On Friday night, the wife and I ditched our entourage and hit up House Of Blues to see Bear McCreary and his orchestra perform their eargasmic score from Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I'll wear the badge of "nerd" proudly: It wasn't Bone Thugs or John Legend, but this was, without a shred of doubt, the best concert I've ever attended in my life. Really. And what we thought would be a night of great music ended up being so much more; it became an evening of partying with virtually the entire cast of the show, including Admiral Adama (the incomparable Edward James Olmos), Col. Tigh and Anders (for both of whom I had the honor of purchasing an ice cold Blue Moon), Boomer/Athena (who was already so toasted she declined a drink, but did dance with my wife), Tom Zerek (Richard Hatch, the original Apollo), Admiral Caine, Callie, and Gaius Baltar. I'm not one to get star-stuck, ever... but if you watch this show, you understand why this night was an exception. It was simply beyond cool.
But that's not all. This year, I had the extreme honor of meeting a gang of guys that - and I say this with complete honesty - were instrumental in inspiring a young fat kid to pursue his artistic dreams. The Mirage Studios gang, the guys behind the Ninja Turtles, made their triumphant return to San Diego for the 25th anniversary of the TMNT, and while it's a shame that it took me almost two decades worth of Comic-Cons to finally meet them, it was an incredible treat nonetheless. Every one of them - Dan Berger, Eric Talbot, Jim Lawson, Michael Dooney, Steve Lavigne, and Tristan Jones - were beyond gracious, even in the face of my obvious fanboyness (which, I hope, wasn't too overbearing). It's one thing to meet people whose work you've long admired; it's a completely different thing to find them to be outright warm, kind and welcoming (even though Steve did call me out for posting too many pictures of my puppy and not enough artwork). Maybe it seems silly, but meeting these guys means a lot to me (even more than meeting the cast of BSG), and it will go down as one of my greatest SDCC memories ever. My only regret is that I didn't bug them one last time to get a group photo with them all. Thanks to all of them for indulging this guy.
