#maggie loyal

By Sammy Mink & Maggie Loyal

While a lot of the fun parts of Comic Con come from panels, exhibits and cosplay sightings (and don’t forget celebrity sightings), there’s just as much fun to be had offsite…and maybe even a bit more depending on what you’re into. With all this in mind, we headed off to the aptly named Nerd HQ at Petco Park.

The event is hosted by The Nerd Machine, so in order to get a wristband, we had to download a free Nerd HQ app. What does a wristband do, you ask? The wristband is linked either to your email or Facebook account and every Nerdist station has an RFID scanning station to enhance the experience by making it more interactive and engaging. The wristband then sent you an email with special offers or incentives to use when you get back home. Some of our favorite booths were the Sonic Boom booth, the Settlers of Catan game, and an Instagram booth that would upload your picture using a special hashtag so you could keep up with all the other nerds.

By: Maggie Loyal

It’s that time of year again – the Primetime Emmy nominations. That glorious hour when the West Cost either doesn’t bother to go to bed or gets up bright and early to catch the nominees just so the East Coast can have them with their morning coffee and bagel.

This year the nominations for 66th Primetime Emmy nominations will be announced on Thursday, July 10th, at 5:40am PST, by Mindy Kaling (“The Mindy Project”) and Carson Daly (“The Voice”). An interesting pairing if we do say so ourselves. The announcements will be streamed live on Emmys.com.

Don’t worry if you’re not awake to catch them yourselves – Tracking Board will be keeping you up-to-date on all the up-coming Emmy news.

The awards themselves, this year hosted by SNL alum and current Late Night host Seth Meyers, will air live Monday, August 25th (8 PM ET/5 PM PT) on NBC.

Set in Los Alamos, N.M., at the Manhattan Project during the race to build the world’s first atomic bomb, “Manhattan” explores the cost of secrets and the corrosive effect they have on individuals, families and their relationships.

STARRING: John Benjamin Hickey, Olivia Williams, Daniel Stern, Ashley Zukerman, Rachel Brosnahan, Christopher Denham, Katja Herbers, Harry Lloyd, Michael Chernus, Alexia Fast.

"Manhattan," from Sam Shaw ("Masters of Sex") and directed by Thomas Schlamme ("The West Wing"), is the story of the scientists behind the creation of the atomic bomb. We featured the show previously in our "Summer Premieres We're Excited About" and the first official trailer highlights the interpersonal drama whirling around one of the most important and impactful scientific inventions in human history that initially got us interested in WGN America's sophomore scripted show. The 13-episode series looks like it won't be skirting around the difficult questions of morality and secrets as families cope with their roles working for a project they don't know everything about.