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Apologies. We suffered domain issues!!
Its Ok. Sorry for the glitch, Its been corrected
Business as usual
Carry on
HOTELPOCALYPSE 2022- AFTERMATH
Hotelpocalypse returned from the dead for 2022!
This year saw the return of a full fledged Hotel Sale via Onpeak. Was it any different than years past? Not necessarily. We have seen utter catastrophes but this year seemed issue free.
It was the usual Onpeak sale with the exception of 12 choices as opposed to 6 . Then using a Queue-it system, people were let into the form.
9:00 to 9:01 and you probably got a hotel on your list, 9:01 to 9:02 you probably got something close by but not necessarily the BIG 6. 9:02 to 9:03 you may have gotten “something”. 9:03+ FUGGETABAHDIT.
We were fortunate enough to get our top pick, others not so lucky. Round 2 didnt fare much better with maybe half the participants receiving something far away in Mission Valley, a small few receiving leftover Gaslamp hotels. So now what?
Now that the disgrace of what was the "SDCC hotel sale" is over, a lot of attendees are either jumping for joy, ho hum about their Town and Country confirmation or simply about to go postal on every man woman or child that mentions SDCC, Hotelpocalypse or Travel Planners.
Confirmations went out yesterday, stopped for a few hours, then went on through the wee hours of the night. A few then began again this morning. Twitter was electric with #hotelpocalypse , #sdcc and #sdcchotels. Reports of random hotel reservations popping up here and there.
2014 saw rejection letters precede any hotel confirmations, and what followed were Hotel confirmations in alphabetical order. This year Travel Planners decided to keep with their theme of "clusterf%$k" and just toss out rejection letters with some hotels thrown in, in no discernible order. Attendees then received incorrect confirmations left and right. Bed #s were completely different from what was requested, People saw confirmations for hotels not on their list even when they only checked the "any downtown" hotel only box. Early confirmations even had issues with the deposit section of the reservations. It just didn't work. Reports came in of users getting 1:30 on their form submission time getting rejections, while their friends got 2 or 3 minutes and received #1 picks.
As far as I can tell, the confirmations were handled as sloppy as the testing of the form. Travel Planners seems to be having and issue with its staff it appears, or simply failed to properly train anyone on how to process reservations correctly. In any event ITS OVER!!!
Now what?........
Well if you got a hotel room, and your happy with it CONGRATULATIONS!........If not, you have a few options
1. Wait
One thing you can do is wait. If you are one of the users that got "waitlisted" you'll have to do just that. Just don't give up hope! TONS AND TONS AND TONS of spare rooms are cancelled and returned. Why?. well people tend to go to comic con in groups. It makes paying for a $2000 hotel room easier, the more people you throw in it. The thing is, ANYONE can participate in the hotel sale. It's simply in your best interest to have a few people trying to get a room. 4 people submitting a form each, for a room they are gonna split, means that if they ALL get rooms, 3 of them are most likely getting cancelled and going back into the Hotel sale on April 8th. I've seen people get waitlisted and then score the Omni or Bayfront in the resale.... it's not unheard of. The only problem is you had to choose the waitlist option on your form. If you're not sure, call Travel Planners and find out.
2. Non "hotel sale" hotels
Believe it or not, some Hotels do not participate in the hotel sale. Why? I dunno, who are they? I dunno. How much are they? I dunno. Are there still vacancies? Look... I dunno. (I wish I did know but I'm tired and only got a few hours sleep waiting for confirmations. I'm on the East Coast so was up a looooong time so I really haven't had time to search for them. I'm sorry, I'll do better next time.) But I'm sure you could find some on the outskirts of downtown. There's also Airbnb.com . Its a site used by owners of condos and houses that rent their dwelling out to vacationers. I've tried this option before. You'll possibly snag a really nice condo, which in many aspects is far more comfortable than a hotel room but the prices they request can be outrageous. They know their Gaslamp condo is in high demand for Comic Con week so they jack up the price. If you got the money, you're desperate, and all else has failed, this might be your best option.
3. Beg and pleed
Akin to the resale on April 8th for returned rooms, some users offer up their rooms on Twitter and Facebook. If someone is asking for money, tell them to F off and report them to Comic Con and Travel Planners right away. However, usually if you reach out to the Twitterverse, you may get a generous guy or gal that has a spare reservation that hasn't cancelled it through Travel Planners yet. Tweet and tweet some more. It can't hurt to tweet and ask the Twitter Gods for a little compassion.
4. Friends of Comic Con
Don't feel like putting in the Twitter effort, well you're in luck. A website group called "www.friendsofcci.com" has created a members forum for users to submit spare rooms being offered, people in need of a room or straight up trades. This is for members only so simply become a member and you should get approval shortly thereafter.
Instead of dumping reservations back to Travel Planners to screw up again, a lot of users simply transfer their spare reservation to other members in need of a room. My group used it last year to unload a few spare rooms we got. Its a win-win. Its a great forum and a great place to get into the conversation about SDCC. As a member you can join threads related to EVERYTHING in regards to CCI. They have hotel threads, Panel threads, Exclusive threads, Artists threads. You name. Stay up to date in the forum as we lead up to comic con to get any and all important info you wouldn't have otherwise.
I’d say FoCC is you're best bet to snagging an extra room. If you got NO hotel at all, you can probably easily snag a shuttle route hotel if you act fast. Confirmation deposits are due in 72 hours so that's how long these spares will be up. GOOD LUCK and Godspeed.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Marvel has yet again delighted our eyeballs in their most recent addition to the MCU. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a no holds barred edition to Phase 4 and lives up to the hype. Director Sam Raimi brings his tride and true expertise to the MCU, but instead of simply rehashing his Sony Spider-Man entries he shines bright in his Evil Dead/Army of Darkness roots.
Here are our top 4 things to love about the film:
Direction: This was Sam Raimi through and through. If youre a fan of Evil Dead, evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness then you will overwhelmingly notice the similarities. I like that Raimi was given this entry as opposed to No Way Home. While he IS known for Spiderman. Letting his explore his Evil Dead roots was a perfect call for this semi horror entry
Design: The entry really feels like a live action What If..? film. Its full of content (via multiverse travel) that all fits right in with its animated cousin, complete with characters we’ve seen…. plus others we haven’t.
Easter Eggs: Have em? YUP!!! Are we going to spoil em? NOPE!!
BRUCE!!: What’s a Sami Raimi vehicle without Bruce Campbell. Bruce returns, yet again, as with every Raimi movie, to make a cameo appearance. We were expecting it and loved its “innuendo” . If you are familiar with Evil Dead 2 then you’ll know how his scene relates to that film. If not, then do yourself a favor and go watch Evil Dead 2.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Following the Success of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard , We finally get our first look at Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
SNW is a spin-off of Discovery and a prequel to the original series. Anson Mount reprises his Discovery role as Christopher Pike, the captain of the USS Enterprise who immediately preceding James T. Kirk. Ethan Peck returns as a younger Mr. Spock, as does Rebecca Romijn as Pike’s First Officer, Una Chin-Riley, (Number One). There is also a younf, inexperienced rookie communications and linguistics expert, Nyota Uhura, played by Celia Rose Gooding. and doctor Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) A few crew members are all new characters, including Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak) and the helms officer Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia).
The pilot episode begins with Pike catching a glimpse of this fate (which we we know from the classic episode “The Menagerie”). This sets the tone for a fractured Captain, hesitant to get back into the chair, knowing full well what awaits him but not knowing when.
The first episode of Strange New Worlds stays true to the original series with emphasis on exploration, discovery, diplomacy, and action. It feels familiar but fresh and new, all at the same time.
With Discovery and Picard both having intertwined plot lines leading to a conclusive season finale, SNW ditches this formula for the classic, with episodes standing on their own. We’ve seen this before with Enterprise from the early 2000s. I for one feel this classic style is refreshing and welcome as most tv and streaming is designed on a larger storyline. The MCU for example are basically 6-10 hour movies spread out over 6-10 episodes. SNW goes back to its routes. While there is still continuing plots, they are not the oerall story here. Each episode stands on alone. One notable mention is that this series also has a “campy” feel to it even though its modern. It feels as if its trying to stay true to the 60s feel while also being updated for 2022. I for one think it works.
Sometimes, Strange New Worlds feels like what JJ Abrams and company did with the 2009 Star Trek movie: using nostalgia, and our favorite characters to bring a modern touch to franchise already well know. Pike is not Kirk, but, the two share the same attitude towards breaking protocol and meddling in alien civilizations when needed for the greater good. One also cannot help to notice that Mount’s “Pike” shares a striking resemblance to Kirk as well as shares some mannerisms. Is this by design? I think it is. There are plans for a young Kirk to make his appearance. We are familiar with the impact Pike has on Kirk as Pike took him under his wing, so its fair to assume were being told that Kirk became the captain he did based on Pike. If the series lasts long enough, there will most certainly be early glimpses of Scotty, McCoy, Sulu, and Chekhov. Paramount is hoping this plan is what the fans want and are ready for and I for one hope theyre right.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds drops new episodes on Paramount+ weekly.
Moon Knight: Summary
I might be too much of a generalization to say that the MCU is aimed at children, but it’s created in a way that isn’t meant to exclude them. Even with the MCUs political weather and frequent nods toward the military, at the end of it all, , the franchise is designed to remain family-friendly, with mostly “zero-blood” violence and nothing too intense. For the most part, that’s great. The MCU could probably be better without its fascination of comic book heroes as military agents, (this is what grounds the franchise afterall) every move away from that (Shang-Chi) is much appreciated.
Episode 5, “Asylum” is among the strangest, most intimate stories the MCU has ever produced. It’s an episode about a man’s fractured mind shattering as he revisits the most traumatic moments of his life. It’s horrific but delivered with a light touch. The horror is frequently intertwind with moments of humor which is what saves a series like Moon Knight. They give us a deep, dark, psychological horror story, but tied up in a cinematic, humorful, exciting bow
An episode bonkers as “Asylum” is the icing on the cake the series deserved. Picking up where episode 4, “The Tomb”, left off, “Asylum” shows Marc Spector and Steven Grant (both portrayed by Oscar Isaac) seemingly trapped in a psych ward, run by Hawks, “Dr. Harrow”, who is trying to convince “Marc” that the events of Moon Knight are a fiction devised by Marc’s brain as a coping mechanism. Taweret (voiced by Anotonia Salib), a fertility goddess resembling a hippo, offers Marc and Steven another probability: They’re dead, and currently being judged in afterlife known as the Duat.
This episode is the heart of the series, encompassing 6 total journeys into Marc/Stephens fractured mind.
Episodes 5 and 6 are easily the best of the series. Overall Moon Knight is the best of the MCU Disney+ series entries. Psychologically is the most complex which is best suited for adults, but doesn’t neglect humor and action that all fans will enjoy even if they are unaware of the deeply hidden mysteries this series holds