No trouble. I myself got tired of the name-dropping form after reading 18th century examples of the genre: “Then Lady H– was observed talking to Lord E–!” The whole program guide is still listed on the website anyway, so anyone who needs to know the exact names of all the literati and glitterati can look them up.

I carpooled for three of the four days with my friend Charlotte, both of us rather amazed that we were on the same page with regards to the industry meet-and-greet and that neither of us were in favor of early bedtimes, especially since so many connections are made so late.

One of the odd things that happened this year was that, with the exception of a brief walk through and then hooking up with Charlotte via cel phone, I pretty much completely missed “bar con,” the huge industry meet-and-greet that takes place in both the downstairs and the upstairs bars at the Hyatt. Likewise with the gaming room and the con suite.

I think what it all comes down to is that the con is so huge you can do whatever track you like and stay in it the whole time, or you can see several of them, but you can’t go to all of them.

No, I just forgot to put one in when I first posted. But if there ever were a post that needed one, it was that. Has been added.

Amazing convention. Something I hadn’t mentioned in the initial post, but I was told by the proprietor of Shrine of Hollywood that the press of the crowd on Preview Night was worse than it was on Thursday and Friday morning–so many people coming to beat the crowds, combined with the collectors after the “Preview Night Only” goodies, that the Preview Night was more of a zoo than anything else.

One of the amazing things about Comicon is your ability to deal directly with folk who you’d otherwise have to travel directly to, say, Hollywood to talk to. When in Phoenix a couple years ago for World Fantasy, I’d picked up a pirate shirt made by Shrine of Hollywood. Unfortunately, the lacing was insufficient for an XXL and it came unraveled shortly thereafter from the trouble of putting my head through. So when I told the proprietor this at Comicon, he just cut me a yard of new lacing of the same satin cordage they used for that shirt which I then used to fix it along with aglets I got from a notions dealer at NASFIC.

There aren’t many cons where you can go “Oh look, there’s my fashion designer!” and go over and chat. The costuming track is pretty amazing too. While I missed it, my friend Storm went to it and talked about how pleased the costume designer for Smallville was when she commented on how Clark is always dressed in some combination of red and blue.

I regret having missed the Masquerade a second year, but I’m hoping to see some of the costumes repeated to WorldCon. Convention memberships to WorldCon were among the prizes (Comicon has actual cash prizes and valuable gifts as well).

So like Them! Meaning the publishers, and borrowing a Tiltonism. Or, as so many have come to think, the new definition of publishing industry is “the industry that never misses an opportunity to not sell books.” Alas.

You are da man too! I can’t imagine carrying on like you did with a convention cold — and to 4 a.m. too.

Thank you so much for the report.

Love, C.