SDCC - 1:03 AM

John: ... but the trick is to show the space once and then bang in on the close-up.
Wheaton: Because the CG won't hold up.
John: Exactly. Problem is you can tell these guys are FX freaks.
Wheaton: Just love showing how beautiful their CG and textures are.
John: They jerk off to TRON.
Wheaton: Well, what part of TRON?
John: ...
Wheaton: Because if it's the light cycle chase --
John: Okay. Good point.
Wheaton: And if you time it right, when the bike hits the wall --
John: AAAGGGHHHHH.

I did not expect he would win this round. I will reassert my conversational primacy tomorrow night. In the spirit of TRON and Will's latest column -- in Comments let's hear your favorite cheesy 80's sci fi flick.

World Without US

From the always indispensable Cool Tools, comes a link to The World Without Us, an examination of post-human future. But not "post-human" as in "we are all hot cyborgs downloading our consciousness between flesh-shells", but "Hmm, everybody seems to have the same hacking wet cought ..." The raccoon biologists even now work in their lonely scavenged laboratories to bring about the Flupocalypse...

Be sure to go all the way down on the Multimedia page to see the multiple timelines of post-human New York illustrated by Kenn Brown of mondolithic.com. As chunks of the Doomed Pulp Novel are set in New York several decades after The Very Bad Thing occurs, I'm finding this marvelous background material.

Long Way 'Round, and SDCC

John: I'm calling to say I've arrived in LA. Is the meeting with the director set?
Producer: Not yet. He's out of town doing reshoots.
John: Where?
Producer: He's way the hell up in Montreal.
John: ...

However, there is still something down here to occupy my time. Did you know that the Zombie Tales have been collected into a soul-shattering Trade paperback? That's an assful of zombies in there, my friends. Some very good horror writing, covering the spectrum from haunting to hilarious. I recommend it with a clean conscience.

The current signing schedule for San Diego Comic-Con:

Thursday

BOOM! Studios Meet-up/Drink-Up at the Hyatt Grand Lobby Bar, 8pm. In which I will extort past payments from Ross in the form of Scotch. All who enjoy Zombie Tales, Cthulhu Tales, Pirate Tales, (my personal favorite) Ninja Tales, all are apparently welcome. And although I won't read your spec sripts, Andy Cosby will! (heh. Heh-heh)

Friday, July 27

Blue Beetle signing -- DC Booth 3:30-4:30 pm

Zombie Tales signing -- BOOM! (Booth #2543) 5-6pm

Saturday July 28

Zombie Tales signing - BOOM! 3-4 pm

Sunday

Zombie Tales signing - BOOM! 11-12pm

Feel free to bring any BB stuff to the Zombie Tales signings. See you there!

Just For Hangovers

Downtime from a visit to Montreal for the Just for Laughs Festival.

(All the comics I used to work with) + (3 am last call) = rough mornings.

Highlights:

-- the Green Room show in a scuzzy section of Montreal at about 1 am, where Paul Provenze hosts Lewis Black, Louis CK, Billy bloody Connolly and Eddie Izzard on couches, getting drunk and shooting the shit. The line of the night, however, went to Kids in the Hall's Dave Foley, who wound up on stage at one point. After Louis CK revealed that he'd lived in Mexico City until he was seven years old:

Dave: So you're really a Mexican?
Louis: Yes.
Dave: All these years, I've been treating you like you're white.
Louis: Thanks.
Dave: Yeah, but now I feel noble.

When I say the neighborhood was sketchy -- the theater was opposite a strip bar named "Pussy Corps!" As we got out of the van:

Tammy: What the hell's a "pussy corps?"
John: Larger than a Pussy Platoon, but smaller then a Pussy Brigade. (silence) Just for me then? Okay.

--The Family Guy Live show, mostly for Seth McFarlane's vocal talent. Not only can he hot-swap between voices, he can do it during a song. You have no idea how hard that is unless, well, you do, in which case you know exactly how insanely hard that is.

Regular dispatches from the Nerd Prom all this week, I hope. I'll be there for a couple signings, times to be posted.

EDIT: Courtesy of blog denizen Eric