HereBeGeek’s Top 3 Geek Moments for 2010

So now you’ve read about our top 3 personal experiences for the year of 2010. Now, on the anniversary of HereBeGeek’s launch (yes, all of 1 year old now, arbitrarilly speaking, since we chose this date based on an ancient Singaporean technique known as agaration aka guesswork) let’s explore what really excited us in the past year as a collective – a shared experience that united us geeks and made us the 3 headed monster that we are today. While each experience affected and thrilled us in different ways, when the votes came in, the points were counted and the chalk outlines in the ground drawn, these were, without a doubt, the top 3 things that made our 2010 an amazing year.

3) The Scott Pilgrim Experience

Alvin:

Not only is Scott Pilgrim our movie of the year – how it got there is another story on its own. I remember when we first saw the trailer, and then went through the Scott Pilgrim Experience at SDCC, being almost first in line to get autographs from Bryan Lee O’Malley and Edgar Wright, having a great time at the panel, then getting to see Scott Pilgrim a month before almost everybody else (for free!). While our petition to get Scott Pilgrim to Singapore failed, with UIP ignoring us – well, I now own the Blu-Ray, and that’s worth it’s weight in gold, so too bad for you UIP Singapore, my money went to Amazon. If you want to know more – we have 2 pages and a bit of posts mentioning Scott Pilgrim in one way or another – that should be reason enough to show how much we cared for Scott Pilgrim – calling it the greatest movie ever made on 1st June, 2010. And let’s not forget the series itself ended this year, and I read it in all of 1 day in the queues at SDCC. Om, nom nom.

Pete:

The Scott Pilgrim Experience was, well, an experience in itself though frankly, while we were waiting for it to open, I did wonder if I’d come all the way for my first trip to the US just to spend hours in queues for Scott Pilgrim. At the end of the day though, I realised it was truly one of the more memorable encounters, and I’m so glad we have the flipbook, our t-shirts, our autographed posters, our first time playing the Scott Pilgrim video game, the video we mailed home to our loved ones and our memories of that awesome day. Yes, I am so in lesbians with the Experience.

Wai:
My second time to Canada had me visiting the wonderful city of Toronto. As a very recent convert (at that time) to Scott Pilgrim, it only behooved me to visit as many of the places that were mentioned in the book as possible: A Scott Pilgrimmage, if you will. It’s amazing how accurate each of the places are… then again considering Bryan Lee O’Malley was a Torontoite (Torontonian?) it’s easy to understand why: Toronto is a beautifully unique city and it’s quite easy to fall in love with it.

Perhaps the highlight of the Pilgrim-age was that I was leaving Toronto just as book 6 was being released, and I managed to get my copy signed by Bryan just before we got to San Diego Comic Con. And the icing on the cake was being able to introduce myself to Ellen Wong (Knives Chau) during the midnight release, who was nice enough to let me take a picture of her.

Segue to SDCC. My fellow HBGers have already talked about how awesome the Scott Pilgrim Experience was (together with watching SPvsTW with hundreds of other like minded fans), but I was lucky enough to be at the Dragon Age II area, which was also the backstage of the Scott Pilgrim Experience, and as luck would have it I was there when the stars of Scott Pilgrim were heading off to a screening of Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

And as you can see Jason Schwartzmann liked my T-shirt (because he’s a Gideon Graves fan ;)). But probably the most memorable thing was when they were running off and Ellen Wong was the last one to exit. I shouted and waved, she turned back, had a glimmer of recognition, and said ‘yeah.. Wai, right?’ Cue instant perma-fan. In a place where celebrities are so swamped with fans, it was amazing that I had those moments where I could connect.

2) Singapore Toys Games and Comic Convention

Alvin:

Hearing that STGCC got bought over by Reed Exhibitions got me all kinds of excited, and as the announced the stars, it was for good reason, Reed pulled out all the stops for this year. The icing on the cake? While we had big dreams of being part of invited media – I ended up actually being invited to moderate a panel (as did the rest of us). Mindblowing. It was a pleasure spending time with Ten Eng Huat, Jason Siu and Tim Tsui, who were all amazing interviewees, especially since I had pretty much landed in the airport about 2 hours before my panel after a delayed flight. The crazy sketch hunting with Simone Legno and Harvey Tolibao just brought back the good memories of SDCC. I had to miss the first 2 days of it due to a family trip, but Pete and Wai were great in my absence and got me tons of swag! Much heart.

Pete:

The days leading up to STGCC were rather insane because we been getting one responsibility after another. The best part was we had to handle the event without Alvin, who was ironically our man for all things comics. Nonetheless, I had a great time being minder to Malaysian genius Tan Eng Huat, moderating a panel with Italian heartthrob Giuseppe “Cammo” Camuncoli and interviewing the likes of Leinil Francis Yu, Harvey Tolibao and Salvador Larroca. Wow, Just typing that reminded me how amazing those three days were.

Wai:

We started out as reporting for STGCC. It grew from there, becoming volunteers, moderators and even guest liasons for some pretty awesome people (Matt Fraction anyone?) And each additional responsibility was just an extra layer of awesome. One of the main reasons why we started HBG was so that we could help build the geek community in Singapore, so meeting all the guests and more importantly meeting all the great people in Singapore during STGCC was probably the time where I really felt like we were making a difference. Sign me up for next year’s. 😉

1) San Diego Comic-Con

Wai:

And where would we be without San Diego Comic Con? In 2010 the HereBeGeeks finally went on our geek pilgrimage to the largest Geek con known to man, and it was an EXPERIENCE. Mindblowing to say the least, San Diego Comic Con allowed the HBG guys to catch previews of the big shows of 2010, grab convention specials, but probably most importantly meet writers, artists and creators of the things all geeks love.
Me? I got to go to Flynn’s Arcade. I got to meet the Mythbusters. I got to see Matt Fraction for the first time at W00tStock. I shot the breeze with Tycho and Gabe. I got a buttload of great art. I got to the Scott Pilgrim Experience. I got to go into the hallowed Hall H!
SDCC is the one place where you could split yourself into 4 and still not be able to see everything. It’s the one place where you could be the most uber geek of geeks and still feel like you’re home. And it’s someplace that I wish I could go to again given the chance.

Alvin:

SDCC was a most crazy time – and I’m not sure if I can manage it again anytime soon. Half the time we went crazy just deciding what to do next. But my highlight, other than getting tons of amazing sketches, even from Adam Hughes and Dave McKean, was actually meeting Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. I’ve been huge fans since Phonogram, and seeing them there totally left me dumbfounded. I gathered enough courage for a photo OF them, then tried to play it cool and stuff. McKelvie seemed busy with drawing, so I didn’t ask him for a sketch. But I think knowing that they are real people! Like wow! Good enough. And yes – I was so nervous in their presence that I only have out of focus shots of them. I am amazing that way.
A close second? Jasika Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth of Fringe) speaking to me without me making the first move, and Heather Miller (Brittany Pierce of Glee) making a face as me as a I walked past – a sure brush with the stars I won’t quite easily forget – but honestly there’s just so much to remember I know the words I have here won’t do it justice.
While we’ve only done up to day 2 of SDCC on our blog – if anybody else wants recaps, just holler, and I’ll get right back at it. And a very very special mention goes out to Tony Kim – who was just amazing to talk to, had a great bunch of fellow geeks with him. He’s an inspiration to me and I wish him all the best!

Pete:

SDCC was like a Mecca for me, I think it took a whole two days before it finally sunk in that I was at the heart of all things geeky – mostly because the first two days were Scott Pilgrim related, and I was a very very late convert. While the other two were at the Barenaked Ladies concert, I sat in at a documentary screening of Stan Lee’s biography, with the man himself up on stage and I’m still reeling from how close I got to the living legend. 

It got even better as I attended one of the most anticipated panels that weekend, the Marvel panel featuring upcoming movies Captain America and Thor, as well as the Avengers cast reveal that followed, even though it had been spoiled on the Intarwebs for more than half in attendance. More awesome than seeing sneak peaks from both movies was getting the t-shirt freebie for that particular panel, and I can’t wait to wear it this year. 

On Sunday, we were very much on our own, so I took the opportunity to meet up with my favourite Star Trek author Keith R.A. DeCandido as well as Star Trek: Deep Spaace Nine actress Chase Masterson. It was also at this point of walking around the part of the convention hall I had yet to explore that I discovered Marjorie M. Liu was signing for the Hunter Kiss series away from the craziness of the Marvel booth. SCORE!