Month: July 2009

  • Something Random To Live For

    Shatner Does Palin (video)

    ABC News: Virgin Mary Seen in Bird Poop (video)

    Crazy Santa Cruz Public Comments (video)

    guy burns in fire (video)

    Heckled at Press Conference (video)

    Speed Bumps Bus Fail HQ Clip (video)

    Hand-Drawn Block Letters (video)

    Harry Potter and the Douchebag Magicians (video)

    Episode I's Jake Lloyd: 10 Years Later (video)

    Why Is Dragon Quest IX So Popular? (link)

  • As someone who does not want to have a child, there are some things that I am going to really miss out on. I won't really get to pass the knowledge that I've acquired in my life to someone else. Sure I can do this with my nieces or nephew, but it's not really the same I suppose, and besides they should be learning from their own parents anyway. Most recently however at work, I got to experience a little bit of what it feels like to teach somebody else something that I know. This wasn't work related either, or something to do with an interest. This had to do with school work!

    Somebody at work much younger than me, needed help with her school assignment for college, and coincidentally enough I had knowledge about it. She currently does not have access to the internet (I know, right?) so she was limited on her resources. The subject had to do with the allegories relating to the communist threat of the '50s and '60s, with popular media like the movie "Invasion of the body snatchers" or "Twilight Zone." I don't know if I'm being a little naive at what kids nowadays should know, but I was surprised that she didn't "get" what the allegory between the two were. So I explained to her everything I knew about the subject, and how it related to the movie and what not. McCarthyism. Communism versus a Democracy. The second red scare. Etc. I actually made things clearer for her. She told me that she understood the assignment a lot more than she did before.

    I taught her things I knew. I passed my knowledge that I've acquired in my life to someone else. I suddenly had the feeling that I did something positive and worthwhile. I felt proud that I was able to help out. Now, I'm actually curious as to how well she did on her assignment, like I can only guess a Father would feel after helping his daughter on an assignment. Well, I hope... I'm sure she did great.

  • What Type of Writer Should You Be?

    You Should Be a Science Fiction Writer
    Your ideas are very strange, and people often wonder what planet you're from.
    And while you may have some problems being "normal," you'll have no problems writing sci-fi.
    Whether it's epic films, important novels, or vivid comics...
    Your own little universe could leave an important mark on the world!

    What I've been listening to lately...

    1) The /Filmcast SDCC2009 wrap up podcast
    2) Totally Rad Show live at Comic-Con
    3) The Popcorn Mafia recording at Comic-Con
    4) Alestorm - black sails at midnight
    5) Airborne Toxic Event - airborne toxic event
    6) The Blackest Album 4 - an industrial tribute to metallica

  • Reflecting on the San Diego Comic-Con International, July 22-26, 2009

    Links of note...
    - Recap of Comic-Con Day 1 (preview night)
    - Recap of Comic-Con Day 2 (the line game, cosplayers, Tru Blood Happy Hour)
    - Recap of Comic-Con Day 3 (Warner Bros, Disney 3D, Sony, Star Wars)
    - Recap of Comic-Con Day 4 (LOST, Extract, Sony, Iron Man 2, Kevin Smith, Masquerade)
    - Recap of Comic-Con Day 5 (exhibit hall day, Kevin Smith shoutout)

    - the videos I took at Comic-Con
    -     the photos I took at Comic-Con

    Before Comic-Con 2009 began for me, I did say that I expected this to be a very special year, probably more so than before. It's true, it was a pretty special and memorable event for me, with the positives vastly out weighing the negatives. The San Diego Comic-Con just felt "bigger" than it's ever been, and despite things being a little too crowded at times, or the amount of time you had to wait in line for the popular panels, the four days event (plus preview night) was full of win. I guess to alleviate some of the crowd at the Convention Center, this year's Comic-Con took advantage of Downtown San Diego itself and actually had events relocated to places in the city. I never did get to take too much advantage of those however, but next year I'll definitely keep an eye on those.

    Roaming the exhibit hall with a friend who also liked taking photos of cosplayers really let me get a lot more creative in some of the shots. Being at Comic-Con with my wife for the last two days was also something I never thought would happen, although the event may have been too exhausting for her. Comic-Con after all is somewhat of an endurance test to see how far you can walk, how long you can wait, how tolerant can you be, how long can you go without eating/drinking, and how long you can stay awake. There's a reason why I usually take the day after Comic-Con off from work, as it is my day of rest.

    Most common things said over the five days...

    - What is this line for?
    - Where did you get that from?
    - Hey, did you see/go... (fill in blank with celebrity, panel, video)?
    - Can I take a picture?
    - This is my first time in Comic-Con.
    - I'm from the Bay Area. (somehow, I met many people from San Francisco)

    Memorable moments...

    Wednesday night was cool, in the sense that since me and my friends were "veterans" of this event, finding our way around the San Diego Convention Center was not a hassle. Playing "hide from security" and getting in the exhibit hall before the tens of thousands of people in line was pretty fun. One of the first things we did notice about Comic-Con this year, was how much more organized the staff were (still wasn't perfect, but still). Besides roaming the exhibit hall, buying as much as I want, and getting as many free stuff as I can, I did try a few note worthy things. I tried the "mind flex" thing which was pretty cool, and I did play Lego Rock Band for the first time as well.

    Thursday was the day that seemed to be against us. First off the Twilight fans really took over Hall H, which prevented us from getting into a single panel there that day. Sure, having Twilight present meant that there were even more females attending Comic-Con; probably more so than it's ever been, but still... We tried for "Avatar," waited in line for almost two hours under the heat of the sun and failed to get in (I heard they showed 25 minutes of the movie too, in 3D!). Then later that night, while we were able to get free passes for an early movie screening of "District 9," we still weren't able to get in because the one theater showing it was full. If we were in line 15 minutes earlier, we probably could have made it, but the bus driver did not drop us off at the stop we were expecting, which pretty much wasted our time. However, to balance those bad lucks, I did get to meet G4TV's Alison Haislip and Adam Sessler. Had more fun roaming the exhibit hall, where I got to see "that gorgeous girl working the JayCompanyComics booth" which is definitely a highlight for me (never got a photo of her, and never did see her again). We also had tons of fun having free drinks and food at the "Rock Bottom" for the True Blood Happy Hour party. Met some cool people from the San Francisco Bay Area, and just partied.

    Friday became a "Hall H day" for me, which is huge contrast to the previous days. The Warner Bros and the Disney Panel were all sorts of win. Seeing stars from Denzel Washington, Megan Fox, Robert Downey Jr, to Hayao Miyazaki on stage was pretty exciting (plus Ralph Garman from the Kevin & Bean show too!). Using those 3D glasses in Hall H's new HD screens was incredible, although I heard from one of the coordinators that because a ton of people did not return those 3D glasses afterward, they might not be able to do something like this again in the future. Seeing the G4 cast and crew for the Star Wars Spectacular panel was cool, although the panel content itself was kinda just "meh." Then to top off the day, I got to shake hands with the brains behind the TV show LOST (Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse).

    Saturday was the day my wife came over to join me here at Comic-Con. I've warned her that the whole extravaganza is going to be exhausting for her, and it was (she's not coming back next year). The final comic-con panel for LOST was incredible, and really was like a celebration to such a great show. The scenes shown for the movie "Extract" was all sorts of win. The Iron Man 2 panel was just such an extravaganza. Kevin Smith's Q&A was as entertaining as it always is. Then I once again took tons of photos from the Masquerade show, with a particularly hot Pikachu probably winning my heart as best costume (since I'm a guy). Saturday was also the day I found out that I can be seen on TV in G4's coverage of the Star Wars panel, and apparently you can't miss me. What made the day complete for me, was that I got to continue doing the annual tradition of taking a photo of and with "Comic-Con Lisa" (those of you who follow my yearly comic-con coverage should know who I'm talking about).

    Sunday became my exhibit hall only day, but this time I have my wife and some friends to tag along with me. As long as that lasted at least. It turns out that my habit of just suddenly zigzagging through the crowd to get a photo of a cosplayer, was a bit of a hindrance to my party. Eventually we just went our separate ways, and I once again became a lone wolf at Comic-Con. I did meet actors Tony Todd and Peter Wingfield, which was really cool. The absolute highlight of the day however has to have a paragraph on it's own...

    Roughly around noon time, I find out that Director/Writer Kevin Smith (Silent Bob himself) posted a link on his twitter, about my uploaded youtube videos from his Saturday night's Q&A. From that point on, I started getting tons of subscriptions and comments for those videos. It was unbelievable at the amount of e-mail notifications that I was receiving on my BlackBerry. Besides Twitter, my videos has also been linked to Kevin Smith's websites (newsaskew.com and viewaskew.com), which only helps bring more traffic to my youtube. By the end of Monday July 27, my youtube channel was "#44 - Most Viewed (Today)" with something like a total of 61,151 views. That was the peak of my "five seconds of internet fame," as the traffic to my site has finally settled down to normal. Still it was a very surreal experience to have that much attention put on something I did. Wow indeed.

    Comic-Con 2009 is definitely going to be one that I will refer to in the future. It's also a testament to why I've been going to this event since... 1993 was it? I don't even remember the first time I went. I did skip it one year (1998), but that was when I vowed never to skip another Comic-Con again.

    So mark your calendars for next year's San Diego Comic-Con. July 21-25, 2010.

    P.S. With the "mainstream-ifcation" of Comic-Con, due to Hollywood taking over the event, should we feel a bit sorry or ashamed about the lack of actual significant presence and attention to comic-books themselves? hhhmmm

    Lots of related links below to check out...

    - Natalie Tran at Comic-Con (video)
    - Natalie Tran visiting the Alice In Wonderland tour at Comic-Con (video)
    - Kassem G at Comic-Con (video)
    - hot chicks at Comic-Con (video)
    - Tron Legacy ARG and Flynn's real life Arcade in San Diego (video)
    - G4's comic-con costume parade (video)
    - Dana Vinson investigates Comic-Con Cosplayers (video)
    - Attack Of The Show panel (video)
    - the Popcorn Mafia at Comic-Con (video)
    - the art of love at comic-con (video)

    - another write up on Tron's real life Flynn's Arcade in Downtown San Diego (link)
    - Brutal Legend's Metal Meltdown at Comic-Con, with GWAR as headliner (link)
    - Comic-Con pics 'n' reflections: Why I loved '09, but it still wasn't perfect (link)
    - Chris Gore's write up : The Geeks Takeover and Then Take Off (link)
    - 4 Reasons to hate Comic-Con (link)
    - 3 other cities fight it out for the con (link)

    - 10 Green Screen Photos from Comic-Con (pics)
    - The Comic-Con 2009 Cosplay Gallery -- 600 Amazing Costumes (pics)
    - Comic-Con Leftovers : Photos and Videos Unfit to print (video, link, pics)

    - The /Filmcast SDCC2009 wrap up podcast (audio)
    - Totally Rad Show live at Comic-Con (audio)
    - The Popcorn Mafia recording at Comic-Con (audio)
    - more from the Popcorn Mafia at Comic-Con (audio)
    - Extra Life Radio #222 (audio)

  • Recapping Day 5, July 26, 2009 of the San Diego Comic-Con International

    *note* - I'm still resting a bit from the Comic-Con weekend, so I'm aware that my blog post has been kinda brief these past three days. I do intend to fill them up with a bit more information to go along with my Twitter/Facebooks posts that I've just been putting here. Photos and Video links at the bottom... -

    10:53AM - Unlike the past four days, I slept in a little. But now I am on my way to the San Diego Convention Center for the last day of Comic-Con! -

    1:09PM - LoL I continue to take photos of cosplayers, but I guess I'm holding back the party that I'm with -

    1:26PM - Ha Ha I think my party abandoned me right when I was taking a photo with a female Freddy Krueger -

    3:16PM - Sweet. I met Peter Wingfield. Methos from Highlander himself -

    3:47PM - Walking around in a crowd while carrying 2 big bags of SWAG is very limiting... -

    5:10PM - Comic-Con is now officially over! "At this time, Attendance need to exit the exhibit hall."... Uhmm Give us 30 more minutes for that -

    10:58PM - Oh look I have returned home... Another year until the next San Diego Comic-Con. *sigh* I miss it already. Although I am exhausted right now -

    2:10AM - So it turns out that @ThatKevinSmith posted a link to my youtube videos of his Comic-Con Q&A. This is my 5 seconds of internet fame I guess. -

    My Photos can be found here...
    http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i14/patrick005/San%20Diego%20Comic-Con/SDCC%202009/?start=840

    and my Videos can be found here...
    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=057A4483694DD8AE

  • Recapping Day 4, July 25, 2009 of the San Diego Comic-Con International

    *note* - not quite done updating this blog just yet (or the previous day). For now I'll leave you my Twitter/Facebook posts until I can re-edit this post. Photos and Video links at the bottom... -

    8:34AM - Finally arrived at the Hall H line (LOST, Iron Man 2, Kevin Smith). Just like yesterday I'm gonna be in Hall H for 10 hours straight. OhBoy -

    11:12AM - LOST panel is ON! Damon and Carlton walking on stage with "the Final Countdown" playing -

    12:13PM - Jack's plan did change the future? LOST panel should have been 2 hours (ABC was too cheap to pay). Hurley, Ben, Richard, Sawyer, Charlie -

    12:54PM - After all these years that she couldn't or wouldn't go to Comic-Con, my wife is actually here with me! -

    1:05PM - My brother just told me that he saw me on TV, from the G4TV Comic-Con coverage of the Star Wars special. LoL awesome -

    1:24PM - Saw trailer and clips for "Solomon Kane." Kinda looks cool. -

    1:42PM - Mike Judge, Jason Bateman, and Mila Kunis here for the "Extract" panel -
     
    2:07PM - They showed clips for "Extract" and it makes me want to watch the movie like RIGHT NOW. Funny stuff -

    3:03PM - Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg present for "Zombieland" panel. Showed new trailer and clips -

    3:27PM - Hey look, Roland Emmerich is actually here for the 2012 panel. -

    3:42PM - I can hear some disgruntled yells from people outside who seem to really really want to get in Hall H. Why? Iron Man 2 is next. -

    4:23PM - Iron Man 2! Robert Downey Jr, Jon Favreau, Scarlett Johannsen, Sam Rockwell, Don Cheadle. Clips shown was freakin AWESOME! BTW - War Machine -

    5:27PM - LoL people in the internet are looking for leaked footages from the Comic-Con panels. We're not suppose to film the videos shown you know. -

    7:53PM - As usual Kevin Smith's panel was very entertaining. The things he said about the movie Twilight was classic. -

    8:34PM - Made my day even better. I ran into the lovely CosplayLisa. We got to continue doing our tradition of her beating me up in a photo. ^_^

    8:51PM - For the next HOURS I shall once again plant myself at the masquerade photo area. Let's see how the cosplayers are this year -

    12:40AM - Back at the hotel, just one more day of Comic-Con -

    My Photos will be found here...
    http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i14/patrick005/San%20Diego%20Comic-Con/SDCC%202009/?start=432

    and my Videos will be found here...
    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=057A4483694DD8AE

    follow my Comic-Con updates as it happens via Twitter...
    https://twitter.com/optimum5

  • Recapping Day 3, July 24, 2009 of the San Diego Comic-Con International

    *note* - not quite done updating this blog just yet. For now I'll leave you my Twitter/Facebook posts until I can re-edit this post. Photos and Video links at the bottom...

    7:16AM - Twilight really made a difference yesterday, because the Hall H line actually looks *normal* for this time of day. Just the proper length. -

    9:33AM - WooHoo I'm in Hall H! Only stayed in line for 10 minutes thanks to a friend who has been in line since 6:30AM -

    9:53AM - Currently waiting for the Warner Bros panel to start -

    10:50AM - Saw three huge clips for Where the Wild Things are. It was magical. Main kid star Max was there. He was cool -

    10:56AM  - For "the Book of Eli," the Hughes Bros, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, and Denzel Washington showed up. Oh and footage was shown too. Interesting -

    11:19AM - Jacke Earl Haley shows up for Nightmare On Elm Street reboot. Showed footage and looked freightenly awesome -

    11:33AM- Footage for "the Box" looked great. Director Richard Kelly, and stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden were there to talk about the film -

    11:57AM - Trailer for "Jonah Hex" looked great. Josh Brolin and MEGAN FOX is right here right now at the panel. Megan Fox! -

    12:30PM  - Robert Downey Jr is in da house!!! Joel Silver. Rachel McAdams. Woot! Sherlock Holmes looks so good. -

    12:44PM  - Warner Bros panel has ended. They really really brought it this year. -

    1:27PM  - John Lasseter from Pixar is here for the Disney panel. Just saw the beginning of Toy Story 2 in digital 3D -

    1:30PM - Oh, nice Digital 3D trailer for the Toy Story / Toy Story 2 double feature in 3D! -

    2:16PM - Hayao Miyazaki himself, here at Comic-Con! For his movie Ponyo. -

    2:44PM - Ken doll interview. First scene of Beauty & The Beast in 3D. Nice Prep & Landing trailer. 8 mins of The Princess & the Frog. Ponyo was WOW. -

    2:46PM - Disney panel was awesome. This was also the first time that I got to use 3D glasses in Hall H, and it was pretty cool. -

    3:13PM - Jennifer Connely, Elijah Wood, Tim Burton, Timur, and Shane Acker all present for the "9" panel. -

    4:11PM - Saw an early trailer for "Legion" and it definitely looks interesting. -

    5:03PM - Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp, Sharlto Copley, and Ralph Garman (from Kevin & Bean), in the District 9 panel. 7 mins of footage shown. WOW -

    6:02PM - Olivia Munn, Kevin Pereira, and Steve Sanswee are here hosting the Star Wars Spectacular Panel. -

    6:42PM - Voice cast of Star Wars Clone Wars are here... Damnit Olivia Munn your cleavage is ssooo distracting -

    7:17PM - Met Kristin Adams from G4TV and I believe I might actually be able to see myself on TV -

    7:55PM - Uh Oh. A good 100 something people are already standing in line for Hall H. First panel (LOST) isn't even on until 11AM -

    7:59PM - Peter Jackson and James Cameron sitting next to each other. ICONS -

    8:24PM - I just shook the hands of Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindeloff, the brains behind LOST! They were kind to swing by the early line for Hall H. -

    9:21PM - I am ssooo tired. I dozed off in the shuttle and almost missed my stop. Aw well. Two more days of Comic-Con! -

    My Photos will be found here...
    http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i14/patrick005/San%20Diego%20Comic-Con/SDCC%202009/?start=144

    and my Videos will be found here...
    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=057A4483694DD8AE

    follow my Comic-Con updates as it happens via Twitter...
    https://twitter.com/optimum5

  • Recapping Day 2, July 23, 2009 of the San Diego Comic-Con International

    8:45AM - Gonna eat breakfast, because I don't think we're going to have time to eat Lunch or Dinner today. Full schedule on the agenda. -
    We were running slightly late, but since we weren't planning to have time to eat lunch and dinner due to the full schedule, we had to make sure we ate breakfast. After wards we waited for the Comic-Con shuttle, but since it was running late, we decided to walk it anyway. I figured it was stuck in the comic-con traffic and would be delayed. We did get to the convention center before the shuttle, and that was by walking...

    10:04AM - Wow, a lot of people (like me) really want to buy this year's official comic-con t-shirt. Hella long line -
    *click here* to see what that line looked line... well if you can see the line in that crowd...

    10:23AM - Looks like I won't be able to get in for the Alice in Wonderland / Tron 2 panel. Hall H's 65,000+ capacity has been met. Bleah -
    This is incredibly surprising to me. Usually this wouldn't be an issue, but so many more people are willing to camp out for a panel, that the line gets much too long, much too soon. For Friday morning's first panel in Hall H, I may have to consider showing up as early as 7:30AM, just in case this happens again.

    10:34AM - Damn Twilight fans eating up all the seats for Hall H -
    ...and that's the culprit right there. As early as Wednesday evening were Twilight fans waiting for this panel. For the first people who decided to camp out, they literally waited more than 24+ hours for it. Hardcore dedication to the extreme right there.

    11:23AM - I just butchered singing a Jackson 5 song on LEGO Rock Band haha huh uh uwwaaooohhhh -
    Since I wasn't going to the first two panels I wanted to go to, I decided to continue roaming the exhibit hall. Me and my friend decided to do LEGO Rock Band again, and for some reason I was "convinced" to sing the song in the game by the Jackson 5. Yeah, that didn't go so well, although I did play on "easy."

    11:59AM - Just met @alisonhaislip and she's all sorts of cool. -
    My friend noticed her first (because she's pretty), but was not familiar with her. I saw her and immediately I was all "Alison Haislip!" She turned around and looked pleased to meet me. We chatted for awhile about general Comic-Con talk. She noticed my LEGO Rock Band VIP pass tag thing, and so we talked about that. We ended with a critique about how crazy Hall H has gotten with it reaching capacity so easily now. Before I left, I made the comment "It's because of Twilight. I say blame Robert Pattinson." She follows that up with "you should." Like I said, she's all sorts of cool.
    *click here* for a photo of me and her

    12:06PM - Well Tyrese Gibson's posse are sure making sure that he's there. "Tyrese is here! Do you want to meet him?" Nah I'm good -
    c'mon Tyrese. Why you gotta act like you the king of Comic-Con or something. Plus charging your fans money just to take a picture with you? Not cool.

    12:34PM - May not be in the two panels I want to be in at Hall H, but I'm enjoying myself in the exhibit hall. Lots of pix of cosplayers. Woot! -
    I admit that I really was having a lot of fun just roaming around the exhibit hall. Browsing for stuff and looking for those photo opportunities. Me and my friend started a little competition of "extraordinary" photos with the booth babes, and I thought it was hilarious how we made that into a game of sorts.

    Speaking of roaming around. Check out this video of me walking through the crowd @ Comic-Con
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2lcgJui8YQ

    12:44PM - Darn. That girl working yesterday at the "JayCompanyComics" booth @ aisle 400 that is GORGEOUS isn't there today. Was gonna try for photo too -
    ... but at least we had Cammy, and Zatanna, and Supergirl and Batgirl, and and this girl with the deadly lance, and maybe others... BTW Zombies for some reason are really popular to dress up at this year.

    12:56PM - LoL. The reporter for cosplaytv.com keeps calling Cookie Monster, Elmo, and wanted to tickle him -
    The reporter was really cute though, but still...

    1:07PM - HaHa. Just had an embarrassing moment with a Japanese booth babe... Can't really explain it properly here... -
    requires visual aid to explain what happened, and I don't have time for that. Let's just say that she thought I was some pervert, but with that line of thinking from her, she actually seemed please. I did in fact prove to her that I wasn't trying to act perverted around her and all, but it was still embarrassing.
    *click here* to see who I'm talking about

    1:54PM - Just met @AdamSessler nice guy. Cool dude. Da Man. -
    While heading for the Hall H line for the James Cameron's Avatar panel, I met Adam Sessler. Very nice man. We took a photo and I talked to him a little bit about how I've followed him since his GameSpotTV days. For me this makes up for that time I was acting like a complete dick to him at Universal City Walk YEARS ago.
    *click here* for the photo of me with Adam

    2:09PM - Currently standing in the hot sun outside in the hall h line waiting to get in for the James Cameron's Avatar panel. -
    We weren't *that* far away from the Hall H entrance, so my hope was up that we would be able to get in.
    *click here* to see what I looked like in line

    2:17PM - LoL. While standing in line doing a trivia question for the movie Avatar, my friend won a t-shirt. Unfortunately for him, it's a girls shirt -
    So no, that shirt does not fit him because it's too small. It worked fine for a sun blocker while we were standing in line though.

    3:46PM - Aarrgghh I stood in line for almost two hours to get in the James Cameron's Avatar panel and they aren't letting us in! Hall H is STILL FULL -
    The staff members did not even announce that the Avatar panel was already full, and I had to find out for myself that we were out of luck.

    3:57PM - I was about 40 people away from getting in Hall H too. I guess you have to get in the panel before the panel before the panel you want. -
    Which BTW is unheard of in Comic-Con. It's always kinda been a "go halfway through the panel before the panel you want to, if you want to get in." This year however? Good luck with that. So me and my friends went up stairs to the masquerade booth to pick up our photo pass, so that we can take pictures of the Masquerade Ball participants, on Saturday night.

    4:34PM - Done with convention for today. On the shuttle going back to hotel. Will get ready to see movie screening of District 9 at Horton Plaza -



    5:15PM - I can't believe I went through a whole Comic-Con thursday without going to a single panel. I was able to take tons of photos though. Fun fun -

    6:09PM - Standing in line for the movie screening of "District 9." Hopefully this time we'll actually be able to get in. -
    We had to convince the bus driver to drop us off by the Horton; since he forgot to stop at the one stop we were expecting. We went upstairs and made sure we were good to go for the movie.

    7:17PM - Hhhaaaahhhhahahaahahahahahahah lol lol lol rofl rofl lol -
    ... and the reason for my mad laughter is....

    7:20PM - Figures. Not surprised but Theater is FULL for District 9 screening. This time I was about 10 people away from getting in. LoL -
    I've just been having bad luck with these lines all day, and I'm about ready to completely become completely jaded about standing in line. Where is the pay off for standing in a line that last forever?

    7:44PM - Finally got on a line that worked out. The Tru Blood Happy Hour party! Free finger foods and 2 free drinks! Vodka Tonic and Eggrolls yo -
    At the "Rock Bottom" bar in San Diego.

    8:01PM - *raises Coronado beer* - here's to us Hall H and District 9 rejects! -
    Still at the "Rock Bottom." With the help of my friend's friend, we met some other cool Comic-Con attendees, as we opted to pretty much invade their table. They were collecting these beer glasses, which is what you get when you use your ticket for that free beer. Anyways we decided to help them out and got myself some beer, so that they can keep the glass. Nice and fun bunch.

    9:22PM - Back in the hotel. I sure have a good buzz going right now. Going to actually TRY and sleep early today for the big day tomorrow -
    'nuff said...

    oh wait, there is one other comment I want to say. Not being able to go to the panels all day was a bit humbling for me. Sure it would be cool to see the celebrities in those Hall H panels, and it would be great to see new early footage of stuff that they show. Plus the exclusive freebies. The truth is that I don't' "have to be first," or "feel special" about being in these panels. It's contents will somehow leak itself to the internet, so all is not that exclusive. This whole day just emphasized how much fun it was to just walk around in the exhibit hall, which is what I used to only do back in the early-mid 90s. Sure it's disappointing being in a line for a very long time and then not getting any benefits out of it, but it really could have been worse. Ah well, three more days of Comic-Con!

    My Photos will be found here...
    http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i14/patrick005/San%20Diego%20Comic-Con/SDCC%202009/?start=24

    and my Videos will be found here...
    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=057A4483694DD8AE

    follow my Comic-Con updates as it happens via Twitter...
    https://twitter.com/optimum5

  • Recapping Day 1, July 22, 2009 of the San Diego Comic-Con International

    As I've started to do since my blog post of The Warped Tour in Pomona, I am going to use my Twitter / Facebook status updates as my template for the recap. I'll add whatever needs to be added to elaborate.

    4:29AM - bleah. Still awake. Plans to wake up in two hours still. Too excited for Comic-Con perhaps? ah well, going to try and sleep again.... zzzzzz -
    I needed to do some chores before I left home and drove 200 miles away, so lack of sleep was probably going to be a problem. I told my friend that I was going to pick him up around 11:30AM-12PM, but because I took longer with my chores, I was running late.

    12:01PM - Now on my way driving for the San Diego Comic-Con. Woot! -
    I picked up my friend by about 12:55PM, and from that point on, it was straight to San Diego non-stop. For quite a long time now, I've always driven to the Comic-Con by myself, but this year I had a passenger with me. The almost two hours trip went by smoothly and did not feel long at all, because we were having some good discussions.

    3:39PM - Finally got my hotel room in San Diego, now I'm off to the convention center for Comic-Con Day 1 -
    We did wait thirty minutes before the room was ready for us, but at least we got a room.

    4:19PM - Damnit. Forgot to bring my ethernet cable for my laptop. May have to use the hotel's free WiFi... -
    On our way to the Comic-Con, we swung by Horton Plaza to see if I can buy an ethernet cable, but unfortunately no store seemed to have it. I then went and called the hotel, and they told me that they can provide me one. I decided to eat some pasta and drink some tea before getting to the Convention Center.

    4:52PM - Got my Comic-con badge. Waiting for doors to open. I swear, the San Diego Convention Center is like my summer vacation home. -
    Picking up my badge was a breeze, and I did not have to wait much at all. Part of the advantage of doing "preview night." Upon arriving at the Convention Center, it really did feel like I knew the place front to back. I've been here so many years now, that I really felt comfortable being there.

    5:34PM - LoL I just pre-registered for Comic-Con 2010 (7/21-7/25). $100 for a multi-day pass though! That's a HUGE increase from this year. -
    Usually they don't allow us to pre-register early until the start of Thursday, so the price increase wasn't the only thing that was different this year. Wow at that price though. Is that their way of trying to minimize the fact that Comic-Con has become much too crowded in recent years?

    5:53PM - HaHa me and my friend snucked in the exhibit hall and shamelessly cut passed the whole line to get in. I know. We're bad bad men. =P -
    Normally we are forced to stand is this long line outside the convention floors, before being able to enter. Security wasn't that hard to get past though, and we were able to hang out inside, next to the Starbucks, before the doors officially opened to the public (exhibitors and pros were already inside at the time). Since we weren't suppose to be there as it is, we were sorta avoiding security, just in cased they kicked us out for skipping the whole line (tens of thousands of people). We eventually were able to get inside the exhibit hall before the rest were suppose to go in, by about fifteen minutes.

    6:39PM - Yes! Got myself a pass for a free early screening of District 9 for Thursday night -
    One of the first things I wanted to get was a pass for a free movie screening. "District 9" was the one we definitely wanted to see, so I skipped one line for free t-shirts and went straight to this one booth that was handing out District 9 posters. When I went up to the counter, they still handed the posters to me, and nothing else. Until I asked them about getting a pass for District 9, and then they reached under the counter and pulled up a pass for me (+1). Afterwards, I went to the Warner Bros booth, and got one of those big bags to carry around with (has a slot just for posters now - cool).

    7:02PM - Walking through a crowd of tens of thousands of people while doing a status update, isn't exactly the wisest thing to do. -
    There were times I really wasn't doing much sightseeing, because my head was looking at my Blackberry. But speaking of sightseeing... Once again it looks like the exhibit hall has diminished the presence of comic books on the show floor. A lot of the "regular" booths that you tend to see at Comic-Con have returned, but I noticed that some that I figured I would see didn't come back. By far the most popular booth that I noticed was The Warner Bros booth, just because of the cool bags that they hand out (which I have one of them), but because the main LEGO Rock Band stage is right over there as well. Actually, it's not just Warner Bros that is getting all the action, it's that one section of the floor that's filled with the popular studios (Sony, MGM, FOX, etc...) that's causing all the foot traffic.

    7:39PM - The girl working the "JayCompanyComics" booth at aisle 400 is GORGEOUS. -
    I kinda wished she was a "booth girl" so it wouldn't be so odd asking for a photo. Since she wasn't dressed in a costume or anything that stood out like that, I could not find a reason to walk up to her and ask for a picture.... I'll come up with something, somehow. Some have asked me to "prove it" already.

    8:34PM - Ow, I bruised my right index finger. Starting to bother me. -
    Remember the chores that I mentioned from the beginning of the day? Well, I was carrying this one item the wrong way, and it caused some pain to my right index finger. It wasn't until hours pass that I started  feeling the bruises on that finger. It still hurts a little bit, as I type this.

    9:09PM - Got to play LEGO Rock Band. We did "Breakout" by Foo Fighters. -
    The game feels a little different than the standard Rock Band game, besides the fact that everything is LEGO in the game. Afterwards, I asked for that t-shirt that I won via Twitter, but then i found out that they are out of the exclusive t-shirt that I was suppose to have at the time. I was told to come back the next day.

    9:28PM - Comic-Con day 1, officially over. Swinging by Hooters, then I'll head back to the hotel. -
    Another thing that was different this year, was on closing time, they dim the lights of the exhibit hall. Pretty much giving everybody the hint to "get out already, and come back tomorrow!"

    9:49PM - B52 + Malibu Coconut Rum with Pepsi = Wifey, don't worry I'm not driving. -
    Standard visit to Hooters. "Ashley. My team."

    10:53PM - Back at the hotel. Time to rest. -
    The hotel loaned me an ethernet cable, but it looks like I'm connected to the Wi-Fi anyway. I don't know how I would have managed, if I couldn't get on the internet with my lap top AT ALL. Kinda slow speeds though, which means the mass youtube uploads for Saturday night / Sunday morning is going to take a while.

    11:05PM - Favorite from SDCC day 1. Levitating a small ball using only my mind... and via a device called a "mind flex" propped on my head. -
    That was a pretty cool experience, and it almost seemed unbelievable that I was able to levitate the ball with my mind. It's weird though. because I felt detached of the whole experience and kinda treated it like a video game. It wasn't until after wards that I got to reflect on it and thought "how cool was that?!"
    You can watch me using the "mind flex," levitating a small ball with my mind in this video...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5wXKnvCyP4

    I did not take as much photos as I figured I would, but it is still the first day of Comic-Con. Since it was preview night, I bought most of what I wanted to actually buy, as I hate dragging bags of SWAG (Stuff We All Get) around. Figured three hours of holding a big bag shouldn't be a problem though. There was one more trade paper back that I was looking to purchase, but the booths I went to did not have it. I joke that it's ironic that I couldn't find a particular comic book in a comic book convention (sign of the times). I by the way did accidentally get a discount on one of the books I bought, because the guy behind the register used the wrong (cheaper) price for the book. I'm evil for not telling him his mistake....

    It's now become a regular thing for me to not be able to walk through the whole exhibit hall on preview night now, and there's still a bunch of "must visit" booths that I need to go to. Kinda disappointing, because I'm not going to be able to walk around much in the next days because I'll be focusing on going to panels. Oh well, I'll see what I can pull off. I do still want that official comic-con t-shirt, which I'm going to try and buy before it sells out. Plus I still got to get that Lego Rock Band t-shirt that is owed to me.

    My Photos will be found here...
    http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i14/patrick005/San%20Diego%20Comic-Con/SDCC%202009/

    and my Videos will be found here...
    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=057A4483694DD8AE

    follow my Comic-Con updates as it happens via Twitter...
    https://twitter.com/optimum5

  • If Your Life Was a Movie,
    What Genre Would It Be?

    The Movie Of Your Life Is  A Cult Classic
    Quirky, offbeat, and even a little campy - your life appeals to a select few.
    But if someone's obsessed with you, look out!  Your fans are downright freaky.

    Your best movie matches: Office Space, Showgirls, The Big Lebowski

    What I've been listening to lately...

    1) Mugglecast - episode 176
    2) The /Filmcast - ep 60
    3) The Kevin & Bean Show - podcast
    4) The Dead Weather - horehound
    5) Scars On Broadway - scars on broadway
    6) The Blackest Album vol 2 - industrial tribute to metallica