sandwichesandapples

So, while I was waiting in line for Mythbusters, I learned that the Watchmen Director’s Cut panel took place in the same room right afterwards. I’d seen the event listed but missed the room listing since I figured I wouldn’t be able to do both it and Mythbusters. This changed things. Now I was waiting in line at 5.15 for a 7.15 panel (Mythbusters) and could stay after that for another 4 hour event. Basically, I was deciding to spend the next 6 or 7 hours in this one room. But what the hell right?

So Mythbusters ended and a surprising number of people left. They let in the next surge of the crowd to fill up the seats. I moved up to a great seat and once some trustworthy people sat next to me, I asked them to watch my bags while I ran to the restroom.

I returned to see a trailer for a Batman video game. Whatever. But when that was over, a moderator started announcing the panel for the video game. Some dude, some dude, Mark Hamill and Paul Dini. Huh? Turns out Mark Hamill’s been playing the Joker on animated Batman shows for the last 17 years. Who knew?

Anyway, it quickly becomes the Mark Hamill show and the moderator and other panel guests have no power to stop him interjecting on every question and rambling on. God bless him.

This goes on for half an hour before they wrap it up and bring out the Watchmen panel.

Zach Snyder, Jackie Earle Haley and Dave Gibbons (!) come out and answer questions for about half an hour. It was super cool.

So then, Jackie and Dave leave and they set up for this crazy interactive screening of the Watchmen Director’s Cut. They’re going to screen it live and Zach will take questions from an audience online and in the room. A moderator reads the questions aloud and Zach answers aloud and two typists transcribe everything.

It was nuts.

Basically, Snyder just got to ramble about whatever he wanted. It was solidly entertaining. At one point someone in the room asked if he preferred chunky or smooth peanut butter. This provoked a somewhat drawn out answer. Minutes later, someone snuck up to the dais with a jar. When Snyder then complained that he needed bread and jelly, those appeared. Along with a plate and a fruit cup and a knife and a bunch of other food gifts.

Snyder gamely made a sandwich and talked about its virtues just as enthusiastically as he talked about Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” It was a really great evening and seriously so casual and fun to watch a movie with its director. I loved every second but I had to bail around midnight since I was exhausted.

Oh and the Director’s Cut looks amazing. I have to get that.

So back to my weekend of geekery… Saturday night, I sat through the Vampire Diaries panel in order to see Mythbusters despite the fact that my favorite Mythbuster, Kari Byron obviously, was not going to be in attendance.

At Comic-Con they don’t clear the rooms between panels. They allow some time for people who want to leave to do so and then they start letting people in as they have available seating. And for the large part, the crowd stayed. So either there is a large crossover fanbase between Vampire Diaries and Mythbusters or, like me, most of the crowd just showed up early and obliged Vampires Diaries while waiting for the much cooler Mythbusters.

Adam, Jamie, Tory and Grant took the stage to screaming fans. It was as if we were at a rock show. They showed a fast-paced clip preview of the new season and then answered questions for the remainder of the hour.

And it was awesome.

Those guys have so much fun at their job and we have so much fun watching it that it was a great give and take between the audience and the four dudes on stage. I didn’t have any idea what to expect. I had briefly thought they might do some crazy experiment or something for us but even when I realized it was just going to be Q&A, I wasn’t disappointed. It was just a great conversation with some guys who do work that I like to watch.

That was a real highlight for me. It wasn’t a Hollywood bullshit session. It wasn’t the Vampire Diaries dorks talking about the audition process and the market for their show. It was 4 nerdy guys and their nerdy moderator talking to about 6000 nerds. And that was all it needed to be.

Yes, that’s right. I woke up Sunday morning with a tremendous headache and as the day progressed, I started feeling congested in my head and developed a dry cough. Monday, I felt more flu-like and went to see my doctor. Once I mentioned I’d been at a convention, he got pretty serious and did a quick flu test. It came back positive for Influenza A so according to CDC protocol, he did another swab to send to the CDC. Because of my age and health (mid-30s and healthy), he said Tamiflu was not indicated for me. He explained that the CDC doesn’t want doctors to over-prescribe Tamiflu and create a Tamiflu-resistant strain of the flu. So he gave me a bunch of other medicine and sent me on my way.

Though I haven’t felt worse, I haven’t gotten any better. Today my doctor called to say it was indeed H1N1, the swine flu, and they prescribed Tamiflu. The biggest consequence is that I’m basically home-bound for 5 more days.

It’s not difficult to imagine that one or a few of the many thousands of people at Comic-Con might have swine flu. I ate food from the vendors there and conditions weren’t exactly sanitary. I also rode the train from San Diego back to Orange County on Friday night (the 8:30pm in case anyone is curious) which was over-crowded. So however it happened, I got the flu.

This is really just a PSA.

This is so weird.

Hella crazy panel evening. Having learned my lesson from last year, I arrived two hours early for the Mythbusters panel. I got in!

In fact, I got in so damn early that I had to sit through Vampire Diaries. We pretty much watched the first episode and then the pretty people who star in it answered questions.

So Vampire Diaries is another soundtrack-driven high school drama. The plot (at least of the first few episodes) is pretty much by the numbers — our heroine’s parents were killed in a car accident during the last school year. As the new year begins, she meets a mysterious, dark new student. He’s a vampire who’s given up eating humans. Oh! But watch out: thirty minutes in, his brother appears — a vampire who hasn’t given up eating humans. It was all completely predictable. 90210 with fangs.

The panel spent a lot of time justifying why this isn’t just another Twilight or True Blood. I don’t really care. If people like vampires, why aren’t there 100 vampire shows? And no, I’m not their target audience by any means but I just don’t understand the device of “good” vampires. There aren’t any good vampires. They all eat people and suck blood. It’s gross. They’re all bad.

Also, shows like this really make me want to write about what life was actually like in high school. I’m sure things have changed but how would these writers know? They’re older than I am. And even if kids these days dress better, listen to cooler music, have more casual sex and drink more, there is no way they’re any less awkward. Shows like this just baffle me. No, we don’t want to watch TV shows with awkward teens but it’s annoying to me to watch them act in this odd pseudo-adult manner. It just seems like sick fantasy for someone.

Well, today’s plans were pretty much up-ended. I queued up early (I thought) for a panel on 9. Barely moved in the line til it was obvious I’d miss 9 but I stayed in line because the next event in Hall H was one I wanted to see: Legion and District 9. I made it almost to the building over the next 90 minutes. But twenty minutes after the panel was to start, I wasn’t moving any more and it was clear everyone around me was waiting for the next panel. So I bailed.

That seems like a problem to me. I have never really heard anyone bitch about the waits but everyone talks about them. I don’t have any suggestion on the issue but I’m not thrilled with the current system.

So after that epic wait, I hit the exhibition hall again and collected a bunch of goodies which I then had to lug around all day. And as the iPhone battery is dying, I’ll close this wrap-up.