Friday going into Day 3

First off I just have to say that yesterday morning was INSANE!!! Our very first panel in Hall H was for "Tin Tin". But more importantly than that was the very first appearance of Steven Speilberg at Comic-Con. This would also be Bill's first Hall H panel and he was aboutbto be blown out of his seat!

After a thrilling montage that introduced the legendary director through clips from classics like "Jaws" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" all the way to "Saving Private Ryan" and Munuch", Speilberg came out on stage to a standing ovation. After speaking about how much he appreciated the fans because he wouldn't be here without them, he rolled out a first screen-test for "Tin Tin". As we all sat in anticipation, suddenly a clip came up on the overhead screens of a boat dock withba salty sea captian. That captain turned out to be director Peter Jackson with a CG dog who began drinking from an accidentally tipped over bottle of alcohol. As Jackson mock-described how much he wanted to play the part of Captain Haddock, the CG dog began to dance around apparently drunk, flipping over the dock and into the water. You would have had to see it to get the full laugh, but hit was very funny!

As the clip ended to applause, suddenly Peter Jackson himself walked out on stage to another standing ovation. The two talked about working together on the new movie and how the visual effects came about. Then we wre treated to an eye-popping clip from "Tin Tin" that had to be seen to be believed!! Now I am so incredibly excited to see this when it comes out in theaters. They handed out 3D glasses before hand, BTW, because the movie will be in 3D. The lights went up again to sustained cheers from the 6,000 people in attendance.

After more back and forth about their two careers, it was time for questions the audience. The first person at the mike turned out to be Andy Serkis in slight disguise with dark shades and an American accent asking why these two use so many visual effects in their movies. The directors introduced Andy who immediately took his shades off and waved. The crowd went nuts again, we went nuts. More questions followed leading to the announced final one. Up stepped a guy who had a light colored shirt on with the following printed on the front:

'I just have one thing to ask you, Mr. Spielberg. I would very much like to shake your hand'

Something to that affect, and you'll see the exact wording when I post photos after the event. As he began to ask a questionk verbally, everyone including Spielberg and Jackson caught the message and began to laugh. Spielberg stopped the guy and said to please come up onstage so his shirt could be answered. As the fan approached the two directors they each took out their iPhones to take pictures of what the shirt said. Then Jackson took a photo of Spielberg shaking the guy's hand. All this time the crowd watched in wonder as this brilliant man had an incredible dream come true! Spielberg then had the guy ask his question from the stage microphone. What a jaw-dropping moment for everyone!!

Afterwards myself, Bill and our friend Dom who we were sitting with all burst out with how amazing that entire panel was. Bill was beside himself with glee, wondering how he'd ever missed events like this before. I'd been trying to tell him for years that there's more to Comic-Con than just buying stuff in the Exhibit Hall and now he was getting a taste of that full-on!

The rest of the day had us perusing the Exhibit Hall and my catching up on checking out just about the rest of the room. Last night's dinner was at a restaurant called Sloppy Joey's and even though the food wasn't bad, the service was pretty bad. We spent the next hour and half just checking out the goings-on up and down the main drag of San Diego where EVERYONE goes to eat and hang out after the day's event. We saw so many crazy things and people....if we weren't trying to get downstairs to begin our day right now I would be detailed. But...gotta go for now!