Talkies and Doodles

Long weekend coming up. It's my folks anniversary so we'll be hanging out in Yuma spending time not doing work...other then dealing with the daughter. But that's what grandparents are for. Pool side, movies, and date nights will be the requirement for this weekend. Long overdue for Audra. I'm looking forward to just relaxing. The past months have been non-stop and tons of work and stress.

Life is going well enough otherwise. We are 99% moved out of the rental and have 99% of the stuff taken care of for the new house...well, the big stuff. Still have things like curtains to finish...but most of the main bits are taken care of.

I am almost done with the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. This has been long in the coming for me. I read The Gunslinger in high school and loved it...but me and books don't get along. Nowadays with my long commute to/from work I have plenty of time to listen to audiobooks...which I do. I've been able to get through many books and will continue going through all of those I always wanted to read but never did.

I can't wait for the theatrical version of The Dark Tower to be done. J.J. Abrahms is heading this up and hopefully it comes to fruition. If it ends up being a T.V. show, it better be a Showtime or HBO show with all the vulgarity and brutality intact. I'll subscribe to one of those channels for this. If it ends up being movies...I hope it takes its time and it's more then just 7 movies. Then they can move on and start making movies based on the comic book series which I get to read next.

Ok, need to focus on work agian...L8r

So we are making progress with the new house...slowly...but making progress nonetheless. Last night I...uhhh...sealed the garage. Didn't do that great of a job, but it should be enough for now. Later...when it's cooler and whatnot...I'll go over it again with a clear epoxy sealant and make it a bit better....but what can you do. I got one of the parts I need to get the ceiling fans up. I'll get those all mounted this evening. Thursday the various folks will be out turning up my Internet, Phone, and DirectTV services. Our fridge will also show up that day. Then on Friday the folks will be out to install our water softener. Just about got everything lined up. Saturday we'll have a moving truck...well friday night...and we'll start the major moving process. We should be able to get most of it done and should be living in our new house Friday or Saturday with all the comforts of...home.

Found out today that the Internet service I ordered through QWest is not DSL but rather Fiber. This bit of news made me very happy. If it's as good as Verizons service then I'll have to sign up for that lifetime price guarantee thing. Maybe. So far we seem to be very happy with the new place. Time will tell.

Well, we own a new mortgage and have the ability to live in a house again. Whew...all done. Now we get to buy more stuff for it and move in.

Okies. Time to give a lucid review of my time at the Con. I read back through those 3 posts and had to shake my head. Now I give my self some room as I posted those via my blackberry, but still.

Comic Con ran from Wednesday night through Sunday. I attended Thursday through Saturday. Very long days with very little time sitting and even less not moving...and usually moving quite slow. I was able to attend one panel and got in on a few signings. The rest of the time was spent wandering around picking up swag, meeting folks, and just hanging out.

The first day I was able to sit in on the Wizards First Rule panel with Sam Raimi and Terry Goodkind. Mr. Goodkind wrote a series of books known as the Sword of Truth series. Fantasy/adventure/etc. Sam Raimi and his crew bought the rights and are making a TV series (starting in November) called Legend of the Seeker. This, to me, was a very interesting panel. We got to hear from both the author and the folks who will be making the series. They covered the "why we love this material" questions, as well as the "how we are going to do this" questions. The biggest issue is adapting a series of books into a hour long (well, 45 mins) weekly tv show. They chose this option versus making a 2 1/2 hour movie which would ultimately mean they would have had to cut even more out. The TV series has its own issues. The biggest is that they have to have individual episodes which have to almost sit alone on their own. This was something the author talked about. They want billy joe bob who knows nothing about the series, books, or anything, to be able to sit down on the 4th episode and not be lost. So they are going to be peeling away the books and expanding on the world and characters creating self-sufficient stories out of the books. Very cool.

The rest of that day was mainly picking up swag and buying a few things as well as getting some comics signed. I was able to pick up all 4 of the Comic Con exclusive Star Trek Posters. I also sweat talked my way into a signing by Steven Moffat who has been a head writer on the new Doctor Who and is now taking over as show runner.

The second day was a bit different. I won a drawing to get in on a signing for Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog. The panel included Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Zack Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Neil Patrick Harris. Very cool for me.

The rest of the day was forgotten about for the most part. :) Saw various folks popping up here and there. Stephen Baldwin was there hocking his new comic. They started up the big huge signings and gave out more swag.

Saturday was a very long day. Massively packed and almost painful to get through some areas. I ran into Joss Whedon on the floor as him, Maurissa, and I think it was Jed was wondering around. I stumbled upon a couple one-off signings. The first was James Gunn and his brother Sean were signing posters at the Xbox booth for a short they did for XBox live. Sean has been in a lot of things the most memorable for me is the role of Kirk in Gilmore Girls. James has some Troma films roots, and recently directed Slither (staring Nathan Fillion). The second siging I stumbled upon was at the Horrorfest booth and was for Lena Headley. She's currently the star of the Sara Conner Chronicles but was also in 300 and various other films. Saw various other folks in the various signings that were going on. Kiefer Sutherland, the cast of Chuck, Terminator Salvation, Sara Conner Chronicles, Pushing Daisies (Yea!!), and Bruce Campbell. Ohh..and I passed right by Kevin Smith on thursday walking down the hall.

All in all I really enjoyed myself. Very sore and tire. Can't wait for next year. All the pics I took are here: http://snowcrash.talkiesdvd.com/?q=gallery&g2_itemId=31264

Ivan

I'm back in Yuma after my 3rd day at the con. I is tired. Met some more folks, Lena Headley, James Gunn, Joss Whedon...again. . More pics and more stuff. Will post pics in the next day or two.