New Music Recommendation

Go out and get the Wedding Crashers Soundtrack. It's great.

Click here to see it on iTunes.

Is it hot enough?

Actually, I wouldn't know. It's been rather pleasant here in Huntington Beach, CA. But, VH1's Best Week Ever episode from last night did a great commentary on the reporting of the heat wave across the US. Thank you, Best Week Ever, for so perfectly illustrating my disdain for TV news. You have to watch this, it's hilarious! Just click on the image below to view the clip.

Date Me Natalie

I wish I would've thought of this. Dang.

http://datemenatalie.com

.

Echinacea is a lie

This is for my non-Californian friends, b/c we don't have to worry about colds as much out here. Turns out that Echinacea doesn't really help you get over a cold. You may think it does, but it's all in your head. :)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-07-27-echinacea_x.htm

A truly mobile office

I just figured out how to connect to the internet on my laptop using my mobile phone. I didn't have to buy any fancy hardware or sign up for anything extra. I just used the USB cable that came with my phone, downloaded a free driver, adjusted some settings on the phone, and Wa-la! I am now connected to internet using the phone as the modem. And since I have unlimited data with my phone, it won't cost extra. Now my office is truly wireless! Anywhere where I have signal with my wireless phone, I can setup office and start working. The geek in me (which is pretty much most of me) is very excited about this. :)

Avril on the radio

Have you ever wondered how Avril and others have made it to the airwaves? Well, here's how...

MTV News Article

ComputerMan

Check out this hilariously odd web series called "ComputerMan" starring Jack Black as half man/half computer. Theme music by Jack Black. There are 6 episodes, you have to start at the bottom to see episode 1 first.

Watch "ComputerMan" here.

Browse around on Channel101.com. This is where hard working everyday Joe's like you and I can have their chance to have their own sitcom on the web. Warning: "Average Joe's" can sometimes have demented sense of humor.

Summer Beach Games here in HB!

The Annual Summer Beach Games which includes the U.S. Open of Surfing, concerts, skateboard competitions, BMX bike competitions, Freestyle Motorcross Demos, and much more is coming to Huntington Beach this weekend! The games last from July 22-July 31, 2005.

Come on over and check it out! Find out all the information about this free event here:

www.bankofthewestbeachgames.com

My First ComicCon Experience

Yesterday, July 16, I went to my first San Diego ComicCon. I had a great time. Much better than I thought I would. And I only live an hour and a half from San Diego, so getting there was fairly easy. For those that don't know, the annual San Diego Comic Convention is a VERY big deal. People from all over the world come out to this. Also there has been a big film presence in the past years, especially as Hollywood has begun making more and more 'comic book' movies. The convention lasts for 4 days, but I only went for Saturday. Below is my full recap of the day. It is very long with many pictures. If you're interested in comic book geeks, Superman Returns, Firefly/Serenity, Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, King Kong, or Tenacious D, keep on reading, otherwise, you might get bored. A disclaimer about my pictures; since I couldn't use a flash because I was so far back, I had to rely on the house lighting, which wasn't very bright, so most of the film panel pictures are slightly amber and sometimes blurry because of low lighting. To see larger versions of any of these photos, just click on them. All photos were taken by me, Trevor Thompson, please do not re-use these elsewhere without my permission. Thank you. :)

I left my house at 6:30 AM and got to San Diego around 8:00 AM. My plan was to spend most of the day in Hall H. This is where they hosted film panels on upcoming productions. The first panel of the day was for "Superman Returns." Once I got parked and found my way up to the convention center, there was a huge line outside the convention center for Superman Returns. I had purchased my ticket over the internet, but I had to go inside to pick up my badge before I could get in line. I rushed to do this and when I came back out, the line was even longer, but by this time it had started moving and it looked like they were letting people into Hall H. I am glad I got there early because I was able to get a great seat not too far from the stage. The room had a 4,500 person seating capacity, so to get to sit up close was nice. All of the film panels for the day would be held in Hall H with a 15 minute interval in between. If you left during the 15 minutes, and came back, you would have to wait in line again. The only way you could come back without having to wait in line would be to leave in the middle of a session. They would give you a ticket that would allow you to return without having to wait in line, but would only be good for that session. And, just because you had the ticket, didn't mean that your seat was reserved. So, you had to have a friend save your seat. Since I went alone, I had to rely on some very nice people around me to save my seat when I had to go out. These rules forced you to stay in Hall H all day if you wanted to keep a good seat, which I did.

Superman Returns
The first panel of the day was for Superman Returns, due in theatres Summer 2006. Bryan Singer, the director, flew out from Australia, where they are filming, just to give this presentation at ComicCon. He literally just got off the plane when he was presenting Saturday morning. The film panels basically consisted of allowing the audience to ask questions to the panel, the panel answering the questions, and then if we were lucky, we would get to see exclusive footage of the film being discussed. Bryan Singer gave much good information about the new Superman movie. He discussed issues such as costume decisions, the nature of Clark Kent/Superman, and his reasons for making the movie. He then showed a clip from the movie that he prepared only for ComicCon. They have only been filming for a few weeks, so it was such a treat to see what they were working on. The clip was amazing. Amazing! I am so excited to see it next summer. The premise of the film is that after the events that happen in the 1978 Superman movie, Superman leaves Earth for a certain amount of time and comes back. It deals with how his return is received and would it have been better if he never appeared at all. When asked why he wanted to make this film, Bryan Singer mentioned that he felt he wanted to explore a spiritual side to the film and that he wanted to deal with the topic of a Messiah and how he would be received. Mr. Singer also mentioned that he was adopted and that he identified with some of the struggles the Superman character faced from being adopted. He also talked about the TV series "Smallville" (one of my favorite shows), and how it impacted this film. Bryan mentioned that he met regularly with the producers of Smallville to make sure neither steps into the other's territory or that they don't mess up any continuity of the story of Superman. He mentioned that he even knows the storyline of the Smallville series in advance which I thought was cool. It was such a treat for me to listen to the director talk about this epic film while the film is still in progress and to see exclusive clips that no one else will get to see.

Aeon Flux and The Exhibit Hall
The next panel was for the film, "Aeon Flux", a sci-fi film based upon a popular MTV animated series starring Charlize Theron. This was the one panel that didn't really interest me that much, so I used this to take my only break for the day. I got my ticket to leave and went and explored the Exhibit Hall, where all of the comic vendors and sponsors are located. It was huge and claustrophobic. I could barely walk. I had 45 minutes to explore and get some food and water. I saw "Stu" from "The Family Guy". It looks like he was checking this girl out and she liked it. Kinda funny. Also, there was a Transformers trailer to promote the movie coming out in 2 years. I got back right before the panel was over and took a picture of Charlize Theron talking about her character in the film.





Kevin Smith
From 1:00 - 2:00, Kevin Smith came out and talked about anything and everything. Mostly jokes so obscene that I won't repeat them here. While he was talking about some frustrations he had with the movie, "The Passion", some guy from the audience started shouting angrily, "Jesus died for your sins!" Kevin replied, "I know." The guy just kept screaming at him. But all the while, Kevin was nice and respectful to this guy in the audience. When the next person came up to the microphone to ask a question, Kevin interrupted him and said, "Did you know Jesus died for your sins?", the kid replied, "No" and Kevin said, "Well he did." As a Christian myself, I have more respect for Kevin Smith who has extremely dirty mouth and just downright gross humor, than I do for this Christian shouting at him in the audience. I wonder what the motivation was for this shouting Christian guy in the audience. Did he have a sincere desire to "enlighten" Kevin, or did he just want to get into an argument? Somehow I think that if this dude really did have a heart to share the truth with Kevin Smith, that surely he would know that shouting "Jesus died for your sins!" angrily across the room would not be a method that would work. Which leads me to believe that this guy, like so many other Christians, just wanted to prove that he was right and that Kevin was wrong. Ok, on to the convention. Next Kevin brought out director Richard Kelly to talk about a new project they are working on. Richard Kelly is the writer/director of Donnie Darko, one of my favorite films. Kevin will be appearing in Richard's next film.

Serenity
This panel was my favorite. I am a HUGE Joss Wheadon fan and this panel covered the upcoming film, "Serenity". Serenity is a film adaptation of the TV series, "Firefly". It's really cool. They basically took the same exact cast and made a feature film of the story arc of the Firefly series. The panel brought out the entire cast and director Joss Whedon. Check out Joss's cute pink backpack. As Joss was bringing out all of the cast members one by one, he forgot to bring out Jewel. He had to be reminded by the cast sitting that he forgot Jewel. It was hilarious. Joss got down on his knees and begged her to come out. The cast obviously had a strong bond and they said themselves many times that they were family. I envy that experience. That has to be such a rewarding time to work on a film/TV project for a length of time that you build a family bond with your fellow cast members. This panel also confirmed my crush on Jewel Staite. I'd never really seen her talk in person, just her character on the Firefly series. There was a short question and answer time and then they showed a clip of "Serenity". They showed a fight sequence that isn't shown in the preview. This film is going to be great. Go see it in the theatres when it comes out in September. I've posted a separate page just for more pictures of this panel. My obsession with Jewel becomes apparent in these pictures, but you can also see the funny progression of Joss forgetting to introduce her. Click here to see these cool pictures.


Underworld 2
They are making a sequel to the werewolf/vampire movie called "Underworld: Evolution" and the cast came out to discuss. Kate Beckinsale was there and she was the highlight of the panel. It was from this point on that the fan's started to get much more idiotic and just started saying things like, "I love you, you're my hero, you're so beautiful, will you be in my movie, etc, etc. It was embarrassing. This one fan came up to ask Kate a question and just started crying. "I can't believe I'm talking to you! You're my inspiration!" Kate was touched and she got up and walked over to the edge of the stage, climbed down, and then gave the fan a hug. I thought that was pretty nice. Some guy shouted from the audience, "I love you too Kate!", which generated a laugh. Kate went on to explain how she indentified with her character in the movie and how her husband, the director Len Wiseman sitting next to her, loved her in the tight leather outfit she wears in the film.

The Fog
They're remaking John Carpenter's "The Fog" It stars Maggie Grace from Lost and Tom Welling from Smallville. That's about it. It seemed kinda silly to me.














Ghost Rider
Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes are starring in a new film called, "Ghost Rider", which is an adaptation from the comic with the same name. It's basically about a guy who makes a deal with the devil to save his father's life. He then becomes this "ghost rider" at night and does stuff. I haven't read the comic, so I'm not familiar with it. The panel discussion was interesting though and I got a cool Ghost Rider hat out of it. There were many star crazy fans asking "questions" about how much they loved Eva. The director, Mark Steven Johnson, discussed the special effects of creating the ghost rider. This was fascinating stuff. They had to create a person with a person that has a flaming skull for a head. And they used the fire to give the character expressions since a skull is pretty much expressionless.

Stealth
Next was a surprise panel for the upcoming film, "Stealth". The director and cast were in town for press for the movie and they stopped by. The movie looks like a fun popcorn movie. This was another fan-crazed question and answer session. Jamie Foxx was asked all of the questions and it was stuff like, "I like you bod", and "Why did you choose to appear in this type of movie after being in such a great movie like "Ray"? It was just embarrassing. Look at the expressions on the panel's faces. You can tell they're taken aback by a fan's idiotic question/statement.















King Kong
The last panel of the day was for "King Kong". Peter Jackson's remake of the 1930's classic coming out this December. There was nothing published for who would be at the panel. Peter Jackson is currently working in New Zealand on post-production of the film, so he gave a video introduction to the trailer for King Kong, and then he showed exclusive fight sequences between King Kong and T-Rex. The footage wasn't finished yet, so we just got to see the basic "animatronics" and not the fully rendered versions. But it was spectacular nonetheless. It was brutal. It's a giant ape and a dinosaur fighting each other. This movie is going to be great. After that, they brought out a surprise and the cast from King Kong came out. Adrien Brody, Naomi Watts, and Jack Black. I felt sorry for Adrien. No one asked him any questions and I don't think any of these comic book geeks knew who he was. Everyone just went and asked Jack Black all the questions. And the questions were mostly about Jack's band, Tenacious D, and not about the movie. Or he was asked the

this is my favorite photo. look at how much fun they are having.

same question twice, was it hard for you to move from a comedic role to a dramatic role? He was just like, no, they're both just pretending to be someone you're not. Naomi Watts did get a good question about her acting techniques vs. the acting techniques of the original 1930's cast. It led to some good comments about modern acting and how it compared to acting in the 30's. Next another fan asked Jack Black if he'd written any songs about King Kong. He said he had, and they begged him to sing it. He did and Adrien and Naomi pounded their fists with the "King Kong rhythm". It was very entertaining. Another fan came up and said he loved Jack, he loved Naomi, and then he said, I love you too, James Brody. Adrien responded with "James Brody was in Jaws!", he then got up and walked off and stopped just before leaving the stage. He said he was just joking and sat back down. I thought that was decent of him.

Tenacious D
The night was finished with a performance by Tenacious D. For those that don't know,Tenacious D is a band with Jack Black and Kyle Gass. They're very entertaining and have a lot of humor in their performance. The set lasted for a half an hour and the audience loved it.














After Tenacious D performed, it was 7:30 PM and the convention was over for the day. I had planned on going from the convention to an 8:00 performance of a musical parody of "Lord of the Rings" called, "The Fellowship", but I was just too tired and didn't want to go somewhere else and sit in another crowded theatre. So I just left and got home around 9:30. I had a great experience and will definitely go again next year!

What the F?

On July 2nd in London, Edinburgh, Philadelphia, Berlin, Paris and Rome millions came together to raise awareness for debt cancellation, more and better aid and trade justice for the world’s poorest people through a series of rock performances called "Live 8". ABC network aired some of these performances so more people could see these great performances and possibly increase awareness. Instead of praising ABC for allowing more people to see this great concert series, a parents group has protested and filed official complaints to the FCC because the producers monitoring the live feed (it was delayed a few minutes) that went out on the East Coast failed to catch the "F word" in a lyric sung by "The Who". Here is the link to the parents group site:

http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/release/2005/0714.asp

I dunno, maybe I don't understand because I'm not a parent, but come on. I just don't get it.

San Diego this weekend!

I'm heading off to San Diego this weekend for my first Comic Convention. It's THE International Comic Convention. For those that don't know, it's a very popular and crowded event. I haven't been down to San Diego since I moved out here, so I'm excited about the trip. There will also be a showing of "Fellowship!", which is a musical parody of The Lord of the Rings. I can't wait to check that out, I've heard it's pretty hilarious. I also hope to take some great pictures of freaks in Star Wars costumes. I can't wait! :)

My Birthday

Got this from blogthings.com, thought it was pretty cool...

My Birthdate: December 27

Your birth on the 27th day of the month December adds a tone of selflessness and humanitarianism to your life path. Certainly, you are one who can work very well with people, but at the same time you need a good bit of time to be by yourself to rest and meditate. There is a very humanistic and philanthropic approach in most of things that you do. This birthday helps you be broadminded, tolerant, generous and very cooperative. You are the type of person who uses persuasion rather than force to achieve your ends. You tend to be very sensitive to others' needs and feelings, and you able to give much in the way of friendship without expecting a lot in return.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?