Iron monger

Originally uploaded by brendoman

At marvel booth
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

My Friday plans are pretty simple. I'm going to get up pretty early, pack up my bags since we're switching hotels that day, take the shuttle to the convention center, check my bags, and camp out in the Hall H line. I'll then spend the rest of my day there.

I've done the Hall H campout once before, back in 2005, and I did it solo. It was no easy task. Thankfully the latest Harry Potter book had just come out so that kept me entertained. This time around I've got a bunch of books, my iPod, my EEE, and my DS. I think I'll be covered. I also have some companions along for the ride. The first panel of the day in Hall H is the Watchmen panel and later in the day Kevin has his two panels. The first one is him with Frank Miller, Zach Snyder, and Judd Apatow while the second is his solo panel about Zack and Miri with "special guests." In recent years the rule of thumb for Hall H is that once you leave, the odds are good that you aren't making it back in. So since Watchmen is the first panel and Kevin's is the last, I'm going to be there all day. Good times.

If anyone wants to hang out or play some DS or something, hit me up here (I'll have the laptop), via e-mail (I'll have my blackberry) or via Twitter, which is also where I'll be posting live updates throughout the Con. I'm coming in to work in the morning tomorrow but I'm off at lunch to catch the train down. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and I'll make it with plenty of time to check in to the hotel before Preview Night starts. Hope you guys all have a fun week here. Don't be afraid to post in my absence.

Thanks to Danny's help, I added Gravatar support to the comments. All you have to do to have your own avatar show up is sign up at Gravatar's site and make sure you use whatever email you used to sign up there to comment here.

It appears that The Dark Knight has taken over the world, having pulled in $158 million for the opening weekend. Dang. In honor of this I made a new poll asking what you think is the best live action Batman movie.

As far as The Dark Knight goes, what is there to say that hasn't been said? I thought it was amazing. For me, it somehow even managed to exceed the insane amount of hype it's been (justly) receiving the past several months. The performances were great. The Joker was absolutely insane. Unlike a lot of people, it seems, I didn't have a problem with Bale's "Batman voice." If you saw the film on a regular screen, do yourself a favor and check it out on IMAX. It's incredible.

For those who are curious, I was pleased to see that the majority of voters enjoyed Indy 4. I'm still surprised at the dogpile that the film has received, especially on the internet. I honestly don't know what people were expecting. Perhaps some things are best left in the past, but I'm still happy we got to see Doctor Jones put on the fedora one more time.

I'm leaving for Comic Con in a day and half. Oh man, I'm pumped.

edit: Per Kyle's suggestion I've added Mask of the Phantasm.

Can't wait to see this trailer on the IMAX screen tomorrow night.

edit: In the time between when I watched the teaser and when I posted the video, it got taken down. If anyone finds a good link, post it in the comments. It will be in front of The Dark Knight though.

edit 2: Film School Rejects has a copy up. Go! Go! Go!

edit 3: Found new version to embed.

mental_floss Blog » The Quick 10: 10 Random Facts About Disneyland

"The Happiest Place on Earth" is 53 today. I'm sure it's no where near as crowded as it was during my first week of working there on the 50th anniversary. As much as I sometimes dislike the place, I love it even more. It's one of the places that I will always have fond memories of, that while it's changed quite a bit in the last 53 years, it still has an element of timelessness to it. There's something special about going there and being able to stand in the same spot in front of the castle that I stood when I was three years old, holding my father's hand and looking in wonder. Maybe I'm just a big sap, but if you've been there more than once, you probably know what I'm talking about.

There's going to be a panel at Comic-Con with Dan Akroyd and Ernie Hudson. It's during another panel I really want to go to, but I might just skip that.

I had a dream last night that Eric wrestled a pudgy, older Ultimate Warrior. Seriously, I have no idea where that came from.

Last night I saw Hellboy 2 with Curtis. It was all kinds of awesome. If you haven't seen it yet, go. Guillermo Del Toro is my hero.

I just realized how freaking busy I'm going to be the next few months.

7/23-27: Comic-Con
8/6-10: Road trip to Tomfest with Phil
8/15-17: Catalina (maybe)
8/22: Crazy 4 Cult 2
9/20: Beck, MGMT, & Spoon at Hollywood Bowl
9/26-27: 10 Year Reunion #1

Am I forgetting anything? I hope not.

I've said it before and now I can re-affirm it: I'll buy a Wii whenever Animal Crossing is released. According to this it will be released at the end of this year. I was hopelessly addicted to the DS version of Animal Crossing and now I'm plunging into the Gamecube version, which is fantastic.

I'm convinced that Animal Crossing is the perfect game for OCD types like myself. It's the ultimate collecting game and also has some God game features to boot. I'm definitely looking forward to the Wii version. Hopefully it will have some great online features.

So one of the reasons why I bought a PS3 a month ago wasn't just for MGS4, but also because I am a big Final Fantasy fan. VI (or III, whatever) was the first RPG that I played and loved, and I still go back to it to replay it. So since Square Enix had been going on and on about PS3 exclusivity, those $500 I spent were justified.

And now they announce that it's also coming for the 360. Which is good for all the people who only have one or the other system.

Which doesn't include me any longer.

I guess console exclusivity really is dead.

brb jumping off a cliff :'(

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon's latest project starring Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris, premieres tomorrow. The first episode will be available for free for a limited time with the second and third episodes premiering on July 17th and 19th, respectively. I'm really looking forward to this and the big panel at Comic-Con.

In case you didn't know, today is Slurpee day. You can get a free 7.11 ounce Slurpee at participating 7-11 stores. As some of you might now, I'm quite fond of this tasty nectar of the gods. I've definitely cut back over the years but when I was in high school it was a normal thing for some of my friends and I to drive 30 miles in search of certain elusive flavors, especially the ultra-rare Sprite. These days I tend to go for the classic combination of Cherry and Coke. Some of the new flavors are a little too sweet for me. Maybe that's a sign of aging.

I was going to set a reminder to post this on June 12th but I got caught up with the move and other things. June 12th 1998 was a big day for me for two reasons. First, it marked the release of Can't Hardly Wait, which in my opinion is the ultimate 90's teen movie since so many prominent 90's teen actors are in it. Also, I had a huge thing for Jennifer Love Hewitt at the time but it was thanks to this film that I discovered the beautiful Lauren Ambrose. I was also impressed that a teen movie from 1998 used a Yaz song in its big closing scene.

June 12th 1998 was also the day I graduated high school. The picture above was taken the next day. I remember the day I graduated very fondly. I slept in a bit and my friends and I skipped graduation practice in the morning to go see Can't Hardly Wait. We had lunch together then went to the ceremony and then bummed around our various graduation parties, collecting presents and eating until we could eat no more. I honestly felt like I was on top of the world. I guess a lot of people do when they are 18 and have their whole future ahead of them.

10 years later, here I am. I feel like I've come a long way since then in some areas, not so much in others. I'm starting to get emails about the big reunion coming up. I'm kind of freaking out about seeing certain people again. I'm also excited. I keep asking myself where all the time went. I've also become super nostalgic, hence the renting of Can't Hardly Wait and browsing old friend's profiles on MySpace and Facebook. At least in this digital age we live in hyper-nostalgia is easily cured.

Grisoft modifies its free AVG product after complaints | Defense in Depth - computer security, hacking, crime, viruses - CNET News.com

In a statement on Saturday, Grisoft said "We have actively listened to the Webmasters who have brought this to our attention, and as a company we have reacted quickly to solve them." What it did was issue a new build of the popular free program.

To follow up on a story I posted last week, it looks like AVG has fixed the problem and listened to the concerns of their users and webmasters around the globe. Way to be, Grisoft.

Comic-Con 2008 :: Programming for Thursday, July 24

OMG decisions, decisions. I'm thinking this will be my tentative schedule, if I can make it in the respective halls. I sense some camping in my future. Thankfully I'll have my DS, iPod, and a book or two. Here's my tentative plans (after the jump):

Read more »

New York-Penn League: About

For those of you who don't know, Ming Chen is the webmaster and tech guru for Kevin Smith and a good friend of mine. He is currently in the running for a logo contest for the New York-Penn Class A league. His logo is option one. Please take two seconds to vote. Thanks!

Interview: Guillermo Del Toro

I was just finishing my house and when I mean my house, I mean my house. I'm doing a man cave of epic proportions. My collection of crap was getting so big that my wife said, "Dude, you or us." I said let's move the things out. I bought a house five blocks away from my house, I put a secret book shelf door, I put a haunted mansion room, I am moving all my stuff there and I was planning on having that as my office for the next five years and then I got the call.

Question: Will you move the house?

del Toro: I'm going to lend it to a friend, a like-minded friend to live there for three years while I'm gone. He?s going to have 7,000 DVDs, 15,000 comic books, but the only thing he can't touch is my toys. I have many iterations of Disney's the Nautilus. I collect haunted mansion memorabilia; I collect any iteration of Chernabog the demon from Fantasia. I own two of the original sketches that Kay Nielsen and the other artist pitched to Disney. I am an obsessive collector and I've said in the past, mercifully I do dress like shit and I drive a really old car, so the only vice I have is collecting this stuff.

Ah, another Haunted Mansion nut. I seriously love this man. He has definitely made his way into my top five filmmakers list. I'm super super pumped for The Dark Knight but I'm also really excited for Hellboy 2. My friend Matt attended the premiere and loved it. Can't wait.

I hope you all had a good holiday weekend. Mine was pretty sweet. I did a whole lot of relaxing. I also put together my desk and finished unpacking my room. I should probably take some pictures since I know you all are DYING to know what it looks like. Now I just need to get a super long LAN cable so I can get some internet on my desktop. Curtis and I bummed around the place a lot. I have a Gamecube now since they are only $30 at Gamestop and Phil and Janelle bought me Mario Kart Double Dash so we played a lot of that.

I also have to confess that Curtis has gotten me completely addicted to Sex and the City. Hey, don't knock it until you try it. It's been a couple weeks and I'm already about 6 episodes into season six. Yeah, that's right, six. Fight me.

It's always nice to wake up on a Monday morning to see an Eric post.

hola. it has been a while.

how you doin brendo? what's been going on? what video games have you been playing? what kind of martial arts have you been practising? will you be in the san diego metro area any time soon? i was looking at upcoming concerts on the internet tonight... but i didn't really see anything that i could get excited about.
i have been in a zombie zone.

and hello to danny and henry and smiles and brian and jeri and luis and dave and lil rae rae and old man witherspoon and anybody else that reads this. lucas, do you read this? if so... what is happenin, fool?

yo henry, do you play any basketball anymore? i've been playing at least once a week. i should come to columbia and me, you and jeremy could play some basketball. are you happy that the heat got beasley?

i've been watching a lot of tv lately. not good tv watching, though. friggin zombie tv watching. hours and hours of espn news cycles. watching friends dvds with my girlfriend. i go through long periods where i have no brain activity. i will start to see my soul floating up from my body and then my dog will bark and bring me back to consciousness.
i've been going to work and not liking my job... but the intensity of the suckage of that situation goes through cycles. sometimes it barely sucks, or doesn't even really suck... and sometimes i get burnt out and it sucks balls.
i got a group of dudes from my work and we played in a basketball league and it was super fun... but what i wanna do is create a basketball team of all the dudes that i have played basketball with growing up and enter a league somewhere and get cool jerseys and shit. i just need to create a new super-town and move all of my friends to this new utopia and then i will also have to populate the town with opposing teams. maybe like seven medium teams, one hard team and three easy teams.
i could have:
eric
henry
my cousin jeremy
smiles
lucas
nathan see
andy hodges
my friend jeff from back in the day
brendan
j dub
i would also like more of my cousins and my brother, but maybe they should be on another imaginary team... anyway... what am i talking about?

my dog won't stop staring at me.
she keeps changing poses and trying new tactics to get my attention.

i think i'm done. hi everybody.

Slashdot | AVG Fakes User Agent, Floods the Internet

I've been a big fan of the free AVG Anti-Virus since I was introduced to it when I first started at Central. It sounds like that love might be running out though. Apparently the new safe search feature is causing a lot of problems for various websites as its webcrawler is disguising itself and flooding websites. These don't sound like the practices of an honest company or a responsible one. I'm going to wait and see how this pans out, but I might be looking for another anti-virus solution soon. Feel free to comment with your suggestions. Free and lightweight is definitely preferred.

Digg - News

It's still in beta and I don't know if it's available yet for everyone, but I just started using the new Digg recommendation engine. If it's available for you, you should be able to get to it via the link. I think it's really great so far. It makes the upcoming stories section much more usable since the unfiltered version is usually full of spam and junk stories. You can sort your recommendations by most recent, most matches (using Digg users with similar voting habits), and most Diggs. I think overall this will be great for Digg as a whole since stories that were once buried will have a better chance of getting noticed.

Believe Me, It's Torture: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com

But it's been well said that cowards die many times before their deaths, and it was difficult for me to completely forget the clause in the contract of indemnification that I had signed. This document (written by one who knew) stated revealingly:

Water boarding is a potentially dangerous activity in which the participant can receive serious and permanent (physical, emotional and psychological) injuries and even death, including injuries and death due to the respiratory and neurological systems of the body.

As the agreement went on to say, there would be safeguards provided during the water boarding process, however, these measures may fail and even if they work properly they may not prevent Hitchens from experiencing serious injury or death.

I remember a while ago Brendon and I were talking about how one of these days someone is going to try out waterboarding for themselves and make a video of it. Well, now it's been done. But what does this guy know? The White House has told us multiple times that this isn't torture. It's just a tough "enhanced interrogation technique." Yep.

So there's a new law that went into effect today in California. If you are caught on your cell phone while driving without using a hands free device you will be fined. I'm guessing the motivation behind this is that drivers are distracted by holding a cell phone to their ear. If this is true, why just ban cell phone use? Why not create a law saying both hands must be on the wheel at all times? If it's talking on the phone that is distracting, then why not ban cell phone use completely? Aren't people still going to be distracted whether they have the phone to the ear or not? I have no doubts that phone usage causes people to drive like morons but I don't think this law is the solution. People are still going to drive like idiots. I guess we'll wait and see.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Anticlimactic Twilight Zone Episodes.

Ah, McSweeney's. You are awesome.

Where Is Everybody?

A man emerges from his office to find the hallways mysteriously devoid of co-workers. He wanders the silent, empty building looking for signs of life but finds no trace of humanity other than coffee brewing, purses slung over chairs, and folders lying open on desks. Suddenly, he remembers a mandatory meeting in the first-floor conference room.