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This popped up somewhere in our RSS feed:
The Unauthorized San Diego Comic-Con Survival Guideby Doug Kline from popculturegeek.com. This self published guide is a small pocket-sized book that sells for $7 plus shipping and includes info on surviving the ordeal of a lifetime, or at least the month. But if you ask us, you don’t really need a book to figure out most of this stuff:

* When to get in line for that Hall H panel (or any other room’s panels)
• TUESDAY
* Parking – picking the best location for the lowest prices!
• DON’T BRING HELL CAR
* Best time to score sweetest swag
6:01, WEDNESDAY, RIGHT BY THE WARNER BROS BOOTH
* Knowing when and where to get the best deals from the hundreds of vendors in the exhibition hall
THERE ARE VENDORS?
* Creating a workable schedule (with backup plans) that helps you see as much as possible
GOOGLE CALENDAR WITH DROP AND DRAG.
* Finding the best eats in the city (without going broke)
RALPH’S
* Get into the best exclusive after hours events
DATE GERARD BUTLER
* Taking care of yourself (manage stress, exhaustion, and potential late-onset agoraphobia)
JESUS, WHAT KIND OF AN EVENT IS THIS, ANYWAY?
* Asking interesting and fun Q&A panel questions (how not to kill a panel)
ASK GERARD BUTLER IF HE WILL DATE YOU. IF YOU HAVE A PULSE, HE PROBABLY WILL.
* Meeting your favorite stars without having to bribe hotel staff or convention security
A BRIBE IS MOST EFFECTIVE SINCE YOU’RE ALREADY A STALKER
* Scoring that elusive exclusive
YOU MEAN WI-FI, RIGHT?

Oh we kid, but this sounds like it could be useful. Maybe it will encourage people to eat, shower and not ask panel-killing questions. It is a little sad that the book doesn’t actually mention comics, but what were you expecting?

1 COMMENT

  1. Does he discuss hotels?
    (Youth hostel if you just need a place to sleep, shower, store, and cook food. Rent a condo or apartment if you want a hotel room without the Hotelween. Lots of rooms in those new high-rises over by Petco…)

    As for Ralph’s, I suggest buying a box of non-chocolate breakfast bars in the morning. Nutritious, cheap, tasty, small, non-smelly, and not-too-messy. (If you have a Ralph’s card, be sure to link it to The Hero Initiative!)

    As for free wi-fi… San Diego Public Library (and other branches), north of Petco on E Street. Panera Bread near Horton offers it. McDonald’s on B Street has free WiFi, and Starbucks charges…two hour limit. Mondo Gelato near Petco, Cafe Lulu on F.

    Can’t you send updates via your cell phone browser? Blogger lets me do this (although it’s not to my liking…) You can blog while waiting in line! }]

  2. What’s a “HELL CAR”?

    As for parking, San Diego is introducing pre-paid private parking stalls. Not sure about the pricing, but having a guaranteed spot is a major stress relief… if it’s really what it says on the tin. Personally, I have to see it to believe it. I predict chaos.

    Also, while this book might be fine for the consumer, it leaves the exhibitor wanting. Your plan of attack will change dramatically when you have 12 boxes of inventory, a six-foot backdrop and a computer system to set up. Eating happens earlier and you want to park much closer. Granted, that’s what the *set up* times are for, but there are *tons* of artist alley folks who get there just an hour or two ahead of the show doors — just like the attendees (personally I think all exhibitors should set up the night before, but that’s cost prohibitive to some and would actually cause a whole new slew of chaos.

    Still, it’s a crazy world on both sides of the booth.
    See ya’ there.

  3. My strategy for surviving Comic-Con is strikingly similar to my strategy for surviving forest fires, political conventions, football hooliganism, race riots, vice squad raids, holiday sales, and petroleum spills.

    Be somewhere else. :)

  4. Interesting that this is marketed towards the Comic-Con newbies… people who’ve just got hepped to the whole SDCC thang in the last couple of years?

    Maybe a picture of “Robsten” surrounded by Robert Downey, Jr as IRON MAN, with Na’vi riding Banshees above a couple of TRON Lightcycles in a field of G4 logos would be a better cover for the Guide to draw that audience to buy the book. ;)

    My best advice for an SDCC ‘virgin’: go with someone who’ve ALREADY been to the show. If you’re Nerd enough to consider attending it, then you know someone who’s done so— and learn from THEIR experience!

    Just make sure to take the time out to step outside the the Exhibition Floor every once in awhile and enjoy the view from the western patio of the Convention Center: blue skies, a Pacific breeze and white boats bobbing in the marina next door will do wonders for your mood! Your eyes will thank you for the relief from the technicolor overload of the Floor AND your feet will be grateful with the break!