I am flying in from Tampa, Florida to make this bHip Global Event!

If you are in the Southern California area, you should try to attend this bHip Global Business overview.

How often do you get to hear a multimillionaire, tell you how to make millions.

Come meet bHip's Master Distributor Kosta Gara!

Join me, Joe Holt in Costa Mesa Ca. August 1st 2008.

There is no charge for this event!

Get your Distributor I.D. NOW

www.Join-bHip.com

There is more information on the bHip Global Forums!

Nihao 200T! Though not technically "live" from Comic-Con (since I am cozy at home watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives), welcome to my day 1 wrap-up!

So it was an exciting day on Thursday. I spent it all in Hall H (the biggest meeting room in the convention, where most of the large panels are held) watching previews and guest speakers for The Day The Earth Stood Still, Max Payne, Twilight, and Push to name a few. Even with a VERY special guest who had a VERY special piece of footage to show, this day seemed so long! But not as long as someone else's day.

Let me backtrack...

When it was announced that Twilight would be a panel at this year's Comic-Con, the boards went nutso crazy! Every "Twilight Mom" and her spoiled brat daughter wanted to pick up and all but move to San Diego just to get a glimpse of Edward and Bella in the flesh. So it was no surprise to me (and apparently only me) that the Twilight panel kicked the asses of all the other panels in screams, shouts, yells, "I love you"'s, and girly gasps. I think my eardrums are still trickling blood.

Anyways, my point... oh here it is. I sat next to a mother and her daughter from Las Vegas in the 2nd row. When I asked what time they had set up camp in line, they told me "1:30." "Oh, this morning?" I asked. "No, yesterday afternoon."

1:30 in the afternoon?! That's like 20 hours in line! In cement! Not even in the shade or next to a bathroom! I quickly found out that most of the people in my area had come from even farther away (New York, New Jersey, Arizona) and camped out not just over night but throughout the early afternoon as well. My pansy ass couldn't take it! I declined to mention when I had arrived - just an hour earlier and able to sneak in early thanks to a friend working at the convention... I didn't feel like prompting them to tear me limb from limb, you know?

So, I wanted to bring you something affordable that would not only save your butt-bones, but make you TEH KEWLEST in line at Comic-Con. Whether in line for a hot new vampire movie, Kevin Smith's porno panel, or just to peep a glimpse at the rarest and never-before-seen four-second footage of somebody named Naruto, the Coleman Trailhead Spacesaver Inflatable Cot will make sure you're rested and ready to go at 9am when to doors are opened and you can sprint to the front row without getting a cramp in your leg from sleeping on the cement all night. Here's the official corporate photo:

This cot including tax and S&H rolls out to $90.94. Cheap! The downside is that while it does weight 21 lbs, it's a small price to pay for comfort. Then you can laugh along with us at all the crabby, cranky fans with cement prints on their faces and just smile as you were able to get a full eight hours on your comfy cot.

Later today I'll wrap up day two!

[caption id="attachment_1162" align="alignnone" width="203" caption="A fan wears a Joker's mask at the V For Vendetta booth, these are sold at the merchandise section"][/caption]

That's all for now. More pics to come as I find them. Comic-Con is still not over yet.

Kev

The Mexico-US border is 2,000 miles long and has the busiest land border crossings on the planet. As an example, the San Diego/Tijuana border can process up to 65,000 cars and 30,000 pedestrians every day, amongst which somewhere in the region of 20 – 30 people are caught trying to enter the United States illegally. The border was originally established in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which resulted in America nearly doubling its landmass whilst Mexico ceded fifty-five percent of its land. The border boundaries were finally clarified with the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. Both the treaty and purchase left many people on either side of the border feeling distanced from both the American and Mexican governments. This was particularly true for the indigenous peoples such as the Yaqui and Tohono O’Odham nations whose belief systems were unfamliar with the concept of ownership of land and whose families and communities were sundered by the border. These feelings persist to the present day with delegations from the Tohono O’Odham nation seeking US citizenship for members of their tribe who are denied a passport due to being born on the Mexican side of the border, but, whose ability to cross the border has been increasingly compromised due to tightening of immigration controls.

The ideas of proximity and distance are particularly useful when discussing globalisation, but by extension such subject matter is vast in its scope. As such the border between Mexico and the United States is a good snapshot of globalisation, as the issues within the globalisation debate that cause so much heated dispute are all present here. The border not only establishes national boundaries but can be used to regulate the movement of people and trade, although it has been noted that movement of people has become more restricted whilst trade has been allowed to move with greater ease. In 1994, Mexico and America signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), primarily established to help bolster Mexico’s economy, it has instead led to a magnification of the financial inequalities between the two countries and an upsurge of migration from Mexico into the United States. American and foreign owned companies have taken advantage of the perceived lower cost of living (leading to lower salaries) as well as tax incentives, to set up factories (Maquiladoras) to produce their goods. Worth an estimated 79 billion but characterised by its low salaries, the Maquiladora industries are noted for their pristine factories but sub-standard worker accommodation. This contrast exemplifies the distance felt by many workers on the Mexican side of the border whose proximity to that line of demarcation puts them within sight of the United States and yet whose living conditions, lacking sanitation, electricity and running water, extremely low salaries (on average $4 per day), limited workers rights and long hours, couldn’t be further removed from that found within the U.S. Despite the aforementioned issues, the population along the border has doubled up to 10 million in the years 1995 – 2005. The proximity of cities such as El-Paso to the border and thus the Maquiladoras has reaped certain benefits, with industry suppliers expanding or relocating their operations in order to be close to their customer bases across the border.

The impoverished state of nations in Central and South America has led to a movement of people northwards, seeking to improve conditions for both themselves and their families. The concept of distance is demonstrated in two ways with the example of people like Pedro Jose who took two months to travel the 1,500 miles to the U.S. (physical distance) and yet despite making it across the border feels culturally distant from the American way of life claiming that he does not want to become American: “I will always be Mexican”. Many Mexicans believe that their culture extends across the border, which reinforces the distance that these migrants have in their relationship to American society. This idea is manifest with the annual celebration of the Blessing of the Animals Parade in Los Angeles, which features traditional music, food and costume. Los Angeles has one of the largest Mexican populations in the world within which many of the community maintain a sense of closeness through Spanish media. The remoteness of many Mexicans from U.S. society is also demonstrated by groups such as Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) who have reservations about integrating fully into the United States, arguing that they are not accepted and that integration would require them to forsake their culture. Despite these reservations, parades such as the Blessings of the Animals can be viewed as an ideal way of bringing different people and their respective cultures into closer proximity, as they allow people to view (in this instance) Mexican culture, possibly for the first time.

Annually, approximately 500,000 people are arrested with that number also being turned away at the border whilst 200,000 people enter the United States legally. Many American born citizens are deeply disconcerted at what they describe as the flood of immigrants into the U.S. This has led to the formation of protest groups such as the Civil Homeland Defence, American Border Patrol and Voices of Citizens Together. These groups maintain that migrants that enter the U.S. illegally have no intention of becoming “good” American citizens, that few if any have qualifications or skills that would be beneficial to the United States and that ultimately, the rate of Mexican immigration is unprecedented. The aforementioned protest groups ardently believe in maintaining their economic and cultural distance from Mexico and that their proximity to the border and the increase in migrants into the U.S. threatens their own cultural ideals. Furthermore, in order to tighten immigration controls, the U.S. Federal Government has increased the budget for the border security to $13 billion. This has led to the recruitment of more officers and influx of the latest technology used in defence of the border. The use of night-vision goggles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and electronic sensors in defence of the border reinforces the distance, financially, between the two nations. It is after all unlikely that should they even want to, that the Mexican government would have the financial reserves to emulate what the U.S. as done.

Not everybody on the American side of the border readily accepts the claims made by groups such as The Civil Homeland Defence. An array of groups have coalesced under the umbrella movement No More Deaths whose purpose is to lobby for immigration reform and maintain an ethical distance from the anti-immigration movement. Members of this group such as the Reverend John Fyfe of the Tucson Presbyterian Church argue that it is the tightening of immigration through border crossing areas, such as at Tijuana/San Diego, that is forcing more people into attempts to cross into the United States via the Arizona desert. It is alleged that over 2,000 people have died in the desert between 1998-2004 due to exposure and/or dehydration.

Possibly the most unique stance taken with regard to proximity and distance is found within the cross-border populations known as the Mexifornians. Due to what they view as their trans-national situation, in that they may live on one side of the border whilst working on the other, they have come to feel distanced from both the left and rights perspectives held by other people. This idea is articulated by Christian Ramirez (at the time of writing ran the San Diego branch of the American Friends Service Committee), who notes that he has friends and family on both sides of the border, and that they are “a border people with a dual nationality.” This view demonstrates a positive view of the concept of proximity between people on alternate sides of the divide.

Using the Mexico/Us border as a case study, proximity and distance can be shown to be pertinent in a variety of ways. The idea that globalisation brings people together can be seen with the establishment of the Maquiladoras, whose location means that they are ideally located to move their products efficiently into America and ultimately the wider world. Proximity is also shown by the closeness that immigrant populations have for each other, particularly in the forming of distinct communities within conurbations such as Los Angeles and their wilful holding on to heritage and tradition. The concept of distance has been shown in a mostly negative light. The Mexican migrants feeling of estrangement from wider American society, the financial distance between Mexico and the United States and the complete sense of alienation that indigenous peoples feel within what they regard as their own land. Similarly, many American born citizens are keen on the idea of maintaining or even increasing the distance, both culturally and economically between themselves and the peoples south of the border. The idea of a Mexifornian culture demonstrates that proximity and distance and interlinked. The geographical proximity between friends and family leading to an intermingling of cultures primarily through those same peoples distance from the rather polarised viewpoints of the US-Mexico border issues raging around them.

Afterword:
When I was researching the above essay, I found myself continually coming across what are in effect crimes against humanity within the Maquiladora system. Whatever the view of people about immigration into the United States (and after all, are not the loudest voices of protest descendants of immigrants themselves?) - surely something should be done about the Maquiladoras. No sanitation, no representation, no humanity. The video below was made by the group At The Drive In as protest at what goes on within the border area of Mexico.

Si è aperta mercoledì con una serata dedicata ai preview delle serie più attese l' edizione 2008 del Comic-con International di San Diego.

Durante la "Preview Night" è stato proiettato l'episodio pilot di "Fringe", la nuova serie firmata J.J. Abrams (Lost) che approderà sui piccoli schermi statunitensi in settembre, e che pare abbia riscosso un notevole successo tra i presenti.

Il programma che compone i 4 giorni della convention si presenta pieno di anteprime, presentazioni e conferenze per tutti i gusti: si va dagli interventi di luminari del fumetto mondiale (DC comics, Marvel, Will Eisner,...) su come diventare comic artist, alle presentazioni di nuovi videogiochi, anime (la quinta serie di Yu-Gi-Oh), manga e telefilm.

Venerdì sarà la volta dello "Star Wars Day", durante il quale vi sarà l'intervento del team di design del nuovo lungometraggio d'animazione "Clone Wars", la presentazione dei nuovi libri relativi all'universo di "Guerre Stellari", una discussione riguardante le action figures ispirate al film. 

La giornata di sabato vedrà invece impegnati tutti gli attori del cast di "Heroes", accompagnati da sceneggiatori e registi, in un Q&A con i fans cui farà seguito il preview della nuova stagione del telefilm in uscita a settembre, dal titolo "Chapter 3: Villains". Le altre aree del padiglione ospiteranno, tra gli altri, i creatori di "The Simpsons" e "Futurama" con le relative presentazioni, e i creatori del comic book e del film "Watchmen". Degna di nota anche la presenza dell' artista fantasy John Howe, e soprattutto la presentazione della prossima, attesissima serie di "Lost".

Domenica è la giornata dedicata ai bambini in quel di San Diego: dalla preview di "Spongebob Squarepants" a workshops in cui i più piccoli potranno cimentarsi nelle tecniche di disegno accompagnati dai più famosi cartoonists statunitensi. Per gli adulti invece la giornata si prospetta quantomeno interessante grazie alle conferenze sul mondo di "Harry Potter", alle presentazioni sull' universo femminile nei fumetti Marvel, al Q&A con il cast di "Supernatural", all' incontro con i protagonisti dei famigerati film "Harold and Kumar", alla conferenza dei costumisti di "Star Wars" e tanto tanto altro.

Attendendo il coverage degli eventi da parte di chi, più fortunato di noi, ha potuto partecipare a questa manifestazione unica, non ci resta che sfogliare i vecchi albi degli X-Men per calarci nel clima fumettistico della convention anche a distanza.

For years, I've wanted to join the ranks of the Storm Troopers, Superheroes, and Movie fanatics and participate in the chaos that is COMIC-CON! With some time on my hands, I finally got tickets, booked my hotel and headed down to beautiful San Diego.

Comic-Con International is a multigenre convention which takes place annually in San Diego with over 125,000 attendees.  Orginally started as a comic book convention in 1970, it has since become a host for comics, movies, video games, card games, and television.  Collectibles, movies, posters, games, and comics from all over the world.  During the day, panels and previews take place in different sized conference rooms where fans and media can get sneak peaks at upcoming works.

With my feet quickly tiring, I quickly grabbed the collectibles that interested me, was handed free swag, and played some of the new games coming out later this year.  Among the thousands of people, we spotted a few celebrities including Walter Koenig, best known as Chekhov from Star Trek, Robert Culp, known for the Green Hornet, I Spy, and Greatest American Hero, and Lou Ferrigno, body builder and actor who played the Hulk.  Among the hundreds of celebrities that we didn't see, we did occasionally see crowds of people scream and run towards an areas.  Even some panels and previews had lines around the corner as fans waited for hours to get a seat and a peak at their favorite writers and actors.

Overall, this high energy convention rivaled any convention that I've been to with higher ratings of Fun, Activities, and Content.  My only complaints came when I waited in line on Wednesday to get my badge for 1 hour.  The line had to be at least 2000 people long and wrapped the length of the outside convention hall 4 times with people frequently cutting in line.  The floors were so packed with people, walking was difficult and lines to get exclusive Comic Con toys were practically impossible.  Even with an enormously large convention hall, it still felt small with the amount of people that came.  But in the end, it was a great experience for the 2 days I attended as I got a few exclusive toys, saw a few celebrities, and had some fun.  Now if I could only afford that life sized limited edition Terminator 2 skull and life sized Iron Man Movie Prop!

There is nothing wrong with geeks - in fact, the new line of cinematic entertainment stems almost entirely from some kind of geek-related subject - whether it's the comic-infused The Dark Knight, or the geek LOL-a-thon that is Superbad, geek is chic and it's here to stay. 

That doesn't stop them smelling, or being highly irritating during the many events that take place at the Convention Center in San Diego. From the idiot that assumed she could listen to my recorded copy of the Kevin Smith (of Jay and Silent Bob, or Dogma fame) interview whenever she missed something he said, to the fuckwit who decided to talk in a very loud tone to his friend sitting right next to him - there really is a reason why these people are such recluses and it's not because they have social skills. 

These events attract some incredibly special people. Special people. It's like a big fancy dress party, where everyone dresses in the exact same clothes and instead of getting pissed, talk about who would win in a fight between Batman and Sub-Zero? (Batman by the way, because Sub-Zero is clearly trying to be Mr Freeze, and Batman has beaten him before...errr, yeah.) Naturally, I'm the one who didn't get the e-mail and turns up in normal clothes - and just like that, I suddenly feel like the outsider. All that said and done, I've enjoyed being here - even if I did spend the entire day sat in one hall with a sound recorder and no food.

As for today's action, the highlights were seeing some previews to excellent comic-book inspired films. Watchmen looks like a fantastic (if incredibly complex and varied) film (by Zach Snyder, the same guy who directed 300) about a number of different characters, and The Spirit is another adaption of a comic series directed by the same guy (Frank Miller) who did Sin City. Both have amazing casts, great storylines and a lot of hype - which naturally means both will be serious flops.

On the comic front, Zack and Miri Make a Porno looks brilliant - although if you're growing tired of Seth Rogan, you may want to give it a miss. It looks to be his best film since Superbad though, so a return to that kind of form can't be bad. 

I saw a short and sweet preview to Pineapple Express, which looks like a typical stoner-love-in, so anyone who does weed and loves to tell others how much they love to do weed (you know exactly the kind of person I'm talking about) will love this. 

Tomorrow, it's all about Heroes, Lost, the new Terminator film and more. No doubt I'll update you with more tomorrow night.

In a carefully worded statement, the Copley Press announced that it was exploring selling one of its last newspapers (and self-proclaimed flagship), our local Union-Tribune. I've ridiculed them in the past, and with good reason: the ousting of their movie reviewer, David Elliot, in favor of the "movie maniac" Lee Grant, better suited to write cereal box copy; the retirement and then un-retirement (at the local weekly free paper, where he's got a much less restrictive soapbox than the developer-favoring U-T) of the senior business writer, Don Bauder; questionable advertising decisions (hey, let's make Martin Luther King Day into a mattress ad -- "I have a dream" and all, eh?); the late elevation of ridiculously untalented staff writers (Michael Stetz, I'm calling you out here: you slag the zoo for depressing you [OMG it made me think!], your husband-and-wife movie reviews confirm that your mental age is stuck at six, and you choose to make a feature article about riding in a Hummer H2? I don't advise following the links, unless you enjoy severe nausea, by the way) merely underscores the obvious.

This is a newspaper in trouble. Gimmickry and lack of anything remotely resembling writing skill (Brizzolara, from a wheelchair and no doubt with one arm tied behind his back, can still outwrite any of you fools [here, I swear to someday somehow find the "Friday Night at Dad's" article that made me a fan for life]) make for an uncompelling experience. I read the paper out of dutiful devotion to headlines and comics (this despite the unfortunate continuing inclusion of Garfield and Six Chix), but there's no particular sense of relief when I look at the paper lately. Yesterday brought front page news -- below the fold, but still, front page -- that the head of a cancer research institute had advised his staff to discontinue hand-held cell phone use due to preliminary, unpublished research. I've never read a worse article in a newspaper that wasn't called Weekly World News; there's a reason for scientific magazines and article publishing: knowing your peers will be critiquing methodology and statistical interpretation inevitably leads to careful research and conclusions. Instead, the U-T chooses to inflict essentially rumor and conjecture as fact without citing the volume of inconclusive research already undertaken -- it's as if articles were chosen from e-mails forwarded by one of David Copley's half-blind, Internet-illiterate uncles who'd never heard of snopes.

Good luck selling this sinking ship. Even Roger Hedgecock, one of the U-T's frequent targets, couldn't resist taking a few potshots at the sale, noting that the Copley family have often treated San Diego as their fiefdom, wielding the paper as a bully pulpit from which to legislate by sheer volume and shrillness (not that Hedgecock, with his popular radio show, isn't the pot calling the kettle black here). Any change can only be positive, honestly.

Mike

How’d it come to this.  The noble San Diego Union Tribune,  renowned for generations as being the fairest, straight shooting paper in all the land, on the auction block along with the rest of its Copley siblings?  Is this the end of Rico?

Could it be because the UT is the country’s 21st largest metropolitan newspaper but San Diego is the 17th largest metropolitan area?  Could it be because circulation has been dropping steadily since Reaganism was a pup?  Could it be because, in a county increasingly non-white and non-Republican, the UT’s editorial page (and, indeed, general news and features coverage)  seem to be pitched to a San Diego that disappeared 30 years ago?   Could it be that, since you know exactly which position the UT editorial page will take on any issue (pro-business, pro-development,  pro-Republican, pro-Downtown uber-alles) reading it is usually as surprising as figuring out what the weather will be in June?  (As in gloom, which ends up being an unintended  pun, now, doesn’t it?)

Okay, whoever  wants to pony up the money to buy Copley Press and its Dino-like UT, five little suggestions from the friendly competition:

1.  Given that 25% (and probably over 30% by the 2010 census) of San Diegans are Hispanic and another  15% are African American  or other non-whites, how about dedicating some news print to this demographic block.  How about a Spanish-language edition?  How about more outreach and interaction with the African-American and Asian-American  media & community groups.  Pitching your paper to the aging white population north of I-8 (and, increasingly, north of Miramar road) ain’t going to put hay in front of the horse much longer.  (And old Nellie has been looking gaunt for years as it is.)

2. Fire the editorial board. The whole kit and kaboodle.  (There’s another pun in there if you dig for it.)  The Reagan revolution is over, circa the election of 2008.  If the UT wants to stay relevant it has to embrace more of the views held by moderates (and, even, gasp,  Democrats, who happen to be in the majority in the city) and quit acting like its still 1969, Nixon is in power and the UT’s in his pocket.

3. The future belongs to the young.  How about a truncated UT edition aimed at the areas’ college campuses where future readers will spring from.

4.And, if the UT wants to reach the modern techno-culture, it will need to completely revamp (or start from scratch) with the SignOnSanDiego website.  The UT has never put the money or innovative brain power .  The UT needs more on-line synergy, more partnerships with other media (local & national TV/Radio) and more  creative partnerships with on-line consumer websites.  You can’t fight it,  it’s a Craig’s List and E-Bay world.  So join it.

5. Fire the editorial board. The whole kit and kaboodle.  (There’s another pun in there if you dig for it.)  The Reagan revolution is over, circa the election of 2008.  If the UT wants to stay relevant it has to embrace more of the views held by moderates (and, even, gasp,  Democrats, who happen to be in the majority in the city) and quit acting like its still 1969, Nixon is in power and the UT’s in his pocket. (And yes, it’s a repeat but it’s that good an idea….)

Just a few thoughts.  But start off with numeros uno y dos. Y cinco.

The Meatgrinder Show heads to Comic-Con 2008!

We will be at Comic-Con with Meatgrinder tomorrow, Saturday!

If you see us say hi!  We will post more info., and pics upon our return.

Marshall and I set a goal for the month of July 2008. Today is July 25^th, 2008 and we need one more person to sign up as a consultant before July 31^st, 2008.

So, for the first person who helps us by signing up as a consultant before July 31^st, 2008, we will help them by signing over our $50 recruiting bonus check!

Remember, this is a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor and get a little bonus from us. This company is so new that there are still less than 700 consultants signed up. But, the numbers are growing quickly. Between July, 17^th and July 25^th, 100 consultants signed up. In that same period, we’ve gained 5 people in our down-line. It’s gaining momentum, and now is the time to strike while the iron is hot!

Think about it. As of July 18th, 2008 there were 1,342,900 consultants signed up with Monavie. Now think about being number #700 out of 1,342,900. Wouldn't your life be different?

Remember, 3 steps to enroll:

1)      Sign up

2)      Configure your monthly auto-shipment

3)      Go out and share with 2 other people that sign up as consultants

5 ways to make money:

1)      $50 recruiting bonus for every consultant that you sponsor

2)      Monthly Volume Check – 10% commission on your weakest team

3)      100% Commission match on everyone that you’ve personally sponsored

4)      40% commission on customer sales

5)      Own stock in the company

For more information, please contact sandiegopassion4life@gmail.com.

To sign up or buy Passion 4 Life: www.passion4lifevitamins.com and enter consultant # 100380.

"Meu casamento com Madonna, até onde eu sei, está bem", afirmou o cineasta britânico Guy Ritchie em entrevista exclusiva para a revista norte-americana "People".

O diretor foi entrevistado durante o Comic-Con Internacional, uma imensa feira de quadrinhos realizada esta semana na cidade de San Diego, no Estado norte-americano da Califórnia.

Acompanhado de Gerard Butler, Jeremy Piven e Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, estrelas de seu mais novo filme "RocknRolla", Ritchie também comentou como seu casamento com Madonna o ajudou a ver Londres, sua cidade natal, com outros olhos.

(...) Na cidade californiana, o diretor participou de reuniões da cabala, uma corrente mística do judaísmo, e jantou com Robert Downey Jr., que protagonizará em breve um filme sobre Sherlock Holmes dirigido por Ritchie.

Leia o texto completo clicando aqui. A foto é de Kieran Doherty, da Reuters.

Leia também:
- Suposto amante de Madonna contrata agência para cuidar de imagem
- Filmagem Não Autorizada ou Blefe Milionário

Who might be the Patriots’ nemesis this coming NFL football season? Yes, you got it: the Chargers, who seem to be better every day, and this time, they have easy rivals at the NFL football West division, with the Broncos being the closest thing to a contender to win this NFL football league division, as the other two, the Raiders and the Chiefs, are easy to handle.

LaDainian Tomlinson doesn’t want to retire without a championship ring, and he knows the clock is ticking, and his football strenght diminishes as he gets older.

San Diego lost two key figures, FB Lorenzo Neal and backup RB Michael Turner, but gained some key replacements by drafting RB Marcus Thomas and FB Jacob Hester, these last two being two top five picks at the past NFL sports draft

I don’t see the Patriots winning each game this coming NFL football season, and the Chargers might face them again at the NFL football playoffs, but as they are eager to win the title, I think they might have an edge over New England this time.

Producer Gale Anne Hurd said at the panel, "We really want a Punisher that's closer to the comics, and we stuck to the MAX series because we wanted a Punisher that was ruthless, violent vigilante justice."

After watching the footage below I'm sure you'll agree that Garth Ennis will be proud. There's thugs getting fried by Frank's blowtorch, blood splattering everywhere, and I counted, like, 5 heads exploding. Hell, I'm surprised Frank doesn't teafrag Jigsaw in this clip. So, if you're in the mood for some of the old ultraviolence, enjoy!

[dailymotion id=x68qcf]

I'll admit I've been spoiled by the Broadway cast recording and DVD. We saw the show originally on PBS in Alabama in the early 90s and we finally broke down and bought it on DVD a couple of years ago. The kids had watched it with us then, but hadn't been too excited about it. DD has discovered musicals: High School Musical, Camp Rock, you'd expect those of a tween, right? But would you think of Sweeney Todd, Rocky Horror, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical episode, and now Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog? She likes dark stuff and loves horror movies. We keep teasing her she's going to "go Goth on us" in a couple years. I don't really think so.

Anyway, she really enjoyed last night. She wanted THAT performance on DVD too. See there's another tradition at the Starlight, besides the little red box that's appeared in every production since 1946, that's the "freeze action" when the planes come in for a landing at Lindbergh Field. Yep, the nice little outdoor theater is RIGHT under the flight path. The actors "are specially trained" to freeze when a plane comes over and then continue on once the noise levels allow. This is controlled by the conductor, who apparently makes a game out of it, trying to catch the actors in awkard poses. Imagine trying to watch a movie, and having your 3 year old in control of a pause button. Luckily it turned out to be more amusing than annoying, but DS counted at least 28 planes go over in the 3 hours we were there. DH said there were more. We can say we did it and check off another requirement in his Webelos book.

Me? I'm going to watch the DVD as soon as possible. I've had the songs stuck in my head all last night and really need to hear the witch's song about the greens in her garden done properly. The wolf's "Hey, Little Girl" needs some refreshing too.

Prima conferenza della DC Comics alla Comic-Con di San Diego, tutta dedicata al Superman.
Presenti l'editor Matt Idelson insieme ai tre super-scrittori Geoff Johns (Action Comics), James Robinson (Superman), Sterling Gates (Supergirl) e i disegnatori Jamal Igle e Renato Guedes.
Ecco di seguito alcune delle notizie più interessanti:

- Johns si è detto contentissimo di poter lavorare in sinergia con gli altri scrittori di Superman, portando così negli albi la stessa energia che si è apportata in questi anni su Green Lantern, riuscendo in questo modo a narrare un'unica grande storia. Anche Robinson ha sottolineato come sia importante rendere tutti gli albi di Superman, inclusa Supergirl, in un'unica famiglia coesa.

- Il nuovo evento per Superman sarà "New Krypton", in cui gli abitanti di Kandor faranno della Terra il loro nuovo mondo in cui vivere. Scatenando ovviamente un grande caos. Uno dei punti su cui la storia si focalizzerà sarà il fatto di rendere Superman "normale" e non certo unico con la presenza di tutti questi krytponiani.

- Jamal Igle si è detto entusiasta di poter lavorare su Supergirl insieme a Sterling Gates, che lo ha entusiasmato con il suo primo plot.

- Uno degli elementi nuovi che si vedrà nella serie è la giornalista Kat Grant, che userà i suoi articoli sul Planet per dare addosso alla ragazza d'acciaio. Il primo articolo di Cat infatti sarà: "Perché il mondo non ha bisogno di Supergirl". Cat insomma sarà una sorta di J.J. Jameson, e Lana Lang avrà il ruolo di amica di Supergirl.

- Oltre a New Krypton, ci saranno tante idee per gli anni a venire, infatti gli albi sono già pianificati fino al 2010.

- Tra le altre cose, si rivedranno in futuro sulle testate dell'azzurrone sia Superwoman che Capitan Atom. Comunque c'è voglia di approfondire tutti i personaggi dell'universo di Superman.

- Per il cross-over di "New Krypton" ritorneranno di nuovo i numeri nel triangolo, che contraddistinguevano gli albi di supes legati fra di loro negli anni '90.

- Per quanto riguarda Lois Lane, ci sono dei piani anche per la moglie di Superman, che avrà un ruolo importante in una delle prossime storyline dei super-book.

- Robinson ha detto di voler caratterizzare Jimmy Olsen come un ragazzo destinato a diventare il più grande giornalista di Metropolis, ma che ancora inciampa in qualche errore. Insomma un ragazzo alla ricerca di se stesso. Uno dei suoi obiettivi sarà quello di rendere Jimmy importante come Lois e Clark. Inoltre nelle storie ritroveremo alcuni supervillain di secondo piano dell'universo di Superman come Silver Banshee e Reactron.

- Anche Lex Luthor avrà un ruolo importante in New Krypton.

- Ci sarà uno Speciale Kingdom Come che sta preparando Alex Ross in cui saranno protagonisti il nostro Superman e quello di Kingdom Come.

- Su Legion of Three Worlds verrà approfondito il rapporto tra Superman e Superboy Prime.

- Rivedremo di nuovo Doomsday sulle pagine di Superman.

[by Danilo Guarino] [25-07-08]

comicus

Our much anticipated day of adolescent frivolity began at 5 in the a.m., after a delightful four, I repeat, four hours of sleep.  You may ask, Why so little sleep?  I'd love to say there was a good reason, but it was due, mostly, to watching the slammin' dance moves of Optimus Prime courtesy of YouTube.  Sadly, we aren't kidding.  Here is the proof:

Yeah, it doesn't take much to amuse us, but if you've read this blog before, you know that already.

Anyway, we got up, got ready and were on the road just after 6 a.m., making the two hour trek to San Diego.  Or, what should have been a two hour trek.

Unfortunately, due to a horrible accident (in which nobody was seriously injured), our trip lasted over six hours.  Mostly in bumper to bumper traffic.

As  such, we got a very late start at the Con, missed a few panels, and didn't get nearly as many pictures as we had hoped.  Nevertheless, we share with you what we did get today.  Please to enjoy:

Alright, folks, its late, we're tired, see you tomorrow!

Big Gundam fan? Had the chance to go the Comic-Con in San Diego and turned it down? Then you might regret not having gone because of this. It's the GFF RX-78-2 ver. Ka Clear Version which is exclusively released in Comic-Con San Diego 2008.

Picture nabbed from Danny-sama/Jeromaru.