You've Got (Fan) Mail!

Today started with a bumblebee.

I got to the office at my usual around-7 a.m. time. Today, someone else beat me in though I'm often the first. As I crossed from the stairway to my cubicle, something big and fuzzy caught my glance from the corner of my eye.

Upon further examination, I realized it was a rather large bumblebee. How it got into our building and up to the second floor, I'm not entirely sure. Bumblebees don't seem to wander into buildings as often as flies, mosquitoes and wasps.

I admit, it took me a little by surprise because I wasn't expecting it. Nevertheless, I decided that though the poor thing seemed sluggish and unable to fly, it shouldn't be trapped in our office. So I did the decent thing- I gave it a ride in my Phantom of the Opera mug downstairs and, when outside, I released it onto the ground. Even if it died not long after, at least it died outside with nature and didn't make its tomb our cold and slightly stuffy air-conditioned building. I have a silly soft spot for creatures that get trapped inside. Last week, there was a rather large spider hanging from the ceiling behind my cubicle. Though it sort of made me a little creeped out, I managed to scoop that spider up in my plastic water cup and put it outside where it belonged. I suppose it would have been easier to kill it since there's a lot of spider-phobic folks in our office. However, as I always say, it's not the spider's fault it's a spider and naturally creepy to many people.

Anyway, after the bumblebee, I settled down to work. Then I realized it had been a while since I checked the email on my author website that I created when I published The Reluctant Demon. Lo and behold! I had mail. Better yet, I had fan mail! Four pieces of it, to be exact.

I suppose to some authors, that's not really much fan mail. To me, it was one of the best feelings ever. All of the writers had nothing but kind, sweet things to say about my book. One of them said it was her new favourite book. Another wanted me to know how much fun she had reading it.

I have to confess, I felt like I was on cloud 9. It's my first fan mail ever and it really, really made me feel like a real author. One of the emails had a request to review my book to post on her website and, if possible, to receive and advance copy of my sequel, Emmy Goes to Hell (tentative title), in order to review that. Of course I said yes because, well, that's just a lovely request. Even better, she wrote the kindest, nicest review of my book on her rather nice blog "Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust." If you want to read it, you can check it out here: http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com/2010/05/reluctant-demon.html

Her blog is fun and if you're a fan of the paranormal, it's definitely worth checking out. She has a lot of followers so I'm hoping it gets me a few more readers. I'll be sending some materials to Comic Con this year with a friend. I won't be attending, alas. It's a fun adventure but having gone for the past three years, my finances and my sanity need a break. One day, it'd be cool to be a 'professional' there but, for now, I'll live vicariously through my friend who is kind enough to let me send materials to the 'amateur crap' table, as I call it. The 'amateur crap' table isn't really, well, crap but it's the place for writers, comic-book illustrators/writers, poets, filmmakers, etc. to put advertising materials. Generally, when you go to Comic Con, you grab a free bag from one of the many booths giving them away and you just put as much...crap...into it as possible. This includes a sweep of the 'amateur crap' table. I figure if I send some postcards, there will have to be a few people who pick it up and think, "Hey, I'd like to read this."

Still, even with my publicity and promotion, I know I still have a long way to go. For one thing, I really need to get the sequel to my novel written. It's coming along nicely but not as quick as the last one to write just because I seem to have less time. It's much easier to write in the winter since staying inside is the best option. In the summer, there's always something that needs to be done, particularly if you're a hopeful gardener like me.

I also need to keep trying to get my name out there, to get more people to read my book. The fan mail today was wonderful; it made me realize that it's ok to have put my book out there and to let people read it because that's what being an author is all about. It's a nice thing to know that people are reading my book which, really, is why I published in the first place. It's even nicer to know they're enjoying it.

As always, thanks for reading and Happy Wednesday!

Comic-Con: The Conclusion

It's a gloomy day out there today. When I left my house, it was pouring with rain. At work, it's grey and the skies look heavy but so far, it's not raining here. It makes it hard to get out of bed and drive to work, particularly when I slept horribly last night and would rather like to try sleeping again right now. Nevertheless, I am here and thus, I will conclude my Comic-Con blogging today with my third and final entry.

Yesterday, I talked about the panels I saw on Thursday and Friday. I also saw a few on Saturday, a couple of them in anticipation of the panel I most wanted to see: The True Blood panel.

Saturday

Lost- This is the last Lost panel that will most likely be at Comic-Con for a while unless they do a reunion of some sort given that next year will air the final season of the show. Thus, the panel was going to be popular and we had to wait in line for a good two hours before they let us in. It was in the largest room in the Convention Centre: Hall H. This is the same room that hosted the Twilight panel, rumoured to be the most popular panel of the convention. It was huge, I don't know how many people it holds but my guess is at least 7,000 and that's probably conservative. The panel itself was excellent. It was supposed to just be the two creators of the show, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindloff. However, through the course of the panel, several 'special guests' made appearances: Jose Garcia ("Hurley"), Michael Emerson ("Ben"), Nestor Carbonell ("Richard Alpert") and Josh Holloway ("Sawyer"). The panel was probably the most entertaining one I saw with staged interruptions and videos. Naturally, it didn't answer any real questions on the show but given that the creators don't even tell the cast what's going to happen until they get their scripts, that's not a surprise.

V- I actually ended up going to the V panel and screening mostly because I saw the line for the room getting outrageously long and it was getting awfully close to the True Blood panel time. As I said before, they don't clear the rooms between panels so getting in can be tough. So, I lined up and go into the V panel. For the most part, the panel only got maybe 10 minutes at most to talk, the rest of the time was taken up with the screening. The show, obviously, is a remake of the mini-series that ran in the '80's. The episode we saw was the first one and while it was good, it wasn't...great. As I said, I will actually write a review of it on my TV blog but I haven't got around to it yet. The star of the show is Elizabeth Mitchell (from Lost) along with other actors such as Morris Chestnut and Scott Wolf. While the special effects are good and the creepy 'lizard people' makeup is a little...creepy, there are moments of pure cliche that I really hope are remedied as the show continues. While it's nice to have a tough woman as the lead, she also has a teenage son from the Zac Efron school of eyelash-acting who, naturally, does not get along well with his mother and blames her for his father leaving. It would be SO nice to have a show where the strong woman lead has a teenage son who actually admires her for working to support him and doesn't miss his good-for-nothing-dad instead of idolizing him but those are few and far between. Nevertheless, I'll probably watch the show when it airs because I remember the original mini-series from the days of my wee youth; the lizard baby and the skin ripping off to reveal lizard skin are images that sort of stick with you.

Fringe- I confess, I've never seen Fringe. I refused to watch it because it seemed to be such a clear X-Files rip-off, I couldn't bring myself to do it. However, after sitting through the panel, I confess, I actually do want to see it as I was grossly misled as to what it was about and the premise sounds intriguing. Also, the two male leads on the show, John Noble and Joshua Jackson were so entertaining, I have to see them work together on screen. Though I feel a little guilty for taking a seat for a panel that I wasn't terribly interested in when there were people outside who really wanted to get in, the panel served the purpose of most likely getting me to watch the show. I had no idea what was happening on the show and to be honest, the promos on FOX weren't exactly helpful in seperating the show from the shadow of the X-Files but after hearing about it, I'm definitely going to rent the first season on DVD and then DVR the new episodes.

True Blood- This was the panel I really wanted to see. Of course, the time slot and the waiting required to get into the panel did conflict with another panel I really wanted to see: Iron Man 2. Given that the Iron Man 2 panel would include Robert Downey Jr. of whom I've been a HUGE fan for many years, it really was a tough decision. However, that panel was in the infamous Hall H and to see it, I would have had to have stayed in the same seat all day that I obtained for the Lost panel and I just didn't want to do that. Besides, I love True Blood and decided that was the panel I'd rather see. I'm so glad I did. It was really, really entertaining. For one thing, the panel was lead by Alan Ball who first got onto my radar with American Beauty and stayed on it with Six Feet Under. Talk about a smart man. Also, Charlaine Harris (author of the "Sookie Stackhouse") novels was on the panel and as a writer, I had to hear her thoughts on the show since it's taken such a seperate path from the books. When asked how she felt now the books and show have strayed from one another, she gave the answer that I was hoping for, the same one that I've mentioned in my blog: She's happy about it because instead of one world of Sookie Stackhouse, readers get two and though they have similar qualities and are set in the same 'universe', they're different entities and that gives viewers/readers twice the entertainment. I think that's a great answer and one I completely agree with. It is lovely to see the TV show but also a treat to learn more about Sookie from the books.

The actors on the panel surprised me. My favourite character on the show is Eric, played by Alexander Skarsgard. On the show, he has a slight Scandanavian accent. In real life, it's quite a southern drawl that he has. Then there's Stephen Moyer who plays Bill on the show and he has a very, very British accent. And is, I might add, much more appealing in real life than on the show. I'm not a Bill fan: He's a bit drippy for me. However, the actor was not drippy at all. Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie, has a New Zealand accent. On the show, the entire cast has a Lousiana Southern accent. It's just fascinating to hear their real accents and realize how diverse the cast actually is. Ironically, Skarsgard is the only one with a real twang and the only one who doesn't get to use it. The newest cast member, Deborah Ann Moll who plays Jessica was very nervous and much sweeter than her TV alter-ego. All in all, the cast and Alan Ball just had a great dynamic and listenign to them was fun. The only part I was sad about was that Sam Trammell who plays Sam Merlotte on the show didn't get to say much and he's one of my favourite characters.

So, those were the panels I attended. I could go on for days and gush about how great they were but I think three days is gushing enough. Obviously, I have a fondness for the TV panels though there were panels by comic-book authors/book writers I would have liked to have gone to but time didn't permit. One of these was the Joe Hill session. However, Joe, the author of Heart Shaped Box and 20th Century Ghosts wasn't there to discuss his novels but, rather, his comic books which, for me, would have not been terribly useful as I haven't read them.

Overall, what I hope to give you from my blog-series here is a picture of Comic-Con in all it's fandom and madness. So many people think it's just comic books but it isn't. It's a chance of fans of all mediums to come together and indulge their passions. Some of the regular things there still baffle me though this is the third year I've gone. For example, I've never understood the plethora of "Free Hugs" signs. Is it to go along with the "Free Hug Day" or is it just that the people with the signs don't get many hugs so they figure Comic-Con is a chance to cash in? I've never figured that out.

It's a crazy, busy, exhausting adventure but Comic-Con is something that is worth all of it. I'm glad it's only once a year but it's one time a year when it's ok to talk constantly about TV shows, graphic novels, movies and video games. It's a time for geeks, nerds, and normal people who just like geeky stuff to get together and celebrate. It's a mass chaos of people milling, lining up, grabbing freebies and handing them out but the chaos does has a certain pattern. You just have to find it.

Happy Wednesday.

Comic-Con: An Overview for the Uninitiated...

I'm finally back. It feels very strange to not blog; I was tempted to but the lack of an internet connection put a damper on the temptation.

However, I have returned and will, hopefully, be back to my normal blogging routine.

I had a fabulous time at Comic-Con. That's pretty much going to be the gist of this blog. If I rambled on about everything fantastic I saw, it would be an even more epic-lenghth blog than usual. However, I'm sure others will follow. Today....today will just be an overview for those who cannot comprehend what, exactly Comic-Con is all about.

In short, it's about entertainment. Comic-Con is a massive convention for anyone who loves entertainment.

Comic-Con began, I believe, as a gathering of Star-Trek fans and so, in many people's minds, Comic-Con is just a massive gathering for geeks and nerds who like to dress like Spock and speak Klingon to one another. I have to confess, upon my first visit three years ago, this is what I thought.

Fortunately, I was wrong. Very, very wrong. To my delight, Comic-Con encompasses many, many things, crosses genres so it's not just favouring science fiction and provides massive amounts of entertainment in many formats. Yes, there are Trekkies there but there are also thousands of other people into many, many other things.

When you enter Comic-Con, it feels slightly like a descent into madness. Picture, if you will, a big convention centre. Then make it bigger. The San Diego Convention Centre, the site of Comic-Con, is huge. Then, picture swarms and swarms of people waiting to get inside. These people are dressed in everything from plain old t-shirts and jeans to full blown costumes from Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars (of course), Anime characters, Super Mario Brothers, Lost, Shawn of the Dead and thousands more. There are so many 'insider' t-shirts, shirts that have significance only to fans of whatever the shirts symbolize, that it's impossible to see them all.

At the centre of the convention centre is the Exhibition Hall, a massive, gaping room filled to the brim with things to see. There are film studios there: the Warner Bros. booth is always the busiest place in the hall followed by Paramount, Fox and Sony. Then there are the big comic publishers: DC, Marvel and Dark Horse. There are booths for video games, the pinnacle of which is the G4 booth, the TV network dedicated to video gaming. There are booths for artists of both Fantasy Art and Graphic Art; you can meet and talk to the artists one-on-one, just by strolling by. There are booths for fun, booths that sell things like t-shirts of Mr. Toast (I now have one because, hello....toast! I love toast), Happy Tree Friends....the list goes on and so do the booths.

The Exhibit Hall opens at 9:30 a.m. On the first day of the convention, attendees had to go get their badges which double as admission passes. Once my friend and I obtained our badges, we were sent back outside to the streets outside the convention centre to wait, along with the rest of the early birds who wanted to be there as soon as it opened. Irritatingly enough, around 9:15 a.m., the security team stopped sending people out, allowing the latecomers to get their badges and wait inside, right outside the door to the Exhibition Hall. Naturally, this inspired wrath in those of us who had been waiting for a while and, let me tell you, there were a lot of us. However, we did briefly get distracted from our irritation when we realized they'd filled up the inside waiting area to the point where the people taking the escalators down from getting their badges had nowhere to go when they got off. Yes, it's a little cruel but we actually all watched with bated breath to see who would be the first to start the pile up. We didn't have to wait long. The people began to pile into one another like dominos until some smart person finally stopped the escalator. Unfortunately, they did this without warning and one poor soul almost tumbled right off the edge.

Our irritation was increased again when they finally opened the Exhibition Hall late and then proceeded to allow all those people who were inside to enter, leaving us stranded outside with security blocking the doors so we couldn't get in. We had to wait fifteen minutes longer to get inside. This may not seem like a big deal but many people wanted to see some of the panels that were supposed to begin at 10 a.m. Getting into any of the popular panels takes a commitment of waiting in line for a very long time and the later you get there, the lower your chances of getting in.

Once inside the Exhibition Hall, the first thing to do is go find a bag. Many of the booths give out free bags, each emblazed with the logo of the place giving out the bags. If you attend Comic-Con, you need a bag to put in all the buttons, stickers, comics and gifts you're given. Many of the booths that are solely there to promote their products give out goodies to convention goers and, at the end of the day, your bag is weighed down with things you grab or are handed to you.

The floor of the Exhibition Hall ranges from chaotic (the area around the movie studios' booths) to calm (around the Fantasy Art area). There are thousands of people there and sometimes, the crowds are crushing. To top it off, the bigger booths like Fox and Warner Bros. have signings throughout the day, a chance to meet stars from your favourite movie or TV show. For me, the signings are too much work and they rarely have them for shows I like. However, it is an experience; I did get a signature from Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost and the upcoming V remake coming in November on ABC. (For a review of the first episode, check out a future blog on Captain TV). My friend and fellow attendee is a huge fan of Mitchell's so I kept her company in line and ended up getting a signed poster.

As well as the Exhibition Hall, there are panels throughout the day. On the first day, I went to a panel sponsored by Entertainment Weekly called "Wonder Women" and it featured Sigourney Weaver, Eliza Dushku, Zoe Saldana and Elizabeth Mitchell. I also saw a Dexter panel that day. For the panels, patience is required as the popular ones require at least a couple of hours' wait. They don't clear rooms between each panel and so, sometimes, you end up sitting through ones prior to the ones you want to see just to make sure you get a seat for your desired panel.

There is food to be had but like any event, it's overpriced and not that good. The trick is to eat a big breakfast, snack on things like granola bars throughout the day and wait to eat dinner afterwards though there are evening events as well. As my friend and I were still on East Coast time, we ended up wimping out of the evening events to go back to the hotel, drop off our laden bags and grab a quick dinner before going to bed around 10:30 p.m. This way, we'd have energy throughout the day.

You need energy for Comic-Con. The walk to the hotel for us each way was over a mile. Once inside, the Exhibition Hall takes a tremendous amount of walking to get from one side to another. The panels take tremendous amounts of standing in line. By the end of the day, your feet feel like you've run a marathon, no matter how comfortable your shoes. I admire the women who go in costumes that require heels.

At the end of the day, the lines streaming out of the convention centre mirror those streaming in during the morning. Some brave people head over to the line for Hall H, the largest room in the Convention Centre and always with the most popular events. People camp out here so that they get guaranteed admission along with a good seat for the next day's panels. This year, the "Twilight: New Moon" panel had Twi-Hards and their mothers' apparently camping out over 24 hours before it began. For those of us who aren't that energetic or dedicated we leave. People await, handing out yet more promotional materials. This year, the TV show Heroes was sponsoring a 'carnival' outside the Convention Centre, complete with rides, games and cotton candy stalls. I think it has something to do with what's going on with the show but since I long gave up on Heroes because it just, frankly, started to suck, I have no idea. Still, it was a great idea.

So, that's an overview of the entire event. Hopefully, I've given you a mental picture. It's organized chaos, mostly. Yet it's a fun chaos, chaos that allows us to indulge the shows, books, comics and movies that we're passionate about and embrace the fact that it's ok to be a fan. I'll recap more specifics tomorrow.

As always, thanks for reading. It's nice to be back.

Happy Monday.

Pre-Trip Bad Moods....

It's the day before I go on vacation for four days. I think I'm supposed to be happy and excited but at the moment, I'm actually feel rather crotchety and irritable. I know I timed this trip badly; at the moment, all I want to do is just go home, put my feet up for a bit and then putter around the house for a few days. I know I'll have a good time when I get to Comic-Con in San Diego but at the moment, I'm too tired to actually think about going.

Today is one of those mornings in which I feel like I got out of the wrong side of bed: I'm having a bad hair day, I feel like I look awful, traffic was terrible this morning and my coworker and fellow Comic-Con attendee has stood me up in the office. We were both supposed to get here early so we could leave early and yet...I'm here and she's not. Which now means, chances are, rather than leave early, I'll have to work late until she's ready to leave. These are all small things but if you combine them with a rather tired Monkeypants and...I think that means I might be a little scary.

I'll try not to socially interact until I'm feeling mellow. It's probably better that way. The timing of my bad mood couldn't be much worse: I know that.

Now my coworker is here and...sadly, she's also in a bad mood. We're both suffering from pre-travel stress: Me, because I'm in a bad mood, her- because she's afraid her credit card has been cancelled and it happens to be the card under which our hotel room is reserved.

Strangely, this has put me in a better mood. I probably should be worried about the credit card but...I'm not. That has a logical conclusion and solution...it will just take a little time. My bad mood is irrational and silly.

I have no reason to be in a bad mood, honestly. In the grand scheme of things, life is going well. I am a rather lucky Monkeypants in that respect.

I find bad moods fascinating. Most often, there is a logical cause for them but on other days, days like today for me, they just hit you with no real reason. It's like you wake up and even though the sun is shining, you still feel like there's a big old raincloud floating right above your head, just like the Flump named Perkin did. Everything just feels like it's not quite right, hence the bad hair day. I tried to make a cup of tea and then realized I'd already put the rubbish out and there was nowhere to put the teabag without starting a new bin which was not something I wanted to do when I was going to be gone for almost a week. I went to make toast and realized that it had popped up and become cold while I was worrying about the teabag. My ponytail holder isn't tight enough and no matter how many times I redid it, my ponytail looked stupid. Behind all these tiny little things is the bigger worry that I've forgotten something very important that I'm going to need for my trip.

Then, I drove into the office and got stuck behind the world's slowest driver. He was one of those people who constantly rides the brake so it actually looks like he's blinking his lights at you from behind, it occurs so frequently. I always try to keep a cars-length between me and the driver in front of my but it's hard to keep consistent when Mr. Brakey is tapping out morse code on his brake pedal. When he finally turned off, I got behind Mr. Inconsistant. This is the type of driver who is going 70 mph one minute and then slows to about 45 mph the next. Fast and slow, fast and slow...in a way it's worse than Mr. Brakey.

I probably wouldn't have noticed had I not been in my grouchy mood. However, the smallest little things tend to bother me on days like this.

As I got to the office, I noticed there were some of the Facilities crew outside, cutting down a tree right outside the office windows. On a normal day, I'd probably be quite excited that there are lumberjacks outside...lumberjacking. Which, actually, now I type it, is actually a rather hilarious word. Go on, say it again...LUM-BER-Jack. I think it's the lumber part that's funny. What is a lumber, anyway? LUM....BERR.

Um...I digress. I have a thing about words. I've mentioned that before. I find words delicious and I love to say some of them out loud. LUMBERJACK!

Ok, I feel even better now. I think I'll just shout out "lumberjack" if I'm feeling crabby. Of course, that's if anyone can hear me over the sound of a chipper-shredder outside the window. Which, of course, leads me to think about the movie "Fargo" and the creative use of a chipper shredder there. Which is strangely interesting...

This is turning into a rather strange blog. I apologize. I'm going to a comic-book convention so I suppose being strange is probably actually...quite normal.

Which leads me to tell you that I probably won't be able to blog until next week. Captain Monkeypants is going on vacation. My apologies but I will return with stories from my trip. In the meantime, I'd like to thank you all for reading, for putting up with my strangeness and enduring my bad mood. I am feeling far better than when I started this blog. Yet, just in case my bad mood threatens to return....

LUMBERJACK!

Happy Wednesday....