Comic-Con 2011

I've had a rather eventful week last week.  I attended all four days of San Diego, CA's biggest thing ever: Comic-Con 2011.  Now, I don't have my pictures ready just yet but I will divulge in some of the things that I've experienced there.  I've met friends, old and new, seen some pretty weird stuff, and came home tired each day.

On Preview Night on Wednesday, there were several people browsing the exhibit hall.  Not a whole lot, but some.  After going to my first Preview Night, I have concluded that it is a mere 3 hour extension of what would be available the next four days.

On Thursday, I got there early to snag my tickets for next year's Con; the prices rose significantly and I planned to pick up Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for next year.  The Con was going to sell pre-registration tickets Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and raise the prices in order to ration everything; the remaining registration tickets would be sold to the general public at a later date.  I got there about 7ish and ended up spending THREE HOURS in line to get my tickets.  I barely got in by the skin of my teeth when they closed the doors to the remaining attendees in line at 9 a.m.  One person standing behind me suggested that all registration tickets should be sold online only and that Comic-Con should get better servers to handle all the online registrants.  I spent my morning meandering through the exhibit hall, surrounded by hundreds of people, at least 10 times the amount of folks at preview night.  I managed to sneek autographs from the guys behind MST3K and Rifftrax as well as the guy who played Michelangelo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action movies from the 90s.  In the early evening, I managed to get in to the star-studded Hall H to see film directors Jon Favreau (Cowboys and Aliens, Iron Man) and Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy II, Pan's Labyrinth) and listened to them discuss the mechanics of their friendship and their craft of movie-making but I got bored and left early. 

On Friday and Saturday, I attended some panels and wandered aimlessly around the Con for some exercise and souvenir shopping.  A college buddy of mine who was working at the Con as a security guard offered to take me home Saturday after trying to meet up with him in the various halls on the second floor.  I even made a new friend who likes Doctor Who. 

On Sunday, I ended up nearly nodding off during a panel that I attended with my new friend, went to a panel about Christian comics, and took myself out to dinner at Old Town to celebrate the last day of the Con.

In general, the Con fed my "muse" for writing and I hope to find someone to help me with my idea for a graphic novel.  It's currently a fanfiction series that I put up on Fanfiction.net but I hope to find an artist who could illustrate Jane and Edward: Creature Killers of Thornfield.  I am undecided on whether or not to add the Victorian steam punk element to it.  I would like to get into reading steam punk literature but I'm not sure where to start (other than reading stuff from Jules Verne).  I also had a lot of fun, learned a few things about myself, and totally looking forward to next year.  Right now, I'm trying to "get back to normal" after four days of sensory overload.

I do remember one thing that I saw when standing in line for the pre-registration tickets on Thursday.  Some lady was dragging her kid into the line for pre-registration and the kid didn't feel like standing in line.  I remember the mom saying something to the effect of "Comic-Con happens once a year" while continually dragging her uninterested child to the end of the never-ending line. 

Oh, what the heck, here's a sampler of some Con pictures for your viewing pleasure:

This was Preview Night and it's the only picture I have of Preview Night.

These two photos are pictures of the extremely long line for the 2012 pre-registration tickets.  As I mentioned before, I stood in this line for THREE HOURS!



The guys behind MST3K and Rifftrax



Me with Phineas and Ferb



Hello Kitty dressed as slave Leia

An advertisement for Doctor Who

Hope you enjoyed these pictures.  More will come soon!

So much to talk about...and my Top Ten literary bad guys/gals

...and so little time.  I have a good idea for a blog entry.  Prior to that, I've watched a couple of movies (including The Hangover Part II, which I found kinda funny and mostly gross), accidentally bumped my knee on a seat on a city bus (I have the bruise to prove it), and saved my town from a horde of elephants armed with BB guns.  Okay, okay...I made up the last part but I'm also working on Chapter 1 of my Jane and Edward: Zombie Hunters fanfiction series that will debut on Fanfiction.net sometime in the near future.  Thanks to my new Blockbuster online rental account, I now have two "new" movies to watch: The Mechanic with Jason Statham and the original True Grit with John Wayne and Glen Campbell.

As I mentioned earlier, I came up with an idea for a blog entry.  I'm doing a Top Ten list of literary characters in "some" particular order that I loathe and/or perceive to be truly evil; in other words, it's a Top Ten literary bad guys list.  And they all come from books that I have read.  If you'd like to add your own choices in response to this blog, that's cool.  Just so you know that my choices come from books that I've read so if I miss someone, then I probably haven't read the book or didn't factor in their evilness welll enough...lol. 


10. Lady Macbeth from William Shakespeare's Macbeth - A power-hungry woman convinces her husband, Lord Macbeth, to bump off the current king of Scotland.  She's going to need to do a lot more than just wring her hands of blood.

9. King Claudius from William Shakespeare's Hamlet - We all know the story.  Hamlet's dad dies under mysterious circumstances and just like that (snaps fingers), his brother Claudius, marries Hamlet's mom.  Yes, there is something rotten in the state of Denmark and it's wearing a king's crown.

8. Iago from William Shakespeare's Othello - One way to gain a position of power is to frame an innocent woman for adultery.  Iago has it all; he's a lying manipulator.

7. Jack Merridew from William Golding's The Lord of the Flies - He represents the worst in humanity; an appetite, nay, a lust for blood and killing.  He and his "tribe" of fellow choir boys nearly killed Ralph, the elected leader of the island they were stranded on. 

6. Simon Legree from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin - A ruthless, abusive slave owner, he has no sympathy or grief for the death of one of his slaves.

5. Cathy Ames from John Steinbeck's East of Eden - She burns down her parents' home, killing both her mom and dad and sleeps with her brother-in-law.  Oh, and she also leaves her husband after "their" twins are born.  Not necessarily mother material, methinks.

4. Jack Torrance from Stephen King's The Shining - Someone who slowly goes insane and then turns on his family to help quell the "voices" from the Overlook Hotel.

3. The White Witch from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Dictatorial tyrant of Narnia who has covered said land in enormous amounts of snow. 

2. Saruman from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series - Y'know, that One Ring is lookin' pretty sweet right now...

1. Lord Voldemort from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series - With Harry Potter's geneology (and everyone else's family tree) aside, he is one bad dude.  Several people have been left dead in his "wake," if you will, including some much loved HP characters.

Honorable mentions (mostly characters I just didn't like very much):

*Scarlett O'Hara from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind.
*Becky Sharp from William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair.
*Mrs. Medlock from Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden.
*Lady Catherine de Bough from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
*Mrs. Reed from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
*Tybalt from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
*Cynthia from Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters.
*Etc.

That's it for now.  Fin.

Opera, BBC movies, and other misc.

Well, I did watch the 1973 BBC version of Jane Eyre and I enjoyed it.  It's quite dated and lacks some production values, but it's a great watch overall.  I'd suggest renting it through Blockbuster or Netflix.  A friend of mine suggested the 2006 TV version which I will rent in the near future.  I saw the clips of Toby Stephens as Edward Rochester and he looks fantabulous :)  I just need to watch a few films on my list this week before I get to renting the movie: Crazy Heart, The Hangover II, True Grit (the version with John Wayne), and The Mechanic. 

I haven't gotten around to it but I will eventually read George Eliot's Middlemarch.  It sounds like a terrific read, despite the fact that it's 800 pages long.  I'm not a big fan of such books as it takes forever to read, depending on how it's paced.  I usually read 100-200 pages a day, which takes longer but the book is eventually read.

I love writing fanfiction and I have an account over at Fanfiction.net.  This helps me to improve my writing style and such.  I gave thought to writing a mashup of Jane Eyre with a dinosaur (more specifically, a velociraptor) in Rochester's attic rather than a mad wife.  Then, I gave thought to writing a sequel series featuring the married Rochesters, Jane and Edward, as zombie hunters.  I might pursue both since they sound interesting and something I would read.  And yes, I've read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters; I am a firm believer that both books should be required reading in all American high schools.  Not sure if I want to read the mashup novel,  Jane Slayre. 

For those who know me really well, I enjoy doing crossword puzzles (from reading this far, you now know that I'm a geek of sorts, but that's a different story).  I managed to finish yesterday's New York Times puzzle in about 10 minutes.  It took me about the same time to do today's puzzle but I didn't finish it.  The New York Times crossword puzzle increases in difficulty each day with Monday being the easiest and Saturday being the most difficult; Sunday doesn't count as the answers to Sunday's puzzle are printed with the puzzle itself.  Sometimes I am able to solve Wednesday's puzzle completely, but not in 10 minutes.  I was thinking about doing the annual crossword contest put on by the NY Times puzzle editor, Will Shortz, but unfortunately, it's in New York City and I'm in San Diego.  Too bad they can't do satellite contests in other cities. 

Last Sunday after church, Mom and I saw the last opera on the last day of the 2011 season at the San Diego Opera.  Both of us saw a production of George Bizet's Carmen, an opera about a seductive gypsy woman who, apparently, likes to change boyfriends a lot.  It has to do with love, lust, bullfighting, and men who can't get the hint that their exes don't want them around any more.  I had trouble staying awake in the first act because I didn't have my daily dose of caffeine, but I enjoyed the rest of the opera.  This opera was Mom's first and it was my twelfth (I've seen eight live performances and four performances on DVD).  However, this was my first time seeing Carmen.  I've heard the infamous La Habanera aria sung by Carmen herself many times, as depicted in this commercial for Doritos:

For those who can understand the dynamics behind the aria can understand how it connects with the commercial.  Next season, Mom and I have decided to see Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville and I am hoping to score a ticket to see opera soprano Renee Fleming in concert at the San Diego Opera on March 24, 2012 once they go on sale. 

That is all for now.  I must get ready for bed.  Fin.

My most uncomfortable moments in cinema.

After recently discovering Michael Fassbender in Inglourious Basterds and Jane Eyre, I became a fan (and developed a crush, but that's another story) so I rented Hunger where Michael plays the Irish rebel Bobby Sands.  Needless to say, I was impressed with the filmmaking - but I didn't like the movie.  I guess it wasn't my cup of tea as it is filled with hard-to-watch scenes of prisoners getting beat up and other parts that I don't feel are appropriate for this blog.  Here are 30 movies with scenes that made me feel generally uncomfortable watching, in no particular order.  I'm not listing every single movie that made me squirm or cringe in my seat because it's an ever-growing list (and chances are, I'd think of a movie the next day to add to the list).

1. Hunger (2008) - Yes, I just mentioned it but I would like to say that the whole movie made me feel uncomfortable.

2. Saving Private Ryan (1998) - The first 15-20 minutes of this film was incredibly hard to watch.  Other than that, the rest of the film was fine.

3. The Passion of the Christ (2004) - The scenes where Jesus is being whipped and beaten by Roman soldiers. 

4. The Blue Lagoon (1980) - A beachside love scene made me blush as a 13-year-old kid.  Only saw about 2% of this film, though.  This very scene made me avoid movies with overt sexual scenes.  Every time I see Brooke Shields, I will forever associate her with this film.

5. The Shining (1980) - The frozen maze chase and the last few minutes of the film as well as the film's ending compared to the book.

6. Psycho (1960) - The infamous shower scene.  It didn't make me blush; it just freaked me out.  In fact, it's the only scene I saw in the movie.

7. The Land Before Time (1988) -  When Littlefoot's mom dies and he has to continue to the Great Valley by himself.  Even as an adult, it breaks my heart.

8. Toy Story 3 (2010) - The incinerator scene. 

9. Anne of Green Gables (1985) - The part where Diana Barry pukes after accidentally getting drunk on currant wine. 

10. Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (2000) - The whole movie made me cringe.  None of it was based on the books.

11. The Green Hornet (2011) - Christoph Waltz's performance.

12. Titanic (1997) - The love scene in the car.

13. Pulp Fiction (1994) - While I like how Quentin Tarantino makes stories into films, this movie was one, big uncomfortable moment.

14. Good (2008) - The theme of adultery in the movie as well as Viggo Mortensen's performance.

15. The Star Wars saga - The dialogue.  I loved the story and the series but George Lucas needs a better screenwriter.

16. Gone with the Wind (1939) - The leg amputation scene.  Still one of my favorite movies.

17. 301, 302 (1995) - The entire movie.

18. Almost anything mocked on Mystery Science Theater.

19. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) - Near the beginning, a toon is doused in "dip" and hearing its screams made me cringe.

20. Coraline (2009) - Most of the movie freaked me out...and this is supposed to be a kiddie flick.

21. The Virgin Spring (1960) - The whole premise of the film.

22. Romeo and Juliet (1968) - The after-the-wedding-night scene.  Still one of my favorite films, though.

23. Water for Elephants (2011) - When August uses a bull hook to train and punish an elephant.

24. Hamlet (1996) - Jack Lemmon's performance.

25. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - When the huntsman tells Snow White about the evil queen's intentions and tells her to run away.

26. Cinderella (1950) - When Cinderella's stepmother locks her in a room to avoid her meeting Prince Charming.

27. Animal House (1978) - The overt sexuality.

28. Amadeus (1984) - Factual inaccuracy.

29. The Sandlot (1993) - When the kids puke on the rides at the county fair.

30. The 400 Blows (1959) - The way Antoine is treated by his teacher and his parents.

Sometimes I don't understand fashion.

This morning, I spent some time watching QVC out of sheer boredom; I NEVER watch home shopping channels so that tells you how bored I really was.  I ended up watching a segment featuring fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.  You would think that being a fashion designer would mean dressing like one.  Well, Isaac was on TV wearing what looked like a windbreaker, jeans, and a pair of soccer flip-flops.  I would assume that a fashion designer would dress a little more "dressy," but then again, if he feels comfortable in what he wears on live television, then that's fine. 

Later, he and his female host got into describing his newest line of creations.  The apparel featured was designed specifically to be springtime wear because of the look and feel of the clothing.  Buzz words like "classic" and "look" were thrown around like unwanted toys.  To me, I wear whatever feels comfortable and stylish.  I don't see any neccessity in wearing clothing that "matches" the current season by color.  I don't even see the point of it.  Clothing is clothing, no matter if it's below zero at a Green Bay Packers game in December or if it's 110 degrees in the middle of an Arizona summer.  You just wear more of it in colder climate and less of it in hot weather, that's all.  It's not like the Fashion Police will stop and arrest me because my blouse doesn't mesh well with the current season.

Still, I did like some of the stuff that Isaac designed (a purse that has a magnetic buckle) but I didn't feel like dragging my debit card out of my wallet to buy his overpriced stuff; besides, some of his designer clothing is at Target anyway. 

I rented a couple of films today.  The one I saw this evening was Due Date featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis.  Needless to say, it seems to be a cross between The Hangover and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.  I didn't laugh and some of the lines felt forced, if you will.  What I did like about it was that Robert Downey Jr.'s character was willing to drive for five days and nights to witness the birth of his child.  Tomorrow, I might see the other film I rented titled Coco Before Chanel with French actress Audrey Tautou.  I saw her in A Very Long Engagement (a film recommended to me by my college history professor) and The DaVinci Code and I was impressed with both performances.  I should rent the film Amelie sometime (the movie she is known for).

Right now, I'm listening to Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D.  It is a seemingly relaxing piece of classical music and it helps me to get good ideas for writing (big classical music fan here).  In fact, any music that sounds good to me just rips open my imagination for ideas and stories. 

Well, I shall hie to bed; tomorrow, I will probably be out on another Mission Beach bike ride.  Fin.