Sunday, July 17, 2005

Comic-Con 2005: Days 2 & 3

Saturday started off with breakfast at Dublin Square - the same place I ate dinner the night before. I won't say the food was bad, but it was cold and the portions were small. After a quick walk to the Convention Center, I began my tour of the booths that I missed the day before - mostly the big corporate ones like Star Wars. Pictured below is a Christmas tree that has way more geeky ornaments than my tree. Because my legs were tired from the day before I ventured to the Stargate panel. Since I don't watch the show I took a lunch break until the Family Guy panel started. They showed a few clips from the new Family guy DVD movie and explained that the DVD had good stuff that they can't show on television, which is hard to believe after last weeks barfing scene (which was really funny).

I then tried to get into the Serenity panel but the line was too long, so I went to listen to Ray Bradbury and other legendary authors speak. All three were very old and had to be reminded constantly what they were talking about. I almost fell asleep until the moderator called up a special guest: Arnold Kunert. Never heard of him before? That's because he is a nobody. His only claim to fame is that he knows Ray Bradbury and apparently got Ray Harryhausen an academy award. How do I know Arnold Kunert? He was my neighbor and English teacher in high school. He was a bad neighbor (with a mean wife) but a good teacher.

The next presentation in this room was The Simpsons. Matt Groening is always fun to listen to. He's one of those people who never has a serious answer to a fan's question. The highlight of the panel was when they showed the introduction scene to this years Halloween special.

After that panel was over is was time for dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery with a group of fellow Comic-Con attendees. Nothing tastes better than a good Stout beer after a day of watching people dressed up as their favorite movie or comic book character. In fact, as we walked to the trolley, we saw Chewbacca riding in a pedicab up 5th Ave - classic!

Sunday I had intended to buy some action figures, but didn't because then I would have to carry them home on a crowed trolley. I just attended two panels: The 4400 and Starship Smackdown Finale. The 4400 is a show on the USA network that I had never seen befpre. They showed a new episode and it was surprisingly good! I might even DVR a few episodes. The Q&A was not so good since one of the producers (Ira Steven Behr of Deep Space Nine) did all the talking while the actors just sat there waiting for him to shut up. Since I had to rid myself of some morning coffee, I left and had lunch.

The final panel of the day was the Starship Smackdown. This is one of the geekiest panels at the Con. Basically a group of seven sci-fi "experts" debate which starship (of 16 chosen by the audiance) would win in a battle against another starship. This years winner: The Defiant from Star Trek DS9 (which beat the Millenium Falcon). It was way past my time to go home and get ready for my return to work after a two week vacation. I really need to find a way to retire at age 38. I'd like to take a two week vacation every two weeks.

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