I originally thought.
Yes, there are rude people in New York but no more than anywhere else, and there are some really great people there too.
I totally see myself as a New Yorker who happens to live in Ohio.
All that said, it is nice to be back home with friends and family, who are the reason I could never move too far away
Plans:
Definitely be at NYCC 2012
Kelsey’s Day 3 Report
So after a very late night Friday I got up early because I didn’t want to miss a single second of my trip. Again we ate breakfast in Cafe Gigante; the coffee was really all I felt up to having after drinking a little bit too much the night before. They made me a Cafe Au Lait that was to die for! So we get to the con and I meet up with fellow relater Eric Ratcliffe. Both of us being video game dorks as well as comic nerds we wanted to try and demo some of the games that were at the show.
I had my eye on the Mass Effect 3 Demo since the show started but hadn’t been able to make it over in time before they closed the line the day before. But true to form I made a new friend! Chris who was working at the Xbox booth, and has an adorable cat on his phone’s background, said I could stop by in the morning and play the Demo before the regular attendees got in. There are really no words to describe how exited I am about Mass Effect 3 after playing that Demo! The graphics looks great, the play was solid like I remembered (not that I was playing all that well with the excited flailing around I was doing). They have added some great new things to the game, and the story looks to be amazing!
By the time we were done with the Demo the doors had opened and people were starting to come in. Tickets for Saturday had sold out a while before the show started so I knew it was going to be a crazy day. I headed back to the CR table and hung out for a while. I had a bit of one of John’s hotdogs, which I ended up regretting. I am not a fan of hotdogs and even an NY dog could not change my mind on that. Around lunch time I made my afternoon trek out into the city to wander around 9th Avenue.
After I got back I walked around the show for a while. It was absolutely insane, wall to wall people! I have been to a lot of cons but nothing like this before. It was neat but still really overwhelming. After that I hid behind tables for the rest of the afternoon.
After the show closed we planned to get a taxi back to the Hotel to drop stuff off and then go back out for dinner. There was not a cab to be had. Everyone said the con was making catching a cab really hard. So instead John, Eric, and Jessica got dinner and figured we would try for a taxi afterward. We went to a great sushi place on 9th Avenue; like everything else I have talked about the food was amazing! I love how you can go anywhere in New York and the food is going to be good. Everywhere I went for food I had the same problem too, I would be full but the food would be so good I would try to keep eating.
After dinner we tried again to catch a cab back to The Jane, but there still weren’t any. We ended up walking to the Subway station and taking the train back to the hotel. Apparently everyone else in the city had the same idea, the station was the busiest I had seen yet, and there were a few cosplayers riding the subway. From there the CR crew kind of splintered out to do their own thing. I ended up going to a party at a bar called The Limerick. It was awesome! There were a bunch of artists and writers there along with a bunch of the guys from Comic Geek Speak, and H2Awesome. This bar was crazy awesome, every type of person imaginable was there, and at one point a band came in and started playing. They were called The Stumblebums and it was three guys: one on a snare drum, one playing tuba, and one singing into a Megaphone and playing trumpet. They were punky with a little ska and brassy New Orleans sound thrown in.
We stayed at the Limerick for a very, very, very long time. I ended up leaving around 3:30 when some other folks also left and were heading my way. We parted at the subway station and I headed down to catch the train. So I am a bit of an adventurer, and a little fearless, and most media would have you believe that the subway at 3:30 in the morning is the most dangerous place you could find yourself. I had no trouble, at all. People pretty much leave each other alone and mind their own business. The highlight of my trip home was when someone asked me for directions. Me! First time in the city and I seem like enough of a local that people ask me for directions, that or I look friendly. So I get off the train and make the now familiar walk back to the hotel and pass a guy peeing in a phone booth. Stay classy New York!
Thoughts:
New York really never sleeps, the station was pretty empty at 3:30 but the train was still full enough that I had to stand.
The rats really aren’t that big in New York, I saw one at the Subway Station (8th Ave/14th Street) and one the street they were actually kind of cute.
If you are driving an Off-Duty Taxi, please do not stop to tell us we are going to have a hard time getting a cab, we know that already.
And up-streaming (walking up about ½ a block from someone trying to get a cab and hailing one) is really freaking rude.
Plans for Sunday:
Finally eat New York Bagel
See a little bit of the area around the hotel.
Kelsey’s Day 2 Report
by Kelsey Benoit
So I am sitting here at day three of New York Comic Con, writing up my recap of day two of my New York experience. To finish were I left off, Time Square was a great experience; I got to eat New York pizza, hang out with great friends and have a great time.
I got up bright and early to get ready to head out and meet the CR crew for breakfast in this amazingly adorable French cafe in our hotel. The restaurant is called Cafe Gigante and the food is great, the coffee is amazing, and the staff is really wonderful! I had baked eggs with salmon, cafe americano and some baguette. Eric Adams of Lackluster World and his girlfriend Jessica made it in the day before, but that was the first time I had seen them.
From there we headed off to the first full day of NYCC. I love being here as an exhibitor because it means I get to see the show floor before the craziness begins. There is this calm right before the doors open to the public then there is a crazy mad dash for everyone to see everything as quickly as they can.
The show itself was so great. I went to the Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh panel. It was hilarious. And for those comic relaters that watch The Guild, I found out the seat savers network really works! After the panel I wanted to get some food, so I grabbed John’s camera and wandered out into the city. I walked a few blocks over to 9th Avenue and took some pictures of the city and looked for food. I got the chance to get a picture with an NYFD truck. I think I am in love with New York City. It has an allure that I did not expect.
After getting the chance to walk around I hung out at the table for the rest of the afternoon. At 7pm the show floor closed and the CR crew headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at this iconic looking Italian place. The servers had thick accents, and the Sangria (which was AMAZING) was in a huge jar on a counter. So far my food experiences have all been fantastic and this dinner upped the ante. The only thing better than the food was the company.
After dinner, we walked a few more blocks to see the Nerd Rock extravaganza: Kirby Krackle, Paul and Storm and H2Awesome. The show was hilarious, and super high energy. I had never seen any of the bands before and really hope I get the chance to see them again in the future. So, a little bit tipsy I made it back to The Jane around 2am to try and get some sleep before we started it all again this morning.
Thoughts:
Felicia Day really is a huge dork, but in the coolest way.
When Sangria is good it is fantastic.
I am not sure I can ever go back to having a regular attendee show badge.
Seeing Naruto Cosplayers wandering NY at 1am is kind of surreal.
Plans for later:
Play the Mass Effect 3 Demo (which I have actually already done, but will tell you about tomorrow!).
Try and go to some panels.
Zabu's Seat Savers from The Guild
Chuck’s Thursday Report
Chuck here… Thought I would take a few minutes and look back briefly on day 1 (Thursday) at New York Comic Con.
Before I begin, I would just like to say that the convention feels much larger this year. There was construction taking place during the 2010 show which impacted the feel. That said even looking back on the previous 3-4 years, I feel that the show floor is bigger. The displays are larger, the pavillions more packed and I’ve heard more than one individual say that it really feels like Reed is ramping up to take on San Diego for national dominance. For this fan, when it comes to a purely comic centered show, they’ve already scored a win.
Crowds have been staggering. Yesterday was just a partial day with only VIP/press/pro getting in. Even with those limits, the crowd was heavier than any other show I’ve attended in 2011 (and that’s been a lot of shows). Today (Friday) just a few hours in, the show floor is packed with heavy foot traffic even in the corners (which I can speak to as CR is toward the end of the hall this year in the new spot for podcast alley).
For me, yesterday was very focused on seeing old friends and reconnecting. I spent a good bit of time talking to fellow podcasters and comic people I’ve known for years. Seeing people like Bryan Deemer, Charlito, Stephen Lindsay and many, many others is always a welcome moment. Also, I have friends and family with me this year who have never been to New York or New York Comic Con before. Introducing them to this amazing experience has been far too fun.
For now I’m heading out to get you some photos. Look for more updates soon!
