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!

I was giving this some thought and I was wondering if any of my blog friends would take me up on this.  Once my blog starts to "pick up steam," so to speak, I was thinking about doing a little "caption contest" type thing on Wednesdays.  It's not a real contest or anything; it's just something fun to do.  I would take a picture and have blog readers make captions.  Let me know if you're up for something like that.

My mind is running a complete blank at the moment so here are two clips of some of the funniest bits in the history of entertainment (in my opinion anyway):

And this one:

Now I remember what I wanted to say in today's blog but I think I will save it for another day because it's something that would take me forever to dive into. 

I have just added more characters to my character sketch list and I intend to add more as time goes on.  Writing a novel is fun; outlining it is frustrating.

Fin.

Fashion, writing, biking......oh my!

I just saw Coco Before Chanel; it's a good movie but it has a small problem with continuity.  Still, it's interesting to see how Coco got to be where she was; the woman was pretty much a self-made individual, who did have a little financial help from a couple of boyfriends here and there.  This woman literally went from rags to riches and, according to the DVD commentary, she was a feminist of sorts; working in a field that was dominated by men. 

I have decided on a way to get started on my novel; little baby steps.  I am going to do one character sketch a day until I've got everyone written down and then I'll go back and add other minor details.  Not sure how to do character sketches for novels but I'll figure out how to do it. 

Today, I went back to Mission Beach to rent a bike.  This time, I rode for a little longer.  I almost quit going up the second leg up to Law St. in Pacific Beach but I had more time on my rental agreement thingy (I had rented the bike for 2 hours) so I pushed myself to go up to Law St.  I finished my ride in 90 minutes and the lady at the bike rental place wanted to know if I was interested in finishing out the remainder of the 2 hr. rental and I told her that I was simply too tired and worn out, which is true.  However, I felt incredibly energized that I decided to walk home from the trolley station instead of taking the bus.  I was about five minutes into the walk when my neighbor saw me walking and offered me a ride home.  I usually don't decline generosity so I accepted the offer and got a free ride home.  Maybe it was God's way of telling me that I've had enough exercise for one day.  During the 90 min. bike ride, I kept myself pumped up by listening to "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas on repeat on my Android phone.

I also found out today that flexing my big right toe hurts.  I'm not in agony or anything and I can walk okay but the pain, which is very mild, has been around for at least a week.  When I was riding the rental bike, there were times that I had to stop using my tippy toes and putting pressure on my big toe stung a little.  When the pain started, I chalked it up to just being sore and not drinking enough water.  Turns out, it might be due to the shoes I'm wearing.  My right shoe seems to press against my toe.  It's not bad that I have to forsake any physical activity but if it goes on for another week, I might see a doctor about it.

That's it for now.  I've got to wake up early for work.  Fin.

Jane Austen: Detective.....and other stuff.

I'm now a fan of this awesome book series by author Stephanie Barron.  Basically, the series features Jane Austen as a detective!  Well, not in the Sherlock Holmes sense, but more as an amateur sleuth, per se.  I've read three books in the series and I'm currently reading a fourth Jane Austen mystery book (not in any particular order).  It's really neat to see how Jane would've acted as a detective/writer.  In the series, the reader is introduced to Jane Austen's family, namely her brother Henry and his wife, Eliza de Feuillude and her other brother Frank Austen, a naval captain.  I haven't read further into the series yet so I haven't "met" Jane's other siblings.  Jane's own mother seems to be similar to that of Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth Bennet's mother in Pride and Prejudice.  If you loved Jane Austen's books, I highly recommend this mystery/detective series.  Right now, I'm reading Jane and the Ghosts of Netley.  After I'm finished, I will move from Regency to Victorian literature with Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.

I'm still thinking about my ideas for my own Victorian era novel.  I still haven't drafted an outline just yet.  I usually like to write a short story version of the novel first and then compose an outline from that.  I'm excited and nervous at the same time.  I may not be on the New York Times bestseller list but it doesn't hurt to dream.

On an unrelated note, I started to gain some of the weight that I had lost years ago.  So, I've been exercising again and changing my habits...again.  It's frustrating but I think I might consider getting help from a nutritionist or dietician.  If I have a strict, structured diet, I can stick with it and lose more weight.  After church, I spent my afternoon going on a 5 mile walk.  At the four mile mark, I contemplated going seven or eight more miles but at the five mile mark, I was tired and I didn't want to push myself.

Tomorrow, I may go for a bike ride along the boardwalk of Mission Beach to Pacific Beach and back.  It's a lot quicker than simply walking from MB to PB and back and a lot more fun.

Fin.

Writing historical fiction

The plot for my historical, "period piece" novel keeps unraveling every day.  After reading tons of Regency and a few Victorian era fiction books, I want to tackle my own Victorian era novel.  Half of the plot makes sense and half of it doesn't. 

And no, I don't have this on paper, though it will be pretty soon.  I'm itching to write the darn thing even though I still have tons of research to do.  If I don't write something, my brain will probably explode from all the information retained in it.

What I have considered doing was to do an outline, character sketches, and a short story version while doing my research simultaneously.  I am not sure if this is a good idea or not.  I have a story in my head that's just dying to be on the New York Times bestseller list.

For those that are curious, I won't divulge the entire plot because I like to keep my ideas rather than have someone steal them.  Basically, it's a love story, though not the mushy type because I hate mushy romances.  It's also Christian themed, however, I'd like to make it appeal to secular as well as Christian audiences.  Any advice or criticism is welcome by me as I am learning and growing in this kind of thing.

Sorry this blog entry is short.  1,000 Ways to Die is on.  Fin.

P.S. If you have any questions or comments about the blog, visit theshannifesto@gmail.com.