The Week of the Geek pt. 1

This weekend marked the 10th annual Emerald City Comic Con. Wow. All I can say is wow.

First up was meeting Jason Momoa and Christopher Judge. I LOVEEEEEEEEE Stargate Atlantis and SG1, so this was like...well it was fucking AWESOME. I thought Christopher was tall...but holy shit. I look like an albino hobbit compared to Momoa. That man is fucking gigantic! He also is funny. Both my friend Lilith and I were surpressing giggles after he invited us to the "man meat sandwich".

I'm a third generation Trekkie, so that alone made meeting George Takei awesome. But I also loved him on Heroes and absolutely look forward to his Facebook posts. He was running a little late to the photo shoot, but I think I know why. He made sure to take his time with every fan he met. He was unbelievably nice and for that a lone I will be a fan forever!

Day two I got to meet Jon Bernthal and Laurie Holden from The Walking Dead. I saw Jon walk into the area first and thought, "Wow, he looks like an ass." I know that just because he plays a jerk on TV doesn't mean he would be one, but he looked like he was. Then he stuck his face out from the curtain and said hi to everyone before ducking back in. He was extremely cool guy! This was the second photo...apparently the first one I had my eyes shut but this one I have the stupid grin on my face.

Last but certainly not least I got to meet James and Oliver Phelps aka the Weasley twins from HARRY FUCKING POTTER! The look on my face was due to spending the entire 45 minutes - 1 hour in line with this lady who I was pretty sure was on drugs and told me every single detail about her personal life....and I couldn't even get a word in. I was so happy to be be a lone I looked like I was unhappy to be in the picture with them. But I wasn't!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

In all the years I have lived in the great Emerald City, this was the first time I ever attended the Emerald City Comicon, or ECCC for short. Why, I have no idea. I've never shy'd away from attending conventions or any sort of gathering (including midnight showings) that involve dressing up and a bunch of adults acting like children in kindergarten geeking out about trivia and discussing their favorate aspect of whatever the sci-fi/fantasy flavor of the day is.

A week before ECCC I didn't even know it was happening (I know, epic Nerdy Girl fail). I had just totally mind wiped it existed and amongst all my geeky friends, not one posted anything about it on Facebook. How was I to know? I found out a week before that it was happening. And to my dismay, it was almost impossible to get tickets at that point. What made it worse is when I had a moment to read the guest list. Luck had it that a friend was able to score extra passes because she works at the of the sponsors. SUH-WEET. Not only was I going, but I was going for free! Which in this economic climate is uber-sweet.

I chose to attend Saturday since it was the longest of the three day nerdfest and seemed to be the most eventful. Because I love such a wide range of sci-fi/fantasy show.s and movies, it was impossible for me to do everything I would have wanted without cloning myself or using Hermione's Time-Turner. Driving into the city near the convention center we could spot the nerds from the non-nerds. The excited looks on even the attendees not in costume distinguished them from the every day city dweller. Of course, it was obvious where Darth Vader, rebel fighters, stormtroopers, and superheroes were going. Although, for you non-Seattlites, we do have masked heroes even when ECCC isn't running. That's right. We have a team of superheroes. Leave it to Seattle. So if any of you are thinking of causing chaos in the Emerald City, beware. Phoenix Jones is here to protect the citizens! I mean, for a city that has naked bike rides does it really surprise anyone? Legend had it there was a gentleman running around one of the neighborhoods dressed like Link, hero of the game Legend of Zelda. Oh Seattle....

ANYWAYS....back to the awesome day I had. When I got inside the center with my friend it was a sight to behold. Like I mentioned before, I've been to events dedicated to either one show or movie, but never a mixture of all things I hold awesome in my geek heart. There were stormtroopers, SG1 team members, a Witch King and Gimli (odd couple), Klingons, vampires, zombies, Batmans....errr....Batmen? Every superhero was present...I mean everything was there. I even saw people pimpin' Labyrinth t-shirts and Red Dwarf shirts. AHH! I also saw a troupe who do the live action while The Rocky Horror Picture Show plays behind them in full costume!

The guest list also was a great representation of my favorite things. William Shatner, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner representing my Trekkie love (and my fav is TNG just FYI). John Noble had a piece of my Lord of the Rings heart. And from one of my favorite shows Buffy: James Marsters (favorite character!) and Nicholas Brendon (named one of my cat's after Xander) were there! Also there was Felicia Day (I loved Dr. Horrible & Legend of Neil!!!). It was truly overwhelming. I think I must have had a smile on my face the entire time.

This event also marked the third time I have taken food from a stranger. Yeah...I'm one of those. Ironically, the first time was when I was in a line to go to a book reading Sean Astin was doing about his experience filming Lord of the Rings...this little girl overheard how hungry I was and when her dad came back and stated he had extra burgers from McDonalds, the girl pointed to me and said, "Daddy, she is really hungry!" It was after I had seen Supersize Me and had sworn off that place...well I guess you can see that protest didn't last long. So again, I got hungry while in line. And someone took pity. Obviously, not one to decline free food, I gladly accepted.

Despite the unorganized mess and the heat of the stuffy center, it was a blast. Wandering around was pure entertainment. I've found that attendees at these events tend to be the most friendly (my mom joked because they have no other friends LOL). You can just stop and start talking to anyone and they will gleefully chat back. I think it's because we all know we are on the same level. We love make-believe. We aren't ashamed of costumes and declaring our obsessive love for our favorite stories, characters, movies, and so on and so on.

I saw Normon Reedus walk by me and although I didn't know who he was I knew I had seen him before. I quickly exclaimed, "God that guy looks familiar! Where have I seen him?!" Apparently he had stopped right behind me waiting to see if I would figure out but I was oblivious. Later on I realized that although I didn't know him from The Boondock Saints, I did know him from The Walking Dead. Dang it! Also another miss was not knowing Felicia Day was in the bathroom with me...Ok that sounds wrong. Let me restate. She came out of the ladies room right before I did and I had been totally unaware. Double DANG IT!! Not that I would have done anything. Nothing says creepy like cornering a celebrity in the restroom. That is one boundary I wouldn't cross...maybe...

Things I did get to do:

• Get a retarded looking picture of myself with Jonathan Frakes (RIKER!) and Brent Spiner (DATA!). They talked to me so of course I got flustered and made some sort of special looking face when the camera snapped. Oh well...Regardless, I have loved Star Trek: The Next Generation since I was little. I grew up on that and my love for it and appreciation for it grew as I did. It has and will always remain one of my favorite shows of all time.
• A slightly less retarded picture with James Marsters. I absolutely loved Spike on Buffy (haha that term can be taken quite literally). He was such a sweet guy but I was shocked at how small he was. He wasn't much taller than me. I guess by comparing how much taller he was than Sarah Michelle Gellar I should have known, but since Buffy is the main character, they of course filmed it at her level. It's easy to forget film/tv does that. You lose perspective of how small/tall actors are.
• We went to the Buffy panel. It was fun to hear Nicholas Brendon and James Marsters tell stories from the set. Also there was the actress that played Glory in Season 5.
• After the convention we also got to see James Marsters perform at the Hardrock Cafe. Nice way to end the evening! It was also nice waiting in line for the concert visiting with fellow convention goers and commenting on one horror we all noticed one lady who should not be rockin' the Princess Leia slave costume.

Things I missed:

• Having more time to browse all of the stands and possibly by some items. We did stop at an interesting booth...I wasn't too sure what it was about but it had a cut-out of a boxer with Charlie Sheen's face on it...so obviously, they were WINNING! DUH!
• There were other panels I would have loved to sit in on but it was such a pain to get into the Buffy one and the others were during the times I was nerding out with the actors we just couldn't do it. Max Brooks had one, The Guild had one, and Star Trek had one. Oh well...always next year which happens to be the 10th one!
• Taking more pictures. The attendees alone were pure entertainment and some of them had quite elaborate costumes. One man looked very much like an older Ewan McGregor and yes...was dressed as a very convincing Obi-Wan.
• Of course more time to meet the other actors mentioned at the beginning of this blog. It's a hard job being such a nerd and I love way too many things to keep up with it all!

All in all it was a blast and I can't wait to do it again. I am unashamed of being a nerd and have embraced it. We are the most fun, creative, and entertaining group and we like good stories and not the made up pseudo-reality show crap!

6 Years LOST

*Cracks knuckles*

Yeah this blog is pathetic, I know. I've been in the midst of changing jobs, moving, yadda yadda yadda....Anywho, ranting is a good enough reason to log back in and post something. So let's have at it!

I've said this before but I will say it again. Although I am a film student and lover of film and television, I've never been one of those snooty a-holes that turn their nose up to the summer blockbuster and will only watch and supposedly enjoy (even though I think they are pretending to make themselves appear superior) complex, boring, indie films that no one but their moron pretentious a-hole friends and themselves get. Now don't get me wrong. I love the mainstream to the bizarre. As long as I go in semi prepared for it I'm cool. I hate being lured in to what appears to be an action-packed on the edge of your seat film only to find myself dozing in and out. Or going into what appears to be a comedy but then have it be a ball-less, Lifetime special, Nicholas Sparks crap. Like when M*A*S*H, Murphy Brown, and Ellen all got too preachy. I'm all for anti-war messages, breast cancer awareness, and equal rights. But if I wanted to watch that sappy message crap, I wouldn't turn on a sitcom.

Don't get me wrong. I love being very pleasantly surprised by the little known flick that I happen to catch on IFC. That doesn't bother be a bit. I don't mind surprises like that. I welcome the far and few in between shockers that totally alter my perspective. I don't say no to films or TV shows based on popularity, normality (or lack there of). I like everything from Lord of the Rings to Velvet Goldmine. Firefly to Flight of the Conchords.

However...I don't like to be mislead. THAT pisses me off. That being said, by now the title of this post and all that I have posted up until now you should know where this is going. So in case you are one of the poor souls that missed last night's BS fest and still want to wast two hours of your life, turn back now. Otherwise, sit down and shut up. I'm about to begin my mega rant.

WHAT. THE. FUCK. First off, I think Dubya could have scribbled out a better plot line in a coked-up daze then those LOST turds. This is when I really want to have a time traveling DeLorean. Not to go back in time and stop Hitler or any other evil historical figure, but so I can go back to 2004 and warn myself not to bother with that pilot premiering on ABC with Merry in it. That it's not ever going to be fulfilling and that I will only waste hours of my precious youth with a headache trying to figure out what's going on (why watch LOST when you can go to parties for that?).

Like I said, I don't need some masterpiece theater that causes my mind do a 180. I enjoy plot twists like that, but it's not necessarily a requirement. If I enjoy the characters and if I feel like their fake lives on the show were meaningful and have come to a completion, I am happy (even when it's too soon like Stargate: Atlantis or Buffy). See, those aren't any HBO hardcore shows. They were fun. Bad guys vs the good guys with great funny yet complex characters I cared about. They win in the end even though not all make it out, and I'm still left satisfied knowing that the show came full circle. That everything they went thru was for a reason. Understandably, not all shows get the grace of time to tie in all the lose plots. Moonlight for example had a glimmer of a chance to be renewed, so they ended in a semi-cliff hanger. You got some closure, but you were still left wondering what could have been. BTW, way to go you jerk-offs at CBS. Now vampires are the extremely "In" thing and you missed out on this hot trend. AND....AND you had a way hotter vampire than that baggy-eyed bill or "I'm mister smelly with dirty hair and no emotion on my ugly limey (no offense to my UK friends) face". Now you keep tossing poor Alex O'Loughlin back and forth between stupid fails (Yeah, Hawaii 5-0 sounds like a good idea!!) because you know he can keep viewers but you failed to realize that it also takes a good story. LIKE MOONLIGHT!!! I wish he would off give a big ol "EFF YOU" to CBS and went to True Blood. He obviously doesn't shy away from raunchy scenes and we could see him nakey (instead of Bill) once a week! Woo!

Ok....As I was saying, shows like Angel, which I thought REALLY picked up season 5 (HELLO DYNAMIC DUO SPIKE AND ANGEL! Mmmmm....Spike...who's apparently really old and fat now.....so now it's really too late to do anything with him...ok so he was another hot vampire...that was better than stupid boring pointless ugly Edward) found out mid-season they were canceled. WHY DO YOU HATE JOSS SO???? He > LOST tards and a network gave them 6 years. SIX YEARS OF STUPID LIES!!!! Anyways, they had a really spiffy plot line going that you knew was going to lead up to Spike becoming human and Forehead being all pissy about it because he finally realizes he didn't chose to have his soul so he wasn't really a good guy he was just a bed buddy for Buffy until she found her true love Spike...WHO FOUGHT for his soul and was truly a good guy...and was funny and didn't have a big forehead...So yeah they didn't get to wrap that up at all and it ended in one of those "WTF?" scenes...but at least it wasn't Angel waking up to realize he's a mental patient who dreamed this all up. Regardless of how quick they had to wrap it up, they did a better job then those "writers" who knew they had a six LONG years to tie everything together. Seriously, that is some lazy ass writing.

I could go on (another nice rant about another Joss show...), but I won't. I need to get back to the point...which is about the pointless show called LOST. After season one, everyone was speculating how it was going to end. And guess what??? Almost EVERYONE guessed that it would end up they were all dead...but then people starting scoffing because that would be copying The Six Sense, which by the way was Shyamalan's ONLY good film before he hired Mr. I'm a crazy angry man who claims to be a good Catholic but divorces his wife after getting a Russian lady pregnant and who is also anti-Semitic (all around good guy...what happened Mel? You were so sexy in Mad Max and so funny in Lethal Weapon and Maverick!). I think Shyamalan suffered the same disease the writers of LOST have-arrogance. He thought since he came up with such a mind bending ending anything he wrote after that would be pure gold because his mind was just awesome like that. He could literally take a dump on a paper and it would be magical. Nope. You poop on a page and all you have is a shitty page. LAME. SAUCE.

I can just see it now...The LOST writers sitting there all smug after Season 1, just knowing they are going to mess with everyone's mind and cause them to implode upon themselves with the totally awesome ending. And then everyone guesses the predictable ending...so they are like "Crap...I knew we shouldn't have watched The Sixth Sense that night before we wrote the pilot! Now what? We are committed!" "Oh well let's just throw in a bunch of random shit that really won't have anything to do with anything just to throw all those know-it-all viewers off. That will show them. IN YOUR FACE PEOPLE WHO HAVE COMMON SENSE!!!"

Sad thing is, I so wanted this to work. I wanted it to have meaning. I loved the characters and I wanted their journey to be full of purpose. We had been thru so much together. But half way thru, it started to feel like work. I felt committed and obligated to see it thru, just incase it turned around. It could, right? Turning on the show felt labored but what if this time it was different? I mean, after all the excitement, laughter, struggles, tears, and joy, I couldn't just walk away. It had to all be for something. That's why we watch (or read) anything. We want to have a meaningful experience (even if its laughing until you cry and fart jokes or being scared shitless by zombies eating brains). We open our eyes and ears to experience someone's storytelling, hoping that their characters touch us and in the end we leave with something more than we started with, whether it be a smile, tear, or a chuckle. Something that came to a completion (or at least a hint of a sequel) because we cared enough to finish it. But LOST took all of that and crapped on it. It was a wolf in sheep's clothing...or actually a sheep in a wolves clothing...pretending to be a cool and dangerous...and all you get is a white poofy wool sweater.

The whole going to heaven (or whatever) crap would have been lame no matter what (if I wanted to see that moving on to the afterlife crap I would watch Ghost Whisperer) but they could have lessened the blow. If it was about the characters like the writers claim (which you can tell is a lame excuse for lack of plot), you didn't need what appears to be some mega complex Arthur C. Clarke goes ultimate Heroes Journey-Joseph Campbell 6 year story-arch. Do individual, isolated story plots to develop the characters. I'm all for a character driven story, but don't throw in a bunch of random crazy twists you can't possibly explain if that's the case. I mean really? What was with Walt then, huh? Why was Aaron so evil?...Oh and why in the end during the "afterlife" churchy portion was he a baby? Why would he want to be back with the group as a baby? If he wanted to move on with those people, why not move on as an adult who can thank them for all their help they provided when he was an infant even though he COULDN'T REMEMBER IT SO I DOUBT HE WOULD NEED THEM! What was with the polar bear? Why did the island move around and why did Whitmore care? What was the purpose of the time traveling deal? The Darma Initiative? The whole magnetic soul of the island thing? Hell, the whole Jacob thing didn't make sense in the least bit! If it were all leading to something that would be cool, otherwise it's obvious the writers took a bunch of interesting ideas from random comics, shows, and movies and randomly crapped them out throughout the story just because it was "cool", not because it meant anything. Seriously. How did ANY of it tie together? I could go on but I need to stop. LOST already stole 6 years from me. They don't need any more!