- San Diego Comic-Con 2006 Thursday recap -

I left my hotel for the San Diego Comic-Con at 10:00AM; which is actually the same time they officially open the doors. The shuttle ride this time experienced a heavy traffic load, and we had no choice but to be dropped off about half a mile away from the Convention Center, because of complete gridlock. It took almost 40 minutes to get there, which is sad because I know it only takes me a little above 30 minutes if I walked (I had experience doing that a few years ago). Upon arrival, the first thing I did was to pre-register for next year's Comic-Con (July 26-29, 2007). That's right, already prepared for next year.

Now that the Con is officially in full swing, even more cosplayers (costumed folks) have started showing up, so I made sure to take photos of any costumed person I encounter. In fact, it got to the point that I started requesting people who *look* like they are in costume, but actually aren't (then again it might just be my excuse in trying to take a picture of a hot chick). I even encountered some cosplayers who wondered why so many people are asking for thier photo, and I told them "sorry, it's the comic-con, and costumed folks are fair game for photo opportunities." I took more random pictures of cosplayers / booth babes, that I even had some repeats. Oh, I did miss taking a picture of one cosplayer that I wish I did; Zatanna! I was hurriedly distracted away from her, and by the time I got back, she was gone. Maybe the next few days I'll be able to see her hotness again (or at least if somebody else online has her pic). Speaking of hotness, *my* Linda Tran returned to Comic-con, so I was pleased to talk to her again.

Along the way, I requested a photo of a superhero I've never seen before. Apparently, they are part of a news crew that talks to people. They asked me how I'm enjoying the Con, how long I've been attending, and the big question was asking me what my super power was. I drew kinda a blank and shot back with "the power to talk. Kinda what I'm doing right now." They got a chuckle out of my response. You know what, I don't even know when, where or if that short interview is going to air.

I more or less did all the shopping I intend to do this Thursday. I bought even more t-shirts, one trade paperback, and two more hats. My total for the past two days on merchandise is already at $240! Yowza. There is at least one more thing I intend to purchase, but it's not available until either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, because it is supposedly stuck in customs.

Next up were a couple of panels back to back from 2:00PM - 5:00PM. You've got the Warner Bros Animation presentation of three features, which were all CGI movies, and you have the Lionsgate presentation of upcoming films.

"Surf's Up" is a "penguin that surfs" movie. That one peaked my interest because it's done in a documentary style, as opposed to straight forward story telling. Then they showed stuff for "The Ant Bully," which had humorous animatics that wasn't afraid to kill it's lead character and show blood. The best animatic from Ant Bully was the part where they used actual humans to illustrate the CGI testing. "Happy Feet" was next, and while it seemed technically sound, it came off to me like a typical romantic musical comedy that Disney does. It has some good humor and some good musical sequences, but I'm not impressed at this point. Then came the CGI movie of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and they premierred the teaser trailer, which looked pretty damn absolutely good. It's a shame that 1/4th of the audience took off right after the teaser, because there were some good info at the Q&A as well as exclusive animatics shown for the movie. - click here for a little more about it -

"Skinwalkers" is a werewolf movie, although the exclusive clip they showed did not look like one. Stan Winston; famous for his movie creatures, is behind this though, so I'll have to give it the benefit of the doubt. Stan Winston was kind enough to have been there to promote the film. They showed another exclusive clip of "Crank," which looks like one of those fun action movies, staring Jason Statham, Amy Smart, and Efren Ramirez (vote for Pedro). Jason and Efren even showed up for the panel to promote the movie. Then they showed a clip of the horror film "The Descent" which looks like it'll provide many jumps. Then the coup de grace was the "Saw III" portion, that involved an appearance by Jigsaw himself; Tobin Bell (showcasing his creepy voice too). They also showed an exclusive clip from Saw III; which at that point is still unrated, that involved a guy with chains hooked into several parts of his body. "Painful to watch" pretty much describes it.

There was another panel I wanted to go to, which was a "webcomic 101 : introduction to making web based comic strips." Unfortunately, the amount of people interested far surpassed the room capacity of the class. I wasn't able to get in due to the room being full, which was kinda sad because I was only three persons away from entering.

This year marks a bit of a difference for me in my visit to Comic-Con. I actually have a group to hang out with. Which I haven't done since before the past Millenium ended. I met up with my friend, his wife, and their two children. Understandably (because they aren't a freak like me at the Con), they
weren't as "quick" as I am manuevering through the crowd and there were even
a couple of times where I was separated from them by accident
(distracted by photo-ops mostly).

This was their first year at the Comic-Con, and I'm happy to hear that they enjoyed themselves, and took as much in as they were able to in the four hours they stayed on Thursday. They will try and go through the rest of the exhibit hall, as well as more panels the next days. They did pick up a lot of SWAG though, to the point that they did not really have to buy many things. Since they had kids, booth attendees were more inclined to cater to them with more free stuff. In fact my friend told me a story about how in one booth, the booth babe was about to give this lady two decks of cards, but instead opted to give them to his daughter, then told the lady that they just "ran out."

So we ended up going through several aisles together as a group, and I even came across some more SWAG that I was willing to take, as well as more cosplayers for photo ops. One memorable booth was for "Pan's Labyrinth" which involved going into this hollow tree, and sticking your hand in some slimy ooze to pick up a key that you wear around your neck. Supposedly, when walking around with they key, you might be asked to try and open a price package. We'll see. My friend also got to meet Sid Haig, who he is a big fan of. He got the poster, authograph, picture, the whole shebang. My friend was really really really pleased to have experienced that.

Afterwards, we went to Horton Plaza to eat. They did a little bit more shopping, and then gave me a ride back to my hotel. I originally planned to return to the Comic-Con for a few more events; the Final Fantasy Symphony Orchestra Performance and the documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated." By the time I entered my hotel room I was already all tired, so I decided to just stay there for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow they open up Hall H for the Huge panels, I'll need to make sure to get up early to start standing in line to get into that panel room, admitedly it seats 6500+ people but I want to get close for photos and what not. The room is also so big that it even comes with it's own restrooms. They also open up Room 20, which is the second largest panel room seating 4000+ people.

Until Comic-Con Friday then!

- San Diego Comic-Con 2006 Wednesday recap -

It is that time of year for me again; the "San Diego Comic-Con International," and it has begun. Leaving home at 2:05pm, I got to San Diego at aproximately 3:55pm, 110 miles later. I encountered some traffic the first and last 40 minutes of my commute, but at least we were still kinda moving (50mph-ish). Either way, I got to my hotel a lot sooner than expected (I honestly thought I'd be there by 5pm). Just like last year, I'm once again staying at the Radisson Harbor View Hotel, which I don't mind because this is one of the few hotels I've been to that actually doesn't do mandatory valet parking (which I'd rather not do). There was no waiting upon checking in either, so I was all ready to go to the Convention Center almost immediately. The shuttle ride from the hotel to the convention center took a different route than last year's. This year, the shuttle actually goes by the Horton Plaza Mall; which works for me if I want to visit there before going inside the comic-con.

Being that it was "preview night," there were no panels, events, or other activities except the exhibit hall to shop shop shop. For three hours, I was wading through thousands of people in shoulder to shoulder traffic. It took some luck trying to get some pictures taken, when you have limited space to take the picture and there are also people in your way. Forget pictures, howabout video camera crews? G4 TV is already on the show floor, filming away for their special that will air on their network. I was in one of their shots, so who knows, maybe I'll see a blip of me on screen.

Anyways, the main goal of preview night for me is to take care of the majority (if not all) of the shopping that I need to do. My main objective are for three things, clothing apparel, some trade paperbacks, and possibly some DVDs. Just like it's been the past years, I also try and limit picking up too many SWAG (Stuff We All Get), because it gets cumbersome carrying too many things.

This year, I started at the very south end of the exhibit hall; which starts at aisle 5300 (that's 53 aisles not 5300 aisles btw). By the end of the three hours given to us for preview night, I got to aisle 1600. For three hours, I wasn't even able to go through the whole exhibit hall! That was a first for me as I usually am able to go through all the aisles in that time frame. I blame the amount of people I had to wade through, and the fact that I would actually linger on some booths a lot longer than normal. I did buy several things though, so that could be it too. I bought three t-shirts for me, one baby-tee for my fiancee, and one hat. I also bought a DVD boxset of... live-action Sailor-Moon TV series (hey! I shouldn't have to defend myself there). I ended up spending roughly $120 on those merchandise alone. For the SWAG I did pick up, I got some buttons, one t-shirt, a deck of trading cards, an exclusive postcard set, some magazines, collector edition comicbook samples, and a Naruto face mask. Speaking of SWAG, there are lines and lines up the wazoo forming around booths (and their neighboring booths) that were giving out free stuff or holding a contest. I avoided all of them except for that one t-shirt I got.

That was pretty much Wednesday. I shopped. I'm not done shopping yet though, as there are least four more t-shirts that I know I want to pick up (they were only on display for Wednesday). Also, there's the last 16 aisles that I still need to go through, so who knows what I'll be getting there. Not to mention, panels, screenings, and extra events begins Thursday. Great start so far.

p.s. Even though this is a "comic" convention, every year there seems to be less comic books on the exhibit hall. It truly has become simply a pop-culture convention. I bet you that one of these days, the name will completely change to properly fit what it has evolved into.

WooHoo!!! San Diego Comic-Con is finally here. This is truly one of those events that I live for, and hopefully this year won't disappoint. Last year turned out to be one of the best experiences I've had at the Comic-Con, so it's going to be tough for this year to top..... but we'll see.

These are just some of the WHATs and WHOs of what I'm expecting this year...

- Thursday -

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle CGI movie, Jason Stathan, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez, "Dream on Silly Dreamer" & "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" documentaries.

- Friday -

Hilary Swank, Anna Sophia Robb, Bryan Singer, NBC: Heroes pilot premiere, Ali Larter, Greg Grunberg, Hayden Panettierre, Transformers the live-action movie, Dead or Alive movie, Jaime Pressly, Holly Valance, Sarah Carter, Natassia Malthe, Snakes on a Plane, Samuel L. Jackson

- Saturday -

Lost Season 3, Jorge Garcia, Daniel Dae Kim, Grind House, Rose McGowan, Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Veronica Mars, Kristen Bell, Ghost Rider, Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Spider-Man 3, Sam Raimi

- Sunday -

the Grudge 2, Amber Tamblyn

- - I'll also be uploading the pictures I take to my Photobucket account - -

*** some important links for those also going ***

- map of Convention Center with important location markers
- shuttle & parking map for downtown San Diego
- shuttle service detail for Comic-Con
- what you will find around the booths of the exihibit hall (dealer's room)
- guide for programming and events
- Japanese Anime programming guide
- Independent Film Festival guide

Sacrificed Random Sons

Adam Carolla hangs up on Ann Coulter (audio)

Rocky VI trailer (video)

cool TAK - I AM So COol (video)

Christopher Walken calls a restaurant (video)

Face Painting On Passed-Out Guy (video)

Japanese Game Show in Library (video)

re: Your Brains - done with WoW (video)

house of dominos (video)

Zidane Vs Materazzi The Movie! (video)

ZIDANE a new way to solve problems.. (video)

gamma bros (game)

first 24 minutes of A Scanner Darkly (video)

WOW, I turned 30 years old today! That's unbelievable to me as I've gotten used to the idea that I'll forever be in my twenties. How time flies.

movies I've seen recently...

Over the Hedge  (2006)  B-

...and in this corner of CGI animated movies adapting a comic strip about fuzzy creatures is "Over the Hedge." This is another animated film that appeals to adults as well as to children, but in this case it is more skewed towards kids entertainment. Because of the kiddie nature of the movie, a lot of the humor is in the physical cartoony absolutely incredulous variety. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because it's no different than the Road Runner vs Wile E Cayote cartoons of old and I still enjoy watching those. All the creatures here are very human in personality, while the humans are pretty much there as idiotic comic adversaries. Wait, actually there's one animal that acts like he's suppose to; the dog ("play? play play play"). There's tons of entertaining scenes in Over the Hedge, and the voice cast are great in it. The one thing I enjoyed the most is the exchange and relationship between the Racoon "R.J." (Bruce Willis) and the Turtle "Verne" (Garry Shandling). This movie is not exactly a classic, but it's not bad either.

Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest (2006)  B-

This can't be helped, but being that "Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest" is the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean : The Curse of the Black Pearl," I will be making comparisons between the two. Now despite the negative feedback
I've been hearing prior to seeing the movie, I honestly thought it wasn't that bad at all. In
fact, I thought it was good. I actually kinda liked it a little more
than the first PotC to tell you the truth (PotC got a C+ from me).

The first PotC I thought was just going through the motions of a
typical average Pirates movie with supernatural baddies, while the
sequel feels more ambitious. I was definitely more captivated by the
story in Dead Man's Chest, with it's various plots. I admit the
execution of the movie itself is kinda a mix bag, with the length being
longer than it probably has to be (blame director : Gore Verbinski), and the scenes are kinda strung
together a little too conveniently. The cliffhanger ending didn't
bother me at all either, and I thought it can stand on it's own rather
well.

The action I thought was very good, the special affects were excellent,
and Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is one of the best CGI characters I've ever witness.
Speaking of characters, unlike the first one where Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) stole
the movie from everybody else, this one has every main character
sharing the spotlight. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elisabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), and even
Norrington (Jack Davenport) are less one dimensional than they were in the first one.

The biggest improvement I thought was the immersion of the world
created in the movie. The first PotC felt too much like they were just
showing off set piece after set piece. The sequel however's got it's
world down to a very realized and believable level.

Basic Instinct 2 (2006)  C-

Simply put, Basic Instinct 2 did not need to be made at this point in time. It is very much a pale imitation of it's predecessor; Basic Instinct. The problem with this sequel is that it tries too hard to be like the original, with it's twisty mystery, tragic heroes, violence, mind games, sex and nudity. The problem here is that director Michael Caton-Jones is no where near as daring as Paul Verhoeven was, as every single element are a huge notch below the original that it almost comes off like a parody. It's obvious that part of the appeal of the original was the shamelessness in the nudity and sex, but this sequel is a lot more bashful in comparison. Sharon Stone however is still very good at playing her character Catherine Tramell, and still oozes sexuality, even though she is already arguably too old to play the role. I probably should mention though, that as disappointing as Basic Instinct 2 was, I couldn't help but be compelled to finish the movie.

Never Random Enough

"the office" webisodes begins! (video)

ask ninja reviews Pirates of the Carribean 2 (video)

one red paper clip (link)

insane beatmania skills (video)

another "PSP takes forever to load" (video)

rent a bio beetle (link)

Extreme Ghouls 'n Ghosts (video)

best fight scene evah! (video)

World of Warcraft detox (link)

awesome 1984 Chevy Corvette Commercial (video)

A 500lbs Rubber band ball hitting a car (video)

next-gen video game console wars (link)

Wow, I'm an uncle again. My brother and my sister in law gave birth to a baby girl. That's three nieces, and no nephews so far..... I wonder if I'm going to get some pressure to produce a grandson for my parents. I don't even plan to have kids, so I'll see how that goes.