Comic-Con pics

This is James Bond's car in the upcoming QUANTUM OF SOLACE. If you look carefully, you can see the stains.

This would be that cool flashdrive that I lost. Or rather, this is Merrill's because mine was, well, lost.

We would be hammered if you would join us.

What does it say about me that this sort of thing really turns me on?

James Callis tries to recall if there were any women on BSG he didn't have sex with.

When simply playing the game twenty-four hours a day is not enough.

I was surprised to see my niece at Comic-Con. Not only because she was at the show, hours from home, but because she was on such prominent display. I'm going to have a talk with her mother.

Comic Con Post 7

As I said before, Saturday was too busy. At the same time as the "Dollhouse" panel, there was a TERMINATOR 4 panel in Hall H (which would've been overfull too had we even tried to get into it). Sadly, from those that were there, it was quite impressive, and ended with a surprise visit from Hugh Jackman and a preview of the WOLVERINE movie, but "ah well" again.

After "Dollhouse," we had a couple of choices. Merrill and I are both big Pixar fans, and wanted to see their presentation for next summer's UP (also in Hall H). But in Ballroom 20, where we already were, was the "Battlestar Galactica" panel. We decided to go for the sure thing, and stuck around. Merrill and I have made it a tradition to watch each and every episode of the show together since I moved away from L.A.. I have soured a little bit on that show lately (though not nearly at the level that I have soured on Dean Koontz), but when it was good, holy hand grenade, it was a good show. Kevin Smith was the panel's moderator, and he brought out showrunners Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, and cast members Tricia Helfer, James Callis, Michael Trucco, Katie Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, and Tahmoh Penikett again. Kevin is also a big fan of the show and asked geeky questions that really worked well in that setting.


Ron Moore is the greatest "Star Trek" writer ever, and he always offered an open door insight into the making of the show, the inspiration and lucky accidents, the mistakes and regrets, and it's possible BSG will be remembered as the greatest Sci-Fi show of the '00s.

It was really fun, and great to hear them talking about the show (which has already wrapped the final episode) in retrospect. Kevin asked them about how surprised they were by certain plot twists, and what their favourite memories were of the series. They seemed to be good friends, which I would hope an ensemble cast would get to be (though that's probably a silly Hollywood illusion). And I've got a shocking revelation for you (nobody was more shocked than I was to discover it), I found myself inexplicably attracted to Katee Sackhoff.
Yeah, and not just a little bit, either. And there was absolutely no alcohol in my bloodstream whatsoever.


Merrill and his wife have become big fans of "Pushing Daisies" (but their propensity for deleting the show off their TiVo before I can watch it has prevented me from sharing their enthusiasm), so he left the BSG panel to go to one about that show.

He told me later that he never even got in, ultimately missing both panels.

That's a shame, but there's no sense crying over every mistake;
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

We were separated, and I decided to go to see Joe Hill give a little presentation. Joe is Stephen King's son (the kid in CREEPSHOW who said, "I hope you burn in Hell" and then wrung his hands Mr. Burns-style when the Creep Creature showed up at his window), and has written a great novel "Heart-Shaped Box," and an awesome collection of short stories "20th Century Ghosts."

He's extremely talented, and he looks just like his old man did when he was young. Well, maybe a bit more normal, but I can't really say.
He did a signing after talking about his work, and because I have somehow lost my copy of "20th Century Ghosts," I had to steal tyranist's. Of course, now that it has been autographed, I could never give it back.

After that, I honestly don't remember what we did. I even looked at the program, but we didn't go to any of those shows or panels. Weird.

To be concluded . . .

Comic-Con Post 6: Jason Lives

Saturday is the big day at the convention, and if I learned anything from last year, it was to get in the big hall (Hall H) early, and just stay there for as long as you can. You don't want to be stuck out on the floor on a Saturday.

And, as Merrill will be quick to point out to you, Saturday is the day they book all their biggest shows and panels. First up was the "Heroes" panel, which I was unable to get into last year (just too busy), and Merrill really wanted to see. Instead of going into the building when we arrived, Merrill went straight to the Hall H line to make sure we got a good seat for the show.

I went to spend money on toys, and when I came out to meet Merrill, I found him waaaaaaay back behind the entire population of Delaware, expressing frustration and sadness that we probably weren't going to get into the panel . . . which we didn't. And Clairbear was going to be there. Grrr.

Later, we talked to someone who had made it into the panel, and she told us that everybody in the cast was there (including that blond cheerleader chick), and they showed the whole first episode of next season, and there was much rejoicing. And then money rained from the sky and everybody there got exactly one wish. But ah well.

So, the panel that I was most interested in for the whole weekend was the "Dollhouse" panel, about Joss "Master" Whedon's new show on FOX, starring Eliza Dushku and Tahmoh Penikett. Merrill and I got there over an hour early, and listened to novelist Dean Koontz talk about his career and answer questions about his books. I used to be quite a fan of Mr. Koontz (my buddy Jeff was an even bigger one), but I've only read one of his books in the last decade, and I didn't care for it.
When it was time for the "Dollhouse" panel, we had maneuvered ourselves to be fairly close to the stage (my pictures came out better, at least).

They didn't give us a great deal, though. They showed the TV spot that has been airing on FOX, then opened things up to questions. But hey, Dushku looked good.
I think, to me, the most interesting moment of the "Dollhouse" panel came when a girl got up, and for her question, mentioned that although she was a fan of Joss's previous work, this new show just didn't look interesting to her at all.

Well, the crowd treated her like a Hip-Hop song at a Klan rally, with booing and jeering, and she slunk away to kill herself, but Joss seemed to think it was funny.* Instead of telling her to die in a painful, drawn-out way, he graciously took the time to explain that, even if the premise doesn't grab you, the show isn't about the premise. Just as his past shows weren't about vampires and fightscenes and spaceships, "Dollhouse" is about people, and that was the primary focus that would, hopefully, draw her in and make a fan out of her (and us as well). I thought it was an impressive response and I hope that young woman feels good about it.
They had only shot one episode, and they didn't talk a great deal about the new series, but partly that was our fault ("our" being the audience). Most of the questions weren't about "Dollhouse," and I found--at this and pretty much every panel at the show--that when someone got up to the mic, invariably they did one of two things before asking their question:
1) Tell the person or people on the panel what a big fan they are of their work. And often, name off two or three of those works that are particularly relevant. When the questioner does this, the audience applauds.
2) And worse, preface their remark with "Um, I have a question..." It really irritated me, especially after I noticed that people do that, the way you become agitated when someone points out a person that says "You know" or "Um" before every sentence.**

I understand that my misanthropy is often ugly, but a lot of people at these conventions just bother me, and stupid people always do.

A guy asked Tahmoh if Eliza's spine glowed, which was amusing, and even more so when he leaned over to explain it to Eliza, but Joss and Company weren't talking about what night it'll be on or what timeslot they got or how many episodes they were shooting, so I got up and got in the line. Right before my turn, one of the moderators (is that the word?) told me mine would be the last question, so then the pressure was on.When it was my turn, I stammered, "Wow, you're even hotter in person than you are on TV." 'Cause she, like, was. And Joss spoke up and said, "Thank you, I work out." It was good stuff. I asked how many episodes FOX was contracted for and how long, and Joss said they were going to do thirteen for sure, but with the advertising and a strong fan push . . . they might even make it to fifteen.

Unfortunately, there was a "Dollhouse" signing that had happened right after the panel--one I wasn't aware of--and when Merrill and I hit the show floor and saw Joss/Eliza/Tahmoh signing, I was quite upset. Not only was the line already capped by that point (so we couldn't get into it), but there were many burly security guys standing around to prevent people from entering the line, or even worse, taking pictures of the celebrities.
Due to that, this was the BEST picture I got.

Oddly, at the booth right next to the FOX one (which was the Warner Bros. booth), Nathan Fillion was part of a signing for the upcoming "Wonder Woman" animated film. Nathan and Joss were close enough they could see each other, but not communicate (I assume they're good friends in real life, but it's hard to know). And since the "Wonder Woman" line was also capped, I was much the same way.I'm not really able to think of what else went on that day, so I'll stop here, grab my programme, and start afresh on the next one.

Rish

*Maybe it was the reaction of the crowd that amused him, or maybe just the nuts on this young woman to get up and say the unpopular thing (much like the guy who got up at Bryan Singer's SUPERMAN RETURNS panel at 2006's to tell him how much he hated the new film).

**I've become very sensitive to this because in editing the podcast I do with my friend, I realised that I say "You know" approximately eighty times during each.

Comic-Con Post 5

There's a Wendy's on the same street as the main entrance of the convention center, and every year, I go to it. Merrill and I had a break in between shows, and we popped in, along with a hundred other smelly, fat geeks (come now, I said "other").

If you don't mind a tiny digression, Wendy's came out with this truly awesome Chicken Sandwich Deluxe Combo a few months back that is not only delicious, but the sweetest deal since "Free Peepshow Fridays" at my last corporate job. I can't oversell how great this combo is, except to say that if studies were presented that proved that eating them gave you a 90% chance of getting a tapeworm, I would still order one the next time I was at Wendy's.

Anyhow, the weird thing with this combo meal is that it was only on the menu for a very short time. One day it was there, the next it was gone, and when I asked about it, some Wendy's said, "Oh sure, we've still got those, here you are," and other Wendy's said, "Sorry, those have been discontinued." And worse, some stores claim they never existed at all.*

Anyhow again, Merrill and I were side by side, waiting for our turn to order, and I went first, meeting a sour-faced woman at the register, who must've been really tired, having a bad day, or just a very unpleasant woman. Of course, I asked her about the Chicken Sandwich Deluxe Combo, as Merrill went to the register next to her. The woman frowned (if you can consider an already frowning face turning southward a frown) and told me they had nothing called that. I told her I might've gotten the name wrong, but it was a...

"Chicken Sandwich Deluxe Combo," Merrill said from beside me, telling the young man behind his register what he wanted. And sure enough, that employee said, "Okay," and gave him the total.

Well, that was so strange that I just had to call the woman on it, so I said, "I'll have what he just ordered. What was it?" And Merrill said, feigning ignorance, "The Chicken Sandwich Deluxe," which I repeated.

The woman behind the counter gave me such a stinkeye that several of my pubic hairs turned white. "Please," I added, and she looked down and pushed the button for "Deluxe Chicken Meal," then went back to order around the kitchen staff.

While Merrill's cashier smilingly gave him his order and thanked him for coming in, mine shoved the tray in front of me and said, "Next customer," in a commanding tone that would've done R. Lee Ermey proud. If ever a fast food employee would have spit in my food, it would've been her.

And I didn't even intend to talk about this here. I was just going to say we went to eat then came back to watch Kevin Smith's annual Question & Answer session.

I don't have a lot to say about this year's. I love Kevin Smith, but I see him a lot.** And to keep myself entertained, I used to make a game of counting how many oral sex references he made in each one of his panels. This year, I went as far as to bet Merrill that if he made less than ten, I would buy him lunch.
Well, Kevin came out, easily the fattest I've ever seen him, but was jovial and funny as usual. He was there to promote ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO (a title that may get him in trouble, especially in conservative communities***), and had brought a large panel with him: Producer Scott Mosier, young actor Craig Robinson, adult film "actress" Katie Morgan, Traci Lords, Jason Mewes, and the titular stars of the film Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks.
They talked about the film, joked around, showed a lengthy clip, and joked around some more. It was interesting to see Seth Rogen try and upstage Kevin Smith, who, frankly, is so in his element at a comic convention that he could've outshined Paul McCartney. They're both funny guys, Kev being more of a self-effacing comic and Rogen the kind to get laughs at the expense of others, but as Kevin said last year, "It's not wise to mock the one with the microphone."
They took questions from the audience, and kept it going for a long, long time (Kevin Smith Q&As always go at least two hours), and seem to genuinely like each other. Seth Rogen had a very unusual laugh that I got tired of almost immediately, but is probably actually quite endearing.

I sometimes feel bad for Scott Mosier, who is Kevin's best pal, but rarely gets any of the attention or accolades (if there are any) that Kevin gets. He made us all laugh whenever someone would ask a question of the actors, because he would take the microphone and say, "Uh, I'm not an actor, so I don't know."

Amid the laughter, Traci Lords brought the whole room down by talking about being a child porn star and the exploitative nature of the business. I wondered why, if she has such a problem with the adult film industry, she would do a movie like ZACK & MIRI. But then, I don't know if it reveres or lampoons ye olde porneaux business.

One of the guys who asked a question prefaced it by saying that because his mother was in the audience, he would pretend he didn't know who Katie Morgan was. Katie Morgan seemed really out of place on the panel, but seemed nice, and seemed grateful to, for once, have had a job where, at the end of the day, she didn't have to wash something out of her hair. As another aside, my friend Jeff has mentioned to me that he doesn't know if he'll even go to ZACK & MIRI when it comes out. I hope the movie's a good one, and that it's successful (with or without Jeff's eight dollars), but Halloween seems like an odd day to be releasing it.

The panel let out, and Merrill and I took off to eat and move the car, and to let the other shoe drop, there were only seven B.J. references, so I had to buy him lunch.

I don't really feel this is worth mentioning, but on Friday night they did hold a screening of "Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," and Merrill really wanted to see it. Because it was at night, when there's so much less programming, there was a great deal of interest, to the point where they actually held four screenings in four different auditoriums to meet demand.

The first one, though, was going to have Joss and Company at it, so Merrill sat and held the line while I went and moved the car (trying in vain to find a parking place that wasn't across the Mexican border). I got my brother's laptop to play with, and we surfed the internet and looked up swag on eBay as the hours went on (the screening was to start at 10:45). Several times, security/bouncers/ushers/whateveryoucallthem came by and told us that the line was too long for all of us to get it, but there were three other venues we could watch the movie in with practically no waiting. A few people got out of line, but for the most part, the fans wanted to see and hear the cast and crew (and I figured there was a better than good chance they'd do another Q&A when it was over).

We did make it into the auditorium around 10:50, with the film already in progress, and it was pretty cool to see it with an audience. Unfortunately, there were a couple of people there who thought it would enhance the experience to "Rocky Horror" it, by running around and mouthing the dialogue and basically drawing attention to themselves instead of what we were there to see, and it really irritated me.

But even more irritating was when the film ended, and Joss, NPH, Nathan, Felicia, and the rest came into the room, amid all the applause, went to the front of the hall, waved, and went home. I expected some sort of comment, statement, or banter, but we didn't even get a "thanks a lot, kids, now drive safe." I wondered why we'd fought to get in that particular screening if that was all we got (they didn't even stay still long enough to get a picture).

No big deal, but it was how I felt at the time. Maybe I'd have been in less of a foul mood had I not had to shove my way through crowds all day, and fight the Wendy's lady for a chicken sandwich meal, but hey, this was the last show of the night.

Rish Outfield

*Honest to Anne Hathaway's bosoms, folks.

**Well, maybe not now that I'm out of L.A., but man, I used to see the man all the time. Sometimes at signings, sometimes at conventions, sometimes through binoculars while he was tucking his child in bed at night.

***Don't believe me? Do you remember that Greg Kinnear film about a decade back where he worked for the post office and decided to answer all the letters that were written to God? Do you know what the local newspaper advertised that film as? Yep, it was "DEAR ___."

Comic-Con Post 4

We were later arriving the next day, and parked the car in a little lot roughly a mile from the convention center. We had to pay to park there, and walk quite a ways to and from the show, but we went to that exact spot again the next day, and I intend to park there every year from now on.

Friday had a lot more going on than Thursday, but we found that, for some reason, while there were often long stretches between panels where nothing interesting was going on, when there was a good panel, there would be another good one scheduled at the same time. My theory behind this was that they were trying to split the audiences' attentions so the crowds would be more manageable.

Merrill's theory, however, that Satan-worship was involved, is just as plausable.

For example, Merrill wanted to go to a presentation of the "Spectacular Spider-man" cartoon, and I wanted to go to the Universal WOLF MAN remake panel. There was also a "Spaced" panel for that late great BBC series.

But all three were scheduled opposite the panel for Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog." We wanted to see that the most, so Merrill stood in the line for it while I tried (uselessly) to buy toys for my cousin. He called me from the line to warn me that he was close to the door, so I ran to get there in time.

I did manage, barely, ending up sitting on the second-to-last row (and that, only thanks to Merrill), as the panel was starting.
Gosh, the crowd was excited about "Dr. Horrible." Joss Whedon does inspire almost fanatical devotion.* On the panel were Joss, actors Nathan Fillion, Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, and Simon Helberg, and co-writers Marissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, and Zack Whedon.
It was a fun panel, with lots of laughs, and a group of people who seem to enjoy each others' company, and do good work.
I was so far back that few of my pictures turned out, but because I had many sets of batteries, I took about six hundred over the four days.

Merrill kept insisting that Nathan Fillion looks exactly like his brother.
I don't really have anything to say about that (Merrill's parents had ten kids, and I've only met the one), but I do enjoy me the Dr. Horrible. You will too, if you go to the Dr. Horrible website.

Of course, some results may vary.

Afterward, we went to a panel with Hasbro toys that all but announced the death of my beloved Marvel Legends figure line, but they gave out cool magnets that I've been able to sell for a great deal more than they're worth on eBay. So there's that.

TBC...

*Which shouldn't be so surprising, since the word "fan" is derived from "fanatic," but I digress.

Comic-Con Panel Photos

A lot of my shots of Nathan Fillion came out with that great face he had at the beginning of "Our Mrs. Reynolds," when he was drunk and oh-so-happy.

Tyranist and I used to both be pretty big fans of Dean Koontz. I can certainly trace the end of my fandom back to the day the moustached, bald Dean Koontz was replaced by clean-shaven, full-head-of-hair Dean Koontz.

Seriously, the man's hairpiece is so bad, it's what I'd imagine Chewbacca would cough up on a really hungover morning.
Which DIE HARD was Justin Long in again?
Apparently, in the upcoming FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH remake (oh, sorry, "reimagining"), Jason Voorhees will be played . . . by himself.
Every year, somebody asks Kevin when the next Jay and Silent Bob movie is coming out.
I love my camera, I really do. But as nice as it is, if you're too far back, or zoom too much, it has the magical ability to make Rose McGowan look just like a middle-aged tranny.
Tahmoh Penikett explains to Eliza Dushku the joke about her spine turning red.

Even though, judging by this photo, it appears I went to a stoner convention, it was actually a comic book show.

Stupid Thing of the Comic-Con Week

I was talking about free swag earlier, and yeah, that sort of thing was really neat to get. The coolest piece of free junk I saw was at the Paramount booth on Friday. The crowd started to grunt and shout, so we pushed through to find out what they were giving away (on Thursday, they were actually handing out Blu-Ray discs to everyone . . . can you imagine that?). And I squeezed through enough to be handed something in a little plastic case. Once I had mine, I tried to back out of the cluster (to give other people a chance to grab one, but these wonderful souls actually WOULDN'T LET ME OUT of the crowd. Finally, I held up my plastic case like a talisman or crucifix, telling people "I got one, I just want to get out," and pushed my way through again.

It's amazing that tact and kindness does nothing in this kind of situation, and you have to be as rude or selfish as the next guy to even be noticed.

So, once Merrill and I met up again, I discovered that the little cases held these really awesome Stark Industries mini-hard drives (you know, those things you plug into computers to share data that are, maybe the greatest invention since the remote control and breasts). A search on eBay reveals them to be IRON MAN FLASHDRIVES, and they're gold in colour and as shiny as "Firefly" slang.
I put mine in my backpack and went about my day.

Later, we went to the Mattel booth and had to take a silly "which-products-do-you-buy-and-how-often" survey to get cute inflatable He-Man swords (an aside: I got one, but Merrill flashed his ivories and said he needed three, and got them), which I also put in my backpack. But the next day, as we were walking through the show floor, Merrill pointed out that my bag was open, and must have been for a long time.

The flashdrive and the sword (and I honestly don't know what else) were gone.

Things just kept disappearing with me all through the weekend. I lost my sunglasses Thursday on the way to feeding the meter and the Joss Whedon panel, and every time it happened, I'd joke that "I guess it went the same place my sunglasses went."

I didn't say it was a good joke . . .

Comic-Con Post 3

Thursday used to be the day that there was very little programming and people spend all day buying things, but that is now Wednesday, so we did go around looking for freebies, check out the booths, and hit a panel or two. 

If you've never been to Comic-Con, they have many booths, great and small, to promote comic books or geek-centric entertainment (like video games, anime, toys, TV shows, art, computer programs, and cartoons . . . basically anything that doesn't involve interaction with women), and the big companies have signings and swag they hand out to stir up buzz for their projects. 

And some of this stuff is really quite impressive (and valuable, eBay fans). For example, last year the Warner Bros. booth gave out some great oversized cloth bags with "Smallville" on them that have served me ever since, as I take packages to the mail in mine, and while they were giving out similar backs this time 'round, I never got one. 

The Paramount booth was giving away t-shirts of their upcoming movies (such as TRANSFORMERS 2 and G.I.JOE 1 and STAR TREK . . . well, also 1), but to get one, you had to go to a line by the entrance (which was pretty consistently capped) and stand in it until approximately eight minutes before Hell froze over, then get a voucher that you could take to the booth and trade for a shirt. Once you'd gone through that line, that is. 

Right next to that booth was the Summit Entertainment section, those who are bringing Stephenie Meyer's unconscionably popular TWILIGHT to the big screen this December. They had a small booth (half a booth, really), and they were giving out full-sized TWILIGHT posters, but you had to stand in an outside line just like the Paramount one.* 

I passed on that one, but Merrill stood in it, while I got in the Paramount one. His line moved along at a healthy pace, while mine didn't move at all. People were just sitting down and resting, getting up every ten minutes or so to move up to replace the five people who'd gotten to go get t-shirts. Merrill zoomed through his line and went off to see a panel, while I was permanently stuck in Paramount. After a while, I asked the guys around me if they cared if I left to go to the bathroom, and they thought it was fine, so I took off. 

I got a little lost, going left instead of right, and when I came back, a miracle must have happened, because the line had not only moved, but the guys who'd been saving my place were nowhere to be found. The people who were directly behind me were now at the very head of the line, and said they didn't remember me and wouldn't let me back in with them (a woman there actually told me to "Get lost," which is a phrase I haven't heard outside the movies in, oh, my whole life). 

I sighed and started to go meet Merrill in the panel, but as I was walking away, one guy I didn't know said, "Hey, over here." He let me in behind him, just out of mercy, I suppose, but his condition was, "Just make sure you do the same for someone else." I guess not everybody at Comic-Con sucks as much as, well, I do. 

There was a panel for Robert Rodriguez's upcoming RED SONJA movie. It stars Rose McGowan as the titular warrior woman, but there was very little of note at the panel, as the shooting won't begin for months, and the script is still being readied. The most interesting thing said there was that it would be directed by someone else, Douglas Aarniokoski, who has worked with Rodriguez before. 

But that's not the interesting part. What struck me as unusual is that Aarniokoski is the film's director in name only, as Rodriguez isn't able to technically be the director because the film's being made under the Director's Guild union, and Rodriguez is no longer part of the DGA. Basically, he said that he and Aarniokoski would shoot as a team, sometimes concurrently, in an attempt to bring Rodriguez's vision to the screen together. I don't really understand it myself, but maybe that's what was going on with POLTERGEIST. 

I was sitting too far back to get any decent pictures of this panel, and the zoom function only produces blurry messes like this:

Later in the day, I was supposed to interview Robert Englund for his new movie JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER, but I got a call from the publicist to tell me I'd been bumped from the list, and could still interview the director and other actors if I wanted to. Since I knew nobody would ever read the interview if I did it, I passed. Nevertheless, I took it upon myself to go back and feed the meter instead of having Merrill do it, and when I finally made it to the car, a lovely parking ticket was waiting for me. When it rains . . . 

But as the man used to say, "ah well." 

For want of something else to do (honestly, I cannot remember why we went there), we headed for the big Hall H to see Disney's RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN panel. Dwayne Johnson was there, as well as class + hotness = Carla Gugino, talking about the 2009 remake to ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN.

  It wasn't a particularly illuminating panel, and I'm not sure that a remake is wise (guess what, kids, they called it a "reimagining!" Because there's no such thing as a "remake" anymore), but maybe we were just so sick of walking and physically tired that we just had to go somewhere and sit down for an hour. 

At the end of that panel, they DID show a trailer to TRON 2. The audience just ate it up. I've never been a fan of TRON (in fact, it may need to go on my next list of "Movies I Hate That You Love"), but to see the CGI guy take his helmet off and see that it was a 2008 era Jeff Bridges did make me clap my hands. I thought they were doing a remakeagining, and a sequel is always better. 

After that panel, they had one for "Hulk versus Wolverine," which maybe should be capitalised, but I decline to do it. It's the newest Marvel Animation direct-to-video release, and they brought out the voice cast and then showed us the film. It was unfathomably violent and had really nice animation, but Merrill and I both fell almost instantly asleep. 

I awoke every time the audience cheered (usually over something Deadpool said, or something particularly brutal), but eventually just flipped a mental switch to even block that out, since I plain didn't care. Sorry, Stan. 

After that, Merrill and I just got up and left. We were too tired and hungry and sweaty and uncomfortable to listen to a Q&A about an animated film we couldn't stay awake through. We (eventually) found my car and hit the road. 

I guess now would be a good moment to mention that my uncle has a house in Oceanside, and he had said we could stay there for a couple of days, as long as he was going to be there anyway. My mom thought it was a lot to ask (though she has brothers and nephews and nieces come over to her place all the time, often choosing to sleep on the floor so the guest can have the bed, and I'm not sure I ever heard her complain), and suggested we bring sleeping bags and our own towels, so there would be no laundry evidence that we'd been there. Well, that was fine, and since my uncle and I were once much closer than my own father and I were, I had no doubts that we'd have a place to stay. 

Until, that is, that I started getting word that my uncle was going through some kind of surly period where he's angry at everyone, worthy or unworthy. Merrill and I thought it might be a good idea to check out motel rates, as a sort of contingency plan. But I trusted my uncle and still felt like I was his favourite nephew, and would do right by me, so I called him on his cellphone and--when he didn't pick up--left him a message. We were leaving for San Diego and we sure would appreciate it if we could stay at his place, but if he wasn't going to be there or it wasn't alright, would he please give me a call? Best wishes, Rish. 

And my uncle never called. It's one thing to change his mind, but quite another not to return a call. I gotta say, my estimation of the man took a jarring hit to the solar plexus. And that left us in San Diego with nowhere to sleep. We knew all the motels in town would be booked up or price-jacked, and the best deal we'd found had been in Temecula, roughly forty-five minutes north along the I-15 freeway, so we drove up there, got a room, washed the grime off, and felt considerably better. To be continued . . .

*Which reminds me, there were exclusive toys you could buy at Comic-Con, as there are every year, but this time around, they made you go to a different floor and stand in line to get a ticket which you could go downstairs with and stand in the line at the Hasbro or Gentle Giant or Mattel booth to buy collectibles with. You'd think those lines would be way shorter than the ones for free stuff, but amazingly, it was the opposite.

Comic-Con Post 2

Because Valentine's Day and New Year's hold no pleasure for me, and even Halloween has lost a bit of lustre since moving from Los Angeles.* So, until they come up with BJs For Loser's Day or Geek Week, I have to content myself with really looking forward to the San Diego Comic-Con every July.

Two years ago, Merrill and I worked together at Fox, and we both managed to a) get the time off, b) get the money together, and c) convince his wife to let him come with me. It was quite the experience, with lots of sweat, even more walking around, and smelly crowds. Yet before the trip was done, Merrill was already talking about what we would do differently "next year."

That impressed me.

Last year, however, though he had asked for the time off and the money, his wife absolutely forbade it. I went alone, but hooked up with my pal Matthew from L.A. and it worked out pretty well. But Merrill winced with regret at my stories of Joss Whedon and WALL-E and Robert Downey Jr. and really really fat guys dressed as the Punisher. So, as soon as he was able (January, in fact), he asked for the time off from work to go with me this year. The money came later (and believe me, there was a lot more required this time 'round), and the third thing, well, that was the real feat.

I often don't understand Merrill's wife. She sure seems cool in person (which is more than I can say for many of my friends' wives), is always nice to me on the phone, and has never once given me any indication that she thinks I suck (not that I'd blame her, really, since I do). But I guess that once the doors close and I'm far away, she expresses her displeasure that I hang around, or more accurately, that her husband wants to spend time hanging around me.

Merrill chilled me to my very bone with stories of his wife's attempts to prevent him from going to Comic-Con, even at the last minute, and while she apparently does it from a position of love and a desire to have her husband always by her side, I couldn't help but despair that she Lexluthors schemes to punish me by keeping Merrill from leaving. The last one was a sort of weight-loss competition with him. If he lost more weight than her, then she couldn't cut all her hair off (again), but if she lost more weight than him, well, then Comic-Con was out.

So, Merrill drank a capful of Epicac every evening before bed, and carried his children to school instead of driving them, and we had a green light.**

Merrill and I, somehow, became better friends when I had moved to Los Angeles and never saw him anymore, and when I moved back and we saw each other all the time, we grew even closer as friends. That was nice, and I do have to marvel at the fact that we're still friends after spending thirty or so hours in a car together this past weekend.

He had to work Wednesday night, so I went and picked him up afterward, we loaded into the car, and headed for California. We drove through the night and into the morning, thinking we'd get there early enough to be able to take a nap before the convention began. Sadly, we hit terrible SoCal traffic on the I-15 nearing San Diego between seven and eight, stopping and starting and losing all our lead time. When we finally got there, we were no longer early, and couldn't really find any free parking. I parked on the street last year, and didn't have any real difficulties, so I went ahead and did that again this year.

I was afraid they would give us a hard time about getting Merrill into the con, because he had missed the deadline and/or been rejected in his application, and I had begged the press relations liason to give him a pass anyway, and he gave in and said I could register Merrill as my guest. But who knew if that would work? What's more, in my zeal to get Merrill in, I had forgotten to bring my own registration confirmation. Luckily, we were both in the system, and my persperation was for nothing.

Or rather, some of my persperation. San Diego is warm, and the convention was crowded, and I have to admit that I was already moist and fragrant from the long drive. As the day went on, I'm sure I added to the funk that drifted through the tightly-packed air in the building.

A year ago on my birthday, my mom and sisters pooled their money to get me a digital camera, and it's really been the best present I could imagine. I use it just about every single day, and carried it around this Comic-Con and the last. But unlike last year, I remembered to bring a whole bunch of spare batteries, so I didn't miss out on foto ops (like I did last year).

The first thing you notice about Comic-Con--besides the crowds--is the amazing array of fantastic costumes that people have put together. I'm not really a costumer myself, except for Halloween, and even then I don't get into it as much as convention attendees do. While I was trying to get Merrill registered, we saw a guy dressed in a homemade Cobra Commander costume (complete with shiny helmet), but I missed my chance to take his picture.

I got my camera out and put it in my pocket to quick-draw whenever I saw something pic-worthy. Such as...
A congregation of Predators in the lobby.
Or a girl dressed in a homemade "Shindig" Kaylee dress.
Or a really effed-up Arkham Asylum Joker get-up.
Or a (n only slightly less effed-up) Clone/Stormtrooper outfit.
Or some amazing He-Man costumes, like this one of Teela and Evil-Lyn.
Or this one of Trap-Jaw, proving that even the lamest character can be cool if done with a little love.

There were hundreds walking around, some poor and some great, often stopping to pose for photos with fans or kids.

Which is probably my cue to mention the really hot Wonder Woman walking around the Warner Bros. booth. And she really filled out the suit.***

Merrill was apparently quite the ladies man in high school, and when I met him in college, he always had at least one hottie sending him love letters or boiling bunnies to get his attention. I, of course, could only draw flies in college (and rather crudely, often making them look like spiders), and was only a tad less of a loser then than I am now. But I'd figured the years have changed all that, and as he's been married and quite fat for some time now, things would have equalled between us. But when Merrill saw the Wonder Woman chick and pushed his camera into my hands, I got a vivid replay of what our college years were like. This woman, a complete stranger, pressed herself up against Merrill for the photo like a really attractive facehugger.

I guess it goes without saying that I've always been jealous of my friend, but to see a veritable SUPERHERO glomming onto him like the Venom symbiote . . . well, that just hurts.

I think I'll end here for today. While I'm ahead.If I can call it that.

Rish "Wonder Woman Never Hugged Me" Outfield

*The last Halloween I spent there was on the set of THE GOOD GERMAN, dressed as a French soldier and being paid extra because I supposedly had military training, but it wasn't really the costume I had in mind.

**This is actually a lie. They decided to change the terms of their wager when they realised they hadn't enough time to lose more than a couple of pounds. But the actual consequences of losing are now much, much more ghoulish.

***To quote the famous physicist Phinneus Fresh Prince PhD: "You should've seen this girl's bodily dimensions." Or maybe he was a marine biologist.