It's Programming Eve and we've got announcements

 6 JULY 2022

                                      

Like a last-minute Santa Claus, CCI showered us with announcements today. Let's review.

Souvenir Book Cover

If, like me, you still think wistfully of the Ray Bradbury-riding-a-dinosaur cover that never made it to print in 2020, you might have had high hopes for this year. I really love holding the Souvenir Book in my hands every summer and I know some of you do too. Alas, this year's will be a PDF - "filled with lots of full-color articles," CCI says, like that makes up for no print version. 

I get it, they're trying to save money, it's the Digital Age, and so on. And this year's Souvenir Book does promise to have some good articles. But as a literary dinosaur who loves print, I will miss the physical copy.

International Film Festival Schedule

At some point in the thunder and sweat of the Exhibit Hall, you might feel like you're going to snap - which is the perfect time to go somewhere quiet and dark. Like the Marriott next door in Grand Ballroom 6! This is where you can take in 50 movies from filmmakers from all over the world working in every genre you can think of. This is a competition of sorts, with awards passed out on Sunday, but it's also a nice opportunity to take in some real creativity at the Con. Take a look at the schedule and see if something catches your eye.

The Exhibit Hall Rules and Regulations and MAP - Pandemic Style

The map of your future credit card debt has landed. I know there's been a lot of gloomy theories about how good vendors might not be around this year, so I think we can now put that to rest. Forget the DC Warner booth we're not getting - you won't miss it. There's plenty of old favorites returning. Check out the map of the Exhibit Hall - and Small Press and Artist's Alley and such - and correlate it to the exclusives you want to buy.

Also - don't just breeze past the rules they list. They actually help create a more pleasant Comic-Con for everyone. Things like not taking 5 minutes to photograph 1 cosplayer and keeping to the right really do restore some order to an inherently chaotic situation. And make sure your mask fits their guidelines.

You might have to help me with this one: 'We have established designated lounge areas throughout the Exhibit Hall to use at your leisure - feel free to use these areas to meet up with friends or just chill out for a bit!"

Is this new? I don't recall a "lounge area" in my almost-20 years of SDCCing. I've been lucky to find two contiguous square feet to get some breathing room. Or are they referring to the tables where people eat the Cafe Express food? "Lounge area" sounds like it should be decked out with luxurious sofas and low lighting like a 19th century opium den.

The CLEAR App to Prove Your Non-Infected Status

I know a lot of you didn't go to Special Edition in November. I did and showing my vaccine card (in Hall H, which was weird) was a non-issue. However, that was a much smaller population than we'll have this summer. So it's a good idea to make showing your negative test result or vaccination status as easy as possible The CLEAR app lets you create an SDCC Health Pass to make this quick and easy. Once you've got your pass, you'll show it to get your wristband - you don't have to even bring your vaccine card.

Tomorrow the Preview Night pilots and the Thursday programming should be released. Exciting!