Mythbusters: Behind The Myths Tour - 15 January 2012
Over the past week, I was able to cross out two items off my bucket list. One was "Meet the Mythbusters". Well, I did not meet them per se but seeing them in person will do. I am sure there are other opportunities to actually meet and converse and take photos with them. For now, this fed my geekery.
I first heard about this tour some months ago and right away, I knew I had to be there. After all, I pass by LA Live every day to and from work, it should be no problem getting there. Plus, it's the MYTHBUSTERS! I broke barriers for lesser reasons.
I knew that it was going to be a fun night. I've never attended an event where I can totally embrace my nerdiness. I go to concerts, premiere nights, and location shoots to keep in touch with my pop culture. Stage shows and museums keep me culturally inclined. But never before have I watched a live show to watch myths getting busted, special effects demonstrated, and explosions. I've loved Mythbusters for YEARS, I may have seen every existing episode at least twice, and I feel like seeing them in person has completed the experience.
What surprised me the most was not the fact that the Mythbusters were on TOUR. It's the groups of kids and whole families who showed up. Sure, you also have your nerds and geeks in attendance but the kids made me so happy. They were proudly wearing their Mythbusters shirts, COSTUMES, berets... having their photo taken in front of the theatre. Their parents were just as excited as the kids were, if not, more. It made me wish I had my brother right there with me. I'm sure he would've enjoyed it also.
There was a gift shop in front of the theatre. I easily blew $100 for 2 shirts, a cap, and an autographed photo of Jamie and Adam. Yeah, I know, that's cheating but hey, better than nothing, right? I also wanted the talking bobble-heads for my desk at work but they were $30 too expensive for my budget. Maybe next time.
So, the Nokia Theatre is not a very big venue. It's not like its neighbor, the Staples Center. And it works for an event like this one. I want to go to the other shows lined up for this venue, especially the Jeff DunhamControlled Chaos tour stop in the coming months. I just might... even though I've watched the DVD of that show many times already. I want to see Achmed and Peanut in person. But this is for another post, dontchatink?
I had an aisle seat, YY 323. It was pretty good for the price although the day before, I saw a much closer seat for the same price. I could've gotten that but I'm not complaining. I love aisle seats because they give you space. You have one side to do whatever the hell you want, picture-taking-wise. And you won't bother other audience members if you want to get out of and come back to your seat. It was a good spot.
Basically, what they did on this show were live demonstrations of some of the myths that they did on the TV show such as Phone Book Friction and Catching A Speeding Arrow. Some of the memorable props made an appearance - the water heater rocket, suit of armor, bulletproof glass, etc. And they also explained the science behind the myths like the physics behind laying down on a bed of nails. They also explained some of the TV trickery that they use on the show.
Almost every "myth" asked for a volunteer. It was cool, again, to see a LOT of kids. And honestly, this is the first event that I went to with this many GUYS. I think 70% if the audience were guys. I I remember it correctly, only two of the volunteers were female. It was so refreshing to see this, after all the events that I've been to where the space is dominated by screaming females.
It was so much fun watching Jamie and Adam in person. They are truly the same people in real life - at least, on that stage - and on TV. Adam was so animated and genuine. And oh boy, Jamie is... well, Jamie. They made the audience laugh, awed everyone, and impressed. They even did a Q&A.
The crowd was pretty fun too. My first time to be with fellow "geeks" in the audience. Come on, if you watch Mythbusters, you have at least one geek bone in your body. HAHA! In other events I go to, I sometimes keep to myself because I'm afraid that if I start, the people around me would think I'm weird (which I am) or too much (which I can be at times). I had none of those feelings here.
As much as I wished Kari, Grant, and Tory would make an appearance, another person set the LA leg of this tour apart from other stops. Wil Wheaton. If you follow the Build Team on twitter, you'd know that they're a fan of Wil and Wil is a fan of the Mythbusters. When Adam ask if there was a 'Wil Wheaton' in the audience, I flipped.
Nerdgasm indeed.
That's about it for the night. I was so glad they did this and I got to go. The only thing to top this is if my brother was with me. We both love the show, even my mother does, and he would've had a blast if he were with me.
I hope they do this again and with the Build Team. My mom said she'd go if Grant was there LOL.
PS: Thanks to that Wil Wheaton photo, the number of my tumblr followers nearly doubled. The photo itself has more than a thousand notes and counting. It even graced Tumblr Radar. It's insane!
