So you've suffered through my long winded and poorly written posts about the days before comic-con and for that I applaud you. I promise that this post will be short and sweet.
HAIR
My author friend, Brandon, has a very unique and recognizable physical characteristic. Brandon has wild and crazy, curly hair. Brandon is quite lucky to be the owner of this characteristic because everytime a young lady crosses his path she almost always makes a comment about how much she loves his hair. So here is "Hair" in all his glory. The first picture is Brandon with our San Diego friend, Allison, who we see every year at the con. The other picture is Mr. Hair waking up the next morning in our very cramped hotel room (cramped only because 6 other people were staying there)at the Holiday Inn on the Bay.A MAN AND HIS PARKING SPACE
Now that Brandon is thoroughly embarrassed we shall move onto some convention pictures. But first, one more pre-con picture. While walking to the Convention Center I snapped a picture of a homeless man who decided that a parking space would be the best place to stay for the night before. Naturally a scene like this is slightly humorous as someone is using a parking space to park themselves without a car. Unfortunately the humor lasts only for a moment until the reality of the vision inches its way into your mind.KING OF ZOMBIES
Here we have a nice snapshot of a full-sized replica of the King of the Dead from last year's "Return of the King." With my love of undead armies in movies since 1993, it's understandable that this character was my favorite in all of Tolkien's slightly boring and uninteresting tale. Since this picture was taken at an object behind a Plexiglas case the flash had to be turned off.FROSTED SNAKES?
The only time I've ever eaten snake was deep fried rattle snake bits back in 1996. The snake was so deep fried that all the flavor of the appetizer existed in the batter. I can only imagine what snake tastes like, and if it tasted terrible then I can also imagine that having some form of sugar coating would help. This parody box was brought to you by the folks who are busy making the new generation of Garbage Pail Kids cards.NEW STORM/CLONE TROOPER
Star Wars was big at the con. Bigger than any previous year. Lucasfilm has been putting forth the maximum effort in their marketing department in hopes to renew interest in Episode III as well as Star Wars in general. This new trooper design blends the looks of the Clone Troopers from Episode II and the Storm Troopers from the original Star Wars trilogy. Lucasfilm held the largest conference in comic-con history. The new exhibit hall at the far southern end of the convention center (Room H) held 6,500 star wars geeks waiting eagerly for a glimpse of the latest movie. During this conference is when Steve Sansweet and producer Rick McCallum displayed the title for Episode III. In homage to the original title of Return of the Jedi, Episode III's title is now "Revenge of the Sith." For once a title for a Star Wars prequel caused an applause rather than a cacophony of groans. My only regret is that I did not have enough space on this camera to take a picture of the Storm Trooper Elvis.LIFE SIZE MY ASS
One of the more interesting photo opportunities came to us in the form of a Street Fighter booth. At this booth it was possible to have a picture taken with a "life size" replica of the character, Sagat. Although you can't tell from this picture, but if this replica was "life size" then everything else in the world must have shrank.ALIENS VS. PREDATOR VS. BAD DIRECTOR
From the man who brought us such wonderful movies as Mortal Kombat Annihilation, Resident Evil, and Soldier comes the latest example of masterpiece cinema. "Aliens Vs. Predator," directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (the S. stands for "shit") will once and for all ruin the classic 1990 Dark Horse comic series. Ever since seeing the alien skull in the spaceship at the end of "Predator 2" have film geeks everywhere fantasized about an Aliens Vs. Predator movie. Dark Horse comics has for years satisfied this fantasy with multiple Aliens, Predator, and Aliens Vs. Preadtor storylines. When the first trailers for "AVP" started to hit theaters, a large level of enthusiasm was generated by the fans of these series. Unfortunately when fans learned that director Paul W.S. Anderson was attached to the project along with the fact that Mr. Anderson planned on making "AVP" PG-13, enthusiasm began to drop rapidly. Despite all that, the display in the food court that you now see a picture of was pretty decent. Those who were involved in making these statues were wise enough to remember Giger's original design for the Alien in which the head is actually translucent.COPY MACHINE COMEDY
Deep within downtown San Diego lies a very interesting bookstore. The name escapes me at the moment, but it has always been a favored attraction for my good friend, Brian. The bookstore reminds me of a few scenes from the original animation video series "Read or Die," in which a young woman with the ability to manipulate pieces of paper with her mind visits a small, hole in the wall style bookstore. This bookstore, like the bookstore in the animated feature, was very narrow and had books stacked on the stair case leading to the second floor. At the front desk I noticed a machine copied picture depicting the design for the "French Army Knife." While the joke is obvious, I found it rather amusing and picture worthy.WHAT THE FUCK?
Trying to keep oneself from being malnourished while staying in San Diego can be quite an obstacle for individuals on a tight budget. Obtaining a bite to eat in downtown for less than $12 can prove to be somewhat difficult. The only avenues for cheap food are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made at the hotel room or decently priced food at Ralph's grocery store. I definitely recommend Ralph's tortilla soup. Other than cheap food, Ralph's also had the oddest piece of full frontal nudity I've seen in public view. On the magazine rack there was Spanish magazine with the most peculiar cover. On the cover as seen in the picture there is a fully naked woman standing in front of a naked man. In addition to this, there's a picture in the bottom right corner depicting a Gameboy Advanced connected to a Nintendo Gamecube via a link cable.
/edit: It would appear that the owner of my webhosting is a little peeved that someone else is linking to images off of our shared space. I'm going to give a heads up to everyone and let you know not to link any images off of www.zombitorium.com, or www.falsemetal.com
Well this is one hell of a post. I'll be posting my overall feeling about the con tomorrow, so enjoy the pictures today!
