San Diego, Part 1

Here're highlights of my trip to San Diego to visit my friend Josh, and to generally just get away from it all:


Wednesday, July 12:

Flew US Scareways from Manchester to Charlotte, sitting next to a 40-year-old asian woman from Austin, Texas who just got her Business degree from UT. Go figure.

Flew from Charlotte to San Diego after an hour delay, watching "Miss Congeniality 2" (no, I didn't buy the headphones), sitting next to two lesbians from England. It's not as hot as it sounds. I pulled out my iPod and she pulled out an even better mp3 player which held as much space as mine but was half the size. Leave it to the lesbians to show you how to do it.

Arrived in San Diego ~10pm PT (1am ET) tired & weary, but still happy to see Josh. Josh is attending USD law school and lives in graduate housing. His place was bigger/nicer than I thought, about the size of my apartment in South Carolina but with nicer furniture. We both agreed that the furnished couches belong in study rooms and not in living quarters. I slept on one of them, and it was surprisingly comfy.

Thursday, July 14:

Josh had to work, so I got up the courage to take the trolley to the convention center where the annual San Diego Comic Con was being held. If you visit AICN, CHUD or similar websites, you might know a thing or two about it. It's basically a huge media convention for movies, comics, tv, and video games. Big celebrities (actors, directors, writers, producers), exclusive footage, lots of free schwag, and many MANY geeks. It's big.

I got there at 10am, when the doors were scheduled to open, and there was already a Disney-sized line outside. I ended up waiting one hour just to get inside and pay my 25 bucks for a 1-day pass. A few observations: I've never seen so many geeks in my life -- everything from dorkity dork dorks dressed up in Harry Potter costumes to pale Goth fiends wearing all black and eyeliner. All ages were present. And, contrary to expectations, the crowd was no more than 60% male. Although I spotted a lot of girls who you could tell only came because they were forced to by their nerd boyfriends. They looked scared for their lives.

As soon as I got inside, I made a beeline for the soft pretzel stand (next to the blood drive stand) because I was friggin starving. After preventing my fainting, I ventured into the main convention hall, and it was, truly, a geek paradise. Huge displays, posters, endless comic booths, memorabilia, tv monitors showing trailers/games/etc.

Seven years ago at the peak of my comic interest I would've creamed my shorts. I still read comics and dig certain books a great deal, but I don't have geekgasms anymore, at least when it comes to comics (movies are another story). So I just walked around, taking in all the sites and a few pictures. Where else could you see a Chewbacca statue made of legos?

Then I started attending the panel presentations. First off was the DVD producers panel, which featured the dudes behind the DVDs for LOTR, SEINFELD, GLADIATOR, and SUPERMAN RETURNS (yes, the new one). We were treated to taped videos from PETER JACKSON and BRYAN SINGER made specifically for this panel. Content-wise they were ok, but they were my first taste of the "exclusivity" that the Comic Con is known for. Plus I gained an appreciation for the DVD-making process. They're massive undertakings in some cases, and in general they're just sizable, expensive projects in themselves. FYI, they're putting out another GLADIATOR DVD with a commentary from Scott & Crowe. Just what the world needs.

Next up was the A SCANNER DARKLY panel, which featured the movie's producers and Philip K Dick...in android form. DARKLY stars Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, and Robert Downey J and is directed by Richard Linklater, whose films I never really like. This movie was shot live action and then animated a la Linklater's "Waking Life." It was filmed in Austin, and Scofield -- always upstaging me -- attended a cast/crew party last year, running into Reeves outside the bathroom and almost getting to dance with Winona Ryder. Ahem. Anyway, I got a free t-shirt, so there.



They showed the trailer also, along with a full scene from the film, which i wasn't impressed with mainly because it's a light comedy scene with no sci-fi/plot elements whatsoever (it involves a bicycle). They were probably just trying to show off the animation, but I don't think that type of scene is the best showcase for it.

Oh, and the PHILIP K DICK android (far right in the pic above), which was programmed to be able to respond to most typical questions, kept malfunctioning. At one point it went off on a rant about the differences between Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" vs his book, and people were laughing because he wouldn't shut up about it.

Next up was the SPIRIT panel. SPIRIT is an old comic superhero created by the legendary Will Eisner. I don't know much more about it, but the panel featured JEPH LOEB (a legend in the making, due to his LONG HALLOWEEN and DARK VICTORY Batman stories), who's writing the screenplay. The project is in the very early stages, so there wasn't anything to show or tell besides "We're going to be very faithful to Will Eisner's creation." Someone should've asked Loeb what he thought of "Batman Begins." And he would've said "I agree with Matt Nania. It wasn't great. He and I are writing the sequel."

After the SPIRIT panel I walked around the city a bit, taking a 30-minute phone call from my boss who wasn't holding things together back at the plant. Then I got back on the trolley and went back to Josh's place. Josh ended up staying at work longer than expected, because his boss is a raging asshole who swears a lot and bangs the telephone. He came back around 7pm, and I think we ended up watching TV, talking politics, and then grabbing Wendy's.

Part 2 coming tomorrow. To be covered: NATALIE PORTMAN, DARREN ARONOFSKY & THE FOUNTAIN (not to mention scrumptious Rachel Weisz), HARRY POTTER 4, Seaport Village.