San Diego Comic-Con 2009 - Day 1

It wasn't exactly surprising to discover that spending four, whirlwind days at the San Diego Comic-Con is very similar to spending four days in a highly geekified Disneyland. Honestly, I know this for a fact, considering I also went to Disneyland a couple days after Comic-Con. One surrounds you with eye-rolling fairyland creatures (and the poor people who must be burning up in those costumes!) and the other surrounds you with eye-popping Nerdonia peoples (and the poor gals in those tight, black-leather costumes!). In both places you spend way too much time in long lines and yet both places make it their duty to entertain you as much as possible while you cool your jets with others of your kind (ie: see unexpected arrival of Pirate Band in Comic-Con line and elaborate set designs for Disneyland rides).

All in all (and if it weren't for walking up Sunset Blvd in massively painful heels last Friday night), this trip to California smelled suspiciously of childhood - right down to me staring in total awe and adoration at Craig Ferguson, much like I once stared adoringly at JTT's photograph in Teen Beat magazine.

However, underneath the childlike fantasy-facade of Comic-Con, there is a very adult, very passionate understanding of why we were there. This place wasn't filled with 150, 000 flimsy fangirls, twittering about how dreamy and sexy Robert Pattinson is (there were only about 7,000 of those), or nonsensical fanboys, dreaming of videogame violence and Michael Bay films (those only took up about 40% of their thoughts - and that's mostly due to the in-your-face, sizzling Megan Fox). No, I can honestly claim that Comic-Con attendees were friendly, charming and extremely intelligent - if a little eccentric in their own right. You'll not find another group more in-tuned to the world of pop culture entertainment than the group you'd find at Comic-Con. These people - nerds, wanna-be nerds, ashamed-to-admit-your-a-nerd nerds - not only love beyond words their nerd-attachments (whether that be comic books, comic book movies, sci-fi television shows or just the actors that personify their favorite characters), they have spent thousands of hours on researching and enjoying every little aspect about them, making them all literal experts on multiple types media and their creators, across the whole vast spectrum of pop culture. Needless to say, it was a pretty intense atmosphere, especially in the Exhibition Halls. But more on that later.

Enough small talk. Let's get to the dirty details...

Day 1

We didn't arrive at the Con until around 2-3pm, having thoroughly enjoyed the breezy and beautiful weather while walking to the convention center. We grabbed our badges (line-less, woohoo!) and immediately got in line for the Evolution of Fantasy panel, with panalist Pat Rothfuss ("The Name of the Wind") and other fantasy authors. Once Tina and Katie realized the panelists was focused more on bashing Harry Potter and Twilight than discussing them, we had to sneak out early before a small riot began. Note to panel authors: You cannot compare your novels, which are vastly more complicated, to young adult books such as HP and Twilight. They don't even dwell in the same solar system. Personally, I enjoy the highly-complicated, epic-battle fantasies as much as I enjoy the more diluted, YA fantasies. There is no need for badmouthing - it's not two sides of the same war. Anyhow, we snuck out of the panel and hit the line for the Legend of the Seeker panel. It was at this time that I realized my camera was dead. A cute, young jock (a jock! At a Con! Full of wonders indeed!) took my mind off the sad realization that I wouldn't get any pictures that day while we waited in line.

Legend of the Seeker scoop: Charisma Carpenter, of Buffy and Angel fame, will guest star in the second season premiere as a Mord Sith! She looks uber-cool! Also, they plan to focus the second season on the main quest from the second book in the series, "The Stone of Tears".

At least they are sticking to the correct timeline, even though they veer off the course the book sets the majority of the time. I'm not complaining. It's a great, really fun show. The main stars, Craig Horner and Bridget Regan, couldn't make it (they were in New Zealand filming), but they sent in a cute video saying hi to the fans. Bruce Spence, who plays Zedd, was there, along with the author of the series, Terry Goodkind and some other showrunners. Overall, a pretty fun panel - even if Terry Goodkind did came off as a bit of a creepster.

Since we didn't have another panel until 9:30pm, we walked to the Gaslamp (Gaslight?) district, across from the convention center, and got some dinner. The streets were incredibly crowded and it wasn't even dinner time yet. We found a cute Mexican restaurant that had reprinted their menus to reflect a superhero theme. It was too cute.

After dinner, I had an 8pm meet and greet with Michael Ausiello from Entertainment magazine at the Hard Rock Hotel, poolside. I was really excited, since I'm a big fan of his column. It turned out harder than I had imagined to get the chance to talk to him, since he was surrounded by adoring fans the whole time. I dropped my butt on a comfortable mattress-like thing next to the pool and waited my turn like a good little Southern girl. Before I knew what was happening, one of his helpers (?), who was a little TOO helpful, had me up (along with the nice girl I had befriended) and shoved into Michael's circle of fans. Yet, even here I didn't get the chance to talk to him. I pulled my classic move of shoving someone else in front of me in order to avoid any undue attention and I slipped away to the opposite side of the pool, still close to him, but in no mood to test my meager conversational skills against those of his other, more eager fans. That changed when a familiar looking, handsome guy walked into Michael's little circle, hugged him and said he was leaving. I walked over to get a better look and to see if I could recognize him. By way of the Aushole grapevine, I made my discovery - it was Bryan Fuller! Now, I'm sure most of you have no idea who that is, but I certainly did and if I ever had the courage to go up to someone and sincerely tell them that I absolutely LOVED their work, it was with Bryan Fuller. Alas, it was not to be. While I was pumping myself up to go speak to him, he slipped out into the crowd and I missed him. Ah, well. Story of my life.

At the very end, as everyone was leaving, Michael was still engulfed by eager scoop addicts, so I walked by him, touching him lightly on the arm and said, "It was nice semi-meeting you". He looked up, surprised and asked, "Did I meet you"? I said "kind of", and then he shook my hand and thanked me for coming. I thanked him for having us and then headed back to the convention center to meet back up with Tina and Katie for our last panel of the night...

The last panel was a screening of a Halloween movie called "Trick 'r Treat", directed by Michael Dougherty. What really drew us to the panel was the fact that Anna Paquin (True Blood) and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse) were supposed to join the panel. We're big fans of both, so we though we could endure the horror film in order to see them. The end result was good and bad. It turns out that both didn't show (it was Anna's birthday and we got to call her and sing Happy Birthday to her voicemail), which was upsetting, but the film was actually pretty good and Brian Cox joined Dougherty on the panel, and I really like Brian Cox. He has a nice voice... What? He does!

So, that concluded our first day at Comic-Con. We missed the mass teenage hysteria that was the New Moon panel but we couldn't say we were sorry about that. I probably would have smacked Kristen Stewart over the head if I saw her, so it was probably better that we stayed away. There's no need for a cat fight during Comic-Con. There's already too much female eye-candy walking around in little outfits for the geek fanboy mind to deal with. There's no need to overload them.

Lessons learned: Always try your hardest to say what you need to say to your famous heroes and never eat Mexican before meeting said heroes. It was a hard lesson to learn...

Day 2, 3, and 4 coming soon!

It's Been a Long Time, Mr. Button...

Well, I hardly know what to write. I figure I have forgotten how to blog. If you assume that blogging is like riding a bike, well then...you'd be correct. I can feel it coming back to me, even now...

Let's skip the usual apology, shall we? I'm not sorry that I haven't had the time to blog to you. That just means that I haven't been forced to spend all my days sitting at a computer, inputting data and booking sessions for my gracious producers. And thank heaven for that. I've had more important things going on during this holiday season. I've had Christmas shopping to do with my dad, pumpkin pies to bake and drunken boys to fend off (though in a most loving way). I've had giggles to give, presents to open and cats to adore. I've fought off pitbulls from the bed, a softening heart and too many added holiday pounds. Most importantly, I have had too much Rock Band and Guitar Hero to play, too much Lost season 1 to catch up on and too many pages of my book to get lost in. All these things are infinitely better than my relatively boring desk job, so no people, I am not sorry I haven't had the time to write to you. And just between us, I'm guessing you're not that sorry either. Shhhhh...

I will, in a minor make-it-up-to-you way, give a quick review of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And when I say "quick", I mean "quick"...

My The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Review:

If you go searching for reviews on this film, you'll find them mightily contradicting. It seems to me that most people either love this film or they hate it. I happen to be the exception. I'm what you would call indifferent towards the film. It didn't leave any lasting impression on me and I didn't walk out of the theater feeling...well...much of anything. And that my friends, will just not do. You know a film has touched you when you walk out of the theater and you almost get run down by a slow moving car because your mind is still roaming and gliding through the film's story. You think on the film long after you've left the dark escapism of your theater seat. It stays with you for awhile and when someone asks you how you liked the movie, your eyes slowly come back into focus and then you can't stop talking about it. That, my good people, is a magnificent, moving film. I didn't feel that as I finally, after 3 hours, walked away from Mr. Brad Button. With a couple complaining boys at my heels, I left the theater and immediately returned to reality. And I just HATE that. Now, that being said, the movie wasn't bad. Not bad at all. In fact, I enjoyed watching it. It was a beautiful and interesting (dare I say...curious...) film and there's nothing like staring at a slowly transforming into hotter and younger Brad Pitt for 3 hours. I even had to fight from weeping a little at the end. It never once got boring and it was a fascinating and original story. Still, as moving as this film could have been, it just didn't quite make it there. It was more of a novelty than real love, so the emotion didn't exactly stick. I would suggest foregoing the $10 movie ticket and just rent the movie when it comes out on DVD.

Your QotD comes from my newest novel, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I picked up this book for two reasons. One, because Patrick Rothfuss told me to and he is my second master (Joss Whedon is my first and foremost) and because Brandon Sanderson is finishing the last book in the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I have been reading that series for over ten years and it's final installment is...important to me, to say the least. It's been years since the last book came out and I'm getting a little antsy to finally read the end of this brilliant and complex story. So, of course I wanted to do a little research into the writing style of it's finisher. I am 19 pages into Mistborn and let's just say...I'm already hooked. And that's a difficult thing to come across so soon in a novel. Anyway, here's your QotD, from Mistborn:

"Sometimes, I worry that I'm not the hero everyone thinks I am. The philosophers assure me that this is the time, that the signs have been met. But I still wonder if they have the wrong man. So many people depend on me. They say I will hold the future of the entire world on my arms. What would they think if they knew that their champion - the Hero of Ages, their savior - doubted himself? Perhaps they wouldn't be shocked at all. In a way, this is what worries me the most. Maybe, in their hearts, they wonder - just as I do. When they see me, do they see a liar?"

That's all for this week, folks. I'll get back to you in 2009. Have a great New Years and be safe out there.

She'll Break Your Heart

Here's your quote of the day...it's a good one!



"You see, women are like fires, like flames. Some women are like candles, bright and friendly. Some are like single sparks, or embers, like fireflies for chasing on summer nights. Some are like campfires, all light and heat for a night and willing to be left after. Some women are like hearthfires, not much to look at but underneath they are all warm red coal that burns a long, long while. But Dianne...Dianne is like a waterfall of spark pouring off a sharp iron edge that God is holding to the grindstone. You can't help but look, can't help but want it. You might even put your hand to it for a second. But you can't hold it. She'll break your heart..."



Ah, Patrick Rothfuss, your words will make women swoon. *sigh* Anyway, that was a passage from Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind. Excellent book. Go pick it up at your local Borders and you can thank me later. Plus, he's a Buffy fan so there isn't much I don't love about this guy. No, seriously.