Comic Con Recap

GQ and I went to the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) this past weekend. It's something I've been looking forward to for two years; ever since the last time I was there.  There are so many things I love about it and so many things that get me all crazyexcited.  Everything from the airplane ride out there - look, those people are from Cartoon Network - look, that guy has a Green Lantern shirt like yours - I wonder how many of these people are Cos-Players - to getting the pass & my swag bag to actually getting to go into the Exhibit Hall and see the cornucopia of things I love; comic books, super heroes, TV shows, movies, art, toys, t-shirts, movie props, and more.

I thought about and did write a post about how it wasn't what I really thought it was supposed to be.  I titled it, "The Dream Is Over". (Sheesh, talk about melodramatic). It didn't turn out like it did the first time GQ and I went, but you know, almost nothing is the second time around. I couldn't even really bring myself to take 1,548 pictures of all the people dressed up in their Cos-Play. I LOVE SEEING PEOPLE IN THEIR COS-PLAY OUTFITS!!!!So what's the deal?

I forgot about one very important aspect.  There are also 100,000+ others that are just as, if not more, excited as me. And we're all together in a space that, truth be told, isn't that big.  I mean the San Diego Convention Center is big. Don't get me wrong. Actually it's huge.  The problem is that Hall H, which holds approximately 7,000 people, has 15,000 - 25,000 people that want to get in it.  Ballroom 20, which holds 2,000 has 5,000 people that want to get in it. Clearly A LOT of people are not getting into those rooms.  Not only are they not getting in, they're standing in line waiting to get in for hours. HOURS. GQ stood in line for more hours than I'm willing to put down here.  It was not such a great experience for her, but going to SDCC you know you're going to wait in lines. As I've said, there are over 100,000 people there, and out of those 100,000 bunches and bunches want to see the same thing you want to see. So, a lot of people were probably disappointed that they didn't see what they wanted to see.

Personally, I went to several much smaller panels. Panels about comic books. That's a decision I made earlier this year when we bought our tickets.  Last time we went I stood in those lines and saw some great movie and TV previews, and got to see some cool, and not so cool, Hollywood stars and it was fun. It was more than fun actually because it was a new experience.  However, I wasn't ready to have that particular experience again. I saw some artists, writers, editors, and big-wigs from both Marvel and DC comics, and that was awesome for me. I was really happy with the panels I attended.  I got to go onstage during one of the Marvel events that I attended and preview an Infinite Comic. Infinite Comics are Marvel's next step in digital comics. I used to have a subscription to Marvel Digital Comics, and it was a huge collection of old comics that Marvel had gotten scanned into digital form. Infinite Comics are comics actually made for the digital format. They're very, very cool.  My only complaint about my panels is that sometimes there were two going on at the same time, and I had a hard time deciding which one to go see. Not a  bad complaint, I know.

The guy with the beard is Ultimate Spider-Man artist David Marquez.

The big guy there is the Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Comics (WHAT A GREAT JOB!!!)

Coming in October, Avengers Babies vs. X-Men Babies

The exhibit hall is my favorite part of the SDCC experience.  It has everything that I really love. It's the saying, "a kid in a candy store" except that I'm not a kid, and the candy store is more like a giant toy store. It's a world made for me.  The only thing lacking is good pizza, good coffee and drinks served with ice. Now, realistically, this year it was really overwhelming for me.  There were just too many people, and I don't know if there were more vendors or exhibitors or what, but it was full-on nuts in there. The pic above is GQ and me going into the exhibition hall after waiting for 3 hours with a young woman who was there for the SDCC exclusive toys. ESPECIALLY THE MY LITTLE PONY, and that's just one of them.

American Dream - Huzza Huzza!

These two folks are OMG DJ Judy and Agent M. They also get to work in super-awesome positions at Marvel Comics. You should look them up on Tumblr.

Do you know who that guy up there is?  If you said Gene Simmons of KISS you'd be right because that's exactly who it is! He was signing autographs for the Archie Meets KISS comic books. I asked the guy next to the guy with the glasses if I bought a comic could I get an autograph, and he gave me a look like one of Santa's Elves gives Ralphie in A Christmas Story when they're in the mall visiting Santa and said, "Yeah, if you go get in that line. Way. Back. There."

One of the other comic book panels that I sat in on was DC writer, Scott Snyder.  He is the current writer of Batman and American Vampire.  He's co-writing American Vampire with Stephen King.  Yes, that Stephen King. He writes comic books, too.  Scott Snyder just finished Batman - Court of Owls and is getting ready to reintroduce The Joker to DC after a 10 year absence. His plan is to make the Joker so severe and so crazy that no one will want to write another Joker story line for 20 years.


The last panel I will talk about is the Marvel Television panel.  I heard about how The Avengers - Earth's Mightiest Heroes is being transitioned into Avengers Assemble! which will be closer in spirit to the Avengers movie.  Head of Marvel TV, Jeph Loeb, asked the audience no less than three times if they had seen The Avengers. He's clearly very pleased with its success, as is the rest of Marvel. I heard about Ultimate Spider-Man cartoons that are on Disney XD tv and got to see a special screening of a not-to-be-seen until September episode where Loki turns Spider-Man into a pig - Spider-Ham.


The guy in the picture below is Bryan Lee O'Malley. He's the author of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, Lost at Sea and his new one coming in 2013, Seasons. I got an autographed copy of the Evil Edition of Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life as well as a signed print from Seasons, of which there were only 200 copies.

So what's my overall take? Well, when it was all going on I wasn't sure that it was so great, but having just reread this post I think I had a pretty great experience.  I do wish GQ had had better luck with what she was going to see. I think the problem is that this thing is just getting biggerer and biggerer and biggerer, and that's not necessarily a good thing.  This is only my second time going. GQ's been three times, and in that time period it's gone from 'Wow! This is kind of nuts.' to 'Holy crap! This is INSANE!' 


Will I go back? I'm not sure.  GQ and I discussed trying out NYCC and seeing what that's like because it's put on by the same people, but it's either September or October in New York, so... Of course Marvel did announce the sequel titles to both Thor and Captain America which I would really be interested in seeing those panels, but I am really not interested in getting in line at 3 in the morning so I have a chance to see them 12 - 14 hours later.  I don't think I am willing to make that sacrifice. Of course, to quote Chuck Berry, "you never can tell."


Here are more pics from the trip - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4367938163656.2182720.1444012690&type=3&l=8e7204a4a6

Current Top 10 Favorite Things

Okay, so I'm going to stop re-posting old things for now.  Here's what is currently making me happy.


10.  Sitting in My  Backyard - I like to sit in my pink plastic Adirondack chair in my backyard and watch the crows fly through the neighbors' yards. It's pretty cool to see them swoop from air to branch or just navigate their way through the trees.  Every once in a while I'll see a hawk do it, and that's triple cool, but the crows are pretty cool on their own. (don't tell GQ that I'm enjoying the crows.  She's convinced they're stalking her)

9. Marley - The newest addition to our family is proving to be quite a character. Whether he is jumping up on our bed while we're reading to the Girls, chasing his tail, or just chewing on one of his many toys (and an occasional Barbie) Marley is definitely keeping us entertained.

8. Victory Golden Monkey - A Belgian style beer that packs an impressive 9.5% avc into a 12 oz. bottle.  I've added it to my Gentlemint with the description, "It's the kind of beer that you drink during a long dinner with friends."  This bonus of course, is that you're basically getting 2 beers at one time - Economically Buzzworthy.

7. Shift Pale Lager - The folks at New Belgium Brewery (makers of Fat Tire and other good beers) recently released this new beer in not only a can (for pool consumption!!!) but also as a tall boy! 16 oz. of quality pale lager.

6. My iPad - I would have never gotten this on my own, but the principal at my school bought one for each of the teachers and paraprofessionals. I know, right?!? I have got to say, those people at Apple really know how to make the electronic crack.  This thing is a lot of fun and really handy in so many ways. I've got my Kindle books on there, games for the Girls to play, drawing apps, an app that lets me create and edit Word docs, and so much more.  It's ridiculous how much I am enjoying this.

5. Real Sugar in my Coffee - A while ago I switched to Splenda b/c I realized I was taking in too much sugar and it was making me kind of  grumpy.  I guess my body can't process it like it used to, and so I switched. I had switched to Coke Zero before this.  Not that Splenda wasn't good, but real sugar is just so much better. I'm watching my sugar intake because no one benefits from my over  indulgence.

4. Three Websites - The Art of Manliness - http://artofmanliness.com/, The Thing About Flying - http://thethingaboutflying.com/, and Casual Disagreement - http://casualdisagreement.com/. Each of these gives me regular entertaining, thought provoking articles to read on an almost daily basis.  I'm happy that I am actually going to some sites that aren't just pop-culture oriented (not that there's anything wrong with those. I still go on them too, they're just not on the top 10 right now).


3. The Popularity of The Avengers - Holy Record breaking Comic Book Super Hero Movie!!! American, and seemingly the world can't get enough of this movie.  I'm pretty sure that if all comic book movies were this good there might not be a need for many other types of movies - I'm looking at you, Nicholas Sparks fans.

2. My Madness Pandora Station - I have loved Madness since I first heard, "One Step Beyond" back when I was 10.  It was a bug that I caught and never shed. They make me happy in a way that music should make you happy.  The Pandora station has introduced me to songs of theirs I've never heard due to only being released in the UK as well as similar bands such as The Selectors and The Specials.  Madness is one of the only ones that is still around.  The English Beat is still touring, but it's just Dave Wakeling with a new group of musicians. Not to take anything away from them, because they put on a great show. I also get to hear The Toasters, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Aquabats, and more newer bands, as well as bands that influenced Madness like Toots Mayall and Desmond Dekker.

1. Summer Break - Hot diggity dog!  Two months off.  I know that a lot of us in our 40s and older like to think that we got all three months off for summer when we were kids, and it certainly felt like it, but I'm pretty sure it's very close to what kids (and teachers!!!!) are getting now. Of course, to some (GQ) it seems like 10 months of interrupted regularly scheduled days, to those of us that get it off, it's pretty freaking awesome.  Any teacher that tells you that summer break isn't one of the reasons they are in our profession is a liar; plain and simple. BTW, no picture can do summer break justice.


Well, that's what's making me happy right now.  GQ & The Girls aren't on this list because they're beyond List Worthy.  They make it all worthwhile.



Go check out some of these things and see if they make you happy too.  Happy Summer!

Believe

I saw Arthur Christmas  today.  My Tweet as I was waiting for my Coke Zero (stupid Movie Tavern showing Coke Zero commercials, but not selling the drink!)Diet Coke  was, "I love seeing movies. It is one of my favorite things.  I've seen two this break.  Neither that I've wanted to see."


Clearly, you can tell that I wasn't really excited about seeing Arthur Christmas.  I guess it's important here to say that it is not Arthur's Christmas, like I thought it was going into it.


Well, what a surprise I was in for.  I don't know if it's that I went into it with such low expectations or that it's just such a good movie.  I think both, but I'm inclined to say that it is weighing down more on the side of It's a Really Good Movie because it is just that.


The story is that Santa Claus is a family business, and that Santa serves for 70 years before stepping down and letting his son take over for him.


The current Santa is on his 70th run, which by now is a super high tech operation.  Think Mission: Impossible with elves instead of Tom Cruise.  Well, okay, Mission: Impossible with lots of Tom Cruises. Anyway, the playout of Christmas Eve night is brilliant.  BRILLIANT!  I am very happy to accept that this is the way it is done now.  I'm hoping that the movie makers haven't put themselves on the Naughty List forever by giving away this secret.


Santa himself is just a figurehead.  His son, Steve, is the brains behind the organization, and Steve is planning on taking over the family business. The previous Santa is around too.  His character is funny and quite pivotal later in the movie.


Younger brother Arthur's job is to answer letters from kids to Santa. He reassures doubters, he praises drawings of Santa, but he's a bit of a clod.  A well meaning clod, but in a well oiled machine, a clod, no matter how well meaning, doesn't fit in.


The Problem comes in the fact that a present somehow does not get delivered.  Billions of presents are delivered around the world in a matter of hours.  One present does not add up to much.  The percentage is infintesimally small.  Steve quotes it.  There are lots of zeros in front of the actual number. Not to worry.


Santa's ready for bed.  Steve's ready to take over the reins.  But Arthur discovers the forgotten present, and being the one that answers the letters, he knows that Megan needs to get this bike.  Belief is on the line. "In Santa, We Believe" is the motto of the organization, by the way. Arthur gets this.  The elves get It.  They are totally wrapped up in It. Santa got it, but he's old and tired, and just a, "uh, figurehead, yes yes."  Steve does not get it.  Does. Not. Get. It.


Luckily Arthur does and devotes himself to fixing this situation.  That's all I'm going to say about the plot.  You need to see this movie; although it left the Movie Tavern today, so you may have to wait until next Christmas when it's on DVD.


I think only a Grinch, a seriously grinchy Grinch would not like this movie.  I have some grouchy tendencies - you can ask DW, the Girls, or many others that know me, but grumpy and grinchy are very different things.


As daughter #1, who from this point on shall be referred to as Boogie, gets older, I worry about the whole Santa thing.  DW and I encourage the belief.  I strongly encourage belief in all manners of things.  It wasn't until two years ago that she caught on that cartoons are not real (I can't say that I wasn't disappointed that the realization hit).  Anyhoo, 


I think what I'm going to say, if she ever mentions doubt, or is given a setback by a friend who says that Santa's just her parents, is this:  Santa doesn't come to kids whose parents don't believe.  He lets them do that job so he can concentrate his efforts and love on those that do believe.


I say this to say that I do believe in Santa.  I believe that I saw Santa Christmas night in 1976 in LaGrange, GA when I got up in the middle of the night.  My Grandmother Benefield was with me.  I guess she was getting me some water or something, but I saw Santa going around the corner when I peaked my head in the living room.  Again.  I saw Santa going around the corner when I peaked my head in the living room.


I know that Christmas is seen by many people as many different things.  The birth of The Savior.  Toys, toys and more toys.  Capitalism at its finest.  Affluenza at its worst. Whatever.  For me it's a time to rekindle my love of belief, my love of wonder and I treasure movies like Arthur Christmas, Elf and A Christmas Story that help me get that feeling.


Merry Christmas to those that celebrate.  Happy Holidays to those that don't. Peace to you all.


yerlifeguard