There's a whirlwind inside me...

Some days I feel like I have a whirlwind inside of me. On most days, it wisps about calm and serene. But on other days,... some of those really bad days, the whirlwind is a monster. It lashes out, rages and roars. On those days, I feel like I want to let that whirlwind loose and let the world despair in it's wrath. With the monster loose, I can curl away somewhere dark and alone and not have a care in the world.

What would the monster do, I wonder? Would it become bored and just roam about aimlessly? Would it ransack, pillage and plunder? Would it strike up eloquent conversations with random strangers? Would it tear the heads off little children and force feed them to their fathers as the mothers watched and screamed all covered in bodily fluids? On some days the little monster wants out. But I don't let it.

I suppress the whirlwind and I use it's power and determination. I use it to drive my being. I use it to surf the analog world. I use it to cope with unbearable loss and wretched anxiety. I use it to just get thru the day. I use it to just be. I use it right now, because there's very little else getting me thru the day.

R2-D2 in Star Trek movie?

Yep, it's true. An employee at ILM(yep, they worked on the Star Trek movie. Funny huh?) confirmed that the droid was carefully hidden in the background. Click here for an article about the sighting and for a high resolution image to see for yourself. I've heard that the lovable droid was hidden somewhere in the second transformer movie as well.

Geek-a-palozza '09

This year's geek-a-palooza, or what's more commonly known as the San Diego Comic-Con 2009, has now come and gone. What once was a mass pilgrimage of only comic book geeks, to downtown San Diego has become the "geek-chic" it-place-to-be. It was a tough four days of battling the ravenous horde of over 120,000 attendees. But somehow I made it thru, mostly intact. My wallet took the brunt of the damage. I scoured the floor as best as I could for great art, books, toys and cool swag. And while I had fun hanging out with friends, there was one thing missing this year. My brother usually attends the show with me, but this year he was too sick to make it. I tried my best to bring a piece of the show back to him, but if you've ever been to the con you would know that there's nothing like being there. To top it off, I made the mistake of inviting some other relatives to go to the show with me. They proceeded to do what they wanted, when they wanted. There's a saying that comes to mind when I think of what happened. "Don't forget who brought you to the dance." Part of what makes going to this show is so great is not just experiencing the convention. It's sharing the experience with others that makes it memorable. What I remember of them is very little. I guess I shouldn't have expected as much as I did. I'll remember next time.

Despite this one regret, I had fun. Comic con week went by fast and for the first time in a long time, I actually felt like I didn't see everything. But you wouldn't know it by all the photos I took. It's going to take me a few days to go thru everything. I'll post them to Flickr once I'm done processing them, but here's a few photos in the meantime:

Some Indiana Jones fans.

Watchmen.

Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis & Denzel Washington promoting their new movie Book of Eli.

Cameron Diaz showed up to promote her new movie, the Box. What a great smile. =)

Josh Brolin and Megan Fox talked about Jonah Hex.

John Lassetter and the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. Among all the celebrities that showed up, I was only in awe of this man.

Kevin Sorbo of Hercules and Andromeda.

A large, but not life sized version of Mazinger Z.

Indy looking for some "vulcan" lovin'.

One of the restaurants at the Hard Rock Hotel was transformed into Cafe Diem from Syfy's Eureka.

One of several new dolls of the adorable Coraline. This one is the cutest IMHO.

See-Threepio/C-3PO

Iron Man, mark 1 from the movie.

Axel comforting the somewhat sloshed Jay.

Durian,... the dreaded stinky fruit.

Durian,... hmmm, someone must have been really, really hungry to eat this foul smelling fruit. On my most recent trip to the philippines I was surprised to find the odoriferous fruit in a market in a small town. I've always been curious to try it and my cousin said she would try it as well if we managed to find it. All that being said, we found some and bought one. I'm guessing that the one we bought was a little over-ripe since it was not milky, like I've heard it was supposed to be. The meat of the fruit was dry and yes, while stinky, I was still curious if it tasted like it smelled. I know a few people who've tried it and they all seemed to have liked it. I should like it too, right?

So my family gathered around the spiny object. Some were holding their noses or their breath in order to forego the tepid smell. We all took a bite and,... no one like it. Most of us still swallowed the bites we took and that was a big mistake that we would continue to pay for the rest of the evening. It wasn't the most horrible ting I've ever tasted. It was mostly just unpleasant. If you asked me what it tasted like, I would tell you that it tasted like stinky, creamy onions. Mostly anyways. It's not the most appetizing of ideas already, but I'd recommend you at least try it so that you can form an opinion too.

Walking Thru Yesterday

I don't really know why, but I went thru some old photos the other night and there were a few that stood out to me. Mind you, these were taken before the days of digital cameras.

Here we are posing with some great filipino artists Nestor Redondo, Alfredo Alcala and another guy(sorry dude, your name escapes me). If I remember right, Byron was taking the picture.

Lately, a lot of people have been telling me that I was very lucky to have friends like these guys. I guess most people go thru their whole lives without meeting anyone like them. I tell them that I am "blessed" to have them. This was taken in Jonard's parent's garage. They had converted it into a room and Jonard and the guys pretty much moved in. Thanks Mr. & Mrs. Soriano! (Wow! Byron's actually in this picture. But I think this was before Jojo started hanging out with us.)

Here are the guys hamming it up for the camera. We took a little day trip to Universal Studios. I think we were trying to pass the time while waiting in line for the Waterworld Stunt Show. Bunch'a clowns.

I know,... the picture's blurry. But I still like it. I believe this was one of our "holiday" gatherings. Now-a-days, I wonder why we need to have an excuse like a holiday just to "hang out". Those were simpler days.

Once more unto the Breach...

Well, I'm heading off to Comic Con tomorrow. No booth this year. Nothing to to be tied down to. I've got all I need: a new camera, a can of Lysol, chewing gum, my Nintendo DS and a decent pair of shoes. I'll try to check in during the show, but in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening & good night!

The Days of Wonder...Con

The 2007 WonderCon has come and gone. It was my first time attending the show in any shape or form and I'd have to say I was impressed by the most part. I was told that it was bigger than it has been ever before. But, to me it seemed small enough that I didn't get too stressed just walking through the crowded masses. I'll definitely be going again. Ok, now for the pictures.

I took this picture because Mikey had taken a similar photo last year on our trip up to APE. (Thanks for driving most of the time Eric !) What we didn't know was that the rental we had gas guzzler. It was almost certain that we would need to get a refill on gas somewhere between Bakersfield and Fresno. Unfortunately we had seemingly passed all the open gas stations.

Panic hit us hard when there was no civilization in sight at the off ramp we fianlly took. Thankfully we had one of those electronic navigation devices and it finally led us to an isolated gas station just outside of a state prison.

The rest of the trip up was pretty much uneventful. We got to our hotel. Went out for a late dinner and then went to bed.

Our hotel was only a few blocks away from the convention center. But when your carrying backdrops, postcards and a few dozen books it might as well be a marathon.

We got to the center and security was tight. Registration was slow and awkward. The tell tale sign of inexperienced volunteers. But we got into the show anyway.

Something I thought that was odd was that there was only one entrance/exit to the showroom. I guess they only wanted to pay for a the fewest amount of security possible.

It didn't take us long to get to our table and set up. Eric had his new book Halogen:Halo for sale and Axel was working on a pair of new shoes.

Friday was nice and relaxed. I knew that saturday would bring the masses. People were off work and most of the big stuff was happening on the weekend. So I decided that I would take this time to explore the area outside of the convention center. I wanted to check out the Sony Metreon as well as the Yerba Buena Gardens.

The traffic's not so bad. But I say that only because I'm not in it. HA!

I thought that this was great water element. It was also interactive, so the kids could play with it.

I really like how the cherry blossom trees contrast the city landscape. It sort of softens the area around the playground.

Back at the show I ran into some familiar faces. Jose Lopez (top) and David Coleman (bottom) enjoy the show.

Saturday night we went across the street to the Sony Metreon for dinner. They had a few decent fast food places. Afterwards it was pretty much back to the hotel room to chill out.

The last day saw alot of people show up. I guess everyone wanted to get there last minute "Con" on. We were tired and pretty ready to head home. I thought it was going to be a long drive. It turned out not be so bad. This time we were smarter and found a gas station when we needed it.

All in all, it was a good trip. I'd recommend going anyway.