A Nerd's Journey (Part 4) : CONNNNNNNNN!

To explain the next few days at San Diego Comic Con is difficult to give anyone the feel for it. There are panels and vendors and seemingly movie and television and writing personalities galore. While many stand in line for hours to see the upcoming movies and television series like Game of Thrones or Hunger Games: Catching Fire or the actors from a host of other movies, one can also go to a variety of panels or just spend hours with vendors and the huge displays. To see the big events a nerd must stand in line for the Panel Room H. Lines for H start often in the wee hours of the morning or in some cases even the night before. You then can plan on standing in line with a few thousand of your soon to be best friends wondering why you paid for a hotel for every night. You can also wonder what other events you could be seeing. This is all so you can see the cast of Catching Fire show you the latest trailer and reveal as little as they can about what might be in the movie. If you're star struck, then I suppose it might be worth it to get a few pictures of a panel that is often broadcast live or taped and released onto YouTube later that same day as is the exclusive trailer. The single advantage is that you can camp.

Unlike Denver Comic Con for example, once you are in a room, you can stay there and move up in your seat as panels change. So the trick is to get into a panel that has a low number count, and then get to eventually the panel you want to see in that same room because the event planners do not clear the room after each panel. It is called camping, and it is done in every room from Hall H to the smallest panel. The most desired panels are usually in the mid to late afternoon so if you can get into a panel in that same room earlier, you can camp until the panel that many others want to see. If you actually mange to get into say Hall H say during one of the less popular panels, like the reunion of secondary characters from Babylon 5, you can camp until Game of Thrones followed by Catching Fire or Ender's Game. They do, however, offer incentives to get you to leave the room.


On the first full morning, my son and I decided that we would try for some of the exclusive merchandise offered by retailers. I had two items I wanted: the limited edition Hallmark Star Trek Ornament and the Limited Edition Cloaked Klingon Warbird from Diamond Select. We failed miserably because the line formed for those items early and they were long gone by the time we made our way to where they would be sold. Only a certain quantity was sold each day, and we missed it. We vowed to do better the next day for round two.

So we spent some time looking at things we wished to buy for us and for my son's kids. We also spent time looking at the lay of the land. It was soon time to find lunch. We'd learned the night before that trying to eat at the themed restaurants was not one of the brighter things to do. The Hard Rock Cafe had been turned into a Defiance themed place where a hamburger, the lowest price item on the menu, was going for $17.95. As we roamed out of the vendor's area, we also found off to one side a small cafeteria that actually had good and reasonably priced food. We ate lunch there twice.

Standing in line to enter into events is the way of things. We did not have to stand in line to get into the building, once we had our badges, (Are you paying attention Denver?) but to enter into most of the bigger panels we had to arrive an hour or so before. Something that you also learn at the event. On one of the days, we had decided to try and get into see a panel about X-Files which was going to feature creator Chris Carter. We arrived too late but stood in line anyways. We figured since X-Files is not really that much of a hot item any more, we might still make it inside. Surprisingly it was still a popular. We also suspected that maybe one of the old stars of the series might show up. Turns out, our suspicions were correct. Both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson showed up for the panel. We didn't get in.

This forced us to find another panel. We roamed into a panel that was actually fairly empty. It was about comic book heroes and animation on the internet. So we sat down to see who was on the panel. About 10 minutes in a special guest came in, Stan Lee. He was humorous. I also had no idea how much he was doing on the internet. At the end of the panel, having listened to the legend that created Spiderman and X-Men, just to mention a few, and having seen an actress modeling a new superhero's costume, we got one of those incentives not to camp. We went for it. Both my son and I received tickets to receive a signed poster and meet Stan Lee. Alas, no photos were allowed of the meet, but we did get the poster.


We also went to a panel on the next version of the video game Assassin's Creed. We watched it for a bit and then went on roaming. From there we found the multitude of studio sponsored events. We went on a tour of set pieces from Ender's Game, took a trip though Dracula's Crypt, watched a very boring holograph of Redding from The Blacklist, and got to have our picture taken in the herb store from Grimm while I charged my phone at a space designed for the Revolution. We saw the great robotic statue from The Wolverine and basically wore ourselves out.

And there was w00tstock 5.0. We had bought tickets to the offsite event, the great nerd music and comedy show called w00tstock. The show is the brain child of Wil Wheaton from Star Trek the Next Generation, Adam Savage from Mythbusters and comedic songsters Paul and Storm. To give you an idea of the opening, Paul and Storm came out and began singing "Write Like the Wind." The song begs George R.R. Martin to write faster because he isn't getting any younger. Half way through the song, George R. R. Martin walks on to stage, takes one of the guitars from the singers and smashes it to smithereens. It doesn’t end there. Martin is followed by writer Neil Gaiman who forced Paul and Storm to apologize to Martin. Well just watch the video. From, there it just gets wilder and funnier. The show started at 8:00. We were going back to the hotel worn out from laughing so hard at 11:30 PM. That's right 3 and 1/2 hours of humor and amazement. Wil Wheaton is quite a standup comedian and Adam Savage is more talented in comedy and music than I ever would have dreamed. If you want to see, then go here on YouTube. From Patrick Rothfus reading a very twisted children’s' story to an amazing Lego artist, we were held in rapt attention for a show by nerds for nerds. I would also like to point out I have started a small campaign to bring w00tstock to Denver ComicCon, and you can help by posting on these folks' Facebook pages, Denver ComicCon's page and the request w00tstock web page.

The days were a blur. My son and I succeeded on Friday in getting the Hallmark Ornaments but the Klingon Warbird sold out completely. We again roamed around looking at the sights, standing in line to get our SDCC tee-shirts and finding a post office so we could mail all our stuff home. They do have mailing at the conference center but it was incredibly expensive. The estimate for our little pile of loot was thirty to forty dollars. At the post office, a little over ten dollars. Worth the walk.

The next day, we decided to check out the sailing ship. That's right sailing ship. The video game company who built Assassins Creed had rented a full sized sailing ship, and if we stood in line long enough, we got to go aboard, see the game in action, pre-order it and get a bunch of free stuff. The score of that wait was not just the free tee shirt we got for ordering, but we also had the opportunity of meeting Todd MacFarlane, creator of Spawn and getting his signature and VIP passes to Video Games Live, a music event where a full orchestra performed music from video games. My son convinced them that we needed not just a pass for us but for our significant others. We were apparently taking my friend and his son as our dates. Video Games Live could have been a complete disaster, but it was an awesome experience. Here is a small sample. You may notice the number of cameras at Video Games Live and w00tstock. I don't think I attended a single live event where video and pictures were not actively encouraged.

We had signatures, free I might add, of Stan Lee, Todd MacFarlane, one of the original artists of the Tick and Terry Brooks. Yes there were plenty of stars there hawking their signatures, and I even had the opportunity to tell one of the handlers for Sean Astin that I was not about to pay for the signature of a star that fans had made famous. By the time we flew out on Sunday, I was exhausted and had caught a good case of what is known as ComicCon Crud, but it was all worth it. It was being in a fantastical place. I was happy with what we had accomplished and seen although I still worry a bit that my son may not have been able to do all the things he wanted. There were Cosplayers of every shape and size and costuming ability. There were people who were there to gawk and nerds and geeks from every level. They were my people. It was as if I had found a city of 160,000 people that were all like me. I belonged. I hope that perhaps I shall return to Nerd Prom again. Still, it is an experience I shall not forget.

Thank you Colby, Jake and Nathan, without you it would not have been nearly as magical.

A Short Rant

(from http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ifDLbsaL-dq0K5L66XVz9iTwx9Bw?hl=en&docId=51a8327f-1341-43de-8611-804a3f541651&index=0)

As I watched the events in Washington DC unfold, I like many others, posted that shots had been fired. Since I am a stay at home, I often get to see things unfold like the Boston bombing and hope that by posting on Facebook what is happening , I am giving a small service to my friends who work and may not have access to the TV.  Most folks seem appreciative and most people were curious and appalled by these events.

Following the shots fired post, another friend who also posted reports of what was happening had something this appear on his timeline:

Wonder how long it will take them to blame the Republicans?

Really?

Shots fired. The Capitol on lockdown. A woman dead.  A police officer hurt in the pursuit. A child in the vehicle. An attack on the Capitol ...

and this is a concern?

And this Meme showed up about an hour later:

The woman was found to be unarmed.  She was using her car as a weapon.  The shooting came from the police.

Shots fired. The Capitol on lockdown. A woman dead.  A police officer hurt in the pursuit. A child in the vehicle. An attack on the Capitol ...

And you are taking time to make a gun debate meme?

Really?

Did you know that during the shutdown the Capitol Police are working without pay?

I am just saddened by this.

I don't blame the meme maker or the business about blaming one group or another. Too many have been trained and fed the red meat of fear and placing blame by too many stilted websites, foolish notions and propaganda.

Another friend posted a link announcing that Obama is keeping golf courses open from one of those sites. With all the problems we have right now and all the divisiveness, this site is writing about golf courses? The writer of the article knows perfectly well the golf course in question is open because it is a public course and supported by public fees.  It has nothing to do with the government shutdown, but it is his job to stoke the fire, make the base believe that it is Obama's fault.  I blame that writer and his propaganda of hate.  It has got to stop.

The divisiveness has got to stop. Too many people keep announcing "it's my country" and not enough of us are standing up announcing "it is OUR country."  Democracy operates on a majority not on a "my country" minority strategy.  If we do not come together soon, I fear there will be a revolution, just not the one the extreme thinks.

We know better.

What is happening in our country?

Gravity Has Weight

Gravity, the movie not the physical force, is a movie worth your money.  It is exciting and visually stunning. It draws you in, and there are moments where you will find yourself gritting your teeth.  I would also recommend you see this one in 3D.  There are only two actors in the movie and both do okay with their rolls, although I have to state I did get a bit tired of Sandra Bullock's rapid breathing and fear "squeaks." George Clooney plays his typical jaunty hero who has a sort of twinkle in his eye. There is not a whole lot of variety there, but there wasn't a whole lot of character depth either.  The movie is not long at only 91 minutes including credits and that actually adds to the movie's intensity.

That said, the movie is not deep or unpredictable.  You know exactly what it is going into the movie.  It is not one that you are going to spend a lot of time talking about.  It is a strictly a space thill ride, and that's it.  I will not buy the DVD, but I think you will enjoy it. The 3D tears are pretty cool as are the space vistas.

Now if you haven't seen the movie, stop here and come back later to finish, because I am going to give away some major spoilers after the jump.

WARNING THERE BE SPOILERS HERE

The issue that is going to plague this movie is that it is really Castaway in space but without the depth of character we receive from Hanks in that movie.  The advertising campaign made it pretty clear that Bullock's character was the sole survivor of the mission in space.  The one attempt at a back story for Bullock's character is that she had a child that died on the playground. This pushes the movie towards melodrama.  

Honestly, I thought the Clooney character would die much earlier than he did.  He lived almost 25 minutes into the movie and then made a carbon dioxide fueled vision that reminded the Bullock character how to save herself.  In effect, Clooney becomes Wilson in the film.  His heroic death scene is also a bit on the melodramatic side. 

 That said, the movie is a fun one to see, but it is no great work of character driven drama.  The very fact that I think of it in terms of the Bullock and Clooney characters rather than by their character names should tell you something about the lack of depth that is built into what is essentially a plot and effects driven movie.  Go see it, but accept it for only what it is.

Australian Meme on American Politics?

So this meme comes from a group named the Australian Tea Party.  Why would Austrailia care about Obamacare? Austrailia has healthcare and gun control, by the way.  Just thought I would point that out.

So this is probably not Austrailian.

SHUT IT DOWN.  So let me get this straight.  You are in favor of putting 800 thousand people out of work without pay? Is that correct?  What did they do to you? 

You are in favor of attaching a non budgetary bill to a six week budget extension. Right? While I am not a fan of "what ifs" here's one to consider.  What if Romney had won and the Democrats in the Senate refused to pass a six week budget extension without background checks and an assault weapons ban? How would your feel about that? Do you get the idea now why this is simply wrong?

You are in favor of attaching a law that passed the U.S. Congress nearly four years ago, went through the conservative U.S. Supreme Court, and was adjudicated by the people in an election in which one candidate had as a major platform of repealing the law. He lost by both popular and electoral college.  Remind me again about majority rule. Have you actually read the Constitution?

The 11 million people who tried to sign up for Obamacare on October 1st apparently don't want it either.  Get real please. 

Could you kindly tell me to what specific Cronyism and Corruption you are referring?   It is really hard to support such general terms that have no real foundation by which to judge. Throwing around unsubstantiated terms like this is pretty irresponsible.

This is the Definition of Socialism according to Merriam-Webster: 

so·cial·ism: noun \ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\: a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies.

Although it doesn't actually say it, the meme writer, I think, is referring to Obamacare.  Please explain to me how having people sign up through privately owned insurance companies and guaranteeing these people insurance, medicine, lifetime coverage and protection through these PRIVATELY OWNED companies or giving people a tax break for having insurance or requiring large companies that do not do so to do the right thing by their employees is socialism.  Maybe you should understand the basic definition of a word before you use it.

WE DO WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK  Does that mean anyone who does not see eye to eye with you in your extreme bubble is not American or is it that you need directions to Austrailia? (Poor imperative sentence structure.  Just thought I would point that out.)

It's my country too.  

The False Equivalency

As a general rule I don't post directly to political statements by Facebook friends.  I do this because I don't want to debate a friend on their beliefs and I don't want to offend them. The rare occasion is because what they are posting is patently false or urban myth.  I then offer them the link to Snopes or one of the other myth debunking site.  I also figure if it is something I need to discuss, I can do it here.  I do nevertheless try to offer thoughtful ideas here. I really try to be fair.  I research my statements, and I rely on as best as I can unbiased sources.  I read on a number of sites from CNN to MSNBC to Fox and even occasionally extreme sites like the Blaze and Mother Jones.  I will not though build a false equivalency for what I write.  This brings me to my point: I have come to believe that much of the problem in Washington stems from the false equivalency of the mainstream press.  I am not talking about Right Wing Fox or Left Wing MSNBC but mainstream media like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN which are the major provider of news on television. As such smart people only get the "balanced" reporting which is not necessarily the truth.

Take for example the current shutdown. There is not a single mainstream reporter that doesn't know that the cause of the dysfunction in Washington is the extreme right in the Republican party.  I am not saying that Democrats have never played their own left wing cards in the past. I am saying the current shutdown and governing  by crisis this time lays squarely at the feet of the Republican party.  There is not a single reporter who does not know that the clean continuing resolution is already legislation that has been arrived at by compromise.  It includes the sequestration cuts that were negotiated in the fiscal cliff deal.   It does not restore one dime.  Yet the reporters do not challenge the assertion that no compromise has been offered.

Not only that but current budget projections are only slightly higher than the Ryan Republican Budget.  It is becoming really true that the Republicans cannot take "yes" for an answer.  In fact, if the Republican Speaker would put a clean CR on the floor it would pass and the government would re-open.  Yet, one person I know posted that it's all Obama's fault for refusing to negotiate, and he is the only president to refuse to do compromise during any government shutdown.  That's because the press has failed to report that the Republican house has been invited 18 times to negotiate with the Senate on the budget which if they had done, we would not have had to have a CR.

The evening news soundbites failed to include that at the meeting that Obama had with leaders of the House and Senate that, according to one of the leaders, Speaker Boehner was offered the ability to discuss anything about the budget if he would pass a clean CR that has passed the Senate.  No the soundbite was about the rift not the offers.  They have failed to report that many of the Tea Party Republicans have been pressing to shutdown the government for at least two years.  In fact,several went out in celebration on the night they succeeded in closing it down. How many mainstream organizations reported this statement: “We’re very excited,” said Republican and Representative Michele Bachmann “It’s exactly what we wanted, and we got it.” One Republican, conservative Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind.,went on record saying "“We’re not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.” The Republicans have shutdown the government and put 800 thousand people on furlough because they were disrespected? Why doesn't the mainstream report this? The answer is simple and two-fold: Equivalency and Ratings.


Gone are the respected reporters like Cronkite and Murrow who called a spade by spade.  Murrow didn't worry about whether a politician would call him a name like Liberal Commentator or refuse to come back for an interview.  No he knew that his job was to report the truth and that a politician will always seek press. Even bad press is better than no press.  So he had no problem facing down the likes of McCarthy and his grab for power by using his search for the Red Stain.  Murrow new full well that McCarthy would call him far worse things than Liberal and could try to get him in his hot seat.  Murrow was a reporter.  It was his job. He took McCarthy to task.

No, those reporters are gone.  The new mainstream worry about equivalency.  Networks have become fearful that they will appear unfair to one side or the other.  In their quest to make sure this doesn't happen, they seldom call any politician out on any lie they tell and given the number of audio and video tapes they have it would be quite simple to call them out .  Politicians now use the media not to report the news but to fundraise and stir the base because mainstream is worried about equivalency of reporting.  It is a false equivalency, and this "fair reporting balance" ends up hiding the truth.

The other is ratings.  As news organizations became controlled not as separate reporting entities but by the entertainment division of huge corporations, ratings not the news became more important. Their department isn't controlled by a trained journalist who understands what it takes to tell the news, but by some guy who also had to worry about Dancing with the Stars.  They became entertainment.  Scandal and conflict make good entertainment. It makes for good ratings.  News organizations now worry about rating sweeps and not getting to the truth.  It helps justify the false equivalency.

I don't blame my friend for his uninformed statement about the refusal to negotiate.  I blame the media for its failure to inform.  I know that he doesn't have the time I do to verify and check what he is being told.  Still I would say get off  Fox or the Blaze alone and look at places that still do report.  Surprisingly even mainstream newspapers report serious news.  It seems they don't have worry about the ratings, and they have the funnies.

It's Politics; Don't Fall for It

Okay, I am asking you to use your grey cells.  I've been seeing a number of stories that have zero ... ZERO ... 00000000 ...to do with the shutdown.

The veterans who broke the barricade.  Good for them! Boo to the Republican representatives who voted to close that monument and then went running down there to use those veterans as political props.  The extreme right have already used the shutdown to raise funds.  Their fundraising during this crisis is at an all time high for this period.  Still think they have the country's best interest at heart?

Twitter accounts are closed.  "But twitter is free.  How dumb do they think we are?" say a few commenters on the announcement Michelle Obama's twitter will be limited in posts. Apparently, you're pretty dumb.  Twitter is free.  The people that run those accounts aren't.  All government accounts, Facebook, Twitter, be they POTUS, FLOTUS and  Congress are run by government employees who manage not one but several pages. Do you honestly believe that George Takei runs his Facebook page? Funny how he can be at personal appearance events and post all those things.  Almost every major Public Person and Celebrity Twitter account and Facebook page is a managed page. Yes the person whose name is on the page can and does post, but they don't manage, nor do they post that often. So the limiting of government pages are because only the person whose name is on the page will be posting, not the managers, who have been furloughed, that usually do the posting.   The twitter post about shutting down was on every...EVERY....government page.

Fan of the Congressman who has asked his paycheck be stopped during the shutdown.  Oh my, what an imposition.  Once the shutdown is over he/she will get all his/her pay including back pay. It is a Constitutional requirement.  I cannot say the same for the 800,000 Federal employees who have been furloughed. To get their back pay, Congress will have to approve it.  Given the way the House loves cutting funds, while during the last shutdowns it was a given that it would be approved, that is no longer the case.  The only Congressmen who impress me are the ones who are donating their pay to a charity or back to the government.  The rest of them are playing politics with you.

UPDATE: Here is a list of who is doing what with their pay.  Thanks to Brian for finding this.

It is all about optics.  Truth is truth. Engage brain.

Dysfunction Junction...

See, I told you Congress would still be dysfunctional today.  The question is why? Well there is much going on here, and it will take a bit of explanation so bear with me.

We have had government shutdowns before, but this one is a bit different.  While the only ones that are similar are the shutdowns in 1995 and 1996 during the conflict between Clinton and the Republicans. There are differences.  Republicans proudly took the blame for those shutdowns, and this round both sides are pointing fingers at each other.  The Clinton shutdown was also actually over funding and not over a law that is now over three years old.  The problem, while Republicans claim that their battle over the Affordable Care Act has offered several compromises which are not really compromises.  All the offers have essentially sought to gut the health law.  The other difference is that the Republicans controlled both houses in 95 and 96.  They had won taking control of both houses for the first time in 40 years.  They might have actually survived the first shutdown in 95 but when they went for it again in 96 it cost them their sweeping victory and making Clinton's run for a second term an easy run and even during those shutdowns, Congress still managed to pass appropriations bills.  During this crisis, Obama isn't running again, and I must agree that we cannot continue to govern by crisis. Others will point out that there have been other government shutdowns, but none of those really reach the levels of the last three.  The ones in the 80's between DemocratSspeaker Tip O'Neil and Republican President Ronald Reagan were shutdowns usually involving specific departments of the government not like the more recent shutdowns.

We also  have two parties at war within the Republican party: the old guard Republicans and the Tea Party.  There is also the Libertarian sect which has both Tea Party beliefs on some elements, old guard Republican beliefs on other issues and a set of unique beliefs.  We also know from recordings and videos dating back to 2010 that a number of Tea Party Republicans told their constituents they fully intended to shutdown the government.  If you saw the GOPs leaving the House GOP meeting which resulted in the second Continuing Resolution (CR) which they were told would be rejected by the Senate, Tea Party members of the caucus were giddy at the prospect of what would now become a certain shutdown.

Denis Hastert

Before you accuse me of laying the blame at the feet of Republicans as a liberal attitude, I want to point out something.  If Speaker Boehner had put out a clean CR  with no strings attached before the House it would have passed by as many as 300 votes according to most expert opinions on both sides of the aisle.  It takes 218 votes to pass a resolution in the house.  The use of the Hastert rule by Boehner is the reason for the gridlock.  The Hastert rule is a rule used by Republicans that in order for a bill to be brought to the floor of the House there must be a majority of Republicans for it before it will be presented.  It is not an official rule, but named for a Speaker before Boehner, Dennis Hastert.  So currently in order for any law to be offered for debate and passage a majority of the Republican caucus 118 of the 234 Republicans must support it.  I don't know about you, but it sounds like this rule is a ways from the intentions of how the House as a governing body is supposed to operate.  It means that a small group can basically prevent the Congress from functioning.  Since its use by Boehner in 2010, no significant legislation has been passed. The last two Congresses (2010 and 2012) have passed fewer laws than any other Congress.

The battle is also over a resolution which would fund the government for six week.  Let me say that again, six weeks.  Following the fiscal cliff, the House demanded the Senate pass a budget.  They did.  According to the rules once both Houses pass a funding measure, they should meet in conference and negotiate the difference.  Following the passage of the Senate budget, they have requested this meeting 18 times to fund the government.  The House has refused.  The CR is the baby that has resulted from that refusal.

So the government is closed.  Those of you who are glibly announcing that we are seeing no difference might want to talk to the 700,000 plus government personnel in Washington who aren't getting paid,and while they are furloughed may never recover that loss of pay.  Maybe you should talk to all the businesses who have no customers because national parks, monuments, museums, and other tourist attractions are now closed. Maybe you should talk to the non-military support personnel who are being sent home without pay.  Maybe you should talk to the parents whose children are finding their Head Start facility closed today.  Maybe you should talk to the people at the Center for Disease Control who is no longer tracking disease outbreaks.  Maybe you should talk to the people in business waiting for their quarterly IRS reports and refunds to be processed that aren't getting it processed.  Maybe you should talk to workers at NASA who were sent home without pay because the agency is maintaining a skeleton crew only for astronauts on the space station.

It's not a joke.  This is serious, and it is time to quit playing politics and govern.