Officially for the Record, I Now Have a Working Lightsaber

Geek achievement unlocked.

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I Survived Tampa Bay Comic Con 2014: The Epic

Ah, to revel in the geekdom of comic books, science fiction and fantasy, costume roleplay, gaming, and walking.  Lots and lots of walking.

Shall I sing to you the song of Saturday comic conventioneering?  Too bad, I can't carry a tune.  I shall narrate my journey instead...

always begin your journey with a Selfie...

With many thanks to Mom for sewing this Jedi outfit for me back when I was thinner (2006).  Unfortunately, I thought I had safety pins but didn't and I ended up not going with the samurai-esque shoulder pads to complete the Jedi effect.  I DID have a belt on which to hang my plastic lightsaber though...

This is my... sixth attendance of the Tampa Bay Comic Con, and the second that they've held at the convention center itself - I mentioned earlier how previous Tampa cons were at an undersized hotel near the airport - and while this year the hosts have done a better job preparing for the turnout, there's still an issue with lines to get in.

On the downside, had to wait in a long line - even with advance ticket - outside the convention hall this year due to the growing turnout.  On the upside: growing turnout.  You know your convention is getting popular when the lines circle half of downtown...

That was the line forming behind us at that same spot I took the earlier photo...

Inside, I asked about at some of the shopping booths to see if any had any safety pins for the Jedi robe I did wear: I had a clip trying to keep the V-neck together but it wasn't holding.  Turns out there is a cosplay assistance group - the International Cosplay Corps - that helps out with wardrobe malfunctions at a con, so many thanks to the Mending Mistress standing with me (I regretted leaving the Jedi shoulder pads behind...).

LOOK KIDS!  IT'S JIM STERANKO! (applause)

 Cosplay can become a deliriously detailed and complex work of art sometimes.  Also very life-consuming and bulky.  This guy - I think that's a Warhammer outfit - is on stilts wearing a body armor suit taller than I am, with a cumbersome gun to carry, a sweltering helmet covering 85 percent of his normal vision, and he stands there 90 percent of the time letting everybody get pictures of him.  This takes dedication.  And a lot of stamina.

The more successful your cosplay, the more likely you're going to be standing all day getting pictures of you posted everywhere.  I dressed up this con and... no requests.

The other part of a convention on display: model working, crafts, costumes for sale, artwork for sale.  This booth was just a display of someone's hobby making detailed models of famous SciFi spaceships.  The hand-painted touch, the eye to detail... incredible.

If you do cosplay: do it in a group.  Themed costumes draw a lot of attention.  This foursome are a steampunk version of Batman, Batgirl, Scarecrow and Catwoman.

Another thing that helps with cosplay: GLOWY LIGHT THINGEES.  Oh man, if I can find a reasonably priced glass-blue-neon lightsaber on the market... sigh.

This Dalek tried to photobomb those Jedi!  Foolish Dalek...

It's Mike Maihack!  I'm a geek for his fanart involving Batgirl-Supergirl, and was hoping he'd have his most recent work - see the bit I wrote about Batgirl's new outfit at the end of this blog for more - but it was too recent for prints to be available.  I got his first Batgirl-Supergirl print instead, still a good one to get...

It's JC De La Torre!  My fellow Buccaneer fan, at the comic con in the Artist's Alley promoting his Star Mage (IDW) series.

There are TARDISes everywhere.  But that's okay, because space-time is this kind of timey-wimey ball of... stuff.

As always, it's R2-D2 and he's working this convention like a pimp uh BOSS.  For some reason, this little droid wants to hang out with the ladies in the R2 tank tops...

Together, R2 and I will fight to save the Republic!  Either that or rescue Luke, who's fallen down a well or something...

It's the cosplayers for the Game of Thrones show!  Quick, name the ones playing characters that are still alive (so far...)  (P.S. I saw people cosplaying GRRM.  Seriously?  Why deal with the grief of people coming up to you screaming "WRITE FASTER, GEORGE!"...?)

A Tampa Bay Rays Stormtrooper made the rounds - mostly near the benches in a far corner, basically one of the best open spots for cosplayers to gather for poses - and I asked about how the trooper felt about the recent David Price trade.  The half-laugh half-cry of a damned soul I heard was all I needed to know.  Yeah, it was painful for me too...

During my patrol of the lower level - waiting for a presentation / open chat about publishing in comics - I spotted some professional-looking cosplayers coming out of the convention's work areas.  Including a fellow dressed up in a Wookie (might be Tarfful) outfit.  A massive, fur-covered outfit.  IN FLORIDA.  Even in an air-conditioned conventional hall, THIS TAKES COURAGE PEOPLE.

Unfortunately, I failed to take care of one thing during this: I bumped into two young women who remembered me from last year's convention from the pre-opening wait line, where I and a few other nearby geeks explained the tips and tricks of comic-cons (it was their first).  One of the ladies took my tip of cosplay to heighten the experience, as she showed up as a female (distaff) version of Han Solo.  And there I was, wearing a Jedi outfit... and I never once thought to get a photo of us posing.  /headdesk  I completely forgot to get a shot of her posing with the Wookie as well (granted, my smartphone battery was getting close to fading out, but still I had some juice...).  And damn me for a fool, but I'm lousy at remembering names...

Back to the Artist's Alley, where late in the day I come across Bernie Wrightson!!!  When I was eight-ish, we had a few comic books in the house, one of which was a special re-issue of Swamp Thing #1-2 by Len Wein and Wrightson as the artist.  He's the guy for gothic horror graphic art (his work on illustrating the story of Frankenstein is classic).  He's also (in)famous for his version of Batman... where he's wearing a bat-cape that's twice as long as humanly possible.  As a fan of both Wrightson's work, Swamp Thing, and Batman, getting a signed print from Mr. Wrightston was a huge treat.

Ahhh, Deadpool, my old nemesis.  Actually, nemesES.  A plurality of Deadpools are a given for any convention.  And every year they are driven by the same madness: to find a veteran actor of the Power Ranger series and worship him/her like a GOD.

This year it was a Red Ranger.  Go figure.  For some reason they got The Eleventh Doctor (see the fez?) to join in the ritual...

Finally.  Last photo I was able to take before the smartphone powered down.  I spotted a cosplayer in an excellent version of Batgirl's new outfit! (UPDATE: According to the tumblrs out there, her name is Alyson Larkin) Let me clarify my own little geek-out here...

When I did MegaCon earlier this year, it was just after Frozen had become the Number One ZOMG fan-thing, and I expected to see a bunch of Queen Elsas in her Ice Queen costume.  Sadly then, only counted about four of them (in a cosplay crowd of thousands).  This month, with time to craft the outfit, I counted about nine, maybe ten of them (I saw more Maleficents though).  I digress a little, but the point is when there's a new thing for costuming to do, I'm hoping to see how quickly the response is and how pervasive (in 2009 for example every other male cosplayer was Rorschach and every other female cosplayer Silk Spectre).

It was announced about two weeks ago that a new comic book team for Batgirl was giving her a new re-design.  The response to it was - via the fan art - huge.  Nearly everybody went ga-ga over it.  So when I went to the Tampa comic con, I was keeping an eye out for anyone with the new outfit - practical boots, leather armor, and the SNAP-ON CAPE - to see what the response would be for cosplay.

I kinda knew the shortness of time - two weeks - made it unlikely to see one... and yet, thank you Batgirl Cosplayer of Tampa Bay, you made it!  And you did a great job of it!  Thank you.

That said, here's that Maihack print I hope he gets printed up soon for the next comic con:

And next year?  I need a simpler outfit.  How much are Wookie suits?

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The Day Is Just Packed

Personally, a very busy day for me both at home and work (it's so busy I had to drag dad across the state to help at home).

But it's also CINCO DE MAYO!

But wait!  It's also - because yesterday just happened to be Star Wars Day - The Revenge of The Fifth!

Are we having fun yet, kids?

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Planning Ahead To Attend A Convention: A Quick Guide

These are some of the rules I've put together over the many years of heading out to ALA conventions and the weekend geek cons.  MegaCon '14 is this weekend...

First rule: make sure you got the tickets to go.
Purchasing advance tickets is sometimes cheaper, and helps you start planning ahead

Second rule: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE TICKETS ON YOU WHEN YOU GO.
Last thing you need is to fly out to San Diego for the ALA Midwinter and find out your hotel pass is back on your dresser.

Third rule: If you're planning on staying at a hotel for a weekend, pack enough clothes to last you a week.
Expect the unexpected, such as running out of underwear.  Happened to me one convention trip and spent a morning looking for a men's wear shop in downtown Chicago on a Sunday (almost nothing is open in the downtown area on a Sunday).

Forth rule: It wouldn't hurt to get a map of the place you're going to.  Especially to figure out where parking is, where food is, where bathroom is.
Very important.

Fifth rule: Don't exactly overpack (except for the UNDERWEAR).  If you're traveling, travel as light as possible.
Do plan on where you'll stash your dirty clothes on the trip back, as well as souvenirs.

Sixth rule: Toothbrush.  Bring a toothbrush.
And toothpaste.  Remember what I said about how hard it is finding a shop when you get to where you're going...

Seventh rule: If you're just going for a day, backpack for carrying stuff will do.
Toothbrush is optional.
Extra underwear isn't.

Eighth rule: if it's a comic-con or geek festival of some kind, there's nothing wrong with cosplay.
Costuming up is fun, and helps you mingle with the crowd a little bit.  Just remember: there will be kids, and very angry parents, and very violent security guards.  Dress conservatively.  If it's a professional convention, dressing up as a Jedi or Queen Elsa isn't going to go over too well... so REALLY dress conservatively for that.

Ninth rule: Take enough money with you to pay with cash all the toys and trinkets and autographed memorabilia you're bound to collect.

Tenth rule: Rest often.
There's enough walking and running and standing around at every kind of con I've been to.  Professional, geeky, personal, public, private... EVERY convention is at a big hall, with distant parking lots and hotels, and waiting for shuttle buses, and waiting for food, and waiting for events, etc.  Think of attending a convention akin to attending an endurance race, at least a 5K mini-thon or something.  And comic book conventions are packed, shoulder-to-shoulder sometimes.  I came back from one convention with a successful weight loss of 9 lbs., I think it was the ALA Chicago one back in 2000.  I only lost 4 lbs at the last MegaCon though...

I promise I will survive MegaCon and bring back pictures.

I promise.

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And The Fandom Rejoiced: The Night Of The Doctor

HOLY F-CKSH-T IT'S THE EIGHTH DOCTOR.

As the lead-up to the 50th anniversary to the start of the long-running science-fiction show, the producers have seen fit to give us some closure regarding the dreaded backstory of the Last Great Time War.  A war between the Time Lords and Daleks at the height of their respective empires that reportedly shattered much of space-time.

This mini-episode is about seven minutes long but packs a season's worth of details into it (The following CONTAINS SPOILERS STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE YET):

• The Time War itself has become so massive that nearly every race has been dragged into it whether they wanted to or not.
• The War began during the lifespan of the Eighth Doctor, but he himself refused to participate in it and tries to help people flee from it.
• Other races are so horrified or disgusted by what was/is/will be happening that the ship's captain Cass flat out refuses the Doctor's help.
• The other elder races of the universe - the Sisterhood of Carn for example - are well aware of what's happening.  From earlier tellings we already know most of those races had fled the known universe altogether.
• EDIT: Has been noted elsewhere that The Eighth Doctor mentions all of his companions from the Big Finish audio series - the thing that kept Doctor Who popular between the 1989 cancellation, 1996 movie, and 2005 rebirth.  The Big Finish series is in fact still ongoing and very popular with the fans, and there's been a question if those stories would be accepted as canon.  YES THEY ARE...
• The Eighth Doctor himself is offered a handful of choices as he faces his own death in four minutes' time: accept his death and let the Time War destroy everything; regenerate and use his skill as The Doctor to save whatever he can before the Time War destroys everything... or become a Warrior and end the war by any means possible.  As he considers the rejection he endured by Cass' rage towards him, The Eighth Doctor makes his choice...
• Oh, and one more thing: McGann would have F-CKING ROCKED AS THE EIGHTH DOCTOR.

Damn you, Fox Channel.  You really screwed the pooch with that 1996 movie.

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Off-Topic: Tampa Gets The Comic Con They Deserve

(Update 8/1/14: I may be getting visitors looking for the 2014 con.  This post is from 2013, so just to warn you this is more past than present.  I *will* blog about this year's con after 8/2, so please come on back y'all)
For the first time in recent memory, the organizers of the Tampa Bay Comic Book Convention finally got the convention center downtown to host for a weekend.

Previous cons in Tampa had either been at a hotel out near the International Airport or at a mid-sized warehouse kind of place in St. Pete.  They hadn't been at an actual, large-sized, "hey-there's-room-for-an-artist-alley-INSIDE-the-con-for-once" facility whose purpose is to, you know, handle conventions.

I mean, I've done MegaCon in Orlando.  They've been at the convention center out there (one wing out of three, in fact: Orlando still outsizes Tampa for convention floorspace, sad to say) for ages, at least since the mid-90s I believe.  I've done library conventions at New Orleans and San Francisco and Chicago and San Diego and San Antonio... they've been at the convention halls, using the hotels for extra conference meetings and stuff.  I'm just saying, for once it was NICE to be at a Tampa Comic Con that was, yeah, at a Con.

Warning: some of the pictures are blurry.

One good thing about having a job this year: I can afford getting an autographed George "Crowd Scene" Perez print!  WOO-HOO! (link to print image, which was recolored to get all the background heroes done right)

It's F-CKING GEORGE PEREZ!  (and some fat Batman guy who's not Ben Affleck)

There were an unusually large number of Banes (one had a speech balloon claiming "I will break Ben Affleck") walking around at the con... and so I had to stop a few of them and chide them for the havoc they caused at last season's Super Bowl.  This one had a good reply:

(in Tom Hardy's WTF voice): "Be grateful I allowed such beautiful singing during half-time, before my reckoning!"

Meanwhile, in the foyer:

One of these days I'm gonna need to get a costume together, see if I get stopped twenty times a minute to get a picture taken...

All apologies to Kaylee for the fuzzy picture, though.  I like Cosplay Kaylees: they're always girls with the nicest smiles...

So that was my day today.  How was yours?

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Speculation for Twelfth Doctor Who Already In Earnest. Here's My List

The Intertubes exploded last night with the word that Matt Smith, Eleventh Doctor, was quitting the show for the Christmas episode, meaning the push is on right about now to find a replacement Doctor (if you're one of the non-geeks out there: Doctor Who is a Time Lord and able to regenerate which is why there's been 11... no actually 12 different versions of him).

Everyone's already been on Twitter pushing their faves, which of course merely shows off that particular person's geek leanings.  But this is Serious Business, much in the way that getting a replacement James Bond is Serious Business (once they found an actor to play Spock in Zachary Quinto, doing a reboot of Star Trek was easy-peasy: finding an actress to fill out the costume for Wonder Woman after Lynda Carter... /headdesk).  There are rules to consider:

1) The next Doctor has to be British, or at least United Kingdom (Scots, Irish, Welsh).  They could go with Canadian or Australian or other Commonwealth if they could, but this is the UK's primary contribution to global geekdom.  It's gotta use home-grown talent.

2) The next Doctor to be younger or as young as Matt Smith now.  The producers are clearly thinking long-term: once a Doctor always a Doctor (even Chris Eccleston has learned that), and they're gonna want to have someone filling the role of Number Twelve for a good 40-50 years.  There's also a bit of archetype at play: The Doctor as a secular variation of Merlin/Wandering Jew, with the idea that such immortals age backward, meaning the older the Doctor really is the younger he's going to look.

3) Here's the variation: The Doctor's Wife introduction of The Corsair makes gender-crossing Time Lord a canonical fact.  Which means a woman / actress can be hired for the role.  So this is more up for grabs than anyone realizes.

That said, here's my list of Who To Be Who:

Matthew Lewis (formerly Neville Longbottom):
PRO: familiar to geeks, already has established fanbase of geekgirls; relatively young enough to fit the producers' needs
CON: already tied into a massive UK geek franchise with Harry Potter, he may not be interested in getting further embroiled into the geekdom's dark side of nitpicking.

Evanna Lynch (formerly Luna Lovegood):
PRO: England's answer to Summer Glau (minus the ass-kicking); also a known quantity with geeks from the Potter Verse; of actresses "qualified" to be quirky enough to play The Doctor, she's on the short list.
CON: Like Lewis, may be content with being a major star in other established franchise.

Idris Elba:
PRO: established television actor, well-respected, has huge geek cred (from, of all things, The Wire); there's been a clamor for a non-white Doctor for some time, and he's current on the Hot List.
CON: Is 40ish, on the wrong side of the age scale that producers might be looking for.

Helena Bonham Carter:
PRO: Geeks would die of geekgasm the second her name gets announced.  Which might be a CON since, you know, you've killed off your fanbase.  Has a knack for playing off-kilter, quirky, incredibly cool characters.
CON: Same problem as Elba, on the wrong side of the age scale; demand for her to star in movies and other time-consuming activities may make her unavailable anywho.

David Morrisey:
PRO: Already played The Doctor (kinda) in a Christmas special with David Tennant; fans liked the performance and wouldn't mind him as a real Doctor; has expressed interest; depends on when he needs to finish up filming for Walking Dead series (his character is due to die soon, but filming schedule is a tricky thing).
CON: Wrong side of age scale (late 40s)

Neve McIntosh (aka Madame Vastra):
PRO: Fans love her performance as Vastra, and some are arguing the Doctor could (in a rather complicated way) merge/regenerate using her as a template; having a non-human Who would be tempting to pull off.
CON: Make-up effects are costly; Vastra is already a cool character to begin with and she, Jenny and Strax deserve their own mini-series spinoff; don't want to confuse new fans with how regeneration works.

Emily Browning:
PRO: I'm just really keen on seeing a female Who, okay?  Browning is a slightly recognizable actress from a few fantasy/horror films (best known for Sucker Punch) but not too well known to be an established quality meaning fans might be intrigued to see what she brings to the role; plus is on the right side of the age scale (24, younger than when Smith took on Eleven).
CON: All depends on her schedule, really; as an Aussie she's not home-grown, but she's Commonwealth and has the accent; I don't see a downside.

Someone We've Never Heard Of:
PRO: Leaves fans guessing how the character will act; unheralded actors come CHEAP.
CON: Gambling big time on a franchise to give it to an unknown quantity; yes it worked well with Smith as Eleven, but you can't stay lucky forever.

If I had my druthers I'd go with Lynch first, Browning second, Lewis third.  We'll see if I'm right.

In the meantime, wanna good reason why Doctor Who is such a major force in modern geekhood?

"You'll Be Safe Here" artwork by Dean Trippe

The potential.  Not just time-travel, or space-travel, but universe-travel... the hopping between 'Verses.  ALL 'VERSES.

ALL OF THEM.  And there's few things that gets a geek worked up than the idea of all our heroes, in one spot, on one adventure to end all adventures...

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Three Things: Geekery, More Geekery, and Caturday

Point One: It's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!  FREE ALL THE COMIC BOOKS YOU CAN!  ...what, it's not about emancipating graphic novels?!  It's free-giveaways at comic book stores of selected items only?  ...well that ruined the mood...

Point Two: It's May the 4th, so May the Fourth Be With You.

Point Three: It's Caturday.  So you get Tehya.

This is MY BED.  You just borrow it for a few hours.

And tomorrow, it's Cinco De Mayo.  Fun weekend, kids, FUN!

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Off-Topic: Summer Movies

When there's a mash-up of trailer clips put to a hard-rocking Fall Out Boy song, it makes you wanna go see all of them even the crappy ones you know are gonna suck:

Okay, the Iron Man and Star Trek and Pacific Rim and Man of Steel and Wolverine ones are no-brainers for me and I'm kinda thinking Kick-Ass as well, but I was planning on avoiding Oblivion and Lone Ranger and World War Z and Fast/Furious.  But now: I can't!  Damn you, video mixer guy...!

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I'm Just Using Up Blog Posts To Reach 400

This will be, after all, just the 398th posting.

With regards to the name changing of the blog, I've settled on a choice and hope to switch to it on the special moment when I hit 400.  I'll most likely write my next Presidential Character entry as 399, and then BOOM! I'll drop the hammer and we'll all get to dancing.

That said, I wanted to note that Doctor Who is starting up the next half of their season (series 7.5) and there's a huge fan push to get Lady Vastra Jenny and Strax their own spin-off.

Personally I want a flashback episode to The Corsair.  Make it the Eighth Doctor - Paul McGann never got a chance to shine as Eight, and he would have been good at it - and make it an animated episode with The Doctor, The Corsair, an artificially enhanced smart penguin, and a Russian female Cosmonaut doing battle with the Zygons just off the rings of Saturn.

...what.  I'M A GEEK, PEOPLE.  Sheesh.

Two more posts to go.

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Off-Topic: Things I Learned At MegaCon 2013

this will be cross-posted to my librarian/writing blog

With the goodness that is having a full-time job, I was able to afford another trip to the Orlando convention center for yet another MegaCon.

Things to note:
I'm pretty sure I noted this last time.  There's a big early crowd showing up (by 8 AM) waiting for the main floor to open (10 AM).  There's a big open area where they had us lining up for the 10 AM opening.  They could have easily hired one of the cosplay groups - the 501st Legion, the GhostBusters, someone - to perform a couple routines on the floor while we wait.

You should never really go by yourself.  While going solo frees you up to go in any direction you want and figure out what discussions to attend or not, you do end up feeling a little left out and without anyone to share jokes and running commentary about all the costumes.

It's also hard to ask total strangers to take photos of you, especially when there's a very cute Wonder Woman cosplayer who did a very good job on the outfit, most of them are just half-heartedly sewn together but damn... anyway never had a chance to pose with her, if I had a wingman with me he/she/other gender could have taken the shot...

Also wik: Saturday is Costume Day.  ALWAYS go on Saturday.

AND always have someone on hand to help you with your costume.  Even the most durable helmet from a anti-libertarian video game requires a little duct tape.  Especially on a busy day like Saturday.

If you ever go to a comic-book / scifi / anime convention and decide to dress up yourself for Costume Day, don't be surprised if you get everyone and I mean EVERYONE asking you to stand and pose.  I accosted those two kids who came dressed as GLaDoS and Companion Cube to get a picture for this blog entry, and before they and I knew it a large crowd of other picture-takers surrounded us and kept them posing for minutes.  I spotted them later near the Signing area trying to stay out of the rush of traffic and GLaDoS told me they kept getting asked to pose over and over wherever they walked on the floor... and she was getting tired of gripping the Portal gun.  So if you plan on wearing an awesome costume... energy drinks.  And comfortable shoes.

That Stormtrooper was with the 501st.  He was working the target practice game area - yes, go ahead and snicker - and had just gotten hit in the inner thigh with a nerf bullet.  (No, not that kind of nerf)

There was another R2 unit working the floor again.  Those R2 droids are incredible, and everyone stops to pose and take pictures of them.  There's a group that build them, and I joked at the Jedi working the gateway there that if they unleashed all those R2-D2s onto the convention floor they would conquer all.

Ah, Deadpool.  My old nemesis.  How far you've fallen.  Tacos.  I ask you, why not the combo platter and get the burrito and enchilada as well?

Note that I mentioned earlier about going solo to the con.  I noticed they were offering a Speed Dating event in the afternoon, so I circled over to where they were hosting the event (over in a small corner of the convention hall, by the by.  What I found was a lopsided turnout.

There were about 15-20 women lined up for the event.  You can see it was kinda sparse.

And there were about 30-40 men lining up.  Not an honest balance of turnout.  Dear organizers: you might wanna have an online booking to see about what the turnout will be like, so you can go a little out of the way to get about 20-30 more women interested in showing up to date guys dressing up like Jayne and Riddler and... and... well there WAS a Hugh Jackman lookalike as Wolverine, ladies.

Not pictured: the huge swarming crowds.  Foot traffic again was difficult as people would either bunch around a table or vendor pavilion or else stop right in the middle of the floor when they bump into some friends.

Also not pictured: the awesome Artist Alley area where the struggling self-employed comic artists and craftspersons showed off their work and sold stuff.  Sadly, one of the artists I like to see at the MegaCon was unable to attend: Jennie Breeden's budget keeps her limited to the number of conventions she attends, and she made the decision to skip this year in order to attend some of the West Coast ones like in Seattle.  Well, that just means I had to waste my convention money buying prints from Jen Broomall, okay?  You see, I don't need... sniff... I don't to be slavishly devoted to one artist to... to... wait, what do you mean Jen doesn't have any Wonder Woman artwork?  /sulk  Well, okay, Peter V Nguyen has something with Wonder Woman in it...

Also also not pictured: the official Special Guest Artists area had its ebb and flow and well and I found myself in front of Amanda Conner's booth.  Basically the artist that showed women can draw the Good Girl stuff just like Adam Hughes can, and with a bit more taste and whimsy in the artwork.  I purchased a print she did of Catwoman but while I did she tried signing the MegaCon media guide I had innocently placed on the table while digging out my wallet.  She'd just been signing anything in front of her, poor thing.  I suggested she didn't need to autograph that, just the Catwoman print, so she did and I congratulated her on the great work she did on Power Girl and she said she had fun doing it.

Also also ALSO not pictured: Patrick Stewart and most of the regulars from Star Trek: Next Generation.  One, that would have cost me money: Two, there was no way to see Patrick Stewart at all considering the long line waiting to see him in the celebrity Signing Area.  The line for him circled the room.

Any other observations?  Oh yeah.  The shuttle bus service from parking lots to convention hall is helpful (parking is on one side of the convention grounds, away from the West Concourse that they always use), but it gets stuck easy in daytime traffic (the convention center is on a major city road).  Building an elevated transit car system - call Disney they can hook you up with something - would ease the regular traffic and make it easier for people to get to and from convention halls and parking lots.

That's about it.

Now, BACK TO WORK ON MY STORY-WRITING!

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Very OT: The font of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce

Just in case people want to make their own "Mad Men" fan blog.  The font used for office signage at SCDP is Akzidenz-Grotesk.  Not Helvetica or Arial.

It's be nice if HTML can handle True Type fonts.

You have been informed.

Also, Breitbart Delendus Est.

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