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.

San Diego Comic Con, Day Two: Now dass what ahm talkin' about!

Shit yeah! This is what I came here for. “Here” being America, of course.

Today was more fun than I can describe. I took a shitload of pictures, but they really can’t explain what’s is like to be here. This place is pure magic, but like other important events in human history, it can’t be fully understood unless it is experienced, and it can’t be properly experienced before it’s understood. I don’t really know what I’m saying here, but it has something to do with me having a really time today.

Where do I begin? The colors (many)? The size (5XL)? The variety (whee!)? The people (all sorts)? The costumes (less of them than I expected, actually)? The booths (billions and billions!)? The familiar names and faces (more than I expected)? The Jedi knights and cosplayers (yeah, baby!)? Hot metal-bikini slave Princess Leia hanging out at the DC booth?

I don’t even think she was working there – I don’t think DC has any Star Wars rights any more. Maybe she's just an attendee celebrating her great skin tone. Oh yeah, she can ride my X-wing any time.
(Update: A bit more of her on iFilm (you should watch their Comic Con coverage in any case).

I could fill many pages with useless attempts to describe everything I saw and thought today, but that will take a week to write and I’m getting tired (it’s just after 1am now). I’m just going to dump a whole lot of pictures here and put a little note on each one. If you want to really know what it’s like, join me next year. I’m either going to have a very difficult time deciding what to put here or end up with a really long mail.

First order of business: Batteries and white paper. Had plenty of those with me today. I went back to the Penny Arcade booth, asked Gabe for a sketch of Div (thanks Gabe!), chatted with Tycho, did not appear to be retarded (I think), got a picture with Tycho and Gabe (aren’t they beautiful?) and felt pretty darn good.

See how cool they are? That’s me, hanging out with them. That means I’m cool too! Right next to my shoulder are the “Jesus is F’ing metal” shirts. I’m just PC enough to resist buying one, but I did buy a Fruit Fucker shirt. Star wars is definitely the big thing this year. Jedis and Imperial storm troopers are everywhere. I took some pictures of these booth troopers that were posing in some booth (I don’t even know which one - everybody seems to have Star Wars products now).

The picture on the right is a HUGE (at least 3 meters tall) poster that hung over the Star Wars pavilion. I just think it’s a cool image. The blur is in the original poster, giving a sense of movement, action, and awesomeness.

There are lots and lots of important guests in the con. The list of events and signings is so huge that it’s impossible not to miss a few items, so I didn’t even know that Stan Sakai would be here. I just noticed him accidentally when I passed through the Dark Horse booth. Stan Fucking Sakai!

Stan drew me a cool Usagi sketch and gave me a couple of free issues. Sweet.
One thing I've learned from asking people to take my picture: Strangers, even nice ones, can't hold the damn camera still.



More Star Wars stuff:
Lego Chewbacca, Star Wars helmets (see my hands and camera on D’s helmet?)

The one and only Bobba Fett, mercenary of the stars.

The main floor. Big and busy.

The Napoleon dude from The Corpse Bride. They brought an actual set and showed how stop motion animation is made: Slowly.

Werewolf thing from Underworld. Where’s Kate Beckinsale?

Cthulhu, devourer of worlds, and Dagon, badass extraordinaire.

I really have no idea.

FEZ!
Fez is starring this year in the movie El Muerto, which is Spanish for “The Muerto”, so the first event I checked out today was with the El Meurto crew.

It turns out that Fez is a pretty funny guy and it was a fun event.The big smiling guy on the left is Javier Something, who wrote the El Muerto comic.

Right after that, there was a Ren & Stimpy event. I’m a big R&S fan.

The weirdo in the glasses in John K, creator of Ren & Stimpy and voice of Ren. He is a god.

Right outside the meeting room, I saw two people re-enacting the scene where a big belly hits on Lara Croft. Both costumes were excellent.

Who you gonna call? This is one of the best costumes I saw today, and I saw quite a few. These small pictures are ruining the wonderful details on their gear. Notice the light saber on the first Buster on the right.

The DC booth. Ah yeah!

Michel Gagne is an incredible and sometimes bizarre artist. Bought book, got sketch, got signature, expressed appreciation, wished luck, had fun.

Jedis haven’t completely taken over the con. There was still a strong presence of cute cat girls.

And, uh, some baby kittens?

Later, at the Bruce Campbell appearance… Bruce is the world’s most famous unknown actor and author. I don’t think this email is going to anybody who has heard of him, but let’s just say this event was on my “don’t miss” list. Bruce talked about B-movies, being a B-movie actor, books, Hollywood and whatever people asked him about. Having only seen him in movies, I never knew he was a good speaker and very, very funny.

If you know anything about Bruce Campbell, you know how funny it was to see that chain saw arm in the audience. If you don’t, I guess you don’t.

A huge Joker, hanging above a booth selling the unmistakable art of Alex Ross. All I could afford was a T-shirt with this picture on it.

The Batman Begins exhibit, part of the DC pavilion.

San Diego is a very nice town, and I did have time catch a few glimpses of it. This is the view from the Convention Center 3rd floor.

After the floor closed, I stayed to watch some movies and at midnight I got on the bus back to the hotel (the con has free shuttles to everywhere all day). But first I pulled this elf off his chick’s face (I guess that’s why the Lady in Dark Clothes seems upset) and asked him if I could take a picture of his band. People in costumes love to pose for photographers - as soon as those elves saw my camera, they dropped all their shopping bags on the floor and assumed the elfish position.

A big day indeed. Network access is hard to come by, so who knows when I’ll actually send this…

More updates tomorrow!