marysgarage1

LosCon 2009

2009-12-25T23:44:45Z

The 2009 LosCon 36 was held over the Thanksgiving weekend at the LAX Marriott (11/27 – 11/29). LosCon is a Science Fiction convention that has over 1,000 attendees. Chris & I met friends and I made a few new ones. It is all part of my nefarious plot to be friendlier & talk more.

Like all good conventions, though small, it has an Art show, Dealers room, Film, Anime, Gaming room, Panels and a Masquerade Saturday evening. There were 6 exhibitors with books. The crafty vendors had jewelry or clothing. I visited all of them at least once, some a lot more. We chatted for a lonnng time, because that is what you do at this type of convention. I bought older out of print books from http://www.massogliabooks.com/ and http://www.williamwubooks.com/

I tried on two Gorgeous black coats. They were around $300 with really high quality workmanship. Sadly I would need the coat altered since a certain part of my anatomy would not let the coat fall smoothly. No reason to pay that kind of money for a lumpy backside.

Badge Ribbons. One of the fun and silly things to do at a convention is collect ribbons. When a convention is smaller it is possible to make unique badges, but a much more convenient way is to distribute ribbons. Some attendees had dozens of ribbons that reached all the way to the floor! I ended up with five.

Do You Know Dawno?, Lab Rat, Shot by a Bear, William Wu Books.com and Bad Influence. I really enjoyed the ribbon collecting, probably because I was not working the convention and had the time to absorb the fun of doing the little thing that won the ribbon.

I went to 3 Panels. The first was, Steampunk, Clockpunk & Noirpunk. This was Chris' idea and I was fine with it. Several people discussed the genre and subgenres. A panelist, Ms. Neidengard, was wearing a cool Victorian Wonder Woman costume. I sadly had no camera.

The second was, There Is A Small House In My Library. Jefferson Swycaffer and Marty Massoglia were a few of the people on this panel. One women in the audience asked if there was a 12 step program to stop collecting? Nope we are all doomed! Bookworms went crazy. Everyone in the room generally disliked electronic books. They all realized the benefit of the machine for travel, but not in their everyday lives. Discussions broke out about what was the maximum amount of books a person could read at a time, special bookcases and how to sort. Most people were using Authors, but some sorted by Publisher or Subject groupings. Mr Swycaffer says he has a few Shrines. All books, movies, comics & toys related to a character are sorted together. Ambitious!

The third was, Creating Props, Accessories & SFX For Your Costume. She discussed boning inside corsets. Wonderflex for inside and outside a costume, and ELW lights. Electro Luminescent Wire works great in costumes because it uses a small battery pack and the colors can be changed. Ms. Neidengard was moderating this panel also. This time she was wearing a Girl Genius costume, that I did get a photo of.

Room Parties
After the Masquerade we went up to the 17th floor for the Room Parties. Every year at Comic-Con I try to block off a group of rooms as a buffer for my party. The LAX Marriot seems to understand the concept, where the stupid Hyatt does not. The ENTIRE 17th floor had rooms open. About half the floor was open on Friday night and the bulk of the rooms had full blown parties going on Saturday. A little music, some talking and a lot of food. Most rooms had a theme and a sticker proclaiming your attendance. Hundreds of people were wandering the halls for hours. It was very fun. SO FUN, that I refused to post photos and to put into print some of the stuff that I saw. What happens at Con should stay at Con. It is all about chatting and fun at this Con. It was kind of refreshing.

I will post all pictures that I can, without having friendships end, on Photobucket under LosCon 2009. Go take a peek.

Swag
LosCon Swag consisted mostly of the paper variety: A nice heavy paper Brisingr the Dragon bag to carry my stuff in. The Souvenir book, Costume Designer magazine, various Bookmarks from vendors, novels and for other conventions.

My only two complaints are: There was not an Exhibitor listing in the souvenir book. I have no way of knowing the name of the coat vendor since I did not get her business card on site. Which leads to the second complaint. The website had a major issue and then total crash right before the show. This made it very hard to get basic information about the show. Weeks later the new site is up for #37 but the old #36 site is still not fixed.

The website is http://www.loscon37.org/

I really did enjoy the show and will probably attend again, but this depends on my 2010 Thanksgiving plans.

Spike TV Scream Awards 2009, Review #4

2009-12-25T23:40:34Z

Chris, Anastasia & I drove up to the 4th Annual Scream Awards Saturday, Oct 17 (Aired 10-24-09). The Spike TV Scream Awards is for Comics, SciFi & Horror. We left at 10:00am to get there, but had to turn back because half of my outfit was still hanging up in my room. @#$% We lost 30 minutes both ways, but still did very well. Anastasia's iPhone real-time traffic updates helped us go around some major accidents in LA. The event was held at the Greek Theater in Griffith Park again. It was outside at night, and the weather was great.

We rented a room so that we did not have to drive back on the same night at 2:00am. We stayed at the same Days Inn on Sunset Blvd that we did for the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade. It was just what was needed. A place to park the car, change outfits and pass out later. Yea!

The Scream Awards sent out a huge email casting call to invite real fans to dress up and attend the show. They do still hire a few gorgeous paid actors but not like they did in the beginning. Scream gave out a 200 person open invitation to come in costume for the night to Comic-Con Intl members. I would say 80% of the entire audience came as something from Comics, Sci-Fi or Horror. 60% of the outfits were Goth inspired, 10% was Comic and the other 10% was Horror. Sadly the rules stated no cameras or cell phones were allowed in the place. Some people cheated, but we took pictures of us before we entered. Strangely some of the people in line did not want their picture taken. Why bother to dress up and then be camera shy? There were hundreds of people worth taking a picture of! The fan filled audience out did themselves!

The one bad thing about taping a TV show is the time involved. We all needed to show up very early and not leave for hours on end. Once inside time moved a lot faster, but much of the time was spent outside waiting in line. At least the Staff knew which of the 4 separate lines to send people to this year.

One fantastic thing about getting a "special" seat is that we get to sit down way before anyone else. We also get hors devours. My favorite was a yummy finger sandwich with Pesto sauce in it instead of mayonnaise.

Like last year they edited out parts of the show on TV due to questionable content. You know, %&$#@. This year they left most of it in expect for technical difficulties, like long windedness and the few Man size Men who presented or accepted awards. I knew Hollywood was full of midgets but dang those Boys look short next to Men.

After last years insanity I did not think they would try again, but they made Stan Lee's entrance via sky balloons! He admitted to the crowd that he was terrified and wanted out of the evil contraption, but still went on like a trouper. He did not miss a beat with his acceptance speech. Excelsior!

I almost cannot believe I was in the same place as Harrison Ford & Johnny Depp. That was almost a brain overload of Iconic people! I have seen Stan Lee at Comic-Con Intl: San Diego. Johnny Depp only said 4 words at CCI, but had two whole speeches at Scream.

We ran into lots of friends and acquaintances. Some friends in the Geek Roundtable got to be in the "Standing section". They got to high-five and shake hands with every presenter who came up to the microphone. Awwwesome! While watching the show on TV we played the "Spot Matt" Drinking Game. He had the white hockey mask on next to the stage.

Scream Afterlife Post Party

We went to the After Party at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I had not realized how lovely graveyards can be. I had been curious about the place once I found out that they show outdoor movies there. This was the perfect opportunity to look around. Chris was impressed by Joe Ramones statuary.

We walked in to the After Party and was less than 2 feet from the cast of Big Bang Theory. Yea! NO, I did not embarrass myself or anyone else, but I was squealing on the inside.

The food this year was yummy. It was all finger food but real food at the same time. For example, Asparagus tips wrapped in beef strips.

They had lots of things to dip in chocolate or caramel etc. The funny thing is they missed their calling. They had Ding Dongs, Snowballs & Rice Krispies but no one had a Twinkie! Woody Harrelson was a presenter on stage and everyone was buzzing about the awesome Zombieland, but no one ordered a damn Twinkie! He hates Snowballs! Hahaha

I hated the DJ's choice of music. It was all pretty fast paced, but it was not dancing music it was singing music. Songs we all love to sing to in the car or the shower. Some were favorites of mine, but that does not change the facts. Putting a dance beat over a singing song does not automatically make it a dance song. No Mr DJ, it does not! Hopefully some of you out there know what I am trying to get at.

I will post pictures on Photobucket under Scream Awards 2009. Go take a peek.

All in all a very good night, without the scary 2:00am drive back to San Diego.

Ned's Mothers Funeral

2009-12-25T23:35:03Z

Ned's Mothers Funeral 11-18-09

For the sake of my fingers and your eyes I am going to try and make this the "short version". The trouble is the whole thing was full of drama, drama, drama...

In July, Ned's Mother, Johnnie Mae, came to visit. Several members of his family showed up and left right before Comic-Con. There was never a hint of illness.

In October, Ned received a call from his Sister. She said their mother was sick and that he should come home ASAP. She did not really tell him much by way of useful information, she was just very cranky.
Ned was in New York Oct 16-19. When he came back he told me how shocked he was to find his mother in the hospital. She was up and talking, but in a lot of pain. Turns out she had Stage 4 Colon Cancer. She'd had it for a long time, but never told anyone. (My father never told me he was dying of Prostate Cancer, so I totally understand the shock of suddenly finding out something that you should have known about earlier.) While he was back home he got in an argument with his sister. This will be a common theme :(

Ned promised to come back next month. He just needed to work. Ned works at Riches from Thurs - Sun and like many people does not get time off with pay. Being gone during his work week hurt financially. Three weeks later he was thinking about returning when his brother called to give him the bad news of their Mom's passing. Several times during this period his sister would call and harass him. She kept telling Ned he needed to take care of things. To do things. My question was and still is, "Why Ned?" The brother & sister were at home this whole time. Why weren't they taking care of everything? Why didn't they call Ned a lot sooner? If money was not a problem on their end why didn't they chip in to buy him a plane ticket? Why why why?

Anyway, we left SD on Tuesday, November 17 on Delta Airlines. We had a lay over in Atlanta, GA and then on to Laguardia. We left at 7:25am and arrived at 7:05pm. Sure there is a time difference but it felt like all TWELVE hours! The flights coming and going were good except for the scary landing in NY.
When we landed in NY Ned called his brother, from the plane, and did not get an answer. He called someone else. She filled him in. The sister wanted to have the funeral on Tuesday, but NEVER told Ned. The number he was calling for his brother was wrong...and other crap! We headed for the waiting area so Ned could make a lot more calls. He calls his brother at the correct number and asked to be picked up. His brother acts like he did not know we were coming. (I would have made sure I knew when my only brother was arriving!) He cannot finish what he is doing for an hour & a half. We are bummed but we wait it out, since we had no choice. I have never been to New York and have no idea where Upstate NY is. FOUR HOURS LATER his brother picks us up. I am Starving & Angry! Because each plane flight was not considered long, we did not get feed any real food. Because his brother said an hour & a half, so we believed him. Ned is not thinking straight at all and forgot about adding in the car travel time. Upstate NY is far! We eventually drove through fast food at 11:45pm!

We end up at the house. To my surprise there are two houses next to each other. They live in both and rent out a few rooms to VA hospital people. Ned & I stay in one room together. I did not feel safe staying by myself in a strange house with a lot of people coming and going. His brother says goodnight and Ned & I crash. At 9:05am his brother is banging on the door. The funeral is soon and we need to be there at 9:30! NO WAY, has he met his own brother? Everyone knows Ned takes a long time to get ready. Why didn't he tell us the time last night? Fortunately we had planned our outfits and were able to do remarkably well.

During the entire day since we woke up Ned had not spoken more than 2 words. Especially after the brother mentioned a certain legal document she wanted them to sign. Drama!

The funeral was held at a Baptist Church. It was an open casket viewing, which I found unnerving. Especially when "the family" closed the casket as part of the service. There was a whole lot of tears & wailing. The burial at the cemetery was an interesting experience. The two sons ended up putting the dirt in after the casket. Afterwards the Repast was at a different church. I thought it was odd. Why?

One important piece of information I did not find out until afterwards, was Church drama. The new Pastor of the Baptist church, who looked 35 yrs old, informed Ned Senior and the family that having the whole services at the church would be $750 minimum. This is because, Johnnie Mae was not "member enough". The Grandmother, Mother & kids all go to this church. They have been going for longer than the Pastor has been alive! This is the kind of Bullshit that keeps people away from Church. This is also why on a very stressful day, the boys were angry and extra stress was heaped on. The friends and family had already made all the food (which was delicious!) The Presbyterian church only charged $275.

Ned was so depressed that he did not talk or eat until hours after we got back to the other house for the Wake. Lots of people came by to give their condolences.

Returning home we flew Frontier Airlines on Thursday, November 19. The layover was in Denver, CO.

I realize funerals suck no matter where they happen, buuut could the next person die in Hawaii?

There are only 4 photos and they are on Photobucket under New York 2009

Size Matters: Macintosh

2009-11-03T08:19:57Z

I have been using my attached keyboard and mouse for my laptop. I dislike the flat keyboard on the laptop so I try to avoid using it at all costs. I have very long fingers that do not work well with small keyboards. I learned to type on nice big ole' typewriters. Condensing the keyboards may be most people's idea of a good thing, but not mine. My basic white mouse is 2 1/2" wide. It seemed fine to me but over time I started to notice my pinky finger was not happy. I guess I kept thinking it was something else causing the problem. I decided last week while wondering around Fry's to get a new Mouse. I had a burning urge. Nothing was going to stop me! It was kind of weird because I was just heading over to the DVD section when the mice attacked. The mice chanted to me, "buy me, I'm big", "No, have me, I'm bigger, size matters". They seemed to have way too many to choose from. Some said they were big, but when I unwrapped them they fell short of my expectations. Others were so big and fancy with multiple buttons that they seemed like they would cause more problems than they were worth. I finally settle on one just my size, an iHome FastTrack laser mouse. It is very ergonomic & does not have a lot of extra frills which I do not need. It is taller and fuller so my hand is not so low to the desk, and the best thing it that it is 3" wide. That extra 1/2" makes all the difference.

Rants & Randoms

2009-11-03T08:18:25Z

Dentist: I took Thing 1 & Thing 2 to the Dentist. Both stories require hand gestures & eye rolls but blogging will have to suffice. Sadly I am not done with their long and drawn out craziness, but I promise I will be soon and when I do you will LAUGH! (I also owe everyone 2 other stories with pictures!)

I got an email about my 30,000 Honda Maintenance. They wanted $600.00! In this economy!? I prefer to eat...and shop. Chris had his friend Al do it. Yea friends!

Did you know Non-profit charity organizations are not subject to the NO CALL rule? I used to donate to the Police & Fireman fund several years in a row. When Chris lost his job I stopped donating, but they never stopped calling me...EVER! I became so annoyed that even though Chris has a great job now I have trouble giving again. They annoyed the hell out of me!

Joke: Woman tries to file a compliant with HR. Bob keeps making comments at me. He comes up to me at the water cooler and says, Gee my hair smells terrific.
The HR person does not understand the objection? That sounds like a compliment to me. Why are you so upset.
Bob is a dwarf.

Twilight Men

2009-11-03T08:16:23Z

The New Moon movie is about to come out and I wanted to throw a few big hints at all the guys who complain about Twilight. #1 Do they realize that they are throwing away their best opportunity to meet a new crop of women? Especially if those women & girls are in a confined environment like a Comic-Con. #2 Don’t complain about any 4 book series that you have not read. That just shows your ignorance. #3 Books for women are for Women, Stupid! #4 For those lucky enough to be in a relationship, utilize Twilight as a gateway drug into other parts of fandom.

But on a similar line of Vampiric thought:
Christine Feehan & Sherrilyn Kenyon books are better. Because when you are not a 12 year old girl you do not want sparkle you want your Vampires to have Bite!

Woke up Tuesday morning to cool weather and heavy cloud cover and actually thought to myself, Carpathians must be battling. I think I have read too many books in my attempt to escape reality. Naaaah never!

Cheese with my Whine

2009-10-28T15:49:33Z

I hate being a slave to 3 1/2 old people. During the entire month of October I will have spent 21 days dealing with their crap. If the only thing I do when I am old is go from doctor's appointment to doctors appointment I think I will just take poison and be done with it. I personally feel like that now. I woke up Angry & Sad. I have watched a lot of movies with sad endings lately. Movies run during October tend to lean on the depressing side and I did not need the push Humpty Dumpty. I am an emotional wreck. I jumped all over my lazy kids yesterday & I think we have come to an understanding. *&#@! I am sick to death of my house being a mess. I cannot hire a maid because it is not a "cleaning" that we need, it is a re-organization! Why don't I just do it myself? BECAUSE I AM NEVER FUCKING HERE! I need 2 weeks vacation to stay in MY house and do MY stuff. What ever that may entail. I need a clock tower and a rifle. I need Vodka, not wimpy wine & cheese.

ME, ME, ME, Wait what day is it? Oh it is a week before my period. Oh. No wonder I hate evvvverything...never mind.

My Mom's Birthday

2009-10-02T06:06:48Z

My Mother just celebrated her 86 birthday on September 29, the whole family came by and a few friends. Her birthday wish was to get drunk. This was a very unusual request. My Mom is a very straight laced & mature woman. The last time she had a real drink was in her twenties. Yes she does drink light beer sometimes. The horror of it is how she drinks beer. My dear sweet mother pours crappy light beer over ice cubes! If it is not weak enough she adds water to it! Yuck. For the evening at my house we had Boston Market. She loves the side dishes. We had 2 kinds of cupcakes. A pumpkin pie and 5 different ice cream flavors. I get my love of dessert directly from her. Her drink of choice for the evening was Gin & Gingerale. It was much better than we assumed it would taste. The evening went great and she went home completely happy & tipsy. The next morning she called me super chipper and said she was going to go shopping with Aunt Mary & I. "No way lady stay close to home you are obviously still drunk!" Teehee

Dinner with Mom

2009-09-21T06:27:59Z

My Mom decided that she wanted to have dinner with the entire family on Friday evenings. We agreed to do it every other Friday and so far so fun! Every dinner with Mom has been a hoot. The last time we went out it was to the Red Lobster all you can eat shrimp dinner. Anastasia & Robin joined the five of us at a big round table. The place was packed. We had a good time eating too much and chatting. At the end our poor, but cute waiter brought us boxes for our leftovers. He reached for my Moms plate to put it in the box for her. (I am not sure I can type this nearly as funny as it was) I swear she growled, grabbed her plate with one hand and her fork with the other, preparing to stab the man's hand. The entire table froze, then we erupted into hysterical giggles and finally full on belly laughs. That will teach that young whipper snapper not to get to close to an 86 year old woman's plate without asking first! She never actually grabbed the fork but we swear we saw the gleam in her eye. Come to dinner with us. I still giggle thinking about it.

Moving & Packing

2009-09-21T06:25:00Z

Spent most of Saturday helping Robin move. Moving sucks as a rule. Even when you are going to a much better place, moving is annoying. The group of us varied in age up or down from Robin, but we all came to one big conclusion: We are too old for this kind of work. It is truly grueling manual labor. There is a reason the planet is full of young strapping boys...to move heavy furniture! (Get your mind out of the gutter!) The group got the stuff down the stairs of her old apartment and onto the UHaul, plus 4 vehicles. All the way over to the new apartment our caravan kept getting cut into by drivers not paying attention. Upon arrival at the new apartment we head around the backside to unload. We all stop and wait for the UHaul & Tim's truck to pick positions, but they don't. I cannot figure out why until I realize there is this random car in the middle of our parked group. Most of us assumed we were blocking her garage so we move a little. That does not help. The very nice, but STUPID old lady makes a 7 point U Turn and goes back the way she came. Duuuuh!
We began unpacking the cars, but not the trucks. We needed to redistribute the boxes that were already in the living room & kitchen to their proper rooms. I would like to tell everyone how great a handoff carry works on stairs. We kept passing the boxes up without the pain of actually climbing the stairs more than once. Sure we had to climb the stairs for other reasons later, but it cut that crap down by half. Several delicate things were left outside while we took care of the boxes. Warning: if you leave metal lamps outside in 98 degree weather you will burn your hand later as you unknowingly grasp the base. Sizzle! We managed to get almost everything inside and properly placed. Now it was time for the 3-part couch: A wide chair, loveseat & long couch. Dan and I had gotten out of the way while 2 of the guys carried the couch in. We sat in the narrow stairway watching the couch continue to go by, so I said, "This couch is like the Deathstar, it just goes on forever". Of course I meant an Imperial Cruiser, but it did not matter. We all laughed anyway. Soon after that we took our stinky selves to Marie Callendars for pie. Yes we ate food, but pie was the plan. We went back to the apartment to work a little bit more then headed home. At 4:05 I took one of the best cool showers I have ever taken. At 4:15 I lay on my bed naked to dry off and woke up at 5:00! I actually passed out. I would have fussed at Chris for not waking me up except he was unconscious too. Poor baby. All in all a good days work...that I never want to do again.

House of Blues: Key Lime Pie

2009-09-21T06:20:55Z

Anastasia & I took a trip to Frank & Son. We did the whole LA, Anaheim thing. For the first time I went into a House of Blues to eat. I had never stayed long enough to go into the Downtown Disney one. The food is very good. The find of all time is the Key Lime Pie. It is a party in your mouth. A true food orgasm! I have had Key Lime Pie at other places over the years and either did not like it at all or just was not impressed. The House of Blues version is so good I am not sure I can explain it. I love Marie Callendars Lemon Meringue pie. Other places do not make it exactly how prefer. So I tried the Key Lime at MC the other day and it pales in comparison to the House of Blues! I need pie!

Dancing Lesbians...dammit

2009-09-21T06:19:37Z

I Love to go dancing. I never try to pick anyone up or go Cougar bait hunting, I just dance. Dancing is always hit or miss. Sometimes the DJ is in sync with you and other times you want to throw rotten tomatoes. This time the DJ's in both rooms were great. We stayed in one room 1/2 the night until we became too hot. The AC was barely working in that section of the Club so we migrated to the other side. In both rooms we had taken the stage area because it was the only place with finished floors. I am too smart to dance on concrete for 3 1/2 hours!! The night had gone well. Anastasia & I talked to several people & saw some insanity. Towards the end of the night a guy came up and danced right behind me. He said, "He just could not help himself. He wanted to get behind me before but did not want to make my girlfriend mad".
Me - Whaaa? No she is just my friend.
Him - Surrre <snicker> I saw the way you two were shaken it.
Me - It is our personal joke that I am her Lesbian stunt double, but this is silly.
Him - Surrre <snicker>
Me - REALLY, I am married...to a guy.
Him - Ooh okay, as he walked away sad.
Anyone who knows us realizes we have a deep abiding affection for dick, but apparently our cock-blocking was turned all the way up to 11 and we did not know it. I do not want to start wearing shirts that say, Got Dick? (Which are available). I am sure that will bring unwanted attention that we were trying to avoid in the first place. Darn it, now I really am officially a Lesbian. But at least I know the exact moment it happened. Hahaha

Spit Take

2009-09-21T06:17:48Z

For a while there were a zillion Flies in and around my house. It has finally gotten to the 1 or 2 point. I was eating yummy Trader Joes Orange Chicken with Chris when a shadow went by. I did not hear anything and I did not see anything. I looked all around. I listened and still nothing, so I went back to eating. I will spare you the graphic details and just say the Bastard was swimming in my can of Gingerale and I did a spit-take worthy of a Warner Brothers cartoon. Stupid @#$% Fly.

Bumper Stickers

2009-09-21T06:16:28Z

These are just random thoughts running through my head:

At a certain point Experience just turns into Old.

I do not want to use a Kindle, I want to kill a tree.

Silence is Golden, but Duct Tape is Silver

Be the kind of women that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says..."Oh crap, she's up!"

Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.

If you don't know what it is...don't touch it. See every SciFi & Horror movie for details.

Pretty & Stupid = Pretty stupid. See Hollywood for details

Heidi Montag can neither sing nor lip sync. Epic fail according to Entertainment Weekly & everyone else.

Movie Review: Best Lines & Repartee

2009-09-04T06:54:05Z

Say something witty or get off the stage. I love a smart movie. I am talking about the kind of fun movie were you willingly rewind to catch a missed line. It saddens me that I could not list hardly any modern movies as being smart. Yes I love Batman: Dark Knight & Iron Man, but that is not what I am talking about. Did movie dialog get dumber between 1950-2009? After my annoyance of the 2008 crappy remake of "The Woman" sucking I have decided to list my favorite witty movies. These movies have wonderful dialog and snappy comebacks.
I will list 5 more great movies next week when I post. Maybe then I can try for more recent films. Maybe

The Women (1939) Director: George Cukor. Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell. Dialog from & between everyone! EVERYONE! See this movie!

Auntie Mame (1958) Director: Morton DaCosta. Dialog from Rosalind Russell

His Girl Friday (1940) Director: Howard Hawks. Dialog from & between Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell & Ralph Bellamy

Footlight Parade (1933) Director: Lloyd Bacon. Dialog from & between James Cagney & Joan Blondell. She is amazingly snarky.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) Director: Gil Junger. Dialog between everyone. Even the side characters have something clever to say. Yes, I know this is a teen movie, but it is great fun to listen to.

iTunes

2009-09-04T06:50:28Z

I like an honest music download. I am one of the last generations who will get there music from a disk (Record or CD). I also try to acquire all my music legally. However I continually hear from people in the 30-50 year range how they cannot find the song they are looking for. Not legally or not in the US.
I had this problem back when I wanted the closing title song from Stardust. It was not on the soundtrack and seemed to only be available in the UK. Yes, friends found it for me, Thank You, but it should not have been so much work. I do not want to feel like a criminal and have the Feds knocking on my door claiming I stole music that iTunes could not provide.

One other reason iTunes sucks: It cannot find the cover art on a song even when all the fields of text are completed. I refuse to cut & paste album covers myself. Bad App, Bad!

Dancing: Sabbat

2009-09-04T06:49:30Z

We had taken a break from dancing due to Comic-Con trying to drain & kill us. When we finally went out again for Chris' birthday we were greeted with a new layout. It is really very nice, but the new floors are not put in yet. OUCH!
Chris thought about going with us on the 29th, but decided not to. It was a bad call. Turned out to be 80's night in the other room, which is his favorite. There were also some late comers to the dancing. Three women were all wearing tiny plaid school girl skirts. One of the women was not wearing a top. Just star pasties! It was rather impressive. Her 2 girlfriends basically spent all evening cock-blocking and rubbing against her at the same time. It was Very amusing to watch men & a few ladies misstep and bump into things.
The two weeks before that Chris also missed a woman who came in wearing a net shirt. I love watching people act a damn fool and the boobs were nice too. hahaha

Rants & Randoms: Healthcare

2009-09-04T06:47:30Z

Since many of us are fussing about health issues I might as well complain about Dentistry. I have acidic saliva like an alien. I need my teeth cleaned a minimum of twice a year. As long as I am able to do that I do not have cavities. A fact I found out much too late in life. Insurance companies do not seem to like prevention. They will pay for fillings & crowns, but not a third cleaning. Why not force everyone to get their teeth cleaned often so we can all avoid the bigger problem of cavities?
I really just do not understand how they think.

Comic-Con: A Different Point of View

2009-08-18T06:41:52Z

Comic-Con: A Different Point of View 2009 Edition. Almost everyone has an opinion on Comic-Con, and I am back this year with new deep thoughts. I like to listen to people's complaints and then listen to the answers people give them. Sometimes these answers are nice, but not the real answers, often because the real answer is too complicated. So I am going to give you, the reader, a short series of questions and real answers. Hopefully, I wrote the 6 points down in the spirit in which they were meant. Please read and really think about it.

The first one is easy!
Question #1 Has Comic-Con ever thought of doing "X" a certain way?
Answer: Yes! Comic-Con has been round for 40 years. FORTY! Many many things have been tried and were epic failures. Comic-Con staffers plan for the entire year and lots of that time goes into fixing problems. Some things just do not work out.

The second two are related and odd
#2 Why does the Convention Center Starbucks close at 5:00? #3 Why doesn't the Convention Center sell water in line?
Answer: Surprisingly Comic-Con has very little control over what the Convention Center does. CCI just rents the space. As near as I can tell the Convention Center does not like to make money. I know for a fact that CCI has asked the Convention Center about food & concessions and not much progress is made. Which is odd.

The next two questions have been asked for at least the last 10 years.
#4 Why doesn't Comic-Con ticket each panel?
Answer: In the first place, making enough tickets for say Hall H would be 6,500 tickets x however many panels each day x 4 days of the con = a whole forest of trees. I prefer my trees used for comics, not stubs. But if you insist on it, where would CCI put the separate lines for the ticket gathering? If there are 6-10 panels a day in one room there would need to be that many lines. Next off, who would redeem the tickets at the door? If there must be tickets at the door let it be for Swag that I get in the Fulfillment room later. I hope you see the bad domino effect that tickets cause.

#5 Why doesn't Comic-Con clear the room after each panel?
Answer: Once again, where would CCI put the separate lines for each panel? If there are 6-10 panels a day in one room there would need to be that many lines. A really bad side effect of clearing rooms is that there would be less panels, a lot less panels. A small programming room would take 15 minutes to clear and 15 minutes to fill. The time needed to clear huge rooms like H or Ballroom 20 would increase exponentially. Clearing rooms will reduce overall panels by 150. Yes I said 150 less panels! I cannot possibly believe that anyone would like less great programming.

The last question is for you to think about and possibly do some homework on.
#6 Pick a panel during the show that you thought was too crowded and choose another panel at that same time, in a larger room that could be swapped. The basic statement by many fans is that, "Panel X should have been in a bigger room". My answer is: What Room Where? Every room was crowded everywhere most of the time, but if you can pull off a legitimate room swap I suggest you send that legitimate answer to the Programming department at Comic-Con. Otherwise be happy with what you have. The Programming department at Comic-Con gets nothing but grief from all sides. The Companies are whining, the fans are whining & sometimes even the Staff whines and they know better.

I would like to personally THANK the Programming department for attempting the impossible feat of trying to please everyone, all the time. Good Job!

Vacation

2009-08-18T06:36:37Z

Planning Don't Make it So. I started to plan for K-Con now that CCI is over but ran into a snag. Chris had actually agreed to go to the Dark-Hunter Convention in New Orleans. It would have been the vacation we did not have during Comic-Con. It is October 9 - 11, 2009. Unfortunately I found out from the other Con member we were going with that it was sold out. I am so used to large conventions that it did not occur to me that it would be sold out at only 300 people. Phooey! Yes, we still want to go on a mini vacation and yes we still want to visit New Orleans, but now it does not have a time frame.

Aunt Mary & Mom

2009-08-18T06:33:12Z

My Aunt knew that until fairly recently my Mom drove herself to the bowling alley. It was all city streets and no big deal. This past year her teammate Gladys drove her. She would give her gas money or pay for a game etc, because my Mom is considerate like that. My Aunt decided that since she could not get Mom to drive her she would annex Gladys and have her drive. So far she had not been able to get to Gladys because she did not have her number and we were not giving it to her.
Problem #1 These ladies are all in their Eighties and are not in the best of health. Problem #2 My Mom & Gladys live one block from each other and the bowling alley was a fairly easy trip. Problem #3 My Aunt is never satisfied!

While out at the local bank with Aunt Mary we saw Gladys. My Aunt immediately latched on to her and let her know the plan about lunching together. Poor innocent Gladys did not realize what was going on and agreed to drive. On Wednesday August 12, 2009 they went to lunch. Did you hear the sonic boom? It was really My Aunt, my Mom & Gladys!

Gladys picked everyone up and drove them to a local family restaurant. Aunt Mary ordered pancakes. They turned out to be two big fluffy pancakes. My Aunt said she could not eat that because it was too big. They suggested she eat some of it. She then played with her food, messed around and complained. My Aunt did not take her hearing aid so every single thing said had to be repeated at least once if not twice. It drives my Mom crazy that Aunt Mary will not wear her hearing aid. My Aunt yells which is stupid because she is the only one who is deaf, we hear just fine. My Mom & Gladys were eating fish, so Aunt Mary decides to get a Catfish sandwich. She wanted fish, but she did not want to get the same kind of fish they were eating. The Catfish sandwich shows up at the table and it is, "Too Big. I cannot eat all this, Waah Waah". My Aunt Complained the entire time! Somewhere along the line they read that this was "Not a Take-Out restaurant". So they assumed they could not take their leftovers home. OYE!! I am sure they would have figured it out if my Aunt was not driving them slowly insane. At the end of it all Aunt Mary did pay for everyone's food like she said she would.
My Mom called me Wednesday evening to tell me this story and said that she was more tired being in Aunt Mary's presence than bowling 3 tough games.

Just to make this better, my Aunt calls me the next day to chat. That worried me, but I listened. My Aunt fussed and said, "She drove where she wanted to drive and ate where she wanted to eat and that Gladys sure is a talker, but my Mom was okay." I was totally shocked. I should not have been. My Aunt has proven time and time again that she is the most self-centered person on Earth. I just do not see how you can be mad that the person driving...drove. She had no idea where an iHop was and even if Gladys did, my Aunt still would have complained about the pancakes. Then my Aunt had the nerve to tell me not to tell my Mother what she said. So I waited 2 hours to calm down and then called my Mom. My Mom was flabbergasted. She said that Gladys was super patient with Aunt Mary. That she repeated what she said because my Aunt could not hear. That Gladys was what kept my Mom from going off on Aunt Mary right there in the restaurant.

This is yet another reason I do not go out of my way to take my Aunt any place. She would only complain about the experience in some way. There is always a "but" with my Aunt.

Rants & Randoms: Healthcare

2009-08-18T06:30:25Z

So if you are having a Town Hall Meeting and some people show up, to make trouble, that you have never seen in your town before and you call them on it...Why are you the bad guy?

So all this complete and utter crap about putting old people to death early is such a totally stupid scare tactic. Although we all know one old person I would like to make Soylent Green out of. The idea that Obama is having a death panel is such a 1970's "B" horror movie idea that I would laugh if it were not so sad. What do people think the Insurance companies have been doing to us for decades? I have a dead sister-in-law to prove it.

Apparently the new Healthcare bill will force Insurance companies to take care of sick people. What a Great idea! They will not be able to exclude "Sick" people anymore claiming they have a preexisting condition. When Chris first got hired the new Insurance companies did not want to cover me because my bad feet might be a preexisting condition. I made sure I filled out the new forms in the proper manner, so that all is covered. Insurance companies do this BS all the time. Why are people fighting it? Maybe they are not fighting it? It is just insane-o Fox media hyping everything to look more angry & exciting.

Comic-Con International: San Diego Swag Report 2009 from Geek Vegas

2009-08-07T07:09:08Z

Comic-Con International in San Diego is the ultimate place to attend and Geek Out! It was July 22 - 26. As always I was working, but I did not let it slow me down too much. I saw a few great panels, which I wrote about below. I picked up as many Promotional items & Premiums as I could without killing myself or being a greedy girl. There is a full listing of items that were available after the report that is so unbelievably long you might think I imagined it all. I did not acquire all these items. I am just reporting their existence. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. The swag is from Anime, Books, Movies & Television. There are Bags, Dog Tags, T-shirts, CDRom's, CCG gaming cards, Magazines, Trading Cards, Key chains & Buttons etc.

People still ask why it takes so long to post my Comic-Con recap, so I'll start with the answer. CCI ends on Sunday night and most of us attend survival parties. On Monday we pack up and head for home, were we partially unpack and then collapse out of sheer exhaustion. On Tuesday we wake up with great difficulty, due to Con Crud**. Comic-Con is so important that no one wants to miss it, even if they are carrying Ebola. Pills and Energy drinks can keep you going for a while, but Con Crud will assimilates your body and take over eventually. Despite being sick, many emails pass between friends & Swag Hunters. Thursday & Friday are all about Swag sorting. This is mostly all fun because you get to view your purchases and the freebies. Sadly this is also when you realize something is missing from the stash...an illusive item, a lost bag or a stolen gem. It does not happen to everyone every time, but it does happen. Saturday comes too soon and I take pictures of Swag groupings. I process about 175 pictures of Con, Friends, Costumes & Swag for my website and sort them down to 20 at the most. Sunday I arrange all the text and photos into my first draft and second draft...and third draft. Monday evening I try to post everything for my friends and the world to see. Ta Da!

**Con Crud** The most insidious germ ever to strike in the US is often found at Geek Vegas. Con Crud is what happens when a few sick people refuse to miss the greatest convention on earth. Their collective germs get together to form a Borg hive that attempts to take over the immune systems of hard working Comic-Con staff and attendees. Fortunately simple bed rest, chicken noodle soup and aspirin will cure it. This is why I suggest Airborne for 5 days straight to put off the inevitable.

Wednesday Preview Night has changed slightly but it was still a Madhouse! The new Programming Panels being run Wednesday evening to help draw some of the crowd away from the Exhibit hall helped a tiny bit. When there are no Panels to distract people they all swarmed the Dealer's Floor in a bone crushing way.

Comic-Con provided some useful "Ask Me" people to help with Attendees questions. 98% of all questions can be answered by reading the Events Guide , but it was great to have a person around to ask that last 2%. As I have always said, "Don't ask a security guard". Anything deeper than "where is the bathroom" and you could get some very wrong answers.

The WB booth was once again the bane of my existence. They were both better and worse!   Warner Bros had multiple "give-away" points this year, but did not remember to run stanchion lines for all 4 locations. Their #1 problem is that they have no exit strategy. Attendees stormed the booth from all angles, which left no way out. We all get crushed including the poor employees. Several smaller booths understood the problem and used stanchions, Signs and human line control to get people going in a certain direction. Lines are Good, Go get in line...good boy!

The Summit Pictures corner was super busy! It seemed like a zillion people all wanted New Moon: Twilight items. The people running the booth were very good. They gave out their freebies from a slightly raised booth, handing items down in an orderly chaos. We were crushed, but the employees lived.

And speaking of New Moon: Twilight. There was some animosity between the new young fans of Twilight and the older more seasoned veterans of Con. Being a Newbies & a Mundane is not horrible, but they are only used to attending music concerts so they often get confused at CCI. This year the Twilight fans actually camped out a zillion hours before their panel started essentially blocking all other fans of show panels that started before New Moon: Twilight. I would have found this annoying except that is EXACTLY how it is done. I cannot hate them for playing the game and winning. The fun part of all this, for me, were the Signs & T-shirts I saw. #3 Yes, I'm a Woman, Yes, I'm at Comic-Con, NO, I don't like Twilight. #2 Then Buffy Staked Edward, The End. #1 Twilight Ruined Comic-Con...if you agree make another sign.

Best Panels...that I saw:
#2 Burn Notice. The main star was not on the panel but he had made cool little PSA's that they played before, during & after the panel. They are too hard to explain, but the panel itself was fun & fantastic. Bruce Campbell is still THE MAN!

#1 Chuck. A short video message played about "the end of Season 2" when the entire cast & crew thought they were cancelled. Since they were cancelled they were free to do any crazy & zany stuff they wanted to in the "final" episode, like have Chuck-fu. One of the writers started freaking out about how they could never keep up with the Chuck-fu type action! It was super funny to watch. Immediately after that Jeffster sang Fat Bottomed Girls live and on stage! Complete with Key-tar. Find it on YouTube, but it is not as good as being there. Best Panel Evvver!!

Most Unexpected: I was pretty sure what to expect with the new SG-U Stargate show and the return of Fringe, but not V. I was in Ballroom 20 waiting for something else when the V panel began. It was truly a pleasant surprise. I will go out of my way to watch this show when it begins on ABC in the fall and you should too.

I arrived late to the Geek Roundtable panel, but all was well. My husband showed up in his Steampunk outfit! It all has to do with our Podcast at http://geekroundtable.typepad.com/geek_round_table/ Although the entire panel was spent telling crazy Con stories the majority of the normal podcast include input from 4 to 10 people on all thing worth Geeking Out about. And yes, we gave out swag Buttons.

I also arrived late to the Comic-Con in the 1990's panel. It was in full swing discussing the moments before CCI blew up into the massiveness it is today. We took a nostalgic looks back at smaller convention centers and hotels. I prefer the here and now, even though it is crowded. Members of the audience asked questions including regrets. My biggest Regret is that I should have talked to more people during Comic-Con. I was so annoyed by the fact that I could not talk to my friends that I missed out on making new friends. I felt like I was "stuck" with people rather than the more positive "the more the merrier". Ah well, I will try to do better starting now. Maybe by Con next year I will be chatting away with strangers like an old pro.

Thank You Exhibitors: I have a love / hate relationship with Con retailers. I am a collector and an eBayer, and I want what I want now! But retailers have learned to limit their sales to a single person per day. It makes it hard for me to get to a specific booth at a specific time, but the worse alternative would be for ONE Exhibitor to buy the last 40 of the special exclusive rare premium items at 9:15a.m. because he was able to get in the line before an average Attendee. I like eBay and the secondary market, but I would like to have a chance at an item. One or two per person tickets are the only way to go when there are so many people. Not everyone can get to Comic-Con on Wednesday so it is wonderful to note that an Attendee has a chance of purchasing his or her coveted item on Friday.

Prices: went up this year, like every year, but I thought the pricing of most items was fair during the show. Most items cost what a collector would expect. Hasbro had a $1.00 difference in its pricing online compared to on-site. This was probably due to tax? Paying $16 instead of $15 was not going to kill me. However, Lego lost its mind with a drawing for the chance to purchase a $50 set of Legos. Not win, Purchase! In this economy!?

New Trends: #2 The Coupon Code. I like my swag to be an item, but this year more than ever I ended up with pieces of paper. There were flyers, postcards and plastic cards that had either a Password or Coupon code on it. I like the occasional iTunes download card, but this year was too much. I feel like I got a virtual prize and I am not thrilled.

#1 The "Gift with Purchase" idea seemed to be in full swing this year. I really wanted the new baby blue Naruto Viz bag, but it was only available with a purchase. Unfortunately the item wanted was not something they brought to the Convention :( I know of at least 4 other booths that gave nice bags as a "gift with purchase". In general this is sort of a nice idea since I truly fear that free swag is going to die off next year and for several years to come. Companies can no longer just give out 10,000 pieces of swag for 5 days straight. Time will tell.

Books and a Signing: I made it my business to get to the Publishers section of Comic-Con this year. I was rewarded with Book swag! Some were short stories, but most were full novels! Hooray! I went to my first book signing at Comic-Con ever. The Dark Hunter books are all about Vampires, Were's & Daimons, with lots of mythology mixed in. It was strangely fun chatting with other people who have also read 20+ books by the same person. Can you say, "Fan-atic!"? The only bad part was the time it took. Sherrilyn Kenyon was wonderful and signed everyone's book on Friday, which sounds good until you realize she has written over 30 books! Some people did not stick to the "Just a Few" rule. They brought up to 10 books. I was not suffering, but it did cause her to run 40 minutes late, which caused me to be...40 minutes late :(   To make it all crazier Charlaine Harris was signing her True Blood vampire series at the next table! I could only be in one line at a time so I missed out on Mrs Harris.

Most Disappointing: #2 The new SciFi (now SyFy) company did not get a booth on the Exhibit hall floor, which sucked. Instead they took over a building on 5th Avenue and opened up Café Diem! It was a very cool idea, but the food was expensive and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to their give-away schedule. Their staff wandered around and did not stay put directly in front of Café Diem so finding the very nice swag became doubly impossible. I am still using their BSG Big Frakin Bag from years ago and now I have nothing to replace it with. If they want me to use their new logo I need a new bag! Silly SyFy.

#1 The ridiculous amount of effort necessary to get some "free" swag items. Two years ago a mini scavenger hunt from one kids booth to another resulted in some very cool Avatar cards. Last year a larger scavenger hunt around downtown San Diego resulted in some unique Fringe items. I honestly did not have time for the 2007 on-site hunt let alone the wander around downtown hunt in 2008. This year, 2009, Disney went insane-o! It was for the Disney Flynn's Arcade Tron Legacy Set. An Attendee could wait a few hours to get into the Tron panel and receive a free coin...or...Flynn's Arcade reopened its doors in San Diego for three nights only! The first night, attendees went on a scavenger hunt across the Gaslamp District, looking for Flynn Lives posters! On the posters, were secret codes, only visible with a black light! These posters were ONLY given out on the first night, IF you completed the scavenger hunt successfully!!! You also get TWO tokens to Flynn's! They say "Flynn's Arcade" on one side, and "Home of Tron" on the other side. You also get an "admit one" ticket to Flynn's Arcade! These were ONLY given out on the final day, in the afternoon! But that's not all! You also get TWO exclusive t-shirts! "Flynn Lives" and "Flynn's Arcade". Both shirts also feature a secret code. If you take your black light to each shirt, you'll find a secret code hidden in the letters! REALLLLLY DISNEY THAT IS JUST TOO MUCH!!!!

Most Annoying, Personally: #2 Attempting to get a complete set of DC Direct Blackest Night Green Lanterns Action Figures! Unlike most of the crazed people around me I was only getting the DC Direct Blackest Night Action Figures because I promised to give them as a 50th Birthday present! What a daily nightmare that turned out to be!

#1 I fully realize that Comic-Con is a big place with 125,000+ people jamming the halls. I am not one of those unrealistic people who assumes there will be parking, just for me and a seat in a panel, just for me and that every action figure I wanted will be there waiting, Just   For   Me. However what annoyed me no end was my inability to meet up with old friends. I only see them once a year when they migrate to San Diego like flocks of birds. My schedule was too busy and so was theirs. It created a black hole of time suckage that we never escaped from! Boo Hiss!

My Best & Favorites:

Funniest Swag : The "Bite Me" glowing wristband from Sherrilyn Kenyon. Because if the Dark Hunters & Were Hunters could not smell your blood a blazing glowing wristband would help seal your doom.

Best Bag : #2 The four Dark Horse bags. #1 The colorful wide-bottomed Emotes.com Bag. All these bags are useable, unlike the excessively narrow WB bags.

Best Surprise : the Green Lantern blinking ring that was given to kids.

Best Neckwear : #2 Halo Wars dog tag & #1 Gamer bottle opener dog tag

Favorite Swag : Comic-Con small canvas Messenger bag

Favorite Purchases : #2 Locke & Key "Ghost Key". I love old keys and fancy elaborate keys. This one is both! #1 The Sherrilyn Kenyon Were-Hunter "Marked by Vane" medallion with amethyst. Glee!

All of my pictures are posted in Photobucket under Marysgarage and Comic-Con CCI 09.

COMIC-CON EXCLUSIVES 2009...that I was interested in:

DC Direct: Blackest Night Green Lantern Action Figures (Green, Yellow, Blue, Orange & Red) $20 each. * Mattel: Justice League Unlimited Green Lantern Origins 3-Pack $20. * Super 7: Vampire Rose 3 pk $50. * Underground Toys - Doctor Who 1st Doctor (William Hartnell) & Dalek Invasion of Earth 2pk $40. * Mattel: Disney/Pixar Toy Story Buzz Lightyear and Cars Rescue Squad Mater. Star Wars the Force Unleashed Stormtrooper Commander figure $15 each * Hasbro: Optimus Prime Mighty Mugg Special Edition $16. * Neca: Coraline Doll $20 * Mr Toast: Ninja Joe the Egg $10. * Peanuts: Astronaut Snoopy Lanyards (4) $3. * Funko: 501st SW Clone Trooper Super Stylized Vinyl Bobblehead $20. * Mez-Itz: Hellboy $20. * CCI 40th Anniversary Book $30. *   AFX: Seventh Kingdom Akkuli Blue figure feline action figure $20. * Dark Horse: Domo Kun, yellow $9. * The Mighty Boosh T-shirt from BBCAmerica $17. * Diamond Select: Ghostbusters Venkman & Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Minimates 2-Pack $9.

COMIC-CON PANEL EXCLUSIVES 2009:

24 Alarm Clock *
American Dad Button (1 of 4) *
Archaia / The Jim Henson Company: Archaia / Henson poster *
Archaia / Roddenberry Productions: copy of Days Missing #1 *
Archie Comics: Archie Marries Veronica An “Archie Marries Veronica” poster *
Aspen Universe & Beyond “SD Comic Con 2009 Panel Exclusive” limited edition comic book *
Assassins Creed II Bag *
Bill Plympton: King of Indie Animation free Bill Plympton drawing *
USA Network’s Burn Notice, T-shirt *
The Cleveland Show Button (1 of 4) *
ComicBase (?) *
Dexter Buttons (4) Cereal Spiller, My Dad is Killer, My Dad Can Hack Anything, A Chop off the Old Block *
Disney Time Jumper postcard, Disney: 3D Panel Tron gold Coin, Poster, T-shirt *
Emily the Strange, drawing to win a prize package w/ a complete library of Emily books & (?) *
Farscape Postcards *
Family Guy collectable button card (Attend all four Fox Animation Panels to complete the set of 4) *
Fringe Newspaper *
The Great Transformers / G.I. Joe Crossover (?) *
Hot Wheels Battle Force 5: World Premiere! Hot Wheel Cars *
Human Target (Fox) T-Shirt *
Indiana Jones Fan Group Meeting: Indyfans and The Quest For Fortune and Glory (?) *
Iron Man II Stark Expo '74 T-shirt *
Kamen Rider Dragon Knight chance to win prizes from Bandai’s KRDK toy line and (?) *
Kirkamania! The Robert Kirkman Panel Comic *
LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary, DK swag & entered to win a LEGO Star Wars set and a free copy of LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary upon its release *
Oni Press: Panelmonium 2009: Oni comics, prizes and more! *
Phineas & Ferb postcard & poster *
USA Network’s Psych T-Shirt, Magic 8 Ball, Postcard & Comic from Oni Press *
Ratchet & Clank Inflatable Wrenches *
Shocker Toys Happy Hour Panel (?) *
The Simpsons Button (1 of 4) *
Smallville Hat *
Sony Uncharted II (?) *
Spartacus Burlap Bag, T-shirts (4), Poster, Signed Photos (12), Cards (12), Comic, Backboard, Flyer & Lanyard *
The Strand Prophecy Pin & Poster *
True Blood Bag, Book (Living Dead in Dallas), Postcard, Notepad & T-shirt *
Warner Bros white Bag (5) Sherlock Holmes T-shirt, SH Nightmare on Elm St T-shirt, The Box, White Out caribiner and Where the Wild Things Are paper crown *
Watchmen Comics (2), T-shirt *
What's Up with Penguin and DK free advance reading copies *
The Wonderful World of Computer Games in Japan (?) *
Yen Press (?) *

COMIC-CON FREEBIE SWAG

9 Tim Burton movie, Unite for Victory Button & Postcard set of Cards #1-9
(Special 9th "The Seamstress" Card available only on SDCCI Dealer's Floor)

Adult Swim **?**

AFX Minimates (5) Blue, Black, Green + 2

Aksys Mana potions

Alien Trespass card, two sided poster & DVD Slipcover

AMC TV The Prisoner Photo ID Card & Comic: Welcome to the Village

Anchor Bay, Grace Love Undying Baby Bottle

Artbox Lost cards, Harry Potter cards, Dexter cards

Aspen Comics Inflatable Tubes & bag

ATOM.com, Temporary Tattoos (3)Devil Doll & Radiskull, Bottle Opener, Pen, T-Shirt & Wrist Slap Bracelet

BBC America: Schedule Card: Being Human, Doctor Who & The Mighty Boosh. Doctor Who / Being Human dual sided oversize Bag

Capcom: Akrid salamander plush. Spyborg Comic. Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth, Pink 'Kay' Bandanna, Blue 'Blue Badger' Bandanna & Metal DS Case. T-Shirt (Resident Evil)* - Just take the hem of the shirt and pull it up and over your head.. zombie mask for an instant costume!

Chris Sanders (Creator of Lilo & Stitch) Temporary Tattoo & 5 Pins (LE 500)

City of Heroes coupon w/code

Cosmode Costume mode magazine flyer & pens

Dark Horse: Yellow Eco Bag: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, CLAMP 20th, Star Wars & The Umbrella Academy

Dark-Hunter.com (Sherrilyn Kenyon) Bite Me glowing Wristband, Book, Manga & drawstring Bag

DC Comics: Blackest Night Green Lantern Comic #0, Booklet & Flyer, Button, Ring. Comics: Zuda, Detective Comics Batwoman, Batman Hush, Superman, Batman & Robin

Dexter Baby Eco Bag, 4 Baby Buttons

Disney D-23 Buttons (5) Ariel, Mickey + 3

Fox: Postcard / Autograph Book, Dollhouse Virtual Echo coded postcard

FUNimation - 3 Bookmarks & 5 Postcards, like Samurai Champloo

Gaia coupon w/code

Hasbro: Pen, Posters (6) GI Joe Dogtag Booklet, GI Joe Shirt, SW Clone Wars mini book. Hot Wheels Cars, Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 disk, Norton Utilities GI Joe Rise of Cobra anti-virus gaming edition. The Empire Muggs Back figure Postcard.

Imagi Astro Boy game canvas bag & Gatchaman Watch

iTunes download card: Red Son comic +

Lionsgate: Gamer movie: Dogtag, Energy Shot, Poster & T-Shirt. The Final Destination 3D Lenticular Luggage Tag & 3D Button

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 video game magnets

Mattel: Ghostbusters Mini Mylar Balloon, big red "gift w/ purchase" Bag, Zan & Jayna 3D Buttons

Namco: Paper watch, phone game coded postcard, clubnamco.com coded card

Neca Coraline metallic lithograph

Nexon Lanyard & Games CD

Nickelodeon: Spongebob magnet, Mini posters (6) Poof, Foop, PetPet Park, Avatar, Avatar: App Suit Card +

Paramount: Star Trek Oversize Novelty Foam Hand (2 colors), Star Trek Tribbles (sound or silent), Star Trek Symbol Thumb drive, Transformers Portable Seat Cushion, Transformers speakers, Monsters vs Aliens 3D Glasses & Posters

SHIRTS:
Burn Notice * Gamer * Human Target * Iron Man 2, Stark Expo 74 * Nightmare on Elm Street Springwood High * Psych Fake Psychics Real Detectives * Sherlock Holmes * Spartacus (Black) I Burn for no cause but my own * Spartacus (Brown) A Man must accept his fate or be destroyed by it * Spartacus (Tan) Fight, you Thracian bitch * Spartacus (Red) You are destined for great and unfortunate things * True Blood: It Hurts So Good, Fang Banger tank & 3 other True Blood shirts

Square Enix: Fan, Book, Full Metal Alchemist Pass Case, Soul Eater Mouse Pad & Manga

Sony & SOE: God of War 2 Lanyard & Marvel Alliance 2 Magnet Sheet, Halo Wars Poster & Dog Tag. Rachet & Clank inflatable wrenches

Sony Pictures: Zombieland hand sanitizer, Mini posters (4), District 9 mini Poster, Card & Candy Pills, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs scratch & sniff postcard

Summit Pictures: Astro Boy mini poster & light up pin. Darksiders the Order Pin, Sorority Row Theta Pi Must Die Magnet & Bottle Opener. New Moon Posters (2), Trading Cards (2), Watch, Ring +

Telltale Games: Sam & Max Pin, Tales of Monkey Island Pin

VIZ Media: Canvas Bag (Naruto), Silver Coin, Bead Necklace

Warner Brothers: Blackest Night flashing Green Lantern Ring. V temporary tattoos. Ghostbusters Bottle of Slime. 5 Oversize Bags: Watchmen Director's Cut, Harry Potter, Chuck / The Big Bang Theory, Fringe / V and Batman / Superman. Temporary Tattoos: Jonah Hex, Batman & Wonder Woman

Xbox: Halo Legends poster, Lanyard, White T-Shirt, Black T-Shirt. Download code for The Guild TV show

Swag From The Unknown Or Forgotten Booths:

Dragonica sticker

Dungeon Fighter On-line Game Disc

Harry Potter Video Game Metal Slap Bracelet

Riese, Saragasso Planet Pins

Shorts (kid movie) small Can of Slime & Lollipop

Terminator Salvation: Coaster

Off-site or Outside Swag

Blood Drive: 3 different True Blood shirts: I gave blood but I saved some for Bill, Eric or Jessica

The Blood Factory.com Bag

Hotel Room Card Keys (Hyatt & Marriott) iTunes download: Red Son, Chuck, Fringe, Smallville & Supernatural

Hotel Room Door Hangers (Hyatt & Marriott) True Blood & Batman Arkham Asylum (4?)

Mythbusters Oversize Bag & Pin

Playboy Magazine Ice Cream Novelties

SyFy Channel Bag, Button Set, Disposable Camera & T-Shirt w/ Iron-ons

Whip It Terry Cloth Wristband

Halloween II / Inglorious Bastards dual sided Bag

Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball 2009

2009-07-20T08:54:37Z

On Saturday July the 11th I went to the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade with Chris & Anastasia. We met the rest of the party up there. The drive up & back was pretty good thanks to Anastasia's magical phone helping us avoid some truly horrible traffic. LA was a minefield of accidents everywhere. We left San Diego around 10:30am, even though the Ball did not start until 9:00pm. Anastasia had been several times before and had the good sense to get a hotel room. We shared it with 2 other people, which is something I had not done in a long time. It was fun & weird at the same time. I had joked that it would take me 2 hours to get dressed, but I was not far off. Extra makeup, hair curling and layer upon layer of clothing take a while to orchestrate.

We were close but decided to drive to the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater. The place is an empty theater on the first floor. No seating on the floor only in the balcony and third floor veranda. This was great since the size of some of the costumes would not allow seats. Every hour or so a new act would appear on the stage, then the DJ would go back to spinning. I really enjoyed everything I saw, partially because I was prepared to have a good time no matter what. A good attitude goes a long way in a crowd. Comic-Con taught me that. We wandered up and down and outside taking almost constant pictures. The Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball had some truly Gorgeous costumes! Photography has come a long way, but sometimes it does not do an outfit justice. Most outfits were very good to great. There were very few who tried the "off the rack" approach. Then came the super detailed, funny or clever costumes. The funny or clever outfits photographed well. Like, the Yard Gnome, Wind-up girl, Kermit & Miss Piggy and Phedre from Kushiel's Dart. However the super detailed costumes require looking at my undeveloped jpegs at full size. Several Dragons paid close attention to detail with their scales & horns. I took pictures of the backs of costumes for that very reason. The Green Fairy is lovely. The young woman is dressed in wires, crystals, optical cable, body paint and a little fabric! There is a group of 3 where one of the gents has candles all over him. Lots of people took advantage of lights, but no one else did what he did. There are so many examples my fingers would drop off from typing them out. I posted the 92 pictures on Photo Bucket under "marysgarage".
We stayed from 9:00pm to 2:00am and I did not realize I was tired until we happily drove back to the hotel to peel out of our clothes and pass out!

Now that I know the practical application of weight distribution on a tiny hat and what to expect from my corset I can safely plan on attending next year. Well done LOJ!!
http://www.LabyrinthMasquerade.com

Green Lantern Movie, Black or Whte

2009-07-20T08:52:37Z

So Pam sends me a link to someone else's Live Journal. In it they have a very good discussion about their disappointment in the casting of the upcoming Green Lantern movie. The writer never whines and the commenters never fuss. They clearly state their objections and confusion over the casting.
After the debacle with The Last Airbender movie I am no longer surprised by obvious racism. I am pretty sure that all movie companies want to do is make money. This now leads to my confusion. 1st -there was to be a live action Justice League movie in which the Green Lantern character would be black (John Stewart). Later on a decision was made to have a solo GL movie where the character is white (Hal Jordon). It seemed okay to have a token black guy in a group, but not by himself? I am going to skip past all the obvious racism and go directly to the bottom line...money. Movies, especially Superhero movies are aimed at young audiences. The current generation of young people almost exclusively know the black Green Lantern: John Stewart. People in their 40's and up know Hal Jordan. My kids see John Stewart in several cartoon series and comics. The action figures in my house are of John Stewart. My kids barely know there are other "human" Green Lanterns besides cranky Guy Gardner. What I want to know is, WHO are the bean counting movie executives selling this movie to?