SEX ED GOES TO COMIC CON '10 (SORT OF)

I bring a box of Sex Ed postcards to hand out/leave around the Comic Con floor. There's a table called "Freebies" that's intended exactly for self-promotion. There's even a line for it! So I leave a pile of cards on the table. I watch from a corner as someone sees it, takes the entire pile in his hands and THROWS it in a garbage can.

It turns out he's a volunteer at the Con. He says SEX ED isn't "authorized" (read $$$) to distribute cards on that table.

Of course, I tried the same thing last year. And the same thing happened.

I leave cards wherever I can. At Starbucks. Near pay phones. In mens rooms. Fuck it.






I wait in what turns out to be a 2-hour wait for the Scott Pilgrim Experience. While waiting under the blazing sun, the Westboro Baptist knuckleheads arrive to protest our worship of false idols. My stomach turns, but the Comic Con attendees give as good as they get.






As soon as they leave, a group of fanboys - led by Bender - march onto the spot where the Westboro Baptists were... and dance. Meanwhile, all I get for waiting in line under the hot sun is a t-shirt and free garlic bread.











I encounter the future Mrs. Vecchione. I can't wait until she comes of age.







I'm in the massive Hall H. Six thousand people strong. After the Resident Evil panel, I see everyone looking toward the rear of the auditorium. I rush past the vampires, zombies, Stormtroopers, and Catwomen to see the what the commotion is: I see several security men wrestling a man to the ground and a bloodied man beside them. The word is it's a stabbing. Within minutes word is that three people were stabbed. An hour later, Harrison Ford comes out for the "Cowboys and Aliens" panel to a five minute standing ovation. Later, it turns out it was only one person, stabbed in the eye for his seat.



It's midnight. The convention closes. I walk from a cigar and wine shop in the Gaslamp District back to my hotel. The streets are empty. I find a Sex Ed postcard lying in the gutter - blocks from where I left it. Someone must have picked it up, carried it around and finally discarded it. I view this as a great success! I have finally arrived!