The line for invitations

UPDATE 7/25 – My photos from the exhibition: http://tinyurl.com/nrn55z

Okay, so it’s not so secret if I’m publishing it. But if you’d like to attend what promises to be the best Comic-Con party this year, pay attention to the following tweet from @importantdate:

Tea Party will be held at 338 7th ave, between J & K st. Invitations are required, and may be picked up at the same location, from 8-10 am

This will likely be a party for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp! So hurry on down there!

*UPDATE* (9AM)

I’m back from getting my invitation, and here’s what I found out. The “Tea Party” is actually an instance of the Alice in Wonderland Touring Exhibition, in which invitees get to see the “artistry and inspiration behind one of 2010’s most anticipated releases.”

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With nearly two months to go, the San Diego International Comic Book Convention is COMPLETELY SOLD OUT.  A quick check on eBay, reveals that passes are already being hawked with single day Friday passes already going for more than their normal value.  Expect massive scalping to begin in earnest next month on both eBay and Craigslist as the convention edges closer.

Next week I’ll begin a weekly roundup of my Local’s Guide to the Con, starting with a “Best of” attendee gear.

If you’re a Pibgorn fan (and if you’re not, you should be), you’ll be excited to know that Brooke McEldowney will be in San Diego this July for Comi-Con.

The most reliable place to find him will probably be the Sunday Press Books booth, #1217.

VS. 

I know it’s been a while since my last post, but I’m back from out of town travel with a broken arm and more posts to write; so here we go! When last we together, dear readers, we looked at how pop-culture fervor intermittently brought down the Comic Con hotel reservation system. This time I’d like to warn against a different threat to your perfect Con experience – Padres Fans…

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@mrtonylee of Marvel UK has his finger on the button

For those of you hoping to acquire lodging downtown (or anywhere remotely in the vicinity) hotel registration opens a few hours from now.  The online registration process has been upgraded this year, allowing users to que up for a hotel slot with priority given by time of visit.  For full details, including the official list of participating hotels, hit the ComicCon hotel site, located here.

Follow the joy of victory and agony of defeat on twitter search as people invariably tweet about their hotel luck (or lack thereof).

UPDATE: several twitter users reported that ComicCon’s new hotel booking service, TravelPlanners, crashed under the load two minutes into the rush. It’s back up again, but EXTREMELY slow from all accounts.

It’s getting to be that time of year and the San Diego Comic Convention is just around the corner.

This year’s con is July 23-26, and will mark the 40th anniversary of the convention and my 16th year in attendance.  Even before I lived in San Diego, I made the annual pilgrimage to San Diego and it has definitely been one of the things I look most forward to every year.  For me, the Con is a like Holiday observed with great fanfare, celebration, and best shared with friends (and sometimes beer).

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