Trinity Con

So, the TV preview was a bust. The main attraction was a pilot the guy from the market testing group claimed was a year or two years ago but was hopelessly cheesy and littered with bad acting, bad dialogue, bad editing, and that, quite frankly, looked at least a decade old. I attended the event with John and Sean, buddies from way back, and they believed the pilot, "Soulmates", to have been a soap opera (which would explain a lot), but I think it was just really, really, really bad primetime TV.

But on an entirely lighter and far more interesting note, I went to the Southfield, Michigan Trinity Con. It's mostly a gaming event for role-players and card game folks and all that, but the real attraction was that Dwayne McDuffie, prolific comic writer and story editor/writer on Justice League Unlimited, was there. I probably spent more time driving there and back than I did at the actual show, but it was worth it. I had a chance to chat with Mr. McDuffie and then attended a panel on JLU and the upcoming batch of episodes. I had an incredible time, and it was a real thrill to be able to talk to one of my favorite writers. He even remembered me from his message board and for the signed card he'd sent off from the San Diego Comic-con (another amazing thing I have to thank him for again).

Here's a couple of the interesting things I learned at the show, with all spoiler bits blotted out for you protection:

JLU's audience is 40 to 45 percent women, surprising because most action series are targeted toward boys while comedy-action series target girls. Shows like JLU are expected to pull in about a quarter female audience, so JLU is looked upon as a fluke.

Static Shock's Gameboy game is continually in flux. One week it's ready to ship, the next, it's being held up indefinitely. Additionally the next Static Shock DVD is unscheduled, despite the fact the first DVD outsold the first Teen Titans DVD volume released at the same time.

JLU producer James Tucker is hard at work prepping ***********. It'll be outside JLU continuity because *********** is on the team.

*********** will be appearing on JLU in a episode structured like the *********** that *********** used to appear in.

Bruce Timm is working on two original series right now.

Mr. McDuffie is working on a potential *********** series. Although other *********** characters will appear it won't be part of *********** continuity, and will have a more anime flavor.

Vague enough for you? Anyway, I had a great time. I found a few Suicide Squad and Hardware comics for sale from the only vendor selling comics at the show. I really, really enjoyed the Hardware issues and will keep an eye out for more in the future.

So, hopefully something equally interesting will happen in the next little while so I can tell all the people that frequent my blog about it. Until then...

Hi there.

So, Johnny, my "brother from another", got tickets to a TV pilot preview. I don't remember the details, but it had to do with his work at the Toronto Film Festival last month. I'll try to remember what happened so the imaginary visitors to my blog can get all the juicy details, but I'll probably have to sign a confidentiality agreement or something. I'd still like to write about it for my online feature writing course.

I'll get back to you on that later.

Religion and Politics

There are two polarizing topics I don't like to discuss: Religion and politics. Everyone has an opinion on both, and no matter what either side tells you, they're convinced they're right and if you don't agree with them, they'll hate you for it (even if they say they don't). Still, I've got to comment on Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. It's just too much. I don't care much for the guy -- Iraq, Katrina, et al -- but nominating someone with zero judicial experience, likely (and this is where my reasoning behind not discussing politics comes into play) so she has no background for opponents to draw from or accuse her of flip-flopping, and definitely because she's a family friend, is a horrible way to make decisions. It's times like these I'm glad to be Canadian, because Bush isn't even trying anymore. He just does whatever the Hell he wants when he wants.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest...

Button.

Button passed away last week. She was a great little puppy and my best friend. We'll all miss her.

Hi there.

It's been a while since the last post, and not much has happened to me in the meantime. I've been doing school work, a little bit of writing... the new season of JLU has started and while I enjoyed the premiere episode, the second episode of the hour-long block left me a little cold. Still waiting to find last night's episodes somewhere.

In other news, JLU story editor, producer, writer Dwayne McDuffie is doing a Fantastic Four book, which should be pretty good. He's a really cool guy, and a heck of a writer.

So... not much to report on. I'm hoping to find the JLU DVD, but haven't had much luck so far. I should get it soon though, since there's a lot of DVDs coming out this fall and I only have so much disposable income.

Argh!

I have a cold and feel terrible. My whole body aches and my nose is totally conjested.

But on a lighter note, I've been watching the third season of "The Shield" and enjoying it.

Argh.

So...

"Sweeney Todd" wrapped up and I can't say I'm too broken up. The show was actually very well done -- the cast did a fantastic job and the music, costumes and sets were all well done. I'm not eager to watch another version since I'm afraid the Theatre Aquarius show spoiled me (that and watching with an all youth cast will undoubtedly make a regular performance's cast seem woefully aged). But most of the time I felt like a redundancy around the set and since most of my work was really behind the scenes no one had any idea who I was or what I did (outside of being that creepy guy sitting back stage). I shouldn't have been too surprised, knowing theatrical actors and their elitest tendencies, but I suppose it's my own fault for going along with it.

I hope I don't seem too bitter or anything. Honestly it was a nice change of pace and something to add to the c.v, but most of the time it felt like everyone was in on the joke except me. As I've related, I felt like I was surrounded by people, but still felt totally alone.

And on that wonderfully depressing note...

Blondie's 75th

Apparently the Blondie comic strip is celebrating it's 75th anniversary so there's this big event going on the strip and just about every other comic to commemorate the event. It's kind of neat, talking Garfield aside.

(Image taken from Mark Evanier's blog
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2005_08_21.html#010221)

Dammit. This is what I get for reading all those Betty and Veronicas.

This and That

The Teen Choice Awards are on right now. I watched long enough to watch Jesse McCarthy and Mischa Barton present the "It Girl" award to Alexis Bleidel. Now I know the latter is one of the Gilmore Girls, but who the hell are the other two? Again I'm completely baffled, but at least I'm old enough to chalk it up to being out of touch rather than being hopelessly square, although I'm probably right on both counts.

The production of Sweeney Todd I'm working on as a PA is going all right. I still resent the utter elite-ness given off by the theatre actors, but still find enough to keep me busy otherwise. There was a party the other day at someone's house that I found out about after the fact that's made me pretty cheesed off though. Have I mentioned how much I hate actors?