All Hail King Stanton

Valley Center running back Stanton Upson carried the Jaguars to 5-0 with a performance fit for a king on Friday night.

Literally.

Upson was crowned homecoming king on a night where he carried the ball 51 times (51 times!) for 261 yards and three touchdowns, as he led the Jags to a 21-16 win over Westview.

Here are some video highlights of the game, starting with an interception by Travis Bernard in the first quarter:



A 10-yard touchdown run by Upson in the second half:



A two-point conversion pass from Beau Reilly to Thomas Jauregui in the second half:



And a sack by linebacker Patrick Preston:



Video by Kelly Hinz

Another Win For The Jaguars

Valley Center's smothering defense went to town on Mater Dei this week, allowing just 30 yards of total offense, giving up only a first-half field goal, picking up six sacks, recovering a fumble, returning an interception for a touchdown, and recording a safety in a 26-3 victory.

Wow.

That's pretty much everything a defense can do in a single game. And with starting quarterback Beau Reilly ailing (he bruised his left shoulder on the first series of the game), the defense never let Mater Dei take advantage.

Oh, and the special teams units did their job as well, as the Jags downed a punt inside the Mater Dei 2 yard line, setting up a 30-yard punt return touchdown by Travis Bernard to end the first half.

Here are some video highlights from the game:

Linebacker Jacob Beason brings down the Mater Dei quarterback:



The VC defense, led by Patrick Preston, drops the Mater Dei runner behind the line:



Preston and Julian Lavigne chase down the punt and down it inside the two:



Stanton Upson takes the handoff and goes in for the touchdown:



VC quarterback Beau Reilly hits Tommy Aguilar for a short gain in the fourth quarter:



video by Kelly Hinz

Taylor Benjamin Memorial Service

When a young man dies, a world of possibilities suddenly becomes a nightmare full of questions for those closest to him.
But this weekend’s memorial service for Taylor Benjamin wasn’t about finding answers.
Those who knew Taylor best have the answers they need to find as much comfort that can be found in times like these.
“Something happened this week that helped put me at peace with all of this,” said Kristen Benjamin, Taylor’s sister. “His friends came over after we heard about what happened, and they told us that, at this party on Friday, out of the blue, Taylor just looked up at them and said that he was so happy, that he loved his family, his girlfriend and his friends. If nothing else, I know that he didn’t go out sad. He went out with a big smile on his face.”
Joined by a packed house of mourners and supporters at the Maxine Theater on Saturday, Taylor’s friends and family shared memories and thoughts about the young man who so deeply impacted their lives.
“Words can’t express what we’re going through as a family,” said Bill Benjamin, Taylor’s father. “I lost one of my two most precious gifts. He loved sports, he loved his teammates, and he always gave a hundred percent. At eighteen, he had already designed and begun to implement a career path to become an EMT, a paramedic and a firefighter – he was well on his way to realizing his dreams.
“He had great friends and he was very loyal,” he continued. “He would have done anything for them and he knew that they would do the same. Katie [Taylor’s girlfriend] made him very happy; she could light him up with just her smile.
“But I’ll never forget how I would always tell him ‘Taylor, you’re my best son.’ And he would smile that big smile of his and say, ‘Dad, I’m your only son.’”
“I became a whole new person when I met Taylor,” said Katie Darland, Taylor’s girlfriend. “He had an amazing smile – all he’d have to do was smile, and I couldn’t stay mad at him. He always took pride in how he looked, and he always looked good. You can imagine how frustrating it is to go out and your boyfriend is getting all the compliments on how good he looks.
“And when he started getting involved with the youth group at [Valley Center Community] church, I saw the changes it made in his life,” she added. “I was so happy knowing that we were on the same page spiritually.
“I’m so blessed to have gotten to know the Benjamin family. He looked up to his father so much, he respected his mother, and he was a great brother to Kristen.”
“He was my friend, my brother, and my confidant,” said Jeremy Rubio, one of Taylor’s closest friends. “He knew me no matter what. I always went to him if I needed somebody to talk to, and sometimes his answers just blew me away.
“He was free. He never left strings untied. He knew what it meant in the quote that, “The idea isn’t to live forever, but to create something that will.’ He started the trend in our group of guys to say ‘I love you man, I’ll see you later’ whenever we’d go our separate ways. And once some of us got over our fear of affection, it stuck.”
“I had a list of rules for dating my daughter, and one of them was that if you make her cry, I’ll make you cry,” said Rick Darland, father of Taylor’s girlfriend Katie. “And there was another time that he came over wearing those skinny jeans, and I told him that if he wanted to come around, he’d have to stop buying clothes from the girls’ section.
“But even after a year of my harassment, he still hung around, so I figured I’d better get to know him. And when I did, I found out what a hard worker he was, and I saw how great of a baseball player he was, and I found out about his spiritual growth from Craig [Taylor’s Bible study group leader], who had some fantastic things to say about him. After a while, our family get-togethers were never complete until Taylor was there.
“In times like these, you look for a comforting thing to say. But if you look at Taylor’s own words, he knew exactly what to say.”
The program for the service included a quote from a Bible study worksheet Taylor filled out while on a houseboat camping trip with his church youth group last summer. Taylor’s answer appeared on the front of the program, and read “I’ve learned that you don’t have to be perfect to be a Christian and that no one is a saint. As long as you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will be saved. As long as I believe and show faith, I will be saved and with Him for the rest of eternity…very comfortable to know that.”
Some of Taylor’s mentors and friends from Valley Center Community Church (VCCC) also shared how they had seen the positive changes being made in his life over the past year.
“When I first met him, I was just drawn to him,” said Josh Rau, one of the leaders in Taylor’s Bible study group. “He was always asking questions, and he reminded me a lot of myself at that age. It blew me away that he approached us and wanted to start a small group Bible study with his friends. He had a sense of urgency and a strong desire to know God more.
“When I heard what happened, I wanted so badly to know what to do or what to say. I know he’s in heaven now with his grandpa, and I don’t know if you can hear me, but I just want you to know that I’m truly blessed to have known you. It worked both ways – God used you to help me, it wasn’t just me helping you. You’ll always be in my heart and in my memories, and you will never be forgotten.”
“Unlike most of you here, I only knew Taylor for about thirteen months, but I witnessed a miracle,” said Craig Miller, Taylor’s small group leader. “The man I got to know was not the man I met. We talked about how intentional God is about catching your heart at just the right time. Taylor’s fine right now – he’s in heaven. If he were here, I’m sure he would be worried about each of you and whether or not you were going to be there with him someday too.
“He always had that sense of urgency to find out more about God. When I asked his family if I could see his notes from our Bible study, the first one I got back was a study that we had only just started, but Taylor had already gone through and finished the study on his own and answered all the questions. So in his honor, we’re going to start a new Bible study so that others will have the chance to experience what Taylor experienced in his relationship with God.”
After the service, some of Taylor’s high school baseball teammates shared their memories.
“I grew up playing baseball with him, and he was just an awesome human being,” said Justin Lawrence. “I’ll always remember the pep talks he would give before our games, and how he could always put a smile on your face. He was a fun dude to be around.”
“He was one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met,” added Tyler Bernard. “He was a great teammate and so much fun to be around. He would always give those inspirational speeches before the game. I’ll always remember him.”
Perhaps it was Jeff Stevens, one of the elders at VCCC and the host of the church’s yearly houseboat trip for the high school students, who best addressed the questions swirling around such a tragic loss.
“Who is Taylor? He is a man of faith,” he said. “In his quote, he said that no one is a saint. I would have to disagree with him on this point – Taylor is a saint because he was a man of God. He was overjoyed to live life to the fullest. He was a ‘go big or go home’ kind of guy. He was always smiling. He was real. He wanted significance.
“Some of us want to question the way he died. I’m here to tell you – it does not matter. Why? Because God wanted him to come home. God called Taylor home, and Taylor will never be forgotten.”
Donations can be made to Valley Center High School Foundation Baseball – Taylor Benjamin, PO Box 1029, Valley Center, CA, 92082.

VC Grad Taylor Benjamin Dead

Sad news this weekend -- 2009 Valley Center graduate Taylor Benjamin died at a party on Friday night.

Taylor played varsity baseball the past two seasons, and just graduated in June. There's still no official word on why he died, but the VC grapevine is saying that it could have been alcohol poisoning, or possibly a seizure. Apparently, another person at the party tried to administer CPR before the paramedics arrived, but later said that they thought it was already too late.

I didn't know him personally, but in the few interactions I had with him through baseball, he seemed like a really nice young man, and he always played hard on the field, no matter what the situation. I can't imagine how difficult this is for his family and friends. I hope they're able to find some comfort and understanding in the midst of such a terrible tragedy.

Jaguars Beat La Jolla, Open 2009 Season 2-0

The Jaguars keep coming up with big plays when they need them the most, and Friday night's 27-7 win at La Jolla was no exception.

Linebacker/safety Julian Lavigne came up with an interception, a fumble recovery and a quarterback sack on fourth down late in the fourth quarter to lead another stout Jaguar defensive outing.

Stanton Upson was the workhorse for the offense again, scoring two touchdowns, one of which came on the very next play after the Lavigne sack on fourth down, and gave the Jaguars a two-touchdown lead late in the game. Quarterback Beau Reilly also looked solid, connecting with Travis Bernard for two touchdowns in the win.

Here are a few video clips from the game, starting with Reilly going deep for Adrian Murillo and just missing the connection:



Reilly finding Travis Bernard open for a 15-yard touchdown with only 22 seconds left in the first half:



Lavigne's sack on fourth down to halt the Vikings in the fourth quarter:



And Patrick Preston sacking the quarterback on the last play of the game:



Congrats on another big win, Jags! Home opener next week...see you there Valley Center!

Jaguars Win Season Opener

The Jags looked really solid in their season-opening win over San Pasqual, dominating the game on defense from the start, running the ball very well and getting a good performance from first-year starting quarterback Beau Reilly.

For the full story, check out www.valleycenter.com or pick up a copy of the Valley Roadrunner this week.

Here are a couple of video clips from the game, starting with Patrick Preston's touchdown catch in the fourth quarter:



Coach Rob Gilster getting on lineman Haydne Shimer about staying on his block:



And Stanton Upson carrying the ball up the middle for a good gain:



Video filmed by Kelly Hinz.

VC Girls Varsity Volleyball Scrimmage

The Lady Jaguars got the season underway with a scrimmage at Escondido High School on Thursday. The team looked solid, and coach Nathan Rendon was able to get everybody on the team involved, which is always helpful down the road. There wasn't any official score being kept, but Valley Center rolled over Orange Glen (even with the backups in), cruised against Ramona, and played tough in a back-and-forth match with Mission Hills.

Here are a couple of video clips of Stephanie Becvar serving, first against Ramona and later against Mission Hills.

James Johnson Earns Starting WR Spot

Freshman wideout and Valley Center alum James Johnson (No. 3 in the above photo) is at it again, earning a starting spot for the Washington Huskies in their season opener against Louisiana State (LSU) on Saturday.

Johnson told me he's "excited" about the opportunity, and that he's been preparing for this "since I got off the plane." As always, he sounded cool and confident when I talked to him on Monday, but I imagine there will be a few butterflies when Saturday evening rolls around. Not that it will affect how he plays, because in all the big games he played at Valley Center, he always seemed to step up the biggest when the pressure was at its greatest.

Be sure to watch the Huskies play the LSU Tigers on Saturday at 7:30 pm PST. The game will be shown on ESPN and online on ESPN 360.

Go Huskies!

VCHS Football Is Back!

The Jaguars scrimmaged with Mira Mesa this Friday, and a lot of Valley Center...ites? Valley Centerans? A lot of fans came out to watch the action, which provided some exciting moments. Beau Reilly showed some good things, and some room for improvement, as did the rest of the Jags.

Here are some video clips from the Jaguars' final series of the night. The first two feature Reilly at quarterback, then Jared Dale takes over in the final clip.

And we'll be keeping an eye on WR Taylor Oshinski (No. 81), who hurt his left ankle making a long reception in this series (which you can see at the end of video clip No. 1). The trainer on the sideline thought he might have broken it, but nothing conclusive has been established yet. More on that soon, hopefully...

Rincon Fiesta

I've been spending the majority of my weekend down at the Rincon Fiesta in Pauma Valley...and it's been a fun time for sure. Softball, horseshoes, dancing, great food, a little water park and other attractions for the kids...it's got a little bit of everything. I even caught what appeared to be an impromptu native dance session...which I felt weird about filming, but...here it is, anyway.



The fiesta keeps going through Sunday, and I hear they have some classic cars coming in as well, so I'm excited to see what's going on on Sunday. Come on down and check it out if you get the chance!

VC Grad James Johnson Dazzles In First Practice With Huskies

Valley Center High School grad James Johnson is already wowing the coaches (and the media) at the University of Washington.

Check out this article from the Seattle Times about Johnson's first practice, in which he caught three touchdowns, including one in some heavy traffic.

I sent a quick text message to James this week, and he says he's working hard, and I know I'm looking forward to the season. I'm hoping to talk with him a bit this weekend to see how life in college football is going so far...so check back in later this week and make sure to pick up a copy of The Roadrunner.

Skater Boys

Valley Center brothers Daymein (9) and Gunnar (7) Hertenstein are pretty amazing. Daymein set a Guinness world record for his run in a downhill race in Pauma Valley last year, and he recently won some hardware (a gold and a silver) in the California State Games at Qualcomm Stadium. The boys showed me some of their tricks at Pala Skate Park this week...

Daymein and Gunnar shred the pool:



Daymein goes around the edge:



Daymein throws down some grindage:



Daymein gets some sweet air:



Daymein gets a running start for this big jump:



Daymein jumps down the stairs:



Gunnar (did I mention that he's only 7 years old? Crazy!) does a textbook 180:



Gunnar gets some air:



Gunnar goes up and around a big wall:



And Gunnar finishes off his day of skating with a big drop down a wall:



These kids are awesome...they're adorable for one thing, they're really good at skating, and they're really having fun. I had a blast hanging out for just about an hour with them...look for a full article on what they're doing in the Roadrunner this coming week...

G.I. Joe: Fun For Fun's Sake

Be prepared: a lot of critics, bloggers, mainstream media mouthpieces, and in short, nerds, all over the world are going to unleash a deluge of hate on the movie G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra. It's probably already begun, as I sit here at 3 a.m. after a midnight showing of the film. Like we saw with Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, all it takes is a few geeks whining about plot holes to spark an inferno of bad press.

The thing is, G.I. Joe is a fun movie. Plain and simple. I laughed at the cheesy lines. I gawked at the crazy, over-the-top, no-way-a-human-being-can-do-that special effects. I even swooned more than once when The Baroness sashayed across the screen. Yowza, Sienna Miller with dark hair and glasses. Nerds everywhere are freaking out right now. And I might just be one of them.

Here's the thing: this movie is unbelievably unrealistic. Gravity may or may not apply in the world of "the not too distant future" where this movie is set. Physics, biochemistry, metalurgy... I'm pretty sure dweebs everywhere are already finding and bemoaning all the inaccuracies.

I'd just like to say one thing to them: who freaking cares? I don't go to an action movie to see things that could happen. If I wanted to see action that is realistic, I'd just watch my own life. (Boo yah nerds! Take that! My life has more action in one day than yours does all year! What. Up.)

*Ahem* And now back to the movie.

I like how the movie unfolded... they didn't give us all the background info on all the characters all at the same time. They used some flashbacks here and there to give us the idea, and to set up those pesky plot elements of motive and... basically, why the people we're watching are doing what they're doing. Just so you know going in, and this isn't a big spoiler because apparently it's mostly true from the cartoon series, pretty much every character is intertwined with at least one other character in some significant way. Except maybe Arnold Vosloo... but you'll just have to figure that one out for yourself.

That's another good thing about the movie: they stayed true to the cartoon/toys, but didn't push the history on you if you aren't a huge nerd and know the backstory of every obscure action figure ever made. They had a lot of recognizable characters if you had the toys as a kid (and if you have a Y chromosome, you better have had at least one): Duke, Ripcord, Heavy Duty, Hawk, Scarlett, The Baroness, Destro, and of course, Cobra Commander. Oh, and we can't leave out my favorites, Snake Eyes:

and Storm Shadow:

...who really could have had their own movie and it would have been pretty great. You can walk into this movie after living in a cave for your whole life and still understand what's going on, and probably enjoy yourself. Although if I had been living in a cave my whole life, the first thing I'd want would probably be a shower and/or a toothbrush.

The point is, G.I. Joe does exactly what it's supposed to do... if you let it. It's a fun movie set in a fantastic world of crazy things like suits that make you all but invincible and hot women who are somehow awesome at fighting despite wearing high heels and gallons of eye makeup. The character development is just right -- not too shallow, not too deep. You get to know them, you start to care a little bit about them because you see their humanity, but you don't get bogged down by too much weepy stuff or have to be subject to the horrible dramatic acting of Channing Tatum (for more than a few seconds, anyway).

The story makes a reasonable amount of sense, given the nonsensical world in which it takes places, and it keeps moving with all the requisite twists and turns necessary to be interesting, but not confusing. The bad guys are sufficiently bad, and the good guys are pretty great without being sappy or goody-two-shoes.

In short, G.I. Joe is going to get a bad rap just because it's not Spiderman, or The Dark Knight, or even Watchmen. It's a shame, because G.I. Joe is fun, it's action-packed, and you may even catch a cheap laugh or two (by trying to pronounce the Celtic word they use to fire the voice-activated rockets, for example). The only thing this movie does wrong is take some liberties with the laws of science -- but isn't that why we go to movies in the first place?

So... I recommend that you go see G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra if you get the chance. It's rated PG-13, "for strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout." They drop the "s" word towards the end, but other than that, I honestly can't recall very much swearing. All the use of hypodermic needles isn't exactly kosher with the squeamish among us, but even that isn't the worst use of syringes we've seen this movie season (I'm looking at you, Wolverine).

Take a date, grab some popcorn, and leave your stuck-up obsession with reality at the door... and enjoy G.I. Joe. Now you know... and knowing is half the battle.

Dog Days

Apparently, the arrival of August in Southern California means that the earth is so positioned that this region is about 11 feet away from the surface of the sun.

I'm much more of a rainy day kind of guy anyway, so this degree of heat isn't really my preferred climate. I mean, it could definitely be worse, on both sides of the temperature spectrum, but it's hard to even be motivated to accomplish the simplest of tasks when your energy is melting away.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel: football season.



I'm starting to shift my mind back into football gear by re-familiarizing myself with the names and places of the players I'll be watching leading up to the annual fantasy football draft. Obviously, people are big on running backs like Adrian Peterson, Michael Turner and Matt Forte, while there are some guys who are flying a little bit under the radar that I'm curious about (and whose names I'm not mentioning on purpose because of all the scavengers out there looking for any scrap of information they can get). I'm going to share my thoughts on fantasy football in some greater detail later this month, so I'll refrain from anything more for the time being.

Football season also means Valley Center High School football, and I'm excited/curious to see the team this year. Beau Reilly takes over at quarterback, and after Tyler Bernard and James Johnson lit up the competition last year, it will be interesting to see how the team looks with Reilly under center. This is also the first time I'll be covering the Jaguars without Bernard and Johnson on the field, so I'm looking forward to finding out who will be the next big playmaker. Running back Stanton Upson will be the guy to watch after an amazing junior year last season, and the offensive line is almost completely intact from last year. The defense should also be solid, but without Johnson playing centerfield and picking off passes like Deion Sanders in his prime, I don't know how well the Jags will play against passing teams like Westview and Oceanside (Valley Center's only two losses last year, coincidentally).

But with still a good three or four weeks of August (and unrelenting sunshine) left before that, I suppose I'll have to content myself with softball twice a week, with G.I. Joe coming out this weekend, and wearing as little as possible in my heavily air-conditioned apartment until it's safe to go outside before 8 p.m. again.

My Life Has Meaning

So...this happened.

(and by "this" I mean that I'm the guy who brought pie and got sworn at. Enjoy!)

Video Game - E3 2009 - Comic-Con '09

Baby Otters

So...I played with baby otters yesterday.

Comic Con Day 5: The Last Day At Summer Camp

Sorry for the lateness of this entry, but after such a full week at the Con, I'm still trying to catch up. I'm worn out to my very bones, but it's the kind of exhaustion you only get from meeting gorgeous celebrities and having them profess their love to you... via an autographed photo. It's quite a satisfying feeling.

But now that I've had a few days to process it all, I wanted to take a quick look back at Sunday. The final day of Comic Con 2009 was a lot like that final day at summer camp -- those of us who have been there the whole time are walking around just a little more slowly, remembering all the fun things we did, all the cool people we met, and just soaking it all in one last time.

"Oh look, there's the Playmate from 1998! She's so sad...we're going to miss you, lady trying desperately not to age!"

"There's the Twilight booth, where I nearly got decapitated by a 14 year old girl grabbing a poster!"

"The Star Wars booth! I can still smell the nerd sweat from all the chubby Jedi-wannabes permanently soaked into the carpet after they stood there for three hours watching clips from the movies up on that big screen."

"The G4 booth, my home away from home this week, and the site of me becoming even more famous than I was before! I'm going to miss you, and miss being on live television..."

...that's literally me in the center, with the green hat on, showing off my rub-on tattoo of Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn. And so my already considerable fame grows.

It was a bittersweet day; a lot of kids were there because it was some kind of family day or something, so a lot of the booths had giveaways targeted to the youngest fans. Basically, that translated into "stay away from the WB booth or you'll get run over by 400 strollers."

But it was still Comic Con, and plenty of people were there for the first day all week (clearly not the most dedicated Con-goers, since even I knew that you can't wait until the last minute to register or you'll be out of luck). It was kind of sad seeing the costumes on Sunday, because those of us who had been there all week knew that we'd seen the best of the best on Saturday, and that the Sunday cosplayers were just a day late and a dollar (or more) short.

Since Saturday is essentially the thrilling climax of the Comic Con story, Sunday felt kind of like those nine different endings from The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (which I heard mentioned at least three times during the week). Not that the endings were bad, it's comparable in that, just when you think it's all over, it's still going. So it was with the Con; I kept thinking that the floor would be empty when I turned around, but every time I circled back to the main area (around the movie/TV booths), there were still plenty of people.

I did catch a few photo gems that I missed earlier, including the best statue ever:

...a sign that drew a lot of agreement, in both scream and non-scream form:

...Princess Leia, in the only costume truly recognized by the nerd community:

...the pope (Wait, the pope? Really? Does he have a comic book coming out?):

...me with Blair Herter, correspondent for G4 and apparently a former contestant on Road Rules back in the day:

...movie expert Chris Gore in a pink baby T-shirt:

...and, just to round things out, the G4 International Sexy Ladies Show girl, still somehow in that bathing suit and still somehow able to smile about it:

All in all, Sunday at the Con was fun; I watched a trivia contest hosted my Mr. Herter in the G4 booth (the winner got some really cool stuff, including a life-size replica storm trooper helmet... goodness sakes, I think I need to get away from all the nerds before I become any more like them), I picked up some more swag, I bought myself a Guy Fawkes mask (from V For Vendetta, of course) and just took it all in one final time.

If we're going to use the camp analogy, let's take it a step further and identify some of my favorite things from the week, using camp terms to complete the thought:

Camp Counselor: Olivia Munn, who was clearly the person I was there to see, and she did not disappoint. From the Running Of The Munns (I hope I don't have to pay royalties to use that) to the autograph session and everything in between, she helped make Comic Con '09 the highlight of my year so far. I think it's too late, I'm already a nerd.

Camp Song: The Attack Of The Show theme, which a room full of nerds hummed on kazoos for the AOTS panel. Also, the Star Wars theme, which can make an entire convention hall of nerds freeze in their tracks and look heavenward to find the source of their greatest dreams come to life.

Coolest Cabin: For me, it was the G4 booth, not only because of Miss Munn and the live coverage of the Con, but because they made their celebrities accessible, they gave away a lot of free stuff (I have an AOTS T-shirt, a handful of buttons, a stack of rub-on tattoos, a green poker visor, and an autographed picture of Olivia Munn given to me after one of the handlers saw that I had Olivia and Kevin's signatures on my forearm), and they always had something going on worth checking out. As I chatted briefly with the handler who gave me the autographed Munn photo, I mentioned how much I loved their booth, and I literally said, "See you next year!" like every kid at camp does. Otherwise, I enjoyed the Iron Man booth (with the four Iron Man suits), the Twilight booth (for giving away sooooooo much), and the Hasbro booth with the G.I. Joe suits.

Lamest Cabin: clearly the WB/CW/whatever that network's called booth. For one thing, it was massive, it was right in the middle row, and it was horribly designed in terms of accessibility. Whenever they had celebrities, they were tucked away under the second story where you couldn't see them. When they didn't, they had some Rock Band thing in one of the corners, but it was always packed and you couldn't really see what was going on. They didn't hand out swag; you had to wait in a line and circle around the booth a couple times before you got to the counter and they handed stuff to you. If the Con was indeed summer camp, the WB booth was the cabin full of kids who had poison oak.

Mess Hall: I didn't actually buy anything to eat there, although they have a few concessions areas, as well as some Starbucks locations, inside the convention center. More little snack carts were positioned here and there, but none of it looked all that good, and was pretty expensive (like, movie theater expensive), so I settled for some homemade sandwiches. Peanut butter, honey and cinnamon sure hit the spot though, and you need a good source of energy like that to survive the Con floor for five days.

Favorite Camp Activity: Going to my first panel was lots of fun, and the gang from AOTS put on a great show. Along with the clip they showed us:



...they really brought us all together with the kazoos and the nerd rave. If they had had a Con-wide softball game, that might have trumped the panel... but it still would have been close.

Hope To See You Next Year: Obviously I'll be hanging around the G4 booth again next July, getting on live TV and having gorgeous starlets falling in love with me... again. But I really just want to see the things that make Comic Con so special -- the costumes, the crowds, the larger-than-life booths and the general craziness. And if the International Sexy Ladies Show girl is there again, that wouldn't hurt either.

So with a full Comic Con experience under my belt, I feel like I learned a lot; not only about comics, movies and television, but about myself and my fellow nerds. This whirlwind adventure got me pumped up, took my breath away and left me pretty exhausted, but most of all, really showed me a great time.

Next year, I'm going to see what I can accomplish with my press pass, maybe set up some pre-scheduled interview time, and hopefully try to stay more informed about the new releases and accompanying celebrities that will be there.

And maybe over the winter, I'll write a letter to some of the new friends I made, remembering all the fun we had this summer at Comic Con.

Comic Con Day 4: Hit That High Note

If Comic Con was the ideal baseball lineup, then Saturday definitely fits as the cleanup hitter.

Sorry, that analogy is not the way to go for this demographic. Hang on...

If Comic Con was Episode IV of the Star Wars saga, then Saturday definitely fits as the moment Luke blows up the Death Star.

That's much better.

Saturday at the Con is the climax of everything that has been building for the previous three days. The masquerade ball is Saturday night, so all the nerds bust out the prime costumes. The exhibitor booths pull out all the stops with their giveaways. Celebrity sightings are big and frequent. The floor is jam packed. And G4 network's live coverage of the event kicks off, complete with a gorgeous hostess (see previous blogs here) dressed up as a variety of superheroes (more on that in a bit).

The energy in the convention center is buzzing. You can see people walking with just a little bit more of a spring in their step. The overheard conversations are almost frantic with excitement and anticipation. Noises of every kind imaginable are coming from the big booths in an attempt to capture your attention for even the slightest of seconds. Comic Con Saturday is almost alive in its own right.

The day started with a sign of things to come -- the official outfit of the nerd:

That's right: socks with sandals. Right from the get-go, I knew it was going to be an amazing day.

This being my first year at the Con, I had made it a point to try and experience the event like a typical nerd (which wasn't hard, given my eighth grade school photo, which I hope we don't have to mention anymore). I wanted to wait in lines, grab swag left and right, run after beautiful women just to have them scribble on something, and cheer for things I've never heard of just to get a free t-shirt thrown in my general direction.

Having gone to a screening on Wednesday, learned some valuable lessons about lines and swag on Thursday, and acted like a completely crazed fan on Friday, I thought I was ready for whatever the Con could throw at me on Saturday.

And then I saw this guy:


...and I nearly peed my pants. Seriously, he was easily 6'6" and ripped, plus he didn't really say much, and when he did talk it was something about joining the resistance. And thusly did my Saturday at Comic Con officially begin.

I got to the convention center early to wait in line for a drawing that would determine who would be allowed into the Attack Of The Show autograph session later that afternoon. After a good hour in line, I manged to pick a winning ticket on my first draw (those drawing a blank ticket could return to the back of the line to wait for another chance until all the winning tickets had been drawn). Now, I don't want to sound weird, but I have to admit -- I actually prayed that I would draw a winning ticket. It wasn't a crazy deal like, "God, I'll never lie again if I get this!" or anything, but in my head, I remember literally praying to God that I really, really wanted to make it into this session and asking Him to let me get it. Whether or not you believe in this sort of thing, I have to say...drawing a winner on the first try didn't happen very often from what I heard in line. Not that God is overly concerned with my desire to meet famous people... but the point remains, I got in and I was super stoked.

But I had a few free hours before the next big event on my schedule, the G4 Network's live coverage of Comic Con, which began at 1 p.m. I've been on television a few times before, as I'm sure you'd expect from someone of my gratuitous level of fame, but as I mentioned, I wanted the full Comic Con fan experience, and if getting in the background of a live TV show isn't on a nerd's must-do list, then I guess I just don't know nerds at all.

So once again, I headed for the exhibition hall for a look around. I had heard that Saturday was a big day, and it makes sense for all the reasons we mentioned before, but I was not prepared for what I saw and heard (and sometimes smelled).

I guess it was the combination of so many people having their attention pulled in so many different directions -- it felt a little bit like being in a big nerd amusement park, only instead of rides there were celebrities everywhere. Every time I turned around, I saw...

Rob Zombie:

...Jamie Kennedy:

...Tyrese Gibson:

...comedian Doug Benson:

...Yvonne Strahovski (if you don't know who she is, you should Google her right now...do it!):

...Nina Dobrev (you may not know who she is now, but you will):

...Billy Connolly (from the immortal TV show Billy back in the early 90s, as well as The Boondock Saints, The Last Samurai, and Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events, to name a few):

...Kathy Najimy (from Sister Act and Rat Race, among others):

...and I'm sure there were more that I didn't even see. There is always something big going on at the Con on Saturday, it is beyond impossible to see everything.

I made my attempts though, and despite the crowds, I soldiered on. When the constant jostling, the heat, and the body odor of the crowd got to be too much, I found a little spot by one of the stairways to grab a seat and catch my breath (and upload my photos for my many adoring fans). But the electricity of the floor kept pulling me back in, and I powerless to fight the alluring call.

Plus, the chance to get on live TV will make regular people do the weirdest things, and for someone as famous as I am, I have to say that I guess I'm not entirely immune to this phenomenon. Actually, I'll just play it off like whatever I was doing was on purpose to get the full fan "experience." I don't think anyone will question that.

So I headed over to the G4 stage, which was a two-story structure tucked away nearly in the corner of the exhibition hall, with a commanding view of the floor:

The network's coverage of the convention began at 1 pm, but, as with everything at the Con, people started gathering much earlier than that to secure their chance at television immortality. Even though I got there around 12:45 pm, I still managed to find a few gaps and slip up towards the edge of the stage. At that point, this happened:

That's me in the green hat, and this was on television. And so my already considerable fame grows.

Of course, just to make my family proud, I had to do something to draw attention to myself, so I did this:

Yep, that's me showing off a rub-on tattoo of Kevin & Olivia I put on my right shoulder. Again, this was on live television. Granted, it was on the G4 network, so only a few mill... um, thous... OK, it was like 60 people who saw this. And it was totally worth it...

Now, I'm typically not a "screaming masses" kind of guy, but it was pretty fun to just hang out with the other fans and act all crazy every time the stage manager waved his hands. But with the stage elevated, our view was pretty much this:

...which was cool from a behind-the-scenes standpoint, but was difficult from a neck pain standpoint, having to keep looking up like that. I enjoyed using my camera to zoom in and read the teleprompter to see what they were supposed to be saying, then hearing them ad-lib for minutes at a time before they were forced to return to the scripted text. One of my favorite aspects of Attack Of The Show is that the hosts have such great rapport with each other that you don't feel like you're watching a show as much as you feel like you're watching your good-looking, really funny friends hang out and entertain you. As much as I watch the show (I have my DVR set to record it every afternoon so I can watch it later), I was really excited to see the live coverage.

And they didn't disappoint... at least, not entirely. The show was three hours long, and even though a lot of it was happening in front of our eyes, there were a lot of pre-taped segments and commercials, so there was a lot of down time. They did a good job of keeping interest somewhat alive by having Kevin & Olivia come down into the crowd from time to time:

...but even so, I just couldn't stand there the whole time. I'm sure some veterans of the Con were able to handle it; three hours is a cake walk compared to a line leading to anything Star Wars-related.

One other incentive was Olivia dressing up as various superheroes, beginning with Wonder Woman:

...and continuing with Batman villain Harley Quinn:

...Lara Croft, Tomb Raider:

...Marvel villain Emma Frost:

...and Watchmen heroine Silk Spectre, which I failed to digitally capture.

Kevin did his part, dressing up as Mammogramo (as you can see in the above picture), as well as a Japanese raccoon:

with some... well, let's just say that he's not storing those acorns away for winter.

It was interesting to watch the choreographed chaos that is live television unfold before my very eyes, and see really how much the hosts put into pulling it all off. I don't know where they get their energy, but Kevin & Olivia kept things going for the entirety of those three hours, and even had to shoot some alternate endings for the show after it was all done. I was exhausted just watching, so they must have been pretty much done. Olivia still had a Star Wars-related internet series to present afterward (Olivia Munn + Star Wars = no way in Hello Kitty would I try to wait in that line), so apparently she has the stamina of a Navy SEAL. Or she injects pixy stix straight into her bloodstream every commercial break. Whatever she does, it's working.

But I had to conserve some energy for the grueling line I knew awaited me for the AOTS autograph session. I had drawn a winning ticket, but I heard that there were 599 others just like mine, and I had learned by now that nothing this big happens at the Con without a line forming hours in advance. So with the live show wrapping up at 4 pm and the autograph session set to begin at 5:30 pm, I headed up to the autograph area at about 4:10 pm to jump in the back of the line.

Turns out I was about eight tenths of the way to the back by the time everybody showed up, and my line neighbor was a pot-growing fledgling comic artist named Mike (who would have been one of the most entertaining people ever had I not been so sleep-deprived and nervous about meeting Kevin & Olivia). I sat for a good 40 minutes on the bare concrete floor, then stood back up for a good 40 more minutes before a triumphant cheer from the crowd finally announced the arrival of the talent.

The G4 team kept the line moving quickly, but still allowed everyone time to talk briefly with the hosts and get a poster (and/or some other items) signed. When I got up there, I first saw a glimpse of Olivia and my heart started really thumping, I kid you not:

I didn't really know what to say, despite the fact that I had been rehearsing a few different options in my head for the entirety of the line wait. What came out was this:



I'm amused/mortified at the audible change in my voice when she started talking/looking at me. As a reformed (reforming?) dork, I felt like I had made significant progress in my 28 years on this planet. This event showed me that I have come nowhere near as far as I had thought. I will grant that she is an extremely beautiful woman, and that a man would have to have no soul to not feel a little nervous around her, but I was reduced to a stammering, quasi-coherent bundle of nerves before I even knew what was going on. I still don't really know what happened, and I'm at least glad I have the video to look at for reference.

Despite my buffoonery, I managed enough of a recovery by the time I transferred over to Kevin's station to have something resembling a conversation. We joked about my autographed forearm as a potential Craig's List item, and I got him to say something cool about me, which turned out to be (as it always is with these two) something dirty (and awesome). I walked away with my head in the clouds and an extra bounce in my step, even though I felt kind of like an idiot as soon as I started thinking of all the other cool responses I could have said to both of them.

But I also got to thinking about why it's so hard to have a normal interaction with somebody famous -- specifically a celebrity I follow with a passion.

My answer, after some deliberation, is that when you watch someone on television consistently, they start to become a part of your life. You laugh at their inside jokes, you remember the crazy things they did, and you identify with them in little ways that give you a sense of real connection. The thing is, it's a completely one-sided connection -- the only thing the celebrity sees when they're putting on the show is a camera. When the real-life meeting finally takes place, you still feel the connection, but the celebrity reacts to you as the stranger you are. They do a great job of being very friendly and making you feel like you're part of what they have going on, but it's still vaguely off-putting to be confronted by the sensation of disconnect, especially when you feel like you've established a link, however superficial it may be. All of this, plus the general nervousness involved with meeting someone new and not knowing how they'll respond, makes it difficult to have a truly natural, real interaction. I know it's easier for some people than it is for others, but I think overall that it's an odd phenomenon no matter what happens.

Either way, I ended up with this:

...and a whole lot more costume sightings, including scary chainsaw girls:

...an awesome Joker and henchman (who were smart and just camped out in this spot to allow for other people to take photos):

...an R2D2 unit that hopefully had a midget inside (you know, just for authenticity's sake):

...Spiderman:

...Mexican Superman & Wonder Woman:

...Thor, Magneto, and... a girl...?:

...my personal favorite, Swag Man (a costume made entirely out of things handed out, plus some duct tape):

...a group of Predators (or rastafarians?):

...Alice and The Mad Hatter:

...Disney princesses Tinkerbell and Snow White:

...and Snake Eyes:

I was pretty jazzed up at that point, so I hit the floor again for a quick lap or two, and kept the camera rolling for a few thoughts:





It was a great Saturday, and as I wedged myself into a trolley seat for the ride back to Qualcomm Stadium, I was exhausted but thrilled. The Con's big day was an experience I'll never forget, and I know a little bit more of what to expect next year.

I just hope there isn't a line for it already.