fenchurch | On the second day of Comic-Con (with an addendum for the first)

Not nearly as sore and tired as yesterday, but still plenty worn out! And I'm starting to get blisters (I'm really not used to wearing shoes this much, and it shows).

I can't believe how tired I was last night!! A few extra comments: Kenneth Johnson had a lot of fun anecdotes from his career, talking at first mostly about "The Incredible Hulk" (which makes sense, considering the presentation was based around the recent release of the first season DVD) but moving on to stories from "The Six-Million Dollar Man" and "Bionic Woman" and, eventually, "V" (both the two mini-series and the regular series). As I mentioned, by the end of it all, I was actually getting tempted to start buying "The Incredible Hulk" DVD sets, which probably says a lot about his storytelling ability (I'm quite interested in hearing some of the commentaries). I'm also rather psyched about his ideas for the "V" sequel, whether it comes out as a book or a mini-series.

I also forgot to mention that I ended up sitting through the "Juniper Lee" presentation (I lingered in the room after the previous presentation and got hooked). I've watched the show a time or two and thought it was actually pretty good, but it's not the sort of thing I would have gone out of my way to see... but, once again, listening to the creator got me really interested. And the episode they showed was *really* good! He also talked a bit about where he gets his ideas (and that the character of Juniper Lee was based on his wife), and said that they have deliberately put in some homages to BtVS, but that they also sneak in unintended, just because they were all big fans of the show.

Today started really early, though surprisingly, not early enough. The roads down by the convention center were already packed by 8:00am, even though the show didn't open until 10:00. We'd volunteered to help stuff gift bags for the Star Wars Fan Club Breakfast tomorrow -- it was a lot more fun than it sounds, and we got free swag as payment (Yay free swag!). After making a swag-dumping run out to the car, it was only about an hour before my appointment to donate blood, so I hit the Starbucks at the Marriott and had a nice big lunch (just ahead of the rush).

Blood donation went really well -- I'd been so worried that I'd end up wasting an hour or more going through the process only to find out I wouldn't be able to donate (either because of dehydration or a low iron count). No problems there... and they had things set up pretty efficiently. It took awhile to get through it all, and at the end they loaded us up with lots of sugar (they had doughnuts, cookies, Rice Krispie Treats and juice for us -- we were all buzzed by the end) and, of course, we got goodie bags which included a Spike action figure! Chatting with other people at the canteen table, it turned out to have been a major incentive to donate blood for most of us.

I missed the Ray Harryhausen panel while I was donating blood, so I slipped into the tail end of the "Battlestar Galactica" panel (and no, I still haven't really watched the show... but it was still interesting), so that I'd have a good seat for the "Bones" panel. David Boreanaz sure is cute in person!! And is apparently very fond of beer (he kept bringing it, to the point that in the Q&A someone asked him about his favorite beer -- a question that left him somewhat flummoxed, before he finally mentioned that he did have Guinness on tap at his house). They talked a bit about some of the changes to the show next season, and I liked what I heard. DB and the show's creator also mentioned something interesting... that DB and Emily Deschanel actually meet with an acting coach on their day off to go over the scripts. He seemed very personable and fairly down-to-earth.

Then it was off to the Star Wars Spectacular! Lots of cool stuff coming up, including the release of the classic trilogy, the way it was meant to be... an animated series, a live action series, and some fantastic games. The new AI engine they've come up with for the next Indiana Jones games looked incredible and I can't wait to see it fully functioning. One of the other big announcements is that, as part of the 30th anniversary celebration next year, LucasFilm is going to have two floats in the Rose Parade... complete with a marching band playing Star Wars music and 200 members of the 501st! It sounds unbelievably cool!

I couldn't resist its siren call, so I stuck around for the next presentation: Snakes on a Plane!!!!! Let me preface this by saying that I've enjoyed the internet phenomenon of Snakes on a Plane, but had no real desire to see the movie... but, you know, after seeing a ten minute clip from it, I think I might catch it in a matinee (or possibly as a midnight showing if any local theaters go that route). Samuel Jackson was there, along with the movie's director, and was incredibly good at handling the crowd... the snake wrangler was also on hand, bringing a number of the movie's other, more slithery stars out onto the stage (one of which was truly HUGE). The whole thing was just such great fun... and I think the movie will be as well, especially with a good crowd.