All good things must come to an end. Especially Comic-Con.

Saturday is always the climax of this annual event. The most panels occur on this day and then there’s the Masquerade, the grand costume contest held in the evening. I missed this event because, unfortunately, I had a previous engagement. There was the Art-Jazz-Poetry event at Saint Paul’s Cathedral. I have been part of this even for the past few years, so I should have been more mindful when the Arts Committee set the date. However, they have been careful not to schedule on Pride Weekend. That would have also been a nightmare for me. I went to the Cathedral, I helped set up, went to Comic-Con for a few hours, went home to change, and then back to the Cathedral for the event. I was able to enjoy myself at Comic-Con with only one minor disaster.

I went to one panel – one that focused on China Miéville. I’m glad Comic-Con has the literary events because it gives readers a chance to see their favorite authors in their genres or blends of genres, and introduces others to writers they haven’t read before. I’m in the latter category regarding Miéville, but I’m definitely intrigued. I’m definitely attracted to writers who defy neat categorizations, such as Jonathan Lethem, Neil Gaiman, and Ursula K. Le Guin, and I expect I’ll find Miéville to be a challenging but satisfying read.

After leaving the Mieville panel, I tried to get into the V panel, which was in Ballroom 20, which is the largest room in the Convention Center. The line was so long, going to the south-east end of the hall to wrap around on the outer balcony of the bayside hall. The line showed no sign of letting up, but I decided to give it a try. Thirty minutes into the panel, I figured it was time to go as the panel would be over by the time I got into the Ballroom and I didn’t really want to stick around for Vampire Diaries. I accepted my loss of time and went back to the Expo downstairs. There, I’d see exhibits, vendors, and costumed people. But, my time got cut short because of my obligation to the Cathedral and the San Diego poetry community. There was a late afternoon panel that included Samuel Delaney, but I’d have to miss it.

Somehow, before getting to my evening event, I got roped into lending my Comic-Con identity to my friend. But, I did get my badge back by the end of the evening, but I was exhausted!

Oh, and I was finally able to get a picture of the guys in the Spartacus costumes.

Sunday
If Saturdays are the climax of Comic-Con, then Sunday is certainly the coda. Once again, I had some obligations with the Cathedral, taping the sermon. After the morning service, I went to Comic-Con for a few hours. In times past, I was often over Sundays because everyone was wrapping things up. Though, the feeling for me has often been that I’ve seen and done everything at Con or had a full several days of it.

The truth is that I’ve never been able to do everything I wanted at Comic-Con. It’s just not possible. Sometimes the panels run back to back. The ones where bona-fide published novelists are actually very easy to get into, even Charlaine Harris with her large audience. For those who bitch and moan that no one’s reading, how many of them have actually produced exciting fiction. The people I did see over the week were the ones writing stories people actually wanted to read, and the general public’s reading apathy was my gain. TV shows and movies drew the crowds. There are Comic-Con attendees who detest this, like they did Twilight’s appearance last year, but this trend seems to be here to stay, even if Con moves to LA.

I did get to attend a panel on multi-media collaboration. This was done by some freelance industry professionals who took an hour to impart the wisdom of their experience to people who are trying to pursue writing, art, etc, or having a creative collective that utilizes everyone’s talents. Much of the advice, such as being able to agree on the group goals, are seemingly common sense on the surface, but how many people actually apply the simple and obvious to their situations? The panel was also a reminder that despite the spectacle that Comic-Con is, networking is one of the things that the convention is able.

The past few days Comic-Con held a preregistration for next year. I’ve heard rumors through Twitter and a few other sources that the 4-day tickets with preview night for 2011 were all sold out. While I can do without Preview night, I really hope this is not the case. I just want a 4-day ticket because I’m never sure what panels are done on what day until the schedule is finalized. Next year, I might just take a few days off because I want to have time for whatever events strike my fancy.

Then I encountered the guy who lost his shirt on schwag. This is what can happen when you blow all your money. He said he would dance for schwag. Gotta love that he actually found use for the ginormous bag. For the past few years, there were the “free hugs” people. One guy took it one step further and offered “free sex.” These bikini-clad Princess Leias were everywhere. They all seemed to work for Gentle Giant LTD, but enough of them were set loose on Comic-Con. I came across them posing with some weird “cute” creature. Something is very wrong with this juxtapostion. As for male skin, there have been a group of half-naked warrior men wandering Con yesterday and today, but I haven’t been able to stop them for a good photo. Perhaps on Saturday I might be lucky. Boba Fett and Darth Vader pimping it. So wrong it works. Who says you really need to go all out on your costume? Is it really necessary to spend all that time getting yardage and materials, sewing, wigs, prosthetics, and try to look as realistic as possible? What does this mean for guys who can’t afford to be unpaid character impersonators. With construction paper, paper plates, Coke boxes, and plastic buckets, all this is needed is some imagination and earnestness. They sell it for sure. Fortunately, I have less clutter. Though my day is definitely cluttered tomorrow. But the umbrella would have been nice.

At the west side of the Convention Center, where it meets the Marriot, a few guys had large bubble machines that pushed very light suds through human-shaped stencils. When the guys cut the mass of bubbles away from the stencil, it looked as it people were floating off to the heavens. The process went so fast that lots of them were in the air. Comic-Con attendees were lined up trying to get a good shot. Here’s one of my attempts.

Comic-Con is all about the badge. I procured my badge Wednesday night, got to experience the Exhibit Hall, which I was soon over, and got to experience one of the longest bus rides I ever had going across downtown, all thanks to the badge. The next day, during the early hours, I lent my badge to a friend of mine and met up with him close to the Gaslamp Quarter gate at noon. The borrower’s definitely a good friend of mine and I got my badge back on time. However, I don’t think I’d do it again, unless it’s Sunday (by which time I’m usually over Comic-Con and just don’t go). By then, anyone can have my badge. Hopefully someone I can trust not to go psycho in my name.

I got to see the Charlaine Harris panel and she gracefully put the distance between her books and te TV work of Alan Ball, giving credit where credit is due, but clearly establishing her line of continuity in her work. Much of the discussion was on her work and writing in general, all in response to questions from the audience. She was charming with her answers, talked about Anne Rice, and laughingly drew the line at Twilight.

Later in the afternoon, I got to attend another writing-related panel, this one on twisting genres. The featured writers included China Miéville and Scott Westerfeld, whom I found fascinating and is now on my to-read list. What I took away from it was that a writer should challenge a reader’s expectations without confounding them. Also, works don’t have to exist in terms of literary or sci-fi or mystery, etc. Which has been my feeling all along. Fiction should never be boring.

I briefly got to chat with my friend Melissa, who now only comes out to San Diego for Comic-Con. Her Army husband’s assignments take them to various parts of the world, including the US. She’s here for a few weeks, doing some work for the Masquerade show on Saturday and trying to take care of personal things. And then staying in touch will be on Facebook later.

The Westboro Baptist Church gets subverted by Comic-Con attendees who in turn protested America’s most infamous bigots. Photo by SDGeek.

Because I was attending a panel at noon and catching up with Melissa, I missed the lovely Westboro Baptist Church protesters. I heard through the Twitterstream that I wasn’t missing much, that there really wasn’t much to it. With the gay prides, they had a focus. Here, from what I gathered, they may have felt Comic-Con was about idolatry, but wasn’t quite enough. Of course, the fanboys and fangirls of Comic-Con diffused their message with equal parts camp and style. They beat the bigots at their own silly game without having to get seriously ugly. Perhaps the Phelps just need to call it quits. No one really cares like they used to.

My evening was spent watching a sneak preview of the Doctor Who season finale and the Being Human second season premier. I got to the showing late. Somehow, I expected that they would show the two Doctor Who episodes first and then Being Human. Nope. Being Human came on first, and on top of that, the cast made a surprise visit to the screening. So I missed double, but I got to see the Doctor Who finale (the first half I’ve already seen last week) and then the second episode, which aired in the UK a month ago, even on that very significant date. Can’t tell you what happens. Spoilers.

Getting back to the badge, if it were only made out of psychic paper. A few security guards at several points of the day shined what looked like a sonic screw driver at my badge to reveal a hologram in the upper right corner. Yes, the badge is real and it’s good for a few more days. And I’m holding on to it.

This year, I decided to do Comic-Con right. I was on it when tickets went on sale. I bought the four day pass, and I got to go to Preview Night, which is a perk that only came with tickets like mine, not the one day passes or the ones that were comped. My feeling like I had access to something exclusive was short-lived, as there were lots of holders of passes good from Wednesday to Sunday, like mine. I suddenly found myself a dime a dozen and even occasionally getting pushed and shoved like I would on any other day, especially Saturday, the most busiest day of Comic-Con. The lines for some things, such as experiencing the space travel pods in the Aliens franchise were ridiculously long and the queue management was just as bizarre and confusing. I got to experience the usual oooh’s and aah’s of all the displays and exhibits coupled with sprinklings of people who just did not know how to walk in a crowd. The benefit of this Preview Night was for me to get the exhibitor’s floor out of my system so I can go to the events and enjoy them the rest of the week.

One really positive thing was that I got to meet one of my Twitter friends, James Hicks, who turns out to be a mutual friend of someone I’ve known for a long time. The other Twitter friends I followed on my handy, cell phone service-free iPhone (which is now a glorified iPod with a camera). If you need to switch off your 3G or 4G signals, or if you have a laptop, there are a few WIFI signals that can be freely accessed.

I’ve taken a few pictures. Thursday through Saturday should promise some costumes for sure. For today, I plan to attend some panels, including one with Charlaine Harris, whose books are the basis for True Blood. Also, there’ll be an American sneak peak at the new Doctor Who season finale and the second season premier of Being Human.

Tron is big this Comic-Con, the sequel coming thirty years later.

A replica of the rider and motorcycle in the coming Tron: Legacy.

No Comic-Con is complete without a means to exterminate “members’” bank accounts, like getting people to buy a red Dalek.

Cute overload has insidiously infiltrated Comic-Con over the years.

I’ve never seen someone ride a unicycle around the premises like this. There’s no oooh’s or aaah’s about it. He came close to running some people over.

And this should give some idea of how crowded it was. As for some people, it really wasn’t that necessary to be aggressive.

And for the $1 millon question: Where is SyFy? I didn’t see them at Comic-Con this year.

Pride Survival Tips

1. Leave the drama at home. That’s what the parade’s for.
2. Sunscreen, SPF 30 or higher.
3. Have a good pair of shoes or sandals. You’ll need them for the walking. Which means no “fuck me” heels unless you are a fantastic drag queen. Even then, tread carefully
4. Hat. You don’t want your head roasted in the San Diego Sun.
5. Sunglasses. Make sure you have a pair of shades as it is bright and sunny today.
6. Lots of water. Bring some with you or have a few $ to buy some bottles from the hot vendors.
7. Don’t climb things that won’t support you, even it provides a good view of the parade. Safety first.
8. Have some wet wipes handy with you all day. Never know with portapotties and restrooms everywhere.
9. Know where the restrooms are, especially on the parade route.
10. Drink in moderation.
11. If you must party hard, the next day get a cure for your hangover. Eat, hydrate.
12. Hookups inevitably happen, so practice safe sex.

Have a safe Pride weekend, everyone. – Shindo

I took close to 100 photos. It had been so long that my picture taking felt like a binge.Then again, I’ve had similar feelings regarding my music files, various Mac applications, and the other things I used to to, that feeling of having my life back.

I had to take pictures of the silver mural on the west side of the decrepit California Theatre building. Just when urban graffiti seems utterly passé, especially in a cleaned up, gentrified downtown San Diego, someone or some people made some artful murals in the Core District. That the California Theatre has been forever condemned as a building and that no property owner or developer has ever done anything about it made the once glorious theatre a fair target.

As I tried to frame the silver mural in a shot, a transit police man on his way to the 3rd & C Trolley stop briefly asked me if I liked the graffiti. His tone wasn’t unfriendly, but it implied a moral judgment, as if I the photographer approved of the illicit activity. I hedged my answer, saying I found it interesting. He then said the mural wouldn’t be up there for that much longer and then went to the trolley stop.

This was an interesting drawing found on the northwest corner of the California Theatre building.

The yellow mural on the south side of the California Building, along the C Street Corridor, appears to have been done by the same artist(s).

This is some dirty graffiti found on the back door of the $5 Store on C Street. C Street is some of the few pockets of grittiness in an otherwise cleaned-up Downtown San Diego.

Going through the Core District, the lovely financial and civic center of Downtown San Diego, I saw the broken circle, which is stenciled in several spots on the sidewalk, and “Troll.”

On these protective wooden walkways surrounding construction sites, naturally anyone with a promotional poster gravitates to them. They also attract the graffiti artists, as seen with these drawings catty corner from St. Joseph’s Cathedral in the Cortez District.

To answer that trolley cop, I suppose I find graffiti fascinating because it is so uncharacteristically San Diego. While DIY murals and tagging have existed in this city for a long time, it runs contrary to the image San Diego wants to portray of itself. It’s not attractive to people who want to spend tons of money on Downtown condos or vacation time shares. Suburbanites, who make up a majority of San Diegans, definitely don’t like them. No doubt they like the homeless who sit in front of Horton Plaza and spots here and there in Downtown much less, but graffiti is much easier to deal with.

I came across this public service announcement for the New York Public Library, which is awesome. It’s wonderful to see the famous and fabulous shout out the library system of New York City. It’s great that the A-listers shout it out for the New York Public Library, but other library systems all over the country need support. In a cash-strapped California, where the State has no money and threatens to take funds from the counties and cities, making sure that the libraries keep going is even more of a necessity.

Even with public schools, community colleges, and state universities, the public library is a place that teaches more people than all the mentioned educational institutions. Whether it is children’s books, novels, car repair books, world history, or DVD’s, the library is a place where one can learn about anything. Of course, Borders or Barnes & Noble provides the same materials, but those items have price tags and that can get expensive. Here, everything is free, provided it’s returned on time. School is not for everyone, but anyone can be an autodidact. That’s certainly the case with Ray Bradbury, who learned more from the libraries offerings than he ever did from any school. He’s also written many many fantastic novels, among them Fahrenheit 451. Quiet with lots of books – who knows what else could be produced. Even if one doesn’t write the Great American Novel, what one learns is priceless.

In this bad economy, the library has become an important resource for those seeking jobs. The reference section is stocked with career and testing books, along with ones to help anyone craft the killer résumé. More importantly, in our online world, the libraries also provide computers for those who don’t have them, enabling them to work on those résumés and upload them to the various company or job websites. Some branches even have career centers to help those job seekers negotiate through the various procedures of trying to get a gig. Before glibly telling someone to get a job, consider that they should have the tools to do that.

Some patrons are remarkably competent with using a catalog search and finding their way around the library, but the librarian and their support staff are there for those who aren’t. Even in this online age, many still need the help with the Internet or other applications, such as Microsoft Office for those résumés, and who else is there to help them? Unlike certain bureaucratic arms of local governments, those who work for the libraries definitely approach what they do with a great deal of care and compassion.

For those of us in San Diego, there is the wonderful San Diego Public Library and the San Diego County Library. As for any library, none should become a casualty of this economy. This institution should not be allowed to become extinct. Everything the library does for the public is not quantifiable and full benefits are yet to be seen. All that said, support your local public library. You will not regret it.