Comic Con Day 3

Saturday

Now the real reason I am at Comic-con, other than being a huge geek, I have been speaking on a panel for the last 3 years. My friend Sean Rourke runs the Comic-con film school. It teaches how to make a movie on the cheap from pre-production to post production in 4 days. I am part of day 3. Actors and directing actors. It's a fun panel. And being on it gets me into the con for free for the whole 4 day shindig. (Thank you Sean!)

So I went to my panel and hung outside while chatting with the other panelists who have been doing it as long as me. We are a very witty bunch of actors and a damn good looking group. Maybe one of the prettiest panels around. Oh, wait, Megan Fox was there... Nevermind.

Sean shows a reel of clips from our work before inviting us to the stage. I always hate that part. It's tough to watch yourself onscreen. I don't enjoy it, and I don't know many actors who like watching themselves. So we sat down and adjusted the mic stands so we could grab the mics easily. The panel covers where to find actors, what we expect when working for "credit, meals, and copy". Sean is very efficient and gets a lot of info to the assembled audience. It's always fun, and the only time I get to see some of these very talented people.

After that I was free to do what I want. Now, Saturday night I was invited to the Radical Publishing's private bash. They took over the whole Hard Rock Hotel in downtown SD. There was a lot of time to kill between 11 am, and 9 pm when the party started. So I wandered around the dealer's room. I bought one thing. A Hulk figure for the large collection of rampaging green figures in my apartment. I toyed with the idea of putting on a costume, Scarlett Spider, but in that crush of people I just didn't want the trouble. Yes, I'm a paparazzi whore, but there's a time and place. It was too crowded to be fun...

As we stood waiting for a taxi at the Hilton, I saw Zachary Quinto. I leaned into Zack Sherman's ear and whispered, "Spock". He then took notice and tried not to be geeky like the guy who asked for his autograph as he was getting in the cab. Really, dude, bad timing. He's texting on his blackberry, and going somewhere.

I met a friend of JoJo's and Zack's, Peter Alau. A very cool guy. Later in the evening while Zack was in the VIP area for Radical, I hung out with Peter and we drank. Open Bar! Peter didn't drink much, but I was busy. ;)

Zack also bamboozled us entry into the very difficult Flynn's Arcade. Disney was down promoting Tron Legacy and Zack got us tickets, and then got us in the fast VIP line. Yay, Zack. Disney had turned and empty warehouse on 6th street into Flynn's Arcade. With old schoool video games. Apparently they also had all the original neon signs from the movie for the arcade. Not that I would know that. It was Zack and Peter who pointed out that fact. After a certain point you were taken thru a secret door and got to see a life sized light cycle mock up. I want one!

We went back to the Radical party which was now in full swing. KISS was playing. Or rather, Gene Simmons, his son, and 2 guys who could be in the band, but I didn't recognize them. While there, I met some very cool people who should put me in their movies, and talked to a few very hot girls who should sleep with me. But, alas, I went back to the hotel room about 2-3 am, alone.

I put in earplugs, smashed pillows on either side of my head and was asleep quickly.

Comic Con - Day 2

I had caught up the previous day with my good friend Zack Sherman comic book writer among other things. He had a panel Friday with Radical Publishing about his very cool book Shrapnel. (now out in trade paperback.) On the panel were Gene (Kiss) Simmon's son. He actually wrote and illustrated a book called Incarnate. I was sitting next to some people I would meet again later, but they had no idea it was me again. (I'll explain in a moment.) On this panel was Jim Steranko. I remember his artwork from Raiders of the Lost Ark. It had a burly Indy and helped get financing for the project. So Indy didn't look like Harrison Ford since he wasn't cast yet. I have the poster still, somewhere...

After Zack's Panel I went back to the hotel room and put on CARNAGE. It's a costume I made years ago with my friend Terry for World Con in LA. 1996? We were Spider-man and Carnage and beat the crap out of each other onstage. So I wiggled into skin tight lycra after putting on a g-string to hold the package in place. ( You always see Spider-man in boxers, but they would bunch up under the lycra suit. Seriously.) So I put on the mask and went down to the shuttle.

This is when I became a paparazzi whore. The Paris Hilton of Super Villains. I waited for the bus. People would be walking by and ask to take my picture. The question I thought was kind of funny. I'm dressed in a costume, so I am obviously looking for attention. I'd be a huge ass if I said "no" to a picture. The Greta Garbo of costumed folk. Once off the bus I wandered around the Convention. I was stopped basically every 90 seconds or less for a photo op. I would step into a cool pose of some kind. I loved it. I had my picture taken with the people I was sitting next to at Zack's panel, and others I recognized from walking around. I had my picture taken with little kids. I would high 5 them so not to be a scary thing. I had my picture taken with booth babes lots of times. One said she was trying to keep her eyes focused up. So she wasn't looking at my package. I thought that funny because I was looking at her boobs, though you couldn't tell. When people got the shot sometimes I would say "do that again, I blinked." Some people walked by me and said "great costume." And I would growl, "it's not a costume!" I had a great anonymous time. Very fun. After 2.5-3 hours I needed to pee, so I headed back to the room to get out of it. As you can see, my fine motor dexterity is limited a little bit. (The picture is from 2002 Dragon Con. I'm the one that is not Spider-man.)

Friday night I went to the BSG concert at the House of Blues. I got in for free as a VIP because my former roommate Mark Banning did the artwork for the BSG season 4 CD cover. I admit I was tired and a bit grumpy from being on my feet for about 12 hours so far, so I was terse company at times. And I knew I wouldn't get much sleep with the snoring girl in the room. The music was great. I have not heard the music separate from the show. But I always loved the taiko drums in the battle scenes. Bear McCreary had a 17 piece band that was sight reading all the music. Some great session musicians. 4 drums, percussion, 3 guitars, 1 bass, 3 violins, 1 cello with a hot asian girl who was wicked awesome, 1 flute, 1 bagpipe, and Bear on keyboards. I'm forgetting something, but I don't know what. From the cast there was Adama, Tigh, Boomer, Cain, Calley, and Baltar. they talked about he show and a line producer from it, Harvey Friend, who died that morning. So it became a memorial. With 3 hours of music. In the raffle, Zack won a toaster that burned "FRAK OFF" in the toast. I thought it was cool. I was 1 number off from winning the toaster. We hung at the after party when the band was signing. I got back to the room after everyone was snoring. Earplugs and pillows were handy...

Oh, and for all the graveiness of Tigh in the show, his regular voice is higher and he sounds so Canadian. It made me laugh.

Good concert. Good cap to a long day on my feet.

Comic Con - day one

I drove down to San Diego in the late morning. Traffic was good getting down. Parking at the con was difficult as always. I went inside, got my badge and connected with Larry Vela. He's a friend from Phoenix who works the convention and had a room with a spare bed. After a bit of miscommunication I got into the room and found the other roommate, sleeping. And snoring up a storm.

"Oh Crap." was the PG version of my thoughts on the sleeping subject. This was going to suck. After all the snoring in Scandinavia, I don't like putting up with it much.

I went to the Old Globe Theatre in the evening. I have a friend there I visit every time I am in San Diego. He's the guest services guy. Tommy Thompson. He's in his 80's and just a great guy. I met him when I used to work there as an actor in the summers. I walked up and I didn't see his kiosk. That worried me. I'm always concerned that he might have passed away and I didn't hear about it. I asked, "where's Tommy?" He was laid off, but doing fine. Which was a relief. I caught 12th Night at the outdoor theatre. I forget what really good theatre is sometimes. There's so much that is not good in LA.

I went back to the hotel and crashed for the night. Got to bed with earplugs and pillows held to my ears. After 150-200 concerts, I have amazing hearing...

Landlords, and Lawyers and Evictions. Oh my!

Well, the new landlords have served an eviction notice on one of the tenants in my building already. They really are a bunch of bastards. And in the real estate community they are known for being, well, bastards. This from a lawyer that knows of them. They buy buildings "renovate" and do everything to serve eviction notices. Things like "losing" the rent check. It never got here, this is your eviction notice.

A tactic to drive people out is to have people coming into the apartments to do things to fix the place up. 3 or more times a week. And after months or years of this the tenants just get sick of it and leave. Awesome. What a great place I am in. I had to clear out the kitchen and bathroom so the pest people could come in and spray. And it worked. I just saw my first roach in months. Again, Awesome.

There was just something about them. I knew they were bad, but this is surprising. There is a special place in HELL for business people like this...

Landlords

Well, I've heard talk around the building that the landlords have to have a 75% renovation investment to be able to break the rent control. (I wonder what the actual $ amount is) They put in a new line to the sewer. That's probably 20% right there. They now have keys to my place. As I talked with my new manager, she told me that the new landlords are nice people and she use to be a tenant of theirs.

Really? My last landlord was cool. He basically ignored us. But I found out the reason he sold the building was the redneck whore cunt that lives above me. She has been so much of a problem for him over the years, that it was easier to sell the building then try to evict her. What does that say about her?

It does put people like me, a good tenant in a pickle. Though, in this 8 unit building there's only 3 or 4 good tenants. The rest are losers who wouldn't be able to live in LA if they had to pay the normal rent for this neighborhood.

When they were checking locks and keys in the unit next to me, I heard the manager say to the tenant, "You're the one who calls us all the time." Yup, she's a problem child. Very fastidious. Almost to the point of OCD.

So, after the renovations to the place and they break rent control, I will need to find a new place. Paying $1300 or more for a place with no central AC or heat? No thanks...

Comic-con

It's soon! and once again I am on a panel talking about acting. Which is brilliant. I find it a bit scary being up there as, well, me. I have been in front of 500 people as fools and kings, but being myself is scary. I'm not up there alone, and the questions are similar to what has been asked in previous years. So I have a good idea of what people will ask. And since the panel is about shooting on the cheap, which all of us have done, and the conditions of the shoots, it's easy to chat about.

Best part? I get in free for 4 days of the Con. I have been going to comicon since, uh, 1986? I was just a kid. It was smaller than it is now. Maybe 10% of the crowds you get now or even less. But it was fun.

I had hall costumes I would wear. Longshot, or Sabretooth. It was fun. I think I will be bringing Scarlett Spider and Carnage to wear. Ashamedly, I must admit to being a paparazzi whore. Me and my friend Terry went to Dragon Con in Atlanta in 2000. 1999? I don't recall. We would wear costumes down in the halls, and everyone would take our pictures. He was Spider-man and I was Scarlett Spider or Carnage. We couldn't walk 3 feet without someone stopping us to take our pictures. It was kind of awesome... And no one knew who we were...

Foot

So I went back to the foot doctor. There was no talk of surgery, thank God. I don't like the idea of it. It's a last resort thing as far as I am concerned. I did go to a New Balance store in Pasadena and drop more money for a pair of shoes tha I have ever spent before. But with some special inserts to support my very high arch, that should help with healing and pain in the long run. Don't know how this will end up, but I have high hopes. I'll be back to mostly normal soon.

Can I say, it would have been a brilliant thing to become a foot doctor? Everyone has feet, and many people have fucked them up. Job security in this bad economy. But then I would have had to go to medical school...

The Swing

Getting back into the swing of things in my life has been somewhat difficult. I kind of don't want to lose the deliberateness I had found while travelling, but need the routine that clothed and fed me. Though, work is so very slow, I can't tell you.

On the Road it was fun. Now I'm back stuck in traffic on the 405 and I just want to not be stuck in traffic on the 405. The rut was nice to be out of. But inexorably I'll end up back in it.

Basically, I want more than this rut has to offer, but I don't know how to get out of it or what to do to get me out of it. I'm just flayling around.

What was it Thoreau said? "Most men live lives of quiet desperation" I want to get noisy about this desperation. So I can stop being desperate.

Well...

My building has been sold. I wrote a check for rent to the new landlords. I hear rumours that they may renovate to the bare studs of the building, put in marble counter tops, etc... But while they are doing that, where do they put US?

My foot is injured in a way I didn't know of, a Lisfranc's dislocation. I basically tore a tendon holding the bones all together. It's only a small gap. But it is not what the foot was meant to do. So I'm trying to figure out the best course to take, since I've probably done everything wrong with the injury so far... sigh... I don't limp anymore! and the swelling went down in the ankle. Hooray cortizone!