Worry vs. Donuts

The con season began for me Friday, as I found myself accompanying Lanny to what she is calling “my first comic convention” (as in the focus is mainly on comics, which I like, so huzzah!), Wondercon at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The convention is run by the people who run San Diego Comic Con, and you can tell - there’s a good mix of Hollywood studios promoting their latest fannish stuff, and it seems like every small and large press comic outfit has a booth in the exhibit hall.

The good: Capcom’s North American HQ is not far from here - a fact that is reflected by their huge booth in the center of the convention hall. On tap from them: demos of the recently released Street Fighter IV and the forthcoming Resident Evil 5. As one might expect, the Watchmen film is EVERYWHERE, Watchmen costumes are everywhere, and I’m going to stop right there because if you really care about Watchmen, there’s another hundred bloggers out there who are able to devote more time to covering it than I am.

Instead, I’d like to give my award for “coolest booth on the floor” to a smaller Hollywood outfit: Miramax, who have a few Skee Ball machines in the exhibit hall to promote their new film Adventureland. The film is director Greg Mottola’s first major film since Superbad (if you haven’t seen this film yet, go rent it now), so I’m really looking forward to it. It also helps that I’m a Skee Ball junkie. Finally, although it is a little small, the Artist’s Alley here is rather impressive, and features a good mix of artists that cater to every style you could possibly imagine. 

The bad: The presence of Hollywood does exactly what one assumes it would - it creates a “larger than life” feeling that can cause you to feel like a “big fish in a small pond” here. Because this con is so huge, it’s no surprise that the close-knit atmosphere you’ll find at some cons is lacking. However, the staff are friendly and helpful, and there’s a little something for everyone here. So as long as you’re searching for something you like, you’ll find it - the search might take you a while though.

Cool stuff today: Although Wondercon boasts a lineup of heavy hitters from So-cal, the con is careful to give plenty of love to local companies that are producing cool nerdy stuff. Case in point: the bay area is home to Pixar, and although Pixar’s relationship with Disney may conjure up visions of scary lawyers with cease-and-desist letters, Pixar has been granted the right to give convention attendees something very special: an advance screening of the first 45 minutes of their forthcoming summer film Up. I don’t know if I’ll make it to the screening (or survive the lines that aforementioned screening will entail), but I have to admit that I’m curious, especially since Wall-E was so fantastic. We’ll see what happens.

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Hello all!

So, my plans for the evening (aside from working on TAF stuff and The Gallery) include a trip to the UC Davis Segundo Commons for “Late Night.” Apparently, Late Night is where the commons stays open late so that students can eat and drink a bunch of food (ranging from “healthy” to “grease”) instead of heading to some other eatery for other kinds of food.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I think one of the best things about these places is that you can “choose your own adventure” with the drink machines. This is kind of like russian roulette for your palette, but occasionally you hit upon something that’s actually good.

Some of my attempts, gathered from years of working on college campuses and consuming break room crap:

Lemon Cola: (1 part lemonade, 5-6 parts cola) The idea is that it’s supposed to taste like the “Twist” cola beverages that were around a few years ago. It does - as long as you drink it quickly. If you have access to REAL lemonade from one of those drip machines (In N Out has them), use a little less of it - but it will still taste better.
Verdict: B. Good, but far from perfect.

Sparkling Lemonade: (1 part lemonade, 1.5/2 parts 7UP/Sprite/Lymon) Do you remember Sunkist Sparkling Lemonade? That stuff was the shit. You can make it with these beverages. It usually works best with fakey lemonade (Minute Maid, etc.). Much like the Lemon Cola, you’ll want to drink it sooner so it retains more carbonation.
Verdict: A-. Almost as good as the real stuff.

Break room Mocha: (1 packet cocoa, 2 half and half packets, 6 oz or so coffee) This mess is the closest I’ve been able to get to a decent mocha at work. That is sad, considering that this stuff tastes like you just mixed a bunch of random crap together. Which I did. Shame on me.
Verdict: D+. Needs a whole lot of work.

So, does anyone out there have any random beverage concoctions they want to share?

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