Professor Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore cosplay at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.
I missed the Harry Potter cosplay meetup today at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, but I did manage to photograph many of the characters when I happened to see them walking about the Gaslamp Quarter!
Of course, wouldn’t you know, the one character I didn’t find was Harry himself.
Hermione Granger cosplay.Newt Scamander cosplay.Knight Bus conductor and Hogwarts Express conductor cosplay.Molly Weasley cosplay.Bellatrix Lestrange cosplay.Dolores Umbridge cosplay.Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy cosplay.Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody cosplay.Rubeus Hagrid cosplay along with “Mad-Eye” Moody at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
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Cool cosplay of Soul Eater characters at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con!
Early this morning, as I walked from Cortez Hill down to the Gaslamp, I was joined by others heading toward the convention center for the very first day of 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.
The offsites still hadn’t opened, and one or two that I passed didn’t appear to be quite ready. But long lines were already forming!
I spotted lots of great cosplay as I walked along Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, then over the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge to see the action behind the San Diego Convention Center.
Buses packed with Comic-Con attendees were arriving continuously from hotels around the city. By this afternoon, the streets and sidewalks will be jammed with crazy activity!
Riddler gives me a villainous smile. Where’s the Bat-Signal?Deadpool is waiting in the DC Universe offsite line. He must like those dark DC characters.Comic-Con visitors wait in a line near Dead Quarters early Thursday morning.A big line had already formed down MLK Promenade for Amazon’s Jack Ryan Experience.I knew it! Loki isn’t dead!Officers from Starfleet have beamed down to 21st century Earth to observe our odd cultural customs.Not one super dog, but two!Even folks selling treats along the promenade were dressed up for the pop culture occasion.Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is on a rampage through The Experience! Good thing it wasn’t open yet.Here come boxes and boxes of Funko Pops!When these guys weren’t serving breakfast to hungry fans near the Hilton Bayfront, they were posing for a silly blogger.These volunteer sign guys have to keep moving as the lines grow longer.The Adult Swim canoes are on the river! I’m guessing they’ll be propelled manually with oars.A long line of wonderful, lovable nerds.The Turner yacht has docked in San Diego for 2018 Comic-Con!I didn’t see any hamburgers nearby, so I’m guessing this is pure cosplay.No need to worry. Lots of ice cream is on the way.A cool Deconstructed Bike Zone near the Hilton Bayfront promotes the upcoming FX show Mayans MC. Prepare for the return of mayhem!If you’re looking for the line for Indigo programs, it’s this way.Just a typical early morning scene on the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge during San Diego Comic-Con.Great cosplays of WALL-E and Cruella de Vil.Cool cosplays of Deathstroke and Batgirl.A great Rey cosplay, but by sheer chance she blinked when I snapped my one photo. Maybe some sand from that planet got in her eyes.What it’s like to walk outside Comic-Con in the early morning, before the crowds become insane.These guys handed me a Top Secret envelope. Inside were instructions to head over to the Jack Ryan Experience for a mission.The Donut Bar had a pop-up in the Gaslamp. Do or donut. There is no try.A cosplay of Robin, ready for action.Spidey is taking a breather, even though Comic-Con has barely begun!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Rampage George has arrived on a truck bed near the Omni and Petco Park for 2018 San Diego Comic-Con!
We’re down to just two days until the official start of 2018 San Diego Comic-Con!
My last blog post titled 2018 Comic-Con getting ready in high gear! included a huge number of photos that I took while walking around the Gaslamp, Petco Park and the San Diego Convention Center on Sunday and Monday.
Well, today is Tuesday, and this morning I discovered lots more cool stuff popping up!
Equipment for the Conan O’Brien show during Comic-Con is being moved into the Spreckels Theatre.Snoopy graphics on the windows of Bubbles Boutique have transformed it into the Peanuts Pop-Up Shop!A photo of construction progress at The Good Place near the Tin Fish.Petco Park’s Whiskey Cavalier wrap is still being applied.This wrap on Petco Park showing Nathan Fillion promotes the ABC show The Rookie.Getting a tree ready at the Experience at Comic-Con, near the Sacred Lies activation.Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger on Freeform will also have a cool activation at Experience at Comic-Con.A photo from behind the Cloak and Dagger structure.The unusual Legion structure is being finished at FXhibition.FXhibition also includes a cool graphic depicting Archer Danger Island.It appears the courtyard area next to the Hilton Bayfront will be used to promote Mayans MC.In the FOX section behind the convention center, small rooms have appeared featuring Family Guy and The Simpsons.Yikes! The Griffin home is on fire!Walking along the bayfront toward the Adult Swim offsite two days before the official opening of 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.Rick sculpture now stands over a miniature golf hole.Looks like the archery range of Adult Swim State Park.Bandai is building a castle-like structure on Marriott’s Marina Terrace.Some awesome Bandai figures are now being set up at their offsite.SDCC 2018 exhibitors and fans are arriving in San Diego! Two days to go!The Mellow Tiger Bar will occupy part of Hulu’s Castle Rock offsite.The Castle Rock bed and breakfast is getting a paint job!The New Children’s Museum now has yellow Syfy umbrellas and signs ready, including one for the Human Claw Machine.Comic-Con paintings by the artist Suzka can be found inside Simon’s Cafe, just north of the Jack Ryan Experience. This piece is titled The Joker Card.One guy wearing cammies is relaxing at Amazon’s Jack Ryan Experience offsite.Looks like Kenny died yet again outside the South Park escape room.That big slide at Dead Quarters will be mounted here.Taco Bell was getting their Demolition Man pop-up ready in the Gaslamp. Everyone smiled for some free publicity! Nacho fries will be served.A couple of building wraps promoting Disenchantment on Netflix are being applied to the Hard Rock Hotel.
UPDATE!
More stuff is appearing early Tuesday afternoon as 2018 San Diego Comic-Con rapidly approaches! Enjoy these brand new photos!
I’m not sure I’d want to buy a plane ticket from these nice ladies.I wonder if there is an arrival time? NBC show Manifest has all sorts of cool graphics in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel.A new Star Trek Discovery Mirror Universe Exhibit will be inside the Michael J Wolf Fine Arts gallery in the Gaslamp.A sneaky peek inside the Star Trek Discovery offsite before it opens on Thursday.USA Networks’s Purge City store is setting up at the Padres Team Store, in the Western Metal Supply Co. building at Petco Park.That big black thing will be the screen of a huge Dell laptop. I learned people will be able to interact with an LED image using arrow keys.A Mr. Mercedes wrap is being applied to the entrance side of the Omni Hotel.The History wrap on Petco Park this year promotes Project Blue Book.I was told this is the robot torso of the Iron Giant! A cool Iron Giant sculpture will be placed atop the building at Sixth Avenue and L Street, where the Ready Player One activation will be during Comic-Con.Pushing an old school arcade game along the sidewalk.Rotten Tomatoes has their own location at Comic-Con this year, right next to the Hard Rock Hotel.Mr. Mercedes advertised on something less than a Mercedes.A good photo of one Disenchanted wrap now on the Hard Rock Hotel.AT&T’s Mr. Mercedes offsite is getting ready in the Gaslamp on Tuesday afternoon!
ANOTHER UPDATE!
Here come pics that I took late Tuesday afternoon!
I spotted the legs of Iron Giant near the Ready Player One offsite!The Mobile ESports Touring Arena is set up over the kids’ baseball field in Park at the Park.A huge banner on the Marriott Gaslamp Quarter promotes Star Trek Discovery.Taco Bell is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the movie Demolition Man.Various NBC posters have been placed about the Gaslamp trolley station.The Good Place offsite is getting a paint job!More graphics have appeared at the entrance to the DC Universe Experience.That slide and a building have materialized inside Dead Quarters.And so has an armored SWAT vehicle! The walking dead can’t be far away now!Rampage George looks disinterested in this nearby human.Petco Park’s Whiskey Cavalier wrap is done.The Rookie wrap is almost done.At FXhibition, I saw a graphic for American Horror Story on some sort of structure.Lots of colorful graphics have popped up in the grassy area in front of the Hilton Bayfront.Here are some more.People can sit in front of a green screen at the Cosmos activation. Perhaps they’ll fly through space. I don’t know.As I walked past, the Camp Store at Adult Swim State Park was being stocked.Helmets are ready for the crazy canoe races!Flagship’s California Spirit is being transformed into the IMDb yacht.The Mayans MC wrap on the Hilton is now complete.Logos are on the fence around The Experience in San Diego, which I’ve been calling the Experience at Comic-Con. I had read that somewhere.Here’s what you can expect each day during 2018 Comic-Con at The Experience in San Diego.Looks like DC Comics will be serving Wonder Woman Golden Lasso caramel and vanilla ice cream!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Dozens of amazing stop-motion puppets can be viewed inside LAIKA LIVE San Diego at 2018 Comic-Con!
Wow!
If you thought last year’s Laika Experience at Comic-Con was great, you’ll be absolutely stunned by LAIKA LIVE San Diego in 2018!
Not only are there lots of detailed puppets, models and scale movie sets, but during the tour visitors can meet and talk to an actual working armaturist and an animator! Anyone interested in how Laika produces their films can ask any sort of question, and the friendly guys explain everything–from how puppets, their armatures and costumes are created and manipulated, to how scenes are conceived and filmed.
Visitors to LAIKA LIVE San Diego also get a preview of the upcoming funny and heartwarming movie Missing Link.
If you can, visit this Comic-Con offsite before Comic-Con actually begins and the lines get really, really long.
Here are some photos. Read the captions for more info. I’m no expert, so I hope I’ve described things correctly.
There’s a lot more to see than what I cover here. Many detailed displays that visitors can view during the tour explain the complicated process of making a Laika movie!
Before beginning the tour, visitors can pose with various Laika characters, like Other Mother, for a photo.While we wait to begin the tour, we watch a video explaining various aspects of Laika’s animation and how their fantastic movies are produced.Visitors are encouraged to vote for this LEGO model of Coraline’s house by photographing a QR code. Given enough votes, LEGO will produce the kit!A board contains Laika fan art and letters.Examples of one letter and some fan art.Visitors to LAIKA LIVE San Diego get character fans as free swag.The tour has begun. Here we see a large model of Coraline’s Other World House Exterior, or Pink Palace. The 1/16 scale miniature was used to film several exterior scenes.A closer look, with models of Coraline characters on the porch.A friendly LAIKA armaturist describes how puppets are made, manipulated and repaired at his workstation, dubbed the Puppet Hospital. He answered every sort of question!Two of the puppets, I believe from ParaNorman.A look at the Puppet Hospital and some of the tools used to make, modify and repair Laika’s many puppets.Once a puppet’s physical posture is slightly altered, the turn of a key tightens up the armature for another camera shot.Next we see how this Laika animator captures images of Kubo on a small set of his village using a camera on a running rig.One camera shot is analyzed.Software allows many frames to be merged and edited into a completed film.Some puppets have many faces that can be attached, each with a slightly different expression.The tour continues to a large set that is being used to film Laika’s upcoming funny movie Missing Link. The detail of the Pacific Northwest forest is extraordinary.The friendly LAIKA tour guide poses for a fun photo!Near the end of the tour, there is a life-size replica of Coraline’s Other World Living Room.A fantastic set and puppets used in the filming of The Boxtrolls.More cool sights during an amazing tour of LAIKA LIVE San Diego at 2018 Comic-Con!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
A beautiful sculpture in the Balboa Park Club building. Four Cornerstones of American Democracy,1935, by artist Frederick Schweigardt.
Today I took my usual Sunday walk through Balboa Park. On a whim I ventured into the Balboa Park Club to see if many people were folk dancing, and I paused inside the grand foyer to once again admire the room’s monumental mural and central sculpture.
The latter is called Four Cornerstones of American Democracy. It was created by Frederick Schweigardt in 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition. Each graceful figure represents one of four ideals.
While I’ve walked past this sculpture many times, today I was really struck by the simplicity of the four bowed faces. They convey both beauty and strength.
If you want to see more of the grand foyer, and learn a bit about its history, I blogged about it a couple years ago here.
School.Home.Church.Community.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Earthlab, 2017, by artist Eva Struble. Acrylic and oil on canvas. Optimistic and energetic colors depict small San Diego farms.
Today I enjoyed some stimulating artwork at the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park. Their current exhibition is called High-Key: Color in Southern California, and for a very good reason.
Palm greens, desert tans and ocean blues are primary colors in our region’s sunny landscapes.
Additional vibrant colors live in our diverse urban centers. Like neon and surfboards, lowriders and pinatas, our local culture is saturated with bold, bright color.
High-Key: Color in Southern California can be enjoyed at the San Diego Art Institute through August 12, 2018.
If you visit Balboa Park this summer, you might want to check it out!
Visitor to the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park at the exhibition of High-Key: Color in Southern California.Chaparral (II), 2018, by artist Audrey Hope. Canvas and hand wound rope. Swaths of colorful fabric are suggestive of San Diego’s hilly, arid natural landscape.Green, Red-Orange, 2018, by artist Michael James Armstrong. Acrylic sheet, fluorescent light, spray paint.Untitled, 2018, by artist Joshua Moreno. Watercolor, watercolor pencil, gouache, marbling, spray paint.Cleaning Portrait; Whisk #1, 2017, by artist Claudia Cano. Acrylic on paper. A cleaning tool used by a hardworking Mexican immigrant laborer.More artwork splashed with the vibrant colors of Southern California.Rhubarb Moon, 2018, by artist John Oliver Lewis. Porcelain, acrylic.Paradise Prototype, 2018, by artist Allison Wiese. Cast sugar. Patterned concrete blocks were popular in Southern California in the 1950’s and 60’s.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Colorful fish swims through a wall at Petco Park near the Sun Diego Beach.
Here’s a collection of random art that I’ve observed while walking around San Diego. Some of these photos are recent; others have been languishing for a year or two unused in my computer.
Enjoy!
Four mermaids painted on tile in an outdoor shop in Old Town.A deer dressed in a polo shirt. Humorous street art in Golden Hill.A silly pelican painted on a utility box on Mission Boulevard in South Mission Beach.IMAGINE painted on a box in downtown San Diego.Imaginative, plant-like street art downtown.Beautiful tile mosaic with Virgin Mary at its center on a wall in North Park.A boy and a bird on an electrical box downtown.I spied this small unusual work of art leaning up against a garbage can downtown.A branching tree enlivens a transformer box in Golden Hill.A whale, shark, dolphin, ray and other sea life painted by many hands on a community mural in Ocean Beach.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
This morning I jumped off the trolley at the Rio Vista station, which is located beside the San Diego River in the heart of Mission Valley.
I knew I could find some fun street art at the Rio Vista shopping mall.
I headed down a sidewalk and there it was!
A transformer box has been painted with a mermaid. An example of the street art at Rio Vista in Mission Valley.More nearby boxes decorated with fun artwork.Long blue hair like waves of water.Shark street art, with credits to Brise Birdsong, Helen Divas, Angelica Nunez.A sea turtle swims though Mission Valley.I see some jellyfish, too!Two hummingbirds touch beaks.Colorful bird-of-paradise flower street art.Artwork painted on an electrical box at Rio Vista depicts a lady smelling red flowers.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Some panels on a mural on Gunn Street west of 30th Street have been repainted. The two shown are by Jorge Gutierrez and Maxx Moses.
North Park is brimming with street art. During a walk yesterday down 30th Street, from University Avenue to Upas Street, I encountered fresh artwork that I haven’t blogged in the past. You can see some of those old photos here and here and here.
As I proceeded down the sidewalk I noticed that a number of electrical boxes and walls have been repainted in the past couple years.
Enjoy these new photos. North Park is alive with creativity!
This box showing the four cardinal directions has been repainted by Jonny Alexander.East.South.West.A scary purple claw has emerged from this crate-like electrical box!The yellow eyes of a mysterious monster peer out!Let’s be friends. That love potion appears intoxicating . . . and possibly toxic!A skull in a bottle. Sink or swim.More fun street art on the same utility box on 30th Street in North Park.Stenciled on a wall. For my hustlers, here’s some motivation. He who has begun is half done.A cute little critter that seems to be inside a living heart.Exotic street art on an electrical box.Strength through Peace.Three sitting female figures contain spiritual symbolism.A wild splash of color.Mural on side of 30th Street Laundry. A Beautiful Morning by Sentrock.An ankh symbolizing life in the hand of a lady with colorful abstract hair.Fun robot graphic on the front wall of Soi 30th, a North Park Thai Eatery.A cool Pangea Seed Foundation Sea Wall created in North Park by Lauren YS. A beautiful underwater mermaid is contrasted with a skeleton.The mural concerns ocean acidification and the resulting death of kelp and sea life.San Diego Padres baseball player under painted fireworks.This final North Park electrical box was painted last month. You can find it on Upas Street east of 30th Street, in front of The Taco Stand.An old salt by the ocean and a sailing ship.A friar by the old mission.Hecho a Mano. Made by hand.
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One of many cool vehicles you’ll see at the San Diego Automotive Museum during their show Steampunk: The Exhibit.
There’s an amazing show that just opened yesterday at the San Diego Automotive Museum. It’s called Steampunk: The Exhibit. About half of the museum’s large floor is now occupied by mind-blowing steampunk vehicles and fantastic works of art!
Before I show you some cool photographs, let me introduce you to a friendly artist who I happened to meet as I walked about the museum. His name is Jeff Steorts. He creates all sort of Medieval-like artwork using wood, metal and a variety of found objects. As a young man, he attempted to create a suit of armor out of aluminum. Today he writes poetry and produces sculptural objects that take one back to the Age of Chivalry. He showed me his many gleaming works that are on display. Most of his pieces are symbolic. Some have keys that unlock a deeper meaning. Each piece contains a bit of himself.
Jeff has had his fantastic creations displayed in many places–even at San Diego International Airport! Check out his Facebook page here!
Now on to the exhibition! Once you see these photos, I think you’ll want to head over to the San Diego Automotive Museum in beautiful Balboa Park. Do so before September 30th when Steampunk: The Exhibit comes to an end!
The museum floor is filled with every sort of cool steampunk and unusual, retro-looking vehicle you might imagine!The Cyclops, a steampunk trike with a 3-cylinder Triumph Daytona engine, by artists Baron Margo and Jaime Martinez.Time Machine, by artist Richard P. Ingalls. This was commissioned in 2014 by the Salk Institute of Biological Studies for its annual staff service awards program!Assemblage artist Dan Jones created this cool little robot sculpture. He exhibits his work at San Diego Comic-Con, as well as many galleries, steampunk and sci-fi conventions.Another cool work of art by Dan Jones.Artist Ken Whitney created these body-like Hardware Sculptures out of metal washers, gears and other similar material.Jeff Steorts poses for a photo. Some of his symbolic objects are clocks or resemble them. He explores many themes, including Time and Space.Jeff shows me some of his fantastic art.Many of Jeff’s creations resemble lockets, or golden hearts with keys. Others resemble shining boxes or religious relics.One of the many super cool vehicles you’ll see when you visit the San Diego Automotive Museum during Steampunk: The Exhibit.I failed to note what this is exactly. But it’s definitely awesome!Loki, a custom 1981 Harley Davidson Ironhead Sportster, by metal artisan Marko Djoric.1929 Dodge Brothers Copper Rat, by Jeff Jones. This amazing car has been on the cover of Ol’ Skool Rods.The car’s interior is all hand-built copper and aluminum. 10,000 rivets were hammered into place!The Rocket Roadster, a driveway build by Baron Margo.The Metamorphosis, a Moderne Nautilus co-created by Baron Margo and Jaime Martinez. A Jules Verne inspired cross between an airplane and submarine!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
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