Comic Con 2008

 

Okay, I know I am incredibly back-blogged but I AM finally getting out my Comic Con blog. It did take me a couple days to recap from working the sun and humidity of it - this year, I was outdoors, unlike other years when I worked inside at the booths. That said, I had great friends and company working the circus-like atmosphere that was continuous on the outside of the SD Convention Center throughout the 4-day weekend.

 

I worked all day long for 2 different companies and jobs - G4TV and for Midway and their highly-anticipated video game of Mortal Kombat vc. DC Universe - essentially they are combining a fight-game with Sub-Zero, Mortal Kombat character against Batman and other DC Universe Comic book characters. (Evidently, it is an insane idea to bring the 2 together and people were crazily commenting that, "Batman can be killed???!!!NOOOOOO!!" And just to plug it a little bit more since they paid me so handsomely: the game comes out November 17 and will be for the PlayStation3 and XBox360 game consuls, thank you very much.

 

I am not a comic book reader although I respect it tremendously for it's artistic drawings, and cliff-hanging story lines that bring readers back for more year after year, decade after decade, even. That said, the Comic Con has evolved so much more than just comics. It is a Hollywood event now (shoot - even Paris Hilton attended - ugh!) with casts, producers, writers and directors of movies and TV shows attending and giving sneak peaks and Q&A's to the fans. Thank God, I don't lose it around celebs and working actors hehehe - - but I sure wouldn't have minded meeting Lee Pace from the fabulous and quirky TV show, "Pushing Daisies"...

 

Of course the best thing about Comic Con (for me, anyway) is people-watching and seeing all the costumes. At this point, folks in their 40s who grew up like my family worshipping Star Wars, Transformers, Star Trek and Battlestar Gallatica are now parents themselves and are introducing all the fabulous OG (original) SciFi characters to their kids. To see 2 generations all dressed up was awesome - although I know the parents enjoy it even more than their over-stimulated, tired children.

Yup storm troopers, Bobo Fett the Bounty Hunter from Star Wars, and "V" (from the movie of the same name) masks were probably the most repeated costume I saw. Then you have the cute, petite Asian girls in their sexy schoolgirl animae costumes. It is simply so much fun to see that for one 4-day weekend, geeks and nerds, especially can just enjoy it and dress up and discuss and schmooze to their hearts' delight!

And, yes, of course - my Trekkie nerd, 42-old-brother Gabe attended, once again, and for the 2nd year in a row breaking in our nephews to the glories of sci fi imagination and creativity :) Bravo!
Click on pic below for slideshow!

Comic Con 2008

Comic-Con International Convention

Every summer San Diego hosts the enormous int'l convention of Comic-Con. I have had the pleasure of being hired to model at it a few times and it's just full of zaniness. A true geek paradise, it's not only limited to the comic book industry, but also science fiction, books, movies, video games and animation as well. It has become so enormous that Hollywood celebrities actually attend to promote their upcoming movies and even screen their movies that won't be released for another year! People get into the spirit by dressing up. Thousands of dollars are spent on paraphernalia. Young and old convene. It's a real hoot! Needless to say my sci-fi uber Trekkie and Star Wars 41 year old brother will be attending again (at least he now has nephews to take with him). Also, Jimmy - my actor friend from New York City, will be coming out for his 2nd year at the Comic-Con. It will be a great time for all of them walking around, posing for pictures with half-naked alien space babes, attending forums, standing in lines for autographs, buying things and eating junk food. Whew! I'm almost sorry that I am going to miss it this year! :) hehehe Enjoy the pictures from previous Comic-cons!!

"Transformers" Movie

Oh, ho ho - you all think I am such a movie snob with my preferring foreign films, subtitles and independent films over most of the blockbusters and trashy-lame-waste-of-money American movies that make us look like idiots that we mass-produce and send out across the world...oh do NOT get me started!

In any case - tonight I attended a showing of the Transformers Movie with my sister Sara, her German husband Sven, my brother Gabe and my 2 nephews: Isaac and Isaiah. Oh yeah - a real summer BLOCKBUSTER - even dishing out the $10.50 to go see it - ouch!! Well, let me explain. Sara and I were avid fans of the Transformers cartoon back in the 1980s. We were probably about 12/13 or so and loved it - I realize mostly boys were probably into it - but Sara and I were not just sweet goody-goodies, but sweet goody-goody sci-fi animation nerds!! Now listen - we were not allowed to watch much TV in the Martinez household growing up. But we were allowed to watch our beloved Autobots fight the evil Decepticons every afternoon!

Tonight was a treat to go with Sara to the motion picture - since we were part of the mid-30s fan base in the audience that actually hooted and hollered at recognition of the robots when introduced. Holla - Nerd fest!!! Loved it!! It was also very cool to go with big brother Gabe since he took us 20 years ago to the first motion picture - which was animated (and better than this one to original fans).

The computer graphics were awesome - certainly to be expected and didn't let us down. Definite complaints was an okay story-line and the fact that they only portrayed about 10 robots in the movie - there are many more than that. Also, it took a LONG time in the storyline before they brought out all the robots - more Transformers and LESS humans and their cheesy jokes!!

The ending leads to an obvious sequel - which undoubtedly will feature more robots (and those who didn't make the cut this time). It was a lot of fun to share the excitement with my young nephews who are being taught the ways of the Force, and Fantasy through us and Uncle Gabe introducing them to Star Wars, the Hobbit books and now this. Good times!!

Movie gets a B- for fabulous images, robot voice-overs from the original characters, a leading teen who actually wasn't annoying and made us like him, not enough about the robots, and a mediocre storyline that seriously lacked the heart and real character-depth of the robots, themselves. As for me: it's back to my foreign films....