Perhaps this is where Data got his musical ability – distant ancestral memory.
My friend Andrew sent this to me, though I’m not sure if this is necessarily proof that Japan is better than the US.
Note: Toyota seems to lack imagination when it comes to naming their robots. Honda named theirs Asimo, which is a clever acronym, but also evokes Isaac Asimov.
My friend Brian (Sharon’s boyfriend, not Brian), created this freaky avatar while playing Saint’s Row at the THQ booth at Comic-Con. I don’t know too much about this game, but I understand the basic concept is prison break.
Here are the choices Brian made in creating the avatar:
The result was so freaky and so hilarious I couldn’t stop laughing. I’m laughing my arse off while writing this post. The neighboring gamers also caught a glimpse of Brian’s avatar, started busting up, and they took pictures. Even one of the developers was paying attention.
Like many large cities, San Diego has its fair share of Vietnamese restaurants, especially those that serve pho. Many (but not all) of these restaurants have pho in their names, particularly one out on El Cajon Boulevard, not too far from Hoover High and the Saigon Restaurant (very good).
Whether it was an intentional pun or simply a brag about having great pho, you gotta love the name choice.
Sometime, I’ll have to pay them a visit and see if all that Pho King is worth it.
Season Three of Eureka premieres tonight. Chris, I promise I won’t be a little too eager with blogging this. I could use the summary function and issue a spoiler alert, but I have the feeling that won’t let me off the hook. I’ll just pursue an editorial policy similar to the one I have for Project Runway.
As for the image above, it was a little odd and eerie (but somehow appropriate) to hear the Eureka theme playing from an ice cream truck during Comic-Con weekend. Unfortunately, no Space Age ice cream was given away.
One of the highlights of this year’s Comic-Con was meeting Kids in the Hall‘s Scott Thompson! He was walking around with some friends when my friend Brian (Sharon’s boyfriend) spotted him. He was definitely gracious about taking a few pictures and I had my starstruck moment in my brief chat with him. I almost said, “Write on me,” but it didn’t get that far.
Buddy Cole may not have been your poster boy role model (you know, the “normal” professional type with a husband, a house, and a couple of adopted brats), but he certainly showed me a way of being out and living one’s life when I was a 16 year old kid watching Kids in the Hall.
Scott Thompson, love ya for being your fabulous self then and now!
This was one of the interesting promos I saw at Comic-Con. This sign was at almost every rest room at the Convention Center, plus few gigantic signs in the lobby. With an X over an icon of an alien and clear, simple language stating “Humans Only,” it definitely smacked of segregation. In smaller characters, a website URL is given: D-9.com.
This website presents a scenario in which an alien species lives among us. There is an entry page with two links, one for humans and another for aliens. Regulations and suggestions for interactions with non-humans are presented. However the aliens arrived on Earth, they are treated as sub-human, subjected to discriminatory regulations and undesirable jobs. Since the location is presented as Johannesburg, this definitely strikes me as symbolic of South Africa’s apartheid past. The user has the option of registering for updates as a human or a non-human. I wonder where this website will go next.
Speaking of discrimination in fiction, Trueblood, the upcoming vampire show on HBO, was promoted through petition drives for and against vampire rights near the Convention Center. Then, there were also fake ads in the promotional material for Trublood, the synthetic but nourishing beverage that enables vampires to live among humans without harming them.
Dexter‘s promo was more simple, but clever. The popular slogan gets subverted and there’s something strangely Che-like about his image. On Thursday, there were also free credits given away to download episodes of Dexter or Californication from iTunes. I got a couple of those cards. Some dandy schwag indeed.
The Joker was a very common costume at Comic-Con this year, but here was one of the better ones, a hybrid of Heath Ledger’s Joker and the cartoon.
Here is some very creative costuming: Elvis as a Storm Trooper. Viva la Death Star!
Speaking of Elvis, check out this city security guy’s hair.
I’m at Comic-Con this Saturday afternoon and I set up mobile blogging shop near the Masquerade booth on the upper level. The free WIFI is great, and it’s a great opportunity for me to put up my photos on Flickr, but they’re taking forever and a day. Then again, I am one of those Flickr overload types whenever I upload pics.
Comic-Con each year confirms for me one thing: geekiness ain’t cheap. From the cost of admission (I paid a modest $75 for a 4 day pass) to the various vendors who set up shop to take people’s money, it can add up. Not to mention what costs go into making costumes, staying in hotels, meals, and other things that cost money.
Speaking of vendors, a corporate vendor has a list of how much their Star Wars merchandise costs:
People do pay more or less for many things (such as other corporate products or collectibles). It’s a money making opportunity to say the least.
If you’re coming to Con tomorrow or plan to next year, remember some of the best things are free. That is, take advantage of promos and other forms of schwag. This year’s ultimate freebee: The Star Trek chevron composite posters. You gotta get them all.
Lots and lots of people here right now, just like yesterday. Like Brian mentioned, the promotional posters for Star Trek the movie are here. Last night, I worked it and got all four. It took a little patience and some holding out, but I somehow managed to get all four colors without repeating any within a two hour period. I didn’t spend the whole time getting the posters, but it was a matter of being there during the giveaway.
The amount of people here are enough to make one crazy. Lots of great costumes, lots of promos. Star Trek is the major movie being promoted (but that’s next year), but the Mummy has a bunch of terra cotta soldiers lined up in the Gaslamp quarter.
Gotta go. I’m going to meet up with some friends.
Project Runway really seems to be grasping at threads for this one: Have the model shop for the fabric, make sure it’s eco-friendly, and have the designer make a dress out of it. Strangely enough, it reminds me a bit of the weight loss episode from last season in that some of the current designers viewed the models shopping for them as “death on a stick.”
Right now, I’m inclined to think Suede, the guy with the blue mohawk, is the spiritual son of the Björk Lady. Talking about yourself in the third person is a little too Björk Lady, even for the Björk Lady. There’s probably a bit of Chris March in him as well (remember the big guy who talked to his garments?). For all I know, Suede probably put a spit mark on his fabric, but he seemed to have talked strips of organic silk into a winning number.
I like to think of Korto as the saner counterpoint to Season 2′s Zulema, but there’s a little bit of an echo of the “clothes off your back” as she makes a dress a little too short in the back. Luckily, it’s not butt-less.
Biker Chick/Betty Paige on crack comes back from last week as she puts a very LA kind of rock and roll chic into a one sleeve white satin number (with lace ups). Nice recovery from the trash bag from last week.
As for the brown fabrics, the and the designers are ephemeral. No wonder the guy who does a brown dress gets canned.
As for Tweaker Beck, he’s much more memorable when he makes fun of the Biker Chick. I can’t even remember what he does.
I guess that’s what happens when you go to Comic-Con and delay the posting, My memory seems to gone right now.
My online version of my MFA creative writing afterlife. So much for the afterglow.
