San Diego Comic-Con 2012

[Ben]

2015 would be cool, if only to meet up in Marty McFly's future!

[James]

I thought we were all going to WDW in 2013?

[Randall]

Yes, well, the best-laid plans...

We might've considered that, actually, except for this Fall 2012 wedding we have to go to instead. But Ben probably couldn't have made it anyhow.

[James]

When are you going? We're kinda going for a quick weekend visit in August.

[Randall]

Not until the second half of October.

[James]

Worth a shot!

We're not actually going to the parks. My kids are spending a week with my wife's parents in Florida in August. They think we're going to pick them up and drive home. We're actually going to stop in Orlando, have lunch at the "world's biggest McDonalds", get a room at a Disney hotel and go swimming in one of their very cool pools, spend the evening shopping at Downtown Disney, ride the monorail to the Polynesian resort and watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from their beach, then have breakfast at Chef Mickey's and meet the characters before we head home the next morning. It's about as much of the Disney experience as you can get without going in a park!

[Ben]

WDW 2013 is always in the back of my mind! Would be nice to afford it all, but whichever way it goes it would just be nice to catch up (for real) and see everyone again, wherever we are!

[Dan]

One of the Twilight fans who started camping out near the Convention Center since Sunday morning was killed attempting to jaywalk today. She was 53-years-old.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul ... iego-dies/

[Greeco]

I've got to get to that Con some day or other. 'Shakes the Ham replica Piggy Bank on the shelve!'

[Dan]

Some of my pics from this year's con.

Sorry for the big sizes.

It's real! The Hover Board from Mattel is real!


The X-Play Panel


The Beyond: Two Souls Panel


The "Wreck-it Ralph" portion of the Disney Panel


Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzeneggar at The Expendables 2 Panel


The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Panel


The Adam West Batmobile at the Warner Bros. Extra Stage


Joffrey being a brat as always


Fans singing Happy Birthday to Tom Kenny at the end of the Brickleberry Panel


The ever popular Quick Draw! Panel


An all-star Cartoon Voices Panel


The Following Panel


Jim Lee displaying how he draws


The Fables 10th Anniversary Panel


Neil Adams drawing me a Supergirl sketch


The Epic Mickey 2 Panel


Mark Buckingham giving a quick lesson on drawing and water coloring


---

Me and some Comic-Con Guests

Adam Sessler


Chuck McCann


Cindy Morgan and Bruce Boxleitner


Ellen Page

[Randall]

Hey, looks like you had a good time! Thanks for the pics!

Y'know, given that the panels get reported on so thoroughly, I think the thing I miss most is that huge exhibit hall. Crowded, but pretty cool. And you never know who you might run into.

[James]

Man I miss it! If I lived in southern California I would be all over this stuff for the site!

[Ben]

Screw all that - where's the Superman footage!!!??

(Only kidding, Aki...always nice to see some reminders of the Con!)

[GeorgeC]

You may not be wanting to see the final cut of Man of Steel if the rumors are true, Ben...

IF they are, then the film is basically a mish-mash retelling of Superman I and II -- so no, they haven't learned from Superman Returns and we MIGHT be returning once again to the corpse of Richard Donner's movies which ISN'T what they should be doing again. Much as I don't care for the idea of a dark Superman or the ridiculous armored outfit introduced into the comics in this past year (it's no coincidence this happened and that it's based on the movie design!), remaking the 1978 and its sequel should not be done.... AGAIN!

As for me, I'm more interested in the animation and voice actor panels. Way past tired of all the focus on next year's summer movies/blockbusters. As for comics -- which are no longer the point of SDCC --, until they get better editors and writers and everybody stops hiring their buddies and Hollywood screenwriters INSTEAD of fans who happen to be good writers/artists and understand the characters and their worlds, the DC and Marvel monthlies are dead to me... I have a feeling the situation will NOT change since the emphasis is all on $$$, egos, and not the quality and consistency of the final product. It doesn't escape my notice (and a bunch of other people in my general age group or older) that the better live-action films and animated adaptations are generally based on comics produced well before the mid-1980s... Gee, what does that say about most of the "new material" produced after 1985???

As for the pictures, nice, but I see Akiyama has the same problems I do with digital pictures... Until you actually download them into a computer and can see them at full size, you have no idea how in focus/how good your lighting is!

The LCD screens on most consumer cameras are really bad and don't display the full resolution of your imagery. Colors are off and the lighting depicted doesn't usually show all the captured detail -- detail typically gets bleached out. It's a shame that consistency only exists in digital cameras that go above $500 retail. (Note to self: Buy one of those cameras when I can afford it! As nice as the portable stuff is, it doesn't beat the DSLR's and mid-level pro models.)

(Frankly, image preview is a good argument for getting an iPad if I ever saw one... Well, I can honestly see at least four-five different occupations that can benefit from an iPad. I guess we can digital photography to the list!)

I can recognize maybe half the people on the panels but I can't read the names on the cards for the most part.

Old 35mm wet film cameras have always been easier for me to get the hang of but we all know where photo labs are going over the next 10 years -- the way of the Dodo and Kodak, it seems.

********

As for the celebs, Boxleitner actually looks in decent shape for his age... That guy should be hired for more adventure/heroic roles and if he's good at voice-acting should be on a short list for upcoming animated shows/movies. (When he was younger, he probably would have made a good Hal Jordan in live-action. If Nathan Fillion weren't already perfectly cast in that role, Boxleitner should be considered for that voice casting, too.)

Stallone and Schwarzenegger are showing signs of too much plastic surgery (and I'm past the point of caring about them anymore -- their last good films were made about 20 years ago), and the old 1960s Batmobile still kicks the butt out of the rest of the Batmobile designs. It's definitely the most impressive in-person of all the cars I've seen!

Ellen Page, as usual, looks about as nervous and out-of-place as can be. I doubt she'd be there if she weren't promoting a new movie or TV series.

[Dacey]

Not sure how Ellen Page "looks nervous" from that photo, but anyway....

I've always wanted to go, this year even more so than some other years, but I have yet to find the money or a way to get there.

And the Man of Steel footage is supposed to be playing at The Dark Knight Rises tommorow. No word yet on when it will go online, but early next week seems like a good bet.