Here's something you might be interested in.
I had it in my mind that I would do 3 different blogs on Comic-Con. Since I went on 3 different days, and enough interesting stuff happened on those days. Well, okay, maybe not all that interesting. But enough to talk about in a little blog.
Then I thought with the earthquake today, maybe I should talk about that. But it wasn't like the San Francisco earthquake I remember (no, I'm not that old...the one during the World Series). I was amazed that the talk radio shows spent so much time on it. A sports show I listen to, was asking callers to tell their stories about where they were and what happened. An example of one call was "My dog came running in, and hid under the bed." Where are you calling from, sir? "I'm in Pasadena." Wow. Interesting radio. Can't we get back to Brett Favre and the Padres losing?
Then a friend called me and said Bonnie is going to get charges on the cop that shot at the woman and her son in Oceanside. I'd love to talk about that. But I don't know any of the details yet. And, I can't trust my friends phone calls. I was once working an air shift on a classic rock radio station. A friend called and told me John Fogerty died. Now, this friend doesn't know anything about rock bands. I said, "The singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival?" He said yeah, and that the news was showing all these clips of him.
I ran into the newsroom, looked at the wire service. Nothing on it. But sometimes we'd get the news 15 minutes later than it happened.
So, I went on the air and made the announcement, followed by the sad CCR song "Put a Candle in the Window" (which was used nicely in the recent documentary on Hunter S. Thompson).
Before the song ended, across the wire comes news that Tom Fogerty, John's brother and CCR's rhythm guitarist, had passed away.
So, I'm back to blogging about Comic Con. One last, final time.
It was a Sunday, the last day of the event. I hadn't planned on going. I was going to give my press pass to someone, but they decided not to go. Then my friends Angela and Myrna, who I hadn't seen in a long time, told me they'd be there. I thought it would be cool to see them.
I got there and we all met up. I spent time actually looking at the booths, since they wanted to buy things for nieces and nephews. I bought my girlfriend a few Batman necklaces, since she digs the Dark Knight.
I saw someone selling animated cells, and asked them questions about Beatles cells, since I saw one at an antique shop in town that I wanted to buy a few months back.
I overheard someone talking about a comic book they bought (I believe it was the Green Lantern). They paid over $100,000 for it. I then wondered how many other people had that same issue, and had their parents throw it out when they went away to college.
I saw the rabbit mask that was used in the movie Donnie Darko. The kid that wore it was sitting next to it signing autographs. He was in the film Independence Day also, but I didn't remember his character. I hardly remember that crappy film. But I dug Donnie Darko. I told him that when I talked to Roger Ebert, I told him he was insane for giving that a thumbs down. Especially when he gave Anaconda a thumbs up. Ebert then said, "I got more mail for that review than anything I've ever reviewed on the show. I then watched it again, and I liked it so much more the second time. I changed my thumb on that one." This guy had never heard that story and thanked me for sharing it. Since I had spent the previous weekend with some of the cast members of the movie Grease, and only one of them was able to keep their T-birds leather jacket, I asked how he was able to keep the mask. He laughed and said, "Oh no, I don't own it. This company behind me...they're auctioning it. I'm just signing autographs here today."
The company had some cool items. The 10 commandments that Charlton Heston held in the movie, one of the ships used in Star Wars...things you needed thousands and thousands of dollars to even bid on.
My friends went to a few booths I wasn't interested in, and we parted ways for a brief time. When we met up again, Myrna gave me a badge she bought me. Since I'm a Scrabble player, it had a Scrabble board on it, with the words "porn" written on it. I put it on my name badge, although I'm not sure I'll ever wear it again.
I saw the actor that played Chewbacca in Star Wars was signing autographs for $25. One guy had him sign a shirt that said "Chewbacca is my co-pilot." Two other guys stood there contemplating whether or not to buy a signature. One of them said, "Why buy an autograph? The only thing this guy has ever done was the Star Wars series." They walked away.
A geeky guy was walking around with a sign that said "free hugs". And, a lot of women were hugging him. It might be the first time he ever touched a female.
Someone else held up a sign making fun of him, and following close behind. But I couldn't make out what it said.
I overheard one guy say, "Some of these women look so hot in their space outfits and school girl outfits." I was thinking how some also, didn't look so flattering in them.
And some outfits I just couldn't figure out. There was a black guy wearing a Scooby Doo outfit. Not sure how that fit in the Comic-Con theme. But he seemed happy.
It's always funny when someone wants to take photos of the people dressed up. They'll stand and pose for the cameras. It's their 15 minutes of fame.
We left at 4:00 to grab an early dinner at Lou & Mickey's. While we were eating, Angela said "Wow, that guy that just walked in is tall. He must be about seven feet."
I look over, and it's Chewbacca (minus the mask, and with a cane). I wondered if you asked for his autograph, would he still charge the $25.
He sat down at a table, and I figured...it's not the table with a price list for autographed photos or memorabilia. I just didn't care enough to bother.
As I walked them to the trolley, so they could head back to Chula Vista...we saw something way more entertaining than anything in the convention center.
The water that they have synchronized. It's amusing for about five seconds. But, there was a dog inside that area, and it was chasing around the water streams. One would shoot up, and it would run over, and jump for it. Another nearby would shoot up, and it would run for that. When no water was going, it would look around. They'd all shoot up at once, and it didn't know what to do. Sometimes it would bark as it ran for one stream. Other times, it would jump into the air, and bite at the stream of water. We watched this laughing for almost half an hour.
The dog would occasionally slip. It would sometimes shake the water from its fur. As we left, we wondered when the owner would take the dog home. It seemed to be getting frustrated and tired.
We were all taking photos of the cute dog. And, a thought occured to me. If one of the minor celebrities (like, say, Chewbacca or the Hulk) -- that had charged $25 for autographs or photos, came out and took a picture of this dog, how great would that be for the dogs owner to go over and say "That'll be $25, please."
I had it in my mind that I would do 3 different blogs on Comic-Con. Since I went on 3 different days, and enough interesting stuff happened on those days. Well, okay, maybe not all that interesting. But enough to talk about in a little blog.
Then I thought with the earthquake today, maybe I should talk about that. But it wasn't like the San Francisco earthquake I remember (no, I'm not that old...the one during the World Series). I was amazed that the talk radio shows spent so much time on it. A sports show I listen to, was asking callers to tell their stories about where they were and what happened. An example of one call was "My dog came running in, and hid under the bed." Where are you calling from, sir? "I'm in Pasadena." Wow. Interesting radio. Can't we get back to Brett Favre and the Padres losing?
Then a friend called me and said Bonnie is going to get charges on the cop that shot at the woman and her son in Oceanside. I'd love to talk about that. But I don't know any of the details yet. And, I can't trust my friends phone calls. I was once working an air shift on a classic rock radio station. A friend called and told me John Fogerty died. Now, this friend doesn't know anything about rock bands. I said, "The singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival?" He said yeah, and that the news was showing all these clips of him.
I ran into the newsroom, looked at the wire service. Nothing on it. But sometimes we'd get the news 15 minutes later than it happened.
So, I went on the air and made the announcement, followed by the sad CCR song "Put a Candle in the Window" (which was used nicely in the recent documentary on Hunter S. Thompson).
Before the song ended, across the wire comes news that Tom Fogerty, John's brother and CCR's rhythm guitarist, had passed away.
So, I'm back to blogging about Comic Con. One last, final time.
It was a Sunday, the last day of the event. I hadn't planned on going. I was going to give my press pass to someone, but they decided not to go. Then my friends Angela and Myrna, who I hadn't seen in a long time, told me they'd be there. I thought it would be cool to see them.
I got there and we all met up. I spent time actually looking at the booths, since they wanted to buy things for nieces and nephews. I bought my girlfriend a few Batman necklaces, since she digs the Dark Knight.
I saw someone selling animated cells, and asked them questions about Beatles cells, since I saw one at an antique shop in town that I wanted to buy a few months back.
I overheard someone talking about a comic book they bought (I believe it was the Green Lantern). They paid over $100,000 for it. I then wondered how many other people had that same issue, and had their parents throw it out when they went away to college.
I saw the rabbit mask that was used in the movie Donnie Darko. The kid that wore it was sitting next to it signing autographs. He was in the film Independence Day also, but I didn't remember his character. I hardly remember that crappy film. But I dug Donnie Darko. I told him that when I talked to Roger Ebert, I told him he was insane for giving that a thumbs down. Especially when he gave Anaconda a thumbs up. Ebert then said, "I got more mail for that review than anything I've ever reviewed on the show. I then watched it again, and I liked it so much more the second time. I changed my thumb on that one." This guy had never heard that story and thanked me for sharing it. Since I had spent the previous weekend with some of the cast members of the movie Grease, and only one of them was able to keep their T-birds leather jacket, I asked how he was able to keep the mask. He laughed and said, "Oh no, I don't own it. This company behind me...they're auctioning it. I'm just signing autographs here today."
The company had some cool items. The 10 commandments that Charlton Heston held in the movie, one of the ships used in Star Wars...things you needed thousands and thousands of dollars to even bid on.
My friends went to a few booths I wasn't interested in, and we parted ways for a brief time. When we met up again, Myrna gave me a badge she bought me. Since I'm a Scrabble player, it had a Scrabble board on it, with the words "porn" written on it. I put it on my name badge, although I'm not sure I'll ever wear it again.
I saw the actor that played Chewbacca in Star Wars was signing autographs for $25. One guy had him sign a shirt that said "Chewbacca is my co-pilot." Two other guys stood there contemplating whether or not to buy a signature. One of them said, "Why buy an autograph? The only thing this guy has ever done was the Star Wars series." They walked away.
A geeky guy was walking around with a sign that said "free hugs". And, a lot of women were hugging him. It might be the first time he ever touched a female.
Someone else held up a sign making fun of him, and following close behind. But I couldn't make out what it said.
I overheard one guy say, "Some of these women look so hot in their space outfits and school girl outfits." I was thinking how some also, didn't look so flattering in them.
And some outfits I just couldn't figure out. There was a black guy wearing a Scooby Doo outfit. Not sure how that fit in the Comic-Con theme. But he seemed happy.
It's always funny when someone wants to take photos of the people dressed up. They'll stand and pose for the cameras. It's their 15 minutes of fame.
We left at 4:00 to grab an early dinner at Lou & Mickey's. While we were eating, Angela said "Wow, that guy that just walked in is tall. He must be about seven feet."
I look over, and it's Chewbacca (minus the mask, and with a cane). I wondered if you asked for his autograph, would he still charge the $25.
He sat down at a table, and I figured...it's not the table with a price list for autographed photos or memorabilia. I just didn't care enough to bother.
As I walked them to the trolley, so they could head back to Chula Vista...we saw something way more entertaining than anything in the convention center.
The water that they have synchronized. It's amusing for about five seconds. But, there was a dog inside that area, and it was chasing around the water streams. One would shoot up, and it would run over, and jump for it. Another nearby would shoot up, and it would run for that. When no water was going, it would look around. They'd all shoot up at once, and it didn't know what to do. Sometimes it would bark as it ran for one stream. Other times, it would jump into the air, and bite at the stream of water. We watched this laughing for almost half an hour.
The dog would occasionally slip. It would sometimes shake the water from its fur. As we left, we wondered when the owner would take the dog home. It seemed to be getting frustrated and tired.
We were all taking photos of the cute dog. And, a thought occured to me. If one of the minor celebrities (like, say, Chewbacca or the Hulk) -- that had charged $25 for autographs or photos, came out and took a picture of this dog, how great would that be for the dogs owner to go over and say "That'll be $25, please."