I can't think of a funny title with "ball" in it.

OK, the title was a lie.

Mercury threw a new year "ball" two weeks ago. You're really supposed to dress up for these occasions. Usually, that's a huge turn-off for me, and this year they made it more complicated by calling it a "masquerade". Suits and tuxedos won't be enough this year - we were required to dress "magically elgenat". Let's skip the part where I'm all "WTF is magically elegant? Can I come wearing nothing but a corsage? Why can't they just have a party?", and go right to the part where I figure out that the coolest costume I could ever wear would to be a tuxedo. And make sure everyone else does the same.

Me? In a tux? Damn straight. And we made a mask (for me - Marina borrowed a Carnaval mask from Carla).


The ball was held at the San Francisco City Hall. Classy.
I could go on and on about how classy it is to hold a ball in the hall, but I won't.



Everyone was so elegant. It was actually great.
Hey, in the background, in the blue dress, isn't that... Oddly enough, I have three accidental pictures of her.

Food!


Friends!


Older friends!


Decadense!


Newer, somewhat fuzzy, friends!
(And yes, I pretty much had that thing on my face the whole evening)


The American dream!
Where did all these wrinkles come from? I look like a Goddamn Ferengi!


I didn't expect any sort of fun, but this 80s cover band kept the floor busy.


Oops, The Chick noticed my flash



Yeah, that's that chick that guy used to... and then he... yeah.


Table for three?


My favorite two pictures from the evening



Like I said earlier, good thing that we take the camera everywhere.

I'm back. I think.

I spent the last months is a small hole I dug under the world, feeling very sorry for myself for several reasons. I thought I'd feel better about if I wrote about it, but of course I can't. Because this is the Internet. Your boss might be reading. Or worse, your mother.

And because c:\pics is 8 gigs less than 6 months after getting the camera. And because I took this picture from the deck a few minutes ago.



And because yesterday we went to pick up my parent's package from Bernie, up in The Hills. Los Alto Hills. Normally that's not news worthy, but I had to break 30 meters before reaching his house, becuase four deer were crossing the road, to get to the yummy front lawn just across the street. Four deer. Crossing the road. Right fucking there. I'm so glad we take the camera everywhere these days.



Do you realize the horror of these people's lives? Not only are they forced to live in a shack in a remote mountain location, but they also have to deal with deer munching on their front lawn (hey, an unintentional Ali G moment). Looks like this particular slum gets frequest visits - see the wire fence around protecting the bush? This is turning into a very naughty post. Very naughty indeed.

So, if people endure this kind of life, and I meerly watch it happen to others, I guess things aren't that bad. Maybe it's time I stopped whining, grabbed something with Gaiman on the cover, and bought a piece of electronic equipment I really don't need. It adds so much to one's feeling of control.

Without further adieu, in no particular order, I give you: Fun stuff I've done lately.

San Diego Comic Con, Day Four (Part 1): But wait, there is SO much more!

Another day, another line to stand in. I knew today would be busy, so I woke up extra early, and by 7:30 I was already standing in line with about a million of my fellow nerds. I should have gotten here earlier. I hope I'll get decent seats.

Today is supposed to be the biggest day of the Con, with over 100,000 visitors expected. Everybody's saying it, but nobody remembers where they heard this number.

I'm here for more movie-related presentations in the 6500-seat hall. Yesterday was only a rehearsal for today's madness. One of the lessons they learned was that it takes a LONG time for 6500 people to sit down, so they let us in at 9:00 even though the events won't start till 11:00 (yesterday they let us in at 10:30, but couldn't start till 11:30). It's fucking freezing in this hall, but I came prepared with a jacket, a book, the laptop and Marina dropped by earlier to bring me some food and drink - I'm going to be in this chair all day.

This will be a very long day, so it's going to be a very long report. Today, instead of wasting precious sleeping time on writing the report at night, I will be writing it between events and do a final edit when I get back. I don't have network access here anyway.

The atmosphere here is wonderful. Everybody wants to get a good seat, everybody wants to save seats for their friends, everybody wants to get their shopping done, everybody wants to take shortcuts through places they're not supposed to go through, but nobody's being a dick about it. No one is shouting to their pals on the other side of the room, trying to cut in line, smoking or picking a fight. There's nothing to make you feel you're not with 100,000 of your best friends. When you're in line for something, there's no reason to "stand" in line - just sit in a comfortable corner and relax. Nobody will try to pass you. I'm thinking what it would be like to pack 100,000 Israelis in one building, and it's not a pretty thought.

People around you just start talking with you about how excited they are about what we're about to see, comparing experiences from past Cons and writing down your recommendations for good books or movies. Imagine how many friends I could make if only I were a sociable person! I'm listening to people around me exchange book reviews and discuss how Episode III contradicts (or doesn't contradict, depends on who you ask) Episode IV. I'm a bit bummed about how Star Wars seems to have become synonymous with science fiction, just like Harry Potter took over fantasy. With the new Narnia movie(s), maybe next year will be different.

Right. To business.

Superman Returns
First thing we got was Bryan Singer, director of next year's Superman Returns. I was never a huge Superman fan, more of a Dark Knight person myself, and I've never heard of Bryan Singer before today. But it turns out that I'm a big fan of his, and you probably are too. He directed X-Men and X2 (he passed on X3, though because he was already working on Superman). Not enough? He directed The Usual Suspects. You can't top that.

So yeah, Bryan and I are like this now. He was nice, modest, cooperative with fans and idiots alike, tired from his flight (he came straight from Australia) and funny. A little bit.

Bryan brought a 5 minutes trailer prepared from what they've already filmed of the movie. After he played it, the crowd all stood up and cheered for 3 whole minutes (I timed it), and wouldn't calm down until he played it again. Then there was some more Q&A and we were done.

I originally didn't plan on coming to the Superman event at all, but I'm so glad I did. In stark contrast to V for Vendetta people, Bryan is one of us.



Update: http://bluetights.net is the movie's homepage. There's lots of goodness there, including several "video journals" and one covering Bryan Singer's visit to Comic Con. Check it out.
While you're there, look at some stills.

War of the Worlds
The special effects man from War of the Worlds came and talked about making the movie. Audience asked some questions and he showed us the of "the basement scene". He then talked a bit about making that scene, which took 3 weeks to film, and that was pretty much it.

Short and quite interesting, actually.

Aeon Flux
I was never very into Aeon Flux, because it was on MTV when I was in the army, so I only saw it once or twice (Which reminds me. Did I ever tell you how my parents got cable the exact same day I joined the army? A sadder tale has never been told). But once you see Aeon Flux, you remember it. Turns out that after the MTV show there was another one I wasn't aware of at all.

Anyway, the two main actors, the producer and the original creator came to chat with us. When Charlize Theron walked onto the stage, you could hardly see anything because of 6500 flashes going off. I guess they like her.

What the hell is she wearing? Someone from the audience shouted something unintelligible and she asked "What was that? You want me to take it off?" I guess that was the highlight of the event.


The movie might be worth something or it might be totally lame - it was hard to tell. I can tell you that Charlize's outfits in the movie are more conservative outfits than cartoon-Aeon wore. The audience asked a bunch of questions in various degrees of weirdness and then it was over too.

The event didn't flow very well. The audience didn't know the people on stage and they didn't really know how to talk to this kind of audience. I mean, the producer referred the process of turning the cartoon series into a movie as "developing the property". "The property" ? This is Comic Con, not some Hollywood power lunch! It was also clear that this team does not have the kind of chemistry that other groups I saw (like the BGS gang) have.

Actors looking doped, or maybe just bored - who knows. Who cares.


I almost felt sorry for the lead male actor, who only got asked one stupid question. I guess that's just life when you're not a babe. Still, he probably got to feel Charlize up at some point, so it's not all bad for him.
I think this is the only time he actually got to say something. Look how everyone else is fascinated by what he has to say!


Kevin Smith
Most people either love Kevin Smith or find him completely stupid. Well, actually most poeple never hear of him, but I'm pretending that I'm writing this to people like me. Anyway, I'm in the first group. I'm one of those people who think Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was made especially for them. So is nearly everyone else here, it seems.
Kevin's session is difficult to describe. He wasn't promoting anything in particular - it was sort of an informative stand up comedy session where you also hear something about making movies and Hollywood, but mainly laugh your ass off.

He's really, really funny, and doesn't quite watch his language. When a question from the audience got him started with some Jesus jokes, he got into some trouble with some guy in the audience that started shouting something about JC dying for Kevin's sins. Ugh. Kevin's protests that he "fucking loves Jesus" had no effect, of course - the guy was not in a listening mood.

Muy hilarious.

Watch the bad video I shot.

Slither
This is a horror movie starring Firefly's Nathan Fillion and cutie Elizabeth Banks. It comes out in 2006 and seems to be good fun, if you're into that sort of thing.
It was a short session and I don't remember any of it, except the Fillion was funny, Banks was cute and I was pulling my hair out because I couldn't wait any longer for the Serenity event.



Serenity - The Firefly movie
Wooowee! Wooo - FUCKING - weeee!

You did notice that those were four separate links, right? Watch them all!

OK, so I was curious about V for Vendetta, I was pleasantly surprised with Bryan Singer and I really wanted to see Kevin Smith, but this day is really about this one movie. Serenity, as if you don't already know, if based on the short-lived and much-loved Firefly TV series. Best damn thing on Sci Fi on TV since X-Files season 2. I fucking LOVE Firefly.
The show and the movie were created by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, who was directing the event. Almost the entire cast was here too (All except Alan Tudyk, aka Ash, aka The Pilot, didn't show up).

Everybody wants to see what Fillion is up to, except the Star Whore, who just wants to look hot, hot, HOT.


Gina Torres (did you know that she was in the Matrix II + III and is married to Laurence Fishburne?) takes an insult from Nathan Fillion.

Everyone is having a good time.

The last supper.


The Star Whore, usually referred to as "Stupid" by the other cast members, just said something that sounded really dirty. Everyone started choking, and she was all "That's not what I meant!"


Fillion doing his Wonder Woman impression.

The crowd really, really loves these folks and they love us right back. It's obvious that they really like each other and love working together. I think that's part of the reason people love the show so much.

Ooh, and Adam Baldwin (Jayne) said "in his bunk"! He said it! For me (and 6500 others, but who cares)!

This has been the most exciting event so far and the most fun. Joss showed a great clip from the movie (10!), people asked some fun questions, everybody made jokes and had a great time.

And suddenly in the middle of all the fun and laughter time was up, and they had to leave.

Wow. What a day! I sat in this freezing hall from 9:00 to 16:00 and didn't even feel time pass. But the day is just beginning - there's still the masquerade!

San Diego Comic Con, Day Three: Having fun is exhausting

I got to the convention center early today to get into the first big movie event of the con. The movie events take place in the huge hall H, which holds 6,500 people. The first event started at 11:00, but you had to be there at 4:00am to get into one of the first rows. I arrived around 10:00 and got decent seats for the first event, but people who arrived half an hour after me couldn’t get in at all.

I took some more shots of costumed visitors while waiting in line.

Rebel scum! They were right in front of me in the line. You can tell they haven’t had their morning coffee yet.

The young Ms. Incredible.

Weird box people. Nobody knew what they were about.

The first event was a promotion for a few new WB movies: V for Vendetta, the new Harry Potter, Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride, and The Fountain.

My main reason for coming was V for Vendetta, which is the terrible movie being made by the Fucking Wachowski Brothers, based on my favorite graphic novel (or is Watchmen my favorite? I can never decide) by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. It stars Natalie Portman, of whom I could get not a single decent picture, and Hugo “Missster Annnderson” Weaving, who wasn't here today.

Check out Natalie Portman’s hair - she shaved it for the movie.

They showed the trailer for the movie (looked OK, I guess, but way too many digital effects – typical Wachowski) and then they brought in the panelists: Star Natalie Portman, producer Joel Silver, who Alan Moore tells us is a stinking liar, I say is a standard Hollywood , and we all know is the guy who completely killed the Batman franchise, David Lloyd, artist and co-creator of the V for Vendetta comic (taller guy in the blurry picture, and you guessed it – a god) and Some Other Dude I Don’t Remember.

Silver talked a bit about how excited he was to in this "project" and how much he loved the book and blah blah Hollywood crap blah blah, and then they opened the panel for questions. Almost all questions were from weirdo fanboys to Natalie Portman, of course. They asked some odd questions like “what’s the different between playing a character inspired by a comic book and a character inspired by a novel?” and “I heard you talk about Israel and Judaism, and that caused me to start researching that subject and now I’m this whole metaphysical journey”. People were groaning in embarrassment, and the metaphysical guy was booed away by the audience. Natalie Portman was very nice to all of them, tried to be sweet to the more nervous ones, and asked people to direct some questions to the other panel members (nobody did anyway). She was even sweet to the guy who confused her with someone else and asked a question about a movie she wasn’t in. We laughed our asses off and he almost cried.

People did ask some interesting questions on how a certain US administration compares with the government in the book, and how come author Alan Moore wants nothing to do with the movie. Too bad the producers couldn’t give them good answers.

A fun time was had.

And I got to see Natalie Fucking Portman!

Next was The Corpse Bride. This is another stop motion animation movie from Burton, a bit like The Nightmare before Christmas, but they promissed there will only be four songs in it. I have very high hopes for this one.

Go watch the trailer.

Tim Burton was “unable” to come, but he sent a short video of himself saying hello and come watch my movie, as well as two nice people from the production team.

Another bad image taken from a great distance. My mini-tripod doesn't work that well when I forget it at home. Have to get in early tomorrow so I can get decent seats!

Then came The Fountain. It’s some sort of epic story about love and eternity, with Hugh Jackman, who sent a "Hi there!" video from Australia, (where he is now filming X-3), and Rachel"God Damn!" Weisz. Writer/director Darren Aronofsky was there with Wiesz to talk about the movie and take some questions. I’ve never heard of the movie, but many people showed up today especially to see Aronofsky.

I don't want to sound too shallow, and I actually have some expectations from this movie, and Rachel, if a Google search for the least-read reference to you lead you here, I want you to know I think you're a fine actress, honest, but really, who cares? Good times!

Mom, you don't have to click any of those links. I'm sorry if you already did, but I have an audience to please, and it turns out they're not into the fine arts. Well, maybe that depends on how you define "fine".

That ended the WB event and I went back to the floor to get some shopping done.

Oh look! It’s Andy Runton, creator of Owly, the most charming comic book in all history. Andy is a grade-A nice guy, and Owly is, is, is… Well it’s the only comic I ever got Marina to like. I think that says a lot.

Damn. Another victim of Stragers Who Can’t Hold A Camera.

Holly shit! This Hellboy was unbelievable. The mask, the glove, the gun, the tail - wow. Chick In Tight Black certainly approves.

I was in the autograph area when this woman started screaming behind me. It was Margot Kidder, Louis Lane from the Superman movies, shrieking with excitement at the sight of Porno Star Superman here. He was kinda cool in a way, and I was pretty excited too, but nobody ran to me and asked for my autograph.

Wilma! I mean, uh, Erin Gray! She’s like 97 years old now, but she’s still OK, in a way.
You need to read this South Park script. Start where is says “[Playground]”. Go on, I’ll wait.

On to the Battlestar Galactica meeting. While I was waiting for it to start, I hung out in a panel on horror movies and censorship. That’s John Landis in the middle, bad mouthing the MPAA and the White House. Pretty much everyone who was talking about movies had something nice to say about them.

Everybody’s excited about one thing. More to say on that tomorrow.

Finally, the Battlestar Galactica cast. Well, most of it.

Sadly, Tricia Helfer wasn’t there, but Grace Park was there to represent the Cylon Empire. When she came in, the event host asked her where the other Sharons were, and she replied that there are another three backstage. Someone from the audience asked if he could have one, and everyone laughed. Yay.

The crowd went pretty wild when Grace Park came out. I think she was OK with that.

On her left, Apollo is telling Baltar he has something on his face.

Writers/creators/gods Ron Moore and David Eick. They made TV watchable again.
And Madam The Gods Talk to Me Cause I'm The Smug Ass President.

Halfway through the event, Katee Sackhoff finally showed up. How Starbuck of her.

The cast all seemed like best buddies and made the event lots of fun for everyone.

They were talking about differences between the classic and the new show, and Jamie Bamber (Apollo) said that the “action” between Apollo and Starbuck isn’t one of the changes in the new series, because it was bound to happen in the original series if they’d only let it run a little longer. Everybody liked that one. Yay.

After the event I saw Richard Hatch, the original Apollo, in the signing area. He’s also doing Tom Zarek in the new season.

An Obi Wan sadwich! I love the beer belly look on the bike trooper.

Funny story about this elf. I was trying to get a picture of all the Jedis and geeks at the Penny Arcade booth, and the elf happened to turn around and see me with the camera in my hand. She thought I wanted to take her pictuer and immediately assumed the position. It just seemed rude not to take the picture. I love Comic Con.

My favorite South Park line.

That’s pretty much it for today. So much to see, so many places to go, so little time to write and select pictures and stuff. I’m completely beat.