{"id":19634,"date":"2015-07-18T01:34:10","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T17:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/my-own-private-comic-con-personal-notes-from-the-giant-pop-culture-convention\/"},"modified":"2015-07-18T01:34:10","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T17:34:10","slug":"my-own-private-comic-con-personal-notes-from-the-giant-pop-culture-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/my-own-private-comic-con-personal-notes-from-the-giant-pop-culture-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"My Own Private Comic-Con: Personal notes from the giant pop culture convention"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Welcome<\/p>\n

Commentary, photos and videos of International Comic-Con 2015\u2019s big moments abound. Most are written in the moment, reporting the sights and sounds, shock, joy or dismay. Those visceral moments \u2014 shared by dozens, hundreds or thousands of fans \u2014 are far from universal. Each person brought his or her experiences, expectations, biases, loves and desires to Comic-Con. Comic-Con sprawls across San Diego and across time, and each person who attended left having experienced a unique version of the event. Writing about things I didn\u2019t experience would be disingenuous. So I thought it would be best to share the gadgets and gizmos, moments and adventures that represent my own private Comic-Con 2015.<\/p>\n

Sharing Comic-Con with my daughter:<\/strong> Late in my daughter Alyssa\u2019s teenage years, I introduced her, my wife Janet and my other daughter Rachel, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em>, through the episode \u201cOnce More with Feeling.\u201d While Janet and Rachel enjoyed the episode, and watched a few more, Alyssa and I bonded over Buffy. Soon after that, Alyssa, who modeled as a child and still models for Seattle\u2019s Zulily, decided her fate lies behind the camera. It was great to share this event with her for the first time. Alyssa and I shared our passion for pop culture while we each let our 11-year old inner child soak up the magic of myriad alternative universes.<\/p>\n

\"Dan
Dan Rasmus and his daughter Alyssa meet Joss Whedon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meeting Joss Whedon: <\/strong>My friends at Dark Horse Comics helped save us wristband wrangling, one of the less pleasurable Comic-con activities. We showed up on time and were injected into the Joss Whedon signing line just before the writer\/producer emerged onto the dais. Whedon \u201cproduces\u201d Dark Horse\u2019s Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em>, Serenity,<\/em> and Angel and Faith<\/em> comics. Alyssa ended up not only with Joss\u2019s signature, but with a charge in his handwriting to \u201cgo run shows.\u201d I told Joss of my daughter\u2019s transformation from an exclusively Disney Princess girl (who still LOVES Belle) to a Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em> superfan. He asked for any Princess stuff we weren\u2019t using, presumably for his daughter Squire.<\/p>\n

\"StarBluetooth Star Trek Communicator: <\/strong>I am a Star Trek fan. I attend Comic-Con as working press, sporting a sport coat adorned with a Star Trek<\/em> communicator pin on its lapel. So for me, the ThinkGeek preview of The Wand Company\u2019s Star Trek: TOS Bluetooth Communicator was a must see. I activated it, watched it invoke Siri, and listened as it played several communication-oriented lines from the show and its character. It charges wirelessly through its stand, employs a high-quality MEMS microphone and is constructed from high-grade materials. They won\u2019t be shipping until early 2016, but after seeing the prototype I can\u2019t imagine a future now where a Star Trek Communicator isn\u2019t the primary interface to my iPhone.<\/p>\n

People Being Accepting and Nice: <\/strong>Alyssa nominated this one. For a kid raised mostly in the suburbs of the Seattle suburbs, racial issues and the negative emotions and actions seen recently in America\u2019s inner cities weren\u2019t part of her experience. But even coming from a world of acceptance and tolerance, she noticed Comic-Con\u2019s elevated sense of belonging among the attendees. \u201cPeople are just nice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Childhoods
Childhood\u2019s End director Nick Hurran, second from left, with writer Matthew Graham and members of the show\u2019s cast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Childhood<\/strong>\u2019s End on SyFy: <\/strong>As much as I love anything Sci-Fi, I have a particular place in my heart for old school stories from Asimov, Clark and Heinlein. The only media conference I attended was the one for SyFy\u2019s Childhood\u2019s End, a 3-night mini-series to run late in the year on SyFy. Clark wrote his classic novel a decade after having seen dirigibles flying high above London in World War II. His short story, which later became a novel, included giant spaceships filing the sky. From those ships, Overlords directed human evolution, making it ready, through its children, to combine with the great cosmic consciousness. This is a hard book to turn into a movie, because, as director Nick Hurran said during our interview, \u201cthe middle section of Childhood<\/em>\u2019s End<\/em> is essentially a book of ideas, of big questions.\u201d While writer Matthew Graham confessed to creating additional plot, such as how a planet becomes a \u201cutopia,\u201d shortening the timeline and changing a few names\u2014he also said he always strove to honor the ideas Clark was exploring and the questions he was asking. I look forward to seeing this Clark novel come to television where six hours will do it more justice than the constraint of a 2-hour theatrical release.<\/p>\n

\"Varner
Varner Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unexpected Technology:<\/strong> Actual real-world technology is not something you expect to see at Comic-con amid the light sabers, phasers and styrofoam guns, but there were few very interesting behind-the-scenes technologies I found intriguing.<\/p>\n

The first was Varner Studios, Inc., the firm behind many of the high quality sculpts you on display at comic book shops and cons. Steve Varner started with life-sized sculpting, including work on the 1976 King Kong<\/em>. He now creates models for collectables and action figures. Seeing the equipment, the precise work and the resulting prototypes was inspiring in a world where so much about how our \u201cstuff\u201d gets created is opaque. You can find out more at the Varner Studios site.<\/p>\n

The second cool technology was from NASA. Well, NASA being at Comic-Con for the first time was actually cooler than the copy of Robonaut 2 that was on display, complete with virtual reality interface. NASA reaching out to inspire the next generation to transform dreams into reality is a good step for organization that so inspired much of the great science fiction of the 1960s. I hope we find a way, as a nation, to help NASA get is groove back and our spirit of adventure with it.<\/p>\n

\"Nasa\"On a slightly more earthly weave, Full Gear showed off a 3-D custom shirt web-based design system that results not just in custom shirts with logos, but with wrap-around designs. They print on fabric with a dye sublimation process, then cut, then sew. No screen print cracking or peeling. Another interesting process made more transparent, and more accessible, through technology.<\/p>\n

\"Full-Gear
Full-Gear Steampunk Sample.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

X-Men Days of Future Past #RogueCut: <\/strong>Things happen in the real world of Comic-Con that don\u2019t happen in the real real world. In the real real world, J.J. Abrams doesn\u2019t invite thousands of Star Wars <\/em>fans from a giant presentation hall to attend a concert. I wasn\u2019t in Hall H for that, but I was at the much less-raucous screening of Fox\u2019s Blu-ray cut of X-Men: Days of Future Past,<\/em> known as the \u201cRogue Cut,\u201d which includes about 17 minutes of new footage that director Bryan Singer restored in an alternative Blu-ray version. In the Comic-Con real world, Bryan Singer bounded into the theater to share his vision with the audience, including character Rogue\u2019s critical new role in the film. Fox put on a nice event with four screens running simultaneously in San Diego\u2019s Reading Cinema. With the exception of the explicit Rogue integration, and longer screen time for actress Anna Paquin, it was hard to tell where the changes were made, which was just fine (unlike Star Wars<\/em> recuts that so obviously both added and detracted). Free popcorn and soda were had by all.<\/p>\n

\"Stan
Stan Lee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Accidentally Running into Stan Lee:<\/strong> Alyssa and I were walking around San Diego\u2019s Gaslamp District Friday evening. We were thinking of heading back to the hotel when I remembered LINE Webtoon had sent me a event invitation. We walked a few short steps to Lou & Mickey\u2019s. We were quickly informed that the panel was almost over, but they still had a big announcement to make. Just as we walked through the door, Stan Lee was introduced, so we had to shuffle past Stan migrating to the stage while we moved into the room. Stan announced his partnership with LINE Webtoon and POW! Entertainment to discover new talent through the company\u2019s Superhero Comics Contest. The contest will give aspiring creators the opportunity to submit their Superhero-themed comics for the chance to win $30,000 and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive Stan Lee\u2019s guidance and feedback. Great to see real money being invested in the next generation of artists and storytellers.<\/p>\n

The Buffy The Vampire Slayer<\/em><\/strong> \u201cOnce More with Feeling<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong> Sing Along:<\/strong> To circle back to the beginning, Alyssa and I ended the Con with in a Whedonesque way: singing with hundreds of synchronized souls to Joss Whedon tunes that make the Buffy episode \u201cOnce More with Feeling\u201d a classic. There is no better way to end Comic-Con than to sit in a dark room with people who clearly share a deep interest, even a love, and to co-create an experience with them. Imagine a combination of karaoke, big screen television show and rock concert. During \u201cWalk through the Fire\u201d fans held up phone screens and virtual candles while Sarah Michelle Gellar blasted out the line \u201cLet it burn\u201d over and over. The crowd shouted \u201cklepto\u201d when Dawn pulled the talisman from her jewelry box, and they laughed heartily at Anya\u2019s fear of bunnies.<\/p>\n

While this session ended with an hour left for shopping on the show floor, Alyssa and I took this as our cue to exit. The best way to depart Comic-Con is uplifted, connected and spiritually refreshed. We weren\u2019t thinking about our aching feet or how to get tubes of posters into the overhead bins\u2026we were just thinking\u2026this time next year in San Diego.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commentary, photos and videos of International Comic-Con 2015\u2019s big moments abound. Most are written in the moment, reporting the sights and sounds, shock, joy or dismay. Those visceral moments \u2014 shared by dozens, hundreds or thousands of fans \u2014 are far from universal. Each person brought his or her experiences, expectations, biases, loves and desires to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5635,5205,5636,21,5637,4631],"class_list":["post-19634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-buffy","tag-comic-con","tag-joss-whedon","tag-space","tag-stan-lee","tag-star-trek"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}