WonderCon : It Conveys a Sense of Wonder

For the last few years, Mark Evanier has been pimping the virtues of WonderCon - a comic book/entertainment show in San Francisco, run by the same people who run the San Diego Comic Con. I've never been, but everyone tells me that it's a blast.

So I got my Professional Registration Confirmation for WonderCon. Barring any last minute illness, me and three of my writer buddies are taking a road trip up on Thursday. I'm not on any panels, but I'll be in the audience of this panel heckling my friends-

3:00-4:00 The Animation Production Process— What goes into bringing an animated script to screen? Join Adam Beechen (Johnny Test, Teen Titans), Stan Berkowitz (Legion of Super Heroes, The New Frontier), Dwayne McDuffie (Static Shock, Justice League Unlimited) and WonderCon special guest Greg Weisman (Gargoyles, W.I.T.C.H.) as they take you behind the scenes. Moderated by Shannon Muir (Invader ZIM, Extreme Ghostbusters), author of Gardner's Guide to Animation Writing and Production from GGC, Inc. Room 236

Otherwise, you can find me stumbling around WonderCon gawking at the fans... or, God forbid, being gawked at by the fans. One or the other.

Robotech: The Parents

Waiting for notes to come back, so I watched the DVD of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. Written by the talented Ford Riley, I had pretty high expectations from being a huge Robotech geek since the age of 9. But the movie is terrific - thumbs up from me.

The only part that I didn't dig was the "making of" featurette... because it includes an interview with a Robotech couple who named their children MAX and MIRIYA.

Okay - couple who love Robotech so much they named their kids Max and Miriya. Meet me at camera two...

Look. I get you love Robotech. I love Robotech, too. I went to the Creation convention in 1985 at the Disneyland Hotel where a whole room full of us hooted and hollered as they showed Force of Arms on the big screen. I bought those awful Robotech action figures by Matchbox. I bought those awful Revell model kits. I bought those awful Comico comic adaptations. I bought those awful Robotech novelizations. I bought those awful Robotech video games.

Man I've spent a lot of money in my life buying a lot of awful stuff.

Anyways, my point is, Robotech is great. But if you're going to bring children into this crazy world of ours, and you're going to name your kids after characters from Robotech, don't be so obvious. Go all the way with it. Don't hold back.

When Max grows up, he's going to claim, I dunno, that he's named after Max Bialystock or Max Steel or something. But there's no escaping it if you'd named him Zor Prime. Think about it! Doesn't it roll off your tongue? ZOR!

"Zor, don't talk back to your mother!"
"Introducing Zor Prime, president of the chess club."
"The bullies are only beating you up because they like you, Zor."

As for Miriya, well, you named your daughter after a green haired alien. Not bad - but I would've gone with naming her the Regess. Don't forget the "the" - that's necessary.

"The Regess, have you finished cleaning your room?"
"Introducing your Homecoming Queen, the Regess!"
"And now it's time for Live with Regis and the Regess!"

Now, keep in mind, I can sometimes be a little sensitive when it comes to naming children. After all, my parents were haphazard with naming me... and look where it got me. I get to walk the earth with a first name that's a SYNONYM for nerd.

And frankly, parents who named their kids Max and Miriya... I'm a little jealous. Because whenever you go anywhere with fellow geeks, you will be held up, admired, and showered with attention. Not because you gave your children inspired geek names - but because when you go anywhere with geeks, you two will be the only ones with indisputable evidence that you're getting down.

Anyways, if you decide to have more children, consider naming the last one Zor or the Regess (don't forget the "the"). But whatever you do... don't name any children "Eugene".

There's nothing funny about Eugenes.

Drat

I just turned some work in today. A couple hours ago, long after turning it in, I got hit with a wee little voice in my head that said-

WHAT DID YOU DO!? YOU IDIOT! That set piece in the first act was PURE AMATEUR HOUR! You can't use that and be taken seriously as a writer! And now it's been turned in so OTHER PEOPLE CAN SEE HOW MUCH YOU SUCK. Good job, Eugene! HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME, YOU HACK!

I hate that wee little voice. Especially the way he calls me "Eugene" - so condescending.

But the voice is right - I wish I'd picked a better set piece. But of course, I already turned it in so it's too late to do anything about it now.

Except blog about it.

More Tales from the Dojo (Seven Weeks)

A martial-art update for you - seven weeks since I started. Still doing the beginner class twice a week, but the sensei is pushing a few of us to stick around afterwards and join the advanced class for their warm-up drills. It's kinda intimidating doing drills with guys who've done this stuff for years, while I've only got a couple weeks under my belt.

But the worst part is that the beginner class is 90 minutes long - which is tiring enough without adding another 45 minutes of intense drills with the advanced class. It's exhausting. Then you have to put up with being called "soft" by the 85 year-old sensei. Nothing like being called out by a guy who's 53 years older than you. Makes me almost want to get into shape.

Want to introduce two more characters from my martial arts class - Likes-to-hit-stuff guy and Way-too-into-this-stuff guy.

LIKES-TO-HIT-STUFF GUY. This guy hated the first few classes, when the emphasis was on footwork and fundamentals. He was always bored, looking around for stuff to hit, and asking the sensei when he'd get to hit stuff. Whenever he got the chance and found something padded he could hit - like a stack of wrestling mats - he'd HIT IT.

There are little pads tied to the folding chairs in the dojo. One day in class, he just went down the line HITTING all the padded chairs.

Unfortunately for likes-to-hit-stuff guy, the first time that the sensei taught us hitting - he wasn't there. So he missed the talk about how hitting stuff is about accuracy and quickness - not power. But likes-to-hit-stuff guy's eyes lit up when he finally got the chance to hit something.

So the three of us in the class that day line up as the sensei holds the target. The two of us who'd been at the last class went first, doing the hitting motion the sensei had taught us. Quickness and accuracy over power.

Then came likes-to-hit-stuff guy. He shouts out this ridiculous "KIYAAAAAAAA!" and then releases the full fury of weeks of pent-up likes-to-hit-stuffness. He hit the target so hard it knocked it out of the sensei's hands and clear across the room. The entire room burst into laughter.

Now that we regularly practice hitting stuff, likes-to-hit-stuff guy has calmed down a lot. But every time he goes to hit something, I cringe and wait for it.

Then there's WAY-TOO-INTO-THIS-STUFF GUY. This guy had all his equipment when he showed up. After his FIRST class, he started asking about buying advanced equipment. He was told that he shouldn't, but he wouldn't be discouraged - he really REALLY wanted to spend money on gear he wouldn't be qualified to use for at least a year.

His THIRD class, he showed up with wooden weapons, wanting to learn kata and use them. The sensei gently explained that the weapons weren't covered in the beginner class.

Maybe I'm just the patient type. But I didn't think that three 90-minute classes were enough training to break out the wooden weapons. I wonder what he thinks he'll get to do after six classes? Maybe after eight classes, he'll show up wanting to learn how to kill people with his fingers?

Despite being interesting characters, everyone in the class is cool... which I have to say, because at some point, I'm going to be sparring with these guys. I'd hate to start a sparring match by hearing, "So, Eugene, I read what you wrote about me on your blog..."

February 2007 Music Diary

Good month for new music. This is what iTunes tells me I'm listening to most this month-

Teenagers - My Chemical Romance
Read My Mind - The Killers
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John
Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups
Satellite - Guster
Think I'm In Love - Beck
October, First Account - Be Your Own Pet
Destroy Everything You Touch - Ladytron
Phantom Limb - The Shins
Lyla - Oasis
Lonely By Your Side - Azzido da Bass featuring Johnny Blake
The Guide - Borne
LDN - Lily Allen

Teenagers is getting plenty of play on KROQ - I'm sure I'll be sick of it soon, but it's fun. Read My Mind just might be my new favorite Killers song of all time.

Young Folks is getting plenty of play on Indie 103.1 - I'm sure I'll get sick of it soon, but it's fun. Whistling is criminally under-utilized in modern music.

Lazy Eye, Satellite, Think I'm in Love, and October, First Account are all songs that I heard on Indie 103.1 and are available on iTunes. I got introduced to Ladytron by my buddy Eric - good stuff. Yeah, the Shins. You might've not heard they had a new album out... if you lived in a cave on Mars with your eyes closed and your fingers in your ears. And I know I'm the only guy on this side of the Atlantic that likes Oasis - I can live with that.

Lonely By Your Side and The Guide were both free from the iTunes store. If you aren't already, go once a week to the iTunes store and grab the free track. I'm finding that 80% of the stuff they put up for free turns out to be quite good. And you can't beat the price.

And I hate the licensing issues that prevent me from buying tracks online from the UK. Two months after I heard it, the music labels deigned to allow me to give them money so I can hear Lily Allen. If they're really generous, maybe in the next decade or so, they'll let me buy the Fratelli's Chelsea Dagger...

Retreat into the Writer's Cave

I've begun referring it to the "Writer's Cave" - because once I go in, I come out like I've lived in a cave for weeks at a time - sporting scraggly and unkempt facial hair and pale skin from not getting any sunlight. Nutrition is unheard of in the cave, as you learn to sustain yourself on irregular unhealthy meals and a steady stream of Diet Pepsi.

Anyways, I'm back to the Writer's Cave to get some work done. Expect fewer updates for the next week or so.

Mark Romanek is way cool

I'm a big fan of director Mark Romanek - he's made a name for himself directing some amazing music videos, including Johnny Cash's Hurt, Linkin Park's Faint, Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way, among others. You can check out these and his other great videos on his web site.

His latest work is a flat-out AMAZING Nike commercial. The music is Mozart's Reqiuem; Lacrymosa - the commercial was written by Scott Hayes.

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da

Watched the Police re-united for tonight's Grammy Awards. Twenty something years later and whenever I hear Roxanne, my first thought is always of Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours.

I hope that the Police don't re-unite and start doing those nostalgia tours around the world for old sucker-fans trying to recapture part of their youth. Mainly because I'm going to end up being one of those old sucker-fans.

In honor of them re-uniting, I present this old 1999 article from the Onion...

You Know, I Used To Be Kind Of Cool Once

You know how, every so often, something you haven't thought about in the longest time will just sort of pop up out of nowhere, and all of a sudden you're like, "Hey... Wait a minute"? Well, that happened to me last week, when it occurred to me that I actually used to sort of be cool once.

Side tip - if you ever play Scattergories, the category is song title, and the letter is D? Play De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da. Learn from my mistake. Nothing ruins a game faster than someone getting eight points for De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.

Robot Chicken's "Yum Yum Train"

This was on Robot Chicken a few months back. Most of their sketches are clever pop culture spoofs, but this is one brilliant bit of writing, acting, and animation. It runs about one minute.

Animation Award Nominations

It's award season. Congrats to all the nominees for Daytime Emmy Awards (Children's), particularly-

Nicole Dubuc - Toddworld
Alexx Van Dyne - The Batman
Steve Melching - The Batman
Joe Kuhr - The Batman

While I'm at it, I should congratulate Marsha Griffin on her WGA Award Nomination for The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.

All great writers - all very deserving.

writers n unions n strikes n stuff

A couple articles that make for good writer-reading.

The Average Writer's Non-Biased Guide To The Upcoming WGA Negotiations was written by Craig Mazin - it's a great, even-handed overview of what the Writer's Guild is facing when its contract expires later this year.

My only minor quibble about the above article is that it doesn't mention that the Writer's Guild is actively seeking jurisdiction over animation and reality - which is a big deal to all us animation writers who hope to someday be covered by the Writer's Guild instead of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

Speaking of IATSE, interesting L.A.Times article today - A union boss with some A-list clout - about Tom Short, the head of IATSE.

I don't know if the WGA will go on strike in 2007, but John Rogers has made his opinion known - STRIKE! STRIIIIIKKKKE!...

My Hotel Room

A running stream of consciousness diary from this morning's attempt to reserve a hotel room for Comic Con.

8:55 AM - Load comic-con.org website. Site loads slowly. Bad sign.

9:00 AM - Hit refresh on my browser. Nothing happens.

9:01 AM - Still nothing happening. Start dialing the phone number for reservations.

9:01 - 9:04 AM - Busy signals. Redial over and over again.

9:04 AM - Comic Con web site loads.

9:06 AM - Loads the tphousing.com site. Get my first choice of hotel! Can't believe it.

9:07 AM - Finish filling out all the forms. Now just need to enter my credit card information on the secure server page.

9:08 AM - Secure page is loading slowly. No big deal. The important thing is that I got my first choice of hotel.

9:10 AM - Still waiting for the secure page to finish loading. Starting to get worried.

9:11 AM - Think how horrifically funny it would be if my browser crashed right now.

9:12 AM - Sigh. The page isn't loading. Hit refresh, holding breath that it doesn't reset my session.

9:13 AM - Still loading.

9:14 AM - The browser status bar tells me that the tphousing.com site has completed 3 of 4 items. That 4th item is DEAD TO ME.

9:15 AM - Sob quietly.

9:16 AM - Start to question reality. Perhaps the page has already loaded... but MY MIND is so closed to new experiences that it won't let me see the page for what it truly is. Wonder if I should be seeing a psychiatrist.

9:17 AM - Can't take it anymore. Close the window and try refreshing the secure server page again.

9:18 AM - Completed 1 of 3 items.

9:19 AM - So tired. So very tired.

9:19 AM - Now it tells me there was an error loading the page. I hit refresh again.

9:20 AM - Kinda black out here. Don't think I fell asleep. Wonder what happened to this minute of my life.

9:21 AM - PAGE LOADS! Quickly fill out credit card information and click accept.

9:22 AM - Credit card accepted! Do a little jig in my office chair.

9:23 AM - Wait for confirmation window to load.

9:24 AM - Still waiting. Completed 5 of 6 items. Halfway expect it to say, "Sorry, you took too long to enter your credit card info. You've lost your reservation. Have fun sleeping in the Convention Center Lobby..."

9:25 AM - This is like the time I had to go online and hit refresh millions of times to get U2 concert tickets... only not as cool.

9:25 AM - Confirmation page loads. Have to click all the stuff and click CONFIRM RESERVATION.

9:26 AM -

Validate Object error '80040201' 

(2/6/2007 12:26:26 PM) UserName : , SQL String: , [Object: 
Validate, Function : Let HoldID,Error : <-2147220991> 
(2/6/2007 12:26:26 PM) UserName: sa,SQL String: Select 
TierLockedCount from ReservationOnHold (nolock) Where 
HoldID = 4281898, Object: LockChecker, Function : 
GetTierLockCount, Error : <-2147220991> No Lock Exist 
for HoldId 4281898.] 

/res/confirmation.asp, line 316

9:26 AM - Hit refresh.

9:27 AM - Waiting for tphousing.com to load. Really starting to hate tphousing.com.

9:28 AM - Check my email, hoping that I got a confirmation email. Nope. No luck.

9:28 AM - Page loads. I'm back to square one.

9:29 AM - Just as I feared. The system doesn't recognize my reservation attempt. It's making me start from the beginning again.

9:30 AM - Try to get my first choice hotel room again. And whaddya know - it's still available? Click "Book It".

9:31 AM - Here we go again. Let's hope second time's the charm.

9:32 AM - I'm trying to enter my personal information, but the page is only half-loaded. It stops at Country - Nicarauga.

9:33 AM - There it goes. Finish filling it out - click "Continue".

9:34 AM - Fill out Credit Card info. This is a lot less fun the second time around - and the first time wasn't exactly Mardi Gras to begin with.

9:35 AM - Click "Confirm Reservation". Fingers crossed.

9:35 AM - New window says, "Please wait while we process your reservation." This is new. Cautiously optimistic.

9:36 AM - Cautious optimism replaced by cautious pessimism.

9:37 AM - SUCCESS! SUCCESS! I have a confirmation number! I'm staying Friday and Saturday nights at the Marriot. I have a hotel for Comic Con!

9:38 AM - I have buyer's remorse...

Comic Con Hotels

General reminder - hotel reservations for Comic Con open tomorrow morning at 9am.

On your marks, get set...

Only 364 days til Super Bowl IIe!

-Seriously, how long until the NFL drops the Roman Numeral system for keeping track of Super Bowls? With the level of our educational system in this country, it's hard enough for people to count to double digits without throwing Roman Numerals in to the equation. If they really want to confuse people, throw in some algebra! "Welcome to Super Bowl (2x-x^2)/x-7 = x/2 - solve for x"

-Before the season began, I picked both the Colts and Bears to make the playoffs, but I picked the Bengals and Panthers to meet in the Super Bowl. Of course, neither of those teams even made the playoffs. Oops. Shows what I know.

-I spent my Sundays rooting for my favorite team, the Oakland Raiders. They went 2-14 this year and were easily the worst team in the league. Oops. Shows what I know.

-I feel bad for the Bears fans who paid all that money for Super Bowl tickets and had to sit in the rain all game, but I feel worse for Bears RB Cedric Benson. He got two plays in the Super Bowl - the first one he fumbled the ball, the second one he blew out his knee. Not exactly the way you dreamed of being in the Super Bowl as a kid, huh?

-My favorite commercial was one with David Letterman/Oprah Winfrey. Can you IMAGINE the children they'd have? Those kids would be the most personable, outgoing, talkative kids in the day care.

-Second place: "He has Bud Light! "And a chainsaw!"

-Watching sports takes up too much of my time. It's hard enough to keep up with the animated television I need to watch for work, without sacrificing my favorite sitcoms and dramas. I barely watch any movies anymore (except for The Queen. See it - Helen Mirren is AWESOME!).

So every year I resolve to follow fewer sports. But I just can't do it, and I put my finger on why. Even as a kid, I loved the uncertainty of sports. The heroes, the goats. And being able to tell people at school the next day. In a nutshell, I love the continuing story-lines. Sports are like a soap opera that I'm addicted to. If someone comes up with a twelve-step program, I'll sign up.

-I watched the Criminal Minds episode that aired after the game. The show has gotten so much better since they gave computer specialist Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) a bigger role. Which reminds me, I have to get around to blogging about how awesome Kirsten is in real life. And Phinneas and Gina were in last night's episode, too. As was Dawson from Dawson's Creek.

Can't wait for the next Super Bowl. I bet it'll be super...

the Red Sweater

Last night I was driving and I looked out my window... and there was a red sweater hanging from the passenger side mirror. And like any reasonable adult, I thought... Oh my god, I've killed someone.

I looked in the rear view mirror and didn't see any police officers or anyone shaking their fist at me. So at the next red light, I lowered the window and checked. Someone had neatly placed a kids red Gap cardigan-style sweater over my passenger side mirror.

As best as I can figure, someone lost the sweater, it fell on the ground next to my car, someone assumed it was mine and hung it up on my car.

At least, I HOPE that's what happened. The alternate explanation is that I hit a little person with my car with such force that their body was disintegrated, leaving behind only their tiny Gap sweater and causing no damage to my car.

Anyways, if any of you are missing a tiny red sweater, let me know. It's in my car...

Coming Soon

Just wanted to link to a coming soon preview of a new show coming later this year. Reason for adding the link will be clear later this year.